Tickets printed in the patrol cars around Moultrie County make for easier reading and required some extra training. Sullivan officer Joshua Qualls is responsible for the smooth operaton of the eCitation system within the city.

Tickets You Can Read 

•January 13, 2016•

By Mike Brothers

The days of trying to decipher a police officer’s handwriting on a traffic citation are over in Moultrie County.

The Moultrie County Circuit Clerk’s office became the first office in the sixth judicial circuit to implement eCitations.

Circuit Clerk Cindy Braden explained the eCitation program is up and running in Bethany, Lovington and Sullivan police departments as well as the Moultrie County Sheriff’s Department.

She explained the eCitation is not only timesaving for the officer issuing the ticket but improves the process with more accurate and legible information for the courts to process.

“Not only does the eCitation save the officer time but will hopefully get them off the roadside quicker, making stops safer,” Braden said.

An officer with an onboard computer inputs the driver’s information from the state database onto the eCitation, identifies the violation and prints out a ticket inside the patrol car. One copy goes to the driver and another to the circuit clerk for filing.

Sullivan Police Department officer Joshua Qualls has been designated trainer and general IT consultant locally, as officers get acquainted with eCitations.

“One of the biggest advantages is legibility of the ticket,” Qualls began, noting once the information is inputed, three copies will be printed in the car clear enough for the courts and the violator to read. Read More

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

Photo by Mike Brothers
Final Food Pantry delivery was made by Hydro Gear to CEFS- Pictured from L to R:  Kristy Dawson, CEFS; Kelly Brown, HG Material Handler; Chris Zerrusen, HG Safety Team Leader; Ron Harshman, Chairman of the Board of all Agri Fab Holdings.

•December 16, 2015•

The final Moultrie County Food pantry delivery from Hydro-Gear’s annual drive was made Wednesday, December 9.

Hydro Gear employees not only responded with food donations, but generated substantial cash donations to help the food pantry.

According to Hydro Gear Communications specialist Kathleen Blievernicht, employee collections totaled 1640 pounds of food for 2015.

Hydro Gear’s participation includes contributions from some 800 employees.

Blievernicht explained Hydro-Gear employees rallied to support the Moultrie County Food Pantry while having fun with an NFL theme in 2015.

Employees were players on eight NFL teams. Teams then were scheduled to play each other. Points were given to food items in most need and donations accepted were counted each week.  Read More

•December 9, 2015•

By Stu D. Baker
For the News Progress

Moultrie County’s updated  Animal Control Ordinance will allow easier enforcement of violations.

State’s Attorney Jeremy Richey presented the changes to the Public Health and Safety committee last week explaining the changes clarify what procedures the sheriff’s department must follow to issue citations.

Sheriff Chris Sims explained that most of the calls of this nature involve neighbor disputes over dogs running at large. Citation violations still carry a $75 fine to the dog owner.

Animals running at large is an issue that has improved over the past few years with animal control director Rick Matthews pointing out that from 2008 through 2013 the animal shelter population was around 136-137 every year.

By 2014 the annual processing number for both dogs and cats at Moultrie County Animal Control dropped to 92, and Matthews said this year 59 is a new low for the annual population.

Matthews explained that Moultrie Animal Control polices stray and animals running at large in the rural areas of the county.

Lovington has an animal control officer for the village with Dalton City and Bethany using the police department to bring strays to the county shelter. Read More

Photos by Mike Brothers
With the Drone in the foreground the class learns how to maneuver. Pictured from left: Eric Mercer, Olivia Buxton, Conner Sheehan, Ethan Macklin, Kam Roley, Kyle Burford, T.J. Williams, Jackson Masters, Wesley Wise, ag instructor.

•December 2, 2015•

By Derek Pope
For the News Progress

Agricultural technology has undeniably come a long way since its humble beginnings, perhaps more so in recent decades than at any other time in its history.

But this year could mark the advent of one particular technological wonder in agriculture that, before now, hadn’t quite taken off—the drone. With Moultrie County being the seat of some of the best farming in Illinois, it only seems appropriate that Okaw Valley High School’s ag department is poised to make the most of this emerging commercial technology.

Thanks to a grant from the Eastern Illinois Education for Employment System earlier this year, Okaw Valley was given funds to purchase a commercial style drone for the purpose of vocational training in its agriculture classes.

The school’s erg instructor Wes Wise said of the purchase, “Without question we are making advancements in the OV erg department that are going to put our students at the forefront of employment.”

The drone, which retails for roughly $2,000, will allow students to take aerial video and photography of local area farm fields to look for “water, insect, and disease damage” in unprecedented ways.

According to Wise, recent research has indicated that drone technology can increase crop yield by as much as 10% by recognizing these issues before they become a problem for farmers.  Read More