Former Asst. Sec. General of the UN to speak in Peoria

From my inbox:

Gillian Sorensen, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations under Kofi Anan and currently Senior Advisor to the UN Foundation, will speak in Peoria on Thursday, November 19 at 7:00 pm at Barrack’s Cater Inn. She will address the topic “The US and the UN: Controversy and Opportunity” for the Peoria Area World Affairs Council. With her high level experience and access, this program is certain to provoke a lively discussion of the role of the UN and the role the US in UN activities in this changing world.

All high school and college students may attend the program for no charge, with their valid student ID. Adults may purchase tickets at the door for $10. Dinner will precede this event, served at 6:00 pm. The cost of dinner, which also includes the cost of the program, is $35 per person. Reservations for dinner must be made by calling the World Affairs Council at (309) 645-2580.

Prison escapee still at large CAUGHT! (Updated)

UPDATE: James Fuller, has been captured. He was found about 1:35 p.m. at 2114 N. North Street. See full report here.

### Original post follows ###

An e-mail from Peoria Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard to the City Council this morning says:

All, just wanted to let you know that as of 530 this morning, escapee Fuller has not been located. Our officers in conjunction with the county and others have continued our efforts through the night and have followed up all leads with negative results. We will continue our efforts today and I will advise If and when there is any significant news.

Yesterday, Aaron M. Cook (28) and James E. Fuller (44) escaped from the Peoria County Jail. Cook has since been recaptured. Fuller is still at large. More details on the breakout and recapture of Cook are available in this Journal Star article. Their escape was ingenious:

To make their initial escape, the inmates somehow cut a hole in the ceiling of a jail cell and carved another hole in the concrete-block roof of the facility, using a stack of books to boost themselves out. From there, they used a rope fashioned from bedsheets to rappel from the two-story-high roof to the ground.

Unlike the movie “Shawshank Redemption,” in which posters were used to hide progress in digging through a prison wall, Fuller and Cook apparently had placed the cut-away section of ceiling back in its place when they weren’t creating the hole in the concrete blocks….

[Sheriff Mike] McCoy said the men were discovered missing during breakfast. They had disguised they were gone by piling up clothing under their bed covers.

The oldest trick in the book. Here’s hoping that, unlike Shawshank Redemption, Fuller is recaptured quickly and put back in jail because, unlike Shawshank Redemption, Fuller isn’t an innocent victim kept in prison by a conniving warden. Fuller is a dangerous criminal, convicted of armed robbery and rape.