The Marion County Board has approved a settlement with the Kroger company over their sales of opioids.
State’s Attorney Tim Hudspeth told the county board Tuesday night Kroger is the latest company to settle without admitting wrong doing in a nationwide lawsuit against manufacturers, distributors and retailers. He says the total settlement is for $1.2-billion with $8-million to be distributed to governmental units in Illinois. Marion County’s share will be about $27,000.
After the meeting, Hudspeth says six to eight defendants have now settled with the county receiving between $150,000 and $200,000. He notes the money has to be used to help those with drug dependencies. One idea that has been suggested is to help the drug court program.
“We’ve kind of brought it up and talked about it occasionally but we have never had a formal need. We’ve had the not for profit group. Several really large grants that have helped pay for things so this money is just sitting there until we do need it for something.”
Hudspeth says he has not yet studied what type of approval process has to be used to expend the money.
In other action, Raccoon Grade School Superintendent Missy Johannes asked the board for any help they could give to speed up the sheriff’s department in assigning a school resource officer that would be split between the Raccoon and Selmaville School Districts. Right now, Sheriff Kevin Cripps has indicated an officer should be available by January, but Johannes would like the officer even sooner.
911 Emergency Committee Chair Steve Whritenour reported the company that repaired the county’s tornado warning sirens would be back in Marion County on August 13th to tour the 911 dispatch centers in Salem and Centralia. They will then address the committee with a proposal at its meeting that night on upgrading the software in the sirens to allow for automatic sounding of individual sirens when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning for that area of the county.
The board took no action on support of a grant application for development of a downtown venue by the City of Salem. They want to learn more about the project first from a city official.
Animal Control Officer Ken Ferguson reported 17 dogs were picked up in June bringing the total for the year to 196.
