Spencer appointed to drug task force board

As the race for top prosecutor in Whiteside County enters its final seven weeks, Republican incumbent Gary Spencer scored a small victory with his appointment to treasurer of the area's five-county drug squad. Spencer, a founding member of the Blackhawk Area Task Force's seven-member advisory board, was tapped for the position to fill a vacancy left by retiring Whiteside County Sheriff Roger Schipper. Spencer's appointment comes in the run up to a hotly contested election in which the 27-year veteran prosecutor faces formidable opposition for only the second time in his six-term tenure. Police brass on the task force's advisory board, however, say politics had nothing to do with their decision. Amy Huffman, an assistant state's attorney in