Three men were arrested last week for stealing weapons from vehicles belong to the Springfield Police and a Menard County law enforcement agency.

WAND-TV in Decatur reports that the case all started with Macon County Sheriff’s Deputies receiving a call about stolen Air pods and a firearm. Decatur Police served a search warrant at a home in Cerro Gordo on August 26th for the items. Inside the home, officers found a Macon County Sheriff’s office Remington shotgun and body armor as well as several stolen items from the Decatur area. Officers say 19 year old Blaine Manks of Decatur was living there, but fled when police arrived at the scene.

Manks was finally tracked down on August 30^th at an apartment complex in Sullivan. Deputies also found 20 year old Parker Wallace of Atwood and three more stolen guns in the apartment in Sullivan. During questioning, Wallace told detectives he and Manks were behind several car burglaries. Deputies also tracked down and arrested a third man, 20 year old Cameron Edwards at the same home in Cerro Gordo where Manks had been staying. Edwards attempted to flee from officers at the time of his arrest but was able to be subdued, according to a separate report by WICS.

During a search of the Cerro Gordo home, detectives found a false wall where two AR-15s were hidden. The AR-15s were traced to police vehicles from Springfield and Menard County. Edwards later admitted to being involved in 30 car thefts with Manks – all targeting police cars. The burglaries allegedly date back to May.

Wallace’s bond was set at $20,000. He posted bond and was released last Wednesday. Edwards’s bond was set at $180,000. He was released on Friday after posting bail. Manks remains in the Macon County Jail with a $390,000 bond.

A Springfield man is once again set to represent himself in Adams County Court on numerous charges.

The Quincy Herald-Whig reports that 35 year old Bradley S. Yohn had his August 24^th motion to dismiss Chief Public Defender Todd Nelson accepted by Judge Roger Thomson in court yesterday.

Yohn filed the motion late last week saying that Nelson has been ineffective counsel for only visiting twice in jail since he was appointed back in June.

Yohn was set to represent himself at trial on June 21 when he requested an attorney moments before prospective jurors entered the room. After his request to get an attorney was granted, Yohn said in court that he would fire whomever was appointed and represent himself later.

Yohn has pled not guilty to two counts of home invasion, one count of aggravated kidnapping, one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault, all Class X felonies, and residential burglary, a Class 1 felony. Those charges are in connection with a Nov. 9 incident that allegedly began along the North Bottom Road in Quincy. Yohn is alleged to have used force or the threat of force to take a vehicle and kidnap Christine “Tina” Schmitt on Nov. 9, 2021. He then reportedly used force to enter the woman’s home and was alleged to have been carrying a knife. Schmitt later died but the Adams County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to file additional charges following an investigation to determine if the incident contributed to her death.

He also faces several charges from at least two other incidents dating back to October of last year.

Yohn’s trial is set to start on November 7^th. A status hearing has been set for October 12^th. Yohn is being held in the Adams County Jail on $15 million bond.

The Pikeland School District recently had a teacher honored for their community service.

The Illinois Association for Career and Technical Education has awarded Pikeland Agriculture teacher Jodi Heavner with the Carl Perkins Community Service Award.

The award recognizes individuals who have used Career and Technical Education to make a significant impact on their community, and have used leadership to promote student involvement in community service through programs and services.

Heavner will be participating for continued recognition at the national level in November, according to a press release from the school district on Monday.

Heavner and the Pittsfield High School FFA also have been honored. The chapter was recently named a 2022 FFA Premier Chapter National Finalist in Strengthening Agriculture. It places Pittsfield’s chapter as one of the Top 10 in the nation.

The top ten FFA chapters will have their members compete in a presentation and interview process later this month. All ten chapters will be recognized in a ceremony on stage at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana next month when the winner is announced.

The Kansas City Southern Holiday Express train will again pull in to Roodhouse in December.

The annual journey on the rails has been parked the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 6-car train features interior and exterior holiday light displays as well as a visit with Santa and his elves.

The tradition dates back to 2001 as “The Santa Train” after volunteers dedicated over 8,000 hours to the transformation of retired rail cars as well as the restored Southern Belle passenger train. The Southern Belle passenger train provided luxury service between Kansas City and the Gulf Coast region from 1940 to 1969. It was restored in 1995 and provides a peek into the past as well as powering the KCS Holiday Express. The Santa Train ran on a segment of the network bought by KCS in 1997. After KCS employees noticed that The Santa Train brought some local children the only Christmas they knew and decided to broaden the scope of the idea.

The train makes 20 stops between the State of Louisiana and Kansas City, Missouri.

The Roodhouse stop has been scheduled for 4PM Tuesday, December 13th at the old depot in Roodhouse. It’s the final stop of the Holiday Express on its way to Union Station in Kansas City.

Admission to the train is free of charge.

Part of the train’s trip mission is charity. The Holiday Express has raised $2.6 million since its inception in 2001. Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to the 2022 KCS Holiday Express fundraising campaign may donate here. The train also donates a portion of its raised funds to the local Salvation Army chapter for purchasing warm clothing and essentials, especially for children. The railroad has had to use virtual fundraising the last two years in the absence of its trip.

The closure of a Jacksonville School District 117 elementary school is off the table for the time being.

Early enrollment numbers at the district are up after two years of declining enrollment in grades K-5 are back up. Middle School and High School numbers are down by comparison. Overall, the district collectively saw an increase of 6 students.

District 117 Superintendent Steve Ptacek says it now pushes out any talks of closing a school: “Our elementary numbers increased. I said last year that based upon the trend analysis that if our trends were to continue that through September 2023, next year, that year 2023-2024; we would start talking about and analyzing based upon budget and other factors – do we need to go to a 9 class per grade level model versus our current 10 class per grade level model. If we did that, it would be closing a school. Well, with the numbers increasing this year (not dramatically but still not following that reduction trend and it was coming out of 2 years of Covid) – I don’t think coming out of Covid we could actively predict what our numbers were going to be like for the next 2-3 years. Therefore, when I originally said we would really sit in September 2023 and look at those numbers, I told the board that I don’t think I could come back to them to look at those numbers in that way, whether or not we should close a school, unless we had 3 consecutive years of declining enrollment.”

Ptacek says it now pushes that re-evaluation of enrollment to September 2025 only if enrollment has a significant decline. Ptacek says the conversations internally have now shifted to the lowered enrollment at the high school. He says that the high school started with an enrollment of 824 after Day 6 this year. He says if trends hold true, the high school could see a population in the 700s for the first time in the modern era.

Ptacek says that with the shift in elementary numbers, it’s showing a population shift in the city that’s calling for a conversation on boundaries for the elementary schools once again: “We last did the boundary process when we moved the 6th Grade students to the middle school. That was put in place in August 2019 because we finished the middle school in January 2018. We based that off the population numbers we had from 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. While we wanted Washington’s enrollment numbers to be slightly lower than the other boundaries based upon lower numbers with the demographics of the school helping with the academics, the current numbers have dramatically dropped in Washington compared to say, South Elementary and even Lincoln Elementary. I do find it ironic that those are two new schools, and Washington is an older school. Maybe that’s been attracting people to move into those newer schools. That’s only a soft data analysis. Washington is going to have a new school next year, and Washington is a very popular area historically for this community.”

Ptacek says the boundaries may have to be modified slightly to include more students in the Washington boundary and relieve the potential overcrowding in class sizes at South. Ptacek says those modifications could be possibly implemented by as early as next year.

Talks have stalled for the placement of an AT&T Tower in South Jacksonville.

Village President Dick Samples told the South Jacksonville Board of Trustees last Thursday that AT&T has not been in contact with him in several weeks to discuss options on the placement of a cell phone tower in the village to help with better reception and service.

The village has been plagued for years with poor service, dropped calls, and even having 9-1-1 calls either re-routed out of the county or not being able to be dialed at all. Despite AT&T saying they have coverage in the area on their nationwide maps, residents still have minimal, if any service within the village. 

Samples wants village residents to know that the village government is doing all it can to get the tower in place that will work for everyone: “We have nothing to do about the placement of the tower. It is not up to us. It is up to AT&T. Our job is to find a place that is legally able to use to put the tower there, and we need some legislation on our end to find that. It is not up to us on where this tower goes because they are going to dictate to us they want to put it here or there. They want us to own the tower, or have some ownership of the tower. We don’t really care to own the tower in that sense. We need a tower in South Jacksonville, yes, because we have the poorest reception there is in this area. They have provided us with the information on where there are hot spots and low spots as to the availability, and we’re absolutely terrible.”

Samples says that the village is reaching out to State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer to ask about placing the cell phone tower on the grounds of the Prairieland Heritage Museum, since Prairieland leases the majority of their grounds from the State of Illinois; as well as possibly looking at placing the tower on the Jacksonville Developmental Center grounds to keep the tower away from neighborhoods. Samples says he believes both could be viable options.

A person involved with Prairieland Heritage Museum told the trustees on Thursday that the board of the museum has not been contacted by AT&T either. Samples says that Trustee Todd Warrick has been in contact with a representative of the company. He was absent Thursday night. Samples said more discussion would come at the scheduled Committee of the Whole session on September 8th. 

Historic Greene County Days is coming up on September 9^th through 11th. The county-wide festival has a host of yard sales, barn tours, historical tours, and family-friendly events for the entire weekend.

The Greene County Historical Society and a few other groups are expanding their offerings this year. Bernie Faul and Greene County Historical Society members will be serving food on Friday from 11AM until its gone in the yard of the historical Lee-Baker-Hodges House at the northeast corner of the Carrollton Square.

Society staffer and well-known local piano player and teacher Jeanne Coates will be providing entertainment in the first floor dining room of the historic home. Tours will be available for the home with special displays. Historical Society books and pamphlets will also be available for purchase.

DF Kennedy, a local author, will also be having a book signing of her new novel “The Truth” in Carrollton on the square on Saturday from 10-2.

The Illinois Valley Cultural Heritage Association will also be providing free tours at the James Eldred House located in Bluffdale Township, 1 mile north of Eldred. Tours of the Eldred House will be free of charge on Saturday from 11-4. The home is looking for donations and interest to continue upkeep of the 1861 structure.

Roodhouse will be hosting a string of talent starting with Midwest Avenue at 6PM in the park on the square. Vendors, Food Vendors, Live Music, a Parade, Pageant, Bingo, Free Bounce Houses start in full swing on Saturday morning with the parade stepping off at 9AM. Sunday morning in Roodhouse there will be a 5K starting at 8AM. Cost is $30. A church service in the park will also be done at 10AM.

A Kampsville man is heading to prison for drug charges from last Fall.

48 year old Jason W. Harkey of Kampsville pled guilty on Tuesday to charges of driving under the influence of drugs, obstruction of justice by attempting to destroy evidence, and unlawful possession of methamphetamine.

The charges stem from a traffic stop initiated by Calhoun County Sheriff’s Deputies on Illinois Route 100 just north of the Joe Page Bridge in Hardin on September 17^th of last year.

Subsequent to an investigation, deputies located and seized methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Deputies say that Harkey attempted to destroy evidence at the scene and they also believe they had additional probably cause that Harkey was driving under the influence prior to his arrest. After his arrest, Harkey was additionally cited for bringing contraband into a penal institution after contraband was allegedly found on Harkey during booking at the Greene County Jail.

Calhoun County Judge Charles H.W. Burch sentenced Harkey on Tuesday to 2 four-year terms in the Illinois Department of Corrections to be served concurrently per the plea.