Getting Students to and from Schools Safely is a Challenge

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Photo courtesy Kevin Landrus
It is not okay to pass buses on left while dropping children off at school.

•August 21, 2019•

Schools are in session and safely getting students to and from class is a challenge.
Getting drivers to pay attention to giant yellow buses stopped for children is one of the biggest challenges for transportation.
“The greatest risk to your child is not riding the bus but approaching or leaving one,” Kevin Landrus, Sullivan school district transportation director, explained.
He emphasized that 97% of all school transportation fatalities happen within a 10 foot perimeter outside the bus.
Police Chief Andy Pistorius noted patrols were picking up with the start of school.
“Schools have cameras on the buses to record violations,” Chief Pistorius said. After the school contacts the department with the video evidence, police issue the citation.
“It’s a pretty hefty fine and immediate three month license suspension,” Pistorius said of the serious nature of the crime.
“People get impatient and want to go around buses on the left while unloading at the school, and that is also a no-no,” the chief continued.
Landrus believes there are two main reasons people pass stopped school buses. Read More

ADM/BLDD Grants Support to Okaw Valley High School Ag. Project

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Photo by Ellen Ferrera
Okaw Valley Ag instructor Wes Wise and student inoculate calf at Friday open house

Okaw Valley Has A Farm E-I-E-I-O

•August 21, 2019•

By Ellen Ferrera
for The News Progress

The Okaw Valley High School erg program held an open house and media opportunity on August 16 to showcase their new one million dollar ag building and state-of-the-art ag educational program Friday, August 16.
The ag building’s color compliments the school colors. It is located behind the high school and looks somewhat like a fire station until an earthy aroma tells you that farm animals are inside.
Housed within is a large classroom, a lab, four large holding pens and another large work area. Future plans call for the addition of four pens to house more animals.
Ag instructor and farm owner, Wes Wise, welcomed the visitors and outlined the morning’s activities which included a tour of the facilities, animal viewing, equipment demonstrations and animal care.
Wise explained the provenance of the program.
‘We are extremely grateful to ADM Cares and BLDD for the grants to initiate this unique educational opportunity. ADM recognizes the importance of farm crops which fuel their industry, and they invest in their own future by creating programs like these to introduce students to a farming career at the high school level.’
“We have 160 students in the high school and 95 are enrolled in the erg program. Only one of the 95 students comes from a farm family so it has been an eye-opener for many of the students,” he continued. “Many of them are now planning careers in the agri-business field as a direct result of this program.” Read More

Delightful Comedy, “Church Basement Ladies” Closes Little Theatre Season

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•August 21, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for The News Progress

If you didn’t know the authorship you would swear this cheerful musical was right out of a Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon story.
The main characters are four staunch, Lutheran, Norwegian women who spend the entire play in the basement of the East Cornucopia Lutheran Church where they orchestrate the food for various church events.
They are a celebration of all the church basement ladies all over the world.
The scene opens in a classic 1965 church basement perfectly recreated from the vintage doors, fridge, stove and freezer, down to the wooden cross above one of the doors.
This is the domain of Mavis, Vivian, Karin and her daughter, Signe. Read More

Moultrie County Seats New Board Member from Sullivan

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Elizabeth Houser

•August 21, 2019•
By Mike Brothers

The Moultrie County Board welcomed a new member at the Thursday, August 15 meeting. Sullivan Country Financial agent Elizabeth Houser was sworn in by County Clerk Georgia England as the newest member of the Moultrie County Board.
County Board Chairman Dave McCabe noted the appointment was effective immediately. Houser will run in 2020 as she completes the term of Republican county board member Tim Rose who recently resigned.
Upon recommendation by Chairman McCabe a resolution to cancel the property tax sale for 720 W. Prairie in Sullivan was approved. He explained the owners had resolved back tax issues. Attending board members Kevin McReynolds, Mike Barringer, Arlene Aschermann, Elizabeth Houser, Todd Maxedon and Tyler Graven voted for the resolution. Members Neil Bryan and Bill Voyles were absent. Read More

Sullivan Council Renews Resource Officer Agreement

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•August 14, 2019•
By Mike Brothers

Sullivan City Council continued to field inquiries about the Titus Sentel Estate decision and renewed the agreement providing a resource officer for Sullivan schools at the regular Aug. 12 meeting.
During public comment the council was asked why they moved the vote on Titus Sentel Estate to July 31 rather than the originally scheduled Aug 12 meeting and to put the decision in layman’s terms.
Mayor Richard Glazebrook explained the change in the meeting date was made to move forward, and the required 48 hours advance notice was posted on the city’s website.
He then read commissioner Abbey Sherwood’s motion directing the estate trustees to sell the property and the city buy back all or part at public auction or sale. Read More

Crowning Touch

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Photo by Mike Brothers. Crowning Touch Sitting atop the main scoreboard at the Wyman Park baseball diamond is a giant Sullivan Redskin logo thanks to city electric dept. personnel and equipment working along with park dept. employees. Herb Bricker explained further signage will complete the ball diamond project. John Boy Carroll at Carroll’s Welding and Fabrication of Sullivan designed the Sullivan Redskin logo which is powder coated for a durable finish. Over the summer the pitcher’s mound and infield were upgraded and the outfield returfed. Park Dept. employees prepared the scoreboard’s Redskin crown for the electric dept. to place with bucket trucks. Pictured kneeling from left: Kyler Lane and Brandon Veatch; standing David Nolen, Clint Thompson, Ed Moody and Director of Parks and Cemeteries Herb Bricker. In the background an electric dept. bucket truck operator places sponsorship grid.

Sullivan’s Richard Glazebrook Awarded Sullivan Alumni Association “Who’s Who” Award

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•August 14, 2019•
By Ralph Kirk

for the Sullivan Alumni Association

Richard Glazebrook, the mayor of Sullivan, will be awarded the Sullivan Alumni Association’s annual “Who’s Who” award which is awarded for “significant humanitarian contributions in the Sullivan community”. The award will be presented to him at the Sullivan Alumni Banquet on October 5.
Glazebrook has devoted much of his adult life to improving Sullivan and the area around it. An SHS graduate in 1966 and Eastern Illinois University graduate in 1971, he became site superintendent of Illinois’s Eagle Creek and Wolf Creek State Recreation Areas in central Illinois. He also served as an officer for several conservation groups including Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Read More

Winifred’s Steinway Plays on at Courtyard Estates

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Photo by Mike Brothers
At Winifred Titus Sentel’s Steinway for the first time since 1950 is piano student Beverly Pierce along with Piano Rescuer Judy Featheringill.

•August 14, 2019•
By Ivory Ebony
for the News Progress

Judy Featheringill went to the Titus Manor personal property auction curious about what Winifred Titus Sentel left behind.
All that changed at the Sullivan American Legion when the auction began on July 13.
“I didn’t plan to buy anything,” Featheringill began, “and I certainly didn’t want a piano.”
That’s where Erika Piper, Director of Courtyard Estates, stepped in. “It is an honor to have such an important piece of Sullivan history at Courtyard,” Piper said, noting Judy’s generosity has already been enjoyed.
Art Welsh played for his neighbors and friends soon after it arrived last week. Read More

Bethany Fire District Expands into “No Man’s Land”

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•August 7, 2019•
By Mike Brothers

Bethany Fire Protection District moved to annex 15 square miles of “no man’s land” following a public hearing at the fire station Thursday, August 1.
Bethany Fire Protection District board of trustees president Lowell Ford opened the hearing by explaining the 15 square miles of mostly farmland in Shelby County west of Bethany toward Moweaqua has been covered by the Bethany fire and ambulance service for years without receiving any tax revenue.
Board attorney Steven Wood explained a recent law authorized the action and the area known as “no man’s land” is in no fire protection or 9 1 1 district now. He noted it was divided among bordering fire districts and some 109 different landowners have been contacted concerning the annexation. Read More

Spruced Up Sullivan Parks Improve Visitors’ Experience

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Photo by Mike Brothers
Tabor Park Bridge decks were replaced earlier this summer by Sullivan Park District summer employees Sterling Howard and Ethan Foster.

Bridge Decks Repaired

•August 7, 2019•
By Wyman Tabor
for The News Progress

It has been a busy summer for the Sullivan Park Dept. benefitting everyone from trail walkers to ballplayers.
Sullivan Director of Parks and Cemeteries Herb Bricker explained park garden beds that began with plant donations from My Garden owner Tina Krigbaum in the fall have grown well with regular rains this summer.
The flower beds at the entries to Wyman Park were planted by mayor Richard Glazebrook with park district employees cleaning the beds and refreshing the mulch for the season.
Bricker said the new irrigation system has made a big difference in the outfield turf condition at Wyman Park’s main diamond with the system also allowing creation of a sod farm. Read More