News Progress

Prairie Fires 

•April 17, 2024•

by Janet Roney

Have you ever seen a prairie fire?  If it’s a dry day with a good wind, it will make a believer out of you. Flames leap into the air forty or fifty feet, and it rushes like mad across the land, taking about twenty minutes or less to burn twenty acres, depending on the speed of the wind.    

We know this because for about twenty years in early spring we have burned our prairie on our 20 acres of CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) land along route 32 between Sullivan and Lovington.  Annual fires help maintain the prairie for invasive species are destroyed and nutrients are released that stimulate new growth.  The deep rooted prairie grass prevents soil erosion and retards movement of agricultural chemicals into the stream that runs through it.     Read More

2014

The Moultrie County Historical and Genealogical Society held their monthly general meeting Thursday April 24 in the Heritage Center. The speaker for the evening was Glenn Austin of Bethany who spoke on a big event for Bethany – The Day Annie Oakley Came to Town. 

Students recently attended McTeacher Night at the local McDonald’s and had their names drawn for some incredible prizes. McDonald’s in Sullivan has sponsored McTeacher Night for the last 10 years and donates $1,000 annually to the Sullivan PTO. They have given away a total of $10,000 in cash and $5,000 in prizes over the last 10 years. This year’s winners include Skyla Palmer, Lucy Barringer, Ryan Lawyer, Jayden Troxell, Kiley Dyer, Reagan Crouse, Matt Welch, Curtis Kite, Drew Rogers and Mitchell Hooten. Read More

•April 10, 2024•

The Lake Land College Board of Trustees approved the first tuition increase in four years at the regular March meeting. 

The increase follows four years of commitment to hold tuition as steady as possible for students. Tuition and fees remained the same between fiscal years 21 and 22, and then decreased by 7.4% in fiscal year 23. Last year, tuition and fees were rolled back to fiscal year 21 and 22 rates.  Read More

Remembering Who We Are… 4

Ice to Dust to Grass to Fire

by Janet Roney

The phrase, “Fly-over country”, often heard these days, implies that there’s nothing much to see in the Midwest, Moultrie’s home. Mile after mile of corn and bean fields do not inspire the uninformed.  

Poor things! Any fool can see that the majestic Rocky Mountains or the peaceful sea shores are beautiful, but mountains and our continent’s edges are barriers, too. In contrast, on the Illinois prairie, the “sky’s the limit”. The prairie’s beautiful vastness is liberating and inspiring. It feels like you can see forever and go on forever. When your vision is limitless, anything seems possible.   

Early settlers described the virgin prairie as an endless green ocean with wind-blown waves rolling across its surface. Today, the prairie’s vast beauty is enhanced by its close-up details…the occasional patches of prairie grasses and flowers hiding in ditches along its roadsides and railroads, the cattle grazing in isolated oak and walnut tree savannahs edged with blooming wild plum, or the neat farmsteads that dot the landscape.     Read More