Well, here it is again, another election season upon us. This election will be for the municipalities and school districts, as well as various other little ballot questions and filling of unexpired terms. This issue gives you the run-down on our core counties that we regularly cover, their candidates and ballot issues, along with the big stories that are going on in each other regions, and for ease of your reading enjoyment, we present to you THIS MONTH'S PRINT HEADLINES.
Print headlines are they way you can preview the articles in the current issue on stands, to see whether you need to run out and get it right away, or maybe just pick one up tomorrow when you're near your favorite vendor. Or, if you have an online membership to the e-Edition, you can simply click the headline link and it'll take you straight to that article. But if you're not an e-Edition member, all you have to do is click any headline link or this link here, and it'll take you straight to the signup page...so do it! Don't miss out! Article that you find in the print version and at the e-Edition are NOT what you find here on the site...this site is for breaking news and updates; the real story is at the print version/e-Edition, and that's what you want to be reading!
Print headlines are brought to you with the dateline first (the location where the material in the article took place), then the headline link, followed by a brief synopsis delivered in our cynical Disclosure style. They are broken up by sections as they appear in the paper: Front page, back page (our second front page), pages 2 and 3, Egypt, Heartland, Central, features if there are any, and Op-Ed. And now, without further ado, here are THIS MONTH'S PRINT HEADLINES!
FRONT PAGE
Angelo Hightower, candidate for Marion City Council, campaigning to city councilman Anthony Rinella's aunt
SALINE CO.---Heavy slate for Harrisburg council: The usual suspects' names appear on this year's election selections for the city of Harrisburg...but there are some names that are new, and you should be watching for them. There's a strong possibility that, if people vote correctly in this years' municipal election for Harrisburg's city council, the tide could turn and some of the debacles over the past four years could be fully addressed...and finances returned to normal. This sizable article also contains the rest of the Saline County ballot information, including Eldorado, Raleigh, Stonefort, Muddy, Galatia and Carrier Mills...as well as the school board and school question issues (about bonds, in particular).
HAMILTON CO.---Earp caught in Hamilton theft: Finally, Hamilton County gets their Earp. And not only that, but they got another Olney punk who is alleged to have lied about the theft situation that Flav and his buddy Daniel Royse got hemmed up in last month: James L. Williams, age 27. Read this article to find out what THAT's all about.
Someone's trying to hint, we think...
GALLATIN CO.---HS graffiti artists busted after spree: A mom and her teenage son were tooling through Shawneetown on the way to church a couple of Sundays ago when they saw his name---spelled wrong, no less---on the side of a building, along with some obscene artwork. The alleged perpetrators of this misdeed, along with some other similar misdeeds, have all been rounded up. This is the article about that, and about other issues brewing at Gallatin County High School, where the big names keep getting away with things.
MARION---Nine seek council seats; three run for mayor in City of Marion Consolidated Election 2015: The headline says it all: It's a big race for mayor and councilperson in Marion, the biggest city in our coverage area, and our Williamson County correspondent has interviews with all the candidates. Don't miss this one, as it's an important election, literally one of the most important in downstate Illinois, and one that even the upstate media is watching closely.
RICHLAND CO.---Locals hoping feds take case---meth crim chokes up $20k cash bond: Who has $20,000 just laying around...? Apparently, West Salem's Brad Beehn does, and that's what was used in his recent arrest as bond money. Read about it here.
BACK PAGE
HARDIN CO.---What the Heck...? Former mayor puts in bid for village trustee in Elizabethtown: Eddie "Heck" Rose is indeed running for a seat on the village board, after bowing out as mayor a couple of years ago and leaving the town board without a president. Will his reappearance make a difference in E-town? Who knows. But this article covers it, as well as all the other elections in Hardin, such as they are (which is to say...not very many.)
Mychal Bush-King, Clay County Sheriff's Office mugshot
CLAY CO.---Accused child molester remains in custody: Mychal Bush-King hasn't made bond yet, and is asking for a speedy trial. Case hasn't gone federal yet; no one's saying whether that will happen or not.
WHITE CO.---Carmi man charged with raping teen: A fairly bad crime occurring in White County; so bad that it made the second front page.
GALLATIN CO.---Gallatin County has limited contests, but not a lot of blanks, on this year's ballot: One thing we can say about GallCo is that they do take elections seriously; turnout is high, and that's because there seems to be plenty of people willing to get their names on the ballot.
PAGE 2
Bryce Fehrenbacher, running for Olney City Council
RICHLAND CO.---Richland County may see low numbers countywide, but Olney race is of interest: It's great to see new faces emerging running for municipal and other offices, and the City of Olney has a four-way race for two seats on the council that has just that. Read this article to get informed....and don't let our numbers in Richland drop so dismally this election, okay? Oh, and IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the first time in our publication history that Brian James O'Neill Jr. didn't have a place on the ballot. This is cause for celebration if nothing else is.
WABASH CO.---Wabash County municipals: One big contest in Mt. Carmel; smaller areas having hard time getting candidates: Mt. Carmel has quite the race for the available city council seats, but they're getting to keep their mayor, the beloved Bill "Music Man" Hudson, so they're okay. Other locales like Bellmont are having a hard time filling the board by election, and will have to rely on appointment, but that may be okay in the long run, too. Read all about it in this article.
PAGE 3
This is the page where the article about the Marion city council races actually begins; while it was promo'd on the front page, it actually is situated here.
EGYPT
SALINE CO.---Granger Street weed chat lands one behind bars: Don't park your vehicle diagonally in the street and have a chat about the weed you're dealing and let the cops notice you. That's the message here, apparently.
SALINE CO.---IV drug user to cops: "I have a loaded rig on me": How anyone can voluntarily stick a sharp object in their own arm is beyond me...but then again, these are the people who put a mixture of toxic substances into their bodies in various forms, so hey...there's already something seriously wrong with them to begin with.
SALINE CO.---Woman charged with burning handicapped man: Apparently, Danielle Henderson didn't know that there's a warrant for her arrest, according to griping she was doing on our Facebook page about this early Friday morning. No, Danielle, you're not in jail...we just FOIA'd for mugs and your name was in it, so they sent an old mug. Stop doing things to get arrested, and you might not end up in the pages here.
WHITE CO.---Man taken to oil well site beaten and robbed: I know a few people who NEED to be taken to oil well sites and beaten. But they don't need to be robbed. And this guy didn't need to have either one done to him.
SALINE CO.---Stolen car on West Raymond leads to drug bust: This was the subject of a lot of interest when it was going down; we weren't in town and didn't get it as it was breaking, so we're covering it here in depth for you now.
WHITE CO.---Janitor charged with breaking woman's nose: The crimes-against-persons report out of White.
SALINE CO.---A gun, laptops and a lawn mower taken in recent thefts: Typical stolen items fare from Saline, believe me.
WHITE CO.---Teen crim graduates to felony theft, drug charges: You'd think this little Lewallen punk would maybe pick another vocation, but no...she's got to follow the family, I guess.
WHITE CO.---Pair face methamphetamine charges in White County: The dope report out of White, which got greater exposure this month (as well as placed into the Egypt section instead of the Central section, where it belongs, due to the abundance of election stories coming out of Central) because dang....Denton Aud has really been hammering the dopers lately in the courtroom, and apparently, they're still not getting the message.
WHITE CO.---Carmi teen sex offender charged with not registering: In 2009, lil 15-year-old child sex offender (with babies, no less) TNT (Tyler Nicole Tracy) Wolf was asked by Judge Tom Sutton if she understood the terms of her probation, and then the terms of what she was going to have to do for the rest of her life as a sex offender: Register her presence within three days, every time she chose to move her residence. Judging by the amount of times she's screwed that up, I think we can safely say she either didn't understand...or she's simply not capable of following through.
SALINE CO.---Pair charged following Dollar General incident: Carrier Mills Dollar General was the site of this incident involving two guys who engaged in alleged criminal activity.
PAGE 12
MARION---Marion's mayoral candidates discuss platforms, debt, business and government: This is the page where the article about the Marion mayoral races actually begins; while it was promo'd on the front page, it actually is situated here.
HEARTLAND
EDGAR CO.---Airport authority still not releasing details of mysterious crash; janitor appears to be running county airport: It's not that the janitor hired at the airport is running it; it's that the guy running the airport apparently was a janitor at the last airport where he worked. However, he's told the county that he was something else a lot "more important" than a janitor. Read here to find out what this duplicity is all about.
CRAWFORD CO.---Violent homeless man charged: It boggles me how all these guys who claim to be "homeless" seem to have an address attached to their name when they're arrested...
CRAWFORD CO.---Movement to fill the ballots with candidates going forward in Crawford, despite lack of races: It's an admirable effort on the parts of those in Crawford County who worked to get candidates to fill the available seats coming open in the Consolidated Election; not many appointments will have to be made! Now read about the races and make your decision as the day draws near.
JASPER CO.---Relatively full ballots in Jasper Co., to their credit: The same can be said for Jasper County; it's been a good effort to make sure at least the seats will be filled, and there are a few races, too. Now this movement should move a little further south, out of Jasper and Crawford counties and into Richland and Lawrence....
CLARK CO.---Clark County Park District intent on leasing private lots for 100 years: Well, the term "follow the money" holds sway in Clark, and might explain the reason why the incumbents and their ilk running for Clark County Park District board are whining about the ballot challenges...which have yet to be decided by the electoral board.
CRAWFORD CO.---Opiates, burglary and theft appear on court docket: The Crawford County crim report as it regards dope and crimes against property...which seem to go hand-in-hand these days...
CENTRAL
CLAY CO.---Big mayoral election in Flora; a little more interest everywhere else in Clay than usual: The headline says it all, and the candidates are featured here, with a lot of incumbency going on...but the return of a former mayor looking to unseat Mayor Tackitt, as well as the return of another hopeful for that position.
CLAY CO.---Ingraham couple face meth charges: The dope report coming out of Clay County features this charming couple and the alleged illicit activities.
EDWARDS CO.---Edwards County comes out of the good-ol-boys mentality and into the light: It was a rough one when we first began covering elections in Edwards County in 2003, because the GOBs (Good Ol Boys) held sway. But no more. Edwards County removed their "dry" status two years ago by ballot referendum, and now they're getting a medical marijuana grow op. One of the tiniest counties in Illinois is on the map...and the municipal/village elections countywide are featured here.
LAWRENCE CO.---Some weird races highlight municipal, school board elections in Lawrence County: It's Lawrence County. That is, in most sectors, synonymous with "weird"....so what do you expect??
HAMILTON CO.---Zoning last year prompts a bit of a contest in McLeansboro; other offices coming open: The municipals in McLeansboro are actually contested, and we're hearing it's all because of the big row that occurred this time last year over the zoning ordinances. Read about what's going on county-wide in Hamilton this election.
WHITE CO.---Few contests on the White ballot; many empty spots: We have to say...this is a rarity for White County. Usually, the ballot spots have a name on them; very few blanks abound. But this year, that's not the case. Hopefully, the interest can be spurred a little bit in upcoming elections...and the low number of names won't be too adverse on the turnout.
RICHLAND CO.---Backgrounds in violence cases prove interesting: Backgrounds are nearly always interesting, which is why we run them. In this particular instance with the crimes-against-persons report coming out of Richland, they're VERY interesting.
HAMILTON CO.---Man who rammed squad car facing serious charges: The crimes against persons and property report coming out of HamCo.
Correction/amplification: We got it wrong on a front page article last month, and here, we correct it. We bust ourselves out, so you don't have to!
OP-ED
Columns
SURLY & UNCOOPERATIVE (Jack): 'Hell to pay' doesn't begin to describe it: Some people think everydamnthing I write is a lie. Others think everydamnthing I write is the indisputable truth. The problem is, the former are talking about articles coming from official sources, court files and government meetings, and the latter are talking about columns. I'll let the discerning decide what this piece actually is.
ICY (Ang): Celebrity & news coverage: White one IS the Trib? Ang takes on the article the Chicago Tribune did on the Edgar County Watchdogs in early March...and she's not very happy with the Trib, I'm just going to warn you.
TECH TALK (Chris): Are terrorists gonna take over your car remotely? Why even ask a question like that...? Well, there is plenty of information to indicate that this might be a reality in the near future, as the technology is already there. We're warning you about stuff like this; we hope you're listening and taking steps to remedy what's coming if you don't.
MINKUS INK (Bubba): The other end of the spectrum: forms of elder abuse: It's something we don't like to think about, and yet it's happening every day. How to recognize, and more importantly, address, elder abuse.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE (letters): Being distressed by Harrisburg's Legion; strange activity at Williamson County Fire District; interesting piece on the Harrisburg school board public question; and information about ISIS.
No Back Over Your Tales this month, as this is a special edition, essentially, and we didn't have a paper five years ago; that feature will be back in the April edition! And that's it for your PRINT HEADLINES...get to clicking...or get out and pick up your issue!