•June 20, 2018•

By Mike Brothers

A Moultrie County Board motion attempting to reimburse the Sullivan Chamber and Economic Development $17,295 in expenses failed for lack of a second at the June 14 meeting.
Chairman Dave McCabe explained the county had previously approved $50,000 earmarked for SCED expenses relating to tourism in the county budget.
McCabe had presented the bill at the previous county board meeting with members delaying action until Executive Director Laurrie Minor updated the county on tourism efforts.
Minor appeared before the board explaining the SCED/Corp of Engineers Lake Shelbyville partnership had worked well at the Chicago Trade Show, and she had recently attended the Midwest Bloggers Convention to learn how to promote area tourism through traveling blogs.
Minor explained that since the county had increased its financial involvement, the chamber is expanding its reach to include Northlake Community Development which allows the promotion of all villages and businesses of Moultrie County.
Most recently SCED coordinated the Lake Shelbyville Crappie Classic and promoted area tourism at the Back 40 event held at the Great Pumpkin Patch. Read More

Photo furnished. Pictured are Carol Elder, Simon Parri and John Durbin.

•June 20, 2018•

By Ellen Ferrera
for The News Progress

Some 42 people donated $25 or more for a free plane ride as part of the recent charity cookout for Pastor Brandon Zoll. John Durbin’s Super Hawk 180 is the plane.
John Durbin, a flying enthusiast since the mid-70s, supplied the plane and fuel for the outings on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, June 5 and 6. The flights were about 20 minutes and gave the flyers breathtaking views of Sullivan, Bethany and Lake Shelbyville. In response to the thanks for his charity, John simply said, “It was the right thing to do.”
Besides his recreational flying John works with young people in the Young Eagles program which has taught some 1500 kids about aviation safety and provided the first airplane ride for many of them.