Candlewick Lake Craft Fair

Hours are 10:00am until 3:00pm. Please see below. Any questions please call the Recreation Center at 815-339-0500 x 300.

Trump has new legal problems?

Haitian group in Springfield, Ohio, files

citizen criminal charges against Trump and Vance

FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, attend the 9/11 Memorial ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

By  JULIE CARR SMYTH

Updated 9:48 PM CDT, September 24, 2024

Share

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The leader of a nonprofit representing the Haitian community invoked a private-citizen right to file charges Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, over the chaos and threats experienced by Springfield, Ohio, since Trump first spread false claims about legal immigrants there during a presidential debate.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance made the move after inaction by the local prosecutor, said their attorney, Subodh Chandra of the Cleveland-based Chandra Law Firm.

Charges brought by private citizens are rare, but not unheard of, in Ohio. Examples might be a grocery store charging a customer for a bounced check. State law requires a hearing to take place before the affidavit can move forward. As of Tuesday afternoon, none had been scheduled.

Trump and Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, are charged with disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing and complicity. The filing asks the Clark County Municipal Court to affirm that there is probable cause and issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance.

“Their persistence and relentlessness, even in the face of the governor and the mayor saying this is false, that shows intent,” Chandra said. “It’s knowing, willful flouting of criminal law.”

Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump-Vance campaign, said, “President Trump is rightfully highlighting the failed immigration system that (Vice President) Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country.”

The 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants who have arrived in Springfield over the past several years, in many cases after being recruited to local jobs, have been granted Temporary Protected Status to be in the U.S. legally.

More than 30 bomb threats were directed at state and local government buildings and schools, prompting closures, the assignment of additional law enforcement protection and security cameras. Some of the city’s Haitian residents have also said they feared for their safety as public vitriol grew, and Mayor Rob Rue has received death threats.

“If it were anyone else other than Trump and Vance who had done what they’ve done — wreak havoc on Springfield, resulting in bomb threats, evacuated and closed government buildings and schools, threats to the mayor and his family — they would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said. “They are not above the law.”

Chandra said the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling granting ex-presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution does not apply in this case because Trump is currently a private citizen and Vance was not acting in his capacity as a senator when he amplified the rumors that members of Springfield’s 15,000-member Haitian community were eating people’s pets.

Boone County Farm Stoll returns October 6

 It’s free and sounds very educational.  Click on the following for the details: 

Boone County Farm Stoll returns October

The participating farms and their addresses are listed below:

Alpaca Pines Farm and Fiber Mill

21756 Beaverton Road, Poplar Grove, IL 61065

Illinois Wool and Fiber Mill

10828 Caledonia Road, Belvidere, IL 61008

Claretta Farm

10636 Orth Road, Garden Prairie, IL 61038

Nature’s Best Christmas Trees and Honey

13001 Illinois Route 76, Poplar Grove, IL 61065

DieHard Dairy

4915 Genoa Road, Belvidere, IL 61008

S & J Farm Kirkland LLC

1745 Cherry Valley Road, Kirkland, IL 60146

Freedom Farms

34314 Wheeler Road, Kirkland, IL 60146

Susie’s Garden Patch

10258 US Highway 20, Garden Prairie, IL 61038

Homestead Farm

9222 Huber Road, Belvidere, IL 61008

Trogg’s Hollow CSA and Market Farm

11577 Poplar Grove Road, Poplar Grove, IL 61065

Teenage girl missing, Boone County sheriffs ask for public’s help

BOONE COUNTY, Ill. (WIFR) - The Boone County Sheriff’s Office asks for the public’s help to find a missing 17-year-old girl.

Eleanor Brown was last seen at 9 p.m. Sept. 17.

She is 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 100 lbs. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and has both ears and nostrils pierced. She wears glasses with clear frames.

If you have any information, contact the Boone County Sheriff’s Office at 815-544-2144.

UPDATE: As of Sunday evening, the Boone County Sheriff's Office said the teen has been found and returned home.

Letter to Editor of Boone County Journal

September 12, 2024

Referendum

Will taxes decrease when Belvidere North High School bonds are paid off?

Belvidere School Board #100 is debating that issue right now.

If you recall North was built during the housing boom to provide adequate classrooms for ten years. The boom busted and our school district with 9000 plus students now has approximately 7500 with projections of little growth in school age population for years.

North was built with capital appreciation bonds which had large increased payments as the projected new homes came on the tax rolls. That never happen but the taxpayers did have an “out”. In 2012 voters approved a 1% sales tax referendum which paid the increased bond payments and kept the tax rate stable.

In 2028 the Belvidere North bonds will be paid off. But District 100 has plans to borrow more for a list of projects even before that date. The most disturbing thing is that they may do so without the approval of a public referendum and do so this year.

In 2008 district petitioners convinced the Board of Education to stop such an attempted “back door referendum”. As prescribed by law, thousands of voter signatures on a prescribed petition form were needed to force a referendum on that bond request. If the board attempts the same now, will enough petition signers come forth in the limited time allowed by law and stop the tax extension?

The district has a number of other sources for building projects. There is a year’s worth of excess funds in non-capital funds. Most school districts have only 90 to 120 days in excess funds. With school board approval some of these funds could be used for building projects. When the Belvidere North Bonds are retired the school sales taxes (currently $800,000 per year) would be available. Impact fees from the city and county are also possible. The City of Belvidere just delivered a $520,000 check for the last three years of impact fees. Nonetheless the board is still considering various backdoor referenda.

Should taxpayers be alarmed? On September 5 the board had a two-hour meeting regarding funding options for large capital projects (available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKTbeigSVG0). On September 16 the actual projects and timing will be discussed at Central Office, 1201 5^th Ave, Belvidere, 6:00 –7:30PM. Please spread the word and talk to your school board members. Express your opinion. Soon the board may make its decisions and your opinion will have no weight.

I am not opposed to any specific project but the people’s voice through a referendum is the proper means to continue the Belvidere North tax rate.

Bill Pysson