A former area radio personality and former MacMurray College Public Relations official was sentenced to prison today.

64 year old Robert T. “Bob” Tobin of Springfield entered a negotiated plea of guilty in Christian County Court this morning. Tobin was arrested in Springfield at a residence in the 400 block of West Allen Street on September 10, 2020 by agents from the Illinois State Police Zone 4 Division of Criminal Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service after Taylorville Police had determined that he had moved out of Taylorville.

An investigation into Tobin by Taylorville Police was initiated in February 2020 on accusations of possession/distribution of child pornography. At the time of his arrest in 2020, additional charges were also being investigated in Sangamon County. To date, no charges have been filed.

Tobin began his career in radio at AM1180 WLDS back in the mid-1970s. He later moved on to the midday slot on WDBR in Springfield in the mid-90s, according to a State Journal Register article. Then, moved to WFMB before becoming the head of Public Relations at MacMurray College in the early 2000s.

This morning, Tobin pleaded guilty to 3 counts of possession of child pornography. Per the plea, Tobin was sentenced to 2 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by a year of Mandatory Supervised Release on each count, with the sentences to be served consecutively for a total of 6 years in prison. Tobin was also assessed a $1,000 fine plus court costs and assessments. He was given credit for 631 days served in the Christian County Jail.

The Kiwanis Braggin’ Rights BBQ competition is returning to its normal appearances this year.

Kiwanian and BBQ Board member Rob Thomas says things will be like they were pre-Covid on Saturday afternoon: “We will be out at the Morgan County Fairgrounds this Saturday, June 4th from Noon until approximately 5 o’clock. Sometimes it will last a little longer, sometimes a little less – it all depends on when the food runs out. After the last two years of doing drive-thru due to Covid, we are finally back to our full competition that everybody enjoys.”

Gates open to the public at Noon on Saturday at the Morgan County Fairgrounds. Cooks for the competition will be allowed entry prior to the competition. Thomas says your entry fee as a taster will get you a ton of food throughout the afternoon: “Basically, it’s $5 at the door. You come in and get to sample all the teams. Currently, as of today, we have 13 teams signed up. Sometimes we get a few more the night before the competition. You can walk around and eat as much as you like. Kids 5 and under eat free. You can try things like pulled pork, ribs, chicken, sausage, and all things barbeque. Many of the teams are local. We try not to get into a real serious competition, but the teams do take it seriously. We have judging, and this year, we have cash prizes for the top teams.”

The Grand Champion will receive $150, with Grand Reserve getting $100, and the People’s Choice Award receiving $75 in the competition. Judging begins at 3PM, with the winners announced close to 5PM on Saturday.

Proceeds raised from the gate will benefit the Jacksonville Roller Hockey League. The league is attempting to renovate the Eric Olson Memorial Roller Hockey Rink in Nichols Park.

Thomas says people still wanting to enter the competition can do so by contacting Marcy Patterson at 217-899-7855 or Jared Maggart at 217-491-0566. People can also reach out to Thomas by calling 217-408-0001. You can also send a message to the Jacksonville Kiwanis BBQ Bragging Rights Facebook Page to fill out a form to enter.

Entry forms can also be dropped off at The Sources Newspaper office at 2 Dunlap Court in Jacksonville.

The Grand Champion will get $150 with Grand Reserve getting $100 and the People’s Choice getting $75 in the competition. Judging begins at 3PM Saturday. Winners will be announced at 5PM.

Thomas says people still interested in entering the competition can contact Marcy Patterson or Jared Maggart. People can also reach out to Thomas by calling 217-408-0001. You may also send a message to the Jacksonville Kiwanis BBQ Bragging Rights Facebook Page to fill out a form to enter. Entry forms can also be dropped off at The Source Newspaper office at 2 Dunlap Court in Jacksonville.

The co-founder of a non-profit organization that built tiny homes for veterans pleaded not guilty yesterday to theft charges.

WGEM in Quincy reports that 63 year old Mark S. Lawrence entered the plea yesterday in Adams County Court. Lawrence has been charged with one count of theft over $100,000 and one count of theft over $10,000 after being indicted on May 18th for allegedly taking money from 2×4’s For Hope between 2019 and September 2020. Lawrence could face anywhere from 3-15 years in prison if he is convicted in the case.

Lawrence, who is free on bond, founded 2×4’s For Hope with his wife Chris in 2015. The two were removed from the organization by the governing board on November 15, 2021 and had a restraining order placed against them. The 2×4’s For Hope governing board has also filed a civil lawsuit against the Lawrences.

Adams County State’s Attorney Gary Farha told Muddy River News that his office learned about the issues when the group when tools donated to 2×4s for Hope by Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation — a Brookfield, Wis., company which develops, manufactures and markets power tools — began appearing at Jacksonville and Galesburg Warehouse Bargains stores. The tools were meant for use in the construction of houses for veterans. Farha said an Illinois State Police investigation discovered Quincy Warehouse Bargains did not make out checks to 2×4s for Hope but to Mark Lawrence, who allegedly did not transfer the funds into the 2x4s for Hope accounts. Farha also said 2×4s for Hope allegedly wrote multiple checks for tens of thousands of dollars to Lawrence Construction, a business owned by Mark Lawrence that ceased operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawrence is set to return to court on a status hearing on August 17^th, with a potential jury trial coming on September 12th in front of visiting Brown County Judge Jerry J. Hooker.

The Jacksonville Downtown Concert Series kicks off summer this Friday.

Jacksonville Main Street Executive Director Judy Tighe says the series opens with returning favorite CJ Ryder & the Pastmasters: “We have had them come before. It’s been a couple of years. They play all the pop songs you remember from years past. They actually cover several decades of music. You’ll get to hear a lot of your favorites. We’re really excited to kick off the series.”

Refreshments go on sale at 6PM, with music starting at 7. Tighe says that the weather forecast is in good standing heading into Friday.

The concert will also host the Jacksonville School District 117 Early Years Program handing out books to children, and the grand prize Believe in Education drawing for $10,000 from the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation will happen between the music.

Tighe says she’s amazed by Main Street’s Melissa Hebron’s ability to get acts calling her a “miracle worker” with her numerous contacts to booking agencies and scheduling wizardry. Tighe says that Hebron was able to get Blues-Rock act Champ Jaxon on the schedule for June 24^th after she passed along a YouTube video that she happened upon: “I happened to share [the video] with Melissa and said half joking ‘We ought to get this guy.’ She called me back about a week and a half later and said, ‘Got him.’ She’s just amazing. She’s been able to get some really unique acts that you just don’t see every weekend around Jacksonville.”

Tighe says that the concert series has really taken on a community-wide celebration through local support and sponsors. Tighe says that the series has received over 60 sponsors this year to keep the series at full strength.

Republican candidate for Illinois governor Jesse Sullivan has tested positive for COVID-19.

Sullivan was scheduled to appear Wednesday on AM1180 WLDS’ “What’s On Your Mind?” Program but canceled at the last minute after his election campaign team said that Sullivan was sick and couldn’t attend.

According to WAND-TV, while undergoing required debate protocol for ABC-7 in Chicago, Sullivan tested positive for Covid. He was notified of the results last night.

In a statement released on Twitter, Sullivan says he is looking forward to participating in the debate tonight but is disappointed he won’t be able to be in person. He will be participating in the debate tonight via Zoom.

A renowned Abraham Lincoln impersonator and former high school teacher will avoid state prison time after pleading guilty to child pornography and patronizing a prostitute back in April.

64 year old George Buss was sentenced to 4 years of adult probation, a $1,000 fine, and sentenced to 120 days in the Stephenson County Jail, and ordered to pay for court assessments as well as to have sex offender evaluations and follow up on the child pornography charge. Buss must also register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

Buss was also sentenced to 30 months of probation and an alcohol evaluation concurrently for the prostitution solicitation charge.

Buss was arrested by Freeport Police on August 28^th, 2020 at his home after a six-month investigation. According to court records, Buss was in possession of a video of children engaged in sex acts.

Since 1986 the retired Freeport High School teacher has portrayed Abraham Lincoln all over the United States and was the official Lincoln impersonator for the annual reading of the Gettysburg Address at the Gettysburg National Military Park. He performed at Illinois College as recently as February 2020.

22 year old Tyler Dotson, of Leaf River was also charged in connection to the investigation into Buss for two counts of dissemination of child pornography. Dotson plead guilty to one count of reproduction of child pornography and three counts of non-consensual dissemination of a sexual image in September 2020 and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

A portion of West Morton Avenue will be a work zone for part of this summer as the City of Jacksonville replaces water mains.

Jamie Headen, Principal Civil Engineer with Benton & Associates updated the Jacksonville City Council on May 23rd about the city’s utility department’s effort to continuously update troublesome and old water mains throughout the city.

The council voted unanimously to approve a bid for work to update mains along a section of West Morton Avenue and one on Finley Street that have been problematic several times over the last five years: “We will be replacing water main on West Morton Avenue from Lincoln Avenue to about Prompt Care, in that range. Water main in that area has been breaking a lot over the wintertime. There have been many breaks in that spot so we are going to get that replaced, but also on Finley Street, as well. Then, we will potentially put Prospect Avenue on the list for future years depending upon the budget. This is part of Superintendent Rick Hearin’s yearly program of trying to get the water mains that need replaced the most, and get as much bang for the buck on the dollars we spend.”

Headen expects the work to begin later this month and be completed by September.

The City Council also approved a bid to resurface the Forrest Park area as well accepting a bid for the next step in the rehabilitation and renovations at Veterans Park.

Parks Superintendent Adam Fletcher says the next phase at Veterans Park will give better access to people and their pets: “This is a project that we started 3-4 years ago, and we’ve slowly been doing improvements in the park. In Phase I, we did a bunch of sidewalks throughout the park. Those were a big hit with people trying to get access to the park. This part of the project we are going to be improving the parking situation so that there is an actual parking area on the west end of the park. Then, we will be expanding the dog park that’s on the east side of the park to fill up a little bit of empty green space on that side of the park that’s not really used for anything else right now. With us just expanding that fence just a little bit, it’s going to almost double the size of that little dog run on that side of the park.”

Fletcher says moving forward the plan is to come up with ideas to update the playground and converting the old tennis courts into pickle ball courts.

Also at the May 23rd City Council meeting, the council approved the hire of two new patrol officers for the Jacksonville Police Department following the resignation of one officer and the retirement of another.

A probationary hoseman to fill an open position on the Jacksonville Fire Department was also approved, as well as a bid to purchase a new rescue truck. Fire Chief Doug Sills says the truck will be ready in 2023 and come out of the 2023 budget, but his department needed to go ahead and reserve the chassis and cab now due to supply chain issues so that it can be ready for delivery to the department next year.

Scott County residents won’t have to travel very far this weekend to find something to do. The Winchester Civic Group is keeping a new event-filled weekend held over from last summer. The Play Local & Enjoy Winchester initiative will be held this weekend, starting with the monthly Farmer’s Market and Music in the Park on Thursday.

Winchester Civic Group spokesperson John Paul Coonrod says its the 7^th year of the highly successful Music in the Park series. He says the only changes this year is that food will now be served closer to time of the music at 6:30, with music set to run from 7-9PM. The Farmer’s Market will run prior to the concert from 4-6PM. Coonrod says the concert line-up features a few new names this year – Balkan Duo on June 9th, which is a violin-piano duet and Springfield singer-songwriter Josie Lowder on June 16th. Old favorites of the music series Ben Bedford, Tom Irwin, Stuart Smith, Reverend Robert, and Jeff Newman’s Portable Beat will all return.

Returning act Levi & Jacqueline will be this Thursday night’s entertainment.

Coonrod says Friday will have discounted bowling at the Winchester Bowl from 6-9PM. Starting at dusk on Friday, the local Oddfellows chapter will host a movie in Douglas Park.

Saturday, June 4^th in Winchester a 5K run, walk, or ride will be held starting at 8AM with registration in Monument Park. The Winchester Swimming Pool will also have discounted swimming for the day. The evening will be topped off on Saturday with a bags tournament at 4:30 in Monument Park. A two-person team costs $25, with prizes for first, second, and third.

Sunday will have discounted golf at Plum Creek Golf Course. Coonrod says that the civic group is hosting an escape room at the Winchester Library Sunday from 1-9PM. Cost is $50 per team of 2-10 people. Coonrod says people must call the library ahead of time to preserve a time slot at 217-742-3150. Coonrod says that the Civic Group has really worked hard behind the scenes to make this a great kickoff to the summer in Winchester.

To find out more information, visit the Winchester Civic Group Facebook Page.