•December 14, 2022•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

If you haven’t gotten around to buying, addressing or mailing holiday cards yet, odds are you either aren’t going to or you are waiting to see who is sending you one before you decide in whom you should invest SIXTY CENTS in postage.
If you’re one of those sentimental types, the least you can do is address the card properly. Especially if the only ones you’ll send them to are your bosses.
What follows will look familiar if you’re the type to clip and laminate all of my columns.
This isn’t about greeting card etiquette but rather punctuation.
If my mailbox is a sign, it’s clear a reminder is in order.
Before you send your photo card to the printer or fill out that first envelope, a few words of caution: Unless your addressees are Irish or French, chances are they don’t have an apostrophe in their surnames.
If you’re addressing a card to Reggie and Gertrude Jones and the nine children in their blended family but don’t want to name them all, don’t write The Jones’ family, The Jones’ or The Joneses’. Read More

•December 7, 2022•
Moultrie County Circuit Judge Jeremy Richey swore in new county officials during a ceremony on Thursday, December 1. Those sworn in were County Clerk Linda Qualls, County Treasurer Stephanie Helmuth, County Sheriff Gary Carroll, and County Board members Scott Buxton, Tyler Graven, Kenny Graven, Bill Voyles, Aaron Wilhelm, Travis Phelps and Joshua Roe. County Board members John Vander Burgh and Marsha Kirby will be sworn in at a later date.

Photo by Kristi Hart
Carroll Sworn in as Moultrie Co. Sheriff
Gary Carroll is sworn in as the new Moultrie County Sheriff by Moultrie County Circuit Judge Jeremy Richey.

Photo by Kristi Hart
Helmuth Sworn in as Moultrie Co. Treasurer
Stephanie Helmuth is sworn in for another term as Moultrie County Treasurer by Moultrie County Circuit Judge Jeremy Richey.

Photo by Kristi Hart
Qualls Sworn in as Moultrie Co. Clerk
Linda Qualls is sworn in as the new Moultrie County Clerk by Moultrie County Circuit Judge Jeremy Richey.

Photo by Kristi Hart
Moultrie Co. Board Members Sworn in
Scott Buxton, Kenny Graven, Aaron Wilhelm, Tyler Graven, Joshua Roe, Travis Phelps and Bill Voyles are sworn in as county board members.

•December 7, 2022•
Editors Note: The following letters to the editor were submitted by Cami Badman’s honors English students at Sullivan High School. Studnts picked a debatable topic of their choice and used the techniques they learned in class. Several letters were provided to us and we have chosen to print the following letters. They will be spanned out in the next couple of weeks so check out our next week’s edition for more.

Dear Editor,

The debate of increasing the federal minimum wage is ongoing and a very common topic within our politics today. Many states have taken this into their own hands, and either raised the wage or kept it the same. It is in our country’s best interest to not raise the wage to $15.00 an hour as it would raise unemployment levels and the price of goods, creating an increase in poverty. “The Congressional Budget Office projected that a minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $10.10 would result in a loss of 500,000.” 500,000 jobs lost is a significant amount and this estimate is only accounting for the job loss if the wage went from $7.25 to $10.10. Many politicians are pushing for the minimum wage to be set at $15.00 per hour, which would cause even more unemployment, putting too many people without a job. Read More

•December 7, 2022•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

Before flipping the calendar to December, the lexicographers at Merriam-Webster rolled the dice and released their list of most popular lookups for 2022.
I guess if “Mystery comet” or “Y2K23” don’t make a run for it by New Year’s Eve, it’ll be smooth sailing until next year.
The word of the year is ... “gaslighting.”
I’ve always loved this word, in part because it originated from the title of a play and the films that followed. Read More