Bureau County’s top stories of 2009

Workers at the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Hennepin didn't take the company owners' decision to close the plant lying down. However, despite ongoing informational picket lines and rallies, the owners did not change their minds, and dismantling of the plant began in July.

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The changing and challenging weather

• In early January, Barto Landing in Spring Valley is flooded when the Illinois River begins its descent from a high water mark of 29.44 feet, almost 10 feet above flood stage. Water poured into the river from weekend rains and melting snow.

• Also in January, Bureau County receives another 6 inches of snow, with temperatures bottoming out at about 18 degrees below zero. Area schools canceled classes for two days in a row.

• In late July, a tornado strikes south and east of Princeton, heavily hitting the farm property owned by Buster and Kay Taylor and destroying a barn, downing numerous trees and branches and sending a grain bin across Route 26. The southeast quadrant of Princeton is also heavily damaged.

• Bureau County residents join all of Illinois in experiencing the coldest July on record, according to state climatologist Jim Angel.

• Weather trends change as Bureau County residents experience the seventh warmest November since records started being kept in 1895.

• Bureau County and the Quad Cities area experience a record-breaking decade of weather, with 26 monthly records established since January 2000, according to WQAD meteorologist Anthony Peoples.

• Bureau County farmers struggle to harvest their crops, after a very wet spring, cool summer and a wet fall. Many farmers still had corn standing in the field with snow on the ground.

• Bureau County buckles under the force of two major snow falls in December, with blowing snow and icy roads, school and road closures.

The economy

• The ArcelorMittal steel plant in Hennepin is closed, and 285 employees lost their jobs. The closing was first announced in December 2008, but local steelworkers work during much of 2009 to come up with other alternatives to closing the plant. However, the final dismantling of the plant begins in mid-July.

• LCN Closers announces the lay-off of 44 people in July, followed by another 47 employees in October.

• In August, Spring Valley’s Honeywell Sensing and Controls Business, better known as Hobbs, announces the plant will close and move operations to Mexico.

• In September, the board of directors for St. Margaret’s Health in Spring Valley recommends the discontinuation of plans to build a replacement hospital facility, due to the fact the board was unable to obtain affordable financing for the $90 million project.

• In December, local resale shops report store traffic is high as the Christmas shopping season begins. The struggling economy and people looking for bargains are factors in the increased business, according to Debbie Quinn, manager of the Pass It On store in Walnut.

H1N1

• In May, Diana Rawlings, administrator for the Bureau/Putnam County Health Department, recommends schools not take field trips to the Chicago area, which has numerous cases of the H1N1 flu.

• In October, local health officials state the H1N1 flu is no doubt in the Bureau County area. Though people are not tested for H1N1 unless they are hospitalized, there have been several likely cases in their hospital emergency rooms, according to school nurse Sue Cater.

• In December, Rawlings announces Bureau County has had its first confirmed H1N1 flu death, a 42-year-old DePue woman. So far this year, Bureau County has 11 confirmed H1N1 flu cases, Rawlings said.

• Also in December, Pat Lebahn, communicable disease coordinator for the local health department, announces the health department has given an estimated 6,000 H1N1 vaccines this year to specific high risk priority groups. The health department ends 2009 by offering the H1N1 vaccine to the non-high risk groups of the general public.

Politics in Bureau County

• Local residents respond to the legal and ethical troubles and subsequent impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. State Sens. Gary Dahl and Dale Risinger say the Senate is ready to begin the impeachment trial in January. Rep. Frank Mautino of Spring Valley is selected to serve on the impeachment committee.

• A number of Bureau County natives, including Dean Devert, Samantha Warren, Jenna Underwood, Beau Underwood and Chris Kromphardt, attend the January inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington D.C.

• During April’s consolidated general election, incumbent mayors John Gordon of Wyanet, James Narczewski of Spring Valley, Timothy Shipp of Bureau and Tim Folger of Neponset lose their bids for re-election. Michael Pinter is the only incumbent mayor to win a contested race in the election.

• Local individuals organize two TEA (Taxed Enough Already) parties, one on the Bureau County Courthouse lawn and another at Soldiers and Sailors Park, and form a new political awareness group, We the People.

Countywide news

• Bureau County continues to see activity with area wind farms. In April, the Bureau County Board approves a road agreement and site restoration plan for Crescent Ridge 2, south of Wyanet. The board also approves conditional use permits for Crescent Ridge 2 to put up five more turbines.

In northern Bureau County, the Big Sky wind farm project continues. As of Dec. 1, 17 turbines foundations are poured. Work resumed Oct. 19 after technical and financial problems caused the project to be put on hold in July 2008.

After months of discussion and meetings, the Bureau County Board meets again in November in an emergency session to discuss ongoing road agreement problems and pending litigation against Iberdrola Renewables Inc. and the Providence Heights wind farm.

In December, the Bureau County Board approves a tentative settlement agreement with Crescent Ridge wind farm giving the wind farm a tax credit for the next three years. Bureau County Assessor Tom Sweeney says Crescent Ridge paid a total of $1,587,427 in property taxes in 2005 and 2006. The settlement agreement gives Crescent Ridge a total of $582,621 in tax credit for the next three years.

• The Bureau County Criminal Justice Center Commission hires consultants to determine costs and space needs for a new county jail and also to renovate and expand the existing jail. The Bureau County Board agrees it’s too soon to put an advisory referendum before voters about building a new correctional facility.

• Church Women United, owners of The Closet resale shop in Princeton, lose a two-day court battle to retain The Closet’s side gate and fencing. Princeton GM LLC had filed the court injunction to gain access to the rear of the neighboring former Walmart building.

• The black bear of Bureau County, seen in the area since the summer of 2008, is captured in early February 2009 and relocated away from the county.

School issues

• On Jan. 19, Ohio High School board members decline two petitions signed by 118 residents of the school district asking the school board to put the question of deactivating the high school on the ballot. The year continues with meetings and conflict between the Committee of Ten and the school board.

• After four months of hearing concerns from a group of parents and students, the Princeton High School Board of Education hires a new band teacher, Laurie Bonner, who will teach both band and English. The group of parents and students had spent the previous four months voicing their opinion to the board that the band instructor should be a full-time position and should be given to then-current band teacher Jennifer Abernathy.

• In November, the Bureau Valley School Board announces the investigation is now completed and closed into a personnel matter within the school district. Rumors had swirled throughout the district as to the specifics of the investigation, but the board stated the issue was a personnel issue and could not be discussed openly.

• The Spring Valley Elementary School Board declares its intent to issue $5.1 million in funding bonds for the construction of a new addition to the JFK building.

Community happenings

• Nineteen Bureau County communities and governmental bodies learn they are slated to receive a total of more than $3 million in Illinois Jobs Now! money. Among the projects are infrastructure improvements for Dalzell, LaMoille and Van Orin and capital improvement for Manlius, Walnut and Wyanet. Princeton City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh says the city should receive about $375,0000 through the $31 billion capital bill signed by Gov. Pat Quinn. The Princeton money will be used for street improvements and possible sewer upgrades.

• The DePue Superfund clean-up saga continues. In August, the village of DePue is back in court trying to force Viacom/CBS and Exxon/Mobil to clean up its Superfund site in DePue. The suit asks for compensatory damages of more than $20 million, punitive damages against each corporate defendant in the amount of $1 billion, and costs. A legal team from Chicago and Texas is probing lawns and homes in DePue in an environmental investigation which could erupt into a class action lawsuit against former and present owners of DePue’s New Jersey Zinc Superfund site.

• Planners of the annual Sheffield Homecoming summer festival announce the 90-year tradition will come to an end this year, due to a lack of volunteers on the planning committee.

• Hundreds of people turn out in November for the 100th anniversary observance of the Cherry Mine Disaster.

• Nineteen Burlington Northern Santa Fe train cars derail on Dec. 19 on the east edge of Wyanet. Four of the freight cars overturn, with one train car stuck dangling over the trestle bridge. BNSF and Amtrak trains are rerouted for two days while clean-up and repair work is done.