Photos by Crystal Reed Sullivan Celebrates the 4th A variety of entries could be seen in this years’ Fourth of July parade.
Sullivan Celebrates the 4th 2023
Category Archives: News
City Council has First Reading for Appropriations
•July 12, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The Sullivan City Council held a regular meeting Monday, July 10. Commissioner Doug Shook attended the meeting via phone.
Nancy Barker inquired about the possibility of a new restaurant going in by State Farm, and Mayor Mossman said he didn’t know anything about it.
Under the consent agenda passed by the council was the approval of minutes of the regular meeting held on June 26 and the special meeting held on June 30, approval of claims, approval of a project authorization with Milano and Grunloh for the design and construction engineering on the sanitary sewer extension to the lumber company, approval of banking resolution 23-R, approval of pay estimate #1 for $267,707.48 to Beniach Construction for the Industrial Way project, approval of pay estimated #8 for $33,250.00 to Grunloh Construction, Inc. for the Water Treatment Plant project and approval of pay estimate #12 for $483,754.58 to Grunloh Building for the Water Treatment Plant project.
Commissioner Abbey Sherwood thanked Theresa Poland for painting the dugouts. She noted that the splash pad equipment has been delivered, and it is hoped construction will start this fall and be finished in the spring. Read More
Moultrie-Sullivan Fair Held 2023
photos by Crystal Reed
Moultrie-Sullivan Fair Held
The Moultrie-Sullivan was held on Friday, June 23 and Saturday, June 24. The fair included a cattle show, goat show, poultry and rabbits as well as a swine show. There were also non-livestock categories such as arts and crafts, clothing and foods. Results from the fair will be printed in a future edition.
Bike Blessing and Freedom Ride
photo by Crystal Reed
Bike Blessing and Freedom Ride
Motorcycle riders pray before departing on a freedom ride on Saturday, July 1 in the parking lot at New Life Church.
Sullivan Resident Inducted into Wyotech Hall Of Fame
•July 5, 2023•
Zeth Key, a Sullivan resident and Sullivan High School alumnus, was recently inducted into the inaugural Wyotech Hall of Fame. He was one of six Wyotech grads to be inducted. Wyotech is a trade school located in Laramie, Wyoming.
The six that were selected for the honor were picked out of students from as far back as 1966 when the university started and were chosen out of 60,000 graduates over the entire history of the school. Graduates had to be nominated by someone or multiple people then the selection committee deliberated regarding the qualifications of each nominee which included success, integrity, work ethic, giving back to the trade industry and your community.
Key first started getting interested in working on cars when he bought his first car, a 1977 Chevy Nova, and started working on it with his dad. In high school he took automotive technology classes with Joe Scribner and mentored at a GM/Chrysler dealership called HPR automotive. Read More
ALAH School Board Approves $0.25 Increase to School Lunches
•July 5, 2023•
by Ariana R. Cherry
After several years of not adjusting lunch prices, the ALAH School Board approved a $0.25 increase at their school board meeting held Wednesday, June 21. The school district is currently looking at a loss of $17,000 due to unpaid lunch bills, increases in food and operating expenses. With the new increase, the cost of elementary student lunches will be $3.15, and the cost for junior high and high school will be $3.25. There also is a $0.10 raise for the cost of breakfast. Superintendent Shannon Cheek stated that for the district to break even, they should be charging about $3.80, but with the $0.25 increase, it should at least get the district moving in the right direction.
Along with approving an increase to school lunches, the board also approved the final year for its Aramark food contract. The district has been in contract with them for five years. Next year, there is a plan to take bids to see what other companies are available. The cost to this year’s Aramark contract was raised 11% due to inflation.
Other items discussed/voted on include: Read More
Bethany Celebration 2023
Photos by
Crystal Reed
Bethany Celebration
Here are some shots from last weekend’s Bethany Celebration.
Arthur Village Board Hears about Dementia Friendly Moultrie County
•June 28, 2023•
by Ariana R. Cherry
“Dementia is a symptom of a disease,” stated Sheila Greuel, an independent consultant with the East Central Illinois Area on Aging who gave a presentation about a Dementia Friendly Moultrie County at the Arthur Village Board on June 19. It is a symptom of other diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. According to the Illinois Department on Aging, there were about 220,000 people living with Alzehimer’s disease in 2018, and that number is expected to increase by 18.2% by 2025 (260,000).
Greuel has been working with Moultrie County to do a community wide assessment of dementia. There are about 26 states that are now considered “Dementia friendly,” with Great Britain being the first country to be labeled as such. Illinois is now on its way to becoming a “Dementia Friendly” state also. A person who is considered “Dementia Friendly” has been trained professionally or casually on how to interact with someone who has dementia. Read More
City Council Tables Invitation of Bids For City Building Project
•June 28, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The Sullivan City Council tabled the possible approval and issuance of an invitation of bids for the City Building project during the Monday, June 26 meeting. Commissioner Abbey Sherwood said she was touching base to see if there were any additional questions in regards to the project. Commissioner Doug Shook said that even though the basement has been eliminated from the bids he noted they would still have to excavate down.
“Even though the basement is not going in the contractor will have to do a significant amount of excavation into the existing rock to get that soil bearing pressure,” he said. He said they would potentially need to go down 8 to 10 feet. Shook had ADA questions but they were cleared up with the plans. Shook estimated they would be in the 4-5 million dollar range to get that building built.
Commissioner Mike Kirk said he is not opposed to a new city building, he is opposed to the timing. He noted there a numerous projects that are upcoming that they don’t know the cost of. Commissioner Chuck Woodworth brought up the possibility of withdrawing some of the Titus funds and use them for the new city building. Commissioner Sherwood said she can’t get on board with using Titus funds for this purpose. Read More
“Wild Weather” with JC Fultz
photo by Crystal Reed
“Wild Weather” with JC Fultz
Marrowbone Public Library continued their summer reading program schedule on Friday, June 16 with a presentation from Bethany resident JC Fultz. During his program he talked about what requirements a storm must meet to be considered a severe thunderstorm, what the difference between a funnel cloud and a tornado are, lighting and tornado safety, storm safety and flooding. Fultz shared that Illinois averages around 54 tornadoes a year.