Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 3

LOCAL STATE Friday, August 21, 2009 a A3 -4 kmmM Ill I Willi-III' I at. Press Alec Tucker, 13, enters his house on Thursday through one of the living room walls which was blown out in Wednesday's tornado in Williamsville. The tornado damaged 25 buildings, including a church, in the community of about 1,500 located roughly 10 miles northeast of Springfield. Williamsville, Loami residents begin cleanup afier tornado strikes from Wednesday storm Reports of tornado unconfirmed in Coles 1 I in Ol1 fc -w A Repair and an A.J. Walker Construction Co.

building on south 21st Street. Downed limbs and trees as well as scattered power outages were reported in both Charleston and Mattoon. Charleston Street Superintendent Quincy Combs said one tree knocked down a power line at 10th Street and Harrison Avenue, and another tree blocked part of Audrey Lane. He said city crews were called out at 4 a.m. Thursday to start clearing streets.

A power surge or a lightning strike burned up the computer in the controls for the traffic signals at Lincoln Avenue and Reynolds Drive, Combs said. Combs said the signals went into their blinking red light mode and traffic backed up at the intersection as students started rolling into town Thursday morning to prepare for the start of Eastern Illinois University's fall semester. The lights were restored to their regular mode by late morning. The Charleston Fire from surrounding communities and from Williamsville who showed up to help in the clean up on Thursday. "These are pretty tough, www.jg-tccom LOCAL Kepoit CHICAGO; Illinois jobless rate rises to 10.4 percent (AP) Illinois' jobless rate rose to 10.4 percent in July even though the pace of job losses is slowing.

That's up slightly from 10.3 percent in June. The Illinois Department of Employment Security released the new figures Thursday. They show the state lost another 13,000 jobs in July, bringing the number of unemployed statewide to 692,500. IDES Director Maureen O'Donnell says the state's economy must go through several phases before it sees job growth. The U.S.

jobless rate dropped to 9.4 percent in July, from 9.5 percent the previous month. Employers also laid off far fewer workers nationally and workers' hours and pay edged upward. Several transportation projects funded Federal stimulus funds will be allocated to the Illinois Department of Transportation for various transportation improvement projects across the area. This Recovery Act grant will be used for capital needs in 31 non-urban areas in Illinois, according to Sen. Roland Burris.

Funds will also be used for projects in East-Central Illinois including: City of Mattoon construction of intercity rail platform upgrades. Coles County existing transit facility expansion in Charleston. City of Paris construction of a new East Central MTD administrationstorage facility. Effingham County Construction of a new transit administrationstorage facility in Effingham, IL CHARLESTON Rep. Rose satellite office hours scheduled State Rep.

Chapin Rose's staff members have scheduled satellite office hours in Atwood, Hindsboro and other area towns next week. The schedule includes Tolono village office, 1-2 p.m. Tuesday; Pesotum village office, p.m. Tuesday; Atwood public library, 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, Hindsboro City Hall, 11 a.m.-noon Thursday; and Villa Grove City Hall, p.m.

Thursday. Rose can also be reached at his district office, 348-7673, or online at www.chapinrose.net. MATTOON Fifth-grade band meetings set Monday Meetings have been scheduled to provide parents and students in the Mattoon school district with information about the beginning band program for students in the fifth grade at Williams or Riddle Elementary schools. Parents who have used instruments on which they would like their child to begin are requested to bring them to these meetings so that they may be checked to make certain that they are in good mechanical condition and suitable for the student's use. Interested students and their parents are requested to attend one of the following meetings which will be held on Monday in the Riddle School Cafeteria, at 4 or 6 p.m.

For more information, contact Melissa Ferguson, elementary band director at 238-2800 or 238-3800. Ameren restoring power lost to 20,000 customers WILLIAMSVILLE (AP) -Among the tons of debris volunteers in Williamsville hauled off by the truckload Thursday after a tornado were remains of one of just two churches in the central Illinois village its roof and walls collapsed, but its steeple still standing. "That church has been a cornerstone of the community," lamented Tom Yokley, board president in Williamsville, a community of about 1,500 located roughly 10 miles northeast of Springfield. "It's gone. It's destroyed." At least two tornados struck central Illinois on Wednesday afternoon, with Williamsville hit the hardest, National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Shimon said; some 25 village buildings were damaged and there were around a dozen injuries, though none life-threatening.

Customers sought shelter in a walk-in freezer at a Casey's General Store in Williamsville as the tornado roared by, blowing out walls and toppling a gas-pump canopy, said Bill Walljasper, CFO of the Iowa-based company. No one in the store was hurt, he said. Department reported responding to downed powers lines at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at Ninth Street and Grant Avenue and at University Drive and Lincoln Avenue, as well as a false alarm caused by a power outage at 6 a.m. Thursday at 955 N.

Fifth St. AmerenCIPS crews had to right a leaning power pole near the intersection of University and Lincoln while emergency responders blocked off one lane of westbound traffic on Lincoln. Police Lt. Brad Oyer said a westbound car struck the rear of a parked squad car that had its lights flashing at approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday in the north lane of Lincoln.

He said the squad car was pushed into a fire truck at the scene of the leaning power pole. He said there were no injuries. Watson also said seven power poles were downed along County Road 360E in northwest Coles County during the storms. Contact Rob Stroud at or 238-6861. resilient people," he said.

"You wouldn't want to make them mad at you. But if you need help, you couldn't ask for anyone better." I Another confirmed tornado struck in Loami, just southwest of the state capital, damaging homes and injuring several people in one of the most destructive storms to sweep across the heart of Illinois so far this year, Shimon said. One of 12 injured people brought to St. John's Hospital in Springfield had been in a car flipped by a powerful wind, and another person had been blown off his motorcycle, nursing coordinator Roscoe Cook said. "Tornados, 70 mile-an-hour winds, lightening, tree limbs flying all over the place it was one heck of storm," said Leigh Morris, a spokesman for the Ameren utility that provides electricity to central Illinois.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm', 20,000 Ameren customers were without power, though only around 2,000 still had nO electricity as of Thursday afternoon, Morris'said. He expected all power to be restored by Friday at the latest. Around ten of the buildings damaged in Williamsville were beyond repair and will likely have to be bulldozed, including the remnants of what was a picture-book, brown-brick church constructed in the early half of last century, said Yokley. Wednesday's tornado, the first to strike Williamsville since the early 1950s, may have caused up to $5 million Cumberland Coisity feir Saturday 8 am, 4-H swine show Noon, 4-H beef show 2:30 p.m., 4-H sheep show 5 p.m., 4-H goat show Sunday 11 a.m., 4-H dairy show Noon, 4-H ponyhorse show 5 p.m., Rocket show 5:30 p.m., Barnyard games 6:30 p.m., Union Church service with Higher Ground and Muddy Creek gospel. Monday 8 a.m., Open livestock judging 12:30 p.m., Thoroughbred running races 1 p.m., 4-H llama show 4 p.m., 4-H cat show 6 p.m., 4-H rabbit show 6 p.m., Kids pedal tractor pud 7:30 p.m., Tractortruck pull Tuesday 8 am, Open dairy cattle scheduled.

Several of the races will feature Illinois-bred horses with events for 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. The Junior Miss and Little Miss Queen Pageant will be at 8 p.m. Thursday while Carl Acuff Jr. performs at 7 p.m. Friday.

Acuff is celebrating 25 years as a performer in 2009. His Web site indicates that he will start filming a televi- ly ROB STROUD Staff Writer Downed trees and electrical lines, scattered power outages, and a possible tornado in central Mattoon resulted from storms that passed through Coles County starting early Wednesday evening. Tom Watson, the county's emergency services director, said tornado sirens in Mattoon were triggered at approximately 5:30 p.m. Wednesday after a Mattoon police off icer reported see-ing tornado-like rotation in the clouds over central Mattoon. Watson said his office received reports from the public of a possible funnel cloud in the area around 21st Street and Marshall Avenue in Mattoon.

He said the canopy of Motomart, 513 S. 21st, was reported to have been badly damaged during this time period. The newspaper received reports of tornado-like wind rotation or high wind shear picking up debris and damaging Head to Toe Salon, RawUngs Electric Motor in damage, he estimated. Many residents are in shock, but Yokley said spirits have been lifted by the hundreds of volunteers both schedule show 1:30 p.m., Harness races 6 p.m., Kids pedal tractor pull 6 p.m., 4-H poultry show 7:30 p.m., Tractortruck pull Wednesday 8 a.m., Junior livestock show 1:30 p.m., Harness races 6 p.m., Kids pedal tractor pull 7:30 p.m., Tractortruck pull Thursday 1:30 p.m., Harness races 6 p.m., 4-H livestock auction 8 p.m., Jr. Miss and Little Miss Queen Pageant Friday 1:30 p.m., Harness races 7 p.m., Carl Acuff Jr.

concert Saturday 1 :30 p.m., Harness races 6:30 p.m.i Demolition DerbyLawn Mower Derby sion show called "The Ozarks Tonight" next month. His latest single is "I'm Gonna Be Bad Today." Acuff 's performance is sponsored by the Cumberland County Development Corporation. Truck and tractor pulls are popular in the area. Cumberland County Fair capitalizes with truck and tractor pulls on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thoroughbred racing at Cumberland County Fair Oakland school board gives OK to sales tax referendum Staff Report GREENUP Cumberland County 4-H livestock shows on Saturday will start the 121st Annual Cumberland County fair.

Officially, the fair is Sunday through Aug. 29 but four 4-H livestock shows on Saturday will get the fair activities under way. The fair also has a new carnival to operate games and rides on the midway. American Banner Amusements is the new carnival operator. American Banner Amusements is a family-owned and operated business with more than 100 years of experience in the St.

Louis area. Admission to the fair on Sunday is free. The 4-H ponyhorse show at noon is the official start. At 6:30 p.m., a Union Church service will be held at the track. The service will feature the Higher Ground and Muddy Creek gospel quartets.

One of the unique traditions at the Cumberland County Fair is the thoroughbred horse races. Most county fairs feature harness races. While Cumberland County offers harness races Tuesday through Saturday, Monday's card is just for thoroughbreds. Starting at 12:30 p.m. Monday, eight races are Staff Report OAKLAND If voters approve creating a sales tax for Coles County schools, the Oakland school board has committed to using part of the district's proceeds for property tax relief.

The school board made this commitment Wednesday evening prior to voting 7-0 to request that the Coles County Board place a referendum on creating this sales tax on the Feb. 2 primary election ballot. If voters approve the 1-cent sales tax increase and the county agrees to adopt the ordinance, the proceeds would go to school districts in the county and be distributed on an enrollment basis. The money could go to construction, maintenance and similar needs but not for salaries or equipment. Oakland Superintendent Michael Smith said the board committed to using 50 percent of the district's proceeds to provide property tax relief and to pay off construction bonds, which would in turn ease the property tax burden.

He said the other 50 percent would be used for building maintenance. The County Board is already required to put the referendum on the ballot because the Mattoon school board made the same request last week. That's required when districts making up at least 51 percent of a county's enrollment make the request, and Mattoon has about 52 percent of the county's student enrollment. Charleston school board members voted Wednesday evening to make the same request on the referendum NOTICES Readers JOES SPORTS BAR' Fish Fry Every Fri. BRIAN'S PLACE GRILL 11-2 5-9pm $10 Steak dinners $3 Jager bombs BRIAN'S PLACE Nightclub Open Fri Sat 10pm with DJ CASTLE INN OUTSIDE party, Friday 21 Black Blue, Saturday 22 X-Krush, Bands start at 8:00 pm.

DANCE REGISTRATION August 21: 5-7 pm. August 22: lOam-Noon JACQUELINE BENNETT DANCE CENTER. 345-7182 SCIENCE DIET Large Breed Adult DeBuhr Seed Feed.