Posts from — January 2010

“Ted S. Thalmann, 46, owner of The Medicine Shoppe in Edwardsville, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of misbranding a drug. His corporation pleaded guilty to a felony charge of misbranding a drug.

U.S. Attorney A. Courtney Cox said prescription drugs were repackaged from a manufacturer’s original stock bottle and placed into blister packs labeled with incorrect expiration dates and supplied to area nursing homes from March 2007 through March 2008.”

According to the article in the Belleville-News Democrat

Glen Carbon Library recently launched a new and improved website to better serve the community. The new website highlights new programs, downloadable audiobooks, newsletter, and other services offered by the library.

Library Hours:

Monday – Thursday 9am-8pm
Friday – Saturday 9am-5pm
Sunday 1pm-5pm (Sept.-May)

Glen Carbon Library Website + Twitter

The American Red Cross has committed to sending $1 million to Haiti. The small Caribbean country was rocked by a series of earthquakes this week, leaving the streets in shambles. Red Cross is accepting donations for disaster relief for the citizens of Haiti. Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.

Follow St. Louis Red Cross on Twitter @stlredcross

Edwardsville Intelligencer: District 7 plans $3 million budget cuts

At the District 7 Board of Education meeting Monday, Edwardsville District 7 Superintendent Ed Hightower presented a proposed budget reduction plan for FY 2010-11 that included the reduction of operating expenditures by over $3 million.

The five-point plan includes:

1)The continuation of a freeze on all discretionary purchasing/spending unless funds are made available by outside donors, grants or other contributions.

This includes a freeze on all salaries of administrators and exempt personnel for 2010-11 as well as the re-negotiation of contracts through the EEA using some of the projected savings from 16 teachers now scheduled to retire at the end of 2009-10.

2) Reduction of operating expenditures by over $3 million. This includes the reduction of administrative positions, proposed reduction of teaching staff through attrition and release of probationary employees which are subject to negotiations.

3) Preserving the district’s financial stability and maintaining its current “A” bond rating by reducing expenditures, managing cash flow requirements and preserving working cash reserves for emergencies.

4) Maintaining a stable tax rate under $4 to ease the burden on District 7 taxpayers. (The current tax rate is 3.954, the lowest in Madison County.)

5) Not requesting additional educational funding through a tax referendum.

The proposed $3,154,000 budget reductions for the school year 2010-11 include the reduction of an anticipated 24 positions of certified probationary staff resulting in $1 million of savings. Again, Hightower emphasized that maintaining low class sizes was a major goal in evaluating these reductions.

This excerpt taken from the Full Article on The Intelligencer, follow on Twitter @TheEdwi

Stalking Awareness

January is the National Stalking Awareness Month. Stalking is a significant problem in the United States. According to the Stalking Resource Center, approximately 3.4 million people over the age of 18 are the victim of stalking each year. Furthermore, the prevalence of anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression is much higher among stalking victims than the general population.^ Following are some statistics:

• 78% of stalking victims are female while 87% of stalkers are male.*
• 75% of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know.**
• 52% of stalking victims are between 18-29 years old.*
• There is a strong link between stalking and domestic violence; 81% of women who were stalked by a former intimate partner were also physically assaulted by that partner.*
• Intimate-partner stalkers frequently approach their targets and their behaviors escalate quickly.
• Weapons are used to harm or threaten victims in 1 out of 5 cases.**
• Stalkers use a variety of methods to stalk victims, including following the victim on foot or in a vehicle, or using e-mail, instant messaging, video cameras, digital cameras, listening devices or global positioning systems (GPS).

Things You Can Do:

• If you are in immediate danger, call 9-1-1. If you are not in immediate danger, call  the local police non-emergency number.
• Trust your instincts and don’t downplay the danger.
• Don’t communicate with the stalker or respond to his/her attempts to contact you.
• Keep evidence of the stalking.  If a stalker follows or contacts you, make note of the date, time and location that the incident occurred.  Keep all e-mails, phone messages, letters and notes from the stalker.
• Obtain a court order that instructs the stalker to stay away from you.
• Decide in advance how you will respond if the stalker shows up at you home, office, school or somewhere else.
• Try not to maintain set habits. Periodically change your route to work as well as the time and day of the week that you conduct personal tasks such as grocery shopping.
• Develop a safety plan. Have friends or relatives stay with you and/or accompany you when you go places.

If you feel you are being stalked, notify the police immediately. The SIUE Police Department can be contacted at 911 in cases of emergency or at (618) 650-3324 for non-emergency situations.

Created and Distributed by:

The SIUE Police Department
(618) 650-3324 (non-emergencies)
http://www.siue.edu/police

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids this morning in a statement sent to media outlets.

“I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again,” McGwire said in his statement. “I used them on occasion throughout the ’90s, including during the 1998 season.”

Many fans remember the 1998 season for the homerun race where McGwire hit 70. McGwire was recently hired by the Cardinals as the hitting coach for the 2010-2011 season.

Mark McGwire Hitting Stats [click to expand]:

Mark McGwire hitting stats from Baseball-Almanac.

The new exhibit at Edwardsville Art Center features Raymond Yeager w/ Christina Yocca.

The welcome reception will be on Friday, January 15 from 7pm-9pm. The exhibit run January 15-February 26, 2010 and is FREE and open to the public.

Learn more on the artists from their websites: Raymond Yeager and Christina Yocca

Boil-order in effect for Glen Carbon residents on W. Main St. http://bit.ly/5He3eY

Updated #SIUE Student Discounts for Edwardsville in 2010 http://my-eddy.com/siue-student-discounts/

Project Restore, a non-profit organization in Edwardsville, delivers safe water to Ugandans …

A team of eight people spent 10 days, including Thanksgiving, away from home to help the community of 3,000 gather fresh water from rooftops into three holding tanks and repair fresh water wells. A team of nurses took provisions, supplies and medication to provide and teach health techniques and care. Project Restore has provided 1,300 mosquito nets to improve the health of about half the residents so far.

Same organization does the annual Walk for Water. The above excerpt is from the Full Article in The Suburban Journals.