Meeting about Obamacare Page 10 Guilty meth pleas... Page 3 New bank president... • Serving Randolph, Perry And Jackson Counties Since 1980 • Page 11 Evansville board... Page 15 © Copyright 2013, County Journal www.countyjournalnews.com Volume 34 Number 15 28 Pages Your Local News Leader Thursday, April 11, 2013 60¢ Sales tax referendum loses The votes by towns Mixed results on electricity bulk purchase question Once again, Randolph County voters have Also, Tuesday, many municipalities and the and school districts said no to a sales tax increase for the schools. unincorporated areas of Randolph County However, this time the vote was much closer voted on the bulk purchase of electricity by The election is over—sort than it was in 2009 when it went down in a their governments. of. strong defeat. The issue failed in unincorporated Randolph The results won’t be official Sutton wins in The measure to add one percent to the tax County 857 no to 687 yes. for 14 days after the election lost 3,906 to 3,077. Almost 7,200 people voted However, it passed in every municipality (April 23), allowing time for Steeleville, on the issue out of 21,962 registered voters in where it was on the ballot. Baldwin passed it military and absentee ballots the county. 71 to 51, Ellis Grove 78 yes to 27 no, Evansville that are postmarked in time Evansville is This time, the issue had active opponents and 183 yes to 129 no, Percy 98 yes to 93 no, Prairie to be received by county proponents, complete with advertising and du Rocher, 107 yes to 64 no, Tilden 173 yes to clerks. very close signs. 142 no and Cutler, 42 yes to 17 no. Here are the tentative re- sults only for the races that absentee ballots were added, were contested. Blechle won 291 to 272. Red Bud Municipalities In Ward 1, Clem Esker goes Ava back on the council, as he The only race was for beat incumbent Harold clerk. Incumbent Julie Cowell 103 to 93. Volkman had 67 votes and Bill Hanebutt was unchal- defeated Tina Kilpatrick lenged in Ward 2 and re- with 63. Volkman’s margin ceived 150 votes. of victory was four absentee In Ward 3, it was a three- ballots. man race, and the winner is Chester Donald Thompson with 110 Former Menard Warden votes. Larry Mehring had 59 Tom Page defeated Alder- and Brad Moss 14. man Nancy Crossland 1,014 It was close in Ward 4, with to 770 votes for mayor. incumbent Clarence Naile In Chester, 1,812 ballots winning 115 to 112 over were cast. Joanne Cowell. For alderman Ward 1, Dan However, some outstand- Geisen defeated incumbent ing military and/or absentee Ken Dillman 182 to 134 ballots could change some votes. totals. In Ward 2, Dan Ohlau Baldwin ousted incumbent Richard Three were in the running Brueggemann 171 to 110. for mayor with Daniel Jones The Ward 3 winner was winning. With his 60 votes, Dr. Robert Platt with 430 he defeated Virgil Chandler votes, defeating incumbent with 41 and Brad Denney Carole Abernathy with 183. with 24. Dillman, Brueggemann For the town board, four and Abernathy had all sup- were in the running, with ported TIF money for the three to be elected. The win- new hotel. ners were Angela Kirch- Ward 4 was a tight race all hoeffer with 72 votes, night between incumbent Jimmie Niemeyer with 87 Marissa second at chalk walk Michael Blechle and Charla and Greg Stellhorn with 68. Marissa High School’s Dustin Johnson works on a drawing at the chalk walk April 3 at Ward. At one point, Ward Steeleville High School. Ten schools participated in the competition. Joining Johnson on led by a vote, but when the Continued on Page 5______ one of the teams from Marissa were from left, B.J. Weekley, Sam Scheid and Jaclyn Baum. Johnson’s team finished in second place, behind a team from Dupo High School. Run on ammunition creates shortage and price increases Anyone who has purchased or tried to purchase gun am- munition lately knows there is a problem out there. For the last few months, a shortage of ammunition of all sizes has developed. According to USA Today, gun shops are running low on ammunition because custom- ers fear gun control is com- ing. It is said that .22 long rifle shells are especially hard to find, as gun owners have been stocking up since Barack Obama was re-elected president. They fear he will push for more gun laws or higher gun and ammunition taxes. Jim Douglas owns and op- erates J and J Guns at the shooting complex. “All manufacturers say they are running a maximum out- put,” Douglas said. “All sizes of ammunition are affected, with .22 shells especially hard to keep on hand.” Douglas said he got in 25,000 rounds of ammunition last Thursday, and it was all sold by Saturday. He said ammunition prices are going up along with de- Long rifle .22 shells are among the hard to get. Sparta’s top citizen mand. Douglas said three Sparta’s 2013 outstanding citizen of the year Kay Hapke months ago he was selling a is paying for them. federal government is going was surprised when her name was announced during the box of .22 shells for $2.25 a “The general public is buy- to put a heavy tax on ammu- annual Sparta Area Chamber of Commerce dinner April 6 box. Now they are selling for ing them up,” said Douglas. at the Sparta Lions Club. The complete story is on Page 6. $3.55 to coincide with what he “They are concerned that the Continued on Page 5_______ Jackson and Downey plead not quilty in child’s death By Greg Myers the case to go to trial. With Back in December, Ran- They allegedly failed to pro- it was obvious from the ap- At the last minute before the the hearing waived, the cases dolph County Coroner Randy vide adequate food and medi- pearance of the babies that start of their preliminary move to scheduled manage- Dudenbostel said the baby cal care for their son. they were not being properly hearing April 4 in Randolph ment conferences May 2. was found unresponsive in The baby was a twin, and a 4- fed, and the autopsy on Jack- County, the Chester parents Bradly Dale Jackson, 25, and his home and was taken to the year-old son of Downey’s was son Jr. confirmed it. facing felony charges for the Christina Ann Downey, 26, Chester hospital, where he also living in the house. Those Jackson and Downey are death of their 28-day-old son were arrested in March for died. two children were removed from charged with Class 2 and waived their rights to that the December 3, 2012 death Court information states the home December 3 and are Class 3 felonies, and if con- hearing and entered separate of their baby Bradly Dale that both Downey and Jack- living elsewhere. victed, they face three to 14 pleas of not guilty. Jackson Jr. Each was charged son, while acting in a reckless Randolph County State’s At- years in prison and a maxi- The hearing was set so the with involuntary manslaugh- manner, performed acts torney Jeremy Walker said it mum fine of $25,000 each. court could determine if there ter and endangering the likely to cause death or great was just luck that the other Both remain in jail in lieu of was sufficient evidence for health of a child. bodily harm to their baby. twin survived. He also stated $100,000 bond each. Page 2 County Journal April 11, 2013 Police blotter Accident takes life Randolph County Dewayne A. Lewis, 42, partment on a court dispositions of Tupelo, Mississippi Williamson County of Tamaroa man was arrested April 4 by warrant for underage The following cases Chester, battery, dis- state police in drinking. He posted A Perry County road, overcorrected, have been terminated missed. Randolph County for bond. man was killed and a came back onto the in Randolph County Kelsey Roberts of DUI, criminal damage **** Carbondale woman highway and crossed court. Chester, theft, court su- to property, leaving the Melanie M. Downen, was seriously injured the center line into Gregory Fajardo I of pervision, restitution. scene of an accident, 41, of Tilden was ar- in a two-car accident the path of a Jeep Carbondale, (previ- improper lane usage rested April 6 by the April 4 on Rte. 154 at driven by 48-year-old ously of Sparta) preda- and failure to reduce Randolph County Boxelder Road near Amy Jo Russell. tory criminal sexual as- Du Quoin City Lake. Taylor died at the speed to avoid an acci- Sheriff’s Department sault of a child under State police said scene. Russell was dent. He was jailed. on a warrant for failure 13, guilty, 18 years in Travis B. Taylor, 21, flown to St. Louis **** to appear in court for prison. of Tamaroa was University Hospital. Fajardo was arrested Michael D. Knott, 43, unlawful delivery of a headed west on Rte. The accident was in October of 2012 for of Chester was arrested controlled substance. 154 when he ran off reported around 3 April 4 by Chester po- the offense that was She was jailed. Bond the right side of the p.m. committed May lice for driving on a re- was set at $10,000. through November of voked license and **** 2011. The case was squealing tires. He Alana R.