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www.newstrib.com | Tuesday, September 3, 2019 | 75 cents
Former state Sen. Pat Welch found safe
Welch, now 70 years old and with dementia, disappeared Monday By Tom Collins
NEWSTRIBUNE SENIOR REPORTER
Former state Sen. Patrick Welch has been located safe in Chicago after a missing-person report was issued Monday by the Orland Park Police Department. Welch, now 70, was listed as having dementia in a police posting issued around 3 p.m. Monday. At that time, police reported Welch last was seen that morning on foot in the 14000 block of 95th Avenue.
25 die in California boat fire
However, shortly before 9 a.m. today the department reported Welch had been located at an unspecified location in Chicago. “Patrick has been located in Chicago and is doing Welch well,” police said on the department’s
Facebook page. “We at the Orland Park Police Department thank all the people that shared this post and the concern shown for one of our residents.” Welch, a longtime Peru Democrat, served 22 years in the Illinois General Assembly representing a sprawling (eight counties at his last election) district that included most of the Illinois Valley area. The Chicago native had cut his political teeth campaigning for Bobby Kennedy in 1968 and then
became active in the Democratic Party after graduating from law school and passing the bar in 1974. Eight years later, he ran for Illinois Senate and upset Republican incumbent Betty Hoxsey. He won six of his next re-election bids, often by tight margins. He squeaked out four of his first six wins by 3,500 votes or fewer. In 1994, Welch was ousted by Granville businessman Gary Dahl. Welch then took a post with the Illinois Department of
Revenue, from which he retired. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission shows Welch retired from law in 2011. Welch had kept a low profile in recent years and showed signs of memory loss when he appeared in public. The missing-person report marked the first time his dementia was publicly disclosed. Tom Collins can be reached at (815) 220-6930 or courtreporter@newstrib.com.
Residents displaced by DePue blaze
Searchers look for 9 missing By Stefanie Dazio
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Divers and search crews were still looking Tuesday for nine missing people after at least 25 were confirmed dead when a boat packed with scuba divers caught fire near an island off the Southern California coast. The dive-boat Conception became engulfed in flames before dawn as the passengers on a recreational scuba diving trip slept below deck. “You couldn’t ask for a worse situation,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll said late Monday night at least 25 people died. He said 20 bodies were recovered and five others were found but not retrieved due to unsafe conditions under the boat, which sank in about 60 feet of water. Kroll said the count of those found was based on initial reports and needed to be confirmed through autopsies. The search for the missing went through the night and fog and low clouds on Tuesday were not expected to limit the search crews in their efforts, said Santa Barbara City Fire Department spokeswoman Amber Anderson Five crew members sleeping on the top deck jumped off and took a dinghy to safety. Two had minor injuries. A sixth crew member was among the missing Meanwhile, authorities opened a family assistance center where counseling was being provided to relatives of those onboard. None of their names were immediately released. The missing and dead were among 39 passengers and crew who had departed Santa Barbara Harbor on Saturday aboard the boat for a Labor Day weekend See BOAT Page A2
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A Peru firefighter in the department’s aerial tower points to a hot spot inside a two-story brick structure at 1118 Marquette St. in DePue that caught fire Monday afternoon. Numerous fire departments responded to help DePue firefighters put out the Labor Day blaze. The Peru unit sprayed water inside the building to extinguish hot spots.
Firefighter injured in Labor Day fire By Brent Bader SHAW MEDIA
DEPUE — Residents of two apartments were displaced, and a firefighter received an injury, in a fire reported to Bureau County Sheriff’s deputies at 1:10 p.m. Monday at 1118 Marquette St., DePue. Michael Blanford and his girlfriend were watching TV on the top floor of the apartment building when the room began to fill with smoke. Originally, Blanford said he thought it was a toaster they had left on but when that wasn’t the source, they investigated downstairs.
“I ran to see if it was from downstairs and I look in through the kitchen window and I can see the stove and everything is completely on fire and started on the ceiling already,” Blanford said. “I ran upstairs, told my girlfriend to get out of the house and the whole upstairs was filled with smoke.” His girlfriend, Rachel Loney, exit the apartment, and they grabbed their two dogs, Goliath and Doobie, before he ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911. All residents had exited the building and no injuries were reported to the residents, said Spring Valley Fire Chief Todd Bogatitus. The chief said he believes some cats did not escape the fire. Bogatitus said fire and smoke were showing from both floors
Deadline hurricane parks itself over the Bahamas By Ramon Espinoza, Danica Coto and Michael Weissenstein ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — Practically parking itself over the Bahamas for over a day and a half, Hurricane Dorian pounded away at the islands Tuesday in a watery onslaught that devastated thousands of homes, trapped people in attics and chased others from one shelter to another. At least five deaths were reported. The United Nations and the International Red Cross began
when firefighters arrived, and they immediately made entry into the building, where they encountered a heavy fire on the first floor. Firefighters also made an aggressive attack on the second story, and knocked down most of the fire inside the upstairs apartment, as well. Soon, however, Bogatitus decided to pull the firefighters out of the building. It was an older structure, and fire continued to move through the voids in the walls, as well as between the floor on the second story and the ceiling of the first.
One Spring Valley firefighter received an arm injury when the east wall of the building suddenly collapsed, and “bricks and mortar shot throughout the area,” said Bogatitus, who served as incident commander. The firefighter was taken to St. Margaret’s Hospital, Spring Valley, and was treated and released. Bogatitus did not elaborate on the injury. The collapse of the wall exposed more of the structure to be doused with water from the exterior. Previously, the departments had allowed the fire to burn through the roof, giving Peru’s tower truck the ability to drown much of the fire from above.
FIREFIGHTER INJURED A major wall collapse caused a scare after the fire departments TWO FIRES MONDAY switched to a defensive, exterior Another fire broke out in attack. See FIRES Page A2
mobilizing to deal with the unfolding humanitarian crisis. Prime Minister Hubert Minnis called it “a historic tragedy.” The storm’s relentless winds and rain battered the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama, which have a combined population of about 70,000. The Grand Bahama airport was under 6 feet of water. Desperate callers trying to find loved ones left messages MATT BORN/THE STAR-NEWS VIA AP with local radio stations as Trucks line up at the N.C. Resources Commission boat ramp in Wrightsville Health Minister Duane Sands Beach, N.C., Monday, Sept. 2, 2019. Residents were watching Hurricane See HURRICANE Page A2 Dorian as it slowly approaches the southeastern United States.