The Dispatch from Moline, Illinois • 33

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1994 THE DISPATCH Dl 7 V.5Vft, Kb CoM Moline water rates raised 9 rains, few people watered lawns, putting a substantial dent in the amount of water customers purchased. Most of the revenue from the hike will help cover operating expenses, wages and benefits. Some of the funds will go into a water department reserve fund, city officials said. The difference between the two proposed increases came from halving the reserve requirement for debt service, said Aid. Jeff Condit, R-4th Ward.

The hike will take effect either June 1 or July 1, Mr. Stevens said. He said the average family of four uses about 20,000 gallons of water per year and currently pays $51.29 per quarter for that amount. The increase will bump the quarterly cost to about $55.91. In other business, the council: Authorized city staffers to purchase two used trucks to be used for leaf collection.

The current asking price for the trucks is $50,000 apiece, said Doug Ver-Cautren, director of municipal services. Passed a motion asking city, staffers to prepare a resolution to go out for bids on two fire sta tions at the east end of town. Approved spending $3,000 a9 a local match for a improvement to the railroad crossing at 23rd Street north of 4th Avenue. Voted to support the Quad Cities Waterfront Master Plan which outlines proposed river? front development and improve-; ments in the next 20 years. Postponed for one week a res: olution to spend $13,740 as part of a financial commitment to bring the Women's International Bowling Congress to the Quad-Cities in 1998 and committing to a portion of the remaining $200,000.

Approved submittal of an application to the Illinois State Historic Preservation Agency for designation of the city as a certified local government. With this designation, the city will have access to state grants, loans, materials and assistance for historic preservation efforts. The Moline City Council slings proposed slingshot ban back to public safety committee for review. Page A8. By Sonja West Staff writer MOLINE The city council Tuesday night approved a 9 percent water-rate increase that is expected to cost a family of four about $18 more a year.

Aldermen passed the ordinance 11-2 after amending the hike down from the orginal proposal of 15 percent. Aid. Dave Duran, D-lst Ward, and Todd Franzen, R-3rd Ward, voted against the increase. City officials said the increase is needed, in p'art, to cover the cost of chemicals, which doubled over last year's prices. George Stevens, who directs the water department, said the rate hike will also make up for a shortfall of revenue caused by reduced water sales last year.

Because of last summer's heavy lyt pt; If Plea bargain rumored in Hillard murder trial Todd Mizener staff covering the tool until last weekend, after he heard Mercer Sheriff Larry Glancey asking another officer about it. C.h a 1 Zalar, special prosecutor in the case, said Graphic reminder Moline High School senior Kim Regan reacts with tears to the Operation Prom Night crash simulation Tuesday and is comforted by her boyfriend, senior Jason Baraks. In the background, fellow seniors react with tears and shock. The scenario of the crash simulation revolves around a head-on collision, between a car containing a family of four and a car contain- ing four high-school students out on prom night. The driver of the students' car is drunk.

To give the simulation more impact, organizers hand-pick four popular students that everyone in the senior class would recognize. This year the reality was heightened by the fact that the Aaron McLean, and the Shana Genac, actually have been dating for 18 months. Shane Hillard I tcVJs y-z I lAfo.J l-r rf-wii xj Li- "deeply grateful for that act of kindness." On Tuesday, Mr. Braud ques-J tioned Ms. Montroy about her revelation Monday that she had lied to authorities from Aug.

8 until Nov. 8 to "protect" the defendant. Mr. Braud is contending that, in November, she changed the story she was telling authorities because she was angry that the defendant had a new girlfriend. Ms.

Montroy, however, testified that she stopped withholding details about the case in November because counseling had made her realize that the defendant's actions had been "cold and cruel." Although she testified Monday that she had never seen signs of physical abuse on the defendant's body, Mr. Braud had her read from a letter she had written to his mother, Candace Wyatt. In it, she talks about noticing signs of physical abuse. Also testifying Tuesday, was Tara Smith, 16, who said she and Ms. Montroy had once been best friends.

She told the jury that Ms. Montroy "went into a rage" last November and said she "just knew" the defendant was receiving letters from a former girlfriend. "She knew Shane's life was in her hands," Ms. Smith said of her former friend. "(She) would rather see (him) rot in prison for the rest of his life than be with another woman," she testified.

Ms. Smith also said she saw bruises on the defendant's ribs late last June and that both she and her mother had often noticed signs of physical and emotional distress when he visited their home. By Rebecca Morris Staff writer PEORIA Neither the prosecution nor the defense in the first-degree murder trial of an Aledo teen accused of killing his father is commenting on reports of a possible plea agreement. According to a Peoria newspaper story, prosecutors offered to reduce the charges against Robert Shane Hillard to second-degree murder. The reason: New evidence that may support the defense's contention that the 17-year-old acted in self-defense.

Currently the teen is facing three counts of first-degree murder and one of Class 3 felony concealment of a homicide. The charges accuse him of shooting his 44-year-old father, Charles "Lonnie" Hillard, outside the family's rural Aledo farmhouse on July 14, 1993, and then hiding the body in a field southwest of Viola where it was discovered Aug. 8, 1993. Although the prosecution contends the defendant "stalked" his father through a soybean field and then shot him in the back, the defense argues that the teen killed his father after the older man hit him on the head with a crowbar. Until recently, the prosecution had been unaware that a Mercer County sheriffs auxiliary deputy had seen a crowbar at the alleged murder scene last summer.

On Tuesday, Capt. Larry Finley testified that, while looking for bullet casings around a burned shed on the Hillard farm, he found a crowbar in a 2-foot high patch of weeds. "I picked it up out of the grassy area and laid it on or near the (shed) foundation," he said. He said he didn't mention dis- rv it's unlikely the tool will be entered into evidence at the trial, since prosecutors are unsure where it is. Neither he nor Walter Braud, the defendant's attorney, would comment on the possibility of a plea agreement.

Also taking the witness stand Tuesday was Kelly Montroy, who, during almost seven hours of testimony Monday, told how she had helped her boyfriend, Shane Hillard, move and hide his father's body. Her testimony Tuesday, however, was cut short when she collapsed and was taken to Methodist Medical Center by ambulance. Although she was released from the hospital after treatment, both the defense and prosecution agreed to postpone her remaining testimony until today. Her collapse which is being blamed on becoming emotionally upset and hyperventiliating occurred as she was leaving the witness stand for the lunch break. Dr.

Diane Hillard-Sembell, an orthopedic surgeon from Springfield and sister of the alleged murder victim, provided first aid to the 17-year-old until paramedics arrived. The judge noted later that he and court personnel were II It-- II I I fe Todd Mizener staff Moline teacher Chris Moore, playing the victim's distraught father, attacks Moline senior Aaron McLean while a Moline police officer tries to separate them. Mr. McLean plays the part of the drunk driver in the simulation. Todd Mizener staff During Moline High School's Operation Prom Night crash simulation, senior Shana Genac lies 'dead' on a sheet while Moline Fire Department emergency personnel work to extricate her classmates from their vehicle.

Long-sundered Craun siblings reunited in Geneseo know Clarence was coming, too. When she saw an extra person in Raymond's car, "Right away, I knew it was Clarence," she said. The Craun siblings resemble 'It's been wonderful. I couldn't ask for anything ran into a brick wall." A family reunion is being planned for July 9-10 at Mr. Anderson's home in Texas, and most of the other siblings are hoping to attend.

Also expected is Mary Jane Tillman of Sicily Island, another sister who was born after the eviction. The family hopes "Unsolved Mysteries" will film a followup segment at the reunion. The siblings also hope they will be able to locate their sister Florence, who was 12 at the time of the eviction. She was renamed Charlotte and adopted by Loral and Ruth Dana in Arizona. While her children have been located, her whereabouts remain a mystery.

"It would be really wonderful if she could be there for that reunion," Ms. Melton said. mother and some of the children were housed for a time at the Henry County Jail. Eventually, some of the children were adopted by other families. After the television program aired shortly before Christmas, Ms.

Melton learned the whereabouts of all but one sister. Although she had spoken with brothers Clarence and Leonard on the phone, Monday was the first time they had seen each other in 45 years. "This is really great," Ms. Melton said. "I've talked to them, but it's not like being to see them in person." The two men came to Geneseo with another brother, Raymond (Craun) Anderson, 53, of Houston, Texas, who was reunited with Ms.

Melton in 1966. Ms. Melton said she knew Raymond was bringing Leonard to see her Monday, but she didn't Whereabouts of one sister remain unsolved Mystery' By Dlanne Beetler Correspondent GENESEO A rural Geneseo woman was reunited with two long-lost brothers Monday, "It's been wonderful," said Jean Melton, 49. "I couldn't ask for anything better." For the first time in 45 years, Ms. Melton was face to face with her brothers, Leonard Craun, 55, of Winnfield, and Clarence Craun, 56, of Las Vegas, Nev.

The family gained national attention last December after 'Unsolved Mysteries" broadcast a segment about how Frank and Hilda Craun and their children were evicted from their rural Annawan farm home in 1948. The Jean Melton, reunited sibling each other physically and have the same mannerisms, according to Mr. Anderson's wife, June. Since December they all have run up large telephone and postage bills as they get reacquainted. Clarence Craun said Monday that he had tried 10 years ago to locate his missing siblings, "but I Oanne Beetler correspondent Jean Melton, rural Geneseo, was reunited Monday with two of her brothers, whom she hadn't seen since 1948.

The reunion with Clarence Craun. left, and Leonard Craun, second from right, was made possible by a third brother, Raymond (Craun) Anderson, far right, with whom Ms. Melton was reunited in 1966..