4-29-2008

ACCIDENT ON ROUTE 127 WITH POWER LINES DOWN

 

Bond County Sheriff's Department Officers, Illinois State Police, and Greenville Fireman responded to the report of a non-injury accident on Route 127 approximately a mile and a half north of Patriots Park around 10am Monday.  Aa semi truck drove off Rt. 127 and struck an Ameren power line pole.  This caused power outages throughout the WGEL listening area.  At it's peak, 3,267 Ameren customers and 600 Southwestern Electric customers were without power.  The outages affected Greenville, Pocahontas, Reno, Donnaldson and many areas around Bond County.   The outages started at 10:06 and the majority of customers had service restored by 10:49. 

 

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SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING

 

The Greenville City Council held another special meeting at noon Monday and gave their blessing for the submission of two resolutions of support for state grants. The first grant application is for money to fund bike trails to connect all the city parks, the second is for state money to purchase and plant trees. Assistant City Manager Lisa Stephens told the Council that to do all the bike trails would be an 8.5 million dollar project, but she did not expect anywhere near that amount. However, any grant would be helpful in starting the process of constructing the park bike trails. In other action, the Council awarded a contract to West and Company CPA's to do the city audits for the next three years. West and Company's proposed cost was 9 percent lower than the city's current auditing firm.  City Manager Dave Willey said the city's current auditor had done excellent work but recommended West and Company based on the lower cost.

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GREENVILLE COLLEGE BOOKSTORE HELPS PLANT TREES FOR NATIONAL FOREST

 

The Greenville College Bookstore joined 280 other college bookstores across the country in the nationwide "Buy a Book, Build a Forest" campaign throughout the past school year. Students, who participated, donated a portion of each textbook purchased, or sold, at the bookstore to the Arbor Day Foundation. The goal of the campaign was to plant 100,000 trees in a national forest.

 

According to Greenville College Bookstore manager Joyce Wilson, the program rewards students for buying and selling used textbooks.   She explains that on average, the cost of a used textbook is around 25% lower then a new book.  Money raised will help to plant trees in the Pike & San Isabel National Forest, located in Central Southeast Colorado.

 

ST. LOUIS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STAFF RECEIVES AWARDS

 

2006 was a year for severe weather and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have selected the staff of the St. Louis National Weather Service forecast office for the honor of receiving two bronze medals.  The staff is being recognized for the forecasts and warnings during the March 12^th - 13^th, 2006 outbreak that produced 47 tornadoes across the state and for the winter storm that hit the local and surrounding areas on November 30^th - December 1st.

 

According to Regional Director Lynn Maximuk, the bronze medals demonstrate the dedication of the staff to protect life and property.  In both severe weather instances, prior warning was available ranging from 22 minutes before the touchdown of each tornado, to the nearly 30 hour advanced warning on the November 30^th winter storm.  The awards were presented to Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jim Kramper during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

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LICENSE PLATE RECYCLING PROGRAM

 

It is now easy to recycle your old license plates.  As of April 22^nd, which was Earth Day, license plates may be dropped off at any of the 136 state licensing facilities.  Both aluminum and steel plates may be recycled.  According to Secretary of State Jesse White, "The program will reduce energy usage as well as air and water pollution."