Kankakee Times

Manteno resident Ryan McHeffey has a lot riding on Manteno.

The 37-year-old military veteran along with his wife moved their five children, as well as his niece and nephew of which he has legal custody, to the community of Manteno two and a half years ago.

“I love this town. This is the town I wanted to come to on the military veterans. You know, I just. It’s awesome here. You can’t beat this town,” he told the Kankakee Times.

He said he loves the community feel of Manteno where he and his wife’s children all go to public school.

“Everyone says hi. Everyone waves,” he said.

“You know, this town has a personality and it’s being destroyed by these people in office.”

McHeffey said that is why he is now running for office in Manteno as trustee.

But first, they are trying to get the current officeholders expelled.

“(We’ve) hired attorneys and hopefully we can get a recall done and try to get these guys out of here,” he said.

The movement to overturn the local government has coalesced quickly following the announcement of a lithium ion car battery plant to be built and operated by Gotion, which has connections to the Chinese Communist Party.

“It’s just a sad it’s a sad state of mind we’re in right now, He said. “The American people as a whole need to wake up and start voting these people out, fighting for what is right, making good decisions, especially for the future of our children.”

McHeffey and other Manteno residents gathered at the Manteno Council meeting on Monday night to voice their displeasure with the current leadership in connection to greenlighting the battery plant.

“It was full of red-blooded Americans that didn’t want a communist company to come into their town,” he said.

The opposition drew around 130 people according to Edgar County Watchdogs.

“It was a protest,” he said. “It wasn’t a physical walk-in protest. It was just a show of us good American people standing by the wayside saying, ’Hey, we don’t want this here. This is our town.’”

Meanwhile, the Manteno Village Board and Mayor Timothy Nugent, who is in his fifth term, have signed non-disclosure agreements with Gotion, limiting what they are able and willing to discuss about the proposed plant with constituents.

“We’ve been trying to ask our board questions and the mayor and they just sit back and they’re quiet,” McHeffey said. “They don’t say a word. And it’s like a joke to them. They were smirking during the meeting yesterday and it’s just sad because it’s happening everywhere, not just here.”

McHeffey said he went to a previous Manteno council meeting to share his feelings.

“I was actually shocked because a couple of weeks ago I stood up in the board meeting and I told the mayor and I told the trustees that they were put on notice due to the fact that they did what they did,” he said. “They went behind the American people’s backs and did what they did and not said a word. More people stood up this time and they spoke their voices and told them how they felt. It is safety, that was a big thing, too. It’s caustic, it’s cancer-causing. Just all around it’s a bad deal. We’re dealing with a terrorist communist nation that does not like the American people. I just don’t understand that.”

McHeffey feels the movement transcends right and left.

“It should be bipartisan regardless,” he said. “That’s the problem nowadays. It’s the media. The media itself is at everyone’s fingertips. The media is so dishonest nowadays that they could just throw whatever on there and it’s not even a factual information anymore. It’s what they want you to believe. I call it ‘chaos and control.’ They cause the chaos and then guess what? They have the control.”

According to Edgar County Watchdogs, Manteno witnessed a significant turnout of more than 130 concerned residents at a press conference and subsequent village board meeting, both of which focused on opposing the recently announced $2 billion Gotion EV battery plant.

The residents voiced their concerns over the extensive economic incentives, totaling more than $8 billion, provided to the company by federal and state entities, emphasizing their opposition to this major development in their community.

The event was hosted by the Illinois Freedom Caucus, along with local residents and supporters, in order to voice opposition to the battery plant planned for Manteno.

This event addressed concerns raised by Manteno residents, including zoning regulations, property taxes, healthcare access, and potential national security implications of the Chinese company’s generous subsidies through federal tax credits, amid increasing tensions between the U.S. and China.

The Gotion controversy involves the Chinese company’s plans to receive $8 billion in taxpayer subsidies for a $2 billion battery factory in Manteno, which has raised concerns among residents and lawmakers, according to Wirepoints.

The citizens of Manteno, along with concerned Michigan and North Dakota residents, where other similar Gotion battery plants have been planned, and a U.S. House committee, are questioning the substantial taxpayer funding granted to a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.