Category Archives: News Section

Lovington Church Gets Another Chance

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Photo by Nick Fiala Pastor Jill Walker examines one of the original paintings left behind when the structure was built as the Catholic Church in Lovington which remained open from 1915 until the late 1980s.

Photo by Nick Fiala
Pastor Jill Walker examines one of the original paintings left behind when the structure was built as the Catholic Church in Lovington which remained open from 1915 until the late 1980s.

Pastor Sparks Reconstruction

•December 30, 2015•

By Nick Fiala
For the News Progress

With God, all things are possible. It is not only a Bible verse but the driving force behind efforts to restore a century old Lovington church.

A preservation and remodeling project is taking place at the Revival Church building in Lovington. It is spearheaded by Pastor Jill Walker, former volunteer senior pastor of the Revival Church of Lovington and Mattoon and the head of Jill Walker Ministries.

JWM repurchased the building in mid-October.

Constructed in 1915, the church was first used for worship by the Catholic Church until the late 1980s.

JWM had originally purchased the building from the Catholic Diocese in 1989. Pastor Walker preached there until May of 2010.

JWM gave away the building to a major denomination with everything in it as a gift. But last September, Pastor Walker became determined to get the building back when she found out it had been sold to a third party who planned to use it for something other than ministry.

Despite originally turning down the first offer to sell the building back, the owner reconsidered only eight days later and accepted, allowing Pastor Walker and her ministry to begin remodeling and preserving the century-old church.  Read More

Moultrie County Toys for Tots Collects for Those in Need

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•December 30, 2015•

By Mike Brothers

People, get ready the train’s a comin’, you don’t need no ticket, ya just get on board”.

Not just a lyric from a popular song , but it was a call to collect for the Toys are Tots train in this area.

That train brought Toys for Tots back to Moultrie County where they  collected 360 toys in Sullivan, Bethany and Lovington.

Moultrie County Toys for Tots coordinator Ric Kenney said in this return year for the U.S. Marine Corp based program 179 children in Moultrie County received toys or books from the program.

One way people were able to help without buying toys was to purchase a train at participating locations for $1.00. Names go on the trains which were displayed at the Toys for Tots business location.

Drop boxes at the Sullivan IGA, First National Bank of Sullivan, First Mid Illinois State Bank & Trust and Scott State Bank generated the bulk of toys collected.

Kenney noted Christmas week they were still picking up toys which they were still delivering on Christmas Day.

“When I took the final box check at IGA in Sullivan, people were still dropping off toys (December 22),” Kenney said.

He explained that monetary collections went for the purchase of new toys and books.  Read More

Water Rising in Bethany

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west of bethany

Photos by RR Best Water Rising in Bethany As in most areas of Moultrie County the rains of the past few days have caused water to rise in the Bethany area. Mayor Bill Ashley Jr. reported that water in low lying neighborhoods was a problem but hadn’t gotten into homes. He said Illinois Department of Transportation crews have been clearing debris from the highway as water subsides and that the water is still over the roadway along Route 32 in the Lovington area and Highway 128 south toward Shelbyville, besides many of the rural roads.

Photos by RR Best
Water Rising in Bethany
As in most areas of Moultrie County the rains of the past few days have caused water to rise in the Bethany area. Mayor Bill Ashley Jr. reported that water in low lying neighborhoods was a problem but hadn’t gotten into homes. He said Illinois Department of Transportation crews have been clearing debris from the highway as water subsides and that the water is still over the roadway along Route 32 in the Lovington area and Highway 128 south toward Shelbyville, besides many of the rural roads.

Bethany Legion Poker Winner

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Photo provided Bethany Legion Poker Winner Matthew “The Head” Hunter was winner of the Bethany American Legion Post 507 poker tournament that was held Dec 12.  Hunter bested a field of 57 players to bring home the trophy and win the biggest tournament to date.

Photo provided
Bethany Legion Poker Winner
Matthew “The Head” Hunter was winner of the Bethany American Legion Post 507 poker tournament that was held Dec 12.  Hunter bested a field of 57 players to bring home the trophy and win the biggest tournament to date.

England Completes Doctorate

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Photo Submitted England Completes Doctorate E. Scott England, formerly of Sullivan, recently completed his Ph.D. at Indiana State University. England successfully defended his dissertation, The Relationship Among Reasons Teachers Entered the Profession, Job Satisfaction, and Willingness to Encourage Others before his dissertation committee December 11. He will participate in the May commencement ceremony at Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind. England is currently the PK – 3 principal of North Side School in Fairfield. He was formerly a first grade teacher at Sullivan Elementary School and Arcola Elementary School. Prior to becoming a certified teacher, he was a special education aide with the Sullivan school district. Dr. England (right) is pictured with his dissertation chair, Dr. Todd Whitaker, after successfully defending his dissertation.

Photo Submitted
England Completes Doctorate
E. Scott England, formerly of Sullivan, recently completed his Ph.D. at Indiana State University. England successfully defended his dissertation, The Relationship Among Reasons Teachers Entered the Profession, Job Satisfaction, and Willingness to Encourage Others before his dissertation committee December 11. He will participate in the May commencement ceremony at Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind.
England is currently the PK – 3 principal of North Side School in Fairfield. He was formerly a first grade teacher at Sullivan Elementary School and Arcola Elementary School. Prior to becoming a certified teacher, he was a special education aide with the Sullivan school district.
Dr. England (right) is pictured with his dissertation chair, Dr. Todd Whitaker, after successfully defending his dissertation.

ALAH School District Looks To Navigate, Approves Levy

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•December 23, 2015•

By Ariana Cherry
For the News Progress

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond School Board approved its 4.97% property tax levy for taxes payable in 2016 at its most recent school board meeting.

The district also voted to abate the sales tax for year 2015 to pay debt service on General Obligation Bonds which is an alternate revenue source. The sales tax is the primary revenue source to pay for the junior high addition. If something happens to the sales tax, then the district would have to use property taxes,” Superintendent Kenny Schwengel said.

Supt. Schwengel stated that all funds are in the black and the checkbook has around $6.177 million. “We are still waiting on reorganization money. We haven’t received any special education funds or transportation money.The general state aid funding will come through in June at a reduced rate of 92%,” he said.

Other matters that were discussed or voted upon: Read More

Shawnee Communications Buys Lovington Phone Co.

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Shawnee to Preserve Moultrie Heritage and Continue Network Improvements

•December 23, 2015•

Shawnee Communications (Shawnee) and Moultrie MultiCorp, Inc., today announced that Shawnee, a rural provider of telephone, high speed Internet and other telecommunications services in five southern Illinois counties, would acquire Moultrie MultiCorp, Inc., the holding company of Moultrie Independent Telephone Company (MITC) and MITC’s affiliated companies, including One-Eleven Internet Services and Moultrie Telecommunications.

Shawnee announced that the Lovington based companies would continue to operate with no changes and that Shawnee would continue investing in technology infrastructure to provide customers with the latest in telecommunications and high speed Internet services, preserving the strong legacy left by Moultrie’s current owners, the Bowers brothers. Read More

Sounds of the Season

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Photo by RR Best Sounds of the Season Tessa Welty holds Emmersyn Jiannoni while listening to the Sullivan Elementary and Middle schools’ holiday program which musically set the tone for the season.

Photo by RR Best
Sounds of the Season
Tessa Welty holds Emmersyn Jiannoni while listening to the Sullivan Elementary and Middle schools’ holiday program which musically set the tone for the season.

Family Game Night at Lovington Library

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Photo by Darian Hays The Lovington library has taken Christmas to a new level with their unique book Christmas tree now on display at the library.

Photo by Darian Hays
The Lovington library has taken Christmas to a new level with their unique book Christmas tree now on display at the library.

•December 23, 2015•

Lovington Public Library will hold a family game night competition 5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday Jan. 4. Those attending may bring their own board and card games or borrow the library’s games.

Reading Redbirds Youth Book Club for fourth-eighth graders meets 3:30-4:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month. The children in this club enjoy planning and assisting with library events and discussing their favorite books.

Community service hours and volunteer experience that will look good on a resume may be earned by teens volunteering for tasks such as cleaning, shelving books, helping to create new book displays, as well as providing feedback and suggestions for teen programming. It is held every Tuesday after school.

Wee Readers Storytime meets 10-10:30 a.m. Thursday mornings. Preschoolers two years and older hear a story, do song and dance, play games and more. Themes include Jan. 7 - “Snowmen”, Jan. 14 - “Penguins”, Jan. 21 - “Sledding”, Jan. 28 - “Snowballs”.

Crazy 8s is a cool over-the-top after school club that’s designed to get kids fired up about math. Starting January 8, every Friday from 4-5 p.m. kids will get to build stuff, run and jump, make music and new friends. This program is for children in grades third-fifth. Children should be preregistered at the library. Read More

PARCC Test Results Revealed

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College & Career Are Goals

By Mike Brothers

Sullivan District 300 school board members learned high school and elementary school student assessment testing results were good, but some work needs to been done in the middle school.

School psychologist Jessica L. Reeder presented Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC) testing results December 14.

Reeder noted this was the first year for PARCC testing for grades 3-8 in English, language arts and mathematics. Juniors at Sullivan High School were tested in English III and Algebra II.

Reeder explained the scoring gap between high school and elementary may be partly explained by the recent curricula changes. “Teaching Common Core is raising the bar of expectations,” she said, noting students achieving past curricula expectation levels are now having to advance.

Superintendent Brad Tuttle noted the staff and students put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears on the PARCC tests, which require up to three weeks at the elementary level and one day at the high school level.

Tuttle did explain that funding for the testing has yet to be determined. The state paid testing expenses in the past, but since there is no state budget, those questions remain.

“I like that we are teaching kids to think outside the box,” Reeder said of Common Core, noting tests are requiring students to think critically, solve problems and explain their answers.

She explained that kind of thinking is essential when preparing students for college and careers.

Scoring was separated into five levels and a point system ranging from 650 to 850. Students achieving levels four and five (scoring 750-850) were at the top of the scale of college and career ready candidates. Read More