No one was injured when fire broke out in a mobile home on Jacksonville’s east side Friday night.

The Jacksonville and South Jacksonville Fire Departments responded to the call of fire in a mobile home at 178 Rolling Acres Mobile Estates at approximately 8:30 p.m.

According to officials on scene, the fire was blowing out of both sides of the trailer when crews arrived. The fire was mainly contained in the living room and kitchen area when firefighters made entry. They were able to knock down and extinguish the fire relatively quickly.

Everyone inside the home had made it out before crews arrived, however, a puppy did perish in the blaze.

A preliminary investigation suggests the fire was possibly accidental in nature, however, it remains under investigation. The home was a total loss and no estimate of the damages was available as of press time.

A familiar sound of the fast-approaching holiday season began a little early this year in area stores.

The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign began today (Friday) kicking off the organization’s biggest fundraiser that sets the tone for the following year’s work.

Captain Chris Clarke with the Jacksonville Salvation Army says there is a great need for bell ringers this season, and many locations off indoor kettles to keep from being out in the cold.

He says the Salvation Army has expanded the ways donations can be accepted, even for those who don’t carry cash. “On our signs, we do have a QR code that people can scan. Some of our locations are going to have these new systems that are called tiptap machines so people can donate with their phones. People can always donate by mailing in a check to the Salvation Army, they can give online and all those funds during this time of year that are donated go toward the Red Kettle Campaign.”

Clarke says locally the Jacksonville Salvation Army has a lofty goal this year because the need keeps increasing in the area. “We are looking to raise one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars this year. It is a little bit more than last year, but the need has greatly increased. Some of our programs have seen a five hundred to eight hundred percent increase, especially our food programs.”

Clarke says the Red Kettle Campaign funds programs throughout the entire year, not just during the holidays. “Not only those holiday programs throughout the year but also different social services that we provide whether it’s rent, shelter or utilities, clothing or food. Really people can come to us for anything and we’re going to work to meet their needs.”

Red Kettles will be found this year in Jacksonville at Hy-Vee, Walmart, Midland Farm, Home, J.C. Penney’s, Walgreens, Beals, and Buchheit.

Clarke says anyone who wants to sign up to ring bells for this year’s Red Kettle Campaign can log on to register to ring dot com. He says they suggest a two-hour shift but there is no requirement and help is needed. To find out more information, go to the Jacksonville Salvation Army Facebook page or call 217-245-4440

It was a night of celebrating both the new and the past at a District 117 school last night.

The newly renovated Washington Elementary School opened the doors to the public for an open house Wednesday evening, marking the near end to a more than 18-month renovation cycle that turned the nine-decade-old building into what Superintendent Steve Ptacek calls essentially a brand new building.

Attendees gathered in the new gymnasium for some brief words by Ptacek about the project including noting the care and detail that was taken to save and highlight the school’s classic Art Deco attributes while adding a completely new section to the school.

Ptacek said at the start of the night that times like these are what make nearly two years of stress and mess worth all the effort. “This is a very exciting night. These are some of my favorite nights in this job, seeing the excitement from the community. When the school opens up the first time, watching the kids’ excitement is a great day, and then this is almost as important and fulfilling to see the excitement in the community.”

Ptacek told those gathered that the $13 million project was made possible thanks to the State of Illinois approving the online sales tax which increased the district’s revenue streams enough to make a bond sale possible.

He stressed that both the Washington renovation and the current project at Eisenhower, which is being paid for by ESSER funding, were possible without the use of taxpayer monies being spent.

Washington Elementary School Principal Mary Camerer says the new facility has been a blessing for both students and staff alike. “It has been wonderful. It has totally changed our mood, and our morale, and the students and staff, just enjoy coming to school. They enjoy learning, they enjoy teaching so it has been a tremendous change.”

Camerer said she was thrilled to see and meet so many former students who attended the open house, ranging from class members from just a few years ago to back in the 1940s.

Following the brief presentation, the crowd was allowed to roam the building as they pleased or be led on a tour by one of a number of current Washington students.

Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott & Cass Counties are requesting information to assist the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department in their investigation of a recent burglary.

Sometime between Saturday, October 21^st and Sunday, October 29^th, an unknown person(s) entered a storage unit located in the 2100 block of Old State Road and removed several tools.

Officials say among the tools taken were a Stihl MS 5001 chainsaw, a Stihl MS391 chainsaw, a Snap-On ½-inch drive impact, a Stihl BR200 backpack blower, a Stihl FS 131 brush cutter and attachments.

The police are asking that anyone who has information concerning this incident or any other crimes within the three-county area submit a tip online by going to the Morgan, Scott, Cass Crime Stoppers Facebook page and clicking the Contact Us button on the home page or calling Crime Stoppers at 217-243-7300.

Tips may also be submitted by texting to the word CRIMES (274637). The first word of the text tip must be “payout”. Crime Stoppers says if your tip leads to an arrest, you are eligible for a cash reward.

The Jacksonville Salvation Army is helping to combat homelessness in the area thanks to a pair of grants.

Jacksonville Salvation Army Captain Chris Clarke announced Wednesday morning, that the organization, has for the second year in a row, received grant funding aimed at helping those who are homeless out of the weather and into both temporary and more permanent housing.

Clarke says they are able to assist those who are struggling, including the homeless, any day of the week however, there will be an open event this Friday at the Citadel on West Douglas Avenue to help those who can benefit from the programs.

The first grant is the Emergency Food and Shelter Program which is a FEMA-funded program. Clarke says that the EFSP funding allows the Salvation Army to help those who are homeless by getting them off the street and into temporary housing.

“We have one grant that is specifically to help people who are homeless by providing temporary motel sheltering, and then with that we will put people up for a week at a time and we give them goals to meet each week.

So like if it’s an able-bodied person that is probably going to be getting a job, or they might have limitations that they need to take care of first like if they don’t have an ID or a birth certificate, some reason that they can’t get a job then we’re going to help take care of those. We even buy people like steel-toed shoes, or some people need slip-resistant shoes. If there is something they need to get back to work we will help them with that.

But they have to be working on their situation as well, either getting a job or looking for a place to move into. But they have to be doing something proactive and then we can extend their stay as long as they continue to work on their situation.”

Clarke says the other grant funding via the Rapid Rehousing Program, allows the Jacksonville Salvation Army to help homeless clients to get into a more permanent rental housing situation.

“So if someone is homeless and they can find someplace to stay, they could rent a house or an apartment or really anything as long as they can get a landlord to rent to them. Some people are going to have a challenge with that whether it is with their credit or they have been banned from other housing or other things. If they can find someone willing to rent to them, we can help them.”

Clarke says the program can actually provide rent assistance to homeless clients while they work to get back on their feet financially. He says they work with landlords in the area regularly, but unfortunately, there is a large need for low-income housing availability in the area.

The programs come at a time when the homeless population is on the rise in the Jacksonville area. During last week’s Homelessness Steering Committee meeting, members discussed the increasing need for services in the community. As of that meeting, the New Directions Warming shelter on West State Street was full and unable to accept new people. And if there were openings, some people do not meet all of the requirements to stay.

Clarke says the Salvation Army programs can help these people off the street and that anyone experiencing homelessness is invited to the Salvation Army Citadel located at 331 West Douglas Avenue at 10:30 am Friday for the open event.

Representatives from MCS Community Services as well as additional social workers from the Quincy Salvation Army will be on hand to assist.

A Jacksonville business owner is seeking to modify their current liquor licenses now that grocery stores are allowed to sell hard liquor in the city.

Mayor Andy Ezard informed the City Council last week that Gary Singh has requested a modification for the licenses of his three Jacksonville liquor stores.

Singh and his wife own Top Shelf, The Party House, and Dunlap Court Beverages in Jacksonville. They along with some of their management staff spoke to the council in early October against granting Hy-Vee a request to sell hard liquor saying small locally owned liquor stores could not compete with larger chain stores’ price margins.

The council would end up passing the change by a 5 to 3 vote with two members abstaining during the meeting. Singh is now asking to modify the licenses so they can add gaming to his locations.

Ezard, who is also the city liquor commissioner, says this will be a tough issue for the council. “I knew there would be a lot of different moving parts after we granted Hy-Vee a full liquor license where they could sell spirits, and I’ve got pending applications on my desk of current liquor license holders that would like to move classifications to allow them to have what is considered a pouring license which is a state rule to have gaming.

So I think their intent is, and they spoke at this for a while at the last meeting, is we need a new revenue stream to help, and they feel that gaming would be appropriate in a liquor store.”

If granted, liquor stores in Jacksonville would be allowed to serve a certain amount of alcohol for consumption on the premises like a tavern. The council had a lengthy discussion during last week’s workshop on what the change would look like and how it would work.

Ezard says it will ultimately mean having to create a new class of liquor licenses in the city of Jacksonville. “This was purely discussion. The council also gave us somewhat of a direction on what we need to research. But I think at the end of the day it would be a new classification of license.

It will also I think down the line, the tavern and bar owners themselves with the service organizations that have gaming, will have a say and some input on what they would like to see which could be completely different than what the liquor store owners want.”

Ezard says he anticipates there will be a lot more discussion by the council before any kind of decision can be made on the request.

The Morgan County Clerk is reminding residents that there is not an election next week. County Clerk Jill Waggener says with other states holding elections today and next Tuesday, it has caused a fair amount of confusion locally among both voters and election judges.

“I think that we are just accustomed to having a November election, and of course, the calendars still print Election Day on those. So we have had several calls wanting to know about a November election and that they had not heard anything. So there is not an election in November this year. Our next election will be the primary for the presidential election which is on March 19^th.”

Waggener says her office staff had already fielded several calls Tuesday morning from individuals asking if there is an election next week.

On the election front, however, Waggener says the large amount of work to send updated election cards to all registered voters in Morgan County is almost complete. “At this point, we are almost finished. We’re just in the process of printing out Woodson and I think we have one hundred cards left to print. Everything else has been mailed out. So Woodson should be getting their cards I would say within the next week to week and a half.”

Waggener is also reminding residents to review those new voter registration cards when they arrive and report any errors that may be found. “Again please check those over if you have misspellings. If you have a question about something that is on that please call my office.

Also if you happen to get one for someone who doesn’t live in your house anymore, or children who used to live here and don’t anymore either send those back to us with just a little notation and your initials on it and the relationship, or bring it back to the office and we can get those removed from the roles.”

Anyone with a voter registration card issue can call the Morgan County Clerk’s Office at 217-243-8581, or stop by the office located on the first floor of the Morgan County Courthouse at 300 West State Street in Jacksonville.

Local law enforcement is again joining in on a national event aimed at getting unused prescription drugs off the street.

This Saturday, the Jacksonville Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration are teaming up to host the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

Jacksonville Police Deputy Chief Rodney Cox says the event will be held at the Jacksonville Police Department. “So just come into our lobby and one of our employees will be there to collect any unwanted, old or expired medicines.

We do not take syringes or liquid medicines or anything like that. But your pills, we can collect those and basically, we turn them over to the DEA to be destroyed.”

Officials at the event will collect tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Cox says there are no questions asked at the event and everything is totally anonymous.

Unused prescription drugs can also be dropped off in the Jacksonville Police Department lobby 24 hours a day. Area residents can also use the drop-off located in the South Jacksonville Police Department lobby on Sequoia Drive during business hours.

Cox says the Jacksonville Police Department will also take any illicit and illegal drugs with no questions asked any time of the year to help keep them off the street.

“We will take those, we destroy those more or less ourselves. They [DEA] won’t accept those but we will destroy those as we do the illicit drugs we college as evidence. We’re not going to turn them away.

People don’t think about it, they think about the illicit drugs, but they forget about the prescription medicines where they are just as bad and misused just as bad as the illicit drugs.”

The National Drug Take Back Day is this Saturday, November 28^th, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the lobby of the Jacksonville Police Department located at 200 West Douglas Avenue.

A Springfield woman was sentenced to serve time in prison this week after she siphoned money from a Jacksonville daycare.

40-year-old Bridget Hanson was sentenced on Monday, October 23rd, to 12 months and one day in prison for wire fraud by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Sue E. Myerscough.

Hanson was indicted in October 2020 and pleaded guilty in January of this year.

At the sentencing, the government provided information gathered from a Jacksonville Police Department investigation that, while employed as the director of Our Redeemer Day Care in Jacksonville, Hansen devised a scheme to defraud the daycare by transferring money from the business’s bank accounts to her own bank accounts.

Hansen would also write checks on the daycare’s bank accounts to herself or to cash and use the money for personal expenses. While employed with Our Redeemer, Hansen stole over $45,000, which caused the daycare to cut back on the services it offered and contemplate closing the facility.

At the hearing, Judge Myerscough indicated that Hansen abused her position of trust and her actions caused, not only internal financial hardships to Our Redeemer Day Care but had additional consequences by limiting the day care’s ability to obtain grants and other resources that would enhance the programs for the children in their care.

As part of her sentence, Hansen was ordered to pay a total of $45,894.53 in restitution. The statutory penalties for wire fraud are up to 20 years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, up to 3 years of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment.

No one was injured in a single structure fire on the city’s east side early Thursday evening.

The Jacksonville Fire Department responded to a call of a garage that was on fire at 732 East State Street at 4:47 p.m.

According to the incident report, crews from the main fire station arrived to find an older garage that was fully engulfed in the very rear of the property. No belongings were in the garage and it did not have a roof at the time. Firefighters were able to suppress the fire quickly however most of the structure was destroyed by the blaze.

Fire Department officials say in the report that two residents were cleaning up the old garage when the fire started. One told firefighters that they had been smoking and accidentally left a lit cigarette back there.

No electricity or any other utilities were connected to the garage. The fire was deemed accidental and the building is a total loss. No estimate of damages was available in the report.

Jacksonville Fire Department crews were on scene for approximately 15 minutes.