Frozen water lines are causing problems in La Salle

You don’t realize how often you use the tap until your water line freezes.  Just ask the many people in La Salle who are desperate to have their line thaw.

Public Works Superintendent Jeff Bumgarner says they have 25 homes with water lines that are frozen somewhere between the water meter and the buffalo box.  Attempts to thaw the lines with a thawing machine have been mostly unsuccessful.

His next idea comes from Ottawa and involves digging to the water line and running hot water over it.

A man on 6th Street has been without running water for a week.  He’s hiring a plumber with hopes the line could be thawed using an electrical current.

The city is encouraging everyone to leave their water running.

Pipe organ concerts to resume in Streator

The 15^th Annual pipe organ festival “Pipe Dreams” returns to Streator.  Organists from five churches will perform Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday’s schedule begins at 1pm at Park Presbyterian Church; 2pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran; and 3pm at First United Methodist Church.  Sunday’s schedule is: 2pm at Christ Episcopal Church and at 3pm at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran.

There’s no charge to list but freewill offerings are accepted on behalf of local charities.

Power Outage Affected Thousands In Ottawa

Power is back on in Ottawa.

An Ameren spokeswoman says a little before 7am Tuesday, over 2,000 customers in Ottawa were without power because of broken crossarms with their infrastructure.

The outage ended up lasting about four hours.

Frozen water pipes continue to be an issue

Add La Salle to the list of towns asking that you let your faucet at least trickle to avoid frozen water pipes.

The La Salle clerk’s office says they’re getting word of a “lot of frozen lines” around town.  Marseilles, Ottawa, and Oglesby city officials have also urged you to let your faucet run.

Officials in Marseilles say some lines have taken a week to thaw.

Penny Gas Causes Traffic Jams At Illinois Shell Station

WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) – An error at a Woodstock gas station caused pumps to sell gas for a penny a gallon.

A Shell station mistakenly sold the nearly-free gas for about two hours Sunday night.
As word spread, cars lined up and blocked traffic.

Woodstock Police used an emergency shut-off to stop the sales before the gas station closed in order to reset the pumps to regular prices. The station clerk working at the time wasn’t aware of the glitch.

It wasn’t clear how much penny gas was sold.

Sporting goods chain coming to Peru

You will have a reason to go shopping at the former Peru Kmart.  A portion of the building at Route 251 and Wenzel Road will be occupied by a Dunham’s Sports.

Economic Development Director Bob Vickery announced the new business Monday night.  The building will still have space for more businesses.  There are plans for a business to be built on the northeast corner of the lot.

That new business hasn’t been announced yet but City Clerk Dave Bartley says it will not be a Hooters, contrary to the internet rumor.

Peru to buy back stolen truck

The International dump truck stolen from a Peru city garage is returning to the city’s fleet.  The truck was stolen in September and found three months later in the Marshall County Fish and Wildlife Area.

The truck took a beating but the city’s mechanic thinks it can be repaired.  Police Chief Doug Bernabei explained it to the city council Monday night.

He says although they have already received approximately $35,000 from their insurance they can buy the truck back for $8,000 and repair it for $5,000.

Nobody has been charged for the burglary.  Bernabei believes it was done maliciously. Nothing else was stolen and whoever took it drove or through a gate.

The truck will replace a truck that’s no longer road worthy.