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Saturday, January 9, 2016
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Un-tying the knot in Illinois New divorce laws and how they impact couples, children By Goldie Rapp grapp@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — New changes in Illinois divorce laws, which went into effect Jan. 1, are meant to eliminate outdated and inequitable concepts that have historically loomed over many divorce cases in the past. Holly Harris, an attorney with May, May, Angel & Harris Law Office in Princeton who handles many divorce cases, believes the changes will provide great-
er hope for both parents to be a meaningful participant in their children’s lives. While there used to be a huge trend in giving custody to mothers, Harris said new social trends are showing a greater number of dads taking on more parenting roles. “Having both parents involved in a child’s life can’t hurt,” Harris said. “Fathers in Bureau County have really stepped up and will be benefited by these new laws.”
Here are a few of the key changes to the divorce laws that went into effect this year: Eliminating the terms “custody” and “visitation” In the past, the trend in a divorce case was to give custody of the children to the mother, and the father would be given a visitation schedule. The main reasoning being that it was thought bouncing a child from family to family was not in the best interest of the child.
“That eventually went away, and we starting saying the mother and father are on equal footing as far as custody and visitation,” Harris said, adding the social norm also started changing to where it became OK for children to stay one week in one home and one week in another home. The new law does away with the terms custody and visitation, and catches up with the social idea that having both parents involved in a child’s life is
what is the best interest of the child. “Both parents should act as parents in a child’s life. I think the law gives enough discretion to the court system to say if both parents aren’t good parents, we don’t have to give them such significant time to both houses; we can go back to stability of one household environment,” Harris said. Parental responsibilities become more equal There are four parental responsibilities the court
now assigns parents in a divorce case — health, religion, education and extra curricular. While the old law directed the court to give the responsibilities to one or both parents making decisions for those responsibilities, the new changes to the law allows the responsibilities to be broken down and divided among any one of the parents that seem best suited for the responsibility.
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Greener on the other side
I just wanna dance!
Bureau residents discuss concept of legalizing marijuana By Eric Engel eengel@bcrnews.com
reach out further in the community and assist the poor, hungry and the people in need,” said Cinda Kierski, president of the Princeton area CWU. “Because of the generous support of this community, the Princeton Closet continues to flourish and make a profit. The
Editor’s note: This is the second story in a series on the impact of marijuana in the area. A law to replace felonious charges with civil fines was not passed as of Jan. 1. PRINCETON — Recent Illinois legislation was aimed at replacing criminal penalties and a stained record with civil fines for possession of a personal amount of marijuana. Although the legislation didn’t pass as of Jan. 1, a few Bureau County residents shared their opinion on whether marijuana should float through the streets of freedom. The contributors remained anonymous in light of personal and professional security. The contributors all agreed, even though marijuana is illegal, it is much less destructive to the mind and body than excessive amounts of alcohol, a legal substance, or many subscription medications, which can be acquired with a doctor’s consent.
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BCR photo/Mike Vaughn
The Princeton High School Pom Squad’s annual dance clinic for girls ages 4 through 12 was another hit with little ladies around the area. The clinic was held on Monday, Jan. 4, where the girls learned a routine, worked on dance techniques and participated in team-building activities. They then performed the routine at halftime during the boys’ sophomore basketball game. The 55 girls who participated each received a T-shirt and pair of poms for their participation. Abbie Cochran is the PHS Pom Squad’s sponsor and along with the pom squad, organizes this popular event.
CWU gives back to the community $124K headed to local schools, organizations By Goldie Rapp grapp@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Church Women United distributed its annual fund donations for 2015 Year 170 No. 4 One Section - 16 Pages
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to 28 local schools and organizations on Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the Princeton Closet, located on North Main Street in Princeton. CWU was able to give more than $124,000, which they worked to collect throughout 2015. From 2002 to 2012, CWU has donated more than $1 million to local schools and organizations,
and since then has been working toward its next goal to raise its second million dollars for the area. For more than 40 years, CWU has been able to donate excess funds to help support local organizations to further their work in their communities. “We are so thankful to be able to