Ottawa Seeing If Mansion Needs Major Repairs

The Reddick Mansion in Ottawa is about to undergo an inspection.

The Ottawa City Council is hiring Basalay Cary and & Alstadt to do a capital needs assessment survey of the over 150 year old building.  Mayor Bob Eschbach says they’re hoping to find out what all needs to be fixed on the exterior in the next 20 years.  Reddick Mansion President Diane Sanders has said she’d like a new paint job.

The city is responsible for the mansions outside and grounds while the Reddick Association takes care of the inside.

LPHS hires new head varisty boys basketball coach

A former Streator High School Bulldog will be the next basketball coach for the LP Cavaliers.  Jim Cherveney was hired to be head boys basketball coach Tuesday evening.

Cherveney comes from Plainfield East where he was a sophomore head coach last season.   Prior to that he was an assistant varsity coach.  Cherveney says his coaching style is up tempo.

He’s a graduate of Streator High School and Eastern Illinois University.  He’s working on a master’s degree through Olivet Nazarene.

LP Athletic Director Greg Sarver says they received 46 applications for the position that became open following the school board’s decision to not rehire former head coach Chad Hesterberg.

Carus Chemical purchases Nevada-based company

An area company has purchased a water purification products company in Nevada.

Carus Corporation has bought Sierra Chemical Company.  The company has operations in California and Nevada.

Carus Corporation President and CEO Inga Carus says the purchase complements their existing core water treatment activities.  Sierra Chemical Company will be a stand-alone subsidiary of Carus.

Woman Accused Of Lying In Death Investigation

An arrest has been made involving the death investigation in the west side of Ottawa.

Jamie Lomeli of Ottawa is charged with felony obstructing justice for allegedly lying to investigators about what happened in the death of 30 year old Darrio Hunter.

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Vescogni, Lomeli told investigators that Hunter came to her house at 512 Pierce Street Monday morning bleeding from cuts to his head.  She said she didn’t know what happened and was the only person at her home when she called 911.

Vescogni believes that Hunter was injured in Lomeli’s house and she lied about being there alone.  He says Hunter and Lomeli were in contact before the apparent attack with drug related text messages.

Lomeli is being held on 100 thousand dollars bond.

Bin Laden’s death leads to history lesson for area students

Osama bin Laden’s death was more than just a news story at one area elementary school, it’s a history lesson.

Karen Steindorf is the principal of Northwest School in La Salle where most of the students were born after the September 11 attacks.  She says Monday teachers there used news clips from CNN and other news agencies to explain who bin Laden was and what al-Qaida is.

Students were encouraged to write about how they felt.  Steindorf says the fifth graders were already studying the world wars and learning about dictators.

OTHS Reshuffles Board Of Education

The Ottawa High School Board has picked a new president.

Wayne Fleming was picked Monday to be board president for two years.  Tim Creedon will be vice president for two years.

Former board president George Hupp came in last place in last month’s election so he was replaced.  Newcomers sworn onto the board yesterday were Anita Kopko and Bill Byczynski.

Incumbent Karen Fisher won re-election and was also sworn in.