McDonough Lawsuit Charges Civil Rights Violations

Macomb, IL – McDonough County is still waiting to find out if its insurance carrier will provide an attorney to defend it against a federal lawsuit. The suit filed by former county workers Jeremy Pestle and Bryan Graves charges the county, the board chairman and the highway committee chairman with violating due process and with infringing on free speech rights. State's attorney James Hoyle says he suggested the county use an outside attorney. Graves and Pestle say job actions were taken against them after they insisted the county do something about the discovery of pornography on the county engineer's computer. Pestle was fired from the department while Graves was demoted.