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Martin Luther King’s Influence Resonates in Illinois

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•January 23, 2019•

By Maudlyne Ihejirika
Chicago Sun-Times

“He would have been 90 this year,” says the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Jackson was reflecting on this year’s holiday honoring his mentor and friend.
Jan. 15 was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, celebrated nationally on Jan. 21.
As the years go by, there are fewer of those who marched with him to share their memories. But Jackson, one of his closest aides, can still recount milestone moments from King’s Chicago Freedom Movement of 1965-66 like it was yesterday.
“Our offices used to be at 366 E. 47th St., in what’s now Bronzeville, and we used to meet every Saturday morning at Chicago Theological Seminary,” says Jackson, 77, who first met the man of peace at an airport in 1964, when King was en route to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize.
Jackson then marched with King in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.
He soon joined the team of the charismatic civil rights leader and was assigned to run Operation Breadbasket, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s anti-poverty effort. Read More

Obituaries 1-23-2019: Brad Lane

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Brad Lane

Bradford H. Lane, 86, of Sullivan died at 8:30 a.m. Monday, January 21, 2019 in Mason Point in Sullivan.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, January 27 in Elim Springs Church of Jesus Christ with Vanessa Patient and Brigham Hagerman officiating. Visitation will be one hour before the services at the church. Burial will be in Greenhill Cemetery in Sullivan. Reed Funeral Home in Sullivan is in charge of arrangements. Read More

Preschool Round up

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•January 23, 2019•

It is time to think about Preschool for the upcoming school year, and available options are offered Monday, Feb. 11 and Tuesday, Feb. 12 at the First United Methodist Church in Sullivan.
Screenings are by appointment on Feb. 11 ranging from 12:30 - 6:15 p.m. and Feb. 12 from 9 a.m.- 2:15 p.m.
Project H.E.L.P. and the Sullivan School District offer free developmental screenings for birth to five year old children. Parents will have an opportunity to discover how their child is developing in the areas of speech, language, concepts and motor skills. Vision and hearing screening will also be provided free of charge.
Screenings are required for possible enrollment in the Project H.E.L.P. preschool classroom. Signed parent/guardian permission is required.
First Methodist Church is located at 216 West Jefferson St.
For an appointment call Mary Ann Portwood at 217-728-8381.

SPD Holiday Traffic Results

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•January 16, 2019•

The Sullivan Police Dept. conducted additional traffic enforcement over the holidays from Dec. 17 to Jan. 2., reminding motorists to drive sober and buckle up as part of the Illinois Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement effort.
The Sullivan Police Dept. joined the Illinois State Police and local law enforcement agencies across Illinois to reduce motor vehicle crashes, injuries and deaths by arresting impaired drivers and issuing seat belt and other vehicle code violations.
During the 16-day mobilization, Sullivan Police Dept. issued: • seven seat belt citations • three other traffic citations • one DUI arrests • suspended/revoked licenses • six uninsured motorists • seven speeding citations
The annual campaign may be over in Sullivan Illinois, but that isn’t an excuse to drive impaired. Driving drug or alcohol impaired is illegal and can result in a DUI because it’s extremely dangerous and irresponsible. Additionally, all vehicle occupants, regardless of seating position, are required to wear properly adjusted seat belts.
“Our officers are committed year-round. If you drive impaired, you will be arrested,” said James E Waggoner.
The Click It or Ticket/Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement effort is funded with federal highway safety funds administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation.[/s2If]

Obituaries 1-16-2019: Scott Blomeley

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Scott Blomeley

Walter Scott Blomeley, formerly of Sullivan, passed away peacefully Thursday, January 10, 2019 in Greenbriar Nursing Home in Bradenton, Florida at the age of 91. Visitation will be Thursday, January 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. in Reed Funeral Home in Sullivan. Funeral services will be Friday, January 18 at 10:30 am in Reed Funeral Home with internment and military rites conducted by Sullivan American Legion Post 68 afterwards at Greenhill Cemetery. Read More

Dine With Doc at Mason Point

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•January 16, 2019•

Senior Education Ministries, Inc. in partnership with the Sullivan Community has scheduled Dine with a Doc ® Sullivan on the first Tuesday of every month from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Max J. Knight Community Building Banquet Hall at Mason Point in Sullivan.
The Dine with a Doc®-Sullivan is scheduled for February 5, and Dr. Garrett Buell D.C. from Mattoon Chiropractic is the featured speaker.
Dr. Buell earned his Doctorate of Chiropractic from Logan University in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Garrett also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Eastern Illinois University. Read More

Obituaries 1-16-2019: Dale Bland

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Dale Bland

Dale W. Bland, 82, of Mt. Zion, formerly of Bethany, passed away at 12:16 p.m. Friday, January 11, 2019 in Memorial Medical Center in Springfield. Private family services will be held at a later date. McMullin-Young Funeral Home in Bethany is in care of the arrangements.
Dale was born April 24, 1936 in Sparland, a son of F.H. and Irma Waughop Bland. He served in the United States Army. Dale married Donna D. Kirkwood May 23, 1968 in Sullivan, and she survives. He was a graduate of Eureka College. Dale was a retired farmer and a partner in F.H. Bland & Sons John Deere Dealership in Bethany. Read More

Sullivan School Board Approves New High School Principal

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•January 16, 2019•

By Mike Brothers

Dan Allen was approved as high school principal by the Sullivan Community Unit #300 School Board at the January 14 meeting.
Allen, the Sullivan Elementary School principal, replaces Erik Young who starts the 2019-20 year as superintendent of Ridgeview CUSD #19.
Supt. Ted Walk noted Young was chosen from a nationwide pool of candidates and was unanimously approved by the Ridgeview School Board.
The Ridgeview School District is adjacent to Fairbury, the town in which Young grew up.
Young began his administrative career at Sullivan schools, serving as the high school and middle school assistant principal for four years before stepping into the role of high school principal for the past six years. Read More

Understanding Illinois: Will it be ‘Happy Days’ or ‘Blood, Sweat, Toil and Tears’?

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•January 16, 2019•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

I hate to play the skeleton at the feast, because Gov.-elect J. B. Pritzker has an apparently strong desire to do more and better for the state of Illinois. Yet, he must face the harsh realities of having inherited a fiscal system that is broke, deep in debt, bankrupt in the sense that Illinois cannot pay its bills in anything close to a timely fashion.
So, will the themes for his forthcoming state of the state and budget messages be akin to “Happy Days Are Here Again” or a somber “Blood, toil, tears and sweat”?
Here is snapshot of the situation he faces. For probably two decades now, Illinois state government has been running annual budget deficits of roughly $3 billion or more, on average, when unfunded future obligations and piled up unpaid bills are included.
The situation is so bad that in 2017, according to Reuters, the state paid out more than $1 billion (a 1 followed by 9 zeroes) to vendors in late payment penalty fees, a frittered-away billion dollars of taxpayer dollars that did not buy a solitary good or service!
The state’s credit cards are all maxed out. If Illinois continues to spend more than it takes in, while bills pile up, the folks at the bond rating agencies will begin to mutter “Puerto Rico” under their breath (P.R., the bankrupt semi-sovereign American commonwealth).
During his campaign, J.B., as he likes to be called, pledged to enact a progressive income tax (higher tax rates for higher incomes), a big infrastructure building program, and increased spending for education, higher education, and more. Read More