Breast Cancer Cookie Cutter

[music plays]>>linda eveland shirar: my dad graduated from lewiston high schoolin lewiston, illinois. and he got a scholarship at bradley, and hewas there four years, and did cross country. he was too small to play basketball.when he graduated from bradley, he went to geyser, montana, taught there a year and hada good record. but he wanted to come back to illinois.he came back to illinois, and he and my mother got married.and then he went to waterman, illinois. it was a small town, and it had 100 studentsin the high school. and he took them to state.and while he was there with the team, rodney

bell, a board member from paris, saw daddy'steams playing. he had a son on the team, and he wanted himto have a good coach. so, he asked the announcer at champaign, inhuff gym, to ask ernie eveland to meet him in the coaches room.so, daddy went down and met with him. and he said, "would you be interested in theparis job?" and daddy said, "well, yeah."on sunday daddy met with the board and got the job.and this was the fall of '35. and he started coaching here.and he won two state championships. he got second twice, and they got third threetimes.

in '42 we got second, and we thought we hadthe game won. and at the last minute, nate middleton fouledout, and daddy always said if nate hadn't fouled out we would have won.and then they came back in '43. this gym was built because of the successhe and his boys were having at the time. we first started, and i can barely rememberit, we started over in what is the girls gym or the cafeteria now.and they played in that until the fall of '43.so, our '42 team played in that gym, and the '43 state championship played in that gym.and so, the '47 championship was the first championship team to play here.and they put it on the ballot, and the town

voted to build this gym.and they did it with wpa labor. and if i'm remembering this correctly, itcost 287,000 dollars. we lived in several homes in paris, but i'vealways had the gym. and i was four years older than my brother,and so there were times that mother had to stay home with him.but daddy brought me to the games. and it was just, i was just all over the place,seeing the fans. and it was home.this was a community event, our basketball games were.and we began our games on thanksgiving afternoon, and we would have people standing out frontto buy tickets lined clear around the block,

standing in line in the cold to buy tickets.it was standing-room-only. and finally they told hthem that you can'tstand in front of people, they can't see. well, somebody said, "well, who are you goingto ask to leave?" and so, they said, "well, they can just sitin the aisles and sit all across there." and that night i saw that many, many times.[music plays] >>doug hasler:well, the edgar county community foundation began several years ago, and it was actuallya brain child of my dad. he was president of the illinois cereal mill,here locally. he thought, you know, you make your moneyhere, you ought to stay here.

that prompted him to start one, our own familyfoundation for his own money, but then he also started a community foundation with a501-c-3 status, so that people in the community would have a vehicle in which they could maketheir own contributions to. it started with 30,000, and we not too longago approached a million dollar level, which was pretty good for a community our size.but it's grown exponentially. and then with the addition of the high schoolproject, we determined to have a "name the room" campaign, which allowed people to donateand have a plaque placed on a room at the high school for capital development money.and we raised well over half a million dollars locally, just for that.again, it's to make life better for us here,

to allow people who raise their family, madetheir money, or inherited their farmland, or whatever, to be able to let that blessingflow through to the remaining people of edgar county, either through funding a specificproject, which is certainly what they can do, or set up a scholarship fund in the nameof a loved one. when you're changing lives, it's a littlebit like also preventing a car accident. you just don't really always know what kindof an impact you have because you've avoided something.you might have a scholarship, for instance, that has allowed a student go to college wherehe might not have been able to go. so, you've just changed, altered his course.you've changed the stars.

and so, you don't really know what total effectthat has because you don't know what the effect would have been had he not gone.so, we operate on faith in many ways, in that we know we're making a difference, but sometimesit's hard to know just how much. it's easy to, if you don't do anything it'seasy for a community to lose itself. and i truly believe we have changed the courseof this ship in paris. there's no question in my mind.and i see it, i saw it for the first time last year at the christmas on the square event.it was packed, and people were happy. they were having a great time.it was the first time i saw pride back in the community.and this year was bigger than before, you

know, and it was the same thing.and when the tree blew over with the wind, everybody was really supportive, let's getthis thing back up. it wasn't just leave it for somebody elseto do. everybody pitched in.and it took a long time to see that pride come back.and keeping the movie theater going, saving the golf course, and then we built this newschool. that's changed the course, and people areproud again. [music plays] >>dawn kirby:i feel like that this card that i received after mandi passed really summed up mandi'slife.

and i wanted to share that with everyone."the life of any person finds its true meaning in every oppotunity to give, to inspire, adnto make living more beautiful for another." on the inside it said "let us celebrate thelife of one who truly knew how to inspire the best in each of us."mandi meant so much to this community. and i really bleieve that that showed herlife, and what she would want everyone to gain from her story was that we are here tohelp others and inspire as we can. my story begins actually in 2006.my baby sister, amanda pate fessant, actually known as mandi by most people, was approachedby a government agency here in paris to help the toys for tots program because it was nearlynonexistent at that point.

and they asked her because she already hada ministry to maybe help the marine to continue the work, and kind of take off, you know,some of the slack. and so, mandi began christmas for kids.by 2007 we had taken over the job of providng christmas for the underprivileged kids ofedgar county. we live here in paris.mandi was born and raised here in paris, and veyr much a community girl.and the neat thing was mandi was, at the age of 13 started her own ministry.she was a singer with, very much mission minded. she did missions with hurricane katrina.she went out to indian reservations in arizona. but paris being her hometown was the mostimportant to her.

we started doing christmas for underprivilegedkids, adn we kind of wanted to take the toys for tots program and go a little bit further.we wanted to provide kids a smile at christmas, you know, something that they wanted.but we also watned to provide some other needs. we wanted to provide clothing, maybe someeducaitonal needs. in 2006 we did approximately, mabye aroudn60 children. and by 2007 it had grown to a little over100. kind of what makes this bittersweet is that2010 mandi was diagnosed with breast cancer. she was diagnosed in june of 2010, foughta battle that ended in april of 2011. it was a very short battle.during that time, she was as involved as she

could with teh christmas for kids program.and one of her last dying wishes was that we would continue the christmas for kids program.it was very important to her. last year we provided christmas for almost670 children. and that is countywide.if mandi were here, adn i know she is in spirit, and i have many times when we've worked withchristmas for kids i think, i wonder what mandi thinks about this, i wonder what shethinks when she sees the wonderful things that are happenign.i think she would say, "well done, paris." she loved her community.she knew that paris had giving hearts, and she is just, would be just beaming with thejoy to see where this program has gone.

because, it has grown, even considerably aftershe passed in 2011. and i'm just thrilled to know that her memorylives on, but also her wishes and her dream. and that's one thing that mandi was reallybig about, was wanting a child, to be able to fulfill a dream for a child.and she felt that if on christmas a child could have a small dream achieved, that theywould then feel that they could look forward to bigger dreams. [music playing] >>nels kasey:agriculture has always been important to east central illinois.therefore, seed has always been important, as well.so, in 1918 the edgar county farm bureau decided to establish a seed company that would servearea farmers, providing them with the seeds

they would need around the farm.the first year they put the seed company in the second story of the citizens nationalbank building, right on the south side of the square.they had to carry all the seed up the stairs, to get it out they had to carry all the seeddown the stairs. so, the next year when the edgar county farmbureau moved to the sims building on south central avenue, they took the seed companywith them. no more carrying the seed up the stairs.they hired a man named max money to manage the company.max did a very good job with the company, and they brought in cleaning equipment forthe seeds that they sold, so the farmers would

be able to keep this sustainable.now those were going to be the biggest money producer for the seed company, but they introduceda brand new crop to edgar county, as well. working with the university of illinois, theybrought the first soy beans into the county. it became too much of a financial hardshipfor the farm bureau. they decided to sell the company, and maxmoney, the manager, bought it. and he moved it to a new location at 220 westwashington street, here in town. that's still the main office facility today.well, theron beeson would become the next owner in 1946.theron continued to grow and build upon the success of edgar county seed and what maxmoney had done.

but theron beeson was also the one we credittoday with coming up with the great heart brand.now back in those days, the slogan was "seed from the heart of the great central west."and the reason for that is this part of illinois was considered to be the center or the heartof the united states. in 1959 harold adams joined beeson as oneof the owners. the two men worked together, and they continuedto build that great heart brand. in 1966 they sold the company to j.m. schultz.now, j.m. schultz was based in dieterich, illinois, and used this as a satellite location.they grew, processed, and sold soy beans and wheat, as well as a wide array of farm seeds.now meanwhile, a man named chester higginbotham

was returning home from the korean war.chester grew up on a farm in martinsville, illinois, and he had several siblings.some of those siblings wanted to farm, as well.so, when he saw the chance to expand the farm near paris, illinois, chester moved north.when he got there, he also started a seed company, and his brothers would join in withthat, as well. in 1983 they struck a deal with the j.m. schultzcompany to purchase the location here in paris. we sat there for many weeks trying to deliberateon what we should call this new company. we just couldn't beat the old seed bags wesaw hanging on the wall. so, we revived the great heart brand.the modern great heart seed is preparing to

celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2016.but really, there needs to be another small celebration in 2018 for all those people thathave kept this company continually serving paris farmers and beyond for 100 years. [musicplays] >>eugene killion:the killion family lived just across the illinois-indiana line in indiana, in a small country house.my father was a coal miner, but he had a few hives of bees to offset his poor wages atthe coal mine. and we moved to paris in the 1920s.i always thought it was a big city, from the country.i was going to the university of illinois to be an entomologist after graduation, buti enlisted in the air force.

when i returned i decided to go in partnershipwith my father. i had a few hives of bees in high school.my first hive of bees i started when i was 5-years old.we increased our colony numbers up to 1,000 hives of bees in the paris area.our honey has won 39 trophies and blue ribbons at the american national honey show throughthe years. we were very proud of that.my father, he was the chief inspector in the illinois department of agriculture, pertainingto checking bee colonies for health, keep healthy bees.and he worked for 32 years at that, and he retired in 1970.and the beekeepers of illinois asked me to

carry on his work.so, i sold most of my colonies of bees down, and i was the chief inspector for 18-and-a-halfyears. then after that, i was an extension specialistin apiculture on the staff at the university of illinois for 18 years.i have two hives of bees now. i still enjoy piddling with the bees.and i did a lot of research and things like that with honeybees.my father had a one-man campaign. he always wanted the u.s. poultice serviceto issue a stamp or something to recognize the honeybee.he worked for 25 years on that. he would write every year to the post mastergeneral, and ask him why don't they honor

the honeybee.he always received a letter back from the post mater general, saying it's on the agenda.but citizen stamp advisory committee would overrule it, and it never happened.so, when his health began to fail he asked me if i would continue the work.so, i did that as a chairman of the american beekeeping federation.in 1979, two days before my father passed away, i had a call from the u.s. postal servicesaying they were going to issue a commemorative envelope showing the honeybee.every beekeepers organization in every state in the union wanted the first issue therein their hometown or city. and i persuaded the u.s. postal service whatbetter place than paris.

so, on october the 10th, 1980 we had the celebrationof the first issue. i was able to tell my father that two daysbefore he passed away. so, he realized his dream had come true.i only thought this would be a one day a weekend, and it turned out to be the 36th year comingup this year for the honeybee festival. i've worked with honeybees all my life.i've been all around the world working with the honeybees.but i still feel that paris, illinois as a bee friendly town is the best place to liveand raise a family. [music plays] >>ann robison: the story of st. aloysius churchstarted with the signing of the peace treaty

with the indians.and father baden of kentucky was talking with aloysius brown, and convinced him to comenorth into illinois, the new territory, and start a settlement.so, aloysius brown and barnaby reynolds decided they and their families would come north intoillinois, and some other families joined them. and they ended up in this area that is callednorth arm. and there's some debate about why it's callednorth arm. some people say it was because the north armof coal creek, or the north arm of the woods, or the north arm of the prairie.take your pick. and so, they built their log cabins, and aloysiusbrown was their leader.

and he had been appointed as a precept anda leader by father baden before they headed north.and so, he was allowed to teach religion, do baptisms, marriages, and burials.they had services in the brown cabin until they outgrew it, and then they built a logstructure. and again, we don't have a date for that.but they had services in the log structure, and of course their congregation grew, andthey outgrew the log structure. so, in 1830 they started building the newchurch. it wasn't finished until 1837.and they had the main altar, which is beautiful, and two side altars.and we now have those altars in our church,

and i believe they are now 179 years old.in 1991 we had the celebration of the dedication of our historical marker.and on the top of the historical marker, it states that we're the oldest continuing parishin the diocese of springfield. and as of this date, 2016, we are 199 yearsold. on our property we also have a cemetery.it's distinct which part was the old part and which part is the new part.in fact, in the old cemetery there are several tombstones of the early people that immigratedfrom various counties in ireland. some of those first families that came withaloysius brown, some of their descendants are still in the community.the blanford family, sanders, blackman, mccarty,

stratton, and bodine are still in this area.also on our church property, to the west of the church there's a waterfall.it's the only waterfall in edgar county. and the only time it actually has water fallingis after we've had a heavy rain, because it's the water from the runoff of the fields.but there are fossils there, an interesting place to go explore.we have mass on sunday morning at seven. and generally we have from 60 to 80 peoplein our church. of course, in the winter at seven o'clockin the morning, it's dark. so, we don't have quite so many in the deadof winter. it is a beautiful church in a very simple,country way.

and everyone that comes through that doorsays, "oh my, this is lovely." [music plays]>>william milbourn: i want to talk about bob morgan, who was bornin southern indiana, and then he went to kankakee where he graduated from high school.at age 16, he was still a high school student at that time in kankakee, he had the opportunityto buy a laundromat. and the laundromat was in disarray.and so, he acquired it for a little bit of nothing because of the condition.and he acquired new washers and dryers, and refinished the building.and he did extremely well in that. and he sold it for 80,000 dollars, and hethought he was the richest man in the world

when he got that.he is an idea person, and he had more ideas in an hour than most people have in a week.but anyway, one of the things that he accomplished was kraft company in champaign, they had wasteproduct that was cheese. and bob thought maybe the cheese would bea good item for hogs. and bob had some hogs he was raising, andhe thought, "well, i go in and talk to them about that cheese."so, it ended up they were paying to have the cheese hauled away, and bob told them he wouldhaul it away for free. so, he got it, and he raised a bunch of hogs,and he did extremely well. when bob was just a young man, young boy,about 2-years old i think, his dad was killed

in the battle of the bulge.and so, bob never knew his father. when he bought the bank, it was an older building,and he promised the community that he would build a new bank for paris.and he built the bank. and the bank was opened on february the 20thof 2000. and he dedicated that to his father, who waskilled in the battle of the bulge. and there is a plaque at the bottom of theflagpole to commemorate that. through the bank, he has a foundation.and in that foundation, he contributes money to it every year to give to students, graduatingstudents, for scholarships. and he's been doing that since he'd boughtthe bank.

bob is a very interesting person.he's a wonderful person, somebody that you can embrace very quickly because he's justgot that outstanding personality. and paris should be, and i'm sure they are,extremely proud of what he has done for the community.[music playing] >>warren sperry: the history of the bands in paris, illinoisand edgar county have been rather successful and eventful throughout the years.i can tell you that many years ago, the band program basically started in 1938 with a gentlemanby the name of lou waterloo. mr. waterloo, it has been said, was also associatedwith the john philip sousa band. mr. waterloo came on in 1938, and i thinkwent for about 10 years to 1958, when cal

stockman came on board for approximately threeyears. and mr. waterloo was outstanding, mr. stockmanwas absolutely fabulous, followed by roger moling.and mr. moling was a great mentor to me, and he was here from, i think, basically sevenyears, from '63 on until 1968 when i arrived, as a freshman teacher right out of easternillinois university. and so, from that time we spent from 1968to basically 1999 in the program. as we were growing, we started basically,i started in '68, i think approximately about, oh, 78, 80 students.we grew to a high point of about 285 in the late 70s, early 80s, going into the 90s, andjust had so many wonderful experiences.

so, chicago bears games, we did two of those.we played for st. louis football, cardinals. countless parades in the area and competitionsout there. we also, oh my, we played for the aloha bowl,which was good, we played for the peach bowl, orange bowl, sugar bowl.a couple others, presidential inaugural parades. played for mr. reagan while he was in thearea, i played for mr. bush, played in the 1972 inaugural parade, which was so much fun.because, all these experiences were, not only were we playing for those, but we were experiencingthe culture outside of our community. and the really neatest thing of all that camefrom all of this was the fact that we as a community, we as a musical family, we as acounty came together and said oh my, what

has he done now?and we joined together as the pride and joy grew.our community took pride in our organizations. my pride and my success was not because ofme. it was because of the community, it was becauseof parents, it was because of kids. we do still refer to all those kids as ourchildren. [laughing]and i think there were approximately 400, about 4,972 kids that went through the program.mrs. sperry has tried to keep track. and out of that, we had 97 sets of kids whowere married, that were husband and wife that were in band together.and one of the things that was really neat

was the fact that i had kids in eastern'sband, i had 14 in the marching illini at one time.we were taking 18 to maybe 20 kids to imea every year, and we've had kids play abroad.and it's just been wonderful. and one of the neat things was we had theffa band. that was kids that were made up, that werein agriculture, but were also musicians. so, it was fun, but it was also musicallyformed up in a professional way. the high school band we would consider themusical ambassadors for the community. for me it was family.i mean, those kids, they are still our kids. we hollered a lot, we screamed a lot, we workedhard, and we learned work ethic.

and i think that is very, very important.and we also cried a lot. we've lost kids, and we don't, i don't givethem up very easily, okay? and so, those kids were always-- the thingabout it is they were here then, they are here now, and when they're gone they willstill be with us. and those kids were the joy of my life.they brought things to my wife and i that we didn't even anticipate or expect.and i'm so proud of them because they have went on to do better socially, professionally.and our group was kind of unusual. we accepted everyone.you didn't have to be-- had to be made like a cookie cutter.we had those who were out in left field, those

who were out in the right field, those whohad different color hair, different thoughts and aspirations.and they were still our kids, they are still part of us.i hope that someday i will be a memory that will be good for them, because their memoriesof them have been wonderful for us. [�applause�]>> live in the weiu tv studio, we're having a rocking good time tonight, because you aremaking it that way. >> we wanted to have 40 callers for the firstbreak. we had 43.>> yay! >> thank you so much!>> that's perfect.

right now, if you want to go ahead and geton the phone, we have eight people back here debating for you� waiting for you to call.if you've enjoyed the program so far, give us a call.>> we want to hit 90 as soon as we can. we need just about as many calls this breakas last break. who's going to give us a call?someone needs to kick this off. who's going to be the first person to pickup their phone? call the number at the bottom of your screenright now. for $75, you get one copy of the dvd, for120, two. >> ruth ann grew up here, she lives in kansas.robin called from brazil.

not indiana, south america.so� >> and that was arlene's sister back here.she's one of our storytellers. >> great.denise from paris, thank you so much. laura, kathy from paris, sue from paris, donna�two donnas from paris, actually. >> i have some as well.mark, rox rox an, susan, thank you so much. >> that's what makes this night worth it.you enjoy the program we're providing, and showing you support it by calling.we'll be happy to give yo you a dvd. if you need more than one� everybody needsmore than one. it's 120 or 60 for each one.>> that's right.

give us a call right now.the phones are busy. we want to thank the person who got us going.i've got someone special here in the studio with me tonight.this is mary, one of our storytellers from the first segment.mary, why did you want to tell the hog ring story?>> it's the story of my family. i'm the last of that branch.i have one second cousin living in paris, but that's it.so, we need to keep the story going. and i think the story of a hog ring is interesting.now, when i was in grade school and high school, if anybody asked what my father did, i wouldsort of� because nobody knew what a hog

ring was.and i was a bit embarrassed by it. >> not anymore.>> now i'm very proud. >> that's great.we're so glad you told us that story tonight. you have shared that with so many people thisevening. the company was a family tradition.there's a lot of people here we call family tonight.they have become our friends, they're neighbors to us, just a short distance down the road.they know a lot of people. if you know them, give them a call.all you have to do is pick up the phone. the number is at the bottom of your screen.>>�jana:�thank you.

we are so excited with how many people areon the phones. mary is needing a call right now, so if you'reone of those people that have been watching the program and you are sitting there on thecouch thinking, wow, i cannot believe that weiu did a program on paris� we also wantto let you know, we could not have done this program out 44 people from paris saying, parisis important to me, and i want to share my story.nels is here tonight. he talked about the great heart seed companyand the history of that. it's been in paris for over a hundred years.what a great, great story. we heard from the edgar county foundation.ernie eveland gym, killions honey, and christmas

for kids.great program, got to our heart. if you're looking and you want to give, let'shear from you. we'd love to have a $75 caller right now,or a 120. ke'an.>>�ke'an:�the phones are busy. you can see warren on the phone.he finished up that segment with the paris high school marching band.if you know warren, if he was your instructor, give us a call tonight.let him know you appreciate him showcasing the marching band, sharing it with the worldtonight, because that's what we're doing. we're streaming online at weiu.net.make sure our on social media, #ptios and

spread the word that we're on through theevening. we have lots more to share with you this evening.right now what we want you to do is keep these phones busy.we have just a couple of lines open right now.all you have to do is call that number at the bottom of your screen.if you feel comfortable, you can go online as well at weiu.net.one of the favorite stories a lot of people have shared is that ernie eveland gym.if you graduated from that high school, and you have several memories of that, give usa call and let us know that's a special story for you.jana.

>>�jana:�thank you.i'd like to get more callers. warren, we just heard his story about thegym. mary would love to talk to you.if you were in the paris high school gym at some point in your life, and you played forparis, we want you to call tonight. i know we have people from out of state watchingonline. where are you at?call us and let us know. the number is on the bottom of your screen.we could do a $75 gift. if you'd like two dvds or more, they're 60each. ke'an, come on in.>>�ke'an:�we've going to give shoutouts

in a minute.but, in just a few minutes, some stories are coming up.there's a special movie star from paris, illinois. and the storyteller is in the house tonight.he's sitting over in the living room section of our studio.his name is david. i'm not going to give it away.you have to stay tuned to hear that story right there.we also have pearman pharmacy, a partner of a storyteller back here.tom peppermill is on the phone. arlene brown with may fete.so many storytellers here tonight. you can tell them thank you.they're having so much fun back there.

there's david right there.he's the one that did the story about the movie star you'll hear coming up.to get a copy of all these great stories, all you have to do is call right now.these storytellers are standing by. our friends, family, neighbors down the road,they want to talk to you. >> tony called from charleston.i've known him for a long time. i had no idea he grew up in paris.he's like, i want a dvd. he's watching kids, having fun with his friends,and he wants to give back to the station that produced a wonderful program on paris.>> i'll tell you what, this is a funny little story.i had a text come in from my mom a few minutes

ago.she said, that's where my birth certificate the is.i said, what? she said, the edgar county courthouse, i wasborn in paris. my mom was born in paris.i just found that out tonight. this story's bringing out some good stories.>> there are. so many people receiving calls tonight.more thank yous? >> yes.i have marianne from paris, greg, steve, ellen, and patricia from christman.so, thank you so very much. >> thank you so much.i don't know what number we're at, but we're

trying to get up to 90, so let's keep gettingthose phones ringing. we're at 90 right now?>> woo hoo! way to go.paris is rocking the house tonight. [ cheering ]>> we're going to get those streamers going, people.>> pat from paris was number�89. gym from paris is number�90.let's give him a round of applause. [�cheering and applause�]>> i want you all to know that this is huge. we laugh when we say huge, this is so big.we have never had this many callers in the second break.so, thank you, paris!

>> that's perfect.that's wonderful. your financial support matters so much.your membership matters. it matters not only to us here at easternillinois university and weiu, it matters to paris.because you're saying thank you for this. >> this program was such an honor for weiustaff to produce. but we could not have done it if 44 peoplehasn't� hasn't said, i want to share about paris, growing up in paris, about the ernieeveland gym. if they hadn't done them, we wouldn't havebeen able to produce it. nobody else would've done this.that's what we do here.

we could not have done it without our storytellers.>> we want to thank bruce. >> let's get to a hundred right now.we've got eight people left. come on.get on the phone right now. $75, we will send you a dvd.$60 times two, that's 120. maybe you're one of those people that wantone and want to give one for a gift. we would love to take your call.>> how many of you know about paris community hospital?that story is coming up. if you have friends that work there, doctorsthat have taken such good care of you, dr. leeland is coming up with a story about that.we have jody in the house tonight.

going to tell you a story about a mentoringprogram. that's another thing we told you about.paris takes care of paris. they're taking care of weiu tonight.>> they do. what we found is, paris loves the people thatlive there. if they see a need, they're on it.that's why they're calling. this is an important program.they want to support it. that's what paris people do.>> all you have to do is tell them thank you by calling them right now.the number's at the bottom of your screen. $75 for one copy of the program, 120 for two.think about your children who may have grown

up in paris and are living somewhere elseright now. you can send a copy of that program to them.>> if you're watching right now and you have somebody living in another state, get themon weiu.net. we are streaming live.so they can enjoy all of this. >> and make sure that you're staying in tunewith social media as well, #ptios, #paristhisisourstory. and you can share that and tell them to tunein online, weiu.net. and also tag anybody you know in all of thesestories. if you're friends with them, let people knowthey're on tonight. >> we have two phones free, let's get on thephone right now.

let's make them ring.nels needs to be busy. nobody is calling him.>> oh! he's talking to people.we want to thank you for that. >> we're just kidding.mary, you want somebody to call so much, don't you?give mary a call. >> right behind the phone bank here on thewall we've got some wonderful pieces of artwork. over here behind tom and renee and kim, wehave the illinois cereal mill, which is in paris, illinois.it's been there for several years. good story about that.on the other side, we have the downtown area

of paris from many years ago.those were given to us tonight from the historical society in edgar county.so, thank you so much for that. >> both of those prints are amazing.we have people in our patio area. give us a wave, everybody over there.they are enjoying the program from that way. we have people in our control room that arehaving fun. we have people in the paris patio.the people on the phones are really having fun.they are excited that people are calling and supporting this program.>> we're excited as well. i want to give a few more thank yous.some of the artwork in that area that jana

is calling the patio came from the chamberof paris. and we have tom who is sitting right behindus, the photographer over there, he gave us some artwork tonight.memorabilia is from some of our storytellers, also.great set. we want to thank them as well.>> we are so excited people are on the phone. hey, nels is the on the phone now.if you get a busy signal� [ cheering ]>> you get a busy signal, just keep on calling. we'd love to be able to talk to you.we are excited. if you have somebody you want to talk to,just let the phone operator know, i want to

talk to mary, or agnes.we will switch. >> your support is so important.it is blowing the roof off the studio tonight. i tell you what, there is excitement in here.we're rolling with happiness. we're thrilled to death.these storytellers couldn't be more thrilled that you're calling in right now with yourpledge of support and saying thank you so much for showcasing paris.>> april called. her mom was a may fete queen.that's amazing. dawn, thank you so much for calling from paris.and someone calling from christman� bob. thank you, bob.>> christman is a neighbor of paris.

we have some people in the house from christmantonight. we want to thank everyone called from allover the united states. we had a call from texas earlier.>> south america. if you're watching online� i know i havea couple of friends out of the state watching� be sure to give us a call.or you can go online and pledge your gift of support, too.>> vicki from paris just called and said the program is amazing.if you're like her� she called and said, i want to support the programming on weiuthat is all about paris. so, thank you so much, vicki.if you're one of those people that are sitting

there right now, you've been watching allnight, but you haven't picked up that phone, mow is the time.>> if you're learning from this program tonight because it's all about local history, we havea gentleman in the house tonight, he's one of our storyteller's husbandtion.he attended the premier last week, just for the storytellers.he said i've lived in paris all my life, i learned so much about my town.he was thankful for that. if you're doing the same thing tonight, sittingat home learning so much about paris that you didn't know and you grew up here, makesure you call in and say thank you. and have a piece of that history.>> we love when you call and we can give a

shoutout to you.we have heard from so many people from paris, but we've heard from people from other communities,as well, that probably called paris home at one point in time.>> we've done different programs on different towns.there's mary and her husband right there. thank you so much for being here.we've done programs on different towns. we're going to continue doing programs onmore towns, as long as it's successful just like tonight is.if you want to showcase your town, we want you to show us the support tonight so we cancontinue doing the tradition. >> we've got a couple phone lines unbusy.we have warren.

they're switching.they're confusing us now. but either way, the phone number is on thebottom of your screen. we would love to hear from you.we are excited about paris: this is our story. >> i have more thank yous.i have kathy, sharon, frank, and jim, all from paris tonight.thank you so much for calling in. >> we are so thrilled that you are going tothe phone and calling. paris is a special, special place.>> it very much is. and we're having a super time tonight.as you can see back there on the monitor, every time the phone� or the camera goesback there, it says paris: this is our story

and they have 44 stories to share with youtonight. and we mentioned at the very top of the program,their zip code is 61944, which matches, at the very end, with the number of storytellers.>> that's kind of cool, isn't it? >> very cool.>> to have 44 storytellers� that's the most we've ever had in our series.and tonight they're already breaking records of how many people that are calling.so let's keep it up! >> i'm so proud of paris.and i'm so proud to have so many friends over there that are here in the studio tonight.we have several more stories. we will get back to the program momentarily.right now, we're having so much fun that you

are calling in and sharing that gift of supportwith weiu. >> we are thrilled that you're calling.$75, we'd be happy to send you a dvd. two is 120, beyond that, $60 each.we've had people calling at the 120 level saying they're going to give one to theirmom and dad. they grew up in paris.>> absolutely. we're timely on getting the dvds to you.if you're looking to give them as a birthday, mother's day, graduation, they will be available.make sure you think about that. if you have someone that's hard to buy forand you know they appreciate local history, right now is the place to get that gift forthem.

>> we have a couple phone operators.warren is still waiting. he's waiting for someone to call him.if you love paris. >> call warren!>> if you are a band member in the past, warren needs to hear from you right now.who's going to be the next person to call warren?trumpet player? tubas, we don't care what you play.flute, clarinet, how about drums? call warren.>> it'll work. tonight is all about making music and showcasingparis. right there.paris tigers.

if you went to paris high school, if you grewup in paris, went to any of the schools� we have a story about that later� give usa call. >> there was a story earlier about the twinlakes. and she had talked about driving down therewith her honey, marking and watching the waves on the lake.wasn't that cool? >> there's lots of memories to be shared tonightthrough paris. lots of memories that you're going to be havingafter you watch tonight's program. and we want to make sure that you are lettingus know what those memories are by calling in.i have more thank yous here.

michelle buchman?but� buchanan, sorry. grew up in paris, she has been calling othertigers. thank you for doing that.we also have jim from paris and� i'm not sure about this one.pardon me? >> we want you to watch it tonight.it's going to be repeated tonight after we end.and it'll also be airing this weekend. we'll double check and get back to you onthe time. >> absolutely.right now, we're going to make sure� warren's got a call.>> he is busy answering the phone.

i'm sure it's somebody that knows him.>> warren knows a lot of people. >> he does.>> he's brought a lot of people to us through this program.we're thrilled about that. >> we're getting close to our hundred mark.if we could get a hundred people in this break, come on.we would definitely break a record. >> we have a note coming in.rob, come on in. >> we are reairing this program saturday at3:30�p.m. and sunday at 7:00�p.m. we want you to call tonight.>> absolutely. every time this airs, we're going to streamit online at weiu.

so if you do have friends and family thatlive elswhere, outside of the viewing area, they can tune in online, as well.>> thank you so much for calling. keep on calling.we love it when we get the excitement going in here.are we ready to go back to the program? >> i think we're going to let these peopletake their phone calls. there are lots of people who want copies ofthis. we know you want to get back to the show.we will do that momentarily. right now, nels and kim are on the phone.tom is waiting. we've got mary waiting as well.and i'll tell you what, this is what really

matters tonight, is showing your pledge ofsupport. >> we have pat from indianapolis, thank you.kristen from paris, pat and susan from paris, nancy from oakland� thank you, nancy.janet from paris, sally from paris, and bob from paris.thank you so much. every call matters.>> it does. and all you have to do is call right now.$75 gets you one copy of the program. 120 gets you two copies, so you can keep onefor yourself, give one away, or think about those people that you want to give gifts for.we've mentioned this all night long. lots of holidays coming up.if your mom grew up in paris, that would be

a great gift to give for mother's day.>> if you ever laid foot in ernie eveland gym, that's where we interviewed our storytellers.as somebody that has never been in there, there's a feeling about that gym.it is nostalgic. you can just feel the pride in paris there.and that was such a cool thing for us to do, to experience ernie eveland gym.>> i tell you what. i think ernie speaks to you when you're inthat gym. we were having a rough time one day.i took a walk around the gym, to the center of it.i was standing in the tiger. i looked up.there was ernie.

it said something on the flag about showingpride and getting through. and i'll tell you what, i'm telling you, there'ssomething spiritual about that gym over there. >> and people in paris do have pride.and that's the great thing about a program like this.perfect timing for people to get on board, support paris, support local.paris is a great community. >> and we have some more thank yous.we have greg and sherry from paris, laurie from paris, and david says, we need more trumpetsto call. the trumpet section is being called out tonight.call warren. >> call warren right now.if you're one of the paris band members, what

a great story.and, gosh, everybody knows warren. so let's see who else we've got here.>> you know what, there's a lot of people that know mary.she's been around. her family has been around for a long time.nels knows a lot of people. he had a great story.>> let's� >> people are calling to talk to their friendstonight. >> that's absolutely fine.anything goes here. if you want to call and talk to somebody specific,absolutely do that. somebody is calling now.hopefully somebody is answering the phone.

it's crazy back there.>> we have great stories coming up. ely lily, pearman pharmacy, the hospital,may fete, and perk, and the movie star that is pretty famous, and david is excited aboutsharing that. so stay tuned for more.we're going to be here in the studio. keep calling us, whether we're on or on break.we're going to be here to take your call. stay tuned for more paris: this is our story.[�cheering and applause�] [�applause�]