New sheriff’s deputy will patrol Princeville

By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post

PRINCEVILLE – A new Peoria County Sheriff’s Office deputy is set to patrol Princeville regularly.

Deputy Shawn Yarger introduced himself to the Princeville Village Board during its meeting April 1. Yarger has been specializing in serving eviction notices for the county, according to Village President Jeff Troutman. But Yarger appears to have a background in community policing.

Troutman said Yarger once patrolled nearby Medina Township, among other places.

“I think he’ll be OK,” Troutman said. “I’ve known him for years. He knows a lot of people in Princeville already, too.”

Yarger probably will begin his Princeville patrols sometime before the end of April.

The previous Princeville deputy, Adam Bickett, was fired in March after being on paid administrative leave since late February. An internal investigation revealed Bickett violated department policy, as alleged by other sheriff’s-office employees. Particulars weren’t made public.

Bickett had been on duty in Princeville for about one month.
Under a contract the board approved in late 2022, the sheriff’s office provides Princeville with police protection 40 hours a week. Typically, one specific deputy is assigned to patrol the village. A rotation of deputies has been filling Princeville shifts since Bickett was placed on leave.

The board also heard from a representative of High Voltage Taphouse, a Princeville bar. That business received approval to use a village lot to operate a beer tent during the Princeville Heritage Days celebration, set for June 27-29.

High Voltage assumed beer-tent operation from the Akron-Princeville Fire Protection District. Fire-district volunteers had operated the tent the past four or five years. But according to Troutman, the responsibility became too great and the financial rewards became nonexistent or too miniscule.
“We just don’t have the people or the time to do it,” said Troutman, who also is an assistant fire chief. “The bar has a little advantage over a place like us, because if they have excess product left over, they can sell it at the bar. We had no means of selling it after the event.”

A liquor license for the beer tent is expected to be forthcoming.

In other business, the board authorized a change to village policy regarding pickup of landscape waste. The village no longer will provide biodegradable bags for that purpose. Stickers required for user-provided landscape-waste bags for pickup will continue to cost $2 each.

Village-wide spring lawn-waste pickup is scheduled for May 2.
The board also approved a $2,500 reimbursement from the Residential Rehabilitation Program for the owner of a house at 114 E. St. Mary’s St. House-wide window replacement there cost $11,620.

A building permit was issued for solar-panel installation at 209 S. Wheatley St.