Photo by Keith Stewart
Patricia Reid is one Sullivan resident who regularly uses the Central Illinois Public Transit system, including last Wednesday when she needed a ride to her doctor’s appointment.

The Illinois budget has the possibility of affecting services

•August 19, 2015•

By Ariana Cherry
Reporting in Sullivan

It is easy to take your mode of transportation for granted when it is readily available-whether it is the car in your garage or a ride from a friend or family member. But when you don’t have a way to get to doctor’s appointments or even the grocery store, it can be frustrating. Those who don’t have other means of getting from one place to another, depend on public transportation. For some, it is their only way to gain some type of independence.

“It is important to get around for every day needs such as going to store and doctor appointments. Without it, I would never get to the doctor because I have no other way,” commented Patricia Reid, who often uses the bus from CIPT (Central Illinois Public Transportation). “Without the bus, I would have to go to the nursing home because I wouldn’t be able to get around anywhere and I can’t walk that far,” she added.

Sandy Siler, who also takes advantage of services from CIPT, depends on public transportation. “My husband died two years ago, and I am disabled. I can’t walk and if Ii didn’t have it to transport me and my scooter, I wouldn’t be going anywhere and I would stay at home all the time,” she said.

CIPT has been in business for 30 years, offering public transportation to anyone needs it. While it is viable for seniors and disabled, anybody can ride the bus. It gives those who ride a sense of independence and security by knowing that they can see their doctors, purchase groceries and still get out every once in awhile and not be stuck at home. “We give them their freedom back by being a part of the community and continuing with their daily lives,” quoted Dennis Shiley, the director of CIPT.  Read More

Photo by R.R. Best
Pictured are outgoing managing editor Keith Stewart (left) and his replacement Mike Brothers (right), who took over this week.

•August 12, 2015•

by Keith Stewart

Yes, I’m leaving. And soon it will be last week’s news.

After four years here at the News•Progress, I have decided to step away as managing editor, editor, sports reporter, designer, photographer, website manager, et al.

Replacing me (and as explained somewhere nearby), is Mike Brothers, who literally trumps me in experience 10-fold.

And I feel good about putting the paper in his hands.

Last week when he and I were in Findlay, Mike, spur of the moment, jumped out of the car and began delivering complimentary issues of our paper door to door in the 90 degree heat. That’s when I knew he was right for this paper and right for this area.

Because he cares.
Read More

•August 12, 2015•

Mike Brothers is coming to the Sullivan News Progress to serve the community as managing editor.

With some 30 years of history in area newspapers, Brothers’ return is marked by the fact that once ink flows through a person’s veins they are never the same.

“It’s a business that gets under your skin,” he said. “I enjoy getting local news and taking pictures around the community.” Read More

•August 12, 2015•

By Derek Pope
Bethany Reporter

In July Bethany village officials welcomed a new eatery to town that promises to be significantly different than anything that has come before it. Scottie B’s, aptly named after the business’s founder, 14-year village resident Scott Buxton, will be Bethany’s first food truck.

Food trucks, which have been described as a new “revolution” in the dining experience by popular periodicals such as National Geographic Magazine, have become more prevalent in recent years because they buck the constraints of traditional restaurants in favor of a more cost effective model for giving customers the food they want. And it seems the craze has finally pervaded Bethany, as village officials granted Scott Buxton a seasonal permit to operate Scottie B’s and subsidized his future operations to the tune of $14,000 in forgivable TIF loans.

The new food truck, currently located at Buxton’s 214 North Street residence, officially opened for business July 13. Buxton first came to the village board with a proposal for an extension of his already existing catering business in May and has since worked with the village’s zoning committee and fellow village resident Dustin Miller to put together a plan for operating his business during the summer months for the rest of this year and expectantly in years to come. Buxton himself did not ask the village for any funding but entered into an agreement with Miller to potentially use the area behind the village’s downtown buildings currently a gravel parking lot enterable through Lincoln Street as the future permanent location for the food truck. Miller, who is the owner of the lot in question, was the one to undertake the $14,000 two-year forgivable TIF loan.  Read More

Grant money held up so far

•August 5, 2015•

by Mike Brothers

The real life of recovery is something clients at Moultrie Counseling Center deal with every day, but the state’s budget stalemate is forcing the center to face its own real life dilemma.

How to continue providing needed mental treatment when funding sources are threatened is the problem.

Running without a state budget means the Sullivan based community mental health provider has not received $37,076 of its total state grant of $49,075 for contract services.

David Cole, center executive director, explained that is the money needed for psychiatric services. Funding from state Division of Mental Health is essential for paying doctors, who are required to evaluate clients.

“The psychiatrist is the centerpiece to successful mental health intervention,” Cole explained, noting that a third of Moultrie Counseling Center clients are required to have a doctor review medications periodically before prescriptions may be renewed.  Read More