Category Archives: News Section

Investing for a State that has No Money

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Photo by Mike Brothers
State Treasurer Michael Frerich visited a Sullivan Chamber round table at Cathrine’s 5 West Feb 3. John Hindman of Mattoon (right) was among interested citizens attending.

•February 8, 2017•

State treasurer Michael Frerichs gave visitors to the Sullivan Chamber of Commerce round table a chance to find out how he does his job in a state with no money.

“As the chief investment officer for a state without money, we were able to generate $68 million in interest for Illinois last year,” Frerichs explained to community leaders gathered at Cathrine’s 5 East Feb. 3.

He explained that if the state had a balanced budget, that would have grown another $30 million.

“We try to help provide tools for families to help invest,” he continued, noting programs such as the College Savings has grown to include 440,000 participants.

“A new investment program involving 14 states now allows people to save on behalf of persons with disabilities or blindness without jeopardizing federal disability benefits,” Frerich said.

He reported that the National Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Alliance allows for tax free investments when funds are used for the person with disabilities utilizing a pool involving 14 states. Read More

Court Absence Brings Jail Sentence for Farm Manager

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•February 8, 2017•

By Mike Brothers

Lyle Roger Harrison’s repeated absence from sentence hearings got him jail time; although his August 2016 felony theft conviction yielded 36 months’ probation.

Judge Richard Broch, who had presided over the case since December 2013, issued a warrant for Harrison’s immediate arrest placing bond at $500,000 bond for failure to appear.

Harrison, 43, having recently relocated to Manitowoc, Wisc., will return to Moultrie County jail to serve 50 days of a 180 day sentence on the failure to appear charge.

The sentencing hearing was conducted without Harrison’s presence.

In August a Moultrie County jury convicted Harrison of theft when he deprived farm operator Donald Cochran of $9,488.67 and the Willoughby Trust of $5,829.87 when he sold grain from land he did not own. Read More

Rotary Honors Community Servant Jim Bales

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Photo by Mike Brothers
Gerry Wood (left) presents Jim Bales with the Sullivan Rotary Club’s annual Vocational Service Award during the January 31 meeting held at TnT Pizzeria in Sullivan.

•February 8, 2017•

Sullivan Rotary Club presented its annual Vocational Service Award to Jim Bales during the January 31 meeting at TnT Pizzeria.

Selection committee representative Gerry Wood pointed out that Bales inspired and mentored youth while teaching at Sullivan High School and operating Jim’s Pizza in the 1960s and 70s.

“As a business teacher he taught many local business owners the basics while explaining the importance of ethics,” Wood began.

He went on to point out that as a physical education teacher and coach Bales continued teaching the same values that continue to guide him. Read More

Five Pies for Mr. Ogle!

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Five Pies for Mr. Ogle!
The students of Sullivan High School worked hard in raising money for juvenile diabetes research through a penny war that ran for two weeks during lunch and were able to raise a total of $500. The sophomore class took fourth place in the competition, the seniors third place, the freshmen second place and the winners were the juniors. Students wrote their names down when they made donations, and names were drawn from those juniors who contributed to their winning effort to smash a pie in assistant principal Nathan Ogle’s face. The number of pies was determined by the amount of money raised with each $100 earning a pie.

Harshman Honored

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Harshman Honored
Sullivan Chamber and Economic Development honored several in the community during the January 27 luncheon. Above Ron Harshman received the Lifetime Achievement Award. One of the six founding members of Agri-Fab, Harshman’s devotion to community working with American Cancer Society and Relay for Life exemplifies the meaning of Lifetime Achievement.

Origin of Sullivan’s Name Traced to Revolutionary War

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•February 1, 2017•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

My friend and News Progress colleague Joe Pound has every so kindly advised me that my source of the city website for the origins of the name “Sullivan” was incorrect.

Indeed, further research shows that in documents from the Sullivan County Commissioners in 1845, they met and agreed on a site for the new town and selected the name “Sullivan” after General John Sullivan of Revolutionary War fame.

So, let me now praise famous men. John Sullivan was born Feb. 17, 1740 in New Hampshire and was a continental general in the Revolutionary War, a delegate to the Continental Congress, Governor of New Hampshire and a U.S. federal judge. He studied and practiced law often to the annoyance of his neighbors for his numerous frivolous suits and foreclosures. Read More

Grit & Glory – Traversing the Panama Canal

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Photo by Joe Pound
At the Farewell Panama party the Sullivan Eleven lined up with the rest of the tour group and with four native women dressed in Pollera, native dress of the culture. The elaborate dresses take up to a year to make and are adorned with thousands of dollars in jewelry.

•February 1, 2017•

By Jose Libra
for the News Progress

Along with about a dozen friends from Sullivan, we just returned from five warm, sunny days touring this remarkable civil engineering project and its environs in the Republic of Panama.

The preplanned trip was organized and led by Road Scholar guides, beginning with our landing in the skyscraper crowded Panama City, the capital of the country.

Led by Don Schmidgall of Sullivan our group benefited from his energy and attention to detail, making the trip easy and fascinating. Highlights included history of the canal, size and scope of this project, traversing by ship the entire canal, perfect weather in the 90’s, our two tour guides, the new bridge over the Canal being built at Colon, riding high in the top cabin of the tour boat, the railroad trip back to Panama City from Colon, wonderful breeze along the canal trip, the rainforest, delicious food and the farewell dinner and dancers.

Our local tour guides from Road Scholar were “Archie” and “Rey”, both Panamanian citizens. Both of them were a joy and taught us a great deal about the history and reality of this central part of Panama. Read More

Sullivan Council Accepts Bid for Sanitary Project

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•February 1, 2017•

By Ariana Cherry,
for the News Progress

The Sullivan City Council accepted a bid of $830,777 from Followell Construction Company of Marion, Ill. for the sanitary project.

Discussions for this project began about seven years ago after the city had applied for grants for funding which were declined. They applied for a city grant and was approved for funding of $450,000 to help pay for the project.

The council also approved research to install a new water tower. Lee Beckman of Milano and Grunloh suggested that in order to find the best place for the tower, the city needs to perform a hydraulic analysis of the existing water system which will cost $20,000. Council members approved the hydraulic analysis.

Other news that was discussed or acted upon: Read More

The Little Museum Time Has Forgotten at Mason Point

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Photos by Ellen Ferrera
Through the doors of the Ward Museum at Mason Point are treasures from a lifetime of collecting frozen in time.

•February 1, 2017•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Up the steps of the main Mason Point building, through the front door and about 100 yards ahead you will arrive at the entrance to the magical world of the Abraham L. and Cora Ward Museum - frozen in time since it opened in 1948. Inside are some 25,000 items, many valuable and rare with mysterious origins as intriguing as the story of the museum itself.

When ill health forced Mr. Ward into retirement in his early forties, he and Cora set out on train trips all over North America, Mexico, Canada and Cuba.

It was their custom to purchase a train ticket as far as they could travel to a good sized city by daylight. They would spend the night in a hotel and the following day engage in their passion of collecting anything and everything of interest.

His passion was sea shells and hers was glass tumblers and goblets, but their interests were wide-ranging. When they tired of one city, they would buy another ticket as far as daylight would take them. Read More