Requests trial by jury

April 1, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

A man accused of murdering a Sullivan woman pled not guilty Monday morning and requested a trial by jury.
Michael Yost, 40, of Sullivan, appeared before the Hon. Judge Dan Flannell Monday morning along with public defender Bradford Rau. Yost was to appear that afternoon for his preliminary hearing of which he instead waived.
Yost was found unresponsive on March 4 inside a Graham Street apartment along with Sheri L. Randall, 43, also of Sullivan. Randall was pronounced dead by Moultrie County Coroner Lynn Reed. A preliminary autopsy the following day concluded that Randall had died as a result of multiple stab wounds on the abdomen. Yost had also been found with stab wounds, but which appeared to emergency personnel to have been self-inflicted. After being transported to St. Mary’s Hospital in Decatur and released six days later, Yost was promptly arrested and brought up on four counts of first degree murder. Read More

Dependents’ costs questioned

March 25, 2015

by Ariana Cherry
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter

Discussions got heated when the question of health insurance coverage for retired employees came up during the regular meeting of the Sullivan City Council March 9.
Currently, all present employees pay 10 percent of the premium costs for their dependents (if they have any).
But in the city handbook, there is a clause stating that any employee who was employed with the city on July, 25, 1988 would have “comparable” health insurance paid for after retirement.
In 2013, when the city agreed to a new police union contract, one of the stipulations was that employees would begin paying a percentage of their dependents’ costs. Read More

March 11, 2015

Will show if village qualifies for grant money to help complete second phase of drainage project

by Florence Hallford
Lovington Reporter

As spring approaches with rain and melting snow, the board heard guests Kelly Lockhart and Kevin McReynolds from the Coles County Regional Planning and Development Commission (CCRP) speak on the potential to get phase two of the drainage project completed.

The phase two area is east of highway 121. Lockhart and McReynolds requested that they begin an income survey of the area where the work would take place to see whether 50 percent of residents are listed at the poverty level. If so, Lockhart and McReynolds would proceed with a grant application, that if awarded, would earn the village of Lovington $450,000 for the project. The village, however, would be required to put in $150,000. Read More

March 4, 2015

County will have to amend ordinance before zoo can apply

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The three-member county planning and zoning committee met Friday afternoon and unanimously approved amending the zoning ordinance to allow for zoo operations in the county.
The amendment comes after the county received a permit application for a zoo from the State Bank of Arthur on January 16. After issues were raised about the permit not including the names of those with the actual vested interest, an amended application was then filed by James Aikman, a loan officer with the bank on February 13, requesting the same permit, but the application could not be processed because the county zoning ordinance does not contain any language or permissions allowing for a zoo.
Aikman’s proposal is for an initial 45-acre wildlife park that would include both a drive-through area where patrons could feed animals and a walk-through that would be similar to a zoo but with much larger habitats. There would also be a 7,000 squared foot walk-through aviary featuring different species of birds that patrons could feed.
But according to a formal protest letter filed with the county clerk’s office last Wednesday by Urbana attorney Kent Follmer representing 17 nearby landowners, 66 percent of those who own land adjacent to the proposed zoo oppose both the application for the special use permit as well as the current amendment that planning and zoning officer Jan Haegan has developed. Of the 17 clients Follmer is representing, seven do not own land adjacent to the proposed zoo site. Read More

March 4, 2015

by Florence Hallford
Lovington Reporter

A small group of Lovington residents gathered in the basement of the First Christian Church February 24 to discuss the possibility of introducing new programs and activities for the children of Lovington.
The group included Pastor Al Rennert, Roger Walker, Norma Woolridge, and Nicole Brodnansky. Resident Victoria Goacher presented information to the group along with community organizer Mike Crews with the Illinois Coalition for Community Services (ICCS). Goacher then presented the information to the board at the Lovington Village Board meeting Monday night.
ICCS began in 1985 in underserved and low-income communities in Illinois. Since its inception, ICCS has helped more than 1,000 communities with a mission to empower people to change their communities with education, advocacy and grassroots organizing. It is a private non-profit grassroots organization with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty through community based programs. Goacher called Crews after seeing the success of a food program through friend Sandra Hiser in Niantic and seeing a need to pull the community together to bring a better future to the children of Lovington.
Crews recommended beginning with a summer food program. Read More