Miller Community Tech Center construction on schedule

Over the next week you’ll start to see what the exterior of the new Peter Miller Community Technology Center will look like.

Construction of the building at Illinois Valley Community College is on schedule according to college President Jerry Corcoran.  He expects the zinc panel installation and the composite facade installation to begin in about a week.

Crews also want to have the building fully enclosed and heated within a week.   The geothermal field and detention pond have been seeded, trees have been planted and stone cropping installation is complete.

Intersection changes a good thing for holiday traffic in Peru

Changes to the 38^th Street and Venture Drive intersection in Peru drew ire earlier this fall but at least one person thinks it helped move Black Friday traffic along smoothly.

Peru Police Commander Shawn Andersen says traffic moved easily through that intersection and Route 251 overnight as shoppers searched for deals.  Andersen thinks the changes help prevent cars from backing up on Route 251.

Several squad cars patrolled the shopping district just incase there were issues but Andersen says there weren’t many problems.  Officers handled a couple of minor accidents.

Thanksgiving Fire In Utica

Thanksgiving included a fire call for Utica, Oglesby and La Salle firefighters.

A call about a pole barn on fire in Utica came just after 3:30 Thursday morning.  The barn on 729^th Road, north of Route 6 was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.  Two boats stored inside the building were lost.  Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to a nearby house.

Fire departments were on scene for a couple hours.  There’s no word yet on the cause of the fire.

Three Area Women Accused Of Credit Card Fraud

With so much cash changing hands this time of year, you have to be on your toes if you work in retail.

Three area women were indicted this week in La Salle County Court for trying to cheat the system.  Brittany Hallam of Streator, Amy Watson of Peru and Jessica Coon of La Salle have all been indicted for unlawful use of a credit card.  Coon actually faces two different counts.

Coon has posted bond and is out of custody while Watson and Hallam remain in the La Salle County Jail.

Two Indicted For Perjury In La Salle County

Lie under oath and you could be the one facing charges.  A woman from Toluca has been indicted for allegedly lying while testifying at a DUI trial in La Salle County last month.

Randall Patterson of Peru was being tried for DUI and investigators say he lied during testimony and caused Beth Craig to lie.  Patterson’s been indicted for perjury and subornation of perjury.  Craig was indicted this week for perjury.

Both Patterson and Craig are out of jail after posting bond.