Mendota celebrates “Christmas in the Square”

          If you weren’t already in the Christmas mood you will be if you stop in Mendota.

          The Mendota Chamber of Commerce is hosting “Christmas Around the Square” from 12pm-3pm Saturday.  There will be a live nativity, crafts, games, carriage rides and a visit by Santa Claus.  Most of the activities are in Veteran’s Park. 

Ladd Brownie Toop is collecting items for tornado victims

A Brownie Troop in Ladd is hosting a donation drop off Saturday to help Sunday’s tornado victims.

You can bring blankets, pillows, toys, coloring books and crayons.  You can also donate cash that will be given to the Illinois Valley Red Cross office in Peru. 

The collection in Ladd is from 2pm-4pm at 532 East Pine Street.

Sand Mine Debate Will Last Into December

Two nights of meetings covering nearly 11 hours isn’t enough to get an answer about a new sand mine proposed in Utica.

A hearing on Aramoni, LLC’s sand mine proposal ended around 11pm Thursday according to the NewsTribune.  The meeting will restart Wednesday, December 4th back at Grand Bear Lodge.

After two nights, the sand mine developer has been running into heavy resistance from the crowd, trustee and planning commission members.  Utica trustee John Schweickert last night flat out asked Aramoni developer Stephen Schuster if he’d consider annexing his 500 acres north of Love’s Travel Stop into La Salle if Utica turns down their sand mine request.  Schuster says it’s a possibility.

Schuster’s company has tried to sell the village by promising to pay for road upgrades, to sign into well monitoring agreements with nearby landowners and pay a 100 thousand dollar impact fee.  The land Schuster wants to mine is now zoned light industrial since developers had wanted to attract a distribution center to the property.