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Tuesday, June 10, 2014
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9-1-1 and texting Can you text your 9-1-1 call? By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Texting an emergency 9-1-1 call to the local BuEComm office is not an available option for Bureau County
residents, according to Bureau County BuEComm Director Diana Stiles. On Monday, Stiles said there have been some recent changes with phone companies, and the four largest wireless telephone companies, AT&T, Sprint,
T-Mobile and Verizon, have now made texting to 9-1-1 available in areas where the local 9-1-1 center is prepared to receive the texts. It’s important for Bureau County residents to know that texting to 9-1-1 is not an available service for them, she said. However, if someone does attempt to text
9-1-1 locally, the person will receive an immediate “bounce-back” message that text-to-911 is not available, and the person should contact emergency services by another means, such as by making a voice call or by using telecommunications relay services, which is available for consumers who
are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability, Stiles said. Though 9-1-1 centers across the country are working toward becoming technically able to accept texting and images, the price to update phone systems and equipment is extremely costly, Stiles said. For Bureau County,
that cost could be $1 million plus, she said. In looking at a potential texting capability, one option would be to have one designated computer and one employee designated around the clock for that computer, Stiles said. Another option would be
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Tiskilwa Library sets open house
Same-sex marriages in Bureau County
Ribbon-cutting ceremony is 11:30 a.m. Saturday
By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
By Lyle Ganther lganther@bcrnews.com
TISKILWA — An open house is planned at the new Tiskilwa Public Library from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday during the village’s Strawberry Festival. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. “We would like the community to come out and see the library,” said Lisa Bettner, lead librarian. The new library opened for business on March 10 while the old library is being refurbished to return the building to its original glory as much as possible. The larger library also allows the library staff to accept books donated by the community. “We have had many books donated that we can accept, since we have more space. The books that we can’t use we will sell at a book sale, hopefully during Pow Wow Days,” Bettner said. “Many volunteers have also put in numerous hours to help move books and other items into the larger library. We have had people replace windows, clean, put shelving together and wood panels on the shelving units,” added Bettner. “Crossroads High School students helped to move books. Board members and community members donated many hours in order to get the library looking as good as it does right now.” The Friends of Library members have also helped on
Library Page 4 Year 168 No. 16 One Section - 16 Pages
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BCR photo/Amelia Bystry
Sliding into fun at Buffalo Days Phynix Green takes the plunge down the bouncy slide at this year’s annual Buffalo Days festival in LaMoille. The event included fun for all ages, including a 5K Buffalo Stampede run/walk, a tractor show, a parade, musical entertainment, a tug-of-war contest, food stands and more.
PRINCETON — Bureau County has issued two same-sex marriage licenses since same-sex marriages became legal a week ago. In November 2013, Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act into law, making Illinois the 16th state in the union to allow samesex marriage. The law went into effect June 1. Prior to that, since June 2011, same-sex couples could get civil union licenses. Bureau County Clerk Kami Hieronymus said one of the two same-sex couples applying last week in her office for a marriage license did have a civil union license and wanted to convert the civil union to a marriage license. When applying for a marriage license, a same-sex couple does not have to turn in the civil union license, Hieronymus said. There is a new application for a marriage license which has to be filled out and signed. The couple has a choice as to whether they want to keep their civil union date as their marriage date. There is no cost when a couple wants to convert from civil union to marriage. As per the new law, the couple has a year to convert if they choose. Since June 2011, the Bureau County Clerk’s office has processed four civil union applications/licenses; one in 2012; four in 2013 and one in 2014. Hieronymus said the marriage license application form and process is the same for both heterosexual and same-sex couples. The cost is $35 for a marriage license. The waiting period is one day. The license is valid for 60 days. Comment on this story at www. bcrnews.com.