•February 24, 2021•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer
The City Council entered into an intergovernmental agreement for the transfer of property from the Moultrie County Rural Public Water District to the city of Sullivan during Monday night’s meeting. The purchase price of the property which is adjacent to the water plant is $10,000. The acquirement of the property will allow for some space between the new water plant and the above-ground water storage tank. Read More
Category Archives: News
ALAH District Extends School Day by Half an Hour, Dismissal at 2:00 P.M. to Begin March 1
Board hires Marla Graham as the new Lovington Grade School Principal
by Ariana Cherry
NP Writer
Jacob Bettinger, an Eagle Scout, attended the ALAH District School Board meeting Wednesday, February 17. Last year he had informed the board of his plan to build an enclosed see-through bus stop shelter at Lovington Grade School.
The enclosed bus stop will measure approximately 6 ft. by 12 ft. to accommodate 10-12 students and will be located east of the old Lovington High School parking lot. He wishes to buy the supplies to build the enclosure rather than buy a prebuilt one as that would be more cost effective. Prebuilt structures cost about $6,000 whereas it would be only around $3,000 to build one himself. He hopes to get sponsors, donations and volunteers to help. His reasoning behind choosing this as his project is because he and his parents have noticed several of the high school students waiting to ride the bus from Lovington to Arthur outside in the elements - especially when it is either raining or snowing. Superintendent Shannon Creek is very pleased with Jacob’s idea and mentioned it would be a great idea to document the project as it is built. After the board reads through some of the designs and plans for the project, they are looking forward to signing its approval. Read More
City of Sullivan Establishes A Revolving Loan Program
•February 17, 2021•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer
During the Feb 8 City Council meeting, an ordinance establishing a revolving loan program for the city of Sullivan was approved. The council appropriated a sum of $400,000 for initial funding of the program.
Prior to 1992, the US Department of Agriculture had a revolving loan program available to communities at low interest rates to push development and employment. That program had the amount of $250,000 appropriated to it. City Administrator Dan Flannell said that through that program the city of Sullivan made many loans to businesses, but as interest rates declined the need for the program went away. Read More
Austin Kelley wins Moultrie County Spelling Bee
Photo submitted
Moultrie County Spelling Bee Champion Austin Kelley with a book he got to help prepare him for the bee. Austin is the son of RJ and Dawn Kelley.
•February 17, 2021•
The Moultrie County Spelling Bee was held last Wednesday virtually using the Scripps online platform. Students participating in the virtual bee were from Lovington Grade and the Sullivan School District.
Sullivan School District participants were James Conlin, Austin Kelley, Hannah Creek, Brady Stollard, Landon Jesse, Xandria Smith. Alternates were Rowan Mast and Nixon Dundee. Lovington Grade School participants were Isabella Menna, Brian Hadley, Rylie Pitts, Macelyn Boddy, Maxton Boddy and Jacob Hurt. Alternates were Makenna Liming and Samantha Fowler.
Austin Kelley from Sullivan School District was named the Moultrie County Spelling Bee Champion. Runner-up was Maxton Boddy from Lovington Grade School. Austin will advance to the Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 13 at 9 am at Richland Community College in Decatur.
Board Approves Resolution Urging Governor To Veto Bill Regarding Criminal Justice Reform
•February 17, 2021•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer
The Moultrie County Board met last Thursday night and approved a resolution urging Governor Pritzker to veto House Bill 3563 regarding criminal justice reform. “Most of us feel pretty strongly about the negative aspects of this legislation,” County Board Chairman Dave McCabe said.
The bill was passed by the Illinois House and Senate in January. The News Progress reported in January that the bill was concerning for local officials.
Some of the things included in the bill include eliminating cash bail, requiring body cameras to be in place by 2022 with all agencies having them implemented by 2025. Read More
City Council Hears Citizens Concerns About Utility Rates
Photo by Crystal Reed.
Chase Eller (right) receives a certificate from Mayor Richard Glazebrook (left) during the city council meeting. Eller recently saved a baby from choking when he was dining at a restaurant in Decatur.
•February 10, 20201•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer
Citizens expressed their concerns about utility rates during Monday’s meeting of the Sullivan City Council. Allison Beard addressed the council saying her utility bill this past month was almost $400.
“My boyfriend has recently started going to work early every day of the week just so we can afford to pay this extremely high utility bill,” she said. Beard added that she has had several people reach out to her saying their bills are high as well.
Mayor Richard Glazebrook said the staff has put a lot of time in this and received a lot of calls. He said that the usage is up and is a lot more than it was last year. Read More
Five-Year-Old and His Mother Rescue Neighbor From Pond
•February 3, 20201•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer
Late last summer Richard Isaacs, 79, of Sullivan had a small garden and decided it would be better to water it from a pond on his property; so he got a bucket, and when he stepped down to fill it, he went face first into the pond.
He yelled for help for about 40 minutes, but no one was outside to hear his cries. Eventually, Ashlee Florey and her five-year-old son Oliver were letting their dog out and heard yelling from the other side of the subdivision, roughly 100 feet away. Read More
Our Elections Are Safeguarded From Fraud
•February 3, 20201•
By Ellen Ferrara
NP Guest Writer
When America’s founding fathers envisioned this new nation, they were united in the pledge that it would be a democracy governed by the will of the people and never by a king, dictator or autocrat.
To ensure that government of the people, by the people and for the people would long endure they created an election process whereby every citizen should have a free and equal vote to decide who would govern them. Over 200 years later, we still struggle with ensuring equality in our voting system.
In the most recent 2020 election there was an unprecedented assault on the validity of our election process – the very cornerstone of our democracy. Even the integrity of our United States Postal Service was compromised. This happened in part, I believe, because people do not know or understand completely how our election process works. There is so much more to it than just completing a ballot and inserting it into a machine. Read More
Bates Takes Third in District Contest
•February 3, 20201•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer
Sullivan High School sophomore Paul Bates took third in the district contest for the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Voice of Democracy competition. Bates said that the district competition included entrants from the five surrounding counties.
His essay won at the high school level which advanced him to the district level. This year’s essay theme was “Is This The Country That The Founders Envisioned?”
Bates said that his essay focused on how the founder of our country set out to make us a free and properous nation and how he thinks that has come to friution. In addition to writing the actual essay he had to record himself reading the essay and place the file on a flash drive to be submitted.
“I thought it was a good way to get my opinion out there and good practice to learn to write better,” Bates said.
Sullivan HS Student Saves Baby’s Life
•February 3, 20201•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer
Chase Eller, 16, of Sullivan is being called a hero after he stepped in while a baby was choking and saved the baby’s life. Last Friday evening, Eller while at dinner in Decatur with his girlfriend heard a baby coughing and then choking.
He saw the mom of the baby trying to help her choking baby but doing so incorrectly. He remembered from his health class that sticking your fingers down a choking baby’s mouth will only make the situation worse. Instead, Eller knew the right thing to do was turn the baby upside down and try to dislodge whatever was stuck in the baby’s throat; so Eller jumped into action. He said that he approached the mother and immediately turned the baby upside down and whatever was dislodged in the baby’s throat came loose. Read More