SES Starts Garden Project

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•April 11, 2018• Elementary students and community volunteers are planning to grow fruits and vegetables on Sullivan Community Unit District 300 land this year. “This is a great opportunity for the kids to experience everything from planting and weeding to harvest,” fourth grade SES teacher Nicole Hendry said of the SES Garden Project. With help from Director of Maintenance Kevin Landrus the 10 by 100 ft plot was prepared first by burning then tilled by Kurk Grohler. Hendry went on to tell the members of the school board that My Garden and Buxton’s Garden Farm have made donations and offered … Read More

Eleven Run Inning Seals Win For Okaw Valley  Softball

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•April 11, 2018• Last Thursday, the Okaw Valley softball team improved its record to 3-3 with a 17-3 win over Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City. The game was the Timberwolves first since March 22 against Morrisonville. After a scoreless first inning, OV plated a run in the second inning and one in the third inning. OV took a 6-1 lead in the fourth inning, but it was an 11-run seventh inning that put the game away. … Read More

First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust Gives Back To Area Organizations

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•April 11, 2018• Investing in the communities it serves is important to First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust, and in 2017 First Mid employees volunteered more than 18,000 hours within its 37 communities in Illinois and Missouri. First Mid recently recognized the top five volunteers and donated $500 each to the charity of their choice. Brad Pullen, Sullivan Community President, was a top volunteer and has selected both the Arcola Junior Football League and Sullivan Rotary Club to receive donations from First Mid. The Arcola JFL promotes having fun, learning the fundamentals of football, safety, teamwork and sportsmanship for boys and … Read More

Obituaries 4-11-2018: Mary Grant 

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Mary Grant  Mary Catherine Grant, 91, of Sullivan passed away at 5:21 p.m. Friday, April 6, 2018 in St. Mary’s Hospital in Decatur. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 14 in McMullin-Young Funeral Home in Sullivan. Interment will follow in Greenhill Cemetery in Sullivan. Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 13 in McMullin-Young Funeral Home in Sullivan. … Read More

John Looney Was The Prototype For Gangsters Who Would Follow

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•April 11, 2018• By Roger Ruthhart Rock Island Argus John Looney was the original Quad-Cities vice lord and also one of the nation’s earliest organized crime leaders. Looney was a thin, cold, gaunt, sort of dour-looking man with haunting eyes. He wore the same baggy, dirty suit every day and ate raw liver on toast. He ran for the Illinois State House as a Democrat and lost. His bitterness over the defeat launched his career as the undisputed godfather of the underworld. He controlled a vast and unmatched empire of extortion, bribery, booze, gambling and prostitution. There were downtown shootings, … Read More

Obituaries 4-11-2018: Kay Heady 

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Kay Heady  Kay Heady, 77, of Newton passed away Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois. Funeral services celebrating Kay’s life were held at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 8 in Crain Funeral Home in Newton with Pastor Garth Whewell officiating. Burial was in West Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Newton. … Read More

Obituaries 4-11-2018: Dean Wilson 

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Dean Wilson  Dean M. Wilson, 101, of Decatur, passed away at 3:14 a.m., Monday, April 9, 2018, in his home. Graveside services will be Saturday, April 14 at 2 p.m. in Marrowbone Township Cemetery in Bethany, with the Rev. Dr. Timothy Kovalcik officiating. Mr. Wilson was born May 15, 1916, in Hanoverton, Ohio, the son of Ashley S. and Anna Bertha Moore Wilson. He graduated from Muskingham College in New Concord, Ohio in 1937, earning a degree in Economics.  Dean was a World War II veteran, achieving the rank of Lieutenant and was the Communications Officer on a destroyer minesweeper called the USS Southard DMS … Read More

Lovington Board Prepares for Clean up Day

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•April 11, 2018• The Lovington Village Board met in special session March 26 discussing issues  regarding the village water leak adjustment calculator. The regular meeting on March 12 included clean up day and townwide garage sale discussions. President Roger Walker noted he has a problem with leak adjustments from unoccupied homes when pipes freeze and burst. “Because of the water leaks we have had, we need to do something that will help us,” Walker told the board. … Read More

St. Teresa Tops Sullivan Baseball

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•April 11, 2018• The Sullivan baseball team dropped a Central Illinois Conference game against St. Teresa in Decatur last Thursday. Sullivan took the lead in the first inning with a run and added on a run in the third inning, but the Bulldogs scored three runs in the third to take the 3-2 lead. St. Teresa scored four in the bottom of the sixth inning to win the game 7-2. … Read More

Swimming Awards

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•April 11, 2018• At the Sullivan-Okaw Valley Swimming Banquet on March 21, the following awards were received: Brodie Goss: Team Captain and High Point Sectional; Justin Helmuth: Most Improved; Anna Wooters: Most Improved and Sectional High Point; Natalie Drury and McKenna Kull: Co-Captains. … Read More