Firefighters respond to partial roof collapse at U.S. Silica

Firefighters from Naplate and Ottawa rushed to U.S. Silica Friday evening but it wasn’t for a fire.

There was a partial roof collapse on the sand property along Boyce Memorial Drive in Ottawa. A captain with the Ottawa Fire Department says there was a leak on a conveyer belt which caused sand to build up over time and led to the roof collapse. Ottawa’s tower truck helped to get rid of the sand.

Nobody was injured.

State pushes ahead in battle against heroin overdoses

The state is working to get a handle on how many heroin overdoses there are under the requirements of a new state law.

The state health department is developing rules and procedures for collecting information on overdoses as required by the Heroin Crisis Act. Supporters of the law say its requirements will lead to a more reliable record of heroin overdoses and deaths. Both Senator Sue Rezin and then State Representative Frank Mautino voted in support of the law.

It requires hospitals to report all overdoses, fatal or not, to the state within 48 hours of treatment. Coroners must tell the state what drug caused each overdose death when that can be determined.

Advocates say better information will help the state determine the problem’s scope. There were 681 heroin deaths reported statewide in 2014.

Garage catches fire a few blocks north of Streator High School

A garage fire in Streator is under investigation.

Streator firefighters were called out to an unattached garage on fire just after 5 Saturday morning at 409 West Grant Street. Firefighters had the blaze under control in about 10 minutes.

Nobody was injured. A nearby car, house and shed all had minor damage from the fire.
The cause of the garage fire is being looked at by the Streator P.D. and the state fire marshal’s office.

Power line fire shuts power off in Putnam County

Hopefully there are no more power issues this weekend in Putnam County.

A power pole caught fire Friday near Granville, which led to outages across the county. The initial fire call came in around 1:15 yesterday afternoon.

According to Ameren, there are no outages as of now in the Illinois Valley.

Mel Brooks classic coming to IVCC this spring

A comedy classic will be acted act on the Illinois Valley Community College theater stage.

“Young Frankenstein the Musical” will be performed this April in the IVCC Cultural Centre. Auditions are happening from 4 until 6 and 7 until 10 January 27th and the 28th at IVCC.

Besides students, community members, staff and faculty are welcome to audition. The play requires a large cast.

Don Grant Zellmer is directing the musical.

Plans still alive for Rec Center in Ottawa

The idea of a Community Rec Center in Ottawa is definitely not dead in the water.

Representatives from the consulting firm Sports Facilities Advisory are looking for input from the public this coming Thursday at a meeting starting at 6 inside Ottawa High School. The consulting firm is doing a feasibility study to see if a Rec Center can work in Ottawa.

The idea of a community Rec center has been talked about for awhile according to Ottawa City Commissioner James Less. However discussions ramped up after the swimming pool at Ottawa High School was closed due to structural issues. The pool is over a hundred years old and it could cost over a million dollars to fix.

OSF St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Ottawa High School, the Ottawa Y and the city are banding together to pay for a feasibility study that costs almost $40,000.

Iowa woman accused of having heroin and pot in La Salle

A pair from the Hawkeye State is accused of driving around the Illinois Valley with drugs and a gun.

Tavin Daudinot of Ames, Iowa was pulled over Thursday night on Route 6 near the La Salle fire station for allegedly speeding. He was also ticketed for not having a valid driver’s license and illegal transportation of alcohol. Daudinot was released on bond.

His passenger, Shatasha Pritchard of Story City, Iowa was arrested possession of a controlled substance and possession of cannabis. Besides pot, Pritchard is accused of having five grams of heroin. She was taken to the county jail.

La Salle Police say they also found a gun in the Iowans car and that more charges are pending.