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Thursday, July 17, 2014
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Voters to weigh in on DePue fire truck Referendum will be on November ballot By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
DEPUE — DePue residents will have a say in whether or not the DePue Fire Department brings home a new fire truck.
On Monday, the village board unanimously approved an ordinance directing the county clerk to put a referendum question on the November ballot. The questions will ask whether or not to issue bonds in the total amount of $350,000 for a new fire
truck and equipment for the truck. DePue Fire Chief Steve Rauh was at Monday’s village board meeting and asked how the decision, if approved, would affect tax rates and how long it will take to pay off the truck. While no answer was available yet on Monday, Raul asked if the village
could gather that information to help educate residents at a future open house at the fire department, which is scheduled for Oct. 4. It was mentioned when the fire department last purchased a new truck in 2002, the village was able to pay it off four years earlier than expected.
Fire department applies for grant Rauh also reported on Monday the fire department is applying for a 50/50 conservation grant to help cover the costs of new purchases in the department. If the DePue Fire Department is awarded
Red Cross seeks donors By Donna Barker
Warmer weather on the horizon
dbarker@bcrnews.com
Red Cross Page 2 Year 168 No. 85 Two Sections - 28 Pages
98213 00012 1 7 © Bureau County Republican
DePue Page 4
Cooler temps, early fall?
Wanted: Your blood
PRINCETON — The American Red Cross is seeking blood donors to prevent any blood shortage during the summer months. On Wednesday, Bureau County Red Cross Director Lori Compton said the local blood drives are usually consistent in the number of donors throughout the year, but nationally, donations are typically down both in the summer and hard winter months. Summer can be an especially hard time for blood drives because people are gone on vacations. Also, there is often more need for blood during the summer months when people are traveling more and there is an increased chance for accidents. The American Red Cross has stated there is an average of two fewer blood donors at each Red Cross blood drive during the summer months. Blood collected through the Bureau County Red Cross is processed through the Peoria Heart of America and then dispersed as needed, Compton said. Though primarily used in area counties, the collected blood may occasionally be shipped outside of the area to meet needs elsewhere. According to the American Red Cross, red blood cells have a shelf-life of only 42 days and platelets have a five-day shelf-life, which means they must be replenished constantly. The process for giving blood takes only about an hour or so of a person’s
the grant, they plan to replace a pump on one tanker truck, purchase new nozzles for a brush truck and add a 6-wheel ATV to their equipment. Rauh said firefighters feel they could use the ATV to go out to brush and wooded areas for fires,
By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
BCR photo/Becky Kramer
While cooler temperatures have kept many from the summertime fun at the swimming pool — even closing the Alexander Pool for a day, many area youth have still found plenty of sun-filled days to enjoy the pool, like these children who found plenty of fun at the Alexander Pool in Princeton.
Gaining Strength Each and Every Day! After having joint replacement surgery, the Bounce Back Team helped Margaret feel like herself again.
PRINCETON — Bureau County may be in the middle of summer, but the recent cooler temperatures have made it seem more like fall. WQAD News 8 chief meteorologist James Zahara said he’s been getting a lot of questions about the recent cooler temperatures and if the cooler temperatures could mean an early fall and winter. “Hardly. The trend through August does look slightly cooler than normal, I’ll admit that,” Zahara said. “But there are strong signs that an El Nino is still on track this autumn and winter. For our part of the country, it usually means a warmer and drier weather pattern.” Though this week has seen an “impressive dip in temperatures,” Zahara said the cooler temperatures are not unusual for July. “In fact, the latest (cooler July temperatures) was back in July 2009, on July 8, 17 and 18, where most towns in the Quad Cities area experienced highs only in the 60s,” Zahara said. The cause for the current cooler weather event goes back to last week’s Super Typhoon ‘Neoguri,’ as it belted the country of Japan, Zahara said. As the
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