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TONICA — Resident Art Foltynewicz brought a report to the Tonica Village Board regarding the latest meeting of LaSalle County officials; the meeting con-cerned the alleviation of flooding in the county. The intent of the county meetings is to establish a uniform approach in each community to help prevent or diminish flood damage.
That idea does not sit well with several members of the board.
“My concern is letting them come in with all of these rules and regulations and putting the finger down on us saying you have to do this,” board President Kevin Sluder said. “That’s my biggest concern.”
“Once they get their toe in the door, they’re going to be telling you what to do,” board member Dennis Ford said.
Foltynewicz told the board members of the Army Corps of Engineers came to Tonica after the meeting and offered sug-gestions on how the village should tackle the flooding problem and open up the waterway on Bailey Creek, adding the Corps is look-ing into assisting all of the towns in the area.
“That’s why I’m really concerned, and I don’t want them coming to town,” Sluder said. “To me, they’re going to say, ‘You have to do this; you have to do that.’ All that’s going to do is end up costing us money.”
Tonica is currently enrolled in the National Flood Insurance Program which allows village resi-dents to purchase flood insurance. According to Foltynewicz, failure of the village to adopt the ordi-nances that may come from the county meetings would result in the village not being able to enroll, a claim Sluder disputes.
“How can the county tell us what to enforce?” Sluder said. “They can’t do that. I’m curious how they can kick you out and discriminate against you.”
In other action, the board:• Established public hear-
ings before the May 21 general meeting to discuss the applications for loan and grant money to assist in water and sewer repair work. The hearings will start at 6 p.m.
• Agreed to discuss and perhaps take action on an ordinance allowing golf carts or similar vehicles to oper-ate in the village limits. Sev-eral residents attended the meeting to encourage the board to allow the vehicles to be used. A meeting to dis-cuss the issue is tentatively scheduled for May 14. A
representative from Pontiac, which has had an ordinance in place for a few years, will bring a copy of its ordinance and discuss how the city has fared with it.
• Agreed to the sale of the old water tower site to Don Sweitzer for $9,000.
• Approved the applica-tion from Steven Ebener to join the Tonica Volunteer Fire Department.
• Approved a 4 percent pillow tax in anticipation of any future hotel/motel con-struction.
• Approved the inter-fund transfer of $15,000 from TIF funds to general funds.
1 Front
The Tonica NewsVolume 141 No. 9 Friday, April 25, 2014
WENONA — A crowd of more than 300 people filled the Wenona Fieldcrest School April 17 to express their views on a proposed corporate hog farm planned for Marshall County; many residents from neighbor-ing Putnam and LaSalle coun-ties were in attendance. The Illinois Department of Agricul-
ture hearing — which lasted six hours — drew supporters and opponents of the Sandy Creek Lane farm in an often heated discussion of the merits and flaws of building the farm out-side Wenona.
The birth-to-ween farm has been proposed by Veterinary Medical Center Management Corporation from Williams-burg, Iowa. VMC spokesper-son Nicolas Rippel is original-
ly from Toluca and explained the animals would be housed in three large buildings that would be constructed to store up to one year’s waste of the estimated 20,000 pigs in the project, approximately 10 million gallons. Waste would then be spread over 1,200 acres of farmland as fertilizer. Rippel said the environmen-tal and odor impact would be minimal.
“The facility will have deep-pit-ted barns with no open lagoons,” Rippel said. “The birthing barn will be cleaned between each birthing unit. We’ll have tree buf-fers, and the nutrients we use for feed eliminate a lot of the smell. This is really more about misun-derstanding and misinformation, and we’re trying to get the true information out there.”
LEONORE — Commu-nity service often runs in the family, with each gen-eration teaching the next to give back to the com-munity. That’s definitely true for Tonica School Board member Marty Wiesbrock.
“People look at volun-teering in different ways, and I think at some point everybody should take their turn in serving the community in one facet or another,” Wiesbrock said.
“My grandfather helped found the fire depart-ment out here. My father has been involved in it; my brother has been involved in it. I’ve been on the fire department for almost 20 years. Com-munity service has been a part of our life, and it should be. I served on the LaSalle County Farm Service Agency Board for nine years and the Leonore Telephone Board for a couple years. I’m not opposed to help-ing and being a part of what’s going on.”
Tonica News photo/Dixie SchroederVMC Management Representative Nicolas Rippel addresses the crowd of more than 300 people who attended the Illinois Department of Agriculture hearing on the proposed Sandy Creek Lane hog confinement facility.
See Hog farm Page 2See Wiesbrock Page 2
Lostant resident and geology instructor at Illi-nois Valley Community College Mike Phillips disputes Rippel’s claim, noting U.S. Department of Agriculture soil maps show the land unsuitable for manure spreading and gravel, and sand forma-tions could be missed by soil borings and deflect manure leakage toward Sandy Creek.
“I used to make my liv-ing investigating hazard-ous waste sites, so when I saw they were going to put in a facility that’s going to have somewhere between 5 and 10 mil-lion gallons of hog waste
stored in the basement, I became concerned,” Phillips said. “That’s exactly the kind of thing that I used to have to investigate because those things leak. Our concerns are the odors from just normal operation are not going to smell good and they’re noxious chemi-
cals. They don’t just smell bad; they’re bad for your health.
“My biggest concern is installations like this with a small area to hold large amounts of waste have a tendency to fail,” Phil-lips said. “When it fails, it will endanger Sandy Creek. In addition, they
don’t have a good way of detecting a leak. They’re using a pipe around the outside of the basement, but these types of pits usually fail from the bot-tom.”
While many Marshall County residents and most of the county board members are in favor of the farm, others are not and have threatened to move if the farm is built. Phillips has noticed much of the impact of the confinement facility would be felt downwind of the farm, with prevail-ing winds in that area carrying the odors across the LaSalle County line into Lostant and its TIF district and possibly lim-iting the village’s future.
Department of Agri-culture Environmental Director Warren Goetsch outlined the eight crite-ria the facility must meet before receiving the bless-ing of the department, many of which cover the concerns of opponents of the proposed farm. Goetsch also noted VMC has yet to file its final plans for the facility, although he is expecting them shortly.
Marshall County has less than two months to give its non-binding approval of the facility with the Department of Agriculture’s ruling due within 15 days after that.
VMC Management operates 12 hog farms throughout Iowa.
2 Local2 • The Tonica News • Friday, April 25, 2014
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The kids are sick; the check engine light in your car is on; and the boss just handed you three days worth of work which is due tomorrow. More than likely, you are feeling more than a little stressed.
In today’s busy world with multiple demands on a person’s time, moments of stress can often happen. It is
unavoidable and some-times even unbearable.
April is Stress Aware-ness Month. Statistics have shown people suf-fering severe amounts of stress can have higher incidents of bad health, make poor judgment calls leading to issues at work and have problems at home. Stress Aware-ness Month serves to help make people aware of the early warning signs of stress and give coping skills to those in need.
It is natural for a per-son under stress to either want to run away from it all or stay and fight. When someone is under stress, hormones rush
through the bloodstream increasing blood pres-sure, heart rate and glu-cose levels. This creates the potential for possible illness. While a single day or incident of stress doesn’t make a person sick, long-term repeat-ed stress can raise the risk for disease or illness according to the Feder-al Occupational Health Department, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser-vices.
“When necessary, seek help,” Illinois Val-ley Community Hospital Director of Public Rela-tions Gene Vogelgesang said. “If your stress
becomes too hard to han-dle or if you have physi-cal symptoms that you think might be stress-related, see your doctor. He or she can evaluate your symptoms, give you more stress management tips and perhaps pre-scribe medication that may be helpful.”
Finding ways to handle stress and wind down each day is very impor-tant. Taking a walk, playing a sport, read-ing a book, visiting with friends, even learning to meditate or do yoga can pay dividends in more positive personal health benefits.
“Enjoy yourself. It’s
important to occasion-ally put your worries on hold and do things you find pleasurable. That might be taking a long bath, going on vaca-tion or participating in a favorite hobby. Even when you’re busy, tak-ing time for yourself should be on your to-do list,” Vogelgesang said. “Adopt the right attitude. According to the AMA, that means you should try to keep a positive out-look, avoid dwelling on the past (and the future) and stop blaming others for your problems. Try not to worry about situa-tions that are out of your control.”
Hog farmFrom Page 1
The Lostant Grade School has received favor-able financial reviews from the state for sev-eral years, but Wiesbrock doesn’t want to take any credit for it. He attri-butes the school’s contin-ued success to the board members who have come before him for setting up sound fiscal policies.
“I’ve been on the board for three years now; this is my first term,” Wies-brock said. “I have kids in school, so I was inter-
ested in helping out and being part of the deci-sion-making process for the school and for the community.”
Wiesbrock sees several things at the school which needs to be worked on, but he doesn’t see any-thing as being especially pressing.
“I don’t see any one big thing. There’s a lot of little things that need adjusted,” Wiesbrock said. “We need to update the boiler pipes which will be a big expense. As far as staff and the way it’s running, I think it’s fine. Infrastructure and
building maintenance are our biggest concerns. I don’t know that there’s any programs that need to be added or deleted at this time.”
While Wiesbrock is happy with what’s been accomplished since he’s been elected to the board, there’s no one item that stands out in his mind.
“The iPads are good. The new computers are good and the new Wi-Fi and bumping up the bandwidth,” he said. “It’s not one thing that makes it good; it’s all of the parts that make up the prog-ress.” Marty Wiesbrock
WiesbrockFrom Page 1
“... when I saw they were going to put in a facility that’s going to have somewhere between 5 and 10 million gallons of hog waste
stored in the basement, I became concerned.”
Mike Phillips
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PRINCETON — The Illinois Valley Breast Can-cer Connection’s Pink Ribbon Club enjoyed a night of fun, relaxation, and celebration of life on April 11 at the AmericInn in Princeton. Survivors from Bureau, Putnam and LaSalle counties came out in their pajamas to enjoy manicures, pedicures and facials provided free by Sophisticuts Salon and Spa in Princeton, as well as pizza, games, movies, munchies and a pajama pageant decorated with bling.
This event was planned to provide the survivors an opportunity to enjoy some fun and relaxation while leaving all of the stress of their health and finances in the parking lot. AmericInn was a wonderful host and deco-rated in pink to welcome the survivors. They also went above and beyond in donating their rooms for the survivors to stay free. Their assistance in planning and hosting this event was absolutely amazing.
The DePue High School student body donated funds raised from breast cancer T-shirt sales to provide pizza, salad and drinks for the survivors, which was enjoyed by all.
The Pink Ribbon Club has been together since July 2013, and attracts anywhere from 25 to 47 women who attend its monthly meetings. The Pink Ribbon Club pro-vides educational, social and medical resources to assist with the cancer journey. The meetings are designed to meet the needs of cancer victims at every stage during treat-ment and for years to
come. The club meets on the third Wednesday of each month at the Valley Regional Cancer Center in Peru. The scheduled speakers can be found at IVBrCa.com on the cal-endar of events.
The Illinois Valley Breast Cancer Connec-tion shares resources of many area medical providers and facilities. The facilities involved includes: Illinois Valley
Community Hospital, Perry Memorial Hospital, Radiation Oncology of Northern Illinois, United Physical Therapy, Valley Regional Health Services and Vantage Oncology.
Those interested in learning more about the Pink Ribbon Club may contact Sonnie Blocki, founder of PRC, by email-ing [email protected] or calling 815-220-8787.
3 Obit RecordsFriday, April 25, 2014 • The Tonica News • 3
Empower Flower benefit
A night of R & R for breast cancer survivors Lostant Library receives grant
Cinco de Mayo in Mendota
Meats judging team wins state contest
TONICA — A benefit to support Denise Flower is set for 3 to 10 p.m. on May 31. The “Empower Flower” benefit will be held at the Tonica Fire Department. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. The ticket price includes dinner (served from 4 to 7 p.m. with a cash bar), a 50/50, raf-fles and a silent auction. Music will be provided by Ric Soens, Tim Ajster, Jimmy & The Kid and
3 Day Weekend. Tick-ets can be purchased at Rudy’s Liquor Store, LaSalle County Travel, Midland States Bank in Peru, Gregg’s Automotive in Utica, and Illini State Bank in Tonica.
Flower has been diag-nosed with Stage 4 colon cancer.
You can find more information at facebook.com/empowerflower.8 or by contacting Renee Sell at 815-252-4030.
LOSTANT — Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White announced Lostant Community Library will receive the 2014 Illinois Library Per Capita Grant this fall in the amount of $1,140. More than $14.8 million is being awarded this year to Illinois pub-lic libraries serving nearly 11.5 million patrons. This grant helps ensure public libraries have the resourc-es to address patron and community needs.
“Our libraries are truly the cornerstones of our communities. In these hard economic times, they are a lifesaver for those who need help to better their lives and are the best and most reli-able resource Illinois residents have to obtain information,” White said. “I am extremely proud of the service our public libraries provide, and I know that libraries count on grants for important expenses such as paying for materials, program-ming and technology.”
The Lostant librarian and board of trustees has decided new bestseller books will be added to the library every month with these funds.
“Although the library regularly replaces older titles with newer ones, these books are appreciated but often are donations or second-
hand,” Lostant librar-ian Chris Hubbard said. “The decision to buy bestsellers exclusively is a way for the library to stay ahead of the need for current titles.”
This month’s purchases include No. 2 on the New York Times Best Seller List, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” by Mary Hig-gins Clark and for young adult readers, “An Abun-dance of Katherines” by John Green, which is currently No. 9. Previous No. 1 book, “Every Day a Friday” by Joel Osteen has also been obtained after being recommended by patrons. Also added, “How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli and Snake Hill” by James Paterson and Chris Tebbetts, a chap-ter book and part of his middle school series and “High Time for Heroes,” No. 51 in the very popular Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. Patrons are encouraged to look for the specific area set aside for these books.
Patrons are also reminded at no cost to them, materials can be borrowed from more than 250 libraries through the state’s inter-library loan program and local librar-ies will honor the Lostant library card for check out. To find out more about these services, call the library at 815-368-3530.
MENDOTA — The Illi-nois Valley Hispanic Part-nership Council celebrates its 15th annual Cinco de Mayo Festival at the Men-dota Civic Center from 5 to 8 p.m. on May 2 to cel-ebrate cultural awareness. Attend this free event and enjoy authentic food, folk-loric dancers, raffles, infor-mation booths, queen, mini-king and mini-queen contests and entertain-ment for all.
Cinco de Mayo com-memorates the victory of the Mexican army over the French dur-ing the Battle of Puebla in 1862. To this day, Cinco de Mayo is cel-ebrated across the Unit-
ed States, including the Illinois Valley.
The Marshall-Putnam 4-H meats judging team placed first in the state 4-H meats judging contest held on March 1 at the Meat Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urba-na-Champaign. There were 30 retail cuts to identify, six beef carcasses to yield and quality grade and five class-es to judge, which consisted of beef carcasses, pork car-casses, lamb carcasses, beef rounds and pork rib chops. The contest was held in conjunction with the state FFA meats judging contest.
Individually, Saman-tha Bessler of the Steuben Rangers 4-H Club and Car-oline Downey of the Sara-toga Leadaways Club tied
for first, with a total of 511 points out of a possible 610 points. Logan Sasso placed second, and Samantha Rediger placed third, both of the Bell Plain Hustlers 4-H Club. Ashley Strauch of
the Bennington Go-Getters was fourth, and McKayla Urbanowski of the Lostant Leaders was fifth.
Coach Debbie Leigh said, “The state 4-H meat judg-ing contest is more diffi-
cult than it sounds. The retail cut identification part of the contest requires the 4-Her to identify the retail name, the species of ani-mal and wholesale cut for each of the 30 cuts. The yield and quality grading portion requires that the 4-Hers calculate a value for the lean meat percentage of the carcass and deter-mine whether the carcass grades prime, choice or select. The judging portion of the contest involves plac-ing classes of four of one kind of cut from most desir-able to least desirable. All the kids worked very hard to prepare for this contest, and I’m very proud of each of them.”
Shaw Media Service photo/Amelia BystryLorraine Hamilton (from left), Deb Feller and Nancy Jackson participate in a fashion show during the Illinois Valley Breast Cancer Connection’s Pink Ribbon Club. The event was held to provide breast cancer survivors an opportunity to enjoy some pampering, rest and relaxation in a fun environment at the AmericInn in Princeton.
Photo contributedMembers of the Marshall-Putnam 4-H meat judging team Samantha Bessler (left), Samantha Rediger, Car-oline Downey, Logan Sasso, Ashley Strauch and McK-ayla Urbanowski won the state meats judging contest
Get your news online! — Check out www.tonicanews.com.
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Thank YouThe family, friends and devoted caregivers of Elmer Tarr wish to express our gratitude for all those who gave us so much love and support thru Elmer’s long illness and his call to be with the Lord.
The kind words, calls, cards and love you gave mean so much to all of us.
We send you our love and ask for God to bless everyone of you.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Sandy Tarr family, friends and caregivers.
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4 Biz Ag4 • The Tonica News • Friday, April 25, 2014
Tonica News photo/Dixie Schroeder
Keep an eye out for farmersMotorists are reminded to be watching for area farmers who have to move machinery from field to field this spring. This unit was being moved on Route 251 last week.
IVCC hosts manufacturing information session
Legislators in the barnyard
Illinois hog and pig inventory at 4.35 million
OGLESBY — Illi-nois Valley Communi-ty College will host an advanced manufactur-ing information session from 5 to 6 p.m. April 30 in Room CTC 124 in the new Peter Miller
Community Technology Center.
Participants in the free session will learn about the skills local manufac-turers are requiring and how IVCC’s Certified Production Technician
Certificate program and other high-pay, high-demand programs can help students acquire them.
For information, visit www.ivcc.edu/cpt or call 815-224-0547.
Some countries don’t like the way U.S. farm-ers operate. For exam-ple, both the European Union and China ban a variety of geneti-cally modified crops grown in the United States, while Russia doesn’t like several of the growth promotants some U.S. farmers use in animal feed. As these obstacles appear, U.S. farmers have the choice of modifying their farm-ing practices to meet the requirements of off-shore customers or finding new customers.
Apparently taking their lead from these countries, some states have put into place laws which tell farm-ers how to do their job, restricting sales of food products that are not raised in the manner determined appropri-ate by state legislators. Farmers will modify farming operations if consumers really get upset about things. But how much of a farm operation should be determined by state law?
California passed a law requiring its egg producers to provide cages that permit chickens to have the full extension of all their limbs. (After dealing with poultry, perhaps the California legislators will attempt to set similar standards for airline passengers.) The original California legislation was followed by another law requir-
ing that all eggs sold in California – regardless of which state they are produced – be raised under the exacting California standards. In response, non-Califor-nia poultry operators have lawyered up and filed a suit challeng-ing the California law. They don’t believe state laws that effectively restrict movement of products around the United States are Con-stitutional.
While not yet restricting the flow of products in interstate commerce, several states have laws which put farmers on notice that if they don’t follow farming rules set by the legislature, they could go to jail. For example, both Colorado and Ari-zona have established laws detailing how calves and pigs must be housed, although both provide an exception for rodeos. The Arizona legislature mandated that any violation of its farming statues con-stitutes a Class I mis-demeanor, putting the infraction in the same category as shoplifting, assaulting a teacher or practicing podiatry without a license.
But the big worry for U.S. farmers is how widely legislation may
be enacted that tells farmers how to farm. As the saying goes, nothing is too diffi-cult if you don’t have to do it yourself. So non-farming legislators have no hesitation to tell farmers how to do their job. The poultry industry is not too keen for legislators telling them how much room a chicken must have for it to be happy. Nor is the pork industry excit-ed with laws that tell them how to raise pigs – a real concern given the extent of confine-ment hog operations in the United States.
As the rural-urban divide grows, the trust between consumers and farmers diminishes. The reality of farming, particularly livestock farming, increasingly collides with the emo-tional preferences of some consumers. The challenge for Ameri-can farmers is how to meet the demands of their customers while remaining efficient and profitable. A patchwork of 50 state laws dealing with farming operations written by politicians is not a solution.
Professor William Bailey formerly was the chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition. He also has served as Deputy-Under Secretary of Agri-culture. He is currently affiliated with the School of Agriculture at Western Illinois University.
Illinois inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1 was 4.35 mil-lion head, down 6 per-cent from Dec. 1, 2013, and down 5 percent from last year. Breeding inventory, at 500,000 head, was equal to pre-vious quarter but up 2
percent from last year. Market hog inventory, at 3,850,000 head, was down 7 percent from last quarter and down 6 percent from last year.
The December 2013-February 2014 pig crop, at 2.55 mil-lion head, was up 3 per-
cent from 2013. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 255,000 head, up 4 percent from a year ago. The average pigs saved per litter was 10.00 for the December -Februa ry period, compared to 10.10 last year.
WilliamBaileyCOMMENTARY
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5 PerspectiveFriday, April 25, 2014 • The Tonica News • 5
The Editorial Page
Sam R FisherPublisher
Terri Simoneditor
The Tonica News
Letters to the Editor should not be more than 500 words in length. Only one per-son can sign a Letter to the Editor. The author of the letter must include his/her name, hometown and telephone number. The author’s name and hometown will be published, however, the telephone num-ber is only used to verify the authenticity of the author’s signature and will not be published. Unsigned letters are never read or published. No letter will be pub-lished until The Tonica News contacts the author of the letter to verify the signature. The Tonica News reserves the right to edit or refuse any Letter to the Editor.
Hard water
Corruption by Colbert?
The cat is out to get me. Let me explain my reasoning.
A few nights ago, I was running late coming home from work. My wife and daughter had already eaten supper and were off liv-ing their lives leaving me home alone, with absolutely no adult supervision, to prepare my own meal. Stories that start out like this, more often than not, do not turn out well for me. This is no exception.
I didn’t have any time to waste because in a short time, I would have to go pick my daughter up after her dance class. My wife had left pork chops in the crock pot thingy which is located right next to the fridge. It appeared that my only task would be to hunt down my own liquid refreshment. This might work out after all.
As I purposefully opened the door to the white, side-by-side refrigerator/freezer, I was pleased to witness a refreshing, two gallon pitcher of purple stuff on the top shelf. I have always been a big fan of purple stuff, whether it’s made by the “Hey! Kool Aid!” guy or the fine folks at the Crystal Light corporation. Purple stuff has always been my drink of choice.
Unfortunately, on this occa-sion, my purple stuff was located directly behind a half-dozen water bottles and a smaller pitcher of a strange concoction my wife has developed called “cucumber/ lemon water.” If you want the recipe, I believe that the drink involves cucumbers, some lemons and possibly water. She got it out of either Woman’s Day, People or one of her other hip-pie magazines. She says that it’s supposed to be healthy for you. I think that it’s the most dangerous drink in the world. You’ll soon find out why.
In order to get my delicious purple stuff, all of this other nonsense had to be moved out of the way. Since the crock pot thingy was taking up space on the counter, I started placing all
the intrusive beverages on top of the fridge, on the freezer side, directly in front of the cereal box with Tony the Tiger on it, who possibly is another feline who would like to see harm fall upon the house of Wallace.
After getting everything moved and a nice cold glass of purple stuff poured out, I went to put the big pitcher back on the top shelf. It was at that very moment that Chubby meowed at me.
Not wanting to be anti-social, I meowed back. Chubby and I had a nice little kitty conversa-tion as I stood there eating a pork chop and drinking some purple stuff. I find that if you eat the food directly out of the crock pot thingy, it’s quicker and you don’t dirty any plates.
After downing my plateless, time-sensitive, environmentally-friendly supper, I looked at my watch and pleasantly discovered that I had plenty of time until I had to pick up my daughter. So I informed Chubby that I thought I deserved a treat for my speedy gastronomical accomplishment. Remembering that there was still some chocolate-marshmallow ice cream in the freezer, I joyously reached for the stainless-steel handle.
As I swung the door open, my life changed. I felt a sharp pain, possibly in my cerebral cortex, and the world went briefly dark. Everything took on a fragrance of lemons and cucumber. Was this it? Had I breathed my last breath? Had I come to the end of my days? Was I in heaven?
The cat’s laugh brought me out of my confused haze. Evidently, when Chubby distracted me, I forgot to put my wife’s vile brew back in the fridge. It fell on my
head when I opened the freezer. It’s amazing how many square feet of kitchen floor a full gallon of water can cover when it comes crashing down from a height of approximately 6 feet. There were lemon and cucumber slices everywhere. But it did smell nice.
After messing up four or five of our nice bath towels, I realized that I probably should have used the kitchen rags or even a mop to push the excess water under-neath the fridge. Oh well, live and learn. I didn’t have time to think in my groggy state because I still had ice cream to eat and a daughter to pick up.
On the way back from dance class, I told my daughter what had transpired and made her promise that she would let me tell her mother what had hap-pened right after I figured out a good story that would get me the most sympathy. She said OK, and I thought we had a deal. Right up until my wife’s first step into the house, at which point my daughter said:
She remarkably said this all in one syllable. What a squealer! I’m beginning to think that she might be in cahoots with the cat.
After mentally deciphering what she had said, my wife turned to me and gave me that “How dare you break my cucum-ber/lemon water pitcher” look. I told her that if she just drank the purple stuff, none of this would have happened. The sym-pathy attempt wasn’t going to work.
Meanwhile, the cat looked on …
You can contact Wallace at [email protected]. You can follow him on his blog at http://gregwallaceink.blogspot.com.
A suggestion for Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and anyone else making a big deal about the hiring of Stephen Colbert to replace David Letterman when he retires: Grow up, will you?
Letterman recently turned 67 — I feel old just writing that — and has announced his intention of retiring. Letterman started out as an actor/come-dian and parlayed his unique brand of humor into a multi-million dollar career. Anyone who’s watched his pro-gram or read his books knows that, first and foremost, Letterman was a comedian with decent interview skills. He was no Johnny Carson, but he didn’t have to be. People watched Letterman for Letterman first and his guests second.
Colbert is, admittedly, a unique choice for suc-ceeding the man who was handpicked by Carson as his successor to the “Tonight Show” — network brass overruled him and put the chair under the overrated Jay Leno, but I digress — but indications are he’ll be a good fit.
Political pundits from the right have emerged screaming at the audacity. Limbaugh has called host network CBS out for “making an attack on the heartland of America.” O’Reilly has said Colbert is “responsible for the corruption of America,” which is good news for Barack Obama since he was held to blame by O’Reilly up to now.
At issue is Colbert’s faux-conservative character from his show, “The Colbert Report,” which has been wildly successful because Colbert’s character is a parody of commentators like Limbaugh, et al.
I’ve mentioned before my contempt for Lim-baugh, which is based on the first words I ever heard him say. To wit: “Those pesky liberals, they’re always generalizing.” If you can’t see the inherent stupidity in that comment, you might want to brush up on the meaning of “generalizing.”
O’Reilly has taken CBS to task with the admon-ishment, “conservatives will not watch the show anymore.” I don’t know if O’Reilly ever noticed, but Letterman was not exactly a Republican mouthpiece either.
I’ve noticed an interesting trend among the political commentators who are labeled as liberal. Colbert, John Stewart, Bill Maher and Al Franken all have one thing in common; They started their careers as comedians. Franken even parlayed his political pundit career into his current position as a senator in Minnesota — the state that once elected former wrestler Jesse Ventura governor; I love a state with a sense of humor.
Limbaugh, O’Reilly and Beck also have some-thing in common, it seems like they started as political pundits and became comedians.
On the street Now that the weather is finally nice, what have you been doing?
KenSchroeder
COMMENTARY
GregWallaceFROM THE SKETCHBOOK
6 Life6 • The Tonica News • Friday, April 25, 2014
Community SOIL Bocce tournament at Howard FellowsLASALLE — The ninth annual
Special Olympics District Bocce competition will be April 26 at the LaSalle-Peru High School Howard Fellows Stadium in LaSalle.
About 215 athletes from throughout the northwestern and central part of Illinois are expected to compete. Participating agencies from the Starved Rock Area are Dimmick School, Horizon House, Ottawa Eagles, Ottawa Friendship and Special Connections. Opening
Ceremonies will begin at 9 a.m. The culmination will be the light-ing of the Flame of Hope.
Competition will begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude by 5 p.m. Ath-letes will participate in a vari-ety of events including traditional singles, doubles, team and unified doubles and team competition. More than 100 local volunteers will assist with the event. The public is invited to attend. There is no entry fee.
Individuals and businesses from the community are encouraged to drop off unwanted cell phones and used ink jet cartridges during the bocce competition to help raise funds for the local Special Olym-pics program. Special Olympics Starved Rock Area is a not-for-profit organization and provides sports opportunities for athletes with intel-lectual disabilities ages 8 and older. For more information or to volun-teer, call 815-220-8128.
Fire department plans fundraiser on May 2-3
TONICA — The Tonica Volunteer Fire Depart-ment will hold a previous-ly-owned items sale from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 2 and 3 at the fire station.
Proceeds will be used to support fire, rescue and ambulance operations. In addition to providing these emergency services to the Tonica area, the depart-ment provides emergency ambulance service to the Leonore and Cedar Point areas. The TVFD contin-ues to be a non-taxing fire protection area so dona-tions and support are very important.
Items can be dropped off at the fire station from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday until April 30. For more information, or help moving items, call Tina Gray 815-488-0083 or Woody Olson 630-947-3289. Residents can also call the fire department’s non-emergency number at 815-442-3527 from 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The department can not accept console TVs, micro-waves, computers, moni-tors or printers. Lunch will be available at the station on the days of the sale.
LaSalle County hosts electronic recycling
OTTAWA — LaSalle County will co-host four electronic collections this summer.
The first collection will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 26 at the IV Cellular parking lot in Marseilles. The next will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 21 at Leland Community Unit District No. 1 in Leland.
The third will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 12 at Grand Ridge Grade School in Grand Ridge. The last collection will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sept. 20 at the LaSalle Govern-mental Complex parking lot. Large loads must be previously approved by Vintage Tech before being accepted at collections.
Lostant library will participate in garage sales
IVCC elects student government
LOSTANT – The Lostant Community Library will be taking part in the Lostant vil-lagewide garage sales on April 28 with a slight twist. Instead of a book sale it will be a Christ-
mas in April sale.There will be hundreds
of Christmas items avail-able along with office supplies, a metal shelf cart and some books.
The sale will be at the American Legion Hall
on Main Street, across from the park, and will be from 8 a.m. to noon. Proceeds will be used for the summer reading pro-gram.
For the summer read-ing program, dona-
tions of individual craft kits like those used by schools and scouts plus silk flowers of any color or size are needed.
To make a donation, call the library at 815-368-3530.
OGLESBY — Tiernan Ebener of Peru has been elected president of the Illinois Valley Communi-ty College Student Gov-ernment Association fol-lowing recent sophomore elections.
Brianna Huss of Toni-ca has been elected vice
president. Amy Rogows-ki of LaSalle was elected student trustee, Kory Tieman, also of LaSalle, was elected treasurer and Lindsay Gerding of Ottawa was elected secretary. Cortnie Rior-dan of Buda was elected sophomore representa-
tive and Christian Bend-er of Oglesby was elected to the sophomore pro-gramming board.
A total of 170 ballots were cast.
“I was very pleased with this year’s election. It is always nice to have contested races because
it shows that students really want to be involved and care about IVCC,” Cory Tomasson, student activities coordinator said. “I am excited to work with this new group of individuals to carry on the ideas and plans of the current SGA.”
Meeting set for May 1TONICA — The Tonica Thursday
Club will meet May 1 at the home of Donna Carls. Gordon Carls will present the program.
Annual Indian artifact ShowLASALLE — The 11th annual Starved Rock Indian Artifact show will
be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 27 at Celebrations 150 Ltd., located at 740 East Route 6, LaSalle.
For more information, call 563-299-9173.
It’s not just for you, but for those around you.
Lung Cancer ScreeningsEarly detection for successful treatment.St. Margaret’s Hospital & Illinois Valley Community Hospital
The goal of screening for lung cancer is to diagnose the cancer at an early stage so that it can be successfully treated. Lung cancer is the #1 cause of death from cancer in the United States. Yet, over 80% of lung cancers have a chance to be cured if detected early.
This fast, painless screening is the newest tool that helps doctors detect lung cancer at its earliest, most treatable stage.
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- Tests can be done at St. Margaret’s or Illinois Valley Community Hospital.
- Appointment & doctor’s order required.
- Cost: $175. Cash, debit & credit card only. Payment is required at time of appointment.
Criteria (MUST BE MET)
- 55 - 80 years of age AND
- Current or former smoker of at least one pack per day for 30 years OR
- Current or former smoker of at least 2 packs per day for 15 years AND
- Quit smoking less than 15 years ago
Contact - St. Margaret’s Hospital: 815-664-1359
- Illinois Valley Community Hospital: 815-780-3199
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Friday, April 25, 2014 • The Tonica News • 7
8 History/Classifieds8 • The Tonica News • Friday, April 25, 2014
Dolphins compete in regional swim meetMINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Illi-
nois Valley YMCA Dolphins com-peted in their final meet of the year, the Midwest Regional Swim Meet April 5 and 6 at the University of Minnesota. The Dolphins placed seventh out of 20 teams in the large team division.
Representing the Dolphins from Princeton was Caden Brooks, 10. Brooks swam in seven events, plac-ing 32nd out of 56 entries in the individual scores for 9-10 year old boys. He placed seventh in the 500 yard freestyle (6:55.22).
From Spring Valley, Charleigh Holmes, 12, earned fifth place out of 52 participants in the girls age 11-12 division. Swimming in seven events, she took 11th in the 50 yard breaststroke (35.28). She also took home two seventh-place finishes in the 100 yard butterfly (1:07.75)
and the 50 yard butterfly (28.91). In the 100 yard individual medley, she took fourth (1:05.15). Holmes swam to a third-place finish in the 50 yard freestyle (25.63). Holmes’ top finishes were two second-place ones in the 100 yard freestyle (55.66) and the 200 yard freestyle (2:03.08).
Gunnar Jauch, 10, of Spring Val-ley placed 11th in a field of 56, 9-10 year old boys in the individual scores. In the 50 yard backstroke, Jauch took 11th place (35.69). He earned a 10th in the 100 yard backstroke (1:20.34). He took two sixth-place finishes in the 200 yard freestyle (2:24.80) and the 200 yard individual medley (2:49.85). In the 100 yard freestyle he took third (1:04.96).
In the girls age 13-14 individual division, Linnea Lee-Brown placed
12th out of 52 participants. Lee-Brown swam to a 14th place fin-ish in the 400 individual medley (5:28.29). She also took sixth in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:13.88). In the 200 yard breaststroke event Lee-Brown earned a fourth place finish (2:41.66). She also placed third in the 50 yard freestyle (25.72). In the girls 18 and under 400 yard freestyle, she swam the anchor lap and helped secure sec-ond place for her team (4:12.70).
Wenona’s Cody Smith, 12, earned 48th place out of 52 swimmers in the boys 11-12 year old division. Smith swam seven events, placing 15th in the 100 yard back stroke (1:11.53).
For more information on the Illinois Valley Dolphins and their 2014-15 season, contact the Peru YMCA.
Menus and activitiesLostant Grade School
BreakfastApril 28 — Biscuit and
gravy, cereal, milk, juice, yogurt.
April 29 — Donuts, cereal, milk, juice, yogurt.
April 30 — Eggs and bacon, cereal, milk, juice, yogurt.
LunchApril 28 — Hot dogs,
chips, baked beans, peaches, milk.
April 29 — Turkey sub, fries, pineapple, green beans, milk.
April 30 — Chicken nuggets, mashed pota-toes, corn, pears, milk.
Tonica Grade SchoolBreakfast
April 28 — Breakfast sausage pizza, cereal, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice, milk.
April 29 — Mini pan-cakes, cereal, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice, milk.
April 30 — Scrambled eggs, cereal, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice, milk.
May 1 — French toast sticks, cereal, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice, milk.
May 2 — Bagel, cream cheese, cereal, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice, milk.
LunchApril 28 — Barbecue
rib patty on bun or Cae-sar salad, mashed pota-toes, fruit side kick, milk.
April 30 — 9 a.m., Forever Fit, 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., intermediate computer class.
May 1 — 9 a.m., Tai Chi; 11 a.m., blood pres-sure check; Noon, pot-luck; 12:45 p.m., Open Wii bowling; 12:45 p.m., bingo; 1:30 p.m., open cards.
May 2 — 9 a.m., For-ever Fit.
Library CornerLaSalle – April 29: Storytime
Express is for children ages 3-5 who can sit for a story and work with their grown-up on a simple craft. Stories are linked to indi-vidual letters in the alphabet and are complemented by an alphabet craft. Storytime Express meets at 11:45 a.m.
May 6: The LaSalle Public Library will host “A Superior Bik-ing Adventure” presented by John Lynn of Peoria as we take a bicy-cling jaunt along the south shore
of the Great Lakes’ greatest lake, Lake Superior. Starting at Duluth, Minn., passing through northern Wisconsin and northern Michigan and concluding at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., this 760-mile biking/camp-ing trek will take in the sights and sounds of Lake Superior, including the Porcupine and Huron moun-tains, the Keweenaw Peninsula, the Apostle Islands, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and enough of the upper peninsula to qualify as a genuine Yooper!
Lynn has plodded, pedaled and paddled enough scenic and his-toric trails, roads and rivers to cir-cle the globe, and he is the only person to have visited and photo-graphed 2,400 towns in the state of Illinois. He has shared his expe-rience through more than 4,000 presentations in three countries.
This program is made possi-ble with funds from the Alwin C. Trust. It is free and open to the public. For more information, call the library at 815-223-2341.
815-488-8456
Folty’s Market in Tonica, IL
For Sale
Store 3,000 Sq. Ft.101 LaSalle St., Tonica, IL 61370$69,000 or Reasonable Offer
Lease WithOption to Buy
Blue buildingis separate.
CirCulationoperations Coordinator
800 Ace Road, Princeton, IL 61356 • 815-875-4461
The Bureau County Republican, is seeking a Circulation Operations Coordinator. This full-time position includes eligibility for our complete company benefits package.
Responsibilities of the position include: providing excellent front line customer service, maintaining subscriber data base for multiple publications, and act as a liaison between us and the USPS in all matters dealing with periodical and standard mailings.
The successful candidate will have a high school diploma or GED with excellent computer skills, valid drivers license and insurance, acceptable driving record, reliable vehicle, and familiarity with all surrounding counties.
Must possess good communication skills and the ability to meet deadlines and work in a fast-paced environment.
to apply, complete an application at our princeton office,800 ace rd. for the position “Circulation operations Coordinator”
We are an equal opportunity employer and a drug free work place. The chosen candidatewill be subject to pre-employment background, driving record checks and drug screening.
This posting may not include all duties of the position.
both, within 6 months from the date of issu-ance of letters and any claim not filed within that period is barred. Copies of a claim filed with the clerk must be mailed or delivered to the representative and to the attorney within 10 days after it has been filed. Dated this 7th day of April, 2014.
Attorney John BalestriAttorney for Estate149 Gooding Street
LaSalle, IL 61301815-223-6600
Published in the Tonica News Apr. 18, 25 and May 2, 2014.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
On May 2, 2014 at 3:30 p.m., a meeting conducted by Lostant CUSD 425 will be take
place at Lostant School, 315 West 3rd Street, Lostant, IL 61334. The purpose of the meet-ing will be to discuss the district’s plans for providing special educa-tion services to students with disabilities who attend private schools and home schools with-in the district for the 2014-2015 school year. If you are a parent of a homeschooled student who has been or may be identified with a dis-ability and you reside within the boundaries of Lostant CUSD 425, you are urged to attend. If you have further ques-tions pertaining to this meeting, please contact Sandra Malahy at 815-368-3392Published in the Tonica News Apr. 25, 2014.
CIRCUIT COURT OF THE THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT LASALLE COUNTY,
ILLINOISESTATE OF ) RONALD VACCARO) Deceased )
No. 2014-P-68 CLAIM NOTICE
Notice is given of the death of Ronald Vaccaro. Letters of Office were issued on April 3, 2014, to Kelly Vondrasek, 1816 Baybrook Court, Naperville, IL as Executor whose attor-ney is John, Balestri, 149 Gooding Street, LaSalle, Illinois 61301. Claims against the estate may be filed in the Office of the Clerk of Court, LaSalle County Courthouse, Ottawa, Illinois 61350, or with the representative, or
The Tonica Newsreserves the right to classi-fy correctly, edit, reject orcancel any advertisementat any time in accordancewith its policy. All ads mustbe checked for errors bythe advertiser, on the firstday of publication. We willbe responsible for the firstincorrect insertion, and itsliabilities shall be limited tothe price on one insertion.
Tonica NewsDoes not have the op-portunity to fully inves-tigate the credibility ofeach advertiser appear-ing within thesecolumns. If an offersounds “too good to betrue” it probably is.Proceed with caution ifyou are asked to sendmoney or to give acredit card number.Proceed with caution incalling 900 phone num-bers. All phone num-bers prefixed by”900”are charged to theCALLER. Charges maybe assessed on a “perminute” basis ratherthan a “per call” basis.The Tonica News Clas-sifieds makes every ef-fort to qualify thesecharges for the reader.If you have a concernabout an advertiser,please contact:
Better BusinessBureau
330 North WabashChicago, IL 60611
312 832-0500
* * * * * * * * * * * * HAVE SOMETHING
TO SELL?
Put your ad in for FREE
Items $1,000 or lesscan run FREE for 1time. Limit of 5 lines.Up to 3 items with priceand price totaling under$1,000. 1 ad per house-hold per week.
No commercial ads,firearms or
animal sales.
E-mail information to:classified@
bcrnews.com(include your name, ad-dress & phone number)
PRINCETON 620 NorthChestnut. Friday, April 25,8am-4pm; Saturday, April26, 8am-11am. Boys' summer/winterclothes-2t, boys' shoes,adult clothes, shoes,coats, tools, Craftsmanlaser slide compoundmitersaw, dishes, dresser,golf cart battery charger,8' truck rails, Everlastpunching bag with standkit. Much More!
PRINCETON 24 Park Av-enue East. Saturday, April26, 9am-3pm.
ANNUAL BENEFITRUMMAGE & BAKE SALE.
Proceeds go toPAC Art Scholarship.
- 700 -Real Estate For Sale
767 • Mobile Home Sales
****************PUBLISHER'S NOTICE
All real estate advertis-ing in this newspaper issubject to the FairHousing Act whichmakes it illegal to ad-vertise “any preference,limitation or discrimina-tion based on race, col-or, religion, sex, handi-cap, familial status ornational origin, or an in-tention, to make anysuch preference, limita-tion or discrimination.”Familial status includeschildren under the ageof 18 living with par-ents or legal custodi-ans, pregnant womenand people securingcustody of children un-der 18.This newspaper will notknowingly accept anyadvertising for real es-tate which is in viola-tion of the law. Ourreaders are hereby in-formed that alldwellings advertised inthis newspaper areavailable on an equalopportunity basis.To complain of discrim-ination call, HUD toll-free at 800 669-9777.The toll-free telephonenumber for the hearingimpaired is 800 927-9275
––––––––––– Classifieds ––––––––––
Free ClassifiedAdvertising
for all items valued under $1,000!E-mail items for sale to: [email protected]
HAVING A GARAGE SALE?The Bureau County Republican can promote your garage sale. Just call 815-875-4461.