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Year End Review…Continued from our December 26, 2018 Edition

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•January 2, 2019•

April 2018

April 4

Seventy pieces of art created by area school-aged children were entered in the Sullivan Area Arts second Youth Art show held at Elizabeth Titus Library. K-5 grade students with awards presented to Macey Boddy, Lovington; Isabella Manna, Lovington; Zoey Crothers, Sullivan; Addisyn Ploski, Lovington; Austin Bates, Lovington; Elise Fleming, Sullivan; Connor Edmonds, Lovington; Janae Hopper, Sullivan; Karsyn West, Sullivan and Jessica Voyles, Sullivan.
Sullivan High School student Katie Webb was chosen one of 10 state winners in the Illinois Public Radio essay contest. Webb’s composition “This I Believe” competed with 200 entries, with the author receiving a $100 prize.
The Findlay High School Alumni banquet will honor the classes of 1948,58,68,78,88 and 98. The Distinguished Alumni award recipient is Chris (Eadie) Tippit for her service to the community.
Maranda Tarvin, a junior at Windsor High School recently made varsity first team all conference (NTC) in Scholastic Bowl. Sophomore Max Carr made the fresh-soph first All Scholastic Bowl conference team.
Sullivan High School juniors Spencer Johnson and Brody Goss have been selected by the Sullivan American Legion Post 68 to attend the Illinois Premier Boys State program at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston during the summer. Post 68 and the Sons of American Legion are co-sponsors for Johnson and Goss. Read More

Vandalia Tourney Tough on OV Team

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•January 2, 2019•

The Okaw Valley boys’ basketball team lost the seventh place game in the 47th Annual Vandalia Holiday Tournament 71-47 to Pana Friday.
Cameron Sharp led OV with 13 points, and Tyson Montgomery scored 10.
To reach the seventh-place game, OV also lost to host Vandalia in a close 57-53 game Dec. 26.
Sam Hagerman scored 12 points, and Cale Roley added 11 points. Read More

Obituaries 1-2-2019: Davadia Rincker

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Davadia Rincker

Davadia Lela Rincker, 88, of Shelbyville, Ill., joined her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, at 5:30 a.m. Monday, December 24, 2018 in Hawthorne Inn in Shelbyville.
Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Saturday, December 29 in Shelby Christian Church in Shelbyville with the Rev. Mark Sanders and the Rev. Dennis Corley officiating. Howe and Yockey Funeral Home in Shelbyville handled arrangements. Burial was in Windsor Cemetery in Windsor, Ill. Read More

100 Women Who Care

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•January 2, 2019•

Have you heard about the 100 Women Who Care group in Sullivan? They have been in existence since July 2016 and have given over $39,000 to worthy organizations in the community. The best news is that they have done it by meeting for 30 minutes or less four times a year, and any woman is welcome to join.
100 Women Who Care is a nationwide initiative started by women who want to help their communities but don’t want to sell items or spend hours working fundraisers. Locally organized groups meet four times a year and ask women to commit to giving $100 each quarter, either as an individual or part of a team. Read More

Sullivan Wins Classic Championship Over Improved Knight Squad

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Photo by Jason Brown
Zoe Walton (#14) pulls up for a jumper.

•January 2, 2019•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports

The Sullivan girls’ basketball team knocked off host Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond in the championship game of the Knights Holiday Classic December 22.
Unlike the first meeting between the two teams a month before in which Sullivan was up by 20 before halftime, Sullivan had a more difficult time putting the Knights away.
Sullivan jumped out early to a 17-7 first quarter lead, but the Knights outscored the Redskins 9-4 in the second quarter to cut the lead to 26-21 at halftime.
Sullivan stretched the lead in the third quarter to 10 points.
“We did not play exceptionally well today, and that is in large part due to the fact that ALAH played us pretty tough,” said Sullivan coach Sheri McCain. “The girls have played four games in three days, and tonight I think fatigue showed a bit in our outside shooting.” Read More

Thinking About Health: Ruling Against the ACA Would End Needed Benefits

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•January 2, 2019•

By Trudy Lieberman
Rural Health News Service

Right before Christmas a U.S. District Court Judge in Texas ruled the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, was unconstitutional. What’s more, the judge didn’t just throw out the controversial provision that nearly every American is required to carry health insurance, he tossed out the entire law with its myriad provisions.
“Nearly everyone would be affected in some way if the Texas judge’s ruling that the entire ACA is unconstitutional is upheld,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It would also be a big deal if only the ACA’s preexisting conditions were thrown out as the Trump administration has argued.”
Indeed, it would. Although I’ve argued there are many flaws in the Affordable Care Act, its greatest contribution may be that it opened the door for sick people to get insurance. Until the ACA came along, anyone who needed to buy coverage in the individual insurance market had to pass tough medical scrutiny by insurers. Even a seemingly minor condition like an ear infection could disqualify someone from getting a policy.
There’s no going back to the past on this one. The principle that everyone needs health insurance, whether sick or well, and has a right to get it is now becoming more firmly planted in American health insurance. As proof, we have to look no further than the public outcry that surfaced when Congress tried to repeal the law in 2017, and the importance it took on all over the country in the November midterm elections. Candidates who were on record as opposing the ACA tried to convince voters they really were for letting sick people buy health insurance after all. Read More

Understanding Illinois: Cheatham’s Hill a Monument to Our Enduring Union

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•January 2, 2019•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

The Illinois Monument at the Kennesaw Mountain Civil War battlefield north of Atlanta is a rather nondescript vertical block of marble.
The monument stands atop Cheatham’s Hill, which the soldiers of the 85th and 125th Illinois Regiments almost but never quite reached on June 26, 1864. The marker commemorates the courage and cohesiveness of the men who came within 30 feet of the almost impregnable Confederate earthen parapets above the sharp rise.
Each holiday season I visit my sister’s family, who live near the park, outside Marietta, GA. And each year I am drawn back to Cheatham’s Hill.
I stand at the top of the hill, looking down from the dug earthen defenses, still evident. I wonder in awe how men could have marched in formation up the hill, sure to absorb a crippling fusillade from rifles stuck through the slits of space between the earth works and the braced logs atop.
The open, grassy line of march up the hill is the shape of a football field, though maybe half again as wide and deep. Loblolly pine frame the battlefield, tall, mute sentinels to the carnage of that day. The Union lost 397 killed and wounded at just this one hill, rather insignificant in the larger scheme of things. Read More

Two Timberwolves Make All-Tourney Team

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•January 2, 2019•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports

The Okaw Valley girls’ basketball team lost the third-place match in the Meridian Holiday Express Girls Basketball Tournament over break.
Timberwolves Madison Vogel and Kate Jeffers were named to the Meridian Holiday Express All-Tournament Team.
In the third-place game Dec. 21, OV lost a close game against host Meridian.
After taking a 4-point lead into the halftime, Meridian cut the lead to one by the end of the third quarter. Read More

Letter to the Editor 1-2-2019

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Dear Editor,

I would like to thank the Driver’s License employees who come to the library in Sullivan each month and provide this needed service.
Their dedication and compassionate service for the public does not go unnoticed.
Thank you and Happy New Year.

Respectfully,
Bill England
Allenville

Moultrie Moment of the Week

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Pictured above is Lovington Grade School 5th grade class for the 1910-11 school year. Front: Reginal Lyles, Willie Alexander, Emma Hiensch, Catherine Baker, Linden Million, Donald, McCravey, Thelma Bryant. Back row: Paul Davis, Everett Spaulding, Ray Welton, Hazel Murphy, Ethel Rhodes, Irene Foster, Ferne Hoover.. Please submit photos to the News Progress for future consideration. Originals will be saved for return or forwarded to Moultrie County Historical Society. If you have any other information, please contact the Moultrie County Historical Society at 217-728- 4085.