PeoriaStory

Tree cutting in Peoria continues

PEORIA -- On Tuesday, Feb. 23, without any warning to neighbors, Illinois American Water Co. sent in a crew to quickly cut down seven beautiful, mature trees on its property at the intersection of Crestwood and Grand. 

It was over in a flash -- and the flowering trees that brightened this intersection every spring were down. Peoria has no ordinances to protect its trees from developers and others who wantonly destroy them. 

Other cities protect their trees which provide habitat for birds and wildlife, provide shade,  save energy, and supply both oxygen and beauty.  Numerous studies have shown that neighborhoods with trees are more valuable and the residents happier and healthier.  Nevertheless, the tree cutting continues in Peoria.

Outraged, I complained to the Peoria mayor's office and the water company.  Here is the reply from the water company, then my response:


[email protected] wrote:

Elaine:

We were notified of your concern with the recent tree removal on Illinois
American Water Peoria District’s Grand Boulevard #2 booster station and
water tank site.  We take the feedback from our customers very seriously.
I wanted to reach out to you and explain why these trees were removed.

A total of seven trees were removed from this site.  Six of the trees
removed were tall locust trees that have suffered a lot of storm damage
over the last few years.  These trees were tall and brittle enough that the
possibility of them hitting the nearby power lines was a concern.  These
power lines not only power the residential homes in the area, but also our
booster station.

In addition to the locust trees, a large cottonwood within close proximity
to a building at the location was removed due to possible falling limbs.
Also, cottonwoods can produce a lot of the seeds in the spring. If these
seeds are pulled into the ventilation systems or motors on the site, our
operations and equipment could be significantly impacted.

I hope this information helps you to understand the reason behind the tree
removal.  I personally met with the tree service contractor at the site to
evaluate each tree.  The trees that we were able to keep were pruned to
improve their condition.

We plan to plant several smaller trees later this year that mature at a
shorter height and won’t put our facilities or the power lines at risk.  We
have worked hard to improve the appearance of this facility over the last
few years and will continue to do so.  Please feel free to contact me at
the number below if you have additional concerns or questions.

Thank you,

Doug.
Operations Superintendent
Peoria District"

309.566.4164

Here's my response to DougTennis (whom I have never met nor spoken with), and Mayor Ardis to whom he sent a copy, and someone named KCollier:

"Those were beautiful, flowering trees, and cannot easily be replaced.  At least not in my lifetime.

Excuses can always be found to cut trees. Any tree on Crestwood or Maple Ridge might fall on a power line -- so should we cut down all of them?  Everywhere?

You guys have a big generator sitting there that could fill in during an emergency.

More likely somebody wanted the contract to do it. Kickbacks? Anything is possible in today's world of greed.

Or is it a few dollars cheaper not to mow around the trees, which sheltered birds and wildlife?

If the city of Peoria had a decent ordinance protecting its trees this likely would not have happened.

I'm very disappointed. But not surprised."

  -- Elaine Hopkins   

Animal abuse at charities, zoo

PEORIA -- Here's a commentary from Monica Ball of Peoria Area Voices for Animals. She makes an interesting point, that the Peoria Zoo, which cages animals, is a perfect site for a March of Dimes fundraiser, since that charity uses animals for experiments, aka torture.  Many people believe it's no longer necessary to use animals for medical experiments, as other methods provide better results.  Read it and weep:

"I find it interesting and perfectly consistent that the March of Dimes will be holding a fund raising event at the Peoria Zoo this spring.  After all, what better place to raise funds for a charity that aggressively harms and kills animals than a place that cares so little for animals that they lock them up for their entire lives and deprive them of all that is natural to them just so humans can get a couple hours of amusement from looking at the captives from time to time?

There are many charities that use effective, humane, non-animal testing methods to provide relevant knowledge about preventing human birth defects.  http://www.humaneseal.org/search.cfm lists many such charities.

The March of Dimes, however, holds onto the antiquated notion that torturing and killing animals somehow helps humans to be healthier.  They therefore continue to waste money on barbaric, useless, and misleading animal studies where they sew the eyes of newborn kittens shut and inject pregnant animals with nicotine.  (We've known for decades that nicotine is harmful to developing human fetuses, and the torture of all those kittens never helped a single human baby because human vision development is different than vision development in felines.)  They waste time, energy, and money pursuing drugs and therapies that work in some species but invariably fail in humans.  And we'll never know how many life-saving drugs and treatments that would have worked in humans were discarded because they failed in animal tests.

More information about the March of Dimes is available at http://www.pcrm.org/resch/charities/mod/index.html.  Not that anyone at the Peoria Zoo would care though.  Animal exploiters and animal abusers need to stick together after all."

Monica Ball
Peoria Area Voices for Animals
www.AnimalRightsPeoria.org

Gatsby is great

PEORIA --"Why The Great Gatsby Is Great," a free presentation by retired Illinois Central College English-journalism professor Mike Foster, will be sponsored by the ICC English Department's Travels Through Literature series at 7 p.m. Tuesday March 2 at ICC North's Arbor Hall.

This is one of many event involving the Fitzgerald novel.  Here are more, from the news release from the Peoria Public Library:

Peoria Area Jumps on The Great Gatsby Bandwagon for

Ninth Year of The Big Read: Peoria Reads

With close to 40 public and private events scheduled, including 17 book club discussions, the Peoria area is ready to read and discuss the classic The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald during the ninth year of The Big Read Peoria Reads.

This year’s The Big Read Peoria Reads features NPR’s Fresh Air book critic, Maureen Corrigan; Zelda Fitzgerald reenactor Debra Conner; Gatsby Night at Live at the Five Spot; a Family Kick-Off Event; a movie showing at The Apollo; and numerous book discussions as well as other events. All events are listed at www.thebigreadpeoriareads.org. Everyone is invited to “read the book and get involved!”

An expert on The Great Gatsby, Maureen Corrigan, National Public Radio book critic, is one of the featured speakers on The Great Gatsby Audio Guide being made available to the public during The Big Read: Peoria Reads.  She says, “I think if I were on a desert island and I had to pick the American novel of the 20th century, it would be this one.” Corrigan will appear in Peoria: 

·         Wednesday, March 10, ICC Performing Arts Center, 9:00 a.m.

·         Wednesday, March 10, Peoria Public Library, Lakeview Branch, 7:00 p.m.

·         Thursday, March 11, Luncheon, Childer’s Banquet Center, 3113 N Dries Lane, Noon, Tickets $18 each, Call Common Place at 674-3315

Friday, March 5 Kick-off event -- Gatsby Night at Live at the Five Spot, 5:30 – 7:30 pm, Contemporary Arts Center, 305 SW Water Street. Join us for an evening of jazz with Dorann and the Soul Mystics.

Take yourself back to the Jazz Age, dress like a flapper or just enjoy the atmosphere. Admission $7 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information call William at Contemporary Arts Center, 674-6822.

Family Kick Off Event - March 6 Saturday– 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Come and explore the “Roaring Twenties” with activities, snacks, dance, vintage cartoons, and live old-time piano music.  ICC North, Arbor Hall, 5407 North University, Free and open to the public.

Join us for the 1974 film version of The Great Gatsby, starring Robert Redford, Friday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the Apollo Theater, 311 Main Street, Peoria. Suggested admission is $5 for adults and $4 for seniors and students.  Steve Tarter will provide introductory comments. Free popcorn and soft drinks will be available.

 “Jay Gatsby, Then and Now” takes place Thursday, March 18.  This panel discussion  features Dr. James Decker, Carol May, Farrell Davies and Barbara Harnett at ICC North Arbor Hall Auditorium, 5407 North University, 2:00 p.m. Free and open to the public. 

A panel of literary experts chose Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz-Age rogue, as its top fictional character since 1900.  Join in a panel discussion with social service professionals and academics as they talk about the pursuit of the American Dream in Gatsby’s day and now.  

Debra Conner has been bringing literary personalities to life since 1997 through a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.   Be sure to come and meet Debra as she portrays Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the original American flapper, on Wednesday, March 24, Lakeview Branch Library, 7:00 p.m.  Free and open to the public. Remember to check www.bigreadpeoriareads.org for more information.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Support for The Big Read is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Transportation for The Big Read is provided by Ford. This program/project has been made possible by a grant from The Literacy Fund and The Yeomans Fund of the Community Foundation of Central Illinois. This program is sponsored in part by Friends of Peoria Public Library. -30-

 

Democrats lively, not apathetic

MACOMB -- Don’t believe the propaganda that Democrats are now indifferent or apathetic about their party. More than 100 Democrats braved a nasty snow storm on Feb. 21 to attend the 24th Annual President’s Day Dinner organized by the McDonough County Democratic Coalition.

They heard several candidates who plowed through that snow storm to speak and socialize.

State Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville, even made news.  The Democratic party will soon introduce its own redistricting proposal in the Illinois General Assembly, he said.

He’s not sure how it will differ from the petitions being passed by the Illinois League of Women Voters and other groups to get state redistricting on the November ballot. Republicans in the legislature have introduced the League proposal, which Sullivan attacked.

“It’s not a bipartisan proposal,” Sullivan said.  “Without a doubt it will cause (redistricting) to end up in the courts.“

“Do we want reform? Yes,” he said.  Voters will be able to compare the League/Republican and Democratic proposals, side by side, he said.

Redistricting advocates have expressed skepticism that any proposal can pass the General Assembly with the necessary 3/5ths vote.  Instead citizens can sign petitions and get it placed on the November ballot for voter approval.  (See stories below on redistricting.)

The keynote speaker was Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate who is currently the state Treasurer. His race “is the most important race in the US. It’s about the future of our country“ and whether “greed“ or “hard work“ will triumph, he said.

He attacked his opponent, Republican Mark Kirk, as a Washington insider. “He goes to Chicago and preaches reform but when he‘s voting he shows how much Washington is in his blood,” Giannoulias said.

Kirk voted against affordable prescription drugs and health care,  and against “holding companies accountable for shipping jobs overseas,” Giannoulias said. He voted against the minimum wage and unemployment benefits. “He has said ‘unemployment is not a big issue,” Giannoulias said of Kirk.

“ We have a choice to elect a Senator who will speak up for you and small businesses. We don’t need a Senator who thinks unemployment is not a big issue.”

Giannoulias’s old fashioned fighting stump speech pleased the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation.

Then they got another lively speech from Democratic Comptroller candidate David Miller.  He touted his record in the Illinois General Assembly for payday loan reform. “We will fix the state,“ he said.

Robin Kelly, who is the Democratic nominee for state Treasurer also spoke. A Bradley University graduate, she has been a state legislator and now is chief of staff to Giannoulias the Treasurer. “Our main job is to keep your money safe,“ she said.

  --Elaine Hopkins

E-mail comment 2/22/10: Burton Raabe wrote:

The cynicism of these bastards is amazing.

Both parties propose legislation they know will not pass so they can claim to have been trying to do something and divert energy from the petition drive.

Redistricting petition challenges status quo

PEORIA -- A proposal introduced by Republicans in the Illinois General Assembly to set up an independent commission to redistrict that body after the Census, is identical to the petition now being circulated by the Illinois League of Women Voters and other groups.

The Republican proposal, which has attracted some support from Democrats, is unlikely to pass the General Assembly.  So the citizens groups must keep going to gather enough signatures to place it on the November ballot for voter approval, advocates said at a meeting on Feb. 20 sponsored by the Peoria League and other groups.

The event attracted around 60 people. Many left with petitions after hearing how the Illinois Senate and House districts are gerrymandered so that the politicians select their voters, rather than vice versa. 

Brad McMillian of Bradley University's Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Studies, was also a member of the Illinois Reform Commission, which suggested the redistricting proposal. Displaying a map, he said Senate District 38 has a 'tail' because the incumbent's finance lived there. 

Senate District 51 is 110 miles long, and snakes down an alley in Springfield to link its disparate parts.

"The politicians will choose their own voters," under the current system, he said.

To get on the November ballot, the petition must have 282,000 signatures by April 30. "Our goal is 400,000 to 500,000 signatures," McMillan said, adding that the signatures likely will be challenged. "We need 10,000 people to get 50 signatures in the next 10 weeks." 

Jan Czarnik, executive director of the Illinois League, said she tangled last week with a legislator who was not telling the truth about the petition drive. "If you are challenging the powers that be, they fight back hard," she said.

"We have to do this" so the state can deal with its problems, she said. "Until the members of the legislature get the message" that they may not be reelected unless they do something, nothing will happen, she said. 

This is a bipartisan initiative, she said, adding that grass roots Democratic groups in Chicago are backing the petition drive.

State Sen. Dale Reisinger, R-Peoria, attended the meeting and expressed support for the petition. "The amount of money spent in elections is obscene," he said. "When you have so many districts without races, all the money goes to the (few) other races."

He continued, "this is a huge step. It will send a message that the people" can act. He hopes to turn in 5,000 signatures.

Roberta Parks of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, another group backing the petition drive, said people at her office will notarize the petitions for free. She said people should carry petitions with them wherever they go. "It's an easy sell."

McMillan said that even under redistricting Peoria is likely to keep its two state senators.Hard working legislators are likely to be reelected under a fair system, he said. Deadwood legislators may be gone.

He urged people to promptly turn in signatures as soon as they are gathered, so advocates can gauge how the drive is working.

The petition proposal does not include Congressional districts, but a successful vote to redistrict the state in a fairer way likely would lead to better Congressional districts and County Board districts, advocates say.

The Illinois Fair Map website has petitions for download and detailed instructions on how to circulate them.

See a detailed story below, on Feb. 8, for additional information on the petition drive.

  -- Elaine Hopkins

Beauty and the Beast Roars

PEORIA -- Disney's Beauty and the Beast,  a lavish spectacle, opened Feb. 20 at the Peoria Civic Center.  It plays again on Feb. 21.

The actors are terrific but the incredible sets alone are worth the price of admission.

This award winning musical, based on a movie, was created by top rate talent, and it shows. There are enough witty lines and lively singing and dancing numbers to amuse the adults, and the story, based on the fairy tale, will fascinate children. It's definitely worth seeing.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Recycling contesst -- win $$$

From a news release:

PEORIA -- Peoria’s going green this spring with a new curbside recycling program, and local organizations can earn cash prizes through a residential recycling drive sign-up contest.

We’re giving away $1500 in cash prizes to local organizations that help us make the program a success. We’re asking organizations to sign up City of Peoria households to participate.  It can be a great way to earn money for your organization! No money-handling required!

What’s going on? A contest to sign households up for the new city-wide curbside recycling program.

Who’s sponsoring the contest? Peoria County, City of Peoria and the Central Illinois Global Warming Solutions Group with prizes from Peoria County’s Department of Recycling and Resource Conservation, Midwest Fiber Recycling, and Rehrig Pacific.

When is it?  The contest just started and households must be signed up by April 15, 2010.  Winners will be announced at the Earth Day Festival April 24 at Forest Park Nature Center.

See the Central Illinois Global Warming Solutions Group web site for the full details and to download contest materials:

http://www.gwsolutionsgroup.com

Go here to view the Journal Star's article about the recycling program: 

http://www.pjstar.com/archive/x785863699/Greening-of-Peoria

Go here to view the Journal Star's article about the recycling contest.  

http://www.pjstar.com/archive/x785863701/Recycling-contest

-30-

 

The pollution of mining

PEORIA -- Here's a news release from the Heart of Illinois Sierra Club and others about the Industry Mine near Macomb and a mining proposal near Canton:

Clean Water Advocates Applaud Attorney General Lisa Madigan

For Taking Action on Mine Water Pollution

Citizen groups are applauding Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan today for taking strong action to address repeated violations of clean water laws by the Industry Mine, McDonough County.

The Attorney General's Office has filed a water enforcement complaint with the Illinois Pollution Control Board, asking for an order that will include monetary penalties to the mine. The Attorney General lists pages of mine discharges exceeding permit levels for the pollutants iron, manganese, sulfates, pH, and total suspended solids. Freeman United Coal Company and Springfield Coal Company are named in the action.

"We are very grateful that the Attorney General has taken action to protect our water," says Brenda Dilts, a leader with the Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues group. "The action by Attorney General Madigan and her staff gives us hope that our clean water laws will be enforced and that our government will protect our health from companies that violate the law."

Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center are preparing to intervene in the Pollution Control Board case in support of the Attorney General. The groups sent a notice of intent to sue letter in December 2009 regarding the mine's violations.

"This coal strip mine is located southwest of Macomb, and has over 300 water permit violations polluting area streams since 2004. The mine discharges into Grindstone Creek, a beautiful Illinois stream with a historic heron rookery and a maternity roost tree of federally endangered Indiana Bats," said Joyce Blumenshine, Mining Issues Committee Chair of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter. "We thank Lisa Madigan and her team for acting to protect our water supply and our wildlife."

"We are pleased that the Attorney General has responded to our concerns and is moving to put an end to years of flagrant permit violations and water pollution at this mine. Prairie Rivers Network and its partners will seek to ensure that environmental harms are adequately compensated and that future operation of the mine is safe and lawful," commented Kim Knowles, Water Resources Specialist, Prairie Rivers Network.

Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues Group leader Brenda Dilts sees the action taken by the Attorney General as having great significance for her community. "The engineer for a coal mine being planned north of Canton is also involved with the Industry Mine with all these water permit violations. How can anyone believe the mine company when it says no pollution will go into Canton Lake, our main public water supply, when years of pollution have been going on at the Industry Mine?" asked Dilts.  ###

Peoria's environment bad: study. And reactions

PEORIA -- In respose to a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the environmental group Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste has issued the following statement:

Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste (PFATW) hopes that Peoria’s terrible Health Outcomes rank, 71st among 101 Illinois counties in the nationwide Community Health Assessment (CHA) released today (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/illinois/peoria) by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will spur quick action to make Peoria a much healthier place to live.

We find it inexcusable that despite being ranked #1 in the state for Clinical Care, the aforementioned Health Outcomes ranking (which combines morbidity and mortality rates), as well as the county’s rankings for Health Behaviors, Social and Economic Factors, and Physical Environment, all find Peoria near the bottom of the health barrel.

The county’s Health Behaviors (including Smoking, Drinking, STDs and Teen Births) is ranked at a horrible 86^th out of 101 Illinois counties.

Peoria County is ranked a lowly 69^th for Social and Economic Factors (including Children in Poverty and Inadequate Social Support). And we rank near the bottom again, at 77^th, in Physical Environment (including Air Pollution and Access to Healthy Foods).

This combination of unhealthy behaviors, socioeconomic factors, and environmental issues has pulled Peoria County’s overall healthiness rating down to 48th of all 101 Illinois counties – we rank above 50^th only by virtue of our top ranking in Clinical Care availability. It is worth noting that aside from the Health Factors and Clinical Care rankings of 48 and 1, the county’s highest ranking is 60^th in Morbidity.

Although the CHA study considered a very limited range of air pollution metrics, PFATW believes that reducing all aspects of pollution in the environment—air, land and water—should be a key part of the solution to improve local health and quality of life.

Peoria is the oldest community in the state, with a long history of heavy manufacturing and related industry. There are several large manufacturing plants in the immediate Peoria area, which individually comply with emissions regulations – but no study has been done to look at the aggregate effects on our air.

This legacy, coupled with the five nearby coal-fired power plants, and one of the Midwest’s only hazardous waste landfills, creates unique challenges. Increasing traffic, and decisions such as adding Chicago’s old, polluting buses to the CityLink fleet, have put Peoria at risk of being out of compliance with ozone and other air pollution regulations.

The American Lung Association recently gave Peoria’s air a failing grade in 2009 (http://www.stateoftheair.org/2009/states/illinois/), and USA Today’s 2008 “Smokestack Effect” report pinpointed Peoria schools as potentially having unhealthy concentrations of hazardous air pollution (http://content.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/smokestack/index) – 20 local area schools could have air pollution levels comparable to that of an elementary school that was closed in 2008 in Addyston, OH because of the severe health risks.

The latest National Air Toxics Assessment also shows Peoria County at elevated risk for respiratory factors (http://www.epa.gov/nata2002/).

Most residents know that Peoria is struggling to contain the untreated sewage running into the river from an aging combined sewer overflow system. But how many of us are aware that the “Wasting Our Waterways” report, based on total toxic discharges from industrial sources, ranked the Illinois River as 11th among the top 50 dirtiest rivers in the entire country – just one spot outside the Top 10 Dirtiest in the US (http://www.environmentillinois.org/reports/clean-water/clean-water-program-reports/wasting-our-waters-toxic-industrial-pollution-and-the-unfulfilled-promise-of-the-clean-water-act).

Upriver, cleanup of the former New Jersey Zinc/Mobil Chemical site in DePue remains stalled, allowing cadmium, lead and other heavy metals to wash from Lake DePue into the river with each heavy rain.

Despite having the one of the highest rates of childhood lead exposure in the country, the struggle to fund and complete lead abatement continues. And while the county denied Peoria Disposal Company’s hazardous waste landfill expansion request in 2006, as of January 2010, hazardous waste continues to roll in from points as far afield as Minnesota (http://www.startribune.com/83721842.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUss). 

A quick review of Peoria’s air, land, and waster Toxic Release Inventory shows a range of persistent pollution problems (http://www.epa.gov/cgi-bin/broker?view=STCO&trilib=TRIQ0&state=17&SFS=YES&year=2008&_service=oiaa&_program=xp_tri.sasmacr.tristart.macro).

As the health community struggles with ways to reconcile Peoria’s top-ranked access to medical care with its poor rankings in both health outcomes and health factors overall, PFATW hopes that environmental factors will be part of the discussion.

We believe that the combined legacy of environmental exposures is a challenge that must be addressed in order to make all Peorians as healthy as possible. We encourage the Health Department to look further into specific ways pollution may be contributing to Peoria’s health problems.

We hope that important actions such as permanently closing the hazardous waste landfill, ramping up lead abatement, banning respiratory-stress-inducing idling by local city and school buses, cleaning up the DePue site, and fixing the sewers will all be part of the agenda for change.

The City/County Health Department released their own statement today, (http://www.peoriacounty.org/display.php?dept=PCCHD&page=index), expressing their commitment to improving the county’s health, and has scheduled a briefing for public officials and community health stakeholders to discuss the findings, which will be held at 5:00 pm on March 1st in Room LL100 of the Peoria City/County Health Department.

PFATW is grateful for the partner we all have in the City/County Health Department, which is a key piece of the top ranking we received for Clinical Care. We hope that our top-notch local health care facilities will join with the Health Department, and local citizen groups like PFATW, in our mutual efforts towards improving the overall health of our county and its residents.

Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste

(309) 339-9733

www.notoxicwaste.org

Here's something different: animal rights films

From a news release:

PEORIA -- Peoria Area for Voices and the Bradley Vegetarian Club will be hosting a spring film series at Bradley.

Please join us to watch movies that matter and enjoy free vegan snacks.  All films are free and open to the public.  Please pass this on to friends, family, and anyone who might be interested.

"Fowl Play"
Date: Thursday, February 25th
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Baker Hall Room 51, Bradley University

This award-winning documentary takes viewers on an unforgettable journey behind the closed doors of some of the country's largest industrial farms.

It also delivers an empowering message of personal responsibility and the potential each of us holds to change the world--one meal at a time.  For more information, visit www.FowlPlayMovie.com.

And please mark your calendars for:

"The Emotional World of Farm Animals"
Date: Thursday, March 25th
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Baker Hall Room 51, Bradley University


"Earthlings"
Date: Thursday, April 22nd (Earth Day)
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Baker Hall Room 51, Bradley University

Hope to see you there!

Monica Ball
Peoria Area Voices for Animals
www.AnimalRightsPeoria.org