Salvage company interested in old Peru electric building

The old electric building on Water Street in Peru may look interesting and historic, but inside it’s filled with asbestos.  The city has been advertising the building for sale for about two years.

Alderman Ron Wren says the only people who have shown interest have only wanted to remove fixtures and materials, but not purchase the building.

A man with a salvage company in Ohio, A-Unified, is in talks to buy the building for one dollar, salvage items of value, remove the asbestos and demolition it.  The property would then be sold back to the city for one dollar.

But city officials have a few concerns.  They want to make sure they have a contract that would prevent the company from scrapping and running.  They also wonder about the north wall of the building that is likely providing support to a neighboring railroad line.

Wren says the building is easily over 100 years old and is on a flood plane.  It houses a steam turbine that was installed 50 years ago.

Pothole Crews Hard At Work

As the snow melted, ugly potholes surfaced on many area roads.  IDOT officials say they’re on top of it.

IDOT Community Relations Manager Julia Messina says “every day people ask when the potholes are going to be filled”.  She says they started patching potholes when weather permitted access to pavement.  Messina says “from now until the next snow storm, you’ll see team’s hand-shoveling patching mix into cracked pavement”.

Bruce Hucker from the IDOT office in Ottawa says it’s important for you to slow down around pothole crews.  He says just last week a semi plowed into an IDOT truck on Interstate 80 near Utica.  The crash sent an IDOT worker and the truck driver to the hospital.

Both Hucker and Messina say while patching is a priority, IDOT’s first priority during winter storms is to clear snow and ice.

Tanya Shannon Found In Field

Nearly a month after going missing, 40-year old Tanya Shannon has been found dead.

A news chopper out of Chicago first reported seeing Shannon in a farm field about a half mile southeast of the Brookfield Township Hall.  She was found just minutes after the air and ground search resumed at 9:30.

La Salle County Sheriff Tom Templeton says Shannon was found wearing a red dress, grey-fleeced hoodie.  She also had her purse lying next to her.

Templeton says her body was undisturbed, further putting to rest any thoughts of foul play.  Shannon had walked about a mile from the original crash scene just east of the Exelon Power Plant.  Templeton says “we’ll never know where she was going”.

The La Salle County Coroner’s Office is expected to perform an autopsy in the next few days.

Man Wanted For Robbing Ottawa Walgreens

A man accused of robbing the Ottawa Walgreens is on the run.

A robbery warrant has been issued for 23 year old Louis Babcock.  Ottawa Detective Dave Gualandri says Babcock is homeless but frequents the Ottawa and Marseilles area.  He’s white, 6’1 around 180 pounds with short blonde hair.

Babcock’s accused of walking up to a register last Tuesday night acting like he was buying something and instead stealing an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register.  He then fled the scene.  Gualandri says surveillance video and witness interviews led him to accuse Babcock in the robbery.

Gualandri says Babcock didn’t show or imply that he had a weapon.

 

Morris woman chosen as 75th District representative

“Very positive, very energetic” are some of the words being used to describe the next state representative for the 75^th district.

Area Republican Committee leaders chose Pam Roth of Morris to fill an opening in the 75^th District.  The seat had been won in November by Sue Rezin but was left vacant after Rezin was chosen to replace Gary Dahl in the state senate.

La Salle County Republican Committee chairwoman Susan Thorton says Roth was chosen over the other 13 candidates interview because of “her fire.”  Thorton says Roth seemed “ready to work.”

Roth is the senior financial analyst at Exelon in Morris.  She’s also the president of the Saratoga Community School District.

Roth will be sworn in with the rest of the new house members this month.

Lights remain lit on Tree of Hope

While many Christmas trees have been taken down until next December, one tree will remain lit for a few more weeks.  The big fur tree at the Horizon House in Peru will stay decorated through about the end of January to remind everyone about their Tree of Hope fundraiser.

Carol Fesco with Horizon House says they were able raise almost $45,000, surpassing their $40,000 goal.  It wasn’t the most they’ve ever raised, but it was the earliest they’ve been able to bring in that much.

They’re still taking donations.  Money raised will go towards their transportation costs.  She says they’re only reimbursed for about one-fourth of their transportation costs.

You can find the tree outside of the Horizon House on Plank Road in Peru.

You can hear more about the Tree of Hope by listening to an interview with Carol Fesco available at the http://www.AM1220WLPO.com news page.

Drug charges for Rock Island man

Cocaine and a small amount of marijuana is what police say they found during a traffic stop near Spring Valley.

Kpangbala Blamah of Rock Island was pulled over on Interstate 80 early Friday morning.  Police say he had 128 grams of what they think is cocaine.

Blamah was being held at the Bureau County Jail on charges including possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, and traffic charges.

Stage 212 accepting applications for 2012 season

Do you have a play or musical you want to see performed at Stage 212?  The community theater group in La Salle is accepting submissions from directors for their upcoming 2012 season.

They’ll also entertain proposals for special “5^th Show” productions.

Any show is eligible for submission except those performed at Stage 212 in the past 22 years. If you would like to submit a play for consideration, contact the Stage 212 box office or visit their website.

Applications are due by February 14.

Power house sale topic of discussion in Peru

It’s the first Peru City Council meeting of the new year tonight and they’ll be talking about selling the power house on Water Street.  The council meets at 7:30pm Monday.

Search scheduled to continue Monday morning

The search for a woman that’s been missing since an accident that killed her husband nearly one month ago will resume Monday morning.

La Salle County investigators had said they were waiting for snowmelt before continuing to look for Tanya Shannon.  Friday’s warmer temperatures and rain melted much of the snow.

Shannon’s husband Dale died in the crash that happened on December 5 on the Grand Ridge- Mazon Blacktop.  Police believe Tanya Shannon was in the car, but several searches of the area of the crash turned up few signs of the mother of four.