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Public Input Sought on Titus Property’s Future Plans

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•July 3, 2019•

Titus Manor personal property auction is 9 a.m. Saturday, July 13 at the Sullivan American Legion. Following that Sullivan City Council will determine the fate of the Titus Home at Wyman Park and some 920 acres of farmland adjacent to the city limits on the north.
In June city administrator Dan Flannell met with Busey Bank, trustees of the Titus property, requesting the home and property to be directly signed over to the city. What happens after that is yet to be determined.
“Something as large as this requires the public to express their views,” Mayor Richard Glazebrook said. “As a council we want to do what is best for the city, not just today but 50 years down the road.”
Glazebrook encourages anyone with an idea on how to best use the Titus Manor to write city hall. Read More

More Rain and Lower Temps than Average in June

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•July 3, 2019•
Above average rainfall continued in June, along with an elevated risk of flooding in some areas of Illinois, according to Brian Kerschner, spokesperson for the Illinois State Climatologist Office at the University of Illinois’ Illinois State Water Survey.
The preliminary average statewide precipitation for June was 5.39 inches, or 1.18 inches above the long-term average. A gage near Cobden in Union County reported the highest official precipitation total for June with a reading of 10.73 inches.
June rainfall in Illinois was not evenly distributed. Several regions in the northern half of the state reported precipitation totals slightly below to near average for the month, with localized regions of above average precipitation. Most of the southern half of the state experienced more uniform above average precipitation departures, with numerous localities receiving 200 to 300 percent of normal. Read More

SHS Alumni Banquet

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•July 3, 2019•

The Sullivan Alumni Association banquet this year is on October 5.
Janet Roney, a local historian, will be the Master of Ceremonies and the theme will be a 60’s party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of graduation of Sullivan’s last class from the 60s, the class of 1969.
It will be at the 1225 Building starting at 4:30 p.m. with a social and 5:30 program.
There will be prizes for alumni wearing the best 60’s outfit.

How Moultrie CodeRed Works

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•July 3, 2019•

Emergency Services and Disaster Agency Director Jan Haegen explained how the Moultrie County CodeRed weather warnings work and why some people in Sullivan were alerted and some were not during recent weather threats.
The National Weather Service decides where weather is a problem and makes what they call a Weather Box. This is the same box seen on TV weather reports. They send out a report the same time they give it to the news stations. Moultrie County CodeRed then sends out a call to everyone inside “the Weather Box” who has signed up to CodeRed.
“On Wednesday June 19, the weather box split a line between north and south Sullivan,” Haegen explained. “That is why some people in Sullivan got calls and others did not. We do not send out a general warning for the county so we do not sound like the little boy who cried wolf.”
If you get a call from CodeRed, please take it seriously, you are in “the Weather Box”.

Thompson Sworn in as Regional Superintendent

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•July 3, 2019•
Nearly nine months after his unopposed general election victory, Dr. Kyle Thompson was sworn in as Regional Superintendent on July 1, 2019. Surrounded by Regional Office of Education #11 staff, Thompson repeated the oath of office at the Coles County Courthouse as directed by County Clerk Julie Coe.
At 36, Thompson becomes the youngest Regional Superintendent in Illinois. “People often ask me how the new position is going and they’re stunned when I let them know I haven’t actually started yet,” Thompson said. “The Illinois School Code specifies the start date for the Regional Superintendent, but it boils down to not changing leadership in the middle of a school year and a fiscal year.” Read More

Knee High

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Photo by R.R. Best
Knee High
There is corn well above knee high on the Fourth of July in Moultrie County as three year old Oakley Denton shows us. Oakley’s patriotic stand is in a field of corn owned by Brian Crawford just west of Sullivan. Crawford was able to get this crop in by the end of May.

Remember When? 7-3-2019

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25 Years Ago This Week

Mike Brandenburger and his sister Diane Weaver who own and operate Sullivan Printers are celebrating the 75th year of a family business, a business that once included a previous incarnation of the News-Progress. Ed Brandenburger left his job as business manager of the Belleville Weekly and semi-weekly News-Democrat and established his business here June 1, 1919 where he would become the publisher of the Sullivan Progress.
Sullivan is preparing for its 4th of July Celebration. The carnival opens June 28 at 6 pm. You can pay-one-price of $7.00 and ride all night. On the 4th the parade kicks off at noon, baseball games at the park, the turtle race, watermelon eating contest, and the sack race will provide an afternoon of family fun. The gigantic $5,000 fireworks display will begin at 9:30 p.m. Read More

Early Morning Fire Destroys Lovington House

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Photo by R. R. Best
Firefighters from Sullivan and Arthur assisted the Lovington Fire District in fighting the fire at the corner of East State and North High in Lovington.

•July 3, 2019•

A 5:00 a.m. fire at the corner of East State and North High streets destroyed an unoccupied home in Lovington Thursday.
Assistant chief Bill Harlin said the two story frame home was totally engulfed when Lovington firefighters arrived at 5:06 a.m.
“I called Sullivan and Arthur for mutual aide,” Harlin said.
Sullivan was there with a water tanker by 5:15 and Arthur at 5:20. Read More

Booths Trial set for October

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•July 3, 2019•
Alvan Booths, 32, of Mattoon appeared in Moultrie County Circuit Court for a hearing on motions in limine before the Honorable Judge Hugh Finson.
State’s Attorney Tracy Weaver and Booth’s public defender Marvin Hanson agreed to 9:30 a.m. September 24 for a hearing on limine motions. The motions set limits on the amount of information allowed to be introduced at the trial. Read More

Sec. State Mobile Unit Visits Sullivan Library

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•July 3, 2019•
Secretary of State Jesse White, in cooperation with Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library in Sullivan is offering drivers a chance to renew their driver’s license or vehicle registration renewal sticker, obtain a duplicate or corrected license, or obtain an Illinois identification card. White’s mobile unit will be available at the Sullivan library, located at 2 West Water in Sullivan 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. July 18. Read More