Ken Zurski

STATE

Decade sees teen driving deaths down by half

Fewer teens are dying behind the wheel in Illinois. And, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is crediting a graduated driver’s license law with the 51 percent drop in teenage-driver deaths in the past decade.

White cited Illinois Department of Transportation data that show there were 76 fatalities among motorists aged 16-19 in 2016. That’s down from 155 in 2007, the year before the Graduated Driver’s License program took effect.

The program gives teenagers more time to gain experience behind the wheel under a parent’s or guardian’s supervision. It limits in-car distractions and requires teens to earn their way from one stage of driving to the next.

White, a Democrat running for his sixth term as secretary of state in the 2018 elections, announced the numbers last week at the beginning of National Teen Driver Safety Week.

PEKIN

Program examines city’s pursuit for water

Attorney Burt Dancey will explain why Pekin wanted — but couldn’t get — its own water utility at 10 a.m. Oct. 28, at Advanced Medical Transport, 1718 N. Sterling, Peoria. 

The city of Pekin tried unsuccessfully in 2002 to purchase its water distribution system. Dancey will detail the reasons Pekin decided to pursue public ownership and what happened that it wasn’t able to do so. 

“What Happened When Pekin Tried to Purchase Its Water Utility” is one in a series of free public education meetings hosted by the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria. The league’s position supports the city of Peoria moving forward on due diligence toward possible purchase of the water utility. 

The league is a non-partisan, issues-oriented, volunteer, member-directed organization com-mitted to open, responsive and effective government. Membership is open to both men and women in Tazewell, Peoria and Woodford counties. For more information, go to lwvgp.org.

Master Gardeners honored for monarch garden work

Eight University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners received a teamwork award for their Wildlife Federation Mayor’s Monarch Garden in Pekin. The award was presented during University of Illinois Extension’s annual master gardener conference in Normal.

Monarch butterflies provide numerous opportunities for young children to learn fundamental concepts in natural science and biology, and this group’s project planted seeds of knowledge in young people to develop their love for gardening and better understand its purpose.

Team members included Susan McCabe, Lisa Ziegenhorn, Pat Alexander, Fran Stroemer, Carol Cihla, Margaret Kelly, Jennifer Bass and Ellen Rice. Youth and community members learned what is necessary to preserve monarchs and create a monarch habitat. Together they designed the space, found plants, created the garden, made signs, maintained the garden, and shared their experiences. Youth were represented from the Saintly Dragon’s 4-H club, Girl Scout Troop 4185, and a home-schooled family.

MORTON

Author presents ‘Peoria Stories’

A local author will tell stories about the connection of famous people to Central Illinois at a lecture Nov. 2 at Morton Public Library, 315 W. Pershing.

Through photos, descriptions and excerpts from his book, “Peoria Stories: Tales from the Illinois Heartland,” Ken Zurski will talk about famous and influential figures and their ties to Peoria and Central Illinois history including Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Lindbergh. Incorporating important historical milestones such as first flights, the rise of the automobile and radio’s early days, Zurski intertwines local and national perspectives into each story for a captivating trip back to the past. He will speak at 6:30 p.m.

Zurski also will introduce his current project and forthcoming book, “Unremembered,” about people and events that were “famous once, now mostly forgotten.” 

Zurski’s first book is ”The Wreck of the Columbia,” an accounting of the worst maritime accident in the history of the Illinois River, when a steamboat named Columbia, returning from a moonlight excursion on July 5, 1918, collapsed and sank. Of the nearly 500 passengers on board that night, most were from the town of Pekin. Eighty-seven people lost their lives in the disaster.

Zurski was a radio personality for many years. He now works in Peoria and lives in Morton with his wife and their two children.

–Tazewell County News Briefs–