Category Archives: News Section

Sullivan First United Methodist Church Music Festival 2022

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Photo by Crystal Reed
Bounce House
Children enjoyed a variety of activities including a bounce house, bags and other activities during the Sullivan First United Methodist Church Music Festival on Saturday, July 23.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Live Music
Jeff Mayberry was another performer at the Music Festival held on Saturday. Also playing were Michael Dean Lewis and Jake and Mikayla with full band.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Music Festival
Michael Dean Lewis plays during the Sullivan First United Methodist Church Music Festival held Saturday, July 23.

ALAH School Board Focuses on “Where to go from here?” after School Referendum Fails to Pass

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•July 27, 2022•
by Ariana Cherry
NP Writer

The recent ALAH School Board meeting was shorter than usual as there were no principal reports, and it had to be held on a different evening since there were a few board members who needed to arrange their summer schedules. Despite the public portion of the meeting being brief, there were still a few comments about the school referendum that didn’t quite get enough votes to pass during the local election.
“We can all be proud of the process we developed. I’ve had several people from the community asking me where we are going to go from here, and I tell them I am not sure just yet. We will take a breath, regroup and talk about how we want to move forward. I appreciate everyone who turned out to vote, and I know there was a lot of passion. Perhaps next time we will encourage more participation and provide more education. I commend our communities in our district that were involved with the referendum, but I think we will have to go back to the drawing board,” Superintendent Shannon Cheek said. Read More

City Council Hears Update on City Building

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•July 27, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer

Colton Davis of Utz and Associates was at Monday night’s city council meeting to answer questions in regard to the city building just off the square. The latest decision was to demolish the existing building and build a new two-story city hall building in its place. Utz said the existing building has mold and fungus issues, air quality issues and asbestos containing materials throughout the building. He continued to say that it would cost more to renovate the existing building than build a new one.
A member of the public asked about the cost of demolition for the old building. Davis said that they don’t have an exact estimate. “I would say somewhere in the range of $100,000 to $125,000,” he said. Read More

Solar Ovens

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Photo by Crystal Reed
Solar Ovens
Children in the summer reading program at Lovington Library created solar ovens on Tuesday, July 12. They were given ingredients for s’mores so they could test out their solar ovens at home. Pictured is Jenna Herschberger with her decorated solar oven.

SDS Crew Treated To Ice Cream

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Photo by Crystal Reed
SDS Crew Treated To Ice Cream
On Friday July 15, it was rainy but that didn’t dampen the spirits of children in the Sullivan Dance Studio crew. Country Financial, the Houser agency, treated children to ice cream at the Sullivan Bakery. Pictured are the SDS crew, Elizabeth and Kyler Houser and Jorjia Clements of the Houser Agency.

ARPA Funds Awarded to Moultrie County Beacon

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•July 20, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer

The county board approved a motion to distribute $90,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Moultrie County Beacon for loss of revenue related to the inability to have the Light House Cafe open and the annual Otto Center fundraiser. Treasurer Stephanie Helmuth said a review is necessary because some of the calculations are loss of revenue and some due to loss of residents in general. The committee agreed that the loss of revenue from Light House Cafe and Otto Center fundraiser were directly impacted by COVID-19.
Tyler Graven said that the roofing project on the Moultrie County courthouse is moving along. The Building and Grounds committee will have a meeting Wednesday, August 3 at which time the county farm will be discussed. County Clerk Georgia England noted that the farm had been advertised for two weeks, but they had received no applications. It has been placed in the paper as a legal ad, but she suggested running it as a regular advertisement. Read More

Moultrie County Clerk Resigns During Meeting

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•July 20, 2022•

by Crystal Reed

NP Writer

Moultrie County Clerk Georgia C. England resigned toward the end of the Thursday, July 14, county board meeting. Prior to the announcement, Ann Wheeler, who works as an election judge, read a letter commending England and her staff. In her letter, which may be found in this week's issue, she said that she was concerned when she heard about accusations made on Facebook and elsewhere of corruption and fraud in the local election. She finds those accusations absurd.
England read her letter of resignation to a standing room only audience and noted that she had during her time with the county navigated it through more than 30 elections. Later in the letter she noted that it is not the position but rather the people who are bringing her clerk tenure to a close several months earlier than planned. "Moultrie County could be so much better than what it has become, but unfortunately, too many people are choosing to emphasize political parties over the best person for the position." Read More

Fourth of July Raffle Winner 2022

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Photo by Crystal Reed
Fourth of July Raffle Winner
The Sullivan Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development held their 50/50 Fourth of July Raffle. This year’s winner is Kamryn Landreth who received $4,414.50. She is pictured with Grant Wade of the SCED Board of Directors.

Petersen Health Care Announces Closure of Mason Point

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•July 13, 2022•
Petersen Health Care has announced the closure of Mason Point in Sullivan on September 12, 2022. The decision to cease operations was made necessary due largely to unsustainable, poor financial performance due to longstanding state of Illinois reimbursement shortfalls, the current regulatory environment, the cost of maintaining the aging physical plants, and the many challenges caused by the ongoing pandemic, most notably staffing and labor issues. Read More