•November 20, 2019•
Longtime Sullivan residents Bill and Jackie Protz were traveling home with granddaughter Jenna and her best friend Holly after watching the Vandalia football team in the state playoffs when tragedy struck.
According to the Illinois State Police District 18 report at 6:21 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16 Jackolyn C. Protz, 72, of Sullivan was driving a 2010 Toyota Sienna east on Hwy. 185 near Coffeen when a 2016 Ford F-150 driven by a 17 year old male of Harvel crossed into Protz’s lane hitting the Toyota head on. Read More
Category Archives: News
OV Elementary Students Focus on Kindness
Okaw Valley Elementary School celebrated National Bullying Prevention Month and Red Ribbon Week
Photo furnished
Okaw Valley Elementary School students Choose to Be Nice.
•November 20, 2019•
Through the application of their new SEL curriculum, Choose to Be Nice, OVES teachers concentrate on one character trait a month teaching students they have a choice on how to act and react.
Throughout the month of October, students and staff focused on their monthly word, KINDNESS.
In conjunction with Red Ribbon week, the last week of October, students also learned to be a buddy not a bully.
Students realized being kind is a choice they can make every day. Classroom lessons can be applied across the school curricula and locations, at home and in the community. Read More
Sullivan School Board Learns About Students’ Community Activities
•November 20, 2019•
By Ariana Cherry
for The News Progress
The Sullivan School Board’s most recent meeting was Monday, November 11, 2019. The bills were accepted as presented. The balance from the Treasurer’s report was $11,977,818.84. The Education Fund is at $335,169.88.
Board members adopted a resolution for the Superintendent to begin preparing a tentative budget for the 2020-2021 school year so that it can be presented to the Board of Education on July 13, 2020. Afterward, it will be placed for public inspection on July 14, 2020 for at least 30 days. There will be a budget hearing at the following September meeting before its final adoption.
The board also discussed the district’s revenues to support expenses for a projected tentative 2019 Tax Levy payable 2020. The final levy will be obtained and approved at the regular December 2019 board meeting. Read More
Sullivan Planning Session Draws People Planning Projects
•November 13, 2019•
By Mike Brothers
With the public sale of Winifred Titus Sentel farmland promising a cash windfall for the city of Sullivan a variety of groups offered to help the city spend it.
During the special meeting held for the purpose of a study session regarding strategic planning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, November 5 the city council heard proposals from the public and learned that conditions at city hall and the Civic Center are priorities.
Following the public portion of the meeting, city administrator Dan Flannell reported the recently purchased Titus home is being evaluated for possible office space. He explained architects have warned the cost to convert the home into office space could be twice the cost to build new.
Treasurer Sarah Golden reported that conditions at city hall have not improved, and the recent addition of an IT person is crowding space to aggravate the situation. Read More
SHS Careers Class Honors Veterans 100th Anniversary
Photo by Mike Brothers
Veterans representing all branches of the military gathered at Sullivan High School for the annual Careers English Class sponsored Veterans Day observation
•November 13, 2019•
The Sullivan High School Career English Class Veterans Day assembly featured Navy Lieutenant Andrew Sparrow and presentation of the Charter Member Project to the American Legion.
Lt. Junior Grade Sparrow just returned home from the Middle East and noted in 2005 he was among the students assembled for Veterans Day. His 18 months serving the Navy in the Middle East changed his perspective.
Sparrow explained the courage of the veterans seated before him was not only displayed on the battlefields, but also by the support of the mothers, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters at home.
“We are thankful to those who made the ultimate sacrifices by putting everyone before themselves,” Sparrow emphasized.
Some 100 students of Rebecca Lawson, Cami Badman and Marsha Kirby volunteered to find information on 79 charter members of the American Legion Post 68 for their 100th anniversary. Read More
Taking the Road Less Traveled Requires Determination
Oh Brother!
•November 13, 2019•
By Mike Brothers
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
That is the closing stanza of Robert Frost’s “Road Less Traveled” and one of my favorite poems.
After a journey my brother Jeff and I took in southern Illinois recently, Frost’s poem became my reality.
Frost’s choice of the road less traveled in his poem brings some speculation that the author may have some regrets about his choices in life.
Our choice began by taking a forest path less traveled during an October rain.
I was born in Saline county, the gateway to the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois.
Growing up with 250,000 acres of national forest to play in got to me. Read More
Native American Artifacts Help Reveal Past Life
Photo by Ellen Ferrera
Dean Mesnard with a portion of his primitive artifact collection. Mesnard is also an accomplished wood sculptor.
•November 6, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for The News Progress
Although Native American civilizations are long gone from the local prairie, collectors of artifacts reveal how they lived.
Thousands of years ago after the glaciers receded North America was populated by Native Americans who traveled down the East and West coasts into the Great Plains in their search for food and shelter.
While those civilizations no longer exist their artifacts have remained in the land and today are greatly prized by collectors, not only for their beauty, but also for what they teach us about the earliest Americans.
Central and Southern Illinois were heavily populated by Indian communities -Cahokia being one of the most famous sites in the U.S. – and artifacts are still being discovered to this day.
David Cole of Sullivan and Dean Mesnard of Decatur have both acquired impressive and magnificent collections of early American Indian artifacts.
Cole, who is the Executive Director of the Moultrie County Counseling Center, began finding arrowheads and other artifacts as a child and began collecting seriously about 20 years ago. He builds his collection today primarily by trading with other collectors at trade shows.
“The joy in collecting for me is in discovering the people, their lives, tools, pottery and how these items were used in their daily lives,” Cole said. “It is always thrilling to find pieces and I have some that are 9,000 years old.” Read More
Okaw Valley Ag Center Receives State Award
•November 6, 2019•
Okaw Valley School District’s Agricultural complex received the Illinois Association School Board’s Award of Distinction for excellence in the design of educational environments.
On Friday, Nov. 22 at 2:15 p.m. BLDD Architects, Inc. of Decatur will prepare a display that will accompany a delegation from the school district to the IASB annual conference in Chicago.
Competing against every project in the state, with some costing as much as $30 million, Okaw Valley was one of 22 selected for display in the Educational Environments Exhibition at the Hyatt Regency. Read More
City Council Reviews Levy and Discusses Pot Sale Options
•November 6, 2019•
By Mike Brothers
Sullivan City Council met Oct. 28 continuing public discussion regarding recreational cannabis sales and reviewing tax levy options.
The ongoing discussion on cannabis concerns whether the city remains open to future sales and the resulting tax revenue or elects to opt out and receive no tax revenue or dispensaries.
City administrator Dan Flannell noted some issues concerning the state legalization have yet to be determined since Illinois is the only state to legalize sales with legislative rather than a referendum.
Comparing it to the days when the country came out of Prohibition, Flannell noted those currently distributing medical cannabis will receive priority when the law is enacted in January 2020. Read More
Sullivan School District Students Improve Math Skills
•October 30, 2019•
By Ariana Cherry
for the News Progress
The 2018-2019 Audit for the Sullivan School District was approved at the last board meeting. The total of all funds for the September 2019 Treasurer’s report were $12,275,866.86. The balance of the Education fund was $4,786,211.95. Transportation fund was recorded at $1,490,691.26 and the Operations and Maintenance was $1,628,165.36.
The board discussed and approved the school improvement plan.
A collection of data was shared among board members showing results of the MAP test (Measures of Academic Progress).
The MAP test is a scientifically based growth measurement system that “informs” the teaching and learning process.
The average total percent of students in grades Kindergarten through fourth grade who were at or above reading level was about 69% in the fall of 2018. In the spring of 2019, that percentage increased to 71.6. In Mathematics, students in grades Kindergarten through grades four were at 67.4 percent in the fall of 2018. In the spring of 2019, the level rose to 75.2 percent.
The goals that the Sullivan Elementary School has set include: Read More