Thursday January 11, 2018, Vol. 5, No. 44 Hot news tip? Want to advertise? Call (309) 741-9790
The Weekly Post
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Sheriff say crime trends tough to see, but offers tips By BILL KNIGHT
Year-end comparisons are common in January, whether it be finances or crime. Year-end 2017 crime statistics for The Weekly Post area, where the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office is the primary responder, show some differences from 2016, but Sheriff Brian Asbell says patterns are difficult to determine – except for the effect of reduced funding. “Without researching all the identified data to see if there
Inside
For The Weekly Post
• This is not your father’s county jail. Jim Nowlan talks with Sheriff Brian Asbell about changes in the Peoria County jail. Pages 5-6.
were related incidents or outliers, which manipulate the data (for example, if on one night there were 12 acts of vandalism in Brimfield reported), I am just going to generalize,” says Peoria Sheriff Brian Asbell. “Looking at the data, we are all over the place on the stats. [There’s]
no consistency from township to township with exception of traffic citations.” A comparison between 2016 and 2017 numbers shows a handful of changes in a few categories: • Brimfield city and township together went from 15 thefts in 2016 to 12 in 2017; 5 vandalism incidents to 17, 25 accidents without injuries to 40, and 52 traffic tickets in 2016 to 27 last year; • Elmwood city and township together went from 5 acts of
vandalism to 2; • Kickapoo went from 5 drug arrests to none, 57 thefts to 72, and 69 traffic tickets to 26; • Millbrook had 5 domestic batteries in 2016 but just 1 in ’17; • Princeville city and township together went from 12 thefts in 2016 to 8 in 2017, and • Radnor had 2 drug arrests in 2016 but 7 in 2017, 2 thefts in ’16 and 7 in ’17, and 57 traffic tickets in 2016 and just 17 last year; and Continued on Page 10
THIRD TIME A CHARM FOR B.Y.E.
New home for B.Y.E. nearly completed
Watchdog duo pays wild visit to Williamsfield By JEFF LAMPE
WILLIAMSFIELD – Kirk Allen and John Kraft live in east central Illinois, near the Indiana border. But on a foggy Monday night this week, Allen and Kraft made a nearly three-hour trip to Williamsfield to attend a school board meeting. Their presence did not go unnoticed – and seldom does. Before the meeting was over, both Williamsfield School Board president Chuck Ingle and Kraft had made calls to summon Knox County Sheriff deputies to the school. While the deputies were not Allen needed to restore order, Allen and Kraft did make an impact on the meeting and on a recent Williamsfield board practice. That was the goal of their visit, said Allen, who along with Kraft runs a non-profit group they call the Edgar Kraft County Watchdogs. “The reason we showed up is we had people asking us to show up to address the public comment policy inconsistencies,” Allen said. “I’m here because locals were afraid to speak.” That has been a pattern for Allen and Kraft since they started their group in 2011 to “foster Weekly Post Staff Writer
By JEFF LAMPE
ELMWOOD – After more than four years of plans that didn’t materialize, B.Y.E. Ambulance Service is almost ready to move into a new headquarters. Flooring, counter tops and other finish work is all that remains to be completed on a new home for B.Y.E., which since 1981 has used a building at 108 E. Hawthorne St. in Elmwood as its base. The new headquarters will be located in two buildings at 807 W. Main in Elmwood: one the former Here We Grow plant nursery store, the other a newly constructed threebay garage with living quarters. B.Y.E. Treasurer Jerry Powers said he hopes the ambulance service can move into the new facility by the end of January. “Everybody I talk to up town says, ‘It’s looking good down there.
Budget cuts are a reason for changed crime stats in 2017, says Sheriff Brian Asbell.
For The Weekly Post
Three larger, more brightly lit ambulance bays are a major feature of B.Y.E. Ambulance Service’s new headquarters at 807 W. Main St. in Elmwood. Photo by Jeff Lampe.
When’s it going to be done?’” Powers said. “Well, we hope to be in there soon.” The B.Y.E. board plans to have an open house at some point this spring to show off the new building, but no date has yet been set. What people will see when that open house is held are more modern, more spacious accommodations for an ambulance service whose equipment and staffing needs have changed over the years. Ambulances, for instance, are
much larger today than they were in 1981 when B.Y.E. built its former headquarters. “When we built that one, the ambulances were a lot shorter, not as wide and we had a lot more room,” Powers said. That will be true once again in the new three-bay garage, which is brightly lit, has larger garage doors and is wider and 10 feet longer than the old facility. “We can pull in and still have Continued on Page 8
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