Greene Prairie Press OCTOBER 23, 2013 – Vol. 144, No. 43 – Carrollton, Illinois 62016
INSIDE LOCALS
Carrollton signs off on police contract By CARMEN ENSINGER Greene Prairie Press
Childress' anniversary. See page A8
Though the Carrollton City Council approved its contract with the police union 5-1 at the Oct. 16 council meeting, three of the aldermen were less than enthusiastic with their Aye votes. Alderwoman Sharon Butler was the only council member voting No to the contract which will give Carrollton police officers a three percent raise for each of the next three years. Aldermen Joe Harness and Tom Wilson added the word
Staredown
“reluctantly” at the end of their Yes votes and Alderman Dewain Freand capped off his vote in favor of the contract with “but didn’t want to.” Carrollton Mayor David Stendeback, when asked for the specifics of the contract, said the contract was not available. “The union is preparing a written contract and once we receive it we will sign off on it,” Stendeback said. Butler, who said she had not even been presented with the proposed contract before it came up for vote Wednesday night, said that wasn’t her only reason for voting against the
measure. “I voted No because I don’t think the city can afford a three percent raise each year for three years,” she said. “I questioned it because I don’t think we have the money and the economy is awful. No one else, however, seems to worry about it.” The contract was negotiated on behalf of the city by city attorney Anne Clough and Stendeback without the aid of an outside arbitrator. “This has been done internally and none of us knew what was going on,” Butler said. “The mayor and our attorney did all the negotiating, so
with a swashbuckler
NEWS
NEWS
News from the pews. See page A4
Carmen Ensinger/Greene Prairie Press
James Loy of Greenfield seems to be enjoying acting like a pirate for the Full Moon Over Carrollton costume judging contest held Saturday afternoon on the courthouse parking lot. It was the first year for the event with many children taking part and winning prizes.
Roodhouse to employ additional city worker By CARMEN ENSINGER Greene Prairie Press
Tigers clinch playoff spot. See page B10
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Obituaries in this issue: Bowers, Leseman, Jackson, Scott
© 2013 Greene Prairie Press
I guess it’s good we didn’t have to pay an arbitrator. According to the mayor, they wanted a whole lot of concessions, but they settled for only receiving the three percent for three years.” In other action, the council: n Approved the purchase of a new computer for the city clerk at a cost of $498. n Approved raising the number of hours an employee can work before the city has to pay into the IMRF from 600 hours to 1,000 hours. n Approved purchase of a dump truck at $42,500.
Roodhouse City Council members voted at the Oct. 16 regular meeting to add another employee to its payroll, despite not knowing the exact state of its finances. The motion to hire an additional employee at the South Shop passed by a vote of 5-1 with aldermen Barb Alred, Terry Garner, Charlie Huffines, Ralph Phillips and Jim Knox all voting in favor and Alderman Garrett Rogers voting No. Mayor Tom Martin does not think now is a good time to hire an extra employee. “Personally, I am not for this but I can’t vote on it,” Martin said after the meeting. “At this time I’m not so sure we need anyone going into the winter months. Maybe in the spring we might, but given that we don’t have a clear picture of our finances right now, I just don’t think it wise to add another employee to the payroll at this time.” There are currently four men, including the supervisor, who work at the South Shop. A motion to give the workers in the South Shop, which is not unionized, an 8 percent raise was tabled until the next special meeting. “They wanted to do some more research on it before they made a decision,” Martin said. “They were saying that no one had had any raises for awhile so they wanted to go back and look at the past two or three years and see just what the salaries were
and who had had raises and who had not.” Martin confirmed the council had brought up hiring back Tim Garner, Alderwoman Terry Garner’s husband and the longtime employee who was terminated under the former administration for alleged theft of overtime. “It was brought up but I don’t know what the outcome of that
“Personally, I am not for this but I can’t vote on it.”
Tom Martin Mayor
will be,” Martin said. “It will be a council decision, which I am not able to vote on.” Martin said it was his understanding that per the city’s ordinance, the position must be posted in-house, giving any current employee the opportunity to apply for the job first. “I’m going through the ordinances and everything I can find to find out how that does work,” Martin said. “But I do know at least one employee wants the job and has applied for it.” Ultimately it will be the utility committee, consisting of Barb Alred, Charlie Huffines and Garrett Rogers, who will make the recommendation to the full council. “They recommend who they want and then the whole council gets a chance to vote on whether
or not they want that person,” Martin said. If the council chooses to ignore its ordinance giving inhouse employees priority for any open position within the city and chooses Tim Garner, Martin said Alderwoman Terry Garner would have to abstain. “As a matter of fact, she should not even be in on the conversations if that is what their consideration is going to be,” Martin said. “It hasn’t come down to that yet, but if it did, she absolutely would not be involved in it. Our city clerk told me as far back as she can remember the in-house employees had first chance at any openings so this should be done the same way. That shouldn’t change under this council.” Martin said it was time the council stopped spending the taxpayers money until the city gets its finances straightened out. “We are going to have to put a freeze on spending,” Martin said. “I know we came into this needing a lot of things – there are things that haven’t been done for many years, for instance we needed to update the truck and tools. There were different things we needed to do but I think, as I said before, we’re getting to the point where it is time to stop and get this financial thing straightened completely out before we do a lot of spending, and my idea was to wait until we get the total controllers report on where we are at and get this audit over with and maybe then consider hiring. We are coming into the slow months, anyway.”
n Accepted a proposal from Combs in the amount of $5,170 for tree removal. n Approved purchase of an incubator for the sewer plant at a cost of $4,000. n Approved a bond ordinance for the sewer project. n Approved two nights of trickor-treating on Oct. 30 and 31 from 6-8 p.m. on houses with porch lights on only. Ages 12 and under. The next regular finance meeting will be on Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. with the council meeting to follow at 7 p.m.
Effects of Obamacare already being felt locally By ROBERT L YONS Campbell Publications The date requiring every resident to carry health insurance is nearing. But, many associated with health insurance locally are not overly optimistic the initial affect will be positive. The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, mandates citizens have a health insurance plan in place by the end of March 2014. The concept is that if everyone has insurance, the quality and affordability will increase. As part of the legislation, insurance companies will be forced to accept customers who have pre-existing conditions and provide preventative care coverage. However, local employers, healthcare providers and insurance agents aren’t confident the plan will meet its goal, at least not early on. “It’s an ambitious project,” Dr. Ron Johnson, who practices at locations in Pike and Scott counties with Quincy Medical Group, said. “To cover everybody with insurance like we did for car insurance is not a bad idea, because it evens out the payment. But to require everybody to have preventive care, as well, front loads the cost tremendously. The payoff will be incredible on the other end, though.” Being able to detect and treat diseases and other health risks early on will be a tremendous boon to the healthcare providers, according to Johnson. He said by keeping the populace healthy, thus at work and paying for insurance, the systems begins to
The big finish. See page A2
SPORTS
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sustain itself. “The first few years are going to be painful,” he said. Johnson said he believes it will take three to four years before the benefits of Obamacare will begin to even out the negatives. The downside may be hard to overcome, according to Jessica Dean, an insurance agent with the Jerseyville- and Carrolltonbased company Whitworth, Horn and Goetten. Dean said many individuals have been inquiring about health insurance since Oct. 1, a date widely advertised as the opening day of the insurance exchange. She said everything she’s encountered regarding the reform – the website healthcare.gov, the coverages and premiums – has been discouraging. “Unfortunately, [for current clients] their options are less coverage for more money, as of right now. I haven’t seen anything any better for them, unless they are low income,” she said. “That’s been my experience with my customers, so far.” With a penalty in the first year for failing to purchase a policy of just $95 or one percent of taxable income, whichever is greater, Dean said there’s not much incentive for someone like a young, uninsured healthy male to enroll. But, it is the inclusion of healthy individuals which equalizes the risk for insurers. Even worse, she said, many who are insured now may not be for much longer. “I’m scared there will be people out (See, OBAMACARE, A2)
Carrollton man nabbed for sex with a minor By CARMEN ENSINGER Greene Prairie Press Less than 24 hours after being released on bail following burglary charges, a Carrollton man found himself back behind bars again – this time on three counts of alleged aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor. Daniel C. Hardwick, 22, was arrested by Carrollton Police Thursday night on a Greene County warrant accusing him of three counts of sexual abuse which allegedly occurred on Sept. 2 and again on the Sept 7 and 8 with a minor who was at least 13 years of age but under 17 with the defendant being more than five years older than the minor. According to Greene County Sheriff Rob McMillen, a family member had just bonded Hardwick out of jail Thursday
morning after he was picked up on a charge of burglary. According to the Illinois State Police Sex Offender website, Hardwick is listed as a Sexual Predator as the result of two charges of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of both a female and male victim under the age of 13. Under a negotiated plea agreement in April 2010, Hardwick pleaded guilty to the first count and the second count was dismissed. According to the Sex Offender website, the victim was only 9 years old and Hardwick was 17. Under the plea agreement, Hardwick was sentenced to 24 months probation and fined $25 a month in addition to having to register as a sex offender. As of Monday, Hardwick remained in Greene County Jail with bail set in the amount of $60,000.
White Hall woman waiting for double lung transplant By CARMEN ENSINGER Greene Prairie Press Misty Hammon of White Hall is waiting on a single phone call which could literally save her life. Hammon, 38, suffers from Interstitial lung disease and the only cure is to receive a double lung transplant, which she is waiting on. Interstitial lung disease affects the tissue and space around the air sacs of the lungs. Hammon discovered something was wrong back in 2009 when she had a cold that just wouldn’t go away. “Because I couldn’t get rid of this cold, they did a chest X-ray and they found my lungs didn’t look well,” Hammon said. “So they sent me to a pulmonologist in Springfield. I was there for a couple of years and wasn’t getting any better so I was sent to see a pulmonologist at St. Louis University Hospital.” On July 24, Hammon said she got sick and thought it was just another cold so she went to her primary care physician who prescribed antibiotics. “I didn’t get any better after taking the antibiotics so I decided I better go to St. Louis to see my pulmonologist,” Hammon C
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MISTY HAMMON said. “He admitted me right away and I was in intensive care until Aug. 7 when they transferred me to Barnes Hospital because that is where they do the lung transplants.” Hammon was at Barnes from Aug. 7 until Sept. 17 when she finally got to come home. Her condition was serious enough for her to be put on the transplant list. (See, TRANSPLANT, A2)