A court advocacy program for children is seeking volunteers in Morgan and Pike County.

The Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA program of Morgan and Pike County will be holding informational meetings and volunteer training Mondays and Wednesdays 5:30-8:30 pm from Oct.19-Nov. 11.

CASA Manager Danielle Buss says that volunteers help to advocate on children’s behalf in the local court system while also becoming a reliable figure to children: “A CASA volunteer is a person who speaks on behalf of abused and neglected children in the court system. Volunteers have to go through a 30-hour training, background checks, and all of that good stuff. Then, once that gets completed, the local Circuit Judge will swear them in and they will receive a case to work alongside case workers, attorneys, and speak on behalf of the child or children in that particular case. They are making assessments, recommendations, stating concerns, and writing court reports so that the judge and attorneys can kind of know what is going on with the case and what should go on or not go on with the child. The volunteer is seeing the child or children in their biological home, foster home, daycare, school, after school activities throughout three 6-month time frames. They are able to get to know this child and advocate for this child to truly let the court know who this child is and what their needs are or what would be in their best interest.”

Buss says the number of children in the court system in the area continues to rise but the number of volunteers has gone down. Buss says currently they need anywhere from 20-30 advocates because there are kids currently without a CASA sponsor.

Buss says to call her as soon as possible if you’d like to volunteer: “Interested individuals can give me a call at 217-223-2272, and I can give them their information, an application, and send them to the right coordinator. We have two different coordinators – one for Morgan and one for Pike. I would be more than happy to give them the information they need and send them on to the right coordinator.”

Potential volunteers can also visit the Morgan County CASA Office at 800 W. State St., Suite 2 in Jacksonville.

A Greene County man who led authorities on a high speed chase that damaged the Joe Page Bridge in Hardin and a residence in northern Calhoun County plead guilty to charges on Monday last week.

40 year old Christopher N. Raines of White Hall plead guilty to one count of Criminal Damage to Government Property between $10,000 and $100,000.

The charges stem from a high-speed chase through northern Madison, southern Jersey, and Calhoun counties in a red Mustang convertible on August 14^th. Speeds reached over 100 miles per hour that crashed the safety gates of the Joe Page Bridge in Hardin and required fire trucks to block the highway in Kampsville just after the Kampsville Celebration concluded.

Raines was sentenced to 5 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections a fine of $21848.84 plus costs & assessments, and restitution in the amount of $24578.84. Raines was given credit for 46 days served in the Greene County Jail. Charges of aggravated fleeing and eluding police, possession of methamphetamine less than 5 grams, possession of a controlled substance purported fetanyl, illegal use of a weapon, and unlawful possession of hypodermic needles were all dropped per the plea.

Raines still has outstanding cases in Jersey and Greene Counties.

The Illinois Department of Revenue has modernized its website to make it more user-friendly. The roll out of the new site was announced Thursday.

The modernized website features intuitive drop-down menus, a virtual assistant to help with questions, and Google Translate to provide information in seven of the most used languages.

IDoR Spokesperson Maura Kownacki says that the new site will make things easier for people to file their taxes or who may have tax questions: “The new, modernized website features include an intuitive drop-down menu, a virtual assistant, and a Google Translate, which provides information in 7 of the most used languages. It’s a lot more user friendly and we believe the new design will greatly improve the user experience by providing visitors with quick, relevant information as efficiently as possible.”

You can check out the revamped site at tax.Illinois.gov to find out more information about your state tax refund, filing taxes, tax credits, forms, and more.

The Greene County Board and the local Steelworkers Union that covers employees for the courthouse and the highway department are at a severe impasse.

At a special meeting on September 22^nd, the board rejected the contracts for the union a second time by a 4-3 vote. That was the same same vote the board had at their regular meeting against the contract on September 8^th.

According to the Greene Prairie Press, the main disagreement between the board members are on the number of contracted hours per week that are scheduled to work for full-time employees, and an office manager’s hourly wage increase. According to the Greene Prairie Press, a $5 per hour wage adjustment for highway department employees was agreed to by the board earlier in the year as well as the $3 per hour increase for the highway department’s office manager at the time Diane Hendricks.

Hendricks left the position at the end of June to become the new treasurer for the City of Carrollton and the Greene County Board then hired Brooke Darr to fill the position.

The unions have been working without a contract since January. Board members Chris Elliott and Andrea Schnelten who were on the negotiation committee for the Board resigned as a result of the failed vote.

The board is also facing similar contention in the coming weeks when it is scheduled to negotiate and vote on the Fraternal Order of Police Union contract.

Emotions were high in Morgan County Court to conclude a year-long case this morning.

20 year old Jayden P. Norton of the first block of Westfair Drive plead guilty to one count of reckless homicide and aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer in front of Morgan County Circuit Judge Chris Reif.

Norton was the driver of a car during the early morning hours of September 30, 2020 when a Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop on an eastbound vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed by the viaduct on East Morton Avenue. The deputy later terminated pursuit, only to field a report of a single-vehicle crash on Old Route 36 near Witty Road a short time later. The crash claimed the life of Norton’s passenger in the vehicle, 19 year old Joshua Gordley.

Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll says a member of Gordley’s family along with Norton spoke in court this morning prior to sentencing: “The victim’s brother testified today in court and gave a very emotional statement about how the actions the defendant have affected his life, but more than anything, it was a statement of forgiveness of the defendant. The victim’s father and mother were present in court along with some other family members. It was an emotional time, and the defendant gave a statement of allocution where he gave a very heartfelt apology to the victim’s family and indicated that certainly he wished that he could take his actions back and bring Josh back, the decedent.”

Norton was sentenced to 180 days in the Morgan County Jail, 30 months of adult probation, fined $2,500 plus fees and court costs. Noll says that good time credit in the case does not apply. Noll also says that there are some specific conditions that Norton must abide by during his probation: “All of the standard conditions of probation were ordered along with some specific conditions including that the defendant is not allowed to operate a motor vehicle while he is on probation. He is not allowed to ingest alcohol or cannabis, and he must maintain either full-time employment or be enrolled in full-time school while he is on probation. I don’t think he will have many roadblocks to successfully completing probation. He did seem sincere about his apology and sincere about his resolution to put this behind him and work towards a positive change in his life.”

A charge of consumption of liquor by a minor was dropped per the plea. Norton was remanded to the custody of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office after today’s hearing.

Ameren-Illinois continues work behind Taco Gringo to remediate the old coke gas plant that once stood on Anna Street.

Chief Remediation Engineer Dave Palmer says that work at the site may be completed by the end of the year: “We completed some work in 2008-09 on the north side of Anna Street. It was the primary location of the former manufactured gas plant from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Once that area was remediated, we then built a new substation there, which is still there and has been since about 2017. Since then, we have been working on the final parcel for that site, which is south of Anna. The remediation is underway, and we are planning to be finished later this year with a full demobilization of equipment and returning the site to green space by January of next year.”

Palmer says people need to continue to be careful when traveling through the area. He says early on in the project they had safety concerns with local traffic: “We did experience some traffic problems. Safety is very important to the company. We have workers walking across the street in the mornings and the afternoons when we get started. Traffic was pretty heavy and pretty fast. In trying to look out for our folks, we installed with the help of the city some speed bumps to help control traffic a bit.”

Ameren’s goal for the site and its surrounding area is to restore it to a condition considered acceptable by the state’s environmental standards by possibly returning it to a green space. Palmer says discussions are starting with the City of Jacksonville possibly for future development of the site: “We haven’t yet had specific discussions about future land use. The city does own property adjacent to this parcel. I’m sure we will make contact with the city once we are ready to do something else with it.”

Palmer says the goal is to stop any chemicals from moving in the soil and to have them removed. The work and funding for the project has been in cooperation with the city and the Illinois EPA.

The Morgan County Health Department continues its annual tradition of flu vaccination next week. The annual flu bowl is scheduled for Thursday, October 7^th and Friday, October 8^th as a walk through vaccination clinic at the JHS Bowl located at 215 South Church Street.

Jacqui Barringer, Director of Nursing at the Health Department, says that they are also offering a third option this year: “We are coming out with the flu shots next week at the Flu Bowl. We’re going to be there on Thursday and Friday. We’ll be there on Thursday from 1-6PM and on Friday from 9AM-2PM, but we’ve added a new clinic this year. We have gotten such great success out at the Fairgrounds through the drive-thru. Of course, a large part of our population that takes the flu shots are the elderly and they are the ones at the most risk for influenza and even COVID. People enjoyed being in their automobiles in their own spaces and in their own car, so on Tuesday, October 12th, we will be out at the Morgan County Fairgrounds doing a drive-thru for those who would like to maintain in their own space.”

Barringer says Medicare Part B plans and most health insurance policies will cover the flu shot. For those without insurance, cost is $10.

Barringer also wants to emphasize that despite low flu numbers the last two years, it’s still important to get vaccinated for the flu and for COVID-19 at separate times: “I see so many memes and so many things saying ‘Where did the flu go the last couple of years?’ Communicable disease has taught us that we don’t turn our backs on any disease. When we focus only on one thing, the other is going to sneak around the corner, so get vaccinated for both COVID-19 and the flu so that we don’t have two going at the same time because that could be devastating.”

Barringer says you can get vaccinated anytime in between your COVID-19 vaccinations. She says not to get both at the same time. Barringer recommends anyone over the age of 50, pregnant women, young children over the age of 6 months, and those chronic underlying health conditions get the flu shot this season. You can pre-register for a flu shot by going here.

The calls for flu shots come as many hospitals around Illinois and the country are facing an non-seasonal deluge of patients — especially children — sick with viruses usually only seen during the winter, such as RSV, the croup, and foot-in-mouth disease.

The Illinois State Police say they are continuing to reduce the FOID Card backlog.

ISP says they have lowered the backlog over the last few months through the additional hiring of staff and overhauling the entire FOID system. Backlogs have allegedly been reduced by 89% for renewals and 75% for new applications.

ISP Director Brendan Kelly says its been a challenging year with such an influx of people wanting a FOID Card or Concealed Carry License: “We need to make sure the processing time for the applications is timely. We are moving towards that by getting more and more efficient. Rather than making it more cumbersome and focused on bureaucracy, we are prioritizing safety. Really our mission is to make easy for the good guys and hard for the bad guys. For new FOID Cards, we want to get it down to under 30 days and for renewals to under 60 days, and we are moving closer and closer to that. I suspect we should be there by the end of the year to be able to have renewals mostly under that mark.”

Kelly says that new legislation passed by the General Assembly this past summer helped offer significant revisions to the FOID Card process and streamlined many process in the system. In a press release on Thursday, ISP says that enforcement details of revoked FOID Cards have successfully brought over 1,300 people in compliance and over 10,000 firearms dispositions accounted for over the last two years.

Routt Catholic High School’s Homecoming Parade is today. Today’s festivities bookend a week-long celebration at the school.

Development & Enrollment Coordinator Colleen Doyle says each day this past week has had a different theme or dress up day for students, culminating in events this afternoon: “It’s been a good week athletic-wise and activity-wise, and then the football team hosts Brown County on Saturday at 1PM. Today’s activities include a pep rally on the front steps of Routt at 12:40PM. Coronation will happen at 1PM, again on the front steps of Routt. At approximately 1:20PM, we will have our Homecoming Parade. We will exit the Our Saviour parking lot, head west on State Street, go north around the Square, head south on Main, then come back east on College, and end right in front of Routt. We’ve got about 30 parade entries, so it’s going to be a good time. We’re hoping the weather holds out.”

Doyle says that the copious amounts of toilet paper and now the assembling of living room furniture on the front lawn this past week were ways for the student body to cut loose in a fun way: “The living room furniture is exactly that, it’s our students having fun in a safe and non-destructive manner. The toilet paper, I was just talking with an alum yesterday, Mrs. Linda Curtis, and she graduated in the 60s. She believes that they were TP’ing even back then. It’s a tradition that has lived on and stood the test of time. It’s harmless fun and the kids have a good time with it.”

Doyle says the football team got a good pre-game workout last night moving all of the furniture off of the front lawn of the Routt Campus ahead of the coronation this afternoon. Following the parade, an adult homecoming begins at 3PM at the KC Hall featuring entertainment provided by Exit 52.