Published: November 02, 2009 07:11 pm      

DUI memorial sign temporarily removed

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — An Illinois DUI Memorial Sign in honor of 35-year-old Ronald Hale has been removed from the corner of Shawnee Street and Illinois Route 142.

The sign was first put up on Oct. 28, and was taken down by Illinois Department of Transportation crews on Oct. 31, according to Martha Schartz of IDOT.

The sign will be put back at a later date, according to Aaron Weatherholt of IDOT, who said the sign was taken down due to a complaint received from a family member of Steven Hanner, who is accused of six counts of driving under the influence of drugs and possession of more than 2.5 grams of marijuana in connection with the accident which took the life of Hale, of Waltonville.

A family member of Hanner’s allegedly complained that because Hanner has not been convicted, the sign should not have been placed. Weatherholt said the state statute and the administrative code do not require a conviction of DUI in connection with the memorial sign program, however an application form for the signs do ask for documentation including information on a conviction.

“I had the sign taken down Saturday because we want to be responsive, and I didn’t know the details at that time,” Weatherholt said. “Conviction is not in the law for the program or the rules for the program. We decided to remove it to maintain a neutral position.”

Weatherholt said as a result of the complaint, the application form for the DUI Memorial Sign Program is being reviewed for revision. He also said the family of Hale was notified the sign would be temporarily taken down.

Hale died on June 14, 2006, at 3:21 p.m. after the motorcycle he was driving was involved in an accident at the intersection of Shawnee and Illinois Route 142. Hanner, who was 16 at the time of the accident, was charged as an adult with six counts of aggravated driving under the influence of drugs and possession of more than 2.5 grams of marijuana. According to toxicology reports, Hanner allegedly had cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDA and ecstasy in his urine at the time of the accident, court reports, indicate. No trial date has been set for Hanner at this time.

The DUI Memorial Sign Program, sponsored by IDOT, is to memorialize deceased victims of crashes and to raise public awareness of the consequences of driving while impaired, according to information from IDOT. The memorial may be placed on state highways and crashes must have happened on or after Jan. 1, 1990.

An application for the memorial sign is filled out by the family of the deceased, and IDOT reviews the application. If approved, the family pays a one-time fee, and the memorial is installed at or near the location of the crash.