Category Archives: News Section

City Increases Website Offerings to Citizens

News Progress Posted on by

•February 24, 2016•

By Ariana Cherry
For the News Progress

Sullivan’s city website has a couple new apps which are available to residents.

One, a citizen problem reporter, allows citizens to report animal, park or utility problems from their computer or cell phone. They may sign in via Twitter or Facebook.

Green Hill Cemetery also has its own app. Currently it shows about 9,000 different spaces not including the old part of the cemetery. Users may click on different plots to see who is buried in a particular space or if it is available for sale. It also presents details such as who is cremated or is a veteran. Plots may be searched by location number or name.

The city of Sullivan is looking to purchase new time clocks for all of their employees. One package plan they are looking into has a $2,600 one time set up fee plus the purchase of the software.

The city may have the company host it on their site which would cost $3 per employee or Sullivan may host it themselves.

The council is also planning to get quotes for computer login software. Clerk Monte Johnson informed the council that there were three commonly used time keeping systems- pin numbers, card swipes and thumb prints. Employees may login remotely or onto a computer at their job site. Council members discussed the positives and negatives of both logging in remotely and on a nearby computer. Read More

Ray Reed Leaps

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Ray Reed at 23

Ray Reed at 23

•February 24, 2016•

Ray Reed of Sullivan is a Leap Year child, and this Monday, February 29, Ray will turn 23 years old.

“Or 92 if you’re counting,” Ray quipped. “You know I have done just about everything there is to do in life.”

He started reeling off some of the things he has done.

“I’ve sold about everything a person can sell from cars and real estate to appliances and paint.”

At one point Reed rebuilt carburetors and generators at the local auto dealership in Shelbyville. “You know cars don’t even have carburetors and generators any more,” he said of the changing times.

He spent 21 years working as an electrician for the railroad, but not before he got a serious lesson about electricity.

“I got hold of a saw with a short in it and grabbed a steel bar,” Ray recalled of his first experience.

“It almost killed me so I decided I better learn how to deal with this stuff.”

He even spent a few years as a television repair man, making house calls with a bag full of replacement tubes. Read More

Transportation Fund a Concern at ALAH School District

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New Health Courses from Lake Land Community College offered

•February 24, 2016•

By Ariana Cherry
For the News Progress

All funds are in the black, but the transportation fund is a concern,  Superintendent Kenny Schwengel told board members at the last Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond meeting.

“We spend about $80,000 a month. I think we will at least get one more mandated payment. We have only received one so far,” informed Schwengel.

“In order to cover the transportation fund, we may have to transfer money from the education fund,” he added. It was also noted that the Douglas County sales tax is coming in at what the district expected, as well as Piatt County. Last October, the district received $60,000.

ALAH junior and senior students interested in health occupations will have a chance to take courses offered by Lake Land College at Sarah Bush Lincoln. They will earn high school and college credit. Students would attend every day by choosing a morning or afternoon session. They would complete their regular courses at school and then provide their own transportation to Sarah Bush for the health occupational classes.  Read More

Leaky Chimney Comes Down

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Photo by Mike Brothers Leaky Chimney Comes Down Masons Masonry Restoration workers cut through the cap on the abandoned courthouse chimney which had recently allowed water into the state’s attorney’s office. Short order was made of the removal during some of the coldest and windiest days of the year. Cost to the county was not to exceed $18,500.

Photo by Mike Brothers
Leaky Chimney Comes Down
Masons Masonry Restoration workers cut through the cap on the abandoned courthouse chimney which had recently allowed water into the state’s attorney’s office. Short order was made of the removal during some of the coldest and windiest days of the year. Cost to the county was not to exceed $18,500.

Regional Bee Next for Top County Speller

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Photo by Mike Brothers Best Moultrie County Spellers: front from left: Zach Kursell, Alternate Brett Johnson, Carson Gillis, Sophie Floyd; second row: Natalie Lambdin, County Champion Reagan Crouse, Josie Hale, Aastha Patel; back row: Kenli Nettles, Robby LeCates and Alyssa Thompson.

Photo by Mike Brothers
Best Moultrie County Spellers: front from left: Zach Kursell, Alternate Brett Johnson, Carson Gillis, Sophie Floyd; second row: Natalie Lambdin, County Champion Reagan Crouse, Josie Hale, Aastha Patel; back row: Kenli Nettles, Robby LeCates and Alyssa Thompson.

•February 17, 2016•

Xenophobic was the word Reagan Crouse spelled correctly to win the Moultrie County Spelling Bee February 10.

Crouse edged fellow Sullivan seventh grader Brett Johnson after his attempt at “Guttural”. Johnson is alternate when Crouse competes in the Regional Bee March 19 in Decatur.

The County Spelling Bee was held at the Little Theatre in Sullivan,  with 4-8 grade students from Lovington and Sullivan schools competing, after each had proven themselves the best spellers at their respective schools.

Sullivan schools Nichole Hendry read and pronounced the words for each of the 12 participating students. The county bee championship was decide in the 11th round of elimination.

The first round eliminated half of the field: Tarmac -Carson Gillis of  Lovington; camaraderie - Sophie Floyd of Lovington; philharmonic - Natalie Lambdin of Lovington; esoteric - Kenli Nettles of Lovington; molasses-Lara Herschberger; resilience-Robby LeCates of Lovington. Read More

Village of Lovington Approves Fireworks Plan

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•February 17, 2016•

The village of Lovington January board action included approval for the village to spend $6000 toward July 3 fireworks.

This motion was approved following discussion to include Jake Kamm, representative of the fireworks company, was requested by trustees Dennis Garmon and April Daily to be on the agenda.

Village president Jim Minor said discussions with Shelly Martina and trustee Pam Anklam indicated about $3500 could be raised to help fund the fireworks.

Julie Kinert appeared on behalf of the Miss Lovington Scholarship. She said the contest will be held at 7 p.m. May 19 and the village had donated $500 toward the scholarship in the past. Read More

County Board Ratifies Corrections Contract

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Das Clubhaus License Approved 

•February 17, 2016•

by Mike Brothers

Following an executive session discussion Moultrie County Board members ratified a three year contract with county corrections officers.

Included in provisions for the new agreement was a three percent salary increase over the contract period.

An additional provision was if a corrections employee left county employment before one year of service, 100 percent of the training cost would be reimbursed the county. If the employee leaves before two years, they will be responsible for half their training cost.

The county board approved a Class B liquor license that allows Don Frevert  to open Das Clubhaus at the Sullivan Country Club.

Action was taken during the February 11 county board meeting to approve the license following recommendation of the Liquor Commission. Chairman Dave McCabe noted that Frevert is from Sullivan and is planning to reopen the clubhouse at the country club in April. Read More

Snow Goes

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Snow Goes City of Sullivan Street Department crews scoop the piles of snow left over following the Valentine’s Day weekend accumulation.

Photo by Mike Brothers
City of Sullivan Street Department crews scoop the piles of snow left over following the Valentine’s Day weekend accumulation.

General Primary Election Initiates New Voting System for County

News Progress Posted on by

Ballots available online

•February 17, 2016•

By Mike Brothers

Specimen ballots for the March 15, 2016 General Primary Election are published as a special insert with the Wednesday, February 17 edition of the News Progress.

Included are both the Republican and Democratic specimen ballots along with one property sale proposition affecting the voters of Arthur.

This is the first year for the Unisyn Optical Scan and Touch Screen tabulating equipment. There will be a public test of the new system at 10 a.m. March 7 in the Elections Counting Center Room on the first floor of the Moultrie County Courthouse.

The grace period for registration and voting is February 17-March 15. With two forms of identification a voter may register, change name, or change an address at the county clerk’s office.

Voters wishing to vote by mail may obtain an application from the Moultrie County Clerk’s website http://www/moultriecountyil.com  Read More

Bethany Bar Changes Hands, Owners Seek to Revisit TIF

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•February 17, 2016•

By Derek Pope
for the News Progress

Bethany city council members have shown a renewed interest in renovating the village’s downtown buildings following a proposal by the four co-owners of Bethany’s newest business—The Publisher.

The new establishment, currently Bethany’s only operating bar, took the place of the beleaguered Hired Hand Winery and Saloon after opening up shop in the now closed business’s buildings and purchasing the liquor license originally granted to the previous owners.

Although it is a fresh start for the bar’s proprietors, Ron Martin, Mike Sweeney, Pam Barker, and Heidi Bruns, they will still have to face some of the same obstacles that the Hired Hand encountered when alcohol sales became legal in Bethany nearly four years ago.

Not the least of these challenges will be repairing the image of open alcohol serving businesses in the village, chiefly in the eyes of Bethany’s board of trustees.

Last May Bethany’s city council members soured to the idea of subsidizing tavern style businesses after a dispute with the Hired Hand’s owners led to the revocation of a $48,000 TIF (Township Investment Funding) loan to renovate the heating and cooling system of the downtown buildings that housed the business. The deal ended up costing Muzzy’s Hometown Heating and Cooling, a locally owned HVAC business originally contracted to do the work, a sizable injection of business. At the time, village officials expressed their dismay that the downtown buildings would not receive necessary repairs and that the botched deal would have various other ripple effects beyond that. Read More