1 Front Volume 140 No. 17
Friday, June 21, 2013
The Tonica News
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A trip to the sewer plant By Barb Kromphardt bkromphardt@tonicanews.com
TONICA – Some people might not think a field trip to a sewer plant was a good time, but Tonica officials enjoyed their recent field trip just fine. At the village board meeting June 17, Superintendent of Public Works Marc Lemrise said he, along with village President Kevin Sluder, trustees Bob Foltynewicz and Dennis Ford and village engineer Jack Kusek had recently toured sewer
treatment plants in Braidwood, Bloomington and Manhattan. “We got to talk to people who operate them and see what an oxidation ditch actually looks like,” Lemrise said. The village is proceeding with plans for a proposed $2.5 million sewer plant. The proposed plant will be an oxidation ditch, in which the sewage comes in and moves around an oval ditch. There are mixing devices to add oxygen to the sewage and then quiet ponds to allow acti-
vated sludge to digest the solids in the sewage. The village is dealing with several manufacturers of the equipment, and Lemrise said the three plants operate differently, but they are essentially all the same type. “Same principal, different equipment,” he said. Sluder said it seemed like all the operators were happy with how their systems worked. “It’s very impressive,” he said. “They seemed passionate about it.” Several of the officials
were most impressed with the system at Braidwood. Lemrise said that system would require more frequent maintenance, but it was work that he could easily do. Other systems would require less frequent, but more complex and extensive maintenance. Lemrise also talked about how the paper products were removed from the system, compressed and then dropped into a dumpster. “Looked just like a Tootsie Roll,” Sluder said.
Kusek said he was very pleased with the tour and called it an eye-opener. Foltynewicz was also impressed. “It’s just so complex the balance these guys have to keep,” he said. Kusek said one key issue would be to make sure the plant can be modified to handle upcoming changes in testing and future village growth. The other important issue would be how easy the propellers are to lift out and service because Tonica has only two village employees.
“There’s not a lot of extra time to babysit and monkey with maintenance,” he said. Sluder said he also realized how expensive the project will be, but Kusek said Tonica’s system would not be as complex as the ones the group toured. The smallest town the group visited was 5,700 people while Tonica’s system will serve only 750. Kusek said work is moving into the design phase. “It’s coming together pretty quickly,” he said.
Illinois drops compulsory school age to 6 By Dixie Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
SPRINGFIELD – Six year olds must attend school. That’s the result of a new bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly. According to Senate Bill 1307, education in Illinois must be mandatory for all children who are 6 years of age or older by Sept. 1 of that current school year. The kindergarten for these students can be half-day or full day, as decided by the individual school districts. Gov. Pat Quinn was pleased with the bill and said in a press release it is another important step in assisting children in Illinois to be competitive in the world as they grow older. “We took another step forward today in our mission to ensure that every child in Illinois is prepared to succeed,” he said. “Getting students through the doors at age 6 is an investment in their future and in the proven benefits of early childhood education.” The Senate passed the bill 37-19 May 17, with Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) voting against the bill. The House passed the bill 64-52 May 27,
with Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley) also voting against it. Also opposing the bill was the Illinois Christian Home Educators group. According to the ICHE website, many children are not ready to attend school at age 5 and this decision should remain with the child’s parents, not the state. Locally Tonica Grade School Superintendent and Principal John Suarez was not surprised by the legislation. “If you look at the No Child Left Behind legislation a large emphasis is focused on early education,” Suarez said. “On face value, it is a wonderful idea to get children in school as early as possible. In terms of the impact, it is nearly impossible to predict what this will do to our enrollments and thus, staffing needs. This legislation, like anything that the governor’s office or the State Board of Education does, will ask more of schools while still making cuts in funding and create another unfunded school mandate.” The bill did not offer any additional monies to help districts pay for the potential costs of enacting this law. The bill will go into effect on July 1.
Tonica News photo/Dixie Schroeder
Summer fun Liam Knoblaugh was out for a drive on June 11 with his father’s supervision.
When no might not mean no! Possible scam artist preying on local seniors By Dixie Schroeder news@tonicanews.com
TONICA – A possible scam targeting senior citizens is working its way around the area. A local resident was the victim of this scam
Martha Burgess said at the end of May, a man who had done work on her home before knocked on her door. “I said when I first saw him I said I didn’t want anything done today,” she said. “Because I
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Vol. 140 No. 17 One Section - 8 Pages
Stitching the ties of friendship © The Tonica News
knew who he was.” Burgess said she talked to the man who kept telling her that she needed this or that done to her home. She told him she didn’t want anything done at all. She argued with him for five to 10 minutes. At that time Burgess was in the house and the man was on the porch.
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Turning back the clock See Page 4
She then decided that she better go and check things out. “So I went out there and low and behold, they had three-fourths of my back driveway covered,” she said. Burgess said she felt like she had a real problem on her hands. She said she yelled and
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