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Moves away from original

A/B group concept

Jail inmates moved to prisonBy Travis Lott

After months of the Ran-dolph County Jail being over capacity, inmates who were awaiting transfer to prison have been moved.While the maximum ca-

pacity at the jail is 44 in-mates, as of July 24, there were at least 50 being held in the facility.By order of Governor J.B.

Pritzker, the Illinois Depart-ment of Corrections has not accepted any new inmates from Illinois’ county jails since the beginning of the pandemic in March, due to fears that the inmates could bring the coronavirus into the confines of the prisons.However, last Thursday,

Pritzker issued an execu-tive order that allowed the state’s prisons to again ac-cept new inmates.On Friday, Randolph Coun-

ty Sheriff Shannon Wolff said he received a notice from the Department of Cor-rections outlining a list of procedures he would have to complete before transfer-

ring the inmates to prison, which could take days or even weeks to complete.Included in the procedures

were extra paperwork and a requirement for the coun-ty to test each inmate for coronavirus and await the results of each test prior to transfer.The Illinois Sheriff’s As-

sociation had filed a lawsuit on behalf of dozens of Illi-nois sheriffs in an effort to force the prisons to accept the inmates.Then, on Monday, Logan

County Judge Jonathan Wright ruled in favor of the sheriffs, ordering that the Department of Correc-tions accept county inmates without further restriction.Armed with the court or-

der, Randolph County State’s Attorney Jeremy Walker said that first thing Tues-day morning, 13 males were transported to Menard Cor-rectional Center and five females to Logan Correc-tional Center. At that point, it would be left up to the

prisons to determine how to process the inmates.While the extra time that

each inmate had to stay in the county’s jail undoubt-edly cost the county a great deal in medical bills, meals and extra staffing, Wolff did not have an exact dollar amount as of Monday.“DOC has agreed to re-

imburse the county,” Wolff said. “The amount hasn’t been finalized. We will send them a bill.”Wolff said he did not know

how or when those funds would be distributed.Walker said it was unac-

ceptable for the state to require the county sheriffs to complete more processes after all the time that had passed.“(IDOC) had months to

come up with a plan, and they did nothing,” Walker said.As of late Tuesday morn-

ing, just 16 inmates re-mained incarcerated at the Randolph County Jail.

Chester modifies school plan

Scuttle Inn set to reopen as Wally’s

Main entrance to the Spartan Light Metal Products plant in Sparta

Spartan Light Metals named a GM supplier of the year

Ryan Waltemate inside the refurbished former Scuttle Inn on Route 4 south of Percy

By Travis LottWhat’s old is new again.That’s how Ryan Walte-

mate described the pro-gress at the old Scuttle Inn building near Willisville.While the rest of the world

has been facing the fallout of a global pandemic since mid-March, Waltemate and a small crew have been hard at work revitalizing the once-popular restau-rant—for a time when we can all comfortably dine out again.Soon, the establishment

will be reborn as Wally’s Oakwood Grill and Bar.Waltemate has owned

and operated a number of well-liked restaurants, the most known locally being Wally’s in Chester, which was destroyed in a fire five years ago.Waltemate, of Ellis Grove,

began talking with prop-erty owner Steve Carter last fall about reopening the restaurant.In late February and early

March, Waltemate looked at the project as being full of potential but one that would need a lot of work to be successful.Those who once frequent-

ed Scuttle Inn will still

recognize the outside of the building, but the inside is receiving major updates.Waltemate started by re-

moving the drop ceiling in the dining hall, exposing the large wooden trusses of the A-frame structure.Hidden above that drop

ceiling were large wagon-wheel chandeliers, which Waltemate restored to their former glory. He said he had no idea they were up there until the ceiling was removed.Also in the dining area,

Waltemate and his crew whitewashed the red brick walls, giving the room a rustic look.“We don’t want to cover up

the history of the place; we want to lean into it,” Walte-mate said.Several items have been

added to the dining area. New tables were hand built by Waltemate, and new light fixtures along the side were selected by his fiancée Clara Loucks.Waltemate said that, prior

to any work being done, he spent several days in the dining hall, trying to get the feel for it.

Spartan Light Metal Products has been named a sup-plier of the year for 2019 by General Motors. The an-nouncement was made during a ceremony honoring recipients of GM’s annual supplier of the year awards held in June.As part of a separate award, the company’s Sparta plant

and its Hannibal, Missouri plant were presented with GM’s Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 2019.According to a GM source, this is a first for a die-casting

supplier in over 15 years.Spartan Light Metals is a family-owned, full-service

supplier of power train and structural aluminum and magnesium die cast products for the automotive and commercial vehicle markets. The company has more than 1,000 employees, with manufacturing facilities located in Sparta, Hannibal and Mexico, Missouri.Spartan Light Metal Products is nearing completion of

its fourth manufacturing facility located next door to the Mexico, Missouri plant. That facility, named Spartan LMP, is expecting the first of an initial four 4,100-ton high-pressure die cast machines to arrive this summer.During the supplier of the year event, GM recognized 116

of its best suppliers from 15 countries that have consist-ently exceeded the automaker’s expectations, created out-standing value or introduced innovations to the company.

By Dan ZobelThe Chester school dis-

trict will open the new school year in an abbrevi-ated fashion.While not at 100 percent

full remote, the district de-cided during a special July 31 school board meeting to step back from its original A/B group reopening plan.The consensus of the

board members was that they want to get students back into school as quickly and safely as possible. Two issues ultimately led

to the decision to switch to this plan. One was not only over di-

rect COVID-19 concerns, but to further prepare students and parents for full remote learning if another man-dated school shutdown oc-curs during the school year. The other is because the

district has had delays on HVAC projects at both school buildings.“We would like the chance

to get in and work on things,” said Superinten-dent Brian Pasero. “This will also give us a chance to see how things go for other districts. I don’t think we know how this will all work, but it seems too much like we’re running an experiment with peo-ple’s lives.”If all goes well over the

first three to four weeks of school, Pasero said the A/B schedule, which sepa-rates the student body into two groups that attend in person two days per week,

will be revisited.Under the new plan, how-

ever, only small groups of students, as well as par-ents, will be brought into the schools, at the indi-vidual teacher’s discretion, while the plan is in place.Parents will still have the

option to keep their chil-dren home for full remote learning.“I don’t feel like this is the

same situation that we had in the spring,” Pasero said. “Here, I feel like if we go slowly, we can take care of some items. “If (COVID-19) numbers

improve, we can certainly go back to what we origi-nally planned.”Pasero noted that partici-

pation in athletics will be an option regardless of the family’s learning choice.High school Principal Mis-

sy Meyer and grade school Principal Bill Grafton stat-ed their plan is to get all

students into the building at least once during the first week of school for orientation purposes.Pasero noted that there

could be around 100 stu-dents in each building at one time under this plan. Comparably, under the A/B plan, there would have been 400 students attend-ing the grade school on any given day.“It’s most important to do

some remote learning first, because if we do get pushed out at some point, we’ll al-ready have the foundation laid,” Grafton said.Both schools are waiting

for air conditioning units to arrive. Until then, por-tions of each building will be without AC.This includes the band

and media rooms at the high school, which Meyer plans to use for overflow during lunch time. Without those places being cooled, Meyer is not comfortable having students eat lunch in them.Randolph County Health

Department Administrator Angie Oathout attended the meeting over the phone. “What we want, if you

are coming back, is a good screening process in place,” Oathout said. “It only takes one positive case to get into the building before some-thing can happen.”Oathout specifically asked

about bussing and how the district intends to make

POLICECOUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020PAGE 2

Weekly police activityLori M. Hoskin, 46,

Chester was arrested August 3 by Chester police for possession of meth and drug par-aphernalia, improper lane usage and driv-ing without a valid driver’s license. She was jailed.

****Patrick P. Stoffl e,

42, of Brookfi eld, Il-linois was arrested July 29 by the Ran-dolph County Sher-iff’s Offi ce on a Ran-dolph County war-rant for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving on a revoked license. He was jailed.

****Talon M. Bush, 36,

of Prairie du Rocher was arrested August 1 by the Randolph County Sheriff’s Of-fi ce for possession of a weapon by a felon and domestic battery. He was jailed.

****

Dante M. Dixon, 26, of Belleville was arrested July 30 by Chester police for DUI, driving on a sus-pended license, fail-ure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to report an accident. He was jailed.

****Charles R. Kershaw,

43, of Sparta was ar-rested August 2 by state police in Ran-dolph County for DUI and illegal lane us-age. He posted bond.

****Shane M. Keebler,

28, of Du Quoin was arrested August 2 by Steeleville police for possession of meth, a narcotic instrument and drug parapher-nalia and on a Ran-dolph County warrant for failure to appear in court on charge of a possession of meth. He was jailed.

****

Keylin D. Wallace, 32, of Sparta was ar-rested August 2 by Sparta police for reck-less discharge of a fi rearm, aggravated use of a weapon and disorderly conduct. Wallace was jailed.

****Donald L. Rackley,

41, of Coulterville was arrested July 30 by Coulterville police on a Randolph County warrant for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving an uninsured vehicle. He posted bond.

****Anthony J. Prestito,

32, of Baldwin was arrested August 3 by the Randolph County Sheriff’s Offi ce on a Randolph County warrant for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving on a suspended license. He posted bond.

****

Carrie L. Grobb, 37, of Sparta was arrest-ed July 29 by Sparta police on a Randolph County warrant for theft. She posted bond.

****Kaylin C. Jeter, 20,

of West Frankfort was arrested August 3 by the Perry County Sher-iff’s Offi ce for failure to appear in court on a retail theft charge. She was jailed.

****Alexa R. Davis, 24,

of Percy was arrested July 28 by Steeleville police on a Randolph County warrant for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving on a suspend-ed license. She was released on a recog-nizance bond.

****All persons are con-

sidered innocent un-til proven guilty in court.

****

Cory Parkis

Jason Coffel

Jessica Clark

Paula Parkis

Shawn Pearson

Chester police ar-rested fi ve people in one car Sunday eve-ning.

According to Ches-ter Police Chief Bob-by Helmers, a car driven by Paula Par-kis of Carterville was stopped at 11:34 p.m. on Swanwick Street at Roberts Street.

The car was initially stopped for failing to signal a turn.

Police K-9 indicated that there were drugs in the vehicle.

Upon searching the vehicle, police said they uncovered meth, hydrocodone, scales, drug paraphernalia, psilocybin mushrooms and hypodermic sy-ringes.

Citations issued by police are as follows: Paula Parkis, 35, driv-ing on a suspended license, operating an uninsured motor ve-hicle, possession of meth with intent to deliver and possession of drug parapherna-lia; Cory Parkis, 40, of Carterville, possession of meth; Jason Coffel, 47, of Peoria, posses-sion of a hypodermic syringe; Jessica Clark, 33, of Carbondale, pos-session of mushrooms and hydrocodone; and Shawn Pearson, 35, of Marion, possession of meth.

All fi ve were taken to jail. Paula Parkis remained incarcerat-ed as of Tuesday. The other four were re-leased with notices to appear in court.

Helmers said, at this time, the police are not releasing the amount of each sub-stance and number of instruments found in the car.

Traffi c stop leads to major drug bust

Court dispositionsThe following cases

have been terminated in Randolph County court.

Douglas Inselmann of Percy, domestic bat-tery, not guilty.

Dustin Loucks of Steeleville, disorderly conduct, will not be prosecuted.

Stephanie Arnold of Ava, criminal damage to property, not guilty.

Aaron Kinstler of Ruma, battery, will not be prosecuted.

Thomas Glass of Percy, DUI, withhold judgment, fi ne, court supervision, alcohol treatment.

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Randolph County case updatesRandolph County

State’s Attorney Jer-emy Walker released the second round of case updates for the month of July.Nicholas Brown

Nicholas A. Brown, 19, of Steeleville was sentenced July 20 by Judge Richard Brown to two years of fi rst-offender probation.

Brown pleaded guilty to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth found March 3 by Steeleville police as they investigated a re-port of a person look-ing into the window of a residence.William Roberts

William D. Roberts, 23, of Red Bud was sentenced July 21 by Brown to 90 days in Randolph County Jail and two years of pro-bation.

Roberts pleaded guilty to aggravat-ed battery, having punched a clerk in the face, breaking his or-bital bone, June 22 at Casey’s General Store.Kelli Jones

Kelli N. Jones, 32, of Marissa was sentenced July 22 by Brown to two years of fi rst-of-fender probation with a condition to seek substance abuse coun-seling.

Jones pleaded guilty

to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth during a Janu-ary 16 traffi c stop in Chester.Dylan Throop

Dylan M. Throop, 24, of Chester was sentenced July 23 by Brown to two years of fi rst-offender pro-bation with a condi-tion to seek substance abuse counseling.

Throop pleaded guilty to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth during a Feb-ruary 11 traffi c stop in Chester.

A second charge of possession of a con-trolled substance was dismissed to facilitate the plea.

“Dylan is a poster child of the rampant drug abuse we are seeing. Dylan was ar-rested for a felony, got out on a recognizance bond, per our new bond laws, and catches another felony charge (the meth charge he pled to),” Walker said. “Based on the bond laws, Dylan was again released without the need of posting bond. Based on the fact Dylan was not on pro-bation or given court-ordered drug treat-ment after his fi rst ar-rest, we dismissed one felony for a plea to the

other. Clint Penny Jr.

Clint W. Penny Jr., 28, of Sparta was sentenced July 23 by Brown to two years of probation with a condition to seek sub-stance abuse and men-tal health counseling.

Penny pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, which was re-duced from a stalking charge.

He admitted to mak-ing threats toward his ex-girlfriend’s employ-er during a heated ex-change.Timothy Dickerson

Timothy L. Dick-erson, 42, of Sparta was found not guilty by reason of insanity after a July 23 bench

trial with Judge Gene Gross.

The prosecution proved beyond a rea-sonable doubt that Dickerson was guilty of two separate charg-es of violating an or-der of protection in Sparta August 15 and December 27, 2019.

Dickerson was able to prove that he was suffering from a men-tal illness that prevent-ed him from appreciat-ing the criminality of his conduct.

Illinois Department of Human Services took Dickerson into custody. He will be evaluated to deter-mine whether he will receive inpatient or outpatient care.

Perry County State’s Attorney David Searby announced one July prison sentence.

James Wright, 34, of Elkville was sentenced July 2 to three years in prison and one year of

mandatory supervised release.

Wright admitted to a probation violation. He was on probation for possession of a con-trolled substance.

Perry County prison sentence

COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020 PAGE 3

STEELEVILLE CITY COUNCIL

Playgrounds reopened

SPARTA EQUIPMENT SALES618-443-5015

The cancellation of the Rendezvous at Fort de Chartres felt like an inevitability, and it was confi rmed Monday.

Les Amis du Fort de Chartres, the group that sponsors events at the fort, decided to postpone what was expected to be a large 50th annual celebra-tion.

A news release states that the 50th Rendezvous will be held June 5 and 6, 2021. All funds raised this year will be used

to plan and pres-ent next year’s fort events.

Les Amis noted that Illinois Department of Natural Resources continues to recog-nize the state’s Phase 4 guidelines for re-opening, which pre-vents gatherings of

more than 50 people, far fewer than the thousands who fl ock to the fort each year.

This year’s Rendez-vous was to coincide with the 300th anni-versary for the origi-nal fort.

Those celebrations will also be held in 2021.

Jason Duensing, Les Amis vice president of special events, said he is confi dent that once Illinois’ Phase 5 status is reached, the events will be stronger and better than ever.

Rendezvous canceled50th annual celebration

Steeleville’s two pub-lic playgrounds are again open.

The playgrounds, one located at the Jay-cees’ park on the north side of town and the other near the water tower on the south part of town, were closed several months ago because of the cor-onavirus outbreak.

The town board vot-ed unanimously Mon-day night to reopen them.

However, with the reopening came a word of warning from Mayor Bob Sutton, not just for those using the playgrounds but for the population in gen-eral.

“Be cautious,” he said. “Wear face masks

for the safety of others, particularly the people you go home to.”

Signage regard-ing social distancing and other guidelines designed to stem the spread of the virus will be put up at the playgrounds.

In other action, the board adopted a reso-lution granting power of attorney from the village to Select En-ergy Partners to nego-tiate a new electricity supplier contract for village government. The current contract expires in December.

Sutton said it appears the new contract will offer lower rates, who-ever the supplier is.

Maintenance super-visor Dale Ernsting re-

ported that all culverts that were on the list to replaced have been installed for the year. He also noted that des-ignated streets will be oiled and chipped near the end of this month.

Police Chief Jim Zei-dler noted that his de-partment handled 87 calls in Steeleville and 69 calls in Percy for the month of July.

In his report, Fire Chief Rich Reitz said the fi re department has received approval for a $2,960 federal grant. He also report-ed six fi re calls and 27 medical-related calls for July.

The winner of the bow given away in the fi re department’s raf-fl e was Jeff Woodside.

The Steeleville Jaycees’ Park playground is open, as is the playground near the water tower in the south part of town.

When school sudden-ly shut down in March due to COVID-19, a group of volunteers in Tilden got together to continue to provide lunch service for the kids in town.

Food was provided by the Sparta school district until the sched-uled end of the school year.

After that, Paul

Hahn and Eris Mc-Bride decided to con-tinue the lunch pro-gram through the summer.

They received sev-eral monetary dona-tions from the Tilden community, and this began the formation of WIGS, which stands for Working In Gods Service.

Each Monday, the

group met at the Til-den Presbyterian Church to make lunch-es to be given out that the week to 45 Tilden kids. The group then delivered the lunches to children’s homes.

A representative of WIGS said the group is thankful for all the donations that led to the success of the pro-gram.

Providing lunches for kids throughout the summer

Front row from left are Eris McBride, Nancy Laramore, Mellanie Portz, MaryBell Trieb, Vickie Voytas and Judy Etling. Back row: Jerry Laramore, Paul Hahn and Junior Spears. Not pictured are Debbie Farley and Leslie Meininger. Photo submitted

Et tu, Brute?Even the statue of Popeye’s famed nemesis Brutus is now wearing a mask as a remind-er to everyone to take precautions against COVID-19. Linda Rader of Chester first had the idea, and she enlisted the help of Christy Rhodes to make the large m a s k . R a d e r ’ s grandson Lucas Rader and Kayla Bert helped put the mask on the statue.

River StagesMississippi At Chester

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Editorial Staff: Larry Willis

Travis Lott | Dan ZobelOPINIONSCounty Journal | August 6, 2020Page 4

Policies Of The County JournalA Publication Of Willis Publishing, Inc.

Larry Willis, Kristin Anderson, John FalkenheinCo-Owners/Co-Publishers

PublIshed eAch ThursdAy1101 East Pine • Box 369 • Percy, Illinois 62272

(618) 497-8272Letters to the editor must be signed in order to be pub-

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Any person or organization holding a money making event and wanting it advertised in the County Journal must discuss their promotion with the advertising department. Generally, if the organization charges for the event, goods or services, the County Journal charges to advertise its event.

Letters advocating a candidate or referendum will be published as a letter to the editor until two weeks before an election. Within that two weeks such promotions will be published only as paid advertisement.

Anyone wishing to express thanks must do so in a paid advertisement. Thank you notes will not be included in news stories.

County Journal(USPS 549-110)

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By MarthaPeeblesA Musing View®

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Letters to the editor

By Rex QuinnFlaky Fables

Spartan Light Metals going strongCongratulations

to Spartan Light Meta l s for be ing named a General Mo-tors supplier of the year for 2019. The Sparta plant and its sister plant in Han-nibal, Missouri also received GM’s Suppli-er Quality Excellence Award for 2019.Along with those two,

Spartan Light Metals has a third plant locat-ed in Mexico, Missouri with a fourth under construction there al-most completed.The success of Light

Metals, as it is most commonly known lo-cally, is a good thing, not only for Sparta but also for many small

towns that surround Sparta, as it provides hundreds of jobs. That, in turn, pro-vides a trickle-down effect for other local businesses, like gro-cery and convenience stores, pharmacies, restaurants and many others.The same can be said

for Gilster-Mary Lee.It’s ironic that Light

Metals is just a stone’s throw from the site of what was another ma-

jor industry in Spar-ta—Spartan Printing. While we’ve chroni-cled the conversion of “the comic book,” as it was known, to a ware-housing facility, the jobs it once provided will never come back.The same can be

said, to some extent, about the coal mining industry. Yes, there are still working local mines such as Knight Hawk, Prairie State and Gateway North,

and we are thankful for all of the good jobs they provide.But in their heyday,

which really was not that many years ago, Peabody, Arch, Con-solidated and Zeigler coal companies pro-vided literally thou-sands of direct min-ing and spin-off jobs. Those also appear to be lost forever.That makes Light

Metals’ longevity and growth all the more impressive.Spartan Light Met-

als is a key part of our economic commu-nity. Hopefully, it will remain a part of the Sparta area for many decades to come.

It’s now thecornerstone of

Sparta’s industry

Bring life backto normalEditor, County Journal:COVID-19 is a serious

disease that causes the possibility of serious long-lasting effects. It is not a hoax.On July 24, 2020, the

Illinois Department of Public Health reported that Randolph County was at a warning level for coronavirus dis-ease.This is due to out-

breaks associated with bars not adhering to distancing and mask-ing, a large party of more than 200 people,

congregate settings and home settings. I am a retired RN.

I wore a mask for 51 years. Wearing a mask is much easier than fighting a dis-ease that may kill you or cause long-lasting health problems. There are those who

say they do not have to wear a mask due to free will. Yes, we have free will to make deci-sions for our lives, but those decisions should be intelligent ones. Free will does not

give us a license to do whatever we want with no regard for

others. We should not misuse free will by making decisions that will harm others. Dur-ing this pandemic, re-fusing to wear a mask and social distancing does precisely that. How would you feel if

you brought the virus home to your children, parents or grandpar-ents, and they died? Are you willing to be responsible for their deaths?God gave us medical

experts for us to learn from and listen to so we can make wise de-cisions for the good of everyone.

Wearing a mask and social distancing has nothing to do with politics or losing one’s constitutional rights—it has everything to do with protecting one-self and others.The Bible says we

should love our neigh-bor as ourself. Part of that command means listening to the au-thorities and doing what they ask. Wearing a mask is

an easy way to halt the progression of this virus and bring life back to as normal as is possible.

Myrna EldridgeSparta

The delicious tastes of summerSome foods just

scream the word summer. Take watermelon for

instance. Every time I cut a melon open, it takes me back to child-hood. Since my mother would not allow the mess in her kitchen, my dad would gather us, as well as most of the kids in the neigh-borhood. We would follow him with the watermelon in tow to the old cistern in our backyard. It was cov-ered with a huge con-crete slab that made a perfect watermelon table. For that feast, all that was needed was a large knife.Spitting watermelon

seeds was not only acceptable outdoor etiquette, it was ex-pected. It’s surprising that we didn’t end up with our own water-melon patch around that site.Another watermel-

on adventure was a hike to the old strip mine cut outside Wil-lisville. Along with my Culp cousins and some other friends, we

lugged a large melon in a red wagon to our destination. It would have been much easier to take a sack lunch, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as fun. There was also noth-

ing like getting a snow cone. Whether it be from the conces-sion stand at Chester municipal pool or the Du Quoin State Fair, I always wanted grape. As the server poured on the sweet syrup, I secretly prayed that she would not stop until the pointed pa-per cup was overflow-ing. There is nothing worse than a stingy amount of grape fla-vor.Recently, I purchased

a large bottle of grape syrup and let the grandkids make their own snow cones. They would suck the syrup up quick as a wink, leaving only the ice, then ask for more. That’s the only way to enjoy a snow cone.Just a generation

ago, it seemed that our kids were asking for quarters and chasing

the Snow Cone Man through the streets of Willisville. By the time I found

the change, he had of-ten moved on to anoth-er part of town.That didn’t stop them from tracking him down, sometimes barefoot, with our dog Billy faithfully by their side. The large choco-late lab didn’t mind treating himself to an occasional mound of snow cone ice that dropped onto the pave-ment. If you haven’t tried

the peach cobbler á la mode at Flamm Or-chards in Cobden, put that on your list. We were there last Sat-urday and decided to have the delicious cinnamon peachy des-sert for lunch. I’m sure Cobden’s Peach Festi-val was nixed because of COVID-19, but don’t let that stop you from getting your fill of fresh peaches. Of course, lemon

shake-ups must be added to the summer must-have list. They are a staple as home-

town picnic fare. So is picnic fish.We don’t know how

much we miss these homecomings until they are canceled. T h a n k f u l ly, t h e

Campbell Hill Fire Department was on the ball. They real-ized that many of us weren’t gonna make it through this pandemic situation without pic-nic fish. As Bill and I stood in the social-distancing line for our fish to go, I was pleased to see a good crowd. We also purchased

koozies that depicted a mask-wearing fish on the front which said Campbell Hill 2020, with The year Pic-nic Fish was ESSEN-TIAL…Corona can’t stop us! on the back. The pandemic has

taken away so much from us these past few months, but it can’t take away our memo-ries and the flavor of summer. Because here in

southern Illinois, we know exactly what summer tastes like.

Both sides objectto my viewsIrshad Manji writes, “Wanting a divorce from

my species, I slumped into pessimism.” If you’ve felt that way lately, I can’t blame you. That sentiment has crossed my own mind occasionally in recent months.

Rather than focusing our attention on immedi-ate, fundamental problems that we have in com-mon and motivating us to cooperate toward solu-tions, our ongoing national crises appear to have intensified our polarization and drawn us into conflicts over issues that, though important, seem to me to be neither as foundational nor as urgent.

Increasingly, many of the people whom I most respect and with whom I most often communicate identify with one of two categories: very conserva-tive and very progressive.

Increasingly, each faction seems to define itself by way of opposition to the other. The range of opinion that each considers acceptable seems in-creasingly narrow. Each seems increasingly insis-tent upon ideological orthodoxy and judgmental toward dissenters.

My own socio-political orientation, which might be described as center-left populist, resembles the progressive consensus more than the conservative consensus but doesn’t fit neatly into either catego-ry.

That problem is ridiculously inconsequential compared to the problems facing millions of peo-ple – it hardly deserves to be called a problem – but knowing that both my conservative friends and my progressive friends object to my views, for op-posite reasons, can get discouraging sometimes.

That’s why I was encouraged to learn about Ir-shad Manji’s 2019 book, Don’t Label Me: How to Do Diversity Without Inflaming the Culture Wars, in which the quotation above appears. Manji is a ref-ugee from Uganda of Indian descent who is gay, feminist and an advocate for reform in Islam. She has experienced real danger because of her iden-tity and views. She values diversity and social jus-tice as much as anyone.

Manji argues, however, that many of her fel-low progressives have forgotten that people are more than the sum of their demographics, ideol-ogies and group affiliations. Such labels should be used only as starting points for understanding who someone is, not the final analysis, according to Manji.

She urges social justice advocates to listen to others’ perspectives to try to understand and learn from them, not just for purposes of responding. She reminds them that, according to their own principles, they stand to learn something even from those whose views initially strike them as morally defective.

I agree. It seems to me that because of the rig-idly dogmatic identity politics practiced by many progressives and many conservatives today, we’ve become focused on issues that are divisive and less urgent at the expense of more urgent ones that could unite us.

In my view, the most consequential issue con-fronting us nationally is the obscene inequity of our current economy. Note: this certainly isn’t an argument for socialism. Like Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang, I favor substantially reforming our current system, not replacing it.

According to an August 3 Business Insider ar-ticle, America’s billionaires have gained $637 bil-lion since the pandemic started. Meanwhile, un-employment has reached double digits and the GDP sustained a record-breaking decline in the second quarter of 2020.

Some economists say that because of the way our economy is now configured, our emergence from the current crisis is likely to be a “K-shaped” re-covery, in which a small number of already highly advantaged people and corporations become even more disproportionately wealthy while everyone else experiences net losses.

Not only is the deformity of our economic system a huge practical and moral problem itself, it also causes or exacerbates many other critical prob-lems, from shortages of protective equipment for medical workers to painful conflicts over policing practices and agricultural policy. The system-lev-el inequity in our economy and the troubles that stem from it affect us all – rural, urban, black, brown, white or otherwise – in some way.

Therefore, working together toward correct-ing that inequity might help to unify us while also making it easier to solve other pressing problems. I can’t help wondering whether much of the time, energy and political capital that both conserva-tives and progressives are expending in fighting each other over cultural wedge issues would be more productively directed toward that pursuit.

Questions? Comments? Contact magnetob-scure@gmail.com.

Scary stuffOne positive trait I

acquired during quarantine is ultra-cleanliness. I bathe lots more, and yesterday I washed my hands 39 times, not including the time I spilled sani-tizer on my hairbrush. My knuckles look like bleeding walnuts…very clean walnuts.Have you noticed that

what frightens you as an adult is different

from what scared you as a child?My first childhood

fear was about an 18-foot python who es-caped from the zoo. It never occurred to

me that, because it’s three times the size of a man, it could not hide easily behind our rose bush. The snake was later found just outside its zoo cage.In elementary school,

tornado drills terrified me.Sadly, tornadoes in

Texas are more com-mon than ants at a family picnic.In middle school, I

was afraid of the guy I had to block in football practice. He outweighed me by 30 pounds. Then I tried to block him.Ouch!!! In high school, I was

too scared to ask a girl to dance at the prom. So, I danced by myself. And then I was afraid to go back to school on Monday.As I got older, I real-

ized that I’ll always fear something.But fear response can

be a good thing if we understand that some terrors are rational, while others are irra-tional.

July 30 ............ 14.8July 31 ............. 16.5Aug. 01 ............ 17.6Aug. 02 .............21.1Aug. 03 ............ 21.7Aug. 04 ............ 22.1Aug. 05 ............20.0

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Scuttle Inn to reopen as Wally’s Oakwood...from Page 1“It originally felt like

it had a Texas smoke-house vibe,” Waltemate said, and he went with it.

While Waltemate will continue to serve the items he’s known for around here, such as pizza, pasta and steaks, he will also specialize in fi ne smoked meats. He said there will be plenty of items on the menu that are economi-cal choices for the en-tire family.

“You want to be the place where anyone’s comfortable coming,” Waltemate said.

Of course, the prop-erty is not all about the restaurant.

Pyramid Oaks golf course is one of the most popular courses in the area, also being the home course for Trico and Steeleville school golf teams.

When the restaurant and bar reopen, golfers will fi nally have onsite culinary options, as well as a newly reno-vated pro shop con-nected to the Wally’s building.

Jon Parsons of Camp-bell Hill, who helps manage the course, has been helping Wal-temate renovate the

building, including the pro shop.

Parsons said the shop will sell professional PGA golf equipment and apparel and offer a more modern lounge area.

Parsons is no stran-ger to the sport. While he downplayed his own golfing capabilities, he said his wife Jenna is a great golfer who played collegiate.

Both Waltemate and Parsons credited Rusty Ehlers with the quality of the golf course itself.

Ehlers , the head greenskeeper, has worked at the course for much of the past 40 years. He has plenty of groundskeeping expe-rience, having main-tained the greens at other major courses and worked for a time on the grass at Busch Stadium.

Waltemate said Ehlers is on the property sev-en days a week, mak-ing sure it is champi-onship-quality.

“He treats it like his baby,” Waltemate said.

Parsons and Walte-mate said the prop-erty is something they are proud of and hope the community will be proud of it as well.

“We want to create a gem in the heart of southern Illinois,” Wal-temate said.

Waltemate also cred-ited Knight Hawk coal owner Steve Carter and his family for funding the renovations.

“The Carter family has been instrumental in the entire project,” Waltemate said.

Waltemate said that even though COVID-19 will present its own set of challenges, he still hopes to open in the coming months.

“We keep pushing foward to make sure that whenever every-thing can open, we’re ready for it,” Waltemate

said. “It’s a scary time to be in this industry, that’s for sure.”

The property was orig-inally developed by Bill Mullins, superintendent of Southwestern Illinois Coal’s Streamline and Captain mines.

Mullins fi rst oversaw the construction of the golf course in 1966.

Scuttle Inn was built in 1972 out of reclaimed wood from barns that were demolished by the coal mine.

The property changed hands a number of times after Mullins’ death.

It was leased to several people throughout the years until it eventually closed.

Jon Parsons inside the pro shop

Light Metals gets GM supplier award...from Page 1The awards ceremony

was originally sched-uled to be held in March but was postponed due to the coronavirus.

“Our suppliers play a key role in delivering the products, services and experiences our customers deserve, and these award-winning suppliers went above and beyond our expec-

tations,” said Shilpan Amin, GM vice presi-dent, Global Purchas-ing and Supply Chain.

Winners were cho-sen by a global team at GM based on per-formance criteria in product purchasing, global purchasing and manufacturing servic-es, customer care and aftersales and logistics.

This is the third time Spartan Light Metals has received a supplier of the year award.

“It is a great honor for Spartan Light Met-al Products to be pre-sented with these 2019 awards by General Motors,” said Bruce Breitzman, Spartan Light Metal Products CEO. “We would like to

thank our General Mo-tors customers and our entire Spartan team for all the hard work and collaboration, which led to these very pres-tigious awards. Spar-tan Light Metals has and will continue to re-main focused on safety, quality and service in order to exceed our cus-tomers’ expectations.”

sure each s tudent who rides the bus is screened prior to ar-riving at school. Pasero said that parents are to screen their children at home, then the bus drivers will do temper-ature checks on them before being allowed on the bus.

Board member Tom Welge asked Oathout if there would be value in delaying the beginning of school.

“No, I don’t think a delay is necessary,” Oathout said. “To ease in is for the best, also to have in place a plan of what to do if an out-break occurs.

“I would like to think that by this time next week, we will be in a better place. I would prefer to see you just ramping up prevention measures.”

Oathout also suggest-ed not utilizing the majority of substitute teachers available, as Pasero said Chester uses primarily retired teachers, who are more susceptible to the virus.

Board member Trent Vasquez asked how available coronavirus testing is for students.

Oathout said all three hospitals are available, and parents just have to call ahead so the

hospital can give them instructions.

It takes up to 72 hours for test results, ac-cording to Oathout, although the Illinois Department of Public Health is working on getting a faster turn-around.

“If you think you might be exposed but have no symptoms, wait a few days to give the body an opportu-nity to shed the virus,” Oathout said. “A stu-dent should stay out un-til the test comes back.”

Board member Chuck Fricke asked what au-thority the district has if a student shows symptoms but a parent declines to have a test conducted, claiming things like seasonal allergies.

Oathout said the dis-trict has the right to ask that the student stay out of school for 14 days if the symptoms match that of COVID-19.

Otherwise, parents should to take the stu-dents to their health-care providers to con-fi rm that the symptoms are indeed allergies.

The board also heard from several concerned parents.

Jenny Cowan said it feels like the district is just giving up, while

other schools are open-ing. She cited studies that claim that it is more harmful to the children to keep them isolated at home rath-er than send them to school.

“I don’t want to give the impression that we’re giving up,” Pase-ro said. “I’m propos-ing bringing students back in small groups, not giving up. When we feel like things are improving and we can handle more, we’ll be open to bring more back.”

C o r i e S c h e m o n i c asked what the district has in mind for chil-dren without access to Wi-Fi at home. She noted that students will spend the day at day care and not be able to have online access until the evening. She asked whether teach-ers will be available in the evening for help.

“That will be a chal-lenge,” Pasero said. “We’ve talked about that, in addition to ori-entation for the teach-ers, to have a focus on students who are strug-gling or don’t have ac-cess during the day, that they would come into school more.”

Board member Deb Caraway added that

she has heard, based off of last spring, that many teachers were available from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. to fi eld ques-tions from parents and students.

“If we have to go to full remote, we’re try-ing to come up with of-fi ce hours,” Meyer add-ed. “There are plenty of teachers who have said we’ll do what we have to for extra hours with (the students).”

Meyer said after the fi rst week of school, teachers will look at which students are struggling or are in day care. She noted that this will not be a complete lockout, like it was in the spring, as teachers will have greater access to their classrooms even if students are at home.

One of the things teachers have been in-structed to utilize is Google Classroom. Mey-er explained that this will be a place where stu-dents, if they are unable to follow along during the day, will be able to fi nd useful information.

Pasero added that the plan at hand is merely a draft and is still develop-ing.

Meyer and Grafton re-iterated that they are al-ways available for par-ents who have questions.

Chester modifi es school opening plan...from Page 1

Outbreak at P’ville nursing homeHealth offi cials in Per-

ry County are on high alert after it was report-ed that an outbreak of COVID-19 has occurred at Pinckneyville Nurs-ing and Rehabilitation Center.

A total of 17 patients and fi ve staff members have tested positive for the virus.

According to Merle Taylor, director of op-erations for WLC Man-agement Firm of Harris-burg, which owns and operates the nursing home, the outbreak is believed to be tied to two staff members who con-tracted the virus some-place other than the fa-cility.

One staff member be-gan experiencing symp-toms and was tested July 24. Another who was as-ymptomatic but was ex-posed to that individu-al was also tested. Both were positive.

On July 31, every staff member and patient at the facility was tested. By that evening, the fi rst four positive test results

came in. More showed up the following morn-ing, and more were re-ported Monday and Tuesday.

All of the positive staff members have been iso-lated at home, while the positive patients have been segregated to a specifi c hall. Within that designated hall, asymp-tomatic patients have been separated from symptomatic ones.

The coronavirus hall is staffed with employ-ees who are designated to that area and do not interact with the rest of the people in the facility.

Taylor admitted that the move was disruptive for those patients.

“We tried to set their rooms up for them the way that they had them,” Taylor said. “The resi-dents have adjusted real-ly well to the change.”

Taylor said many of the residents are aware of what has been going on and are understanding.

Still, the outbreak has put residents, staff, fam-ilies and the community

on edge.“It’s stressful for every-

one in that facility,” Tay-lor said.

As of Tuesday, Taylor said no one had gotten se-riously ill from the virus. She said all staff mem-bers are wearing full per-sonal protective equip-ment including masks, face shields, gowns and gloves.

“We are continuing to do everything we can to protect patients and staff,” Taylor said.

In other coronavirus news, a week after Ran-dolph County was named one of just four Illinois counties under a warn-ing from the state for CO-VID-19, the entire County Journal coverage area, which also includes Per-ry and Jackson counties, has now been warned.

This distinction came prior to the nursing home outbreak in Pinckneyville.

While last week’s warn-ing level announcement from the state came with specifi c examples for each county, this one did not.

However, the Illinois Department of Public Health continues to list positivity percentages for each county.

Randolph County is listed as having a pos-itivity rate of 10.9 per-cent, based on the per-centage of positive cas-es from the number of tests performed.

The positivity rate that is listed on the county’s daily report is a total rate based on the number of positive cas-es and number of tests from the beginning of the pandemic.

The state’s numbers, however, are based on the number of tests per-formed in that particu-lar week. In this case, that week was from July 19-25.

Over that same time period, Perry County had a positivity rate of 10.5 percent and Jack-son County had a rate of 8.8 percent.

None of the three counties listed any deaths during that pe-riod.

COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020PAGE 6

Robert Graham with his map that depicts where many of his Hooker’s Mens Store customers have come from. The store has served people all over North America and a number of other countries.

By Dan ZobelYou’ve seen the shirts,

and you’ve heard the slogan.

Hooker’s Mens Store in Sparta has been in business for 65 years, and July 31 marked the 40th year with Robert Graham as owner.

“We call it Hooker’s Nation,” Graham said. “It all started with the ‘I love Hooker’s Men’s Store’ shirts. On the back, it says ‘Over 40 years of public satisfaction.’ When somebody buys a shirt, we say you are part of Hooker’s Nation.”

Hooker’s Nation is one that knows no bounds.

When Graham, 70, took over the store July 31, 1980, he had a map of the United States that was blank. Now, that map has push pins

in all 50 states, mark-ing where customers have come from.

“I was guessing that over time, we might reach 30 or 35 states,” Graham said. “I never dreamed we would get all 50. We also have reached foreign coun-tries, including Cana-da, Mexico, England, Australia and China.”

Graham posted a pic-ture on Facebook of him with the map the day of his 40th anni-versary of ownership. He said the congratula-tory response has been overwhelming.

“It was very humbling and very inspiring to do better,” Graham said. “I want to keep go-ing and continue doing better, even improving on what we do, which

I think is pretty good.”Lee Hooker opened

the store in 1955. Gra-ham grew up in Til-den and still lives in the same house as the fourth generation of his family. When he returned from Missis-sippi State University Hooker gave him a job that he started January 3, 1973.

“I was supposed to help two weeks for a sale,” Graham said. “At the end of two weeks, nobody said anything about not coming any-more. I’ve showed up every day for 47 years.”

Graham became man-ager in October 1974, and six years later, he owned the place.

Graham calls the store a home, saying he works six days a

week, often seven dur-ing prom and wedding seasons.

“This is really what I wanted to do,” Graham said. “I still enjoy com-ing to work every day. When I lock the door at night, I can’t wait to come in the next day.”

Hooker’s offers a vari-ety of clothing for men, from casual wear to suits and tuxedos.

In addition to the gen-eral customer, Graham said he averages help-ing with 12 to 16 proms every year, as well as numerous weddings. He has worked on as many as 32 weddings at the same time.

“We’re big on custom-er service,” Graham said. “That comes very genuine. That aspect means a lot to me.”

Robert Graham celebrates 40 years as owner of Hooker’s

TRICO SCHOOL BOARD

Trico school plan fi nalized

By Travis LottThe plans for return-

ing to school at Trico were fi nalized and approved by a special meeting of the school board Monday night.

The meeting was at-tended via Zoom by several staff members from the school dis-trict.

While there were few changes to the overall plan, it was clarifi ed that Wednes-day will be a remote learning day for all students. Students will be split into two atten-dance groups and will each attend two days a week.

Students who choose full remote learning will be committed to doing so for a nine-week period.

They will be given an opportunity to re-evaluate the situation after the nine weeks are up.

Superintendent Lar-ry Lovel said the re-mote learning commit-tment was something teachers requested.

“Teachers were afraid we would have a lot of kids going back and forth,” Lovel said.

Lovel added that many districts are re-quiring remote learn-ing students to make a full semester commit-tment, but he did not feel that was neces-sary.

Lovel also noted that, in addition to the district providing

Chromebooks to stu-dents in need of de-vices for remote learn-ing, the school contin-ues to work with local churches to provide hotspots so students have a place with in-ternet connection to complete their class-work.

Prior to voting on the plan, board mem-ber Gerald Speith voiced his opposition by reading a prepared statement.

Speith began by com-mending the work of the school administra-tion and the committee that devised the plan.

However, due to the recent surge in cases in the area, Speith said he was not in favor of the hybrid model.

“In my opinion, I think it is extremely unwise to return to school in any form of face-to-face learning,” Speith said. “Educa-tion can be made up.

“However, when we are talking about the possibility of a student, teacher or staff mem-ber contracting the vi-rus at school and later dying, that is a totally different situation.”

Speith was the lone dissenting vote. Board member Robert Kranawetter was ab-sent.

Lovel again noted that the plan could change based on a surge in cases or new r e c o m m e nd at i o n s from the Illinois State Board of Education.

RED BUD CITY COUNCIL

Meetings will be broadcast postpandemic

A bid was accepted Monday night by the Red Bud city council to move forward with a plan to continue to broadcast meetings to the general public.

While the city has broadcast its meetings via Zoom since the be-ginning of the corona-virus outbreak, some council members had voiced support for con-tinuing the program after the pandemic passes.

While some alder-men felt the Zoom op-tion should continue for city offi cials to re-motely participate in meetings, aldermen noted that Zoom con-sistently had issues with sound and people trying unsuccessfully to log in to the meet-ings.

The council decided to open a YouTube Live streaming option for the public to watch, but anyone who wish-es to speak to the coun-cil will have to attend in person.

The council received one bid, $1,531, from AVSC of Columbia, to upgrade its audio sys-tem at city hall to pro-vide quality streaming services.

Alderman Bill Han-nebutt and Police Chief John Britting-ham brought up the topic of utility terrain vehicles being driven on city streets. They noted that many other local towns allow for the vehicles and sell permits and stickers.

Brittingham said he will devise a rec-ommendation for the council to consider.

If anyone in the city would like to provide input on the topic, they are encouraged to at-tend the August 17 city committee meetings.

The council also ap-proved a quote from Hydro-Kinetics Cor-poration of St. Louis to replace the system that monitors the wa-ter tower for a cost not to exceed $8,000.

City Superintendent Josh Eckart said the system was damaged by a recent storm.

The system will now use a cellular trans-mitter instead of a ra-dio.

Davey Tree Service of Kent, Ohio was ap-proved to inspect and treat the city’s maple trees for scale and chewing insects for $500.

The council also ap-proved the city writ-ing a letter in support of Prairie du Rocher’s Fort du Chartres be-coming a national park.

The Red Bud Ath-letic Association’s 20-year lease for the Red Bud Sports Complex was approved.

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COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020 PAGE 7

MARVIN ROSENBERGESTATE

FARM EQUIPMENT AND FARM-RELATED ITEMS (Farm Equip. To Sell At Noon): Magnum, 325 Polaris 2x4 4-Wheeler, 6600 Ford Diesel Tractor W/Cab. Front End Weights, Single Hydraulics, Grain Bin: 18’ 5-Ring Grain Bin W/Dryer (To Be Moved Within 60 Days): Brush Hog 10’ 3-Pt. Spinner Mower, Old 6’x9’ Wooden Wagon W/Box Seats and Brake, Iron Spoke Wheels, Landoll 3-Pt. 5-Shank Chisel Plow, International 35 Pull Type Hay Rake W/Dolly Wheel, New Holland 273 Twine Baler, New Holland 7’ 3-Pt. Bar Mower (Used Very Little), 3-Pt. Bale Spear, 16’x8’ Homemade Double Axle Trailer, Papec Grinder Mixer, New Idea 100-Bushel 3-Beater Manure Spreader, Round Bale Feeder, 2x2x4 Water Trough w/Hog Waterer, 3-Pt. Bale Fork, T Posts, Barbed Wire (New and Used), Misc. Fencing Supplies, Panel Gates, Tools, Used Lumber, 6’ Stepladder, Post Vise, Power Hand Tools, Lincoln Welder AC225, Wheelbarrow, Utility Carts.ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES: Butcher Kettle With Stand, Wooden Firewood Box, Walnut Drop-Front Desk, Dining Room Table w/6 Chairs & 4 Leaves, Old Wooden Cabinet, Wooden Rocker, Platform Scale, High Chair W/Pressed Back, Piano Stool W/Ball And Claw Feet, Smoke Stand, Yard Bench, Milk Can, Carpenter’s Box, Barn Lantern, Old Wooden Dolly, Butcher Maul, Gamble Sticks, #22 Grinder And Pulley, Hog Scrappers, Oak Wall Phone, 2 Hand-Hooked Rugs, Huseman Soda Red Bud Baseball Jersey, Smith’s Chevy Red Bud Advertising, Atlas Powdered Sugar STL Crate, Tractor Seat Stool, Drain Tub, Round Wash Tub, Trunk, Gunny Sacks, Purina Sack, Blue Seal IL Farm Supply Sacks, Fur Collars, Old Ticking, Buttons, Quilt, Quilt Patches Cut Out, Thimbles, Tokens Incl. 1968 Illinois Progress, 1949 Randolph Farm Bureau, 1947 Motor Sales Co Red Bud, Granite Ware, Small Crocks, Crock Jugs, Child’s School Chair, Old Books Incl. 1910 Annual Report Smithsonian, Wicker Purse, Apple Peeler, Old Basket, Picnic Basket, Everhot Cooler, Playmate Picnic Jug, Coffee Jars, Blue Jars Incl. #13 Mason Nov. 30th 1858, ½-Pint Milk Bottles From Waterloo, Chester Dairy, Old Soda Bottles Incl. Huseman-Sundrop & Zesto, FJ Hester New Burnside IL, Vess-Belleville, Midwest Du Quoin, Henry Schroeder WSF Waterloo, Grape Murphysboro Bottling, Herrin Bottling Herrin IL, Old Catalogs, Pewter Coffee Pot Pelton Brox. STL, Pink Depression Glass, McKee Flour Shakers, Red and White Salt and Pepper Shakers, Cast Iron Dutch Oven-Eirie, Minnie/Mickey Cookie Jar, Blue Crock Bowl; Stag, Bud, Miller Beer Buckets; Glass Easter Egg, Elec. Aladdin Lamp, GWTW Type Lamp, Glass Flower Frogs, Popcorn Popper, Chalk Ware String Holders, Glass Baskets, Wander Telescope, WW2 Photo Developing Supply Kit, Military Uniforms, Toy Sewing Machine, Old Lunch Boxes, Child’s Ironing Boards, Child’s Rocker, Ceramic Christmas Tree.HOUSEHOLD & MISC.: 3-Pc. Waterfall Bedroom Set, Twin Bed, Whirlpool Elec. Dryer, Kenmore Washer, Amana Refrigerator/Freezer, Whirlpool Refrigerator, Hotpoint Elec. Stove, Whirlpool 21 Cu. Ft. Freezer, Vizio Flat Screen TV, Kitchen Table and Chairs, China Cabinet, Chest Of Drawers, Plant Stand, Dishes, Bakeware—Glass And Metal, Elec. Kitchen Appliances, Pots And Pans, Flatware, Card Table w/4 Chairs, Sewing Machine, Yarn, Fabric, Linens, Afghans, Jewelry Boxes, Jewelry Armoire, Picnic Table, Patio Table w/6 Chairs And Matching Glider, Lawn Chairs, Child’s Table And Chairs, Metal Cabinets And More.AUCTIONEER’S NOTE: ALL CDC GUIDELINES APPLY - SOCIAL DISTANCING & MASKS. A good ol’ country auction. Lots of goodies, Will be running 2 rings. Hope to see you there, Col. Dale.

Red Bud • (618) 282-3931

Website:www.burmesterauction.com Burmester

Auction ServiceAUCTIONEERS: Col. Dale A. Burmester Lic. #440000613

Col. Kent Miller Lic. #441000575

Check Out Color Photos At www.auctionzip.com, Auctioneer #15510Owner: Marvin Rosenberg Estate, Baldwin, IL

Sunday, August 9 • 9:00am9782 Stringtown Road • Baldwin

Watch For Signs On Rte. 154 Just West Of Baldwin, IL.

KEN & DAVE

REAL ESTATE & PERSONAL PROPERY

Saturday, August 22 • 9:00am10776 State Rte. 153 • Coulterville

(618) 758-2731 • (618) 758-2304Cell (618) 317-4843

2347 Roosevelt Rd. • Coulterville

Auctioneers: Ken Gutjahr - Lic. No. 440.000187 • Dave Gutjahr - Lic. No. 440.000188E-Mail: kengutjahr@gmail.com Or gutjahrauction@gmail.com

Lunch Stand Not Responsible For Accidents Or Theft 3% Buyers Premium On Credit Card Purchases Terms: Cash Or Check With Proper ID

All Statements Made Day Of Sale Take Precedence Over All Printed Advertisements.

Owner: Helen Harstick & The Late Dale HarstickFor Full List & Color Photos Go To Our Website www.auctionzip.com #16120

GutjahrAuction Service, LLC

Real Estate (To be offered at 11:30am): Very Nice Spa-cious 4-Bedroom Home, Approx. 2300 Sq. Ft., Large Kitch-en And Dining Room Combo, With Gas Range, Electric Oven, Living Room, Gas Furnace, Central Air, 1 Full Bath With Sunken Bathtub And Double Basins, Laundry Room With Walk-In Shower, Small Cellar With Crawlspace, Sun-room, French Doors, Hardwood Floors, With 3300 Sq. Ft. Of Buildings With Concrete Floors, All Situated On 1.46 Acres.Real Estate Terms: $5,000 Non-Refundable Down Pay-ment Day Of Sale, Balance Due In 45 Days. Sold In As-Is Condition, Purchase Is Not Contingent On Inspections Or Financing. Owner Reserves The Right Of The Last Bid.

Auctioneer’s Note: If You Are Looking For A Very Nice, Well-Maintained, Spacious Home, good assortment of tools, tractors, ATV and UTV, Don’t Miss This Auction.

Directions: Go 1 Mile North Of Coulterville On Rte. 153 Or 11 Miles South From Rte. 15 On Rte. 153 To Sale Site. Watch For Markers.

Real Estate Open House Sunday, August 9 • 1:00PM-3:00PM

WE WILL PRACTICE COVID-19 GUIDELINES

CHESTER CITY COUNCIL

Board approves purchase of a loader for park department

By Dan ZobelChester will purchase

a loader for the park department.

Although the measure did not receive unani-mous support, the city council approved the purchase, at a price of $4,900, during its Au-gust 3 meeting.

Park Superintendent Billy Belton explained that this equipment will be nice to have. One of its qualities is that it has a quick-attach mechanism, making it easy to re-move and attach when needed.

Belton said this will help his department have its own equipment at Cohen Park, but it will also be used at Cole Park.

Alderman Ray Alli-son, who was the only one to vote against the purchase, questioned the need for the loader at this time, as the city owns three backhoes and some Bobcats. He feels this is an area the city could save some money for future pro-jects.

Belton said having this equipment will help if the work needs to be done in a timely manner, as the other equipment is not al-ways readily available.

Allison was also vo-cal on another cost to the city, an airlock and safety area at city hall

to be constructed by Liberty Glass of Per-ryville, Missouri.

While Allison said he is all for added safety for city employees, he was concerned about the cost of the project, an estimated $18,544.

Mayor Tom Page said the company has hint-ed that the price could go up.

Because of this, Page suggested the city ap-prove for the work to be done with a cost not to exceed $25,000.

Page said if the price looks like it will go over that, it could be brought back before the council.

Page’s suggestion was approved, with Allison voting no.

“It looks like there are a lot of questions here with no defi nite answers,” Allison said.

Allison wanted the council to hold off on the vote until a fi nal design was submitted so the city could see an exact cost.

Page described the work as being a tem-pered glass that will offer a barrier to keep someone from enter-ing city hall and be-coming physical with an employee. It would also alleviate health concerns, such as the COVID-19 situation.

“I would hate delay-ing this,” Page said.

Prior to adjournment,

Allison asked Page when the council was going to revisit the is-sue of the potential sale of cannabis in Chester. The sale of cannabis became legal in Illinois in January.

“People should know what we want to do,” Allison said.

“We’re through all of the agenda items,” Page replied. “I’m hap-py to discuss marijuana dispensaries (with you) outside of the meeting.”

In other news, the council approved to hire Christy Beam as a part-time dispatcher for the police department.

Police Chief Bobby Helmers noted that he plans to hire one more dispatcher and will soon conduct addition-al interviews.

Helmers also reported that offi cer Steve Lara-more and his canine partner Sabo recently passed recertifi cation on their fi rst attempt.

Fire Chief Marty Bert reported that a final inspection of the de-partment’s new fire truck was to be made Wednesday in Louisi-ana. The inspection could take several days, then he expects it to be another week or so before it arrives.

Bert added that two of his fi refi ghters re-cently resigned. At the next meeting, he will ask for auxiliary fi re-

fi ghters Jarod Meyers and Lake Fogerson to be moved to full-time.

The ongoing ground slope issue at Harrison Street was discussed.

Page said IDOT has agreed to come to the city to discuss the prob-lem, even though it is not an IDOT project. A date has not been set for the meeting.

Page said the street superintendent and city engineer should be present at that meeting.

Page also dispelled a rumor that the proper-ties around the street were going to be con-demned.

Allison reported that Page recently signed a resolution, giving the support of the city for the French Historic District of Randolph County to be turned into a national park.

Plans are under way, according to Allison, in regards to the beau-tifi cation of the vacant lot near Korando Heat-ing & Cooling where Molly’s Moon used to stand. Page said the concrete blocks at the location will eventually be removed.

Allison also reported that plans are in place for fi ve picnic tables at the riverfront.

Page’s appointment of Connie Surman as a member of the Beauti-fi cation/Tourism Com-mission was approved.

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Code enforcement offi cer hiredAva now has a part-

time city code enforce-ment offi cer.

At its meeting Mon-day night, the city council hired Paula Wilson for the post. Wilson is a retired Il-linois State Police of-fi cer.

She will work one day a month and en-force city ordinances that prohibit several things, including high weeds, trash accumu-lation and abandoned vehicles.

Wilson will be paid

$250 a month.The council also

heard several main-tenance reports. All streets in the Deanville area will be oiled and chipped this year, and installation of the new culvert on Short Road is nearing completion.

The new drainage grates and reshap-ing of storm drain-age ditches along East Main street appears to be working. It was re-ported that the system handled the recent heavy rain without

any major issues.Replacement of the

altitude valve on the Deanville water tower was again discussed. The city has received one quote from an In-diana fi rm but is wait-ing on a second quote before awarding the bid.

In other news, the council learned that the city and the fi re de-partment will each re-ceive a $20,000 grant from the Elizabeth Smysor Trust Fund.

Smysor Trust money is usually designated for beautifi cation proj-ects.

The fi re department has face masks available at city hall at no cost for anyone who needs them.

In personnel mat-ters, the council ac-cepted the resignation of police offi cer Nick Schweizer.

The council also vot-ed to eliminate the po-sition of police admin-istrator, which was held by Curt Ehlers.

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COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020PAGE 8

Grace Church in Ches-ter’s summer youth mis-sion trip to Ridgecrest, North Carolina was canceled this year.

However, opportunities presented themselves lo-cally for the youth to help others, so they did a stay-at-home mission July 20-22 and served Chester.

The fi rst two days, the youth went to United Methodist Church. They performed outdoor pro-jects, such as painting a safety curb, 26 park-ing blocks, awnings and window ledges. They also sanded a radiator cover, spread mulch and cleaned, primed and painted a stairwell.

The church had its 100-year anniversary this year.

The fi nal day took the group to the Chester Christian Food Pantry, where they served at the mobile food market.

Each day included de-votions, praise and wor-ship. At the end of each day, each person was asked to share the high and low points of the day.

Many did not have low points, other than having to get up early each day, which they had not done since March.

High points included seeing how appreciative the people were, mak-ing a difference, hav-ing something to get up and do, and being able to drive by the Methodist church, taking pride the work they did.

Above from left at the mobile market are Aeris Huhman, Kevin Prange, Libby Reed, Katie Clifton and Drew Coleman. Below in action at United Methodist Church are Clifton, Huhman, Kailyn Absher, Trinity Brown and Maleia Absher.

Grace Church youth keep mission close to home

ELLIS GROVE VILLAGE BOARD

More road work to be completed

By Dan ZobelThe Ellis Grove village

board had a fairly light meeting August 3 when it convened.

Additional road work must be completed, in-cluding raising Valley Street at the culvert at the bottom of the hill by one foot, before oil-ing and chipping can be done.

Brendan Craft was hired, retroactive to July 13, to work at the cem-etery at $10 per hour.

The board approved a resolution in support of establishing a National Park in the French His-toric District of Ran-dolph County.

President Brandy Mill-er reported that 2020 census personnel will be in Ellis Grove August 11 and go door to door to gather information on residents who have not fi lled out and returned their census forms.

The village received the invoice for its an-nual audi t , which cost $4,840. The board agreed to pay the bill with $2,320 from the general fund and $1,260 each from the water and sewer funds.

The board approved a payment of $13,708 for the 10th year of its contract on the annual maintenance of the wa-ter tower.

The semi-annual fi re department stipend of $1,020 was approved.

The DCEO grant ac-count in regards to the Union Hall and Sulser Road water system im-provements project has been closed out.

The board discussed its intergovernmental agreement for water purchased by Evans-ville that was approved in May 2018. The village could increase its rates, as Chester is increasing Ellis Grove’s in Decem-ber.

Water Superintendent Mike Jackson was di-rected to speak with Evansville Mayor Red Becker and bring back specific details to the village’s September 8 meeting.

Butler gave a heads up to board members that all except Trustee Renee Studt will have to fi le this fall for the April 2021 election if they plan to run for offi ce.

Seats up for elec-tion are those held by Kelly Walls, John Nicholson and Chuck Hanton, four-year trus-tees; Miller, four-year president; Butler, to complete the unexpired two-year term as clerk; and Glenn McCoy and Amanda Taylor, to com-plete the unexpired two-year term as trustees.

Featured artistGreg Durham of Chester is the Mississippi Valley Art Guild’s featured artist for August. Durham enjoys wildlife and sports photography. His photos are displayed in Chester at Muddy River Coffee, Buena Vista Bank, Reids’ Harvest House, the library and St. Nicholas Landmark. The guild meets the last Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at 987 State Street in Chester. The guild’s fi rst art contest for children and adults will be held September 11. For details and to preregister, all Barb McCormick at 826-4962.

Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Council in Steeleville has announced that the State Housing Trust Fund Single Family Re-hab program is avail-able for qualifying fam-ilies in Jackson, Perry and Randolph counties.

However, there is a waiting list, so interest-ed families should call Western Egyptian at 965-3193 as soon as pos-sible.

The sign-up period is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, August 11 through Friday, August 14.

The main eligibil-ity requirements for the program are for the household to be low in-come and to be owner occupied. The amount

of repair assistance de-pends on the problems with the house and the funds available per house, including roof-ing, windows, doors,

electrical, furnace and plumbing, at no cost to the homeowner.

The maximum re-pair and related costs is $40,000 per home.

Western Egyptian administering home rehab program

Section TwoAUGUST 6, 2020

Section Two

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Chester High School held its Class of 2020 graduation August 2 at Colbert Gymnasium.Graduates and fam-

ily members, after having their tempera-tures checked, attend-ed brief segments of the event, as students were assigned times for their diploma pres-entations and were allowed up to eight family members.The students picked

up their diplomas then posed for pictures and left the stage. Principal Missy Mey-

er gave each student their individualized poster that has been hanging on the foot-ball fi eld fence since classes ended in the spring.Valedictorians Jaci

South and Amira Al-Jassim delivered their commencement ad-dresses. Videos of the speeches can be found at chssting.com.Salutatorians were Addie Blechle, Ashtyn

Jany, Alyssa Place, Lauryn Vasquez and Destiny Williams.The veledictorians and salutorians were

joined by Jenna Bierman, Brianna Surman and Brock Williams as the top 10 graduates in cumulative grade point average.Junior marshals were Melody Colonel, Kai-

ley Hall, Alison Venus, Kennedy Herrell and Ariel Throop, with ushers Peyton Clendenin, Nathan Heffernan, Josie Kattenbraker, Lily Koch and Macey Ludwig.

Chester High School graduation

From left are Chester High School Assistant Principal Jeremy Blechle, Superintendent Brian Pasero and graduate Adeline Blechle, as she poses with her diploma.

Michael Wingerter receives his personal poster from Principal Missy Meyer.

Amira Al-Jassim shows off her diploma after giving her valedictorian speech.

Lauryn Vasquez

Ethan Bert

By: Dan ZobelSPORTSCounty Journal | August 6, 2020Page 10

A view of the Chester High School football field Wednesday morning. Instead of getting action in the fall, the field will see play in the spring.

Game on: IHSA unveils planNo athletic seasons have been canceled; football, volleyball to the spring

By Dan ZobelIt would not be sur-

prising if most youth and high school sports fans , p layers and coaches developed a little whiplash Wednes-day afternoon, or at least came away a little dizzy.

On July 29, the Illi-nois High School As-sociation revealed its 2020-21 school year athletics plan in the wake of COVID-19, just under two hours after Governor J.B. Pritzker handed down restric-tions of his own.

The main thing to come out of it all is that no high school athletic seasons have been canceled, and there will be fall sea-sons in four sports. One of the biggest moves was football, as well as volleyball, getting switched to the spring.

As of now, the IHSA still awaits final ap-proval from the Illinois Department of Public Health on its plan.

Beginning August 15, Pritzker’s guidance will go into effect. It includes categorizing sports into risk levels, low, medium and high, then allowing certain levels of play based on current public health conditions and those risk levels.

Low risk sports in-clude baseball, bass fishing, bowling, cross country, golf, softball and track and field. Medium risk sports include basketball, soccer and volleyball. High risk sports in-clude football, wres-tling, competitive cheer and competitive dance.

In Level 1 of play, no-contact practices and trainings are allowed.

In Level 2, intra-team scrimmages are al-lowed.

In Level 3, intra-con-ference, intra-COVID-19-region and intra-league play and meets are allowed, as well as a league championship game or meet for low risk sports.

In Level 4, tourna-ments, out-of-confer-ence and league play and out-of-state play are allowed, as well as championship games.

Currently, low risk sports can compete at Levels 1, 2 and 3, medi-um risk sports at Levels 1 and 2 and high risk sports at Level 1.

Based off of all of that information, the IHSA finalized its plan. The IHSA board held a meeting the morning of July 29.

According to Execu-tive Director Craig An-derson during a confer-ence call later in the afternoon, the IHSA expected Pritzker to hold a press conference around 2:30, as opposed to noon. The IHSA in-tended to publish its plan around 2, but it was not made public until after 3.

“It wasn’t until we were in the midst of our meeting that I got word the governor would speak at noon,” Anderson said. “We an-ticipated our plan was

to come out first then the governor, in his ad-dress, would reference the materials we had. That didn’t work with the governor moving up to noon and us still in our meeting.

“We believe the plan we presented does and will fall in line with IDPH approval.”

Under the IHSA’s plan, sports will be divided among the four sea-sons.

The four sports that will compete in the fall and begin as normal August 10 are boys and girls golf, boys and girls cross country, girls ten-nis and girls swimming and diving.

The fall season will run through October 24.

As of now, the winter season will be Novem-ber 16 to February 13, spring February 15 to May 1 and summer May 3 to June 26.

Winter sports include boys and girls basket-ball, wrestling, boys and girls bowling and cheerleading.

Spring sports include football, girls volley-ball and boys soccer.

Summer sports in-clude baseball, softball, boys and girls track and girls soccer.

“With our board dis-cussion, there was con-cern of overlapping some sports with sports that would be out of their ordinary season,” Anderson said. “We im-plemented as many fall

sports as we thought IDPH would approve.

“There could be oth-er low risk sports we could have brought to the fall, but generally, our board and staff was trying to give op-portunities to students to participate in sports as they normally would in a normal time sched-ule. The thought by our staff and board was to keep some separated to allow three-sport athletes to have the opportunity to play all three sports.”

While the IHSA turns its attention to sport specific plans, there is some notable informa-tion known.

Most sports will be al-lowed just two contests per week. In the case of baseball and soft-ball, they can each play three games in one week if one of the con-tests is a doubleheader against the same team.

There are no tourna-ments allowed at this time, and state series are also up in the air.

Anderson said that if the right metrics are hit and some sort of postseason will be allowed to be played in a sport, that sport could last beyond its projected end date.

Anderson was asked, with basketball being considered medium risk and wrestling higher risk, what the probability was of hav-ing those sports start on time.

“In regards to the calendar, I think there is some limited wiggle room,” Anderson said.

Continued on Page 12

Steeleville/St. Mark’s junior high baseball coach John Sutton discusses bunt defense with a group of players during an August 4 practice.

Area junior high teams prepare for seasonSIJHSAA approved its fall sports plan July 30

Bailey Cole prepares to field a grounder during a Steeleville/St. Mark’s August 4 softball practice.

By Dan ZobelOne day after the Il-

linois High School As-sociation released its plans for athletics for the upcoming school year, the Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Asso-ciation followed suit.

The SIJHSAA Board of Control met July 30 and approved a modi-fied fall sports seasons for baseball, softball and girls and boys cross country.

The plans will fall in line with specifications outlined by the IHSA and Illinois Depart-ment of Public Health.

“We felt like we had to try to give the kids an opportunity to par-ticipate,” said SIJH-SAA Executive Director Greg Hale. “This was the way to go.”

State series are still up in the air for fall sports, but the board expects to figure that out during an August 25 meeting.

The SIJHSAA also did not make a decision yet in terms of athletics

after the fall seasons.“We’re going to wait

on more information and guidance from the

governor,” Hale said. “One of the stipulations in place right now is that you can only play

teams from your Illinois COVID region or confer-

Continued on Page 12

By Dan ZobelIt is not a flashy job, but it is an essential one.Many responsibilities fall into the lap of an ath-

letic director, on any level, whether junior high, high school or college.

On the outside, fans, and even players, often just see the final outcomes.

The amount of work that goes into making an athletic season, or even a single game or tourna-ment, often goes overlooked.

“Any athletic director will tell you this, but hundreds to thousands of hours are spent on schedules, hiring officials and coordinating event workers,” said Chester High School athletic direc-tor Jeremy Blechle. “That all has to be redone now in a short period of time. Now, we have to find a way to meet regulations and stipulations that the state has mandated to keep everybody safe. I hope the community and others keep the athletic director role in mind.”

The reason most schedules and commitments have to be redone on such late notice is because it was not until last Wednesday that the Illinois High School Association was finally able to un-veil its plan for athletic seasons for the 2020-21 school year.

That plan included numerous switching of seasons, including football and volleyball to the spring and the modification of every other sea-son, even if it was not moved from its traditional season.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” said Pinck-neyville High School athletic director Bob Wag-goner. “At this time of the year, most everything is set with schedules, officials and workers at the events. Now, we’re basically starting over in a short amount of time.

“It’s all worth it, though, because it will benefit the players and the community. I think all of us are glad to have this challenge.”

At Steeleville High School, athletic director Bryce Bainter is seeing which previously made schedules can fit into the new season in the time period provided.

“Basically, I have to try and match our schedule with the time frame the state has put each sport in right now,” Bainter said. “It’s not easy. It looks like volleyball could fit pretty well and basketball, for the most, part fits.”

Baseball and softball, however, which were pushed further into the summer and had their season dates shrink, presents another challenge.

“Baseball will be tough,” Bainter said. “We have just five or six weeks to work with. This entire thing is so fluid because everything could change three or four times before some of the seasons happen. The athletic directors just have to do the best they can with the situation.”

Game officials are an entirely different story. In a lot of cases, many of the same schools will be fighting for many of the same officials.

Athletic directors face tough road

Continued on Page 12

Schedule overhauls

COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020 PAGE 11

The following are some previous sports highlights from the fi rst week of August.

August 2, 2018• The Trico FFA trap-

shooting squad won its second AIM national championship in the singles division at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta.

The squad was made up of Nicholas Ehlers, Michael Rathert, Ethan Carruthers, Austin Ebers and Michael Fisher.

The Pinckneyville High School trap team won the junior gold title. Members of the squad were Tyler Thomas, Max Fox, Co-rey Dahn and Dalton Pyatt.

• Sparta native Kelly Gerlach Hovland had been recently promot-ed to associate head coach of the United States Naval Academy women's golf program. She was previously the women's golf assistant.

Hovland was a suc-cessful golfer through-out her life, earning accolades at Sparta High School and SIU Carbondale.

This week in County Journal sports history

Kim Gendron with her Jr. Olympic gold medal

Red Bud’s Chris Hartman slides safely into home on a passed ball during the 1989 Class D Midget Khoury League championshipas Campbell Hill pitcher Ben Koehn takes the throw from the catcher.

Rusty Tripp goes through an agility drill dur-ing the Elverado-Trico football camp in 1999.

She was also a Class A LPGA professional.

• The Steeleville Jun-ior Legion baseball team was eliminated from the 5th Division Tournament after a 5-4 loss to Highland and an 8-4 defeat to Effi ngham.

The loss to Highland was a heartbreaker, as Highland won the game with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning.

This marked the third consecutive summer Steeleville advanced to the division tourna-ment.

August 6, 2009• The Steeleville Ea-

gles won the Evansville coed softball league. There were six teams.

Members of the Steele-ville team were Andy Ger lach , Jenni fer Hagel, Val Bohnert, Tom Craig, Dan Har-ris, Tonia Harris, Chris Valleroy, Shay Valleroy, Rob Hamilton, Michelle Hamilton, Therashia Ernsting, Dale Ernst-ing, Conlee Pim, Steph-anie Pim, Kory Bock-horn, Melissa Bock-horn, Scott Schram, Aaron Hood and Erin Hood.

• Nearly 40 golfers competed at the Billie Ray Craig Junior Golf Classic at Red Hawk Golf Club in Tamaroa.

Top local golfers were Easton Purcell, second place, boys 4-5 age di-vision; Megan Breslin, fi rst, girls 8-9; Sarah Breslin, second, girls 8-9; Heather McDaniel, first, girls 14-15, and Olivia Mathis, second, girls 14-15.

• Percy native and Uni-versity of Illinois senior golfer Zach Barlow was tied in fi rst place with two other golfers after the fi rst round at the Western Amateur in Lake Forest.

Barlow was four un-der par, at 67, after the first round. He achieved fi ve birdies.

August 5, 1999• The Southern Illinois

Bullets defeated Keno-sha, Wisconsin 13-3 to advance in regional play at the National Adult Baseball Federa-tion regional tourna-ment in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Steelevi l le native Dusty Feldmann hit two home runs and drove in four runs against Kenosha.

Nolan Bast ien of Du Quoin pitched a complete game, while Bastien's former high school teammates Ross Kowzan and Matt Fos-ter combined for fi ve hits.

• April Gibson of Til-den picked up a base hit and an RBI for the Southern Express 14U team in a 2-1 loss to a team from Florida at a tournament in Char-lotte, North Carolina.

The Express ended its season with a 42-12 record.

• Mike Kershaw, for-mer Sparta High School and SIU Carbondale track standout, fin-ished 68th overall out

of 20,000 runners in the Bix Seven road race in Davenport, Iowa. He fi nished the seven-mile course in 39:21.

Kershaw's wife Karen completed it in 50:23, good enough for 76th out of 6,605 women runners.

Other locals to partici-pate were Pat Huether of Sparta and Jerry and Christy Willman, formerly of Sparta.

• Coach Rich Wil-liams was preparing the Elverado-Trico prep football team for the upcoming season. This was the second year of the co-op.

Fifty-nine players, including 51 of high school age, attended a football camp.

Williams was joined by John Wittenborn in coaching the group. Wittenborn was a 12-year National Football League veteran who also coached at Mur-physboro High School in the 1970s.

August 3, 1989• Kim Gendron, 15,

daughter of Tom and Cindy Gendron of Pinckneyville, won a gold medal in shot put at the National Junior Olympics, which were held in Spokane, Wash-ington.

Gendron had a toss of 40'11. She competed in the intermediate age di-vision against 28 other competitors.

She was coming off a sectional title and fi fth-place finish at state in May as a freshman at Pinckneyville High School. She also had success throughout the summer in discus and javelin.

• The Campbell Hill Pixies girls Khoury League softball team won the Class B district playoffs at Caseyville. The Pixies advanced to state at Eldorado and

went undefeated, help-ing them fi nish with an 11-4 record.

Team members were Christine Campbell, Erica Bower, Gina Kimbrough, Jessica Pierce, Hilary Missel-horn, Krista Rathert, Michelle Brockmeyer, Misty Wittenborn, Amy Rodewald, Amanda Surman, Tanya Huth, Anne Rodewald, Amy

Ehlers, Amber Hieple and Karen Gronbach.

The team was coached by Barb Misselhorn, Deb Rathert, Gary Misselhorn and Randy Rathert.

• Red Bud defeated Campbell Hill 13-3 to win the Class D Midg-et Khoury League championship in the 11-12 age division at Cahokia.

With Governor J.B. Pritzker releasing new guidelines July 29 in regards to youth sports, and the Illinois High School Association unveiling its plan the same day, the Illinois Elementary School Association has reversed its decision to cancel fall sports.The IESA announced that decision July 31 in a

statement on its website, which notes that golf, softball, baseball and cross country are in the lower risk category in the governor’s guidance, which means that practice and interscholastic games are allowed.IESA schools were allowed to start softball, base-

ball and cross country practices August 3 with games no earlier than August 15.In regards to the postseason, the IESA plans to

conduct only regionals in softball and baseball and sectionals in cross country and golf.The IESA board also approved a plan for modi-

fi ed seasons in all remaining sports and activities. The complete plan can be found on the IESA

website.

NubAbility has two upcoming golf events at Red Hawk Golf Course in Tamaroa.

On August 15, a golf clinic will be held for limb-different chil-dren. It is open to chil-dren 4 to 17 with con-genital or traumatic loss of one or more limbs, who want to im-prove their golf skills and meet other limb-different children and adults.

“For many kids, Nub Camp is the only time they spend around oth-er limb-different chil-dren and coaches, an experience that is in-valuable when it comes building self-esteem,” said Sam Kuhnert, NubAbility founder and executive director.

Five area bowlers recently received high score achievement awards and merit recognition from the United States Bowling Congress and the Steeleville USBC bowling association during the 2019-20 season at Legion Bowl in Steeleville.

Cale Young: two 300 games, an 800 series (802) and association high series (802)

Mark Beare: Association high average (218)Kris Beshears: 300 gameLarry Moore: 300 gameSteve Dierks: 11 strikes in a row (299)

NubAbility golf opportunities“We are working hard to implement federal, state and local guide-lines regarding COV-ID-19 while continuing to offer the in-person contact that our limb-different children look forward to each year.”

The following day, August 16, NubAbility will host a charity golf scramble to raise funds to support the upcom-ing clinics and help children with limb loss attend. The event will begin with lunch and silent auction at noon, followed by a shotgun start at 1.

Hole-in-one prizes for the scramble include a $20,000 vacation at a Sandals or Beaches resort from 24 Karat Travel and a 2020 Iron

883 Sportster motor-cycle from Black Dia-mond Harley Davidson.

“We truly appreciate the support of the peo-ple and businesses of southern Illinois,” Kuh-nert said. “Year after year, your generosity makes an amazing dif-ference in these chil-dren’s lives. We hope to see everyone for a great day of golf.”

The entry fee is $75 per person or $300 for a team. Children who participate in the Au-gust 15 golf clinic can play in the scramble for free.

To sign up for either day, call 357-1394 or email info@nubability.org.

NubAbility is a non-profi t organization that

IESA reverses its fall sports decision

The four Steeleville High School baseball players who graduated this year recently played together one last time. From left are Dylan Hill, Jacob Sutton, coach John Sutton, Austin Hagel and Jordan Wilson. The four played over the summer with the Rebels, which included players from Belleville, Freeburg, Nashville and Gibault. The Rebels fi nished with a 12-2 record, primarily playing games in Missouri. Sutton was an assistant coach for the team. Steeleville was coming off of a third-place fi nish at the 2019 state tournament.

Finishing the summer strong

builds courage and con-fi dence in limb-differ-ent children by teach-ing them to succeed in mainstream sports.

In previous years, the large sports camp, which has been held each summer since 2012, has brought to the area almost 200 limb-different children from 49 states and 11 international countries.

To reduce the coro-navirus risk inherent in large gatherings, NubAbility is holding a series of 10 small one-day clinics across the country through March with a focus on sports that are played outdoors rather than the large, multi-sport, multi-day camps it pre-viously offered.

Bowler awardsYoung with two 300s

County Journal | August 6, 2020Page 12

“We’ve indicated start-ing winter sports No-vember 16, but realisti-cally, that is just really hopeful thinking on our part. It will probably be closer to early or mid-December.

“Worse case scenar-io is we’ll take one or two of those sports not allowed in that time frame and bump them into the spring or sum-mer. I think a couple of options remain within some of those sports, in particular the high-risk sports, if they can’t get started in the timeline indicated.”

Arguably the biggest blowback the IHSA’s plan has received to date is the time al-lotted for traditional spring sports like base-ball, softball, and track and field. With spring sports being wiped out completely in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, questions were raised as to why such a short amount of time was allotted for them in 2021 compared to other seasons.

“We did have some dis-cussion with baseball and softball, and this is what the board landed on,” Anderson said. “It has been noted that there is a fall baseball and softball season for our schools, while not as many, who don’t have football and volleyball. We did discuss bringing it all to the fall, but at the end of the day, we didn’t want to see them get overlapped with other sports they may want to participate in; so they landed in the seasons they did.

“Again, this is a model to work off of and could

ence.”In terms of baseball

and softball, schools will be allowed to play a maximum of two var-sity, or eighth-grade, contests per week. One of the contests can be a doubleheader against the same opponent.

Junior varsity, or sev-enth-grade, teams will have the same limita-tions.

Steeleville Elementary School/St. Mark’s Lu-theran baseball coach John Sutton said he doesn’t think there will be much trouble get-ting the children to follow the guidelines, including social dis-tancing.

Although, to help with the matter, he did limit his roster this year to sixth-grade students and older.

“We’re also lucky to have all of the coaches we have helping,” Sut-ton said. “Right now, at the start of practice, we could have enough coaches to have a coach for every two kids.”

Trico Junior High softball coach Drew Franklin also does not anticipate any prob-lems with the players understanding what has to be done in terms of social distancing.

“I’ve seen 12 to 14U tournaments all sum-mer, and the kids do

“That will be an up-hill battle I think,” Blechle said. “It will be tough because every-body is looking at the same dates. Some of-ficials, like in football, are scheduled four to five years out. Even in basketball, some are scheduled two years in advance.”

Blechle and Bainter mentioned that some athletic directors have talked about getting an assigner to help take care of officials, which would alleviate one responsibility of the athletic director.

“There aren’t that many volleyball offi-cials out there,” Bainter said. “You kind of got to line those up as quick as you can. I think offi-cials will have to move on the fly, as well.”

Preparation of coach-

Victor Rahlfs of Ches-ter is an AIM Grand champion.

Rahlfs won the Jun-ior Gold Class D dou-bles title during the AIM Grand National Youth Trapshooting Championships at the Missouri Trapshooters Association in Linn Creek, Missouri.

By Dan ZobelPlans are in the works

for the 2021 Illinois American Legion base-ball season.

Butch Ogle, Senior Legion 25th District chairman and Junior Legion chairman, said Wednesday that no of-ficial dates will be re-leased until approval and additional guid-ance from the Legion state and national com-manders are received, but there are ideas.

"The hope is just to try to find a time to play," Ogle said. "We'll be sit-ting down more and more, but this has been through some channels.

Plans in the works for upcoming American Legion baseball seasons

We've been talking back and forth and check-ing with the state and national commanders.

"It will happen, as long as we're able to play."

Baseball falls into the low risk category in Governor J.B. Pritzker's guidelines that he an-nounced July 29.

That means, at this time, games are al-lowed to be played, as long as social distanc-ing measures are fol-lowed.

The new dates for high school baseball under the IHSA's plan is May 3 through June 26.

Ogle, as well as state baseball Chairman Don

Wallis, confirmed that one of the proposals is to have junior and sen-ior Legion baseball sea-sons run in March and April. Ogle noted that a tentative plan includes season dates of March 16 through May 2 then resuming the seasons after June 26.

"Our insurance goes into effect March 15, and we're hoping to possibly do something after that," Wallis said. "We're trying to put something together to have a season in 2021. I 'm getting support from the national level on some ideas, but we have to get the com-

mander's approval."Wallis said the hope

then would to be able to still have a state tour-nament, including a postseason leading up to it.

Ogle said he has suggested switching tournaments to single elimination, as opposed to double to help make them go quicker.

With the seasons still months away, it is im-portant to remember that any plan working around the coronavirus could change at the drop of a hat.

"In today's society, anything could happen or change," Ogle said.

Victor Rahlfs won the Junior Gold Class D doubles title at AIM Grand Nationals.

AIM trapshooting championships

Rahlfs wins a titleRahlfs finished with

a score of 73, topping Alex Dudash of Garrett, Indiana, in a tiebreaker for the top spot.

No other area shoot-ers made the doubles leaderboard, and none made it in handicap.

Singles results were unava i lab l e a s o f Wednesday morning.

Athletic...From Page 10________es and game staff for the new procedures that will be in place because of COVID-19 will par-tially fall to the athletic directors.

“We have to train our coaches, students and parents on how to get screened and how to sanitize equipment and surfaces,” Blechle said. “It sounds easy on pa-per, but it can be diffi-cult organizing all of it and keeping up with it.”

Athletic directors will chug along in the back-ground throughout this challenge to make sure each game and season is at its best.

“My main thing is to try to stay as positive as possible,” Blechle said. “There will be people out there who will say some things, but we have to do the best with what we’ve got.”

Braden Middendorf fires a throw toward home during a drill at the August 4 Steeleville/St. Mark’s baseball practice.

Area junior high teams prepare...From Page 10____________

fine,” Franklin said. “They are not on top of each other in dugouts, and they are standing outside. We’ve played travel ball tournaments all over the country this summer.

“These kids just want to get out of their hous-es and see their friends in some type of normal activity.”

For cross country,

schools will also be lim-ited to a maximum of two meets per week at each level.

Spectator and group gatherings will be sub-ject to IDPH guidelines.

Other notable infor-mation includes that if the governor places all schools on remote learning, all SIJHSAA sports will be suspend-ed or canceled.

In the same manner, all sports will be sus-pended or canceled at any schools in an Il-linois COVID-19 region that is placed in Phase 3 or lower of the gov-ernor’s plan.

The eligibility of stu-dents at schools that are currently remote learning is the deci-sion of that member school.

Game on: IHSA unveils plan...From Page 10__________________________________________________be adjusted. If we get delayed in the winter, it could push some sports in a different direction. If there is an opportu-nity for a state series, that could modify some of these ending dates.”

Another factor to con-sider when it comes to baseball and soft-ball is the overlap that will occur with travel ball teams the closer the summer comes. The IHSA has yet to deter-mine if it will allow students to participate in those sports in both capacities this year.

The County Journal talked to a number of coaches about the plan that was put in place.

Pinckneyville High School athletic direc-tor and boys basketball coach Bob Waggoner believes that there are two things of note when it comes to the baseball and softball seasons.

“I think we’ll see a re-vision for baseball and softball,” Waggoner said. “I think (the IHSA) will revisit that, and it will change a little bit.

“Also, there will be op-portunities for a kid to play outside of school, as well, with travel ball. So, there will be improve-ment in the plan, but I also think there will be the ability to play that other sports do not have.”

Trico High School soft-ball coach Drew Frank-lin was outspoken about his displeasure for the plan and how tradition-al spring sports, as well as girls sports across the board, were treated.

He noted that tradi-tional spring sports are set to get about 51 per-cent of its normal sched-

ule, while football is in line for 73 percent and basketball 65 percent. Volleyball comes in at about 51 percent, with girls soccer, which will played in the summer season, at 28 percent.

“I definitely think the spring sports are again coming up on the short end,” Franklin said. “There are also a lot of girls sports in gen-eral not getting near the percent of a season compared to boys.”

Franklin questioned why, with softball be-ing considered low risk, they cannot play more than three games dur-ing a given week.

“If we could do that, there is a chance to get more of a schedule back,” Franklin said. “To get five or six weeks and only three games a week, that’s just 18 games. That’s not tak-ing into account what happens if it rains for two weeks straight. Then you’re down to seven or eight games. It creates a lot of chaos.”

In the end, Franklin just wants to see each sport get a fair shake.

“It’s an unfortunate time for everyone,” Franklin said. “Every-body has to make sacri-fices. I think we softball coaches just want what is fair for our kids. We put in the same time as basketball and football. It’s just as important for us to play as many softball games just like those sports. I’m sure the IHSA is doing a tremen-dous job, though.”

Dave Lucht, who coach-es football and baseball at Red Bud High School, is just happy the kids will get an opportunity

to play, although there is a concern with how summer ball will affect high school sports.

“I understand baseball and softball people be-ing a little upset with the situation, but it’s better than nothing,” Lucht said. “I like to look at things half full. We will have teams with a lot of kids who play elsewhere because the summer stuff might get in the way, but we have to have something.

“I have a son who is a sophomore baseball player. He lost the spring season and the summer because we couldn’t do anything as a team. In this regard, at least we now have some idea of what we can do because we will get to play.”

Steeleville High School baseball coach John Sutton wondered why schools without football had to wait until May to get started, as opposed to a normal traditional start date.

Steeleville plays in the Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division along with some oth-er nonfootball playing schools like New Athens, Valmeyer and Lebanon.

The County Journal contacted Anderson via email with this question. Anderson reiterated that nonfootball playing schools are allowed to play baseball in the fall.

“There was no con-versation within the board to permit an ear-lier start in the summer season for those same schools as determined by the board (July 29),” Anderson stated. “I be-lieve the board would only make an adjust-ment if all schools, even

football playing schools, are afforded a similar earlier start time.”

In terms of football, teams have already started putting together seven-game schedules to fit into the time allotted. Anderson noted that this is the anticipated route, with two more games being tacked on as some sort of regional postseason.

“I’m just glad they didn’t cancel the sea-son,” said Chester High School football coach Billy Belton. “Shortened or anything is better for our seniors. They’ve worked their butts off for four years. For them to not have a season would have been tough.”

Sparta High School volleyball coach Ab-bey Miles had similar thoughts and was grate-ful that this plan offers her girls the opportu-nity to play.

“They could have said your season is canceled like they did last spring,” Miles said. “This allows us to get on the floor one more time. It will be different, and I’m not 100 percent sure what the season and schedule will look like; but overall, I’m grateful, especially for my seniors who will get a chance to play one more time.”

As baseball and soft-ball face issues with travel ball, club volley-ball is also a potential challenge for this new volleyball season.

Miles said about 30 to 40 percent of her play-ers play on a club team. If the IHSA allows play-ers to do both, she will give her players that opportunity.

“Most of club stuff hap-

pens on weekends, so I don’t foresee it being too much of an issue,” Miles said. “If it is allowed, I feel the more they can touch a volleyball, the better.”

Golf and cross country will officially begin Au-gust 10.

“There are still a lot of questions, but we’re ex-cited about the chance to get out there and get going,” said Marissa-Coulterville boys golf coach Jason Smith. “There is still not direc-tion about how many schools are allowed at a competition and things like that, but I know the IHSA is working on it. The kids are really looking forward to it.”

Cross country has the initial challenge of fig-uring out how to have meets with a stipulation of groups of 50 or less.

“I was on my phone more (July 30) than in 30 years combined of coaching, calling coaches and talking to coaches and trying to figure out what 50 means,” said Pinckney-ville High School cross country coach Ryan Bruns. “Does it mean boys and girls can each have a race of 50 each or is it 50 total for the en-tire meet. More informa-tion will come out, but we could basically be limited to three teams.”

Regardless of how any of the seasons unfold, one thing for sure is that there is a sense of excitement in the air.

“I’m very happy we have hope right now,” Bruns said. “We don’t really have much of anything else because it can change at the drop of a hat.”

COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020 PAGE 13

Oil Change • TransmissionBrake System • Steering Systems

Wheel AlignmentTire Rotation & Balance

Heating & Cooling • BatteriesAir Conditioning

Starting, Fuel & Charging SystemsStarting, Fuel & Charging Systems

By Kenita JalivayIf one were to rely

solely on the main-stream media’s take on the state of black life in America, it would be easy to walk away with a grim image, replete with criminality, irrespon-sibility and hopeless-ness.

From nightly tel-evision broadcasts to the constant churn of stories on black be-havior peppering the internet, black people are often depicted as useless, a population of moral reprobates single-handedly fos-tering the climate of fear and depravity gripping the nation.

And yet, from inside the black community, the light of truth peels away at the darkness of stereotypes.

While much is said about the disintegra-tion of the black fam-ily, the instability of black single mothers left behind by derelict black fathers, the me-dia rarely shines a light on black fami-lies that succeed. This lack of focus creates a distortion in the popu-lar imagination about just who black peo-ple really are. Flawed perceptions are the fuel of negative reac-tions.

Of all the communi-ties this newspaper reaches, Sparta’s dy-namics are unique. It is the only town with-in a 30-mile radius that has a strong, vi-able black communi-ty. Sparta is a micro-cosm of America as a

whole. Every aspect of black culture is represented here.

It’s too easy, too simplistic, to look at Sparta’s black com-munity and point out the poverty and the crime.

Our brains have been programmed by an onslaught of popu-lar culture to look no further when exam-ining black life. Nega-tivity about black peo-ple is so prevalent, we default as a society to those ideas as though no other reality about black people exists.

The careful eye, however, pushes be-yond the surface to the beauty that lies be-neath.

Of all its neighbor-ing towns, Sparta has the most black college graduates. Black doc-tors, nurses, teach-ers and mechanics call Sparta home. The town has given birth to black soldiers, factory workers, coal miners, community activists, world travelers, pilots, writers and artists.

Black people own property in Sparta, pay their mortgages and taxes and attend church. They pray for their children and love their families. They vote.

These community members hail from strong, stable black families whose par-ents have been mar-ried for decades.

They are not the ex-ception to black life. They are the rule that is often overlooked.

Roosevelt and Virgene Ward have been married for 64 years. Roosevelt and their sons have operated their family construction and concrete business since 1968. Virgene worked as a substitute custodian and cook for the Sparta school district for over 15 years. They have 12 children, 41 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Greg and Keena Small have been married

for 32 years. Greg retired from the Kincaid Generation power plant, where he worked in operations and management for 40 years. Keena, the daughter of Geanette Wilson of Sparta and the late Henry Wilson, is a professional strategist, educator and life coach. They have six children and one grandchild.

Lamoin and Rhonda “Bunny” Smith have been married for 47 years. Lamoin worked at the Ziegler coal mine, Atlas Manufactoring and retired from Dynegy. Bunny was a homemaker for many years until she took a position at Western Egyptian Head Start, where she worked for eight years. They have two children and one grandchild.

William W. and Remona Sivels have been married for 52 years. A veteran of the Vietnam War, William worked at World Color Press as a machine operator in the bindery for 32 years. Remona worked at the Sparta hospital as a nurse’s assistant for 10 years and retired from the dietary department at Randolph County Care Center. They have six children, 12 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and one on the way.

Scott and Linda Johnson have been married for 47 years. Scott is a Vietnam War veteran. He retired from Dynegy after 32 years of employment and worked as a freelance photographer. Linda worked for World Color Press, Bridal Originals and Sparta Amoco. She has sung in her church choir for decades. They have six children, 14 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

The black family survives

David M. Holder

Located on Rte. 154 West of Sparta

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By Diana Cole758-2880

Coultervilleand SwanwickNews

SOCIETYCOUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020PAGE 14

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106 Fox Run • Sparta • Next To Hardee’s

(618) 443-5807Or (618) 443-2988

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701 W. Broadway • Steeleville • 965-3333Monday - Friday 9am-4pm & Saturday 9am-Noon

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CUSTOM DESIGN

We have another major project f in-ished. The old knees are not what they used to be.

Our first endeavor was to purchase a stackable washer/dryer and install it in our large bedroom. I never gave it a thought about putting those appli-ances in the bedroom when I was young and agile, but now it makes so much sense.

Now when I take most of the clothes out of the dryer, I can immediate-ly put them in the draw-ers or closet right in the same room. Only the towels and washcloths go into the bathroom, which is just around the corner. Laundry became so much easier.

This week, we got something I have been

wanting for a long time. These little short legs with sore knees had a hard time getting over the front of the tub to take a shower. We now have a beautiful walk-in shower, and I got to be the fi rst one to try it out. It even has a bench to sit on if needed. Thanks to our great-nephew and his crew for a fantastic job.

So the Kueker nurs-ing home is complete. Now I can sit back and watch the Cardinal baseball games.

So far, I have discov-ered that they are no better than they have been for the past couple of years. Injuries, poor pitching and no hitting do not win baseball games.

Happy birthday to Beth Wunderlich, Jim Heinen Jr., Sienna Lar-gent, Nancy Schilling, Tracy Stefani, Jarad Stefani, Kathy Becker, Allana Zweigart, Pam Kueker, Sandy Guse-man and Lucas Fay.

Happy anniversary to Ron and Kathy Beck-er, Ron and Kathryn

Kueker, Jim and Beth Heinen and Barry and Kim Guebert. Evansville Enterprise

July 25, 1941 Adam Becker, asst-

machinist at the local shoe factory, went to St. Louis to take a two-week course in machinery operations at the Inter-national Shoe Factory.

Alex Schenk was called by the draft board and was headed for Chicago.

August 1, 1941 About 60 pounds of

scrap aluminum was collected by the Boy Scouts of Evansville.

The Juvenile Band Festival was held in Evansville and hosted by the Evansville Juve-nile Band.

Other bands partici-pating were Ava, Steel-eville, Marissa, Chester, VFW, Kaskaskia and Baldwin.

A 10-pound boy named John was born July 26 to Mr. and Mrs. Ralph McConachie.

A 12-pound boy named Calvin was born July 29 to Mr. and Mrs. Her-man “Happy” Copple.

Condolences to the family of Fred Frederk-ing, who passed away Tuesday morning. He will be greatly missed.

The Coulterville VFW opened for business August 1. I will keep you posted when bingo starts again.

The VFW Auxiliary will meet Monday, Au-gust 10 and the men Thursday, August 20.

David and I visited Monday evening with our oldest son, Carlo and his friend Court-ney at the Bull Pen in New Athens. We en-joyed a nice meal and

drinks.The Rainey family

took a fl oat trip on the Black River in Les-terville, Missouri last weekend. Saturday, they enjoyed floating down the river, sitting around a campfi re and roasting brats for sup-per.

Those who went on the trip were John and Donna Rainey, Julie, Tyler and Austin Hand, Angie Reid, Rachael As-bury, Brian Reid, Judy Rainey, Bailey Rainey, Brandy Gardner, Jim-my and Jesi Gardner, Chandler Rhodes and Briar Laumbattus. The weather was beautiful for a fl oat trip.

Elodie and Daxton spent Friday night with David and me. Satur-day, we met their dad Matthew at Reids’ Har-vest House in Chester.

They then spent the night with their dad.

David and I had sup-per at Doreen’s Sun-day and visited with George Kirkland.

A gentleman from Perth, Scotland has contacted the Coulter-ville Museum about finding an ancestor who came to America in the middle 1800s. If anyone is connected to the family of Catherine (Loutit) Miller please call me. Catherine mar-ried William Miller, and they had at least two sons Adam Miller (1834-1910) and George Miller (1837-1900).

Danielle Bumann and DJ Harriss welcomed son River James Au-gust 1. He joins a broth-er, Gunner. Maternal grandparents are Lar-ry and Tracy Bumann of Coulterville.

MenuAugust 10-14

MONDAY: Taco salad, black beans, pine-apple, pistachio pud-ding dessert.TUESDAY: Casey’s p i z z a , C a r o l i n a beans, mixed fruit, Rice Krispie treat.WEDNESDAY: Beef roast, mashed po-tatoes, mixed veg-etables, mandarin

oranges.THURSDAY: Chicken sandwich, slaw, fries, applesauce.FRIDAY: Salisbury steak, mashed pota-toes, steamed carrots, pears, lemon bars.

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

To order curbside meals, call 965-3134 extension 5 by 9:30 a.m. the day before.

MenuAugust 10-14

MONDAY: Salisbury steak/gravy, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, fruit.TUESDAY: Chicken strips, potato wedges, stewed tomatoes, fruit.WEDNESDAY: Vegeta-ble soup, cheese salad, peaches/cottage cheese.THURSDAY: Meatball sub w/cheese, twice baked potatoes, car-rots, pudding.

FRIDAY: Fish sticks, macaroni/cheese, corn, fruit.

H o u r s : M o nd ay -Thursday 8-3, Friday 8-2.

Prices: Curbside $5, home-delivered $5.25, carry-outs $5, all oth-ers $6.50.

Please call 443-4020 by 11 a.m. to order a meal.

Curb service pickup time: 11:30 to noon. Drive under the awning.

Clothing store hours:

9 a.m. to 3 p.m.We have quilt raffl e

tickets available.

Branching outFrom left are Marissa Historical and Genealogical Society members Teresa Curry, Peggy Timmons and Kay Jetton. They worked at the soci-ety’s museum at 212 N. Main Street to fi nish production of the quarterly publication Branching Out from St. Clair County, Illinois. This issue has interesting sections on the history of several military veterans from the area, excerpts from historic Nashville news, genealogical reports of selected local families and items for sale. The society will hold no public meetings until the new year. Photo by Carol Mercer

Mr. MeowgiThis special 3-year-old boy was abandoned and is now in foster care. He is a delight to have around, but he needs his own home. He is FIV positive, so he will have to be the only cat in the home or with other FIV+ kit-ties. He does not like dogs at all, so if you’re a pooch-free home, this may be your guy. If you would like to meet Mr. Meowgi, call the Perry County Humane Society at 542-3647 or email the shelter at pchsinfo@yahoo.com.

10th AnniversaryIn Loving Memory of Geneva Ward

August 4, 2010 - August 4, 2020

We little knew that day,God was going to call your name,In life we loved you dearly,In death, we do the same.It broke our hearts to lose you. You did not go alone.For part of us went with you, the day God For part of us went with you, the day God called you home. You left us beautiful memories, Your love is still our guise. And though we cannot see you, You are always at our side. Our family chain is broken. And nothing seems the same, But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

THE BROKEN CHAIN

OBITUARIESCounty Journal | august 6, 2020 Page 15

JAMES H. SCHAFFNERJames H. Schaffner,

whose friends and family called him Jimmy, departed this life Thursday, July 30, 2020, just 4 days before he turned 85. He was born August

3, 1935 in Evansville to William F. and Ethel A. Thompson Schaff-ner. Jimmy loved the out-

doors and travel ad-ventures all over the country, but his favorite was to the Northwest. Even at 74 years old, he traveled out West to see his children who lived there, up to Washington, back down the Pacific coast, then back to St. Louis, where he has lived since he was in his mid ‘30s. He always had a great tent, even after he stopped camping. Our dad told stories of a one-eyed witch with a

three-legged dog to his sons and they still talk about it till this day. Dad loved camping, fishing and adventure trips, and he took us on so many and instilled the love of adventure and the out-doors in all of us. We pass this on to our children and everyone we meet in some way. He was a loving father and provider and took

pride in his home. He loved gardening in his yard and had the biggest plate-size dahlias for a while—so beautiful, I almost named my daughter after them and his love of gardening. A week before he passed, the caregiver sitting

with him in the hospital said, “He is a funny guy.” I know we are not made to last forever, but I

still feel like our time was cut short. We will miss you so much, Dad. The only thing that makes us feel better is knowing you have a new body, and your spirit lives on with only joy and peace and happiness with the Lord our God. He leaves to mourn: children James, Joseph,

Amanda (Brian) Smith, Ross, Michael and Katy (William) Hopper and grandchildren Catalina and Olivia; sisters Carolyn Dorf and Elizabeth Deppe; brother Herbert H. Schaffner (Glenda Zanders), nieces and nephew. He was preceded in death by his parents and

brother Willam F. Schaffner.Visitation is Thursday, August 6, 2020 from

10 to noon at Kutis Funeral Home and Chapel, 5255 Lemay Ferry Road in Mehlville, Missouri. Services will follow. Burial will be nearby, in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

HOWARD RUSSELL ANDERSON II

H owa r d R u s s e l l “Rusty” Anderson II, 73, of Ava, died Satur-day, July 18, 2020 at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale.He was born May 29,

1947 in East St. Louis to Howard and Vir-ginia Lusk Anderson.His first marriage,

to Kathleen Mitchell, blessed him with sons Howard “Buddy” Anderson III and Paul Edward “Eddie” Anderson. He married Linda Voepel and was blessed with another son Vaughn. He married Barbara Casteel Schorn in 2004 and loved her children as his own.Rusty had many occupations over the years,

including EMT, security guard, barber, minis-ter and assistant coroner. In his younger years, he was a wrestler, known as Dr. X. He was a member of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons for 29 years and was affiliated with DeSoto Lodge 287 and Murphysboro Lodge 498, serving as worshipful master in the DeSoto lodge in 2018 and junior warden in 2020. He also served as chaplain for the Murphysboro lodge.He is survived by sons Eddie and Vaughn;

grandchildren Howard Anderson IV, Sean and Tiesha; daughters-in-law Linda and Julie; sister Sandy (Ken) Stephenson; sister-in-law Diane Anderson; ex-wives; stepchildren Krista Allsup, Kay Asa and Kent Schorn; step-grandchildren Lucas and Katie Asa, Grace, Emily and Eli Lehnhoff, Alacia and Lily Schorn; nieces and nephews Brian, Keith and Danielle Anderson, Cassie, Andrew and Wesley McCann and aunts Melba, Patsey and Joann.Rusty was preceded in death by his parents,

son Buddy and brother Melvin.Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Sat-

urday, August 8, 2020 at the Ava park pavilion. Social distancing and face masks are requiredMemorials toward burial expenses can be

mailed to Diane Anderson, PO Box 391, Ava, IL 62907.

LAWRENCE A. GOETZ Lawrence A. Goetz,

77, of Cutler, died at 7:50 a.m. Wednes-day, July 29, 2020 at Three Springs Lodge Nursing Home in Chester.He was born May 11,

1943 in Ava to Oscar and Lucille Goetz. He married Barbara

Morgan December 25, 1970 in Willisville. She preceded him in death in 2013. Lawrence retired from Gilster-Mary Lee in

Steeleville. He was a member of Tri-County Independent Baptist Church in Willisville. He is survived by daughter Tabitha (Dennis)

Keasler of Paragould, Arkansas; three grand-children; brothers Jonathon and Nicolaus of Tudor and sister Brittany Keasler.Lawrence was also preceded in death by his

parents, three brothers, two sisters and grand-son Michael Keasler.Service were held at 10 a.m. Monday, August

3, 2020 at Ava Evergreen Cemetery, with Rev. Matt Collins officiating. Wilson’s Funeral Home in Ava assisted the

family with arrangements. Sign the guest book at wilsonsfuneralhome.net.

BELLE ANN JORDANBelle Ann Jordan, 82, died at home surrounded

by family Thursday, July 30, 2020. She was born February 25, 1938 in Cora, Illinois,

to Clarence and Bessie Browder Donnell. Belle married Donald Lee Jordan October 28,

1954 in Hernando, Mississippi. He preceded her in death November 14, 2015 after 61 years of marriage.She dearly loved all of her grandchildren and

great-grandchildren and was always ready to play a game or have a water gun fight. She also loved to fish and roam the hills and hollows of southern Illinois hunting mushrooms.Belle is survived by sons Pete, Jerry (Nancy)

and Monte (Missy), five grandsons, three grand-daughters, nine great-grandchildren, two sis-ters, nieces and nephews.She was also preceded in death by her parents,

three sisters and two infant grandchildren.It was her wish to be cremated. The family will

hold a memorial and interment at a later date.Wilson’s Funeral Home in Ava assisted the fam-

ily with arrangements.Sign the guest book at wilsonsfuneralhome.net.

DENNIS ALLEN BAYER

Dennis Allen Bayer, 80, of New Athens, died Thursday, July 30, 2020 in Belleville. He was born Janu-

ary 5, 1940 in Gary, Indiana to Wilburn Eugene and Viola Ele-nora Menke Bayer.He married Ruth

Steinheimer Decem-ber 11, 1965 in Lenz-burg. She survives. Dennis was a spray

painter for Chrysler and also groundskeeper at St. Peter UCC Cem-etery in Lenzburg. He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving from

1963-65 in Germany. Being in the artillery, he was awarded an expert rifleman medal. He enjoyed being in nature and hunting and was a lifelong fisherman.Dennis is also survived by daughters Jodi

(Mark) Nibbelin of Normal, Illinois, Rachele Putman of Lovington, Illinois and Angela (Paul) Dayton of Tilden; sisters Darlene (Johnny) Shi-var of Jacksonville, North Carolina and Willetta (Steve) McCulloh of Redondo Beach, California; brother David Bayer of Evansville; brothers and sisters-in-law Edith (Roger) Diercks of Percy and Art (Lola) Steinheimer of Sparta, 16 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.Dennis was preceded in death by his parents. Services were held at 3 p.m. Sunday, August 2,

2020 at Heil-Schuessler Funeral Home in New Athens, with Rev. Bob Coffey officiating. Burial was in St. Peter UCC Cemetery in Lenzburg.A family gathering will be planned at a later

date when it’s safe for relatives and friends to join in honoring Dennis’ life.Memorials may be made to the family.Sign the guest book at heilschuessler.com.

KENNETH E. COLVISKenneth E. Colvis, 85,

of Chester, died at his residence at 9:03 a.m. Friday, July 31, 2020. He was born Septem-

ber 23, 1934 in Chester to Joseph L. and Flor-ence T. Surman Colvis.Kenneth married

Shirley Miller June 28, 1955 at Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church in Chester. She preceded him in death July 19, 2020.He had worked as a guard and was on the RIT

team at Menard Correctional Center. He had also worked as a truck driver for Teamsters Local 50, electrician for United Mine Workers Local 1392 and welder for A.W.O. Smith in Granite City. Ken-neth also sold real estate with his wife Shirley. He was a member of St. Mary’s Church of Divine Maternity in Ellis Grove. He was also an honor-ary member 4th Degree Knight of the Knights of Columbus 3970 in Chester. Kenneth loved to garden and enjoyed reading Westerns. He also enjoyed watching St. Louis Cardinal baseball.He is survived by children David (Pat) Colvis and

Tony (Rita) Colvis, all of Chester, Tina (Mike) Ko-rando of Jacob and Beth (Larry) Runge of Walsh; brothers Bernard (Carolyn) Colvis, Mark (Sandy) Colvis and Donald (Darlene) Colvis; sisters June (Bruce) Maxwell and Mae (Bryce) Coulter; sisters-in-law Carolyn and Shirley Colvis; grandchil-dren Christina (Larry) Poppen, Mary (Jason) Fernandez, Sara (Terry) Guethle, Michelle and Jacob Korando and Janelle Chapman, seven step-grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.Kenneth was also preceded in death by his par-

ents, brothers Paul and Lenny Colvis, sister Ruth Arnac, brothers-in-law Louis and Harry Miller and sister-in-law Lillian Loraine. Services were held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Au-

gust 5, 2020 at Pechacek Funeral Home in Ches-ter, with Father Leo Hayes and Deacon Al DuBois officiating. Burial was in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Chester. Memorials may be made to family choice.Sign the guest book at wpfh.net.

MARIE E. HECTORMarie E. Hecktor,

103, of Perryville, for-merly of Chester, died at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, July 30, 2020 at Inde-pendence Care Center in Perryville.She was born April

22, 1917 in Chester to John and Mary Nowak Surman.She married Leander

Hecktor November 6, 1935 in Chester. He preceded her in death November 27, 1976.Marie was a homemaker. She was a member

of Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church in Chester and Blessed Virgin Altar Sodality.Marie is survived by son Gary (Peggy) Hecktor

of Lake Ozark, Missouri, daughter Carole (Leon-ard) Draves of De Soto, Missouri, sisters-in-law Ruth Wahlwend and Marcella Eggemeyer of Chester, six grandchildren, 12 great-grandchil-dren, one great-great-grandchild, with one due in October and another in November, nieces and nephews.She was also preceded in death by her par-

ents, son Robert Hecktor, brothers Mark, John, Joseph, Thaddeus, Sylvester, Edward, Bernard and Daniel Surman, sisters Catherine Veath, Victoria Grah and Gertrude Scofield, three brothers-in-law and five sisters-in-law.Services were held at 2 p.m. Saturday, August

1, 2020 at Pechacek Funeral Home in Chester, with Rev. Ben Chapman officiating. Burial was in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Chester.Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s

Research Hospital.Sign the guest book at wpfh.net.

CHARLESTIEMAN

Charles Tieman, 75, of Chester, died at his residence at 8:15 a.m. Friday, July 31, 2020.He was born Octo-

ber 26, 1944 in Chris-topher, Illinois to Charles and Mary Armstrong Tieman.Charles married

Nancy Jungels Octo-ber 7, 1972 in Lock-port, Illinois. She sur-vives.He had worked as a food supervisor at Men-

ard Correctional Center for 28 years. He was a member of Chester Elks Lodge 1629 and a lifetime member of American Legion Post 487, Moose Lodge 1764 and Lockport VFW Post 5788.Charles was a U.S. Air Force veteran.He is also survived by daughters Kelly Sigley

of Chester and Kara Tieman of New Athens; brother Glen (Del) Tieman of New Willmington, Pennsylvania; sister-in-law Maxine Tieman of Texas; brother-in-law Robert Jungels of Lock-port; grandchildren Nicole and Kylie Sigley, Austin Tieman and Lilly Bagley and great-grandchildren Nevaeh Scott and Kyler Nelson.He was preceded in death by his parents and

brother Robert Tieman.Services were held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, August

4, 2020 at Pechacek Funeral Home in Chester, with Pastor Ron Coleman officiating. Burial was in Evergreen Cemetery in Chester.Memorials may be made to family choice.Sign the guest book at wpfh.net.

JAMES ALBERT CLARK JR.James Albert Clark Jr., 55, of Red Bud, died

at 4:49 a.m. Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at Red Bud Regional Hospital.Services were held at 11 a.m. Monday, August

3, 2020 at Pechacek Funeral Home in Red Bud. James’ cremains were buried in West Virginia. Memorials may be made to family choice.Sign the guest book at wpfh.net.

LISA RENE GILLLisa Rene Gill, 40, of Murphysboro, died peace-

fully at her home at 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, July 29, 2020.Graveside services were held at 4 p.m. Monday,

August 3, 2020 at Mt. Joy Cemetery in Murphys-boro, with Father Jim Breuster officiating. Wilson’s Funeral Home in Ava assisted the fam-

ily with arrangements. Memorials may be made to an educational fund

for Lisa’s children. Sign the guest book at wilsonsfuneralhome.net.

FREDERICK D. FREDERKING

Frederick D. Frederk-ing Sr., 79, of Coulter-ville, died at his home at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday, July 28, 2020. He was born October

10, 1940 in Oakdale to William F. and Lil-lian Mae Offerman Frederking. On June 5, 1960, Fred

married Brenda Hale at First Baptist Church in Coulterville. She survives. He had worked as a coal miner for Peabody Coal

Company River King Mine Pit 6 for 32 years. Fred was a member of First Baptist Church in Coulter-ville, Ainad Shrine Temple, Scottish Rite, Hope Lodge 162, American Quarter Horse Association, International Ford Retractable Club, Grandcote Cruisers, UMWA, Coulterville school board and past president of the Lions Club. Fred took an extremely active roll in every organization he was a member of. Fred is also survived by sons Frederick Frederk-

ing Jr. of Steeleville, Cletus (Lauretta) Frederk-ing of London, Ontario and Daryl (Kacey) Freder-king of Coulterville; sister Anna Marie (Charles) Sheeler of Coulterville; brother-in-law Richard Wooten of Coulterville; sister-in-law Barbara Grafton of Coulterville; grandchildren Jenni-fer (Tom) Klausing, Will (Julie), Reid, Amelia, Nathanael, Drew, Lucas and Ellie Frederking; great-grandson Lane Frederking; dear friends Harold and Theresa Joines; special cousin Ben Feazel, nieces and nephews.He was preceded in death by his parents,

brother Clyde “Hickory” Frederking, sister Linda Wooten, infant sister Gloria Dee Frederking, spe-cial brother-in-law Ronnie Grafton, nephew Jeff Frederking and niece Kristin Wooten.Private services were held at Pyatt Funeral

Home in Coulterville. Burial was in Coulterville City Cemetery.Memorials may be made to Shriners Hospitals

for Children or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.Sign the guest book at pyattfuneralhome.com.

COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020PAGE 16

COULTERVILLE TOWN BOARD

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May 23June 6June 13July 11July 25Aug. 8Aug 22

Scholarship recipientsFour $500 Steeleville Eagles Ed Odle Memorial Scholarships were awarded to area students. From left are Eagle Chris Franklin, recipients Amira Al-Jassim, Sydney Bixby, Kelsey Cowan and Dylan Hill and Eagle Bob Schaber.

Maybell scholarship recipientSparta Lions Club President Paula Phelps presents 2020 Sparta High School graduate Tony Williams with a $500 Tom Maybell Sparta Lions Club Scholarship. Submitted by Mike Springston

Three area students have earned degrees from Western Gover-nors University.

Those students were Angela Nordmeyer of Chester, nursing; Chel-sey Burley of Steele-ville, masters of edu-cation in learning and technology, and Mal-lory Swafford, elemen-tary education.

WGU is an online, nonprofit university that has been available since 1997.

Students graduate from WGU

The Sparta library girls sewing club con-tinues despite COVID-19.

To maintain the par-ticipants’ sewing skills, instructor Lynette Jal-ivay prepared project kits.

The girls were given their first project to work on at home and were asked to send pic-tures of them working on it and wearing the

headband that was in the fi rst kit.

Mary Alice Campbell, 10, was the fi rst to com-plete her work and is ready for her second kit. Her mother Kath-ryn said that Mary Al-ice enjoyed the project so much that she made three headbands.

For more information, call the library at 443-5014.

Mary Alice Campbell uses a sewing machine to make one of her three handbands. In the inset, she shows off the fi nished product.

Girls sewing club continues

Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Council is now taking applications for its Low-Income Home Energy Assistance and Home Weatherization Assis-tance programs.

The home energy pro-gram provides a one-time grant per heat-ing season that is paid directly to the utility company or fuel source vendor for electric, pro-pane, oil and wood.

If utilities are includ-

ed in a person’s rent, money can be paid di-rectly to the applicant.

Households need not be behind in payments or disconnected to be eligible for the money.

Income guidelines al-low for applicants to be at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or 30-day gross income of $2,127 for a one-person household. Add $746 for each additional house-hold member.

If a household had al-

ready received money but had services cut off, Western Egyptian can help with reconnection.

The weatherization program is designed to help income-eligible residents save fuel and money while increas-ing the comfort of their homes. Residents can permanently reduce energy bills by making their homes more en-ergy effi cient by insu-lating attics and walls, sealing draft areas or

repairing and replac-ing ineffi cient mechan-ical systems.

The application pe-riod for both programs ends June 30 of next year and will be taken on a fi rst come, fi rst served basis.

In-person applica-tions are not permit-ted.

To apply, call your county offi ce: Jackson 684-3341, Perry 542-4656, Randolph and Monroe 443-5231.

Western Egyptian announces assistance programsThe Coulterville village

board discussed at its August 3 meeting the pro-cess to acquire easements for the proposed water line from Sparta.

The conversation cen-tered around the legal procedures and steps that must be taken.

The water line would run down Kelly Road from Zeigler Mine Road to Route 4. There is already a utility easement along this path, but it was noted that construction on a new line could be easier if it is a little outside that easement.

Trustees looked at ex-amples of agreements from other communi-ties, including one where neighboring residents signed the easement and were fine with it and another where some resi-dents wanted a small amount of compensation, showing the different scenarios that might have to be tackled during this process.

The board also discussed that if the project de-stroys crops, those farm-ers would be compensated for their loss.

No action was taken.

In other news, oiling and chipping of streets by Illini Asphalt of Ben-ton has been postponed because of rain.

There have been several reports of brown water coming from village wa-ter lines. It was noted that this can happen when manganese builds up on a water line and breaks loose when the water tem-perature rises. The discol-oration should disappear with minor fl ushing.

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County Clerk & Recorder

WARRANTY DEEDSSharon M. Langrehr,

Cleta I. Waldron, Ethel T. Buehler & Cletus F. Buehler to Amber Elizabeth Nicholson & Ashley Justine Nich-olson Lts 16, 17 & 18 Kimzey 3rd Addn

David G. Goetting & Kathleen M. Goetting to Mary E. Goetting SW NW Sec 17 4-7, Con-sideration $145,000

Mark Wayne Greer & Jayme Lynn Bauer to Jason C. Oetting & Courtney R. Oetting Lts 22, 23, 12 & 13 Blk 6 Riverview Addn, Con-sideration $161,000

Kenneth A. & Beverly Mennerich to Crys-tal Harris NW NE Sec 14 6-7, Consideration $145,000

Andrew J. Smith to

Jamie Michelle Red-man Lts 51 & 62 Blk 7 Alma Addn Consider-ation $80,000

Larry Edward Groy Jr. to Edwin Rivera Lts 4 & 5 WC Mann Addn, Consideration $113,000

Dana P. & Howard L. Warren to Mackenzie L. Goolsby Lt 6 Blk 3 RJ Short Addn, Con-sideration $76,000

Jan M. Glasscock Trust & Donald M. Glasscock Sr. to Heu-man Farms LLC Sec 8 4-6, Consideration $376,875

Samuel Mulholland, Catherine D. Pannier & Pamela R. Meyer to Bonnie F. Rhoades & Jim E. Rhoades Sr. Lts 2, 3 & 4 Blk 8 Tilden, Consideration $72,000

Neil & Kerri Lange to John & Olivia Lange Lts 1, 2, 7, 8 Blk 3 & Lts 1 & 2 Blk 5 J Steele Addn, Consideration $55,000

Ralph L. Skorcz to Paul Hartmann SW Sec 21 6-7 Consider-ation $22,000

Ray K. Nevin to Lucas Vanpelt Lts 1 & 8 Blk 2 Glor 1st Addn, Consid-eration $45,000

Dorothy M. Wilson, Jerry L. Wilson, Joan M. Dotson & Connie L. Gaertner to Howard L. & Dana P. Warren Lts 15 & 16 Blk 1 Sunset Addn, Consideration $102,000

Ryne Fithian to Seth A. Bass SW NE Sec 14 4-7, Consideration $87,000

Fe d e r a l Nat i o n a l Mortgage Association & Fannie Mae to Larry Reinhardt SE Sec 6 4-5, Consideration $17,000

Bret Allen Rosendohl to Ryne C. Fithian SW NW Sec 9 5-5, Consid-eration $168,000

Roger S. Allen & Gail L. Allen to Candi S. Cole & Rosie E. Duni-

phan Lts 5 & 6 Blk 2 Steele 1st Addn, Con-sideration $15,000

Don W. & Kathleen Roth to Luke Francis Schaefer Lt 2 Blk 6 Improve Addn, Consid-eration $5,000

Trina Lamy & Bonnie Grannemann to Ronny Froda SW SE NW Sec 1 7-6

QUITCLAIM DEEDSGary Middendorf to

Gary & Amanda Mid-dendorf NW NW Sec 2 6-5

Justin C. Rahn to Jes-sica Rahn & Justin C. Rahn Lt 8 H Baker Addn

John L. Krull to John L. Krull & Lori Ann Krull NW NE Sec 33 5-6

L u c i nd a M . M u l -holland to Natalie J. Dickerson & Dennis R. Dickerson

Mary E. Deppe & Don-ald Deppe to Austin R. Deppe

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PASTURES | CRP | WATERWAYS

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

RANDOLPH COUNTY - CHESTER ILLINOIS

Citibank, N.A., not in its individual capacity but solely as Owner Trustee for New Residential Mortgage Loan Trust 2018-2Plaintiff,vs.Paul E. Dean, AKA Paul Dean; Patricia L. Dean, AKA Patricia DeanDefendants.

Case No. 2020CH11

745 Valley Street, Chester, IL 62233Judge Richard Brown

NOTICE OF SALEPUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that pursuant to a Judg-ment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause on June 5, 2020, Shannon L. Wolff will, on September 16, 2020, at the hour of 10:00AM at the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Randolph County Courthouse (door of Court-room 2), #1 Taylor Street, Chester, Illinois 62233, sell to the highest bidder for cash, the following described mortgaged real estate:

Commonly known as 745 Valley Street, Chester, IL 62233

Parcel Number(s): 18-082-015-00

The real estate is improved with a Single Family Residence.

Sale terms: Bidders must present, at the time of sale, a cashier’s or certified check for 10% of the successful bid amount. The balance of the successful bid shall be paid within 24 hours, by similar funds. The subject property is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the Court. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than the mortgagee shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by the Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

For information call Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski LLC, One East Wacker, Suite 1250, Chicago, IL 60601. Phone number: 312-651-6700. Attorney file number: 19-031704.

Edward R. PeterkaMANLEY DEAS KOCHALSKI LLCAttorneys for PlaintiffOne East Wacker, Suite 1250Chicago, IL 60601Telephone: 312-651-6700Fax: 614-220-5613Attorney No: 6220416Email: StateEFiling@manleydeas.com

or three months from the date of mailing or delivery of this Notice to creditors, whichever is later, and any claim not fi led on or before said date is void.

Within ten days after fi ling of the Claim with the Clerk, the claimant shall cause a copy of the Claim to be mailed or delivered to the representatives of the estate and to the rep-resentative’s attorney of record.

Dated: July 14, 2020Angela D. Deutschmann, Representative

By: Arbeiter Law Offi ceAttorney

............................................................... 0-8-6

business hours (from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday). Bidders shall complete an Off er Form which is available at the Pinckneyville Community Hospital. The off er shall be delivered to: Pinckneyville Community Hospital District, c/o Rhonda Szostak, PO Box 437, Pinckneyville, Illinois 62274. The Off er Form shall be enclosed in an opaque envelope which shall bear the leg-end “PROPOSAL - OFFER TO PURCHASE REAL ESTATE.” All bids received will be publicly opened and read aloud at the regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Pinckneyville Community Hospital District at 6:00 p.m. on September 8, 2020. The District reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to waive any informalities or irregularities in the build-ing. The District further reserves the right to review and study any and all bids and ac-cept any bid within 45 days after the bids have been opened and publicly read. The winning bidder will be required to execute a Sales Agreement within 3 days after the ac-ceptance of the bid by District. A proposed Off er Form and a copy of the proposed Sales Agreement may be obtained at the Pinck-neyville Community Hospital, 5383 State Rte. 154, Pinckneyville, Illinois. The closing of this transaction shall take place 45 days after the approval and signa-ture of the Sales Agreement by all parties.

Interested parties may be able to inspect the property by appointment only.Dated: July 6, 2020 Bonnie Tolbert, Secretary

of the Board of Directors of Pinckneyville Community Hospital District

.............................................................0 - 8 - 6

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CLASSIFIEDSCOUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020PAGE 18

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Email: cjournal@egyptian.netDeadline: Tuesday At 2pm

A P A R T M E N T SAVAILABLE FOR RENTPERRY COUNTY

FOR MORE INFO CALLPerry County

Housing Authority(618) 542-5409

In

FOR RENT IN SPARTA: 2 & 3-bedroom mobile homes in park. Also mobile home lots in park. Private mobile home lots for sale. Call Ronnie Johnson. 618-443-3325.............................. 0-x-xFOR RENT: Nice 2-bed mobile home. Steeleville Mobile Home Park. $360/mo. No pets. 573-355-1298.............................. 0-x-xFOR RENT: 3-bedroom, 2-bath doublewide in mobile home park in Sparta. No pets allowed. Call Ronnie Johnson, 618-443-3325.............................. 0-x-xSTUDIO APARTMENT FOR RENT: In Steeleville, $400/Mo. 1/2 off 1st month’s rent for qualifi ed tenant. 618-978-8906............................1-8-27FOR RENT: 2-bed, 644 State St., Chester. Washer & dryer included. $650/mo. 618-615-7897............................1-8-27

FOR RENT IN SPARTA:

FOR RENT

REAL ESTATE

FOR SALE: Bu i l t -Mor Buildings. 24x40, $9,718; 30x50, $14,160; 40x60, $21,419; 50x70, $31,685. Erected, choice of colors. 732-8704 or 316-9278 or go to builtmorbuildings.com.............................. 0-x-x

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parking, laundry facilities on -site and appliances

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For Rent InCHESTER

This institution is an equal opportunity

For additional information, contact the

Property Manager at

(618) 826-2802

Equal Housing Opportunity.

provider and employer.

Now taking applications

for 62 years or older, disabled

or handicap regardless of age, for one bedroom

apartments.Free water, sewer

and trash pick up, off -street

parking, laundry facilities on -site and appliances

furnished.

For Rent InSTEELEVILLE

This institution is an equal opportunity

For additional information, contact the

Property Manager at

(618) 965-3676

Equal Housing Opportunity.

provider and employer.

YARD SALE

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LEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF SALE AND INVITATION TO BID

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT the Pinck-neyville Community Hospital District, Perry County, Illinois, will receive sealed bids for the purchase of the following property being situated at 9 N. Main Street, Pinckneyville, Illinois 62274:

The South 20 feet of even width of Lot 28,

and Lot 29, EXCEPT the South 18 feet of even width thereof, in the Original Plat of the City of Pinckneyville, Perry County, Illinois, as shown by the plat thereof fi led in Deed Re-cord A at page 39, in the Recorder’s Offi ce of Perry County, Illinois, EXCEPT any interest in the coal, oil, gas, and other minerals un-derlying the land which have been heretofore conveyed or reserved in prior conveyances, and all rights and easements in favor of the estate of said coal, oil, gas and other miner-als, if any, SUBJECT to all reservations, re-strictions, easements, right of way grants and covenants of record and those apparent from an inspection of the premises, AND SUB-JECT to the general real estate taxes for 2019 and 2020.

Parcel ID #: 2-53-0670-140

Bids for the purchase of the above-described real estate, are hereby invited and will be received by Rhonda Szostak at the Pinck-neyville Community Hospital, located at 5383 State Rte. 154, Pinckneyville, Illinois, on or before Thursday, September 3, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. Bids may be hand delivered to Pinck-neyville Community Hospital during normal

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THETWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUITRANDOLPH COUNTY, ILLINOIS

In the Matter of the Estate ofLEO EDWARD HILL, deceasedNo. 2020-P-46

CLAIM NOTICENotice is given of the death of Leo Edward

Hill. Letters of Offi ce were issued on July 14, 2020 to Angela D. Deutschmann, 13230 State Rte. 154, Sparta, IL 62286, as Execu-tor, and whose attorney of record is Arbeiter Law Offi ce, 1019 State Street, PO Box 367, Chester, Illinois 62233.

Claims against the estate may be fi led in the Offi ce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Ran-dolph County Courthouse, #1 Taylor Street, Chester, Illinois 62233 or with the representa-tive, or both, on or before January 23, 2021,

ASSUMED NAME PUBLICATION NOTICEPublic notice is hereby given that on July

14, 2020 a Certifi cate of Assumed Name was fi led in the Offi ce of Beth Lipe, County Clerk of Perry County, Illinois setting forth the names and post offi ce addresses of all the persons owning, conducting, and transact-ing a business known as Giacomo’s Custom Woodworking located at 1354 Pixie Road, Coulterville, IL 62237.

Dated: July 14, 2020Beth Lipe

Perry County Clerk............................................................. 1-8-13

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

Randolph County Housing Authority916 George Street

Chester, Illinois 62233

Randolph County Housing Authority, 916 George Street, Chester, Illinois, will receive sealed bids for low slope roof replacements at the housing complex located at 102-124 Koeneman Acres, Chester, IL. Scope of work includes removal and replacement of exist-ing roof membrane, fl ashings, gutters and downspouts. The Contractor for this project will comply with the Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts. Bids are subject to State Law. A mandatory Pre-Bid Conference will be held at the project site at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 4, 2020.

Bids will be received at 916 George Street, Chester, Illinois until 9:00 a.m., on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, and then will be publicly opened and read aloud. Bids shall be ac-compained by a bid deposit that is not less than 5% of the base bid and made payable to Randolph County Housing Authority.

Contract Documents may be examined at the Randolph County Housing Authority, 916 George Street, Chester, Illinois or copies of the Contract Documents may be obtained in advance by calling Quadrant Design 618-443-4012. Randolph County Housing Author-ity reserves the right to waive irregulartities and reject any or all bids.

July 27, 2020Randolph County Housing Authority

............................................................... 1-8-6

HarvestRidge

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

RANDOLPH COUNTY - CHESTER ILLINOIS

Citibank, N.A., not in its individual capacity but solely as Owner Trustee for New Residential Mortgage Loan Trust 2018-2 Plaintiff , vs. Paul E. Dean, AKA Paul Dean; Patricia L. Dean, AKA Patricia Dean Defendants. Case No. 2020CH11 745 Valley Street, Chester, IL 62233 Judge Richard Brown

NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that pursu-ant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause on June 5, 2020, Shannon L. Wolff will on Septem-ber 16, 2020, at the hour of 10:00AM at the Randolph County Sheriff ’s Offi ce, Randolph County Courthouse (door of Courtroom 2), 1 Taylor Street, Chester, Illinois 62233, sell to the highest bidder for cash, the following de-scribed mortgaged real estate:

Lots 4, 5, 6 and the South One-Half of Lot 3, all in Block 26 of Servant’s Addition to the City of Chester, Randolph County, Illinois, as shown by plat recorded May 23, 1872 in Plat Book “C” at Page 94, Recorder’s Offi ce, Ran-dolph County, Illinois. Commonly known as 745 Valley Street, Ches-ter, IL 62233 Parcel Number(s): 18-082-015-00 The real estate is improved with a Single Family Residence. Sale terms: Bidders must present, at the time of sale, a cashier’s or certifi ed check for 10% of the successful bid amount. The balance of the successful bid shall be paid within 24 hours, by similar funds. The subject property is off ered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confi rmation by the Court. The property will NOT be open for inspection. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than the mortgagee shall pay the as-sessments and the legal fees required by the Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). For information call Plaintiff ’s Attorney, Man-ley Deas Kochalski LLC, One East Wacker, Suite 1250, Chicago, IL 60601. Phone num-ber: 312-651-6700. Attorney fi le number: 19-031704.

Edward R. Peterka

MANLEY DEAS KOCHALSKI LLC Attorneys for Plaintiff

One East Wacker, Suite 1250 Chicago, IL 60601

Telephone: 312-651-6700 Fax: 614-220-5613

Attorney. No.: 6220416

Email: StateEFiling@manleydeas.com ............................................................. 1-8-20

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUITRANDOLPH COUNTY, ILLINOIS

In the Matter of the Estate of BARBARA J. WEBER, DeceasedNo. 2020P50

CLAIM NOTICE

Notice is given of the death of Barbara J. Weber of 301 C Avenue, Prairie du Rocher, Il-linois 62277. Letters of Offi ce were issued on July 31, 2020, to James D. Weber of 102 St. Louis Street, Prairie du Rocher, Illinois 62277, as Administrator and whose attorney of re-cord is R. Jeff rey Kerkhover of Fisher, Kerk-hover, Coff ey & Gremmels Law Offi ce, 600 State Street, Chester, Illinois 62233.

Claims against the estate may be fi led in the offi ce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court at the Randolph County Courthouse, #1 Taylor Street, Chester, Illinois 62233, or with the rep-resentatives, or both, on or before February 15, 2021, or three months from the date of mailing or delivery of this Notice to creditors, whichever is later, and any claim not fi led on or before that date is barred.

Within ten days after fi ling of the Claim with the Clerk, the claimant shall cause a copy of the Claim to be mailed or delivered to the representatives of the estate and to the rep-resentative’s attorney of record.

Dated: July 31, 2020James D. Weber

Administrator of the Estate ofBarbara J. Weber

R. Jeff rey Kerkhover - Attorney R. Jeff rey Kerkhover - #03127288FISHER, KERKHOVER, COFFEY &GREMMELS LAW OFFICEAttorney for Estate600 State StreetChester, IL 62233Telephone: (618) 826-5021Fax: (618) 826-5024Email: fkcglaw@gmail.com...........................................................0 - 8 - 2 0

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUITRANDOLPH COUNTY, ILLINOIS

In the Matter of the Estate of MARVIN V. STEWART, DeceasedNo. 2020P49

CLAIM NOTICE

Notice is given of the death of Marvin V. Stewart of 501 Hillandale, Steeleville, Illinois, 62288. Letters of Offi ce were issued on July 29, 2020, to Cynthia A. Falkenhein of 505 South James Street, Steeleville, Illinois 62288 and Terry L. Stewart of 403 South James Street, Steeleville, Illinois 62288, as Co-Ex-ecutors and whose attorney of record is R. Jeff rey Kerkhover of Fisher, Kerkhover, Cof-fey & Gremmels Law Offi ce, 600 State Street, Chester, Illinois 62233.

Claims against the estate may be fi led in the offi ce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court at the Randolph County Courthouse, #1 Taylor Street, Chester, Illinois 62233, or with the representatives, or both, on or before Febru-ary 8, 2021, or three months from the date of mailing or delivery of this Notice to creditors, whichever is later, and any claim not fi led on or before that date is barred.

Within ten days after fi ling of the Claim with the Clerk, the claimant shall cause a copy of the Claim to be mailed or delivered to the representative of the estate and to the repre-sentative’s attorney of record.

Dated: July 29, 2020Cynthia A. Falkenhein and Terry L. Stewart

Co-Executors of the Estate ofMarvin V. Stewart

R. Jeff rey Kerkhover - Attorney R. Jeff rey Kerkhover - #03127288FISHER, KERKHOVER, COFFEY &GREMMELS LAW OFFICEAttorney for Estate 600 State StreetChester, IL 62233Telephone: (618) 826-5021Fax: (618) 826-5024Email: fkcglaw@gmail.com...........................................................0 - 8 - 2 0

PUBLIC NOTICE DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS

Perandoe Special Education District hereby gives required notice to former students and their parents, that pursuant to the requirement in Section 4 of the Illinois School Records Act, that it will destroy all “temporary records” for all students with birthdates on or before De-cember 31, 2002, and for all students who have transferred, graduated or otherwise ap-parently permanently withdrawn from school since June 30, 2015. These records will be destroyed on or about October 1, 2020.

Parents of students under 18 years, or stu-dents who have graduated from secondary school, married, entered military service, or reached the age of 18 years, may claim the record and information proposed to be destroyed or deleted until October 1, 2020. Questions about such temporary records may be addressed to Perandoe Records Custodian at 618-282-6251 ext. 113, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Perandoe Special Education District 1525 Locust Street

PO Box 169Red Bud, IL 62278

.............................................................0 - 8 - 6

WANTED: Paying cash for older campers, 618-214-3352............................1-8-13

WANTED

HUGE YARD SALE: Thursday, Fr iday & Saturday, 8am-? State Rte. 154 and Michael Road in Eden, the old fruit stand. 25 and 50-cent tables. Clothes, shoes, $1 DVDs, wishing wells. Prices to sell, all sizes..............................1-8-6YARD SALE: Thursday, Aug. 6, Noon-?, Friday, Aug. 7 & Saturday, Aug. 8, 7am-? 103 Branch St., Ellis Grove. Girl’s clothes 3T-14/16, girl’s shoes 9-3, boy’s clothes premie-2T, strollers, women’s clothes & shoes sizes 5-7, Halloween costumes, prom dresses & misc. household items. Also selling kid’s size masks!.............................1-8-6YARD SALE: Thursday, Aug. 6, 3pm-6pm & Friday, Aug. 7, 7am-4pm. 107 W. Chesnut St., Percy. Furniture, appliances, sporting goods, po le cha in saw, Roto tiller, tools, g lassware, s tereo, dishes, f lat screen computer, lots of misc..............................1-8-6

HELP WANTED

REPAIR MAN: Taking app l i ca t ions fo r a repair man, call Ronnie Johnson, 618-443-3325.............................. 0-x-x

County Journalcountyjournal.org

618-497-8272

YARD SALE: Aug. 6, 7 & 8, 8am-? 1100 Mine Street, Willisville. Lots of cheap stuff..............................1-8-6HUGE GARAGE SALE: 603 Athens, Sparta (Road OPEN off Hillcrest)Thursday & Fr iday 4-7p.m. PLEASE WEAR A MASK! Women’s clothing—name brand & excellent condition, knick-knacks, house decor, lawn mower & gas weed eater..............................1-8-6E S T A T E S A L E : Remnants reduced, family add-ons included. Household & collectibles, full bed, desk, table & chairs, corner TV stand, end table, chest of drawers, toddler bed, baby swing, books, toys, large selection of clothing, walker, canes & free stuff. 4801 Diamond Cross Rd., Chester. Rain or shine. Saturday, Aug. 8, 8am-1pm..............................1-8-6HUGE YARD SALE: First of many lots of items old and new. Hull pottery, pink depression items, antiques and some furniture will be adding new items. Have a pole barn full. Friday August 7 8-? I will have several more, I still have many items to go thru. 12178 Pierce Lane, Sparta..............................1-8-6

COUNTY JOURNAL | AUGUST 6, 2020 PAGE 19

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By Kenita JalivayAuthor’s note: While

this article is the third and fi nal installment in the series of interviews I conducted with my peers on our experiences with race in Sparta, the exer-cise has been revealing and thought-provoking.

I have received mes-sages from former teach-ers, classmates, cowork-ers and citizens in the community on how the ar-ticles impact-ed them, both positively and negatively.

All re-sponses are valuable in that the se-ries achieved the goal I de-sired, which was to en-courage peo-ple to think and talk to each other.

Human beings have coexisted and populated this planet for millennia, so not engaging with one another is senseless and counterproductive to our growth as a society.

The racial anger, sor-row and pain I’ve wit-nessed in my hometown is indicative of a lack of healthy conversa-tions between people, residents who grew up together, attending the same schools and shop-ping in the same stores but never talking. Why are we so afraid of each other?

That dynamic needs to change, one person at a time, one family at a time.

All of us have the pow-er to do the work neces-sary to surrender our prejudices and egos and develop into good listen-ers.

Listening strengthens our ability to learn, and learning opens our hu-manity to embrace ideas and people we were taught to see as alien and inferior. Knowledge helps us fi ght for a just and equal society.

Cooperation is at the root of healing, but we can’t build anything if we don’t listen.

The following is a por-tion of a letter sent to the County Journal anony-mously in response to the Refl ections on Race series:

You may, then again maybe not, be surprised

that for years, black vet-erans were not allowed in the Sparta Legion. They had to go to other towns, usually Steele-ville, if they wanted to join. Many never both-ered to join anywhere be-cause they were not wel-come in their own home-town. Think about it. They served but couldn’t join in their hometown. Jackie Powers

Jackie Powers gradu-ated from Sparta High School in 1995.

She holds a master’s degree in professional counse l ing from Linden-wood Uni-versity and works as a therapist.

“My fi rst signifi cant ex-perience with race was around third grade.

“I was playing outside with the n e i gh b o r h o o d kids like I did every day after school. I had a babysitter that day, and they called for me to come into the house. They asked, ‘Why are you play-ing with those n****r kids?’ I had heard that word before, but not out of the mouth of someone I trusted. I was shocked, hurt and em-barrassed.

“I frantically looked around to ensure my friends did not hear. Then I became angry. I shouted, ‘My mom says we should love everyone! I’m allowed to play with those kids!’ I marched back outside to play.

“Later, I asked my mom why people use that word. She explained racism in an empathetic man-ner, emphasizing love and compassion always.

“Race relations in Sparta seem to have im-proved since I was in school. I see more inter-racial friendships now and people of color in leadership positions.

“I believe change starts at home. Educating chil-dren about race and rac-ism is imperative. The

recent peaceful protests by Sparta citizens and the Juneteenth Commu-nity Cookout were both important steps in the right direction. We need to continue to do more to break the patterns of systemic racism. Encour-aging an open dialogue about racism with family and friends is a healthy beginning.”Christina Oliver

Christina Oliver is a 1993 graduate of Sparta High School.

She has 24 years of re-tail experience and is an assistant store manager at Walmart, where she’s worked for eight years.

“The fi rst I remember (of racism), I think I was about 6 years old.

“There was an older kid who always called me chocolate milk because I’m biracial. He would try to keep me off of the

swings on the play-g r o u n d . I guess I got fed up one day because I ended up h i t t i n g him with one of the s w i n g s . He went and told on me.

T h e p l a y -g r o u n d s u p e r v i -sor came

over and asked me what happened. When I told her, she said, ‘That’s what he gets.’

“We need voices in local g o v e r n m e n t that are inter-ested in see-ing unity and equality. The protests were amazing, but we need ongo-ing support.” Butch Hartman

Butch Hart-man graduated from Sparta High School in 1994.

He completed the carpenters union apprenticeship program, holds EMT certifi cations and has fi re department services training with 19 years of volunteer service. He is also a full-time mechanic and a father.

“Growing up in the

country, my interaction with people of different ethnicities didn’t happen very often unless I went to Sparta to go shopping with my mother when I was little.

“I never thought twice about anyone being dif-ferent from myself and just accepted how every-one was. Everyone was different and unique.

“My fi rst actual inter-action of any signifi -cance was my freshman year in high school. I wasn’t looking at any-one along the lines of race but was more ner-vous about classes and fi nding my way around school. I had gone from an eighth-grade class of, I believe, 15 or 16 to a class size of 100. That was a major culture shock in itself.

“I developed several friendships that I still value to this day with people of other races from school.

“Concerning race rela-tions today in Sparta or southern Illinois, yes, I do believe racism is alive, but I believe that a majority of it is being blown up by the media and other media plat-forms. Media is taking a very small percentage of people and highlighting them to try and force a divide.

“And I have personally heard racist things from different sides. Most people I know and talk to are not racist in the least but believe that for you to have respect, you have to earn it. You are not entitled to anything

unless you work hard to achieve your goals.

“I be-lieve it all starts at home with p a r e n t a l g u i d a n c e and being taught re-spect for people of all walks of life.

“There is always a bad apple in the basket, but it’s up to you to decide if you want to throw the whole basket out because of that one bad apple or just get rid of that one apple and be happy with the basket you have left.”

Refl ection on Race: Growing up in Sparta

Jackie Powers

Christina Oliver

Butch Hartman

Park funCindy Kelley pushes 3-year-old Rusty Kinkade on the swings August 3 in Marissa Village Park. Rusty also used the sliding board while waiting for his mother. He had already registered for preschool and was happy to get a pleasant day to play outside. Photo by Carol Mercer

County Journal | august 6, 2020Page 20