Metro East news briefs

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Kayleigh McLaren, of the Granite City-based Gateway Cabermen, demonstrates the art of weight throwing during one of the group's weekly practices. Cabermen members are currently training for next month's St. Louis Scottish Games and Cultural Festival in Chesterfield, Mo. One of numerous  Highland Games competitions now being held around the world, the St. Louis festival this year will play host to the Master World Championship of Scottish Heavy Athletics. In addition to weight throwing, heavy athletic events include sheave tossing, hammer slinging, and stone hurling, and caber (tree trunks) tossing, according to Cabermen organizer Nicholas McLaren.  Among those taking part in the Cabermen practices include former Granite City High School shot put stars, Brandi Jones and Cathy Jakich.

Kayleigh McLaren, of the Granite City-based Gateway Cabermen, demonstrates the art of weight throwing during one of the group’s weekly practices. Cabermen members are currently training for next month’s St. Louis Scottish Games and Cultural Festival in Chesterfield, Mo. One of numerous Highland Games competitions now being held around the world, the St. Louis festival this year will play host to the Master World Championship of Scottish Heavy Athletics. In addition to weight throwing, heavy athletic events include sheave tossing, hammer slinging, and stone hurling, and caber (tree trunks) tossing, according to Cabermen organizer Nicholas McLaren. Among those taking part in the Cabermen practices include former Granite City High School shot put stars, Brandi Jones and Cathy Jakich.

Belleville MultiSport Complex added to plans for Hofbrauhaus development

The Belleville Multisports Complex, an $11 million youth athletics complex, will be incorporated into the Metro-East’s planned, new Hofbrauhaus entertainment development, Belleville Mayor Mark Eckert and Kansas City-based Global Sports International (GSI) announced last week.

The new sports complex would be similar in design to one GSI has been trying to develop in Chesterfield, MO. However, that project is stalled in a dispute over public subsidies.

Mayor Eckert told a news conference the sports complex will allow Belleville to capitalize on growing interest in youth soccer. The complex will become a regional travel destination, drawing youths and parents from up to 300 miles across Illinois and surrounding states, GSI executives said. Though the athletics complex will primarily host soccer tournaments, its 11 playing fields could also be used for lacrosse, rugby and other sports.

Plans for the complex must still be approved by Belleville City Council, which could review the project as its Aug. 3 meeting. Any public funding for the project would also require council approval.

Belleville has already approved some $17 million in financial incentives for the new Hofbrauhaus restaurant and meeting complex on Ill. Rt. 15 by the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. Some City Council members, while considering the final elements of the incentive package at their May 26 meeting, expressed concern that resources might be better spent providing basic municipal services to the city’s deteriorating downtown area.

GSI officials announced plans to build the Belleville complex last week after St. Louis County officials indicated they would not provide the county’s half of a $4 million incentive package requested by the company for its planned soccer park in Chesterfield. The City of Chesterfield was to cover the other half.

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger rejected the request from GSI saying the company had provided no studies indicating the county would receive a return on its investment in the project. He noted two other youth soccer complexes are under development in the county.

The $4 million requested in St. Louis County was to be used for sewer system improvements, the developer said. Belleville has already committed funding for sewer improvements at the Hofbrauhaus site.

GSI executive David Thorman emphasized the company would still like to build a complex in Chesterfield, adding the Metro-East and St. Louis County facilities would complement each other.

The new Metro-East facility would reportedly be similar to a soccer park operated by GSI in Overland Park, KS.

 

Alton restores animal control services after killing of dog by police spurs protests

The Alton City Council restored funding for animal control services in the city, July 23, after animal rights activists, as well as local residents, questioned the killing of a pet dog by city police.

Protesters gathered outside Alton City Hall with signs reading “Justice for Buster” and “Animal Lives Matter,” after Alton Police last week captured and put down the aging pet of an Alton resident. Police said they had received complaints that the dog, named Buster, had been acting aggressively and nipping at passersby outside a local Family Dollar Store.

Police reportedly took the dog to the city animal control facility, where an officer tried twice, unsuccessfully, to kill the animal with shotgun blasts. The officer then reportedly killed the dog with a pair of shots from a service revolver.

Some local residents disputed reports that the dog was acting aggressively and animal rights activists said the killing of the dog was illegal, as it was not in compliance with the Illinois Animal Control Act.

The Alton City Council recently eliminated the city’s only animal control position as part of a budget cutting effort. As reported earlier this month by the Chronicle, Alton this year faced a potential $1.8 million city budget deficit and is still seeking ways to deal with an $85 million liability in its police and fire department pension funds.

Mayor Brant Walker announced at last week’s council meeting that the city had identified a new revenue source that would now allowing funding of the animal control position through March.

The Alton Police Department announced it would review its policies in light of the incident.

 

“Fast Eddie” Scholar, owner of  iconic Bon Air tavern, mourned

Alton legend Edward R. “Fast Eddie” Scholar, Sr. – whose Fast Eddie’s Bon Air tavern has become a St. Louis-area popular culture icon over the past 35 years – died July 22 at his residence of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Alton Police Department.

Scholar, 61, had been despondent over his failing health, family members say.

Annually selling 4,000 half barrels of beer, as well as thousand of cases of beer and liquor, the Bon Air, 1530 East Fourth Street in Alton, is considered by some to be perhaps the world’s highest volume tavern. The bar reportedly serves thousands of customers each week, with lines extending a block or more outside the front door during peak periods. The tavern seats 400; however, “on the weekends, standing room becomes a prized commodity,” the establishment’s website notes.

The Bon Air was originally opened in 1921 as one of three upscale taverns developed by Anheuser Busch in the St. Louis area. Changes in federal regulations would force the brewer in about 1930 to sell the establishment to the Balaco family of Alton, who ran it for 50 years.

However, Scholar, on purchasing the tavern in 1981, would quickly turn the Bon Air into an high-profile area destination. Lured by a barrage of novel radio ads touting the Bon Air’s menu of large-sized but low-priced food bar items, top area bands, and the personalty of its owner, the tavern quickly became a favorite with both Alton locals and bar-goers from around the region.

Scholar often personally oversaw operations, stationed near the tavern’s front door. Over recent year, he turned management of the Bon Air over to his son, Edward Scholar, Jr.

 

Forty-six apply for associate judge vacancies in 3rd Judicial Circuit

All five of the Illinois Third Judicial Circuit associate judges who failed to win reappointment last month have re-applied for terms on the bench. Former associate judges Duane L. Bailey, Ben L. Beyers, II, Donald M. Flack, David Grounds and Elizabeth Levy are among a total of 46 attorneys who filed application this month for the five associate judge seats now open in the circuit.

The other applicants are John R. Abell; Roy D. Anderson, Christopher J.T. Bauer, Erin L. Beavers, Timothy D. Berkley, Michael J. Brunton. Ellen R. Burford, Rodney D. Caffey. Jeffery A. Cain, John R. Daugherty, Christopher M. Donohoo, James M. Drazen, David W. Dugan, David J. Ezra, Derek L. Filcoff, Clifton L. Flex, Janel L. Freeman, Jennifer L. Hightower, Eric D. Jackstadt, Anthony R. Jumper, Amy Maher, Edward T. McCarthy, Andrew J. Miofsky, Heather L. Mueller-Jones, Marc W. Parker, Maureen D. Schuette, Amy E. Sholar, Darren K. Short, Luther W. Simmons, Katherine M. Smith, Sarah D. Smith, Judy Kay Steele, Kelly C. Sullivan, Kerry T. Taplin, Suzanne M. Vogel, Mary Beth Williams and Leslie A. Wood.

Five interim judges have been appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to fill the vacancies in Third Circuit, until the circuit’s judges can vote on new associate judges. New associate judge terms in the circuit began July 1. Election of associate judges requires a simple majority vote of circuit judges. Retention requires a two-thirds majority.

 

Fourteen-year-old wins second world horseshoe title

Tyler Brakhane, age 14, of Edwardsville took home the Junior Class G title at the 2015 National Horseshoe Pitchers Association NHPA World Championship, July 13-25 in Topeka, Kan. It marks his second NHPA championship. He won his first national title in 2011. The annual Ron Brakane Memorial Horseshoe Tournament in Worden is named for his father.

Although he resides most of the year with his mother near Branson, Mo., Brakhane lives with his grandparents, Bob and Ruth Brakhane of Edwardsville, during summer. The grandfather and grandson share an avid interest in horseshoes and practice daily. The younger Brakhane, who turns 15 next month, first began pitching horseshoes at the age of 5.

 

Argosy, Casino Queen landowner acquiring two more casino sites

Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc., (GLPI), the real estate investment trust that owns the land and buildings occupied by the Metro-East’s two casino – the Argosy Casino in Alton and the Casino Queen in East St. Louis – will soon have a near monopoly on casino sites in the St. Louis area.

GLPI on July 21 announced a $4.75 billion agreement to purchase the real estate assets of Pinnacle Entertainment, which operates the River City Casino in South St. Louis County and the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, Mo.

The company already owns the land and buildings used by Hollywood Casino in Maryland Heights, Mo.

Once the deal closes, Lumiere Place, across the Mississippi River from the Casino Queen, will be the only St. Louis-area gaming operation in a facility not owned by GLPI.

GLPI purchases real estate from casino owners and then rents it back to them.

Company officials say they do not anticipate antitrust problems as they own only the real estate, not the casinos themselves.

 

— Metro East news briefs —