Belleville News Archives

“I just sit there and clear my head”

James Sperry's nightmares always take him back to Fallujah. There, he saw his friends blown apart. via Belleville News

The St. Louis Major Case Squad is investigating the suspicious death of a 31-year-old Belleville woman. via KSDK NewsChannel 5

Seven area residents will be recognized for their outstanding volunteer services in their communities on Wednesday. via Belleville News

Belleville residents are invited to learn more about Neighborhood Watch programs at an informational meeting next week. via Belleville News

A former teacher serving a prison sentence for attempting to kill a teenager in 2006 is getting taxpayer-funded assistance in his upcoming trial on charges of attacking police and emergency workers during a ... via Belleville News

A chronicle of love and war based on letters discovered at a Belleville, Illinois, flea market is being considered for a feature film. via KWQC-TV Davenport

“By today's standards, we would have thought it was the end of the world.”

Belleville hasn't experienced a natural disaster as devastating as Hurricane Katrina, but it's had plenty of severe weather in the past 150 years.

Among the worst: A tornado killed 10 people in 1938. A flood left another 10 dead in 1957. A winter storm buried the city under 18 inches of snow in 1982.

Residents sweated through 110-degree heat on July 14, 1954. They shivered through 27-below-zero cold on Jan. 1, 1977.

The National Weather Service didn't start keeping records in Belleville until 1944, but Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel assumes residents suffered in July of 1936. Read more

A company that makes boots for the military announced Wednesday it will open a factory in Forrest City. via KATV

A St. Clair County jury on Tuesday ruled that Bobby O. "Na Na" Williams can receive an extended-term sentence for murdering a Belleville convenience store clerk in 1994, giving a judge wide discretion in ... via St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A motorist drives through deep water at the intersection of Premier Drive and Marsh Drive in the Belle-Valley Industrial Village on the east end of Belleville, off Illinois Route 177. via Belleville News

Registrations are now being accepted for free prostate cancer screening, 4 to 7 p.m. April 16 on the first-floor clinic of the St. via St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The Belleville East-Belleville West baseball and softball games scheduled for Thursday were both postponed. The softball game was rescheduled for 4:15 p.m. Monday at West and the baseball game was rescheduled for 4:15 p.m. April 14 at East.

The Collinsville at Edwardsville baseball game scheduled for Thursday was postponed and moved to 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Edwardsville Sports Complex. The Collinsville-Edwardsville softball game also was postponed.

The O'Fallon at Alton softball game was postponed and has not yet been rescheduled. Read more

Several businesses in Belleville were hit by armed robbers over the weekend, according to Belleville police.

An armed gunman demanded money from a man near the Castletown Geoghegan Pub and Restaurant at 104 W. Main St. at 12:49 a.m. Saturday as the victim was leaving the restaurant. According to the victim, a man ran up as he was getting into his car, pulled a gun on him and demanded he empty his pockets. The robber was described as a black man around 5'6'.

After the victim told the gunman he had no cash, only cigarettes and a lighter, the suspect patted the victim's pockets then left and got into a small red car and fled. Read more

“There needs to be proper supervision.”

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About 50 teenagers turned out at the Belleville City Council meeting tonight to protest the closing of Illegal Tone Recordings.

Mayor Mark Eckert has said the city ordered owners of the 6 South Church St. studio to cease operation Friday until the business can comply with the city's teen center ordinance. He said he explained to part-owner Jason Bridges that there would be no problem with the studio as long as it was not used as a teen center. Bridges and Erik Wolfe were unable to comment Friday, on the advice of their attorney. Read more

More than 25 teenagers demonstrated in downtown Belleville today because Illegal Tone Recordings has closed.

The teenagers plan to walk around the downtown area all day today in protest of the local music venue shutting down.

Illegal Tone Recordings at 6 S. Church St. has closed its doors as a public music venue until further notice. The venue, which is a recording studio as well as a host for local bands, will be closed until a dispute with the city over a possible city ordinance violation is solved. Read more

A Belleville psychiatrist received a 30-month prison sentence Thursday after he admitted to defrauding Medicare of $1.755 million.

Ajit Trikha, 55, pleaded guilty to two counts of health care fraud in June by overbilling Medicare and Medicaid, billing for services that weren't performed and exceeding the number of patients allowed in group therapy sessions.

Trikha pleaded guilty in June.

John Stobbs, Trikha's attorney, didn't return calls for comment.

On Thursday, U.S. District Chief Judge David Herndon sentenced Trikha to 30 months in federal prison and ordered him to repay the Medicare and Medicaid programs $1.755 million. Read more

“Belleville (East) got off to a good start tonight, but our kids responded well.

'To be able to win two very good events for the first time is great, and after losing here by 1/2 -point a year ago, this is a meet we really wanted to win.”

A season of firsts continued for the Belleville West Maroons on Friday at the O'Fallon Relays.

Sophomore Jarvis Patterson won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and Travis Manning won the triple jump as the Maroons rallied for their first title in the 42-year-old event with a 10-point triumph over Belleville East.

The Maroons trailed the Lancers for much of he evening before taking the lead by winning the distance medley and getting a 1-2 finish from Patterson and Manning in the 300-meter IM hurdles. Read more

The wife of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq has been charged with child endangerment after her toddler son was found outside wearing only a diaper. via The Post Chronicle