The state's first African-American sheriff may soon have a roadway named after him.
An Illinois Senate resolution that would rename a major roadway that runs north and south through the center of Decatur the "Sheriff Roger E. Walker Jr. Memorial Road" after the former Macon County sheriff who died in 2012.
The resolution that is expected to be introduced by Senator Andy Manar of Bunker Hill would direct workers to erect signs along Business Route 51 between Ash Avenue and Elwin Road.
When Walker was elected sheriff in 1998 he was the first African-American in the state to reach that position.
He was later appointed to serve as the director of the Illinois Department of Corrections.