•November 17, 2021•
Wednesdays just got merrier and brighter. Each week, University of Illinois Extension educators will share holiday plant and home landscape tips for winter.
The free online workshops begin Dec. 1 and include live, follow-along activities led by Extension educators Andrew Holsinger, Chris Enroth, Ken Johnson, and Katie Parker, Each hour-long session begins at 3 p.m. Register online at go.illinois.edu/GoodGrowingWinter21.
· Unique Plants for the Holidays | Dec. 1: Are you searching for the perfect holiday gift for that plant lover on your list, but don’t want to give them the typical poinsettia or Christmas cactus? Learn about some out-of-the-ordinary plants and how to grow them like plumeria, citrus, tea, coffee, and miracle fruit that can make great gifts for the plant enthusiast in your life, or yourself! Read More
Sullivan American Legion Receives Recognition

Photo furnished
Sullivan American Legion Receives Recognition
The Sullivan American Legion had a surprise visitor at their Veterans Day beef & noodle dinner. Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller showed up to present the Sullivan American Legion Post 68 with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for outstanding and invaluable service to the community. She was accompanied by her husband Illinois State Legislative Representative Chris Miller.
Recreation Area Closings
•November 17, 2021•
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Wolf Creek State Park will hold the 31st Annual Lake Shelbyville Deer Hunt for People with Disabilities during the first firearm deer season on November 19-21, 2021. The hunt will be conducted in portions of recreation areas at Lake Shelbyville that are closed for the season. As a safety precaution, Lone Point and Lithia Springs Campgrounds and all of Sullivan Beach, Wilborn Creek, Coon Creek, and Opossum Creek Recreation Areas will be closed to all automobile and pedestrian traffic from 2 p.m. Thursday, November 18, 2021 to 7 p.m. Sunday, November 21, 2021.
This temporary closing includes boat ramps located within Wilborn Creek, Coon Creek, and Opossum Creek Recreation Areas. Boat ramps remaining open to serve lake users during this time period are Dam West, Lone Point, Lithia Springs, Whitley Creek, Wolf Creek and Eagle Creek State Parks. All primitive ramps are currently closed due to high water except for Bruce West Ramp.
For more information contact Lake Shelbyville Park Ranger Taylor Finks at (217) 774-3951 Ext: 7028.
Facts for Families: Time Out!
•November 17, 2021•
By Cheri Burcham
Family Life Educator
I am sharing this informative article by Extension Educator Robin Ridgley:
“It’s your turn to take the kids to practice after school today,” she says to her husband.
“I can’t take the kids to practice today, I have a late meeting,” he says.
“That’s the second late meeting this week!” she shouts.
“Why are you raising your voice?” he asks as he points towards her.
“Why are you pointing at me? You know it makes me crazy when you point at me!” she shouts. Read More
Letter to the Editor: 11-17-2021
Dear Editor:
Recently, a former resident of Sullivan, Natalie Mauck McDowell, was killed in a car accident that simply didn’t have to happen. She and her daughter-in-law, Sarah, were hit by a person who was ticketed for not stopping at a stop sign.
So many people’s lives have been irrevocably changed by the failure of one person to take the time to stop at an intersection: the McDowells and extended family have lost a wife, mom, sister, aunt, and sister-in-law; co-workers and neighbors have lost a friend; Monticello students have lost a school nurse; members of the Methodist Church have lost a youth minister. All because a thoughtless person couldn’t take the minute or two that it takes to stop at a stop sign. Read More
Being Accommodative and Reserving Judgment
•November 17, 2021•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer
Marion Blais saw a story in the Nov. 9 Business section that included the passage “ ... not necessarily being more accommodative, continuing to favor candidates with several years of experience ...”
“I could not find ‘accommodative’ in M-W,” Marion wrote. “Is this a case of unilateral linguistic expansion? What happened to that good ol’ workhorse ‘accommodating’?”
My timeworn Webster’s New World Dictionary (published in 1994) includes “accommodative” as an adjectival form of “accommodate,” meaning “willing to fit in with someone’s wishes or needs.”
That’s essentially the definition of “accommodating.” Read More
Remember When? 11-17-2021
25 Years Ago This Week
Sullivan High School graduate Zak Horn won a national championship for Sullivan’s FFA Chapter. The 18-year-old Horn, the son of Chester and Marjorie Horn, was one of four national finalists with his FFA-supervised agricultural experience (SAE) in turfgrass management. The honor was announced at the National FFA Convention. Read More
Millikin Presents “She Loves Me” Nov. 12-14
•November 10, 2021•
Considered by many to be the most charming musical ever written, Millikin University’s School of Theatre & Dance is pleased to present “She Loves Me” at Kirkland Fine Arts Center on Millikin’s campus. Performances will be held on Friday, Nov. 12, and Saturday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. Tickets for the show are $20-$25 or free admittance with a Millikin student ID. All attendees will be required to wear a mask while inside Kirkland Fine Arts Center and adhere to social distancing guidelines. Read More
How to Promote Old Fashioned Patriotism While Recognizing Where We Have Fallen Short
•November 10, 2021•
By Brooke Clark
11th grade, ALAH
“Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.- (Adlai Stevenson II) As a lifelong public servant, Mr. Stevenson was well acquainted with the idea of patriotism. Most people, when asked to define patriotism, will say that it involves love or devotion to one’s country. What is harder to define is how patriotism is instilled in the younger generation so that it becomes a substantive aspect of their lives.
Most children are introduced to the notion of patriotism through a system of reverence and ritual. How many children begin their school day by standing and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with their hands placed over their hearts? Anyone who has attended a school sporting event knows that everyone stands, faces the flag, removes their hats, and again places their hands over their hearts for the performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner”. What happens when the Pledge and the national anthem end? The rote rituals of patriotism are easy and familiar and very few children are taught any level of patriotism beyond those they learned early in school. Read More
Red Herrings, Necessary Verbs and Treating People as Fractions
•November 10, 2021•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer
This is not a treatise on the horrible Three-fifths Compromise that determined during the Constitutional Convention that slaves should be counted as 60% of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation.
This is about the common “1 in 500” construction.
Constant reader Jane Charmelo wrote me with a question:
“This was on the front page of the Oct. 30 edition: ‘1 in 500 Illinoisans have died from virus.’ If the verb is to match the subject, isn’t ‘1 in 500 Illinoisans HAS died from virus’ correct? ‘Illinoisans’ is not the subject.”
There are two schools of thought on this, and even disagreement among editors at my newspaper. Read More
