Ethanol plant goes bust

A lot of farmers in west-central Illinois just lost a grain cart-load of money.

Hype about anticipated ethanol production has played a significant role in the run-up in farm prices in west-central Illinois over the past few years. Hoping to capitalize on this hype, many local farmers made considerable investments in a new ethanol plant outside of Canton.

But the $40 million plant just went bust.

Brenda Rothert of the Peoria Journal Star has the story:

The minimum lost by the farmers who spoke with the Journal Star was $29,000 each for investing in just one share, not including the value of the corn they delivered. Farmers who purchased more than one share lost much more, and some farmers say they might lose their farms.

"It makes us all look so stupid," said one. "I'm trying to explain to my wife and son why I did this, and it doesn't make any sense."

A group of farmers from Fulton and McDonough counties who invested in the project recently talked to the Journal Star on the condition that their names not be used.

A good idea

When they were first approached in 2001 about the plan to build a $40 million ethanol plant, the farmers said it seemed to be a good idea.

"The community's been good to us," said one. "It would create some jobs."

They had to invest the money by March 2002, and projections from project planners called for the plant to be making alcohol by July 2003. Farmers had to commit $5,000 per share, plus pledge in writing to deliver 5,000 bushels of corn annually for five years.

One farmer said he supported the idea but was unsure about whether he could afford it.

"I really didn't have the $5,000 to put in," he said. "But I came up with it and put it in."

Since his farm lacks storage facilities for his corn, he figured it was a good decision, because he's close to the plant and would be delivering corn there.

But then board members came back to the farmers and asked them to double their investments: $10,000 and 10,000 bushels of corn annually for five years. Not all of the farmers agreed to double their investments. Those that did lost twice as much, plus the value of the corn.

"I swallowed hard," said the farmer who had struggled to invest the initial $5,000. But again, he did it.

Then board members came to the farmers again and asked them to sign letters of credit for the project. For each $5,000 share, they wanted a $24,000 letter of credit. Farmers went to their banks and signed paperwork for a $24,000 loan to the plant. The farmers would have to personally repay the loans if the company called them in.

"They kept saying that the creditors wanted to make sure we as investors delivered the corn," one farmer said.

"There was pressure put on," another said.

"I didn't want to be the one guy who messed things up," a third farmer said. "Almost all of us signed this thing."

The farmers' troubles may continue. Many fear that they'll be forced to honor their contracts and deliver corn to the ethanol plant for several more years.

Websites about road projects

A couple weeks ago, the governor's office launched a new website to track the expansion/improvement of U.S. Route 67, which cuts through west-central Illinois, linking the Quad Cities to St. Louis.

http://www.dot.state.il.us/us67/index.html

One thing I learned is that the project will involve building a new four-lane bridge over the Illinois River at Beardstown; I'd figured that construction crews would expand the current bridge or simply whittle down traffic to two lanes for that section.

Anyway, the site gives a decent overview but is a little short on maps. Far more detailed ones can be found on the website for Illinois 336 -- the proposed four-lane linking Macomb to Peoria.

http://www.peoriatomacomb.com

Links to school profiles, report cards

If you're investigating school districts -- whether in west-central Illinois or anywhere else in the state -- you might want to visit some websites that compile school performance data.

Start by going here, where you can read a letter from our governor. The letter gives you overview of how the state organizes school district information, then provides you with two links.

The first, the Illinois School Profile, gives you just the highlights of a school -- the attendance rate, average class size, and district spending. You can also determine whether the school has been making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the guidelines set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act.

But if you want even more exhaustive analysis of a school -- and the link mentioned above doesn't satisfy you -- you can also check out the more thorough Report Cards. There, you can do extensive quantitative analysis of how students performed in different subject areas, as well as within different ethnic and socio-economic groups. (Call me cynical, but I have deep concerns about this ethnic and socio-economic data being included, largely because I think the people who care about this information the most are the same people most likely to exploit it for their own benefit.)

Just as universities don't use ACT scores as the sole measurements for deciding whether students should be admitted, parents shouldn't use these profiles and reports as the only means of choosing a school. The information in the reports gives a lot of data, but there's a lot missing, too. What about student evaluations of teachers, for example? Or feedback from parents? Or (best of all) how about some comments by veteran teachers, the sort forming the nucleus of any school's teaching staff, who have the best historical understanding of where the district's been and where it's headed?

Of course, you can't put some of that stuff down in numbers form, the way the profiles and reports do. But that's what I'd like to see, at least to complement the data already there. End of rant.

The rentals list

At our office, I spend most of my time helping people who want to buy or sell real estate. But every week or so, I get a call about something else -- and the question I'm asked is always the same:

"Do you guys have any rentals?"

That's when I mention our list.

Our office doesn't actually own any rentals or perform property management for landlords. Nonetheless, we realize that many people, especially those new to the area, need places to rent and don't know the names of some of the local landlords to call. That's why we maintain and distribute a list of every currently available rental we know about. We give out the list free to anyone who wants it.

The list isn't exhaustive -- though we'd like it to be -- and doesn't rival the Chicago version of Craigslist. But for many people, the list provides a helpful start to the housing search. (Other good sources of rentals include the classified sections of the Macomb Eagle and Macomb Journal, our local newspapers.)

Because Macomb is by far the largest city in the area, most of the rentals on our list are located there. Occasionally we also get some rentals in the smaller towns nearby; Good Hope has frequently claimed a spot on the list with a rental or two. But you'd be surprised how often people call asking for rentals in specific towns (like Bushnell, Colchester, Table Grove, etc.), and we rarely have anything that specific. We hope to improve in that regard.

If you're a local landlord and looking for a tenant, call and tell us to put your name, phone number, and available rental address on the list. We'll do it for free. And we'll leave the information on the list indefinitely -- until you tell us otherwise.

Lately I've started getting more creative with the list. One client just bought a house and told me that he's looking for a roommate. No problem, I said. We added his info to the list. No word yet if he's had any leads, though I'm optimistic he'll get at least a few inquiries.

I can't claim credit for coming up with the original idea for the list; other agents started it long before I joined the office in 2004. But I'm happy to carry on the good work. After all, if we're not helping people, we're not doing our jobs.