Embattled Gun Range Taking Donations

If you were on the side of the Buffalo Range Shooting Park during their court battle with the state, here’s a way you can show your support.

Gun range officials have opened a legal fund to help offset the legal fees of battling the DNR and attorney general in court.  You’re asked to make checks payable to Buffalo Range, Inc.  The donation comes with a disclaimer that it’s not tax deductible.

Most of the gun range outside Ottawa is reopening Friday.

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Kid Rock A Month Away

A month from today, Kid Rock will take to the stage at the Illinois Valley Municipal Airport in Peru.

Tickets are on sale for 58 dollars apiece at Lou’s La Grotto, by calling Lou’s, and at Wyanet Carpet in Princeton.  He’s the latest act for Merry Noonan’s “Concerts for a Cause”.

Benefitting from the show is Trinity Catholic Academy in La Salle.  They plan to use money to buy computers.

LPHS hires an assistant superintendent

Somebody has to make sense out of all of the standardize test scores at LP High School.  And that person will be the new assistant superintendent, Dr. Edsel Clark.

The school board hired Clark Monday.  Superintendent Steve Wrobleski says this job replaces the curriculum director.  Wrobleski says Clark will oversee curriculum development and work with the principal for teacher development.  Clark will also have to oversee local and standardize test scores and work on grants.

Clark comes from Metea Valley High School in the Naperville-Aurora area.  He’ll earn 110 thousand dollars in his first year.

Electronics drop-off scheduled for Spring Valley

There’s another town planning an electronics recycling pickup.

Spring Valley will take your old electronics this Saturday from 9pm-1pm in the city hall parking lot.  Lists of things that are accepted and not accepted are available in the city clerk’s office.

There are also electronic drop-offs Saturday in Ottawa and Lake Holiday.

Gas leak affected homes and businesses in Oglesby

Business is getting back to normal in downtown Oglesby after a gas leak.  Crews working on a sewer separation project near the police department broke a gas line just before 12pm Tuesday.

Nearby businesses on Walnut Street had to be briefly cleared out.

Oglesby Fire Chief Ron Popurella says the gas was turned off around 1pm by Ameren.

Gun Range Near Ottawa Being Allowed To Open

A controversial gun range near Buffalo Rock State Park will be back open for business Friday.

Most of the Buffalo Range Shooting Park is reopening after the state and gun range lawyers were able to work out a deal lifting an injunction that kept the range closed this year.  According to the gun range website, one pit remains closed for further safety inspections.

The attorney general got an injunction the day before the range was going to open in March.  The state believed the range hadn’t made needed safety improvements to address errant bullets affecting people at Buffalo Rock and along the I&M Canal trail.

Gun range officials say the bullets must be coming from somewhere else.

Blue Jay In La Salle Tests Positive For West Nile Virus

La Salle County has its first official case of West Nile Virus in 2012.

The health department says a dead blue jay found in La Salle tested positive for the mosquito-borne illness.  The respiratory virus is passed thru a mosquito bite.

La Salle County has had human West Nile cases in the past where symptoms include fever, nausea, headache and muscle aches.  In rare cases, West Nile has caused death.  People over 50 are at highest risk for the virus.

Your best chance of avoiding the virus is to avoid being outside between dusk and dawn, eliminating standing water, and apply insect repellent that has DEET.

Dixon Files Lawsuit In Crundwell Case

DIXON, Ill. (AP) – The city of Dixon has filed a lawsuit against its auditors for missing an alleged embezzlement of the
town’s treasury.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Lake County Circuit Court against the accounting firm of Sterling, Ill.-based Janis Card Associates and owner Samuel S. Card. The lawsuit alleges professional negligence and negligent misrepresentation for overlooking the huge thefts.

Rita Crundwell has pleaded not guilty to wire fraud alleging she stole from the city to pay for a lavish lifestyle and creation of a horse-breeding operation now being overseen by the U.S. Marshal Service. Prosecutors allege Crundwell misappropriated more than $30 million since mid-2006.