PeoriaStory

Schock federal case defendants sentenced

Updated and revised 4/29/08

PEORIA -- Three defendants in the federal case involving the father of Cong. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, have been sentenced to prison. A federal jury found them guilty of tax fraud charges in July 2008.

Brent Winters, a Republican who was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress from the 19th district in 1998, was sentenced to serve one year in prison. He was sentenced on April 27, according to federal records.

According to a previous news release from the US Attorney's office as quoted in news media accounts, the court found that Winters loaned his own election campaign more than $36,000, then declared the loan uncollectible and sold it for $2,500 to a trust fund controlled by himself and his wife. Then he declared the $34,000 loss as a deduction on his tax return.

He was found guilty of filing a false tax return, but acquitted of conspiracy.

Winters and the others were involved in setting up offshore accounts to help clients avoid paying income taxes. Among those clients was Dr. Richard Schock, father of Aaron Schock. The physician became a government witness.

During the trial he testified that Aaron Schock in 2001 acting as a Notary Public backdated some dates for documents. That's a misdemeanor, for official misconduct. The statute of limitations had expired on the incident, however.

The news story on this testimony, from the Associated Press which acquired the transcript and actually read it, didn't come out until October, during Schock's campaign for Congress. But the news apparently had no impact on the voters, who overwhelmingly elected Schock over his Democratic opponent, Colleen Callahan.

Schock called the backdating "a clerical error."

The other two defendants, Debra Hills and Kenton Tylman, of Charleston, will serve longer prison terms. They were convicted of conspiracy as well as tax fraud charges.

Hills was sentenced to 36 months in prison and restitution of $162,264.00 to be paid to the IRS.

Tylman was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison, and restitution of $259,161 to the IRS.

The sentencing hearings for Hills and Tylman, in the court of Judge Michael Mihm, ended on April 29.

-- Elaine Hopkins

World Affairs Council events, at least one is controversial

PEORIA -- A panel discussion, 'Illinois and the European Union" takes place on Thus., May 7 at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria. It's sponsored by the Peoria Area World Affairs Council and the European Union Center.

Topics will include relations between the United States, particularly Illinois and the European Union, trade, agriculture, investment, and trans-Atlantic issues.

Those on the panel are the Honorable Marek Skolil, Consul General of the Czech Republic;
Sharon Stead Galantino, Managing Director, State of Illinois Office of Trade, West European Office, Brussels; John T. Disharoon, Sustainable Development Manager, Caterpillar Inc. and Richard Schell, Agricultural Consultant, Wagner and Schell, LLP.

Moderator is Robert Pahre, Director, EU Center, University of Illinois.

Tickets which include dinner are $33.00 for PAWAC members and students; $38.00 for the general public. Program-only tickets purchased in advance are $5.00 for PAWAC members and students, and $10.00 for the general public. Tickets at the door are $10.00.

They can be purchased on line through the ArtsPartners site.

Then on June 18, here comes the controversy: “The Israeli Lobby” with John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago!

He's the author of The Israel Lobby with Stephen Walt, a hugely controversial book that tells some hard truths that many people don't want to acknowledge. Or so I've read. Click on this link.

I'll be at that event, if possible. And thanks to the Council for booking him.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Lincoln all next week

PEORIA -- Lincoln in Film is a program running next week at ICC North, in its Adult Programs division at the Arbor Auditorium. Directions are below.

1. Lincoln Film Clips, 1930s to 1990s - Moderated by Todd Nelson, ICC Film Instructor and Carol May, Retired ICC Administrator: Monday, April 27, 6:30 pm and Tuesday, April 28, 1:00 pm.

2. D.W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1931) - Moderated by Craig Shurtleff, ICC Film Instructor, Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 pm.

3. John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) - Moderated by Todd Nelson and Carol May, Thursday, April 30 1:00 pm.

4. Film Clips / Lincoln Marriage - Moderated by Dr. Randall Saxon, Pastor, United Presbyterian Church and Carol May, Retired ICC Administrator, Thursday, April 30 6:30 pm or Friday, May 1 11:00 am.

There's also a Lincoln Book Sale. Books about Lincoln and related topics from the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois Presses will be available for purchase at the Lincoln in Film series events.

This event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. Email Carol May at [email protected]. Please let her know the day and time you will be attending.

For more information, call 309/690-6849.

Directions:
ICC North, Arbor Auditorium, 5407 North University

Turn RIGHT when you get to the T at Arbor Hall

To Park ... Go around to the right and park in Parking Lot # 8
The Auditorium is on the 2nd floor of the building

-30-

Civil liberties speakers coming

PEORIA -- Here are two events involving civil liberties issues:

A talk entitled "Church, State and the Obama Administration" takes place at 7 p.m. on April 29 at Bradley University's Neumiller Hall.

The speaker is Rob Boston, senior policy analyst at Americans United For Separation of Church and State.

This organization, known as AUworks to keep religion out of government. The event is free and open to the public.

On May 1, the Peoria chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union holds its annual membership meeting and banquet where Judge Mary McDade will speak.

Her talk is titled “What Constitution Might That Be? Why Presidents Salivate Over Judicial Appointments.” She is a member of the Illinois Appellate Court,Third Division, and has received many awards for service and advocacy in the areas of education, mental health and civil rights.

The event begins with a 6 p.m. social hour, followed by a 7 p.m. dinner. Reservations for the dinner must be made by April 25. Information and a reservation form are available on the ACLU chapter's newsletter on its website.

McDade will speak following the dinner and a brief business meeting. There is no charge to attend the meeting and talk.

Forbidden topics for Earth Day

PEORIA -- Amidst all the blather about Earth Day, most of which I agree with, consider the forbidden topics that you won't see in mainstream media:

1. Overpopulation. Only Diane Rehm on NPR has the courage to discuss this topic, the most important environmental issue of all. Today, April 22, she interviews:

William Butz, president and CEO, Population Reference Bureau.

Paul Ehrlich, president, Center for Conservation Biology, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University and author of "The Dominant Animal" and "The Population Bomb."

Hania Zlotnik, director, Population Division, United Nations.

Ehrlich says the US is the most overpopulated nation in the world because its citizens use so many of the planet's resources!

Read or listen here.

2. Eating meat. The statistics and facts are overwhelming that meat eating is more harmful to the environment than autos! Read it and weep.

3. A 'bottle/can bill.' A few years ago our current governor Pat Quinn tried to enact a law requiring deposits on bottles and cans, to increase the likelihood they will be recycled. It failed to come up for a vote in the Illinois General Assembly, despite Quinn, then Lt. Gov., who pushed it hard.

Why? Quinn told me that lobbyists came down hard against it, and it was killed. Grocery stories don't want to bother with this, he said, even though they would be paid generously to handle the items.

So Illinois is littered with trash along its streets and roadsides, trash that in the surrounding states in the Midwest are worth cash! Amazing.

The Journal Star in its print edition today does have one important fact, while it relies on the voluntary and ineffective 'please recycle' mantra: every recycled aluminum can is able to power a TV set for three hours! That's coal not mined to destroy the environment or burned to pollute the atmosphere.

Is our planet doomed, by the ignorance and stupidity of its inhabitants?

That's the real question for Earth Day!

-- Elaine Hopkins

Controversial conspiracy theorist to speak

PEORIA -- Kevin Barrett, professor, author and researcher will be at Bradley University, Sunday May 3 at 2:30 pm, Caterpillar Global Communications Center, room 126.

From a news release: He will discuss the lies and unanswered questions in the official 9/11 Report as well as the same lies and falsehoods which lead to the subsequent "war on terror" and the illegal wiretapping, torture, the Patriot Act, and the recent escalation of the war in Afghanistan with endless and needless loss of lives and increased military spending.

What's the truth ? Can we trust CNN, FOX, and all the rest ?

Come listen and think for yourself.

Barrett has taught Islamic studies and history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and has appeared on mainstream TV programs. He once disrupted a talk at Madison by
conservative pundit David Horowitz.

He's been in Peoria before, but maybe he knows something new.

Storytelling festival

PEORIA -- The Rock Island Trails Storytelling Festival takes place at area libraries this weekend with free performances for all ages. It could be very amusing. Here are the details:

Friday, April 24 – Patti Erwin
Pekin Public Library, 5:00 pm

Saturday, April 25 - Vivian Carter
Peoria Heights Public Library, 10:00 am

Saturday, April 25 – Patti Erwin
Farmington, 2:00 pm

About the performers (from the news release):

Patti Erwin, a spellbinding storyteller, delights adults and children with her entertaining, educational programs. She captivates audiences with her extensive repertoire of folktales- wisdom passed down through the ages. Stories keep the present in touch with the past. Patti's enthusiastic and highly memorable performances bring to life this art form, and she encourages audience participation.

At the first Return to Pimiteoui Pow Wow in 1992, the Peoria Indian tribe returned to Peoria for the first time since they had been removed. Patti was honored to meet the chief and received permission to tell their stories and has told stories every year at this pow wow, the only event that is still recurring from Peoria's Tricentennial.

As a former educator, Patti encourages her audiences to read and tell the stories they've heard, or better yet, make up their own.

Vivian Carter has been telling stories for 25 years in her position as the Director of Children's Services at the Normal Public Library. She is now retired, so she can concentrate on writing stories and presenting programs for libraries, schools, churches and community groups such as 4-H Clubs or the Bloomington and Normal Parks and Recreation Departments. Recently, she has been performing in international literacy festivals. She enjoys telling multicultural folk tales and stories that make history come to life. These stories often incorporate music and lots of audience participation. -30-

Another District 150 meeting, another protest rally

PEORIA -- One more time, teachers, parents and taxpayers will mount a protest against school closures in Peoria School District 150.

The event begins at 5:15 p.m. on April 20 in front of the administration building on Wisconson Ave., followed by the school board meeting at 6:30 p.m. where the closing of Kingman and Tyng schools and the closing of one high school, as yet unnamed, are on the agenda.

Is anyone on the School Board listening? That's what the activists who gathered on April 19 wondered as they planned their strategy.

They hope to persuade board members to delay the vote. They have a million good reasons.

In the last few years the board has wasted millions, as the group members have documented. It keeps funding the Edison Schools, at $800,000 or more yearly, when its own staff could follow the same curriculum.

It closed Blaine Sumner school a couple of years ago, supposedly to save money, then spent $1 million upgrading and airconditioning it so 50 people can work in a huge building, while other space sits vacant.

And on and on. How can any big decision by this administration be trusted?

-- Elaine Hopkins

UPDATE 4/20/09. Read Diane Vespa's open letter to the District 150 School Board -- she says it all!

Another 4/20/09 UPDATE: Read the post at the Peoria Chronicle including my comment. What do all the school closings have in common? They're on the state watch list, leading to a state take over of the district, at which point all the administrators would be fired. Closing them puts off that situation for another day. No matter the fallout for the students or the community -- officials keep their generous pay and benefits flowing. Very sad!

St. Martin Chamber Players treat for a rainy day

PEORIA -- A dreary, rainy afternoon was easy to forget at the St. Martin Chamber Players concert on April 19. The music was delightful, a cream pie for the senses.

The chamber orchestra, conducted by Todd Schifeling, played in a lovely venue, the First English Lutheran Church, of polished wood and stained glass with perfect accoustics.

The music, beginning with a sonata from from the 17th century by Georg Philipp Teleman, transported the audience back in time. It was followed by Corelli, Mozart, Handel, Hayden, and Dykes.

The full, rich sound of the musicians, which numbered almost two dozen in various combinations, filled the auditorium.

After an intermission, the chamber orchestra played the amusing Finale from Haydn's Farewell, Symphony 45, in which the musicians gradually leave the stage until only two violinists remain.

Then an interesting modern piece, The Mojo-ic Flute, arranged by Wesley Sedrel, presented a mad mixture of modern atonal, classical, jazz and rock music, with two vocalists. The vocal pieces, which included "California Dreaming," would have benefited from stronger voices. But the musicians were superb, as usual.

-- Elaine Hopkins

TIFs, taxes and developer incentives

PEORIA -- TIFs, tax increment finance districts, stimulate economic development but also take $7.6 million out of Peoria County's tax revenues every year.

Most of money goes to the developers of these districts, while some goes to local governments to build infrastructure for the districts. The city of Peoria loses $5.3 million of that total.

The county has 20 TIFs, 10 in the city of Peoria.

The Peoria Area League of Women Voters heard a panel discussion on TIFS on April 18. The speakers were Gabe McLeod, assistant chief deputy in the Peoria County Clerk's office;
Beth Ruyle, vice president and financial advisor of Ehlers Inc., a public finance consultant; and her husband, Craig Hullinger, director of Economic Development for Peoria.

TIFs are complicated financial instruments used as vehicles to rebate taxes paid on the increases in the assessed valuation of properties in their districts after development -- condos, restaurants, stories, other businesses -- have been constructed.

TIFs are incentives to developers who otherwise would go to "green field" sites that are cheaper to develop, the panelists said.

TIFs expire after 23 or 35 years, then the increased tax revenues go to all taxing bodies.

Hullinger said the average growth in valuation is 7.2 percent in Peoria's TIFs, compared with 1.6 percent growth in the city as a whole.

This development in Peoria's inner city would not take place without the TIF incentives, he said. The physician who developed the Illinois Medical Center got $4 million for the parking deck from the TIF, he said.

Without a TIF, the proposed Marriott Hotel in downtown Peoria "won't happen," he said. The new Embassy Suites hotel in East Peoria also was done with a TIF, he added.

Asked about demolition of a historic block in downtown Peoria to make way for the suburban-style Marriott, he said "this is a tough problem."

His answer came after he had praised Peoria's historic buildings as ripe for redevelopment. They have "great bones," he said.

Do we keep two-story buildings, or their facades? he asked of the Peoria block. The Marriott developers considered a tower behind the facades but rejected the option, he said.

Ruyle said recent legislation has added new historic preservation requirements.

Hullinger said Missouri has laws more favorable to historic redevelopment than Illinois laws. Still, the Pere Marquette will get a 20 percent federal tax credit for its $30 million restoration, he said.

He prefers paying developers gradually, over the life of the TIF, but all kinds of deals are negotiated.

Peoria's Midtown Plaza, a TIF which recently saw the closure of a Cub Foods, was carved out of a neighborhood on Knoxville which was not blighted. This controversial TIF likely caused a city council member to lose her bid for reelection.

Ruyle said two other Cub groceries in TIF districts have closed in Illinois, in addition to the store in Peoria. She attributed it to the narrow profit margins of grocery stores.

Hullinger was asked what the city can do about vacant buildings that are deteriorating and ripe for redevelopment.

"Every city has derelict properties somebody's sitting on," he responded. "They're goofy, they're waiting" for the right offer, he said. The only alternative is for the city to threaten demoliltion, and "we don't want to do that."

-- Elaine Hopkins