Local News

According to the 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey of the United States, approximately 248,300 rape/sexual assault victimizations occurred in 2007.
A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about 10 percent of students reported being physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the last 12 months.
Lastly, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Supplemental Victimization Survey on Stalking, an estimated 3.4 million persons age 18 or older were victims of stalking during a 12-month period.

• Ryan J. Standley, 24, Herrick, was arrested on Aug. 17 for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving an all-terrain vehicle on a roadway. Bond was $3,500.
• Billie R. Heckler, 40, 101 School St., Mulberry Grove, was arrested on Aug. 17 for failure to appear in court on a misdemeanor charge. Bond was $3,500.
• Seth A. Schukar, 23, RR 1, Shobonier, was arrested on Aug. 16 on an alleged probation violation/revocation. Bond was $10,000.

Though administrators in the Vandalia Community School District have a pretty good handle on the expense lines in their budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year, they don’t have a clue what’s in store on the revenue side.
“The revenues are very unclear at this time,” Superintendent Rich Well told members of the Vandalia Board of Education at their monthly meeting Tuesday night.
“We just don’t know what the state is going to do.”

The attorney for St. Elmo's mayor contends that the second attempt by the community’s former police chief to sue the mayor for slander is no better than the first.
In a motion filed on Monday in Fayette County Circuit Court, Charles A. Pierce of Belleville, the attorney for Mayor Larry Tish, argues that Ken Thomason’s amended suit still lacks specificity.
Thomason, who served as St. Elmo’s police chief for about 16½ years before being terminated by Tish last November, filed a slander suit against the mayor in November.