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Lincoln Laureates for 2013

Saturday night, 6 Illinoisans with ties to the Quad Cities will be honored as Lincoln laureates. At Augustana College, the Lincoln Academy will honor this year's recipients of the state's highest honor, the Order of Lincoln.

Thomas Johnson, the academy's chancellor, says so far more than 300 notable Illinois residents have received the Lincoln Award, including Ronald Reagan, Mike Royko, Adlai Stevenson and Ernie Banks.

The six include: Brenda Barnes, a graduate of Augustana College who served as ceo of both Pepsi and Sara Lee, Doctor Timothy Johnson is also an Augustana alumnus and has served as ABC News medical editor, Augustana geology professor, William Hammer, who discovered the first dinosaur in Antarctica is on the list as well, so is retired Deere and Company president and ceo, Bob Lane, and the founder of the Group O Companies, Bob Ontiveros. The sixth new Lincoln laureate is Chad Pregracke a Quad Cities resident who has organized river clean-ups along many major rivers.

The ceremony will be held at 6 pm Saturday at Centennial Hall in Rock Island and the public is welcome.

(the new Lincoln Laureates are (l to r top row) Brenda Barnes, William Hammer, Doctor Timothy Johnson,
(bottom l to r) Bob Lane, Bob Ontiveros, Chad Pregracke)