Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 1

JOURNAL GAZFJITE TIMES- COURIER Convicted killer accused of threat, held on $1M bond is 1 LJ i SERVING CHARLESTON, MATTOON SURROUNDING AREAS WWW.JG-TC.COM 75 CENTS Lake Land Board of Trustees tax levy BY KAYLEIGH ZYSKOWSKI JGTC Stall Writer MATTOON The Lake Land Board of Trustees during Monday night's meeting agreed to a $9.42 million 2012 tax levy, which officials estimate is about a 4.9 percent increase over last year's levy. Vice President for Business Services Ray Rieck says a public hearing was not required because the increase over the 2011 levy year was estimated at less than 5 percent. "We won't know the actual 2012 rate until the EAV's (equalized assessed valuation) are determined by the 15 counties in the district, probably around the May or June timeframe," Rieck said during the meeting. A levy is a local government's request for property tax revenue based on the estimated EAV of property within its district, 15 counties in the case of Lake Land. The tax rate is the resulting percentage that is applied to this property.

Lake Land's 2011 levy rate was about 50 cents per $100 EAV, according to the school records. This is about 5 percent of the individual resident's total tax bill, according to the school's documents. Last year, the board approved a $9.37 million levy. A Mppy holiday meal. In other business during Monday's meeting the trustees: Approved the $7.9 million Northeast building energy savings project.

Control Technologies and Solutions of St. Louis will renovate the building and add ground source heat pumps in Neal Hall and Luther Student Center. Agreed to issue a $2.2 mil- Se LAKE LAND, A2 all in the same room." This is Idowu's second time celebrating Thanksgiving and said she felt lucky that she was able to enjoy the holiday last year with one of her professors. Idowu, who was born in Nigeria, said she likes the traditional aspect of Thanksgiving. "It's an American tradition, and I feel that when you're in certain place you should participate and experience as much as you can," Idowu said Contact Bilharz at or 21 7-238-6839, TOp this! BY SAMANTHA BILHARZ JG TC Stan Writer CHARLESTON Sixty-five international students from Eastern Illinois University came together Monday night to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas as part of a free holiday meal at Lincoln Garden.

There was not an empty seat by the end of the dinner in the Charleston-based restaurant as some students tried their first bite of turkey and celebrated their very first Thanksgiving. Wafeek Wahby, a professor of construction technology at Eastern, said he thought of the idea for the "2012 International Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner" during a post-Thanksgiving class discussion. This talk led him to finding out that the majority of his international students had never celebrated the feast of a holiday before. Wahby said his hopes for the dinner were for international students to be able to relate to one another and for them to also experience a tra: ditional American Thanksgiving. "I wanted them to be able to sit with others, see how Thanksgiving started and to be able to make connections with other students," Wahby said.

When Wahby came into Lincoln Garden looking for some help with the dinner, owners Faik and Gici Zendeli said they would provide the meal free of charge. "It didn't matter how many people came for the dinner, we were glad to do it," Gici said. The staff of Lincoln Garden cooked and prepared a full-course meal for all the Eastern international students, staff and faculty that included the traditional Thanksgiving turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and corn. A majority of students were 12112012 agrees on The requested levy anticipates to collect $4.18 million for educational purposes; $775,500 for operations and maintenance; $1.8 million for additional educational and operations and maintenance; $1,132 million for tort immunity; $318,000 for Social Security and Medicare insurance; $107,000 for financial audit needs; and $1.1 million for protection, health and safety purposes. 1 v-v 1 celebrate Thanksgiving sooner and hopes to bring the American tradition back home to her parents.

"I will cook the Thanksgiving meal next year if I have to, but I can't guarantee it will turn out," Hussain said with a laugh. Oyindamola Idowu, a grad- uate student in the school of technology, was not experi- encing her first Thanksgiving meal but said she came to the dinner to spend time with friends and faculty. "A lot of my close mates will be graduating soon," Idowu said. "This is the last time I will be able to see them overhaul law covering uninsured people with medical problems. Under the law, insurers will be forbidden from turning away the sick as of Jan.

1, 2014. The program "is intended to help millions of Americans purchase affordable health insurance, reduce unreim- bursed usage of hospital and other medical facilities by the uninsured and thereby lower medical expenses and premiums for all," the Obama administration says in the regulation. An accompanying See HEALTH, A2 COMMUNITY St John's gets festive St. John's Lutheran recently celebrated Thanksgiving. C4 for electrical service a BY DAVE FOPAY JG TC Start Writer MATTOON Police on Monday announced the arrest of a man for allegedly threatening another man with a rifle at a home near Mattoon last week.

Brian D. Abel, 34, was arrested in connection with the Dec. 4 incident at the home of attorney Todd Rear-don, Coles County Sheriff Darrell Cox said. Police didn't identify the man Abel allegedly threatened. Mattoon police Chief Jeff Branson said his department received the first report on the incident.

The man said Abel was upset because the man and a woman were together and Abel threatened him with an automatic rifle, Branson stated. He said he couldn't provide more details because the incident is still under investigation. The incident reportedly occurred at Reardon's residence on Meadowview Estates just south of Mattoon. The residence was also the location of a robbery Reardon reported last year during which he said he and Abel were attacked. Abel listed Reardon's address as his current residence, according to a news release that police issued Monday.

Reardon declined to comment on the incident and Abel's arrest when he was contacted Monday. Circuit Judge James Glenn issued the arrest warrant for Abel, and the judge set his bond at $1 million, meaning he would have to post $100,000 to be released. State's Attorney Brian Bower said his office requested bond in that amount because of Abel's criminal history, specifically his conviction for second-degree murder in Cumberland County in 2002. Police indicated that Abel was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a felon. According to Cox, police recovered more than one firearm when they obtained a warrant and searched Reardon's residence Thursday.

Cox said the county Crisis Response Team, a multi-agency police unit, conducted the search because of the reported use of a firearm -and because of Abel's homi--cide conviction. The incident took place a year after the break-in and robbery Reardon said occurred at his home. Reardon said he, his son -and Abel were at his home on Dec. 13, 2011, when three See KILLER, A2 town. On Monday afternoon, officers found the pig sitting in me venicie, wnicn appeared to have crashed, It had two flat tires and heavy front end "and the air bags had deployed.

A police report indicated officers had the vehicle towed with the swine still inside, and an agent from an animal protection organization was contacted. STATE Governor wants' gay marriage bill Illinois' governor wants the state to takes steps toward gay marriage. A3 by lesser known authors. C3 Kevin KjlhoflerStatl Photographer Eastern Illinois University international students take part in the 2012 International Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at Lincoln Garden restaurant In Charleston on Monday. The dinner was arranged by EIU construction technology professor Wafeek Wahby, and the food was donated by Lincoln Garden owners Faik and Gici Zendeli.

iU: A7 Ayeshah Hussain, a senior biology major said the "2012 International Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner" was the first time she had ever tasted turkey or celebrated Thanksgiving. "I think the dinner is a great way to experience Thanksgiving and Christmas and the different American traditions," Hussain said. "We don't celebrate these holidays were I'm from, so its been nice to actually be able to experience a real Thanksgiving meal." waslorhin Bangladesh, said she wishes she had the opportunity to fee in health in the regulation, employer and individual health plans covering an estimated 190 million Americans could owe the per-person fee The Obama administration says it is a temporary assess- ment levied for three years starting in 2014, designed to -raise $25 billion. It starts at $63 and then Most of the money will go into a fund administered by the Health and Human Services Department. It will be used to cushion health insurance companies from the initial hard-to-predict costs of Local governments open bids Surprise: New insurance Ohio police find, tow big pig in abandoned vehicle seen leaving the family restaurant with to-go boxes in tow, and for Shahmir Haq, the meal really was a feast that he couldn't quite conquer.

Haq, a sophomore communication studies major, said he enjoyed the meal so much that he took the rest of it home to enjoy later in the night. "This is my third Thanksgiving, but my first real Thanksgiving meal," Haq said. For Haq, a native of Pakistan, the Thanksgiving dinner was a way to spend quali- ty time with friends and faculty. likely to be passed on to workers. Employee benefits lawyer Chantel Sheaks calls it a "sleeper issue" with significant financial consequences, particularly for large employers.

"Especially at a time when we are facing economic uncertainty, (companies willT be hit with a multi-million dollar assessment without getting anything back for it," said Sheaks, a principal at Buck Consultants, a Xerox subsidiary. Based on figures provided TODAY'S WEATHER 3820 Mostly sunny. See page A4 for the four-day outlook. COME BACK TOMORROW: BY RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR The Associated Press WASIHNGTON Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions tinder President Barack Obama's health care haul.

The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is INSIDE TODAY Advice C2 Classifieds D1-D3 Comics D4 Community CI Entertainment C5 Local A3 Lottery A4 Markets B3 Obituaries C6 Opinions A5 1 35th YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) Police responding to a report of an abandoned vehicle in northeast Ohio say they found an unexpected passenger in the back seatra 250-pound potbellied" pig named Penelope. The Vindicator in Youngstown reports the vehicle apparently was stolen while the Pennsylvania woman who owns the pig was visiting a friend in ENTERTAINMENT Bond returns to the top James Bond thriller "Skyfall" is the top grossing movie CS BOOKS: A list of good books Year, Number 275 BREAKING NEWS, COMMENTARY, MULTIMEDIA AND MORE: WW.JG-TCCOM -4 I O. CONTACT THE NEWSROOM: 217-235-5656 -181JV0600.