
Photo by Crystal Reed
Tree Planted in Memory of Ron Burgess
On Thursday, April 21, a tree was planted in memory of Ron Burgess. Ron’s family attended along with various department personnel. Gravy was added to the soil before filling in dirt.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Tree Planted in Memory of Ron Burgess
On Thursday, April 21, a tree was planted in memory of Ron Burgess. Ron’s family attended along with various department personnel. Gravy was added to the soil before filling in dirt.
•April 27, 2022•
by Ariana Cherry
NP Writer
Amish representatives Richard and Daniel were present, as well as the new recommendation for the Atwood-Hammond Grade School principal, Chris Forman and his family at the recent school board meeting of the ALAH Community School District held Wednesday, April 20 in the high school cafeteria.
Superintendent Shannon Cheek introduced Forman, who is married with two children, and gave a brief statement of his background and work history. Forman was born in the Jacksonville area and lived in Mahomet for 14 years. He also worked in Beijing, China for two years. After the closed session of the meeting, the board hired him as the new Atwood-Hammond Grade School principal beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. Read More
•April 27, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer
The Sullivan City Council approved employee raises during Monday’s meeting. A motion was made by Commissioner Abbey Sherwood to approve a 75-cent raise for full time, non-union employees. Commissioner Chuck Woodworth spoke on the fact that water plant employees have been under union negotiations since 2020 and have not received raises for the past three years. He said that he wanted to give those raises to those employees. The total amount for the five employees is $13,018.82 which they have not received. “I think we should move forward with this,” Woodworth said. A vote was taken to amend the initial proposed motion, and a motion was proposed to include the water plant employees. Both were passed. Read More

Photo by Crystal Reed
Rabies Clinic at Marrowbone Public
Library
On Wednesday, April 13 a rabies clinic was held at Marrowbone Public Library with services from Kaskaskia Valley Animal Hospital. Pictured are Dr. Florey and Ciera Williams with one of the dogs that came in for a shot.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Library Easter Egg Hunt
The Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library had story time on Wednesday, April 13. Children were read a story about Easter eggs and then went on an egg hunt in the children’s area of the library. Pictured is Tynleigh Cowell who was one of the children participating.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Third Graders Board the Titanic
Jennifer Hostetler’s third grade class at Lovington Grade School boarded the Titanic on Monday, April 11. Students were assigned the name of a person who was aboard the Titanic and could dress in character. Students were also separated out by the social classes when boarding the ship to determine their seat. All of their school subjects for the day had a Titanic focus.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Easter Hams Donated to Food Pantry
As Easter dinner came around and the Moultrie County Food Pantry received a donation of hams from Sullivan IGA to give to families for Easter Sunday. The donation was made possible by one anonymous person whose spirit exemplifies the season. The IGA meat department made a special delivery on Wednesday, April 13 to make sure the hams arrived in time for Sunday dinner. Pictured are (in no order): Seth Cobb, Cameron Eccles, Timothy VanDeursen, Mason Harner and Judy Sumner.
•April 20, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer
A new business to our area will be holding an after hours on Thursday, April 28 from 4 to 6 pm at 5 West Jefferson in Sullivan. There will be complimentary cocktails, light hors d’oeuvres and giveaways.
Shelby Realty started out in 1973 based out of Shelbyville. Owner Matt Forcum purchased the business in December 2020. He is a graduate of Lake Land College and Eastern Illinois University.
The realty company has 8 agents, “Any of our agents can handle any type of property,” Forcum said. Prior to purchasing Shelby Realty he was a realtor with Century 21 franchise in Effingham for 13 years. Read More
•April 20, 2022•
by Crystal Reed
NP Writer
The Moultrie County Board approved amendments to an amendment regarding the zoning ordinance concerning wind energy in the county. Marsha Kirby proposed an amendment regarding wind turbines to take the setback from 1.5 miles to 2 miles of the corporate limits and the setback between turbines from 1,500 feet to 3,000 feet.
After this was approved, Kirby added that she wanted the turbines from 1.5 to 2 miles and 1,500 feet to 3,000 from schools. Todd Maxedon proposed another amendment for zero tolerance for noise. This passed as well. A final vote on the ordinance will be taken at the Thursday, May 12, board meeting after the April 25 public hearing to be held at Sullivan High School.
Approved was a motion to fund all eight repeaters out of the county’s reserve fund for approximately $302,500 and for ARPA funds to be used to purchase the radios needed to get all departments on board in the county for approximately $233,810. There are repeaters that will reach out to fire departments in all towns as well as law enforcement. This will benefit all agencies in the county. Read More

Photo by Crystal Reed
Sullivan Singers Jr.
Sullivan Singers Jr. performing their competition show during the dinner theatre. That show included “Breakthrough”, “Grace Kelly”, “Come Together” and “Trying Too Hard”.

Photo by Crystal Reed
Sullivan Singers
The Sullivan Singers performed their competition show as part of the dinner theatre that was held on Saturday, April 9 and 10 at Sullivan High School. Sullivan Singers and Singers Jr. performed their fall shows and competition shows. There were also senior spotlight performances.