The little guys and gals had hadrnenough. Three hundred and forty-sevenrnproperty owners signed the petition —arnfull 63 percent; the statute required onlyrn51 percent. Still, Mayor Box would notrnconcede. The city, which had declaredrnthe number of properhes in the taxingrndistrict to be 550, hired a local title companyrn(paradoxically named Chicago Title)rnto research the owners-of-record.rnConcerned Property Owners, suspectingrnthat the city was attempting to invalidaternthe petition by increasing the number ofrnsignatures needed, filed an intent to suernthe city.rnFinally, on September 15, 45 days afterrnthe petition was submitted, MayorrnBox announced that Chicago Title hadrnfound 655 properties in the proposed district.rnAfter disallowing 13 alleged duplicaternsignatures, the city claimed that thernpetition organizers had garnered onlyrn50.992 percent, “ever so slightly short”rn(in Ron Schultz’s words) of the 51 percentrnneeded. Nonetheless, Mayor Boxrnannounced, he would not submit therntaxing district to the county board forrnapproval. How magnanimous.rnThe little guys had won. The taxingrndistrict proposal was dead. And in theirrnlast, desperate attempt to save face. MayorrnBox and City Attorney Schultz hadrnended up with egg on theirs.rnBut broader questions still remain.rnWas the proposed Superfund tax districtrnsimply business as usual, in which the averagernman has to pay for the transgressionsrnof the powerful? Was this “solution”rna model for resolving Superfundrnsites in the rest of Illinois, or even acrossrnthe country? Watch Rockford; as we go,rnso goes the nation.rnAs Robert Frost wrote: “My object inrnliving is to unite / my avocation and myrnvocation / as my two eyes make one inrnsight.” We here in Rockford work hardrnat our vocations every day. Our avocationrn—the avocation of everyone inrnAmerica—will have to be the resolutionrnto resist, to fight those battles in whichrnthe mighty seem destined to win. Thernmighty did win here in Rockford: notrnMayor Box, City Attorney Schultz, thernChamber of Commerce, and the PRPs;rnbut Mai Anderburg, Clen Ekberg,rnMary Ann Aiello, Chris Bowman,rnLuther Landon, Jim Hess, Tom Ping,rnBelle Zyla, and many others I haven’trnmentioned. They sacrificed, theyrnfought, and they won. You can do thernsame in your town.rnFrank Schier is the editor and pubUsherrnof the Rock River Times, a weekly newspaperrnin Rockford.rnN.rn”The ‘^egnery lecturesrnamed in honor of Rockford Institute board member and longtime supporter Henry Regnery, this seriesrncaptures for posterity the voices and words of important cultural and political figures.rnEach tape costs $12.50, shipping and handling charges included.rn• “Let My People Go! Returning Self-Rule to Rockford” featuring Thomas Fleming and U.S.rnCongressman Don Manzullo on the Rockford school desegregation lawsuitrn• “The Floundering Free Society, or Wisdom Vanquished by Expertise” by John Howardrn• “Fighting and Winning the Culture War: Reports from Three Fronts”rnfeaturing Allan Carlson on Family, Harold O.J. Brown on Religion, Thomas Fleming on Culturern• “What Ever Happened to Civilization?” by John Howardrn• “The Rockford Institute’s Twentieth Anniversary Dinner” featuring Chilton Williamson, Jr.,rnon “It Takes an Institute” Harold O.J. Brown on “Western Civilization Between Chaos andrnTransformation^ and Allan Carlson’s “Reflections at Twenty Years”rn• “To Hell With Culture: What Is It That We Must Conserve?” by John Lukacsrn• “Should Conservatives Leave the Republican Party?”—a debate betweenrnHoward Phillips and David KeenernQuantityrnL^rnNo. OF TAPES X$ 12.50 PER TAPE = $rnJiamern^flddrcssrnSend ad with check or money order, payable to “The ‘{{pckford Institute,” to The “Regnery Xectures,rnThe ‘Kfickford Institute, 928 X Main St., •tjockford, IJj 61103-7061rnlANUARY 1998/35rnrnrn