Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
CARBONDALE, Ill. – This Saturday’s Saluki football game against No. 1 North Dakota State will be available on ESPN GamePlan as well as ESPN3. ESPN GamePlan is a pay-per-view television package available through DirecTV, Dish Network and select cable providers. ESPN 3 is available at watchespn.com through participating video and high-speed internet providers.
Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. at Saluki Stadium.
INA, Ill. – New details on the Rend Lake College fall Car Show are being planned to bring out the whole family for a fun-filled day of cars, awards and prizes. The show and activities are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 on the Ina campus.
In addition to the show, a swap meet and flea market, children’s activities, awards and more are all in the works. The show itself will be located in the east parking lot, and the swap meet and flea market will be in the west parking lot. The show, the swap meet and the flea market will begin at 9 a.m. There is a $10 fee to register a car in the show.
“We’re very excited to be doing this fall Car Show and we look forward to having a big turnout,” said RLC Automotive Technology Professor Nigel Thompson. “The more people who come out and enjoy the day with us, the more we raise for Rend Lake College students.”
Judging of the cars will begin at 11 a.m. and participants will be eligible to win several awards: Best of Show, President’s Choice, Best Car, Best Truck, Best Ford, Best Mopar, Best GM, Best Paint, Best Motor, Best Interior, Most Original, Top 10 from 1982 and newer and Top 20 from 1981 and older. Photos of the car and owners will be taken by RLC between 1 and 2 p.m.
The trophies will be awarded at 2 p.m. and dash plaques will be available to the first 125 participants. In addition to trophies, there will also be door prizes, a 50/50 drawing to benefit RLC student scholarships and event T-shirts for $10.
Future RLC students interested in the Automotive Technology program can also attend the event as a qualification for a new Car Show Scholarship. Students will have to attend the Car Show on Oct. 19 and complete an application process in the spring to be eligible. The scholarship will be awarded for the 2014-15 academic year.
RLC President Terry Wilkerson recently announced that he will match the funds raised by the fall Car Show used for scholarships in the Automotive Technology program.
“The instructors and staff in the Automotive Technology program are taking ownership of their program, as a lot of our faculty and staff do, and I want to encourage and support that initiative,” said Wilkerson. “Money raised by this event will be extremely important to prospective students, and I hope more of the community and car enthusiasts attend to help Rend Lake College reach out to them.”
Attendees can also check out the live entertainment from Hot Rod Nights, located between the two big attractions; activities in the RLC Auto Shop, such as Slot Car Racing and prizes; plenty of vehicle vendors; and food, catered by the RLC Culinary Arts program. Coffee will be served at 9 a.m. with food ready by 10:30 a.m.
Door prizes are being donated by Tommy T’s of Mt. Vernon, Mt. Vernon AutoZone, Federated Auto Parts of Mt. Vernon, Bumper to Bumper of Benton, NAPA of Mt. Vernon, the Jefferson County Schools Credit Union, Il-Mo Welding Products of Mt. Vernon, Don’s Stereo and Speed Center of Mt. Vernon and Wilkey’s Airport Restaurant in Mt. Vernon.
Senate leaders Wednesday jointly announced an agreement on a bipartisan proposal to extend the nation’s debt limit and end the partial shutdown of the federal government.
Here’s the link to the story at the Chicago Tribune.
REASONS TO GO TO COLLEGE
INA, Ill. – Beth Hoffman, RIGHT, Upward Bound Student Advisor, emcees a round of Family Feud Tuesday morning in the Rend Lake College Theatre for students participating in CTE Career Days. The question: what are some reasons to go to college? Throughout the day, the students also took tours of campus in their related fields. A second CTE Career Day event is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17. Click on the image for a larger view.
(ReAnne Palmer / RLC Public Information)
CARBONDALE, Ill. – TJ Tomshack has one more achievement to add to his list: the title of first-ever Rend Lake College graduate to receive the Poshard Foundation Scholarship for his hard work in school and overcoming adversity.
Here’s the link to the story.
BENTON — Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Tedeschi of Benton will begin serving a two-year term as chief judge of the Second Judicial Circuit at the start of the new year.
Here’s the link to the story in the Southern Illinoisan.
By DeMario Phipps-Smith
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois men’s basketball team held its annual Media Day in the Cook Club at SIU Arena on Tuesday. Head coach Barry Hinson fielded questions from the media, and all 15 players had one-on-one interviews with members of the local press. Afterward, the team held an open practice.
Coach Hinson Opening Statement
“If I were to tell you that Louisville, Kansas or Kentucky were coming to SIU Arena, do you think we would sell out the arena? I think everyone would say, yes. I say that because we have the No. 1 football team coming into our stadium on Saturday. It would blow my mind if you come into the stadium and can’t find a place to sit. I can’t tell you how excited I am about our football team right now. That place should be packed and sold out. People should come up to the ticket gates and be told that the only seats left are on the berm. I hope that’s what we are able to do.”
“The one thing that’s changed for the men is that we decided to practice like the women have been doing for the past few years. I think it has helped us a tremendous amount. Normally, today would be our first practice but we are heading into our 12th practice. We don’t have anyone injured; we don’t have fatigue, we don’t have sickness, because we were idiots when it came to practicing. We never took time off and we had everyone getting fatigued and sick. We weren’t smart enough to figure out how to avoid jamming everything into two weeks. I’m excited about this and I like it. We have a lot of coaches who don’t like it, which is unbelievable in my mind, but they can keep doing what they’ve been doing.”
Tyler Smithpeters answers questions at media day.
Q: Are you close to where you want to be as a team?
“You want to coach to perfection, and we are nowhere close to where we want to be. At the same time, I like that there are a few things we can introduce here. I think the transition for a lot of the players has been easier and smoother this year. I think the biggest thing that has changed this year is that I’m not dealing with the police, lawyers and academics. I actually get to coach basketball. Last year, we didn’t get to do that. We had a saying in our office, similar to construction site’s saying of ’25 days without an accident, 25 days without an incident.’ In our office, we just wanted to go two days without an accident. That didn’t happen until February when we went three solid days. This year we haven’t had many incidents or anything that could derail our program.”
Q: What do you expect from Desmar Jackson this season?
“I expect everything from our best player — and that’s what everyone is calling him on paper — our best player. Your best player always has to be your hardest worker and has to set an example on and off the floor. Desmar struggled with every one of those things last year. I think he has improved in all of these areas and has done everything that is expected of him. He still has major challenges that lay ahead of him. I expect him to handle those things in a mature manner and we coach him like we do any other player. I expect great things from him. When it becomes more important to me than it is to you, then it is time to move on. We got to that point last year after the Wichita State game. I think he understood that I got to that point with him and we have had a much better relationship since the summer.”
Q: What is the thing that has surprised you about this team?
“I think the biggest thing for us is that we are getting along. I think we have so many new guys that our biggest two challenges are the schedule and the new bodies. It’s a blender right now. I ought to representing Ninja Blenders because we are just throwing them in there, literally, and seeing what happens. For the most part, I’m kind of excited about it.”
Q: Do you feel that you will be a better perimeter shooting team this year?
“We better be. It can’t get worse, it’s impossible. It absolutely cannot get worse. My wife could shoot better from the 3-point line than we did last year and she is a horrible athlete.”
Q: Have you decided on a rotation?
“I have no idea. We play nine guys, every once in a while we’ll play 10. We are looking for those guys right now. We’ll settle in with about seven guys. There is a little competition for the eight, nine and 10 spots. I think we are pretty solid with seven. I think you guys have heard about this, but the rules have changed. In the first month of college basketball, officials have predicted 60-75 fouls per game. Games are going to be extended 15-30 minutes longer, 99 percent of charges will be called as fouls. The NCAA has seen the lowest scoring output in 30 years. They have sent out a mandate to all the officials that if you put your hands on a guy it’s an automatic foul. We are now doing the NBA continuation rule where if you hit a player who is going in an upward motion, it’s an automatic foul. The game for the fans is getting ready to change in a dramatic way. I talked to Jay Bilas about this last week. I think we need more offense and entertainment but I think when you take out the charge — where we can neutralize superior athletes by being a little more intelligent — I think that takes away from what this conference has always been about. I think this will be a big challenge for us and mid majors. We had a meeting with some officials and they said not to be shocked if your point guard fouls out in the first half. I think we’re getting ready to see much more points being scored — ironically, it’ll come from the free-throw line and not the game. I think you’ll see the scores go up dramatically.”
Q: You have a lot more regional teams on your schedule. Was that the plan?
“Yeah, it really was. We felt like our fans, when I first got here, we didn’t play regional games. We’ve always play Saint Louis, and of course, we’d love to keep that series going. We’ve got Western Kentucky, we started a new series with Austin Peay, and I don’t have a clue who started the series with Murray State. Whoever the head coach was who signed that deal is an absolute idiot. You’re talking about one of the top winning programs over the last 20 years. If you look at our schedule, we’re not jumping into the wading pool, we’re not jumping into a swimming pool, we’re not jumping into a pond, we’re just jumping into the ocean. It’s a little bold for me to do this, but I felt we needed to find out where we are and where we need to be.”
Q: How do you feel the style of play will change with the newcomers?
“One of the things you do when you take over a program, the guys that you recruit in better fit what you do. No one can point their finger at anybody but me. All the new guys are the guys we felt fit our style of play and what we want to do, specifically our hybrid spot and how we want our point guard to play, the ability to shoot from the perimeter, a little bit of size and athleticism. If you look at what we’ve done with our squad, you’ll be able to figure out it’s similar to what we did at Missouri State and what we did at Kansas when we started recruiting to a system.”
Jason Dewayne Johnson, 43, of Mt. Vernon, formerly of Sesser, died October 15, 2013 in rural Jefferson County.
Jason was born March 17, 1970 in West Frankfort, IL to Bob Johnson, Sr. and Betty (Cockrum) Johnson, and they both survive.
He taught automotive classes at Rend Lake College, worked at Ford Square in Mt. Vernon for 12 years and was presently employed by ILMO Gas in Mt. Vernon.
Jason was a member of the First Baptist Church in Sesser, IL and was also a member of Quail & Turkey Unlimited. He was an avid hunter and loved to do mechanical work.
He was married to Jane (Abell) Johnson, of Mt. Vernon.
Jason is survived by two sons, Christopher Reide Johnson and Cody Ryan Johnson, both at home. He is also survived by a brother, Bobby and Suzanne Johnson, of Valier and a sister, Cheryl and Jim Matye, of Valier. Also surviving are nieces and nephews Rachel Matyi, Justin Matyi, Kirsten and Ryan Goodisky and Sophi Johnson. He is also survived by a special family friend, Angela McNail.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 19 at the Brayfield-Gilbert Funeral Home in Sesser with Brother Mark Miller officiating. Visitation will be after 5 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Interment will be in Maple Hill Cemetery, in Sesser.
In lieu of flowers memorial should be made to the Christopher and Cody Johnson Educational fund and will be accepted at the funeral home.
Brayfield-Gilbert Funeral Home in Sesser is in charge of arrangements. For more information go to www.gilbertfuneralhomes.com
CHICAGO — Chicago’s top civic leaders launched an aggressive push Tuesday for legislation that will increase gun crime penalties, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowing to lobby lawmakers on the measure that he said will help combat and prevent persistent street violence. But the bill — which could come up next week when state lawmakers return to the Capitol — has already been met with opposition from prison groups and the National Rifle Association.
Benton police are continuing to investigate a fatal single-vehicle accident Monday night that claimed the life of 76-year-old Cecil Bennett, of Benton.
According to authorities, Bennett was northbound on Grand Street shortly after 6 p.m. when he failed to stop his pickup truck at the intersection of Route 14 and Grand. His vehicle crossed Route 14 (Bailey Lane), jumped a ditch and hit a car in the parking lot of Fred’s a local retail store. The truck then continued and came to rest in a ditch on the northeast side of the store.
Franklin County Coroner Marty Leffler said that Bennett was pronounced dead at Franklin County Hospital at 6:48 p.m. His wife, Helen, 71, was airlifted to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for treatment of major injuries. Her condition was listed as critical on Tuesday morning.
Witnesses to the crash said the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed on Grand Street and never attempted to stop at the intersection. Leffler said the cause of Bennett’s death will be determined after radiology and toxicology tests are completed. The crash is under investigation by Benton police, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and the coroner’s office.
