Bost Statement on EPA’s Waters of the U.S. Withdrawal

From George O’ Connor, Communications Director for Congressman Mike Bost

U.S. Representative Mike Bost issued the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would withdraw the controversial Obama-era Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule:

“Turning back WOTUS is a clear win for Southern Illinois’ hardworking farmers, ranchers, construction workers, and manufacturers. The Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule was a federal power grab of epic proportions, expanding EPA control to puddles, ditches and farmland ponds across America.  That’s why I have fought so hard to eliminate this misguided rule.  We must be good stewards of the environment, but we can do so without imposing crushing D.C. regulations that will put Southern Illinois’ economy at risk and impact millions of rural Americans.”

Rend Lake road closures due to fireworks

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Rend Lake is advising visitors of temporary closures designed to accommodate the Rend Lake Fireworks Festival activities at Rend Lake on July 1, 2017.  Due to safety requirements set forth by American Fireworks Company, the River Road parking lot, located at the west side of the Rend Lake spillway, will be closed to the public at 11:50 p.m. on Friday, June 30,2017,  and will remain closed until approximately 11:00 p.m., July 1, 2017. This closure includes all entry into this area via vehicle and foot traffic.  The Corps of Engineers at Rend Lake requests that all automobiles be removed from River Road prior to 11:50 p.m. on June 30, 2017.

The main dam road will close to all through traffic at approximately 8:30 p.m. on July 1, 2017, and will not re-open for approximately 45 minutes following the fireworks.  The Corps of Engineers would also like to inform visitors of changes in traffic patterns following the fireworks on July 1st. All traffic leaving parking lots east of the spillway will be required to travel EAST toward Benton for approximately 45 minutes after the fireworks show; all traffic exiting parking lots at the Dam West Day Use and Boat Ramp areas will be directed to travel SOUTH on the Rend City Road; and all vehicles exiting the South Sandusky Beach area will be routed along the Rend City road to the WEST. Normal travel patterns will resume when traffic congestion has cleared, typically 30 – 45 minutes following the fireworks.  

For further information or to obtain a schedule of events for the Rend Lake Fireworks Festival, feel free to stop by or call the Rend Lake Visitor Center at (618) 724-2493. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.                            

Smart home dedication in Carbondale Thurs. for wounded veteran

Press Release from the Gary Sinise Foundation

The Gary Sinise  Foundation will be  holding a dedication of a specially  adapted smart home built for  U.S. Army Sargent First Class Jared Bullock, (Retired) from Carbondale.

The dedication will take place on Thursday, June 29th at  10:00 a.m. on the site where  his home constructed at 1407 Hickory Trail Road in Carbondale.  The ceremony will last around 90 minutes.

United States Army Sergeant First Class Jared Bullock (Ret.) was profoundly impacted by the attacks on September 11, 2001. Two years later, he and his twin brother enlisted in the Army together. After serving two tours in Iraq, Bullock began training for Special Forces. He received a Green Beret and on October 13, 2013, Bullock was deployed to Afghanistan.

Exactly one month later, while on a routine patrol, Bullock’s ATV ran over an improvised explosive device (IED). Though he survived, he was severely injured, losing his right arm above the elbow and his right leg above the knee. Once Bullock was stable, he was flown to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX where he underwent 30 surgeries. The Gary Sinise Foundation is proud to build Bullock, his wife Jesica, and their son Aidan a specially adapted smart home through its R.I.S.E. program.
Gary Sinise Foundation’s R.I.S.E. program (Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment), along with our donors, including The Marcus Foundation, Inc., The Home Depot Foundation, Semper Fi Fund and Larry & Phyllis Castrale as well as our building partners, Shubert Design Furniture, CORE Brands, National Wood Flooring Association, National Tile Contractors Association, Sunbelt Rentals, National Association of Home  Builders, Benjamin Moore, North American Van Lines, GE, Broan-NuTone, MAPEI, Kohler, Crossville Tile, MIA+BSI The Natural Stone Institute, James Hardie, American Airlines, and T. Scott Williams Builders will join the Carbondale, Illinois community in this home dedication ceremony for U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Jared Bullock and his family.

The simple tasks of everyday life — climbing stairs, reaching a high shelf, getting in and out of the bathroom — are easy to take for granted. Because they’re done without a second thought, it’s impossible to imagine an inability to perform them. But that’s often the reality for our severely wounded heroes, where basic tasks are impossible obstacles and the enduring ambition of rehabilitation is to achieve a semblance of normalcy. Under its R.I.S.E. program, the Gary Sinise Foundation is building specially adapted smart homes for our nation’s most severely wounded veterans.  We are constructing these one-of-a-kind homes all across the country, each for a wounded hero, their caregivers, and families. With a place to truly call home, they will now be able to move forward with their lives.

The Gary Sinise Foundation honors America’s defenders, veterans, first responders, their families and those in need. Through its R.I.S.E. program (Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment), specially adapted smart homes are being constructed for severely wounded veterans nationwide. Each one-of-a-kind home is customized to ease the everyday burdens of a wounded hero, their family, and caregivers. Other programs include Relief & Resiliency Outreach, Invincible Spirit Festivals, Gary Sinise & the Lt. Dan Band, Arts & Entertainment Outreach, Serving Heroes, and First Responders Outreach. Its latest program, Soaring Valor, is sending WWII veterans to The National WWII Museum and documenting their first-hand accounts of the war. For more information, please visit GarySiniseFoundation.org

Buckner High School “Wildcats”

http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id973.html

The white building is believed to be Buckner High School which sit next to the grade school which burned a few years ago. (Genealogy Trails website.

NOTE:  I will be sharing links from time to time from the website, Illinois High School Glory Days.  It is a website dedicated to schools that have consolidated in Illinois.

Please click on the link above for several news clippings and photos about Buckner High School.

I am a history buff.  I would like to share stories in the future of some of the consolidated grade schools and one room schoolhouses that use to dot the landscape of Franklin County.

Here are some excerpts about the Buckner Wildcats.

Buckner (population 479) is located in far south-central Illinois in the west-central portion of Franklin County.  Buckner is located on Illinois Route 14 about three miles west of Interstate Route 57.  The Illinois Central Railroad also passes through Buckner and runs parellel with Illinois Route 14.  The city of Benton is located about 4 miles east of Buckner.

It was in 1880 that a post office was erected and the town was named Sofronia.  Soon, however, the town seemed to disapate and the post office was closed.  Eventually a railroad was slated to pass through the town.  The owner of the land that the railroad would pass over was donated by J.L. Buckner on the promise that the railroad complany would name the town Buckner.  Such was the deal and the town was so named in 1914.

Russell Browning provided a lot of information to the website about Buckner, He said the following.”I grew up in the town of Buckner and I did not know, and only the very old people there knew, about the High School.   Nothing was known about teachers, class mates and any other thing until I found one woman, who has passed away now, that gave me access to pictures. Then I did a micro film search of those years and came up with the information.”

 

Parents worried by new Snapchat feature

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/story/35754975/parents-worried-by-new-snapchat-feature-snap-map

CARBONDALE, IL – Logan Gay, WPSD-TV.  Please click on the link for the full story and video.  Here is an excerpt below.

The popular photo app Snapchat recently launched a new feature called Snap Map. It’s a quick and easy way to share your location with your followers. But, some parents wonder if the feature goes too far.

That is a concern Carbondale Police Sgt. Amber Ronketto shares. She said Snap Map can potentially be dangerous for people of all ages.

“If you’re checking in at a whole bunch of locations that aren’t your house, a potential criminal who knows where you live or can figure it out from your past check-ins — where you live — (and) can come and burglarize your house,” said Ronketto.

 

World Changers work to change Huntington for the better

http://marshallparthenon.com/14049/news/world-changers-work-to-change-huntington-for-the-better/

Mitchell Kerley, working on the wheelchair ramp and the Barnes’ residence. Kerley was with the Thompsonville First Baptist youth group, and was a valedictorian of the Class of 2017 at Frankfort Community High School.  

HUNNINGTON, WV (Marshall University Parthenon.  Please click to read the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

The sounds of construction and home repair could be heard throughout Huntington last week while members of the Christian organization World Changers volunteered at 14 different worksites throughout the city.

The crews worked on several different projects at homes throughout Huntington such as building wheelchair ramps, painting, building decks, replacing roofing and other home improvement needs.

The volunteers, who took up lodging in Huntington High School at night, consisted of 139 students and adults from 10 different churches from Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee.

One of the Huntington homes that World Changers worked on during the week belonged to Isabell Barnes, whose mother is in a wheelchair. Barnes said that she has been trying to have a wheelchair ramp built at her house for years and that World Changers is an answered prayer.

Regional Superintendent Donkin Distributes 63rd sales tax check for Franklin County Schools

Press Release from the office Regional Office Of Education #21 Superintendent, Matt Donkin

Dependability is a trait all of us would welcome in Illinois government. In 2008, educational leaders in Williamson County who were fac ing growing needs in their school fac ilities noticed a new law that would allow voters to approve a sales tax dedicated to meeting those needs. Seeing this opportunity for a dependable revenue stream, they went to work educating the public and invited the new Regional Superintendent of Schools, Matt Donkin, to join them and demonstrate how the flow of money would be a transparent and dependable process that could be trusted. After voters in Williamson County approved their measure and others could see the success of the effort, voters in Franklin County approved a similar resolution in 20 II . Students, the construction workers, and the local businesses that serve those groups have benefited from the sales tax as our students have been able to see changes in fac ilities to keep up with wealthier areas in other parts of the state.

As Donkin leaves Regional Office of Education #21, he has received and is distributing the I 05’h payment for the Williamson County school fac ility sales tax and its 63,d payment for Franklin County. The office received the June payment from the state on Monday, June 12, 201 7, of$592,993.34 for Williamson County and $200,169,89 for Franklin County. It will distribute those funds to the school districts with territory in those counties today, Monday, June 26, 201 7

In total, since July 2008, schools with territory in Williamson County have received a total of $57,616,455.26. Since April 201 2, schools with Franklin County territory have received a total of $12,226,043.77. School districts may use these funds on building construction and maintenance items and not on teacher salaries or operating funds.

As state law directs ROEs to distribute these funds and allows them to hold the funds in their accounts for up to 30 days and collect interest, the ROE has accumulated approximately $24,838.88 in interest from the Williamson County Sales Tax distribution since July 2009 and approximately $3,094.50 since April 201 2 from the Franklin County Sales Tax distribution for a total of $27,933.38. Most local school districts have agreements in place with the ROE so it may keep interest earned and utilize the funds to provide services to the school districts. The ROE has spent $25,466.81 from that amount to building inspections and other health and life safety services to the school districts in the ROE.”

“As I authorize the last distribution payment of my tenure, I am proud that we have been seen as dependable in a state that needs more of that and hope that the public respected the transparency that we promised and showed with their money,” said Donkin. “A lot have benefited, but our students benefited the most and we are grateful for all that help to give them the chance to compete with others and succeed during their lives'”

Questions regarding the distribution of the sales tax and the process can be answered by the Regional Superintendent. For more information on each school district’s plans, you should contact the local superintendent.

June 2017 Received for June 26, 2017

Distribution from the  School Facility Sales Tax with Fall 2016 Enrollment Numbers

School District Fall 2016 Housing Report June 2017 for

June 26, 2017 Distribution

Fr co Enrolled Percentage
Akin CCSD 91 81 1.34% $2,685.73
Benton CCSD 47 1,103 18.27% $36,572.37
Benton CHSD 103 577 9.56% $19,131.69
Christopher CUSD 99 796 13.19% $26,393.11
Ewing-Northern CCSD 1 1 5 195 3.23% $6,465.65
Frankfort CUSD 168 1,719 28.47% $56,997.19
Sesser-Valier CUSD 196 654 10.83% $21,684.80
Thompsonville CUSD 1 74 307 5.09% $10,179.25
Zeigler-Royalton CUSD 188 575 9.52% $19,065.38

 

Route 148 to be closed in Christopher at the RR tracks Wed.-Thurs

Press Release from the Illinois Department of Transportation

Beginning Wednesday, June 28 at 8:00 am and concluding on Thursday, June 29 at 5:00 pm, crews from the Canadian Northern / Illinois Central Railroad Company (CNIC) will be performing repairs on the railroad crossing on IL 148 (Victor St.) in Christopher.

There will be no traffic permitted through the crossing during the repairs. Motorists should follow the marked detour or seek alternate routes to avoid delays.

Closing your bedroom door when you sleep could help save your life

http://www.ksdk.com/news/community/why-closing-your-bedroom-door-when-you-sleep-could-save-your-life/451927198

(Jacob Rodriguez, WTSP-TV.  Click to read the full story.  Here is an excerpt.)

It takes just 30 seconds for a small flame to get out of control and start a fire in your home. Minutes later, thick black smoke has filled your home. If you wake up to a fire, you only have time to escape – flames move too quickly and are too deadly.

The U.S. Fire Association says that toxic gases and smoke kills far more often than actual fire. Fire deaths are on the rise – in 2012, 2,855 people died nationwide from fires but the most recent data from 2015 shows 3,275 people died.

Keeping your smoke detector in good working order is the number one way to protect yourself from injury or death in the home.

Rend Lake Fireworks – July 1st

Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News