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HOBART HAPPENINGS

By Janelle Fisher
Staff Writer

Hobart/Lawrence Police Chief Bani to retire
Following a closed session discussion at the Sept. 20 meeting, the Hobart Village Board reconvened to accept the retirement of Police Chief Randy Bani.

Bani’s career in law enforcement and fire and rescue services began more than four decades ago following his completion of a degree in criminal justice.

Trained and certified in police, fire and rescue services, Bani held several titles and ranks over the years, including investigator, firefighter, paramedic, Sgt. Lt., Commander and Chief.

Bani came to the Hobart/Lawrence Police Department in 2003 as a part-time investigator and was promoted to Chief of Police while attending the FBI National Academy in 2004.

Bani’s retirement will officially go into effect January 2, 2023.

Donations awarded to fire, police department
Two donations were presented at the Hobart Village Board’s Sept. 20 meeting — one split between the fire department and police department and another for the construction of the new fire station.

The first donation was presented by organizers of the First Annual Hobart Fire and Rescue and Hobart/Lawrence Police Department Golf Outing held in August.

The golf outing, organized by Larry Schwochert, Lori and Jim Jenson, Kevin Frederick, Mary Kay and Rusty Bishop and Mary Kay Wilke, raised a grand total of more than $50,000.

At Tuesday’s meeting, checks were presented in the amount of $29,100 each to the Hobart Fire Department to be put toward the construction of the new fire station and to the Hobart/Lawrence Police Department, to assist with equipment purchases.

Village President Richard Heidl expressed his appreciation for the organizers of the event.

“You guys are a testimony as to what citizens really should be and the way most of our citizens are in this village,” he said. “This is wonderful because it was organic, you guys started on your own. On behalf of all of us here, this is a pleasure for us to serve people like yourselves because it’s reciprocal — and it is definitely reciprocal. We are so thankful for the support that we have for the police and fire and village.”

Corey and Megan Juelich, along with their children Liam and Allison, also presented a donation of proceeds raised from a lemonadestand/bake sale they hosted earlier this month.

“I’ll be honest, a lemonade sale on Labor Day weekend, I didin’t know how much you were going to raise,” Village Administrator Aaron Kramer said. “You emailed me and I fell on the floor when I heard the number.”

The Juelich family’s lemonade stand/bake sale generated an astounding $5,107 which was donated towards the construction of Hobart’s new fire station.

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