Thursday Oct. 29, 2015 Vol. 3, No. 34
The Weekly Post
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Fire ravages four Farmington businesses By BILL KNIGHT
FARMINGTON – After the second catastrophic fire and considerable downtown progress in the last 18 months, Farmington is reeling – and planning ahead. Four businesses were lost Sunday when a fire that apparently started in the Crossroads bar quickly spread, destroying buildings and a huge chunk of the Fort Street business district. The blaze began about 1:40 Sunday morning, according to Farmington Police Chief Carl Powell. Before it was brought under control about five hours later, more than 100 firefighters from nearly 40 departments from Fulton, For The Weekly Post
A fire that started around 1:40 early Sunday morning destroyed four businesses on East Fort St. in Farmington before it was under control by 7 a.m. thanks to about 40 fire departments. The buildings were torn down that day by Chuck Kinsel. Photos by Dave Giagnoni.
Townships feel targeted By BILL KNIGHT
Rural residents could pay more for less service, bearing the brunt of a state-driven government consolidation that eliminates the local, cost-effective and accessible township form of government, area officials said. Concerns increased in the last week, after a hand-picked Task Force appointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner to cut “unnecessary” governing bodies in Illinois unanimously approved five proposals. Meeting in a crowded room at Peoria’s Riverfront Museum last Monday (Oct. 19), the group OK’d consolidating townships overlapFor The Weekly Post
ping municipalities; removing the 126 [square] mile limit on township size; allowing county referenda to dissolve the township assessor position and replace with an elected county assessor; letting counties absorb townships and retain the form of government; and the unclear promise of holding “taxpayers harmless from township consolidation.” One speaker there was Roger Larson, the Richwoods Township administrator. He said, “Township’s exhibit value. Township government runs a balanced budget – consequently we live not beyond our means. No other unit Continued on Page 8
Knox, Peoria and Tazewell Counties responded, almost depleting local water sources. While local businesses provided more food than the firefighters battling the blaze could eat, water was harder to come by. Farmington Fire Chief Anthony Scapecchi said about 1 million gallons of water was used. Farmington usually has about 600,000 gallons of water in its two water towers and ground tanks, and Farmington City Administrator Rollen Wright estimated that the city used about 450,000 gallons of its own water before resorting to departments Continued on Page 2
HALLOWEEN AHEAD
The winning display at Sunday’s annual Trunk or Treat in Elmwood was put together by Annette Barrett. The event drew a sizable crowd to sample free food and candy. Plenty more events are planned this week. See Page 3. Photo by Amy Davis.