Photo by Crystal Reed
Bethany Celebration Chili Cookoff
A chili cookoff was held at the Bethany American Legion on Saturday, February 25. There were thirteen entries. Winners were first place-Mark and Judy Seeley, second place-Kathy Tipsword, third place-Troy Stockdale, Most Unique-Kathy’s White Chicken Chili, Hottest-Mark Allen’s Traditional and Crowd Favorite-Kelsey Knopp’s Traditional.
Photo by Crystal Reed
Windsor Storm Memorial Public Library’s new children’s librarian Amanda Elliott with the Dr. Seuss display in the library’s children’s section. The library has several activities going on currently and coming up this summer.
•March 8, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
Windsor Storm Memorial Public Library has a new children’s librarian and a variety of activities for children coming up this spring and summer. The new librarian is Amanda Elliott of Shelbyville. This is her first time working as a children’s librarian. She was formerly a teacher but then spent a decade at home with her children before re-entering the workforce. Read More
Photo by Crystal Reed
Alex Kor, son of two Holocaust survivors, spoke about his parents Eva and Mickey Kor to a packed room at Arthur Public Library on Saturday, March 4.
•March 8, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
Alex Kor of Terre Haute spoke at Arthur Public Library Saturday, March 4, to a packed room. Both his parents were Holocaust survivors who passed away in the last 3-1/2 to 4 years. His mother was Eva Kor and his father, Mickey Kor.
Mickey Kor was born in Riga, Latvia and was the youngest of four boys. Because his father was a shoemaker, their family did not have the resources to escape when the Nazis invaded and were forced into the Riga ghetto. His father was murdered by a guard on the same day the family was forced into the ghetto, leaving his mother to move them in alone.
When the ghetto was liquidated, his mother saved his life by pushing him into the group of older boys who would be selected for slave labor. This was the last time he ever saw her. His mother and the rest of the ghetto inhabitants who were not selected for forced labor were murdered in a mass shooting. Read More
Rendering Courtesy of Sullivan School District
A rendering of what the new Sullivan High School will look like from Main and McGill. The district had a community forum on Monday, February 27 to go over the details of the elementary school addition that is currently under construction and the future construction of the new high school.
•March 8, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
Sullivan School District held a community forum Monday, February 27, in regard to construction of the elementary addition and the time line for the construction of a new high school. In June, 62.3% of voters approved a $25 million referendum to replace the middle school building with a new high school. The middle school building is 107 years old and has a number of very significant maintenance issues.
High school students will occupy the new building as well as the west portion of the existing high school. Sixth through eighth grade students will move into the existing north portion of the high school. Fifth grade students will move into the elementary school addition. Read More
Photos by Crystal Reed
OV Celebrates FFA Week with Activities
Okaw Valley High School FFA celebrated FFA Week last week. On Tuesday there were school wide donuts in the cafeteria, Wednesday there was a petting zoo, Thursday there was Ag Olympics and lunch and Friday students had pork burgers for lunch and it was anything but a car day. The highlight of the petting zoo was the first OV baby calf born this year. His mother was the first calf ever born at the OV Ag complex. A second baby calf was born later in the week.
•March 1, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
One of the current projects for the city of Sullivan is a new water plant which is currently under construction. The original cost estimate was $8.5 million, but with the cost of equipment and supplies after COVID, they are close to $9.5 million.
According to Commissioner of Public Safety and Health Chuck Woodworth, the determination of the need for a new water plant was done by the Illinois EPA. They evaluated the current plant and pointed out the deficiencies of no redundancy of the main treatment process equipment. “There is only one softner, currently,” he said. “If it breaks down or needs to be taken out of service for cleaning or repairs, the water would not be able to be treated.” Read More
•March 1, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The Sullivan City Council approved a memorandum of understanding between the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (IFOP) Labor Council and the City of Sullivan. Commissioner Mike Fowler was absent.
Mayor Richard Glazebrook said this is something they are trying to use to keep and not burn out officers. The city is supposed to have nine officers. They currently have six full-time trained officers and two untrained. “We have a lot of rules and regulations we have to follow through the state of Illinois, and we are trying to make this easy as we can for these guys and still give us the protection we need in Sullivan,” Glazebrook said.
Police Chief Andy Pistorius reported they lost two good officers whom they sent to training due to scheduling. Each officer doing a 12- hour shift has four hours of overtime every two weeks. Once they bec0me full-staffed, there would not be any overtime. It would be a rotating schedule with every other weekend off. Read More
Photo by Crystal Reed
Rep. Halbrook and Sen. McClure Host Town Hall
State Rep. Brad Halbrook and State Senator Steve McClure hosted a town hall at the Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library on Monday, February 20. Both legislators gave updates on what is happening in Springfield and took questions from those in attendance. Topics included the expansion of abortion, unconstitutional gun ban, administrative pay raises and Governor Pritzker’s FY 2024 budget.
Photo by Crystal Reed
Moultrie County Spelling Bee
The Moultrie County Spelling Bee was held on Thursday, February 16 at the Little Theatre On The Square. Spellers from Sullivan Elementary and Junior High and Lovington Grade participated in the bee. The top speller that will be moving on to the next level is Macee Boddy (right). Runner up was John Williams IV (left). Both are students at Lovington Grade School.
•February 22, 2023•
by Ariana R. Cherry
Superintendent Shannon Cheek, members of the school board and Rod Wright of Creative Entourage discussed the results of the facility survey that was sent out to members of the communities of the ALAH School District at the most recent Board of Education meeting which was held at Lovington Grade School.
In the communities of Arthur, Lovington and Atwood, only 361 surveys were completed. One of the main reasons that those who voted selected no to the proposal was they worried that the tax increase would be too much. Another big worry was that the elementary schools in Atwood and Lovington would eventually be closed down and/or torn down. Board member Ryan Nettles pointed out that since the high schools have all consolidated, both the Atwood and Lovington buildings were torn down. People could have some anxiety about their elementary buildings being torn down next. One other concern to which voters chose no to the proposal was the uncertainty of the current state of the economy. Read More