• A convicted sexual predator indicted Wednesday on federal child pornography charges is scheduled to appear in court next week for these new charges. Former youth counselor Thomas Brian Fairclough, 37, of 746 S. Evergreen Ave., Kankakee, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Peoria.
• Hunters are in the fields today for the start of the seven-day shotgun deer season. The season, which runs through Sunday and resumes on Dec. 3 to 6, is the biggest draw of all deer hunting seasons, with over 390,000 permits issued in Illinois. Last year’s seven-day firearm season harvested 106,018 deer.
• The NAIA Cross-Country National Championships take place, well, across the country. Olivet Nazarene University will be sending its men’s team and two women to this year’s meet, held at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site in Vancouver, Wash. — by car, about 33 hours away. Read more in today’s sports section of The Daily journal.
A former Christian youth counselor and convicted sex offender, was indicted Wednesday on federal child pornography charges after investigators said they discovered two new victims.
Thomas Brian Fairclough, 37, of 746 S. Evergreen Ave., Kankakee, has been in jail and held without bond since his Oct. 27 arrest. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Peoria on one count each of production, distribution and possession of child pornography, and one count each of advertising and receipt of child pornography.
“Fairclough admitted that he had been downloading child pornography for over 12 years,” an FBI agent said in the affidavit.
“He identified users which he traded with the most, and stated that he had about 80 users which he traded child pornography with.”
• It’s a scenario of some residents’ dreams: After returning home from a weekend getaway they find that someone has decorated their place for the holidays. But it wasn’t a dream for a Herscher family who came home to that very situation earlier this week, and police now are investigating the case as a crime.
• Resisting a call to scrap the recently-adopted code enforcement inspection law in Bourbonnais, Village President Paul Schore said he sees changes that can be made and said the ordinance will not be enacted until it is adjusted.
• The annals of sports are filled with stories of teams, players and coaches overcoming adversity. Brett Ryan’s story probably won’t be made into a Hollywood movie, but it is cut from the same cloth as many of the legendary tales of toil and triumph. Read more in today’s sports section of The Daily Journal.
• The U.S. Census is quickly approaching and coordinating efforts to get a greater number of Kankakee County residents have been in the works for months as the county tries to improve on its performance from 2000.
• A Holiday Gift Guide is in today’s paper.
• For two years, Brittany Czaplicki sat in the passenger seat. Now, she’s learning how fun it can be to drive. The senior point guard was unheralded for the Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School girls’ basketball team’s 16-win season last year behind standouts Jasmine Johnson and Tami Richardson. She scored 17 points to help lead the Boilermakers to a 67-46 season-opening victory over Herscher on Tuesday night.
• Christmas came early for 17-year-old Luke Hebel of Manteno. It’s only fair: The problems of old age arrived prematurely too. Luke enjoyed a speedy $1,000 shopping spree Monday morning at the Best Buy store in Bradley.
• Columnist Jeff Bonty calls for added emphasis on the true meaning of Christmas.
• With her team quite literally running out of fouls to give, Rachel Mack decided she’d had enough. The Gardner-South Wilmington High School senior scored nine of her game-high 22 points in the span of three minutes in the third quarter to give her foul-prone team an insurmountable lead in a season-opening 64-36 win over host Manteno on Monday night.
• Some workers dream of retirement in their 40s. Others make plans to slow down in their 50s or 60s. A few will push on into their 70s. Meanwhile, Mardelle Gerard of Danforth has passed her 84th birthday and still isn’t thinking about calling it quits.
• Illini West High School football coach Jim Unruh took the sheet of plays he intended to run in Saturday’s game out of his pocket and showed it to the crowd of reporters.
His team had just emerged with a stunning 43-41 overtime victory over Wilmington in the Class 3A state quarterfinals, and the play that saved the game — and his team’s season — wasn’t on it.
• You are who you eat with. In the Frey household, the family eats well, but perhaps not properly. Weekly columnist chimes in on the poll that shows that the majority of families eat dinner together. Find out more in Mike Frey’s column today.
• Red, white and blue carnations were placed on 17,000 veterans graves in about half an hour at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery at Elwood Wednesday. It was part of Flowers for Heroes. The Gettysburg cemetery was done first. Lincoln was the second.
• How about a nice chewy flatbread with cream, caramelized onions, sweet red grapes, bacon and candied garlic? If you can make a pizza dough, caramelize onions and sauté garlic, you can make this rewarding dish. Find out how it today’s Life section.
• The football programs at Carthage High School (now Illini West) and Wilmington High School have arguably been two of the state’s more successful football programs over the course of the last decade.
Seems a shame that they’ve never met to prove who’s best, doesn’t it? Well, that mystery will finally get some closure as the two teams will lock horns on Saturday at 1 p.m. with a spot in the Class 3A semifinals going to the victor.
• Kankakee County Board member Nickey Yates announced that he was resigning, effective Nov. 30
• Candace Sykes trotted to the scorer’s table, ready to check into her first collegiate basketball game, ready to feel something besides pain. It was an exciting, nerve-wracking, bittersweet moment for the University of Alabama guard who starred for the Momence High School girls’ basketball team for four spectacular seasons.
• Out and About takes us to the stands of a football game, the Youth for Christ banquet, the ceremony honoring the Illinois National Guard, the Miss Kankakee program, Zonta Wine Tasting and a business after hours event in Watseka.
• The Red Wattle breed of pig has faced extinction for years, but has survived in large part because they taste so good. A farm in Chatsworth has become one of the few spots in the country breeding these animals.
• Fall gardening tips come your way in today’s life section along with a story about planting bulbs now for pretty springtime surprises.
• Kankakee Community College sophomore Jared Holmes is a soft-spoken, humble young man off the basketball court.
On the court, he’s a Tasmanian devil in gym shoes.
• Honoring approximately 100 Afghanistan veterans of the Illinois Army National Guard on Saturday, Guard Commander Dennis L. Celletti thanked family members for their sacrifice as well and the community for its “outpouring of support” when Charley Company returned home in August.
• The Beecher High School boys’ cross-country team had a third-place trophy in its hands. Then, with just one unfortunate move, it was gone. The team’s No. 3 runner, Jordan Joaquin, was disqualified after interfering with another runner, pushing the team — the favorite to win the state championship
— from a disappointing third-place finish all the way down to sixth at the Illinois High School Association Class 1A state finals on Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
• It’s only a patch of grass. But that small piece of turn on Memorial Field has been unkind to the Bishop McNamara Catholic High School football team over the last two years.
