Braidwood Journal

Third grade students from Ms. Natalie Kilpatrick’s class at Reed-Custer Elementary School have sent their letters off to the North Pole and they shared their holiday wish lists to Santa with The Braidwood Journal. The letters appear as written by the students who continue to learn the art of writing.

At 8:29 a.m. Nov. 25, a mother’s worst nightmare came true.
It was then that Tashondra Smith of Dallas, Texas, learned her son De’Avion Smith, 25, had been killed in a hit-and-run accident.
On that Tuesday morning, Illinois State Troopers responded to a report of a person on the ground on southbound Route 53 at Thele Road in Elwood.
Upon arrival, Troopers found De’Avion Smith’s body. Nearby was his bicycle, the very one he had used to get to his job at Amazon because his car was in the shop.

ELWOOD—The Illinois State Police (ISP) is requesting the public’s assistance with a fatal crash investigation.
On Tuesday, Nov. 25, at approximately 8:29 a.m., ISP responded to Route 53 southbound at Thele Road in Elwood for a report of a person on the ground. Upon arrival, Troopers located a male bicyclist who was struck by a vehicle.
The bicyclist, DeAvion Smith, 25, of Joliet, was transported to St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet and was pronounced deceased at 9:17 a.m.

The Braidwood city council took action last week to establish a fourth TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district where a proposed data center may be built.
When a TIF district is created, the current property value is “frozen” at the baseline for a specific period of time.
In response to a question by Commissioner Warren Wietting, whose business lies within the city’s third TIF District, city attorney Bryan Wellner explained.