Local: Lyons specifically opposed nuisance suits 13 years ago
I recently was sent a link to a Journal Star article from March 12, 1995, about Chase Ingersoll’s efforts to bring nuisance suits against the owners of crack houses. This is what Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons said about such efforts back then:
Some lawyers praise Ingersoll as a “breath of fresh air” in Peoria’s legal community, but he has not exactly been embraced by the establishment.
“Mr. Ingersoll strikes me as a ready-fire-aim type of person,” said Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons, a tough-minded prosecutor who has not taken kindly to the righteous young lawyer’s trampling on his turf.
Ingersoll has criticized Lyons for not following his lead in using the nuisance law to chase crack dealers from Peoria neighborhoods.
“The resources are very thin, but we apply them as we are able to,” Lyons said. “I think that the approach of law enforcement is to cut out the roots, not simply darken the windows of their homes. Taking away the house they rented in October does not mean they will be out of business in November.”
Hmmm … does Lyons now think he was wrong mack then, or does he still think that taking away these rented homes won’t have any effect on crime? If so, then I guess his announcement of six nuisance suits is just a cynical attempt to talk tough and maybe score a few votes.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
I think Chase was ahead of the time on using civil action to combat drug, gang and prostitution issues. One can read about these kinds of intitiatives going on in other areas all the time today, but not so much back in the 90s.
[...] out of my chair. There is NOTHING slightly new about this plan. Folks, as I have pointed out in a previous post, Lyons was OPPOSED to this sort of thing. He thought it was waste of time back when neighborhood [...]