Photo by Mike Brothers
Hope Street Habitat for Humanity home in Sullivan is number 26 and was turned over to owner Nikki Bassett on October 16. Participating in the ceremony were: Pastor Dan Fultz, Moultrie County Habitat Board members, Habitat for Humanity Care-A-Vanners; Bassett and children Jordan, Jade and Maddux; family and friends.

Six Week Experiment

•October 21, 2015•

By Mike Brothers

When the Moultrie County Habitat for Humanity handed the keys to new owner Nikki Bassett on Friday, October 16 the house on Hope Lane in Sullivan was jammed with people.

This was the 26th house for Habitat and a first for Habitat for Humanity Care-A- Vanners. Care-A-Vanner project coordinator Bob Gillespie and crews rotating on two week schedules built the house from ground to completion in six weeks.

Gary Smith, local Habitat board president, recalled year-long local builds in the beginning of the program. Smith thanked a long list of contributors including 40 Care -A-Vanner volunteers who spent the past six weeks working around subcontractors on a tight schedule.

The local churches and other volunteers fed the group during the six week project through an effort coordinated by Pastor Paul McGhghy. Faith Lutheran Church was campground host at Faith Resort where the Habitat volunteers parked their recreational vehicles during the build. Read More

Photo by RR Best
Battleground fights with foam protected weapons allow the medieval warriors to score points and advance to the next level much like popular video games.

•September 30, 2015•

People from all over the country were going medieval on each other at Wolf Creek State Park the weekend of Sept. 17-20.

For the past six years AMTGARD, a medieval combat and role playing organization has staged fantasy combat events at Wolf Creek.

This year’s Keep on the Borderlands theme included the battle for Ravenloff and the ultimate tournament prize — the Hammer of God Cup.

Best described as a video game stuck in the real world about 750 participated in this year’s event at Wolf Creek. There are AMTGARD chapters in all 50 states with medieval role players coming from as far as Alaska and Florida to participate in Windsor.

Over the course of the weekend Ravenloff castle was built and was defended. Groups of 12 fighters face off with foam covered swords and other medieval weapons fighting for points.

Points may be earned by completing objectives-like taking over the castle or through achievements.

Judged by the Reeves (referees) and event coordinators teams may earn points by utilizing good or interesting ways to achieve their objective. Bonus points stem from good sportsmanship during a battle.
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Photo by Mike Brothers
While projects are underway all over the midwest for Metro Communications the hub of the wheel is with this dedicated Sullivan group. Back row from left to right: Zak Horn, Nick Hess, Heath Poulos. Front row from left to right: Elizabeth Bennett, Jolene Wright, Gabe Hedger.

•September 23, 2015•

By Nick Fiala
Reporting in Sullivan

Just east of the Moultrie County Courthouse is a white building on the corner of Harrison and Washington streets. Sullivan citizens go by it everyday without realizing the unique and vital service provided by seven people working out of a large room on the second floor.

The business is called Metro Communications; odds are that you use their services everyday, without realizing it.

“If you use a phone in central Illinois everyday, you use our service; you just don’t know it.” said Zak Horn, who has owned Metro Comm since 2000.

“Nobody really knows who we are or what we do...which is fine.” he said, with a laugh.

“Nobody” means everyday people using cellular phone and internet services. Cell phone companies are the actual customers for providers such as Metro Comm. They are a competitive local telephone company, providing wholesale, carrier, and enterprise services in a 26 county area.

“There’s a million-plus individuals that are in the footprint that we cover for services that we provide,” said Horn. “If you’re an AT&T, T-mobile, Sprint, or Verizon cell phone subscriber in Illinois, then we support those services. Those are our customers that pay us to deliver backhaul to the towers.”

Those towers are connected underground by thousands of miles of fiber optic cable laid out along roadways in a lengthy but delicate process by 30-plus field employees.

“There’re two ways to basically put fiber optic cable into the ground,” Horn said. “One is with a large cable plow, and the other is where you essentially thread it underground, and then tile the conduit together. There are multiple stages of construction required.”

None of that includes the long precise planning process Horn and his dedicated team work out with those invested in the land where cable needs to be laid. Read More

Photo by Nick Fiala

•September 2, 2015•

By Nick Fiala
Reporting in Sullivan

Just before 11 a.m. last Saturday, August 29, a small gathering of community volunteers, family, and friends stood under the protective branches of a large tree in Wyman Park.

It was all part of a public ceremony and free ice cream social to rally the local community together against domestic violence and celebrate the 45th anniversary of Dove, Inc., a domestic violence shelter and advocate center in Sullivan.

Though the event would include fun, games, and good-tasting food, it began with a period of quiet reflection. Pastor Ron Thomas of Sullivan’s Highway Church of Christ led the group in a prayer to dedicate a new garden on the park grounds in tribute to Sheri Randall, a repeat victim of domestic violence who lost her life at the hands of an abusive ex-boyfriend last March.

“There is a way to live,” Pastor Thomas said. “And it is with respect and love.”

In addition to the prayer, a speech was given by Mary Hughes, the director of the Moultrie County Agency of Dove, Inc.

“We vow to make a stand against domestic violence in our community, and we shall make a difference.” said Hughes. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Chauffeur Hoke Colburn (played by Equity actor Bryant Bentley, left), returns a can of salmon, unaware that Miss Daisy (played by Glory Kissel, middle) had just moments before accused him of stealing in a conversation with her son Boolie (played by Jesse Sharp, right).

•August 12, 2015•

By Dan Hagen
NP Theatre Critic

How appropriate that the play “Driving Miss Daisy” should cap the 2015 summer season here, because the venerable Little Theatre is the venue that integrated the town of Sullivan.

“The first African American actor Guy Little hired was an Equity actor from New York, Michael Wright, who, ironically, was from Shelbyville, a somewhat larger town 20 miles southeast of Sullivan,” wrote Beth Conway Shervey in her book, “The Little Theatre on the Square: Four Decades of a Small-Town Equity Theatre.”

“Collective memories of people in Sullivan in 1961 recalled either a sunset law on the books or an unspoken rule that no black man would be caught in Sullivan after the sun went down, much less spend the night,” Shervey wrote. Wright did, of course, staying with a local couple. “Rumor also had select area residents threatening to blow up the theatre or close it down for good. Not only did nothing like this happen, it never rose above gossip.”

Jibby Florini — the owner of Jibby’s restaurant, once the “Sardi’s of Sullivan” — headed off any racial confrontations. “(Wright) came in here, and I had to stop a couple guys from going over and challenging him,” Florini said. “They wanted him thrown out and so on.”

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