Marion County Police Beat for Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Centralia Police have arrested two people being sought following weekend domestic battery complaints. 18-year-old Briton McCray of South Brookside in Centralia was arrested for alleged domestic battery to Shyanna Steward of South Sycamore Street. He's accused of breaking her nose during an altercation. She was treated at St. Mary's Hospital following the September 24th incident. McCray is also being held on a Department of Corrections warrant and could also face a misdemeanor possession of cannabis charge in Clinton County Court. Centralia Police say a small amount of cannabis was found in his residence when he was taken into custody. 34-year-old Christine Phillips of South Hickory in Centralia was arrested for alleged domestic battery and on a Department of Corrections warrant. Police say Phillips is accused of striking Mindy Barnes during an altercation at their home on September 25th. A 47-year-old Salem man being sought after allegedly testing positive for drug use and then failing to attend Marion County Drug Court has been arrested on a failure to appear in court warrant. Bond for Mark Hills of Hills Lane was set at $100,000. Hills had pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of methamphetamine when being admitted to drug court and is now expected to move to sentencing on the charge. 21-year-old Matthew Cates of South 20th in Mt. Vernon is being held on an outstanding Marion County misdemeanor warrant. A 25-year-old Dix man, Sean Gaul of Johnson Lane, posted $1,000 bond and was released after turning himself on a warrant for failure to appear on a felony theft case. - http://goo.gl/2Qa5I

Centralia Police Continue Investigation Into Sunday Night Armed Robbery

Centralia Police are continuing to investigate a Sunday night armed robbery of the Centralia Food Mart on East 15th Street. Police reports indicate a man walked into the store saying, "I need all the money out of the cash register right now'. The suspect reportedly pointed a gun at store employees. The man is described as a slim black male, about 5 foot six inches tall and in his early 20's. He was reportedly wearing a black ski mask and black hooded sweatshirt. Meanwhile, a second person reportedly ordered a witness to the ground at gunpoint outside the store. Both men later fled on foot towards the 15th and Hester Street intersection. The Centralia canine lost the track of the suspects on the west side of Poplar Street. Police will use security camera footage to try and identify the suspect inside the store. One person questioned after the armed robbery was released without being charged. - http://goo.gl/IUaGL

Ameren Power Outage Impacts 1,318 Customers, Closes Raccoon And Kell Grade Schools Tuesday

Ameren says an equipment failure led to 1,318 electric customers being left in the dark early Tuesday morning. An Ameren official says the exact cause of the outage is still under investigation. They note repairs will still have to be made when the problem is located. Crews were able to restore power through manual switching. No additional outages are anticipated during the repair process. The outage impacted an area from Odin, east of Centralia, to the Kell and Cartter area. Two schools are closed Tuesday because of the outage. Kell Grade and Raccoon Grade School announced the closure when it was believed the outage would last for a longer period of time. The outage began at 4:30 Tuesday morning. Power came back on shortly after seven am. - http://goo.gl/91ZVx

Centralia City Council Votes No on Selling Property Around Lake Centralia

The Centralia City Council shot down a resolution that the city would sell property on and around Lake Centralia at Monday's council meeting. With a vote of 4-to-1 by the city council, the approval of the resolution was denied. City Manager Dan Ramey told the council he would not recommend selling the lake propertyat this time, as he had many concerns about it. "I know there needs to be something done on the lake, and as I stated in my report to the board, obviously to go forward with something as far as transferring leases again, I think that will start making development of the lake. Something has to be done, but I don't think the city council has enough information at this point to sell the lake at this point", said Ramey. Concerns he pointed out included how to sell the lake property, whether it would be sold to individual lease holders or in one lump sum. He states legally the city cannot subdivide the lake propertyand sell it according to state law. Other concerns included determining the true cost of the lake, as all costs and fees need to be examined more in detail, and the city's potential liability with environmental issues on the lake, properties, and roads near the lake. He says determining the correct property values and potential lease income have yet to be established. The Council received two checks from Dr. Ted VanAcker for the old VFW building, totaling $98,635.60. Dr. VanAcker met with Centralia Mayor Tom Ashby and City Manager Dan Ramey and agreed to deed the property back to the city. The city council took ownership of the property with several stipulations in place. Dr. VanAcker had to pay back forgivable loans in the amount in $70,000, minus the real estate taxes, and $40,000 for the original forgivable grant the city gave him to repair the building. The next city council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 11th due to the Columbus Day Holiday. - http://goo.gl/twtqL

Centralia Finance Committee Makes Recommendations for Reducing Deficit

The Centralia Finance Committee held their meeting regarding budget concerns Monday evening. The committee made recommendations to City Manager Dan Ramey in regards to the city's budget deficit. The deficit has grown from $750,000 in 2006 to $11 million by the end of 2010, with problems particularly in the general fund. The committee says for the rest of this year, there's not going to be much opportunity for personnel cuts and freeze raises. Options include eliminating expenses that are unnecessary to help manage the cash flow better, and limit spending. The committee states the city should be spending about 63-percent of the city budget by this time of year. At this time, the city has spent 69-percent of the budget so far this year. Ramey announced union contracts negotiations have begun with the city, which will affect the budget in the upcoming year. Councilman David Sauer gave a recommendation to close one of thetwo fire stationsin Centralia. He states the population has decreased from 18,000 to 13,000, raising the taxes as well. He says with the city's size, they don't need two fire stations. "We can't be all things to all people. I would love to have the best fire department in the nation here, but we're a poor community; we have a poor tax base. If we're going to have a place where we save money, and eventually have revenues that meet our needs, I'd get rid of big cuts in the fire department", said Bauer. Sauer says the city is paying the price for poor management in the past, and says the city needs to develop a better reserve. There was discussion of making the fire department a volunteer fire department, which would be implemented by 2013 if the contract negotiations fall through. In regards to labor and personnel costs, recommendations included rearranging personnel and duties in departments, including possible temporary workers and layoffs. One possible suggestion included looking at central purchasing for all departments. Suggestions for health insurance could be creating an expense account to monitor health insurance funds. Ramey states the city needs to get in maintenance and planning mode to get the town stabilized. He states the city can't be the highest of the taxing bodies, stating this kills the growth of the town. He says city services can be negotiable, but the budget can't. "The one thing that can't be negotiated is that we have to have enough money to pay the bills and be black in the black, and I think that's the direction we're gonna go", said Ramey. Ramey will make the recommendations to the City Council at a later date. - http://goo.gl/VgIYQ

Fall Harvest Underway for Illinois

Fall harvest is underway with some areas fighting lots of rain…and some parts of the state needing more showers. Southern Illinois has received some precipitation recently, but Central Illinois is still pretty dry. 80 percent of corn is now mature and 22 percent has been harvested. Corn is maturing a little slower up north. Chief State Crop Statistician Brad Schwab says 61 percent of soybeans are now shedding leaves. "Four-percent of the crop was reported harvested compared to 20-percent one year ago, and 12-percent for the five-year-average. Overall the soybean crop is rated in 46-percent good or excellent condition, down one-percentage-point from last week", said Schwab. Nine-percent of sorghum has now been harvested and seven percent of winter wheat has been seeded. Statewide topsoil moisture is rated at 18 percent very short, 36 percent short, 42 percent adequate and four percent surplus. - http://goo.gl/nhRnf

Illinois Cracking Down on Gas Stations and Sales Tax Fraud

Springfield, IL -- The state is cracking down on gas station owners who don't report all of their sales taxes. Sue Hofer, with the Illinois Department of Revenue, says 14 stations are currently under indictment for tax fraud and failure to keep records and more charges may be on the way. "We're not certainly done investigating. The attorney general's office is working with the department of revenue, the bureau of criminal investigation, and those investiations are still ongoing", said Hofer. Since 2008 27-percent of gas stations statewide were found to have pocketed sales tax revenue. Many of those stations paid back the taxes during last year's tax amnesty. The IDR has collected more than 54-million dollars in back taxes from gas stations in the last four years. - http://goo.gl/tx3ZR

IDOT Hiring 16 Supevisors During Budget Crisis

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Illinois Department of Transportation is hiring 16 employees with salaries of up to $100,000 even though critics say they'll duplicate work done by existing staff. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reportsthat IDOT's new "operations supervisors" will not be union members. The agency ran ads about the new jobs shortly after employees now doing similar work won the right to join a union. Operating Engineers Local 150 says the new jobs aren't necessary. Union attorney Ken Edwards says nobody can figure out why they're needed.IDOT spokesman Josh Kauffman says the posts have been planned since 2010 and are necessary for supervising field technicians. The Springfield State Journal-Register first reported the new jobs, which pay from $67,000 to $100,000 a year. - http://goo.gl/dUL99

Marion County Police Beat for Monday, September 26th, 2011

The Marion County Sheriff's Department is investigating vandalism at the Jennifer Thompson home on Selmaville Road in rural Salem. Thompson reported a trampoline and yard light were damaged, trash was scattered through the yard and lawn chairs were placed on the roof. She is uncertain if there was any damage to the roof. Two people remain in the Marion County Jail on outstanding felony failure to appear in court warrants. 48-year-old Kenneth Thornton of North Hickory in Centralia is being held in lieu of $3,000 bond on a criminal damage to property case. 36-year-old Christy Skurat of South Pine in Centralia is being held in lieu of $3,000 bond on a bringing contraband into a penal institution charge. Salem Police arrested a 29-year-old Patoka man when going to a motel room looking for another person on an outstanding warrant. James McKinzie of Louse Creek Road later posted bond and was released from the jail on an outstanding traffic warrant. Bond was set at $750. The person police were originally seeking was not present in the motel room. A 26-year-old Centralia man, Eddie Bender of North Walnut, posted bond and was released after being arrested for alleged possession of cannabis during a traffic stop by Marion County Sheriff's Deputies. - http://goo.gl/0Lp0J

Mob Fight Breaks Out At St. Clair County Jail

(Belleville, IL) -- Five inmates at the St. Clair County jail have additional charges being put on their rap sheet. They're being charged with mob action after they allegedly beat three other inmates over cigarettes. The "Belleville News Democrat" reports the five believed another inmate had managed to sneak cigarettes in illegally but when he and his crew wouldn't turn them over, they were attacked. Authorities say there were no cigarettes. The fight broke out in the jail's gymnasium. That's where the inmates are living as the jail combats a problem with overcrowding. The "Belleville News Democrat" reports 500 inmates are currently in custody, but the jail has a maximum capacity of 360. The three inmates who were attacked received medical treatment at the jail. - http://goo.gl/h7bBt