Sparta Home Show at the shooting complex this weekend Jackson unveiling Page 7 Chester sports talk Serving The Area With Local News Since 1980 Page 10 Perry writes off loans Page 20 © Copyright 2015, County Journal www.countyjournalnews.com Volume 37 Number 4 28 Pages Your Local News Leader Thursday, January 28, 2016 75¢ SCTP moves ’16 national championship to Ohio By Travis Lott ing officials had stopped re- Southwestern Illinois has turning his emails. lost a major battle. “I kind of assumed that was Shoot has The Grand American and the direction in which they AIM may return to the World were going,” Heffley said. “I a local Shooting and Recreational just wasn’t going to make the Complex this year, but the announcement for them.” economic Scholastic Clay Target Pro- State Senator Dave Luechte- gram’s national champion- feld said he is disappointed impact of about ships will not. that this has happened. Those who have been follow- “We offered them assurance $8 million ing the County Journal’s cov- that the complex would be erage of the fight over the open to them, but undoubt- complex know that the com- edly, that assurance came a show the governor who’s plex previously averaged a little late,” Luechtefeld said. boss,” Luechtefeld said. $22 million impact on the Luechtefeld said he believes Sparta Mayor Jason Schlim- area. the impasse is essentially at me said the loss of the SCTP The SCTP championships the same standstill, and in is a loss for the area. accounted for roughly $8 mil- order to get the complex re- “It’s your gas stations. It’s lion of that with $15 million opened, the state needs a bud- your grocery stores. It’s ev- for Illinois’ gross domestic get. erything,” Schlimme said. product. However, he said Senate “It’s a concern for everybody.” The move is a result of the President John Cullerton and An announcement on the impotency of the Illinois leg- Governor Bruce Rauner have Scholastic Shooting Sports islature and its failure to pass standing, in which the ATA During the announcement of been talking more, which he website said that the SCTP a budget. would be able to negotiate the memorandum of under- sees as progress. However, will move to Ohio this year The Amateur Trapshooting terms of keeping the complex standing, IDNR chief of staff the same cannot be said for and will negotiate with Illi- Association was able to come open during the Grand in the Jason Heffley said the state Speaker of the House Mike nois in September about the to an agreement with the state event there isn’t a budget by had offered to do the same for Madigan. per a memorandum of under- April 15. the SCTP, but scholastic shoot- “Madigan is still trying to Continued on Page 5_____ Sparta production Police postponed because catch of Curry’s remarks burglary By Travis Lott order tickets, call 615-5164. The Sparta Community Cho- The announcement came on suspects rus was forced to change its the heels of rumors that a Sparta police have made ar- plans the day their produc- group of people would pro- rests in two unrelated bur- tion of “Other Desert Cities” test the play due to a contro- glary cases. was supposed to open. versy surrounding cast mem- The first case began after a The play was originally set ber Mike Curry, an attorney break-in at Buchheit January to begin January 22, however, with the Bankruptcy Clinic 17. The thieves cut a lock. Af- the group pushed the dates of in Mt. Vernon. ter the store reported the in- the play back to the next Other news outlets had er- cident, police, using their spe- weekend. roneously reported that cially trained dog, tracked the The new dates of the play are Curry worked for the Bank- suspects to Mark Drive, but January 29 and 30 at 7:30 ruptcy Center, which is a no one was located. p.m., January 31 at 2 p.m. separate business. Then on January 21, the and February 5 and 6 at 7:30 Curry, who is originally Buchheit burglar alarm p.m. There will be no matinee from Coulterville, caught sounded again, and police re- performance the second heat in the days leading up sponded. They were able to see weekend. one person inside the build- For more information or to Continued on Page 5____ ing, but he and another per- son fled. Police went back to Mark Drive where the dog previ- Above are Marissa’s most valuable person Stanley Lewis ously led them, and they saw and his wife Beverly. a suspicious car. They ran the plates and discovered that the person to whom the car was Marissa’s MVP named registered had no good reason to be there, according to Po- Was Marissa fire chief for 22 years lice Chief Sean Lukes. The Marissa Chamber of Commerce held a murder mystery They went to the car owner’s dinner theater in conjunction with its award ceremony. house and found evidence of The chamber named Stanley Lewis the most valuable per- a burglary. A 15-year-old son. He was nominated by his children Scott Lewis, Julie Sparta boy was taken into Thannum, Dale-Lee Lewis and Susan Juenger. custody, charged with bur- Lewis was a volunteer firefighter in Marissa for over 44 years glary and taken to the St. and chief for 22. He also served as chief of the Lake Egypt Clair County Juvenile Deten- Fire District for eight years. tion Center. Upon his retirement from Lake Egypt, state fire marshall “Two of them tried to get Jim Sommers told a room of Lewis’ colleagues that southern away with some of Buchheit’s Illinois firefighting has been forever changed because of Lewis’ guns but were unsuccessful,” influence. said Lukes. “Then they found Mike Curry, facing right, wearing a brown jacket and After his retirement from Lake Egypt, he returned to his some cash and took an unde- glasses, addresses media January 22 outside the Bank- position of volunteer fireman in Marissa, where he has served termined amount.” ruptcy Clinic in Mt. Vernon amidst the protesters. for the past 10 years. Lukes said at least one other suspect has not been caught. “We think he or another per- son drove the car to that spot Sparta approves contract with police union on Mark Drive and walked to After several months of nego- safe. He said he will file an ap- Buchheit,” said Lukes. “We tiations, the city of Sparta has a plication with the court to al- are still working on this new contract with the Police- low the city to demolish the case.” men’s Benevolent Labor Com- buildings on the property. Tuesday, Sparta police be- mittee, the union that covers “We haven’t heard anything of gan the process of clearing up Sparta’s full-time police and dis- substance from the owner,” said vehicle break-ins that go back patchers. Farris. to August. Lukes said some Action came at the Monday City manager Corey Rheine- 30 vehicles in Sparta have night city council meeting. The cker reported that the city has been hit by thieves. council approved the five-year been approved for a $100,000 “Tuesday at 7 a.m., we re- agreement after a closed session. grant from the Delta Regional ceived a call from a person The contract is retroactive to Authority to help in the cost to who said he saw a man try- April 1 and runs through March move Jubel Drive eastward for ing to break into his vehicle,” 31, 2020. It covers eight full-time a Spartan Light Metals expan- said Lukes. officers and five full-time dis- sion project. Police quickly arrived on the patchers. The contract covers eight officers and five dispatchers. Sheryl Blum reported that the scene and took Jerome Smith, The union has already voted to date for the carnival in the park 29, formerly of East St. Louis, accept the contract. It gives po- agreement, during one specific In other action, the council ap- has changed from May to April more recently of Sparta, into lice a 3 percent across the board shift, if only one officer is on proved an ordinance, citing prop- 20-23. There will be another custody. Lukes said evidence pay increase each year. duty, other officers will be of- erty at 204 W. Main as aban- What’s Brewing in the Park May of a burglary, some currency The city will continue to offer fered the overtime. If no one ac- doned and unsafe. A structure 7. It will include beer tasting, stolen the previous day, was all police extra duty hours. A cepts, part-time officers will be there has been vandalized, in- grilling and a craft fair. found on Smith. side agreement that went into offered the time. If none of them cluding the removal of all cop- She said there will also be a “’We think some others effect during the previous con- wants it, one officer can work per wiring, according to code spruce up Sparta day this might be involved,” said tract states that at least two of- the shift, or the chief or assis- officer Bob O’Rear. spring. Lukes. “But I want to note ficers are to be on duty each tant chief can fill in. City attorney Alan Farris re- The council discussed the roof that the call from a citizen shift. If one officer takes off, the As previously agreed on, part- ported that there has been no at the former city hall, now the made this arrest possible.” city could mandate that another time employees in the depart- progress on the council’s action city museum.