Library hosts forum for Oglesby election candidates

If you want to find out more about Oglesby election candidates, be at the Oglesby Public Library tonight.

The library is hosting a candidate’s forum starting at 6. Mayor Don Finley is being challenged by Tod Misener and David Blair. For City Commissioner incumbents Dennis Yborra, Dom Rivara and Tom Porter are trying to keep their seats against challengers Gary Carey, Randy Popurella Jr., Austin Cullinan, Carrie Lijewski and Shelley Cooke.

Oglesby Library trustee candidates Rich Vollmer and Sam Tillmann will also be available for questions.

Stage 212 planning musical version of Cinderella

Right now you can watch the latest version of Cinderella in a movie theater near you. This summer you can see Stage 212’s version of the Disney classic.

Auditions for a musical adaptation of Cinderella will be Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th at the downtown La Salle theater. Besides six main roles and a few supporting roles, auditions will also be held for about a dozen dancers and singers. You can audition no matter your level of theater experience.

Cinderella will be performed July 17th thru August 2nd.

Investigation continues into Super Bowl burglary

This week’s break-in at the Illinois Valley Super Bowl in Peru is part of a larger investigation.

Peru Police Chief Doug Bernabei says they are working with suburban police departments who are also investigating burglaries to bowling alleys. Bernabei says a small amount of cash was taken from the bowling alley in Peru Tuesday morning.

Detectives were initially looking for two men allegedly behind the burglary.

Lines are drawn at Ottawa High School candidates forum

For most of the Ottawa High School candidate’s forum it seemed more like a job review of administrators, especially Superintendent Matt Winchester.

Numerous times Tuesday night, candidate Dave Keely mentioned a need for change in leadership, saying his top priority if elected was “proper leadership”. He accused the current administration of showing a lack of leadership and creating an “atmosphere of fear”.

Andree-Marie Koban and Richard Gama are campaigning along with Keely to shake up the board and school administration team. While Gama missed last night’s forum, Koban said fixing the budget deficit should start with cuts “at the top”. She says teachers are being bullied by administrators and take the approach of “shut up or be fired”.

Current board members Karen Fisher and Bill Byczynski agreed on most points including saying they handled last year’s building trades situation which included student suspensions in a legal way. Fisher says talks of a culture of distrust in the school involves a few disgruntled people while Byczynski says he takes each situation separately and won’t react to public outcry.

The other two candidates, George Hupp and John Levy answered most questions saying they need to sort out the information once they join the board of education.

Three spots on the Ottawa High School board are up for grabs April 7th.