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1 Front
Single Copy Cost 50¢ Volume 148 No. 36
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Wednesday, May 4, 2016
How far does the dough go? Study ranks counties by where Social Security goes the furthest By Dave Cook
news@putnamcountyrecord.com
PCR photo/Dave Cook
Ruth Hayward gets active recently at the Putnam County Community Center in Standard.
STANDARD — It’s not easy to make ends meet, especially if you’re one of the many relying solely on Social Security payments. Rather than enjoying their retirement years in comfort, people can easily find themselves in an ongoing financial struggle. To find where Social Security goes the furthest, New York financial firm SmartAsset has conducted its second annual study and released the rankings of the nation’s counties. SmartAsset’s Steve Sabato said, “First we looked at the average Social Security income for each county. Then we calculated the taxes based on the state specific tax rules. We subtracted the taxes from that average Social Security income to determine the net income. “Next, we calculated how far that would go in every county to cover basic necessities. We subtracted the county-level cost of typical liv-
ing expenses from each county’s net Social Security income. Finally, we indexed the results to 100, with 100 showing where Social Security would cover the most needs. Higher scores reflect a better environment for living primarily or exclusively of benefits.” Putnam County was ranked first in the state for the second year and received an index score of 87.82. The county was ranked 67th nationally. Annual cost of living expenses for a Social Security recipient in Putnam County was determined to be $17,283 and the typical, untaxed Social Security benefit amount was $19,176. Bureau County, by comparison, was ranked eighth in the state, up from 12th last year. The county ranked 234th nationally and was given an index rating of 83.16. Annual cost of living expenses for a Social Security recipient in Bureau County was determined to be $16,849 and the typical, untaxed Social Security
benefit amount was $18,027. LaSalle County was ranked 39th in the state, up from 51st last year and 672nd nationally. Annual cost of living expenses for a Social Security recipient in LaSalle County was determined to be $17,569 and the typical, untaxed Social Security benefit amount was $17,861. The Putnam County Record recently visited the Putnam County Community Center (PCCC) to discuss these findings and to talk about the realities of surviving off of Social Security income. Sherry Boedigheimer, information and assistance representative of the PCCC said, “I do not believe this study is accurate. The seniors who live off Social Security alone are not doing well. They have trouble paying for their Medicare D premium, prescriptions and insurance supplement. They also have utilities; other insurance coverage; taxes; groceries
Social Page 2A
Is 4-H for you? Volunteers needed, no previous connection necessary By Dave Cook
news@putnamcountyrecord.com
Some of the most valuable opportunities in education exist outside of the classroom. Relationships with family, teachers, mentors, coaches and volunteers offer guidance and support and are important elements of a child’s development. Four-H provides meaningful lessons for more than 200,000 students across Illinois, and the more than 14,000 volunteers involved also benefit from their involvement. The University of Illinois Extension Office of Bureau-LaSalle-Marshall and Putnam Counties are seeking more adults from these areas to join 4-H and share their knowledge
4-H Page 3A
The importance of faith and humor Putnam County resident authors book detailing personal struggles By Dave Cook
news@putnamcountyrecord.com
MAGNOLIA — The Magnolia Library will be the first location in Putnam County to host local author Gregg Carr from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 5. Carr has recently written and self-published a 128-page book, “Faith and Humor: God’s Healing Gifts,” which chronicles his personal battles with alcoholism and cancer and how he found the strength to face the challenges of both.
Author Page 3A Vol. 148 No. 36 Two Sections - 32 Pages
© The Putnam County Record
PCR photo/Dave Cook
Court is in session Seniors from Putnam County High School participated in the annual Law Day event held Friday, April 29, at the Putnam County Courthouse in Hennepin. During the event, the senior class held a mock trial, with Lucas Lenkaitis of Hennepin serving as judge. A record 28 students were registered to vote that day in the county clerk’s office.
2 Local
2A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
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and other living expenses such as clothing, personal items, car expenses; doctor, dentist and eyeglass bills; and home expenses.” Erma Costello, 85, of Granville and a regular visitor to the community center, shared her thoughts on the study and whether her income from Social Security is enough. “I just get by, but it depends on what goes on during the month. I’m lucky my late husband did well because if I had to live only on mine, I wouldn’t eat much during the month,” Costello said. Tamara Beaber, PCCC outreach worker, shared what she’s learned through her work with the community. “Our aging community has spent their lives working only to have to deal with the uncertainty of where the money is going to come from to pay for a new pair of glasses or dental work, which are both very costly. I have identified clients who are living off of as little as $500 per month. There is no extra for these clients.” Beaber said. While the county ranked well in this costof-living study and the benefits of the PCCC and their outreach program are a much needed part of the well-being of its older residents, there are still deficiencies in the system. “Aside from our usual resources like Alternatives, LIHEAP and the local food pantry, there aren’t ways to pad the income of the aging community who simply don’t make enough to live off of. Those who can, often work well after retiring age. Sadly, those who can’t struggle daily. Retiring should be exciting ...
a chance to travel or do the things you couldn’t because of having to work. It’s something that after a lifetime of working has been earned, but so many don’t have that privilege,” Beaber said. Some of the most significant benefits of the PCCC and their outreach program extend well beyond the financial though and are equally important. Costello said, “Everyone here is wonderful, and they’ve helped me with a lot of problems. Whenever I’ve called for information, they have an answer. They also helped transport me to the doctor for surgery and even helped me into my home afterwards; I had no way other way to travel. They even delivered warm meals to my home for me while I was healing. The regular visits from Tamara always make me happy after sitting alone day after day.” Though the PCCC is struggling like so many other government-funded entities because of Springfield’s inability to pass a budget, their good work will continue because of the dedication and commitment of its staff to provide help to those in need. Beaber said, “I have observed quite a few individuals who only live on their Social Security, and I clearly see they are struggling. The anxiety and stress caused by losing prescription drug coverage because there wasn’t enough left in the budget to pay for premiums because of medical bills is overwhelming. Having to decide between medication and food is not a choice our aging community should have to be making.” For more information visit www.smartasset.com/retirement/ social-security-calculator?year=2016#Illinois.
PCR photo/Dave Cook
Tamara Beaber is the outreach worker for Putnam County Community Center in Standard.
Extending a helping hand PCCC’s Outreach Program to begin community canvassing By Dave Cook
news@putnamcountyrecord.com
STANDARD — Tamara Beaber, outreach worker for the Putnam County Community Center (PCCC), will be conducting more door-to-door canvassing throughout Putnam County now that the weather has become warmer. Beaber will have identification on herself and her car. Many of the area’s residents may already know her since her arrival at the community center in March 2015. Outreach is a one-on-one (usually a home visit) contact the PCCC uses to identify potential clients or their caregivers and encourages the use of existing services and benefits. If you are not 60 or older, Beaber will have a short conversation to inform residents of what the center does for the community. Some of the specific things the center’s outreach worker does is as follows: • Canvassing door-to-door to seek
out and identify hard to reach, aging individuals for informational and safety purposes (In case of emergency, they can then be easily located and checked on). • Informing persons or their caregivers of available benefits and services. • Encouraging the aging population to participate in senior programs offered by the PCCC and assisting them with gaining access to needed services. • Conducting follow-up activities/ phone calls to determine whether services have been received and needs met following referrals, providing client advocacy to secure needed benefits and providing community presentations which link the aging population with needed services and benefits. If you or anyone you know can benefit from Beaber’s services, contact the PCCC 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, at 815-339-2711 or email pcccoutreach@outlook.com.
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3 Local
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 • The Putnam County Record • 3A
4-H From Page 1A with area youth. According to 4-H program coordinator Anne Scheel, adults with no previous connection to 4-H may volunteer to share talents, strengths and experiences. Some may want to share their knowledge for a specific project related to their own career, hobby or area of interests, and others become involved to get to know the younger people in their community. There are volunteers who want to spend time with their own children and their classmates, and 4-H alumni often choose to volunteer to give back to the program that helped them develop the skills which have helped them with their lives. Scheel said, “Four-H offers a variety of long- and short-term volunteer opportunities including organizational leaders of clubs or groups, project leaders for more than 100 subjects or activity leaders who help plan educational and social events, contests, workshops and clinics for the 4-H members in the county.” Pat McGlaughlin, U of I Extension 4-H youth development specialist, said, “Today’s 4-H youth are engaged in learning activities as they’re practicing skills employers want; growing and distributing food to communities in need; stewarding natural resources;
making a difference in local, state, national and global issues and influencing positive choices for healthy living.” Four-H is the largest outof-school youth education program in the United States, and programs are offered in every county in Illinois. Volunteer Francis Morse shared what she enjoys about her volunteer experiences. “I mainly volunteer because of the kids and the excitement they have for their 4-H projects. Watching their faces when they show their work, seeing the excitement and pride when they earn ribbons and the overall atmosphere of the fair is great. It’s nice to see kids recognize their interests and then take the next step to learn more about it. They then practice those skills, become involved and achieve their goals,” Morse said. It’s not just the children who benefit from Morse’s involvement though. Morse said, “It’s been beneficial to me in my retirement, as an older person, keeping me active in our community. As studies have shown, by staying active I have better physical and mental health as a result of working with the kids and families in 4-H.” Volunteer and U of I Extension Office Master Gardener Sharon Gallup shared what she found valuable about her time spent with 4-H. “Not having children of
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From Page 1A Carr, a recovering alcoholic since June 26, 1999, is using the lessons learned in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to help in his current fight with Stage 4 lung cancer. “I use my higher power that I call God. I live my life one day at a time, and I live in the positive instead of the negative. These are all things I learned in AA. According to my doctors and nurses in Iowa City, my positive outlook is worth 90 percent of the battle with cancer,” Carr said. Carr was told he had a tumor on Easter Sunday 2015 and began treatments a month later. Shortly after his diagnosis, he began writing a blog about his experiences. Friends and family enjoyed his writing and encouraged him to write the book, which was completed on April 1, 2016, and printed by Kingery Printing in Henry. “It was very therapeutic for me,” he said. “I was inspired by my wife, Linda. We’ve been together for 41 years, and she saw how happy I was writing the blog and pushed me to write the book.” Carr, who started writing in high school and penned original comedy skits for the speech team, FFA and 4-H, has also written comedic pieces as an adult, including musical comedies for members of the Putnam County Educational Foundation (PCEF).
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From each book sale of $15, Carr will be donating $3 to either the Hope Lodge in Iowa City, where Carr was given a free room for eight weeks during his treatments, or the Relay for Life in Marshall-Putnam Counties. “The Relay is dear to my heart as I was the featured speaker in 1998, and I will be speaking there again this year on June 11. I’ve also emceed the event for at least eight years,” Carr said. Knowing people immediately become fearful and expect to die soon after hearing the word “cancer” from their doctor, Carr hopes his book will provide comfort and hope to those facing their own frightening challenges. Carr said, “I want readers to find that no matter what illness or disease you suffer from, be it diabetes, cardiac, cancer or alcoholism, having faith is important, as is being able to laugh at your situation. Humor is truly a great medicine and helps us to be accepting. Also, stay positive, you have to have hope.” To read Carr’s blog, visit www. faithandlaughterfromgregg.blogspot.com. In addition to appearing at the Magnolia Library, Carr will also be at the Granville Library from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 6. He will be visiting the Hennepin Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 7, and the McNabb Fire Station from 1 to 3 p.m. on the same day. Carr is hoping to also add an appearance at the Putnam County Community Center in Standard in the near future.
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my own, it’s very rewarding to see children eager to learn and benefit from 4-H programs. They get children involved in something benefiting everyone. They ask interesting questions and they make me smile and be happy I’m involved. They’ve taught me patience and make me want to come back for more. Everyone involved is wonderful to work with, and I enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience with children. I would recommend others make some time to volunteer for these programs and share their knowledge and experience,” Gallup said. McGlaughlin said, “Whether you have two hours a week or 10 hours a year to give to enrich the lives of youth through 4-H, Extension has a place for you.” Gallup added, “It’s a great feeling of satisfaction knowing you have, in some small way, helped through the 4-H programs and had a positive impact on these children who will take that with them in their lives.” For the health and safety of all involved, adults are required to complete the application process and attend an orientation session prior to becoming a 4-H volunteer. To learn more about the volunteer opportunities in your community, contact Anne Scheel at 309364-2356, email amscheel@ illinois.edu. or visit the website at www.4-H.illinois. edu.
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4 Local
4A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Good Local Food Tour is May 12 Plant, grow, share what you know Getting fresh food to market in North Central Illinois is not a lot different from Wisconsin. So why not learn from each other? Gateway Services and From the Ground Up are co-sponsoring two vans of people from Bureau, Putnam and LaSalle counties for one full and entertaining day of stimulating discussions, problem solving and ideas. Here’s a fun, delicious way to be inspired. The tour departs from the Princeton Amtrak Depot at 7:30 a.m. or Rural King at 1350 38th St. in Peru at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 12. The cost is $25 for the entire day and includes round-trip transportation, $10 coupon for brunch and products at Bushel & Peck’s, educational materials and access to follow-up. Throughout the day, you will meet CSA leaders, farmers’ market managers, organizers of co-op groceries, commercial food kitchens and incubators, artisanal food producers and food entrepreneurs. You’ll see innovative community gardens and organic farms and get tips on financing and distribution for food-related businesses. You’ll also eat great food. Brunch is included in the tour. Sign up and bring a friend. Limited spaces are available. First come, first served.
Register today at http://goo.gl/forms/ F48u99MVFB. First come, first served. Tour stops: • Bushel & Peck’s Market, Cafe, Commercial Kitchen in downtown Beloit. “We make and market artisan, agricultural goods for those who seek high-quality, environmentally sound, handcrafted products. Our preservation kitchen, store and restaurant supports a local economy and connects consumers directly to farmers, craftsmen and women. Each food product we provide shares the story of its artisans, neighbors, tradespeople and friends. Bushel & Peck’s and our affiliated producers are experts in their fields who believe in the future of a hand-crafted economy.” For information, see http://www. bushelandpecks.com/. • Yahara River Grocery Cooperative. Started in 2008, this downtown Stoughton cooperative struggled in its first years but has grown to more than 1,000 members and an important role in the local food system. It’s a downtown gathering place as well as grocery; an excellent example of what can be done in a rural community by committed local residents. From Fair Trade coffee and bulk products to fresh produce and ready-to-eat meals, this little store offers a remarkable selection
of unique goods and services. • FairShare Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Coalition. One of the oldest CSA organizations in the country, for over 20 years FairShare (formerly Madison Area CSA Coalition, MACSAC) has been linking people who care about what they eat to local farmers who grow top-quality food for their local communities. FairShare’s USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program project, Expanding CSA Markets: Increasing Consumer Demand Through CSA Networks and Targeted Marketing, funded in 2016, is now producing four marketing toolkits on farm to business (workplace CSAs), CSA Outreach fundraising and promotions, and health insurance rebates. For information see www. csacoalition.org/. • Troy Gardens/Community GroundWorks. Community Groundworks runs a CSA, community gardens and farms, a fiveacre research farm, farm stand, a statewide school gardening education network, kids’ gardens, workshops and home garden consulting. It also created a co-housing community and research farm. We will learn about public/private partners and co-sponsorships, land trusts;, school and community relationships. For information see http://
www.communitygroundworks.org/. • Food Enterprise & Economic Development. (FEED) Kitchens. This non-profit facility has five commercial kitchens, with specialized equipment for baking, produce preparation and processing, deli prep and meat processing. Available for rent by the hour so food businesses and individuals seeking to sell food to the public can have a legal place to prepare their food. Also available is a training kitchen for non-profit groups and cooking teachers to use to teach food service and preparation skills. The training kitchen can be used by anyone who wishes to do personal cooking or baking on a larger scale, such as holiday baking with friends, canning and preserving produce, or making meals in bulk. • Willy Street Co-op. Founded in 1974, Willy Street is now one of the nation’s largest grocery co-ops, with 32,000 owners and two stores. It specializes in natural, organic and local foods, and addresses the needs of its members through owner-only sales, reduced prices for classes and many other owner benefits including individual nutrition consultations, a full schedule of educational and community events, a monthly newspaper and outreach services. For information see https://www.willystreet.coop.
Perry Memorial Hospital announces Annette Schnabel as president/CEO PRINCETON — The Perry Memorial Hospital Board has announced Annette Schnabel will transition to president/CEO of the hospital on May 1. As the CEO, Schnabel will provide overall leadership to the hospital with a focus on strategic planning and implementation, provider recruitment/ relations, marketing/communications and compliance. Schnabel joined the Perry executive team in December 2014 as the vice president/chief operating officer. Former CEO/President Rex Conger will transition to President Emeritus until his
retirement on Jan. 15, 2017. He will be responsible for board projects including his role as an Illinois Hospital Association Board member and working with the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network. Tony Sorcic, hospital board chair, stated, “During a time when the health care industry is undergoing a variety of changes caused by not only technology but an overall change in the United States health care system, today’s health care administrators are faced with new and unprecedented challenges. The hospital board of directors is confi-
dent in Annette’s leadership and focus on helping the hospital meet these challenges and move forward with growth into the future. We also express our appreciation to Rex for his service and wish him well as he transitions to retirement.” Schnabel attended the University of Illinois, Chicago, were she received her degree in physical therapy. She worked as a physical therapist prior to entering the management track. She returned to school and earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy at A.T. Still University and her MBA from Marylhurst University. She
has worked in many settings including hospitals, home health, special education and skilled nursing facilities. She has been a member of hospital executive teams for 14 years. Schnabel is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is past board member of the Mid-Am Chapter and chair of the program committee. She is past board member of the Effingham County Alliance for Economic Development. Currently, she is a member of the Princeton Rotary, the chair of the Community Service Committee and a mem-
ber of the Z-Tour Planning Committee. Schnabel and her husband, Bill, have been married for 28 years and are the parents of four grown children. They have thoroughly enjoyed becoming a part of the Princeton community. Linda Gustafson, hospital board vice-chair, stated, “The board is pleased to have Annette transition to the CEO position. The hospital is moving forward with growth in services and providers. The board is confident that under Annette’s leadership, the hospital will remain a strong pillar of the community. We appreciate
Annette Schnabel Rex and his contributions and commitment to Perry over the last nine and onehalf years. We wish him the best as he moves toward retirement.”
Illinois has warmer, drier soils in mid-April degrees at 4- and 8-inch depths, respectively. Increases occurred across the state. Temperatures in southern Illinois rose 15.2 degrees, ending the week with a regional average of 63.7 degrees at 2 inches under bare soil.
The coolest temperatures were in the north where 2-inch temperatures averaged 60.1 degrees on April 16. Soil moisture levels decreased slightly with the warmer weather. Levels at a depth of 2 inches
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across the state. Daily and monthly summaries can be found at the WARM website (www.isws.illinois.edu/warm/) and in the Illinois Water and Climate Summary (www. isws.illinois.edu/warm/ climate.asp).
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at the parking lot of Casey’s General Store on Rt 71, Granville, Il. The sale will be held rain or shine and they will have plants available in time for Mother’s Day. Plants available will include 3 quart, 1.5 gal. and 2.88 gal. ready refill pots with various Spring Blooms, and 1.5 gal. Standard, Premium and Fuchsia, hanging baskets. There will be no flats available this year. Proceeds from the sale will go to 2016 Annual Marshall Putnam Relay For Life to be held June 11 at the Henry Senachwine High School track.
greater as levels remained near or above field capacity for most of the soils monitored. The Illinois State Water Survey’s WARM Program collects hourly and daily weather and soil information at 19 stations
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CHAMPAIGN — Warmer weather in the second week of April brought warmer and drier soils, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) Program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois. Bare soil temperatures, on average, rose more than 15 degrees during the week with statewide averages of 63 degrees for 2-inch depths and 61.5 degrees for 4 inches on April 16. Temperatures under sod rose more slowly with temperatures at the end of the week averaging 57.0 and 55.2
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5 Obit Records
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 • The Putnam County Record • 5A
Charlotte Munson
Diane ‘Dodie’ Ellena
Illinois State Police
OGLESBY — Charlotte Munson, 89 of Oglesby passed away Wednesday, April 27, 2016, at her home surrounded by her loving family. Charlotte was born May 8, 1926, in Peru to Amos and Marjorie (Bangs) Ryan. She married Raymond Munson on June 7, Charlotte 1953, in the Lostant Methodist Church. Munson She attended LaSalle–Peru Junior College and received her degree in education at the University of Memphis. Charlotte was a third grade teacher for Putnam County Schools for 36 years. Survivors include one niece, Lynn (Lee) Perry of Oglesby; and two great-nieces, Nichole (William) Kroncke and Michelle (Michael) Wolf. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Raymond, on July 27, 1987; two sisters, Gail Kregor, on March 10, 1980, and Betty Phillips, on Jan. 3, 1991; and one nephew, Clayton Kregor. Services were at 11 a.m. Monday, May 2, at the Dysart-Cofoid Funeral Chapel in Granville with the Rev. Mark Nowakowski officiating. Burial was in Friends Cemetery in McNabb. Visitation was from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday, May 2, at the Dysart-Cofoid Funeral Chapel in Granville. Pallbearers were Mike Wolf, William Kroncke, John Patyk, Syl Janusick, David Forbes and Greg Glenn. Honorary pallbearers were Michael Wolf and Hailey Wolf. Contributions may be directed to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, P.O. Box 50, Memphis, TN 38101-9929. Online condolences may be made to her family at www.dcfunerals.com.
PRINCETON — Diane “Dodie” Ellena, 65, of Princeton passed away Thursday, April 28, 2016, surrounded by family and friends. Diane was born Oct. 20, 1950, to Tony and Irma Ellena of rural Hennepin. She was a kind, generous, proud person who loved her family. Diane was lots of fun and had many friends. She loved all animals, especially Diane ‘Dodie’ Ellena dogs. Diane graduated from Putnam County High School and later received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Illinois State University. While she was at the university, she participated in the special education program and did her student teaching at Houghton Giebe School in England. The group traveled in England, Sweden and Holland. She taught at LeRoy High School, Wyanet High School and retired from Bureau Valley High School. Diane was an 18-year breast cancer survivor. She is survived by her only brother, Michael (Gayle) Ellena of Rowlette, Texas; seven sisters, Kathy (Rich) VanBeuning of Granville, Laurie (Dan) Kotecki of Granville, Helen (Fran) Aimone of Granville, Emmy Haywood of Granville, Toni Sabotta of Hennepin, Mary (Jerry) Mooberry of Lacon and Shelley (Brad) Kays of Hennepin; and many nieces and nephews. Diane leaves behind her special friends, Shirley Flenghi of Princeton, Walt Byczynski of Ladd and Gerald Bernabei of Oglesby. She was preceded in death by her parents, Tony and Irma. A memorial Mass will be at 11 a.m. Friday, May 6, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Granville with Fr. Patrick DeMeulemeester officiating. Burial will be in Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Granville. Cremation rites have been accorded. Visitation will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, May 6, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Granville. Contributions may be directed to Friends of Strays and Putnam County Community Center in Standard. The Dysart-Cofoid Funeral Chapel in will be assisting the family with the arrangements. Online condolences may be made to her family at www.dcfunerals.com.
Patrols will be part of making prom and graduation season safe for all
Putnam County Sheriff DUI arrest At 1:40 p.m. April 23, on Route 89, approximately one mile north of McNabb, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department arrested and charged Michael J. Gray Jr., 21, of Peru with driving under the influence of drugs, improper lane usage, driving in the wrong lane and unlawful possession of cannabis less than 2.5 grams. Gray was released on a notice to appear and given a Putnam County court date.
IVCC expands ag offerings OGLESBY — Illinois Valley Community College has completed the first phase of its effort to significantly expand its agriculture program. Beginning this fall, IVCC students wishing to pursue a career in agriculture may enroll in a two-year program leading to seamless transfer to the agriculture programs at the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Western Illinois University and Southern Illinois University. “The program combines the necessary general education and agriculture courses needed to transfer to earn a bachelor’s in agriculture from any of these universities,” said IVCC Vice President for Academic Affairs Deborah Anderson. “This option will also save each student tens of thousands of dollars.” Courses include Intro
to Field Crop Science and Intro to Ag Mechanics in Fall 2016, Intro to Ag Economics, Spring 2017, Intro to Soil Science, Fall 2017, and Microcomputer Applications in Ag, Spring 2018. IVCC has also strengthened its connection to the district’s ag community by partnering with the University of Illinois Extension for Bureau, LaSalle, Marshall and Putnam County, now headquartered at the college. “The support of the University of Illinois Extension
Photo contributed
Chris Kolodziej’s equipment awaits corn planting near the IVCC barn. Kolodziej farms 149 acres as IVCC’s tenant farmer. has been vitally important to our ag program expansion efforts,” said IVCC President Jerry Corcoran. For information, contact
Mark Grzybowski by calling 815-224-0393 or by email to mark_grzybowski@ivcc.edu or visit www.ivcc.edu/foundation.aspx.
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The following property transfers were recently recorded in the office of the Putnam County Recorder of Deeds. April 7 Roger J. Vogel and Lorri Vogel to John J. O’Donnell and Therese J. O’Donnell; Lot 237, Indian Hills; $3,100. April 11 Barbara Teason to Jerry Allen and Margaret Allen; Lot 317, Lake Thunderbird Woods 2; exempt. April 12 Kelly A. Zupec to John P. Zupec; Lot 3, Block 3, Lincolnshire Subdivision, Granville, exempt. Stephanie Fenza to Lynn Fenza; one parcel; exempt. April 14 Dawn M. Shanahan to Anthony J. Scalise and Patricia A. Scalise; Lot 339, Lake Thunderbird Hills; $5,000. Helen R. Yarrington, deceased, to Paul Yarrington; part of Lot 2 and all of Lots 3 and 4, Block 2, Village of Putnam (Condit); exempt. April 15 Albert H. Cioni and Marlene E. Cioni to Jared R. Vaessen and Laura L. Vaessen; Lot 1, Cioni Subdivision, Mark; $25,000. Shirley A. Miller, estate, to Michael P. Murphy and Jacquelyn J. Murphy; one parcel; $185,650. April 18 Robert Abraham and Sheila Abraham to Robert Wentland and Gerald Behm; one parcel; $7,400. April 19 Kerkoff LLC to Cole’s Sales and Service; Lots 5, 6, 7, 8 and part of Lot 4, Block 14, McNabb; $81,913. Jeffrey A. Griswold to Dale R. Clift; Lots 6 and 7, Block 4, Condit; $6,000. April 21 William R. Kuhl to Elizabeth King; one parcel; exempt.
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Property transfers
LASALLE — Troopers from the Illinois State Police District 17 will be doing their part to make this a safe prom and graduation season for everyone by conducting directed patrols with aggressive enforcement of the fatal four (DUI, speeding, seat belts and distracted driving). District 17 Commander Jon Dively said, “Our goal is to modify teen driving behaviors which include distractions, carelessness, fatigue and inexperience. These behaviors, when combined with drugs or alcohol can be lethal.” According to the Illinois State Police, on prom and graduation nights six out of 10 high school students feel pressure to drink and or use drugs. More than eight in 10 teens say students who drink or use drugs at prom will likely get behind the wheel and drive. Car crashes kill more teens during the weekends of prom and graduation season than any other time of year. In addition to the directed patrols, seat belt enforcement zones will also be conducted. “The goal of these concentrated efforts is voluntary compliance. We ask all of you to please help us ensure memories of this year’s proms and graduations are positive ones. Don’t use alcohol or drugs, buckle up and stay alive, focus on the drive,” Dively said.
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6 Perspective
6A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
The Editorial Page
Sam R Fisher
Terri Simon
Publisher
Editor
To Mom, with love I’ve thought about this column for quite some time now. Historically — for the last 20 years — I always focus my Saturday column before Terri Mother’s Day on my own Simon mother. I’ve COMMENTARY told tales of our past, our present, our future. I’ve joked about fun things we’ve done together as adults, and I’ve apologized for being a rebellious teenager from the past. I’ve done it all out of love and appreciation for the kind of mother I was blessed to have — one who gave up a lot to raise this oftentimes green-eyed monster. But this year is different. Life has a way of changing in the blink of an eye — like it did for Mom and me this year, and the battle in my head and my heart rages on how to write this annual column, essentially a tribute to my mom, Judy. I thought about changing gears and writing something completely different, but my conscience wouldn’t allow it. No. Life has changed, but the important things haven’t. Bear with me, friends. This is probably the toughest column I’ve ever written. Oct. 1, 2015, was like most every other day. Like always, I called my mom at about 8:30 p.m. — a task I oftentimes dreaded a bit, especially if there was a TV show on I really wanted to watch. When she answered that night, I found she was all fussed up about another school shooting in Oregon. We talked about it for a while, and then I told her to turn the channel on her TV; I’d let her know of any new developments. The rest of the conversation was like the chats we had most every night — she talked about her day; I talked about mine. We laughed. We did all the things we normally do. We ended our conversation with our daily “I love you” and hung up the phone. At 5:45 a.m. the next morning, my telephone rang, and I didn’t recognize the person on the other end of the phone. It took me a while to figure out it was my mom; she needed help. Without violating her privacy, the next three weeks were spent at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where the head doctor of neurology gave me a bleak and grim diagnosis. My head was swimming as life and death decisions had to be made. My mom couldn’t make those decisions; it was up to me. I don’t mind telling you I wanted to run ... anywhere, nowhere, everywhere. Split-second decisions. Life and death decisions. It was my worst nightmare unfolding every minute of every day during her three-week stay. Even as an adult who makes a ton of decisions every day, all I wanted was to ask my mom what to do ... but that was out of the question. It’s been a little over seven months since that awful day in October, and I’m happy to report my mom has surpassed all the doctors’ expectations. While she still has a journey ahead of her, I’m confident she will continue to do well, and I’ll be right there by her side cheering her on every day. I’m so proud of her; words can’t adequately express those feelings. I’ve learned a lot in these past seven months — not just about the unbelievable fight inside my mom (her strength is nothing short of admirable), but also about myself, the astonishing people I’ve met along the way, and about life in general. While I wouldn’t wish the situation on any mother/ daughter/family, I have to believe what I always believe — everything happens for a reason. While life doesn’t always seem fair, the lessons we learn have to account for something. So on Sunday, Mom and I will do what we always do on Mother’s Day. We’ll be together; we’ll eat; we’ll talk; we’ll laugh. Quietly, I’ll look upward and offer my thanks for my mom’s presence in my life. I’ll make a promise to never, ever complain about that 8:30 p.m. telephone call ever again; and I’ll wait for the day when I can hear my mom’s voice on the other end of that phone. Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, Judy Dyke, and to all women just like her who make the world a better place for those who know and love them. Putnam County Record Editor Terri Simon can be reached at tsimon@putnamcountyrecord.com.
Hastert got what he deserved
Another flawed Illinois politician, this time Republican Dennis Hastert, has gotten what he deserved — prison time for his felonious actions. Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s multiple teenage victims did not deserve the sexual abuse he inflicted upon them as a Yorkville High School wrestling coach four decades ago. He betrayed the trust of his wrestlers, students, school and community. Through his actions, he caused lifelong psychological anguish to his victims. Details of Hastert’s hideous crimes, which were long unknown to the general public, became even more apparent during his sentencing hearing Wednesday in Chicago. Hastert deserves all the punishment that has come his way. The 74-year-old Republican deserves the 15-month sentence in prison handed down by U.S. Judge Thomas M. Durkin for violating a banking law as he sought to pay someone $3.5 million to keep the sex abuse a secret. He deserves the stern lecture by Judge Durkin, who called Hastert a “serial child molester.” He deserves the $250,000 fine he must pay to a crime victims fund. He deserves to serve two years of
supervised release after prison. He deserves to undergo sex offender treatment. He deserves the anger, disdain and disgust directed his way by victims, their families, their friends, the community, and the state and nation at large. He deserves the revocation of degrees and honors that various institutions bestowed upon the Dennis Hastert they thought they knew. That Hastert rose so high in the halls of power points to a tragic flaw somewhere in our system of politics and government. Here you have a man who used a position of public trust (teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981) to commit multiple acts of depravity. Then what happened? Hastert was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1981 and, six years later, embarked on a 20-year career in the U.S. House. For eight of those years, he served as speaker – the No. 3 position of power in the U.S. government! Hastert became a familiar political figure around here, especially when he
represented a large portion of the Sauk Valley. His reputation was such that an editorial from our sister newspaper, Sauk Valley Media, from 2006 led off with the sentence, “In all of American politics today, it is hard to think of anyone more honest, upright and decent than Denny Hastert.” Boy, were we wrong! All during his political career, he kept a secret that, if exposed, would have brought everything to a screeching halt. Hastert’s betrayal of the public trust places him on a long list of Illinois politicians who did the same. Four of them were governors. One of them – Rod Blagojevich – is still in prison. Hastert thus becomes, as The Associated Press put it, “one of the highest-ranking politicians in American history to be sentenced to prison.” Ill and confined to a wheelchair, Hastert will have a lot of time for soul-searching while in prison. Illinoisans should also reflect on how it is that they repeatedly put their trust in flawed leaders. Putnam County Record
Observations from the Field of Dreams A tribute to my Jeanne
This article was written mostly in the middle of many nights. When these thoughts and memories came to me, I would get up and write them down. It has been one year now on April 19, 2015, since I lost my everything, my beautiful and wonderful soulmate, my extraordinary partner. At St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, with our four children, our two sons-in-law and our daughter-in-law all there with her, I held Jeanne’s hand and felt her last heartbeat. I knew I could no longer tell her how much I loved her, and I would never hear her beautiful voice again. A lot of me died with her, I am only one half now. We were married for 64 years, but we started dating when we were freshmen in high school in 1943. We were soulmates for 72 years. I first laid my eyes on Jeanne Lorraine Anderson at the Putnam County eighth-grade graduation in April 1943. I was graduating from Fairfield, a oneroom schoolhouse between Granville and McNabb. The superintendent of PC schools, Tom Kennedy, had all the oneroom schools in Granville Township come to Hopkins High School and graduate with Granville, Mark and Standard grade schools. I played a clarinet solo. Right after I was done, this beautiful blond Swedish-looking girl, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, stood a few feet away in front of me. My eyes were overflowing. She sang a song with the most beautiful voice and with a lot of gusto. I felt like she was just singing to me. I fell in love right there. After graduation was over, I looked for her and never found her. I asked someone her name. That summer was very long, I could hardly wait for school to start. The first day of school in the study hall, she was sitting right in the seat behind me. What luck I had. At noon, the girls all had to walk east to leave the study hall and the boys walked west. So Jeanne and I had to pass each other. I put my best face on and smiled as we passed. I would try to say something nice to her so she would like me. Jeanne and I started dancing in high school. She taught me the box step. We never stopped dancing after that. She was such a great dancer. When I would miss a step, she would follow me. Jeanne won state titles with her singing and also with her great oratories. The one I remember the best was “The White Cliffs of Dover.” After graduation she went one year to Normal College, and I rented an 80-acre farm. The next year she could not
Darrell Alleman COMMENTARY attend college anymore. She got a job at Moews Seed Co. in the office. She had detasseled corn for them and worked at Westclox during her school years. Jeanne lost her dad tragically when she was 13 years old. She never got to know her grandparents, who were all in Sweden. But she became a special grandmother and a special great-grandmother. She was a very strong and independent person. My mother had wanted me to be a good guy. She taught me how to open doors, and get up and give my chair to girls. The first time I gave Jeanne a ride, I hurried and opened the door for her. She said, “Darrell, do you think I am helpless? I can open my own door.” We were married Jan. 14, 1951. During this time, Jeanne was singing in the First Lutheran Choir, and singing at weddings and funerals. Ivan “Spud” Anderson and Jeanne sang at the annual Tonica Homecoming. They stood on the bandstand in middle of Main Street. There had to be around 1,000 or more people sitting on chairs and standing when they sang the beautiful song, “Whispering Hope.” People went wild, they kept clapping to sing it again and again. We rented my Uncle Pat’s hired man’s house in rural Tonica. We were as poor as mice. There was no running water, an outside toilet. We had a small kerosene stove. I bought feedsacks that had printed cloth. Jeanne sewed her dresses out of this material. In 1952, we moved north of Granville on a 20-acre farm. This house was the same as the one in Tonica. We had Debbie and Kim there. Then we rented the farm that we own now. It had running water, a furnace, a bathroom. We thought we were in heaven. Jan was born there. In 1960, we rented a large livestock and grain farm in Magnolia. Our landlady built us a new house. Scott was born there. When Scott started first grade, Jeanne wanted to go back to college to be an elementary teacher, her life’s dream. She enrolled at IVCC. The morning she was to leave for college, she left and soon she came back crying. She said, “I can’t do this.” I said, “This is your dream. You have to go. I know you can do it.” I put my arms around her and walked her out to the car, and put her in
it. I felt bad, I was crying too. She backed out and left. I felt terrible all day, worrying about her. That evening when she came home, she ran to me, hugging and kissing me to pieces, thanking me for what I did. She drove to ISU for two years where she graduated with high honors. All this time, she attended Debbie’s cheerleading games and Kim’s games, and cooked and washed clothes for her family. She was 40 years old when she started teaching. She loved all her children she taught. She was so proud of her second graders when they did well later in life. She affected many lives with her own brand of teaching. She taught lifetime values, core principles and character. She was a shining star to the children she taught. She loved them and they loved her. After retiring, she was on the PC School Board for 12 years, still working in education. I have told all my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that she lives in all of them and me too. Jeanne’s outer beauty was overshadowed by her great intelligence and her inner beauty. This year’s International Rotary theme is “Be a gift to the world.” Jeanne was a gift to the world. She always inspired everyone to be better people. I know Jeanne’s in heaven, and I am hoping to get there. When I find her, she will say, “Oh, Darrell, where have you been?” Darrell Alleman can be reached at news@putnamcountyrecord.com.
7 Sports
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 • The Putnam County Record • 7A
Sports
Lady Panthers second at Hall
SPRING VALLEY — The Putnam County girls track team placed second in a five-team meet at Hall High School on Thursday, April 28. The Lady Panthers had 95 points with Hall winning the meet with 100 points. Princeton had 57, Henry-Midland 52 and Earlville/Leland 27. Lindsey DiazDeLeon won the 200-meter dash in 28.22. Leanne Smith was 10th in 32.30. DiazDeLeon also won the long jump with a leap of 15-2. Ashlyn Haage was fifth with a leap of 12-3. Liv Lawley won the 300meter hurdles in 50.06. Emma Cyr was fourth in 54.81. The 4x400 meter relay team of Lawley, Emilee Walker, Cyr and DiazDeLeon won in 4:47.43. The 4x800 meter relay team of Walker, Cyr, McKenna Downey and Haage won in 12:18.84. DiazDeLeon was second in the 400-meter dash in 28.22. Smith was 10th in 32.40. Walker was second in the 800-meter run in 2:50.09. Downey was third in 2:56.84. Becky Ramey was seventh in 3:45.78. Lawley was second in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.92. Smith was third in 18.23. The 4x100 meter relay
team of Smith, Annie Sabotta, Destiny West and Izzy Thompson was second in 57.93. The 4x200 meter relay team of Lawley, Cyr, Smith and Thompson was second in 2:07.78. Margaret Voss was second in the high jump with a leap of 4-8. Ramey was third in the shot put with a throw of 24-6. Sabotta was ninth with a throw of 23-1. Smith was fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 25-9. Thompson was fifth in the 100-meter dash in 14.43. West was sixth in 14.56. Sabotta was 15th in 15.50. Voss was sixth in the discus with a throw of 61-0. Ramey was ninth with a throw of 55-5. Haage was 13th with a throw of 45-8.
Becky Ramey
Lady Panthers split games The Putnam County Panthers split two games this past week. Gardner-South Wilmington 5, Putnam County 3 Olivia Holmes (5-5) took the loss during a 5-3 loss to Gardner-South Wilmington Tuesday, April 26. Holmes pitched 5.1 innings, striking out seven, walking three, allowing 10 hits and three earned runs. Alivia Resurrecion pitched two-thirds of an inning, striking out one, walking one and allowing one hit. Paige Veronda was 3-4 with a homer and two RBIs. She stole three bases. Taylor Kreiser and Carleigh Wellenreiter had the other two hits for the Lady Panthers (9-12). Putnam County 12, Henry 0 Alivia Resurrecion (4-6) pitched six innings for the 12-0 win over Henry on Friday, April 22. She struck out two and walked three batters. Paige Veronda was 3-3 with four runs scored, six stolen bases and three RBIs. Taylor Kreiser was 2-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Holmes and Resurrecion also had two RBIs.
Panthers split games The Putnam County Panthers split two games this past week to see its record stand at 17-6.
Putnam County 10, Fieldcrest 3
Caleb Dzierzynski pitched seven innings during the 10-3 win over Fieldcrest on Monday, April 25. He struck out six batters. Connor Bean had three hits while Jarod Williams and Neal Stasell collected two hits each. Stasell and Cam Colby each had two RBIs. Putnam County scored four runs in the first, one in the second, and five in the third. Fieldcrest scored its three runs in the third inning.
Gardner-South Wilmington 2, Putnam County 1
The Panthers lost to Gardner-South Wilmington 2-1 on Tuesday, April 26. Alec Veverka took the loss, pitching six innings. He struck out five. Neal Stasell drove in the Panthers’ lone run during the game in the top of the seventh inning after G-SW scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
PCR photos/Dan Dwyer
Above, Margaret Voss throws the discus during Friday’s Titan Invitational at Kewanee Wethersfield. Right, Terrance Haig flies through the air in the long jump. The girls squad placed fourth with 69.33 points while the boys squads placed fifth with 51 points.
Girls, boys compete at Titan Invitational KEWANEE — The Putnam County girls squad placed fourth with 69.33 points in the seven-team Titan Invite held at Kewanee Wethersfield Friday, April 29. The boys squad placed fifth with 51 points. Girls results Olivia Lawley won the 300-meter low hurdles in 50.13. Emma Cyr was fourth in 55.62. The 4x800 meter relay team was third in 12:18.53. The 4x400 meter relay team was third in 4:33.03. The 4x100 meter relay team was sixth in 58.98. The 4x200 meter relay team was fourth in 2:03.01. No names of relay team members were available. Emilee Walker was third in the 800-meter run in 2:47.51. McKenna Downey was seventh in 3:12.53. Ashlyn Haage was ninth in the 1600-meter run in 8:02.68. Becky Ramey was sixth in the shot put with a throw of 25-1. Annie Sabotta was eighth in the shot put with a throw of 22-8. Margaret Voss was sixth in the high jump with a leap of 4-2. Leanne Smith was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.40. Olivia Lawley was fifth in 18.50. Lindsey DiazDeLeon was second in the long jump with a leap of 15-3. Ashlyn Haage was 10th in the long jump with a leap of 12-8. Destiny West was ninth in the 200-meter dash in 31.20. DiazDeLeon was third in the 100-meter dash in 13.76. Izzy Thompson was seventh in 14.61.
Becky Ramey was 10th in the discus with a throw of 56-4. DiazDeleon was second in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.88. Boys results Mike Dzierzynski was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 15-9. Terrance Haig was 10th with a leap of 14-9. Haig was eighth in the 100-meter dash in 12.77. Joseph Mecagni was 14th in 13.79. The 4x400 meter relay team was third in 3:52.20. The 4x800 meter relay team was fourth in 9:56.38. No names of relay team members were available. Dominic Green won the triple jump with a leap of 40-9. Jon Sabotta was ninth in the triple jump with a leap of 34-4. Luke Griffith was sixth in the shot put with a throw of 37-7. Seth Carlson was 11th with a throw of 31-0.5. Griffith was ninth in the discus with a throw of 93-0. Carlson was 10th with a throw of 87-5. Haig was seventh in the 200-meter dash in 27.91. Joseph Mecagni was 10th in 28.85. Noe Flores won the 800-meter run in 2:022.65. Denver Wyatt was sixth in 2:22.15. Flores won the 1600-meter run in 5:04.39. Sabotta was eighth in 5:35.36. Dzierzynski was eighth in the 3200-meter run in 11:57.34. Green was fifth in the 400-meter dash in 56.75. Jimmy Hewitt was sixth in 58.81.
PC track teams compete at TCC Girls place third, boys place fifth HENRY — The Putnam County girls track team placed third with 114 point while the boys squad placed fifth with 70 points in this year’s Tri-County Conference track meet held at Henry-Senachwine High School on Monday, April 25. Girls results Lindsey DiazDeLeon won the 400-meter dash in 1:02.23. Destiny West was fourth in 1:09.72. The 4x400 meter relay team of DiazDeLeon, Emilee Walker, Emma Cyr and Olivia Lawley was first in 4:25.07. Lawley was first in the 300-meter hurdles in 51.82. Emma Cyr was second in 55.59. Lawley was second in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.52 while Leanne Smith was fourth in 17.94. Walker was second in the 800-meter run in 2:45.99. Becky Ramey was 10th in 3:27.45. DiazDeLeon was third in the 100-meter dash in 13.47. Annie Sabotta was ninth in 15.05. The 4x100 meter relay team of Smith, Lawley, West and Izzy Thompson was second in 55.69. The 4x800 meter relay team of Walker, Cyr, McKenna Downey and Ashlyn Haage was third in 12:01.95. The 4x200 meter relay team of Cyr, Smith, Thompson and Walker was fourth in 2:01.69. Haage was fourth in the 3200-meter run in 16:45.89. Thompson was seventh in the 200-meter dash in 30.16 while West was ninth in 30.82. Downey was seventh in the 1600-meter run in 7:18.82 while Haage was eighth in 8:24.27. Margaret Voss was fourth in the high jump with a leap of 4-2. DiazDeLeon won the long jump with a leap of 16 feet.
Haage was fifth with a leap of 13-7.25. Smith was third in the triple jump with leap of 26-6. Ramey was fifth in the shot put with a throw of 25-9.5. Sabotta was eighth with a throw of 23-7. Voss was eighth in the discus with a throw of 60-7 while Sabotta was 10th with a throw of 57-1.
Boys results
Dominic Green won the 400-meter dash in 54.95. Jimmy Hewitt was fifth in 57.12. Green won the triple jump with a leap of 39-2.5 while Jon Sabotta was third with a leap of 33 feet. The 4x400 meter relay team of Green, Denver Wyatt, Hewitt and Noe Flores was second in 3:50.85. Flores was third in 800-meter run in 2:12.95. Wyatt was fifth in 2:23.54. Flores was third in the 1600-meter run in 4:58.88 while Sabotta was fifth in 5:31.61. The 4x800 meter relay team of Flores, Hewitt, Mike Dzierzynski and Wyatt was third in 9:30.13. Sabotta was fourth in the 3200-meter run 11:55.10 while Dzierzynski was eighth in 13:11.91. Luke Griffith was fourth in the shot put with a throw of 35-00.75 while Seth Carlson was seventh with a throw of 31-10.5. Griffith was fifth in the discus with a throw of 98-08. Carlson was sixth with a throw of 93-02. Terrance Haig was sixth in the 100-meter dash in 12.71 while Joseph Mecagni was ninth in 13.56. Haig was ninth in the 200-meter dash in 27.01 while Mecagni was 10th in 27.83. Haig was seventh in the long jump with a leap of 14-8 while Dzierzynski was eighth with a leap of 14-1.
8 Life
8A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Community ACS CAN informational meetings set HENNEPIN — Interested in becoming an ACS CAN (American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network) member? Curious about what ACS CAN is or what they do? Get all this information and more at two ACS CAN informational meetings this month. The first will be Thursday, May 5, at Waterfront Tavern (formerly Ray’s) in Hennepin and the second will be Thursday, May 12, at the Coffee Hub in Lacon. Both events will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Anyone interested is welcome to have any questions answered and talk about the mission of ACS CAN. These events serve to better educate team captains, team
members and those interested in joining a Relay for Life team for the 2016 Relay for Life of Marshall and Putnam Counties. There will also be registration forms should anyone want to become an ACS CAN member and help reach the goal of being an ACS CAN Relay. ACS CAN is an advocacy group that works to make cancer issues a priority nationally and at the state level. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group affiliated with the American Cancer Society. By funding aggressive grassroots, lobbying and media campaigns, ACS CAN has worked to make changes at the local, state and national level.
Hopkins alumni meeting schedule for May 10 GRANVILLE — The Hopkins High School Alumni will hold its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at the home of Karen Ossola, 204 S Colby St. in Granville. Bob Peterson, president, will preside over the meet-
ing. The final plans will be made for the Tri-Annual Hopkins High School Alumni Reunion which will be held at the Spring Valley Boat Club on Route 89 north of Granville. All members are encouraged to attend.
Magnolia Township Preservation Association to host open house MAGNOLIA — In 2015, a small group of Magnolia Township residents began working to create an organization with the purpose of preserving the history of Magnolia which dates back to 1855. The new association honors the history of the community’s families, businesses, schools, churches and farms. The non-profit Magnolia Township Preservation Association (MTPA) will be holding it’s first public event in its facility at 110 N. Peoria St. in Magnolia from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday,
Annual reunion on June 18 HENNEPIN — The Hennepin Township High School Alumni will have its annual reunion on Saturday, June 18, at S.A.M.M.’s in Hennepin. The evening will start with the opening of the Hennepin attendance building from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., hosted by Sharon Peterson, dinner at 6 p.m., a short meeting, and visiting with old
MCNABB — A blood drive will be from 1 to 6 p.m. Monday, May 23, at the McNabb Fire Hall.
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GRANVILLE — The Team Hennepin Relay for Life team will hold its annual spring plant sale from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, May 6, and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 7, in the parking lot of Casey’s General Store on Route 71 in Granville. The sale will be held rain or shine, and they will have plants available in time for Mother’s Day. Plants available will
include 3 quart, 1.5 gallon and 2.88 gallon ready refill pots with various spring blooms, and 1.5 gallon standard, premium and Fuschia hanging baskets. There will be no flats available this year. Proceeds from the sale will go to the teams’ total for the 2016 annual Marshall-Putnam Relay for Life to be held June 11 at the Henry-Senachwine High School track.
Cancer survivors will meet on May 7 HENRY — All registered and not yet registered Marshall-Putnam Counties cancer survivors are invited to attend the ACS Relay for Life get together at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 7, at The Meeting Place, 415 Edward St., Henry. Rolls and coffee will be served. This event will allow non-registered survivors to get registered before the
deadline, discuss survivor involvement for the Relay event on June 11, and people will have the ability to purchase luminaries and submit any raised donations. Gregg Carr, the honorary survivor speaker for the event this year, has just had his book, “Faith & Humor: God’s Healing Gifts,” published and will have copies available to look at.
DAR will meet May 6 PRINCETON — The Princeton-Illinois Chapter NSDAR will meet at 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, at the Prouty Building in Princeton. State
conference reports will be featured, and a musical program will be presented by students of the Princeton Christian Academy.
GRANVILLE, ILLINOIS CLEAN UP GUIDELINES CURBSIDE
Thursday, May 12th SET OUT TIMES: All items set out for the Citywide clean up should be placed at the curb on your normal pick up day. All materials set out for collection will be picked up on your regular collection day. Material set out for the clean up after your collection day will not be collected
ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS: General Household Waste (Trash) Furniture Bulky Items – boxes, crates, clothing, tables, cabinets, etc. Construction Debris – less than 5’, no exposed nails Carpeting – cut to 4 foot lengths and properly bundled
NON-ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS:
May 7: Kentucky Derby
Friday: Bonfires
school mates and friends. The 50-, 60- and 70-year graduates will be honored. The 50-year class is the last graduating class from the physical Hennepin Township High School Building. The cost for the evening will be $20 per person. Reservations are due by June 10 by calling Pam at 815303-8747 or Barb at 815925-7250.
Blood drive planned
MAGTOWN MUSIC FEST
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May 6. The public is cordially invited to come see the exhibits in the museum on the upper level and then enjoy refreshments in the community room on the lower level. The facility is not ADA accessible at this time. In addition, the MTPA wants to make programs and exhibits on local history available to the general public as well as the students in area schools. For more information call Peggy Smith at 815257-0707.
Spring plant sale announced
Electronic Wastes – Computers, TVs and related accessories Tires Automobile Parts Batteries Fluorescent Light tubes or fixtures Appliances Yard Waste (Leaves, grass clippings, vines, vegetative matter, limbs, twigs, branches) Liquid Waste – Oils, Anti Freeze, Paint, Thinner Any hazardous waste or chemical waste Any Biohazardous waste Any Medical or potentially Infectious waste
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9 Life
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 • The Putnam County Record • 9A
OGLESBY — Illinois Valley Midday Connection, a non-denominational Christian Women’s Group, invites all women from the Illinois Valley area to come to its monthly luncheon and program at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, at the Deer Park Country Club, 100 Deer Park Lane, Oglesby. The theme for the May luncheon is “Growth Occurs in the Valley.” The program will include Connie from Valley Flowers and Gifts, who will do a presentation as the special feature. Special music will be sung by Yolanda Dunnagan from Peru. The speaker will be Christine Bassett from Washington, Mich. She is a former college professor who loves to live life to the fullest. She will tell a humorous story of life and love, titled “Stress, to A Humorous Life of Love.”
The third session is the night session, and it is July 25–Aug. 4. The times are: 5 to 5:50 p.m., all levels; and 6 to 6:50 p.m. all levels. Registration for these sessions will start Sunday, May 15, from 1 to 4 p.m. You must come in person to register at the Hennepin Pool. If you cannot come to register at this time, you will be able to register during normal pool hours after May 15. The cost of the lessons is $33 per child. If you live in Hennepin or Hennepin Township, they will pay for all lessons for each session. If you live in Granville, Granville Township, Mark or McNabb they will pay $33 per child for one session. If you live in Standard or Magnolia, they will pay $16.50 for one session. For more information, call the Hennepin Pool at 815925-7319.
Annual Trash to Treasure event on May 9 HENNEPIN — The 15th annual Trash to Treasure Expo will be from 1:45 to 2:30 p.m. Monday, May 9, in the Putnam County Elementary gymnasium in Hennepin.
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There are no membership fees or special requirements to attend. Deer Park is all handicapped accessible and everyone who would like to meet new people and enjoy a good program is welcome. The cost for the lunch and program is $19 inclusive, paid at the door. It is essential that most reservations and or cancellations are made. After May 3, call Vickie at 815-223-4687 or Anita at 815-223-2852 anyway to let them know you want to come and they will advise. The event is sponsored by Stonecroft Ministries of Overland Park, Mo, The group will have an Illinois Valley Prayer Connection at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 10, at the home of Carole Ledbetter, 204 Forest Park Place, Ottawa. All women are invited for prayer and fellowship. For more information, call 815-474-9528.
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Breakfast May 9 — Whole grain pancakes with syrup or cereal, fruit, juice, milk. May 10 — Whole grain toaster pastry or cereal and toast, string cheese, fruit, juice, milk. May 11 — French toast with syrup or cereal, fruit, juice, milk. May 12 — Pigs in a blanket or cereal, fruit, juice, milk. May 13 — Cereal and toast, yogurt, fruit, juice, milk. Lunch May 9 — Hamburger on bun, oven fries, mixed fruit, graham crackers, milk. May 10 — Tacos in a bag with cheese, lettuce and tomato, peaches, muffin, milk. May 11 — Barbecue on bun, pickles, peas, pears, frozen slush, milk. May 12 — Junior high/high school - salad bar, elementary/primary - chicken strips, pineapple, cookie, milk. May 13 — Cheese stuffed breadsticks with marinara sauce, corn, grapes, sherbet, milk.
SPRING VALLEY — A children’s grief support group will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, in the First Floor Presentation Room at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley. This group is to help children through life’s difficult changes of death, divorce and loss. For information, call 815-664-1402.
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Children’s grief support group
All fourth-grade projects will be on display for public viewing. The students have put much effort into creating many awesome projects. All friends, neighbors and family are invited.
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Putnam County Community Center May 9 — Ham and cheese wrap with lettuce and tomato, green beans, banana pudding with banana slices. May 10 — Salad bar. May 11 — Baked pork chop, scalloped potatoes, corn, fruit cocktail, rolls. May 12 — Beef and noodles, salad with toppings, rolls, apricots, dessert. May 13 — Fish filet on bun with tartar sauce, pickled beets, pea salad, mixed fruit. Bread, butter, fruit juice and 2% milk are available with meals. For reservations, call 800-757-4579 24 hours in advance of the day’s meal. The menu is subject to change. Meals are available to senior citizens 60 plus at no cost, but donations are appreciated. The meal program is partly funded by donations, so they have a suggested donation of $5 per meal. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m.
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HENNEPIN — The Hennepin Park District will have three sessions of Red Cross swimming lessons this summer. Each session will be two weeks long. There will still be six levels of swimming ability. Level 1 is the beginning class, and you have to be 5 years old by Sept. 1 and at least 42 inches tall to join this class. The morning sessions will run 40-minute classes, Monday through Friday. The night session will run 50-minute classes, Monday through Thursday. The first session is June 20–July 1. The times are: 9 to 9:40 a.m., all levels; 9:50 to 10:30 a.m., all levels; and 10:40 to 11:20 a.m., all levels. The second session is July 11–22. The times are: 9 to 9:40 a.m., all levels; 9:50 to 10:30 a.m., all levels; and 10:40 to 11:20 a.m., all levels.
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IV Midday Connection will meet on May 17
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10 Life
10A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Bus trip to Marytown planned GRANVILLE — A bus trip to Marytown to the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a full-day pilgrimage, will be Thursday, June 30. The bus will leave the Sacred Heart (Granville) parking lot at 7 a.m. The
cost of the trip is $50, which includes lunch. Payment by Wednesday, May 25, will reserve a seat on the bus. For details, call the church office. The event is sponsored by Sacred Heart in Granville and St. Patrick’s in Hennepin.
Quaker Spring Sale
Photo contributed
The Clear Creek Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) will have a sale of gently used household items and home-baked goods in conjunction with McNabb Days. The sale will be from 9
Tree of Lights pledge complete Perry Memorial Hospital Auxiliary Tree of Lights committee members completed the 2015 pledge and purchased an elliptical machine for the Perry Memorial Hospital cardiopulmonary rehabilitation department. Through the generous donations of community members, the campaign raised enough money to purchase the needed equipment for $4,746.97. Since the inception of Tree of Lights in 1990, more than $95,000 worth of equipment has been purchased for different departments at Perry Memorial Hospital. Pictured are committee members Pam Hanson (from left), Deb Kirley and Kristi Warren, and PMH employees Sandy Roseburg, Jan Pistole, Margaret Maupin and Dr. Ketan Patel.
Quilters guild will meet on May 11 HENRY — The Marshall Putnam Quilters Guild will meet Wednesday, May 11, at the Henry United Presbyterian Church, 511 Wirt St. in Henry. This will be the last meeting for the 2015-16 year. The meeting will begin at noon with a potluck. At 1 p.m., there will
be a brief business meeting and the introduction of the new board. After that they will have the “Spool Parade,” a showing of the challenge quilts some of the members have made. The program for the afternoon is “Repurposing Old Quilts” by Ida Boyle-Bruch and Terry Kaveney.
The meeting will end with a show and tell. Dues, which are $15 per year, will be collected. The group meets September through May with allday workshops only in January and February. New members are always welcome.
a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at the Clear Creek House (formerly the Mills’ residence) on County Road 350 North (Quaker Lane) south of McNabb. Proceeds will benefit deserving area families.
Luminarias available on May 21 in Henry HENRY — Relay for Life Team Kid will host an event from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 21, at The Meeting Place, 415 Edward St. in Henry. Those interested may come anytime during the three hours and purchase luminarias for the 2016 Relay for Life event. There will also be supplies available to decorate the bags at the same time. Participants can bring personalized items for the
bag such as pictures. The luminarias are $10 each, and all proceeds will go to Team Kid’s fundraising efforts. Relay For Life participants and donors remember loved ones lost to cancer and honor those battling the disease with luminaria bags. This year’s event, “Wish Upon A Cure,” will be June 11 at the Henry-Senachwine High School track.
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11 Life
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 • The Putnam County Record • 11A
Birth Announcement Guadiana
IVCC holds academic awards banquet OGLESBY — Illinois Valley Community College recently held the 49th annual student academic awards banquet in the gym. Among the 266 students honored, were Thomas J. McCormack Scholars Austin Burnette of Mendota, Matthew Cole of Streator, Mario Cortes of Mendota, Brenna Faletti of Spring Valley, Trevor Finnan of Utica, Christa Moore of Ottawa, Remigio Nanez of Mendota, Stefan Nelson of Princeton, Cody O’Brien of Lostant, Kaitlin Raineri of Peru, Keegan Samolinski of LaSalle, Travis Sauers of Streator, Victoria Schaefer of Princeton and Riley Schuhler of Mendota. McCormack Scholars maintained
a minimum 3.75 grade point average in at least 14 semester hours over three consecutive semesters. Burnette and Raineri were also honored for being nominated as IVCC’s Phi Theta Kappa All-Illinois Academic Team, part of the larger All-USA Academic Team. Nominations are based on outstanding academic performance and service to the college and community. Keynote speakers were nursing instructor Dr. Pat Pence, winner of the 2016 Stephen Charry Award for Teaching Excellence, and Honors Program students Finnan and Raineri. Mark Grzybowski, associate vice president for student services, gave
the introduction and President Jerry Corcoran gave the welcome. Area students recognized for earning GPAs of 3.75 or higher in 12 or more hours for three consecutive semesters were: Granville — John Hrasch. Hennepin — Harold Fay. Standard — Justin Galetti. Area students achieving GPAs of 3.25 or higher in 12 or more hours for two consecutive semesters were: Granville — Ryan Buettner. Hennepin — Brianna Brooks and Kirsten Davis. Magnolia — Elizabeth Rice. Mark — Brooke Veronda. Putnam — Klaudia Rees.
Chris and Jennese Guadiana are the parents of a son born April 28 at Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru.
Library will host program MAGNOLIA — The Magnolia Library will host historian Jim Gibbons at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 12. He will present his program titled “A Rendezvous with Destiny: The Life of Franklin D. Roosevelt.” The program will cover FDR’s life and career, including his path through becoming assistant secretary of the Navy, governor of New York and finally his four terms as the 32nd president of the United States. For more information, call the Magnolia Library at 815-869-3038 or Peggy Smith at 815-257-0707.
Foundation announces Eschbach Endowment Fund OTTAWA — Ottawa Mayor Bob Eschbach was recently honored in a very special way. Pamela Beckett, president of the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, announced the Robert M. Eschbach Legacy Endowment Fund has been established in Bob’s honor by his sister, Sharon Eschbach Coleman, and her husband, Ken Coleman. Sharon and Ken, who live in Seattle, visited with Bob and the Eschbach family in Ottawa recently and surprised the mayor with news of the endowment fund they created as a tribute to his vision and leadership in the econom-
ic development, growth and beautification of Ottawa. The donation was made to “Impact Ottawa,” a fund within the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, in the amount of $60,000. “Bob’s passion, vision and aesthetic sensibilities have made a huge positive impact to Ottawa,” said Sharon. “I love coming back to experience the transformation from when I grew up there. The downtown is vibrant and beautiful with restored historic facades/structures and landscaped sidewalks; the river walk is an enjoyable walk or run; we love the music at the wine and jazz
festival and try to make it home every year. We are really looking forward to seeing Bob’s vision for the new waterfront park take shape. And we always stop by and say hi to Abe and Stephen in Washington Square!” Sharon and Ken have extended an invitation to others to join in the effort to grow the Eschbach Legacy Endowment Fund to at least $500,000 over the next several months. “Endowments, designed to grow quickly and attract contributors who share a passion for the fund’s purpose, allow the fund balance to continue to grow, and exist in perpetuity,” said Beckett. “This endow-
to be entrusted with this precious gift to establish a legacy for Mayor Bob. His footprint is already here, and now we have the financial means to preserve it forever.” To contribute to the Robert M. Eschbach Leg-
acy Endowment Fund, send your donation to the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, 718 Columbus St., Ottawa. Pamela Beckett may be reached by calling 815252-2906 or by email to pamela@srccf.org.
VILLAGE OF HENNEPIN RESIDENTS
The Village of Hennepin’s annual Clean-up Day will take place on Friday, May 6th. To view the guidelines for Clean-up Day, please visit our website at: www.villageofhennepin.com. Also: Please do not blow Grass Clippings onto the curbed streets!!! Grass clippings clog the storm drainage system. This can be Expensive to repair!!! Thank you for your cooperation Hennepin Village Board
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12 Life
12A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
St. Margaret’s Hospital Briefs ‘Visions’ support group will meet
IVSO will present season finale on May 7 OGLESBY — Conductor Lucia Matos will return to the stage of the Illinois Valley Cultural Centre in Oglesby at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 7, to conduct the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra in its season finale. The program will include works by Felix Mendelssohn and Jean Sibelius. The featured soloist will be highly acclaimed violinist Kam-Lung Cheng, performing Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E Minor, op. 64,” considered by many to be the greatest of all violin concertos. Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the Romantic period. He is regarded by many critics as one of the most gifted composers the world has ever known. His works have been heard by many and include the very familiar “Wedding March” from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which has escorted many brides down the aisle. Cheng was born in China to a very musical family. He began violin study at the age of 7 with his father, a violin professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in
China. In later years he emigrated to Hong Kong, where he made his first television appearance. Christian Ferras, who was in the audience, was so impressed with Cheng’s performance he invited him to study under his tutelage. In 1980 Cheng obtained a scholarship to study at the University of Freiburg in Germany with Wolfgang Marschner and Florin Paul. After receiving his diploma, Yehudi Menuhin invited him to attend the International Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad, Switzerland. In 1987 he received his solo and chamber music diploma from Utrecht Conservatory. From 1987 to 2004, Cheng served as concertmaster in several European orchestras. In 2007 he was appointed concertmaster of the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and since then has been serving as guest concertmaster for several major orchestras in China, including Tianjin and Sichuan. The music of Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, will also be performed by the orchestra. Sibelius was a violinist of the late Roman-
SPRING VALLEY — “Visions,” a support group for anyone with any type of visual problem, will meet from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in the First Floor Presentation Room at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley. For more information, call 815-664-5311.
‘Cardiac Chat’ meeting on May 10
Kam-Lung Cheng tic and early-modern periods and is widely recognized as Finland’s greatest composer. His compositions were mainly inspired by his homeland’s history and folklore. The IVSO will be performing “Andante Festivo” and the “Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, op. 39,” by Jean Sibelius. Admission to the concert is by season subscription or individual ticket, available at the door or online at ivso.org. Tickets are $15 for adult, $5 for students K-col-
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SPRING VALLEY — “Cardiac Chat,” a meeting for anyone with heart-related issues or lives with someone with heart problems, will meet from 3 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, in the First Floor Presentation Room at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley. This meeting is free to the public. The goal of Cardiac Chat is for individuals to learn the skills that help manage their condition and improve their quality of life. Family members are encouraged to also attend and bring questions. Attend for the whole hour or just stop in during the scheduled time. Staff members from various departments in the hospital will be on hand monthly to answer various questions: blood pressure, pulse and weight; questions about medical equipment, oxygen; see what resources are available in the community – home health, etc.; discuss and answer any questions about medications; discuss physical activity and smoking cessation; dietary changes and weight management; and questions about insurance/Medicare plans. For more information, call 815-664-1118.
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Mother Day Special • Sunday, May 8 11am till 2pm -Raspberry Spinach Salad -B.L.T Salad
SM-PR2650726-0504
815-437-2263
-Grilled Chicken, mushroom/onion with white cheddar on wild rice -Crab Salad Plate
-Lasagna with garlic sticks - Also, full menu available
www.co.putnam.il.us Putnam County Illinois EMA PUTNAM COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY Bob Cofoid/Coordinator • Chauntelle Biagi-Bruer/Asst. Coordinator 815-925-3073 • 1120 Old Hwy 26 PO Box 139 Hennepin, IL 61327 SM-PR2650765-0504
7973 IL Highway 29, Putnam, IL
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107 E. Harrison Court, Granville
Call to get your air conditioner cleaned & checked Now! SM-PR2650685-0518
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 • The Putnam County Record • 13A
– Classifieds – -100Announcements 108 • Lost & Found LOST DOG brown German short haired female, wearing red collar. Friendly. Lost 2 miles north of Granville. Call 815-339-2163
- 200 Employment 228 • Help Wanted OPENINGS: *High School Cheerleading Sponsor *Junior High School Cheerleading Sponsor Anyone interested in a position please contact Carl Carlson at the High School, Putnam County CUSD #535 402 East Silverspoon. Granville, IL 61326. 815-882-2800
PROMOTE JOB OPENINGS The Bureau County Republican Classified can help you promote your job openings and get your business full staffed. Call 815-875-4461
- 300 Services 322 • Painting INTERIOR/EXTERIOR PAINTING of all kinds. Spraying, rolling, faux finishes, wall paper removal & so much more. Combined over 40 years experience. Insured, dependable, friendly, honest. Call Carrie Uzella Smith at 815-228-7660. Serving PC & surrounding areas for 13 years
- 400 Merchandise 450 • Under $1000 7- 4'x6' sliding windows; thermopane; white vinyl clad; good condition; $100 each or best offer. Call 815-646-6665 Mercury 6hp gas boat motor/4 stroke engine with gas tank. Runs good $900. Call 815-878-5851 Scotts 1000 Broadcast Spreader, excellent, $20; Lawn Boy Sens A Speed mower, paid $375, asking $225. Call 815-875-1596 Scotts drop style fertilize spreader, $15; maple dining table and 4 chairs $300. Call 815-875-4077 Steel bicycle rack. 10 feet long, good condition. $50. Call 815-876-6861
451 • Free FIREWOOD, bring heavy duty chain saw to cut to smaller size. Call 815-875-6053
460 • Garage Sales MCNABB TOWN-WIDE GARAGE SALES (Including rural sites) Saturday, May 7; 8am – 3pm Church Mothers Day Bake Sale at Fire Hall. Maps. Restrooms PRINCETON 24 South Plum Street. Friday, Saturday, May 6, 7; 8am-4pm. MULTI-FAMILY SALE. Loveseat, stove, lawn mower, projector, recliner, Peavey mixer, Plus size clothes- men & women, misc. items PRINCETON 721 Linwood Drive. Saturday, May 7th; 8am to 2pm. MULTI-FAMILY SALE Home goods, port-a-crib, boy's clothes- newborn to 2T, girl's- newborn to 6X
460 • Garage Sales PRINCETON Someone's in the Kitchen (1619 North Main). Saturday, May 7, 9am-12pm. Kitchen & Bath Bargain Sale! Odds & ends, overstock
856 • Apartment Rentals HENNEPIN Large, one bedroom furnished apartment for rent. All utilities included. No smoking ... no pets. 815-925-7086 MAGNOLIA 2 bedroom. Fridge & stove furnished. Call 815-303-7004
999 • Legal Notices NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS The Village of Hennepin will receive bids for replacing roofs on the Hazel Marie Boyle Homes (2 buildings). Each Building is 75’ X 38’. The address for the Homes is: Dore Drive, Hennepin, IL, across from the Catholic Church. We would like bids for two different applications. The first being 30 year asphalt shingles, with removal of old shingles. The second would be for a steel roof, at least 29 gauge or better. Bids must be received by 9:00 a.m. May 12th , when the bids will be publicly opened. Attention is called to the act that not less than the minimum salaries and wages as set forth and established by the Illinois Department of Labor must be paid on this project. The contractor must ensure that employees and applicants for employment are not discriminated against because of their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The Village of Hennepin is an equal opportunity employer. The Village of Hennepin reserves the right to reject any or all bids, or to waive any informalities in the bidding. No bid may be withdrawn after the scheduled closing time for receipt of bids for 30 days. By Order of: The Village of Hennepin Published in the Putnam County Record May 4 and 11, 2016. PUBLIC NOTICE FY 2017 MEETING DATES The Board of Trustees of the Village of Hennepin, Putnam County, Illinois, meets in regular session on the third Wednesday of every month at 6:00 p.m. in the Village Hall, Hennepin, Illinois. The dates of the regular meetings for the 2017 fiscal year are as follows: May 18th, 2016 June 15th, 2016 July 20th, 2016 August 17th, 2016 September 21st, 2016 October 19th, 2016 November 16th, 2016 December 21st, 2016 January 18th, 2017 February 15th, 2017 March 15th, 2017 April 19th, 2017 The Hennepin Planning and Zoning
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
Commission’s regularly scheduled meetings are the second Wednesday of the first month of each calendar quarter at 6:00 p.m. at the Village Hall. Fy2017 dates are as follows: JULY 13th, 2016 OCTOBER 12th, 2016 JANUARY 11th, 2017 APRIL 12th, 2017 Diana Brandstatter Village Clerk Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016.
the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017 will be on file and available for public inspection at the Hennepin Township Road District Building, 6235 Route 26, Hennepin, IL from and after April 21, 2016. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that a Public Hearing on the Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be held at 7:00 p.m., on June 8, 2016 at the Hennepin Village Hall, 627 E. High St., Hennepin, IL and that final action on the Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be taken by the Township Trustees at a meeting to be held at that time and place. By: Dan DeMattia, Township Clerk Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016.
bidding. No bid may be withdrawn after the scheduled closing time for receipt of bids for 30 days. By Order of: The Village of Hennepin Published in the Putnam County Record May 4 and 11, 2016.
Ordinance for the Magnolia Township Road District, Putnam County, Illinois, for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017, will be on file and conveniently available to public inspection at Clerk’s home from and after 7 p.m. on May 25, 2016. Notice is further given that a public hearing on said Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be held at 6:30 p.m. on June 29, 2016 at Magnolia Township Building, Magnolia, IL and that final action on this ordinance will be taken at the public hearing. Dated this 29th day of April, 2016. /s/Sarah Knapp, Supervisor Brenda Wulzen - Clerk Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016.
b. Name of Mortgagee: Granville National Bank c. Date of Mortgage: July 21, 2008 d. Date of Recording: July 25, 2008 e. County Where Recorded: Putnam County, Illinois f. Recording Document Identification: #08-827 NOW, THEREFORE, unless all Non-Record Claimants, and Unknown Owners, Defendants, file your answer to the Complaint for Foreclosure in this cause or otherwise make your appearance therein, in the Circuit Court of the Tenth Judicial Circuit, Putnam County, Illinois, held in the Putnam County Courthouse, in the Village of Hennepin on or before the 20th day of June, 2016, default may be entered against you and each of you at any time after that day and a Judgment for Foreclosure may be entered in accordance with the prayer of the Complaint for Foreclosure. /s/ Cathy Oliveri CIRCUIT CLERK Robert B. Steele #2712407 Aplington, Kaufman, McClintock, Steele & Barry, Ltd. 160 Marquette St. PO Box 517 LaSalle, IL 61301 Phone 815-224-3200 Fax 815-224-3205 Email robert.steele@akmsb.net Published in the Putnam County Record Apr. 27, May 4 and 11, 2016.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance for S E N A C H W I N E TOWNSHIP ROAD DISTRICT, Putnam County, IL for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017 will be on file and available for public inspection at the Senachwine Township Building, 100 High Street, Putnam, IL from and after April 15, 2016. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that a Public Hearing on the Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be held at 7:00 p.m., on June 9, 2016 at the Senachwine Township Building, 100 High Street, Putnam, IL and that final action on the Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be taken by the Township Trustees at a meeting to be held at that time and place. By: Rhonda Downey, Township Clerk Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016. TAX DEED NO.16-TX-2 Filed 3/28/16 TAKE NOTICE CERTIFICATE NO. # 2012-00036 TO: COUNTY CLERK OF PUTNAM COUNTY; Jeffrey B. Peyton; Persons in occupancy or actual possession of said property, Unknown owners or parties interested in said land or lots. A Petition for Tax Deed on premise described below has been filed in the Circuit Court of Putnam County, Illinois as Case No. 16-TX-2. The property is Located At: 11 Carribean Dr., Putnam. Legal Description or P.I. No.: 03-00-041-060. Said property was sold on 10/29/2013 for delinquent taxes for the year 2012. The period of redemption will expire on September 1, 2016. On 9/8/2016 at 10:30 a.m. the petitioner will make application to such court in said county for an Order for Tax Deed, should the real estate not be redeemed. Kathleen M. Hollonbeck, Petitioner Published in the Putnam County Record Apr. 20, 27 and May 4, 2016. NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance for the HENNEPIN TOWNSHIP ROAD DISTRICT, Putnam County, IL for
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON TOWNSHIP BUDGET Notice is hereby given that a Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance for the Magnolia Township, Putnam County, Illinois, for the fiscal year beginning April 1st, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017, will be on file and conveniently available to public inspection at Clerk’s home from and after 7 p.m. on May 25, 2016. Notice is further given hereby that a public hearing on said Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be at 6:30 p.m. on June 29, 2016 at Magnolia Township Building, Magnolia, IL and that final action on this ordinance will be taken at a meeting to be held at Magnolia Township building, Magnolia, IL at 7 p.m., June 29, 2016. Dated this 29th day of April, 2016. /s/Sarah Knapp, Supervisor /s/Brenda Wulzen, Clerk Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016. NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS The Village of Hennepin will receive bids for repairing a roof at the Village Street Department at 407 N. Fifth St., Hennepin, IL. We would like a bid on the application of Elastomeric (liquid rubber roofing material) or equivalent. The size of the building is 71’ X 41’. Bids must be received by 9:00 a.m. May 12th, when the bids will be publicly opened. Attention is called to the act that not less than the minimum salaries and wages as set forth and established by the Illinois Department of Labor must be paid on this project. The contractor must ensure that employees and applicants for employment are not discriminated against because of their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The Village of Hennepin is an equal opportunity employer. The Village of Hennepin reserves the right to reject any or all bids, or to waive any informalities in the
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance for S E N A C H W I N E TOWNSHIP, Putnam County, IL for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017 will be on file and available for public inspection at the Senachwine Township Building, 100 High Street, Putnam, IL from and after April 15, 2016. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that a Public Hearing on the Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be held at 7:00 p.m., on June 9, 2016 at Senachwine Township Building, 100 High Street, Putnam, IL and that final action on the Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be taken by the Township Trustees at a meeting to be held at that time and place. By: Rhonda Downey, Township Clerk Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016. NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON ROAD DISTRICT BUDGET Notice is hereby given that a Tentative Budget and Appropriation
NOTICE TO HENNEPIN RESIDENTS The Board of Trustees of the Village of Hennepin recently passed and adopted revisions to the official Codification for the Village. These revisions became enforceable upon adoption. To inspect the entire Codification for the Village, please contact the clerk at 815-9257138 or visit the website at: www. villageofhennepin.com. You may also request a digital copy by emailing the clerk at villageclerk@ mchsi.com. Hennepin Village Board Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016.
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE TENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT PUTNAM COUNTY, HENNEPIN, ILLINOIS THE GRANVILLE NATIONAL BANK, ) a National Banking Association, ) Plaintiff, ) vs. ) UNKNOWN HEIRS AT LAW AND LEGATEES ) OF MARK L. ZORZI, ALEXIS BOGGIO ) JEANETTE ZORZI, UNKNOWN OWNERS ) and NONRECORD CLAIMANTS, ) Defendants. ) No. 16 CH 2 NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE BY PUBLICATION The requisite Affidavit for Publication having been filed, notice is hereby given you, Unknown Heirs at Law and Legatees of Mark L. Zorzi, Unknown Owners and Nonrecord Claimants, Defendants in the above-entitled cause, that the above-entitled Mortgage Foreclosure action was filed on March 17, 2016, and is now pending. 1. The names of all Plaintiffs and the Case Number are identified above. 2. The Court in which this action was brought is identified above. 3. The names of the titleholder of record is Mark L. Zorzi, deceased 4. A legal description of the real estate sufficient to identify it with reasonable certainty is as follows: Lot Two (2) in Block 31 in the Village of Hennepin, all lying and being situated in the County of Putnam, State of Illinois. 5. A common address or description of the location of the real estate is as follows: 612 High Street, Hennepin, IL 61327 6. An identification of the Mortgage sought to be foreclosed is as follows: a. Name of Mortgagor: Mark L. Zorzi, deceased
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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 10TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT PUTNAM COUNTY, HENNEPIN, ILLINOIS First State Bank ) PLAINTIFF ) Vs. ) Brandi L. Smith; Unknown Heirs and Legatees ) of Carolynn LaRosa; Lake Thunderbird ) Association; Unknown Owners and Nonrecord ) Claimants ) DEFENDANTS ) 16 CH 00001 NOTICE BY PUBLICATION NOTICE IS GIVEN TO YOU: Unknown Heirs and Legatees of Carolynn LaRosa Unknown Owners and Nonrecord Claimants That this case has been commenced in this Court against you and other defendants, praying for the foreclosure of a certain Mortgage conveying the premises described as follows, to-wit: COMMONLY KNOWN AS: 49 Skinner Drive, Putnam, IL 61560 and which said Mortgage was made by: Carolynn LaRosa executed the mortgage, however this individual is deceased and is not named as a defendant in this lawsuit the Mortgagor(s), to Citizens First National Bank, as Mortgagee, and recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds of Putnam County, Illinois, as Document No. 09-1339 Book: 111 Page: 512; and for other relief; that summons was duly issued out of said Court against you as provided by law and that the said suit is now pending. NOW, THEREFORE, UNLESS YOU file your answer or otherwise file your appearance in this case in the Office of the Clerk of this Court, Cathy J. Oliveri Clerk of the Circuit Court 120 North 4th Street P.O. Box 207 Hennepin, IL 61327 on or before June 3, 2016, A DEFAULT MAY BE ENTERED AGAINST YOU AT ANY TIME AFTER THAT DAY AND A JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRAYER OF SAID COMPLAINT. CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Attorneys for Plaintiff 15W030 North Frontage Road, Suite 100 Burr Ridge, IL 60527 (630) 794-5300 DuPage # 15170 Winnebago # 531 Our File No. 14-16-02526 NOTE: This law firm is a debt collector. I691686 Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 11 and 18, 2016. FIND YOUR NEXT HOME RIGHT HERE!
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14A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016 999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Tentative Budget and Appropriation
Ordinance for HENNEPIN TOWNSHIP, Putnam County, IL for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017
will be on file and available for public inspection at the Hennepin Township Road District Building, 6235 Route 26, Hennepin, IL from and
after April 21, 2016. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that a Public Hearing on the Tentative Budget and Appropriation
Ordinance will be held at 7:00 p.m., on June 8, 2016 at the Hennepin Village Hall, 627 E. High St., Hennepin, IL and that final
action on the Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be taken by the Township Trustees at a meeting to be held at that time and
999 • Legal Notices
999 • Legal Notices
place.
By: Dan DeMattia, Township Clerk Published in the Putnam County Record May 4, 2016.
LEGAL NOTICES The Putnam County Record Classified brings you the public and legal information you have a right to know.
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Wednesday, May 4, 2016 • The Putnam County Record • 15A
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16A • The Putnam County Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Benefit set for May 28 for Peru Police Sgt. Jason Brokaw PERU – Most police officers will walk the beat at some point in their careers. Peru Police Sgt. Jason Brokaw would simply like to walk again. A benefit will be held Saturday, May 28, to assist Brokaw and his family as he battles a debilitating medical condition. The benefit, being organized by members of the Peru Police Department and the Peru Police Association, will run from 6 p.m. to midnight at the LaSalle Knights of Columbus at 209 Gooding St. Admission is $20 which includes food, a chance for a $500 door prize, cash bar and a silent auction. Raffle tickets may be purchased for a firearm donated by MMC Armory in Mark. Three bands have donated their time to play — The Craig’s; Road Angel, whose drummer is the brother of a deceased
Peru Police officer; and 303, whose lead bass player is a sergeant on the Peru Police Department. Anyone wishing to make a donation to assist Brokaw and his family, or who would like to purchase fundraiser or raffle tickets, may contact the Peru Police Department/ Peru Police Association at 815-223-2151 or email mcredi@perupolice.org or sraymond@perupolice.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the door the night of the event. Brokaw has been a member of the Peru Police Department since 2008 and serves as one of the department’s firearms instructors. He was previously an officer with the Spring Valley Police Department and a deputy with the Bureau County Sheriff’s Department.
About two months ago Brokaw, age 42, began experiencing lower back pain, leg pain and numbness in his right leg. At first, he believed he slipped a disc, so he went to a chiropractor, but when the problem persisted he went to the family doctor who discovered lesions on his spine. “He didn’t understand the urgency,” said Deb Brokaw, Jason’s wife. “In the beginning he never felt like he was sick.” When Brokaw arrived at St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, he was able to walk. Now the family is wondering if he will ever walk again. For these past two months, Brokaw has suffered from a spreading paralysis caused by transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord. The cause of the inflammation remains undetermined, and he has
not yet tested positive for anything that would cause the condition. There were no warning signs of the paralysis-inducing condition. The Mayo Clinic is double-testing all blood work, lumbar punctures, and biopsies performed at St. Francis-Peoria. Brokaw is a big Cubs/Blackhawks fan and is very committed to his children, 12-year-old Calvin and 14-year-old Hayleigh. “Right now our biggest drive is to get him to his daughter’s eighth-grade graduation on May 26,” Deb Brokaw said. The Peru Police Association is part of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council, a law enforcement union representing more than 11,600 professionals in more than 514 bargaining units who work in the criminal justice system.
ISBE’s Student Advisory Council seeks applicants SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) seeks high school students to share their input on state education issues as part of its Student Advisory Council (SAC). Students who will start the upcoming school year as a sophomore, junior or senior in an Illinois public high school are eligible to apply for one of 12 open spots by May 27. “ISBE’s Student Advisory Council creates greater opportunities for deepening students’ relationships with educators and school leaders and helps students feel personally invested in their school communities,” said Illinois State Superintendent of Education Tony Smith, Ph.D. “The board is grateful for the talent, experience, and thoughtful input these extraordinary young people bring to our discussions each year.” The SAC, which was established in 1975, represents a diverse group of students who work with the Illinois State Board and
state superintendent to provide student perspectives on ISBE’s existing and proposed programs, policies and regulations. Applicants undergo a competitive review process that looks for strong interpersonal skills and the ability to think creatively, work well in groups and develop innovative solutions. “Being a member of the Student Advisory Council is like being the link between my classmates, my school and my state. I get the chance to tell board members about what is working and what is not,” said Seetha Aribindi, a member of this year’s council and a junior at Hinsdale Central High School. “With this council, we improve our education system together. It is refreshing to see that the members of the board truly value our opinions.” Each year, SAC members select a yearlong research project and present their findings and recommendations to the state board. This school year’s council focused
on the importance of students’ feedback in efforts to improve teacher quality and build a more collaborative school community. On March 16, the board heard the SAC’s presentation and approved its recommendation to pursue ways to increase the level of communication between students and teachers and school leaders. “We worked as a team; we pursued our goals, and we did not let any difference in opinion distract us,” said SAC member Alex Palacios, a senior at Kankakee High School. “This council is one of a kind – it offers new experiences and new friendships that would have never existed had I not joined this group.” One of the ways the SAC aims to incorporate more student voice is to expand the council’s interaction with the board during the school year. Typically, the SAC meets once a month and attends two board meetings over the course of the year. For the 2016-17 school year, the
2016-17 SAC Who: Illinois public high school sophomores, juniors and seniors serve on ISBE’s Student Advisory Council. Deadline to apply: 5 p.m. May 27. Applications are available online. For questions: Candidates can contact Vincent Camille at vcamille@isbe.net or 217-782-5396.
SAC aims to have three members present at each board meeting from September through March to answer board members’ questions on particular issues and provide reports on long-term questions asked of the council.
HENNEPIN FOOD MART MAY GOD BLESS OUR $ 69 MOTHERS…… THIS IS $ 49 3 2 YOUR SPECIAL DAY!! BONELESS BONE IN PORK BLACK ANGUS
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Our Family Window Cleaner, 32oz ....................... 2/$3 Tostitos Chips, 9-13oz.......................................... 2/$5 Kelloggs Special K Cereals, 12oz ........................ 2/$6 Nabisco Oreo Cookies, 11oz...............................$2.88 Trade Winds Tea, Gallons..................................... 2/$5 Fiber One Bars, 10ct ............................................ 2/$5 Hidden Valley Dressings, 16oz ............................. 2/$7 Our Family Spiral and Cheese Dinners, 5.5oz........69¢ Cascade Action Pacs or Powder Auto Dish Soap, 20ct/75oz....$3.99 Dawn Dish Soap, 18oz ......................................... 2/$5 Febreze Air Effects, 9oz........................................ 2/$5 Downey Fabric Softner, 51oz ..............................$4.49 Tide Liquid Laundry Detergent, 50oz ..................$6.99 Kingsford or Matchlite Charcoal Briquets, 15.4#/11# ..$8.99
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2
2B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
“Every day I wake up I know I need drugs, but the only thing I can think is ... am I going to get enough drugs today to kill myself? Am I going to be able to die because I am so miserable? I don’t want to be alive anymore because I know I don’t want to use drugs, but I don’t know how to stop. That’s how deep it gets.”
Breaking the chains
Former addict finds a better life only after countless overdoses By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
A Bureau County man in his 30s was a heroin addict for a decade. Out of respect for his family, he will be known as “John.” This is his story. John said he never really felt normal, and although he was raised by two great parents, he always behaved like a kid who just didn’t fit in. He can’t recall a time in his life when he was ever truly happy or at peace, and like so many agitated youth who defer to simply surviving, he began searching for outlets to his anger in the shadows of the sun. “I started hanging out with misfit and unique people who were rebellious in my early teens, and that’s when I was introduced to my first drink of alcohol and to smoking marijuana,” John said, claiming he felt more alive and accepted while intoxicated than during any days of his confusing adolescence. What started as drinking with friends on the weekends turned into multiple citations and driving under the influence tickets, as well as severe concern from his parents about their son’s social and psychological well-being. “My parents thought I might have a substance abuse problem, but I didn’t see it that way,” John said. “I was just having fun, and thought it was pretty normal.” John dropped out of high school because he was skipping more classes than he attended, and felt no agenda to follow authority. “Doing what he wanted” mostly included getting drunk and using drugs, including marijuana, prescription pills like Oxycontin and essentially anything that camouflaged his lackluster reality. “At one point someone who had never met me personally came up to me and said, ‘I’ve heard you’ll do any drug put in front of your face.’ That was my reputation,” he said, adding he now sees clearly the red flags that flapped like bloody threads on the side of that desolate trail. The fateful evening
came when John was introduced to heroin. He was worried about shooting up ever since studying D.A.R.E. in grade school, but overstepping boundaries had grown routine as a regular stride in his life ... so he did not fear the potential plummet of the oncoming stumble. “I go ahead and use for the first time and spent the entire night throwing up. I couldn’t speak straight or keep my eyes open, and when I woke the next morning, I thought it was the best thing ever,” John said, having tasted a flavor never to find his tongue again. “I wanted it; I craved it, and over the next few years, I actively sought out heroin,” he said, stating a two and one-half hour drive for a Chicago score eventually became a daily chore. “I was always hiding, living a double life. In the smack dab middle of my active addiction, my only reality was getting high, and at some point, that front goes away,” said John, who began a vicious cycle of lying to family and stealing from friends, anything to still the unavoidable illness of withdrawals. “I started doing things I never would have dreamed I’d do.” Felony possession charges led to jail time; 30 days here, 60 days there, and although John testified of the sheer distaste for the serpent’s fire, it would be but mere hours outside the cell before the venom coursed his veins again. “Nothing I would tell myself would help. As soon as I was around it, the gears got turning in my brain, and I’d be right back in.” John overdosed — as in a “revived from certain death at the hospital” overdose. He admitted he can’t remember how many times he has overdosed in his life, but the number exceeds double digits. Drugs found in his pocket landed him in the Illinois Department of Corrections, and he was behind bars when his son was born. “I vowed to never use heroin again — that I just want to be a good father and family member, and
I really believe all this is possible. Within three days of being on parole, I shoot up and overdose,” John recalled painfully, stating that was the basement where he finally found numbers for treatment centers. Denial runs deep in addiction, John said. It’s virtually impossible for an addict to see reality because their denial is so deep. The only way to keep the needle buried as the engine rages like a volcano is to dismiss any witness of the flames. John was locked up for 11 months and vowed he’d never touch that filthy drug again, yet it took him three days to be buried in dirt. “When I’m in my active addiction, the parts of my brain that make all rational decisions are virtually turned off, and all I can do is feed my addiction,” he said. “A big part in the beginning of my recovery was finding out I don’t have a moral deficiency, I have a brain disease.” John found an in-patient treatment center. He was not a worthless person, simply a drug
John Page 3B
Shaw Media photos/Eric Engel
3
Spring 2016 • 3B
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
A D.A.R.E.-ing approach Police officer teaches children the dangers of drugs and harmful behavior By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
Define the problem. Assess what your choices are. Respond by making a choice. Evaluate that decision to see if you think it’s a good one or not. Dare to exist as if life is a gift to be handled with the utmost care. Rob Jensen has been the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officer in Princeton for the past 18 years. Throughout that time, he has witnessed the D.A.R.E. program’s constant evolution, because drug abuse and violent behavior stand like weeds cloaked in a robe of thorns and must be ripped at their roots. Jensen said current D.A.R.E. curriculum is called “Keeping it Real,” and although it certainly still covers information on the harmful effects of drug use, it is now more focused on how to make good decisions in a step-by-step process. Define, assess, respond and evaluate. Where will you be if you choose rebellious behavior? Suspended from school? Sitting in jail? In the hospital? Even worse? “Every drug addiction could be traced back to one single moment in time where a bad decision was made to try that drug,” Jensen said, a firm believer in the notion of consideration before the jump instead of leaping blindly without defining any possible consequence. “’Keeping it Real’ is more of a forward-thinking approach.” Jensen said when he first started teaching D.A.R.E., the lesson plan was centered around advising against tobacco, alcohol and marijuana, considered the three gateway drugs for junior high and high school kids. Like a small town that develops into a flourishing city, the D.A.R.E. program has expanded to add general safety techniques, conflict resolution, quality communication and violence prevention to drug prevention. “We teach kindergartners through fourth-graders everything from avoiding strangers, following directions, staying out of the medicine cabinet, and watching for dangerous things around the house, to calling 911 and obeying traffic signs,” Jensen said, comment-
Does the D.A.R.E. program really work? ing they still teach about the dangers of drugs but wait until the fifth grade level and beyond to further intensify the lesson plan, as to avoid souring adolescent innocence. Jensen said fifth-graders are taught how to deal with stress properly instead of bottling it negativity or turning to drugs. Peer pressure is lessened to a good degree through the curriculum as well. By the time students get to seventh and eighth grade, they are essentially offered refresher courses of all they’ve learned in their D.A.R.E. history and advised on how to handle and avoid violence and conflict, as their independence at that stage of life affects their surroundings more than
ever before. Does D.A.R.E. really work? Jensen said he’s heard that question multiple times, adding people on a national level tend to lean toward the opinion the program doesn’t work, but residents of Bureau County have always been in his corner concerning the education he provides. “The unfortunate problem is it’s hard to gauge the program’s effectiveness because the only statistics you can look at are the ones that don’t succeed, as they end up in the system,” Jensen said. “You don’t hear from the ones that do succeed.” Jensen emphasized D.A.R.E. is not a stand alone program but designed to work along with parents, schools and communities. Responsibility should be taken accordingly instead of passing the buck on to Jensen and others who try to hand out the necessary information and hope students take the initiative to follow through. When it comes to heroin, Jensen said all officers are aware of its rising prevalence, and they take as much of an active approach as they can, including enforcement action. “Our department always keeps searching and making arrests. Heroin doesn’t stand out necessarily because all drugs are bad, but you keep your wits about you and work through it all.” Although Jensen doesn’t openly explain the harsh reality of heroin or methamphetamine to a 10-yearold child, he always answers any question asked, in the classroom or outside of it. He said you never know who will hear and receive an accurate message, and a healthy discussion makes little impact if confined. “The goal is still to help people, even the ones who are on drugs,” Jensen said, adding action has to be taken against those who break the law, but not with the intention of harming another human being, even if they have deteriorated their surroundings. “It’s difficult to see them go through things when mistakes are made, but you still try to treat people with respect.”
“The goal is still to help people, even the ones who are on drugs.” D.A.R.E. Officer Rob Jensen John From Page 2B
addict. He had believed in his demise — that addiction was his only vice — until his closest friend came around the bend in the mirror with arms outstretched like wings of hope. There is always a choice, and it’s not stopping the inferno as it burns down the house, but whether you choose to rebuild. “In the treatment center I’m introduced to the 12-step program, and this is where I learn even more; not about addiction, but about recovery,” John said, surrounded by people who abused and lamented as he had, and fought for their very lives like he wanted to. “I hear people talking about things they did, the way they felt that day or felt while using, and I know I’m in the right place.” John stated that which
is brutally obvious — it’s hard to understand an addict if you haven’t experienced an addiction. Toward the end of his addiction he was lying, cheating, stealing and homeless; a bad son, a poor father and a constant criminal, and yet every breath was spent chasing the dragon that continually flies further away. “For anybody’s who’s the type of addict I am, it may not be to that point yet, but it’s progressive, and it only gets worse,” he said, demanding addicts amputate their source of poison, for mothers dressed in black have yet to find the clock turned back. John said there is no shame in searching for help; that 12-step is a “we” program full of loving souls who delight when the sun breaks through those shadows in the night. John has
been off heroin for more than two years, minus a single relapse. It is said relapse is part of recovery. Judgment is not. “When I had a double life, I lived separate from my addiction. Then it was all my life consisted of, and I lived in my addiction. When I was miserable and hated myself and the things I was doing, I lived against my addiction, and it sucked the life out of me. Today, I live with my addiction. I can acknowledge it will always be a part of me, and learn more about myself and my emotions ... how to be a better person living a better life. You have the key. Open the gates, and let the horse run free. “I built a prison for a decade, and today I have freedom from it,” he concluded. “If I can help even one person, then this is all worth it.” Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
“When I had a double life, I lived separate from my addiction. Then it was all my life consisted of, and I lived in my addiction. When I was miserable and hated myself and the things I was doing, I lived against my addiction, and it sucked the life out of me. Today, I live with my addiction. I can acknowledge it will always be a part of me, and learn more about myself and my emotions ... how to be a better person living a better life.”
WE SUPPORT the fight against heroin in the ILLINOIS VALLEY. TOGETHER we make a difference!
SM-PR2650716-0428
Granville Police Department, Kevin Moore, Chief Village of Granville, Douglas Gimbal, Village Pres. Trustees & Employees
4
4B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
‘Enough is enough’ Area ER nurse has seen the lies in heroin; shoots users with brutal truth B y Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
Editor’s note: The source in this story asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy. While Shaw Media knows her name, she will be referred to as Jane throughout the story. An emergency room registered nurse, in her last semester of nursing school, was training for her future profession at a local hospital. The calm tranquility of a medical clinic tending a slow shift was ruptured by a bag of bones under the comatose characteristics of a heroin overdose. Jane prepared herself to save someone’s life. The breathless body was likely dropped at the emergency room door by a friend who was “going to go park the car.” The nurses rarely see the friend again. Jane remained calm, as any medical professional must for the sake of the weak and wounded. The heart continues beating during a heroin overdose, but the lungs seem to drag their feet. Most overdose victims are not breathing, so Jane waited. As the overdose victim landed on the trauma room bed, his head flopped back, and she saw a face she recognized. Her heart dropped to the floor as she thought, “I know this person.” That was the first time Jane encountered a heroin overdose; for an emergency room registered
nurse in the area, it’s seemingly never the last. Jane shared her emotional experience as an ER nurse because each time heroin tries to take a life, she is tasked with giving it back. “I’ve seen a lot of overdoses come in, and only a few have woke up cooperative and thank us for what we did,” Jane said. “Most times they’re mad we took away their high.” Jane explained heroin blocks the receptors in the body that regulate breathing, so an overdose victim is given Narcan — also known as Naloxone — an opiate antagonist used for partial or complete opiate overdose. When given the opiate reversal, an individual usually wakes up within 30 seconds, as Narcan instantly removes all opiates from the body and its systems. Imagine a bear with its leg caught in a trap, swatting razor sharp claws with snarling ferocity even as you attempt to free it ... “They wake up, their high is gone, and they don’t know where they are,” she said, indicating many are incredibly cranky and swearing en route to the closest exit. “We can’t hold people against their will, so if they want to go, they can go.” Jane said an overdose victim who is saved from sure death can simply walk out the door back to their addiction with no legal ramifications or family members being
notified. Legislation is in the works which will allow Narcan to be sold over the counter with a doctor’s prescription, which makes Jane’s skin crawl. “It almost seems like they’re encouraging people to take heroin until they overdose because you’ll have Narcan in your medicine cabinet just in case you need to stumble over there and use it,” she said, adding heroin addicts have no problem pricking themselves with the medicine cabinet savior. Overdoses come in spurts, Jane said. Months would pass by without one, and then two or three in one week would be tossed onto the cement in front of the ER door. Heroin not only decreases your drive to breath, but it kills pain receptors, so graduating from a lower to a higher dosage or quality will ultimately cause problems for a user. “It almost seemed like you could tell when a bad batch came out of Chicago or the manufacturer,” Jane said. “Heroin is a mix of all kinds of junk the body can’t handle, so if they put too much of one thing in, you’re sitting there, and then you’re gone.” Jane will never touch heroin, but she is no fool as to why users continue once they make their first mistake. A heroin high eliminates pain and makes the body feel good, but only on a surface level.
“I’ve heard people who have used in the past and successfully make it through rehab can’t drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or even drink caffeine because any of these addictive substances will make you relapse and go back to it.” Jane knows what heroin does to a person on a personal level as well. A family member was hooked on heroin and burned all bridges. She said supporting someone’s habit with lodging, money or transportation — anything besides love — will only do further damage. Her family member went to rehab, but only by choice, as medical employees have no legal ability to force rehab upon anyone. “You can tell people to get clean and take them to rehab, but until they say, ‘You’re right, it’s time to quit,’ they’re just going to go use again,” Jane said. “They have to want to stop.” Research indicates it takes 28 days to break a habit, and heroin addicts aren’t known for holding a steady job with health insurance, so rehabilitation likely seems like an uphill climb in both directions to many users. “There needs to be more resources available,” Jane said, indicating many people call the hospital looking to be admitted to rehab, and when told to find a treatment center they have no idea where to direct their first step. “There are a couple places in Peoria,
“You read about it in the morning paper and see it in the news, yet people continue to take that first shot. You think you’re not going to get hooked, but you do, so it amazes me why people even start to begin with.” some in the Quad Cities and maybe Bloomington, but that’s an hour away.” Jane must console screaming family members who dread a death notice in the hospital waiting room. She has seen track marks so severe people are literally carrying around dead limbs on their body. She has seen children crying in the backseat as their father is wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher. “It is heartbreaking to see this happen, but at the same time you know it’s going to,” she said, adding nothing is more maddening than repeat customers who get their Narcan and are on their way. “You read about it in the morning paper and see it in the news, yet people continue to take that first shot. You think
you’re not going to get hooked, but you do, so it amazes me why people even start to begin with.” After five years as an RN in the emergency room, Jane has no time for judgment. She would ask users to be truthful about what they’ve taken as a way to help them help themselves. Don’t ever experiment with heroin, she encouraged, but if you do, you have to deal with it. “Enough is enough. Let’s grow up and get over this. There are resources out there, and I’ve given you rehab centers, names of doctors, methadone clinics … look into it!” she pleaded. “I can’t make you want to do that. You have to take that step to get clean and change your life.”
5
Spring 2016 • 5B
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
A stranger in his own skin Princeton native speaks of bravery in throwing away the needle By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
Zach Mortensen lost his truth when he found the needle. He lost the relationships with those closest to him, his self respect and the ability to inspire other people to succeed. He said once a person becomes an addict, they are a stranger in their own skin because they’ve lost the world they know and love. Mortensen grew up in Princeton, and he rode the rickety and ruptured rails of methamphetamine into the early stages of his adult life while down in Florida. To distance himself from that proverbial speeding bullet, he moved to Missouri to live with his father and began working at a factory. He said it was there the painted lady known as heroin quickly kissed his skin and crawled within. Mortensen would go to work to make money to buy drugs. Rather than providing a solution to the problems already in his life, heroin provided a further retreat into the clutches of isolation. It asked for his attention like flood waters ask the buildings to bow. “Heroin made me destroy myself and everything around me,” Mortensen said, as he recalled shoving real emotions out the door if ever they attempted to veer closer than the choking chemicals. “I made it my girlfriend, my mom, my relationships — whatever I wanted it to be at the
time.” Mortensen sold Oxycontin to fund his fix, and pawned off personal possessions like his bicycle for money, cashing in pennies to afford a single “button” of heroin. He said his family was dirt poor, so “you can’t steal what they don’t have,” but he would stumble through the streets in search of every crutch he could muster only to be splintered by the broken posts in his hand. The man became a machine. Score some smack. Get high. Enjoy it for five minutes, and then start worrying about when and where your next fix will be found. Get sick from the withdrawn tick that bites worse than the most furious flu. Become the demon to find the means. Score some smack. Get high. “Withdrawals are beyond painful. They feel like needles running through your blood — like razor blades cutting the inside of your skin,” said Mortensen, who would live off banana Popsicles and milk for a month straight, literally throwing up from the smell of a burger. “Your body tells you it needs food, but you say nope, and when you do eat, you get sick because you can’t physically go to the bathroom.” Mortensen dropped from 200 pounds to 135 pounds and told his coworkers he was on a diet and had gotten into Pilates, as lies directed toward yourself quickly filter through to every-
one else. The polite and respectful administrator of peace was nowhere to be found, replaced by a critic of all loyalties, a statistic waiting to be checked off the sheet that wears only invisible ink. Mortensen acquired multiple felonies and more than 40 misdemeanor charges in his life, so getting busted with six pounds of marijuana and multiple pharmaceuticals was nothing more than another punchline to him. He strolled into court wearing shorts and whistling a carefree tune ... and was told promptly to take 50 years in the slammer much more seriously, as that’s what approached him with overwhelming haste. “I just took it as a joke and thought they were going to slap me on the wrist like any other time,” Mortensen said, adding he’d calm his worries by going home and getting high, as was the case associated with the before and after of most every action. “A lot of people I talk to now say they hoped I would have confronted my issue, but if I wouldn’t have gotten busted and been in that courtroom I probably never would have gotten to that point.” Mortensen realized he had no fulfillment in his career; he never saw a smile glancing back from the mirror, and the depth of the hole he had dug for himself halted all progress. Old-timers in rehab shot him straight — “Do you want to be like me when
you’re 50? Getting drunk, doing drugs, altercations with your family, destroying your possessions, living to die?” “Respect is the one thing you have as a human, so if I’m not respecting myself, why would anyone else respect me,” Mortensen said, stating the people who put the medicine in his hand and put a microscope over his routines was what finally dethroned his stare down with a double-barrel needle. It’s been seven and onehalf years since Mortensen last danced with the dragon of heroin, and eight years since he wrestled the ravenous bear of methamphetamine ... yet he still struggles on a daily basis. That putrid juice is incapable of eliminating nature’s responsibilities, though, for love is now his drug of choice. “Every day I pick my son up from day care, and when I look at him, it makes my heart ache to even think about not being here for him,” Mortensen said. “He’s one of the main reasons I’m alive, and if he saw the way I used to live, it would break my heart.” Mortensen said it takes
many steady hands to fix a broken mirror, and a thousand cycles around the clock for self-induced wounds to heal. He never expects forgiveness, yet constantly asks for it, for he knows trust is not taken, but given. He said he often crosses paths with individuals he used to sell drugs to, and the remorse he feels for such actions overwhelms him at times. “They made their choices, but I influenced those choices, and you can’t take that away for the rest of your life,” Mortensen said, fully aware he’s opened many doors that should have stayed closed. “Once you’re sober, you think about the damage you’ve done, and it kills you inside.” Mortensen decided to reveal his true identity to help tell his tale, because he feels he owes it to his fellow man to save them from the horrors he’s encountered. He has felt much shame in his life, and he has embarrassed his family, his friends and himself, but love, acceptance and understanding are binds in the rope that hangs to
the bottom of even the deepest holes. Mortensen speaks from experience when he said people want to recover but have no means to, and even if it’s your granddaughter, your son, your mother — even if it’s you — we have to pry the evil mask from our faces and stop lying to ourselves and each other. “We need to put it on every sign and every billboard in town, so when people drive through they think about how many children and families are being hurt by heroin,” he said. “When we have small town people overdosing, getting eaten up by the big world, we have to open our eyes.” Mortensen said with a straight face for anyone to call him if they need a ride to rehab or a hand to hold while they stand on shaking legs in the face of change. This is a subject people are afraid to talk about, but when all you see in the mirror is an empty pane of glass, you have nothing left to lose. “We have two choices. We continue letting each other die, or we die trying to stop this disease.”
City of Spring Valley We Support the fights against Heroin
Walt Marini, Mayor SM-PR6395606-0428
215 North Greenwood Street, SPRING VALLEY, ILLINOIS 61362 City Hall • (815) 664-4221 Fax • (815) 664-2114 e-mail: svclerk@comcast.net • http://www.spring-valley.il.us
6
6B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Plugging the leaks Bureau County State’s Attorney explains how hard it is to fight heroin By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
Imagine you’re trying to stop a leak in the boat. You plug it, patch it and plaster away in an effort to seal the hole entirely. But then another leak ... and another ... and suddenly the vessel resembles a slice of Swiss cheese. You move like the wind to eradicate the liquid invasion, flooding your efforts toward the waves spewing aboard. The single enslaved wave rages violently around its dungeon, inviting the entire crew on a journey they won’t survive. Shipmates stumble overboard, never to find their feet again, as the ocean laughs like a hurricane ... yet no good captain will ever abandon their ship until the ocean has eaten it whole, and 20,000 leagues thereafter. Bureau County State’s Attorney Geno Caffarini never heard of heroin cases as a prosecutor in the early 1990s. Cocaine was the drug of choice, with a few prosecutions taking place each week in the area. Everybody knew you had to jab a needle into your arm to shoot up heroin, and only a rare few attempted to scale that rocky cliff. No one dared become a slave to smack — as it’s known on the street. Not anymore. “Heroin is relatively cheap — $10 a hit – and apparently you get this high you will never experience again,” Caffarini said, noting he hardly ever sees cocaine cases anymore, but heroin charges seep into the courtroom regularly. “Heroin can be snorted, smoked or shot, so it’s gotten to the point where it’s easy to ingest, and you’re addicted from the get go.” Even if a user snorts or smokes heroin, they will eventually have to inject it on the blind trail back toward that first high. Comparing it to a deadly tornado, you look just to get a glimpse, but when you turn to run you can’t, as the funnel has found you. Young or old, rich or poor, clean or filthy; heroin does not differentiate. “Prosecuting heroin is hard if you don’t have the local, state and national government behind you,” Caffarini admitted, stating every county in Illinois, and likely the country, has a heroin problem. “You definitely have to stop the use, as supply and demand is basically the law of economics.”
If people want the drug, dealers are going to get it to them. If people need the drug, they are going to find the dealers. Caffarini said people don’t understand what addiction is. They think they’ll take a one-time dip in the waters to cool off, so to speak, but end up sucked under the pool of churning lava. “In my years of prosecuting, there are rare cases when someone stops using heroin,” he said, adding he knows more people who have died from an overdose than addicts who have gotten clean. “Cook County is no longer prosecuting Class 4 felonies for possession of controlled substances but instead referring them to treatment because we want people off the drug. The first line of defense is getting them clean.” Treatment is expensive. In-patient treatment costs thousands of dollars. Some don’t have insurance, and no one can be held in a treatment center against their will. Illinois is short on funds in many categories, the least of which is money toward heroin rehabilitation. Caffarini would rather see his own father, brother or son sit in prison if they fail treatment rather than play Russian roulette with the needle’s venom, but it appears as if such actions only prolongs some user’s lives. Three years in prison is often followed by three days of freedom before the saw reinserts its blade and grinds away. “There are three things that can happen – you get treatment and get off the drug; you go to jail; or you go to the grave,” Caffarini said, having yet to find a 20-year heroin junkie, as every dope calendar eventually flips the final page. “We have to put a face on a heroin overdose, to know this person was once a successful person full of dreams.” Peer pressure and a lack of understanding lead to heroin use. We all think we’re mentally and physically stronger than a stigma, but as Caffarini knows all too well, that is a fallacy with heroin. Give a young user or first-time offender probation, a few months in jail to clean the canals. Fine them, and if they reach their paw into the honey jar again, send them to the Department of Corrections. For years, if need be. “People need to be shaken up, and it’s hit-
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Bureau County State’s Attorney Geno Caffarini
“We used to think all users came from dysfunctional families, but people from good families make the decision themselves, and then they are addicted to drugs. Heroin isn’t just here in the Illinois Valley and the state of Illinois, but the whole nation.” Bureau County State’s Attorney Geno Caffarini ting home because now most every person knows someone who’s died of a heroin overdose,” he said. The state’s attorney said people drive to Chicago, score some heroin and drag the poison back to their stomping grounds. The law enforcement community is not dull as to who’s contaminating the waters, but you need probable cause to afford broken door frames and ultimately arrests. “People who get in trouble want to work with the task force to avoid conviction,” Caffarini said, noting it’s great when the snakes are hissing at each other. “We break the ties any way we can.” Caffarini said the
badge understands the law and its limitations, and yet men and women who carry a badge have families, emotions and community pride, and they see the same landscape stained by heroin as the rest of us. If the protectors of justice are not given the support they need to keep people safe, who will control the chaos? “Users don’t think logically, so we need self-awareness and programs that make people aware,” he said, adding he’s witnessed too many tragedies where a family member seemingly signs a death sentence by posting bail for a user. “When you see people you know dying because of drugs, it becomes real.”
The minute you take heroin, you’re addicted, yet Caffarini understands why junkies don’t shout their affairs from the rooftops. He knows people keep alcoholism, abuse and addiction swept under the rug, out of society’s view, because a heroin addiction is embarrassing to a scoundrel or a scholar. “I would like to see more grants from the government if there’s money, and laws where you go to treatment and have to stay there,” Caffarini said, as everyone’s time is wasted if a user won’t admit they have a problem. “We have to stop the demand for it and make it personal so people understand.”
Step 1 is admitting we, and not they, have a problem. Fix the leaks. Talk about heroin out loud, and don’t blink when it gets hard to deal with. Go to an autopsy of an overdose victim. Leave your brother in jail. As Caffarini said, sending them into a cell is better than tossing them into the ground. “We used to think all users came from dysfunctional families, but people from good families make the decision themselves, and then they are addicted to drugs,” he concluded. “Heroin isn’t just here in the Illinois Valley and the state of Illinois, but the whole nation.”
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Spring 2016 • 7B
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Heroin IS AMERICA’S #1
SERIAL KILLER
Heroin Leaves-
• Families Devastated • Parents Grieving • Children Orphaned
10,500 deaths in the United States in 2014 692 deaths in the State of Illinois in 2015* 8 Deaths in Bureau County in 2015
DON’T BE ITS NEXT VICTIM! WORKING TOGETHER TO KEEP HEROIN OFF OUR STREETS AND AWAY FROM OUR FAMILIES: Bureau County State’s Attorney Geno Caffarini Burearu County Sheriff James Reed • Princeton Police Chief Tom Root Spring Valley Police Chief Kevin Sangston Bureau County Coroner Janice Wamhoff CPASA- Community Partners Against Substance Abuse
If you suspect drug activity in your community contact your local police department or Bureau County Crime Stoppers at 800-939-6929 Ad paid for by the Bureau County State’s Attorney’s Drug Asset Forfeiture Account SM-PR8127691-0428
*provisional data provided by the IDPH
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8B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Each purple ribbon on each cross represents someone who was loved by their family and friends — and taken from them by the unforgiving clutches of substance abuse.
Always forgiven, never forgotten Two women share the pain and what they gained in losing their son and brother to heroin By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
There is purpose in death. That purpose has never been to enrage us, but to engage us with the understanding that when a loved one passes we are awakened from our state of endless expectation to begin existence anew. Through every swing of the reaper’s blade we see more clearly the life within ourselves, for as the poet Khalil Gibran scribed, “Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” Justin “Buddy” Pratt was a jester in the flesh, a man made for center stage. When he was young, he learned the length of the greatest fishing stories, and roasted the rubber off one set of go-kart tires after another on his way down victory lane. Nature was the sound of his middle name, and the fire inside spoke like lightning, flashing glimpses of unadulterated radiance to the corners of the room. Alas, some fires burn so warm they scorch the very borders intended to keep them calm. Buddy never connected with his academics and dropped out of high school at 16, with test results later confirming he had a learning disability. He would tell you what you wanted to hear, yet rarely share what he needed to say. “He struggled with drugs for a decade, and it wasn’t always heroin,” said Buddy’s mother, Lori Brown, mentioning cocaine, pills and marijuana were but different faces in a deck of playing cards for her son, and like any gambler, he was all in on every hand. “In his eyes he ‘never had a problem.’ Someone was always doing worse than he was, and you want to believe your child.” Buddy’s older sister, Amber Pratt, said her brother would twist the truth and then believe his own lies as long as she’d allow them to survive. Amber would find Buddy sleeping on a couch in her garage or in the backseat of his car at the hospital she worked at, as if close enough to be just out of reach. “His mind, I think, played fast in his head, and he couldn’t keep up with it,” Amber said. “The addiction really took him for a ride.” Buddy was always in trouble with the law, and yet never seemed to sit behind bars for very long. Brown said she must admit her son was a rat, spelling out every name but his own to officers who arrested him. She said she was always nervous to visit Buddy’s apartment because of the shady nature of the game he played. Amber said her brother would avoid much of the affection directed toward him, pulling away on purpose from those who knew him best. She said sadly there were moments when it was easier to ignore Bud’s addiction, avoiding the pain caused by his
Photo contributed
Justin “Buddy” Pratt, the inspiration for Buddy’s Purpose, put a face to the disease of addiction on billboards across Central Illinois. rejection of her affection. Brown said her son’s drug problems were obviously embarrassing, but he “could ask for $20 and go home with $30.” He’d slide on that mask with the printed grin, and make his way back into their lives with momentary smiles. As hard as it may have been to accept, Brown considered whether her son had a mental illness. When she offered the idea of rehab to him, he would tuck back into his shell and yell, “I don’t want to be different!” “You don’t want to be different, but you’re doing illegal drugs, and your name’s in the paper. You are different — the stigma’s already there,” Brown said. Buddy’s life consisted of endless drama, the trauma wrenched from a twisted grasp on sanity, and acquaintances who knew nothing of commitment. When Bud walked away from a car crash that took the life of one of his last true friends on the planet, he finally slipped into the gravity of his addiction, as a string can only sacrifice so many strands before it must give way to the weight.
Buddy Page 9B
“My stomach started burning, and I said, ‘This is it. Either something bad happened; someone got hurt; or he’s gone.’ This kid came walking out of the house and just shook his head, and I screamed and fell to my knees. When I went in, Amber’s dad was holding our son.” Lori Brown, whose son died of a heroin overdose
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Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Spring 2016 • 9B
Buddy From Page 8B “His addiction took who he was from us way before he passed away.” Brown woke up early to head into work. Amber was vacationing in Colorado, and when Brown stepped out of the shower, she had missed calls from her mother and her job. She called her husband and her employer, and the many words she heard seemed to repeat only one sentence to her. Go to your son. “My stomach started burning, and I said, ‘This is it. Either something bad happened; someone got hurt; or he’s gone,’” Brown said, arriving to a circus of police sirens and the darkest day she’ll ever know. “This kid came walking out of the house and just shook his head, and I screamed and fell to my knees. When I went in, Amber’s dad was holding our son.” On Nov. 11, 2011, Justin “Buddy” Pratt was drug from this earth by the noose that hangs like a shadow off the black horse of heroin.
The Purpose
Heroin does not just ruin the experience of the user. It stretches fast as shrapnel, exploding all notions once trusted. When heroin becomes the only thing that survives, the branches are violently ripped from the tree, that even as the trunk continues to stand it will never again produce its sweetest fruit. Lori Brown stood back up. She called her daughter, wept into her husband, and went to her mother. From the great depth of flood waters she saw a light, shining so very bright, through the darkened distance. “I looked at my Mom and said, ‘I will talk about this. People need to know what’s going on,’” said Brown, sifting through the ashes of disaster to find her voice. “I was quiet for so long when Bud was fighting.” People can change. Recovery is possible. A man can break the needle, but he must travel to the eye of the storm to find reform. When the mountain seems impossible to conquer, look down at your feet and witness the single step swinging. If that first shaking step seems impossible to land, look up at the mountain and find it standing strong as stone. Brown waged her battle against the addiction instead of the swimmers amidst the hurricane. “I did not want to feel alone. He was my son. I carried him as my child,” Brown said, finding people around every curve of her new journey robbed of their greatest riches. She said at first she was timid to broadcast harm reduction, but kept finding answers to questions she’d never asked. Do you want any other person to feel this fire burn? Do you want to watch another child die? Will you do what you must to save their lives? Do you hope to smile again? “We want people to research this disease and educate themselves on addiction,” Brown said. “It’s not that I’m stronger than the next person. I have just chosen to find a purpose in the tragedy that has come into our lives.” Lori, Amber and the army against addiction began “Buddy’s Purpose,” a nonprofit organization aimed to “end the silence for those loved, lost and still struggling with substance abuse.” The emancipators began a mission to solidify the future by speaking at overdose awareness campaigns, providing free overdose prevention kits equipped with the anti-opiate medication Naloxone, and offering a shoulder that carries the greatest weight imaginable. “Nobody wants to tell this story because it’s not a fun story,” Brown shared, as the only thing that saves us from drowning is the plunging arms of those who care. “Our mission continues to evolve and change, as things are now important that once weren’t.” Brown said her family is encouraged to feel shame and embarrassment from some bystanders, as if she failed as a mother, and Amber as a sister, to teach Bud the proper tools in life. “How was I a bad mom? I raised them the same way, and they had a lot of the same friends,” Brown said, citing Amber is a generously patient and loyal nurturer of her community — a loving mother, a homeowner and a nurse — while Buddy was a heroin addict. “There are all kinds of addictions. We all have our own vices, and you have to accept that individuals make their own choices.” Brown openly approaches the loneliest souls, as “it’s a fog you walk through for a long time,” and encouragement makes her want to keep going. People may tiptoe around the emotions linked to such a loss, but she invites them to walk beside her, as her tears wander the trail of recollection with a person she will always love. “If I had a few moments with my son, I’d ask him for forgiveness that I wasn’t more understanding; that I didn’t push harder, and I would tell him how much I love and miss him,” Brown said, with Amber adding she isn’t angry at her brother anymore, as the forest is defined by the distinction of every tree. “The day he was born I didn’t want Mom to bring him home, but as much as I wanted you to stay at the hospital, I didn’t want you to leave when you did,” Amber said. “We still love him and wanted him to see his future and experience more.” Life is short. Do not stand in the cold waiting for the sun to shine. Search out your warmth. “I lied in bed listening to the rain this morning, and told my husband I didn’t want to do it, but then the dog licked my face and I thought, ‘Get out of bed, Lori. You’re alive and you can make a difference,” Brown said. Whether seeking help or providing it through “Buddy’s Purpose,” contact Lori Brown at 815-993-6294, buddyspurpose@yahoo.com, or visit www.buddyspurpose.org.
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Lori Brown, founder of “Buddy’s Purpose,” speaks at an awareness walk in Ottawa in 2015. After her son, Justin “Buddy” Pratt, died from a heroin overdose in 2011, Brown has raised her voice against substance abuse so no parent will have to experience what she has.
Every balloon in the crowd of an awareness walk in Ottawa is held high for someone who was defeated by substance abuse. Heroin can reach any family in any setting, and only by admitting that and coming together will the population be able to gain victory in their battle against substance abuse. Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Crowd members at an awareness walk in Ottawa do not let the memories of their loved ones float away, but rather assist the pain in their hearts by supporting each other, forgiving the victims of substance abuse and fighting the vicious disease. Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Lori Brown (center, white shorts) and her daughter, Amber Pratt (right center, purple headband) honor their family member, Justin “Buddy” Pratt, by opening their hearts to the crowd at an awareness walk in Ottawa, where so many individuals have lost a loved one to substance abuse.
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10B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Junk collectors
Local police fight the heroin battle from all angles By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
Addiction is extremely embarrassing and keeps many truths concealed. It forces a facade to be placed in front of the faces of family members, a veil draped over the eyes of friends. That embarrassment and shame often gives way to absolute avoidance, and tails tucked into their run as if searching for the edge of the earth. There is a moment no officer has the option to run from — a place they cannot avoid. He sucks in his breath and puts one foot in front of the next. Standing on the doorstep, he composes, and then knocks. A face that looks so similar to one he’s recently studied answers the call, and in an instant, the emotions seem to fall from this stranger’s face into the center of their heart. The officer remembers his first day, and pictures his last. These are his words ... “I’m very sorry, ma’am. Your child has died of a heroin overdose.” Imagine, if you can, a truth more embarrassing to share. Kevin Sangston has been chief of police in Spring Valley since 2009, and honored the shield since 1989. He said heroin hides in the shadows at times and strikes like a lion at others, but its devastating force is evident within every exchange. “Heroin has had a profound effect on this community. There have been times in the past we’ve had multiple overdoses in one month, then it wanes off for a while, and now it’s back with a vengeance,” Sangston said, adding it also fuels so many different property crimes like theft, burglary, identify theft and forgery — its very existence a constant driving force of chaos. “Addicts have to continually feed the monster, so they have to find financial ways to do that,” he said, as new users self-prescribe to the prevalence and popularity of the cheap drug that often begins in the bottom of an opiate prescription bottle. “They ruin themselves and their family financially, and once all those revenue sources are shut off, they look for criminal avenues to locate those funds.” Tim Trevier, a lieutenant for the Bureau County Sheriff’s Department, said heroin is a black plague. He was once a member of the Illinois State Police Drug Task Force, so he’s fought the war from the inside out, and said heroin is now cheaper than it’s ever been. It’s all about money for the dealers; many of which don’t use the drugs they sell, so they can dish out two or three bags to an addict at $25 a pop. “We must stop the problem at it’s source — stop the distributors — because once a person is hooked, it’s
a long, dark road to travel,” Trevier said. Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reed said there are a few heavy dealers in the area, and limiting the supply from Chicago will only increase the supply from other avenues. “We have to make a substantial effort to stop it at the border because the poppy (used to produce opium) is grown in Afghanistan and comes into the United States, creating a national epidemic,” Reed said, citing water will leak into a house through every crevice it can find. Trevier pointed out our prison systems are overflowing, and although a person has a hard time getting their hands on drugs while behind bars, many of them jump right back into the fire when they get out, which is one of the main reasons an overdose takes place. A break from heroin creates a lowered tolerance for the drug, and a five ounce glass cannot hold 10 ounces of water. “It’s a crap shoot taking anything; not just heroin, but meth, crack and cocaine because you don’t know what it’s laced with or if a bad batch has come into town,” said Trevier, who along with his area colleagues is looking into a drug court program, which would stipulate court-ordered rehabilitation. The problem all three men face, along with every other agent of enforcement in the Land of Lincoln, is there are a limited number of treatment centers in the area. Area addicts looking for a treatment facility have to travel to Peoria, the Quad Cities or Chicago to find it, and even then, they might be turned away at the door. “There’s such a backlog, and for those people who want to get help, it’s not always readily available, which just makes the situation worse,” Sangston said, claiming it’s going to take an overhaul of the entire health care system to right the ship, so to speak. Reed said the federal government needs to stand behind the small towns to get in front of the problem because those enlisted within civility are doing everything they can to find solution, but all the weight shouldn’t rest on the shoulders of law enforcement agencies. Sangston said this is not the first time heroin has robbed the human race blind, and to raise your voice after hearing of each overdose, instead of before, does as much good as watering flowers in the dead of winter. “It’s devastating to the community and to future generations, so there has to be education in the schools and in the families,” Sangston said, adding a web of long-term support for an
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Princeton Police Chief Tom Root plays an instrumental role in the battle against the heroin epidemic — as do all members of the law enforcement community. Chief Root does not want to arrest his way out of the problem, but encourage people to make choices that will benefit and fulfill their lives. addict and their family is the only savior available. “It’s so huge that unless there’s real change on a federal and state level concerning the amount of resources dedicated to stopping this issue, it’s not going to change.” Trevier has been frustrated for years over the lack of soldiers sent to fight this war. The conversation shouldn’t be centered on money or means, but on mankind. “We live in a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ society, where people say they are too good for the problem, but this is a drug and a disease that will eventually affect your family, and by then it will be too late,” Trevier said. Sangston said it makes an officer sick to stand on a doorstep with such a burden on their tongue, for as humiliating as it is for a person to admit they’re a heroin junkie, it pales to looking into the eyes of a father for the first time without his son. “We can’t give up, and we’re not going to give up because we’re talking about people’s lives,” Sangston said, urging every addict to seek help and every critic to provide it. “Whatever embarrassment there is, it’s nothing compared to talking to a parent who just Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel lost a child to an overdose Worldly influences can pressure curious teenagers to try many different substances, but and telling those parents law enforcement agents on every level plead with individuals to steer clear of poor habits, their child is dead.” as the consequences can be devastating — and sometimes deadly.
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Spring 2016 • 11B
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
‘The single greatest threat ...’ Peru Chief of Police holds nothing back in his fight against heroin By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
Peru Chief of Police Doug Bernabei has been fighting crime and violence on the streets of the United States for 35 years. He witnessed the crack cocaine explosion in the 1990s while an officer down in Florida, and yet he has never seen any drug flood the streets of cities small and large alike as heroin has in the last number of years. “You or I could throw on a sweatshirt and go buy heroin on the south side of Chicago right now,” Bernabei said, noting many factors play into the disruption of social sobriety, including peer pressure, experimentation and the affordability of dangerous drugs compared to year’s past — let alone the filthy economic gain drug dealers rely so heavily upon. Bernabei spoke about Peru being an area epicenter of culture — with the mall, Illinois Valley Community College, and quality restaurants and attractions galore — making it a breeding
SM-PR890150-0428
ground for area dealers. “If you deal drugs in this area, you’re going to set up shop here,” he said, noting a multitude of individuals locate to the city each day for work or play, and a disease will search for a setting where it can blossom the quickest. Bernabei said he saw how viciously heroin abuse was attacking the city and area he is responsible to protect, and didn’t know how to tackle the beast, so to speak, but knew he needed to start somewhere. He brought the community together at LaSalle-Peru Township High School in November, filling the stage with medical and law enforcement professionals, clergy members, State’s Attorneys … and those who had experienced heroin themselves through use or the death of a loved one. “If people knew how many were using heroin and who was using it, they’d be shocked,” he said, having gained velocity from the initial forums and discussions to continue adding to the
Tri-County area’s fight against a powder that offers permanent rest. Bernabei unleashed the Peru Police Department Special Investigations Unit (PPD SIU) on dealers in the area, and like a canine trained for combat, the unit has been busy targeting heroin and cocaine distribution in the Illinois Valley. The only way to eliminate the swarming sting of drug use in the area is to start attacking the hives themselves. On April 20, Bernabei stated proudly the PPD SIU had made their 12th arrest relating to the delivery of heroin and cocaine since Jan. 27. The police chief said he has a number of officers on his force who are allowed to pause their progress on a task unrelated to drug prevention if they get wind of sinister activity involving heroin or cocaine. Undercover operations have been vital in pinpointing the true adversaries to community advancement, not to mention removing their ability to degrade the landscape.
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Peru Police Chief Doug Bernabei Bernabei said they are not part of the TRIDENT drug task force, but are looking into forming their own branch of justice — a force dedicated to the Peru area whose purpose is to eradicate, or at the very least, diminish drug use and distribution. He said the specifics of the Peru task force are still in the works, but he should have more information by summer as to the fruition of such an entity.
Bernabei is a father himself, and his heart aches from the damage heroin creates in his community. He knows a drug can clutch a user and drag them to unspoken places, regardless of what setting and social standing that user knew before their addiction. He constantly studies the most effective means of treatment and rehabilitation for addicts, so they may get back to contrib-
uting — first to their own well-being, and secondly to the betterment of everyone else. Bernabei will charge against heroin with an iron fist, for his experience in life foretells the destruction that can take place if able individuals do nothing to grab the wheel and right the ship. “Heroin is the single greatest threat to public safety we’ve ever seen in the Illinois Valley.”
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12B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Teamwork ... or tragedy CPASA enlists every caring citizen to fight heroin By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
You disgust me. You animal, you parasite ... you’re everything that’s wrong with society. You chose this life, and you deserve what’s coming your way. Are you ignorant, or just stupid? I’d never dream of touching that filth and neither would my kids because I actually raised them the right way. This town doesn’t have a problem. You’re the problem, you worthless junkie! Wait, what? No, stop. Just wait a minute! What are you talking about? That can’t be. He would never do that; she’s not that type of person. You’re wrong! My child is not an addict ... Oh no. Oh please God, no! My baby, not my baby! That’s my only son! That’s my mother. That’s my neighbor. That’s my friend. That person on the coroner’s table, that’s ... That’s me. Key players of Community Partners Against Substance Abuse (CPASA), a Princeton-based organization aimed at eradicating drug abuse, spoke about the local effects of the heroin epidemic. Princeton Police Chief Tom Root said heroin is now the No. 1 drug of choice in Bureau County, and it is always accessible to users. Root said heroin comes in waves, flowing into town from Rockford, Peoria, the Quad Cities and Chicago like a flash flood. Having gained volume and velocity for half a decade now, those waves come crashing down on anyone in its path.. “The cost of heroin has decreased so much that it’s available to anyone for $5 to $10 a bag,” Root said, adding heroin has devastating addictive qualities similar to methamphetamine or crack cocaine and sinks it’s claws to the bone from the first encounter onward. “It always seemed like it was somewhere else, but now it’s anybody and everybody doing heroin.” Bureau County Coroner Janice Wamhoff’s records indicate there have been at least eight heroin overdose deaths in Bureau County since the beginning of 2015, not to mention overdose survivors. Dawn Conerton, director of CPASA, said individuals don’t always know what they’re taking, thinking heroin might be cocaine or “something to get high,” so addicts begin their journey unprepared for the initial step. Root said they’ve seen a huge increase in the number of heroin arrests and individuals in possession of heroin for the last half decade, and users are now scarred with more than just track marks. “Heroin can be utilized by snorting, smoking or injecting, so the problem is we associate heroin users with shooting up, but that’s just not the case anymore,” Root said, stating young adults go to a party, see a line of powder on the table, and jump in blindly without consideration of a substance’s ferocity. “We’re seeing it younger, and it’s mind boggling; 16 and 17 year olds are using and dealing, so by the time they’re 18 or 19, Janice (the coroner) is their last contact.” Root said an addict’s ability to reason logically becomes atrophied because the craving for a fix is so high they are willing to sever ties with everyone and everything that once mattered. “People who don’t use don’t understand addiction,” Root said. “An addict gets tunnel vision and can only see that next fix.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has stated heroin is on a greater rise nationwide than at any other point in history, and Wamhoff said many users start out because they have low self-esteem issues. “A lot of these kids are tormented, and that’s when they start experimenting,” Wamhoff said. “The child looks for something to make themselves feel better and fit in with the crowd.” We have a mental picture of an addict slouched over against the cold brick wall in an alleyway, drooling and senseless, yet no one looks at the football team huddled up in discussion over the evening’s drug menu. Heroin does not differentiate between gender, race, age or ability — it only moves like an airborne infection. “When Mom and Dad look at that picture they think, ‘That can’t be happening here,’ but it covers all levels,” Root explained, stating no one sees the choir member in the tennis outfit being a junkie, but only the dark path travelers stumbling out of broken homes. “That’s not who addicts are anymore.” Root said law enforcement agents hear those statements every day of the year from residents too proud to admit there is a heroin problem among us. Princeton is clean. Tiskilwa doesn’t dance with the devil. Spring Valley would never stoop so low. Walnut is better than that. It is always another at fault.
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
CPASA members battle the entire spectrum of substance abuse in an attempt to promote a healthier culture, both physically and mentally.
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Shaw Media photo/Eric Engel
Naloxone can save the life of someone who has overdosed on heroin, and many area officers are looking into having it available in their squad cars.
Heroin is so powerful in shutting down proper body function that the lungs become negligent in their function, and the addiction is so powerful it causes addicts to return to a substance that causes them to literally stop breathing.
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Spring 2016 • 13B
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
Searching for a ‘Safe Passage’ Lee County has sent nearly 50 addicts to rehab in six months By Eric Engel Shaw Media Service
In a time of war, an army can lay waste to their opposition. They can slay their opponent one blow at a time, destroying the enemy invading their landscape for the betterment of every soldier. They can claim to have taken the battle, and yet the war rages onward. What if the only way to truly win the war was through an elimination of violence — an alliance between all sides involved? Could a man lay down his weapon, while trusting his nemesis to do the same? Could they join together as one with their eyes on a unified humanity? Lee County enforcers fighting the global heroin epidemic intend to find out. John Simonton has been a police officer for 34 years, 27 of which was with the Illinois State Police. The Lee County Sheriff said heroin has always been around since he began his career in law enforcement, but in much the same way a small flame eventually turns into a furious inferno if given the means, heroin now wrecks lives at an epidemic proportion. Simonton said the unfortunate overdose deaths of five individuals in the county, three in the city of Dixon alone, prompted his police force to look at things differently in early 2015. The death of one addict wasn’t curtailing the abuse of heroin by other addicts, so he searched for a solution. Simonton said heroin may be even more severe on the coasts of the U.S. than in the heartland, and he heard of a program that originated in Gloucester, Mass. — called Gloucester’s Angel program and led by Police Chief Leonard Campanello — that was unlike anything officers had tried before. Simonton knew the same approach would work in the land he loved and protected. He knew area addicts needed a Safe Passage away from their addiction. “Campanello would ask addicts to come into the police department, bring in their drugs and paraphernalia without worrying about being charged, and the officers would help the addicts get treatment,” Simonton said, speaking of the Angel program that parallels the Safe Passage initiative area departments are teaming up to promote in Central Illinois. “It’s something that hadn’t crossed my mind before.” Simonton got together with the health department, hospitals and local agencies — those who knew more about the effects of heroin on the body and the treatment of it compared to enforcement of it. These were people who wanted to get something done through effort and initiative, and yet
CPASA From Page 12B
When do addicts seek recovery? They don’t. “Some might get to the point where they ask for help, but experience tells us otherwise,” said former Circuit Judge Terry Madsen. Conerton said each revelation depends on the person and the support they receive, while Root added it’s easier to fall back into the darkness than it is to face the consequences of their actions. “This is not going to enslave me, I can get through this,” Root said, speaking as every addict without an addiction. “I’m not addicted, but I gotta head to Chicago and get my next fix.”
Let’s be real
There is light beyond even the darkest nights. Unreasonable resources, active access, a stubborn society, personal pain — these excuses serve no purpose. They are stones blocking the road to redemption. CPASA members spoke about the need for more therapeutic resources, and for the entire community to awaken to the reality that surrounds them — not full of hatred, but rather fueled by hope. “We need to get to where we have more mental
health counseling available before the addiction takes hold,” Root said, with Madsen adding socio-economic decisions dictate whether our eyes and wallets open wide enough for the truth. “Substance prevention is the first line of defense against all substances and addiction,” Madsen said, hopeful no child will ever begin the end game. “CPASA is a coalition campaign, and kids say the people with the most impact on them is their parents.” Madsen said an addiction death of a young person will raise questions of responsibility, and yet even loving, caring and attentive parents have buried children beneath the needle. The chain of encouragement and tough love must remain intact, Root added, because heroin disguises itself as a soulmate awaiting your open arms, only to rob you blind of all that promotes life. “Talking to a family is heartbreaking, but a lot of these families are in such denial,” Wamhoff said, having witnessed parents who attempt to plead their child back to life. “From when the child is 10 until they’re out of your house, you should have control over that child.” “Be your child’s parent, not their friend,” Conerton added. Drug dealers don’t care who they are killing. They are deaf to the cries of the
the biggest hurdle was finding treatment centers willing to take an abundance of individuals with few means and even less money. “They have to get paid or their business won’t run,” Simonton said, speaking of rehabilitation facilities. “They get their reimbursement through the state, and they are largely underfunded.” Simonton said plainly once an addict chooses recovery, there is a small window of willpower before their quicksand addiction sucks them back down. Many have no insurance, no real friends fighting for their benefit, and a minimal perception of security outside their habits. Most every person on earth who hits rock bottom needs assistance and generosity to rise from the vice that claims them. “Another hard part is the police department is doing this program, and we are usually arresting them for doing drugs, so we had to develop that trust early on,” Simonton said, adding former addict Tim Ryan, founder of A Man in Recovery, provided great examples of how to interact with addicts when they came in. “It’s a big step for them to walk across the threshold of the Sheriff’s Department and say, ‘I’m an addict; I need help.’” The Lee County Sheriff’s Department developed partnerships with every person and establishment they could, and open arms held the notion together. The Safe Passage program started Sept. 1, 2015, and to date close to 50 addicts have been checked into treatment. “The biggest cultural hurdle is we must look at this as a disease. Once we look at it like this, the availability and the money for treatment centers will develop,” he said, adding it costs taxpayers a lot more money to put people in jail than in treatment. Simonton said the future of the program can only expand, with deputies and officers in every area town buying in with incredible commitment — connecting every soldier attempting to halt heroin’s ruthless regime. “We want to give them a place to go and help them find gainful employment because so many of them are good, smart, talented individuals,” Simonton said. “When I see them on the street someday, I won’t be putting them in handcuffs … I’ll be shaking their hand.” Safe Harbor Anna Sacco-Miller, Lee County State’s Attorney, expanded upon the Safe Passage initiative by speaking about Safe Harbor, a grassroots establishment where former addicts and family members of addicts try to provide support outside of innocents slaughtered by their greed, but Madsen reminded everyone there’s a difference between hearsay and evidence when it comes to Root and his troops hunting down the enemy. “After prevention there’s law enforcement, criminal intervention, and over the years the burden’s fallen on law enforcement to deal with these issues, which doesn’t make any sense,” Madsen said. All Root can do is provide resources to help addicts because the jails are overflowing. “Police officers are not clinical psychologists, but people are still blaming us,” Root said, adding police can’t monitor everyone’s kids, even as they care for them greatly. “We’re in a small community, so we get to know everybody. The kids, the parents — it affects us personally.” CPASA members agree that treatment facilities are far past due in this area, and CPASA is constantly climbing the ladder toward greater continuity and organization on a county, state and national level. “We’re not winning the war on drugs, no matter what anyone says, and if you say we are a drug-free community, you are lying,” Root exclaimed, stating nobody under the sun has a drug-free community. “It takes a partnership of people with a belief in the
movement who are willing to donate their time, but the first thing we have to recognize is we have an addiction issue.” Whether through a drug court or rehab program, giving users an extended period — and possibly a lifetime — without heroin relapse is vital to the success of this humanitarian mission. Addiction is not a crime but a disease. “Law enforcement, parents and neighbors all need to support each other and perform their specific roles effectively,” Madsen said, with Conerton adding she’ll never lose faith in the
the criminal justice system. She also brought up PRISM — Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders — which is a multi-disciplinary group with members of the health department, law enforcement, State’s Attorney’s office, faith-based organizations, treatment centers and members of the general public fighting the issues of addiction. “These focus on all harmful drugs,” Sacco-Miller said, noting many addicts have been the victim of traumatic events and use drugs to ease the pain. “Our goal is to reform, educate and prevent while providing treatment for addiction and mental health.” Sacco-Miller said alcohol is dangerous and can result in death, but because it’s legal we don’t focus on it as much, so educating the public on heroin abuse requires patience and persistence. “We must keep in mind addicts are a difficult population to deal with because they have such high needs, and we expect them to address the problem on our time line rather than theirs.” An addict uses heroin so they don’t feel sick — even as the drug originates their ailment — and as many addictions begin with prescription drugs, Sacco-Miller spoke of keeping the prescription bottles from overflowing. “There’s a push from public health agencies to limit what physicians can legally prescribe,” she said, adding online access to drug shopping must be limited as well. “We want it where the physicians only prescribe short-term, and make the patients come back and tell them if they are in still in pain because we don’t want pain or addiction.” She said drug court involves the prosecutor, the defense and the judge all being on the same page, and even as law enforcement is extremely aggressive against the dealers who prey on the weak, the addicts need to be nudged back into the workforce after coming home to their families. Sacco-Miller encourages everyone to recognize heroin can affect all classes and pockets of society by putting information on the front burner. If we take the shame away from it, anyone fighting addiction — whether using drugs or not — will take a step forward. “We need to look in the mirror so we stop blaming others for the problems we don’t deal with,” Sacco-Miller said, stating all administrators of change must make time to come together as one huge web of fortitude to dismantle the chaos of addiction. “This is a completely different model, and all factors involved are part of one team.” good nature of each human being, regardless the tragedy of their experience. “No one is going to say, ‘I want to be a heroin addict today,’” she said, urging parents to seek greater understanding on the entire subject. “Talk to your child because no one wants this to happen to themselves.” “This is not a blame game. We all need to do better because this problem is not going away,” Root added, speaking of a goal that will eventually combine the forces of LaSalle, Putnam and Bureau counties in rehabilitating our future.
“The one thing we can’t do is believe this is too big, or we are already defeated.” Madsen left the envelope open, for all to add to the cause. We won’t save the world. We will just save ours. “There aren’t thousands of heroin addicts here, but every single death from a heroin overdose is unacceptable,” he said. “CPASA members from all walks and professions of life are trying so hard to get them back on the right track because drugs, alcohol, suicide, depression, violence, anger, crime … it’s all intertwined.”
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14B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
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Spring 2016 • 15B
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
The sponsors on this page support the fight to prevent more addictions and deaths due to heroin in the surrounding counties. A SECOND GLANCE
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16B • Spring 2016
Heroin in the Illinois Valley
If this was your child’s room, could you… recognize the signs of substance abuse or depression?
CPASA presents
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT Join us for: • Free interactive live display • Discussion about local trends • Learn signs of substance abuse and depression that could be found in your child’s room
For information about bringing Hidden in Plain Sight or any of CPASA’s substance abuse programs in your community contact CPASA at 815-872-5091 or info@cpasa.org
SM-PR8127657-0423