Category Archives: Top Stories

Lovington Homes Live On Under New Owners

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Photo by Mike Brothers
Lovington Homes board members and Garmon Properties personnel at First Community Bank of Moultrie County in Lovington: Elaine Rice; bank president and board treasurer Sally Duncan; Lovington Homes board president Norma Brust; Judy McGregor; village board president and board member Roger Walker; new owners Tracy and Dennis Garmon. Lovington Homes board members not pictured are Bev Morgan, Ron Nettles and Alma Fair.

•August 9, 2017•

By Mike Brothers

Since 1969 Lovington Homes has assisted people with housing operating with a volunteer not-for profit board.

All that changed August 1 when Dennis and Tracy Garmon purchased Lovington Homes from the community volunteer group. Garmon Properties has taken over the 50-year-old operation.

A well-timed set of circumstances in the Garmons’ lives and with the Lovington Homes board led to the sale. Read More

Paperless Court on Trial in Moultrie Co.

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•August 2, 2017•

Moultrie County courts went paperless Friday, July 21 well ahead of the January 1, 2018 deadline for Illinois courts to comply.

Circuit Clerk Cindy Braden explained Moultrie County courts introduced paperless proceedings with Circuit Judge Brad Rau on civil and small claim cases on that date.

Rather that shuffling through the paper files in the courtroom the judge and circuit clerk court deputy utilize two shared laptop computers for inside courtroom access to files on the docket. Read More

Lovington VBS Kids Donate to Sparrows

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Photo furnished
The kids participating in Vacation Bible School at Lovington First Baptist Church got in the spirit of giving as they donated their daily offering to Sparrows.

•July 26, 2017•

Children attending Vacation Bible School at the First Baptist Church of Lovington demonstrated the true gift of giving.

Some 65-70 kids attended the week long VBS program, learning, participating in crafts and enjoying a meal during the 6-8:30 p.m. sessions each evening. The greater giving came after members of Sparrows of Lovington told them about the volunteer community help organization.

Donna Walker is involved in the community volunteer organization and explained that Sparrows representatives helps provide toys and other gifts for children in Lovington who might not otherwise afford them. Read More

Belgian Draft Horses Race in First Chesterville Derby

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2017 Chesterville Derby Trophy

•July 19, 2017•

The Belgian Draft Horse Rock Stars of the Illinois Amish Heritage Center’s Yoder house pull team in the fall of 2016 are back by popular demand.

The Chesterville Derby is 4 p.m. Friday, July 21, when eight Belgian draft horses will race two furlongs in the first draft horse race in the United States.

From the Kentucky Derby styled parade of the horses with their jockeys before the crowd, to singing of “My Old Kentucky Home” by Nashville artist Rebecca Moreland the race atmosphere builds to the run for the Chesterville Water Tower trophy. Moreland will also sing “My Old Chesterville Home” with a reference to Cadwell.

“Because of the enormous interest generated last September by the eight-horse hitch of Belgian draft horses towing the two story 1865 Moses Yoder house, we felt it important for those fans to have a second chance to see these beautiful animals at work (or play)”, said Wilmer Otto, chairman of the Illinois Amish Heritage Center. It was an idea sparked by an annual UK race of Clydesdale draft horses. Read More

Sullivan Rocks! The Proof is Hidden in Plain Sight

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Photo by Mike Brothers
Sullivan Rocks! Facebook group members from Moultrie Counseling Center display a few of the rocks you may find around Sullivan. Pictured standing from left: Hollie Atchison, Audrey Mosier, and Katrina Lynn with Penny Arthur kneeling center.

•July 12, 2017•

By Skip N. Stone
for the News Progress

Sullivan rocks! And if you don’t believe it, take a look around the square.

Brightly painted rocks with inspirational messages have been turning up on window ledges and various spots around town. What do you do when you find the rock?

“Either keep it or hide it again and post it on our Facebook page,” explained one of the Sullivan Rocks! founding members Audrey Mosier. It is an idea that grew from a co-worker’s late night FB troll.

“I was trolling Facebook one night, and I saw where this person had found a rock in some town in Iowa and was asking what to do with it,” Katrina Lynn, who works with Mosier at Moultrie Family Counseling Center said.

Lynn explained the Facebook craze is sweeping many areas of the country now, with some of the groups growing to 160,000 members and more. Read More

Hand In Hand Kids Camp Makes For Happy Campers

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Photo furnished
Hand in Hand
The Hand in Hand group enjoys camp. See story on page 1.

•July 5, 2017•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Every child should grow up happy – it should be their unalienable right. Reality, however, is grim and often unfair. Special needs children face daunting challenges and some of these include not being asked to join teams or to sleepovers or to join other activities.

In Sullivan these children have two angels- Christine Grohler and Monica Green who received grant funds 15 years ago to found Hand in Hand Kids Camp for special needs children. Read More

Land of Lincoln Honor Flight Hosts Sullivan Veterans

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Photo by Mike Brothers
Floyd Dugan Sr. displays one of 70 letters he received at Mail Call during his recent Land of Lincoln Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.

•June 28, 2017•

By Mike Brothers

Floyd Dugan Sr. was one among five World War II veterans taking the Land of Lincoln Honor flight out of Springfield last Tuesday morning.

Dugan was joined by family and friends in Springfield where 68 veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam were treated to a long day of flying to Washington, D.C. to visit veterans’ memorials and tour the National Air and Space Museum.

Gordon Wood and William Zoetvelt, both Sullivan men who served during the Korean era, were also on the flight.

Each veteran’s trip is free with a guardian traveling with them to make sure all goes smoothly. Dugan was accompanied by son-in-law Wayne Claytor.

Claytor had taken the trip as guardian with his father four years earlier and shared some insight. Read More

Sullivan American Legion Plans Old Fashioned 4th Of July

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Photo furnished
Conner Amusements from Beardstown is joining Sullivan’s Fourth of July celebration sponsored by American Legion Post #68.

•June 21, 2017•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Since July 4, 1919 the veterans of WWI, WWII and subsequent wars have organized and presented Sullivan with a parade, carnival, lunch for parade participants and a spectacular fireworks display – all with volunteers.

Growing up in Bethany, the 4th was always a special day. Mother would pack a groaning basket of sun tea, mouth-watering fried chicken, her special potato salad, baked beans, cherry pie and fruit for a full day at Wyman Park.

There were swimming, a baseball game, horseshoes, maybe a movie, the carnival and my favorite – the fireworks which enchant me to this day.

This year Sullivan American Legion Post #68 would like to bring back that all-day participation where the parade attracted people, the carnival kept them entertained and the fireworks topped off the evening. Read More

Rubbish Fire Spreads Destroying Mast Construction 

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Drone photo by RR Best
The morning after the Mast Construction fire northeast of Sullivan. Fire destroyed building materials, completed prefab walls and three outbuildings at the business owned by Chester Mast Thursday, June 8. See more photos here.

Mutual Aid Helps Save Home

By Mike Brothers

A rubbish fire got out of control at Mast Construction northeast of Sullivan June 8, destroying three buildings plus raw construction materials valued at more than $250,000.

Sullivan Fire Department was dispatched at 7:14 p.m. to the 1560CR 1475E Sullivan location owned by Chester Mast whose business involves constructing prefabricated walls for homes. He stated that a large number of pre-fab walls were stacked outside ready to ship.

Those prepared walls along with multiple bunks of raw lumber stacked around the site created a scene of intense heat and fire by the time firefighters arrived on the scene.

Sullivan Fire Captain Larry Edwards explained that at 7:24 pm when equipment first arrived at the scene, fire had engulfed the first shed and the stacks of pre-fab walls. Read More

Joe Phillips Field Named for Softball Hall of Fame Pitcher

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ASA Hall of Famer Joe Phillips

•June 7, 2017•

By Mike Brothers

Hall of Fame pitcher Joe Phillips of Sullivan spent his career sweating on the south softball diamond at Wyman Park.

At 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 9 the city of Sullivan is honoring those years of sweat and devotion to the game by naming Joe Phillips Field after the fast pitch softball star who was inducted into the ASA Hall of Fame in 1995.

The Sullivan Chiefs fast pitch softball team was inducted into the ASA Hall of Fame in 2015.

Phillip’s son Terry will be at the dedication ceremony June 9 and recalled growing up on softball fields all over the prairie.

“When we weren’t traveling from town to town with the Sullivan chiefs, Dad was either coaching an up and coming softball team or umpiring girls’ softball games,” Terry recalled.  Read More