Scott County Times WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2017
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VOLUME NO. 150 NUMBER 14
Fair turnout in Tuesday’s election By JUSTIN A. COBB
Legislation Scott County Times to protect Scott County saw a fair turnprison nurses. out in Tuesday’s consolidated See page A5 election with 1,366 of 3,827 JWCC ag students earn honors. See page A3
NEWS
“All of the votes by mail we have gotten back. There are none still out.”
Sandy Hankins Scott County Clerk
Parker chosen Livestock Eval president. See page A9
SPORTS
Lady Cougars shut out Lanphier. See page A9
WEEKEND WEATHER FRIDAY, APRIL 7
58 39
High Low
SATURDAY, APRIL 8
71 54
High Low
SUNDAY, APRIL 9
79 62
voters, or 35.7 percent, casting a ballot, including early voters and votes by mail according to Scott County Clerk Sandy Hankins. “All of the votes by mail we have gotten back,” Hankins said Tuesday evening at the courthouse, where candidates and interested voters gathered to see the results come in. “There are none still out.” Road District 2 in this election tried for the fourth time since April 2015 to get voter approval for an increase in its maximum levy rate this time from from 0.33 percent to 0.66 percent but failed again with a tie vote of (See, ELECTION, A2)
Justin A. Cobb/Scott County Times
Scott County Clerk Sandy Hankins fills in the voting results from Alsey Precinct as the election results come in Tuesday evening at the courthouse. All ballots had been received by the county by Tuesday, including all from voters requesting to vote by mail, according to Hankins. With 1,366 ballots cast out of 3,827 registered voters, overall turnout of 35.7 percent was down from the 65-percent turnout of the November 2016 general election but was higher than the April 2015 consolidated election turnout of approximately 21 percent.
Commissioners pass IMRF resolution By JUSTIN A. COBB Scott County Times Scott County commissioners passed a resolution certifying five elected officeholders’ eligibility for participation in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund when they met Monday afternoon. “The only action we took was to pass the resolution that verified IMRF for elected officials,” Robert Schafer, board of commissioners chair, said by phone the following afternoon. “IMRF wants it done
every two years so we did pass it yesterday.” The resolution identifies the circuit clerk, county clerk, sheriff, state’s attorney, and treasurer of the county are eligible for IMRF, according to Schafer, since those offices are full-time positions. Individuals employed by the county must work at least 1,000 hours per year to be eligible for IMRF under a resolution commissioners passed in August, which raised the threshold from 600 hours per year. In other business, County Clerk
“IMRF wants it done every two years so we did pass it yesterday.”
Robert Schafer Chair, Scott County Board of Commissioners Sandy Hankins reported 100 residents had voted early as of Monday, according to Schafer. Scott County Nursing Center had 32 residents as of Monday, Schafer
said. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes, according to Schafer. (See, RESOLUTION, A2)
Defense attorneys, Winchester STEM benefits Scott from anonymous donor support prosecutors generally County Times criminal justice reform law
High Low
Church . . . . . . . . A4 Locals . . . . . . . . . . A3 Marketplace . . . A6-7 News . . . . A3, A5, A9 Timely Matters . . . A2 © 2017
Scott County Times Obituaries listed in this issue: Dahman, Sellers, Stuart All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By JUSTIN A. COBB Scott County Times “I would probably fall in the line of see what it looks like once they start implementing it,” Greene County State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe said by phone Thursday morning. “It’s kind of their procedure at this point.” The reform legislation was passed in the 99th General Assembly as Senate Bill 2872, with both state Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, and state Rep. C. D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, voting in favor of the bill, and was signed into law as Public Act 99-938 by the governor March 10. “By signing the bill, we’re doing what’s right for the people of Illinois,” Gov. Bruce Rauner said in a March 10 press release from his office. “For years our criminal justice system has been broken. This bill embodies the right way to safely reduce the overuse of our prison system while making our communities safer. Together, we can reduce our prison population by 25 percent by 2025.” The new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2018, and incorporates recommendations of the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform, is intended to reduce the overuse of incarceration by extending judges’ discretion in sentencing and expands rehabilitative programs
“Nearly all the people in prison deserve and need to be in prison, but to the extent it’s possible to prevent inmates from recommitting crimes, that’s a no-brainer.”
John Paul Coonrod Attorney, Coonrod Law Office
Submitted photo
Students in Laura Dukett’s first-hour Chemistry I class at Winchester High School show off the new Promethean ActivExpression individual response devices, or “clickers,” they now have thanks to a donation by a generous alumnus. The anonymous donor asked the money be used to benefit math and science instruction at the school.
in the Illinois Department “After all, the judge sitof Corrections (DOC) ting in circuit court is in to reduce recidivism, a best position to know according to the gover- the facts of the case and the best position to make nor’s press release. “Just quickly read- that call. It still could ing it through, it seems move further in that the main thrust of it are direction.” “The biggest change, expansion of trauma recovery services for I think, is more on victims of crime, inmate the back end in the rehabilitation, and giving DOC,” Briscoe said. judges discretion in sen- “They used to have tencing,” defense attor- outlined how good ney John Paul Coonrod time credit is calculatof Coonrod Law Office ed. Looks like they’ve in Winchester said by scrapped that idea, the hard and fast rules, and phone March 29. Although the expan- made it more so at the sion of trauma recovery discretion of DOC.” services will probably Good time credit is Submitted photo not affect Scott and sur- awarded to inmates The new clickers have proven popular among Laura Dukett’s eighth-hour rounding rural coun- based on good behavior ties since the expansion while behind bars, there- Chemistry II students, as well. “They get very excited when I tell them we will be under the new law will by reducing the actual using the ‘clickers,’” Dukett said. take place in jurisdic- time served. tions deemed high-crime The new reform now areas, the greater discre- allows inmates to earn tion in sentencing might, good time credit for parBiology students Carson according to Coonrod. ticipation in job training, Smith, left, and Braden “Judges’ discretion, substance abuse treatMcLaughlin view a specimen from my quick reading, ment, and other intervenusing one of the new self-lit, has mostly to do with tions intended to prevent dimmable LED microscopes awarding sentencing of the inmate from offendalso purchased thanks to this probation rather than ing again once released, year’s anonymous donation shipping the person off according to Coonrod. being double the previous to DOC, and I guess “The proof’s in the amount. just broadly, there’s still pudding as to the quality more room for allowing of the training or treatmore discretion from the ment, but I don’t think bench,” Coonrod said. (See, REFORM LAW, A2) Submitted photo