Illinois College is welcoming the return of the Engelbach-Hart Music Festival this month.

The event is an admission-free event as a gift to the community and part of the Illinois College Fine Arts Series. The festival is made possible by a gift from the Engelbach and Hart families.

This year’s festival kicks off Friday, Oct. 27^th, at 7:30 p.m. with a Faculty Collage Concert. The concert will present a variety of pieces for voice and instruments showcasing the talents of IC music faculty.

Saturday, October 28th’s concert will feature the return of acclaimed Bass-Baritone Frank Ward, who last sang on the Illinois College stage in 2016.

The festival concludes Sunday, Oct. 29, at 3 p.m. with the internationally renowned a cappella vocal ensemble, Cantus.

According to the announcement, the low-voice ensemble is widely known for a trademark warmth and blend, innovative programming, and riveting performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century.

All three shows are free and take place at Rammelkamp Chapel. For more information about Illinois College’s Fine Arts Series, including the Engelbach-Hart Music Festival, log on to ic.edu/fas.

A Jacksonville man was arrested by Conservation Police Friday for arson.

According to a press release from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, sometime Friday the sheriff’s office responded to a section of Hillcrest Road in Nebo for a report of a man who was setting fire to various fields.

Illinois Conservation Police Officer Jordan Roundcount, and Calhoun County Sergeant Zach Hardin responded to the scene. Officer Roundcount arrived on scene first and took a male subject into custody according to the report.

The North Calhoun Fire Protection District also responded to the scene and was able to extinguish several fires that authorities say had been intentionally set.

36-year-old Brandon L. Capps of Jacksonville, no address provided, was arrested and has since been charged with arson, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct. Capps was also wanted on a Jersey County warrant for failure to appear in court on an undisclosed charge.

Capps remains held without bond at the Greene County Jail awaiting an appearance at the Calhoun County Courthouse.

Morgan County voters will have new representation next year after one of the county commissioners has decided to call it a career.

Current Morgan County Commissioner Chair Ginny Fanning announced today that she is not seeking reelection for a new term in 2024.

Fanning was appointed as a Commissioner in August 2014 after the passing of the late Dick Rawlings. She was elected to the office that November, and later became the first woman to hold the chairperson’s seat in Morgan County in 2016.

She was also elected to the Jacksonville Hall of Fame earlier this year.

In the announcement, Fanning says it has been an honor and privilege to serve as a Morgan County Commissioner, and she will continue to work on the many ongoing projects the county board has at this time.

10/09/2023 2:15 pm

A boil order has been issued in the City of Greenfield due to a water main break.

The order is for residents on Prairie Street from Cedar to Cherry including Railroad Street.

The boil order is in effect until further notice.

A Jacksonville man who was arrested following an hours-long standoff with police is headed to prison.

53-year-old Edward A. Flowers was in Morgan County Court for a pre-trial hearing this afternoon, stemming from his arrest by Jacksonville’s Special Response Team on August 7^th of this year.

He was alleged to have robbed Dunlap Beverages in the 200 block of Dunlap Court at gunpoint and then fled the scene on foot. Flowers allegedly pointed a handgun at police before retreating inside of an apartment house in the 400 block of West College Avenue, resulting in a nearly four-hour standoff with area law enforcement.

Flowers was facing charges of Class 1 Felony aggravated robbery with indication of a firearm; Class 3 Felony aggravated battery in a public place; and Class 4 Felony aggravated assault of a peace officer.

Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll says instead of proceeding with the pre-trial hearing this afternoon, Flowers pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery charge. Noll says due to how recent it was that Flowers was arrested and charged, the sudden plea was unexpected.

“The offense date on this is August 7^th and it is now October 3^rd. Usually, cases like this take a little more time to resolve so it was a little bit of a surprise to the parties that we were able to resolve it today, but it’s not completely unusual.”

Flowers was sentenced today to serve ten years in the Illinois Department of Corrections with one year of mandatory supervised release, and given a variety of fines, fees, and court costs.

Noll says since his arrest, he believes Flowers’ change of heart and subsequent plea stems from his now being in a better mental state. “I think that Mister Flowers, certainly by his own account in court and based on other evidence presented, I think Mister Flowers was suffering from some sort of mental health episode on the date that this took place.

Not to the extent that he wasn’t responsible for his actions that day, however since being in custody he has gotten back on a regular schedule of medicine and was in a good frame of mind today.”

Noll says during the subsequent investigation following Flowers’ arrest, police determined that the weapon he used in the robbery and allegedly pointed at police was found to be not an actual firearm, and instead was a BB gun.

Noll says he compliments the Jacksonville Police Department, who showed a lot of professionalism that day by the manner in which they handled the whole ordeal.

An area Sheriff says multiple people can expect charges after deputies were accosted and battered during what he says was a “shameful” treatment of law enforcement following a weekend car show.

In a press release this morning, from Pike County Sheriff David Greenwood, details were announced of an incident following the conclusion of the Barry Car Show Sunday.

Greenwood says recently he fielded a number of concerns from people who sit along Pike County Highway 4 and State Highway 106 in Barry in an area that has become customary for vehicles to spin their tires while onlookers encourage and cheer them on after the show.

He says complaints came into his office on safety concerns after a number of close call incidents over the last few years including an onlooker almost being struck by a car losing control, and a near head-on collision with a vehicle coming off I-72 in another instance.

Greenwood says he ordered his deputies to issue citations yesterday to anyone they saw violating the Illinois Vehicle Code. He says several years ago citations that were issued at the event were torn up for unknown reasons and those committing the infractions were not charged.

According to the account, one Pike County Sheriff’s patrol vehicle “was damaged as it was surrounded by hundreds of people, kicking it, denting it, scraping it, [and having] liquids thrown on it as a deputy who had just taken someone into custody was trying to leave the scene.”

“After attempts to get subjects to move, the deputy would get into his car and the subjects would get back out in front of it, keeping him from leaving. Pepper spray was eventually deployed to clear the crowd so the deputy could leave. The vehicle was repeatedly spat on at this event.”

Greenwood, who was also on scene Sunday, called it “completely shameful the way some of the citizens of Barry treated law enforcement”, the worst disrespect he has seen in his more than 24 years as an officer in Pike County.

He says people he has known for decades were yelling obscenities at Pike County Deputies including children who also made obscene gestures toward them.

Greenwood says it has also come to his attention that a social media buzz has grown out of the incident with word that one of his deputies had been “stripped of his badge” and fired, which he says in the announcement is not true, and that deputies acted valiantly, with two of them being in fear for their lives at the time.

According to the report, the Pike County Sheriff’s Office is reviewing video taken from the event, and criminal charges for individuals involved in damaging patrol cars, obstructing justice, mob action and aggravated battery of a peace officer will be presented to the Pike County State’s Attorney’s office with a request to file charges on these individuals.

Greenwood says his officers issuing citations was not at the request of Mayor Rennecker, who contacted him last week asking for a police presence at the scene for safety. Greenwood says the scenario would have been asking officers to ignore unsafe violations of the law without acting.

A request for an interview by WLDS News was declined today by Sheriff Greenwood, who cited a lack of available time due to the ongoing investigation.

Complete press release:

The investigation of the alleged mishandling of cremated remains by a Carlinville funeral home has ties to Morgan County residents.

On Friday, Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon announced an investigation had been opened into the practices of Heinz Funeral Home and Family Care Cremations in Carlinville after authorities discovered multiple instances of families who were provided cremated remains that were not their actual family members.

In a statement this afternoon to WLDS News after we inquired if any Morgan County residents were known to have been affected by the alleged incidents surrounding the Heitz Funeral Home and Family Care Creations, Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson confirmed that in March of this year, her office filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation based on a mishandling of a deceased person by the Heinz Funeral Home.

Patterson says, after an initial family complaint, it was found the decedent was not properly cared for and cremation services were not provided as required by law.

The Morgan County Coroner brought the decedent back to Morgan County and cremation services were provided by a local funeral home, approximately eight weeks after the decedent had died. Patterson says she filed an official complaint at that time.

In June, another Morgan County family issued concerns about their cremations, and a follow-up call was made to the IDFPR. The most recent family learned they are not in possession of their loved one’s cremains.

The cremains they are in possession of will be turned over to the Sangamon County Coroner (Sangamon County ashes) and efforts are being continued to locate the cremains of the Morgan County resident.

Coroner Patterson says in the statement that “This is an extreme dereliction of duty”, and that she will continue to work with IDPFR and the assigned task force to make sure these cases are identified and cremains are returned to their rightful families.

Patterson says anyone with questions or concerns can call the Morgan County Coroner’s Office at 217-245-7423.

A two-year-old case where a Jacksonville man was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash concluded this morning in Morgan County Circuit Court.

32-year-old Edward E. Baldwin III of the 600 block of South East Street pleaded guilty to an amended Class A misdemeanor charge of failure to report an accident, which was filed with the court by the Morgan County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Baldwin was originally cited for Class 1 felony failure to report an accident causing a death, Class 2 felony failure to report an accident causing injury, and Class 4 leaving the scene of an accident causing an injury and/or death.

Baldwin was accused of leaving the scene of a crash in the 400 block of South East Street on the evening of April 13, 2021. Baldwin’s vehicle is said to have collided with a motorcycle driven by 22-year-old Richard J. Gregory. Gregory died in an area hospital nearly two weeks later.

Assistant State’s Attorney Chad Turner says the negotiated plea was reached after a lengthy process. “It was a process of a lot of back-and-forth negotiations between the defense and our office. And it was kind of a recognition that the defendant did not cause this accident, and his criminal liability was strictly for actions that occurred after the accident happened, and that had he acted differently, it would not have changed this tragic outcome.”

Visiting Scott County Judge David Cherry approved the terms of the plea as submitted by the State’s Attorney’s Office and sentenced Baldwin to 2 years of probation and 180 days in the Morgan County Jail, which was stayed and would be vacated upon his fulfilling the terms of his probation.

Baldwin was ordered to not consume alcohol or cannabis during the course of his probation, complete 30 hours of community service, maintain full-time employment and pay a $500 fine plus fees and court costs.

Prior to sentencing, the court heard a victim impact statement from Richard J. Gregory’s aunt Leanne Dean dated February 22, 2022, in which said she is positive neither of these young men planned on participating in the event that would change their lives forever, and neither intended any harm.

She went on to say she holds no ill will to Mr. Baldwin or his family, and that she was certain they were struggling with the outcome as much as hers has. Turner says the feelings expressed by Gregory’s family weighed heavily on the final outcome.

“It was nice that the [Gregory] family recognized that the tragic outcome in this was not the fault of the defendant. But also expressed that actions have consequences and when you have an accident that causes property damage or personal injury, what you do after the accident can be criminal if you fail to report it.

Thankfully in this particular case, we had no doubts that sometimes you have a situation where there is an accident and you think to yourself- man if they would have just called a minute earlier, or five minutes earlier. That was not the case in this particular case because there were bystanders that saw it happen and immediately reported it to emergency medical services and so forth, so that wasn’t the case.”

The financial obligations were waived per a 404 filing for indigence. Turner says the motion filed by Public Defender Tom Piper was in compliance with a recently changed legal procedure. “The Supreme Court has determined that in the past indigent defendants always had the right to file a motion to have those waived based on their inability to pay. Recently they have changed that from having the right to file it to defendants that are represented by a public defender, that public defender is now required to file that motion. And upon that motion, if the court finds that the defendant is indigent then they vacate the fines and costs.

At least theoretically, and I think it works the way it’s supposed to for probably ninety percent of the time, the public defender is only supposed to represent people that are indigent, so the thought being, if they qualify for the public defender, they probably qualify for the waiver of fines, fees, and costs.”

Before adjourning the hearing this morning, Judge Cherry ordered Baldwin to seek and attend counseling, saying that it would be a “terrible shame to lose two people to this [incident].”

-Ben Cox contributed to this story.

More questions than answers face Jacksonville and Morgan County leaders when it comes to having adequate emergency service response in the area.

The Municipal Ambulance Commission met Thursday morning to discuss the increasing lack of available ambulances able to respond to emergencies in the area.

Representatives from the Morgan County Health Department, Jacksonville Fire Department, Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, LifeStar Ambulance Service, and the Jacksonville/Morgan County Office of Emergency Response joined in the discussion on how to better meet the community’s EMS needs.

It was the first time the Municipal Ambulance Commission met since 2018, the same year America Ambulance left town. In 2020, the South Jacksonville Village Board of Trustees defunded the village’s ambulance by a vote of 4-1, citing an operational deficit and it being used on calls outside of the village, more than within.

Morgan County ESDA Director Phil McCarty said Thursday that overall, the number of EMS calls is down compared to this time last year, however, responses are not improving. “It’s seen everywhere. The volunteerism is down for our volunteer agencies throughout the county. It’s just not a pretty situation anywhere within EMS in a lot of places. It’s going to take a community approach to look for solutions to make sure that in the time of need, we have those resources here.”

Jacksonville’s ordinance requires that three staffed ambulances need to be available in the city. McCarty said during the meeting that LifeStar EMS has met that threshold approximately 2% of the time this year, with two ambulances available roughly 85% of the time and only one unit the rest of the time.

McCarty said the stats were not intended to throw blame at LifeStar, but moreover to show how great the need is in just one area of the county.

Chief Executive Officer for LifeStar, John Wright says they have the equipment to meet the requirements, they just can’t staff them. He says LifeStar has continued to try a number of avenues to attract paramedics and EMTs to staff their ambulances.

“Sign on bonuses, we do an earn-to-learn program where we will actually pay you to go to EMT school and then you sign on with maybe a one-year or two-year contract. We’ll also do that again with paramedic programs. So I mean, we’re offering to pay you while you go to school and get training to give you a job.”

Wright says it’s not just LifeStar that is facing shortages due to staffing issues. He says recent legislative changes have not helped recruitment efforts either. “It’s national. You can look at the numbers in every state.

Illinois in general has just switched to a national registry program within the last couple of years to where it is a national standard curriculum. But the problem is, most of that is taught as a college-accredited course. Whereas, in older times we could say- hey we’re having an EMT class, come learn to be an EMT. We provide the books, and the education, and maybe we get a couple of staff members out of that. So some hindrance on the part of finding people. You’re still getting quality people from the national curriculum, but it’s a struggle.”

McCarty says at any given time, there are approximately 12 rolling stock ambulances ready to go in Morgan County, and both services like LifeStar or volunteer departments such as Murrayville and Meredosia continue to struggle in fielding enough staff to drive them. McCarty says, however, that the issues go beyond the need for qualified help.

“The jobs are moving around, it’s just something like we’ve never seen. But even the equipment to get things done. We’re seeing thirty-six-plus months on ambulances to get turned around from new.

All those things impact everything, but the bottom line is the heart attacks, the difficulty breathing, the auto accidents, all those things aren’t stopping, and we as a community need to be agile enough at the government level to make sure we’re providing those services for our citizens.”

McCarty says other issues such as the recent staffing cutbacks in the Memorial Health System could also have an effect with the possibility of more medical transfers from JMH to another facility increasing the drag on available ambulances.

One idea discussed during the meeting is the possibility of bringing in a consultant to look at the system as a whole. McCarty says it is something they have looked into and discussed with both city and county officials.

“We’ve talked to a couple of firms and looked at the scope of work and stuff like that because that drives what the ultimate cost of the project is going to be. So what that would look like is they would come in and evaluate all of the data points. Not just for the City of Jacksonville, because if we build a castle in the city with a moat around it, then all of the people in the county are not protected and that’s not the goal of this.

We have to look at a more holistic approach and the agencies in the county that have volunteers are struggling to provide those services, once again by no fault of theirs. But we’ve got to have those services. So what is a foundation as well as a path for the future.”

McCarty says if a consultant were to be brought in to analyze the needs of the area, it hopefully would be via a joint effort between the City of Jacksonville and Morgan County.

Wright said during the meeting that they expect the number of available personnel to continue to fall in the coming years. Information gathered during the meeting will be passed on to the Jacksonville City Council for their consideration.

One of Jacksonville’s newest events is returning to the downtown square on the first Saturday in October.

The second annual Jacksonville Main Street Fundfest is Saturday, October 7th. The event was the idea of several Jacksonville business owners last year during a benefit for the late Doug Warcup. The event serves as a fundraiser for the downtown concert series.

Main Street Executive Director Judy Tighe says, several sponsors have again teamed up to bring the event back this year, which will include some familiar faces. “We did it last year and it was a big success so this year we’re going to have Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters come back for a second time.

The event actually runs from 2:00 to 6:00 and the band is going to play from 3:00 to 6:00. It’s free to come and listen to this local favorite. It was always kind of a dream to have them come and play downtown, and it was so much fun last year that we decided to have them back.”

Admission to the event is free, as with all downtown concerts presented by Jacksonville Main Street, but funds will be raised by selling wine as well as drink products from both Chick Fritz and Golden Eagle Distributors.

Tighe says food trucks will be on hand and, as always, attendees are encouraged to patronize one of several dining options found downtown.

After the 2023 Fundfest, attendees are invited to continue the fun at the Don’s Place Post Party, where Joel Honey will play at 6 p.m. The 2nd Annual Jacksonville Main Street Fundfest kicks off on Saturday, October 7th at 2:00 pm, with Captain Geech hitting the stage at 3:00.