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MPACT’D presents “Road to Reality”

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Over 150 attended

Nurses try to keep the patient calm after shocking her back to life.

MPACT’D, Miners Preparing and Caring for Teen Driving, held a Road to Reality event Friday, February 17 at Gillespie High School. Over 150 people viewed the event over the three hour period. Students and adults learned about the consequences of irresponsible driving.

Friends gather around their deceased friends' casket.

The group, which was created about 4 years ago, was able to launch with the help of OTSD Operation Teen Safe Driving through IDOT, Ford and Allstate. Mrs. Jennifer Brown leads the group of students while Ms. Mary Kirk is the co-advisor. Their mission is to promote safe driving in not only the high school, but the entire community.

The purpose for this event was to inform and encourage our students to make and become aware of the results of their decisions behind the wheel. The event featured seven stops along the road, which was complete with yellow stripes down the center of the hallway. The first stop was the party room, actors engaged in a party scene where the music was “cranked” and adult-alcohol games were played. The group was waiting for their friend who went on a beer run, but was gone for a substantial amount of time. The group went on and decided to kill time taking shots until they got the phone call, their friend got in a wreck.

The party abruptly came to an end and viewers followed the road to the next stop. The regret room was complete darkness as a road was lined out in the middle of the room. An echo cried out as she said her final words after being struck by a drunk driver. “I didn’t drink beer mom, I drank soda instead.. The party is finally ending mom, everyone is driving out of sight.. I get into my car mom, I know I will get home in one piece mom because of the way you raised me – so responsible and sweet.” The event proceeded as the woman crashed to her knees. She went on to cry out to her mom for help until she finally died lying in the middle of the street. “The guy who hit me is walking mom and I don’t get to stand.. I am lying here dying and all you can do is stare.”

After the regret room, viewers walked outside to a mock crash. A tractor struck a car and the drivers were yelling at each other before a State Police Officer broke them up. The Gillespie Fire Department proceeds to use the “Jaws of Life” to rescue the other passengers in the car while the police officer did a field sobriety test on the drivers. The driver of the tractor was driving drunk and was later arrested while a passenger in the car was placed in the ambulance. The other passenger was laying face first on the hood of the car soaked in blood.


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Going into chronological order, viewers preceded a hospital room where the victim in the crash was transported. Actors portrayed a family as the mother and father screamed, “Is that my kid?!” IMPACT’D members dressed is scrubs attempted to save the woman’s life as they attempted to shock her back to life. The shock worked, but just for a small amount of time until she passed away.

Firemen try to cut out a passenger in the car as the other passenger lays on the hood.

After she passed away, viewers gathered in the high school gymnasium to view the funeral. Friends of the deceased gathered around the casket as flowers lined the casket. After viewing the funeral, guests entered a court room where the judge found the defendant guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The courtroom ended the “Road to Reality” and the last stop was listening to Dan Hicks who got in a wreck while he was in high school.

Viewers listened to Danny as he explained how fun his high school days were. He loved show choir at Springfield High School while he was voted ‘Most School Spirit’. Danny was a comedian and loved attending the dances until he made his bad choice. He got into a car with two older friends who were 20 at the time. Danny was only 18 and got in the car with booze in the car. The driver was going well over the speed limit and later crashed into two trees. Danny was lucky to survive and told the students, “This is what your family dreads to see of you.” Danny’s speech was the far most impactful.

The tour lasted approximately 30 minutes and according to Jennifer Brown, over 150 people viewed the “Road to Reality”. Students from Palmyra/Northwestern High School came on buses and countless other community citizens walked through. This event is just one of the numerous safe driving events MPACT’D displays over the course of one year.

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The group has been beyond successful as students from Northwestern said “the event was very impactful.” “Overall the students did another fantastic job,” Brown closed, “We appreciate the firemen, EMT’s and police officers that came and helped us out today.”

As far as the rest of the year, MPACT’D is currently involved in an “Act Out Loud” contest. Locally, the group is doing a kid carnival which will have a safety fair for the kids and their parents and talking to the elementary school students about bicycle safety.

To keep up with MPACT’D, become a fan of MPACT’D on Facebook. You can view pictures and see everything the group is planning to do and find out how you can help!

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Gillespie man injured in DUI accident

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Genisio's Ford Mustang in the City of Gillespie's impound lot Tuesday morning.

A Gillespie man was taken to a local hospital after suffering injuries following a single-vehicle accident that occurred Sunday morning, October 11, after he drove off the roadway and into a deep ditch near the intersection of Route 16 and Charles Street in Gillespie.

Gillespie Police Chief Jared DePoppe reported that the police department was dispatched to the scene of the accident shortly before 3 a.m. Officers arrived to find Jonathan Genisio, 29, of Gillespie as the driver and only occupant inside the Ford Mustang vehicle.

Genisio was arrested, but give a notice to appear in court so he could seek medical treatment. He was charged with six different counts in addition to having his vehicle impounded. His charges include driving under the influence of alcohol, no insurance, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failure to notify SOS of an address change and failure to wear a seat belt.

At the time of publication on Thursday evening, the vehicle was recovered from impound and Genisio was discharged from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was unable to be released by medical personnel.

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Community News

Gillespie council discusses budget and meeting process

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Treasurer Dan Fisher addresses the council.

Treasurer Dan Fisher (right) addresses the council.

The treasurer for the City of Gillespie had a lot to say about how city officials handle their subcommittees and how city funds are spent during the city’s committee meeting held Monday evening, July 27.

Dan Fisher, the elected treasurer for Gillespie, spoke to the council for over 30 minutes about how bills are paid and more importantly, how purchases are appropriated for and planned. During the city’s board meeting held earlier this month, Fisher suggested the council move their meeting dates to coincide with how the bills are paid.

He explained that many council members bring up issues or have questions about certain bills during the council meetings, but the questions are left to be answered by the city clerk who isn’t present at the board meetings. In addition to dragging out the meetings, Fisher said the questions should be taken care of before the meeting is held.

“We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things,” Fisher told the council Monday evening. “We need to spend more time on appropriating.”

We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things

Fisher distributed a “Budget Basics” packet to board members during the committee meeting held Monday and said the council should consider implementing a purchase order system to account for all purchases. “That way when the bills come in, we can match the form up with it and everyone knows what the purchase was for and what account it comes out of,” he clarified.

Council members agreed with what Fisher had to say to them. “We need to spend a lot of time when do our appropriation and it’s going to take a lot of time from everyone, including myself,” he continued. “We need to find a way to be collective in how we do things.”

Fisher closed by adding that the council also takes too long at their regular city council meetings, which are held on the second Monday of each month. Speaking of the city’s July meeting that lasted nearly 3 hours, Fisher said the council needs to be much more “business-like”.

“We take too long at our meetings,” he closed. “It’s been proven that people lose focus after 90 minutes and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get a meeting done in 1 hour and 15 minutes.”

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City clerk Frances Smith spoke up after Fisher referred to the council’s last meeting. She prefaced her statement by saying she didn’t intend to saying anything, but continued by saying that the council’s July 13th meeting took her three days to transcribe. “It makes the clerk’s job hard – whoever it is,” she said. “There is a lot of side conversations and it’s very hard to hear on the tape.”

Ash Street Project

Alderman Steve Kluthe informed the board that he received the bid specifications back for the Ash Street Project which allows the council to advertise the specs to get an idea how much drainage project will cost.

Kluthe said the bid specifications cover everything including equal opportunity employer and prevailing wage information, but said the project could probably be handled by a local contractor. The project includes installing a culvert that will transfer the water to Cherry Street.

The council hopes the completed project will then alleviate the water that currently gets backed up north of Ash Street. “They are going to put a culvert underneath Ash Street to the north and grade the ground on the north side so the water flows to the culvert and down to the south end where there is a storm drain,” Kluthe explained.

TIF District

We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development

Fisher informed the council that the tax bills for the TIF district went out and the city can expect to receive close to $60,000. He reminded the council that even though the city made a big payment to United Community Bank last year in excess of $90,000, there will still be a payment made to UCB for their portion paid into the TIF until the TIF expires, which Fisher said is 12-14 more years.

After the city pays UCB, Fisher said the council can expect to still have somewhere north of $40,000 remaining each year. “I would like us to start to look at other projects that meet the TIF criteria that we could spend $20-$30,000 per year,” Fisher explained. “Long-range projects – projects that could last 10-12 years. We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development.”

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Elementary School News

Elementary school releases supply lists for fall

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School Supply 2

Kindergarten

  • 5 boxes CRAYOLA brand crayons (24 count)
  • 1 box CRAYOLA brand broad-line markers (classic)
  • 1 backpack
  • 1 box of water paints
  • 1 pair FISKAR brand scissors (children’s)
  • 6 large glue sticks
  • 1 small plastic school box
  • 4 pocket folders
  • 4 large erasers
  • 20 pencils (#2, lead, plain yellow)
  • 2 boxes of Kleenex
  • 2 rolls of paper towels
  • 2 containers of anti-bacterial wipes
  • 1 large box of sandwich size ZIPLOC bags (girls)
  • 1 large box of gallon ZIPLOC bags (boys)
  • 1 clipboard
  • 1 highlighter
  • 1 spiral 1-subject notebook (wide ruled)
  • Extra set of clothes to keep at school
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

First Grade

  • 1 plastic school box
  • 3 packs of pencil top erasers
  • 2 large pink erasers
  • 5 packs of Ticonderoga brand pencils
  • 2 yellow highlighters
  • 2 boxes of CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 12 Elmer’s brand glue sticks
  • 1 pair of FISKAR brand scissors
  • 1 spiral 1-subject notebook (wide ruled)
  • 2 plastic 2-pocket folders
  • 1 8ct classic CRAYOLA fine line markers
  • 2 dry erase markers
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • 2 boxes of Kleenex
  • 3 containers of Clorox Anti-Bacterial Wipes
  • 1 box of sandwich size ZIPLOC bags (girls)
  • 1 box of gallon ZIPLOC bags (boys)
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.
  • Extra set of clothes to keep at school

Second Grade

  • Handheld pencil sharpener
  • 8 large Elmer’s glue sticks
  • 1 large zippered pencil bag
  • 24 – #2 pencils
  • 1 wide ruled spiral notebook
  • 1 package wide ruled loose leaf paper
  • (2) 1” three ring binder
  • 1 pack of pencil top erasers
  • 1 pair of FISKARS brand pointed scissors
  • 1 yellow highlighter
  • 1 box broad line classic CRAYOLA markers
  • 2 boxes CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 2 plastic pocket folders
  • 1 CRAYOLA watercolor paints
  • 1 box of Kleenex
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • Large Ziploc bags
  • Sandwich size Ziploc bags
  • 2 containers of Clorox wipes
  • 1 box of CRAYOLA colored pencils
  • 2 dry erase markers
  • Extra set of clothes to leave at school
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Third Grade

  • 1 small school box
  • 4 packages of pencils (#2, plain yellow)
  • 2 boxes CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 1 box CRAYOLA colored pencils
  • 1 highlighter
  • 1 pair pointed scissors
  • 6 ELMER glue sticks
  • 2 pocket folders
  • 3 boxes Kleenex
  • 2 containers of CLOROX wipes
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • 1 package of loose leaf paper (wide rule)
  • 2 notebooks (wide rule)
  • (2) 1” binders
  • 2 packs of pencil top erasers
  • Gallon-sized Ziploc bags (boys)
  • Sandwich-sized Ziploc bags (girls)
  • 2 packages of post-it notes
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Fourth Grade

  • 2 packages of wide rule loose leaf paper
  • 48 pencils
  • 3 packs pencil top erasers
  • (1) 2” binder
  • 1 box 24 or 48 count CRAYOLA crayons
  • 1 pair FISKAR scissors
  • 1 box of colored pencils
  • 1 single subject notebook (wide rule)
  • 3 folders
  • 2 packages of white index cards
  • 4 highlighters
  • 4 packages of post-it notes
  • 2 boxes Kleenex
  • 1 container of Clorox wipes
  • Hand held Pencil Sharpener
  • Dividing tabs for binder
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Fifth Grade

  • Art Box
  • Pencil Pouch
  • 36 pencils (mechanical preferred)
  • 12 pencil top erasers
  • Crayola crayons
  • Markers
  • Crayola Colored Pencils
  • Red or Blue Pen
  • Scissors
  • Clear Ruler
  • Clear Protractor
  • 1 Bottle of Elmer’s Glue or 2 Glue Sticks
  • (1) 3 Ring Binder (2 inch)
  • 2 notebooks (one subject-wide ruled)
  • 1 package of loose leaf paper (wide ruled)
  • 3 folders
  • 2 highlighters
  • 2 boxes Kleenex
  • Girls-Antibacterial Wipes
  • Boys-4 pack of post it notes
  • Hand Held Pencil Sharpener
  • Pocket Dictionary
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

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