The flooding of Lake Lawrence, June 9, 2008, photo by Steve Hardesty. The water came in from the area shown in the top portion of the pic, flooded across the lake at the center, and slammed into the other side (bottom of pic) in what observers called a 'tsunami' that was estimated to be 12-feet high.

LAWRENCE CO., Ill. - The floodwaters in the city of Lawrenceville are expected to crest today, and a local utility business has issued an alert for consumers in the flooded area of Lawrence County that they serve.

Norris Electric, the power provider for many of the flooded/potential flood areas, has announced that "should the high water level pose hazardous and life threatening conditions, sections of the Norris Electric distribution system will be de-energized."

Norris pointed out in a release that in 2008, "areas around Lake Lawrence were disconnected and it is possible that it may happen again in the next few days."

Regular readers will recall that the Lake Lawrence flooding in June of 2008 occurred after several levee breaches on the Embarras and Wabash; the flow of water across the floodplain hit Lake Lawrence on one side and dumped into the lake at full volume, creating a literal tidal wave for those on the opposite side. The devastation was enormous; however, there was no loss of life.

River projections show a crest of 41.4 feet, which is almost at the June 2008 flood stage of 42.6 feet.

Members of Norris Electric's distribution system should "be prepared to make arrangements accordingly," Norris said in their release "Any action taken will be done in conjunction with local authorities."

David Springmeyer

ALBION, Ill. - A Fairfield man has been jailed in White County for Edwards after a crazed car chase brought him a little too close to a former Albion city councilwoman's house.

David Springmeyer, 30, is in jail in Carmi after the incident, which took place early yesterday morning (Friday, January 1, 2016) and might've been the result of a little too much New Year's cheer.

Edwards County authorities say Springmeyer lead deputies and Albion police on a pursuit that was abrupted when Springmeyer crashed into the home of Charles and Karen Shupe; Karen is a former Albion city council member.

However, it didn't end there: Springmeyer is then accused of stealing someone's car and taking off in that. Authorities didn't say whose vehicle that was.

They located him, however, at another residence in town (authorities didn't say whose that was, either, or whether there'll be charges related to it).

Information on any charges should be available early next week; check back while Springmeyer cools his heels in White County.

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Passenger is from Williamson County

JEFFERSON CO., Ill. - A single-vehicle accident has left a young Hamilton County man dead at the scene and his passenger from Williamson County injured and in a St. Louis Hospital.

According to Illinois State Police, Lucas D. Johnson, 22, of McLeansboro, was traveling Opdyke Lane in Jefferson County in his pickup yesterday morning (Saturday, January 2) near the intersection of Lynchburg Road when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree.

Authorities say Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene; a passenger, Kalie Montgomery, 21, of Carterville, was taken by helicopter from the scene to a hospital in St. Louis.

HAMILTON CO.— Police say a Broughton 15-year-old has been charged with DUI after he was discovered driving around.

And although Broughton is not exactly a booming metropolis and the spelling of street names is somewhat questionable, on December 6, at 12:07 a.m., Jesse Wayne Trout, of 208 Appel St., seemed to find his way to a set of keys to a red, 1994 Jeep.

Authorities say that Trout was discovered driving the Jeep on Appel Street at Fourth Street and came to their attention when they noticed the vehicle did not have a registration light.

When the Jeep was stopped they found the teen to be under the influence of some kind of drug and without anything resembling a d river’s license, or permit which allowed him to operate a motor vehicle on a public roadway.

And so little Mr. Trout was charged with DUI Drugs, cited for No Registration and No License and turned over to the comfort of a guardian.

Young Trout is scheduled to make an appearance in court later this month and is not expected to be driving himself.

It remains unknown whether he is some kind of peripheral player in the now-well-known and equally-reviled Earp-Trout bunch, many of which hail from (and are charged in) Hamilton County these days.

WHITE CO.— A former Carmi man out on a $1,000 cash bond in a case in which he is charged with grabbing a woman’s chest June 12, 2015, is now charged with threatening to kill his sister.

According to information filed in the case, William “Billy” Earl Batty, III, 43, now of 235 East St., Mill Shoals, was arrested following a traffic crash December 6, 2015, at 8:50 a.m. while driving a white 2000 Ford pickup truck eastbound on Co. Rd. 2575 at Co. Rd. 500 East.

Batty, living up to his name, was on his way to his sister’s residence to kill her and allegedly told the arresting officer just that.

Batty was formally charged with Aggravated Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol, his third, Aggravated DUI/Driving on Suspended License, Assault and was cited for Unlawful Transportation of Alcohol by Driver, Driving Revoked and Improper Traffic Lane Usage.

The details of that Assault were found in an Order of Protection Batty’s sister filed.

In her filing Dec. 7, 2015, Whitney Marie Smith, 32, of Carmi, told authorities that on the day of the DUI, her brother called her, angry and threatening her life.

“He threatened to burn my house down,” she said in her petition for the OP. “He left his girlfriend’s house highly intoxicated on his way to my house to kill me.”

Smith said she was aware of her brother’s intent and that his intent was confirmed when he told his arresting officer that that’s exactly what he planned to do once he got to town and to his sister’s house.

Smith received not only an emergency OP Dec. 7, 2015, but a two-year plenary order of protection, granted Dec. 22, 2015, which listed herself and her two children, ages 11 and 12, as protected parties.

Batty was convicted December of 2005 of felony Property Damage $300-$10,000 for which he was ultimately sentenced to jail for six months, probation for 30 months, ordered to undergo alcohol treatment and, after violating the terms of his probation, had added an additional sentence of conditional discharge for two years.

He was also ordered to pay $11,755 in fines, fees and restitution, of which he still owes $6,600.

Batty earned himself a sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) of four years after he was convicted May 4, 2009 of Aggravated Battery in a Public Place.

He was ordered once again in that case to undergo alcohol treatment.

In addition to the Aggravated Battery charge from grabbing the Mill Shoals woman, Batty has another pending criminal case from July 21, 2015 case in which he is charged with Criminal Trespass to Land.

Cash bond in his most recent case was set at $7,500.

RICHLAND CO. – The Bridgeport, Illinois, oil patch is once again under the gun, this time in Richland County and in civil court, regarding a serious allegation about the presence of asbestos in the field and its impact on people peripheral to it.

A former Olney resident, Jessica Blackford-Cleeton, 33, now of Springfield, and her husband Brandon Cleeton, have sued a number of entities in Richland County Circuit Court for an incident that occurred in Bridgeport, but which was brought to Blackford-Cleeton in Olney: Asbestos particles on her dad’s clothing, which were there because he worked in the neighboring county’s oil patch.

Blackford-Cleeton is blaming a plethora of entities for this situation: AK Steel Corporation, Caterpillar Inc., Gardner Denver Inc., Goulds Pumps, Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Ingersoll-Rand Co., John Crane Inc., Lufkin Industries Inc., Marathon Oil Company, Marathon Oil Corporation, Marathon Petroleum Co. LP, Pneumo Abex LLC, Standco Industries Inc., and Unites States Steel Corporation.

The suit was filed December 18 and not all subpoenas have been served yet. However, Blackford-Cleeton has issued a jury trial demand on all counts.

She alleges that from the time she was born in 1982 until the beginning of 1996, her father, Randy Blackford, worked at Marathon Oil’s Bridgeport Oil Field, where he used and was around materials and products that contained asbestos. Marathon Oil, she alleges, did not tell Blackford that he was working with asbestos or explain how dangerous it was.

“The makers and sellers of the asbestos materials and products did not provide warnings that would reach end users like Mr. Blackford,” the suit alleges. “Marathon Oil did not provide Mr. Blackford with a uniform or a place to change clothes and shower before leaving work. Consequently, the asbestos to which Mr. Blackford was exposed was unknowingly carried home on his clothes, his person and in his truck where Jessica was persistently exposed to it from birth until she was fourteen years old. Now, at age thirty-three, Jessica has contracted malignant mesothelioma, a usually fatal cancer caused by asbestos. She and her husband, Brandon Cleeton, bring this action against Marathon Oil and the suppliers of the asbestos materials and products to recover compensation for the medical bills, other expenses, lost wages and inability to have children caused by Jessica’s cancer, for the physical pain she constantly suffers, and for the emotional distress of facing the probability of death in her early thirties.”

The suit alleges that the list of entities specified at the outset, most of them not local, “manufactured, sold, distributed, marketed, specified, designed, promoted, licensed, installed, removed and/or otherwise used asbestos and asbestos-containing materials and products that were present at the Bridgeport Oil Field” at the times mentioned. The asbestos-containing materials, the suit claims, included transite pipe, asbestos-cement pipe, packing, gaskets, brakes, clutches, friction materials and transite board.

As such (and in much legalese), the suit claims that they are responsible for the bringing in of asbestos on Randy Blackford’s “person, clothing and personal property” to the family household shared with his daughter Jessica, including their home at 605 E. Lafayette in Olney.

“Because asbestos and asbestos fibers are respirable, durable and transportable, once they were carried into and present in the Blackford’s home, vehicles and living spaces, said asbestos and asbestos fibers did not dissolve, evaporate or otherwise disappear,” the suit alleges. “Said asbestos and asbestos fibers persisted and constantly became re-airborne and respirable when disturbed by movement, activities, air currents and other motion.”

This, the suit says, is how the complainant Blackford-Cleeton “was repeatedly and persistently exposed to, inhaled, ingested and otherwise absorbed the asbestos and asbestos fibers, which were carried from the work of her father into their shared household…in addition to exposure from…vehicles and living spaces contaminated with asbestos,” this by not only sharing the home, but laundering the father’s work clothes, including shaking them out, proximity to vacuuming, dusting and household cleaning that disturbed but did not remove asbestos and asbestos fivers from the home, as well as riding in the vehicle that her father drove to and from work and which, for periods of time, was used for his on-the-job transportation around the Bridgeport Oil Field.

The suit is careful to point out that her exposure to the materials, products, equipment, activities and conditions attributable to the various defendants including marathon occurred from her birth in July 1982 until he transferred to Marathon’s Robinson refinery on January 1, 1996.

It also states that she is unaware that she engaged in any employment herself that involved exposure to asbestos.

It wraps everything by stating that the exposure to asbestos and fibers was “foreseeable and could or should have been anticipated by all the entities as defendants; that they each knew or should have known that asbestos is toxic, poisonous and has a deleterious effect on the health of persons exposed to it, and that it posed an unreasonable risk of harm to persons in Blackford-Cleeton’s position. Because “such exposure was foreseeable,” the suit alleges, each of the defendants are responsible for what’s happened to Blackford-Cleeton (an unspecified form of malignant mesothelioma, caused primarily by exposure to asbestos, but other things can cause it, too.) She was diagnosed with it in June of 2015, and has become disabled because of it.

She is asking for compensation under a count of Negligence on the parts of the listed Marathon companies and corporations; a count of Willful/Wanton Misconduct on the parts of the same entities; two counts of Negligence and Loss of Consortium against same; and a count of Negligence on the remainder of the defendants as a final count in the case.

Blackford-Cleeton is being represented by the law firm of Simmons, Hanley and Conroy in Springfield. No next hearing has been set.

RICHLAND CO.— An Olney sex offender has been charged with violating the terms of his release.

According to court documents, on December 11, 2015, Matthew T. King, 28, of 1010 West Parker St., Apt. C3, Olney, committed the offense of Unlawful Failure to Change Address when Required as a Sex Offender, when he didn’t bother notifying county authorities of a change of address within three days of moving.

King was released from police custody the same day after a $300 cash bond was posted on his behalf by Wes Marvel, of 5018 East Anchor Ln., Olney.

To add to the confusion, King claims 603 South Mill St., Olney as his address along with the West Parker Street address listed on his charge.

CLAY CO.— A pair of Flora men are looking at some serious prison time if convicted of the charges filed against them last month.

Nathan M. Lawson, 20, and Lester Mitchel Lawson, III, 49, both of 622 North Main St., Flora, were both charged December 8, 2015.

Nathan’s charges include two counts of Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine Precursors, the first on October 27, 2015 and the second on November 7, 2015 alleging he had in his possession less than 15 grams of pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture meth.

Nathan is also charged with two additional counts from Dec. 7, 2015, including one count of Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, identified as a metal grinder, a blue glass bowl and two pipes with intent to use the items to inhale cannabis and one count of Unlawful Possession of Cannabis 10-30 grams.

Lester’s charges allegedly stem from an incident that took place Dec. 7, 2015 as well.

Those charges include one count of Unlawful Participation in Methamphetamine Production, which alleges Lester participated in manufacturing less than 15 grams of meth and knowingly did so in a structure within 1,000 feet of a place of worship, which could earn him a prison sentence anywhere from 6-30 years and a fine not to exceed $100,000.

The second count from the same day alleges that Lester committed the offense of Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine Manufacturing Materials, identified as coffee filters, a Colman butane tank, a Coleman butane torch, Coleman fuel, lye, vinyl tubing and fittings and cold packs.

The pair was released from police custody after Lester posted a $5,000 cash bond and Nathan posted a $2,000 cash bond.

On his bond sheet Lester listed 402 North Cameron Ct., Hermitage, Tenn., as his address.

Nathan stuck with the Flora address on his bond sheet.

As part of the conditions of his bond, Lester is forbidden from having any contact with his wife Jackie Lawson to drive home the purpose of an active Order of Protection granted on her behalf.

In her petition for the OP, Jackie that there was a meth lab on their property and guns.

She said she was afraid of what was going to happen when Lester got out of jail.

Jackie said Lester was going to be very angry because he won’t have his meth, nowhere to go and no job.

“I am afraid for my safety and my child’s safety,” Jackie said.

Both men are expected in court later this month.

LAWRENCE CO. – In a case that’s not filed very often, a 36-year-old rural Bridgeport resident is facing a serious crime after authorities allege she lied to the public aid office.

Donita Yager, of 9904 Kings Hill Road in Bridgeport, was charged on December 14 with Public Assistance Recipient (welfare) Fraud.

The single-count charge alleges that between September 2013 and August 2014, Yager knowingly, by means of a false statement, obtained $6,022 in public aid under the Illinois Public Aid Code to which she was not entitled in that she failed to report her living with the father of her children and his employment income to Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS).

It’s been reported to Disclosure over the years that a vast number of people in Lawrence County operate in this way, and that they claim children who actually live with another parent, including children who live out of state (across the river in Indiana), as dependents.

According to Forbes magazine in an exposè written by former gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski of Kankakee, Illinois is a “death spiral” state, one of 11, which means that along with farm subsidy and other subsidized business recipients, Illinois has more “takers” than “makers”; in other words, more people receiving subsidies or welfare than there are people actually generating income who are NOT receiving.

Lawrence County has a high rate of welfare in Illinois per capita, according to statistics compiled every year by IDHS. Available statistics from the most recent year compiled (2013) show that 12 percent of the population are in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Lawrence (2,168 individuals) with participants receiving $3,395,700 in benefits. That’s just SNAP, however. There are also other welfare-related programs, including Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid (medical card), through which figures are more difficult to obtain; then add in Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and township “hardship” programs that people can go to for bill assistance, as well as ERBA (the Embarras River Basin Agency) energy assistance program, and there are all kinds of ways to defraud the government, which provides these programs on the backs of people who work for a living.

That Yager took in over six grand in less than a year could be indicative that she was using any combination of the above “programs” to prop up income, which could have gone unreported, or could merely have been “under the table,” as is often the case with these situations.

Quick is one of the few prosecutors in the area who will actually file such a charge after an investigation is conducted; Denton Aud in White County has filed these fairly consistently since he’s been in office.

Oftentimes if the state can’t get a prosecutor to actually file a felony charge (which is little but symbolic, as the state is going to extract whatever they’ve paid to a recipient out of their tax returns, hide, or possessions at some point in time in their life, regardless), they turn matters over to the attorney general’s office, who prosecutes from Springfield if it’s a case in the southern region of Illinois.

Yager’s charge is a Class 4 felony; she has no other discernible criminal history in Lawrence.

She’s been set for a bond hearing on January 20; a Brittany A. Jones was able to post $1,000 cash bond for her and she was released on the day a warrant was issued for her arrest, Dec. 15.

LAWRENCE CO. – Apparently, the man whom authorities alleged to have tried to perforate his brother over a Bobe’s Pizza in Lawrenceville isn’t going to be charged with Attempted Murder after all.

Jeffrey W. Frye, 31, whom many who know him describe as “not all there,” was the subject of a press release as issued by the Lawrenceville Police Department on December 16, regarding a stabbing incident that occurred on Dec. 14 at the 1700 block of 12th Street at a trailer court there.

Responding medics discovered a white male, John Frye, with “multiple stab wounds to the chest and back.” This Frye was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital (although whether in Vincennes or another location was not made immediately known.)

Taken into custody was a wild-eyed Jeff Frye, who was booked on initial charges of Aggravated Domestic Battery and Attempted First Degree Murder; these came about because a knife with blood on it was found in the residence, and witnesses told police that the two – who are brothers – were involved in an altercation prior to and during an alleged stabbing.

The matter in question, as reported to police, was over a Bobe’s pizza. Beyond that, not much was said about why the two began to fight, or how the fight developed.

Illinois State Police sent a Crime Scene unit and the place was gone through top to bottom.

Authorities are differing in their assessment of how serious John Frye’s injuries were; some, like Lawrenceville Police Chief Jim White in his press release, said that John Frye was listed in stable condition shortly after he was hospitalized in Evansville. Others, however, were stating that the injuries were fairly severe, and that it was touch-and-go with John Frye for a while.

At a probable cause hearing held Dec. 15 in Lawrence County Circuit Court, court paperwork shows that cause existed to bind Frye over for trial on the offenses of Attempt Murder and Aggravated Domestic Battery.

Nevertheless, when all was said and done, there was no charge of Attempted First Degree Murder.

Instead, Jeff Frye came away from the situation with a single count of Aggravated Domestic Battery, which alleges that he knowingly caused great bodily harm to John Frye, a family member, by stabbing him in the chest, back, neck and head with a knife.

Daniel Shinkle was appointed to Frye as a public defender on Dec. 23, and he was set for a preliminary hearing on January 6.

Given the challenges Frye faces, there exists the strong possibility that he won’t be able to assist in his own defense, and that before things proceed against him, he may have to be remanded to the Department of Human Services for a time until a determination is made that he can stand in his own defense.

Frye remains jailed in Lawrence County.

RICHLAND CO. – An interesting crossover of sorts has developed between a new case of meth possession and the situation of a man in Hamilton County who’s made a habit of hanging out with the wrong people…and manages to get out of scrapes with the law unscathed.

And while some might consider the connection between the two a stretch, those who’ve followed the criminal antics of St. Francisville chief of police Billy Darnell’s illegitimate offspring, dope slinging in Richland County, and the dangers to the general public of the miscreant Earp/Trout bunch will be able to recognize when there’s a significant ripple in the pond that holds all of them.

The matter actually started nearly a year ago, when that miscreant bunch, the Earps, got caught up in massive theft charges in Hamilton County, specifically, Broughton. The theft charges involved four-wheelers and weapons, and were uncovered when one of the more dimwitted among them, Daniel Royse, 25, of Broughton, was busted on conservation violations after he was caught illegally taking deer. Royse was convicted in a plea agreement and was shipped off to DOC earlier this year.

The subsequent investigation turned up Flavius Doug Earp, 28, of Olney, allegedly assisting Royse (who is a pseudo-relative of the Earps, having been breeding with an Earp/Trout girl, Breanna) in his criminal endeavors. Flav (or, as he prefers to be called, Doug) has somehow managed to obtain enough money to retain Bryan Drew out of Franklin County to represent his interests in court and that case in Hamilton has yet to work its way much past pretrial hearings.

Also hemmed up with the two, however, was an Earp hanger-on, Jimmy Williams, also 28 and also of Olney.

It was alleged at the time that Williams helped cover up Royse’s and Earp’s alleged misdeeds, and was subsequently charged not only with the same Possession of a Stolen Vehicle count the other two were (regarding the stolen four-wheeler) but also with an obstruction charge.

Miraculously, Williams’ felony counts were dismissed in mid-October after the January 2015 incident, this after he received a simple traffic ticket for Failure to Obey a Police Officer. He pled to the ticket and the felonies were dismissed, evidently meaning that it was worth it to Hamilton County authorities for Williams to pay fines and fees of $1,873 in lieu of taking the county through an expensive jury trial, in this day and age of people insisting that justice can, indeed, be bought.

Whether Williams’ momma will be so successful, however, might be another story.

The juxtaposition of this piece is the entry into the mix of Williams’ haggard-looking mother, Carolyn S. Williams, who had the grave misfortune to also have bred, a couple of decades ago, with the repugnant St. Francisville “police chief” Billy “PeeWee” Darnell.

Their offspring wasn’t Jimmy Williams; it was instead a younger larva, the equally-repugnant Travis Darnell, who has himself spent a negligible amount of time behind bars.

Up to recently, Carolyn Williams, who will be 51 in mid-January but appears to have reached that age more than a decade ago, was relatively crime-record free (she lucked out in 2002 when a Possession of a Controlled Substance charge was dismissed by the equally-pudgy Lisa Kaye DeSelms).

That classification came to an end on December 7, however, when Williams was charged with Possession of Meth less than 5 grams in Richland County.

Williams, it was pointed out to Disclosure by a staffer a few years back, lives in a house that had been known throughout the meth community as a “drive-thru” house, meaning that a person interested in making a purchase of meth could literally drive up to the house and, often without getting out of the car, could make a buy.

Research Disclosure staff did into the matter indicated that at the time (2011), Richland County drug cops were refusing to list the address of that particular house, 102 North Mulberry in the village of Calhoun, when they made meth busts, instead preferring to call it a “designated place” somewhere in Richland County. This, Disclosure was advised, had less to do with the investigators in the sheriff’s department, and more with then-prosecutor David Hyde, who was doing his best to keep publicly-known meth locations from being disclosed in print. The reason why he did this has never been discovered.

As it turns out, Carolyn Williams’ meth bust occurred at 2:44 a.m. at that specific residence….which is listed on her driver’s license as her own.

The charge wasn’t filed until a week later, and of course, little Jimmy Williams, of his East York address in Olney, had already by that time posted the $2,000 case bond for his mom. She’s set for a first court hearing on the matter Jan. 12.

The inference, of course, is what’s been going on for a number of years in Richland, which spreads out to Lawrence (with the Darnell contingent) and inexplicably to Hamilton (with the Earp/Trout contingent): That someone is facilitating the trafficking of illegal substances through the area, and because of the special favor the entire bunch enjoyed throughout the years of the David Hyde administration, who wouldn’t prosecute an Earp if he were being tortured into doing it, it was indeed flowing, if for no reason other than the Earp/Trout bunch was acting as muscle for the convicted dope users and alleged movers in the area, including “Lil Nate” Turrentine and his breeder, Jessica Boyd, both of whom are currently sitting in DOC on dope convictions.

Whether this “favor” has been lost, now that Hyde is no longer in office and a prosecutor who isn’t afraid of the local gangs such as the Earp/Trout bunch, Brad Vaughn, is handling things, remains to be seen. What the problem is in Hamilton is largely unknown. However, a strong message might be sent to these ones who’ve been allowed to run amok for so long by do-nothing prosecutors, as has been started with the sentencing of the Turrentine/Boyd combine, so maybe Williams will be the next link in the chain…especially if the Mulberry Street location really was a “designated place” where the meth-slingers could operate with impunity.

LAWRENCE CO. – While charges against two Lawrence County miscreants weren’t exactly unexpected, at least some of them were nonetheless shocking when they were announced to the public in mid-December 2015.

And many are pleased at the timing, as the serious felonies filed against the obnoxious and arrogant Caleb Gallion, 18, occurred when the boy was still under an open plea in a car theft case, meaning sentencing hadn’t occurred yet…and now, when he goes off to Illinois Department of Corrections, he’ll likely get a more meaningful sentence than he otherwise would have.

Gallion is alleged to have been part of a duo breaking into cars across Lawrence County and basically terrorizing several neighborhoods, given the ineptitude of some of the local constabulary.

The second part of that duo is the unfortunate offspring of one of Lawrence’s murderesses: Anthony J. Vantlin, 21, only son of Connie Vantlin, who killed Norma Sines with a hammer attached to the end of a baseball bat in January of 2006 in Bridgeport, when she was living in Sines’ home, destitute and down on her luck. Her son (AJ, as he’s called) observed the entire thing and even helped hide the body in a back room of the home.

The two were suspects in a series of early-December vehicle break-ins across Bridgeport, but didn’t come to the point of apprehension until one occurred in Sumner and a serious investigation actually took place.

Gallion, being out on bond from a May 28 filing of Possession of a Stolen Vehicle dating back to the February 2 incident in which he absconded with a car, bearing with him his pseudo-girlfriend Chloe Case (creating its own situation), was in much deeper trouble than Vantlin was (not that Vantlin wasn’t in trouble, but Gallion’s was compounded).

In the lead-up to his arrest, Caleb Gallion took to his Facebook page, whining about people “lying” about his involvement in the car break-ins and subsequent thefts within Bridgeport. Many of his posts were extremely self-incriminating, typical of an abrasive, defensive teen with the mentality of someone much, much younger. Some of them were self-absorbed, as he calls himself “Gallion the Stallion” as if he has some kind of persona people are supposed to consider with adulation. All of them were being watched by law enforcement, and Gallion (along with Vantlin) was arrested on Dec. 16, a couple of days after his last snide comment.

Authorities have advised Disclosure that when the two were caught and were faced with the evidence, both of them confessed to the burglaries.

When a search warrant was executed on Gallion’s premises and possessions, however, was when things took a turn for him: on his phone were found pornographic images of the girl he was obsessed with, Case (a minor), and he was so charged when those images reached the prosecutor’s office along with the police report.

When formal charges hit, Gallion’s were as follows in order of Counts 1-7:

Child Pornography, in that on Dec. 11, at 129 E. South, Sumner (Gallion’s residence) with knowledge of the nature of them, Gallion possessed a photograph of (name deleted in charges), a child whom he knew to be under the age of 18, which depicted her in a nude pose exposing her breasts;

Child Pornography, with the wording the same as the first charge except that the image depicted the child in a nude post exposing her breasts and genitalia;

Burglary, in that on Dec. 10, at 5449 Liberty Hills Lane, Sumner, Gallion committed the offense by knowingly entering a vehicle belonging to Joshua Heath with the intent to commit a theft;

Burglary on the same day, but at 905 Seed, Bridgeport, Gallion committed the offense by knowingly entering a vehicle belonging to Jackie Gillespie with the intent to commit a theft;

Burglary on the same day, but at 6702 Alma Lane, Bridgeport, Gallion committed the offense by knowingly entering a vehicle belonging to Bob Shearer with the intent to commit a theft;

Burglary on the same day, but at 1107 Ash, Bridgeport, Gallion committed the offense by knowingly entering a vehicle belonging to John Correll with the intent to commit a theft; and

Burglary on the same day, but at 743 Seed, Bridgeport, Gallion committed the offense by knowingly entering a vehicle belonging to Eugenia Abell with the intent to commit a theft.

He wasn’t charged with theft; however, the investigation is still pending. Items reportedly thieved in the break-ins included a laptop and a school backpack; these, Disclosure have been told, were returned to their owners.

The five counts of Burglary were each also charged against Vantlin identically. Some in Lawrence are saying that Vantlin was sort of “dragged into” the alleged vehicle burglary spree, but that doesn’t mitigate the charges as they appear.

Authorities have also indicated that there is a third person involved in this effort, but due to the fact that the person is a juvenile, the name cannot be revealed unless a non-official does it (as in the case of Chloe Case, confirmed by family).

As well, there has been a hint at the involvement of at least Gallion and Vantlin in an arson in Bridgeport; nothing has yet been charged, however.

Gallion had initially been set for sentencing in his open plea of guilty in the car theft on March 16, 2016.

Now, with the new and even more serious charges he’s facing, he was to have had a prelim on them January 6 (delivery date for this issue).

Vantlin was scheduled for a prelim on the same day.

WHITE CO. – A White County attorney and a former judicial candidate was evidently having a bad day in mid-December when, it’s alleged, she went off on her son in an incident that prompted an Order of Protection to be issued against her.

Skylar Inabnit Blades, 19, of rural Norris City, has filed for and received an order of protection against his mom Rhonda Blades, 44, after what he described as a little more than a snit on the part of Ms. Blades…it was more akin to a rampage.

Why this didn’t make local headlines when it happened is as much of a mystery as why no charges have been filed against the attorney, but the answer’s probably the same for both: She’s a person of status, and as such in White County, and throughout southern Illinois, they’re a protected class until someone makes the right kind of complaint to the right person.

Given that her antics on December 17 were met by her son selecting the option to arm himself legally, there might still exist the possibility that a charge can be filed.

But in the interim, the OP stands.

Bizarre actions reported in petition

Skylar Blades wrote in his Dec. 18 petition for protection:

“I went to work at 8 o’clock. On my way out of the drive I hit the dog with my truck. Instead of going to work loaded the dog and took him to the vet. The vet checked him out and sent us home with the dog’s painkillers and antibiotics. I paid the vet the $103 and took him home.

“I took my dog upstairs to my room and set him up a bed. An hour passed and Rhonda’s SUV came flying down our driveway. She came running into the front door and slammed the door hard enough to shake the house. She started yelling and screaming stomping around the downstairs of the house. Yelling at me calling me a ‘f^&king piece of sh!t’ over and over. I then stood up from my chair in my room and watched as she flew my door open still yelling right in my face getting closer and closer. I stood there quiet as could be. As she took the dog out of the house I followed her down the stairs and locked the door as she left. I called my stepfather Shane Inabnit and proceeded to tell him what happened. As I talked she pulled up the drive like she was leaving. Rhonda then turned around in the yard and flew back up to the door. She ran back up to the front door and when she seen it locked she went into the house shop and got a black baseball bat. I watched from the door that separates the house and the shop as she walked up the stairs. She didn’t even check to see if this one was locked. Rhonda swung the bat eye level at me through the glass door. I watched a foot back from the door as the glass exploded all over me. I turned around as she came through the door looking like she was going to swing again.

“I went down to the basement quickly to the gun cabinet and to call 911. I was into the basement with my weapon talking to 911, I feared that if she came down that she would try to hurt me. I told this to the dispatcher and asked for advice. I looked at my options of escaping safe and there were none. I started downstairs until I heard it was all clear. I then exited the basement and proceeded to clear the house until the first responder showed up and gave my report.”

Nothing pending but plenary

Skylar Blades was issued the OP on an emergency business on the day it was filed, Dec. 18.

Rhonda blades was ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from Skylar at their County Road 600 E., Norris City, residence; as well, she was ordered to stay away from his employer located in McLeansboro.

A hearing for a plenary (two-year) order was set for the day after deadline of this issue, January 5, in front of Judge T. Scott Webb, who won the judicial race in 2012 that Blades had originally sought to challenge; she dropped out of the race with a couple of months to go, and Webb ran unopposed.

Skylar Blades has no criminal history and has never, to the knowledge of the owners of this publication, been the subject of a police report or involved in anything untoward that would lend to the belief that he would exaggerate in such a serious report as an OP.

There are no charges on file in White County regarding Blades and the assault on her son or her house as alleged in the OP petition.

JEFFERSON CO., Ill. - Authorities have stated that the vehicle accident that claimed a young Hamilton County man's life was caused by a ca-deer collision.

Lucas D. Johnson, 22, of McLeansboro, died Saturday when the vehicle he was driving on Opdyke Lane in Jefferson County went off the road near the intersection with Lynchburg road and crashed into a tree.

With him was a passenger from Carterville, Kalie Montgomery, 21, who was seriously injured and had to be evacuated by helicopter to an out-of area hospital.

Eddie Joe Marks, Jefferson County Coroner, has advised that a dead deer was found about 75 yards from the crashed Johnson vehicle. Marks also said that there was evidence that Johnson attempted to miss the deer but he hit it, and that's the likely cause of the crash.

Presumably Dr. Walt Dawkins, pre-"Dr. Feelgood" project, this from his Facebook page

WAYNE CO., Ill. - Former Fairfield dentist Dr. Walter Dawkins has announced the reopening his practice in Fairfield, which is set to take place next Tuesday, January 12.

Apparently Dawkins and all who are hawking the presence of his offices at 102 E. Main Street in the former Dr. E.G. Dickey Optometry office are hoping that everyone has forgotten about the minimal local coverage lent to the situation Dawkins found himself in back in 2012, wherein he was federally charged with prescribing hydrocodone to patients outside the course of his medical practice. Dawkins went to federal prison for a little more than a year.

Ordinarily, a presciber’s license is yanked when this happens. Why his wasn’t is a mystery. Unless it’s because it’s Wayne County, where inexplicable things happen on a regular basis…and where often, a “professional” is given a pass because they presence is needed in the community where there’s a serious lack of such professionals (doctor, lawyer, dentist)…which thinking might be reflected in the condition of the teeth of the locals. That or all the fluoride in the water…which might account for the thinking AND the condition.

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Carmi Police Department involved in investigation

FRANKLIN CO., Ill - Two men with ties to Franklin County, Illinois,  were charged separately with crystal methamphetamine offenses,  James L. Porter, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today. Rodney G. Hebbeler, 56, of Thompsonville, Illinois, and Steven M. Burns, 37, of Marion, Illinois, and formerly of West Frankfort, Illinois, were charged with distributing crystal methamphetamine. The offenses are alleged to have occurred in Franklin and Williamson counties over the last year.

Hebbeler was charged with 6 counts of distributing methamphetamine in Franklin County, Illinois, and Burns was charged with 2 counts of distributing methamphetamine in Williamson and Franklin counties. Each count carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison, a $1 million fine, and at least 3 years of supervised release after release from prison. Both Burns and Hebbeler have been ordered held without bond pending trial.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the  Franklin County, Illinois, State’s Attorney’s Office, the Franklin County, Illinois, Sheriff’s Department, the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force, the Illinois State Police, the Southern Illinois Enforcement Group, the Carmi Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas E. Leggans.

David Springmeyer

EDWARDS CO., Ill. - Apparently the investigation is still ongoing in the case of a Wayne County miscreant who went on something of a high-speed rampage New Year’s day in Albion.

David Springmeyer, 30, of Fairfield, was the subject of a police chase January 1 in the early morning hours, reaching speeds in the low 90s, according to authorities; but not only that, he’s alleged to have crashed into a former city councilwoman’s house before stealing another vehicle and taking off again.

Today, Edwards County State’s Attorney Mike Valentine announced that the formal charges against Springmeyer amount to felony Aggravated Fleeing/Eluding Police, misdemeanor Reckless Driving, Failure to Reduce Speed to Avoid an Accident, Operating Uninsured, Improper Lane Usage, Driving Without a License, Leaving the Scene of an Accident, and the requisite Speeding 91 in a 55mph zone.

This is only just the beginning, however; Valentine has advised that he’s still reviewing the reports that ensued with the crash and the second vehicle.

Springmeyer remains locked up in the White County Jail for Edwards County.

Justin Cleaver

EDWARDS CO., Ill. - The man who was caught at the West Salem crossroads late last summer has received a sentence out of Edwards County as of today.

Justin W. Cleaver, 37, of Olney was sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison this morning in the Edwards County Circuit Court for committing three Class 2 Felony methamphetamine-related offenses near West Salem on August 31, 2015. He was issued an extended-term sentence of 8 years imprisonment to the Illinois Dept. of Corrections for delivering less than 5 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant, 5 years imprisonment for possessing between 5 and 15 grams of methamphetamine, and an additional 3 years imprisonment for using his vehicle to aid in the transportation of the methamphetamine.

EDWARDS CO., Ill. - A two-vehicle collision on Illinois Route 161 Extension at Edwards County Road 700E west of West Salem this morning left two men injured and sent to area hospitals.

The accident occurred this morning (Wednesday, January 6) at approximately 11:00 a.m.

According to the preliminary traffic crash investigation, the driver of a red1993 Ford truck, James E. Barnett, 66, of Albion, was northbound on Edwards County Road 700E and stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of the Illinois Route 161 Extension.  Barnett attempted to cross the Illinois Route 161 Extension, when he was struck in the passenger side by a 1995 International truck tractor/dump trailer, driven by Mark L. Beehn, 54, of West Salem, traveling westbound on the Illinois Route 161 Extension.

Barnett was flown by Air Evac to a hospital in Evansville, Indiana. Beehn was transported from the crash scene by the Richland County Ambulance Service to an area hospital. Both vehicles were towed from the crash scene.

ISP District 19 was assisted at the crash scene by the Edwards County Sheriff’s Department, West Salem Police Department, West Salem Fire and Rescue, and Richland County Ambulance Service. An ISP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer (C.V.E.O.) was assigned to the crash investigation. The cause of the accident has been determined to be Failure to Yield the Right of Way, but no citations have yet been issued.