•February 13, 2019•

In a special Lovington Village Board meeting Jan. 28, trustees approved an ordinance to borrow funds from the Public Water Supply Loan program.
In connection village board members approved increasing the minimum water rate to $16.87 as a base with a one percent annual increase taking effect January 2020.
Trustee Dennis Garmon pointed out the base water rate would be $20.79 in 20 years under the new rate increase. Trustees Garmon, Doug Smith, Brenda Wood Gary Clem and April Daily voted for the two measures. Read More

Helen and Eugene Rowe

•February 6, 2019•

By Jazzy Rowe
for the News Progress

Eugene Rowe is going to celebrate his 99th birthday with Ansar Shriners in Springfield.
Rowe joined the Shriners back in the 1940s with Free Masons friends, and although he hasn’t been active in the past few years, the 16th annual Ansar Shrine Chili Cookoff at Boondocks in Springfield is on his birthday Feb 17 so he figures he might go.
Gene and wife Helen lived in Sullivan since 1974 where he has enjoyed being a faithful St. Louis Cardinal and University of Illinois fan. Now Helen is gone and Jasmine, their cat of 18 years, keeps him company.
“I brought the cat home from John Carroll’s welding shop, but I made them agree to take it back if Helen didn’t approve,” Rowe says of the day he brought Jasmine home. “I took her inside and told Helen the deal I had made at the welding shop. She looked at the cat and looked at me and said ‘You’re not taking that cat back’ and Jazzy stayed.” Read More

•February 6, 2019•

Alvan Booths, 32, of Mattoon is in custody following an 11 p.m. shooting in Sullivan.
Sullivan Chief of Police James Waggoner explained SPD and the Moultrie County Sheriff’s Dept. responded to the home invasion with shots fired at a residence in the city.
Police arrived to discover Otha Phillips had been shot in the neck. He was transported by Sullivan Ambulance Service to the Decatur Memorial Hospital emergency room. Read More

Photo by Mike Brothers
Titus Manor, originally built in 1862, became a retirement home for ladies in 1967.

•January 30, 2019•

By Titus Sentel
for the News Progress

Titus Manor at Wyman Park in Sullivan is closing March 31, 2019 after serving 52 years as a home for retired Illinois women.
“We have made many friendships and served as home to 206 awesome ladies since the official opening in 1967,” Titus Manor Board of Managers chair Kathy Hawbaker said in a release following the board’s decision.
“The staff’s hard work and dedication not only to Titus Manor but to each and every lady who has graced its doors is greatly appreciated,” Hawbaker, who was also the Manor administrator from 2008-13, said. Read More

Mirror Images Celebrates 30

•January 23, 2019•

By Imagene Mears
for the News Progress

At the end of this year’s Mirror Images’ show, Mr. Newman says, “...if you can choose to be anything, choose to be kind.”
His student Jasmine replies, “Yup...and spread happiness like glitter.”
Spreading happiness and kindness, are in essence, what this year’s original play is about.
The public performance of If You Could Choose To Be Anything will be Saturday, January 26, at 7 p.m. at the Little Theatre on the Square. Tickets are $5 and will be sold only at the theater prior to the show.
“We’ve been writing the script since October,” said Rebecca Lawson, the Sullivan High School group’s advisor, “and I am incredibly proud of the hard work this group has put in to crafting an interesting and funny show. This is the first time we have ever written a show like this - no one dies, no one gets arrested, no horrible tragedies - just typical teen issues.”
The range of the issues covered in the show were determined by the group’s writers during brainstorming meetings back in October.
One issue being tackled is what’s a guy to do when the girl he likes has no interest in him at all and hates his loud gum chewing.
Another character battles poverty and food insecurity. Read More