Category Archives: Top Stories

Casey’s Suffers Hit and Run

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Photo by Keith Stewart The southwest corner of the Casey’s store front remains damaged after a hit and run incident occurred on December 28. The damage went beyond just the outside facade to include the kitchen and an office inside as well.

Photo by Keith Stewart
The southwest corner of the Casey’s store front remains damaged after a hit and run incident occurred on December 28. The damage went beyond just the outside facade to include the kitchen and an office inside as well.

Incident leaves kitchen and exterior badly damaged

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Casey’s General Store in Sullivan was the victim of a hit and run December 28, which in turn left the business badly damaged on both the interior and exterior.

Jermel D Barlow, 24, of Decatur was arrested by Sullivan police at 10:35 p.m. shortly after the incident.

According to the crash report, for reasons yet to be determined, Barlow allegedly accelerated, jumping the curb before then colliding with the south side storefront of Casey’s. Barlow then backed out and fled the scene but was stopped a few blocks away by police.

According to Casey’s general manager Samantha Drake, not only did the incident damage the exterior of the building, but it also damaged the kitchen, an office, and a freezer. As a result, the kitchen was closed both the day of the incident and another day for repairs to be made, each causing an inability to make food including pizza. Read More

White Out In Moultrie

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A hawk sits in the middle of Harrison Street in Sullivan feeding on a cold meal Sunday morning.

Photo by Keith Stewart
A hawk sits in the middle of Harrison Street in Sullivan feeding on a cold meal Sunday morning.

First the snow, then the cold

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

“It’s for the birds.”

Likely, much of the midwest was saying just this when over the weekend and into Monday a 1-2 punch of winter weather stretched its way across the nation’s middle, dumping upwards of 30 inches according to preliminary snowfall reports Monday.

Here in Moultrie County official totals didn’t exceed eight inches.

The snow started later than at first expected, early Sunday morning, and continued for most of the day. That evening, wind gusts up to 35 mph caused drifts, some reported as tall as six feet, that in turn severely hampered travel and even ushered in the closing of dozens of IL roadways, including a portion of IL 121, 32, and IL 128 here in the county. As such, emergency crews had to wait for assistance from snow plows before being able to make treks into rural areas. Read More

Hundreds of New Laws on the Books in 2014

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Laws from wasting deer meat to hand-held cellphone use

Photo by Keith Stewart Arthur-Lovington High School senior Brittany Rader dials a phone number prior to buckling up and driving. With the new ban on hand-held usage of cellphones beginning this year, drivers will either have to resort to headset devices or voice-controlled applications if they want to continue to use their electronic device.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Arthur-Lovington High School senior Brittany Rader dials a phone number prior to buckling up and driving. With the new ban on hand-held usage of cellphones beginning this year, drivers will either have to resort to headset devices or voice-controlled applications if they want to continue to use their electronic device.

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogess.com

Its formal name is House Bill 1247 (HB1247), but to many drivers, it’s their next ticket.

Back in May of 2013, both houses approved the total ban on the hand-held usage of “electronic communication devices”–which to you and me means, largely, cellphones. Though the law also excludes hand-held personal digital assistants and portable/mobile computers, most of the attention is on cellphone usage, which now, must be hands free. The only way around the new law is to either not use your cellphone while driving or to do so with it out of your hands and with the help of bluetooth or other wireless headsets or voice controlled apps, such as Apple’s Siri. Read More

Alcohol Sales Underway in Bethany

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Bethany Foods, Casey’s first to receive liquor licenses

Photo by RR Best Pictured from left to right are: Bethany Foods owner Atta Abbed, Bethany mayor Bill Ashley, village trustees Dick Roe and Craig Wigness and former Bethany mayor Barb Meador.

Photo by RR Best
Pictured from left to right are: Bethany Foods owner Atta Abbed, Bethany mayor Bill Ashley, village trustees Dick Roe and Craig Wigness and former Bethany mayor Barb Meador.

by Derek Pope
Bethany Reporter

With nearly a month of liquor sales on the books for most eligible businesses in Bethany, there is no doubt retail establishments have benefited from the repeal of alcohol prohibition in the small town. Local business owner, Atta Abbed, of Bethany foods said that liquor sales “have definitely been a plus” for his business, which has seen an increase in sales in excess of his initial expectations. Bethany Foods, along with Casey’s General Store, was among the first establishments to begin offering sales of alcohol in Bethany on November 6. Read More

The Last Time for Tea

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In final year of teaching, LGS instructor hosts last holiday tradition

Photo by RR Best Lovington Grade School teacher Debbie Long reads a story to her students during her annual Christmas Tea Sunday at her home in Sullivan. Since this year marks Long’s last teaching, so will it for her holiday tradition.

Photo by RR Best
Lovington Grade School teacher Debbie Long reads a story to her students during her annual Christmas Tea Sunday at her home in Sullivan. Since this year marks Long’s last teaching, so will it for her holiday tradition.

by Christina Whitford
Sullivan Reporter

Growing up as a little girl in Decatur, Debbie Long always knew she wanted to dedicate her life to teaching children. With the support of her family, she was able to create a very successful career out of teaching, one that will culminate this year, her 35th.

Long followed her dreams and graduated from Illinois State University in 1978. From there she began her career teaching in Lovington in 1979.

“Ever since I can remember I wanted to teach children,” Long recalled. “I would get all the neighborhood kids and teach them in my school room in my basement. My grandpa even got me a chalk board out of an old one room school house and hung it up for me.” Read More

Tax Increase Approved Monday Night for Sullivan Schools

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Head football coach resignation also accepted

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Sullivan school district approved their tax levy Monday night, representing a tentative net increase of $342,129 in tax dollars, an 8.78 percent increase over last year’s amount. Because the increase was more than five percent, the district held a truth-in-taxation meeting prior to the regularly scheduled meeting, giving members of the public an opportunity to voice either support for or opposition to the levy. Read More

Feeling the Proration Pinch, Sullivan Schools Max Rates

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9.98 percent increase now, cuts to come later in school year

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Sullivan school district will vote on a tax increase next week, but not before holding a truth-in-taxation hearing.

At last month’s board meeting, the district preliminarily approved a tax increase resulting in approximately $234,901 of new money. This would result in a 22 cent or less increase per $100 equalized assessed value, or EAV. According to Superintendent Brad Tuttle, this would mean for a home with an EAV of $50,000, there would be an increase of $23.47 on their tax bill for the district’s portion. Read More

State Test Scores Released: Moultrie County Schools Left Wondering

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Tougher standards implemented before instruction can catch up leaves ISAT scores laggingArthurLovingtonSchools

by Derek Pope
Bethany Reporter

At the beginning of November the state of Illinois made the scores of last year’s major standardized tests, the Illinois State Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Prairie State Achievement Test (PSAE), available to the public. The “State Report Cards”, as the Illinois Board of Education calls them, are released yearly, and this year the results are presenting a mixed message for schools all over the state—a problem since administrators and teachers alike rely upon the state report cards to guide instruction.  Read More

Moultrie Escapes Brunt of Sunday’s Storm

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Photo by RR Best A Sullivan police officer waves traffic back away from the Asa Creek bridge in Sullivan Sunday after heavy downpours caused flash flooding.

Photo by RR Best
A Sullivan police officer waves traffic back away from the Asa Creek bridge in Sullivan Sunday after heavy downpours caused flash flooding.

Though scattered and infrequent damage is still sustained

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Sunday’s storm, which was responsible for approximately 80 reports of tornadoes including those near the Altamont, Tuscola, and Gifford areas, left Moultrie County, by comparison, in relatively good shape.

Nonetheless, parts of the county did suffer extensive damage from what is generally believed as straight line winds. Read More

Sharing a Story About Service & Life

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Photo by Keith Stewart SES fifth grader Zoey Walton shakes Francis Drummond Jr.’s hand after he spoke to her class about his experiences in the military and life.

Photo by Keith Stewart
SES fifth grader Zoey Walton shakes Francis Drummond Jr.’s hand after he spoke to her class about his experiences in the military and life.

Fifth grade class learns about Navy and
excellence from veteran

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Just a kid of the countryside, Francis Marian Drummond Jr. willingly enlisted in the Navy on a Saturday in January of 1952 but only after his older brother Everett told him of the realities that would lie in store for him if he was drafted into the Army.

“I changed the plans,” said Drummond, who did in fact bypass the draft, which he would have otherwise soon experienced at the age of 19. “He told me that the last place I wanted to sleep in was a hole in the ground, so the next day my friend and I enlisted.”

Drummond’s brother had served in the Army during WWII after being drafted, joining several of the family’s relatives in service to the country, including his uncle Walter, his father’s youngest brother, who died during WWI. Drummond’s father, Francis Sr. had also served in WWI in the army as did another uncle–Bertram. Read More