Once again, the Edgar County Watchdogs, now known as Illinois Leaks, have ventured into Effingham County, and once again, they’ve been actively showing certain governmental entities and individuals that “the way it’s always been done” isn’t going to work when people are concerned about transparency in government.
In a back page (which is our “second” front page) article in the July-August edition, this is illustrated brilliantly, as Kirk Allen and John Kraft hit a city of Effingham council meeting hard with their most recent exposure of what’s happening with many public entities statewide…including the scandalous matter of libraries allowing people to view child porn on publicly-paid-for computers.
To give any more of it away would be a spoiler; so here now is your noontime Read the Lead, Effingham City ignores the law, seems ambivalent about child porn in library:
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Illinois Leaks co-founder Kirk Allen is shown here offering up a pop quizz to the Effingham City Council concerning the law as it pertains to the Open Meetings Act. They failed.
EFFINGHAM— A stunning display of both arrogance and ignorance was beheld at the Tuesday, July 15 meeting of the Effingham City Council, unfortunately to no one’s surprise.
The council continued marching to the beat of their own unlawful drummer in lockstep to the theme that the thousands of dollars they collect through their Hotel/Motel Tax is somehow not that of taxpayers.
Also known as the Heads and Beds Tax, scores of groups from throughout the county have been jockeying for position to get themselves on the list to ask city fathers for large chunks of the tax money.
The problem many voters are becoming aware of, due to the efforts of the Illinois Leaks group (formerly Edgar County Watchdogs), is that nearly all of the groups asking for a taxpayer handout are themselves taxing bodies.
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Kraft used his time to encourage the council to place stipulations on any funds provided to the local library, which had asked at the previous meeting for $1 million of those Hotel/Motel Tax funds.
The stipulations Kraft suggested would be that filters be placed on the library’s internet computers that would restrict access to illegal content the likes of child porn.
Kraft’s request stems from Illinois Leaks’ ongoing exposure of the Orlando Park Library board, who not only allows unfettered access to child porn but has repeatedly failed to report the illegal activity to authorities.
The council said it would take all requests for tax funds under advisement but, oddly enough, made no promises to do anything to keep child porn out of their….
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To read the rest of the article, click the headline link above the excerpt if you have an online membership to the e-Edition, or, if you don’t, simply click this link here to get started on your membership today! And if you prefer to hold a paper in your hands to read, be sure and visit any one of our many vendors across southern Illinois, including in Effingham County, Edgewood Store in Edgewood; in neighboring Clay County, Needmore Store in Louisville, Discount Tobacco Warehouse in Flora, and The Price is Right in Clay City; and in neighboring Jasper County, Newton Marathon in Newton, Bottle Junction in Newton, MVP on the river north of Newton, and The Gas Station in Ste. Marie. Hurry…this issue is off stands in less than two weeks!