The Sentinel

Prep Sports Notebook | Basketball season coming to a close, SJO soccer starts

Rockets lose another close one

Blake Kimball delivered points in all four quarters of Unity's road loss to Bloomington Central Catholic on March 9. The junior star led the team with 20 points and was 6-for-7 from the free throw line.

Will Cowan and Nate Drennan chipped in seven points a piece in the last game of the Rockets' 2021 basketball season. The team finished 3-9 overall, 2-6 in conference play.

St. Joseph-Ogden falls to Olympia

More than 40 spectators were on hand on a super windy Wednesday to watch SJO's first game of the season. The outcome wasn't what the Spartans had hoped for falling 3-1 to visiting Olympia in the season opener.

A little under four minutes after the visitors scored the first goal of the game at 26.:56, SJO senior Logan Ingram answered with unassisted shot in the center slice to tie up the game 1-all in the first period.

Olympia added two more scores, one with 15 and half minutes left in the half and the other early in the second period to seal the conference win.

The Spartans are back in action for another Illini Prairie Conference dual next week on Tuesday at Unity.

Pence has another 30-plus game

Ty Pence scored 36 points in St. Joseph-Ogden's 59-51 win over St. Thomas More at home last night. Logging yet another double-double this season, the sophomore baller hauled in 13 of the team 29 rebounds against the Sabers.

Making 57% of his shots from the field, Jackson Rydell finished with 8 points. Meanwhile, Evan Ingram and Andrew Beyers contributed in the reschedule game from February with six points apiece.

SJO (8-3) plays their final game of the season on Friday against Bismarck-Henning tomorrow evening in non-conference competition. The Spartans completed their conference campaign with a 5-2 record.

St. Thomas More (4-3, 3-3) was paced by the 6-foot-3 Averi Hughes with 26 points and 12 boards.

New bill in committee would grant 'police powers' to General Assembly members

by Patrick Andriesen, Communications Intern
Illinois Policy

A bill in Springfield would grant “conservator of the peace” powers to all members of the Illinois General Assembly.

After Illinois state representatives and senators completed a law enforcement training course, House Bill 724 would allow them to:

Arrest or cause to be arrested, with or without process, all persons who break the peace or are found violating any municipal ordinance or any criminal law of the state

Commit arrested persons for examination

If necessary, to detain arrested persons in custody overnight or Sunday in any safe place or until they can be brought before the proper court, and

Exercise all other powers as conservators of the peace prescribed by state and corporate authorities.

State Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, has raised concerns about the proposed bill.

"Who’s going to carry the liability insurance? Who’s going to wear body cameras and when is that going to be required?" Caulkins said to WAND-TV. "Do you want political people with the power to arrest someone that they may not agree with politically? I mean, I think there’s a lot to be thought about."

The concerns Caulkins expressed over mixing the lawmaking powers of representatives with law enforcement echo criticisms long aimed at Chicago aldermen.

Alderman have been considered “conservators of the peace” under Illinois law since 1872, granting them the power to make arrests and carry a concealed handgun in the case they or someone else is under immediate threat of bodily harm. They also have badges.

But because Chicago is a home-rule municipality, city alderman were able to pass legislation making themselves exempt from the state-mandated firearm training required of law officers to carry firearms, despite possessing similar policing powers.

The bill was assigned to the House Executive Committee on March 2.

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Patrick is a communications intern with the Illinois Policy Institute. In this role, he focuses on creating and analyzing content to support our published research and experts in the media. Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that promotes responsible government and free market principles. This story was originally published on March 9, 2021.