State Briefs: 12/20/07
Giuliani will speak at dinner
EAST PEORIA - Showing a continued commitment to win the state, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani agreed to be the keynote speaker at the Tazewell County Lincoln Day Dinner on Feb. 2, just three days before Illinois' primary election.
Tazewell County Republican Party Chairwoman Demetra DeMonte, a Giuliani delegate, said she received the confirmation on Tuesday. As the news started to spread, the event, being held in the ballroom at the Embassy Suites hotel and convention center, sold an additional 100 tickets on Tuesday alone for a total thus far of 630 guests.
This will be the former New York mayor's first trip to central Illinois since announcing his candidacy, though he has spent time campaigning in the state. He was in the Chicago area within the past two weeks.
The East Peoria venue can hold up to 1,200 guests. DeMonte said the Tazewell Lincoln Day Dinner typically garners about 450 guests.
Social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. with dinner starting at roughly 7 p.m. Tickets are $55 each or $550 for a table of 10.
Anyone interested in attending can send a check payable to Tazewell County Republicans, 1000 Court St., Pekin, IL 61554.
Fuel costs lead to cut in Delta's service to Atlanta
PEORIA - Rising fuel costs are being blamed for a proposed temporary cutback of Delta Airlines' regional jet service to Atlanta, both airport and airline officials said Tuesday.
Kristen Loughman, a spokeswoman for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, the Delta commuter affiliate that operates the Peoria-to-Atlanta route, said the cuts are part of a nationwide rollback in service that Delta has implemented in the face of rising fuel prices.
The decrease in service, to take place Feb. 1, possibly through April, amounts to a net loss of three flights a week from Peoria, which translates into 150 available seats weekly. With some rearranging of the flight itinerary, two daily flights will remain, connecting Peoria to Atlanta, an international hub.
Bloomington's Central Illinois Regional Airport, which has both Delta and AirTran airlines, is facing no cutbacks from Delta, said Loughman, who added the temporary decrease in service is not set in stone.
The rollback also may be lifted before May.
Atlanta-based ASA - which flies as "The Delta Connection" commuter line - has been operating Peoria-to-Atlanta flights since 2001, starting with three daily flights on 50-seat regional jets.
Peoria man faces carjacking charges
PEORIA - The man police arrested Monday night for allegedly carjacking a woman outside Northwoods Mall is expected to appear in court today to be formally charged.
William H. Ransom, 52, of 1611 Jefferson Ave. was booked into the Peoria County Jail on charges of aggravated vehicle hijacking, aggravated robbery and aggravated battery with bodily harm. He remained held there Tuesday night on a parole hold.
About 8:30 p.m. Monday, Ransom allegedly approached Karen L. Kinsey, 50, of Varna as she walked to her sport utility vehicle parked outside Macy's and demanded her keys.
A scuffle ensued, and Ransom allegedly tried to take Kinsey's purse. When she refused to let go, he struck her several times in the face, police said.
Hearing the victim's screams for help, several bystanders came to her aid. One of them was 34-year-old Chad R. Hjortshoj, an off-duty Creve Coeur auxiliary police officer.
Ransom took the woman's keys, purse and SUV, police say. During his escape he struck Hjortshoj and rammed two parked vehicles. Knocked to the ground, the officer, uninjured, retrieved a handgun from his vehicle and fired twice at the SUV as it sped north out of the lower-level parking lot.
Bullets struck the SUV's windshield and passenger side paneling.
Police found the vehicle abandoned and located Ransom at the bus station.
Macomb couple faces charges in death of child
MACOMB - A former Macomb woman and her boyfriend have been charged in connection with the 2006 death of the woman's 5-year-old daughter, Silven Yocum.
Daniel Belknap, 30, was indicted by a McDonough County grand jury for first-degree murder and two counts of endangering the life of a child. The girl's mother, Erin Yocum, 32, who according to her attorney is currently pregnant, was indicted on two counts of endangering the life of a child, one felony and one misdemeanor.
The indictments came down after the grand jury met in Macomb in a three-part session; the last about one week ago.
Silven Yocum died at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria on Sept. 16, 2006, six days after being taken there with head injuries. Erin Yocum called for medical help on Sept. 10 after finding her daughter having a seizure in her bedroom.
A coroner's jury later ruled the death a homicide and the girl's cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma.
According to court documents, Belknap is charged with hitting the girl in the head with an object sometime during a several-day period in September 2006.
The child endangerment charges allege that because Belknap and Yocum were using illegal drugs they failed to provide the necessary care and medical attention to the girl.
Belknap is currently in federal lockup while awaiting sentencing scheduled for today on methamphetamine conspiracy charges. He faces between five and 40 years in prison.
The murder warrant issued for Belknap carries a $1 million bond and was expected to be served on him Tuesday.
Yocum's bond is set at $200,000 bond, according to her attorney, William Loeffel, who presents Yocum in a federal methamphetamine case.
Ex-ISU prof acquitted for misconduct for sex act
BLOOMINGTON - A former Illinois State University professor was acquitted Tuesday of official misconduct for convincing an undergraduate student to perform a sex act on him.
Michael Forbes, a former associate professor of music at ISU, was accused of official misconduct after the student alleged he asked for the act as payment for helping arrange musical performances. The incident occurred at his home in April 22, 2006, when she came to his house to baby sit Forbes's child.
Forbes, who is married, told the court Tuesday during his ongoing bench trial that he committed adultery but the sexual encounter with the then 21-year-old student was consensual. He maintained he was not in a position to influence the student's grades, according to defense attorney John Prior.
Prior said the acquittal, handed down by Judge Kevin Fitzgerald, was a big weight off the shoulders of his client, who resigned his position at ISU in May 2006 and currently works in Wisconsin as a cab driver and bartender.
"He is overjoyed. He had confidence in the system. He said people have asked him through the case why he continued to maintain he's not guilty plea and said he sleeps soundly because he knows he did not do anything criminally wrong," Prior said.
The student currently has a pending civil lawsuit against Forbes and ISU in federal court.
Police seeking suspect in park attack
SPRINGFIELD - Springfield Park District police want to talk to anyone who might have seen a masked man attack a 12-year-old boy in Washington Park last month. The incident happened about 8:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 12, which was the Veterans Day holiday weekend. The boy was out of school for the day and riding his bicycle through the park. He was cutting through the tennis court area when a man emerged from the woods, knocked the boy off his bike, threw him to the ground and began punching him in the back.
The man then turned the boy over, ripped off his shirt and scraped him on the chest with a stick.
The attacker was wearing a black ski mask, a puffy, navy-blue coat and black sweat pants.
Police talked to employees and people who were in the park around that time period, but no one saw anything, according to Sgt. Jonathan Davis with the park police.
Bird whisperer defends methods - but doesn't explain them
SPRINGFIELD - The "bird whisperer" told Springfield aldermen Tuesday he does not poison birds.
James Soules of Decatur, who says he has a secret method to rid downtowns of pigeons and starlings, showed up in person at Tuesday's Springfield City Council meeting to pledge to aldermen that his method does not involve Avitrol, even though he has a license for the pesticide. Soule said he does not use any poisons.
"If you want to come to my house and take it, you can have it," Soules said of his Avitrol supply.
His appearance was at the behest of Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen, who had threatened to draft an ordinance yanking the remainder of Soules' two-year, $164,000 contract if he did not show up before the council to rebut accusations that he shoots birds and to explain his Avitrol license.
Ward 6 Ald. Sam Cahnman, in whose ward Soules is doing most of his work, said he was mostly satisfied with Soules' explanation, with the exception of wanting to know what the secret is.
When Soules' contract expires April 1, 2009, Cahnman said he will evaluate whether the birds are truly gone before agreeing to a followup agreement.
Soules estimated that his company has removed most of the 400,000 starlings that had been downtown and that all but 300 to 350 of 2,800 pigeons are gone. Those hangers-on will be the hardest to get rid of, Soules said.
Cherry Valley man crashes car into Rockford home
ROCKFORD - A Cherry Valley man escaped injuries when he lost control of his father's car and crashed it into the side of a house Tuesday night.
Christopher Hauck was traveling down the hill in the 600 block of Whitman Street when he lost control of the Nissan Maxima, traveled over the snow-covered center median and crashed into the house. A tow truck pulled the damaged car away from the wreck, revealing a 12-foot-by-12-foot hole in the house.
Hauck was not injured, and the house was vacant.
Hauck was ticketed for reckless driving.
Prices set for IceHogs, Seven Mary Three event
ROCKFORD - Prices have been set for a New Year's Eve event at the Rockford MetroCentre, featuring a hockey game at 7:05 p.m. and a concert about 10:45 p.m. by rockers Seven Mary Three, best known for the 1995 hit "Cumbersome."
Tickets for the evening cost between $15 and $19, regardless of whether you attend both events. That's up from $9 to $19 for a regular Rockford IceHogs American Hockey League game.
The IceHogs play the Milwaukee Admirals on Dec. 31.
A karaoke contest will be between the game and the concert. Register to sing that night at the karaoke station. Prizes include airline tickets.
For tickets, go to centreevents.com <http://centreevents.com> or the MetroCentre box office at 300 Elm St., or call 815-968-5222. For more information, call the IceHogs at 815-986-6465.
Contributing: Peoria Journal Star, Springfield State Journal Register and