Truck driver robbed at Peru truck stop

It’s what you hope will never happen to you in a parking lot- a truck driver says he was approached by a man and robbed while at Sapp Brothers in Peru.
Police say it happened shortly after 4:30am Friday. The truck driver told police he had gotten out of his semi and was approached from behind and had a weapon placed on the back of his head.
The robber made off with cash and personal items.
Police are looking for a white man, in his late 20’s, about six foot tall, weighting about 170 pounds. He had short dark hair and a slight mustache. He was wearing dark clothes.

Woman Behind A Kidnapping And Beating Back To Jail

A woman out on probation for playing a role in kidnapping and beating an L-P student is back behind bars.

Cassidy Neff of Depue was sentenced to 180 days in jail today after admitting she violated probation by getting arrested for DUI and unlawful consumption of alcohol. Once out of jail, Neff will be on probation until July, 2012.

Neff was given 100 days in jail last year because she played a lesser role in the kidnapping and humiliation than did Alyssa Walzer of Utica and Tabitha Smiley of Princeton. The three apparently threw another teen girl in a van, roughed her up, shaved part of her hair and left her chained to a tree along the I and M Canal.

The incident allegedly happened because Walzer thought she got an STD after the victim slept with her boyfriend.

ASFCME members to protest Horizon House

Be upset with the state, not with Horizon House, that’s the feeling of Horizon House Director of Development Carol Fesco. She’s responding to employees that plan to protest outside of the Peru Plank Road location because workers are upset with how layoffs have been handled.
The employees are members of AFSCME. They announced yesterday they would stage a mock funeral in protest of what they say was Horizon House’s failure to bargain with the employees union.
Horizon House gave layoff notices to over a dozen direct-care workers last month. Fesco says they’re facing major state funding cuts.
She says the budget signed this week includes at least a 14 percent cut to social services. She’s not sure yet how they will be specifically affected.
Fesco says they’ve followed the union contract.
Employees are expected to begin their protest at 11am.

New 911 system needed in Oglesby

Thanks in part to Mother Nature, city officials in Oglesby are looking at buying a new 911 system.
The Oglesby Police Station was hit by lightning in early May, knocking out the 911 service for a few days. Oglesby’s calls were transferred to Peru during the time it was out of service.
Public Safety Commissioner Tom Porter says they’re in the early stages of checking into prices for a new system but he thinks he could be in the ballpark of $150,000 to $200,000. The money would come from the city’s 911 Board.
Even if the lightning strike wouldn’t have happened, Porter says the equipment was going on 20 years so it was about time to get something new.

Volunteers needed for Granville Habitat project

Habitat for Humanity could use your helping hands Saturday morning.
Habitat officials need volunteers to help put up the walls at a new house in Granville. The address is 6 Filmore Circle. It’s in the Lincolnshire Subdivision across from Putnam County High School.
If you can help, meet up at the work site around 8:30 tomorrow morning. Lunch will be provided so call Duane Carpenter from Habitat if you can come.
You don’t have to be a skilled laborer to help.