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City Council makes cuts to cover budget deficit

6.City officials had a difficult time drawing up their 2010 budget and had to come up with creativeways to close a projected $1.35 million deficit. The city announced the projected deficit in Septemberand revealed a plan to trim costs to close the gap. Those plans included the introduction of a voluntary buy-out program to reduce personnel costs. Nine city staff subsequently asked for buyouts under the program.

Most or all of those positions will eventually be refilled, but the city will save money while the positions are left openand by hiring staff who will begin further down the salary scale than those they replace. Fines and fees also will beraised next year, while department heads will take unpaid furlough days. Taxes, however, will not be raised. The citysprojected deficit was based on fears about declining tax revenue caused by the prolonged economic downturn. In par-ticular, high unemployment rates have hammered the citys share of state income tax. Still, city officials pointed outthat the city has managed to avoid big cutbacks suffered by many neighboring municipalities.

Accused of killing spree, Sheley convicted of assault

7.A Sterling man awaiting trial for murder in Knox County was sentenced to seven years in prisonin late October in connection with an April 17 assault on three correctional officers at the KnoxCounty jail. Nicholas Sheley, 30, received seven years on three counts of aggravated battery, one year forcriminal damage to property and 364 days for aggravated assault.

The sentences will run concurrently.Sheley still has to stand trial for the 2008 murder of Ronald Randall of Galesburg. He had been in the Knox County

jail since July 2008, before being moved to Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet in November. Sheley also is chargedwith murdering seven other people in two states during an alleged killing spree in 2008.

His murder trial in Knox County is expected to begin in late summer or early fall of 2010.

State budget woes hurt local non-profits

8.Area non-profits that rely on state funding to provide services to vulnerable members of the com-munity endured a roller-coaster year.

As the state battled with a $12 billion deficit, uncertainty reigned for groups like Bridgeway, KCCDD andSafe Harbor. Gov. Pat Quinn unveiled a doomsday budget that would have cut their funding by as much

as 50 percent. But as lawmakers finally agreed on a budget in the summer, the cutbacks were reduced to 10 percent,which was still a bitter pill to swallow. To make matters worse, the state has fallen far behind in its payment scheduleto area non-profits and owes millions to both Bridgeway and KCCDD. When the state will catch up on late payments isunclear. With negotiation on the states next budget likely to begin early in 2010, more uncertainty looms. Knox Coun-ty officials decided they could no longer risk waiting on the state to fulfill its funding commitments to the Mary DavisHome and decided to use funds from the county landfill to support the youth detention center.

Wet weather makes for historically late harvest

9.Farmers always fret about the weather. This year, with good reason. Some of this years corn cropis still in the fields.

Planting got off to a late start because of a wet spring. Cool summer weather caused corn to mature moreslowly than usual. When soybeans and corn were ready to be harvested, one of the wettest Octobers in his-

tory made fields too wet for farmers to go into their fields.Farmers began putting in long hours, even working all night, as November was the seventh warmest in history.

Hopes that corn would be harvested before the first snow were dashed for some in early December. Snow inside com-bines caused parts to break or crack.

Finally, grain elevators could not keep up with demand for drying of the moisture-laden corn. Its a year farmerswill talk about for years to come.

Community honors soldier killed in Afghanistan

10.The war in Afghanistan hit home July 7 when Spc. Christopher M. Talbert of East Galesburgwas killed in action in northeastern Afghanistan. He was killed when the vehicle he was inhit an improvised explosive device.

The son of Terry and Amanda Talbert was a combat medic who enlisted in the Army National Guardin 2007.

His uncle, Tom Talbert, best voiced the reason the entire area mourned each time another young man was lost incombat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Chris is every persons son, Tom Talbert said at his nephews funeral in Bethel Baptist Church.Talbert was the seventh area serviceman to be killed in action during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; the first since

Capt. Joshua Steele of North Henderson in June 2007.

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A12 The Register-Mail, Galesburg, Ill. Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009