Decatur Vote Illinois
Feb 15, 2024: Decatur Vote is Temporarily Closed. See the announcement.

Decatur Weekly News Recap | Jan 27, 2023

Meta Report written by Reed Sutman on . Updated .

Elections

County Auditor Referendum: A binding referendum could eliminate the office of County Auditor if voters say YES. If the elected position is eliminated, it is likely the County Board will keep the staff and hire a financial expert to fill the role, which doesn't include much auditing, according to Carol Reed, the current Macon County Auditor. The County Board could alternatively shift functions to a different office.

Mt Zion Tax: Taylor Vidmar writes "In Mount Zion, the fire protection district is seeking to levy a special tax that would fund an ambulance service for the district. The tax rate would not exceed .40% of the equalize value of all taxable property within the district."

South Wheatland Tax: Taylor Vidmar writes "If approved, the referendum would increase the maximum allowable tax rate for the fire protection district from 0.30% to 0.40%."

Candidates

Decatur Park Commissioner: Shelith Hansbro is the only candidate running for Decatur Park Commissioner. Shelith's focus is on representing the community. While she wants to represent the entire community (including families & children), she's especially focused on African Amercicans, the elderly, and adults who want healthy lifestyles.

Latest candidate platforms: Platforms for Karl Coleman for Decatur City Council & Jacob Jenkins for Decatur School Board will be posted next week.

Government

Downstate Transit Funding, Pritzker Conference: The city plans to have a "no emissions fleet" by 2035, says Mayor Julie Moore-Wolfe, including buses, solar panels, and more. Moore-Wolfe thanks Pritzker for funding that will help enact this plan. Decatur will receive grants for 3 projects in this round of funding - Transit Campus Expansion & Rehabilitation Project, a new roof & solar panels for the bus barn, and a Capitol Vehicle Replacement Project.

These plans will include additional staff to improve transit services, rehabilitation of an abandoned commercial building, electric vehicle charging stations, and 4 new hybrid vehicles (not buses) for the transit department. Most of the conference was just politicking, light on factual details.

Lawsuit against DCFS: Illinois DCFS is named in a federal class-action lawsuit, on behalf of children who were incarcerated in juvenile detention centers instead of being released and placed into proper care, even after judges' orders. A DCFS spokesperson blames "previous administrations" for "hollowed out" capacity to place children, and says they have made progress in recent years to place incarcerated children more quickly.

Lawsuit, Gun legislation: Dan Caulkins planning to file lawsuit in Macon County against new gun legislation. He's asking for class action participants and for $200 donations to cover legal fees.

Decatur Park Jobs: Feb 10th 3pm-6pm, the Decatur Park District will hold a "hiring fair for part-time and seasonal positions" at the DISC.

Community, Services, Businesses

St Mary's to cut some services: If the state approves their application, "advanced inpatient rehabilitation, obstetrics and newborn nursery, pediatrics and inpatient behavioral health services" will be cut. St. Mary's also has plans to spend $90 million on infrustructure "to update clinical spaces, improve patient room amenities and update safety compliance issues..."

HSHS blames "the pandemic and multiple years of lagging patient volumes to rising labor costs and an uncertain economy". HSHS plans to file their application on Jan 31, and the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board's review process typically takes about 60 days.

Police will still be able to bring mentally ill patients to St. Mary's, but, after assessment, St. Mary's would release them or send them to a different facility for treatment. DMH does not offer inpatient behavioral health services.

Caterpillar Union may strike: The union votes on Jan 27th, 2023 to authorize a strike, which is not necessarily a vote to go on strike. Tony Reid writes "In another message to its membership, Local 751 said it’s time to let the employer know the workers want a fair share of the spoils in return for their labor..." Caterpillar says they plan to use other workers to keep operations going if the union does strike.

WAND TV Reporter resigned: A WAND TV Reporter posted on Facebook that they resigned from WAND TV, saying "It was clear I was never meant to be there, or wanted there either." Read their post.

Schools

New School Board member appointed: Fred Spannaus was appointed to replace Regan Lewis, who resigned on Dec 27th, 2022. He will serve until winners of the April 4th election take office. He served previously, from 2013-2017.

Safety & Security Administrator: This is a new position approved by the School Board to address safety concerns at Decatur schools. Valdimir Talley Jr., who has over 30 years experience in law enforcement, "will be responsible for establishing and maintaining safety protocols district-wide such as training, drills, evacuation protocols and reunifcation sites, building relationships between students and police and assisting and acting as a deterrent to school violence."

Live ammo found at Stephen Decatur: "There was no active threat." Bag checks were to be conducted on Monday, Jan 23rd. Tony Reid writes "Detective Sgt. Steve Carroll said he understood the bullets had been found after some sort of dispute or disagreement among students at the school. He said no arrests have been made in the case so far and follow-up investigations and consultations with school administrators were being handled by the school resource officer."

Agricultural Academy: Valerie Wells writes "The center, funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, will include classrooms for animal science, welding and machine technology, horticulture, a greenhouse, fields for raising crops, food science labs, and an arena for large events. ADM is partnering with the school district to provide resources such as employees who will act as mentors and and guest speakers in classes. Freshmen and sophomore students will take their ag academy classes at their respective high schools, while juniors and seniors will take classes at the ag center."

Therapy services: "The board [approved] a contract with TinyEYE Therapy Services for the Macon-Piatt Special Education District." TinyEYE will provide "speech-language pathologists" through virtual visists.

4-H Junior Livestock Conference: Taylor Vidmar writes "Around 115 middle school-aged 4-H members from DeKalb all the way down to Massac County gathered at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel on Saturday morning for the start of the University of Illinois Extension’s two-day 4-H Junior Livestock Conference. "

Snow day: DPS cancelled school for a snow day on Wednesday, Jan 25.

Give to the community

Easter care packages for military: Operations Enduring Support is collecting care packages for deployed military. See the link for details of what & where to give. Deadline is March 16th.

Volunteer with Scovill Zoo: Volunteers give tours, run the train, give presentations, feed animals, and more. You must fill out a volunteer application and be an adult. Call 217-421-7435 for information & to register.

Donate blood: Over 200 Blood donation appointments were cancelled due to weather this week. "Right now, ImpactLife is running a promotion for National Blood Donor Month. New donors will receive a $25 electronic gift card and free t-shirt. Returning donors will receive a $10 gift card."

Special Needs Prom Night: Volunteers are needed for a prom night on February 10th. Contact Macon Resources

Last Week's recap details free narcan trainings through Crossing Healthcare.

Public Health

COVID, Flu, RSV: Some doctors and health professionals are saying that COVID may be much like the flu going forward, with annual vaccines and surges during typical flu months. There is also a new variant ("Kraken"). Hospitalizations are down, but contagiousness may be up. Flu season came early this year and was particularly contagious. RSV trending down since November 2022, and less crowding of pediatric hospital beds. Health professionals still recommend COVID vaccines, and masking if you are elderly or immuno-compromised.

Crime

A mentally ill man violently attacked his girlfriend. Tony Reid writes that Judge Geisler "said he had no doubts [the man] suffered from mental illness and needed professional help. But [Geisler] said he had to also protect the public and punish as a deterrent to others in a case he said he found 'pretty scary' to contemplate." Tony writes that the victim "was in court for his sentencing, and used her victim impact statement to make a plea for [the man] to get help rather than punishment." The man was sentenced to serve 85% of a 14 year sentence. Judge Geisler had discretion to set the sentence between 6 and 30 years.

A Domestic Abuser gets probation: Tony Reid writes "The court had taken note that McClure has two previous convictions for domestic battery and, in addition to probation and anger management, he was sentenced to 20 days in the Macon County Jail, but that was canceled out with credit for 20 days already spent in custody. He was released from jail after the court hearing." This was a part of a plea deal, with Judge Lindsey Shelton presiding. The man has to "pay $250 to have his DNA added to a criminal database maintained by the Illinois State Police"

Man who fired submachine gun in Decatur gets 10-year sentence: Judge Jeffrey Geisler presiding. Cameron D. Slater, who modified a handgun into a "machine gun", fired the weapon in November 2021, when coming "to the aid of Justin Miller", who was involved in a fist fight with another man at the Flashback Lounge. In 2014, Slater was sentenced to 14 years in prison for second degree murder.

Slater was released after paying a $25,000 bond, with a trial date set for October 18th 2022. He has since accepted a plea deal, and is sentenced to 10 years in prison. A second gunman, Taurus C. Booth Jr., took a plea deal with an 8 year prison sentence. Nobody was injured by gunfire in the November 2021 incident.

4 dogs rescued & 2 dead: Valerie Wells writes "A dead, emaciated dog was found in a cage in a ditch on Sawyer Road south of Illinick Road on Tuesday." PETA is offering up to a $5,000 reward for tips on the person who abandoned the "emaciated dog". Crimestoppers offering $500, from a grant offered by Decatur & Macon County Animal Shelter Foundation Board.

Valerie also writes of a Dec 23rd incident of dogs being neglected in the cold, which appears to be unrelated. In that case, one dog was put down & four were saved. Pictures of the 4 adorable rescued dogs are at the end of the article.

Letters to the Editor

These are summaries of Herald & Review letters to the editor

Robert Foley - upset about the neglect of the dogs that were rescued in December.

Robert Pickett - Russia invading Ukraine is a threat to democracy. Compares Zelenskyy to Churchill. "Yes, history repeats itself."

Paul Foster - Enjoyed his first Decatur bus ride, getting to Forsyth library in 15 minutes. Recommends buses to others.

Ron Adams - "I didn't spend years protesting the [Iraq] war from the very beginning to remain silent while war criminal sympathizers try to whitewash it now." He references past ads and letters to the editor that he has written.

Jim Gould - Upset about the assault weapon ban. Advocates for statistics on how many gun shop owners go out of business, how many criminals register guns, and how many criminals stop doing gun crime because of this bill. He argues that "Criminals do not follow laws" and that "Bad people will always find ways."

Mike Griffen - Thanks Bill Faber (who recently resigned from City Council) for listening to peoples' concerns. Says majority of the council is "pro business" and is not interested in hearing from "we the people", criticizing restrictive changes. Calls Mayor Wolfe a "mouthpiece for corporate interests" and a "so-called Democrat". Mike expresses disappointment in the Herald & Review Editorial Board for "extreme criticism" of Faber's resignation, among other things.

Thank you for reading!

This is my second weekly news recap. I hope you liked it.

If you have tips, corrections, or feedback, email help@decaturvote.com or submit anonymous feedback below.

To sponsor this work, send money at paypal.me/DecaturVote or Patreon.com/DecaturVote. I would be so grateful.

Quick Bits

Stories I intended to cover, but didn't have time to.

Stories not covered in the recap

These are articles from 'local' news pages that were either not about Decatur/Macon County, or were not a priority for me to cover. I try to focus on stories that are relevant to public policy.


This is an article about the topic Weekly Decatur News Recap.