Volume 42 Number 27 Thursday, July 8, 2021 26 Pages | 75¢ Lowry resignation postponed By Travis Lott council did not agree on When the Red Bud city who to appoint mayor, sug- council met Monday night, gesting that the vote would there was but one agenda be evenly split. item that had everyone on When asked by a reporter the edge of their seats: New after the meeting, Alder- business, Item A, resigna- woman Susan Harbaugh tion of Mayor Lowry. confirmed that she is one of However, Tim Lowry, who the individuals interested has served as mayor in Red in becoming mayor. Bud since 2011, has not yet While it is widely believed officially resigned. that the other interested Instead, he read a pre- party is Alderman Bill pared statement address- Hanebutt, he did not return ing the matter. a request for comment in “This evening, there is time for publication. The Chester bridge a spot on the agenda re- Unless there is a spe- garding my resignation cial election, whoever is as mayor,” Lowry said. appointed to fill the seat “There is a pending issue would be required to run Mayor Tim Lowry Chester bridge I have personally which in the next cycle, which in will cause me to take this some additional time for me this case would be the 2022 action. I want to be clear to formally take care of cur- midterm election. that this issue has nothing rent duties would be benefi- During the meeting, city repairs on hold to do with the city of Red cial to the city,” Lowry said. attorney Paul Ray fielded Bud nor any of my actions “This would also help the questions from aldermen By Travis Lott as mayor. city council to ensure the about the appointment of The hits just keep com- “Due to this pending issue, transition would be done mayor, specifically about ing for those tasked with Missouri I am not at liberty to pub- with the least amount of what would happen if the maintaining the Chester licly comment at this time.” disruptions.” vote was split. bridge. However, he went on to While the nature of po- Ray said there was no On July 1, it was an- commission address why he would not tential disruptions was mechanism for a tiebreaker, nounced that the Missouri be stepping aside just yet. never explicitly stated, the and whoever is appointed Highways and Transpor- “It has been brought to council went on to discuss tation Commission had rejects my attention that allowing what would happen if the Continued on Page 5_____ rejected bids for a project to rehabilitate the bridge, work that the Missouri bids Department of Transpor- tation had hoped to com- “Our goal is to buy some plete this year. time until we can replace MoDOT area engineer the bridge,” Okenfuss said. Brian Okenfuss said the However, when bids were last rehabilitation project, returned for this project, in 2019, was not finished the low bid was $11.6 mil- because contractors dis- lion, which Missouri High- covered that the work ways and Transportation needed was beyond the Commission said was too budget for the project. high. A total of $1.8 million That bid was from Cekra was to be funded by both of Wilmington, North Car- Illinois and Missouri, olina, according to MoDOT with Missouri picking up records. roughly $1 million of the The next lowest bid was tab. nearly $17 million. That project was to re- Okenfuss said that, as pair the bridge deck. of now, MoDOT plans to However, when contrac- monitor the bridge and tors got halfway through make necessary repairs that project, they learned with its own crews until that the repairs necessary another project can be were too extensive. funded through contract MoDOT came back the work. following year to take bids “At this point, we will The Kaskaskia VFW post color guard of Chester in the Steeleville July 4th parade on what was necessary continue to address im- to rehab the bridge, but mediate issues,” Okenfuss those bids were rejected said. because they were deemed A release from MoDOT A little different but successful too high. stated that the next in- By Travis Lott prevented the event from wanted,” Gerlach said. Okenfuss said MoDOT spection is scheduled for The overwhelming suc- being held at Legion Park, Crowds descended on used its own crews to this fall. cess of the Steeleville and neither organization southern Illinois’ biggest make a handful of struc- Okenfuss said that the Fourth of July celebration could take part in the plan- little city in mass numbers tural repairs. bridge is still structurally showed what Mayor Andy ning or execution of the throughout the weekend. This year, Missouri took sound and safe for travel. Gerlach hoped it would: festivities. While Gerlach did not have bids for deck repairs, “If the bridge was not a community that came Once Gerlach took office any totals for the crowds, structural steel repairs structurally sound, we together. in April, he started hold- some have said that it was and removing the con- would close it or reduce The event was obvious- ing community meetings to the largest turnout for July crete curb to replace it the weight limit,” Oken- ly different, being held plan the festival. He said a 3 in at least 15 years. with a drain system. fuss said. mostly at city hall and surprising number of peo- The entire parking area Okenfuss said the drains Okenfuss said that, when fireworks moved to the ple came forward to help at the high school and li- would allow for salt to closures or lane restric- Steeleville Grade School plan, more than just the lo- brary was packed for the drain off the bridge dur- tions are scheduled for ball fields. cal organizations, churches fireworks Sunday night, ing the winter months so repairs, MoDOT will send Pending litigation be- and clubs. and attendees were treated it wouldn’t land on the out a press release and tween the Steeleville Amer- “It truly was a commu- steel below, causing fur- post message boards along ican Legion and Lions Club nity event. That’s what I Continued on Page 5_____ ther erosion. roadways. Nettie B’s wins bid for shooting complex restaurant By Travis Lott Style Restaurant of Belleville. After an 18-month wait, it seems there is fi- Jasmine Brooks, owner of Nettie B’s, said she nally some progress on getting another restau- was recently notified of her successful bid. rant in the vacant space at the event center at Brooks, originally from East St. Louis, said the World Shooting and Recreational Complex she has been interested in the location for about in Sparta. two years and, shortly after, inquired about the The former owners of J&T Caliber vacated the leasing process. building in December of 2019 to pursue other “I’ve always been a big fan of the facility,” opportunities. Brooks said. Since then, locals have persistently asked Brooks has been in the restaurant industry for when the successor would be named. five years. While she has a brick-and-mortar No answers to that question were received for location at 8201 West Main Street in Belleville, much of the past year and a half. However, the she said she also has a large-scale catering state recently put the contract for the facility business. up for bid, just as it had done for the suites “We’re very passionate about food,” Brooks along vendor row. said. “We take a lot of pride in top-quality The County Journal has asked for information products.” as to how many bids were received and who She said this includes sourcing the business’ submitted those bids, but state officials have ingredients as fresh as possible and making all been unwilling to disclose that information of their own sauces daily. without a Freedom of Information Act request. The southern style cuisine features a great The results of that FOIA are pending. deal of seafood, as well as tacos, burgers and While it is unclear how many bids the state other entrees, all done up with her signature received on the concessionaires contract at the southern flair. restaurant, reporters recently learned that the Jasmine Brooks, owner of Nettie B’s South- winning bid was awarded to Nettie B’s Southern Continued on Page 5 ern Style Restaurant Willis Publishing Inc. © Copyright 2021 MONEY $AVING COUPONS INSIDE! PAGE 2 COUNTY JOURNAL | JULY 8, 2021 All those arrested or ticketed are presumed innocent until POLICE proven guilty in court. Local businessman dies in hay fi eld fi re A prominent lo- of farm equipment on him. Higgerson’s cal businessman was fi re in a hay fi eld. body was found by killed in a fi re Mon- Doug Higgerson, 82, the tractor. day morning in Pyr- of Cutler was work- The fi re spread to amid State Park be- ing on a hay baler in several large round tween the Pyatt Black- the fi eld when the bales and into a por- top and Conant. equipment apparently tion of the fi eld. According to Pinck- caught fi re. The incident re- neyville Fire Chief Firemen believe Hig- mains under investi- Jim Gielow, the de- gerson tried to get the gation. partment was called baler and the tractor Higgerson was the to Panda Bear Road out of the fi eld, but longtime president of at 10:50 a.m. July 5 the fl ames became too Rednour Steel Erec- for a report of a piece much and overcame tors in Cutler.