5th Person Arrested In Connection To Olney Murder

Mount Vernon, IL – On Wednesday, October 21, 2020, the office of the Jefferson County State’s Attorney Sean Featherstun charged Misty D. Whipple, a 43-year-old female of Mount Vernon, IL, with one count of Aiding a Fugitive for her role in the September 6, 2020 murder of Kyle M. Johnson.  Whipple was taken into custody by officers from the Mount Vernon, IL Police Department at approximately 1:00 p.m. on October 22, 2020.

As it relates to the Aiding a Fugitive charge, a Class 4 Felony, Whipple, a person 18 years or older, on or about September 10, 2020, is alleged to have aided or assisted Rick Meador in fleeing from a warrant for his arrest issued in the State of Illinois, in that the defendant, rented a van which was used to transport Meador from the state of Illinois to the state of Florida and that the defendant did so with the intent to prevent the apprehension of Meador.

The murder occurred on September 6, 2020 at the intersection of North Walnut and East Laurel Street in Olney, Illinois.  An adult male, later identified as Kyle M. Johnson, a 19-year-old from Olney, IL, was found with multiple gunshot wounds and transported to an area hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.  Illinois State Police (ISP) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Zone 8 officials were requested by the Olney Police Department to assist with the homicide investigation. 

Through information gathered during the investigation led by ISP DCI Zone 8, five arrests have resulted in connection with this homicide - Rick A. Meador, an 18-year-old male of Olney, IL for First-Degree Murder and Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder – currently held at the Richland County Jail, Tara N. Haws, a 33-year-old female of Olney, IL for First-Degree Murder by Accountability and Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder – currently held at the Richland County Jail, a 16-year-old female of Olney, IL for First-Degree Murder by Accountability and Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder – currently held at the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center, Dale E. Boatman Jr., a 32-year-old male of Olney, IL for First-Degree Murder by Accountability and Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder – currently held at the Richland County Jail, and Misty D. Whipple, a 43-year-old female of Mount Vernon, IL for Aiding a Fugitive – currently held at the Jefferson County Jail.

ISP DCI Zone 8 was assisted by the Olney Police Department, Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Mount Vernon Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, ISP District 12 Patrol, ISP District 13 Patrol, and the United States Marshals in this investigation.  No additional information will be released by the ISP.  Any further inquiries should be addressed to the Jefferson County State’s Attorney’s Office.

District #348 October Personnel Matters

The Wabash District #348 School Board acted on these personnel items at Monday’s meeting.

Pritzker Doubles Down On Threats To Non-Compliant To Restaurants/Bars

Governor J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday even stricter rules for one region of the state and said state officials would be tracking down businesses throughout Illinois that don’t follow the added restrictions.

The governor is tightening restrictions in Region 1, in northwest Illinois blaming rising positivity rates. Gatherings in Region 1 will now be limited to 10 people and no more than 6 people can sit at an outdoor table at one time. Region 5, in southern Illinois, went under additional restrictions on Thursday, shutting down indoor service at bars and restaurants.

As new restrictions for Kane, DuPage, Will and Kankakee counties go into effect Friday, the governor was asked about a list of bar and restaurant owners who plan to defy the restrictions and continue to offer indoor service.

“I’m sure that the state police will go visit locations in Regions 7 and 8 and may use information like that to go to exactly those locations to see whether they are in fact scofflaws,” Pritzker said.

The Illinois Restaurant Association has asked the governor to reconsider the restrictions.

"The Illinois Restaurant Association cannot support the COVID-19 mitigation plan presented by Governor Pritzker’s office that ceases dine-in operations at restaurants across the state of Illinois," Illinois Restaurant Association President and CEO Sam Toia said in a statement. "Moving backward in this manner spells complete devastation for the restaurant industry. The extreme measures outlined by the Governor’s team will result in the permanent closure of countless restaurants statewide, eliminating thousands of jobs and desolating communities inhabited by millions of residents."

Pritzker has repeatedly said bars and restaurants are among the most common identifiable locations where the virus is spread. When asked about a possible communication breakdown with local officials who have raised questions about the spread of the virus in bars and restaurants, Pritzker hit back.

"The communication breakdown is with the people that are spreading these lies,” he said. " ... People don't seem to understand this and they want to take one minor bit of data and try to blow it out like its proof of bars and restaurants are not spreading locations."

Lawmaker Wants Governor To Release Data Used To Close Restaurants/Bars Indoor Service

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said bars and restaurants are among the places where people are contracting COVID-19 and that’s why he’s targeting them throughout the state. 

One state lawmaker wants to see the raw data.

State Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Springfield, used to own a restaurant and said businesses in his district are upset at possibly having prohibition on indoor service. While Region 3 that includes Springfield isn’t under stricter prohibitions, there are still limits to how many can be served inside an establishment.

“I was talking to an operator yesterday who has two well-established restaurants and he’s down at one of them [by] 40 percent and the other one 30 percent down, and it is tough to make it on that,” Murphy said.

Region 3, along with other regions of the state, are inching closer to the COVID-19 positivity threshold the governor has used to unilaterally prohibit bars and restaurants from indoor service in four other regions of the state. Region 7 has had the stricter mitigations implemented, then relaxed, and Friday they’ll be prohibited by the governor from having indoor service.

Murphy said he’s sending a letter demanding the governor give up all the data behind the decision, “asking for them to share their data on contact tracing as why restaurants and bars are subject to this.”

“They claim that they have a valid reason to do this,” Murphy said. “Well, show us the data.”

Late Wednesday, the Illinois Restaurant Association said it “cannot support the COVID-19 mitigation plan presented by Gov. Pritzker’s office that ceases dine-in operations at restaurants across the state of Illinois.”

“We also have serious concerns over the consistency of the data the state is using to drive these devastating decisions to close our industry,” Illinois Restaurant Association President and CEO Sam Toia said. “By contrast, DuPage County has provided detailed statistics indicating that restaurants are linked to just 6% of outbreaks over the past seven months – yet their indoor dining was shut down. As the science surrounding COVID-19 has evolved, so must the metrics for mitigation.”

The association emphasized that it is not advocating that operators disobey executive orders, despite fact that the association does not support the mitigation measures.

The association said Pritzker should fight for more federal funds for impacted businesses, something Murphy said would help. But he said: “Programs and assistance isn’t the answer.”

“We have to figure out how to get back to normalcy,” Murphy said.

Murphy acknowledged consumer confidence must increase and urged people to do a better job of wearing face coverings and keeping their distance to work at keeping the number of COVID-19 cases from increasing.

The association said if the governor moves forward with prohibiting bars and restaurants from providing indoor service because of increasing COVID-19 numbers, more than 100,000 jobs will be lost.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported another 47,000 first time unemployment filers, about level with the week before. Over the year in September, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported nearly 131,000 fewer jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector.

“Conservative estimates indicate that at least 20 percent of restaurants will be forced to close their doors permanently,” Toia said if the governor continues with prohibiting indoor service. “This means 120,000 jobs in Illinois, gone. We cannot allow this to happen. Closing restaurants down now means closing them for good!”

Murphy said the months-old problems of people not able to get through and get benefits continues and is compounded by more reports of fraud. He’s been demanding for months to have public hearings to hold the Pritzker administration accountable, but the Democratic majority isn’t budging.

“It’s shameful that we can not meet in Springfield and take care of the issues,” Murphy said. “I’ve been calling on the General Assembly to meet since March and I don’t understand why we’re AWOL during the biggest crisis in my lifetime.”

The chair of the House committee that oversees the Illinois Department of Employment Security, state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, has for weeks refused to call a public hearing to hold the Pirtkzer administration accountable.

Cities Want Their COVID Dollars; State Says They Aren't Delaying Payments

Municipalities across Illinois continue to wait for COVID-19 relief funding allocated by the federal government, but state officials said they aren't withholding the funding.

The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or Cares Act, approved last spring allotted $150 million for Illinois towns and cities, but thus far the Illinois Municipal League says only $21 million has been released by Governor J.B. Pritzker’s administration.

“We are just trying to advocate for local governments and request the state to release these dollars and get the money out to local governments so they can help their communities and help the people that live in those communities,” said IML president Brad Cole.

The state is dispersing grants to cities and towns that apply through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which determines how much municipalities are awarded.

Bloomington Deputy city manager Billy Tyus says they haven’t applied for funding yet because the city has been making preparations to receive the over $3 million in funds.

“The costs had to be eligible, and you have to provide information related to those costs,” said Tyus.

Pritzker said this week that many towns aren’t trying to get the money, something Cole is not buying into.

“The notion that municipalities are turning away money is ridiculous,” he said. “To the extent some communities have not submitted applications, it is because the state has made the process too cumbersome and difficult or those communities have been unable to get timely answers to their questions from DCEO.”

DCEO said it has not been holding back funding.

“IML’s characterization that DCEO is holding back funds from local governments is simply inaccurate. To date, we’ve issued $21.5 million in checks to 114 local units of government, with another $36.5 million in the pipeline and we fully expect to release all of the funds in the program," the department said.

It said it had to get many municipalities signed up for the program before sending out checks.

"After a ramping-up period to get hundreds of municipalities signed up for the program – we are now at a pivotal point in which substantial reimbursement checks – some topping over $1 million – are being issued to local governments daily," the agency said in a statement. "In the past week alone – approved payouts have more than doubled for the program, suggesting the volume of payments local governments should expect to receive in the coming weeks alone."

The agency also said it was working to make sure local officials were aware of the "stringent federal requirements" for the money.

"DCEO continues to work closely with legislators, counties, municipalities and many other units of government to support local officials with understanding of the stringent federal requirements and any assistance they need to apply for the maximum amount of reimbursements available to them under this program,” the statement said.

Suspect Mail-In Ballot Requests Reported In Illinois

County elections officials are sending out the message that the 2020 General Election is safe and secure while warning that “testing the system” could result in a prison sentence.

DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek announced Thursday that her office had found several questionable requests for a mail-in ballot. 

“My office and State’s Attorney [Robert] Berlin’s staff have worked seamlessly together throughout this election,” Kaczmarek said. “While voter fraud is not a widespread problem anywhere, voters need to be reassured that every individual application is held up to scrutiny to ensure that the election is fairly conducted. With over 200,000 applications for mail-in ballots received to-date and a tiny number of cases being professionally investigated by the State’s Attorney’s Office, voters can be reassured that the system is working.”

When the clerk’s office finds a suspect application or ballot, the matter is forwarded to the county’s chief prosecutor. So far, the clerk's office has sent over nine cases. 

“Of those nine, they’ve determined that six do not merit criminal charges and the other three are still in investigation,” said Adam Johnson, the chief deputy County Clerk. “It is a small number, but we take every single application seriously because that’s how voters know that the process is safe and secure.” 

Submitting a false application for a vote-by-mail ballot is a Class 3 felony in Illinois, which carries a prison term of 2 to 5 years in prison.

“Testing the process is not a game. It’s not worth it. Don’t even try,” Kaczmarek said. “The Clerk’s Office will continue to work closely with the State’s Attorney’s Office to fully investigate and vigorously prosecute any voter or group who violates the law, even if they claim to be testing the process.”

In addition to added vote-by-mail safeguards, keypads at polling placed in DuPage County will instantly flag anyone who’s attempting to vote early.

Injury Crash in Dubois County Sends Two to Hospital

Dubois County-Thursday at approximately 10:05 AM EST, Indiana State Police, Dubois County Sheriff’s Department, and the Ferdinand Police Department responded to a vehicle crash in Ferdinand, IN. The crash occurred on State Road 162 just north of Interstate 64. At the time of the crash, Derrick Carter, (45) from Louisville KY, was operating a 2014 Isuzu box truck northbound on State Road 162. The vehicle then traveled off the west side of the roadway. 

Carter was flown to St. Vincent Hospital in Evansville for treatment of his injuries. Juanito Lyons, (42), also from Louisville, KY, was a passenger in the vehicle. Lyons was transported by ambulance to Jasper Memorial Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The accident is still under investigation by the Indiana State Police.

Agencies assisting at the scene were Dubois County Sheriff’s Department, Ferdinand Police Department, Ferdinand EMS and Fire, and Huntingburg EMS.

Chamber Names WADI 2020 Business of the Year

The Wabash County Chamber of Commerce is so pleased to announce the Business of the Year award for 2020 has been given to Wabash Area Development, Inc! "The staff at WADI always works so hard to help those in our community in need, but this year they have worked even more as the amount of people in need during the pandemic has increased." said Chamber Director, Lesley Hipsher.

Here is a copy of the nomination "I’d like to nominate WADI. Their liheap program, food pantry, head start, rental assistance and all of their many other programs have been an asset to our community for years, but they have been critical during covid, especially for low income families. Please help them get the recognition they deserve!"

And we couldn't agree more! Congratulations WADI. We are so proud of the work you do and your dedication to the community.

Jedidiah Wirth was presented with the Wabash County Retail Merchants Committee’s 2020 Employee of the Year award.  This is an award that is given to an employee of a member of the Wabash County Retail Mercahnts's Committee that continues to go above and beyond the call of their duties.  

Here is what the nomination letter reads:  “I would like to nominate Jedidiah Wirth for the RMC Employee of the Year.   Jedidiah exemplifies what Mt. Carmel and Wabash County needs more of…a young, energetic person who is eager to work for the betterment of our community.  When you visit Big Jon’s Lunch Box, you’ll always see Jedidiah hard at work with his family in the kitchen. It’s a job he’s held since he was very young and has become a friendly face for the community to see.  This past year, Jedidiah took over operation of the Farmer’s Market in Mt. Carmel and has worked to make it one of the area’s best. He was always there long before the market opened with a smile on his face—ready to help all the vendors and customers with anything they needed.  The move to the uptown location was a great idea as it attracted more vendors and customers benefiting the community. Jedidiah is a devoted family man and very active in his church. In closing, Jedidiah fulfills all of the attributes one would look for in an excellent employee and why he should be considered for the RMC Employee of the Year.”  

The Chamber also would like to Congratulate the Wabash County Farm Bureau for serving our community for 100 years! They are advocates that work closely with area farmers to help them with problems and solutions as well as education and opportunities. They service as a voice for farmers and a communication bride so farmers can work together in our community and they have served our agricultural community very well over the last 100 years!

"The Wabash County Farm Bureau is to farmers, what the Chamber is to businesses. It is a great support and information system for its members." says Chamber Directory, Lesley Hipsher.

Also, we would like to Congratulate WSJD 100.5 FM on 25 years in business this year. They are a go-to source for information and news in our community. The Chamber has partnered with them for years on many different projects. Here is to the next 25!

"We are so happy to honor these businesses this year, even without the Annual Banquet to go to. We would rather be safe than sorry this year and hope to keep all of our Chamber Members healthy and working in our community. We have BIG plans to honor these businesses again when we can safely do so." stated Chamber Director, Lesley Hipsher.

Business of the Year Award
Lesley Hispher, Executive Director, Wabash County Chamber of Commerce
Angie Payton, CSBG/WIOA Director, WADI
Lena Hicks, CEO, WADI
Gary Ritz, Chairman of Business of the Year Award & Chamber Board Member

25 year Milestone Anniversary

Rodger Beard, Sales & Morning Show Co-Host, WSJD 100.5 FM

Kevin Madden, General Manager, WSJD 100.5 FM

Sharon Harris, General Sales Manager, WSJD 100.5 FM

Lesley Hispher, Executive Director, Wabash County Chamber of Commerce  

RMC’s Sharon Harris with Employee of the Year Jedidiah Wirth

Push Back Seen Against Governor's Restrictions

Some restaurants, bars and other businesses are less receptive to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s latest COVID-19 restrictions as COVID-19 cases increase across the state the governor puts new rules in place to reduce the spread of the virus.

Pritzker announced earlier this week that Marion, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Perry, Jackson, Franklin, Williamson, Saline, Hamilton, White, Gallatin, Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander, Massac, Pulaski Will, Kankakee, Kane and DuPage counties would see indoor dining shut down along with other restrictions. 

“While we continue to see a safer pandemic landscape than back in the Spring – in terms of positivity, hospital capacity, and community spread – and safer than much of the Midwest, things have changed,” Pritzker said Monday. “Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction. Cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths are rising statewide. Experts have predicted for months that the country could see a resurgence of the virus as temperatures get colder and more people spend more time inside. Here in Illinois, it looks like a new wave could be upon us.”

The announcement spurred dozens of restaurants and bars across Illinois to announce they would not be complying.

A Facebook page devoted to listing businesses that would defy Pritzker’s orders listed dozens of businesses that announced they would remain open.

“We have customers that come in and support us,” said Chris Dillman, a manager at Huddle House, a diner in Metropolis. “They’ve told us that, if we stayed open, they would support us.” 

During the first shutdown, the restaurant closed its indoor dining area and continued to offer takeout options. 

Dillman said the restaurant’s owner considered the livelihoods of his employees. 

“We’ve got single moms here that work hard to take care of their children,” he said. “If it spiked and it was a matter of public safety then we absolutely wouldn’t do it. Our owner is a great guy. He just wants to see everybody do well in life.”

Pritzker said Wednesday that he would send the Illinois State Police to the regions closed to look for businesses that were defying his orders.

Changes Coming To WVC Foundation Chili Supper November 6th

Changes are in store for the November 6th Wabash Valley College Foundation Chili Supper. On Tuesday’s Morning Show, Rodger Beard talked with the Foundation’s Toni Brines about what’s in store.