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Just One More Day With You

News Progress Posted on by

•August 10, 2022•

by Sarah Hudson Pierce
NP Guest Columnist

Having lost a very dear friend, a year ago I am led to tell you a story about a widower who was looking through his old family trunk a few years ago and how he discovered a poem penned in his wife’s own hand. It was dated just days before she died, after a long illness, over thirty years ago.
The piece was titled Just One More Day.
It went something like this: “Give me just one more day with you!”
Those poignant words were overwhelming to him and are enough to get our attention because life is so uncertain. Our rugs can be jerked out from under our feet so quickly, with no warning. Read More

Moultrie Moment of the Week

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Pictured above is Memorial Day at Greenhill Cemetery in Sullivan. The year that this photo was taken is unknown. 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.

I spell tomato and you spell tomahto

News Progress Posted on by

•August 10, 2022•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

An outfit called www.unscrambled-words.com decided to mine Google’s search function data to determine which words we seem to have the most trouble spelling.
After seeing many of them, I’m truly terrified for our future. Please share in my grief.
“Tomato,” “cheese” and “Idaho” are among America’s most misspelled words for 2022, according to the study.
Yet these are primary ingredients in most Burger King meals, if you count potatoes as Idaho’s chief contribution to the culinary world. I know this about Burger King from doing plenty of market research.
Do we really not know how to spell these words?
In defense of Alaska, where the biggest stumbling block is “cheese,” let’s consider that in the entire state there are only 10 dairies. So, like many of us, Alaskans probably eat Cheez-Its by the box and put Cheez Whiz on corn chips. Read More

Remember When? 8-10-2022

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25 Years Ago This Week

Ciara Bush, Rachel Marshall and Sara Sims were contestants in the Little Miss Bethany contest.
Ray Shain, water supply operator for the City of Sullivan, was a nominee for “operator of the year award” given annually by the Illinois Potable Water Supply Operators Assn.

50 Years Ago This Week

The newly appointed zoning board of appeals and the Lovington Village Board approved a variance to the zoning ordinance to allow Moultrie Grain Assn. to build buildings higher than allowed by the ordinance. The association planned to build several grain storage bins at their property on the south side of the elevator office. The bins were 100 feet tall or 45 feet higher than allowed in the ordinance without a variance.
A five day canoe trip, from Cooks Mills to the Shelbyville Dam, was being planned by eleven Boy Scouts from Troop No. 39 and their leaders. During the fifty mile trip, the boys were required to spend at least 10 hours on a conservation project.

Frog Music at ETML

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Photo by Crystal Reed
Frog Music at ETML
Brock Rowland, Program Specialist at Macon County Conservation District, presented a program on frogs at the Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library on Friday, August 5. Participants listened to what different frogs sound like, learned about different types of frogs and were able to see some up close.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Newspaper Kites
Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library had a week of activities for children in kindergarten-5th grades from Monday, August 1 to Friday, August 5. On Monday children made their own bird houses, Tuesday was stamp making, Wednesday was shrinky dinks, Thursday was newspaper kites and Friday, the Rock Springs Nature Center presented “Frog Music.” Pictured are Emmitt Herzog and Aniston Baker with the newspaper kites that they created.

MCHGS Program

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•August 10, 2022•
Carolyn Stephens, Adjunct Faculty at Lake Land College, will be sharing research and stories about “The Old York Trail” at the Moultrie County History Center, 1303 S. Hamilton, Sullivan, on Thursday, August 18, at 7:00 p.m. A historian and avid researcher with experience in archaeology, she has used modern technology, early records and maps, as well as help from over 190 people and groups from Illinois and Indiana to map the exact route of this ancient, well-traveled “superhighway”. It led from York, a port on the Wabash River, into the heart of central Illinois. Migrating buffalo, Native Americans, and countless early pioneers seeking new homes in the virgin forests and prairies of Illinois used the Old York Trail. Many believe that the Thomas Lincoln family followed it during their migration into Illinois from Indiana in 1880 before joining the Charleston Road through Moultrie County. Carolyn’s research about the York Trail was made possible by a significant grant for community college faculty awarded to her. She is looking forward to sharing what she has learned with the Moultrie County Historical and Genealogical Society. The public is invited to attend.

Free Workshop Series

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•August 10, 2022•
Professional caregivers in long-term care environments face unique challenges which may impact their personal health and wellbeing. A workshop series, Learn. Think. Care., offered by University of Illinois Extension, helps caregivers build personal resiliency, knowledge, and strategies for meeting the needs of clients in long-term care environments.
“Professionals that work with older adults often have trouble accessing convenient continuing education opportunities,” says Karla Belzer, Illinois Extension family life educator.” The series is designed for professionals to join the session online, during their work day, eliminating the barriers of time and travel that often impair participation in continuing education.”
Three free one-hour workshops will be held online beginning at 2 p.m. on Sept. 8. Register at go.illinois.edu/LTCwebinars at least one week prior to each workshop to receive all access information. CEUs and CPDUs are available for a fee. Read More

Council Approves Pay Estimates

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•August 10, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer

The City Council recently approved three pay estimates for the water treatment plant project. The estimate was in the amount of $190,731.50 to Grunloh Construction; the second for $421,021.00 to Grunloh Construction and the third was to Grunloh Building in the amount of $143,888.22. These were all unanimously approved with Commissioner Chuck Woodworth being absent. Read More

Lovington Native Part of Team Awarded Pulitzer Prize

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•August 10, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer

David Kidwell, formerly of Lovington, was recently part of a team from the Better Government Association which won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigative stories with the Chicago Tribune that exposed the failure of Chicago city officials to keep tenants safe from deadly fires in dangerous residential buildings. Kidwell grew up in Lovington, graduated from Lovington High School and had a summer internship with the News Progress while he was attending college at Eastern Illinois University. He said working at the News Progress was his first real taste of reality of real-world journalism and that he enjoyed every second of it. Read More

Blood Drive

News Progress Posted on by

•August 10, 2022•

There will be a blood drive on Monday, August 15 from 1 to 4 pm at the St. Columcille Church Hall, 516 West Jackson Street, Sullivan. For more information or to sign up for a donation time visit www.bloodcenter.org or 1-800-747-5401.