PeoriaStory

House demolished, resident jailed

PEORIA, IL -- The home of two mentally disabled or disturbed women was demolished on June 30 by the city of Peoria, leaving them with only a few bags of possessions.

And apparently no one cares.

The home owner, Peg Pendell, 64, was arrested when she moved a car to a nearby parking lot before the demolition was scheduled.  Police said they had two warrants for her arrest for traffic offenses.

The three officers in three squad cars  had been waiting for her to move the car.

She was taken to the Peoria County jail. Her car was towed away. The arrest prevented her from returning to the home to take out more of her possessions.

Pendell is handcuffed by police.

Pendell's adult daughter, Jessica Taylor, was taken away from the parking lot to a temporary shelter by an Emergency Response Service worker.  He said she will sleep temporarily on a couch, but there is no housing available for her. 

The large two-story house at 3523 N. Knoxville at War Memorial, on a tree- shaded lot, was then turned into a pile of rubble.

Pendell's home was turned into rubble by a demolition contractor.

Pendell earlier said she was unable to effectively fight the demolition in court because of her medical issues. She had strokes in December and January, she said.

She and her daughter live on Social Security income.

A few Peorians who claimed to know the story said the house was filthly inside, and that Pendell would not cooperate with authorities in cleaning up the house and  yard. 

None seemed to care what happened to these two women, but expressed interest in getting rid of the house, though it did not appear to be dilapidated. 

The women only received the demolition notice on Thursday, June 26, and their efforts to contact people for legal help apparently didn't work.

Their limited income meant they were unable to find someone to remove unwanted items that initially attracted the attention of code enforcement officials.

With many houses on the city's demolition list, why was this one at the top? Pendell asked.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the lot, at one of the busiest intersections in Peoria.

Meanwhile, Pendell likely will be released from jail sooner or later, and left without a place to live safely.  She once had a middle class life, and said she has a boat in a marina and might live there. But that would require resources and a vehicle.  

Their situation shows the weakness of the system for helping mentally disabled or confused people.  With a little help, they might have been able to continue living in their home, where they spent the night before it was demolished.

Instead,  now they could end up homeless or in a nursing home with the bills paid by Medicaid.

It's sad, but nobody cares.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

 

Demolition Debacle 2014

From a news release: 

PEORIA, IL – The City of Peoria has secured a permit to demolish a perfectly sound house, the property of a disabled woman who is a senior citizen  and her disabled adult daughter, who were unable to mount a defense in court against the demolition procedure because of their disabilities and illnesses.

The house, at 3523 N. Knoxville, Peoria, Il is scheduled to be demolished on Monday morning, June 30, around 9 a.m. The public and press are invited to see this debacle, which will take a sound residence off the tax rolls, and force the women, Peg Pendell and her daughter Jessica Taylor, into nursing homes at Medicaid’s expense, when with a little help they would be able to live independently in their home.

They received the demolition notice on Thursday, June 26, and have tried contacting people for help, but to no avail.  Their possessions in the yard are also threatened with destruction. The yard and home are messy because they live on Social Security and have no one to help them remove unwanted items.

The residence was flooded in April 2013 by a nearby creek, so city officials claimed the flooring was damaged to pursue the demolition.  But that is not true, it is sound, as anyone with a flashlight can see from the basement. The house is also otherwise sound, though messy, because help is needed removing unwanted items.

Please cover this event to see how the city of Peoria treats these disabled residents by destroying their home to steal it, so their valuable lot can be transferred to someone else.

Calls to several city officials seeking help have not been returned. City attorney Syed Ahmed said on Friday:  ”we have a court order and we know she hasn’t fixed it up and we are prepared to enforce the law.”

But how do they know that? There’s nothing to fix. The city inspector, David Graham, also did not return a phone call, and had earlier promised to speak with the lawyer but apparently did not.  See for yourselves.    – 30 -

 

Twittergate goes on and on, forever

PEORIA, IL -- The latest news on Twittergate comes in the form of this editorial in the June 26 issue of the Peoria Journal Star. 

It also deserves further information.

The reason that more older anti-Twittergate demonstrators were not present is that the Peoria ACLU chapter's annual picnic was scheduled at the same time but a different place, a park.  It drew two dozen people, who would likely have been downtown but for the conflict.

They understand the lst and 4th Amendments to the US Constitution.

So -- a generation gap?  No. 

The pro-Twittergate people knew about this picnic -- it was no secret, was on the ACLU website.  So was it planned to conflict?  Who knows.

There was also an opportunity to speak later to the Peoria City Council on Twittergate, though the public comment time at the end of the meeting didn't materialize until after 10 p.m.

To speak, you sign a card at any time (a good idea the Peoria District 150 Board should adopt), then Mayor Jim Ardis shuffles the card to pick the order of the speakers. Predictably, the pro-Ardis/Twittergate speakers came first.  There were three.  The antis came last, again, three.  So the score was 3-3.

I was slated as the last speaker, at nearly 11 p.m. I spoke as an individual and did not mention my office as president of the Peoria ACLU chapter. Here's what I said, roughly, from notes:

As a citizen and taxpayer in Peoria, I call upon Mayor Jim Ardis to resign immediately.  He lacks the judgment to run the city and represent it.

1.  He wasted city police resources against the creater of an obscure Twitter post.  The guy's house was raided and the lives of the residents turned upside down. He didn't need a police raid. He could simply have disavowed the Twitter account in a post on it.

2.  He violated the lst and 4th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which he had sworn to uphold.  These involve free speech and freedom from illegal searches and seizures.

3. He compounded this bad judgment by reading the offensive material on the Twitter post before the cameras, and now they are out there on the web.  The city and its residents have been disgraced and made a laughing stock throughout the world.

He needs to apologize to all he has offended, including the residents of Peoria. He needs to settle the ACLU lawsuit as quickly and cheaply as possible. And the city should not have to pay for it.  He created this mess. Let him pay for the lawsuit.

 Finally, the PJS editorial lacks a link to the Chicago Tribune article it refers to.  Here it is, plus the relevant quote: (I had not read it when I composed my comments to the City Council.)

What started out as a trivial exercise in entertainment has brought the mayor, thanks to his own intemperance, nationwide ridicule and a legal fight he may lose. Years from now, his response will be studied as a model of what a public official can do to make a fool of himself. Peoria taxpayers surely have their own thoughts on a mayor who would waste the costly time of other high-ranking city employees on pursuing his private obsession.

 

-- Elaine Hopkins

Comment via email, from Doug Day:

The irony of the council voting 500k to secure
a world war two landing ship to help teach
children history whilst facing a lawsuit
claiming violations of a citizen's first and
fourth amendment rights ( defending
those rights were the reason those troops
were on the landing ship) can not go
without comment. - 80 -

Feminist pioneer in Peoria dies

PEORIA, IL -- From a lovely statement from Peoria's National Organization for Women chapter: 

 

Peoria NOW lost a long-time leader, and many of us a dear friend, when Dolores Klein died early this morning.

 

Dolores, and usually her husband Ed, took their experience and passion for equality from the Civil Rights movement of the 60's to the Women's movement of the 70's, 80's, 90's and into this century, until they were slowed by health problems in recent years.

 

Dolores and Ed raised their own children plus a host of foster children, and Dolores liked to describe herself as a Homemaker for Equality during the battle for ERA ratification in Illinois.  She mentored many young feminists, wrote wonderful letters to the Editor of the Peoria Journal Star, started and circulated Peoria's Clothesline Project of t-shirts to give sexual assault survivors a way to express their feelings, and maintained more Peoria and Illinois NOW history in her mind than most of us will ever know.  Dolores served as Peoria NOW president, newsletter editor, and in other leadership roles.  Sometimes she and Ed were co-presidents.  Dolores was a recipient of local and state awards for her activism on behalf of equality for women and is listed in the Book of Life and Legacies at the National Women's Hall of Fame.

 

A Celebration of Dolores' Life is being planned for June 28 at Avanti's on Knoxville.  Further details will be described in her obituary.  Dolores is survived by Ed, who resides at Courtyard Estates, 117 N Western, Peoria 61604.  He would appreciate hearing from friends and admirers.

And now for some fun... more dogs

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

The “Barking Ballroom” to perform Canine Dancing

at Peoria Public Library

Local dancing canine group “Barking Ballroom” will be performing at the Peoria Public Library North Branch at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 22 for a family- friendly free show. The creative sport sometimes referred to as “Dancing with Dogs” will feature a canine musical freestyle that is interactive and geared towards children of all ages.

The “Barking Ballroom” has competed in the World Canine Freestyle Organization competition and has earned numerous titles for professional dog sports. All of the dogs are friendly, obedient, and well-trained.

The artistic sport features dogs of all different shapes, sizes, and backgrounds coming together to create an entertaining show.  The free performance will begin at 1:00 p.m. and will last approximately one hour.

-30-

 

 

The District 150 School Board doesn't like the speakers

PEORIA, IL -- The Peoria District 150 School Board apparently can't stand the public comments.

Board members clashed with the speakers at the June 16 meeting, leaving bad feelings all around.

It began when Sevino Sierra, a citizen in his 80s who is a regular at board meetings, said our society "is going to hell."

That was too much for board president 'Rick Cloyd, who interrupted Sierra to say "clean up your language," and accused him of using "inappropriate terms for a public meeting."

Sierra snapped back that the word 'hell' is in the dictionary, and added "I'll think about it."

"Think about it and you're going to sit down," Cloyd ordered,apparently upset.

Perhaps previous public comments had already upset Cloyd. They included a hard hitting talk from activist Terry Knapp about expensive legal fees and the waste of $30,000 paid in sales taxes on P-cards/aka/credit cards used by district administrators, when the district is exempt from these taxes.

Or it could have been the comments of activist Sharon Crews, who pointed out that the district spent $130,000 on food, from the education fund, to feed mainly administrators at varous events, and that the P-cards are not listed in the budget's line items, or that the district has spent $325,000 on Rosetta Stone, a foreign language computer program, but has no curriculum for it.

Knapp and Crews commented twice, first on the budget in a public hearing, then during the routine public comment session.  And that was where it really got interesting.

Recordings of the comments, in separate links, will be posted below soon. 

Crews attacked Supt. Grenita Lathan for comments on a TV interview which mentioned racial issues.  And she was interrupted by outgoing board member Laura Petelle, who said "racism is a loaded word."

Crews asked to finish her speech, and Petelle said she was hurting the teachers and administrators.

Crews continued by saying that "giving kids unearned grades does not make them feel good about themselves," and called for higher standards, and added "do not accuse me of being racially insensitive."

Her talk is printed below.

Knapp then used his public comment to defend Sierra and attack Cloyd, who at a previous meeting had ordered a speaker to sit down.

Knapp mentioned previous administrators who left when Lathan was hired, and said one of them should be superintendent.

"It feels like the room is full of hatred," Charter Oak parent Brenda Wilson said. She was one of four parents who complained about the way the popular principal there, John Wetterauer, was treated by Lathan.

She's sending her child next year to a parochial school, she said, adding she knows of 16 families from Charter Oak dropping out of District 150, some with four children.

After the comments ended, Lathan, also upset, launched into a confusing tirade about racial issues, and said, "we're tired of people being disrespectful."  She added, "race does matter. It's an issue in our city and country."

True enough, but a lot of the racial talk at the meeting was confusing and didn't make much sense.  Listen for yourself when the recordings are posted.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

First part of the public comments:

D150 Jn16 public comts 1st

The public hearing:

D 150 Jn 16 public hcaring

Second part of the public comments, where it gets  interesting.

D150 Jn 16 public comts 2

 

The comments from Sharon Crews regarding the budget:

Perhaps this is finally the time when you can specify the line items of past budgets that allow for spending over $130,000 on catered food for meetings of District 150 employees, mostly administrators.  No one around this horseshoe has ever responded to our complaints about this spending on food.  We would really like to hear your justification for spending education fund money so foolishly.  The only response we ever heard was “we are in the black.”  It turns out that the color was probably gray, which has recently turned to red.  Where is food hidden in this budget?

We certainly have yet to learn how P-card expenditures fit into line items of the budget.  Cardholders seem to buy what they want when they want it.  When, if ever, do cardholders receive a message that all the money for a particular line item has been spent?  The P-Card expenditures are certainly no where to be found on your website.  Yet you have criticized those of us who write FOIAs to obtain this information, which otherwise would be a big secret from taxpayers.

Have you ever asked Dr. Lathan to justify the millions of dollars spent on computer software programs?  Can any of you justify spending $325,000 on Rosetta Stone—a program for which there is no specified curriculum at any school?

I know I tell these stories to everyone with whom I strike up conversations—in doctors’ offices, in Wal-Mart lines.  People are generally stunned by the information.  I know you feel justified in spending over $166,000 on all aspects of the Charter Oak investigation.  Others do not share your opinions.

Comments for the public comments section: 

Almost nothing or no one from my birth through high school prepared me to live in a world with black people in it.  Yet, for what I firmly believe to be a God-ordained choice for me, I requested my first teaching job at Roosevelt Jr. High, which was then over 90% filled with black students.  I am NOT color-blind because for seven years those young people taught me to see the world through their black eyes. I came to Manual in 1969 with its first freshman class.  Over four decades of former students are still in my life and influence  my thinking. 

On W E E K, Dr. Lathan, you stated that board members received phone calls asking why “those children” were being bused to Charter Oak.  I, also, react when I hear negative racial comments using words such as “those people” or the pronouns “they” or “them” without an antecedent to identify who “they” are.

However, doesn’t throwing this tidbit of information out without further explanation make you, also, guilty of speech meant publicly to cast aspersions on all “those” parents to whom you have done enough harm for one year?

How many board members told you about these phone calls and how many did they receive?  Why is this your story to tell secondhand on TV?  If race is an issue, and it probably will be for longer than I had hoped, then this is the place for the discussion.

I have believed that District 150 could benefit from and should have a black superintendent.  I know I’m asking for that which is probably impossible, but it is best for District 150 children—black and white—to have a superintendent with the least racial baggage—someone that can teach young people not to think of themselves as victims.  A superintendent, black or white, has enough on his/her plate to provide all children the right racial environment without spending time fighting personal battles about race or gender.

Dr. Lathan, you failed to acknowledge your own errors in the Charter Oak and Lindbergh situation.  Change only works when you prepare people for change.  Your bomb shell approach isn’t working to the benefit of District 150.  Also, why assume race as an issue—Charter Oak was already well-integrated?  I do believe John Wetterauer may have been your one hope at making the new students welcome—you blew that.

I do not find it difficult to believe that your disagreements with John included his unwillingness to use a watered-down reading program to accommodate the inner city students.  My question is how many inner city schools are using below standard reading programs and why? 

Below standard expectations seems to be typical of some 150 schools. The underlying assumption seems to be that inner city kids have so many strikes against them that they cannot be expected to adhere to any standards of behavior or academic standards. I am especially shocked when black administrators do not understand that lowering standards is an admission of such racially-biased thinking.  And don’t make the parents the scapegoats—you set the standards and parents will have to conform.  A couple of years of no nonsense standards and consequences would do wonders to prove to all of you that most kids will behave when they know they have no choice. Young people should experience consequences, which should be inconvenient or harsh enough to change behaviors. 

One of my former students, now a teacher just put this note from her student on Facebook, “You’re so hard on people because you care.  Other teachers care too but it they don't get on their students about what they have done, it won't work. I love you and always will. No matter how much you make me mad I still will." My former student gets it; her student gets it—why don’t you?     

District 150 has eliminated summer school and night school—two very important ways of holding students responsible for their failures.  Success achieved from do-overs often leads to real success that builds self-esteem.  Giving kids unearned grades doesn’t make them feel good about themselves.  Inflated grades and unearned higher graduation rates do not lead to meaningful jobs or success in college.  My first principal, Buck Smith, taught us to be fair, firm, and friendly.  That motto served me well.

Whoopie Goldberg recently offered school administrators some good advice.  She said “I know it’s old school, but if you tell kids something is not OK and you don’t follow through, your word doesn’t mean jack.”  Board members, you aren’t asking the right questions or people to learn the truth—and it’s your job to see that policy is followed. -30-

 

 

 

ACLU sues city officials, calls them "stupid" for the Twitter raid

PEORIA, IL -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Peoria and its officials including the mayor and police chief, for its recent and infamous Twitter raid of a residence, which resulted in detention of those living in the house and seizure of their electronic property, including cell phones, computers and other goods.

The raid violated the lst and 4th Amendments to the US Constitution, which guarantee free speech and ban unlawful search and seizure of property, the lawsuit says.

Here is a Peoria Journal Star story which includes the federal complaint.

Also check out the Facebook page for links, photos, and other information.

I attended the Peoria news conference on June 12, which featured the top lawyer from the Illinois ACLU, Harvey Grossman, and also the plaintiff, the Twitter creator, Jon Daniel.  An audio recording of the event is posted below.

(Full disclosure:  I am the newly elected president of the Peoria chapter of the ACLU, and a member for decades.) 

Grossman said the main goal of the civil lawsuit is an injunction preventing Peoria from ever conducting such a police raid again.The group is also seeking unspecified damages, which could include their legal expenses.

This is a unique raid, the first of its kind, and should never be repeated, ACLU officials have said.

Grossman, Daniel, and ACLU attorney Roshni Shikari at the news event.

 

Grossman said the Twitter account was "clearly protected speech," under the US Constitution, and did not even have to be labeled as a parody. That made the search of the residence illegal, as well.

Nothing in the Twitter posts included obscenity or child pornography, and there was no defamation or libel, he said.

The raid "defied common sense," he said."What we expect from our officials is protection of these rights."

The mayor could easily have replied to the posts saying the account was not his. Instead he called the police, Grossman said.

In addition, the Peoria County State's Attorney and the police should have known this was free speech, he said.  He didn't mention the three judges who also signed off on the illegal search warrants.

"No one could have looked at this account and not known it was not true," he said. "It was parody and satire."

Defendants in the lawsuit are the mayor and city officials not the State's Attorney or the judges.

But more defendants can be added later, as discovery proceeds, Grossman said.

"For speech we don't like and want to suppress, the answer is more speech," he said.

(Yes, tell that to China, Russia, and the Middle Eastern states including Egypt.  Thanks to the Internet, let's hope this is a teachable moment for them, as well as for Peoria and the USA.)

"The warrants were no good, and should have not provided a foundation for the search of the home and seizure" of the items, he said. 

The appropriate remedy from the officials is an apology, which has not occurred, Grossman said. They instead have claimed that "nothing was wrong, and that's shocking. We need an apology."

The city fathers need a lesson, and to understand it was wrong.  We need an injunction to stop" other such events, he said.

They took a 29-year-old man and treated him as if he had no rights," arrested him as his place of employment, treated him like a felon. "That has consequences," Grossman said, in discussing the monetary damages requested in the lawsuit.

Plaintiff Jon Daniel read from a prepared statement about what happened, and said his goal was only to be funny on the Twitter account. "It would not have been funny if all I did was try to sound like the mayor," he said.

He selected the mayor because no one else had done it, he said.

(Parody accounts are common on Twitter and the Internet, and target public officials, celebrities, sports figures, even the Queen of England.)

When police confiscated his phone, Daniel said, "it was my only means of communication. When I got home I discovered that my room had been searched, drawers were open things out of place and a box of pictures dumped out on the floor," including pictures of his two young children.

His computer and Xbox were seized. "I was very scared and helpless. I could not sleep. I had a sense of impending doom," he said. 

"What happened to me was wrong and should never happen to anyone in the future just because they poke fun at the mayor," he said.

The mayor has never contacted him, Daniel said, and neither has the chief of police, who quickly resigned to take a job with Caterpillar, Inc.

The State's Attorney dropped the charges against Daniel, but filed felony marijuana possession charges against Jake Elliott after police found marijuana during their illegal search of the house. 

Elliott reportedly told the police it was his, after police threatened to jail everyone in the house.  He is free on bail, has a supervisory job, and no police record.  His case is proceeding through the courts, but the case against him reportedly could be in trouble because of the illegal search.

He has hired a private attorney, and a fund raiser may be organized for him to help pay legal fees. Could he also have a private lawsuit against the city? Maybe.

Grossman said the Twitter incident has "chilled" the city. "It's important to purge the city of this. If we didn't think the harm was serious, I wouldn't be here."

Asked about precedents, Grossman referred to the infamous seizure of a satiric portrait of the former Chicago mayor Harold Washington by alderman who didn't like it. "We sued the city and got a consent decree which prevents the city from seizing what it doesn't like. We want the city to know what the law is."

Grossman said, "the rules of Twitter are not the rules of the Constitution.  You don't have to comply with Twitter's rules of parody to have constitutionally protected speech."

Grossman added, "federal civil rights law holds you to a standard of what a reasonable person should know, which is 'don't be stupid.'  The officials violated that maxim."

Could Daniel sue Twitter? "It remains to be seen what Twitter would have done if Daniel had engaged in further conversation with Twitter," Grossman said.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 Here's the audio of the event.

ACLU event

 Here's the Chicago Tribune's initial story.  And an even better follow up.

 Here's the PJS's editorial, posted 6/14/14. Calls for City Council to weigh in on the Mayor's threatened lawsuit and legal defense.

 Here's the Peoria Journal Star initial story on the event:

 Here's the PJS follow up story, which says Mayor Ardis won't apologise and may file a counter lawsuit. 

  Here's the PJS fact checking story on Ardis news conference where he wouldn't take questions.

 

Here's a comment via email from Randy Fritz:

Ardis' tone-deafnesss in his post-ACLU press statement is absolutely astounding. What happened here has nothing to do with his or his family's "hurt feelings" or such. He, like any other citizen, can sign a civil or criminal complaint.

The reality is that he used his position and the incredible power of government to address his personal grievance, something afforded only to those on the "inside," who have easy access to the levers of power.

Yes, it's true that, had he not been mayor, the "attack" would not have occurred. It's also true, though, that nobody held a gun to the man's head and told him to "run for office or else."

Such parodies go with the job. What he has not addressed (and will not, I'm sure) is the use of his government position to misuse law enforcement to assuage his personal/familial "hurt."

To paraphrase Daffy Duck: "that's despicable." But I don't think Ardis gets this, won't in the future, and won't learn from this episode.

Way to go, ACLU. Make public officials see that there is, indeed, a difference between their personal identity and their role as a government servant. And if your skin is THAT thin, Mr. Mayor, better not be an officeholder in the first place.

 

Posted by: Randy Fritz 6/13/14

 

 

 

Bach in Peoria: great!

PEORIA, IL -- What could be better on a dark and stormy night than to attend the final concert of the 2014 Peoria Bach  Festival.

How amazing that music of this quality is performed in Peoria.  It's like something you might see in Chicago, New York or Europe.

The festival includes a series of small concerts throughout the week, and the festival concert on June 7.

Since it all takes place at Trinity Lutheran Church, 135 NE Randolph, a lovely historic church with great accoustics, there are also two worship services on June 8 which will feature the best number of the June 7 concert, Bach's "O Eternal Fire," Cantata No. 34. The services take place at 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

The lively cantata features three excellent, professional soloists, Gerard Sundberg, Debra Austin and Trevor Mitchell, and the festival's choir and orchestra.

The other pieces at the June 7 event included "Come Jesus Come, BWV 229, and Cantatas No. 55 and 56. All were sung in the original German, with English translations provided.

The heavily religious lyrics seemed way out of date, but the music itself is fabulous, timeless.

I tried mentally toying with the lyrics, to see if the religious references could be shifted to mean the climate changes that are threatening our planet, but that didn't work. Oh well....

This annual festival is always fresh, and reminds me once more of the terrific classical musical talent in Peoria. 

And so what if 25,000 people attended a recent weekend rock concert in Chillicothe, with noisy music soon to be forgotten.  Bach lives for those smart enough to appreciate his 18th century talent.

For that, give thanks.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Two dog events coming up

PEORIA, IL -- Two dog events coming soon look interesting, on June 14 and June 21.  From news releases:

The Anthropology of Dogs at Peoria Public Library North Branch June 14

                 Learn about the ancient history of the domestic dog, with archaeologist Kelsey Noack Myers, RPA, Ph.D. A.B. D and hear about her current research on Native American dogs in the Midwest on Saturday, June 14 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. at Peoria Public Library North Branch.

From wolves on the edges of human settlements to furry friends at the center of our homes, dogs have come a long way. Ms. Noack Myers will explain how dogs made the transition from wolves who were predators competing with humans for food to wearing T-shirts and riding in purses.

Ms. Noack Myers has been conducting research on dog remains from a large ancient city in southern Indiana at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Her other recent research on ancient dogs in the Midwest has focused on DNA sequencing to identify the relationship of ancient dogs to wolves in North America. Current research is incorporating DNA data and the cultural importance of dogs to Mississippian civilization 1050 to 1400 AD.

This program is free and appropriate for all ages. The Peoria Public Library Summer Reading Program “Paws to Read” runs from June 9 to July 29 and sign up is available before or after the event. For further information please call (309) 497-2141.

DOG DAYS on JUNE 21

Friends of Rocky Glen is sponsoring a Dog Day fundraiser from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 21 at Vicary Bottoms, an unfenced dog park near West Peoria.   

Vicary Bottoms has a large meadow, woods, and a creek with a sandy beach area for dogs and people to enjoy!  People can bring up to two dogs to enjoy the event.

Sandwiches, chips, cookies, water, table and chairs will be provided, along with treats for the dogs.  People should bring water bowls for the dogs, and dogs should be on a leash.  A $10 donation will be requested.

Directions:  from the Farmington Road and Sterling intersection, head west (towards the Speedway).  Go past the Speedway and turn RIGHT onto Kickapoo Creek Road.  Vicary Bottoms will be on your right.

More information is available on the Facebook page for the event at https://m.facebook.com/events/257223184463518

All funds raised will go toward developing a parking lot at Rocky Glen, the Peoria Park District’s newest park on Kickapoo Creek Road.   A parking lot near the Rocky Glen trailhead, will facilitate visits to Rocky Glen.

The Friends of Rocky Glen (FORG), is a non-profit group dedicated to the  preservation and promotion of this 125 acre natural area that includes a box canyon with 80 foot sandstone walls covered with carvings, seasonal waterfalls, rare plant communities and a history of coal mining and early labor union organizing efforts in Peoria. - 30-