News Progress

•September 23, 2026•

By E. Scott England

It was a relatively mundane meeting for the Village of Lovington this month. Absent member Andrea Wardrip, the remaining six carried out business efficiently.

Only one of the three attending members of the public chose to speak at this meeting. A concerned citizen was once again inquiring about the possibility of automatic debits for their water bill. The speaker had even gone as far as inquiring to the bank about the possibility of this. Unfortunately, the board informed, the software the village uses does not allow for automatic debits at this time. Asking if anything at all could be done, the village trustees said, regrettably, no, but they are hoping a future upgrade by the software company will allow for this down the road. The trustees did mention that they are willing to email a bill along with mailing a hardcopy to ensure the bill arrives in a timely manner.

For two hours, I traded my reporter’s notebook for a chalkboard slate
•September 23, 2026•

by Ariana R. Cherry

For a few hours on Saturday, Sept. 12, an old schoolhouse became a classroom again — and I became one of its students. I arrived at the Illinois Amish Heritage Center expecting to learn about Amish education. I didn’t realize quite how literally that would happen.

Inside the historic Miller Amish German School, about 15 to 20 of us gathered in the small classroom, including visitors and local Amish residents who would lead us through the experience. At the front of the room was Sharon Miller, who had once been an Amish schoolteacher herself.

Before long, I had a chalkboard slate in my hands. And then school began. We started with German, learning the alphabet and hearing the familiar “ABC” song sung in a language that has played an important role in Amish faith and education for generations. We heard the Lord’s Prayer in German and listened as German songs filled the little schoolhouse. Then came spelling. Reading. And math. I found myself working with Roman numerals and subtracting fractions — subjects I hadn’t exactly expected to encounter when I walked through the schoolhouse door that morning. We read aloud, too. One of our stories was about a little girl determined to sew a doll by herself. Her determination didn’t end particularly well when she got a needle stuck in her finger. Beneath the simple story was a familiar lesson: sometimes patience — and listening to your parents — really is the better choice.