WGFA News for Friday, December 11, 2009 >
WX > Sunny, high near 28 today. Sw wind at 10 mph. Weekend outlook, cloudy and high near 37 Saturday; Sunday chance of drizzle and freezi9ng drizzle, high near 37.
– High School B-Ball tonight on WGFA: Milford at Watseka –
> A former Watseka resident and his wife were critically injured in a two-car crash in downtown Lafayette, IN. 31-year-old Damon Matthewson and his 28-year-old wife — Kenzie-suffered the injuries when their car was slammed and forced into a pole. Both occupants had to be extricated by the Lafayette Fire Department.
The accident Thursday night involved a stolen car pursuit. Two juveniles accused of stealing an SUV were both arrested. They are not being identified due to their age. Police report the juveniles in the stolen vehicle were both treated for minor injuries and then arrested.
Lafayette police responded to reports of a stolen vehicle around 9:15 pm. Police said they tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to stop. It ran the stop light hitting the Matthewson car and sending it into a concrete pillar in front of the Tippecanoe Office Building.
> A rural Papineau man died of smoke inhalation in a house fire Wednesday morning. That was the finding from an autopsy on the body of Joseph Mroz. Iroquois County Coroner Bill Cheatum told WGFA News further tests are being done. The 73-year-old victim was pulled from the burning single-story ranch house by four Chicago firemen who came upon the fire on their way to the Iroquois County hunting grounds. Papineau Fire Chief Myron Munyon said the Chicago firemen and several volunteer area firefighters did great work, despite the outcome. Eight fire departments answered the call just before 7:30 am
> Former Iroquois County Clerk Mark Henrichs has filed an appeal of his conviction and the court-ordered restitution he was ordered to make following a trial that found him guilty of theft and official misconduct. Just released from the Kankakee County jail after serving 30 days of a 60-day jail sentence, Henrichs filed the notice of appeal in the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court in Ottawa.
Henrichs also requested an attorney be appointed to represent him, saying in an affadavit filed with the notice of appeal that he is unable to retain the services of his private attorney, Frank Simutis of Watseka, to pursue the appeal. A hearing was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14 before Judge William Schmidt in Iroquois County Circuit Court to consider the appointment of an attorney.
The appeal requests the court overturn his theft and official misconduct convictions, as well as the sentence he was ordered to serve – consisting of 30 months of probation, 60 days in jail, and restitution of $17,500 to the county within the first two years of his release from jail. An Iroquois County jury found the 53-year-old Henrichs guilty of arranging for the county clerk’s office to buy a camping trailer for use as a mobile-voting facility in February 2007, while hiding from the county board that he owned it, and that he had paid half as much for it 16 months earlier.
“Your Illiana News Source” — 94.1 FM, WGFA
