Chief

The University Police Department will be seeing a new face on the staff if the appointment for Chief of Police and executive director of the Division of Public Safety is approved by the Board of Trustees at their Nov. 13 meeting.

If the appointment of Barbara O'Connor is approved, then she will begin her job as University Police Chief in January 2009.

Chief Illiniwek has not performed since Feb. 21, 2007, but Monday, the Council of Chiefs announced a new person to fill the role of the 37th Chief Illiniwek.

The council held tryouts Sunday in Gibson City to choose the next chief and assistant chief. A group of three former chiefs chose Logan Ponce, junior in Engineering, as the 37th Chief Illiniwek and Rob Zaldivar, sophomore in LAS, as assistant chief.

An emergency medical call placed at approximately 2:30 a.m. this morning drew emergency response vehicles to the Illinois Street Residence Halls, 1010 W. Illinois St.

"It was for a patient that was asleep on the bus and had fallen," said Tony Foster, division chief of the Urbana Fire Department.

In the dark of night, the Board killed the Chief - or so they think.

Regardless of whether people are pro-Chief or anti-Chief or, like me, ambivalent-Chief, the devious manner in which the board murdered the maligned but adored symbol of the University should foster a sense of unease and suspicion.

Photos and Text By Beck Diefenbach, Photo editor PART ONE: This two-part series, about the Carroll Fire Protection District, 1811 N. Brownfield Rd. in Urbana, attempts to display the courage and philanthropy of the family that is this fire protection district.

Chief Illiniwek takes a deep breath, waiting for the band. He stands in an empty hall outside Huff gym, arms crossed over his chest, feathers trailing down his back. He lightly taps his bare feet in the double step he has danced for 80 years, as inside the gym orange-clad students line his path to center court.

Three Urbana firefighters were awarded commendations of valor Wednesday afternoon for their role in the rescue of three Urbana apartment dwellers from a fire two months ago.

Members of the rescuing unit and members of their families assembled at Urbana's main fire station at 400 S.

The former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller, will speak today on the changing role of American Indian women at 7 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center.

Growing up in the rural community of Mankiller Flats in Adair County, Okla.