The Village of South Jacksonville’s Board of Trustees passed an ordinance of appropriations last night but did not pass a budget, causing the meeting to erupt in arguments.

Tensions in the meeting began when Trustee Megan Davidson, who is currently chair of the village’s finance committee, motioned to table passing the FY22 budget along with the 5% CPI salary increase for certain village employees.

Davidson had asked Village Treasurer Tiffanee Peters for a salary schedule during the Finance Committee’s budget hearing earlier in the month. Peters was officially on vacation at the time but told Davidson she would complete the reports and send them when she returned. Davidson says she still has not received those reports: “I sent an email and did not even get a response. Tiffanee let me know that she sent you (Mayor Tyson Manker) the information that I asked for and you would forward it on to me and I got nothing.”

Manker interrupted immediately calling it “an outright lie”. Davidson then asked for Manker to produce the emails, which were not allegedly produced during the meeting. Also, compounding the situation, Davidson said she wanted to bring certain line items before the board and not just the finance committee; which included a significant raise for Fire Chief Richard Evans Jr., purchase of a new code enforcement car because the current car is beyond its natural use, possible ways to restore the Village’s ambulance service, tracking of the village’s employees overtime, and other possible salary increases. Davidson and fellow trustees Stacy Pinkerton and Paula Belobradjic-Stewart said they could not vote on a budget until they had all the information to make an informed decision. Davidson then made a motion to table the budget and the salary increases until she received the information she was requesting. It was seconded by Pinkerton.

Trustee John Stewart then made a motion to pass the budget in its current form and leave the agenda as it was. The motion died for a lack of a second. Davidson’s original motion passed 4-1 with Stewart voting “no” and Trustee Mike Broaddus abstaining because he explained he was out of town during the budget hearing process and could not attend. The appropriations ordinance passed 4-1, again with Stewart the lone “no” vote.

Trustee Stacy Pinkerton and Manker also argued over a line item upping the Mayor’s office operation costs. Pinkerton says that precedent was that the Mayor’s office received $2,500: “You got $12,000 down [in that line item]. Why on earth would you need $12,000 on a yearly budget?”

Manker replied by saying that he did not put the total in the budget and he said secondly, he is working as a full-time mayor, unlike others in year’s past: “We’ve never had a full-time mayor. If you want to logjam my operations, if you don’t want me to meet with Congressman [Darin] LaHood to contact the FCC to work on our cellular connectivity problem, if you want me to be a part-time mayor, it would be hard for me to do. Because I’m going to be in here (Village Hall) 50 hours a week working for $1,000, after taxes about $800 a month. 50 hours. I’m an attorney with 8 years [experience].” Manker also noted that business cards for the village trustees and some other miscellaneous items come from his operational expenses and not other places, leading to the significant increase.

Pinkerton interrupted Manker’s statements at that point and said it didn’t matter about his previous experience, returning to the precedent that previous village presidents and mayors had only operated with the previous $2,500 budget limit.

Pinkerton went on to ask if the village footed the bill for Manker’s trip to Washington D.C. Manker said no because he had spent his own money to attend a wedding and said he was insulted by the question and the exchange got more heated. Manker asked why Pinkerton would bring up something that he had paid for himself and called Pinkerton “out of her mind” for questioning the situation. Pinkerton said it was her job as a trustee to go over every line of the budget.

Trustee Mike Broaddus attempted to cool the situation by likening his trip with his family to Washington D.C. during the Scot Fitzgerald Memorial while he was a representative of the Village Police Department.

Manker said prior to the arguments that department heads were to meet in his office at 9AM today to get the salary information to disseminate to Trustee Davidson. Manker then adjourned the meeting without an official voice vote to adjourn before leaving the chambers. Trustee Paula Belobradjic-Stewart and Trustee Pinkerton officially ended the meeting with motions eventually calling the voice vote. As of the end of the meeting, no committee of the whole or official meeting has been set to sort out the budget issues.

Jacksonville Police Chief Adam Mefford says that the investigation into the string of shootings over the last week is very active.

Mefford says the shootings are being investigated by multiple agencies across multiple jurisdictions. He says the investigation has led police to believe that all of the shooting incidents over the past week are connected: “That behavior will not be tolerated in this community. We will put every resource forward that we have to get those individuals either off the streets, in jail, or into the system – whatever we need to do. Whatever the beef is between those individuals, we believe that this is some sort of beef between a small group of individuals, a small faction of people. We believe that some of them are not from the Jacksonville area. We believe that a few of them are possibly from the Jacksonville area, and we believe that we may be dealing with some juveniles. With the investigation going forward, if these juveniles are out there and their family members have information, we really encourage people to come forward with this information. We know there is people out there with information.”

Mefford asks the public to utilize the anonymous tip lines through Crimestoppers or the Jacksonville Police’s Investigative Division to provide information. He says that investigators need that corroborating information to put all of what Mefford characterized as a giant puzzle together. Mefford says he has a message for the alleged perpetrators who may be listening or reading online: “To these juveniles out there that think that this behavior is acceptable in our community, we are going to ask the prosecutors to charge them as adults. We are not messing around with gun play in Jacksonville. If you are going to shoot up my neighborhoods and our streets and make it unsafe for those people who have nothing to do with this [disagreement] – you don’t know what that intended target is with random gunfire into cars and homes. There are innocent people out here trying to have [peace], watch TV at night in their living rooms, their kids playing in the yard. It’s hot out – people are in their pools. We don’t need random gunfire going over people’s heads and into other people’s houses. We don’t need that at all and we’re not going to tolerate it. Those people that think that ‘oh, they are just juveniles’ or ‘they will get a slap on the wrist’ – we are going to ask the prosecutors, when we put these individuals behind bars, to charge them as adults in these situations.”

Mefford also provided an update on the investigation as it stands: “We have possession of 5 firearms. We’ve taken custody of 2 vehicles for processing. We have some people of interest but no one in custody at this time. Again, that’s where we need the public’s help. We know there is information out there, and we ask that they come forward and help us corroborate these facts so we can get these individuals off our streets here in Jacksonville and other communities.”

Mefford wished to thank all the officers in the police department, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, the Village of South Jacksonvile police department, and West Central Dispatch for their massive coordination of all the crime scenes from Tuesday evening. He said that 3 separate shifts mobilized in a matter of an hour to begin securing and processing the crime scenes. He says it’s one of the reasons why the departments are all invited to train together, especially for unprecedented events like this one. Mefford said it was the first time in nearly a decade that he had to assist in processing a crime scene.

He says that he has reached out to the Illinois State Police and the Springfield Police Department to continue to assist in ballistics testing and forensics: “We have a long standing relationship with Chief [Kenny] Winslow and the Springfield Police Department. They have assisted us several times in the past and have offered us their crime lab to help with processing evidence in a timely fashion. We work really well with them since we are in such close proximity to one another.”

Mefford says that coordination efforts with the Madison County Sheriff’s Department yesterday and more information may be coming soon.

Three separate pre-trial motions were heard in Brown County Court today surrounding the murder trail of John Dean.

Dean is charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of 44 year old Rebecca Niewohner on the evening of June 14^th, 2019 in Mt. Sterling.

Defense Attorney John Leonard had filed a motion to quash and suppress evidence surrounding approximately 1,500 pages of Facebook messages submitted to the court as a part of a search warrant saying that it violated his client’s right to privacy. Judge Charles H.W. Burch said that probable cause did exist for the search warrant of Dean’s Facebook and that no capricious conduct had occurred in the execution of the search warrant, thus denying Leonard’s request to quash and suppress.

The more lengthy discussion in court surrounded the defense’s motion to compel the State to be in compliance of discovery of testimony and witnesses. Leonard argued that Brown County State’s Attorney Michael Hill had not provided summary information of testimony on the state’s witnesses. The attorneys and Judge Burch read through the witness list and gave summary information on what about a dozen witnesses that may be used during the upcoming trial. Judge Burch ordered the state to turn over as much information as possible in discovery, particularly surrounding witnesses that may or may not be called in regards to Dean’s Facebook Messenger conversations.

Hill took exception to Leonard’s request for witnesses from the volume of documents in court. Hill says it was a matter of understanding Leonard’s request at the time: “Supplying the witnesses will take care of Mr. Leonard’s questions, and I think the court alluded to that. I can’t just walk up and put 1,500 pages on the desk and say: ‘Judge, we’re just going to start reading through these.’ I would have to call witnesses for anything I wanted to use, so that will necessarily narrow that down. To Mr. Leonard’s question, he didn’t phrase it, to me, as ‘I need more witnesses from you and let me know who you are going to call,’ which of course I have a duty to do that. It was almost as if he wanted me to cut those down before that, and maybe I misunderstood his point or his motion. That’s basically what it amounts to.”

The other major issue surrounding the case prior to trial is jury selection. Leonard has asked that the court have the interview of potential jurors occur on an individual basis. Jury summons for the upcoming trial is set to be sent out in a few weeks and there is a potential for 150 jury candidates for the case. Hill says he understands the reason for the motion and may agree with it: “Given the nature of the case and the size of our community perhaps doing it one at a time is the best way that we ensure that we get a fair and impartial jury. That’s why I indicated that I’m leaning toward agreeing to the motion. I guess we will have to discuss that further when we have our next pre-trial [hearing]. I don’t know.”

The next pre-trial conference is set for August 11^th at 3PM with the trial anticipated to begin on September 20^th. According to the court, the trial is expected to last approximately two weeks once proceedings begin.

The Illinois State Police needs the public’s help to locate a missing Washington County, Missouri woman at this hour.

At the request of the Washington County, Missouri Sheriff’s Office, the Illinois State Police have activated a missing or endangered person alert for 65 year old Carol Nance.

Nance, who is a white female, stands 5 foot 4 and weighs 116 pounds. She has gray hair and wears glasses. She was last seen at 2:00 pm July 29th.

Nance is driving a blue 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup with Missouri license plate 2PDY31. Nance has a condition which places her in danger, according to police.

Any person with information regarding the whereabouts of Carol Nance should contact the Washington County Sheriff”s Office at 573-438-0040 or contact 9-1-1.

The State of Illinois today announced that face coverings are now required in all State facilities for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

The announcement was spurred by the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows the majority of Illinois’ 102 counties are experiencing substantial or high COVID-19 transmission rates.

The state says it’s taking the action to protect its employees. The CDC and the Illinois Department of Public Health are also recommending that everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear a mask in public indoor setting in areas with substantial and high transmission.

The state says it will continue to evaluate the need for additional mitigations and will not hesitate to reimpose them to protect the public’s health.

State employees, regardless of their vaccination status, must (1) wear a face covering that covers their nose and mouth while in a workplace or performing work duties in indoor settings outside of their residence, unless they have a medical condition that prevents them from doing so; and (2) at all times, or as much as reasonably possible, maintain physical distancing of at least six feet from any other person while in a workplace or performing work duties outside of their residence.

Visitors over the age of 2 are required to wear face coverings while inside State offices and facilities unless they are unable to medically tolerate a face covering.

In addition, State facilities will continue to receive regular cleaning services and all employees will be provided with cleaning supplies to disinfect personal work spaces and other high touch horizontal and vertical spaces.

18^th District Congressman Darin LaHood is urging the U.S. House to act on foreign intelligence surrounding the origins of COVID-19.

LaHood took to the House floor on Monday asking the chamber to pass Senate Bill 1867, the COVID–19 Origin Act of 2021. The Senate Bill passed with unanimous consent on May 26^th.

LaHood says it would require the Biden Administration to declassify information about the deadly virus’ origin: “This legislation which passed the Senate by unanimous consent is simple. If passed, the bill would require the Biden Administration’s Director of National Intelligence to declassify intelligence information related to any potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology, also known as the Wuhan Lab, and the origins of COVID-19 in order to better prepare and avoid future pandemics.”

LaHood says that he and fellow Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released an interim report on the facts of the virus’ origins: “Here are the facts: number one, based on numerous reports that the researchers at the Wuhan Lab fell sick with COVID-related symptoms in the Fall of 2019; number two, we also know that there was active engagement by the Chinese military at the Wuhan Lab; and three, we know that the Chinese government has continued to hinder our efforts for data collection and transparency in this investigation. Essentially, Mr. Speaker, they have been non-transparent and non-cooperative. The bottom line is the American people deserve a full accounting of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in shutting down our economy, massive amounts of deaths across the world, and millions of people out of work.”

LaHood has joined with Ohio Republican Congressman Brad Wenstrup to bring the chamber to action on parent legislation to the senate bill. Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher introduced parent legislation to the senate bill on May 13^th that is currently stalled in committee.

A Pittsfield man charged in April of last year with criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse was found guilty by a jury in Pike County on Monday.

23 year old Clayton G. Watts was found guilty of criminal sexual assault by force and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child on Monday.

The April 2020 charges stem from allegations that Watts had forced sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl in November 2019, according to charging documents.

Watts has five additional counts of criminal sexual assault in three separate cases pending trial, with status hearings set for September 7^th. Watts also has a pending controlled substance possession charge in relation to the April 2020 traffic stop.

Watts was arrested in a traffic stop by Pike County Sheriff’s Deputies in April of last year after a result of a month-long investigation by local authorities into allegations that Watts allegedly had sexual contact with a person under the age of 18. The earliest complaint about Watts allegedly goes back to May 2018.

Watts’ sentencing in this first case is scheduled for September 17^th.

Due to a recent increase in COVID-19 cases, IL Secretary of State Jesse White announced today that Driver Services facilities, Secretary of State offices, and the Illinois State Capitol Building will require all employees and customers to wear a mask beginning Monday.

White stressed that it is imperative for his facilities to remain open to serve the public to reduce the heavy customer volume caused by the pandemic over the last year. White said reinstating the mask policy for employees and customers will help achieve this goal.

White continues to urge the public to consider using online services at cyberdriveillinois.com when possible instead of visiting a facility due to heavy customer volume. White also wishes to remind the public that his office extended expiration dates for driver’s licenses and ID cards until January 1^st and the federal government has extended the federal REAL ID deadline to May 3, 2023.