THE
Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2026
InsiDE
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Giant City Stables reopens | Page 5
VOL. 109, ISSUE 25
Softball and baseball recaps | Page 9
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Marion hosts roller derby | Page 11
Carterville assistant coach is subject of subpoenas JACKSON BRANDHORST MOLLY PARKER jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian.com mparker@capitolnewsillinois.com
CARTERVILLE — The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State Board of Education have served subpoenas on the
Carterville school district in southern Illinois seeking the personnel file and any disciplinary records of John J. Wakey, a Carterville High School teacher and assistant football coach who is under investigation for criminal sexual abuse. The sheriff’s office served its
subpoena on the district for Wakey’s records on Feb. 25, four days after announcing it had opened an investigation involving an unnamed Carterville school district employee accused of sexually abusing a former student. Capitol News Illinois obtained
Thrifting a piece of Carbondale
the subpoenas under a Freedom of Information Act request. Sheriff Jeff Diederich told Capitol News Illinois last week that his office has received numerous calls since making the announcement and believes there may be multiple victims. A second subpoena from the
TO SEE OUR COVERAGE ON CARBONDALE’S THRIFT STORES VISIT PAGE 6-7
CARTERVILLE | 3
Fazoli’s and Freddy’s close in Carbondale ORION WOLF owolf@dailyegyptian.com
Taylor Hargraves brings a bin from the back of The Thrift Shop into the store on Feb. 10, 2026 in Carbondale, Illinois. The Thrift Shop has been a staple in the city for cheap clothes and household items since 1962. Emily Brinkman | @erb_photo
sheriff’s office, issued the same day investigators sought Wakey’s personnel file, requests academic records for 17 former students whose names the district redacted, citing a privacy exemption under Illinois’ public record law. The subpoena does
In the past few weeks, two Carbondale restaurants were suddenly closed, Freddy’s and Fazoli’s. The parent company that owned Fazoli’s, Fat Brands, and M&M Custard, a franchisee of Freddy’s, both filed for bankruptcy which led to their closures. M&M Custard, a franchisee of Freddy’s, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 last November, which allows the company to remain in operation and reorganize their finances with the oversight of the creditors of the debt and the court. “This difficult decision was made solely by the franchise owner after careful consideration of their business circumstances,” Freddy’s
public relations manager Kim Hunyh wrote in an email. “We’re grateful for the community’s support and for the dedicated team members who served them.” Sebastian Gonzalez, an employee at the Carbondale Freddy’s location said that co-workers told him that the establishment just wasn’t getting enough business from customers. “I wouldn’t say we all saw it coming but the hints toward it were that we were running out of stuff and it kinda like got in our heads,” Gonzalez said. With not much time left this semester, Gonzalez, an SIU student, doesn’t see a point in trying to get a new job before leaving for the summer. CLOSURE | 3
Linemen travel miles to keep the lights on KRISTIN BORCHERS kborchers@dailyegyptian.com
Suspended in the air by his bucket, unharnessed, his winch snapped and Dale Guetersloh shot 35 feet into the air from his truck, knocking him unconscious. He’d been taking down a power pole, then woke up facedown in gravel, coughing up blood, unsure how badly he’d been hurt. Only when he regained consciousness and looked down did he realize he couldn’t move his wrist. He managed to walk away that day in 2003 with only a torn lip, a mangled
wrist and another story that could have ended far worse. Now 60, Guetersloh is still out in the elements at dawn — and at all the unpredictable hours that outages and southern Illinois weather demand. He’s one of dozens of linemen across this rural region who keep the power grid alive. Guetersloh is the serviceman for the Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative’s outpost in Metropolis. At the southernmost tip of the state, he watches over territory in Johnson and Massac counties, plus a sliver of
Pope County. He chuckles when he recalls his start in the business. “I can remember when I was in my early 20s and my dad said, ‘I’d like to get you set up and get you to the union hall and get you in,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Man, my uncle got killed doing that,’” Gutersloh said. “I mean, why would I want to be a part of that?” Yet decades later, Guetersloh became part of that workforce — one most people only notice when the lights go out.
A family tradition As climate change amplifies the amount of severe weather that sweeps through the country, linemen face an increasingly challenging — and sometimes thankless — job. In southern Illinois, that job is made even more difficult by the vast territories lineman cover. On a day-to-day basis, Guetersloh drives around 120 miles managing his lines. Years on the same route have etched it into his memory. For Guetersloh, climbing power poles is a family tradition.
Born and raised in Murphysboro, Guetersloh grew up the son of a well-known and respected lineman for Central Illinois Public Service Co., which later merged to become Ameren Illinois. He still remembers winter nights as a child when the wind howled outside his bedroom window. He said he would hide under his covers and think about his dad working outside — and how crazy he was for doing it. Then, he followed in his footsteps. Before entering line school at
LINEMEN | 4