A proposal for a brand new high school building for the Winchester School District appears to be off the table.

Members of St. Louis-based marketing and research firm Creative Entourage Research presented the results of a community-wide survey conducted over the last two months to the Winchester School Board on Tuesday night.

The survey received 840 responses across the district. The survey graded perceptions of the school district, perceptions of the state of the high school building, perceptions of perceived costs to build a new building or renovate the current building, and any perceptions of current need for new construction.

According to an executive summary, about half of the respondents to the survey said that they had a positive view of the education provided by the district.

Approximately 74% of respondents said they could not afford a raise on property taxes no matter the cause in the county. Similarly, approximately the same amount said they would not support the building of a new facility. Meanwhile, another portion of the survey demonstrated that there was a perceived need for updates and/or there is a problem with the school’s current facilities. More than 40% said one of the biggest problems was that the current high school is not ADA compliant, while about 32% said that there was a general perception of need for improvement at the building.

The IHSA currently lists the high school enrollment for Winchester at around 175 students. Co-Op partner Bluffs School District has approximately 67 students. Respondents to the survey (41.4%) said that further talks between both districts need to occur for possible consolidation. The Bluffs School Board has regularly voted against consolidation efforts over the last two decades despite the two districts being a sports and education co-op for that same time frame.

Superintendent Kevin Blankenship says that the messages from the community forums that first introduced the possibility of building a new building and the messages from the survey show mixed sentiments: “We held these forums. We had one direction. I think with the survey results, the greater community wants us to put our focus elsewhere. Where that is – we are going to have to engage with the community and we are going to have to come up with different plans. I think that’s where the board is at. We will have our discussion on August 13th – but I think that’s what the board heard. What I heard was, if there is no support for a new building, it appears that there is support for at least some renovation. So, then we have to develop a plan on if we renovate, what do those renovations look like. I think that is where the board may be heading. They digested a lot of information [from the survey results]. They have to go back and think about a lot of things. There’s going to be some questions, and everything else. I think when we started this process, the board had a couple of different options. I think it was made clear with the survey results about what we need to be focusing on now, and that’s where the board will put its focus at this point.”

Blankenship says the main hurdle that lies ahead is outlining what a renovation plan to the current building looks like and what it will cost: “I think the survey results show that yes, there is some things that need to be done. I think in the greater sense, I think that’s where some of the disagreements come from. In just being a part of this and talking with a lot of different community members, I don’t think there is a consensus on what a renovation project looks like. I think it really comes down to if we renovate, there is going to be some disagreements on what should be prioritized. I think the board wants to get a good sense on what we think the priorities are, and generally, I think that’s where they want the community consensus as well. They don’t want to be saying ‘Hey, this is a priority’ when anybody doesn’t think so. They want to put together a package that says ‘Here’s what we deem as the priorities,’ we’re going to share that and get some feedback from the community, make some decisions and move forward from that point.”

Blankenship says that portions of that approach will be feted during their regular August 13th board meeting. The board officially has until August 16th to place any kind of referendum on the November General Election ballot for bonding issues. Otherwise, a bond referendum will have to wait until the April consolidated election cycle.

The Nichols Park Pool will not open this summer. The Jacksonville City Council came to that quiet consensus Monday night after hearing from engineers from Benton & Associates and the Jacksonville Parks Department.

Benton & Associates Chairman Reggie Benton told the Jacksonville City Council that a major malfunction with the pool’s older pump equipment and some plumbing problems caused testing for the Illinois Department of Public Health to be delayed. While the issues have since been fixed, Benton says there is still a punch list of items that remain for both the contractor and the pool staff to take care of before the pool could open to the public – if the city council wished to open the pool this late in the summer season.

Parks Manager Adam Fletcher says that the biggest problem with opening the pool now, this late in the season is that many of the lifeguards and pool staff who were lined up to work for the pool this year have simply moved on to other opportunities or are no longer available: “At the beginning of the summer, things were looking promising with numbers for the staff. As the summer progressed, people kind of moved on to other opportunities, other venues, and different avenues. Trying to get them back for the last couple of weeks of the season was just going to be tough. We have to be ready for the amount of people that the pool can hold. It’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to keep the numbers that we had at the beginning of the season. If we could have been able to get it open and tried to find an avenue to figure something out – it was just going to be too tough to get all that lined out to be able to make it work from a safety standpoint and be properly staffed.”

Fletcher says that the pool staff would have primarily been high school and college students who are now in some cases just a few weeks away from preparing to return to school.

Mayor Andy Ezard tried to search for a way to have a temporary opening of the pool for the final two weeks of July and early August because of what he called “optics,” and the displeasure of many people he’s spoken with on the pool not being open this year: “I think folks in the community have known that this has gone on a long time, and if we could do anything to get the pool open just for awhile, I think, optic-wise people would appreciate it. But I understand that we can’t. When safety plays a factor in these decisions, you have to side on the safety aspect. Even though I want it open and everybody else wants it open, sometimes you have to sit back and ask if it’s the right time, and it’s not, unfortunately. We don’t like it. People know my track record with what I feel about Nichols Park and growing up out there, I think they would understand that if I could have done or the City Council could have done more to get it right, we would have. But that wasn’t the case. It was just circumstance and a project that some things failed along the way and of no particular fault of one person – it was just circumstance.”

Parks & Lakes Committee Chair and Ward 2 Alderwoman Lori Oldenettel suggested that the remainder of this year be spent on completing the remaining outstanding renovation items and also looking at ways to spruce up the grounds surrounding the pool to make it ready for next year.

Mayor Ezard says plans are already in the works to have the pool ready to go next year as part of the city’s year-long bicentennial celebration: “We are going to roll it out nicely in the Spring. We are going to turn this negative into a positive. We are going to dress things up more than we anticipated if we were to open it up now and it not being completely finished. It’s going to be completely right in the Spring, and we look forward to celebrating that with a ribbon cutting.”

Benton reminded the city council that if something were to malfunction next Spring within the first few weeks of opening, the project is bonded and the contractor would be required to return to fix any outstanding issues or problems should they pop up once the public has returned to the pool.

Official charges and details have been released surrounding the murder of 33-year old Kathryn Scott in Jacksonville.

Scott was found deceased in a van by police officers in the 200 block of West Beecher Avenue in the early morning hours on Monday.

According to charging documents and a petition to detain filed Thursday in Morgan County Circuit Court, 43-year old Joshua E. Jones of the 1600 block of Lakeview Terrace has been charged with 3 counts of first degree murder and 6 counts of Class X felony armed habitual criminal.

According to probable cause statements filed in the petition to deny Jones pretrial release, Jacksonville Police responded to approximately 7 shots being fired in the vicinity of the 200 block of West Beecher Avenue just before 4AM on Monday. Upon arrival, officers canvassed the area in order corroborate the shots fired report. While canvassing the area, officers located a bloody knife in the backyard of one residence and then, in the backyard of a neighboring residence officers located a barbecue grill that appeared to have been damaged by gunshots. In the same area near the grill, officers located a bag containing several knives and a .38 caliber revolver containing 3 spent rounds and a live round. Officers also located 6 spent .40 caliber shell casings behind the residence, as well. During the continued search, officers located Jones and Jones’ juvenile daughter under a tarp in bushes behind one of the homes. Officers reported that both Jones and his daughter were covered in blood. Officers took Jones into custody without further incident after locating a .40 caliber handgun with an empty magazine in the vicinity of where they had been hiding.

Officers then reported that Jones voluntarily admitted to killing a man in the area and leaving their body in a van parked along West Beecher Avenue in front of one of the residences. Officers then began looking for the potential victim and located a Chevy van registered to Jones down the street, just a few homes from where Jones had been located. Inside the van, officers found Scott deceased with multiple stab wounds and “several knives stuck in her body” according to the report. Jones’ daughter was taken into protective custody and Jones’ was then transported to the Jacksonville Police Department for questioning.

According to a report of the interview conducted at the police department, Jones waived rights to have an attorney present, and claimed to police that an unknown Latino male had assaulted his daughter and that they had driven from their residence at Lakeview Terrace in an attempt to locate the man. Jones then allegedly told police that he located the man and killed him in the van. When describing the Latino man to police, officers say that Jones allegedly provided a similar description of clothes that Scott had been wearing at the time her body was discovered. Jones said that once he had killed the man in the van, he and his daughter exited the van because he believed they were being chased by several other Latino men who were coming to hurt them. Jones then admitted to owning the firearms that police found, despite knowing it was illegal to own them due to his prior felony record. He then allegedly admitted to police that he fired some of the weapons in an attempt to scare away the men he believed that were chasing him and his daughter. He then told police that the alleged assault by the Latino man would have been recorded on his home surveillance camera.

Officers are said to have spoken to neighbors to the Lakeview Terrace address and the neighbors reported hearing a man and woman arguing loudly the night of the murder.

Preliminary autopsy reports filed with the petition to deny pretrial release found that Scott died from 27 stab wounds that were located on her back and blunt force trauma to the head.

A follow up interview was conducted by Jacksonville Police Detectives on Tuesday with Jones at the Morgan County Jail where he again signed a waiver of rights to have an attorney present. During the interview, Jones told detectives that he and Scott had been arguing the night of the murder at their home in South Jacksonville prior to getting into the van and driving to West Beecher Avenue. Jones allegedly admitted to police that he and Scott had “been using methamphetamine for several days and had not slept.” Jones said that Scott had been hallucinating that people were in their house and he had attempted to calm her down, before blacking out. Jones then said that “a funny man” was in the van during the next portion of events that he remembered and that he believed the remainder of his memories of the night in question were a dream before he eventually quit talking to police.

An Illinois State Police report indicates that crime scene investigators processed the van and found a bag containing 4 more firearms inside along with various magazines and ammunition.

The pretrial motion to deny release indicated that Jones had forcible felonies with prison sentences for residential burglary in 1999 and burglary in 2004, as well as drug convictions and minor misdemeanors.

According to online court records, Morgan County Judge Chris Reif denied Jones pretrial release with ankle monitoring, which was requested by Morgan County Public Defender Devin Vaughn. Jones remains held at the Morgan County Jail and is next due in Morgan County Circuit Court on August 20th for a preliminary hearing.

The Morgan County Commissioners are eager to get a renovation project at the Morgan County Courthouse under way.

The Commissioners officially awarded Kone-A the bid to renovate the courthouse elevator. The project was discussed two weeks ago. Commissioner Chair Mike Wankel says that recent events with the elevator have made the project an eminent need: “We are awarding this project to them for the amount of $323,692. This project wouldn’t take place until after the first of the year in 2025. [Kone] is estimating an 8-week down time [of the elevator] for installation. However, we need to award the bid now to get on their list. It’s probably more prominent now than it has been in the past with the elevator. I think we’ve had two or three instances where we’ve had people stuck people in the elevator in the past few weeks.”

Kone-A engineers were the ones who were caught in the elevator when it stopped working this past week as they were making repairs to other portions of the elevator. Wankel says the hope is that the current elevator will continue to run up to the starting point of the project after the first of the year.

A local equipment dealer is attempting to return to business after a fire ravaged their building in mid-June.

Henry’s Service Center representatives posted to the business’ Facebook Page on Tuesday to let customers know they are in operations at a new location. Henry’s has temporarily moved to the front of the old Production Press building at 316 East College Avenue. The entrance to Henry’s is just off of the north side of the building. Signs mark customer parking in the lots to the west of the building.

The business’ former home at 2244 West Morton Avenue has been completely deconstructed after it was burned to the ground on the evening of June 19^th. A cause for the fire still has not been released by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Henry’s representatives asked the public to remain patient as the service center works to restock its inventory and fulfill back orders.

For more information, visit their website henrysservicecenter.com or call 217-243-5400.

The Jacksonville Speedway will be honoring a late friend of the track this weekend.

65-year old Ralph Wilhite was tragically killed in an accident at the Speedway on June 28^th. Wilhite had a love for racing, and was a member of the race crews of Bobby Hawks and Paul Nienhiser for many years. In many circles, Wilhite was known for his impeccable work on race engines and his friendship with all racers he met.

Speedway Director Ken Dobson says that Wilhite was at the heart of the local racing community family: “Ralph’s loss was felt throughout the whole racing community. It truly is a family, and Ralph really was one of the people at the center of it, particularly here in Jacksonville and had been there for decades. It hard to a lot of our racing family, and some of our younger drivers that maybe haven’t experienced a lot of personal tragedy. I think they are having to deal with that for the first time.”

A celebration of Wilhite’s life will take place at the track at 2PM this Saturday underneath the Grandstand. Everyone is invited to attend and share stories. Nienhiser Racing has created a tribute shirt for Wilhite that will be handed out for those who ordered at the celebration. The proceeds are going into a memorial fund in Wilhite’s name that will be used to pay for his granddaughter’s education.

Dobson says that the track will return back to action next month: “We are going to reconvene on August 9th after we get through Ralph’s memorial service and let everyone heal and start again. Hopefully, we can come back in good spirits and with a good outlook and an ability to actually have fun again down at the race track. Quite frankly, I don’t want it to be a place unless everyone there can enjoy themselves and have fun.”

For more information on the Jacksonville Speedway visit jacksonvillespeedway.com or find them on Facebook.

To leave a tribute to Ralph Wilhite, visit airsman-hires.com.

The Village of South Jacksonville’s water system will have a lighter load to bare once it returns to service.

Village President Dick Samples told the Board of Trustees last night that the Scott-Morgan-Greene Water Co-Op recently reached out to him and have asked permission to supply the water for the Merritt-Exeter Water Co-Op and to the Village of Lynnville: “[Scott-Morgan-Greene] is not physically managing them or anything else. They are just simply supplying the water to the Merritt-Exeter Co-Op and then also to the Village of Lynnville. They simply can quit our service or we can quit them with a 30-day notice.”

Samples says it was primarily due to costs. The co-op felt that the prices on rural customers had gone up too much and they were seeking a cheaper option. Samples says it will alleviate some boil order issues and capacity issues on the entire system. He says that doesn’t take the future cost of a new water tower off the table: “We just have to wait and see the cost of it, construction, so on and that way. Eventually, somewhere down the line, we will require a new water tower. The current one is 60-70 years old at this point.”

Jamie Headen of Benton & Associates gave a presentation to the Village Board about building a new, higher capacity tower approximately 2 years ago and estimated the cost to be over $2 million. Headen said the current tower is reaching its useful life. The village board came to a consensus last night that they would need to invite Headen back for a reevaluation of the situation and in hopes of getting help in exploring financing and grant options.

Public Works Superintendent Brian English wouldn’t give a date or time when the water system would be turned back on last night, but did say that the Oxville plant was close to being returned to service.

Members of the Jacksonville Lions Club will once again be stationed at Wal-Mart starting in August to collect school supplies.

School supplies will be collected for students of District 117 on the weekends of August 2^nd & 3^rd and August 9^th & 10^th from 10AM to 4PM each day.

The supplies collected by Lions members during the drive at Wal-Mart will then be presented to the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation for distribution to local students. For more information, or to directly donate supplies to needy District 117 students, you can contact Leslie DeFrates at 217-243-9411 extension 1133.

The White Hall City Council recently rescinded a vote about discontinuing their bulk water salesman.

On June 14^th, the City of White Hall’s Facebook alerted the public that the water salesman, which provides bulk water service to mainly rural customers who do not have access to water lines or wells, would cease its operations on September 30^th.

The city was closing the salesman in order to begin construction on a new water tower. According to the Greene Prairie Press, the building where the water salesman is housed would have to be moved to complete the project. There was also claims that the water salesman was costing the city money.

Alderman Norman Coad, who was not present at the city’s previous meeting where the vote was taken to close the water salesman, asked for the city to rescind the vote after outcry from constituents and based on the idea that it brings people into the city for various other reasons besides just collecting water.

The motion was taken up and passed by a 3-2 margin. Alderman Ryan McMillen said during discussion that the Greene County Rural Water District was going to also take up possibly providing a countywide water salesman at their July 12^th meeting. Meeting records for the rural water district are unavailable online.

Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott & Cass Counties are requesting Information to assist the Morgan County Sheriffs Department in their investigation of a recent theft.

Sometime between July 9 & July 10, unknown individuals removed a trailer from a property in the 3400 block of Hog Market Road in Waverly. The black 2000 2-Wheel, Rettig Enterprises brand trailer was described as having yellow fenders.

Anyone who has information concerning this incident should submit a tip by visiting the Morgan-Scott-Cass Crime Stoppers Facebook page and clicking on the ‘Contact Us’ button at the top of the page or by submitting a tip at the website morganscottcrimestoppers.com.

Tips may also be phoned into the Crime Stoppers’ hotline at 217-243-7300 or via text message to the word ‘Crimes’ that’s the number 274637. The first word of the text tip must be payout.

Remember Crime Stoppers just want your information and not your name. If your tip leads to an arrest, you may be eligible for a cash reward.