Family of late alderman donates to Peru Pool Fund

The Peru Pool Fund has been steadily growing and now it has few extra thousand dollars thanks to the family of the late Alderman Joe Mikyska.

Members of Mikyska’s family presented checks worth $1,290 and $2,001 to the Peru Pool Committee last night.

A family fun day on Sunday also raised $5,000 for the fund.

Peru alderman suggests changes for July 3 fireworks

The Illinois River front has been the site of Peru’s July 3 fireworks display for more than 20 years, but at least one alderman wonders if they couldn’t find a better location.

Rodney Perez told the city council Wednesday night that the event costs taxpayers between $25,000 and $30,000 and doesn’t bring much money into the city, with the exception of a few businesses on Water Street.

Safety is also one of his concerns.  He says police and ambulance were called to help underage drinkers, including a girl that had to be taken to the hospital.  He also says there were a couple of fights by the River Rescue Station.

Perez says he’s contacted another pyrotechnics company and has asked them to scope out the town for alternative locations such as Baker Lake.

Other aldermen didn’t shoot down his idea but reminded him that they moved it to the riverfront because of problems that happened when they did it at Washington Park.

Coroner’s jury rules that a Princeton woman’s death was a suicide

An emotional audience listened to investigators and 911 call recordings during an inquest into the death of a woman in Princeton.

46 year old Sharron Wilson was pronounced dead the morning of March 12 after emergency dispatchers received a call from her hysterical ex-boyfriend and roommate, Donald Hotchkiss.  That call was one of several recordings played to a coroner’s jury in Bureau County Court Wednesday.

Princeton Police Detective Barry Portman testified that after an initial examination, Wilson had hanged herself in her garage.  He was backed up by a pathologist who performed an autopsy on Wilson, noting marks around her neck consistent with an electrical cord found in her garage.

Family and friends of Wilson believe Wilson was killed by Hotchkiss, who called the police around midnight claiming that Wilson had punched in the eye.

The coroner’s jury deliberated for about 40 minutes before ruling that Wilson died from asphyxiation from suicide.

Wilson’s family and friends were in the room, dressed in T-shirts reading “Justice for Sharron.”  They had also brought an attorney.

Area Hazmat Crews On Alert After Two Seperate Crashes

Ambulance and Hazmat crews responded to a tanker overturning this morning at the Interstate 80 and 39 interchange.

The call for Hazmat crews to respond came in just after 9 o’clock.  A police dispatcher says there was no actual leakage but the driver was injured.  The semi rolled over on the northbound, Interstate 39 exit ramp from eastbound Interstate 80.

Earlier today, firefighters responded to a semi crashing with a garbage truck on Route 6 between Hollowayville and Seatonville.  Hazmat crews were called out but sent back to their station after firefighters contained a diesel spill.

Out Of State Pair Busted For Pot In Utica

Two men from Massachusetts are accused of hauling several pounds of marijuana through the area.

A state trooper says he pulled over Marques Chavers and Derrick Lee for speeding Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 80 near Utica.  The trooper says he found 22 pounds of suspected cannabis when searching the men’s car.

Chavers and Lee were taken to the county jail, arrested for possession of cannabis with intent to deliver.

State Testing In High Schools Is Changing

CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois is down to just reading and arithmetic.

Writing skills will no longer be tested during the state’s standardized exams for high school juniors every spring. The Chicago Tribune reports that eliminating the writing exams will save about $2.4 million amid the state’s budgetary shortfalls.

Illinois had already dropped writing assessments for elementary and middle school students last year. State Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch says writing is one of the most expensive things to assess. And Koch says the state is trying to minimize the damage done by budget cuts.

Federal law doesn’t require or fund writing tests.

Blagojevich Lawyers Begin Appeals Process

CHICAGO (AP) – Lawyers for Rod Blagojevich have taken what could be a step toward appealing the former governor’s recent convictions.

A one-page motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago asks simply that the questionnaires jurors filled out at
the start of Blagojevich’s recently concluded retrial be preserved. Jurors convicted the 54-year-old last week on 17 counts. The convictions include attempted extortion for trying to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat. Blagojevich likely faces a prison sentence of around ten years. No sentencing date has yet been set.

Defense attorneys sometimes cite jury questionnaires in their appeals. So one of their first steps after trial is often to ensure the court doesn’t destroy the documents.