1 Front Volume 140 No. 52
Friday, February 21, 2014
The Tonica News
Single Copy Cost 50¢
January may not be a record-breaker ... ... but not for lack of trying By Ken Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
TONICA – How cold was January, really? The month as a whole may not set any records, but January 2014 will go into the history books as one of the coldest in Illinois history. According to Illinois Climatologist Jim Angel,
January 2014 was the eighth coldest January in Illinois history, with an average statewide temperature of 18.2 degrees. The normal temperature for the month is 26.3 degrees based on a 30-year average. Still, it was a sauna compared to January 1977, where the average
daily temperature in Illinois was 10.3 degrees. Locally, this year was actually a little below the state average. By contrast, temperatures in LaSalle County dipped to zero or below 12 days this month, with Jan. 6 spending the entire day in the negatives. The number of days temperatures were above freezing all day in Tonica was zero. Figures
from Accuweather reveal the average high temperature was 27 degrees with an average low temp of only seven. The average daily temperature in LaSalle County was a frigid 17 degrees. It’s also been a snowy year, with above-average snowfall in much of the state. Although the southern portion of Illinois received
only 1 to 6 inches in January, much of the rest of the state received snowfalls in the 10- to 20-inch range. Chicago’s infamous lake-effect snow dumped a total of 33.5 inches on the Windy City, making it Chicago’s third snowiest January on record. Most of the local area received 10-15 inches, with some locations receiving more.
So far, February is following the same frosty footprints. As of Feb. 11, temperatures had yet to rise above freezing, and seven days dipped below zero. Forecasts are calling for warmer weather with highs above freezing predicted for this week, with a possibility of a low temperature at or above freezing. That hasn’t happened since Dec. 28.
Higgins talks about the projects and $$$ By Ken Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
Editor’s note: This is another story in a series, as the Tonica News talks with members of the boards in the Tonica area and gets their views on what is going on in their communities. TONICA – Rich Higgins didn’t run for Tonica Village Board at first. He pretty much fell into the position. “I was appointed to fill out a term after one of the fellows quit, and I did approximately two years of that,” Higgins said. “I ran for reelection last spring, and this year I’ll be finishing up the first year of my four-year term.” Higgins has been on the village board before, but that was some time ago. “I had a little bit of an idea what it was about (this time) because I had been on the town board about 35 years ago for a short period of time,” Higgins said. “I had spent 14 years on two different school boards, so I had a little experience with what you can do and the things that you think you can but you can’t do. It’s not as fixable as you think because there’s rules and regulations ... and a shortage of money which most towns big and small have today.”
Higgins tries to be fiscally responsible on the board, voting against the construction of the new maintenance building as an expense he didn’t think the village needed. He also believes the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its bounds when it directed Tonica to build a new sewer plant, then fined them for not having one put up in what they believed to not be in a timely manner. “We really didn’t want to do this new sewer plant, but the EPA gives you no choice. They didn’t say, ‘You can fix the old one;’ they said, ‘You will put in a new one.’ They didn’t provide any money to do it or tell us how to pay for it, but you have to do it,” Higgins said. “It was a little heavy-handed I thought.” Higgins sees streets and projects in need of repair as an issue facing Tonica in the future. ‘We have a lot of streets that need work done on them, and there again there’s a shortage of money. We’ve got some major work that’s got to be done with the drainage along Minnehaha from the northwest side of town,” Higgins said. “It’s probably going to take us a few years to do that again because of the money situation. We’re going to do a bit at a time and make sure we do it right. Hopefully in three or four years we can have it done.”
Tonica News photo/Ken Schroeder
Marion Nass stands in his barber shop where he has served customers for 53 years and counting.
The short and long of it Marion Naas talks about his barber career By Ken Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
LOSTANT — How long should a person practice his trade before he becomes an expert in his field? Does it take 10 years, 20 years? Marion Naas could easily be considered an exemplary practitioner of his craft. Naas has been
a barber for 53 years. “When I was in high school here, I wanted to be home all the time. I never cared for driving,” Naas said. “About halfway through high school, I decided on a job where I could just live out in back (of the business). So I got out of high school 53 years ago and went right to Peoria Barber College and got set up that way.”
Before plying his trade back in his hometown of Lostant, Naas worked in Peoria, Bloomington, Tiskilwa, Henry and Lombard. He said at each place, he picked up a little more knowledge and learned more about the business before returning to town. “I’ve been successful because in those days, we had a town of people,” Naas said. “We had a
See Naas Page 3
Vol. 140 No. 52 One Section - 8 Pages
815-882-2111 • 815-875-2540 404 West Main Street, McNabb, IL www.grassersplumbingheating.com
© The Tonica News
PLUMBING & HEATING, INC. Community Minded, Customer Committed