Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
Thank you to William McPherson of The Benton Gazette for sharing.
WEST CITY- A four car motor vehicle accident happened just after 4:00 p.m Wednesday.
Traffic was backed up, but West City Fire in the last few minutes said the road has been cleared.
It is unsure if there were any injuries.
CARBONDALE – U.S. Representative Mike Bost and the Illinois Department of Transportation today announced a $7.6 million federal TIGER grant awarded to add lanes and help ease the flow of traffic in an often-congested, 5-mile stretch of Interstate 57 between Johnston City and Pond Creek. The project will greatly enhance safety while improving the flow of commerce in an important part of Illinois.
“This grant is truly a win-win,” said Bost. “It not only will improve safety along a dangerous stretch of highway between Marion and Mt. Vernon, but also has the potential to lead to economic development around Benton and other points in between.”
“These improvements will have a huge impact on the safety, reliability and efficiency on a key segment of I-57,” said Gov. Bruce Rauner. “Working with our federal and local partners, we are making travel safer and creating economic development in southern Illinois.”
“Interstate 57 is critical to the economy of our state and a major reason why Illinois is the freight capital of the Midwest,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn. “We are pleased that this overdue project can proceed.”
The funds will be used to add a new lane in each direction, resurface existing lanes and install new pavement markings, rumble strips, guardrails and median barriers to prevent crossover crashes.
The interstate is vital to the nation’s freight network. Approximately 39,300 vehicles travel I-57 through Williamson and Franklin counties each day, nearly a third of which is truck traffic. That number can surge to more than 65,000 vehicles a day during high-travel periods in the summer, causing traffic backups that spill onto surrounding local roads and creating gridlock throughout the region.
Improving this stretch of I-57 will greatly boost safety while enhancing the flow of commerce.
The grant is being funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. The total estimated cost of construction is $12.7 million. Construction is to begin in Spring 2019 and end in late 2020.
Benton Fire Chief Shane Cockrum makes contact with a person who has climbed to the top of a cell tower. (William McPherson – Benton Gazette Photo)
BENTON – Thursday, Feb. 22, at 2:03 p.m. the Benton Fire Department received notice of an adult male who was climbing atop a cell-tower near a local health clinic.
Benton Fire Chief Shane Cockrum said dispatch received the call from employees at the clinic, noting that an employee noticed someone had climbed up and over the barbwire fence. At the time the Benton Police Department arrived on the scene, the individual had made it halfway up the estimated 140-foot tower and had indicated his intent was to take his own life.
Benton’s 805 ladder truck is 105-feet tall, Cockrum said, which left the Fire Chief approximately 30-35 feet below the man he was attempting to save. Cockrum ascended the ladder and began a nearly three hour life-saving conversation.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or depression, please call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.
Please click on the link below from William McPherson of the Benton Gazette.
INA, Ill. – Alexandra Sadler, front left, has officially inked to hit the links with the Lady Warrior Golf Team. Sadler was joined by her father, front right, RLC Head Women’s Golf Coach Danielle Kaufman, back left, and RLC Women’s Golf Assistant Coach Shane Dyel. Sadler comes to Ina from Burbage, England.
From Len Novora – Murphysboro HS Athletic Director
MURPHYSBORO – Sesser Valier won the consolation bracket of the Murphysboro Sophomore Tournament by beating a very good Hamilton County Foxes team, 60-48.
In the consolation semi-finals they beat 3A Marion, 67-39.
Tanner Eubanks of Sesser-Valier made the All Tournament team. Special mention goes to Logan Kirk and Peyton Bates of S-V, Corbin Fitch of Thompsonville, and Josh Melvin of West Frankfort.
The full all tournament team as well as the scores for the full tournament are below.
Team recognition went to:
1st Place – Murphysboro
2nd Place – Breese Central
3rd Place – Nashville
4th Place – DuQuoin
5th Place – Sesser-Valier
6th Place – Hamilton County
First Team All-Tournament:
Dezmond Clark – Murphysboro
Terry Pelczynski – Nashville
Tanner Eubanks – Sesser-Valier
Robbie Morgan – Hamilton County
Jacob Green – DuQuoin
Emit Jansen – Breese Central
Austin Hagel – Steeleville
Special Mention
Luke LeQuatte – Herrin
Isaac Kranawetter – Trico
Tristen Hercules – Nashville
Cornelius Davis – Murphysboro
Jamarr McZeke – Murphysboro
Peyton Bates – Sesser-Valier
Logan Kirk – Sesser-Valier
Bradon Thomas – Breese Central
Cavan Cameron – Marion
Carter Wiegard – Red Bud
Haddon Lybarger – Salem
Trent Boles – Salem
Wade Roberson – DuQuoin
Corbin Fitch – Thompsonville
Garrett Webb – Hamilton County
Ian Reith – Chester
Josh Melvin – West Frankfort
Jordan Wininger – Johnston City
All individual recognition determined solely by the Red Devils Tournament staff. There are no medals or certificates, just the recognition.
Dates for next year’s tournament: Feb 23, 25, 28 & March 2, 2019!
Madison Case, SIU Salukis photo
By Tom Weber – siusalukis.com
ST LOUIS, Mo. — Southern Illinois held off a furious late-game rally by Missouri State to win, 67-63, in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Scottrade Center on Friday night.
The Salukis (20-12) appeared comfortably ahead, 63-49, after Sean Lloyd made a 3-pointer with 6:18 remaining in the game, before the Bears (18-15) reeled off 12 unanswered points to make it 63-61 with 1:30 to go.
“We were up 14, and somebody said, well, what happened?” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “What happened is they’re a good basketball team. Forrest Gump, stuff happens.”
Southern stopped the bleeding and ended a five-minute dry spell when Aaron Cook drove the lane and finished with his left hand to make it 65-61 with under a minute to play.
“I said, ‘I’m going to put you back in, and I’m going to put the ball in your hands,'” Hinson said of his sophomore point guard. “And I just said, ‘I just want you to make good decisions. That’s it. Do what you’ve done all year long.'”
The Bears countered with two free throws by Jarred Dixon to trim the deficit to 65-63 with 47 seconds. After Cook missed a jumper with 19 seconds remaining, Missouri State had a chance to tie or take the lead, but Ryan Kreklow was stripped of the ball in the left corner, which led to a breakaway layup for Lloyd to seal the victory.
“At the end you’ve got to get the ball to the rim and you’ve got a chance,” said Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk, whose team was out of timeouts and was unable to get the ball to one of its top scorers on the final possession. “Obviously, we coughed it up. That’s the way it goes, but give Southern a lot of credit.”
Both teams got off to slow starts offensively. With six minutes to go in the first half, the score was deadlocked at just 14-14. Southern got a huge lift off the bench from center Rudy Stradnieks, however. He scored all seven of his points in the final four minutes of the first half to give SIU a 29-28 halftime advantage. His final bucket was a 3-pointer from the top of the key, just his third trey of the season.
“We called the play for Rudy,” Hinson explained. “That’s why the bench was so excited because we asked Rudy — I said, ‘Rudy, we’re going to run this play for you.’ Rudy has not shot a three or made a three in the second half of the year, and he’s a good three-point shooter.”
SIU’s offense finally hit its stride midway through the second half. Leading, 48-47, the Salukis used a 15-2 run that featured a pair of post-up buckets by Kavion Pippen, back-to-back 3-pointers by Tyler Smithpetersand Cook, before Lloyd put the exclamation point on the burst with his second trey of the game.
Southern had a balanced attack with five players in double figures — Lloyd (13), Pippen (11) and Cook, Smithpeters and Armon Fletcher with 10 apiece.
The Salukis also held Missouri State’s best player — Alize Johnson — to just six points on 3-of-6 shooting.
“At halftime, we challenged Sean defensively because we switched, we put Armon on (Jarrid) Rhodes for his length, and we put Sean Lloyd on Alize,” Hinson said. “And then we challenged Kavion to go score, that we were going to get him the basketball. And we did. And he produced.”
The Salukis beat MSU for the eighth-straight time. They have won 20 games for the second time in the last three seasons and advanced to the semis for the third time in the last five years.
Box Score
| Total | 3-point | Rebounds | ||||||||||||
| ## | Player | p | fgm-fga | fgm-fga | ftm-fta | off-def | tot | pf | tp | a | to | blk | stl | min |
| 05 | Obediah Church | f | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 4-2 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 33 |
| 15 | Jarrid Rhodes | f | 6-13 | 3-7 | 6-6 | 1-2 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 38 |
| 24 | Alize Johnson | f | 3-6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2-9 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 37 |
| 01 | Mustafa Lawrence | g | 1-4 | 0-1 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| 11 | Jarred Dixon | g | 6-12 | 2-5 | 2-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 14 | Ronnie Rousseau III | – | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 20 | Ryan Kreklow | – | 3-7 | 2-5 | 1-2 | 0-4 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 26 |
| 23 | J.T. Miller | – | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 34 | Tanveer Bhullar | – | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| TM | TEAM | – | – | – | – | 1-0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals………….. | – | 23-51 | 7-22 | 10-13 | 9-21 | 30 | 9 | 63 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 200 | |
| 45.1% | 31.8% | 76.9% | ||||||||||||
| Team summary: | FG | 3FG | FT | |||||||||||
| 1st Half: | 10-26 | 4-11 | 4-7 | |||||||||||
| 38.5% | 36.4% | 57.1% | ||||||||||||
| 2nd Half: | 13-25 | 3-11 | 6-6 | |||||||||||
| 52.0% | 27.3% | 100 % | ||||||||||||
| Total | 3-point | Rebounds | ||||||||||||
| ## | Player | p | fgm-fga | fgm-fga | ftm-fta | off-def | tot | pf | tp | a | to | blk | stl | min |
| 33 | Pippen,Kavion | c | 5-11 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2-4 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 30 |
| 03 | Bartley,Marcus | g | 2-8 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 10 | Cook,Aaron | g | 4-9 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 33 |
| 13 | Lloyd,Sean | g | 5-10 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 36 |
| 22 | Fletcher,Armon | g | 4-7 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| 00 | Wiley,Jonathan | – | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 11 | Smithpeters,Tyler | – | 4-9 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 29 |
| 24 | Stradnieks,Rudy | – | 3-4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| TM | TEAM | – | – | – | – | 1-1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals………….. | – | 28-60 | 9-21 | 2-3 | 11-20 | 31 | 11 | 67 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 200 | |
| 46.7% | 42.9% | 66.7% | ||||||||||||
| Team summary: | FG | 3FG | FT | |||||||||||
| 1st Half: | 12-31 | 5-14 | 0-0 | |||||||||||
| 38.7% | 35.7% | 0.0% | ||||||||||||
| 2nd Half: | 16-29 | 4-7 | 2-3 | |||||||||||
| 55.2% | 57.1% | 66.7% | ||||||||||||
| Score by Periods | 1st | 2nd | Total | |
| Missouri State | 28 | 35 | 63 | Record: (18-15; 7-11 MVC) |
| Southern Illinois | 29 | 38 | 67 | Record: (20-12; 11-7 MVC) |
| Points in the paint-MSU 24,SIU 34. Points off turnovers-MSU 10,SIU 15. |
| 2nd chance points-MSU 13,SIU 6. Fast break points-MSU 8,SIU 6. |
| Bench points-MSU 11,SIU 19. Score tied-6 times. Lead changed-5 times. |
| Last FG-MSU 2nd-01:30, SIU 2nd-00:06. |
| Largest lead-MSU by 6 1st-14:27, SIU by 14 2nd-06:18. |
| MSU led for 12:35. SIU led for 22:14. Game was tied for 04:24. |
| Officials: John Higgins, Ed Crenshaw, Brad Ferrie Technical fouls: Missouri State-None. Southern Illinois-Fletcher,Armon. Attendance: |
From the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
THOMPSONVILLE -On Thursday, March 1st, 2018 at 4:38 pm Deputies responded to a reported domestic violence incident involving a shooting victim and armed suspect in rural Thompsonville.
The investigation is ongoing and has resulted in the arrest of Jeffrey R. Herrell age 32 of Thompsonville with aggravated battery with a firearm and attempted first degree murder charges. These are tentative charges pending review by the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The victim is the suspect’s mother, age 52 of Thompsonville. The victim received life threatening gunshot and stab wounds and was initially treated
by Abbott E.M.S. and Thompsonville Fire First Responders.
The victim was flown to an out of state hospital and her condition is unknown at this time. There are no other suspects.
The alleged is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
By Reece Rutland – Rend Lake College Public Information
INA, Ill. – The Rend Lake College Foundation’s mission is to represent a partnership between public and private interests for the benefit of Rend Lake College students. Newest among those guiding that mission is Rodney Cabaness co-owner of two local Harley-Davidson dealerships and 2016 RLCF Alumnus of the Year.
Comprised of community members, business leaders and philanthropists, the Board of Directors has helped guide the RLCF in providing unparalleled student success though their scholarship endeavors and provided the college with vital resources for maintaining the national-recognized service its students have come to expect.
“Rodney’s business acumen, coupled with his deep connections to Rend Lake College and his passion for helping others will be a tremendous asset to the Foundation Board of Directors. We have entered a new time where private support is becoming crucial to the sustainability of community colleges,” said RLCF Chief Executive Officer Kay Zibby-Damron.
“The RLC Foundation is very fortunate to have such a dynamic group of prominent business leaders and professionals on our Board of Directors to help us ensure Rend Lake College and our students have the resources they need today and into the future. I am grateful for Rodney’s commitment to serve on our board and very much look forward to working with him.”
Cabaness, a Sesser native, started Black Diamond in 2007 with his business partner, co-owner and fellow RLC alum Shad Zimbro. Together, the pair built a company devoted to their community, stocking food pantries, fillings children’s backpacks and providing numerous scholarships.
Given the good works that Cabaness was already known for and the ties to his alma mater, he made a natural fit for the RLCF Board of Directors.
Every year 12 area youth are able to attend Rend Lake College because of Black Diamond’s generosity.
Cabaness is excited to bring Black Diamond trademark care for the community to Mt. Vernon with the recent acquisition of Roadhouse Harley Davidson.
“When attending and graduating from Rend Lake College in 1990, I didn’t realize how crucial that time in my life was going to be to my success,” Cabaness expressed.
“Now that I can fully appreciate how much RLC impacted my life, it is truly a great privilege to be able to give back by serving as a member on its foundation board. The Rend Lake College Foundation does so much to help so many people and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”
To date, Black Diamond Harley-Davidson has sold almost 12,000 motorcycles and regularly ranks near the top of all 700 Harley-Davidson dealerships in the nation. They have sold a motorcycle in almost all 50 states and have received numerous awards and recognitions for their community-first approach.
“We are just constantly trying to share our appreciation of what the community has done for us. We just received so much support. We have a commodity. We sell a lot of different things. But, I really feel like we offer a lifestyle. So, we try to create those relationships with people. We never had any idea how much support we would receive. We knew the area would be good to us, but we never dreamed it would be the meteoric rise that ended up happening. We were basically flying by the seat of our pants for the first few years just trying to figure it out as we went. We never expected the growth. We just set out to make it always about the people that walked through our door,” Cabaness said in his Alumnus of the Year speech.
For their part, the RLCF is always seeking dedicated individuals willing to invest in the individual growth of the many students who attend the college by investing in campus and community growth and economic development.
Last year alone, the RLCF handed out 255 scholarships worth $200,000 to help students see their dreams turn into reality.
Anyone interested in giving to the RLCF to assist in student success or students seeking scholarship opportunities to Rend Lake College can visit https://www.rlc.edu/foundation or call (618) 437-5321 Ext. 1214 for more information.
