Rotary Park is ready to get lit for Christmas
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Yes, they’ll still bust you for pot
Judge hands defense a setback in Ottawa drowning case By Tom Collins
Recreational marijuana will be legal in 52 days, so cops like Peru officer Bradley Anderson aren’t seizing it anymore, right? Well, think again. Court records show no decline in cannabis enforcement and police say they’re determined to seize, through Dec. 31, any pot recovered during traffic stops and searches.
NEWSTRIBUNE SENIOR REPORTER
NEWSTRIBUNE PHOTO/ SCOTT ANDERSON
Think cops are giving up on enforcement? They aren’t. stores or in your car.
By Tom Collins NEWSTRIBUNE SENIOR REPORTER
If the weekend weather is clear and the parking lot is full, Phil Wire will inevitably catch a whiff of marijuana somewhere on the trails at Starved Rock State Park. Wire is a sergeant with Illinois Conservation Police and cannabis at the parks is a problem that has long tested his patience, not least because falls happen even when visitors aren’t impaired. It’s only gotten worse since cannabis was decriminalized and since the Legislature legalized recreational cannabis starting Jan. 1. Wire and his staff still issue tickets to those they catch in the act, however. Pot remains completely illegal for another 7½ weeks and even after Jan. 1 you still can’t light up at the parks — or anywhere in the open, for that matter. “Not only can’t you smoke it in public but those under 21 cannot possess it at all,” Wire said. “We still will be enforcing those laws.”
Editor’s Note: This is an installment in a periodic series on what people should know ahead of the legalization of recreational cannabis taking effect Jan. 1.
Discreet users could be forgiven for thinking that marijuana has become quasi-legal. Pot was decriminalized three years ago statewide, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed recreational cannabis into law this past June. But full legalization doesn’t begin for another 52 days and police are still writing tickets to educate violators on how the still-unfolding law is going to work. Get ticketed for smoking a joint and you’re likely to get a reminder that marijuana won’t be 100% legal even after Jan. 1: Under the new law you can’t smoke it out in the open, inside public places such as grocery
BEHIND THE NUMBERS A passing glance at the crime statistics would lead to the mistaken belief that police have thrown up their hands and quit enforcing cannabis laws. They haven’t. In La Salle County for example, misdemeanor pot arrests have fallen sharply — from 19 arrests in 2016 to just five this year — but what once carried jail time is now an ordinance violation carrying only a fine, and those offenses have ballooned by 71% over the same three-year span as misdemeanors fell off. In other words, cops aren’t seizing less marijuana — they’re simply filing the offenses under a different heading at the courthouse. The same trend is taking place in Bureau and Putnam counties. Bureau County state’s attorney Geno Caffarini said misdemeanor pot arrests, too, have fallen off a cliff and that pot seizures now result in civil offenses that don’t even cross his desk. Putnam County sheriff Kevin Doyle said he’s had zero mis-
demeanor pot arrests since the fall of 2017, all replaced by ordinance violations that recently cracked double-digits. “We still enforce,” Doyle said. “We’re not throwing out the law, if that’s what the public is thinking. It is still illegal.” NOT THE NEW ALCOHOL Getting users to awaken to the limits that will be in place come Jan. 1 has been difficult. Most of those caught violating cannabis laws think pot is no more regulated or restricted than alcohol, and that’s an oversimplification. “I think there are misconceptions,” Doyle said. “They think they can have this anywhere they want. It’s still not going to be legal to be under the influence at work or behind the wheel.” Alcohol presents a cautionary tale because a motorist found to have smoked marijuana, even days after the fact, can still be hit with a DUI. As Peru police chief Doug See BUSTED Page A2
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INDEX
New bison graces Buffalo Rock State Park
Astrology B5 Lifestyle A8 Classified B7 Local A3 Comics B5 Lottery A2 Dining B4 Obituaries B6 Entertainment B4
By Michael Urbanec SHAW MEDIA
COMING MONDAY
est. 1851
STATE CROSS COUNTRY How will the L-P runners fare?
See DROWNING Page A2
Pebbles has a new pal
TONIGHT
Established 1851 No. 219 © 2019
OTTAWA — Accused killer Kenneth Cusick still can raise the issue of why state’s attorney Karen Donnelly made prosecuting him a campaign pledge, but now there’s a risk: Donnelly, a judge ruled Thursday, could discuss a 2011 coroner’s jury that ruled Tracy Lynn Cusick died as the result of a homicide. Cusick appeared Thursday for a status hearing on his upcoming murder trial. He would face 20-60 years in prison if convicted of murder for allegedly drowning wife Tracy Lynn in a home toilet in 2006. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Dec. 2. Earlier in the case, Cusick and Ottawa defense attorney had argued that Donnelly, during her 2016 campaign for state’s attorney, had pledged to get an indictment into Tracy Lynn’s death. That, Ottawa defense attorney Hamer argued, is something the jury should hear about. Raccuglia agreed. Now, however, Donnelly is prepared to say she simply was following up on a coroner’s inquest from 2011 under then-coroner Jody Bernard. There, a jury heard evidence that it’s impossible for an adult to accidentally drown in a home toilet. Over Hamer’s objections, Judge Cynthia M. Raccuglia agreed that Donnelly can, if ordered to take the stand, cite the coroner’s verdict as a reason why she re-opened the Cusick case. “And that’s a hell of a good reason,” the judge noted. That leaves Cusick and Hamer with a potential Catch-22: They still can question why Donnelly pledged to get an indictment, but at the risk of the jury learning about a coroner’s verdict that otherwise wouldn’t get a mention at trial. Hamer also struck out on a second matter. He asked Raccuglia to re-think an earlier ruling in which she held jurors could hear about an allegation of domestic abuse from 2004. Though charges weren’t filed, Kenneth Cusick gave a potentially incriminating statement prosecutors want to use.
THE TIMES/TRACEY MACLEOD
Buffalo Rock State Park’s newest bison arrived Thursday morning from Midewin Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington. The 2-year-old joins Pebbles, a 14-year-old bison who’s been at the park since 2005.
OTTAWA — A 2-year-old bison bolted out of a gate toward her new home at Buffalo Rock State Park on Thursday morning, where she joins 14-year-old bison Pebbles. The yet-to-be-named bison comes to Buffalo Rock from Midewin Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington. “Getting her here was surpris-
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ingly easy,” said Dan Bell, site superintendent for the Illinois and Michigan Canal and Buffalo Rock State Park, which is along the Illinois River between Ottawa and Utica. “She was in the corral at Midewin and she jumped right into the truck and ran right to the back of it. We opened the doors here and she shot out like nobody’s business.” Pebbles was cold to the new bison at first, retreating to what See BISON Page A4
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