Flags unfurled, people saluted and tears were shed as Lance Cpl. Robert “R.J.” Newton made his way home one last time.
Lead by members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a hearse with a procession of more than 100 vehicles drove into East Peoria this afternoon.
There does not appear to be much of a drop-off at Geneseo.
The East Peoria football team saw that firsthand when it played one of Illinois’ decorated programs Friday in the season opener at Clatt Field.
Geneseo, the Class 4A state runner-up a year ago, scored 28 second-quarter points en route to a 42-7 non-conference victory.
Among national, state and local politicians, Kathy Perhay, a Sunnyland Merchant chairwoman, said it best: “Go Sunnyland!”
Perhay, of Tony and Son’s tire and auto repair, was one of many speakers Monday at a press conference at the East Peoria Event Center celebrating the completion of the Sunnyland portion of the Illinois Route 8 reconstruction project — which runs from east of Sunrise Avenue to west of Summit Street in East Peoria.
Starting in front of a small house on Holland Court in Creve Coeur and ending at the veterans’ monument in the center of town, 215 American flags line the route from where a local boy once lived to where now, as a fallen hero, he will be remembered.
A record number of ducks raced in the 22nd Annual Duck Race to benefit The Center for Prevention of Abuse presented by Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino.
Taking place outside of Old Chicago on the riverfront Sunday, the event raised approximately $125,000 to put an end to abuse.
Every year for Father’s Day, East Peoria firefighter Dan Davidson said he asks his wife and children for a very special gift. He asks that they allow him to go to camp.
