•June 28, 2023•
American Red Cross volunteers in the South Central Illinois chapter responded to seven home fires in Dalton City, Decatur, Dix, Neoga, Saint Elmo and Springfield in the past week and provided assistance to 15 individuals, through supplying them with items to meet immediate needs after a fire, and additional support in the form of health and mental health services and one-on-one support.
Visit redcross.org/fire for information on setting up your home fire escape drill and to learn more about home fire safety. Download our free Emergency app by searching for “American Red Cross” in app stores or visiting redcross.org/apps.
Please call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) if you or someone you know needs assistance after a home fire or local disaster.
Fourth of July Safety Read More
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Arthur Village Board Hears about Dementia Friendly Moultrie County
•June 28, 2023•
by Ariana R. Cherry
“Dementia is a symptom of a disease,” stated Sheila Greuel, an independent consultant with the East Central Illinois Area on Aging who gave a presentation about a Dementia Friendly Moultrie County at the Arthur Village Board on June 19. It is a symptom of other diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. According to the Illinois Department on Aging, there were about 220,000 people living with Alzehimer’s disease in 2018, and that number is expected to increase by 18.2% by 2025 (260,000).
Greuel has been working with Moultrie County to do a community wide assessment of dementia. There are about 26 states that are now considered “Dementia friendly,” with Great Britain being the first country to be labeled as such. Illinois is now on its way to becoming a “Dementia Friendly” state also. A person who is considered “Dementia Friendly” has been trained professionally or casually on how to interact with someone who has dementia. Read More
TK: Why we need to strike jargon onto (cq) the pasteboard (stet)
•June 28, 2023•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer
I enjoy writing letters to readers.
Today, I’ll take a crack at writing a letter to our staff and share it with you.
Challenging ourselves to be better is good for the soul, whatever you pursue. In our case, when we’re better you’re the beneficiary.
With that in mind, I offer this up as an open letter to our staff as both the editor of the paper and its self-appointed spokesman for good writing.
Today’s topic: jargon.
You might recall I started my career as a police reporter, and police talk in a code that’s sometimes difficult to decipher.
Eventually, I became a decent translator of copspeak.
However, during my first week on the city staff, I made the mistake of writing about how a village was planning to install French drains.
I didn’t know what a French drain looked like or how it worked, and I didn’t bother to find out (pre-internet) before I turned in my story. Read More
Remember When? 6-28-2023
25 Years Ago This Week
Because of high temperatures in past weeks the Sullivan Municipal Power Plant had registered record-breaking levels of electricity use. The all time record was broken around 5 pm June 24 with 13,000 kilowatts and the record was broken again on June 26 at around 3 pm with 14,200 kilowatts, or 260,000 kilowatt hours by the end of the day.
Rob LeCrone, a tree care contractor from Sullivan, took part in the Illinois Pro Logger Training program sponsored by the Illinois Council on Forestry Development. The five day course on safety and improvement of productivity and profitability in the workplace was designed to help reduce chain saw related injuries. Read More
City Council Tables Invitation of Bids For City Building Project
•June 28, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The Sullivan City Council tabled the possible approval and issuance of an invitation of bids for the City Building project during the Monday, June 26 meeting. Commissioner Abbey Sherwood said she was touching base to see if there were any additional questions in regards to the project. Commissioner Doug Shook said that even though the basement has been eliminated from the bids he noted they would still have to excavate down.
“Even though the basement is not going in the contractor will have to do a significant amount of excavation into the existing rock to get that soil bearing pressure,” he said. He said they would potentially need to go down 8 to 10 feet. Shook had ADA questions but they were cleared up with the plans. Shook estimated they would be in the 4-5 million dollar range to get that building built.
Commissioner Mike Kirk said he is not opposed to a new city building, he is opposed to the timing. He noted there a numerous projects that are upcoming that they don’t know the cost of. Commissioner Chuck Woodworth brought up the possibility of withdrawing some of the Titus funds and use them for the new city building. Commissioner Sherwood said she can’t get on board with using Titus funds for this purpose. Read More
Moultrie Amateur Radio Klub Celebrates Field Day
photo by Ellen Ferrera.
Shane Ramos, VP of MARK, demonstrates a locator antenna used to find rogue operators. The Moultrie Amateur Radio Klub held a Field Day event on Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25 at Wyman Park in Sullivan.
•June 28, 2023•
by Ellen Ferrera
On Saturday, June 24, members of the Moultrie Amateur Radio Klub (MARK) met at the Boy Scout cabin in Wyman Park to celebrate the annual Field Day with some 2.5 million ham radio operators around the world.
Since 1933, Field Day has been celebrated by amateur radio operators and clubs in the U.S. and around the world. The primary purpose of the Field Day is to practice and demonstrate emergency procedures and share information on new technologies, but each club determines their own activities.
Mike Morris, President of MARK, has been a ham operator for many years. He said, “It is an opportunity to combine a hobby with public service. We work closely with the weather bureaus to help issue warnings to remote areas or where communications have been damaged.”
The Moultrie Klub has been in existence for more than 60 years and meets the third Monday of each month at the Honey Bee restaurant in Mattoon. Dinner is at 5 p.m. with the meeting at 6 p.m. Visitors and those interested in joining the Klub are always welcomed. Read More
Knee High by the Fourth of July
Photo by R.R. Best
Knee High by the Fourth of July
Courtyard Estates residents Harry Woolen, June Miller, Nadene Cochran, Bev Devore and Keith Richardson show that the corn has gotten more than knee high by the 4th of July.
Shamdin Graduates
•June 28, 2023•
Katherine Shamdin of Mattoon was among the students conferred their degrees at the University of Iowa. Shamdin was a student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences whose program of study was Enterprise Leadership. The degree awarded was a Bachelor of Arts.
Nuzzo Graduates
•June 28, 2023•
Jadon Nuzzo of Sullivan graduated from Monmouth College on May 14 with a degree in exercise science. Nuzzo is the son of Jerry Nuzzo of Sullivan.
Dental Hygiene Graduates
•June 28, 2023•
Lake Land College dental hygiene graduates received their pins at the annual pinning ceremony. Graduates from our area who were pinned during the ceremony were Kelly McGill and Nashlynn Williams of Findlay and Carlin Shumard of Sullivan. Williams received the Linda Lee Fletcher Scholarship earlier this year. McGill was also recognized for receiving a Heartland Dental Scholarship earlier in the year. Shumard received the Best Dental Hygienist Award, which was voted on by students in the program.