APRIL IS LIMB Awareness Month, and Quincy resident LuAnn Kleemeyer is drawing attention to amputees — there are over 2 million Americans living with limb loss.

Almost five years ago a track hoe not properly chained down fell off a trailer and landed on Kleemeyer, taking her right leg and forever changing her life.

LuAnn started a local amputee support group. She’s learned how to swim for exercise and will be getting an associate’s degree in Psychology from John Wood Community College in May. In August she starts at Quincy University to get her bachelor’s degree.

“On April 2, President Obama declared April as Limb Loss Awareness Month, and I am adding my  voice to others supporting the Amputee Coalition to draw attention to this worthy cause,” LuAnn says. “Our hope is that the next time you see someone walking on a  prosthetic leg or reaching for something with a prosthetic hand, we ask you to recognize the challenges that we face every day.”

Facts about limb loss:
— Among those living with limb loss, the main causes are vascular  disease (54 percent), trauma (45 percent) and cancer (less than 2 percent).
— Approximately 185,000 amputations occur in the United States each year.
— In 2009, hospital costs associated with amputation totaled more than  $8.3 billion.
— Nearly half of the individuals who have an amputation due to vascular disease will die within five years. This is higher than the five-year mortality rates for breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate  cancer.
— Of persons with diabetes who have a lower extremity amputation, up to 55 percent will require amputation of the second leg within two to three years.

For more information, click here.

A NUMBER OF things stood out after the 4th Appellate District hearings at Quincy University Wednesday. Click here for our story.

The first was how great the courtroom looked and what a huge plus this is for QU. The new courtroom and the Prelaw Center with computers and a conference room being built next to it are big recruiting tools for the university.

QU Political Science professor Brian Borlas beamed with pride after the event and said only two or three non-law school colleges have a mock trial courtroom like QU’s.

“This will bring in 10 to 15 students alone and pay for itself,” Borlas said. “In the long term, we’ll profit from it.”

Borlas said students were passing notes and talking with each other between the two oral arguments, critiquing the attorneys and judges. Getting to see it for themselves is invaluable and will make a lasting impression on the students.

The biggest difference between the appellate process and the regular circuit trial court is the exchanges between judges and attorneys. Judges Robert Cook, John Turner and Carol Pope were not shy in questioning attorneys about legal points and intent, and attorneys were constantly challenged to better explain their arguments.

“My first few years doing this I used to get nervous,” said Appellate Prosecutor Anastacia Brooks, a 1991 Quincy Notre Dame High School graduate who has worked as an appellate prosecutor since 2005. “Now I’m a little more used to it. It definitely becomes more challenging to respond to questioning like that.”

Exchanges between judges and attorneys at the circuit level is normally brief and to the point, depending on the hearing or what is at stake. More than a few times I’ve seen attorneys get defensive and show their displeasure with either the judge or their counterpart in the case, and it almost always backfires. There are a few attorneys around here who should be required to attend an appellate hearing to see how it’s done.

Finally, there’s the issue of cameras in the courtroom. Appellate Court has had cameras for many years, but the circuit court is just now entertaining the notion, with trial programs being set up across the state. Presiding Adams County Judge Scott Walden and 8th Judicial Circuit Presiding Judge Dennis Greenlief were in the courtroom Wednesday and saw how it works, as both video and still photography was allowed by the media.

Pope said she saw the cameras when she first came in, but “forgot about them” as the hearings progressed.

“As long as there is no flash, I don’t see a problem with them,” she said.

All in all, it was a great experience, and kudos to Quincy University for putting it all together.

THIS IS NATIONAL Crime Victim’s Rights Week, a time when we recognize people who often get lost in our criminal justice system. Click here for my Tuesday column about the week. I mentioned several Illinois victim/witness coordinators, and was remiss by not recognizing Marion County’s coordinator, Tysa Coleman.

In Hannibal, Judge Rachel Bringer will allow victims to address defendants at sentencings, at it can be riveting stuff.

“Sometimes it’s very forgiving, sometimes it’s not,” says Marion County Prosecutor Tom Redington. “It surprises me, how understanding some victims can be.
“It’s therapeutic, well thought out and understanding, and it has a big impact on some defendants.”

A recent exampled involved a young man who pleaded guilty to property damage. At the sentencing, a man who’s vehicle had a broken windshield addressed the defendant.

He talked about the broken windshield, how it meant he couldn’t drive his car, and he couldn’t pick up his grandchildren for a visit.

Maybe it registered, maybe it didn’t, but at least it puts an emotional face to what crime does and how it effects people.

TODAY IS THE 14th birthday of my niece, Brooke Sanderson, who lives in Raleigh, N.C.

Fourteen? Are you kidding me?

Whenever I see parents with young children who are a bit harried, I tell them not to blink because pretty soon they’ll be all grown up and long gone. Case in point – the 6-foot-2 junior at Western Illinois, who is about to be a senior. It seems like yesterday when we brought her back from the hospital after she was born.

Here’s an awesome YouTube clip showing just how quickly the kids do grow up ….

SOMETIMES IT DOESN’T matter what makes you laugh.

Happy Monday!

BEST OF LUCK to Ashley and the gang from Hy-Vee at this Sunday’s event. Here’s to hoping they have great weather! Look for our story in The Whig Thursday.

It's a great spring morning for the Fifth Street Crawl!

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL spring morning in Quincy. Sometimes stepping back (and forward) makes you appreciate it.

I walk a lot downtown, like this morning to WGEM’s studios for our Tuesday morning You Can’t Make It Up segment on NewsTalk Live 105.1 FM. Click here for the segment. I also enjoy walking over to the local coffee shop and to the Adams County Courthouse. Aside from the general striding into poles or slipping on my keester when it’s icy, the “Fifth Street Shuffle” is enjoyable.

A good walk clears the mind, is good for your heart and just makes you feel better in general. Best of all, you don’t have to be mechanically inclined. You just put one foot forward.

It works every time!

IF YOU ARE a hockey fan, this is the best time of year as the NHL playoffs get underway.

Last night I was watching the Los Angeles Kings play a home game against the Vancouver Canucks. A few hours earlier the Lakers had a home game in the Staples Center. How the heck did they tear down the court so quickly and get the ice ready?

Click here for the very cool L.A. Times blog time-lapse video.

HARD TO BELIEVE Sunday is the five-year anniversary of the fire which killed five young Quincy children.

It was April 15, 2007. I woke up on a beautiful Sunday morning and was trying to decide how to best take advantage of it. Then the phone rang, and I got the tip about the fire.

I remember going over there and the utter shock and horror still on the faces of people who lived near 428 N. Seventh. By afternoon a suspect had been identified and rumors were flying fast and furious.

That night there was a press conference at City Hall with Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley, Fire Chief Scott Walker and others. Outside council chambers, a woman who said she was the grandmother of Zachary Meeks, the young man accused of setting the fire, was muttering and complaining about her son being arrested.

I distinctly remember her saying the Quincy Fire Department didn’t respond in time to the fire, didn’t care about getting there in time. I listened to her babble on for a few minutes, then walked away before I got mad.

I remember asking Chief Walker and others if the firefighters were all right, if they wanted to talk for some of the stories were were doing. I was advised it might be better to wait, and it was understandable.

In our story appearing in The Herald-Whig Saturday (click here), we talk to the two firefighters who were there that night, who risked their lives entering the burning building, who found the children dead in the house, and how they coped. It’s the first time Quincy Fire Lts. Demond Dade and Chris Bichsel are talking publicly about what they experienced. Make sure you check out www.whig.com for H-W photographer Michael Kipley’s awesome video interview with the two men.

We remember a horrible day in Quincy, the man who eventually pleaded guilty to murder, the funeral for the five children, and what happened to their parents.

It was a sad time, something nobody who lived here will ever forget.

POOR PANDA. I get exact same reaction when I get introduced at gatherings.