This is an excerpt from Tazewell County Board member John Ackerman’s latest newsletter regarding the Eastern Bypass Corridors.
Overall, I have been impressed by the work of the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Citizens Committee selected in narrowing the list of possible corridors.
Our January Tazewell County Board meeting began with an IDOT update on the proposed Eastern Bypass which would connect I-74 in Tazewell County with Route 6 north of Peoria.
During the meeting, IDOT officials asked that we, as county board members, study the six proposed Eastern Bypass Corridors that were presented to us.
Kids will be kids.
That has been the kind of cover-everything excuse apologists have given to explain whatever kind of mischief their young ones find themselves in from time to time.
But where do we as a society draw the line? When does just horsing around and playing pranks turn into vandalism and having police charges filed?
Germantown Hils resident Becky Reeser has created a Haitian charitable organization called “Life’s Path” out of nothing.
The organization was created after repeated trips Reeser made to the impoverished island nation with the Friends of the Children of Haiti.
The needs Reeser saw there haunted her. She decided the answer to part of those people’s needs were providing goats. They provide meat, milk, commerce and a chance to a better way of life. Her efforts are beginning to pay off with the help of volunteers and donors here.
The work is laudable.
However, there are needs right here at home that are unmet. Should they take precedence?
Reeser argues that here in the U.S. there are government programs to help the needy. She also states that the poor here live lives of a sultan compared to the living conditions of most Haitians.
What is your view on this?
GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan said that $5 a gallon gas is a very real possibility in some portions of the country in 2012. Early indications, DeHaan said, show this year may see the highest ever recorded prices at the pump, if conflict arises in Iran over several key issues.
Letter to editor was not written by WCHS Athletic Booster Club
In the Dec. 28, 2011, edition of the Washington Times-Reporter, a letter to the editor was published and attributed to the WCHS Athletic Booster Club. This letter criticized Five Points for not providing free use by the local grade schools.
As WCHS Athletic Booster Club President, I want to convey that this letter was not written, authorized or supported by the WCHS Athletic Booster Club.
I am disappointed and regret this letter was erroneously attributed to the WCHS Athletic Booster Club without proper confirmation.
The WCHS Athletic Booster Club works closely with Five Points and others within the community. We value our working relationship with Five Points and appreciate their great support of WCHS activities.
Laurie Ryan
President, WCHS Athletic Booster Club
Washington
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., last month, said he supports a “rock-bottom” federal minimum wage.
The recommendation last week from the National Transportation Safety Board that states should ban the use of all cellphones, including hands-free models, while driving came about 10 years too late. Maybe 20 years.
Tens of millions of American drivers now believe they have a right to communicate with friends and family at all times and are firmly convinced they can operate a car safely while chatting on the phone
Turning in a credit card in Walmart parking lot
My mother was in town from Green Bay, Wis., last weekend and dropped her credit card in the Walmart parking lot.
She did not realize it was missing until she was back in Wisconsin. By the time she got home and called
• If bills were sent to each Illinois household to cover the state’s debt the amount would be for $40,000.
• Illinois’ debt amounts to $44.7 billion.
• The debt in 2002 amounted to $12 billion.
• Illinois’ unpaid bills amount to $7.4 billion.
• Illinois’ unfunded pension and retiree health care liabilities amount to $140 billion.
“I’m sounding the alarm. Every household in Illinois is responsible for the repayment of $10,000 to reimburse our bond holders in the coming years. The backlog of other bills and our unfunded pension and retiree health care liabilities, when combined with the bond repayments, brings household debt above a whopping $40,000,” said Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford.
Attention Rocke’s valued customers and WTR readers
TimesNewspapers has taken complete responsibility for the advertisement which was printed in last Wednesday’s paper.
Rocke’s did not approve or grant permission for this advertisement to be printed.
Here at Rocke’s, we understand mistakes will be made — as quoted by Alexander Pope, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
Rocke’s encourages forgiveness throughout this Christmas season and look forward to serving the community and beyond this Christmas season as well as throughout the New Year!
Management
Rocke’s Meating Haus
The following is a reprint of a front-page editorial from the Dec. 7, 1941 “War Extra” edition of the Fall River Herald News:
County board
elections upcoming
This week marks the official start to the 2012 primary elections as candidates must turn in their petitions for elected office. This is a rare election in which every elected representative office is up because of the once-a-decade redistricting process.
Here in Tazewell County, each citizen is represented by seven county board members. How many of you can name each one?
THE ISSUE: Is congress looking out for children or contributors with the pizza as vegetable situation?
WHAT WE THINK: It seems when Congress has to balance the best interests of the people against their own interests (which means their contributor’s best interests) the people can expect to lose almost every time.
Revisiting the Bayler
home purchase from the
perspective of District 308
There has been considerable discussion surrounding the school district’s purchase of the home and property at 721 West Jefferson in July 2011. The major portion of the discussion revolved around the future of the home on that property.
Summit Drive extension shows how cities and
representatives can
work together
The Summit Drive opening on Nov. 15 is memorable to me for two reasons.
First, it brought back memories of when I first came to Washington District 50 to begin my teaching career.
As I looked out over the road opening, I was struck by how much the Washington/East Peoria area had changed and grown since 1967.
Secondly, as the ribbon was being cut, I thought of how much better off we would be if our representatives and senators in Washington, D.C., instead of playing “get me reelected gotcha” politics, would have focused on our national problems as well as the Washington and East Peoria City Councils, the Tazewell County Boards and our state senators and representatives have done in working to make our area a better place to live and work.
The Illinois Route 24 bypass, the widening of Route 8, the East Peoria Riverfront Development and the opening of Summit Drive are all examples of what governmental bodies can do to positively affect our lives when they focus on working together on common goals.
Sometimes it seemed as if these projects were nothing more than pipe dreams, but as we can see, when units of government focus on a common goal and cooperatively work toward achieving that goal, sometimes the seemingly impossible happens.
Congratulations to all of the fine individuals past and present who have served on the Washington and East Peoria City Councils and our local state senators and state representatives, for you have served the communities of Tazewell County well.
Mel Stanford
Tazewell County Board, District Three
Opposing Viewpoints: Is a waiver from No Child Left Behind a benefit?
YES — Ever since the No Child Left Behind mandates went into place in the early 2000s, teachers and school administrators have cried foul at the program’s testing methods.
Schools and districts are graded on standards that are irrelevant and outdated. Nothing says this more than the fact that fewer than 10 high schools in Illinois passed the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress standards for the 2010-11 school year.
Despite the astronomical percentage of schools failing the program, the standards keep getting pushed higher year after year. If only eight schools in the state can match the standards set by PSAE, then how many can be expected to make it when the standards are increased year after year?
While the NCLB program won’t be going away anytime soon, the state is right in requesting a waiver from a program that has been shown to not work.
Schools must be held accountable if its students are not progressing during each year of school, but so many factors go into a student’s learning that cannot be accounted for in an annual test.
Until the entire program is scrapped, the government should give each state a waiver and let them find their own way to assess its teachers, administrators and students.
NO — School superintendents throughout the tri-county area have been down playing the validity of scores their schools received on the most recent State Report Card.
It is no wonder. Many schools have failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress under the mandates of No Child Left Behind.
This year 85 percent of students had to meet or exceed the standards on the state tests for a school to pass. That is a hefty number. The percentage just keeps going up.
Administrators complain the expectations are too high and that their schools appear to be failing. They have been making sound arguments to counter that perception and getting plenty of press to spread that message.
So, no harm, no foul.
The idea behind NCLB is sound. The scores point out where weaknesses lie.
There is no doubt many of the schools that failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress are great schools. They, however, are not beyond improvement.
Scores have validity within the classroom setting evaluating students’ progress. They also have validity when evaluating a school.
Illinois should not seek a waiver.
Fleeing from accountability is not a message our schools should be sending.
Thoughtful and hard-working employees
at Hardee’s
My husband and I had just finished our breakfast at Hardee’s in Washington and may I say, I don’t care what time of day you go there, those employees’ spirits are high, they are kind, pleasant and hard-working people, everything it takes to make a successful business and to top it off, when we went to leave our car wouldn’t start.
So one of the employees named Dawn Rogers asked if we needed a jump and went in to get a patron; he had jumper cables.
We didn’t get his name, as our car started up on its own, but it was the thought behind it.
Thank you so much.
Dan and Jan Parlier
Washington
District 308 needed to give local companies chance to bid on demolition of Bayler
Monday night, Nov. 14, I attended the District 308 high school board meeting. I asked “for the record” why the school board did not publicly “seek bids” for the demolition of the house at 721 W. Jefferson St.?
I was told by board president Tim Custis and Superintendent Dr. Jim Dunnan that since the project was less than $25,000, that bids were not required. The bid accepted was $23,410 by a Peoria firm, Iron Hustlers Inc.
I asked a few questions to clarify the awarding of the demolition bid. Should the asbestos abatement cost of $8,800, by M & O Environmental be added to the total cost of the demolition?
I was informed by Custis that asbestos is “always” considered separately. I further asked if there were other costs associated with the demolition such as a general contractor’s fee, demolition permits, utility disconnects (electrical, gas, sanitary sewer, water) should have been part of the total costs?
Custis and Dunnan stated that the school acted as their own general contractor and that no other costs were involved. My next question was why no local contractors from Washington were considered for the project when two highly qualified firms, respectively located one block from the site (Spurgeon Construction Inc.) and four blocks (Scott Weaver Excavating) were not contacted?
The response came not from the general contractor (District 308), but strangely from Brian Faulkner of P.J. Hoerr.
He stated that Spurgeon was previously asked to bid on the tennis courts and maintenance building (neither projects were performed), but they didn’t respond. Furthermore, Weaver is not in P. J. Hoerr’s data base.
I have since spoken with both named parties to verify these statements. Scott Weaver said that was odd since he has performed previous work for PJ Hoerr and the invoice was always addressed to their company.
Olen Spurgeon stated the company may have gotten a fax to bid the two projects (tennis courts & maintenance building), but the company was busy at the time.
Both firms stated that they would have bid the demolition project. The potential of saving the district money was likely, due to their close proximity to the site. Also each company being a local taxpayer deserved that opportunity. Whatever happened to “Shop Washington First?”
The district let the asbestos abatement portion of the project out for public bids. Estimate cost for abatement was $30K; however, the awarded bid was only $8,800. So if saving money is a priority, public bids should have been explored.
Dunnan stated the district’s lawyer was consulted for legal advice pertaining to publicly advertising for bids of the demolition project. He was told that there was not an issue.
So what do you think? Can a demolition of a home be broken down into separate phases to avoid being more than $25,000 or should it be looked at in its entirety?
Should qualified Washington contractors be offered the opportunity to at least bid on projects funded by local taxes?
By the time you read this, the 127-year-old home will most likely have been destroyed at the hand of non-Washington businesses. “Historical Washington” has lost another treasure to a parking lot and a non-responsive board. The historical home is gone, all in the matter of four months from purchase, with board members repeatedly stating “we have no definite plan.”
What is the board’s long-term plan? Should they follow the two public mottos of Washington: “Shop Washington First” and “Historical Washington?”
We have seen it at the federal and state level – now we are seeing it at the local level. When power is granted, fiscal responsibility and accountability are no longer needed.
Bradley A. Ward
B.A. Ward Inc.
Washington
Another successful
WHIP food drive
I am back to thank you again and to update you on your own WHIP food pantry. The Feed Your Need food drive was wonderful.
We received an estimated 3,500 pounds of food and funds as well. This drive was conducted by some great volunteers from a program through the Chamber of Commerce. This was the second year of promoting and running a food drive for WHIP.
If I had gold medals to hand out, I would pass them out to all of our local schools from preschools all the way to the high school for helping WHIP in many different ways. A huge thanks for those teachers, sponsors and staff who sponsor these various programs.
The latest event was set up with Central’s principal and second-grade teachers who worked with three of our regular volunteers, Jodi Knapp and Dave and Elaine Hullinger. The second graders collected food at their school, then two bus loads of second graders, teachers and some parents brought their food to the pantry , where they were taught to sort, shelve and learn how families were taken through the pantry. They were even taught to look for dates on food to make sure they weren’t outdated. What a wonderful experience for all. The Faith Lutheran Child Care collected canned goods for us also.
A big thank-you to all you great people who donated to the Washington Township United Fund. All that money donated to them stays in the township; because you were so generous, the WHIP food pantry received $8,500. That enabled us to give $15 gift cards from Kroger to around 150 families on Nov. 16 for Thanksgiving.
Higher and higher food prices are encroaching on many who barely have enough for day-to-day expenses, every little bit helps.
Thanks and blessings go to all our friends, churches clubs and those who regularly donate to WHIP.
Please remember us over the holidays this year, as our numbers have gone up, at times more than 30 percent.
All of us at WHIP wish all of you a wonderful holiday season. Donations will be gratefully accepted at W.H.I.P. c/o Ken Koch, 934 Birchwood Drive Washington, IL 61571.
Jackie Clary
Washington
