•March 7, 2018•

Okaw Valley High School students learned recent threats that have caused lock downs at area schools were not acceptable in the Valley.

Principal Matt Shoaff opened the March 1 assembly by pointing out 12 schools in the area had been on lock down recently for threats made over social media.

“This is unacceptable and gives all of us a black eye,” Shoaff said. “We want to come to school to learn and have a good time.”

Supt. Kent Stauder made it clear there would be consequences for anyone making threats on Okaw Valley students.

“Every morning when I make the rounds, it is to make sure your safety is number one,” Stauder said, explaining safety is why outside doors to the school are locked. Read More

•March 7, 2018•

By Eden Martin
NP Guest Columnist

Editors Note: This is the third is the series of articles about the 1896 lynching of Grant Atteberry in Moultrie County. The series was researched and written by Sullivan historian, native and retired attorney Robert Eden Martin.

Late Wednesday evening, February 12, a crowd of some 20 masked men gathered in the basement of the South Side High School building, later known (after 1927) as the Lowe School. There they agreed on a plan for breaking into the jail and taking the prisoner.

There were at least two reports by eyewitnesses to the events leading to the lynching of Atteberry. One was written by an unnamed reporter for the Decatur Herald Dispatch, published Tuesday, February 13, 1896. The second was published by the Sullivan Herald, edited at that time by John P. Lilly.

Copies of the issues of the Sullivan Herald from that period have not survived, but the Herald’s account was quoted extensively by the Decatur Daily Republican, Friday, February 14, 1896. Lilly later testified at the coroner’s inquest as a witness to the events. He was thus likely the author of the Sullivan Herald account. Read More

•February 28, 2018•

When the Sullivan School Board met Feb 13, Supt. Ted Walk followed up on the Saturday, January 20 special board meeting and future planning session when classroom reorganizing was discussed.

As part of the space relief experienced at Sullivan Elementary School with the shifting of the fifth grade students to Sullivan Middle School, Supt. Walk is proposed bringing Project HELP students to SES with the Early Childhood program.

The preschool program which targets at risk students age three to five is managed by Eastern Illinois Area Special Education and currently leases space  at Sullivan Preschool.

Walk told board members that EIASE is currently paying $20,000 to lease a building for Project HELP. By housing both the district’s Early Childhood program and Project HELP at the elementary school that grant money could be used to purchase materials or pay for a classroom aide. Read More

Photo by Kim Drury
Sullivan Blue Dolphin Swimmers with coaches, Tony Young, Sports Director of Illinois Swimming, Connie Dunscomb SBD Alumni, with Am. Legion and auxiliary women.

•February 28, 2018•

Ten years (2008) ago the Blue Dolphins started helping soldiers by collecting items for Until They All Come Home. The local group in Sullivan sent care packages to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When those needs were filled, the Dolphins looked for another outlet to help and have been collecting items annually for the Danville VA Hospital in conjunction with the Sullivan American Legion.  Read More

Photo furnished
Pictured is the Lovington Coal Mining Co.

•February 21, 2018•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

When the settlers began arriving to the vast prairies of central Illinois in the early 1800’s, they found a land of bountiful opportunity for their entrepreneurial spirits.

By 1850 Sullivan was an incorporated village and already bustling with such tradesmen as millers, bakers, lawyers, carriage makers, blacksmiths, a dentist and Joel Earp’s saloon among others.

Added to these were other businesses in Moultrie County with a coal mine in Lovington, a sorghum mill in Bruce and a bottle making plant in Sullivan.

There was a very rich vein of coal running lengthwise through Illinois, and a number of small mines sprang up in central Illinois. Chief among those in what was called the Lovington Triangle, was the Lovington Coal Mining Co. which started operation June 24, 1901.

After three attempts, a 902 feet shaft was completed and the 8’ 10” vein of fine quality coal was hoisted above ground. Coal mining was Moultrie County’s leading industry it ceased operation in 1924.   Read More