•June 1, 2016•
We just want to invite everyone out to Wyman Park on June 11 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for Relay for Life. We are celebrating our 20th Anniversary of Relay in Moultrie County.
Opening ceremony will began at 10. We have entertainment planned, survivors laps, caregiver laps, bounce houses, Dunk Tank, Frozen T-Shirt Contest and many more activities including a Lip Sync Contest and Karate Demos. Luminarias will begin at dusk. Read More
•June 1, 2016•
Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond graduation ceremonies were held at the ALAH gymnasium at 7 p.m. Friday May 27 with 66 candidates receiving diplomas for 2016.
Valedictorians are Jakob Brewer and Rebecca Davis.
Photo by Darian Hays
Pictured above is ALAH’s 2016 graduating class.
Brewer plans to attend Parkway Pathway to the University of Illinois in the college of engineering. His idea of success is not about how much money you make, but whether you live your life to its fullest potential.
“Procrastination will get you nowhere, and life is 10 percent about what happens to you and 90 percent how you react.”
Davis is currently attending Paul Mitchell the School in Normal. Her idea of success is achieving your goals no matter what others think about them.
“Taking the time to grow as an adult can be more beneficial than class time.”
Madeleine Brown and Allison Irwin are salutatorians.
Madaleine is studying English through the Parkland Pathway to University of Illinois. Read More
Demolition Ahead
•June 1, 2016•
By Mike Brothers
Eagle Creek Resort’s $17.8 million repair and upgrade costs led the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to a demolition decision last week.
The fate of the 138 room hotel and golf course east of Findlay has been in limbo since its 2009 closing over mold issues.
Sullivan mayor Ann Short has served on a two county committee of public officials trying to revive tourism prospects for the area and attended a meeting following the IDNR announcement last week.
Representatives met at the Corp of Engineers Lake Shelbyville office.
“This is the first positive step I’ve seen in a long time,” she said of the decision to move forward on the fate of the resort. Read More
•May 25, 2016•
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Lake Shelbyville is gearing up for a busy Memorial Day weekend. A variety of programs are planned including tours of the dam, campground programs, and many other activities.
Beginning Memorial Day weekend, tours of the dam will be offered free of charge every Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tours are approximately 50 minutes long and begin in the Lake Shelbyville Visitor Center lobby. Small groups may sign in upon arrival at the Visitor Center. Large groups must call ahead. Tours run through Labor Day weekend. Read More
•May 25, 2016•
The Lovington American Legion family will host a Memorial Day service at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 28 in Tom Conn Park.
Sullivan American Legion Post #68 Honor Guard begins Memorial weekend observations following church service at Jonathan Creek Christian Church Sunday, May 29. The Honor guard will march the congregation across the road to the cemetery where prayer, a 21 gun salute and taps will be played.
Groups wishing to march in the Memorial Day parade are encouraged to gather at the Moultrie County Courthouse by 7:45 a.m. Monday, May 30. Read More
•May 25, 2016•
Moultrie County has been issued a final property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000, according to Constance Beard, Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue.
The property assessment equalization factor, often called the “multiplier”, is the method used to achieve uniform property assessments among counties, as required by law. This equalization is particularly important because some of the state’s 6,600 local taxing districts overlap into two or more counties (e.g. school districts, junior college districts, fire protection districts). If there were no equalization among counties, substantial inequities among taxpayers with comparable properties would result.
Under a law passed in 1975, property in Illinois should be assessed at one-third (1/3) of its market value. Farm property is assessed differently, with farm homesites and dwellings subject to regular assessing and equalization procedures but with farmland assessed at one-third of its agriculture economic value. Farmland is not subject to the state equalization factor. Read More
Photo furnished
Picking Up Litter Eiley Poe, 8, Bella Harden, 9 and Drake Poe, 11, all of Sullivan.
•May 25, 2016•
Megan and Jerrod Harden’s three children, Eiley Poe, 8, Bella Harden, 9 and Drake Poe, 11, all of Sullivan, felt it was up to them to clean their neighborhood after taking a walk one day.
They noticed a great amount of litter lining the rolling greens and road to South Shores subdivision.
The neighborhood clean up crew collected 10 bags of litter wading through the ticks and mud to get the job done.
“We are beyond proud of their efforts and found this to be something other kids in the community should be aware of...see... and do as well!” Megan said of her children’s efforts. Read More
Sullivan City Council researching net-metering policies
•May 18, 2016•
By Ariana Cherry
For the News Progress
Recently, resident Mike Fowler approached the Sullivan City Council about installing solar power in his home. Fowler has never had solar energy anywhere else, but he does know it can save money.
“I have a niece and nephew-in-aw in the St. Louis area who installed a solar system two years ago, 2014, and I spoke with them, and they are very happy with their system and the amount of money they are saving on their electric bill,” he commented. “ During the summer months when the sun is shining bright on their solar panels and their air-conditioning is running full force, they get electric bills of three to six dollars per month,” he added.
Fowler is no stranger to how utilities work. He does, after all, have a background in the electrical industry. “I graduated from Lake Land Community College with an associates in electronics before becoming a journeyman electrician after serving a four-year IBEW apprenticeship. If you go back even further, I worked at the Sullivan electric plant my senior year in high school, mopping floors, and then I’d go for in for the maintenance crew on day shift and help the meter readers on second shift,” he said.
Fowler realizes that a few years have passed since he last spent time in the industry. Read More
•May 18, 2016•
By Mike Brothers
Sullivan School Board adopted new student behavior policies and learned a dance group may be forming.
Nathan Ogle, assistant principal, explained to board members the student behavior policy changes proposed were mandated by recent legislation addressing student behavior (formerly known as student discipline), suspension procedures and expulsion procedures.
Ogle commended the district teachers who put in extra time and effort to improve performance of struggling students over the past year.
High school principal Erik Young reported that interest had been expressed in starting a Sullivan dance team.
He explained that according to policy the formation of a new group must be self-sufficient for the first three years, and at that time the board would decide whether the new program becomes part of the regular extracurricular schedule.
Kassie Thomas, recently hired children’s choir director, is also a dance instructor and submitted the proposal for dance team. Read More
John D. Ruscin
•May 18, 2016•
Land of Lincoln Honor Flight (LLHF) of Springfield flew with 80 veterans of World War II, Korean and Vietnam War eras on their Honor Flight trip to Washington, DC Tuesday, May 17. They departed Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport shortly after 6 a.m. on board a chartered 737 jetliner, then were met by three coach buses in DC.
John D. Ruscin of Sullivan was on board the jetliner. Ruscin joined the Navy and spent the end of World War II in the Pacific in preparation for the invasion of Japan, which was averted by dropping the atomic bomb.
Ruscin went on an Landing Ship Tank (LST) sweeping the waters around Japan for underwater mines.
After the war, Ruscin came to Sullivan to teach and coach at Sullivan Junior High School. That is where he met his wife Anna who was an art teacher.
Included during the day were stops at the World War II, Korean and Vietnam War National Memorials, the Air Force and Marine (Iwo Jima) Memorials and Arlington National Cemetery. They visited the cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and witnessed the changing of the guard. During the day the veterans had the opportunity to tour the National Air & Space Museum that houses aircraft from WWI to the Superfortress bomber Enola Gay of WWII all the way up through the retired Space Shuttle Discovery. They also had the chance to view the Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, the Pentagon and much more prior to departing back to the Springfield airport.