Waukegan alderman Larry TenPas was fined this week by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in connection with a Nov. 14 incident on the city's north side where he beat a raccoon to death with a tire iron.
IDNR Sgt. Bill Shannon said Tuesday that TenPas was ticketed on Sunday for illegal taking of wildlife, which includes a fine of $120. Shannon added that TenPas can contest the ticket in circuit court or pay the fine through the mail.
The incident came to light at the Dec. 7 City Council meeting when north Sheridan Road resident Charles Rush spoke during the audience-comment period, telling the council that a homeowner on Douglas Court had called Waukegan Animal Control the morning of Nov. 14 about an apparently ill raccoon walking near her property.
Rush told the council that TenPas, "was informed about the incident, and he responded on that street, driving down it, opening up his trunk and using an instrument, which I can describe as a tire iron, to beat the animal to its eventual death."
"I'm sorry to report that our alderman, who signed an oath to the city to uphold the laws, was in violation of them on this occasion," added Rush, saying TenPas, "was not licensed to take that upon himself to act in this way."
"Excuses were given that the animal was rabid. I think subsequent tests determined it was not," Rush said. "It was out in daylight hours, which might have caused alarm. But Ald. TenPas' actions were not deliberative, they were reactive, and I find him, personally, in his own nature as unsuitable to serve our ward as alderman."
In an interview the week following the council meeting, TenPas confirmed that he responded to the scene after learning about the call and used a tire iron to kill the animal because, "I was concerned about the safety of kids in the neighborhood."
"I thought, I can take care of it. I take care of many problems in my ward," TenPas said. "Thinking about it, I could have done it a little differently."
The homeowner who called police about the raccoon, Carol Alleman, said in an early-December interview that she called police because the animal appeared disoriented. She added that while she was waiting for animal-control officers to respond, she looked outside her residence to see TenPas "whaling" on the raccoon.
"I saw him hit it 12 times at least," Alleman said. "The raccoon was suffering. It was trying to get away from him and it wasn't able to. ... I was sickened."
TenPas disputed that account, initially saying he hit the animal once but then added it might have been "two or three times."
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