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Dax Locke was diagnosedwith acute myeloid leukemiawhen he was 13 months old.Because o his love or brightChristmas lights, and a doc-tors prognosis that he prob-ably would not make it to seeChristmas last year, Washing-ton residents rallied to put up

their lights around Thanksgiving to show their support or

Dax and the Locke amily.Just our days ater the holiday that sparked worldwide

attention, 2-year-old Dax Locke o Washington, died peace-ully. His visitation at Crossroads United Methodist ChurchJan. 3 allowed amily and riendsto cherish and celebrate Daxs lie.

People at the visitation laughedat photos o a 6-month-old Daxdressed in a Santa costume andvideos showing his love o dancingand playully barking along withdogs.

The 12th annual Cherry Festivalwas cut short in June ater torna-does and severe thunderstormsbattered the Peoria area.

Workers and patrons were

ushered to saety ater the NationalWeather service reported a con-

rmed tornado near Germantown Hills. Other than theweather, the Chamber still said it was a successul event.

A plan to improve theoverall appearance o theIllinois Route 8 corridorwas adopted by both theWashington and East Peo-ria City Council in 2010.

The streetscape plan includes lighting, morelandscaping around city welcome signs, pockets olandscaping with benches and a network o signsdirecting people to key places like churches, parksand downtown areas.

Oicials rom Washington and East Peoria alsojoined orces to work toward a plan to extend Sum-mit Drive to Business Route 24.

Singer and songwriter, Mat-thew West wrote his hit-singleOne Last Christmas to honorDax Locke, his amily and theWashingtonians who rallied totheir side last December.

He will perorm a benet concert or the amily and therest o Washington Dec. 30 at Five Points.

Washington Community HighSchool superintendent Dr. JamesDunnan insisted that WCHS was nota ailing school in October, despite notmaking the Adequate Yearly Progressin the 2009-10 school year.

According to the No Child Let Behind requirements,WCHS needed 77.5 percent o all 276 juniors to meet orexceed scores, but only 63-plus percent did.

A dierent group o students is tested each year, Dun-nan said. Student growth rom one year to the next is neverassessed.

Average ACT scores at WCHS are more than a ull pointhigher than the average high schools score in the state oIllinois.

Dunnan also noted his high graduation rate o 97.6percent, saying that 85 percent enroll in college the ollowingsemester.

We are committed to helping our students be successuland will maintain this commitment regardless o the actthat we have been given a ailing designation.

Eleven-year-old Nicholas Rogershad an awesome heart. That is whatdoctors at OSF Saint Francis told hisparents Kay and Pam Rogers andChristine and Marty Johnson, all oWashington.

That awesome heart gave thechance o lie to a 12-year-old boy inWisconsin.

Ater an asthma attack stopped his breathing or morethan 45 minutes June 20, signicant brain damage occurred.Ater later being declared clinically brain dead, his parentspulled together and decided to donate his organs throughGit o Hope, a non-prot organ and tissue donation coordi-nating organization.

Through the organization, the boy in Wisconsin receivedhis heart, a 14-year-old boy re-ceived his liver and others wouldreceive his kidneys and pancreas,while his lungs were donated orscientic research.

About 75 zombies rom Washingtonand East Peoria showed up or EastPeorias rst zombie walk Oct.8. Moaning, slouching andcovered with ake blood, thesepeople walked the downtownstreets or about an hour.

The Motorcycle Miracle Missionmade a pit stop at Kimplings ACEHardware in June. The ride, whichlasted three days and spanned morethan 600 miles, raised money and awareness or the Chil-drens Miracle Network.

In total, there were 15 bikers on theride, who with the help o ACE Hard-ware stores across the country, raisemore than $100,000 annually or thecharity, through the ride alone.

Maria Taylor, the owner

and executive che o Marias,changed her menu ater learn-ing the rustration individualswith special dietary needs havewhen going out to eat.

Maria opened the restaurantat 306 Peoria St. in 2008 withher husband Bob, but ater

learning she had ood allergies and couldnt eat gluten, eggsor dairy, she came up with a gluten-ree menu or others thatare in her boat. The menu now includes reduced at, pointcounting, heart-healthy and gluten-ree selections.

Dick McLaughlin receivedmore than 100 pints o bloodthroughout his six-year ghtwith multiple myeloma, a bonemarrow cancer, which took hislie in February.

During his ght, when askedwhat others could do to help

him, McLaughlin selfessly thought o all o those pints oblood and asked that his riends and amily hold a drive toreplenish the blood that was used to extend his lie. He re-ceived more than 100 blood transusions between Novembero 2009 and February 2010.

We elt it was important to pay the Red Cross back or

all o the blood that they gave him, his daughter, Roxy Barrsaid.

On June 14, which was World BloodDonor Day, McLaughlins amily alongwith members o the Evangelical UnitedMethodist Church, held a blood drive atFive Points in hopes o having 100 units oblood donated inMcLaughlins memory.

Dr. Paul Kinsinger, co-oundero Illini Family Medicine, came upwith a product to treat toe ungus,called Piggy Paste. Unlike othertreatments which are ingested,Piggy Paste is a vinegar solution theconsumer can apply directly to thearea. It can be purchased at Lindys Downtown Market.

Most expansiveMost memorable Most Inspiring

2010was most impressive

Most famous Most innovative Most missed

INSIDE

Around Town ...........2A

Opinion ................... 4A

Sports .................. 1-2B

Socity .................... 4B

Oituaris .............. 5A

Classifds .............. 5B

A yar i rvi

Most charitable

Most encouraging Most unique

Sarah Palin speaks at Five Points Piggy Paste

Organ donor gives life

Giving blood for a bigger cause

Weather cutsCherry Festival short

One Last Christmas

Editors note: The end-of-the year retrospective is a tried and true tradition in journalism. But, it is also predict-able. So, to make things a little more interesting we are going to look back on 2010 as a year of mosts mostunique, most missed, etc. We hope you enjoy. Brandon Schatsiek, news editor Washington Times-Reporter

Sarah Palin touched onseveral political issues dur-ing her hour-long keynoteaddress at Five Points April17, including energy indepen-dence, oreign policy, healthcare and the economy.

Ater spending the day inEast Peoria and the sur-rounding area, Palin declaredCentral Illinois to be a melt-ing pot, a representation ogood, hard-working, unpre-tentious Americans.

More than 1,000 people took in the speech thattook several jabs at President Obama and his admin-istration, ollowed by a 30-minute question-and-an-swer session where she advised women interested inbeing involved in politics to be prepared to deal withall the double standards.

Zombies Unite in EP

Motorcyle MiraclesDunnan: Washington H.S. NOT failing

Saying Goodbye, much too soon

Your Hometown News Since 1840 www.WashingtonTimesReporter.com Vol. 170 No. 52

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