The Weekly Post public record for 10-31-24

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Police reports

• DOUGLAS – Fire destroyed a house and a detached garage south of Douglas, according to authorities.

Firefighters were summoned about 8:15 p.m. Oct. 23 to 1873 Knox Road 300 North. They found a two-story wood-frame house engulfed in flames, according to Britt Ewalt, chief of the Elba-Salem Fire Protection District.

“The front of the house had already collapsed,” he said. “It was all full of fire. There wasn’t anything left of it.”

The two residents were not home when the fire began, Ewalt said. Someone who was driving past the residence noticed the fire and telephoned for help.

Firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to outbuildings on the property, according to Ewalt. The house and garage were total losses. Ewalt didn’t have a damage estimate. No injuries were reported, but at least one dog and one cat were killed.

The Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal is investigating. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office and BYE Ambulance Service responded, as did firefighters from the Elmwood, Farmington, Knoxville, Maquon and Williamsfield departments. Firefighters spent almost four hours at the scene, according to Ewalt.
• WEST PEORIA – No serious injuries were reported following a two-vehicle crash near West Peoria that involved at least one Farmington resident.

Shortly before 5:30 p.m. Oct. 17, Joel Ossman was driving an eastbound 2008 Nissan Pathfinder on Farmington Road when at Kickapoo Creek Road it collided with a southbound 2021 Jeep, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report. Teressa V. Holt of Mapleton was the other driver.

Holt said she had stopped at the intersection but did not see Ossman’s vehicle. Ossman said he slowed because he saw several vehicles on northbound Kickapoo Creek Road not stop at the intersection. He did not see Holt’s vehicle, the report stated.

A passenger in Ossman’s vehicle complained about head pain. Ossman said he would seek medical treatment for her. Ossman’s vehicle sustained minor damage and was drivable. Holt’s vehicle, which contained one passenger, sustained disabling front-end damage and was towed.

• KICKAPOO – A Kickapoo-area man was arrested regarding a drunken-driving warrant.

A Peoria County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was looking for Eric C. Cuevas, 51, found him about 3:45 p.m. Oct. 12, standing next to a truck in the 8400 block of N. Garden St.

Cuevas said the no-bond warrant for aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol was supposed to be taken care of, but a check revealed it was active, according to a sheriff’s-office report. The deputy transported Cuevas to the Peoria County Jail.

• TRIVOLI – A Pekin man crashed his vehicle into a shed east of Trivoli after he apparently suffered a seizure, according to authorities.

Shortly before 11 a.m. Oct. 12, Clyde D. Smith was driving a 1995 Ford Explorer east in the 16400 block of Illinois Route 116 when the vehicle swerved off the pavement at Fisher Road, entered a harvested cornfield and struck the backyard shed, a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report stated.

Witnesses observed Smith going limp behind the wheel before his vehicle left the road. An ambulance transported Smith to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria. His vehicle sustained significant damage and was towed. Damage to the shed was not reported.

• DUNLAP – A trio of Edwards residents appeared unscathed following a two-vehicle collision south of Dunlap.

The accident happened shortly before 8 a.m. Oct. 11 at Grange Hall and Orange Prairie roads, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report. A 2013 Lexus ES350 driven by Reyan N. Sanghvi struck a 2024 BMW I4 driven by Katie L. Sivertsen, who had one passenger.

It wasn’t stated in which direction Sivertsen’s vehicle was moving, but Sanghvi said he was driving east and was attempting to turn at the intersection, which appeared to be clear. Sivertsen said she stopped at the intersection before she proceeded. Both vehicles sustained disabling damage and were towed.

• ELMORE – A Stark County man was arrested in connection with an apparent domestic-violence incident at an Elmore residence.

Peoria County Sheriff’s Office deputies were summoned about 9:15 a.m. Oct. 11 to the 22000 block of N. Jefferson St. While en route, the deputies were informed that the suspect, 28-year-old Travis C. Kelly of Speer, left the residence in a white Ford F-150 pickup truck.

According to a heavily redacted sheriff’s-office report, Kelly was apprehended shortly before 10:30 a.m. in the 21000 block of W. Maple St. in Laura. Kelly was accused of domestic battery/bodily harm and transported to the Peoria County Jail.

• WILLIAMSFIELD – A two-vehicle crash in Williamsfield resulted in no reported injuries.

Shortly before 8:15 a.m. Oct. 8, a 16-year-old Dahinda-area boy was driving a 2015 Chervolet Traverse north on Pine Street near Kentucky Avenue when the vehicle struck a 2023 Chevy Trailblazer that was backing out of a driveway, according to a Knox County Sheriff’s Office report.

Juli A. Kellogg, 66, of Williamsfield was the other driver. She said she saw the boy’s vehicle before she backed out but believed she would be able to do so before it reached her. Both vehicles were damaged, although the extent was unspecified.

Kellogg had three passengers – two 5-year-old girls and a 9-month-old boy. Paramedics checked everyone involved.

• ELMWOOD – No injuries were reported after a vehicle backed into another one that was parked on an Elmwood thoroughfare.

The accident happened shortly after 5:30 p.m. Oct. 7 in the 400 block of E. Cypress St., according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report. Wesley R. Swearingen of Elmwood was backing a 2015 Fiat 500L out of a driveway when the vehicle struck a 2013 Ford Escape parked on the other side of the street.
Nobody was inside the Escape, which sustained damage to its rear passenger-side door. The Fiat, which contained one passenger, sustained minor damage to its rear bumper.

• BRIMFIELD – A Peoria man received hospital treatment after he injured himself while trimming trees in a Brimfield-area cemetery.

The man, who was not identified by name, was using a chainsaw about 1:15 p.m. Oct. 3 at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, 8401 N. Voorhees Rd., when he cut his left arm accidentally. He was bleeding profusely when a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived and applied a tourniquet.

Brimfield paramedics and the deputy kept pressure on the wound until an ambulance arrived and transported the victim to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria. His injuries weren’t life threatening, according to a sheriff’s-office report.

• KICKAPOO – At 8 p.m. Oct. 17, Robert G. Powers of Brimfield was driving a 2015 Toyota Prius east on U.S. Route 150 near Schlink Road west of Kickapoo when the vehicle struck a deer that emerged from the north. Powers said he wasn’t injured, a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report stated. The vehicle sustained significant damage to its front end but was drivable.

• GALESBURG – These were among calls to which the Knox County Sheriff’s Office responded between Oct. 6-12: animal complaint, Dahinda; burglary, Dahinda; domestic incident/physical, Yates City; tree fire, Williamsfield; suspicious vehicle, Yates City; stray dog, Dahinda; domestic incident/physical, Dahinda; theft, Galva; domestic incident/verbal, Galva; suspicious vehicle, Williamsfield.

Marriage licenses
• Emily Grace Schielein and Dustin Edward Nash, both of Brimfield.
• Madison Grace Ladd and Ada Lee Snedden, both of Edelstein.
• Taylor Ann Sims of Trivoli and Nicholas Dean Eisenbarth of Dahinda.
• Abbey Marie Brown and Emmet Vaughn Klein, both of Farmington.
• Cynthia Ray Schabatka and Owen Aaron Atkins, both of Hanna City.