50¢ FEBRUARY 12, 2020
PITTSFIELD, IL Thank you,
Todd Bradshaw of Griggsville,
Pike Press
NEWS Griggsville council accepts water tower bid. See page A2
See page A3
SPORTS
FLOWERS
By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press The City of Pittsfield is joining with other municipalities across the state to fight a 400 percent increase in gas transportation costs. “Transportation costs are 12 percent of the total bill,” Mayor John Hayden told the council at last week’s city council meeting. “If we are paying 17 cents per them and a homeowner uses 100 therms, his bill will increase $17 per month.” The Illinois Municipal Gas Association, of which the city is a member, plans to legally protest the increase and is billing each member municipality for the cost of the legal battle. “It’s six percent of the total fee,” Mike Hollahan, city attorney, told the council. “That comes out to about $26 per hour and four more municipalities have joined so our costs should go down. Without the additional litigants in the case, the city would have paid $4,000.” Regardless of how the legal case ends, the rate increase begins with the March billing.
David Camphouse/Pike Press
FOR YOUR VALENTINE
Carla Black, owner of Pittsfield’s Flowers N More, arranges a Valentine’s Day display on Monday, Feb. 10. According to Black, Valentine’s Day and Mothers Day are the two biggest days of the year for florist shops. Black has owned Flowers N More for approximately 11 years.
Sheriff’s office reminds parents to watch electronic devices after arrest of Barry man
Sectional champs. See page B1
WEEKEND WEATHER FRIDAY, FEB. 14
20 14 High
Low
SATURDAY, FEB. 15
41 29 High
Low
SUNDAY, FEB. 16
46 36 High
Low
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VOL. 178, NO. 7
City fighting increase in gas costs
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By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press The Pike County Sheriff’s Office is asking parents to closely monitor their children’s electronic devices closely after a Barry man was arrested last week on several counts of indecent solicitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful grooming and a Sangamon County warrant for retail theft. Isaac E. Henson, 19, Barry, is lodged in the Pike County Jail on $50,000 bond. “Be pro-active with children’s usage of social media,” Pike County Sheriff David Greenwood, said. “Law enforcement is seeing more and more cases involving sexually explicit messages between children and adults. This particular investigation began because a parent was able to read the messages sent to her daughter by an adult and immediately reported the incident the law enforcement.” The PCSD opened the investigation into the incident Jan. 30 after receiving a complaint from a local mother who indicated her juvenile daughter was receiving inappropriate messages from a 19year- old male through the use of social media. The messages were sent via Facebook Messenger, SnapChat and Instagram. During a course of the investigation, law enforcement officials were able to locate other female victims. Henson is charged with communicating with girls who were born in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The Pike County Sheriff’s Department executed a court-authorized search warrant at a residence in rural Barry. The search warrant resulted in the seizure of electronic devices and the arrest of Henson Judge Frank McCartney read the charges to Henson Friday afternoon in court. The charges were very graphic and descriptive of what messages Henson allegedly sent. McCartney appointed Keisha Morris to represent Henson in the charges and bond was set at $50,000. Ryan Schnack, who handled the bond hearing
for Morris in her absence, said Henson told him he had no money. Schack suggested $10,000 as an appropriate bond. McCartney said because of the nature of the case and the weight of the evidence, he thought $50,000 was reasonable and denied the motion to lower bond. ISAAC E. HENSON If Henson does make bond, he is forbidden to contact any of the victims or any person under the age of 18 and have no possession of any device with Internet access.
*UHHQZRRG ZDUQV SDUHQWV RI DSSV Pike County Sheriff David Greenwood is warning parents about the dangers behind certain apps their children may have on their phones. “This is a guide for parents or guardians to be on look-out for the following applications on their children’s electronic device,” Greenwood said.
“We are hopeful we can win the case and get a refund on what has been paid.”
John Hayden Pittsfield mayor “We are hopeful we can win the case and get a refund on what has been paid,” Hayden said. “It’s a real hardship on the schools, hospital and some of our bigger users as well as our senior citizens on fixed incomes.” Panhandle, the city gas supplier, says they have not raised transportation costs since 1992. “And now they are trying to get it all back at once,” Robert Wood, alderman ward 2, said. Also discussed was the city’s deadline for gas and water payments. “Right now, we shut off service on the first working day of the month,” Hayden said. “People are bringing in payments on that day trying to avoid disconnection.” The actual deadline to avoid disconnection is close of business on the last day of the month. The new proposal would make that deadline non-flexible. “That way we can get the list ready for the gas department the last day of the month and they can cut service first thing in the morning,” Hayden said. Steve Watkins, foreman of the gas department, said they workers do the reconnects the afternoon of the cutoffs between 3 and 4 p.m. “Sometimes we are still doing cutoffs at that time,” he said. The enforcement of the deadline will allow services to be disconnected first thing in the morning, giving the customer time to get a payment plus the reconnect fee to city hall in order to be reconnected the same day. That will include no dro- box payments after 4:30 the last day of the month. The council also announced they have awarded the summer mowing contract to Turf Works, a local company owned by Michael Butler and Keaton McAllister. “It’s a locally owned company,” Paul Lennon, alderman ward one said. Police Chief Michael Starman reported the city has a (See, GAS, A2)
Obituaries . . . . . . A5 Opinion . . . . . . . . A4 Our Town . . . . . . A5 Sports . . . . . . . . . . .B1 Obituaries in this issue: Anthony, Grisham, Kremer, Manker, Moore, Sappington, Worthington.
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Looking for something unique to put Pittsfield on the map By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press The Pittsfield Art Guild is looking for ways to put Pittsfield on the map and not just any map. “There is a website, Roadside Oddities in America,” Lauren Perez, a member of the group, said. “I’d like to get something in Pittsfield that would get us on the map.” The group, looking to promote tourism, tossed around numerous ideas on both existing items and items that could be inexpensively created because as far as any group member knew, there are no grants for anything like this. Location was also addressed, with some suggesting the Pittsfield Lake while others preferred a spot on a main thoroughfare. Ideas to promote Pittsfield and Pike County included: a giant Lincoln hat that could be on “legs” so visitors could stand under it and have their picture taken, a giant morel, a giant rack of deer antlers and a giant Riley’s bottle, since this is where the spice is made. Ideas that were discarded because they are not unique or were done in other areas included an ear of corn, a pig, although there was a consensus the big could be made unique enough to create interest. Each idea presented several pros and cons both as location, do-ability and cost as well as the ability to make it vandal and theft proof. Dan Long, a member of the group, suggested they scout around for a grain bin along side the highway and use it as a canvas on which to paint the Riley’s label or other scenes. Others suggested instead of a giant rack of antlers, using multiple antlers to make an archway for photo opportunities. The group reached no decision but plans to investigate the matter more and hopefully get more community input. The group has a Facebook page for anyone wanting to submit an idea or learn more about the project and all are welcome at the next meeting which will be announced soon.
STATE
Submitted photo
BOUND
Griggsville-Perry Middle School cheerleaders Mariska Sheurman, Saylor Martin, Nathalie Lothridge, Isabella Shoemaker, and Tighan Lawson show off their decorations on the bus transporting the Eagles 7th grade basketball team to the IESA state tournament in East Peoria. The Eagles fell to Lincoln West Lincoln-Broadwell Saturday, Feb. 8.