Photo submitted
OV Students Participate in Fish Study
OVHS students participated in a fish study conducted on Lake Shelbyville. Illinois Department of Natural Resource Fisheries Biologist Mike Mounce led the study. The students netted fish and conducted various tests while recording the data. The goal of the study was to look at the population of the different fish species with a primary focus on muskie. Pictured are Cody Drake, Dalton McGill, and Garrett Tippit with big bass.
Photo furnished
Windsor Prom Court
Windsor High School Prom will be held May 5 at Mason Point in Sullivan. The theme for the evening will be “Under the Sea.” Coronation will be at 7:30 p.m., and the dance will be from 8-11p.m. Prom Court pictured back row: Dalton Armes, Gage Sattler, and Gavin Bennett. Front row: Kasey Bean, Mackenzee Hooten, and Morgan Lesko.
•April 25, 2018•
In the April 18 page 1 News Progress story: A Chance to Lend a Helping Hand, Kristen Conlin’s phone number was incorrect. Volunteer sign up sheets are available at various locations in Sullivan or by calling Conlin at 217-962-1524 (correct number) or Rickelman at 217-273-5634 for more information. By the way Kristen became Amy in the photo identification. We apologize for the errors.
•April 18, 2018•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports
The Okaw Valley softball team split a pair of games this past week and had a game postponed.
OV topped Cerro Gordo/Bement 7-3 but lost to Tolono Unity 16-2.
Last Friday against CGB, the Timberwolves fell behind 2-0 after the second inning but battled back to take the lead 4-2 after the fourth inning.
OV plated three more in the fifth inning and then held off CGB for the 7-3 win.
Each team totaled 10 hits in the game. Read More
•April 18, 2018•
By Mike Brothers
Lyme Disease is a worldwide pandemic where a poppy seed sized tick can change your life forever.
That is the message Karen Allen and her husband Pastor Gail Allen of Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Bethany presented Moultrie County board members April 12.
She explained the disease she and her family members have contracted creates devastating health problems when not diagnosed quickly.
The proclamation declaring May as Lyme Disease Awareness Month was presented to the board by Allen, who noted when detected early the auto immune disease can be treated effectively with antibiotics.
The proclamation was passed unanimously by president Dave McCabe and members Neil Bryan, Arlene Aschermann, Todd Maxedon, Billy Voyles, Kevin McReynolds, Gary Smith and Mike Barringer. Read More
Mark H. Trower Mark H. Trower, 56, of Lake City, passed away 8:40 a.m. Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Decatur Memorial Hospital. Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 21, 2018, at McMullin-Young Funeral Home, Lovington. Visitation will be held an hour prior to the service Saturday at the funeral home. Inurnment will be at a later date. Memorials may be made to the A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois Prairieland Chapter or to the Lovington American Legion Post #429. Mark was born November 13, 1961, in Springfield, the son of Robert Howard and Barbara Jean (Molzen) Trower. He married Joyce E. Gilmore on December 31, 1997, in Las Vegas, NV; she survives. He was a member of the First Christian Church in Lovington and was a Lovington High School Alumni. Mark was a motorcycle enthusiast, he also enjoyed gardening and fishing. Above all else, he loved his family and cherished the time they spent together. He is survived by his mother, Barbara Jean Trower of Arthur; wife, Joyce of Lake City; sons, Jason Trower of Ivesdale and Josh (Melissa) Trower of Atwood; daughter, Lanna Trower of Atwood; step-sons, Chris Dugan of Lake City and Tim (Mindy) Peters of Bethany; step-daughter, Danielle (Rob) Jeffers of Long Creek; brothers, Jeff (Carolyn) Trower of Lovington, Tim (Sandy) Trower of Baraboo, WI, and Phil (Gayla) Trower of Lovington; sister, Pam Trower Wood of Sullivan; grandchildren, Jace and Tyler Trower, Chase Dugan, Ciara Thompson, Chassidy Heckwine, Colton Dugan, Abby and Bryson Peters; great-grandson, Cooper Dugan. He was preceded in death by his grandparents and father, Robert. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mcmullinyoung.com
•April 18, 2018•
Don’t miss your chance to attend a vintage and handmade market right in your own backyard. Back Forty Market returns to The Great Pumpkin Patch, Friday and Saturday, June 1 and 2.
Spend time with friends, enjoy live music, stroll the paths from tent to tent, try artisan foods and partake in a glass of wine. Tickets are on sale now at www.backfortymarket.com.
•April 18, 2018•
By Tara McClellan McAndrew
for The State Journal-Register
It was July 3, 1876 — the eve of our country’s first centennial. Everyone in Springfield would be celebrating downtown. No one would be near Oak Ridge Cemetery.
It was the perfect time to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body.
The incredulous plot was hatched by Midwestern counterfeiters who had been shut down when their expert bill engraver was jailed. Benjamin Boyd’s bills were the best in the Midwest, possibly the country. In 1875, he was captured in Fulton, found guilty, and sent to the Joliet penitentiary for 10 years. Without his plates, the criminals who made and passed the counterfeit bills were out of business. They had to spring their money man.
“Big Jim” Kennally, a St. Louis Irishman who led Midwestern counterfeiters, according to Thomas J. Craughwell’s book, “Stealing Lincoln’s Body,” brainstormed a solution. They would snatch Lincoln’s body, bury it in the Indiana Dunes, then ransom it for $200,000 and Boyd’s pardon and freedom. Read More
Photo by Mike Brothers
Amy Rickelman and Amy Conlin are working to provide the Nohren family, who lost everything in a 2017 fire, this home, but volunteers are needed.
•April 18, 2018•
By Mike Brothers
Everyone feels good when they are helping someone in need.
It is that good feeling Kristen Conlin and Amy Rickelman are starting to get with the Nohren project.
Joined by partner Andy Pistorius in Fireside Investments, the two hope to turn their normal house flipping operation into something good for Matt, Nikki, Hayden and Whitney Nohren.
In October 2017 the Nohren’s lost everything in a fire that destroyed their Sullivan home.
Since then, the First Apostolic Church has offered the church parsonage as temporary residence for the family, but it will take a lot more to get the family back on their feet again. Read More
•April 18, 2018•
By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist
The two major political parties in Illinois are morally bankrupt. We need a serious, credible new party to challenge them and provide an alternative for voters. Creating a new party is easy in concept, yet incredibly difficult, though not impossible, to pull off.
The straw that broke this camel’s back came in the past week. I was shown to be incorrect in my belief that an extraordinary majority of lawmakers could wrest a bill from the clutches of the Illinois House Rules Committee, which is controlled absolutely by Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan.
In fact, in the Illinois House, a single, solitary objector to a motion to discharge a committee kills the effort.
When a discharge motion—to free a bill for consideration by the whole body—is proposed in the Illinois House, Madigan’s chief henchwoman, majority leader Barbara Flynn Currie, simply stands up to say she objects, which kills the effort. Unbelievable.
If 95 percent of Illinois House members favored the idea of actually voting on a proposal that the Speaker has buried in Rules Committee, the Speaker alone can keep it from ever reaching members for a vote. Read More