One person was killed and another seriously injured in a motorcycle crash in Pike County on Saturday.
According to a preliminary report by the Illinois State Police, Troop 6 Troopers responded to a report of a single vehicle crash involving a motorcycle on Illinois Route 106, one-half mile north of Illinois Route 54 at approximately 12:15 pm.
Two occupants were air-lifted to a local hospital with injuries. One of the occupants later succumbed to those injuries.
Illinois Route 106 was shut down for more than two hours for a crash investigation. The roadway was reopened at approximately 2:30 p.m..
No further information was provided by the Illinois State Police. As of press time, the Pike County Coroner’s Office has not released any information.
According to a preliminary report by the Illinois State Police, Troop 6 officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle crash on U.S. 67 at Woodson Winchester Road at approximately 215 Saturday afternoon. Two people were pronounced deceased at the scene. Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson confirmed the deaths in a statement late Saturday night.
The State Police also confirmed that two occupants were airlifted to regional hospitals with injuries, and two other occupants were transported to regional hospitals with injuries. No further information about the incident or the condition of those transported has been released at this time.
Muddy River News is reporting at this hour that the two who were pronounced deceased were both students at Pittsfield High School. Late Saturday night, Pikeland Superintendent of Schools, Todd Fox, announced via social media the sudden passing of Pike High School senior Jesse Davidsmeyer and junior Joel Noble.
The crash is the second tragedy to the Pikeland Schools community involving students this year. Freshman and standout basketball star Reese Ramsey lost her life in a two-vehicle crash on Illinois Route 106 on February 11th.
Fox said in the announcement Saturday “as a school and a community, we are in absolute shock and overwhelmed with grief,” and that “counseling and additional resources will be available at Pikeland for anyone in need”, including students, staff, and community members. Fox is also encouraging parents to talk with their children and reach out if additional support is needed.
Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson says the names of the deceased are being withheld at this time pending the notification of next of kin. All lanes of traffic on US 67 were shut down for approximately six hours for investigation at the scene and were reopened just after 8:00 pm.
Patterson says the incident remains under investigation by the Morgan County Coroner’s Office and the Illinois State Police, and no further information will be released at this time.
The public is asked for tips on a pair of crimes that occurred Friday in Jacksonville. Jacksonville Police are seeking information on a suspect involved in a hit-and-run that occurred early this morning.
Officers responded to a single-vehicle crash in the 500 block of South Church Street at approximately 1:45 a.m. Saturday. According to a police report, a car was traveling southbound on South Church when it struck a utility pole.
The vehicle was disabled in the crash, and the driver of the vehicle then fled from the scene. According to the report, officers said it appeared the driver had sustained injuries in the crash. The car had to be towed from the scene, and the driver remains unidentified as of press time.
Police are also seeking information on a retail theft from Friday. Officers were called to the Hy-Vee grocery store located at 1255 West Morton Avenue at approximately 3:30 Friday afternoon. According to the report, a male subject removed merchandise from the store without attempting to pay for it. No description of the suspect was provided in police reports as of press time.
Anyone with information on either of these incidents is asked to contact the Jacksonville Police Department by calling 217-479-4630 or leaving an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott, and Cass Counties by calling 217-243-7300.
Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott, and Cass Counties has added yet another way crime tips can be submitted anonymously. Residents in the area will start seeing Crime Stoppers QR codes popping up soon.
Crime Stoppers Coordinator Loren Hamilton says the QR code is an idea the local board has been working on for some time. He says they will initially start popping up at area businesses. “We have decals made up that we hope to get out to convenience stores, retail stores, and the like that have the QR code on them. So all you’ll have to do is just scan the code as you walk by it. Originally, the plan was to get the code into the schools. That is still the plan, but we will have to wait until the start of the school year.”
The QR code takes the user to the Morgan, Scott, Cass Crime Stoppers website, where they can access the online crime tip submission form.
Hamilton says if you have a business or property where you would like to display the new Crime Stoppers QR code, contact him at the Jacksonville Police Department or any Morgan, Scott, Cass Crime Stoppers board member to get one.
Tips can also be submitted via the Morgan, Scott, Cass Crime Stoppers Facebook page, directly to the website at morganscottcrimestoppers.com, or by calling Crime Stoppers at 243-7300.
Hamilton reminds that tips are always anonymous, regardless of how they are submitted, and if your tip leads to an arrest, you will be eligible for a cash reward.
Motorists traveling through the intersection of Main and Morton in Jacksonville likely did a double-take Friday morning. A number of area law enforcement officers were camped out on the roof of Dunkin’ Donuts in an effort to raise money for the Illinois Special Olympics.
Representatives from the Jacksonville and South Jacksonville Police Departments, along with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office and West Central Joint Dispatch, took turns on the roof waving at traffic and collecting donations.
Luke Poore with the Jacksonville Police Department says being involved with the Special Olympics is near and dear to his heart. “I’ve been in the Special Olympics for probably seventeen or more years. It started when I was in college, when a retired State Trooper got me involved.
Special Olympics is probably one of my favorite parts of my job, it’s just uh, it’s pure joy. One hundred percent of the proceeds we raise go to the athletes all throughout the state.”
Law enforcement was on hand till noon Friday, selling items such as t-shirts, hats, and coffee mugs as well as taking any general donation from folks willing to help while they grabbed their morning coffee and doughnut.
Poore says if you missed the chance to get by to donate, you can still pitch in to help by going to the Jacksonville Police Department, where you can scan posted QR codes to donate online, or give cash or a check to Luke Poore, and he will get it to the Special Olympics.
The Cop on a Rooftop Campaign is a statewide event held every year by Special Olympics Illinois and Dunkin’ Donuts. Donors can choose which police organization on whose behalf they want to donate. To donate online or find out more information, go to support.soill.org.
The Village of South Jacksonville swore in a new Trustee Thursday night, however, the village will still need to fill two vacancies on the board going forward.
Jeffery W. Coleman was sworn in to fill an open seat on the Village of South Jacksonville Board of Trustees during a special meeting Thursday night.
Coleman served on the board until this year’s April Consolidated Election after he had chosen not to run for a second term last fall, citing more time with family and health concerns.
Village President Dick Samples says at the time, Coleman’s decision centered primarily on his health.
Coleman says everyone in the administration has been supportive throughout the health-related process from the very beginning when he first chose not to seek reelection.
Coleman, who works for Reynolds Consumer Products, says one of his three young children attends school at South Elementary. He and his family want to stay and continue to enjoy the community, and he enjoys serving Village residents as a Trustee.
Not long after Coleman was sworn into office, Village President Dick Samples announced that Trustee Tom Luber will be retiring from his seat on the village Board.
Luber says he and his family are downsizing to a single-level home in the City of Jacksonville. In the interim, he says he will remain on the board for another one to two months while he is still a legal resident of the village.
A Jacksonville man was arrested Thursday in what may have been an effort by the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Little was known Friday about the arrest other than that 29-year-old Austin R. Castleberry of the 1000 block of East Morton Avenue was booked into the Morgan County Jail at approximately 4:45 pm Thursday for child pornography.
Castleberry has been charged with one felony count of child pornography and three felony counts of possession of child pornography.
At approximately 8:45 am Thursday, Jacksonville Police were listed as assisting the Attorney General’s Office at the Jacksonville Police Department located at 200 West Douglas Avenue. No further information other than the assist was completed was included in the report.
No agency was listed in Morgan County Sheriff’s Office booking reports as of Friday morning. Sources with both the Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Police Department have confirmed to WLDS News that the arrest was initiated by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and a press release would be coming from that agency.
Emails to media personnel with the Attorney General’s Office remain unanswered as of press time. Castleberry remains held at the Morgan County Jail. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, June 17th.
Authorities are investigating after a body was found along Illinois Route 104 Friday afternoon.
Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon confirmed the death of an adult male who was found in a wooded area near the 3500 block of Route 104 sometime Friday afternoon.
According to the press release from the Sangamon County Coroner’s Office late Friday, the identity will be released once he has been scientifically identified and his next of kin has been notified.
An autopsy has been scheduled and the incident is currently under investigation by the Sangamon County Coroner’s Office and the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
No further information has been provided as of press time.
A new exhibit at the Jacksonville Area Museum showcases the Morgan County Courthouse and the hard work of area students.
The Routt Catholic High School AP U.S. History class unveiled this year’s class project in the form of a short-term exhibit at the museum on Wednesday afternoon.
Instructor Lisa Hall says this is the third year the class has created an exhibit in class, with the first year’s topic being Routt and then the Morgan County Fair last year.
She says the Morgan County Courthouse as a subject was an obvious choice for the class. “Several of the kids have connections to civil workers, so we chose the courthouse and started right away with trying to come up with text.
A couple of the boys came up with a storyline of what we wanted to tell, and then we kind of paired that with finding artifacts. We’ve had umpteen trips to the courthouse to find artifacts.”
Routt Junior Talon Thompson worked in the group who were assigned to do research on the history of the Morgan County Courthouse. “I was going through old documents, old photos- all that other sort of stuff, and then basically narrowing it down to a list of things for our other teams to start working on to present. People who typed up the information, people who printed it, people who put it together.”
“It feels pretty good, it does feel good to have something I worked on in the museum. It was nice being able to see it all coming together.”
Junior Owen Geirnaeirt also worked on the research group with Thompson and Jacob Brown. Owen has a special connection to the courthouse as his mother, the late Jenny Geirnaeirt, served as Morgan County Treasurer.
He says he is proud of the work that his class, and especially his group, did to see the exhibit come to fruition. “I feel like that was one of the most important parts because with my knowledge, I could help show people what it was about, and its good to be done.
We started in December, and my group of three was really the first to work on it. So now, here in Ma,y it’s really cool to see how we put something in the museum for Jacksonville, and people can see what we did to help out.”
Hall says the exhibit also had assistance from students at Jacksonville High School. The Woods II class created the wood bases for the displays.
The exhibit will run through July 31st. The Jacksonville Area Museum is in the Old Post Office building at 331 East State Street. Hours are Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 AM to 4 PM, and Sundays from 1 to 4.
The Village of South Jacksonville Board of Trustees heard a presentation on the future of the former State Hospital grounds Thursday night.
The Moving Jacksonville Forward Citizens’ Committee presented during the Village Board’s committee of the whole meeting on Thursday. Co-Chair Rob Thomas spoke on the purpose of Moving Jacksonville Forward is and how their work could help the Village.
The group was asked to attend the meeting after Village President Dick Samples and Trustee Paula Belobrajdic-Stewart each attended a previous meeting of the committee.
Thomas said following the meeting, he was happy the Board of Trustees was so receptive to what he and fellow Co-Chair Ben Cox had to say. “We talked about what the committee is trying to do for the JDC grounds and how it would help and benefit South Jacksonville. They were very responsive and they want a few ideas from us on what we think, and then we will come back to their next meeting and all share ideas.”
Although the former Jacksonville Developmental Center grounds sit completely inside the City of Jacksonville, the southernmost boundary runs up to a portion of South Jacksonville that is almost entirely a residential area.
Stewart said following the meeting on April 24th at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Office, that she would be suggesting the Village draw up a resolution in support of the committee.
Village President Dick Samples said after the committee of the whole, that he feels the completely ad-hoc citizen’s committee is on the right track in how they are working through ideas for what life would be like during and after remediation of the grounds.
“I think it is a group of people that is on the right track and really trying very hard to make the presentation to make this go, to make it work. I think it’s a difficult, almost impossible that it will happen. But I hope it is not. I hope it does go through, I really do.”
The committee was invited to speak at Thursday’s meeting, and will hold its next meeting in the same meeting room in Village Hall next week.
The Moving Jacksonville Forward Citizens’ Committee was created in an effort to help continue pushing state lawmakers to see that the former State Hospital grounds are remediated and develop suggestions as to how the grounds can be best redeveloped.
Moving Jacksonville Forward will next meet on Thursday, May 22nd at 6:00 pm in the South Jacksonville Village Hall on Dewey Drive.
