Magnolia ball diamond also affected by tornado

Streator wasn’t the only town whose baseball fields were damaged by the June 5 tornados.  Magnolia’s ball diamond needed a lot of cleaning up too.

Peggy Smith with the Magnolia Baseball Association says the field had recently been updated follow the demolition of an old school building, but some of those updates have been damaged.

Smith says the roof to the concession stand was damaged along with the electric service line to the building.  The bleachers and equipment shed were totaled.

Smith says people have helped fix it up enough so they can play on it again.

It’s used by children as young as four for T-ball, baseball and softball.  Smith says they had to cancel three games because of the damage.  Other games were played in neighboring towns.

They’re planning events to raise money for repairs.  The girls’ junior league softball team is planning a car wash to raise money.  Ann a softball tournament next month will also serve as a fundraiser.

Runway lights causing concern at IV Regional Airport

Landing a plane at night presumably would be a lot easier if the runway lights were working.  That’s sometimes a problem at the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru and it came up during Wednesday night’s city council meeting.

Chuck Studer oversees the airport. He says it’s been an issue for years.  It’s causing more concern because it affects lights for the old and new runways.  Studer says when the new cross-wind runway went in, the lights were placed on the same circuit as the existing runway.  The lights on the runway sometimes shut off when there is lightening.  He says it’s happened probably three times in the last year.  He thinks the runways should be on different circuits so if one is down, the other is on.

Engineer Roger Chamlin thinks there should be a way to fix it.  He says they made circuit repairs to the old runway a couple of years ago.  He says the decision to put the new runway lights were put on the same circuit was made by IDOT’s Department of Aeronautics.  They were apparently trying to save money.

It’s an issue they’ll be looking into.

Hesterberg named as new LPHS boys basketball coach

The new boys basketball coach at LP High School isn’t a stranger to the team.

Chad Hesterberg is going from assistant coach to head coach after being hired by the school board Wednesday night.  This will be his fourth year at LP where he also teaches history.

He was a head boys coach while at St. Thomas More.

Shock Wants More Help For Putnam County

Congressman Aaron Shock is making a plea for more help in Putnam County to recover from storm damage.

Shock has sent a letter to Governor Pat Quinn calling for additional emergency relief for Putnam and Peoria counties which both fall within his 18^th congressional district.  Shock writes “it’s my sincere hope that all available avenues are pursued in an effort to make sure that the folks most affected by the recent storms in Illinois are safe, secure and are able to recover as rapidly and as successfully as possible”.

Putnam County has been declared a state disaster area.

Miller Group Charitable Trust is helping Illinois Valley Community Hospital

The Miller Group Charitable Trust is helping Illinois Valley Community Hospital move forward with plans to add a third floor to the east addition for new obstetrics and intensive care units by making a $250,000  contribution the IVCH For a Lifetime of Care Campaign.

The campaign’s goal is to raise $2 million to help pay for the $15.5 million project.

Miller Group Media Includes AM 1220 WLPO, 99.3 WAJK, 96.5 The Wolf, The Newstribune and Agrinews.

Bank Warns Of Phishing Scam

Sue Wilkie of First National Bank of Ottawa says many customers have taken automated calls claiming to represent the bank and saying the caller’s debit card has been deactivated.

The call then asks the account holder to enter their debit card information including the PIN number.  Wilkie says they will never call and request your debit card information.  These calls are just an attempt to steal.

Call the bank if you did provide the call any account information.

La Salle County sales tax numbers improving

For the fifth month in a row, Public Safety Sales tax revenues for La Salle County are up.

The county brought in just over $208,000 of the sales tax in March, up nearly $11,000 from the year before.  Sales tax revenues have gone up every month since November.

Before November, tax revenues had fallen eleven months straight.

Ottawa council votes to keep public works director job

A year after the Ottawa City Council split on creating a public works director position, they’re still split on whether the position is needed.

The council voted 3 to 2 Tuesday night against a motion by Commissioner Ed Whitney to discontinue the public works director job.   Commissioner Wayne Eichelkraut sided with Whitney but Mayor Bob Eschbach and Commissioner’s Dale Baxter and Dan Aussem voted to keep the position.

Whitney and Eichelkraut both say that Public Works Director Bob Schull should put in all his time at the wastewater treatment plant where he is assistant superintendent.  Both Whitney and Eichelkraut said if Shull was solely overseeing the plant’s upgrades, costly engineering errors wouldn’t have happened.

Aussem took that as making Schull out to be a scapegoat while the mayor thought progress is being made with paying Schull $10,000 extra to oversee public works.

Teams preparing to “Sweep the Valley Clean”

See a piece of trash on the street, pick it up.  Participating in the United Way’s A Day of Action is as easy as that.

Locally, the Illinois Valley United Way is taking action with “Sweep the Valley Clean.”  Teams have signed up to clean areas like Baker Lake or Starved Rock State Park.

You can still form a team or work independently in your neighborhood.  And if you happened to come across some aluminum cans, the United Way will take them.  Drop off sites will be set up in area towns.

You can sign up your team by going to their website, www.unitedwayiv.org.