DeKalb County sues over collapsed bridge

By JEFF ENGELHARDT

SYCAMORE – The county and Afton Township officials have filed a civil lawsuit against Enbridge Energy and Welded Construction, alleging that work the companies did on a pipeline in 2008 caused the Keslinger Road bridge to collapse.

Representatives from Welded Construction – which was contracted by Enbridge Energy to expand an oil pipeline in the area at the time – admitted it had trucks weighing between 150,000-155,000 pounds crossing the bridge without proper permits.

The lawsuit, filed Friday at the DeKalb County Courthouse, alleges that the defendants violated state statutes by transporting numerous "super loads of equipment and materials across the bridge far in excess of its known capacity" without obtaining overweight permits or permission from the township road commissioner, according to a news release from DeKalb County State's Attorney Clay Campbell.

"The company that destroyed this bridge is refusing to take responsibility," Campbell said. "

Read the rest of the story:  http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2011/10/07/county-sues-over-collapsed-bridge/adza7ko/

Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales

By Asjylyn Loder and David Evans - Oct 3, 2011 12:28 PM CTMon Oct 03 17:28:56 GMT 2011

Bloomberg Markets Magazine

Good summary of all the”bad things” the Koch Brothers are accused, convicted and currently fighting.  One can readily see why if one has attempted to circumvented the law it might be easy to want to abolish government regulation.  Read the article and think twice about “Tea Party ideas” do those idea belong to the American public or are they the personal property of the Koch Brothers.

Click on the following to read the Bloomberg article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-02/koch-brothers-flout-law-getting-richer-with-secret-iran-sales.html

Agenda for Belvidere Township Meeting on October 11

AGENDA

BELVIDERE TOWNSHIP

MEETING OF THE TOWNSHIP BOARD

8200 Fairgrounds Road

October 11, 2011 – 5:00 P.M.

I. Call to Order / Roll Call

II. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes

IV. Transfers

V. Reports

a. Supervisor’s Report

b. Highway Commissioner’s Report

c. Assessor’s Report

d. Clerk’s Report

e. Trustee’s Report

VI. Unfinished Business

a. Acquisition of the Eagles Club

b..

c.

d.

VII. Legal

a.

b.

VIII.New Business

a.

b.

c.

d.

IX. Treasurer’s Report and Approval of Bills

X. Public Input

XI. Closed Session

a.

XII. Adjournment

* Please note in order to take final action on an item it must be specified on the posted agenda 48 hours in advance of the meeting.

Plea from Boone County Food Pantry

Letter to the Editor or Guest Editorial

Linda Clark, Executive Director

of the Belvidere/Boone County Food Pantry

“Hunger is Unacceptable in our Community “

People are surprised to learn that in this community there are people, young, elderly and in-between, who do not have the resources to feed themselves or their families adequately. That is why the Belvidere /Boone County Food Pantry exists – to aid those who need food especially on an emergency basis. We want to make sure that every person/child/family has the food they need to sustain themselves. So, we are seeking donations to help the 1500 – 2000 individuals (on average) who use our pantry every month. With this bad economic time, the number of people who need the food pantry’s assistance keeps increasing.

On September 27, I spoke to the Board of Trustees at the Belvidere Township meeting to ask them for a donation so we may continue to provide food and other necessities to the people in Belvidere Township who are live in poverty and need our help. We have not received support from the Belvidere Township in the past, but hope that will change in the future. We serve a significant number of Belvidere township residents and have been doing so for the past 7 years. Poplar Grove Township has been generous in financially assisting the pantry this past year and our hope is that the other townships in Boone County will follow their example. We need the support of all of our local governments to help us continue the services we have been providing to our clients for several years. We are not supported by any State or Federal entities. The pantry is stocked entirely by the generosity of individuals, businesses, civic groups and the faith based community. This support has sustained us for a long time, but now with the increased unemployment in our area, we need financial assistance to make sure every household receives the food and daily essentials necessary for day to day existence.

Our pledges are down, our donations of products are down, and the number of people we serve continues to rise. We need help feeding your neighbor, maybe a family member, the person you sit next to in church, or someone you work beside. Some of our past contributors are now our clients.

“It’s a Community Problem ... None of us want to see people going Hungry”

If you are willing to help, please call Linda Clark, executive director of the Belvidere/Boone County Food Pantry at 815/979-5412.

Thank you and God bless all of the generous people and businesses in Boone County who have supported us in the past.

Sincerely,

Linda Clark

Executive Director

Belvidere /Boone County Food Pantry

State Pay—2010 and prior—state employees available to all to see

If you are interested go to the following website proved by Quad Cities Online:  http://statepay.qconline.com/payreports?search%5Border%5D=ascend_by_name&search%5Bname_contains%5D=&search%5Bcounty_code_like%5D=Boone+County&search%5B%3Aannual_salary_gt%5D=&search%5B%3Aannual_salary_lt%5D=&search%5Byear_like%5D=2009&search%5Bposition_title_like%5D=&search%5Bagency_like%5D=&commit=Reset

 

Officials look to expand county jail into N. Locust Street

Boone County jail currently receives large reimbursements for housing DeKalb prisoners.  It looks like the Boone County Board needs to make sure that their FY 2013 budget (that the budget to be approve in November 2012) considers this large lost of cash.  I certainly hope that the county still has some reserves for then.

 

By ANDREW MITCHELL

When the jail was built in 1980, Kimme said, it was designed to hold 64 beds. By 1990, it had 89 beds. The average number of inmates during 2010 was 131, with the peak number at 141.

The hope is to expand the jail in a two-phase process, expanding to 200 beds initially, but expanding further down the line.

The county [DeKalb County] has proposed paying for a larger jail through the expansion of the DeKalb County Landfill. If that occurs – and it could not happen until appeals against the landfill expansion have been heard and permits are granted by the state – the landfill would take trash from other counties and charge a tipping fee. That fee would be used to expand the jail.

Click on the following to read all of this story:  http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2011/09/30/officials-look-to-expand-county-jail-into-n-locust-street/ajycgp2/?page=2

Foresters hope tiny wasp can fight big problem: The emerald ash borer beetle

Experts released nearly 1,000 Chinese wasps into a Lake County Forest preserve on Thursday that they hope will show how to stop or at least slow the spread of the invasive emerald ash borer beetle.

The tiny wasps don’t look like the more familiar yellow jacket. The biggest is less half a centimeter long, and has no stinger. It seems more ant than wasp.

Employing the old proverb that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend,” county officials hope that these non-native bio-warriors will eat ash borer larva like they do in their native China, where the pest is kept in check.

“They die a horrible little death,” said John Lelito, who heads the Michigan lab that raises the wasps.

Above is taken from:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-foresters-hope-tiny-wasp-can-fight-big-problem-the-emerald-ash-borer-beetle-20110929,0,5518097.story