photo by Crystal Reed
Lovington Grade Students Decorate Courthouse
Lovington Grade students visited the Moultrie County Courthouse on Wednesday, December 6 and decorated the Christmas tree in the rotunda. Students also were able to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
•December 13, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The Sullivan City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, December 11 at the Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library. All commissioners were in attendance with Commissioner Chuck Woodworth attending by phone. The meeting began with two public hearings. One was for a proposed federally funded Community Development Block Grant project for storm sewer system improvements and the other was for the tax levy.
The public hearing on the CDBG grant was in regards to the city applying for a $650,000 community development block grant to help fund storm sewer improvements. The grant is funded by the federal government and administered by the state. The amount of CDBG funds proposed to be used for activities that will benefit low to moderate income persons is $371,540. This was approved later in the meeting under new business. Read More
photo by Crystal Reed
Marny Ennis Elliott and her son Charles hold a few of her framed needlepoint designs. She has a display of her dollhouse room boxes, handmade miniature furnishings and needlepoint on display until March 31, 2024 at the Moultrie County Historical Center.
•December 13, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
Marny Ennis Elliott of Champaign, formerly of Lovington, has a special exhibit of dollhouse room boxes and their handmade miniature furnishings on display at the Moultrie County Historical Center until March 31, 2024. The exhibit is called “Marny’s Miniatures.” Elliott recalls receiving a metal dollhouse at age six from Santa in 1949. The walls and floors were printed with rugs and pictures and plastic furniture. She donated it to the less fortunate. Read More
photo by Crystal Reed
Sullivan mayor Mike Mossman reads “The Gruffalo” to children as part of the launch of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Moultrie County at the Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library on Wednesday, December 6.
•December 13, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois in partnership with Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library had a kickoff event for the debut of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Moultrie County. Each child who attended the kickoff event of the debut of the program and signed up from the program received “The Little Engine That Could,” to start their collection.
Sullivan mayor Mike Mossman was in attendance at the event and read the story “The Gruffalo” to children and their parents. Following the story, children and their parents could do a craft related to the book and enjoy refreshments. Besides Moultrie County the following counties have access to the program currently: McLean, DeWitt, Macon, Piatt, Champaign, Vermillion, Edgar, Logan, Menard and Sangamon. Shelby County will launch this week on Wednesday. The goal with the state partnership is to have all the counties covered. Read More
photo by Crystal Reed
Santa’s Little Helper Workshop
Calvin Lawler works on a craft during the Santa’s Little Helper Workshop activities held at the Masonic Temple in Sullivan. Activities included Christmas crafts, cookie decorating, writing letters to Santa and refreshments. The event was free and offered by Dove, Inc.
photo by Crystal Reed
Christmas Fun
Alexis Rosine and Han Warren enjoy the activities in Santa’s Little Helper Workshop.
photo by Crystal Reed
Santa Letter Writing
Employees at Moultrie County Counseling volunteered at Santa’s Little Helper Workshop offering children the opportunity to write letters to Santa and coloring pages. Pictured are Mary Stutzman, Alexa Matthies and Alejandra Huerta.
photo by Crystal Reed
Helping Out at Santa Workshop
Molly Tenuto with Dove and her daughter Maddy helped out in Santa’s Little Helper Workshop prior to the Sullivan Christmas parade the evening of Friday, December 1.
photo by Crystal Reed
Visiting with Santa
Sawyer and Patsy Woodworth visit with Santa during the Sullivan Chamber and Economic Development’s Christmas activities on Friday, December 1.
photo by Crystal Reed
Santa at the Bethany Depot
Aria Lane visited with Santa when he visited the Depot in Bethany on Sunday, December 3. Santa rode into town in an antique fire truck and the Okaw Valley band played as he rode up to the Depot.
photo by Crystal Reed
BASO Volunteers
Pictured are some of the volunteers that made Santa’s arrival in Bethany possible in front of the village’s Christmas tree.
photo by Crystal Reed
Bethany Royalty Help Santa
Bethany royalty helped Santa at the Bethany Depot. Pictured are Young Miss Bethany Archer McPheeters, Little Miss Bethany Davanee Lenover, Miss Bethany Julia Hildebrandt and Junior Miss Bethany Falynn Irvin.
photo by Crystal Reed
Reindeer Games
Evie Law plays a ring toss game with Bethany Free Methodist Church Pastor Chris Benton. Santa came to Bethany on Sunday, December 3 and activities were held in the library’s community room, Santa photos at Bethany Depot and a tree lighting at the village hall.
photo by Crystal Reed
Santa Bingo Held at Sullivan American Legion
Santa Bingo was held on Saturday, December 2 at the Sullivan American Legion. Children of all ages and those young at heart enjoyed breakfast and bingo and also had the opportunity to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Pictured are Sophie Foster, River Helmuth, Indie Harminson and Daniel Cisney with Santa and Mrs. Claus. All proceeds from the event benefit Down Syndrome Awareness.
•December 6, 2023•
by Ariana R Cherry
The ALAH Board of Education approved a tentative tax levy at their school board meeting Wednesday. November 15. The tax levy was figured at 5.6%. Since the levy is over 5%, it will require the board to have a Truth and Taxation hearing. While the levy is over 5%, it still is considerably lower than last year’s which was 9%. The formula to configure the levy is established by state code. Superintendent Shannon Cheek also looks at other counties when he tries to estimate the EAV (equalized assessed value). In his research, he found that Moultrie County had a 7% increase, Piatt County was at 8% and Coles County was 6%. There will be a hearing at the next school board meeting in December, and the tentative tax levy will be on file for the next 30 days.
The district received a matching maintenance grant from the ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) of $50,000 to help cover the cost for the renovations of the bathrooms at Arthur Grade School and Lovington Grade School. Grunloh Construction’s bid of $537,000 was the one awarded to complete the project. Read More
•December 6, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The Illinois State Board of Education recently released report cards for districts in the state, rating districts on a variety of categories from socioeconomic status and attendance rates to truancy and proficiency in math, science and other subjects.
Sullivan Superintendent Ted Walk stated that the report cards are an important piece of what is going on in a district, but the more important part is what is done in classrooms each day. He also noted that standardized testing reflects a one-day test. Overall he said he is pleased with this year’s results. Read More
photo by Crystal Reed
One Book, One Sullivan chose the 2023-2024 book and announced it during an assembly on Tuesday, November 21. Members of OBOS are Wes Allen, Madeline Anderson, Madeline Atteberry, Violet Cohan, Isabelle Donovan, Emma Drake, Alex Fultz, Aubrey Fultz, Kent Lehman, Clara Miller, Scarlett Perrott, Avery Renfro, Daisy Richardson, Ronin Woods, Emery Wade, Gideon Walk and Rikki Ray.
•November 29, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
One Book, One Sullivan is excited to present City Spies by James Ponti as the 2023-2024 book choice. Sullivan Middle School students worked diligently to choose the book which would best match interests of middle school through adult readers.
According to the author’s website, www.jamesponti.com, Sarah Martinez is a hacker facing years in juvenile detention, until she meets Mother, a spy who gets her out of jail and into MI6, British Secret Intelligence. Operating out of a castle in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from around the world who’ve fallen through the cracks only to form a family like no other. When they’re not at the local boarding school, they’re mastering spy skills such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, covert observation, and explosives. In order that they can go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t. Read More