Webmeister
Alton doc Charles Earnshaw surrendered his medical license for good during a hearing Wednesday before a review board of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (DPR), several sources tell Dicta.
The DPR yanked his license in early December claiming Earnshaw is "an immediate danger to the public."
Access denied, Dicta spies may never know what questions were asked that might compel Earnshaw to throw down his hard-earned license. But we suspect the words "Lowell Thomas Lakin" were uttered somewhere in the back-and-forth.
What's good for the goose
Once upon a time, plaintiff's attorneys shopped Madison County judges like items at a grocery store.
But when the new sheriff came to town-- aka Chief Judge Ann Callis-- the spiffy suits were miffed at the chief's audacity in limiting judge substitution to just one shot. That includes class action attorney Stephen Tillery, keen on having his way with only the judges in his stead.
But greed makes strange bedfellows. Tillery's running battle to keep a $16 million fee in his lawsuit over the drug Paxil got a boon this week from Callis' new rules.
Rival lawyers tried to substitute for Judge Ralph Mendelsohn-- a Tillery fan-- but were denied. The ex-$10.1 billion man wasn't complaining this time.
JIB jab
In the event a complaint against reckless party-jurists Patrick Young and Jan Fiss ever reaches the Illinois Courts Commission, the St. Clair County circuit judges, both Democrats, could face less than friendly treatment.
The term of comrade Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto, who currently sits on the Commission-- an elite nine-member panel of judges who hear Judicial Inquiry Board complaints-- is due to expire Dec. 31.
Since the Illinois Supreme Court chooses Commission members, Justice Lloyd Karmeier, a Republican, would likely have a strong voice in selecting Cueto's replacement.
Oh, yeah that's right. There isn't a single Republican available among the combined 25 circuit and associate judges in the 20th Circuit.
Party on, dudes.
Me and Mr. Jones
Speaking of bad boys, embattled Tom Lakin was whooping it up with his long-time pal Rick Jones aboard Jones' luxury yacht just a few weeks ago.
Sources tell Dicta that Jones threw a party for Lakin on the new "Boat at the Riverbend," the original Alton Belle Casino vessel now owned by the land baron Jones.
Jones pocketed $4.7 million from the state last year in an eminent domain case involving a 20-mile extension of I-255 in Wood River.
Sources say the party was held in the section of the boat called, "Rick's Never Inn."
According to the boat's web site, "Rick's Never Inn" offers an environment "like no other establishment in the area." With Lakin as a guest, Dicta has to wonder-- what precisely do they mean?
On a side note, son Kris Lakin is listed on the web site's staff section as the webmaster and promotions contact.
And according to published reports, on Dec. 8, a fight erupted and a gunshot was fired at Rick's when a gun slipped out of the waistband of one of the men involved.
The stray bullet missed flesh in a crowd of about 20 patrons.