Animal Rights Group Mad At Streator High

A donkey basketball game at Streator High School has drawn the ire of the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.

PETA issued a press release Friday calling on citizen’s to contact Streator administrators and urge them to cancel the event.  PETA calls donkey basketball a “cruel event”.  They want it replaced with something not involving animals.

PETA claims donkeys used in basketball games are often dragged, kicked or hit by stray balls and sometimes seriously hurt in falls.  They also allege the donkeys are denied proper exercise, food and water before games so they don’t go to bathroom during the event and that they’re extremely stressed with the noise from the crowd.

Streator High still plans on holding the game Wednesday at 7.  There’s competitions between seniors and SHS staff along with local educators versus community leaders.

College Taking Up Haiti Relief Effort

Students at Illinois Valley Community College are chipping in when it comes to raising money for the earthquake relief effort in Haiti.

IVCC’s International Club, Transformed Christian Student Organization and Phi Theta Kappa will be set up in the lobby Tuesday collecting donations for the American Red Cross Relief Effort to Haiti.

They’ll be there from 8a.m. to 4p.m.  The money they collect will go directly to the American Red Cross Relief Fund in Haiti.

Heroin Arrest In Ottawa

A search warrant Thursday night in Ottawa turns into an alleged drug bust.

Ottawa’s Narcotics Unit carried out a search warrant in the 1300 block of West Lafayette Street, or the home of Tiffany Goetz and Gary Rohr.  While in the house, investigators say they found 54 bags of heroin weighing around 4.5 grams.

Goetz was arrested for the drugs, charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.  Rohr was arrested for the misdemeanor offense of resisting a police officer.

Winter Wilderness Weekend and late firearm season this weekend

Hiking doesn’t have to be a warm-weather only activity.  Thousands of visitors are expected to hit the trails at Starved Rock and Mathiessen State Parks for Winter Wilderness Weekend.

Guided hikes leave the Starved Rock Visitors’ Center at 9am and 1pm Saturday and Sunday.  There will also be cross-country skiing at Mathiessen Park.

Park supervisor Tom Levy says it’s also late winter firearm season, but the main parts of Starved Rock will be open for hiking.

Levy says Winter Wilderness Weekend normally draws between 2,000-5,000 visitors.