The Wayne County Sheriff’s Department has released details on the June 13th arrest of 45-year-old Jack J. Myers. Deputies responded to a report of a man firing a handgun out the back door of a rural Fairfield residence, and Myers was questioned after police observed a possible weapon on his waistline. Police received consent to search his residence and found three firearms, suspected methamphetamine, digital scales, and plastic baggies. Myers was taken to the Wayne County Jail on preliminary charges of armed violence, unlawful possession with intent to deliver meth, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
22-year-old Fairfield resident Alyssa M. Collins was booked in the Wayne County Jail yesterday. She was wanted on a Wayne County failure to appear warrant for possession of meth, and Collins was held in the jail, pending the posting of $345 bond.
35-year-old Farina resident John T. Caldwell was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday in Clay County Circuit Court. He was also given up to one year of Mandatory Supervised Release. According to State’s Attorney Phillip M. Givens, the sentence came for the offense of unlawful delivery of meth, and the charge states Caldwell knowingly delivered between five and 15 grams of a substance containing meth on February 8th. He pleaded guilty on April 18th. The investigation in the case was conducted by the Illinois State Police Southeastern Drug Task Force and Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
The Grayville City Council met Monday night. It approved $75,000 in TIF funds for the buyers of the vacant IGA building in the City, contingent upon the purchase of said property. 309 Homes, LLC is the interested party for the building, and members heard they are a property management firm out of Peoria.
Olney Central College recently held a new member induction ceremony for its Phi Theta Kappa Chapter. New members from the area include Katelyn Miller of Cisne; Tice Smith of Louisville; Taylor Meritt of Noble, Bonnie Allen of Xenia; and Robert Wray, Maria Simpey Carpenter, and Maggie McKnight of Flora.
The Illinois primary election took place yesterday. In Wayne County, all races were on the Republican ticket, including races for County Treasurer and for several seats on the county board. Yvette Anderson defeated Crystal Ellis 1,974 votes to 1,652 in the race for Republican nomination for Treasurer. No Democratic petition was filed, as incumbent Donna Masterson did not run for re-election. For the county board, three people ran for two spots in districts 3, 5, and 7. In District 3, Eddie Barbre received 420 votes and Brandon Bittle 305 to win, and Roy Estheimer finished with 265 votes. In District 5, Matt Shreve finished with 367 votes, and Jeremy Witter had 306 to win; Joshua Isle missed out with 117 votes. In District 7, Steven Troyer had 289 votes, and Gene Kollak had 275 to advance. Shane Neuman finished with 209 votes. Full results for Wayne County can be found in the following attachment: Wayne-Summary-Report-2022-06-29_03-04
In Edwards County, the sole contested primary race involved Darby Boewe and Debbie Judge running for Sheriff on the Republican ticket. Boewe won the nomination with 1,052 votes, with Judge ending the night with 503 votes. Full results for Edwards County can be found in the following attachment: EC-Unofficial-Summary
In Hamilton County, Heather Bowman brought in about 1,200 votes in the race for County Clerk and Recorder, and Stacy Barker, current Deputy Clerk, garnered 640 votes. White County also had a race for Sheriff. Jordan Weiss brought in 1,836 votes on the Republican ballot, and Mark Worlds finished in a distant second with 925 votes. 2,878 ballots were cast in White County out of 9,757 voters for a turnout of 29.5 percent. Full White County results can be found in the following attachment: White-County-Results
Statewide, Darren Bailey won the Republican nomination for governor in a landslide, defeating opponents Richard Irvin, Jesse Sullivan, Gary Rabine, Paul Schimpf, and Max Solomon. He will face incumbent J.B. Pritzker in the November General Election.
The Fairfield City Council met last night and approved an agreement for IDOT for resurfacing Main and Delaware streets. The project began with a 50/50 state and local cost split, but it has turned into a project funded 80 percent by federal money and 10 percent by state money, leaving the City only 10 percent of the bill. Bid letting could take place as early as September, and the City will save about $174,000 under the current set-up.
The IDPH reported eight new cases of COVID-19 in Wayne and Richland counties yesterday. Marion County added 23 cases on the state website, Lawrence County added 17, Clay County added seven, Wabash County added six, Edwards County added five, Jefferson County added four, Hamilton County added three, and White County added two. As a state, Illinois announced 4,241 new cases and 16 additional deaths.
Winter wheat harvesting has seen a sizeable boost in progress, according to the latest statewide weekly crop report. Winter wheat harvest went from 18 percent complete last week to 66 percent this week, and that compares to a 57 percent mark last year. Illinois corn dropped slightly to 70 percent in good-to-excellent condition; 96 percent of soybeans had emerged, two percent were blooming, and 66 percent of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition. Average statewide topsoil moisture was rated at nine percent very short, 22 percent short, 68 percent adequate, and one percent surplus.
River stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 11.29 feet, below the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 5.11 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 7.25 feet (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 1.34 feet, and the Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 7.69 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 4.64 feet.
Today’s crude oil price is $104.75, up $3.25 from yesterday. The August crude oil price is $111.80, up $1.01 from yesterday morning.