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Harvest To Home Comes to Illinois Amish Heritage Center

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Photo furnished
Corn harvest with teams of horses is among the farming techniques demonstrated at the Illinois Amish Heritage Center.

•October 3, 2018•

A new special event, Harvest to Home, will be held at the Illinois Amish Heritage Center three miles east of Arthur on Friday and Saturday, October 19-20. The event will start at 9 a.m. each day and continue until 8 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday.
The fall harvest was the culmination of the farm year. Corn had to be picked, processed, and stored. It was often stacked into corn shocks in the field or picked by hand and thrown into a nearby wagon.
All of the steps of harvesting and processing corn will be demonstrated at the inaugural Harvest to Home event at the new Illinois Amish Heritage Center. Activities during the two-day event will include corn cutting and shocking, corn harvesting with corn pickers, shelling corn with small and large shellers, harvesting and shredding of corn stalks, and grinding corn into corn meal using an early grist mill. Read More

See You at the Pole

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Photo furnished See You at the Pole Over 80 community members gathered Wednesday morning, September 26 at the flagpole in front of Sullivan Middle School for the annual “See You at the Pole” event. At this national event students gather to pray for all of the schools in the nation. The Sullivan gathering was sponsored by the high school and middle school chapters of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes).

Nohren House Blessing Sat.

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•October 3, 2018•

Saturday, October 13, 11 a.m. is the house blessing by the Sullivan Area Ministerial Association for Matt and Nikki Nohren and their children, Hayden and Whitney. The address is 919 W. Strain St., Sullivan.
Last year on October 25, 2017 their rental home was completely destroyed by fire.

Recent Obituaries: Richard L. Collins

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Richard L. Collins

Richard L. Collins 72, of Bethany, IL, went to be with his Lord and Savior Thursday afternoon, September 27, 2018 in Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO.

Funeral services will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 2, 2018 in the First Church of the Nazarene in Shelbyville, IL with Rev. Greg Breeden officiating. Visitation will be from 4:00-7:00 p.m. Tuesday in the church. Memorial may be given to the Mode Camp, Mode, IL. Arrangements are by Howe and Yockey Funeral Home, Shelbyville, IL.

Richard was born on November 14, 1945 in Shelbyville, IL, the son of Melvin L. and Bernadine Marie (Behl) Collins. He graduated from Stewardson-Strasburg High School in the Class of 1963. Richard married Judy Kay Williams on March 14, 1964 in the Washington United Methodist Church, near Stewardson, IL. He worked at ADM in Decatur, IL for All Tri-R Construction of Pana, IL. Richard enjoyed fishing, playing softball, going to car shows and NHRA drags and above all, spending time with his grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather.

He is survived by his wife, Judy; three daughters, Kim Ohnesorge (Rich) of Altamont, IL, Michelle Knop (Kyle) of Strasburg, IL and Jill Hart of Sullivan, IL; brother, David Collins (Tammy) of Watson, IL; grandchildren, Kayla Knop Nichols (Josh), Tanner Williams, Ali Hart, Kendall Knop and Drake Williams; and great grandchildren, Brantley Nichols, Whitlee Nichols and Liam Williams.

Richard was reunited in heaven with his parents; son-in-law, Jerry Williams; brother-in-law, Brad Cutler; unborn grandchildren; his uncle and aunt, Bill and Mary Lue Harvey; and many other loved ones.

Send condolences at www.howeandyockey.com

Letter to the Editor: 9-26-2018

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Dear Citizens of Moultrie County and, especially, the City of Sullivan,

On October 25, 2017, the rental home of Matt Nohren, his wife, Nikki, and their two children was destroyed by fire. Nikki, Hayden and Whitney were home when the fire started. Fortunately, Hayden alerted his mom and sister. All three escaped unharmed. All the family had after the fire was the clothing on their backs. They were homeless.
The members of First Apostolic Church, Sullivan, and Pastor Francis Farney opened their vacant parsonage for the Nohren family. The church paid all utilities and charged no rent until the end of June. This provided Mr. and Mrs. Nohren time, who are both employed, to get back on their feet financially. Read More

OV Golfers Earn Honors

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•September 26, 2018•

Okaw Valley golfers Case Crawford and Addison Webner earned All-Little Okaw Valley Conference honors in the conference meet last Saturday, and the team defeated Meridian Monday.
At the LOVC Tournament, Crawford shot an 83, and Webner fired an 88.
Last Thursday, OV lost to Tri-County 164 to 198. Read More

High School Art Students Create New Mural For Senior Center

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Photo by Mike Brothers
Art Club member Anna Mathias on ladder and SHS Art Instructor Melissa Nichols work on Senior Center mural.

•September 26, 2018•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

A beautiful new mural is taking shape on the east side of the Senior Center across from the post office. It was designed by the students of Melissa Nichols’ high school Art Club. Eight of the 25 members have volunteered their time this summer to paint the mural in exchange for class credits.
Nichols said “ I created the Art Club this year to undertake special projects for my art classes. The opportunity to create public art was especially appealing to the 25 students in the club.”
The students incorporated several themes which they felt best represented the Sullivan community. Because it is the Senior Center there is a silhouette of a senior couple sitting on a bench on the south side of the building. Around the corner on the east is a depiction of someone fishing in Wyman Lake as a nod to our parks and also fields to represent the agriculture so important to the community. Next is a stage with masks to illustrate the Little Theatre on the Square. Read More

Understanding Illinois: What the Next Governor and Legislature Must Do…

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First, enact balanced budgets and a predictable fiscal system

•September 26, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

This is the first of seven weekly columns that offer a blueprint for fixing Illinois, the title of the writer’s 2014 book (University of Illinois Press). Nowlan is a former Illinois legislator, agency director, senior aide to three unindicted governors, campaign manager for U.S. Senate and presidential candidates, and professor of government at several universities in Illinois as well as China.
The first order of business in transforming Illinois from a laggard to a leader, once again, among the American states is to enact balanced budgets and create a stable, transparent, predictable fiscal system, something the state has not accomplished even once in the past two decades. Only then will business leaders, entrepreneurs and creators be confident they can locate, build and expand in our state.
The numbers tell the sad story of our fiscal disarray. The 20 17 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the Office of the Illinois Comptroller shows that the net assets of the State of Illinois declined from a negative $6 billion in 2002 to minus $141 billion in 2017. [This number will plummet even further next year, when new accounting rules require Illinois to report its unfunded future employee health care costs.] Read More

Harvest Field Market

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•September 26, 2018•

Buxton’s Garden Farm is hosting the second annual Harvest Field Market Saturday, September 29.
The event is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with more than 50 venders participating. Visitors can enjoy antiques, crafts, home decor, shopping, food, pumpkins, kid activities and more.
Established in 1988 Buxton’s Garden Farm is located three miles west of Sullivan on Hwy. 121.

Senior Leader is Sullivan High School’s Next Who’s Who Alumni

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Photo by Ellen Ferrera
SHS Who’s Who Award winner Kathi Garvey

•September 26, 2018•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Homecoming will be very special for Kathi Garvey this year. Not only will she receive the Alumni Who’s Who Award but it is the 25th anniversary of her class (1993) graduation so a lot of her classmates will be on hand to share the celebration with her.
“My aunt nominated me, but I never imagined I would receive this honor,” Garvey said. “Seems like it should go to an older person.”
The award is given to the high school graduate who has remained in the community and made a significant contribution to Sullivan.
Garvey is presently the executive director of the Mid-Illinois Senior Services, a position she has had for the past three years. After graduation, she briefly attended Lake Land College but had to leave to care for her mother. Fourteen years ago, she began working at the Thrifty Boutique, which is owned by Senior Services, and worked her way up the ladder to executive director. Read More