News Progress

December 24, 2014

It's been 117 years since Virginia O'Hanlon sought the truth about Santa from the New York Sun.

In over a century, the lives of children — and their parents—have increased in complexity by a factor of ten.

Man landed on the moon, communism rose and fell, countries changed names and borders, Elvis begat Jagger, who in turn led to "gangsta rap". The kidnap and murder of children, which made world headlines for the Lindbergh family, now touches the lives of hundreds of families annually. Children begin learning at ages two and three about "stranger danger," AIDS and sexual abuse.

The age of innocence is gone.

But that doesn't mean that Virginia O'Hanlon's innocent question to an anonymous editor is irrelevant in today's world. Far from it.

Today, more than ever, we all need to be reminded of the good that dwells in even the meanest spirit, of the hope that fires our most ambitious dreams. That, yes, there is a Santa Claus, and he lives in all our hearts.

So here, as a Christmas gift to us all, is Francis Pharcellus Church's editorial response to Virginia, first printed in The New York Sun on Sept. 21, 1897. Merry Christmas.

"We take pleasure in an-swering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

'Dear Editor:

I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, 'If you see it in The Sun, it's so.' Read More

December 17, 2014

By Tyler Harvey
Mo-Do Farm Bureau Manager

In the last month farmers have still been tirelessly working in the fields and trying to accomplish as much fall field work they can get done before the weather changes. In the past month numerous tractors, chisels, tool bars, and anhydrous ammonia tanks have been rolling around the area. With this I ask all of you to be cautious when coming up on the machinery. Even with a good amount of this machinery being smaller than planters and combines, caution needs to always be used. With the end of harvest and winter fast approaching, many farmers are working on cleaning and preparing their equipment for winter. With winter also comes informational meetings that farmers may take advantage of to learn about new seed, equipment, and other inputs that they use on a yearly basis. Winter time is also a time for farmers to start planning for the new year- even though machinery may not be running in the fields, farmers stay very busy with other aspects of farming. Read More

December 10, 2014

by Sarah Hudson Pierce
Guest Columnist

One of the best gifts we can give to our children is to write our stories down so that so that future generations will know where they came from.
Storytelling has become mostly a lost art. Before the days of television the family sat around and told stories while the children prepared to go to sleep.
I find few things more fascinating than researching my family history because I knew so little having grown up in an orphanage. I’ve located more living, long-lost relatives than anyone I know.
And within those family groups, I’ve received a few copies of stories written by my second cousin Mildred Pettis-Leighton who mentioned with fondness my mother’s visit with them one Christmas, shortly after my 25-year-old grandmother died in an underground sod house, in Woods County, Oklahoma, when my mother was only two. Read More

December 3, 2014

by Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist

There is a push by a small but dedicated band (I am on the fringe of the group) that advocates for civics to be a required course in Illinois schools.

Could civics education cure, over time, what ails us when it comes to corruption, low voter turnout and a possibly declining sense of civic virtue? I think so, but it will take years.

The problem is that civics advocates are among a long list of boosters trying to claw back some time, respectively, for arts, music, geography, physical education, character education, and more. Read More