Volume 141 No. 19
Friday, April 17, 2015
Single Copy Cost 50¢
Election results announced By Ken Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
TONICA — The unofficial results are in for the consolidated elections. Voter turnout was at 21.6 percent of the LaSalle County voters turning out Tuesday, April 7. Only two local races were contested in Tonica and Lostant, plus the voting for the Illinois
Valley Community College Board of Trustees. With three seats open on the Tonica village board, it was Dave Wiesbrock, Mike Supan Jr. and Bob Folty who wound up with seats. Vote totals for the elected officials were Wiesbrock and Supan with 98 votes each and Folty with 102 votes. Contender Art Folty received 26 votes in his bid for the seat.
There were also three seats open in the Lostant Community School District 425 Board, and those went to Mike Phillips with 96 votes, Cynthia Burcar with 74 votes and Quillard Skinner with 86 votes. Matthew Vincent lost his seat on the board with 42 votes. LaSalle County voters picked Melissa Olivero (8,306) and Everett Solon (6,092) over Isaiah Roberts (4,136) to sit on the Illinois
Valley Community College Board. Those tallies will be added to the figures from all eight counties in the community college district to arrive at the final winners. According to the unofficial results from the county clerks’ websites in Lee, DeKalb, LaSalle, Bureau, Putnam, Livingston, Grundy and Marshall counties, incumbents Olivero and Solon kept their seats with 11,394 and 7,977 votes, respectively. Roberts had 6,202 votes.
Lostant cracking down on dog owners By Ken Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
LOSTANT — Even though there’s an ordinance already on the books, the Lostant Village Board is ramping up efforts to curb the problem of inconsiderate dog owners. Village workers went through the lot next to the village hall and collected about three gallons of dog excrement. Signs have now been placed in the lot, a measure board member Dave Mertes is not happy about. “We have a city ordinance that they can’t do it anyway,” Mertes said. “It doesn’t have to be posted.” “It doesn’t hurt anything to have a sign up,” police chief Darin Crask said. “It only helps our case should, and when, it goes to court.” The board reiterated it is taking an active stance. Anyone who is seen with a dog that leaves droppings and does not clean up after it will be fined. “Our response to citizens who have dogs on where they can walk their dog is, ‘That’s not our problem,’” village president Fred Hartenbower said. “They can walk it up and down the streets, but they have to have the baggie, the pooper-scooper, or whatever to clean up. That’s our position.” The village currently has a resident in court for violating the dog ordinance. In other action, the board: • Learned from board member Andy Forrest that K-9 officer Jake Graham was resigning effective Friday, April 17, to accept a full-time position elsewhere. The K-9 unit and police dog Ika will be returned to the community. Crask said he is keeping Ika at his residence until a final resolution to the situation is found. Crask is certified as a K-9 handler. In the meantime, other officers will pick up hours to cover shifts until a new K-9 officer is found. • Approved the renewal of the police contract with Hope Township. Lostant is offering a five year contract to provide police patrols. Under the new contract, Hope Township would receive 25 percent of the fines collected during those hours. Currently, Hope receives 33 percent.
Lostant Page 2 Vol. 141 No. 19 One Section - 8 Pages
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Tonica News photo/Dixie Schroeder
Janelle Bernardoni (left) explains her science project on “Wipes...Do They Wipe Away Germs?” to Faith Dauber and Logan Johnson. The three Tonica Grade School students were chosen to advance to the state level at the TGS Science Fair.
TGS advances to state level at science fair By Dixie Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
TONICA — From microbiology to human behavior, Tonica Grade School (TGS) students Janelle Bernardoni, Faith Dauber and Logan Johnson have it covered. The three TGS students earned their way to the state level of competition in the Illinois Junior Academy of Science fair. Karen Jones is the TGS science teacher. Each year, all TGS seventh- and eighthgrade students pick a project for the science fair as soon as school starts. They then work on it in class one to two days a week, preparing for the regional science fair at Northern Illinois University. In the regional event, students are required to produce a scientific written paper, a presentation board and a verbal presentation. Judges then visit each presentation, while students give their verbal presentation. The papers are judged separately. Bernardoni, Dauber
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and Johnson were the three students picked to advance to the IJAS state competition held on May 2 at Southern Illinois University. Bernardoni created the project, “Wipes, Do They Wipe Away Germs?” Bernardoni said, “I wanted to know what would keep my house the cleanest.” She said she is not a germaphobe, but was curious. Bernardoni tested the wipes by putting bacteria on auger plates and incubating it. She then took a paper disk and added Clorox fluids and put the two together. Then it was tested to see how much bacteria it killed. Of the products she tested, Clorox was the best. Dauber focused on the behavioral sciences with her project entitled “Do You Remember?” She created two different written passages and gave each test subject five minutes to study each and recite it. Dauber then calculated what percentage of the passages they got correct. “It surprised me that more boys remembered more of the passages than
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the girls did,” Dauber said. Johnson’s project was “Which Metals Inhibit Bacterial Growth Most Effectively?” He took a micropipet with bacteria in it and made a special plate that evolved into a spread plate and from there he put his metal on it. Johnson incubated it at 97 degrees for 24 hours and then reviewed each plate to see who destroyed the most bacteria. Both Johnson and Bernardoni benefited from working at the IVCC science department. All three students expressed their thanks to the parents and teachers who assisted them in the project. Jones said, “They worked very hard, They took extra effort to go to IVCC to work on their projects. Faith on her part, asked many teachers for additional help to make sure her project was exactly the way she wanted it. I’m very proud of all three of them for going to regional, and coming out. They should do very, very well at state.”