Candidates for Illinois’ 12th Congressional District had their last debate Wednesday at Lindenwood University-Belleville. Jason Plummer, R-O’Fallon; Bill Enyart, D-Belleville; and Green Party candidate Paula Bradshaw, of Carbondale, debated on the topics of jobs, taxes and the economy in what the candidates called the district’s blue-collar, military-oriented, eastern St. Louis-area suburbs. The 12th District makes up the southwestern Illinois tip, and only two men have represented the district since the end of World War II: Democrats Mel Price and incumbent Jerry Costello, who announced last year he would not seek re-election after representing the district for nearly 22 years. Though Democrats have held the district for 68 years, The New York Times race ratings called the 12th Congressional race a toss-up. With less than a month left until Election Day and no more scheduled debates, candidates spoke in Wednesday’s debate about their plans to keep St. Clair County’s Scott Air Force Base. “I’ve already brought units to Scott. I’ve already brought jobs to Scott,” said Enyart, a retired major general in the Illinois National Gaurd. “I’ll have instant credibility in Congress on defense issues.” Plummer said he wants to help the Air Force base grow, not only because of it’s effect on the area’s economy but also because of the men and women there who protect the nation. Plummer, the unsuccessful 2010 Republican lieutenant governor candidate, is vice president of corporate development at his family’s R.P. Lumber and is an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves at Scott Air Force Base. However, Bradshaw frames herself as someone who would “address corporate wrongs.” She took a different approach on the subject and suggested a 50-percent cut to the military budget. “My plan is all about government spending to make a more prosperous economy, not just with the military industrial complex but with actually putting people to work building a sustainable infrastructure,” she said. Despite the candidates’ early discourse on the future of Scott Air Force Base, the subject of economy dominated Wednesday’s debate. While Enyart described himself as an experienced leader who would fight for the area’s middle class, Plummer described himself as a small businessman who would bring jobs to the district and a fresh face to Washington. Please see DEBATE | 4
CHRIS ZOELLER | DAILY EGYPTIAN
Laura Borger, of Carbondale, receives a folded flag Thursday from Cadet Brent Peterson, a senior from Woodlawn studying intercultural communication, during a ceremony at Kesner Hall. The flag was originally given to Borger’s grandmother after her great uncle, Ernest E. Ogilvie, died in his submarine, the U.S.S. Sealion, during a bombing that led to the Pearl Harbor attack. Ogilvie is believed to be one of World War II’s first American casualties. Borger contacted Cadet Battalion Cmdr. Matt Osborne, one of her former students, about having the flag folded properly. “When my grandmother passed away two years ago, I inherited this flag,” Borger said. She said she believes her grandmother unfolded it at some point or it came undone. “I thought of Matt, who I knew was in the ROTC, and asked him if he could refold it for me so that I could properly take care of it,” she said. “I’m very happy to have this done.”
The Department of Children and Family Services revoked the layoff of a few hundred workers after creating a reorganization plan for more efficient resource use. Richard Calica, director of the DCFS, said in a press release the organization will work hard to supply an even higher service quality for families in need with the $27 million staff salary reduction. “I have been working diligently to realign
the agency’s structure so that we can do more than just get the job done,” Calica said. “We have moved resources in ways that make more sense and will lead to better outcomes.” Although the workers were not laid off, their jobs will be repurposed and spread to the organization’s remaining parts, said David Clarkin, a DCFS spokesperson. Clarkin said workers in the Intact Family Service, a program designed to assist abused or neglected children without removing them from their home, will recieve positions in other areas of the DCFS because the
The SIU Department of Public Safety is investigating a battery and robbery that occurred Tuesday on the south end of Anthony Hall. The incident happened at 11:40 p.m. and involved a 20-year-old student, according to the DPS website. The student told police he was walking over the north overpass when the suspect ran down the overpass. The suspect approached the student and demanded the victim’s “weed, money and wallet,” police said. The victim said he gave the suspect his wallet and yelled for help as two others walked by. He said the suspect then hit the victim in the face, ran east and
dropped the wallet on the sidewalk. The victim received minor injuries to his lip and nose but did not require medical treatment. The suspect is described as a black male who is about 6 feet 1 inch tall with a thin build. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt, dark jeans, black shoes, a white mask and black baseball cap, according to the DPS report. A similar incident occurred Sept. 29 in the Newman Center Parking lot, according to police reports. A 19-year-old SIU student was walking north on the sidewalk that runs west of the Recreation Center at 3:30 a.m, the DPS reported. The victim passed a male suspect talking on his cell phone on the footbridge that leads to the Newman Center. The suspect hit the victim in the head
program will be cut from the organization. The cut was made because other areas of the DCFS were more important and crucial to the goals the organization were built upon, he said. “We can’t not have people answer the hotline when somebody calls to report abuse,” Clarkin said. “We can’t not have investigators go out and investigate allegations of abuse, and we can’t not have foster homes to send those children to who are at immediate risk of danger.” Please see SERVICES | 4
and a second male then tried to surround him, the report states. The victim told police he tried to run, but a third male tripped him while in the Newman Center parking lot. The third suspect then hit the victim in the head and took the victim’s cell phone. The three suspects fled toward the Brush Towers area. The first suspect was a black male who wore a dark blue hooded sweatshirt. The second suspect was a black male who wore a red button-up shirt and had dreadlocks with blonde tips, while the third suspect, also a black male, wore a white T-shirt. The victim received treatment at the scene for minor injuries. Please see BATTERY | 4