La Salle officials wonder what to do about tall grass and weeds

You spend a good half an hour a week mowing and trimming your yard, but some of your neighbors may not.  People not mowing their lawns is a problem in every town.

In La Salle, they’re wondering what they could do differently to keep yards trimmed.

Alderman Diz Demes says they need to go harder on people who let their yards go.  He brought it up at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

The city has been sending notices to property owners and the police have been leaving tags on doors, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much good.  Property owners have two weeks to respond to complaints from the city and by then the grass is even higher.  Some of the homes are in foreclosure.

City employees have been cutting yards and the banks being charged, but city officials say they’re to short staffed to continue that practice.

One idea is to hire a commercial lawn service and then bill the banks.

City attorney Jim McPhedran is going to review the ordinance.  More discussion could follow at a later council meeting.

Congresswoman uses Oglesby stop to talk about veterans

Legislation affecting veterans and their families was the topic at a local stop for Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson.  The democrat was joined by Ronald Miner, the Vice President of Paralyzed Veterans of American at the Oglesby American Legion Tuesday.

Both talked about what two bills backed by Halvorson mean to veterans that have disabilities.  One bill, the Disabled Veterans Health Care Fairness Act eliminates or reduces copays for veterans that have catastrophic disabilities.  The other, the Wounded Warriors Caregiver Assistance Act, provides support for family members that are left to care for their veteran.

About a dozen people were on hand including Oglesby American Legion Commander Bruce Farneti.  Halvorson faces Republican challenger Adam Kinzinger in November.

Crash Injures Two Men From Earlville

Investigators say that as Ronald Hutchinson and his passenger Nathan Smith were stopped in traffic on Route 30, Lori Bennett of Creve Couer rear-ended the Earlville men.  Both drivers were taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital while Smith was taken to Mendota Community Hospital.

Bennett was ticketed for failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident.  The crash happened Tuesday afternoon.

Heavy Rain Possible Next 24 Hours

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch thru Wednesday morning for Bureau, La Salle and Putnam Counties.

The forecast is calling for several slow moving thunderstorms in the next day that could produce as much as two inches of rain per hour in some locations.

Sex Crime Charges In Mendota

A man from Mendota faces two felony charges after allegedly fondling a girl.

49 year old William Matthews was arrested Sunday by Mendota Police for a class two felony of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and class four felony of criminal sexual abuse.  He’s accused of inappropriately touching a 12 year old girl in Mendota.

Matthews was taken to the county jail on 60 thousand dollars bond.

Accident Blamed On Fog

Spring Valley Police say that Felicitas Vickers of DePue was on Route 29 heading towards the intersection with Route 6 when she didn’t see a stop sign and drove into a guard rail.  Vickers wasn’t ticketed but was taken to St. Margaret’s Hospital.

Police say the fog was dense at the time of the crash which was 6:30 this morning.

Remodeling more popular with new home construction down

Five years ago new homes were sprouting up like weeds.  2005 brought 27 new homes to Peru, 18 to Oglesby and La Salle, and 77 to Ottawa.  But these days it seems homeowners are more likely to fix up what they’ve got rather than build new.

Paul Ebener runs Ebener Construction.  He says business has changed.

During construction peak he had eight employees and they would be building three or four houses at a time.

City building inspectors have noticed the slow down.  So far this year only three new home construction permits have been issued in Peru.  There have been two in Oglesby and Ottawa and one in La Salle.  But all inspectors agree, more people are getting permits for additions, decks, and other remodeling type jobs.

Dense Fog Advisory Tuesday morning

Give yourself extra time for your drive Tuesday morning.  Heavy, patchy fog will have you slowing down.

The National Weather Service has issued a Dense Fog Advisory until 9am.