Southern Illinoisan du lieu suivant : Carbondale, Illinois • Page 13

The Southern Illinoisan Friday, July 1 3, 2007 www.thesouthem.com Vx.L 5B Durbin criticizes lack of leadership on Illinois budget Everyday items provided to women's shelter health insurance for every I i i VI enemy is. Blagojevich, commenting on Durbin's remark, said the senator was right not to get involved in Springfield's Durbin impasse. "He ought to be in Washington fighting for us there," the governor said. Other members of the state's congressional delegation agreed that state officials should settle their differences. "At the end of the day, the people of Illinois deserve more than they're receiving," said Rep.

Tim Johnson, a Republican from Urbana. "In some ways, it's almost become a national embarrassment." A new state budget is being held up by disputes between Blagojevich and lawmakers, particularly House Speaker and fellow Chicago Democrat Michael Madigan. The Democratic governor wants a large increase in education spending and a new program to guarantee if. I "Si BY DENNIS CONRAD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON U.S. Sen.

Dick Durbin said Thursday that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and state legislative leaders must end a budget impasse that threatens federal transportation money Congress has approved for the state. "I would say we are looking for some leadership in Springfield," the Senate's No. 2 Democrat said in an interview with The Associated Press. His comments came after a question-and-answer session with visiting constituents during which he cracked a joke comparing the logjam at the Illinois Capitol to religious strife in Iraq.

Durbin said he had been asked to mediate the dispute between Blagojevich and state lawmakers, though he did not specify by whom. "I told them that I was going to decline," he said. "I'd rather deal with the Sunnis and Shias than an open civil war. It's easier to figure out who your t5 BY ME AG AN SEXTON THE SOUTHERN CARTERVILLE Century 21 real-estate offices in Southern Illinois have a soft spot for making people feel more at home. Employees collected hundreds of items and made monetary donations to the women's shelter in Carbondale.

"There are women that leave in the middle of the night or after a fight and they don't have anything. They don't even have everyday items like toothbrushes and razors," Century 21 Realtor Pam Barnes said. Barnes coordinated the event and spent 90 days collecting items donated from approximately 50 employees throughout the Carterville, Marion, Lake of Egypt, Murphysboro and Carbondale offices. They placed everyday items like towels, toothbrushes and various cosmetic products in laundry baskets for the center to distribute. "There was a lot of excitement when the staff saw all the items.

They mentioned that the ladies were really going to appreciate it and that they were overwhelmed," said STEVE JAHNKE THE SOUTHERN -Iva Dell Clay, development specialist with the Women's Center in Carbondale, gets excited after realizing that she has more donated supplies than she does room in her car outside the Century 21 office on Tuesday in Carterville. Stebic named 'person of interest' in wife's disappearance Murphysboro police officers honored by city council s1 y' 't i I v'V --v Illinoisan. He nas proposed a $5 billion mix of business taxes and gambling expansion to pay for it, but Madigan and Republican i ii jj a. leauei say uiuae xueaa uuu i Viotrrt onnuoVi ciinnnrt nice The budget was supposed -m 1 a 1 ri io De passeu uy may 01. piaie government is still operating only because officials passed; a budget extension that U.S.

Rep. Phil Hare, a fvAwi Telotifl urged Democratic officials to work with Republicans. "Locking anybody out, I'm never for that," Hare said. "If the boat takes on water, everybody better be In a letter to state officials in May, the congressional delegation said it had obtained a 33 percent increase federal funding for Illinois transportation projects. But to get that money, the state must put up some money of its own.

The letter warned state officials that if they don't approve that state money, "as much as $6.1 billion in federal funding could be at risk." AP- strong as he can be," Davi r. said: "Craig maintains the statements he has always stated from day one. He is innocent of anything that has happened with Lisa." During the news conference, the police chief said authorities have found no signs that Lisa Stebic left the house "of her own free will." Friends and family members detectives have interviewed said she never would have abandoned her children, and authorities are "now focusing on the scenario that she is most likely the victim of foul play," Bennett said. BY ADAM TESTA THE SOUTHERN MURPHYSBORO On June 1, three local law enforcement officers went above and beyond the call of duty, according to their supervisors. Two Murphysboro Police Department officers and a Jackson County Sheriff Department's deputy responded to an accident scene and immediately began handling the situation, without even being asked to do so.

A two-vehicle accident had caused a car to catch fire with Heather Pierson, 18, of Murphysboro inside. Pierson had suffered head injuries and does not have recollection of the accident. Deputy Jon Kilquist of the sheriff's department examined Pierson and removed her from the vehicle. Murphysboro officers Curt Ehlers and Cory Etherton helped the family and other crowd gathered at the scene and marked the site of the vehicles. The three law enforcement officers were honored at Tuesday's city council meeting for their bravery and for going above and beyond the call of duty.

Kilquist received a Lifesaving Award, and Ehlers and Etherton are important for the center to thrive and plans to contribute as much as possible. This is the first year the drive has taken place. "We appreciate Century 21 going above and beyond by collecting so many items that will be truly useful in the day-to-day workings of the WomenTCCnter," Clay said. meagan.sextonttiesouthern.com 351-5804 officers on the scene, and her mother shared her sentiment. "It was a night I never want to relive, and I want to thank everyone for saving my daughter's life," Regina Pierson said.

Mayor Ron Williams, who presented the officers with the awards, especially thanked -Kilquist for aiding the Murphysboro Police Department with the accident response. "You all do so much for us with the sheriff's department, it's our pleasure to do something so little," he said. Murphysboro Police Chief Jeff Bock said he's pleased to see the city recognize the work of local law enforcement, and he hopes to see it continue. It helps honor those officers who do go above the call of duty, he said. Lt.

Mike Teas of the sheriff's department also was pleased to see the city recognize officers for their work, including county officers. He said Kilquist is a good officer who took honorable action at the accident scene. "I think it was a great honor for him and these other two Murphysboro officers," he said. "It's something they should be extremely proud of." adam.testathesouthern.com 351-5031 Youssef, another alleged terrorist recruit by the purported support cell that included Hassoun and the third defendant, Kifah Wael Jayyousi. Youssef was indicted in the Miami case but is in custody in Egypt and is not part of the trial.

In addition, Fincher said that although Padilla knew the names of his wife and two young sons in Egypt, he couldn't recall the address of their home in Cairo or their phone number. He remembered making a religious pilgrimage to SaUdi Arabia known as the Hajj but could not remember the names of a Saudi and a Pakistani he met there. "There was a diminishing level of completeness of answers," Fincher said. Padilla admitted traveling to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but denied going to Yemen or Afghanistan. Prosecutors say Padilla went through Yemen to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan, where he purportedly filled out a "mujahedeen data form" that is a key piece of evidence in the case.

Iva Dell Clay, development specialist for the Women's Center in Carbondale. "The women don't think about packing shampoo and other items. They grab a few articles of clothing. They're in a state of confusion after leaving their violent homes. It's just a little way that they can feel special." Barnes believes that donation and volunteerism CHRISTOPHER PARR FOR THE SOUTHERN Sheriff's Deputy, Jon Kilquist is thanked by Mayor Ron Williams and the town of Murphysboro with the presentation of the Life Saving Award for his heroic achievements.

received Outstanding Service Awards. The meeting was also the first time Pierson and Kilquist had seen each other since the accident. "She wondered if you'd even remember her because she was covered in blood," Regina Pierson, Heather's mother, said to Kilquist in the hallway after he received the award. Pierson is grateful to all the radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S., was arrested after that FBI interview on a material witness warrant and declared an enemy combatant by President Bush a month later. Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S.

citizen, was held in a Navy brig without criminal charge until he was added to the Miami case in late 2005. The jury, however, heard none of this history, except to learn that Padilla was arrested after arriving in Chicago on a direct flight from Switzerland. The "dirty bomb" allegations and Padilla's history as an enemy combatant are being kept out of the Miami case. Padilla, a Muslim convert, moved from Florida to Egypt in 1998, allegedly after he was recruited for Islamic extremist causes by defendant Adham Amin Hassoun. Fincher testified Thursday that Padilla admitted in the 2002 FBI interview that he had lived in Egypt, but couldn't remember the address or the last name of his roommate, Mohamed.

Prosecutors contend that the roommate was Mohamed A $. i i YiiiinVniiiiiiMiiaiUlMiMlin BY MICHAEL TARM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PLAINFIELD The estranged husband of a suburban Chicago woman missing for more than two months was named a "person of interest" Thursday by police who also said they fear Lisa Stebic was the victim of foul play. The couple were going through a divorce, but they still lived together with their 'two children in the family's Plainfield home. On the day of Lisa Stebic's disappearance, she had mailed off a petition seeking to remove Craig Stebic from their home He was the last person to report seeing his wife on the evening of April 30; there has been no activity since on her credit cards, checking account or cell phone. At a news conference, Plainfield Police Chief Donald Bennett said during the 10-week investigation, Craig Stebic has "offered only minimal assistance to detectives" and refused to participate in any searches organized by his wife's family and supported by police.

Bennett said that Stebic has twice refused requests by police and the state's attorney's office to let investigators talk to his children ages 10 and 12 about their mother's disappearance. "Police have logged thousands of hours in this investigation and have pursued every viable lead," Bennett said. "Unfortunately, Mr. Stebic had denied investigators the crucial opportunity to conduct a thorough, in-person interview with his children." The children were among the last people to see their mother, the police chief said, authorities believe they may have "valuable information that will assist in the investigation." About an hour after the news conference, Stebic drove past reporters posted outside his spacious, 2-story home and parked his pickup truck in the garage. Inside the home, he started shutting windows, and when a reporter approached, said: "You know I can't talk to you guys.

Call my lawyer." In a phone interview, his divorce attorney Dion Davi said that he believed police had considered Stebic a person of interest all along and that Thursday's public pronouncement "is just a tack the police are using to try and force Craig's hand Craig Stebic arrives with his son, Zac, along with family and friends at a vigil for his missing wife, Lisa, on May 9 in Plainfield. FBI says Padilla gave evasive answers about Middle East to intimidate him." Davi said he has counseled Stebic not to allow the children to be questioned and that the youngsters already talked to authorities a day or two after their mother's disappearance. Tere does not appear to be any new information upon which to question them," Davi said. The attorney said his client is trying to make sure his children have as normal a summer as possible. "They laugh, they joke, they're visiting he said of the kids.

Noting hls tlient is "as Elite Upholstery 4l BY CURT ANDERSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MIAMI Jose Padilla gave evasive or vague answers about his activities in the Middle East shortly after arriving at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in May 2002, an FBI agent testified Thursday at his trial on a Padilla charge of supporting terrorism. Padilla did not remember the address or telephone number for his wife and children in Egypt, or the last name of his roommate, agent Russell Fincher said. In contrast, Padilla remembered many details of his life growing up in Chicago, including specific streets where his family lived, Fincher said. He also was carrying documents with other personal information such as his old address in Davie, Fla. "He had the ability to recall and remember details over a long period of time," Fincher testified in the terrorism support trial of Padilla and two co-defendants.

"The absence of that detail regarding questions of substance led me to believe Mr. Padilla was being evasive about his travels overseas." Padilla, initially suspected of plotting to detonate a not just furniture, it's Serving all of Southern Illinois Bruce Williams Daily 6p.m. to 1 p.m. on You deserve the "Best" possible care. Call the NECK BACK PAIN CLINIC to determine which treatment might be best for i life SKcc.