Village also hears petition concerning rental utilities

July 8, 2015

by Derek Pope
Bethany Reporter

At the end of May, Bethany’s first bar in decades decided to close—at least temporarily. The Hired Hand Winery and Saloon, located in Bethany’s downtown district, formally announced the closure on their Facebook page on May 31, pledging to return to business in August. The reason they cited for the closure was an extended family summer vacation, but the announcement came unexpectedly following the approval of a sizable loan from the village’s township investment funds (TIF) intended to aid in the business’s summer operations.
Prior to the village board’s approval of the loan in April, the owners of the Hired Hand and its sister business Echoes Studio, Shane and Erin Weybright, approached the village’s TIF committee with an appeal for funds that they deemed necessary for keeping the two establishments operational throughout the summer and ultimately in the months and years to come. They requested the necessary money to install a new heating, and more importantly, air conditioning system in the outdated downtown buildings that housed the businesses. The Hired Hand’s ownership said that during their first year of operation, the complete lack of an air conditioning system so badly hurt their summer business that it may ultimately be impossible to financially endure another summer without one.
Bethany’s TIF committee and village board ultimately agreed, approving a recommendation to award the Weybrights a $48,000 five-year forgivable loan, in part to improve the downtown buildings themselves, which must be repaid in part should the business permanently close or be sold within that time frame.
The decision was not without objections, though. Read More

Organizers now looking for another site

July 1, 2015

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

A special use permit filed in May for a zoo near Arthur has been withdrawn.
According to the Moultrie County planning and zoning officer Jan Haegan, James Aikman’s application for a special use permit for his wildlife park was withdrawn Monday afternoon.
Shortly thereafter, a post on the Facebook page Aikman Wildlife Adventure, which James Aikman confirmed as the project’s official page, explained the decision to withdrawal the application, citing the last zoning board of appeals meeting, which concluded with its members not recommending a permit for the zoo.
“The last meeting made it very apparent by the objectors that no matter what we do, nothing will ever be good enough,” read the post. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Pictured is Sara Reinecke as Tracy Turnblad, the teenage girl who has aspirations to make it on to the Corny Collins Show.

June 17, 2015

By Dan Hagen
NP Theatre Critic

The dress rehearsal for the Little Theatre’s second show of the season reminded me just how well Hairspray works as a musical.
The John Waters story about outsiders (persecuted for their pounds and pigmentation) who are trying to get inside a local TV dance program in 1964 provides a perfect excuse for dance after dance. You realize that the large cast must be exhausted by the end of director Kevin Long’s brisk, high-energy show, although their smiles never show it.
Colorful costumes by Sherri Milo are shown off to good effect against a terrific set by Noel Rennerfeldt.
From the moment Tracy Turnblad (Sara Reinecke) emerges from her dramatically vertical bed to sing the life-affirming anthem Good Morning Baltimore, the comic book colors of the set catch and please the eye. I particularly enjoyed the big vari-colored light panels surrounding the stage and the angled, Seuss-like buildings.
Double kudos go to Lee Ann Payne as actor and choreographer. The Equity performer (Reno in 2014’s Anything Goes) brings stage presence and assurance to the role of mean mom Velma Von Tussle, glorying like Cruella De Vil in the memory of her triumph as Miss Baltimore Crabs. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Mary Poppins, played by Effingham native Colleen Johnson has descended on Sullivan this week and may be seen at the Little Theatre on the Square beginning June 3 through the 14th.

Will run through June 14

•June 3, 2015•

By Dan Hagen
NP Theatre Critic

One night in Australia in 1909, with rain swelling a nearby creek, 10-year-old Helen Goff’s widowed mother told the girl to take care of her two younger siblings. Mother was going to drown herself, she explained. And then she walked out into the storm.
Terrified, Helen gathered the children on the rug in front of the fire and made up a story about a magical flying horse — a perfect symbol of escape — to distract them. Unsuccessful in her suicide attempt, Helen’s mother returned later, but her daughter never trusted her again.
Helen grew up to wear trousers, engage in various unorthodox relationships and become an author. She changed her name to P.L. Travers and wrote famous stories about a no-nonsense, supernatural protector of children whose parents had failed them.
Which makes sense, doesn’t it?
And now you can see that character soar — literally — across the Little Theatre stage as the first offering in Executive Director John Stephens’ most family-friendly season yet.
Mary Poppins, directed and choreographed by Amber Mak, is a musical drawn from both the original stories and the famous Disney film. Read More

Plans to improve sewer system on northwest side

May 20, 2015

by Ariana Cherry
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter

Before the regular meeting of the Sullivan city council last Monday evening, a public hearing concerning a grant from the State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program for which it intends to apply was held.
It is funded by Title I of the Federal Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. If the city is approved for the grant, the funds will be used to improve the sanitary sewer system in the northwest part of town. Most of the work would be done throughout the neighborhoods rather than the sewer plant. The total amount that has been requested is $450,000. It wasn’t until October of last year when the city discovered that it hadn’t been approved for this same grant for which they had applied previously. The city is assuming that there will be a similar time frame this year. Last year, Sullivan received an unrelated CDAP (Community Development Assistance Program) Grant of $100,000 to fix the sewer system on Monroe Street. Read More