State Briefs: 12/12/07
Central Illinois Public TV group battling debt to pay for digital broadcasts
SPRINGFIELD - Jerold Gruebel doesn't like being in debt.
"Borrowing is a bad thing," said Gruebel, president and CEO of the West Central Illinois Educational Telecommunications Corp., which operates three public television stations in central Illinois: WSEC in Springfield, WMEC in Macomb and WQEC in Quincy.
Faced with a federal requirement to start sending digital broadcast signals, the nonprofit corporation borrowed nearly $5 million in 2002 to buy equipment. The corporation issued tax-exempt bonds that were purchased by Bank One, which eventually became Chase Bank.
However, the relationship went quietly south last year, when West Central defaulted on its agreement with Chase. Although the corporation never missed a payment, it didn't have as much money deposited with the bank as the loan agreement specified.
The corporation, which had put up all its assets as collateral - including computers, broadcasting equipment and transmission towers - was facing foreclosure. Instead, the bank gave West Central a chance to find another lender.
"It was a period that was a little touch-and-go for us," Gruebel said. "I think we're struggling, but we're moving forward."
Today, the corporation has new financing, but at a higher cost. The interest rate has gone from 2.16 percent to 3.62 percent, Gruebel said.
And Bank of America, which took over from Chase and holds all of the corporation's equipment and property as collateral, plays hardball, according to WTVP-TV in Peoria. WTVP-TV officials recently announced that Bank of America has threatened to shut down that public television station and seize its assets unless it comes up with $6.9 million by Jan. 15.
New Girl Scout council creates new opportunities, CEO says
SPRINGFIELD - Girl Scouting today is much more than cookie sales and camp are , says Pam Kovacevich, the new CEO of the local Girl Scouts council.
"There are leadership opportunities that are not provided, really, anywhere else for girls, not at this caliber," said Kovacevich, who began her new post Dec. 3. "There are some stereotypes we need to overcome ... (By) staying in tune with what teenagers and 'tweens' are now being attracted to, really we have to make ourselves current. Our programs have to be made current."
Embracing Scouting traditions while focusing on new programming is just one of the ways Girls Scouts is adapting to fit the community, Kovacevich said.
A recent merger combined the former Land of Lincoln Council based in Springfield - which included more than 5,000 Scouts in Sangamon, Christian, Logan, Macoupin, Mason, Menard and Montgomery counties - with councils in Bloomington, Champaign, Decatur, Peoria and Quincy.
The larger council, now known as the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, is headquartered in Springfield and covers an area from Interstate 80 in the north to south of Litchfield. It began operating in October.
"This is a very exciting time," Kovacevich said at a reception Monday. "We have realigned into a combined council which takes six area councils and combines their resources in all areas - membership, fund development, cookie sales, programs - it's pulled all together into one umbrella," Kovacevich said.
"And to harness all of that expertise into one really concise and functioning unit, it's just exciting. The possibilities are just endless," she said.
Abingdon man killed after car crashes into tree
SPRING BAY - Weather may have played a part in a single-vehicle crash Sunday that left an Abingdon man dead.
Mark Widmer was headed east on Zimmerman Road about 12:20 p.m. when his vehicle veered off the road, striking a tree just west of the intersection with Sycamore Court.
Widmer, the lone occupant in the car, was pronounced dead at crash site.
Woodford County Coroner Tim Ruestman said Widmer died of blunt force trauma. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Widmer is the son of Peoria County Board member Merle Widmer.
Hit-and-run on I-74 spills hams from tipped semi
MORTON - Several baked hams spilled onto Interstate 74 on Sunday night after a hit-and-run accident caused a semi to strike a guardrail and tip over.
About 8:20 p.m., as semi driver Gregory Houston, 50, of Quincy was headed east on I-74 near the Morton Avenue interchange, a pickup truck pulling a camper attempted to pass him, Illinois State Police said.
The truck clipped the front left side of Houston's semi and continued east, while the semi crashed into the guardrail and turn on its side. During the rollover, hams fell out of the trailer and littered the roadway.
Houston, who was not injured, could only describe the truck as gray.
Bureau County bank robbery investigated
LADD - Bureau County Sheriff's Department and FBI officials met Monday regarding the robbery of the North Central Bank of Ladd.
"The suspect was armed and wearing a snow mask and sufficient clothing to hide his features," said Sheriff John Thompson. "The suspect is most likely a male who was driving a dark, four-door small vehicle, possibly a Hyundai or a Nissan."
The robber entered the bank at about 5:50 p.m. and demanded money from a teller, Thompson said. The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of money.
No customers were in the bank at the time, and "fortunately none of the employees were injured," said Thompson. He declined to say how many employees were present.
Thompson did not say what kind of weapon the robber had. No arrests have been made.
A police officer confronted the robber, who did not threaten the officer with a weapon before jumping into a vehicle and getting away.
In the week before the robbery, Thompson said, there was suspicious activity among banks in the area. He would not elaborate.
"We believe the suspect knew the bank sufficiently well enough to perform the robbery," Thompson said.
Key player in Canton ethanol project resigns
CANTON - The man behind the conception and fundraising for an ethanol plant a few miles southeast of here has resigned at the request of its board of directors, and now the future of the plant, which recently was hit with liens for millions of dollars in unpaid construction costs, remains even more uncertain.
Central Illinois Energy General Manager Mike Smith resigned Saturday at the request of the board for the ethanol plant, a source close to the project said.
Officials from the ethanol plant have hired Moglia Advisors, a Chicago firm that assists with corporate restructuring, interim management and bankruptcy services, said the source, who asked not to be named.
Workers who came to the plant Monday morning were met by Brent King, who told them he is the reorganization officer hired by CIE's board of directors. Employees of the plant were sent home, the source said.
CIE plant manager Joe Werth, who was reportedly dismissed along with other employees, declined to comment Monday and said King is the plant's spokesman now. King did not return a call Monday seeking comment.
Smith, the former general manager, also didn't return calls seeking comment, along with the company's attorney, Nancy Schell.
Last month the plant's main contractor, Memphis-based Lurgi PSI, left the job site and canceled contracts with subcontractors because the company wasn't getting paid. Lurgi and four other companies filed liens with the Fulton County Clerk's Office last month for more than $26 million in unpaid invoices.
Central Illinois Energy Cooperative was proposed in 2001 as a $40 million project. Rising costs, additions and delays in securing financing stalled the project until October 2006, when the price had risen to $94 million. Plans called for the plant to use about 13.1 million bushels of corn to create 37 million gallons of ethanol and 111,000 tons of livestock feed each year, powered by a coal generation plant on site.
Tickets for 'Walking with Dinosaurs' on sale Friday
ROCKFORD - Tickets for eight shows March 12 to 16 featuring 15 life-size robotic
dinosaurs at the MetroCentre go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday.
Times, dates and prices for seating levels for "Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live
Experience" are:
7 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, Thursday, March 13, and Friday, March 14: $69.50,
$47.50 and $32.50, with $5 off select seats on opening night, March 12.
11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 15, and 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday, March 16;
$69.50, $55 and $36.50.
Tickets will be available at centreevents.com<http://centreevents.com>, the
MetroCentre box office at 300 Elm St., and 815-968-5222.
NIU students, faculty return after threats
DEKALB - Final exams resumed at Northern Illinois University today.
A spokesman in the public-relations office said staff and faculty were back at work
and students were taking tests as scheduled. The school closes for its winter break
after Friday.
The university of 25,000 students was closed Monday after a threat was found written
on a bathroom wall over the weekend. The threat made reference to the deaths of 33
people in the April 16 shooting at Virginia Tech University.
Monday afternoon, authorities said their investigation had produced "leads" showing
that the threat did not put anyone in imminent danger.
The temperature was above 32 degrees this morning, so ice was not a factor for the
5,000 dormitory students or the 20,000 who live off campus. But things could get
slippery this afternoon when temperatures are expected to dip.
Rockford Register Star
Contributing: Springfield State Journal-Register, Rockford Register Star and Peoria Journal Star