Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Stratton Quad was blanketed with 1,100 backpacks, Sept. 12, as part of the campus’ iCARE (Initiative to Create Awareness, Recognition, and Education on Suicide Prevention) to raise awareness about suicide prevention. The empty backpacks and the stories displayed on them offered an emotional representation of the number of college students who die by suicide each year. (Photo courtesy of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)

County not culpable in rigged tax auctions, court rules

The Illinois Fifth Appellate Court has removed Madison County as defendant in a class-action lawsuit, seeking up to $1.5 million in restitution for the victims of rigged county tax auction sales.

The court ruled that Madison County, as an entity, did not benefit from the rigged auctions, conducted by the county treasurer’s office, and is therefore not liable in the case.

However, critics, including the current county treasurer, contend the ruling will effectively render it impossible for victims to receive restitution.

Former County Treasurer Fred Bathon was convicted of conducting rigged tax auctions over a four-year period,  giving priority seating to campaign contributors and thereby hindering competing bidders.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim that, as a result, they paid excessive penalty interest on the sale of delinquent taxes.

The lawsuit claimed the county did not exercise due diligence in monitoring Bathon, who served a year-and-a-half in federal prison as a result of the scheme.

However, attorneys for the county argued that employers are not responsible for employees who take actions beyond of the scope of their designated duties to benefit themselves.

The appellate court agreed, describing Madison County as “a pass through” for payments and noting the county “received no unjust benefit from those payments.”

Current County Treasurer Kurt Prenzler contends some 7,000 property owners suffered losses as a result of the scheme.  He contends it could be difficult or impossible to collected a judgement against Bathon and his co-conspirators and that county funds should be available to make victims whole.

Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons contends that would unfairly burden county taxpayers who did not benefit from the scheme.

In a prepared statement, Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan, Prenzler’s rival in the Nov. 8 election for county board chair, contends “responsibility for restitution belongs to the criminal co-conspirators who secretly rigged the tax sales.”    

Monsanto mum on merger’s impact on seed subsidiaries

In what Wall Street analysts expect to be the biggest merger agreement of 2016, German chemical and healthcare giant Bayer AG, Sept. 14, announced plans to purchase St. Louis-based Monsanto for $128 per share or a total of $65 billion. Representing the largest cash business acquisition in history, the merger would make the German firm the largest player in the rapidly consolidating American agricultural supplies industry.

“The combined business will benefit from Monsanto’s leadership in Seeds & Traits and Climate Corporation platform along with Bayer’s broad Crop Protection product line…,” according to a company statement.

The proposed merger is seen as the latest in series of blows to the St. Louis-area economy, which has now lost all but a handful of its corporate headquarters, as well as most of its smokestack industries.  

The combined agricultural company will have its global Seeds & Traits and North American commercial headquarters in St. Louis; its global Crop Protection and overall Crop Science headquarters in Monheim, Germany, and “an important presence” in Durham, N.C., as well as many other locations throughout the U.S. and around the world, according to the merger announcement. Digital Farming activities for the combined business will be based in San Francisco.

The announcement did not specify how the merger would affect Illinois properties such as the Jerseyville Agronomy Center or Monsanto-owned regional seed companies such as DeKalb. Bayer also did not specify whether it would assume responsibility for environmental clean-up cost around the former Monsanto J.F. Queeny plant in Sauget. Monsanto agreed to remain liable for future cleanup costs when it sold the plant to spin-off Solutia.

The Bayer-Monsanto merger is expected to close in late 2017. However, it is still subject to shareholder approval and is expected  to be closely scrutinized by regulators.

Two from region among Illinois Teacher of the Year finalists

Educators from Belleville and Wood River a Teachers are among the ten finalists for the Illinois State Board of Education’s 2017 Illinois Teacher of the Year award.

Candace Hamilton is a physical science teacher for eighth-grade students at Belleville’s Whiteside Middle School in Whiteside School District 115.

Matthew Herndon teaches physical education at Lewis and Clark Junior High School in Wood River-Hartford School District 15.

The award will be announced during the state board’s annual “Those Who Excel” banquet in Oct. 22, at the Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Normal, where all ten finalists will be honored.

The winner will represent in the Council of Chief State School Officers’ National Teacher of the Year Program, as well as at NASA Space Camp this summer in Huntsville, Ala.

Hamilton and Herndon were among 253 Illinois educators and school personnel nominated for the award this year.

First degree murder verdict in child abuse case

A Glen Carbon man was found guilty of first-degree murder, Sept. 15, in connection with the 2013 death of a 5-year-old boy.  Madison County prosecutors charged Tavon K. Ludy, 27, fatally punched Torian Whitaker for fighting with his older brother.  Ludy, at the time of the aggravated battery, lived with the two children and their mother, Toria M. Coleman, 27.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call from the residence on Sept. 29, 2013; finding Torian and transporting him to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The sheriff’s office reported Ludy struck Torian in the chest with his fist and the child then collapsed.

Prosecutors called for the first-degree murder conviction, say Ludy hit the boy. knowing the act could severely injure or kill him.  They said Ludy physically disciplined the boys for minor misbehavior on a routine basis and Coleman was aware of the abuse.

Torian’s now 10-year-old brother testified against Ludy during the trial.

Ludy has been held at the Madison County Jail since his arrest in 2013 and now faces up to 100 years in prison.

Coleman was charged with endangering the life and health of a child in 2013.

–Metro East Area News Briefs–