Monday, November 23, 2009 East Central Illinois

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The Answer Book 2005

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The superlatives keep coming

BY MICHAEL HOWIE
© 2009 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
    Greetings from East Central Illinois, a land of superlatives.
   As educated as you probably are - see Julie Wurth's story - you already know that "superlative" has more than one meaning.
   It can mean something that's really good, and you''ll find plenty of that in these pages.
   It can also mean, in a grammatical sense, the extreme of something: the hottest, the coldest, the most, the least and so on. There''s lots of that in here, too.
   If you've been living here for a while, you''ll find plenty that is familiar in these pages, but we think you''ll also find plenty to entertain.
   If you''ve just arrived, we hope this book helps inform you about the place you''ve decided to call home.
   We'll tell you about the facts of life here the schools, property taxes, the weather.
   And we''ll tell you about the less tangible, but no less real, facts of living here the art scene, the richness of wine and beer offerings, even some things college students have done that might make you doubt just how smart a place this is.
   And we'll let the mayors of Champaign and Urbana talk about what they particularly like about their towns.
   Enjoy.

The Answer Book Next
2005 Answerbook
story