Will County News

According to a New York Times interactive map published today, food stamp utilization in Will County has increased 45% since 2007.  The map can be viewed here  , move your mouse over Will County to see the county's food stamp statistics.  According to the map, Will County's food stamp statistics include: Percentage on food stamps: All people: 7% Children: 12% Whites: 3% Blacks: 21%

NETWORK TO MEET The Will County Environmental Network will meet at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, November 12  at Laraway School in Joliet. The regular meeting was moved to Thursday because of the Veteran’s Day holiday. Important agenda items include an update on the Network’s Roundtable Special Report that is being distributed and continued development of the electronic roundtable. A copy is available at t his link  . Other key agenda items include updates on Vulcan Material’s proposed expansion of quarrying, expanding to the west on acreage that stretches to the west and Brandon Road. Everyone interested in working to protect & defend the environment is invited to attend this meeting.

The  Midewin National Tallgrass Prairi e, located between  Elwood  and  Wilmington ,  was created by federal legislation  transferring Joliet Army Ammunition Plant land to the Forest Service in order to create Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. The Joliet Arsenal Ammunition Plant was created when the Federal Government told landowners living in the Arsenal's footprint their land would be sold to the government in order to create the ammunition plant that would produce bombs for the Allied effort. This 1909 Map of Florence Township documents the farms and schools that were eventually sold to the Federal Government for the purpose of creating the Joliet Arsenal. These newspaper clippings from 1941 record how much farmers were paid by the government for their land. I recently had the opportunity to interview a man whose family's Florence Township-farm was sold to the government for the Arsenal.  He remembers his family was told they had 30...

Published in 1878 by William Le Baron of Chicago, "The History of Will County, Illinois, containing A History of the County, its Cities, Towns, &c, a Directory of its Real Estate Owners, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men..."   is a voluminous work (1000 pages detailing everything from Joliet & Marquette's travels to the topography of Will County to biographical sketches of pioneers to census data detailing the population of each township in 1850, 1860, and 1970.  For example, in 1870, there were 875 people living in Florence Township, 644 of whom are categorized as "Native").  The book also references Prairie Creek. The book notes that Prairie Creek enters the Kankakee River from the northeast in the township of Wilmington.  Along with Forked Creek, Prairie Creek is described as a "considerable streams in times of high water, sometimes becoming impassable where not bridged, but in dry seasons become mere brooks or dry up altogether......

UPDATE: 2012 Fun Day Schedule  The Village of Manhattan  , Illinois celebrated Labor Day Weekend with its Annual Fun Day Festival.  Here are some pictures of the parade: This vintage Mustang cruised through the Manhattan Parade as a vintage car entry. Will County Executive Larry Walsh participated in the Manhattan Illinois Fun Day Parade. The Manhattan Fire Department Operation Care Package American Legion Post 935 leads the parade down Manhattan's main street The Lincoln-Way Central High School Marching Knights also performed:

The Joliet Herald News reports  that nearly 5,000 people gathered at the New Lenox Village Hall on Monday, September 7th to greet the arrival of the Tea Party Express.  New Lenox, Illinois is a rapidly-growing village near the center of Will County near the I-80 interstate. The Tea Party Express has a website where you can read about its message.  NPR also did an article on some of the Tea Party Express rallies held in California where several farmers   "protested a 2007 court ruling that cut water allowances to help a small fish that has been declining in numbers." According to this NPR article , The Tea Party Express is funded by a California Political Action Committee, the "Our Country Deserves Better PAC". Here is a video of the event that was posted on Youtube:

According to her website, Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson will hold a telephone town hall on health care reform. Representative Halvorson will hold the telephone town hall on Thursday, September 3rd. Her website lists a phone number people can call if they would like to participate in the telephone town hall.  There is also a link on Congresswoman Halvorson's website where people can complete a survey regarding health care reform.