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JOURNAL VOL. 19, NO. 12 - 75¢
MARCH 24, 2021
Rivers see minor flooding after rainfall
NEWS
By JARAD JARMON Jersey County Journal Grafton purchases It is that time of the year again. vacant lot for Spring has sprung and with that potential future has come consistent rains, and development. for this area, flood warnings. See page A4 The riverbend area saw some high waters over the weekend following sustained rains in the latter half of last week, but the surge only resulted in very minor flooding, and according to local indicators, flooding is expected to be negligible in the upcoming spring season to the relief of a community struck by heavy flooding one year and a panSmall electrical fire demic the next. extinguished at At its height, the Illinois River Jerseyville Manor. at Hardin surged to 26.9 feet, See page A2 about two feet above flood stage, midday Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. On the other side of the county, the Winfield Lock and Dam station on the Mississippi River reported 27.83 feet water levels Saturday. The flood stage there is 26 feet. “The reason we had this last high water was because of the amount of rain that we got,” Gene Breden, Calhoun County Cleaning for the Emergency Services Disaster community. Agency coordinator, said. “We See page A6 got quite a bit of rain. I know I had over 4 inches in my gauge.
Matter of fact, my gauge was running over.” At both stations, the water levels then dropped precipitously from those points back to more normal levels by Monday and Tuesday. And it is forecasted that this type of flooding should be the most the riverbend area sees, if any at all. “They (The National Weather Service) are estimating that there is just going to be minor flooding on the Illinois and Mississippi rivers,” Breden said. “There is no big snowpack in Minnesota or up north. The snowpack that there is is in Iowa and Wisconsin, and it is supposed to be melted off and through here by the third week in April. It is going to be a slow release it looks like, so it is just going to be minor flooding.” This will be a welcomed reprieve from recent experiences, Breden said. “I hope so. We are due for a good year,” he said. “2020 was a rough year – lot of things went wrong in the county… We are starting off better this year than we did last year. That is for sure.” This, however, does not preclude the area from getting any major flooding. “I do not know of any major flooding we are going to have,
Jarad Jarmon/Jersey County Journal
Flood waters crept past the recently sculpted turtle and frog in Grafton Friday.
but you never know,” Breden stressed. “We could get 7-8 inches of rain a few times or get a cycle of rain that doesn’t clear – gets held in by high pressure, and we could end up with a major flood, but it is not predicted.” Slightly farther down the river, Grafton also experienced some flooding that reached the boat launches and past the recently
sculpted turtle and frog. They were slated to see 23-foot high waters. Instead, the water surge crested at 21.86 feet, more than a foot above the flood stage in Grafton. Grafton Mayor Rick Eberlin said there is always some concern about how high the water will go in these situations, but forecasts showed the water levels trailing off fairly quickly.
“This would be what we call the nuisance type floods that get you thinking about it and it hangs around a little bit, but there is really no damages,” Eberlin said. From his conversations with forecasters and other officials, Eberlin is also of the understanding that this will be a calm year along the riverside. “All signs are pointing toward a mild year,” he said.
SPORTS Former Jersey coach gets recognition from coach association. See page B2
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Local Navy corpsman coming home to big community surprise By CONNOR ASHLOCK Jersey County Journal IT2 Zachary Hartley, a Navy corpsman and 2010 graduate of Jersey Community High School, will be returning home on April 6. But, what he doesn’t know yet is that his wife, Heather, has inadvertently planned a homecoming that he won’t soon forget.
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"He’s thinking he will come home and we’d have dinner with the family, so he has no idea about any of this."
Heather Hartley
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Wife of IT2 Zachary Hartley Submitted photo
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INDEX Court . . . . . . . . . . . . .B4 Classifieds. . . . . . . . .B4 News . . . . . . A2, A4-6, B4 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . A4 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Our Town. . . . . . . . . .A3 Public Notice . . . . . .B5 Real Estate . . . . . . B1-2 School . . . . . . . . B2, B6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . .B2 OBITUARIES: JACKSON, WESTFALL
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Zach serves on the USS Iwo Jima, where he works in the IT department. He’s been deployed to Jordan, participated in the 2018 military exercise known as Trident Juncture, where he went to Norway and Iceland, and has done multiple exercises between Mayport, Fla., and Norfolk, Va.. “It was just one of those things that he wanted to do for his country, but he wanted to have a way to pay for school, too,” Heather said. Although she’s proud of his service to the United States, Heather is ready to have her husband
Zachary Hartley holds his oldest daughter, Ephie, while on a visit home.
back about as much as Zach is ready to have his wife and two little girls back. “I’m excited to see what the future holds for our family,” Heather said. “He hasn’t been around our girls, so I’m excited for them to have a dad again.” Zach and Heather are the proud parents of Ephie, 2, and Eliza, 9 months. (See, CORPSMAN, A2)
Shelter owners, volunteers campaign to find home for Dino By JARAD JARMON Jersey County Journal
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or 1,357 days – approximately three years, eight months and 18 days excluding the end date, Dino’s home has been that of the Riverbend Humane Society, but shelter owners and volunteers alike are working hard to find the perfect forever home for this pitbull terrier. Dino is not the longest-ever resident in the shelter’s history, but he is currently the longestrunning resident in the shelter today. He came to the shelter July 6, 2017. “We had gotten a call from a lady who ran Dog PEN Rescue about him, so we went and met her in Carrollton and picked him up,” Sarah Taylor, Riverbend Humane Society owner, said. “We have had him here ever since.” By all accounts, Dino is a wonderful dog, with only one hangup – he doesn’t do well with other animals. “With people, he is great,” Taylor said.
Jarad Jarmon/Jersey County Journal
Dino, roughly 5-6 years old, smells something carried on the wind, while on a walk around the Riverbend Humane Society in Jerseyville.
An energetic dog, Dino is very treat oriented with an affinity to Kong toys and his blanket and bed. With people, stranger or not, Dino is excited, but relaxed all the same. He is even good with the younger ones, but
he gets aggressive with other animals. “He is just really good, other than not getting along with other animals,” Taylor said. (See, SHELTER, A2)
Nearly one-fifth of county fully vaccinated By JARAD JARMON Jersey County Journal Rules around who to give COVID-19 vaccinations to have loosened across the state, and Jersey is still trucking forward, inoculating residents. The Jersey County Health Department, along with departments in Calhoun and Greene counties offered weekend COVID vaccination clinics last weekend. Efforts to offer vaccination clinics on the weekends were made to better serve those who work a traditional fiveday week. Also, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced Friday that more groups of people will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations ahead of April 12, when everyone over age 16 will become eligible. As of March 22, higher education staff, government workers and members of the media are eligible to receive shots. A week later, on March 29, restaurant staff, construction trade workers and religious leaders will become eligible. “As more vaccines become available in the coming weeks and months, we will continue to make sure we are reaching people who are at greater risk of exposure to the virus or from suffering severe illness due to COVID-19,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a news release. “While we will continue to prioritize individuals who are 65 years and older, as well as health care workers and individuals with underlying medical conditions, we want to maintain our momentum going forward and continue to increase our march towards herd immunity.” Vaccines first became available in Illinois on Dec. 15. At that time, only frontline health care workers and the staff and residents of long-term care facilities were eligible. That list was officially expanded Jan. 25 to include all individuals over age 65 as well as frontline essential workers, including first responders, K-12 teachers and other public-facing industries. It was expanded again on Feb. 25 to include
anyone age 16 and over with certain high-risk conditions or disabilities. As of March 23, according to IDPH, a little more than 5.1 million doses of vaccine have been administered in Illinois. During a news conference in Belleville on Friday, Gov. JB Pritzker said a little more than 60 percent of seniors age 65 and over had received at least one vaccine dose. Under a plan announced earlier in the week, when that number reaches 70 percent, and as long as certain other metrics are met, the state will enter what he is calling a “bridge phase” to full reopening of the economy that will allow for larger capacity limits in public gatherings. More in Jersey County have finished off their second dose of the vaccine. So far, in Jersey, 4,241 have been fully vaccinated, representing 19.41 percent of the county’s population. Looking at the age breakdown, 70.28 percent of those age 65 and up are vaccinated. For the age 16-64 population, that percentage is 22.67. Jersey County still ranks high in the state looking at this metric – eighth in the state to be exact. Adams County continues to be at the top of the list in the state with 28.52 percent fully vaccinated in their county. In total, 10,458 vaccines have been administered in Jersey, a piece of the 5.1 million administered across the state. Their next goal is to inoculate 20 percent of the county. As the health department works toward this goal, COVID is still making its way through the county, although it has been less pervasive. According to the latest update March 21 from the Jersey health department, there were 20 new cases since the last update. Health officials noted that cases are increasing in our area. In total, there are 13 active cases in the county. Spanning the pandemic, 48 have died and 2,464 have recovered from the virus in the county. Q Peter Hancock of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this article.
VACCINATION DATA MARCH 23 Administered doses Fully vaccinated Vaccinated percentage
10,458 4,241 19.41%