Meet a 13-year-old arthritis sufferer who is beating the disease A7
Mendota strike drags on
A4
www.newstrib.com | Thursday, October 24, 2019 | 75 cents
Police track drug suspect to garage in Wyanet
‘We’re losing thousands of dollars’
By Brett Herrmann NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER
A police pursuit that started in Peru led authorities to Wyanet where they tracked down a suspect in a residential garage. Michael D. Willis, 34, listed in Hazel Crest and Chicago will likely face several counts of unlawful delivery of heroin to the undercover officer while in Peru on several occasions in recent months. He also will likely face aggravated fleeing and eluding charges among possibly other charges, according to a press release from Peru police. Wednesday’s incident started around 1:10 p.m. when Peru Police Department Special Investigations Unit and TriCounty Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team Agents were conducting an undercover purchase of suspected heroin from Willis at a north Peru parking lot near Interstate 80 and Route 251. Willis allegedly sold heroin to an undercover police officer during the exchange, police said. Detectives then approached Willis’ vehicle and Willis fled the scene at a high rate of speed, police said. “The detectives chose not to cause Willis to crash his vehicle and allowed him to leave onto Route 251 as to avoid an escalated incident in the parking lot. Willis is known to police to have an extensive violent criminal history that preliminary appears to have faced homicide-related and gun charges and has spent time in Illinois Department of Corrections,” the department said in a press release. “Surveillance officers assigned to Route 251 then attempted to stop his vehicle but he instead he entered I-80 traveling westbound. Peru police chief Doug Bernabei and Detectives Sergeant Dennis Hocking, in separate police vehicles cars pursued Willis into Bureau County on I-80 but as the suspect vehicle reached west of Route 89 we no longer attempted to pursue the suspect as his speeds reached 120 mph. Due to the risk to public safety the Peru portion of the pursuit was terminated on I-80 approximately 2 miles west of the Spring Valley
NEWSTRIBUNE PHOTO/SCOTT ANDERSON
Mendota firefighter and paramedic Terry Eutis and assistant chief Brian Fisher re-enact how medical supplies are used on a patient in the back of an ambulance at the Mendota fire department. Mendota’s department has had to turn down most patient transfers from OSF St. Paul to other hospitals because doing the transfers would leave them shorthanded at the station for emergencies in town. Transfers are one of the few ways an ambulance services generates revenue. It’s a competitive market in the area, especially for cities that don’t have a hospital in town.
Inside the competitive world of ambulance transfers By Brett Herrmann NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER
In the past year, OSF St. Paul in Mendota has requested around 500 patient transfers from its facility. Mendota Fire Department was only able to take five of them. “That is not where we would like it to be,” said Mendota fire chief Dennis Rutishauser. “We used to do around 400 transfers a year.” The city has three ambulances to handle patient transfers but they lack the manpower to take the calls. If one ambulance crew
was out bringing a patient from OSF St. Paul to another hospital, there may not be a comfortable amount of EMT’s in town to handle an emergency situation. So, the department has been turning down a lot of calls in recent months in favor of adequately covering the city of Mendota’s emergency calls. Rutishauser said the situation is a direct result of ongoing staffing issues at the department. Mendota relies on some fulltime personnel and other paid on-call staff for its fire and EMS needs. But the department is hurting for manpower, an issue
they brought to the city council recently. “A little bit of everything would help,” Rutishauser said. And Mendota city council members said they would like to pour over the budget to see if they can afford to hire more staff. But with less staff on the payroll, the department is putting itself in a Catch-22 situation — the department saves on expenditures with less staff but loses a revenue opportunity by not having enough staff to take patient transfers. Transfers are one of the few opportunities ambulance services have to bill
patients for expenses. “I’m sure we’re losing thousands of dollars,” Rutishauser said. TRANSFERS ARE A COMPETITIVE BUSINESS Not every community is fortunate enough to have a standalone hospital or medical center. Many smaller communities with ambulance services are on the outside looking in when it comes to patient transfers. For example, many residents from Oglesby opt for treatment See AMBULANCE Page A4
GOP stands by Trump, gingerly, after diplomat’s testimony
See CHASE Page A3 By Alan Fram and Zeke Miller ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
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WASHINGTON (AP) — They pleaded ignorance, saying they’d not read the diplomat’s damning statement. They condemned the Democrats’ tactics as unfair. They complained that the allegations against President Donald Trump rested on second- or third-hand evidence. Wednesday was a day of careful counterargument by congressional Republicans, the day after America’s top envoy in Ukraine gave House impeachment investigators an explosive, detailed roadmap of Trump’s drive to squeeze that country’s leaders for damaging information about his Democratic political rivals. Most Republicans were still standing by Trump, but in delicately calibrated ways after
Tuesday’s closed-door testimony by acting ambassador William Taylor . And as lawmakers struggled to balance support for Trump with uncertainty over what might still emerge, some were willing to acknowledge the strains they were facing. Asked if Taylor’s testimony was a rough day for the White House and Republicans, No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota said, “Probably one of many.” AP PHOTO “Obviously, we have a lot of incoming right now,” he said. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), flanked by Rep. Russ Fulcher “That’s the nature of the beast.” (R-Idaho) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), complain to reporters about how White House officials, who House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is conducting the imhave been treating unified peachment investigation of President Donald Trump. Republican support for Trump as a given, have grown increas- even in an eventual trial in the Democrats hope, the West Wing believes more must be done to ingly fearful of defections in a Republican Senate. While officials don’t believe shore up party support to avoid potential impeachment vote by the Democratic House and there will be enough votes to remove the president, as See IMPEACH Page A2
Darius Miller Park, Princeton, IL
Saturday, October 26 Open 2 pm • Music 3-6 pm
Oktoberfest Cuisine And Beverages Available For Purchase No outside beverages or food
Live Music • Kids’ Games - Duck Derby
Heidelberg German Band