The Lincoln Forum Essay Contest for College Students 

February 12, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln Forum, an organization that seeks to enhance the understanding and preserve the memory of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, is offering an essay contest for college students. The contest is designed for students who are full time students in and American college or university during the Spring 2008 semester. The topic is "Lincoln at 200: still relevant?" Students are asked to answer the question "What relevance, if any, does Lincoln's life and accomplishments have to the challenges faced by today's generation?" Deadline for entries is July 31, 2008, and first prize is $1,000. For more information, please visit www.thelincolnforum.org.

*72 Phone Scam

An Elgin resident was almost a victim of this, please be advised and warn others:

You receive a call from a stranger posing as a telephone technician or telling you that he has been arrested for driving with a suspended license and is in jail or is in a situation that requires immediate help. "I need to reach my wife and tell her what happened so she can pick up our two kids. Would you dial *72 and then her number?"

Star-7-2 is a custom feature for call forwarding. When the customer dials *72 followed by a telephone number, it activates the call forwarding feature causing all your incoming calls to ring to another number. At the end of the other line, whether calls have been forwarded to a landline, a cell phone, or a payphone, the original caller's partner-in-crime is able to accept all collect and third party calls, while telling your own legitimate callers that they have the wrong number. You get billed for all calls made because your number is the one from which they are forwarded. This ingenious scam, which even overrides cell phones inability to get collect calls, may go on for several days before you become aware it has occurred.