The Taylorville Kiwanis Club heard from the Christian County State’s Attorney at their Tuesday noon meeting at the Moose Lodge.
John McWard was elected in 2022, and re-elected to a full term in 2024. McWard told Kiwanis members that over the 3 years he’s been in office, he’s continued to save the taxpayers money. For the last fiscal year, his office was some 150-thousand dollars under budget while continuing to handle cases.
McWard said that meth addition continues to be a problem in Christian County, with 85-percent of the cases he prosecutes involving cooking or using meth.
McWard told the Kiwanis Club he was proud of the fact that the length of time it’s taken to prosecute a case has declined to 9 months. He added that due to the number of cases that have been prosecuted and those found guilty sentenced to other correctional facilities, the number of prisoners in the local county jail has dwindled from 75 to 27.
McWard credits his staff for helping him get cases prosecuted in a timely manner. That staff includes first assistant Skip DePappe, civil prosecutor Mary Barry, victim witness coordinator Erica Nation, and 4 administrative staff members.
The Taylorville Kiwanis Club is part of a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time. Weekly meetings are held Tuesdays at noon at the Taylorville Moose Lodge. For information on the club, go to taylorvillekiwanis.com.
