MONEY $AVING COUPONS INSIDE!Willis Publishing Inc.© Copyright 2020

Thursday, November 5, 2020 30 Pages | 75¢ Volume 41 Number 45

Continued on Page 5 _____

Continued on Page 5 ____

Continued on Page 5 ______

Bauersachswitnessed tragedy in Germany

ON-SITE JOB FAIR NOV 10 | 9-11AMATTEND OUR

NOW DIRECT HIRING AL L SHIFTS

3+ Years Experiencebased onexperience

$12.75-$14.50

Let’s goto work.Apply at work4tg.com

Percy residents hear sewer info

Brian Buchheit of HMG Engineers, standing, presented information on the proposed Percy-Steeleville sewer disrict at last week’s meeting in Percy.

Percy residents had an op-portunity to get an up-close look at the proposed for-mation of a joint sanitary sewer district for Percy and Steeleville October 29 during the second round of public meetings on the plan.About a dozen people, not

counting officials from both villages, showed up for the fi rst of two sessions of the evening. No one came to the second session.As he did in similar meet-

ings held in Steeleville,

where no residents attend-ed, Brian Buchheit of HMG Engineers explained how both towns are facing ma-jor upgrades or replace-ment of their sewer plants in the next 10 to 15 years in order to meet future ex-pected mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency.Buchheit estimated that

replacing Percy’s sewer treatment plant could cost $1.5 million, and Steele-

Delbert Bauersachs

He was thereBy Travis Lott

A rural Pinckneyville man bore witness to one of the worst United States military training accidents in the history of Germany.Delbert Bauersachs, 80,

entered the U.S. Army in February of 1959 at the age of 18.He went fi rst to Fort Leon-

ard Wood in Missouri, and from there, he was sent to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, then was shipped to New Jersey, where he boarded a ship to Germany in July of 1959.He was sent to the 3rd Ar-

mored Division, 3rd Artil-lery Service Battery.His job was to supply am-

munition to other batteries under his group.He was stat ioned in

Grafenwoehr, Germany at the U.S. Army’s mili-tary installation and train-ing area. It was here that Bauersachs witnessed the most deadly accident in the history of the Grafenwoehr Training Area.On September 2, 1960,

Bauersachs was waiting in the Jeep for his command-ing offi cer, 2nd Lt. David Stephens, who was inside a tent getting orders for the day.Bauersachs was the driver

for Stephens.That’s when the shell

came in.Bauersachs said he heard

a strange sound then a loud explosion.The shell was fi red from

11 miles away by a battery of the 18th Artillery, which was conducting marks-manship tests on the artil-lery range. The battery fi red the eight-inch shell, aiming for a target eight miles away.“Imagine a 200-pound

shell, three feet long, and a gun that can shoot 11 miles,” Bauersachs said. “That’s a heck of a kick.” Bauersachs said the

marksmanship exercises usually consisted of fi ring at a decommissioned tank or some other object sev-eral miles away. The ones fi ring the weapon would be given elevation and other indicators of how to aim.Except this time, human

Republicans gain offi ces

Julie Jany-Carnahan

John Batteau

Friess takes 116th House seat

David Friess

Republicans had a big day in Randolph and Perry counties, while Democrats appear to have held on to a number of offi ces in Jack-son County.Republicans won every

single contested election in Randolph and Perry, many by large margins, even in cases where a Democrat was the incumbent.In Randolph County, for

circuit clerk, Republican challenger Julie Jany-Car-nahan beat longtime in-cumbent Democrat Sherry Johnson 8,783 to 5,884. Johnson had held the seat since 2012.Jany-Carnahan held a

commanding lead through-out the evening and said that, when she saw the votes start to roll in, she was relieved.“I am so grateful for every-

one’s support,” Jany-Carna-han said. “There were so many people helping out in so many ways.”She said that many people

helped by sending out text messages and letters to friends asking for support.“It came down to people

believing in their friends who believed in me,” Jany- Carnahan said. “My grand-pa said I had an army supporting me, and he was absolutely right.”Also in Randolph Coun-

ty, Republican incumbent county Commissioner Ron-nie White staved off a chal-lenge from Red Bud Mayor

Tim Lowry by a vote of 9,725 to 4,867.In Perry County, two Dem-

ocratic incumbents, both of whom were running for the fi rst time to retain seats to which they’d been appointed to fi ll vacancies, fell to their Republican challengers.John Batteau beat County

Clerk Beth Lipe by a mar-gin of 5,664 to 4,229. Lipe had been appointed to fi ll the vacancy left by Josh Gross in 2019, when he was appointed to lead the Du Quoin State Fair.Republican Bruce Mor-

genstern beat Democratic incumbent Susan Hepp for the Perry County commis-sioner seat 5,912 to 3,947. Hepp had been appointed to fi ll the vacancy left by Jim Epplin in 2019, when he stepped down for health reasons.Republican State’s At-

torney David Searby held onto his seat against a challenge from Democrat Bubba Harsy by a vote of 7,413 to 2,475.Running uncontested in

Randolph County were State’s Attorney Jeremy Walker with 11,768 votes and Coroner Carlos Bar-bour with 11,649 votes.In Perry County, two re-

mained in their seats, Cir-cuit Clerk Kim Kellerman with 7,717 votes and Super-visor of Assessments Becky Winter with 7,392.For Congress in the 12th

District, Republican incum-bent Congressman Mike Bost trounced his Demo-cratic opponent Ray Lenzi by a large margin, accord-ing to several reports.“I could not be prouder of

the campaign we ran—a campaign focused on our record and our positive vi-sion for southern Illinois,” Bost said in a statement. “Congratulations to Ray Lenzi and his team for a hard-fought campaign. Serving the people of south-ern Illinois in Congress has

Voters fl ipped an Illinois state legislative seat that has been solid Democrat since the mid-1990s Tues-day, when Republican Da-vid Friess of Red Bud de-feated state Representative Nathan Reitz of Steeleville for the 116th House District seat.Unoffi cial vote totals show

Friess with 34,378 votes to Reitz’s 18,589.“I was absolutely fl oored

by the numbers,” Friess said late Tuesday night.Friess said Reitz called

him to concede around 9:30.Friess said he is grateful

for the massive support he received in southern Illinois.

“I look forward to rep-resenting them and the conservative southern Illi-nois values in Springfi eld,” Friess said.Friess ran two years ago

for the same seat against state Representative Jerry Costello II but lost in a race

that some observers said was much closer than ex-pected.Costello eventually re-

signed as state representa-tive to take a post with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. He is now the head of the Il-linois Department of Ag-riculture.Reitz was appointed in

2019 to fi ll Costello’s seat in the General Assembly.Costello himself was ap-

pointed to the seat in 2011 when Rep. Dan Reitz, Na-than Reitz’s father, re-signed. Dan Reitz was fi rst appointed to the seat in the mid-1990s following the death of Representative Terry Deering.

POLICECOUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020

Police blotter for the week

PAGE 2

Randolph countycourt dispositions

In Their Honor, We Will Not Be Open Monday, November 11

Ava • (618) 426-3303 • fnbava@fnbava.com

Purchased By The Courage Of Patriots Who

Have Served!

First Lieutenant Patrick KovicUnited States

Air Force

Love, Mom, Dad and Katie

Thank you for your service!

November 2017- Present

Serving Under Pacific Air Force Command

JBER - Anchorage, Alaska

Pole Barns

Mark Lambright, Owner

710 Sharp Rock Rd.Ava, IL 62907

KINKAIDBUILDERSLLC

Where Timely Service, Quality And Fair Pricing Meet

The following cases have been terminated from Randolph County circuit court.

Dylan Tomlin, aggra-vated battery, guilty, two years in prison, one year of mandatory su-pervised release.

David Babbitt of Spar-ta, possession of meth, dismissed.

Alex Gunter of Water-loo, resisting a peace of-fi cer, guilty, fi ne.

Steven Maki of Mur-physboro, retail theft, withhold judgment, court supervision, fi ne, restitution.

Juan Castro-Terraza of Murphysboro, bat-tery, guilty, fi ne.

Karl Williams of Steele-ville, disorderly conduct, withhold judgment, court supervision, fi ne.

A Du Quoin man was sentenced to prison in Perry County court last month.

Wayne Hurry, 45,

Krysalyn R. Brown, 31, of Perryville was arrested October 26 by the Randolph County Sheriff’s Offi ce for possession of meth. She was released by order of a judge.

**** William K. Smith,

44, of Chester was ar-rested October 27 by Chester police for driv-ing on a revoked li-cense. He posted bond.

****Dale A. Erxleben, 43,

of Sparta was arrested October 27 by Sparta police on a Randolph county warrant for pe-tition to revoke proba-tion. He was jailed.

****Kimberly M. Dick-

neite, 38, of Chester was arrested October 27 by Chester police on a Randolph County warrant for theft. She was jailed.

****Ronda K. LaRose,

42, of Chester was arrested October 28 by Chester police on a Randolph County warrant for failure to appear in court on an unlawful posses-sion of a controlled substance charge. She was jailed.

****Steve E. Williamson,

22, of Vergennes was arrested October 28 by Chester police for fail-ure to appear in court on a driving an unin-sured vehicle charge. He was released on a recognizance bond.

****Steven M. Loucks,

39, of Coulterville was arrested October 31 by Sparta police for unlawful possession of a controlled sub-stance with intent to deliver and on a Perry County warrant for meth delivery. He was jailed. Bond was set at $40,000.

****

Donald G. Hatley, 59, of Tilden was arrested October 28 by Tilden police for stalking. He was jailed.

****Pamela F. Kennedy,

56, of Sparta was ar-rested October 28 by Sparta police for DUI, illegal transportation of an alcoholic bev-erage and improper lane usage. She posted bond.

****Chyanne V. Haslett,

19, of Sparta was ar-rested October 28 by Sparta police on Ran-dolph County warrant for failure to appear in court on a warrant for resisting a peace offi cer and on a St. Clair county warrant for failure to appear in court on a posses-sion of stolen vehicle charge. She was re-leased on a recogni-zance bond.

**** John C. Krause, 43,

of Prairie du Rocher was arrested October 29 by Prairie du Ro-cher police on a Ran-dolph County warrant for theft. He posted bond.

****Karen L. Ramsey,

55, of Chester was ar-rested October 30 by Chester police on a Randolph County war-rant for theft.

She was released on a recognizance bond.

***Johnnie T. Williams,

51, of Sparta was ar-rested October 30 by Sparta police for do-mestic battery. He posted bond.

****Kent C. Gwin, 56, of

Percy was arrested October 30 by Steele-ville police on a Ran-dolph County warrant for stalking. He was jailed.

****

Ariel L. Robinson, 31, of Sparta was ar-rested October 31 by Sparta police for pos-session of meth and drug paraphernalia, driving an uninsured vehicle and driving on a suspended license. She was jailed.

****Robert P. Hender-

son, 48, of Smithton was arrested October 31 by Tilden police for possession of meth. He was jailed.

****Mandy D. Smith,

41, of Sparta was ar-rested November 1 by Coulterville police for domestic battery. She posted bond.

****Elizabeth R. Birch-

ler, 54, of Sparta was arrested October 25 by Sparta police for DUI. She posted bond.

****Kavon L. Hunter, 27,

of Sparta was arrested by Sparta police Octo-ber 31 for retail theft. He was given a notice to appear in court.

****Melissa A. Juenger,

31, of Sparta was ar-rested October 31 by Sparta police on a Washington County warrant for failure to appear in court on a dangerous drugs charge. She was jailed.

****Britny J. McCarrey,

28, of Sparta was ar-rested October 31 by Sparta police for driv-ing on a suspended li-cense. She was given a notice to appear in court.

****All persons arrested are considered innocent unless proven guilty in court.

****

Michelle David of Sparta, disorderly con-duct, court supervision, fi ne.

Allison Phillips of De Soto, possession of a hypodermic syringe, guilty, fi ne.

Amy Williams of Per-ryville, criminal dam-age to property, will not be prosecuted.

Robert Walsh of Wa-terloo, violation of or-der after served notice, guilty, fi ne.

Ervin Sanders of Red Bud, domestic battery, guilty, fi ne.

Joshua White of Red Bud, domestic battery, guilty, fi ne.

Blaine Knope of Coul-terville, DUI. withhold judgment, court su-pervision, fi ne, alcohol treatment.

One prison sentence in Perry County

was sentenced Octo-ber 21 to three years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of meth.

A 31-year-old Percy man was killed Sun-day evening when he was struck by a car in rural Percy.

According to the Randolph County Sheriff’s Offi ce, a call was received at 5:44 p.m. November 1 from Mary Polley, 47, of Steeleville.

Polley stated that

Pedestrian killed in rural Percy

she’d hit a deer on Lo-cust Road near Coolie Bottom Road.

Steeleville police were the fi rst to arrive on the scene, discover-ing that it was actually Degan Sanders of Per-cy who’d been hit.

Medical fi rst re-sponders were called but could not save Sanders, who died as a

result of his injuries.According to re-

ports, Sanders was walking west on Lo-cust Road after hunt-ing in that area when he was struck by Pol-ley’s westbound ve-hicle.

The sheriff’s offi ce reported that the ac-cident remains under investigation.

14 Westwood DriveSteeleville • 965-3323

Before you head out on a road trip,

Tune-Ups ~ Oil ChangesA/C & Heating RepairsTransmissions ~ Tires

3D AlignmentsBrakes & More

Radiator & Gerald’s

Automotive

See us for atune-up

and tires!

From Dents And DingsTo Major Collision Repair

715 West Broadway • Steeleville618-965-2886

Jim Gasser, Owner - 30 Years Experinece

All Insurance Work WelcomeFree Estimates

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 3

Perfect for everyone on your gift list

*No purchase fee Nov. 1-Dec. 31, 2020. Minimum card value $10. Maximum card value $1,000. Monthly inactivity fee of $2.95 after 12 consecutive months of inactivity. Lost/stolen replacement card

fee of $5.00. Refer to Terms & Conditions for applicable fees. Prepaid MasterCard cards are issued by MetaBank, Member FDIC. TM

FNB Gift Cards are available in various amounts and can be used wherever

debit cards are accepted.

No Purchase Fee* Nov. 1 thru Dec. 31, 2020

vv.. 11 3311,, 22

(618)965-3441Sparta Banking Center • Percy Banking Center

www.bankatfnb.com

FNBGIFT

CARDS

Randolph County State’s Attorney Jere-my Walker announced October case updates.

All cases were heard by Judge Richard Brown unless other-wise noted.Randy Pelate

Randy M. Pelate, 42, of Prairie du Rocher was sentenced October 15 to two years of fi rst-offender probation, with a condition to seek substance abuse counseling.

Pelate pleaded guilty to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth during a June 28 traffi c stop in Prairie du Rocher.

A charge of driving while license revoked was dismissed.

“Randy was a fi rst of-fender and was given the life ring we throw people when they fi nd themselves in this situ-ation. It will be up to Randy to put the ring safely around him and paddle back to sobri-ety,” Walker said. “I hope he can, but if he can’t, IDOC has a tre-mendous meth treat-ment program in East St. Louis we can try the next time.

“The revoked charge we dismissed was from the same arrest but was only a Class 4 felony, as opposed to the Class 3 felony he pled to, which is more severe.”Trevor Heape

Trevor N. Heape, 24, of Du Quoin was sen-tenced October 16 to two years in prison.

Heape admitted to a September 30, 2019 theft in which he stole an ATV in Steeleville.

Walker said Heape had an accomplice in the crime, whose name has not yet been re-leased.Shelby Tucker

Shelby R. Tucker, 23, of Baldwin was sen-tenced October 19 to two years of fi rst-of-fender probation, with a condition to seek substance abuse coun-seling.

Tucker admitted to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth during a June 7 traffi c stop in Sparta.Lucas Hartmann

Lucas J. Hartmann, 24, of Springfi eld was sentenced October 20 to 30 months of proba-tion.

Hartmann admitted to a December 29, 2018 attempted burglary in Red Bud.

Walker said he had originally planned to seek a prison sen-tence in the case but changed his mind.

“The presentence report revealed Lucas had recently moved from the area, was successfully complet-ing drug counseling, attained a job, and his signifi cant other is ex-pecting a child in the near future,” Walker said. “No items were actually taken in the vehicles Lucas tried to enter on December 29, 2018, and a small quantity of prescrip-tion drugs was located on his person, leaving me to believe drugs played a role in his ac-tions.

“I wish Lucas well but will be sitting here for the next 30 months with a different plan if he does not perform as we hope.”Andria Fullington

Andria L. Fulling-

ton, 30, of Chester was sentenced October 21 by Judge Gene Gross to fi ve years in prison, with a recommenda-tion to complete the boot camp program.

Fullington admitted to selling fewer than fi ve grams of meth to a confi dential inform-ant July 29 in Chester.

“Ms. Fullington had no priors before this incident, but I am a fi rm believer, and the courts seem to back the position, that if you deal meth and get caught, you go to prison. I fi rmly believe that is the right mes-sage to send, and I am pleased to see Ms. Ful-lington pay a price for her business venture,” Walker said. “I am not naïve enough to think we can stop this meth epidemic simply by locking people up, but I do think it will stop some people from sell-ing this poison when they see their fellow entrepreneurs going to prison for doing so.”Jason Coulson

Jason M. Coulson, 35, of Sparta was sen-tenced October 21 to two years of fi rst-of-fender probation with a condition to seek substance abuse coun-seling.

Coulson admitted to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth during a June 12 traf-fi c stop in Sparta.Shawn Pearson

Shawn A. Pearson, 35, of Marion was sen-tenced to two years of probation and ordered to seek substance abuse counseling.

Pearson admitted to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth dur-ing an August 2 traffi c stop in Chester.

Walker said Pearson had a felony conviction in 2011 but nothing for the past nine years.

“One of the hot top-ics people hear about in the criminal justice system are drug courts. While we do not have a drug court by name, it is always our fi rst goal in a simple possession case to get people help, even if they have been in trouble in the past,” Walker said. “The prob-lem, in my opinion, with a drug court is they do everything they can to keep one out of prison, even when they continue to violate pro-bation.

“That is simply unac-ceptable to me, as there must be a consequence for not completing pro-bation. If you take away the hammer of going to IDOC—again, in my opinion—it defeats the entire purpose of the criminal justice sys-tem.”Austin McCormick

Austin M. McCor-mick, 27, of Chester was sentenced October 22 to one year in Ran-dolph County Jail.

McCormick admit-ted to possessing few-er than fi ve grams of meth during an August 8 traffi c stop in Chester.

Walker said McCor-mick had a prior felony and a pending charge in Missouri, which made it a close call to advocate for a prison sentence. However, he is a trustee of the jail, and jail staff said they are pleased with his work ethic.

“For that reason, we decided to have Austin help us out downstairs

for the next year, which equates to a three-year IDOC sentence,” Walk-er said. “Furthermore, many will argue our jail is a less pleasant place to do time than IDOC. While I will take people’s word on that, it is for sure not a slap on the wrist to be locked up for the next year. This prolonged period of sobriety should get Austin’s mind right.”Amy Hickam

Amy L. Hickam, 44, of Gorham was sentenced October 22 to two years of second-chance proba-tion with a condition to seek substance abuse counseling.

Hickam admitted to possessing between fi ve and 15 grams of meth during a March 16 traf-fi c stop in Chester.

The charge was re-duced from a charge of 15-100 grams of meth.

“Ms. Hickam had no priors before this inci-dent but had approxi-mately 16 grams of meth on her when she was arrested. Certainly more than we usually see,” Walker said. “How-ever, this meth was in liquid form, which will show a higher weight because the water used to dissolve the meth is counted in the weight.

“We had no evidence of sales or knowledge of her being a seller of meth. For that reason, I agreed to reduce the charge down to under 15 grams, which was only 1 gram less than the actu-al weight, which made her eligible for a second-chance probation.”Ayla Jones

Ayla M. Jones, 28, of Sparta was sentenced October 23 by Gross to one year in prison.

Jones pleaded guilty in 2018 to a criminal trespass to a residence that occurred in Sparta July 23 of that year.

Jones missed her sen-tencing hearing and was sent to prison on a St. Clair County charge.

“I initially thought about placing Ayla on probation, as she has al-ready been to IDOC, and we could keep a ham-mer over her head for up to 30 more months. However, I decided to let her choose between go-ing back to IDOC for a brief stint or try to com-plete probation for at least two years,” Walker said. “Ayla chose IDOC, and I think it was the better choice.”Essex Knapp

Essex S. Knapp, 32, of Sparta was sentenced October 26 by Gross to two years of fi rst-offend-er probation, with a con-dition to seek substance abuse counseling.

Knapp admitted to possessing fewer than fi ve grams of meth, seized by Steeleville po-lice during a June 16 property retrieval in Percy.

“Essex was trying to retrieve property from a person he resided with for a period of time but forgot to remove his meth pipe from his pocket while interact-ing with the Steeleville offi cer who was super-vising the exchange,” Walker said. “Essex has a prior felony for failing to register as a sex of-fender but no prior drug cases.

“We end this round of updates as we started: meth possession.

“If (meth) is good for one thing, it would be job security.”

Randolph case updates

Is Your Car In Need Of

Body Work?Trust Us For Quality Auto Repairs

Kenny10712 Country Club Road • Sparta • 618-443-3511

CollisionCentre

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

Make An Appointment Online At

www.MevertAuto.com

Half Price Oil Changes & a FREE Wash & Vacuum For Veterans

We Welcome VETERANS To Come In And Get A Half Price Oil Change On

Call Ahead To Schedule.

Limited NumberAvailable

River StagesMississippi At Chester

Flood Stage 27 Ft.

Editorial Staff: Larry Willis

Travis Lott | Dan ZobelOPINIONSCOUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 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-

lished. A telephone number is also required for verification. Letters and news items are published at the discretion of the editors. All copy will be edited. The County Journal does not publish poetry.

Classified advertising must be prepaid except for es-tablished accounts. Political and certain other advertising must be prepaid.

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.

Some of the views expressed on this page are not neces-sarily those of the County Journal, its management or staff.

County Journal(USPS 549-110)

is published weekly on Thursdays for 75¢ each issue,$28 per year in Randolph, Perry and Jackson counties and Marissa. $30 per year in Illinois, $35 per year elsewhere, by County Journal, Box 369, 1101 East Pine, Percy, Illinois, 62272. Periodicals postage paid at Percy, Illinois.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to County Journal, Box 369, 1101 East Pine, Percy, Illinois 62272.

Sending letters

Send letters to the editor to the Coun-ty Journal, P0 Box 369, Percy, IL 62272. They can also be faxed to 497-2607 or emailed to cjour-nal@egyptian.net.

By MarthaPeeblesA Musing View®

By MattMeachamObscurity’s Magnet

Letters to the editor

We were all ready for HalloweenKids and adults

needed some fun timeIt was obvious that

the people of the area were restless and ready to get out and about this Halloween, and it made for a fun holiday.Chester held its first

drive-thru trunk or treat at Cole Memo-rial Park Friday night, and to say it was suc-cessful would be a gross understatement.

Thousands of people in more than 700 cars flocked to the park, and some waited in line for over an hour and a half to drive their kids through to get candy and other treats.Every city depart-

ment had a vehicle there to give out can-

dy, as well as many private citizens who volunteered their time.Those who helped

with the celebration deserve huge kudos for making the event fun for everyone.Evansville also put

on a neat little pa-rade of decorated, and some lighted, UTVs as a fundraiser for the fire department, which lost its popular Haunted Woods this year due to the coro-

navirus outbreak.In spite of the virus,

trunk or treat events sponsored by civic or-ganizations also went on as planned, as did traditional trick or treating. Many people took advantage of the nice weather Hallow-een night to gather around firepits while waiting for costumed creatures of all ages to arrive for their candy.While this pandemic

has been tough on everyone, we some-

times forget what this has been like for our kids. They are miss-ing out on all of their favorite parts of the year, such as vaca-tions, town carnivals, seeing their friends regularly or just go-ing to school. So when those kids

were able to dress up and go get treats, it was a big deal to them. The smiles on their faces said it all.While safety is al-

ways priority and masks and social dis-tancing are still nec-essary, it was nice to see kids get out of the house and feel normal for a change—they needed that.

Bootheels, panhandles and glovesIsn’t it endearing to

hear parts of our country’s geography referred to as common everyday things, such as boot heels, pan han-dles or gloves?Except for wear-

ing them, rarely does the weather channel mention gloves when speaking of Michigan. You hear about the Up-per Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula but not the Upper Glove or the Lower Thumb. Possibly Michiganders don’t like living in a state that resembles a mitten. Louisiana looks like

a boot, but I haven’t heard it called the boot state for quite a while. Speaking of boots, I

dug out my boots the other day from the up-per peninsula of the closet. It seems boot weather is finally here, and the time for going sockless and putting on sandals has passed.Somehow, wearing

boots always makes me feel good, like a pi-

rate or maybe Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, that

superior edge quickly faded when I lost one of my boot heels while at work. It is quite hum-bling to walk around with one side of your body two inches short-er than the other. I looked like a pirate all right, but more like the wooden-legged Long John Silver than the dapper Captain Mor-gan. In the south, folks

love to frequently drop the word panhandle. So do the cowboys in Texas, as it seems both states have so-called panhandles. A panhandle is de-

fined as a long nar-row strip of land that projects from the main body of an area. Under that definition, many states besides Florida and Texas have pan-handles. These include Idaho, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Alaska. Even Nebraska has sort of a sawed-off han-

dle.Most of us in southern

Illinois are familiar with the bootheel in Missouri. The bootheel is composed of Dunk-lin, New Madrid and Pemiscot counties. What you might not

be familiar with is the bootheel in New Mexi-co, which is a sparsely populated area. It is best known for cat-tle ranching and the former Phelps Dodge mining town of Playas, which is now a train-ing facility for the U.S. Department of Home-land Security. To my surprise, I was

mistaken about Michi-gan. After doing some research, I found that these folks are really playing up the mitten theme. If you go online and

Google Michigan Mit-ten, you will find a wealth of parapherna-lia. They have T-shirts, cutting boards, wooden lawn furniture, hats and all sorts of mitten-shaped decals. My fa-

vorite Michigan logo is one designed for lovers that reads: Smitten in the Mitten. There is even a stacking ster-ling silver ring featur-ing both upper and lower peninsulas.Not to be outdone,

Louisiana carries the slogan: Keep Louisi-ana Beautiful, Love the Boot, Don’t Pollute!Missouri makes the

most of its bootheel, too. Bootheel logos are used from tractor sales and catering to in-home nursing care.Getting back to my

own boot heel. Bill is now in the process of supergluing the thing back on. You see, I love these boots. They have adapted to my large, overdeveloped calves and are amazingly comfortable. Possibly, if the glue

doesn’t work, I will just have him remove the heel from the other boot—better a short pirate than no pirate at all.

Add parents’names pleaseEditor, County Journal: It is certainly nice

in this day and age of so much bad news that the County Jour-nal takes the time to report so much good news, giving credit to the outstanding accomplishments of the young people of our own community, but what would be even nicer would be at least a one-sentence acknowledgement in those articles who the parents are.It could be as simple

as the son or daughter of Jane Doe and/or John Smith.First of all, not eve-

ry reader personally knows all the young people of the entire community, but many are the same age as and know the parents, so they would know more who the article is about, making it much more interest-ing reading. Secondly and most

importantly, those out-standing youngsters, including athletes, and business peo-ple, such as Korey’s Crops, weren’t born outstanding, and at least acknowledging the parents gives a little credit to all the hard work and effort they put into helping

that young person be newsworthy.

Thank you for your consideration.

Jim Dilday Rockwood

I like PeeblesEditor, County Journal:I just finished read-

ing A Musing View by Martha Peebles. What a delight to

read something like this! Keep up the good work, Martha. I’m a little tired of

all the political stuff in all the letters to the editor.

Irene NeffMarissa

RebuttalEditor, County Journal: I would like to ad-

dress the misnomer of taxing corporate America is good for the middle class. Yes it is, and you do not need a master’s de-gree in economics to understand that it does. When taxes are not high enough on the groups with the highest amount of overall wealth, it then becomes the burden of the middle class to make up for all those lost tax dollars. Sub-sidizing corporate America I am sure is not what me and any-one else has signed

up for. Expecting your tax

dollars to go back to things that actually support the citizens of this state (country) should not be some strange alien concept; it should be the norm. So now you see they may pay our salaries (and definitely barely on that front) we also end up paying for eve-rything else because they with everything, don’t want to give any-thing back to the peo-ple that make that happen.I cannot state enough

how much I agree that small businesses have had it rough. Surely you understand the difference between small spaces with poor ventilation and no masks (How do you eat and drink with one on?) over a large gathering of masked people in the wide open ventilated space of nature. So again if you truly care about small local businesses, do your part to help them out, frequent their establishments and tip them as much as you are able to. Yeah places have

crime, but I do not think I agree with your general thought pattern of shrugging and saying, “Oh well.” I am not saying choke off people from be-

ing able to buy fire-arms, given that Illi-nois laws are probably OK where they are or maybe could even use a little bit less restric-tion. So while I would im-

agine that the citi-zens of Illinois can purchase firearms if they chose to (I know this because I have purchased firearms), I just always found it disingenuous to use Chicago as a reason for saying what we have does not work. Yes I do hope the peo-

ple of southern Illinois do open their eyes and think for themselves. Yes taxes are a burden but that just means it’s up to the people to put pressure on those elected to make sure they transparently spend on the people and not subsidizing those who already have more than we could know. The Re-publican Party always has the moniker of the party of freedom, but for some reason are trying to make their platforms the ones that tell people what they can and cannot do, which to me seems the polar opposite of freedom. So again yes hope-

fully the people of southern Illinois will have children and grandchildren grow-ing up with progres-sive policies of fully funded public ser-vices, healthcare and education and better pay. Because when you look at Repub-lican strategies for anything, it looks like they got all their infor-mation from Fox News and Facebook memes, and I believe the peo-ple of southern Illinois and the U.S. deserve better.

Chris RaneyBelleville

My friends at the County Journal suggested to me that Obscurity’s Magnet readers

might welcome a break from politics this month. They might have a point, so here’s a column about music. It’s possible that there’s some political commen-

tary concealed among the musical commentary, but I’ll let you decide whether to go looking for it.About 50 years ago, late 1970 and early 1971, was

a time of transition for several musicians whose work I especially admire. A monumental era in the history of the Cleve-

land Orchestra concluded with the passing of conductor George Szell, who joined the orchestra in 1946. He became famous for achieving excep-tional technical standards but infamous for the methods by which he did so. Szell’s tenure was characterized by the orches-

tra’s transformation from a respectable regional outfit into arguably the most proficient orches-tra in the United States and a worthy rival to its counterparts in Vienna, Berlin and Amsterdam, as well as the conductor’s micromanagement and mercilessness. Whether the former occurred because of the latter or in spite of it is debatable. In either case, under Szell’s baton, the Cleveland musicians played with extraordinary rhythmic precision and meticulous ensemble coordina-tion without sacrificing expressive nuance or robustness of tone. They performed and recorded relentlessly.During the last year of Szell’s life, the orches-

tra toured Japan, South Korea and Alaska, and it produced albums featuring Brahms’s Violin Concerto and symphonies, including those by Schubert, Bruckner and Tchaikovsky. After Szell died in July 1970, the Cleveland

Orchestra’s style changed significantly, yet it maintained its world-class stature with the lead-ership of conductors Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi and current director Franz Welser-Möst. Just three weeks ago, a New York Times feature

article about the orchestra’s resumption of its recording activity after a long hiatus proclaimed, “The Cleveland Orchestra is America’s finest, still.” Still, as the same article indicates, Szell’s legacy casts a long shadow. Although Booker T. & the M.G.’s and the Cleve-

land Orchestra with George Szell were obviously very different ensembles, there were similarities. Each developed a distinctive, recognizable sound. Each occupied a prominent position in the musi-cal landscape of a mid-American city; and each recorded prolifically. Founded in 1962, the M.G.’s were an interracial

rhythm-and-blues band featuring organist and pianist Booker T. Jones, drummer Al Jackson, guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Lewie Stein-berg, who was replaced in 1965 by Donald “Duck” Dunn. Known for such inventive instrumental com-

positions as “Green Onions,” “Hip Hug-Her” and “Time Is Tight,” they also served as the primary studio band for Memphis-based Stax Records, recording with such musicians as Carla Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave and Otis Redding. The untimely death of Redding, Stax’s foremost

star, in a 1967 airplane crash, was one of several major setbacks experienced by the young record-ing company. Stax also endured a dispute with Atlantic Records, which distributed many of its products, resulting in the loss of much of its catalogue. The company was also deeply affected by the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 at the nearby Lorraine Motel, where Stax recording artists had often stayed and rehearsed. It changed the atmosphere within Stax’s record-ing studio, which had been an oasis of inter-racial friendship and cooperation in a desert of segregation. To try to overcome its misfortunes, Stax dramat-

ically increased its output, producing recordings at a feverish pace. That effort proved successful, but it took a toll on Booker T. & the M.G.’s, who found the company’s increasingly assembly-line-like recording procedures exhausting and stifling of their creativity. They recorded their last album, Melting Pot,

in late 1970 and released it in January 1971. Although various configurations of the band have performed and recorded occasionally since then, that marked the end of the classic lineup of Booker T. & the M.G.’s, whose tonally rich, rhythmically intricate, remarkably polyphonic arrangements had contributed substantially to the evolution of Southern soul. Well, to borrow from the title of one of Booker

T.’s original compositions, I see that space is tight, so I’ll save my discussion of two other musicians whose career trajectories changed in 1970-71 – both of whom have ties to our region – for next month.Questions? Comments? Contact magnetob-

scure@gmail.com.

Symphony and Booker T & The MG’s

Oct. 29 .............. 9.05Oct. 30 ...............10.2Oct. 31 ...............10.3Nov. 01 .............. 9.08Nov. 02 ............. 9.06Nov. 03 ............. 8.08Nov. 04 ............. 8.08

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 5

Bauersachs witnessed tragedy...from Page 1__________

Dirt For SaleRoad & Driveway Rock

RED DOT826-4045

RED DOT

All Sizes Rock • Tailgate Spread

CONSTRUCTION 30-YardTrash Dumpsters

Available

Republicans gain offices...from Page 1___________been the honor of a lifetime, and I thank the people of this dis-trict for giving me the honor of representing them for another two years in Congress.”

Voters in both Ran-dolph and Perry coun-ties roundly rejected Democrats in the presi-dential and U.S. Senate races.

Pres ident Donald Trump took Randolph County with more than 73 percent of the vote and Perry County with more than 72 percent.

Republican Senate

candidate Mark Cur-ran Jr. won in Perry and Randolph counties with more than 64 per-cent each.

Jackson County Dem-ocrats held onto all but one county offi ce on the ballot.

Incumbent State’s At-torney Michael Carr, a Democrat, lost to Re-publican challenger Joe Cervantez 11,541 to 10,294.

Democrat incumbent Circuit Clerk Cindy Svanda won easily over Green Party candidate Jess ica Bradshaw.

There was no Republi-can opposition. Svanda polled 14,327 votes to Bradshaw’s 5,641.

The closest race in Jackson County was for coroner. Democrat Dr. Thomas Kupferer, the incumbent, defeated Alex Crawshaw. Kup-ferer received 10,974 votes to Crawshaw’s 10,804.

In the only other con-tested race, Democrat Liz Hunter received 11,236 votes to Jason Svanda’s 10,551.

Jackson County Clerk Frank Byrd said some

mail-in and provisional ballots remain to be counted, but he said it was his opinion that there are not enough uncounted ballots to change the outcome of any of the races.

Jackson County vot-ers also gave their nod to Biden for president and Durbin for U.S. Senate.

Terri Bryant ran un-opposed for Illinois Sen-ate, and Paul Jacobs won the seat Bryant had held in the Illinois House. Both are Repub-licans.

Percy sewer district meeting...from Page 1______ville’s cost of replace-ment would be twice that amount.

He said the work that is needed on each plant would have a signif-icant impact on sew-er rates in each com-munity, and each town could face hefty fi nes if its sewer plant fails to meet EPA regulations.

Buchheit then point-ed out how a sewer dis-trict could reduce over-all annual costs for both towns.

In Percy’s case, im-provements or replace-ment of the plant, debt service and operations would cost Percy an es-timated $259,000 a year.

Steeleville’s estimate for the same items is $593,000 a year.

Buchheit estimates the cost to a combined sewer district would be $711,000 a year, which would be a savings of about $141,000.

Alan Farris, who is

Steeleville’s attorney, said a legal action has begun but is far from complete to let vot-ers decide next April if a district should be formed.

A panel of three cir-cuit court judges must still hold a hearing, at which residents with-in the boundaries of the proposed district can testify and certify the question to be placed on the election ballot.

If voters approve forming the district, a three-member board of trustees would be ap-pointed by the Ran-dolph County Board of Commissioners and include two members from one town and one from the other.

All existing sewer lines and equipment would be transferred from each town to the sewer district.

“(The sewer district) operates on its own,”

Farris said. “At some point, the individual towns would be out of the sewer business.”

Just like now, resi-dents would be billed monthly for sewer ser-vice, but the district would also have the au-thority to impose a tax, which would show up on annual property tax bills.

Some Percy residents in the audience were cynical.

“How can Percy get out of it?” asked Tom Walters.

“You can convince the court to change the boundaries or vote no,” Farris said.

In response to an-other question, Buch-heit said if the district is formed, Percy’s sew-er plant and lagoons would eventually be closed and reclaimed. Sewage from Percy would be pumped di-rectly to Steeleville’s

current sewer plant, which would be ex-panded.

Buchheit said Steele-ville would be the site of the treatment plant because it has the nec-essary room.

Ken Bilderback asked if Steeleville’s plant is located in a fl oodplain.

Buchheit said enough of Steeleville’s available ground is outside the fl oodplain to handle the plant expansion.

“It looks like every-body’s mind is made up,” Walters said.

Percy town board member Jan Byrd ex-pressed his support for the plan.

“It’s time to look for-ward, not back,” Byrd said.

Buchheit said more public meetings on the proposed district will be held, probably in February or March, be-fore next spring’s elec-tion.

State income tax amendment losesIt appears that the

Illinois graduated in-come tax proposal has been shut down.

With just over 4.9 million votes received, more than 2.7 mil-lion, or 55 percent of the vote, were against the proposal, which would have changed the state’s income tax from a fl at rate to a graduated tax.

T h i s p r o p o s e d amendment to the Il-linois Constitution re-

quired approval from 60 percent of people voting on the measure or a simple majority of all voters, includ-ing those who did not answer the question on their ballots.

As of Wednesday morning, 98 percents of precincts had re-ported statewide.

In Randolph and Per-ry counties, 78 percent of voters were against the cons t i tu t iona l amendment.

The vote totals were c loser in Jackson County, where just 56 percent of voters said no.

Sparta taxadvisoryquestion

Voters in Sparta vehe-mently voted against a proposed public safety tax that would have increased local sales taxes by .25 percent.

The question received 1,316 votes against the tax, or 68 percent of

the votes cast.This question was

simply an advisory one, put on the bal-lot by the Sparta City Council.

The council still has the power to revisit the issue.

One of the reasons the question was posed is that the council is attempting to fi nd an avenue to potentially fund the purchase of body cameras for the police department.

GOP judge wins state Supreme CourtRepublican Judges

Mark Boie and David Overstreet took home victories November 3.

Overstreet earned a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court by de-

feating Democrat Judy Cates.

Unoffi cial totals had Overstreet with 358,455 votes to Cates’ 212,512.

Overstreet, who had been serving on the

bench of the Illinois 5th Appellate Court Dis-trict, replaces Justice Lloyd Karmeier, who is stepping down.

Boie will take a seat on the 5th Appellate

Court District.He toppled Democrat

Sarah Smith by unof-fi cial vote numbers of 340,030 to 226,108.

Boie fi lls the seat of Melissa Ann Chapman.

error caused a fatal mistake. Instead of fi ve bags of powder, seven bags were loaded. The shell overshot its tar-get by more than 1,800 yards, landing smack in the middle of the encampment of troops.

“That shell came in less than a quarter of a mile from where I was sitting and hit in these other boys’ camp, where they had just fi nished eating break-fast,” Bauersachs said.

The massive shell went through one tent, hit the ground in the second tent and explod-ed, sending shrapnel through a third tent and shredding it.

According to a report from the Army, 13 of the 18 soldiers in that second tent were killed instantly.

Bauersachs said his second lieutenant came running out of the tent when he heard the sound and had Bauer-sachs drive him to the scene.

Bauersachs said heli-copters and medics arrived.

“They picked them boys up in pieces,” Bau-ersachs said.

Bauersachs said the accident was the sub-ject of extensive inves-tigation by the Army, and safety became something that was pushed much more vigorously afterward.

“A lot of them boys were 18, 19, 20 years old,” Bauersachs said. “It took a while to get over it.”

Bauersachs said he didn’t personally know

any of the boys who were killed in the ac-cident, as they were in another group of the approximately 200,000 servicemen stationed in Germany at the time.

Bauersachs said the encampment had to move on from the trag-edy, and a few months later, he would get to go home.

Bauersachs was made an acting three-stripe sergeant the next month, in October of 1960, and was put in charge of training drivers.

On the last day of Jan-uary 1961, Bauersachs was told by his com-manding offi cers that he would be allowed to keep the three stripes if he stayed another three years. If not, he would move back to an E4.

“I said I’m leaving February 3, and I’m go-ing home,” Bauersachs said.

After spending a birthday, two Thanks-givings, two Christ-mases and two New Years in Germany, he left in February, board-ing a ship that took nine days to return to New York.

He arrived home Feb-ruary 13 at about 7:30 that night.

Bauersachs had a girlfriend, Mildred, waiting on him at home. They had dated for two years before Bauersachs entered the service.

The two wrote let-ters throughout his two years in the Army.

They were married July 28, 1961.

They had three chil-dren, Doug in October 1964, Dwayne in Octo-ber 1965 and Diane in May of 1968.

The couple raised their family on Bauersach’s ancestral land, prop-erty that his grandpar-ents purchased, where Bauersachs was born.

Bauersachs and his wife managed an 80-acre farm, where he still lives.

After 53 years of mar-riage, Mildred died in 2015.

At times, Bauersachs gets emotional looking back on his time in the service, especially when he thinks of what it meant to his wife.

“I was glad to serve my country,” Bauer-sachs said, choking up. “I done it in peace time. A lot of guys had to do it in war time.

“When me and her

went to a meeting or a dinner, and it asked that all veterans stand up and be recognized—she was so proud of me being a veteran.

“She’d poke me and say, ‘Get up, get up.’ I’d say, ‘I will in a min-ute.’ She was so proud I served them two years.”

The love Bauersachs feels for his late wife is apparent.

“I was proud of her for thinking that much of me,” Bauer-sachs said. “She never dated nobody all that time I was gone. I nev-er dated nobody while I was in the service.

“That’s why our mar-riage lasted as long as it did, because we loved each other. She was a wonderful person.

“I still think about all them boys who got killed who never got to make it back home.”

Lt. Col. Thompson Raney, the commanding offi cer of the 16 killed in the accident, is shown standing at the memorial in this Spearhead newspaper photo from September 9, 1960.

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 6

By Travis LottAnother meeting of

the Kinkaid-Reed’s Creek Conservancy Board was held last week to discuss con-tingency plans for the removal of the mari-na’s concessionaires.

The board voted last month to terminate the contract with the concessionaires after it was discovered that the concessionaire group, DAR Kinkaid Investors, collateral-ized the marina’s prop-erties in order to get a loan for the more than $1 million needed to purchase the contract. That loan was taken out with MRV Bank in Cape Girardeau.

The contract that the concessionaires signed states that the marina properties cannot be collateral-ized without consent of the conservancy district board.

District board mem-bers, as well as the board’s attorney, have argued that collater-alizing the property gives the bank the power to tear out ma-rina property if the concessionaires de-fault on the loan.

The concessionaires have since argued that the contract is confusing and that they should be al-lowed to collateralize the property.

When the contract was terminated, the conservancy district board told the conces-sionaires that they had until December 30 to fi nd someone to buy them out or to va-cate the premises.

Since the termina-tion of the contract, a vocal group of citi-zens have become ac-tive in the conservan-cy district’s meetings and have started peti-tions in support of the marina owners.

Many of those citi-zens attended the board meeting Octo-ber 28.

Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens attend-ed the meeting and asked that the board

try to come to a com-promise with the con-cessionaires.

“If peace can be found, I think that’s better than confl ict,” Stephens said. “I real-ize legal matters have to be considered, but I encourage the board to look at the totality of the situation.”

Rob Bates was the fi rst member of the public to speak.

Bates has been one of the most vocal sup-porters of DAR since the beginning of the confl ict.

“I’m not sure what there is to gain by ending this contract,” Bates said.

Bates said DAR has brought new life to the marina, and he has enjoyed his time there since they have taken over.

“Quite frankly, it’s the best it’s ever been,” Bates said.

Bates said he would like to see the contract rewritten to keep DAR in the marina.

Attorney Ed Hel-ler had previously said that anytime the board discussed re-writing portions of the contract, DAR members saw it as an opportunity to negoti-ate different terms.

However, Heller said the collateraliza-tion of the property was never something the board has been willing to negotiate.

Tonya Knust said she has seen new peo-ple travel to the ma-rina in the past year, and the place is alive again.

“You have a room full of people sup-porting these marina owners,” Knust said. “Let’s take a chance on the bank maybe someday coming in and taking back the collateral.”

Tim Rogers, anoth-er vocal supporter of DAR, said the marina infrastructure could be removed from the property anyway due to the contract termi-nation.

“You guys made the

comment that if the bank would come in and take it over, then they’d rip out all the infrastructure; you’d have to start over from ground zero,” Rogers said. “Howev-er, if they don’t fi nd a suitable buyer by the end of the year, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

After public com-ment, a motion was made to enter execu-tive session.

However, board member Ken Carr asked if the board could allow someone from the public into the executive session in order to make it more transparent.

Board member Chuck Novara clari-fi ed that whoever en-ters executive session with the board should be allowed into only a portion of that ses-sion, as there were other sensitive mat-ters to discuss.

It was decided that Stephens and Jackson County board Chair-man Keith Larkin be allowed into the meet-ing.

After executive ses-sion, board President Steve McGriff read a prepared statement regarding contingen-cy plans for the ma-rina.

“As we stated in our last meeting, there is a possibility that there will be some disrup-tion of services and fa-cilities,” McGriff said.

McGriff said the board is seeking alter-native ways to secure the boats if the boat docks are removed.

“If it becomes neces-sary to do so, we will have a suitable method developed to do that,” McGriff said. “We know the public that uses the lake is con-cerned.

“It is our commit-ment that whatever disruptions occur, we will handle the prob-lems as rapidly as possible and have ser-vices and facilities re-stored as fast as pos-sible.”

Public speaks to boardabout Kinkaid marina

First National Bank of Ava will be participating in the

P.O. Box 98 • Ava • 618-426-3303 • fnbava@fnbava.com

Be an Angel to a child in need.

Stop by and grab a tag off the tree.

Angel Tree

PROGRAM

Ebbler, Inc.103 S. Second St. • Percy • (618) 497-8341

Honor our Nation’s fi nest.

Remember them on Veterans Day,

November 11.

Steeleville High School held a mock election November 2 to teach students about voting.

A voting booth was created to simulate the voting experience, and students voted with ballots from Randolph County.

Some students also met with state Repre-sentative Terri Bryant, who is running unop-posed for the state sen-

ate seat.The mock election

was organized by Eng-lish teacher Michelle Mohr and history teacher Nick Gibson.

The results of the mock election are as follows: No on the fair tax amendment. The winners were Presi-dent Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Mark Curran, Congressman Mike Bost, state Sena-tor Terri Bryant, state

Representative Nathan Reitz, Circuit Clerk Julie Jany-Carnahan, State’s Attorney Jer-emy Walker, Coroner Carlos Barbour, county Commissioner Ron-nie White, Illinois Su-preme Court 5th Dis-trict, David Overstreet and Appellate Court 5th District, Mark Boie. Judges Thomas Welch, James Campan-ella and Stephen McG-lynn were retained.

Sophomore Dalton Prange fi lls out his ballot at the voting booth in the hallway at Steeleville High School.

SHS holds mock election

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 7

Newest statueThe 16th statue on Chester’s Popeye Character Trail was unveiled Sat-urday morning. Toar, the 20,000-year-old caveman who lived so long by drinking from the Pool of Never Die, was revealed at the St. Nicholas Landmark near the Mississippi River to a crowd of dozens of bicyclists who gathered at the Landmark for the Cannonball bike ride. From left are Michael McClure, Landmark owner Tom Welge, Landmark manager Abby Ancell and Mayor Tom Page.

3030 State St. • Chester • 826-1400www.manoratcraigfarms.com

The Manor At Craig Farms

Leonard DierksArmy

Floyd MorganNational Guard

James JeremiahArmy

Jack WatsonAirforce

Robert BerryNavy

An Affordable, Assisted Lifestyle Community For Senior Adults

For their courage, hard work and dedication to theircountry, we salute our resident veterans and the menand women

of our armed forces past and present. It is because of their sacrifice that America remains the land of the free, and we thank

them for protecting our citizens and our country.

SALUTING OURVETERANS

VETERANS’ BENEFITS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY.

ELLIS GROVE TOWN BOARD

BBQ restaurant and beauty shop to open

By Dan ZobelFrom barbecue and

marijuana to bow and arrows and a beauty shop, there was plenty of discussion November 2 at the Ellis Grove vil-lage board meeting.

Ryan and Clara Wal-temate want to open a barbecue restaurant in the village at 108 S. Main, but the preferred property is zoned resi-dential.

Clara said they have been in contact with the zoning offi ce, and zoning wanted to know if the city would allow on-street parking, as there is no parking lot. She said they were told that they should have one spot for every table they set up.

The board voiced no problems with allowing parking on the street.

Trustee Glenn McCoy added that from the corner of the street to the Waltemate proper-ty, there should be more than enough space.

“We just want to make sure there is no resist-ance from the village before going back to zoning,” Clara said.

In another zoning matter, Kim Rollet re-ported that she has been told she is good to go for her beauty shop business at East 1st Street.

Rollet and her hus-band were told that the business can be oper-ated out of their prop-erty without getting it zoned commercial.

There is an estimated cost of $2,300 to run water and sewer lines underneath the street to the beauty shop.

After an extensive discussion about pay-ment and the timeline of work, the Rollets agreed to pay half up front. Then monthly payments will be sched-uled, with the balance to be paid within one year.

Mayor Brandy Mill-er asked Clerk Linda Butler to have village attorney Jeff Kerk-hover draw up a ba-sic contract to outline the terms of the agree-ment, including what could happen if a pay-ment is not met.

The Rollets hope to have the business up and running before Christmas.

The board tabled ac-tion in regards to a potential ordinance for those who want to prac-tice the sport of archery

within village limits.In September, there

was an incident when a resident shot an arrow and hit a neighboring house.

Butler received copies of how Sparta, Evans-ville, Ruma, Prairie du Rocher, Chester and Baldwin handle bows and arrows.

McCoy suggested a permit process, al-lowing arrows to be shot only at properties deemed to have a safe area to practice.

Miller pointed out, however, that the vil-lage does not have a person who could prop-erly determine whether or not a property is safe for such action.

Trustee Kelly Walls noted that safety is an issue, but everybody should not be punished for one person’s mis-take.

Walls said she knows someone who could supply the village with more information in regards to bow and ar-row safety.

The item was tabled until more information can be gathered.

The board also dis-cussed whether to prohibit a marijuana dispensary of ever at-tempting to set up shop in the village.

The board agreed to not rush into any ac-tion, leaving the option open.

McCoy said he has received several calls about the issue from people who are against the potential sale of marijuana in the vil-lage.

Clara Waltemate sug-gested that the village hold a town hall meet-ing, an online Zoom meeting or put the mat-ter on the April 2021 ballot for an advisory vote to see what village residents think.

“I think the members of the village should

have a say,” Clara said.McCoy sugges ted

keeping the item on the board’s monthly agenda to see if more feedback is received from residents.

Another item that was tabled was the consid-eration of radio read water meters.

The village has 291 meters. Water super-intendent Mike Jack-son received a quote of $54,000 from Mueller Systems for the new meters.

“I talked to several different people about this system,” Jackson said. “If a person has a leak, this system can pinpoint down to the day and hour when the leak started and stopped.”

These meters can also be read from up to 1.5 miles away, and the meter reader does not have to leave the vehi-cle to do so.

Jackson noted that he has looked into grants to help with funding. One from the Illinois EPA requires a survey that would potential-ly add an additional $30,000 to the project, which, at this time, comes with 50 percent forgiveness.

McCoy acknowledged that new meters will save the village money, but he wants to have a better idea what the ac-tual cost to the village will be.

Miller agreed that these meters are a great idea but was un-sure how the village could afford them.

Jackson was told to bring back more infor-mation and cost fi gures to the next meeting.

The board approved to make a semiannual payment of $2,552 on its water tower loan.

The board approved to pay an invoice of $22,492 for its annu-al Illinois Municipal League insurance re-newal. By paying it in one chunk, the village receives a 1 percent discount.

McCoy asked if police offi cer Nick Schweizer could work more hours. Schweizer was in Ellis Grove for fi ve hours in the past month.

Miller said she would ask him.

She said she has also asked Schweizer to speak with a group of juveniles who have been driving UTVs and ATVs in the village.

Looking into

electronic water meters

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 8

BUSINESS

AUTO PARTS/SERVICE

1089 Tanner Rd.AVA

426-3661

TIRE & SUPPLYFROEMLING

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

COUNTY JOURNAL

ELECTRICIAN

KEN HALLElectric, Inc.

Residential • Farm • CommercialEMERGENCY SERVICE AVAILABLE

(618) 443-3013

443-4358 • SPARTAPhone Toll Free

1-800-477-4358

CLEANING

PROPANE

1101 E. Pine • PO Box 369 • Percy618-497-8272 • countyjournal.org

Danbury’s

618-497-8849

CARPETUPHOLSTERY

PROFESSIONAL CLEANING

618-965-9609

210 E. Massachusetts St.STEELEVILLE

STORAGE SOLUTIONS

STORAGE

Garages | Roofs | Decks

618-318-9956

KINKAIDBUILDERS LLC.

CONSTRUCTION

Achievement awardsHarley Howard, a service technician at Iron Ford in Sparta, has been recognized by the Ford customer service division’s masters program for several achievements, all for the fi rst time. The most prominent is the Senior Master Achievement, for which he received the master trophy and the senior master plaque, medallion, technician magnet and lapel pin. Howard completed 550 hours of training to earn the honors. He was also cited for chassis, drive train and engineer master retention. Shown in front from left are Iron Ford owner Kim Rasnick, Howard, general manager Ed Martin, service manager Dawn Seibold, service writer Jami Gwin and offi ce staff Lauri Ragland. In back are Howard’s coworkers in the dealership’s service department.

Nurses at Me-morial Hospi-tal in Chester can now be honored with T h e DA I S Y Award for Ex-traordinary Nurses.

The award is part of the DAISY Founda-tion’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day.

This program launched Oc-tober 27 at all Memorial Hos-pital locations.

The nursing staff celebrat-ed the start of the new rec-ognition pro-gram with daisy sugar cookies for everyone.

Nurses can be nomi-nated by patients, fami-lies and colleagues. The award recipient is chosen by a committee at Memorial Hospital.

Awards are presented throughout the year at celebrations attended by the honoree’s col-leagues, patients and visitors. Each honoree receives a certificate, pin and a sculpture, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe, called A Healer’s Touch.

“We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations partici-pating in The DAISY

Award program,” stat-ed Chief Nursing Of-fi cer Susan Diddlebock. “Nurses are heroes eve-ry day. It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued. The DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that.”

Nomination forms are available at Me-morial Hospital, Ches-ter Clinic, Steeleville Family Practice and at mhchester.com/DAISY nominations.

For more information about the foundation, go to DAISYfoundation.org.

DAISY is an acronym for diseases attacking the immune system.

The DAISY Award

Nurses at Memorial Hospital in Chester can now be nominated for The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. Staff celebrated the start of the program with daisy sugar cookies, pictured.

From left are Memorial Hospital of Chester Go Red for Women event cook Shelly Evans, coordinator Mariah Bargman, assistant coordinator Apryl Bradshaw and cook Beth Reese.

Memorial Hospital in Chester was recent-ly recognized with a merit award in special events from the Illinois Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations.

The society honored marketing, public re-lations and communi-cations professionals from across the state at its Fall Virtual Con-ference and Pinnacle Awards.

MHC earned its award for the Wine and Girl Power Go Red for Wom-en event, which was submitted by Mariah Bargman, MHC com-munity relations and marketing manager.

This is the fi rst time MHC submitted a pro-ject for the awards.

Entries are judged on their own merit in accordance with estab-lished criteria for pro-ject planning, imple-mentation and overall results.

Go Red for Women is sponsored by the hos-pital to educate women on heart health topics during American Heart Month.

It is hosted as an American Heart Asso-ciation event. The tar-get audience is women 30 and older.

The focus is to raise awareness about heart disease in women with an evening of enter-tainment and educa-tion on preventative action they can take to reduce their risk of heart disease.

The event includes a heart healthy meal and dessert catered by the hospital’s dietary team.

There is also a guest speaker or two, inter-

active women’s health-related booths provided by healthcare depart-ments from the hospi-tal, rural health clin-ics and rehab center, attendance prizes and a complimentary wine glass and wine tasting

provided by PRP Wine of St. Louis.

“This event would not be possible without the planning efforts, prep-aration and execution from the Memorial Hos-pital dietary team and Administrative Assis-

tant Apryl Bradshaw,” said event coordina-tor Mariah Bargman. “When I took over plan-ning the event in 2018, it was nice to know I had seasoned veterans to help guide me with the details.”

MHC earns award for Go Red for Women

D r. D av i d Cox, a gen-eral surgeon, has joined the staff at Pinck-neyville Com-munity Hospi-tal.

“I am very pleased to an-nounce that Dr. David Cox h a s j o i n e d Pinckneyville Commu-nity Hospital as our board certifi ed general surgeon,” stated CEO Randall Dauby.

Through a profes-sional service agree-ment, Cox will work three days a week at the Pinckneyville hos-pital and two days at Franklin Hospital in Benton.

Cox obtained his bach-elor’s degree in biol-ogy and chemistry be-fore being accepted to medical school at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He complet-ed his residency at the University of North Da-kota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Forks.

He has practiced as a

general and trauma sur-geon in Colo-rado for the past 11 years and has since c o m p l e t e d an MBA in hea l th ad -ministration.

Cox is expe-rienced in all general sur-

gery cases, including amputations, appen-dectomies, laparoscopic surgeries, hernias, gall bladders, colonosco-pies, endoscopies, cen-tral line placement, central line access sur-gery, chest tube place-ment, colectomy, colon, skin lesions, feeding tubes, hemorrhoids, hernia repair, liver bi-opsies and skin cancer.

“I am happy to have been given this oppor-tunity and look for-ward to building a surgery program that serves the community,” Cox stated.

For more informa-tion or to schedule an appointment, call the Family Medical Center at 357-2131.

Dr. David Cox

Cox joins P’ville hospital

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 9

Celebrating HalloweenEmployees at both branches of First State Bank Campbell Hill came to work in costume to celebrate Halloween. In the top photo are Steeleville Banking Center employees Donna Janneke, Madison Kothe, Kay Davis and Valerie Liefer dressed as Cruella DeVille and her Dalmatian puppies. In the bottom photo, Scott Oathout came to work at the Coulterville Banking Center as a big game hunter. Kim Reuscher sits on the floor, and the head mounts are Marie House, Kelli Jebron, Amy Barton, Sharon Moore and Lynne Brazinski. Submitted by Diana Cole

Former professional baseball umpire Matt McCoy of Ellis Grove recently participated in a Halloween themed Build-A-Bear event for kids who have been iso-lated due to COVID-19.

For years , Major League Baseball um-pires have made deliv-eries of Build-A-Bear furry friends to hospi-tals across the country and in Canada.

In 2020, kids undergo-ing treatment are more isolated than ever, as visitors to hospitals are limited, with playrooms having limited access to ensure patient and fam-ily safety.

UMPS CARE Charities, the official philanthropy of Major League Base-ball umpires, made a virtual delivery October 29 at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. With the help of the St. Louis Cardi-nals and Build-A-Bear Workshop, 120 stuffed animals were shipped to the hospital. UMPS

CARE, thanks to a do-nation from COUNTRY Financial, provided 120 Build-A-Bear Halloween outfits.

The Cardinals pro-vided bingo prizes, in-cluding pillowcases and mugs, and UMPS CARE also provided baseball-themed activity books and boxes of crayons for the kids and squishy baseball stress balls.

McCoy, a former Minor League Baseball umpire who now works as a financial representative at COUNTRY Financial in Chester, got involved in this event because 14 months ago, McCoy’s son Cayden was born prema-ture and was treated in the newborn intensive care unit at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“Occasionally, the nurses would drop off goody bags to our room, and it meant so much to my wife and me,” McCoy said. “We are grateful that Cayden is home, healthy and doing great,

but we wanted to be able to help and give back to other families who are going through chal-lenges like we did.”

The visit to St. Lou-is Children’s Hospital marks the fourth virtual visit UMPS CARE has made this season.

“All of us at UMPS CARE Charities are so grateful that our partners at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the St. Louis Cardinals have been able to make this event possible dur-ing these challenging times,” said Jennifer Skolochenko-Plat t . “Even though our um-pires cannot be there in person this year, they are excited they can still brighten the day for kids undergo-ing treatment in the hospital who really are in need of a smile.”

For information about planning a hospital pro-gram, call Skolochen-ko-Platt at jenn@Umps Care.com.

McCoy helps deliver smiles for Halloween

Dr. Sabrina Haque has joined the medical staff of the Pinckney-ville Community Hos-pital Family Medical Center.

Haque grew up in To-ronto, Canada, where she attended the Uni-versity of Toronto, majoring in the bio-medical toxicology spe-cialist program. Soon after, she began work-ing as an associate toxicologist and sub-ject matter expert for Environmental Health and Safety.

She then decided to leave the corporate world behind and pur-sue her lifelong passion in medicine.

Haque received her

Doctor of Medicine Jan-uary 2017 from Saba University School of Medicine in Saba Neth-erland Antilles, Carib-bean Island.

She completed her family medicine resi-dency in August of this

year at Saint Joseph Mercy Health System in Howell, Michigan.

“Dr. Haque will be a wonderful addition to our Family Medical Center staff,” said PCH CEO Randall Dauby. “We are looking for-ward to Dr. Haque pro-viding excellent care to the Pinckneyville Community Hospital community.”

For more information or to schedule an ap-pointment with Haque, call 357-2131.

“I am very happy to join the Family Medical Center team of excel-lent providers and look forward to meeting many area residents,” Haque said.

Dr. Sabrina Haque

Haque joins PCH medical staff

PUBLIC AUCTIONSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 • 9AM

rain or shineSALE LOCATION: 2002 PCR 830, St. Mary (Perryville), MO. From Perryville take Highway 61 north & go about 3 miles north of Brewer to PCR 830. Take PCR 830 2 miles to sale site. Watch For Sale Markers!

TRACTOR – TRUCK – TOOLS – EQUIPMENT: Ford 4600 2-wheel drive die-sel tractor w/ 7210 Ford loader (has 3,473 hours, in good condition); 1995 F350 dump bed truck with hoist; ground-driven manure spreader; DuraBilt 8’ 3-pt hitch blade; 55-gallon fuel tank w/ hand pump; X-Mark 50” cut riding mower with 708cc twin motor w/ only 80.4 hours; 5½’ grapple bucket for skid steer; NEW SKID STEER ATTACHMENTS: NEW 60” smooth bucket, NEW 72” hydraulic-driven tiller, NEW 72” hydraulic driven skid steer brush hog, NEW receiver hitch attachment for skid steer, NEW 78” heavy-duty grapple bucket, NEW small square-bale grapple attach-ment; 16’ x 6’ slide-in stock rack; Ford FS-31 lawn sweeper; new lawn mower jack; pull-behind seeder; pull-behind 25-gallon lawn sprayer w/ wand & boom; lawn aera-tor; lawn cart; lawn thatcher; 12 volt ATV seeder; 3-point rear or front carry all; set of pallet forks w/ bale spear; pallet of sand bags; various round & square wooden posts; couple hundred T-posts; chicken wire; page wire; pallet of concrete blocks; DeWalt compound miter saw w/ stand; three push mowers; gas BBQ grill; saw stand; 4-wheel roll-around dolly; 2-wheel pickup bed trailer; stock tanks; Magna 5000-watt generator (new in box); 140 drawer parts bin; new high lift jack; two new Kerasun heaters (still in box); new electric turkey fryer; new ATV sprayer; 3-ton chain hoist; new Poulan chainsaw (in box); new battery chargers; Kingforth grill (in box); Crafts-man shop creeper; Craftsman electric leaf blower (in box); 20” fan (in box); 1900 psi Black & Decker electric power washer; two Craftsman seeders; two Craftsman hydraulic seats (in boxes); two Craftsman 2-tray service carts; roll-around cherry picker; wooden work benches; sand blaster; wooden & metal sawhorses; wheelbar-rows; Craftsman chop saw; Craftsman 10” table saw; Homelite chainsaw & other chainsaws; Craftsman double roll-around toolbox; several small toolboxes; air tools; a whole pallet of bagged charcoal; new sets of U bolts; Economy double roll-around toolbox; wooden stepladder; metal shelving; nuts & bolts; wooden gun case; about ½ dozen sheets of ¼” pegboard; about ½ dozen 4x8 sheets of chip board; 30-gal-lon ATV sprayer; several electric fencers; several truck load binders; various bar clamps; Coleman heater; new ratchet straps; new come-along; new humidifier; new tarpolines; several hand tools; post drivers; sledgehammers; Stihl OO9L chainsaw; Craftsman 2¼-ton floor jack; Craftsman roll-around seat; tractor tire chains; large metal A frame; chain hoist; cable anchors; 55-gallon 3-point hitch sprayer; some fencing supplies; new padlocks; cases of 10W-30 & 10W-40 motor oil; welding apron; about thirty 55-gallon barrels; metal folding cots; 2 sections of railroad track; calf creep feeder; 6’ 3-point hitch box blade; truck mud flaps; cattle back-rubber; live mouse traps; 10’x 10’ chain-link dog pen; rabbit cage; boot scraper.ANTIQUES & HOUSEHOLD: Cook’s beer sign; wooden nail keg; Winches-ter pocketknives; lightning rods; wash stand; metal pulleys; two grindstones (1 on stand); chick feeders & waterers; old wooden door; wooden Coca Cola cases; Coca Cola bottles; barn lantern; Chieftain cast iron seat; 5-gallon milk can; wooden bench; bushel baskets; bucksaw; several single trees; horse collar; walking plow; cultivator; 2-section harrow; Sun Beam glass churn bottom; International adjustable wrench; box of glass insulators; wooden Proctor & Gamble box; several Old Timer pocket-knives (including 1 new knife); old cigarette lighters (including a Zippo Coca-Cola lighter unique to St. Mary Tavern); belt buckles; records; Coca Cola canister set; John Deere canister set; various toys; iron wheels; window AC; older refrigerator; recliners; Hoover vacuum; several metal tables; dinette table; picnic table; patio fur-niture; concrete bird bath; pots; pans; dishes & other items too numerous to mention.454/45 colt pistol w/ scope & other various items too numerous to mention.

AUCTIONEER’S NOTE: Guns will not be at sale site until day of sale. Guns & boat will sell around 12 noon.

SALE CONDUCTED BY:

MANCHE AUCTION SERVICECOL. RODNEY MANCHE (573) 547-1818 or (573) 513-1212

SINCE 1982 - “LET OUR EXPERIENCE SELL YOUR NEXT AUCTION!!!”VISIT US ONLINE AT: www.mancheauctionservice.com

or www.auctionzip.com (ID #6476)

NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENTS. TERMS: CASH OR APPROVED CHECKLUNCH PROVIDED ON GROUNDS

OWNER: ED MATTINGLY

Cannonball remains a hit

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 10

CHESTER CITY COUNCIL

Seeking grant for bike, walking trail

Paid for by Friends of Susan Hepp

Thank you

To the citizens of Perry County, I want to express my sincere

appreciation for your support.

Thank you,

SUSANHEPP

By Dan ZobelChester is working on

a grant to fund a multi-use biking and walking trail to the Cohen Rec-reational Complex.

During its November 2 meeting, the council approved a resolution for an Illinois Trans-portation Enhancement Program grant.

The trail would be 3,700 feet long and 10 feet wide. It would begin from Lochhead Drive and run through a heavily tree-covered area.

The land is reportedly all on city property.

The estimated cost for the project is $474,000. The grant would cover 80 percent of that, with the city on the hook for the remainder.

No lighting is in the proposal, but engineer Harold Scheffer of J.T. Blankinship in Mur-physboro said it has been brought up in discussion, including the possibility of solar lights, although it could be tough to get enough sunlight in some of the wooded areas.

Scheffer also noted that the proposed ma-terial for the trail is asphalt, but concrete could be cheaper.

In other news, the council approved the police department’s purchase of new com-

puter equipment for its cars and department.

The cost is $16,197 and is in the budget.

Police Chief Bobby Helmers reported that this is the second part of an equipment re-newal plan that started last year. The comput-ers to be replaced were purchased in 2008.

Helmers said some of the cost could be reimbursed through a grant.

The council approved its insurance renewal for 2021 with the Il-linois Counties Risk Management Trust.

Clerk Bethany Berner said this year’s cost is down $26,000 from last year.

Alderman J.D. Maes reported that he plans to leave a monthly parks report with the council the fi rst meet-ing of every month.

Maes added that at a future council meeting, aldermen will hear a presentation from the park board about a disc golf concept at Cole Park.

Alderman Ray Alli-son reported that the Beautifi cation Commit-tee continues to work at sprucing up the old Molly’s Moon property at 1945 State Street. The committee is look-ing for a contractor to add split rail fencing.

This group of 50 riders is shown October 31 beginning the 37-mile course at the St. Nicholas Landmark on the riverfront in Chester. Photo by Jim Beers

By Jim BeersThe Cannonball bike

race had 75 riders par-ticipate October 31 in Chester.

The ride is hosted by Tim Welge and his St. Nicholas Brewery race team, along with Bike Surgeon of O’Fallon.

“We have had this ride at different times in re-cent years,” Welge said. “One year, it was actu-ally in February, and the weather was ex-tremely cold and nasty. This year, we decided to have it earlier to enjoy the fall weather.”

Temperatures start-ed out in the 40s but warmed a bit later in

the morning. Condi-tions were dry. How-ever, many riders did comment on the many hills in southern Il-linois.

“This is a very rough course, and there are many tough hills,” Wel-ge said. “Even though we did provide times to the riders at the end of the ride, there were no prizes or awards. The reward for most every-one was just to fi nish.”

The Cannonball is a self-supported race. No water or food is provid-ed, and riders are re-sponsible for their own safety and any bicycle repairs. It is qualifi ed

as a gravel race, with many portions taking place off road.

Riders had the option of taking a 37-mile or 70-mile course.

“We had riders from Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Belleville and central Illinois to name a few locations,” Welge said. “The only Ches-ter riders that I know of were Brandy and James Maes and their eighth-grade son Nate.

“Eight members of our St. Nicholas Brewery Team rode and seemed to have a great time. This ride was more so-cial than competitive, but most of the partici-

pants that came to this ride were good, strong riders.”

The fastest rider in the 37-mile course took at least four hours to return to the fi nish line at the Landmark. Some who tackled the 70-mile course were still out after six hours.

“This was a great day weather-wise, and everyone was excited to be riding,” Welge said. “Usually, there is a lot more socializa-tion involved with one of our rides, but due to COVID-19 restrictions and dangers, there was very little socializing after the race this year.”

Caring and Sharing Thrift Shop in Pinck-neyville is accept-ing only Christmas donations from now through November 30.

The shop will be closed November 2-6.

The Joy of Christ-mas debuts Saturday, November 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Customers must so-cial distance while waiting to enter the

shop and correctly wear masks through-out the building. Shop-pers will be permitted to enter by cart entry only, with a two indi-vidual maximum per cart.

Sales operations will resume Novem-ber 12 with 9 to 1 hours.

The shop will be closed November 26-28 for Thanksgiving.

Caring and Sharing prepares for Christmas

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 11

Mark M.

BOIE

Thank you for your vote this past election. Your support was greatly appreciated.

Grand Master’s AwardMarissa Masonic Lodge 881 has received the Illinois Grand Master’s Award of Excellence for the 2019-20 year. It is the highest honor a lodge can achieve. From left at the November 2 presentation are Marissa Worshipful Master Mike Parker, District Deputy Grand Master Orvel Cox and District Education Offi cer Steve Hodges.

Quilt winnerThe October winner of the Friends of St. Leo’s quilt raffl e was Doris Stamm of Waterloo. For more information about the raffl e, call Ron Melliere at 284-3491 or see Shelba Kempfer at Ace Hardware in Red Bud.

Visit gliks.com to find your nearest location

@GLIKSOFFICIALGLIKS.COM

SEASONAL LOOKS FOR ALL YOUR NEEDS

Percy railroad crossing repairs scheduled

Repairs to the Ca-nadian National rail-road crossing on Pine Street in downtown Percy have fi nally been scheduled.

Beginning Mon-day, November 16 at 8 a.m. and continuing through Friday, No-vember 20 at 3 p.m. Pine Street (Route 4) will be closed from Second Street to Third Street.

Both lanes will be closed. A detour around the closure will be marked.

The work is contin-gent on the weather, and the dates could change.

Still to be scheduled are repairs to the Union Pacifi c cross-ing at the Percy tee, and there has been no word on when those repairs will take

place.Repairs to both

crossings were to have been completed before the end of sum-mer. Neither the Il-linois Department of Transportation nor the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates railroad crossings, has offered any explanation as to why the work has been delayed.

Friends of PreventionDuring Red Bud’s city council meeting Monday night, Pastor Mark Nebel of the Southern Illinois Substance Abuse Alliance gave two presenta-tions. The fi rst was to Police Chief John Brittingham in appreciation for his work with the alliance. Brittingham was once the chairman of the organization. The other, the Friends of Prevention Award was to the city council, recognizing the help the city has provided to SISAA’s efforts.

COVID-19 numbers remained high over the past week, and more deaths were re-ported in Randolph County.

Randolph County’s death toll from the vi-rus rose to 19, as four more deaths were recorded in the past week.

Randolph County’s active case count was 144 as of November 3, compared to 143 as of October 27.

In Jackson County, no new deaths were reported in the past week, but there were 195 active cases as of November 3, com-pared to 130 October 27.

Up-to-date Perry County fi gures were unavailable as of Tuesday. The most recent fi gures, from October 31, showed

103 active cases and no new deaths in the county.

Several new cases are being reported each day in all three counties, following statewide and nation-al trends.

The Region 4, which includes Randolph County, positivity rate was reported to be 9.7 percent as of Octo-ber 30. This number is updated each Fri-day as an average of that week’s rate. That number is well above the 8 percent thresh-old that triggered in-creased mitigations in that region.

As of last weekend, every region in the state was under some degree of increased mitigations, includ-ing indoor service at bars and restaurants being banned.

One would not know it by traveling around the state, however, be-cause throughout the southwestern Illinois region, bars and res-taurants are openly disregarding those orders and allowing indoor service.

Coronavirus numbers high

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 12

We Make Loans To Local Families

Everyone has something that they do best. Banks are no exception...ours is investing back into the local communities that we serve. We make loans to local families and businesses. These loans generate the dollars which empower our local community. Invest in our community by banking with us.We’re an equal housing lender.

First National Bank Of SpartaBroadway & Market • PO Box 377 • Sparta, Illinois 62286

(618) 443-2187

If You’re A Senior Join The ClubWe have a great line-up of services and benefits for our senior customers. If you’re a senior, we’re the place to be. You’ve spend a lifetime working. You deserve a break. We see that you get one. Stop in and see us today. We’d be

more than happy to show you the benefits of your experience. So if you’re a senior join the club!

We Make Loans To Local Families

Everyone has something that they do best. Banks are no exception...ours is investing back into the local communities that we serve. We make loans to local families and businesses. These loans generate the dollars which empower our local community. Invest in our community by banking with us.We’re an equal housing lender.

“Let Our Bank Be Your Bank”

Thank You!

Thank you for your vote and support!

Cindy R.

Svanda

RANDOLPH COUNTY BOARD

Haberman property scrutinizedBy Dan Zobel

The Haberman prop-erty south of Sparta is under scrutiny once again.

The Randolph County board approved during its October 30 meet-ing that the property at 7840 State Route 4, which is owned by sisters Priscilla and Phyllis Haberman, be ordered to get cleaned up and for the home to be inspected.

In June, the property had no electricity, wa-ter or septic. It was deemed dangerous and unsafe and declared a nuisance. Shortly after that, a group of people helped the Habermans clean up a portion of the property. However, the problems continue.

State’s Attorney Jer-emy Walker suggested Friday that the board address the nuisance, so work can be done to help the situation.

“We’ve had phone calls the last few weeks about the property,” Walker said. “The back of the property is no better than it has been.

“It’s unfortunate. We don’t want to have to kick anybody out at this point.”

Commissioner Marc Kiehna asked if the home still had no utili-ties, adding that with temperatures already dropping to 30 degrees, it would be hard to call it a safe situation.

Walker said he was unsure if the utility situ-ation had changed, but that is something that will be looked into.

“I want someone to check inside the house, as well,” Kiehna said.

Walker added that if a cost is incurred for the county, a lien can be placed against the property.

In other news, Haury Plumbing and Heating of Sparta was the con-tractor awarded for the county’s restroom reno-vation project.

Haury’s bid came in at $143,528, one of two bids received.

The six public restrooms in the courthouse, along with those in the judge’s area and the jail, will be made touchless, includ-ing lighting, toilets and sinks.

The county will be reimbursed for the pro-

ject through the CARES Act if it submits the re-quest by the end of the calendar year.

“This is a wonder-ful chance to replace items that are nearly 50 years old,” Kiehna said. “We’d like to have it done by Christmas, but it depends on the availability of units.”

For the fi rst time since 2005, the county has a new and updated multi-hazard mitigation plan.

“Linda Tragesser has been our go-to person on this,” said Mike Hoel-scher, county Emer-gency Management Agency administrator. “It sets us up for any kind of emergency and how it will be handled. It’s an ongoing process. New things will pop up, but it’s a good plan.”

Tragesser is a senior planner for the South-western Illinois Metro-politan and Regional Planning Commission.

Commissioner Ron-nie White explained that having this plan in place makes the coun-ty eligible for federal EMA funds in case of an emergency.

White explained that a lot of input was re-ceived from municipali-ties about what was most important to them.

The plan now goes to FEMA for approval.

The board agreed to run county operations as normal November 3. A law was passed in May declaring Election Day as a state holiday. Walker reported that somebody in Sangamon County challenged that declaration, and it was determined that the law does not apply to local government.

Kiehna said that through the years in the county’s collective bargaining agreement, it has considered Elec-tion Day as a holiday, but the union granted an additional personal day in lieu of that, so he did not want to mess with that agreement.

The board approved to extend its lease agree-ment with the Randolph County USDA at 313 Bel-mont Street in Sparta.

The lease is for $33,792 per year at $2,816 a month through Decem-ber 31, 2023.

The Pierre Menard statue that was removed

from the state capitol grounds in Springfi eld in September will not be coming to Randolph County, nor to any other place for that matter.

The county received a letter in October from Andrea Aggertt, archi-tect of the capitol, stat-ing that statues and any other items that are removed from pub-lic display will not be designated as surplus state property, rather remaining the property of the state. It was noted that these items are also not available for public display at any other lo-cations.

The board received a presentation from Spar-ta Community Hospital CEO Joann Emge in re-gards to a telemedicine cart for the Randolph County Care Center.

The hospital is look-ing into this equipment, thanks to a Delta Re-gional Authority grant.

The goal is to increase physician presence in the care center. Nor-mally, if a resident has a change of condition after regular physician hours, that resident would have to go to the emergency room.

With telemedicine, a resident can connect with a physician if the change of condition does not require an ER visit.

The grant would cover the fi rst two years of the equipment. After that, Emge said there could be interface or other as-sociated charges to the care center.

“If it’s not working or the county feels a need of separation, there would be a clause in the contract for that,” Emge said.

Emge said she wanted the county’s support before having a con-tract drawn up, but she can have one developed within a month. She would like the cart to be available by January 1.

In other care center news, indoor visits have stopped for now as COV-ID-19 cases rise in Ran-dolph County.

Administrator Mi-chelle Cato encourag-es family members to phone their loved ones or visit through Zoom.

She added that the fall bazaar will continue as scheduled Friday, November 6 at West-minster Presbyterian Church, although lunch will be by carry-out only.

Randolph County Health Department Ad-ministrator Angie Oath-out reported that COVID outbreaks have recently occurred at the Red Bud Nursing Home and Coul-terville Care.

“Regular testing in long-term care facilities is key,” Oathout said. “We’re testing twice a week at those two now.”

Oathout said there are two zip codes the de-partment is keeping a close eye on in terms of COVID, and she has been in contact with those mayors. She continues to encourage people to wear masks and social distance.

Highway engineer Mike Riebeling was re-appointed on a six-year term. Half of his sal-ary is paid from federal funds.

Greg Crain was ap-proved as a new appoint-ment to the Chester Me-morial Hospital board. His term will expire July 30, 2022.

The Kaskaskia Re-gional Port District will be featured on an upcoming episode of World’s Greatest, a television show.

The show will air November 9 at 5 a.m. on DirecTV channel 305 and Dish Network channel 250.

World’s Greatest is a series that features b e h i nd - t h e - s c e n e s footage and inter-views to bring inter-esting people, places and companies into the spotlight.

The port district has been a fi xture in Ran-dolph County for more than half a century and is home to a vari-ety of specialized and dedicated tenants.

During the episode, viewers can expect to learn more about three specifi c tenants that call Kaskaskia Regional Port Dis-trict home: Gateway FS, Southern Illinois Transfer and The Ma-terial Works.

The district features fi ve terminals that

provide businesses endless opportunities, with each terminal lo-cation having unique capabilities such as river, road and rail ac-cess, and multiple ten-ants with operations related to agriculture, steel and scrubber stone.

Through the use of aerial shots, drone photography inside a warehouse and GoPro camera shots from the bucket of an ex-cavator unloading a barge, viewers will get a close-up look at the activity that oc-curs daily within the port district and on the river.

“Being included in the World’s Greatest is a wonderful opportu-nity for Kaskaskia Re-gional Port District,” said Ed Weilbacher, general manager of the port district. “It shows the dynamic nature of the port, the variety of products be-ing handled here and how we serve the com-munity.”

KRPD is to be featured on TV

Johnny boyThis big baby is a2-year-old coonhound who was found on the side of the road. This housebroken hound is good with kids, cats and other dogs. If you are interested in adopting Johnny, call the Perry County Humane Society at 542-3647 or email the shelter at pchsinfo@yahoo.com.

THANK YOU

VETERANS

COMING EVENTSCOUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 13

Saturday, November 7 • 9:00amHECKER COMMUNITY PARK230 E. Washington St. • Hecker

COLLECTIBLES, HOUSEHOLD & TOOLSMarble Top Wash Stand, Several Nice Clocks, Old Cannister Set, Vinegar & Oil Centerpieces, Marble Top Coffee Table, Chest Of Drawers w/Mirrors, Plantation Desk, Purses, Beds, Couches, Chairs, Wing Back Chairs, Mirrors, Coke Clock, Peanut Dispensers, Rattan Furniture, China Cabinets, Flat Screen TV, Pewter Pieces, Telescope, Boat Motors, Scroll Saw, Toolboxes, Hand and Garden Tools, Lots of Misc.OWNERS: Roger & Romana Young Estate

COKE & SPORTS COLLECTIBLESThermometer, Bears, Trays, Wooden Cases, Signs, Tins, Bobble Heads, Autographed Baseballs, Lots of Cardinal-Blues & Rams Memorabilia, Sports Cards, Starting Lineup Action Figures, Wheaties Boxes, Pictures, Caps.OWNERS: Duensing & McCarty Estates AUCTIONEER’S NOTE: Lots of interesting items. We will be selling in 2 rings. We will be practicing COVID-19 social distancing as recommended by State Health Guidelines.

Action Auction AssociatesWebsite: vossauctions.com

Tim Voss(618) 473-2302Lic. #040.000704

Wayne Voss(618) 282-2682 / 910-9569

Lic. #040.000641

Mark Voss(618) 282-6864Lic. #040.000410

ZUEHLA ROWOLD ESTATE

REAL ESTATE (To be offered at 1:00pm): This is a 3 or 4-bedroom home. On the main fl oor there is an eat-in kitchen, walk-in pantry, full bath, living room, 2 bedrooms, laundry room, closed-in front and side porch. Second fl oor has 1 or 2 bedrooms w/lots of closet space. Home has gas heat and central air. Also a 1-car garage w/storage and work area and a carport.Terms: 10% down day of auction. Remainder due at closing, approx. 30 days. Taxes prorated to date of closing. Any announcements day of auction take precedence over prior promoted material.

Attorney For Seller: Mr. Ron Arbeiter 618-826-2369ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES: Oak Single Wardrobe, Wall Table, Dresser w/Mirror, Drop Front Table, Murphy Bed Cabinet, 3/4 Bed, Wooden Bench, Rocker, Doll Cradle, Old Light Fixture, Treadle Sewing Machine w/Attachments, New Idea Store Display, Gene’s Texaco Service, Baldwin Ashtray, Texaco Home Lubricant Oil Can, Salger Bros. Oliver Sales And Service Red Bud Adv., Gram’s Political Map Of The United States (From Baldwin Public School), Map Case w/6 Maps (Baldwin Public School), Huebner’s Ag Store Baldwin Thermometer, George Lakeman, Baldwin Adv., Foodland Robert Huebner Adv., Geo H. Lakeman Store Baldwin, IL Box, Waterloo Hand Fans, 1963 Boy Scout Poster, Old Judge Coffee Tins, Old Wood Toolbox w/3 Trays, Adv. Pens And Pencils, Prairie Farmer Magazines, 1957 Schneidewinds Calendar, Marissa, 1940 McCall’s Look Magazines, 1937 Airline Radio, Tru-Tone Radio, Coal Oil Lamp, 1960s Patterns, Canister Set, Chalkware, Vintage Bread Box, Clover Farm Coffee Tin, Hen On The Nest, McCoy Crock Bowl, Jadeite, Fire King, Crock Bowls, Noritake China Pcs., Blue Granite Bowl w/Black Trim, Granite Pots, Granite Dish Pans, Bucket, Granite Pitcher, Plaid Cooler, Washboard, Oasis Filter Cigarette Lighter, Carbide Hat, Himark Clarence Schmidt MFR, Waterloo, IL Cigar Box, Pyrex, Cartoon Glasses, Mini Coffee Grinder, White Mountain Crank Ice Cream Freezer, Small Washboard, Clothespin Bag, Glass Fire Extinguisher, Coal Shovel, Doll Buggy, Old Speakers (One Atwater), Enterprise Grinder On Stand, Simmon Hardware Sausage Stuffer, Junior Tricycle, Yellow Tricycle w/Large Front Wheel, Butt Basket, 1954 Fall/Winter Catalog, Spiegels 1959 Catalog, Oak Phone Bell, Butcher Skimmer, Atomic Style Clocks, Religious Print, Croquet Set, Blue Jars, Zinc Lids, Chester Dairy Milk Bottle, 5-Gal. Blue Band Crock, Toys Incl. Adding Machine, Jr. Play Phone 525, Marx Tractor, Waffl e Iron, Rotary Phone, Rabbit Wagon, Pull Toy, Bike Battery Light, Marx Machine Gun, Old Ball Gloves, Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz w/Little Ricky Paper Dolls, Doris Day Paper Dolls, Old Doll And Doll Clothes, Wyandotte Moto Fix Tow Truck, Chalk Figurine, Vintage Christmas Decorations, Old Books, Tobacco Tins, 1951 Aircraft Recognition Book, Dionne Quint Print, Small Barn Lantern, L&N Railroad Lanterns, Coleman Lantern, Apple Crate, Bushel Baskets, Allis Chalmers Posters (Mario County Farmer), Vintage Suitcases, Delux Tin Bread Box, Cast Iron Gas Burner, Motor Oil Can, Round Wash Tubs, Grinding Stone w/Seat, Reel Mowers, Metal Lawn Chairs, Nail Keg, Glass Huffman Oil Bottle w/Red Spout, Wooden Boxes, Maytag Gas Engine, Barn Lantern, Oil Lamps, Old Automobile Horns, Old Car Rearview Mirror, Wooden Wheelbarrow, Sm. Iron Wheels, Well Pulleys, Radio Super Coaster Wagon, Wire Spoke Wheel, 2-Man Crosscuts, White Treadle Sewing Machine, Pearl Wood Stove, Rug Beater, Forge Parts-Blower And Stove, Enamel Stovetop, Vintage Plaid Picnic Table, Anvil Vise & Mantel Clock.HOUSEHOLD: Refrigerator, Electric Stove, Chest Freezer, Electric Washer, Electric Dryer, 3-Pc. Waterfall Bedroom Set, Bed And Matching Vanity, Kitchen Table/6 Chairs, Vintage Sofa, Chair And Ottoman, Lamp Table, Armchair, Offi ce Chair, Wicker Settee, Roll-A-Round Kitchen Cart, Bedding, Glass Bakeware, Pressure Cooker, Electric Kitchen Appliances, Pots And Pans, Bakeware, Flatware, Corning Ware, Plastic Ware, Glassware, Kitchen Scale, Cold Packer, Microwave, Cameras & Vacuum.TOOLS & MISC: Lawn Boy Riding Mower, Snapper Snowblower, Craftsman Band Saw, Vise, Hardware, Meat Hook, Long-Handled Tools, Organizers, Buffalo Post Drill, Hand Tools, Wooden Ladders, Chain Hoist, Emerson Electric Fan, And Lots More.

Red Bud • (618) 282-3931

Website:www.burmesterauction.com Burmester

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

Col. Kent Miller Lic. #441000575

Sunday, November 8 • 9:30am305 W. Chestnut St. • Baldwin

Check Out Color Photos At www.auctionzip.com, Auctioneer #15510

OWNER: Zuehla Rowold Estate, Baldwin, IL

AUCTIONEER’S NOTE: ALL CDC GUIDELINES APPLY —SOCIAL DISTANCING & MASKS. We will be running two rings. Hope to see you there! Col. Dale

St. Ann SodalityAnnual Bazaar & Luncheon

Cancelled for 2020Thank you to our past patrons and vendors

Hope to see you at OLL events in 2021.

Our Lady Of Lourdes, Sparta

AnnualQuilt Raffle

To Be HeldDrawing Dec. 8

For tickets call 618-443-2811

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 14

Service DayFor National Service Day, members of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Liberty Bell of the West worked around the Pierre Menard Home near Chester. Above, Deb Uchtmann is sweeping the exterior of the home and below, Ruth Menard and Emily Lyons are weeding the heirloom garden.

STEELEVILLE VILLAGE BOARD

City hall doors to be upgraded to touchless

The Steeleville vil-lage hall complex will be getting some up-grades to its main en-trance doors in light of the coronavirus.

The town board gave provisional approval Monday night to a bid of $9,656 from DH Pace of St. Louis to install equipment that will al-low both sets of doors to open and close auto-matically.

However, another company, Liberty Glass of Perryville, was con-tacted but had not submitted a bid before Monday night’s board meeting. The board agreed that if Lib-erty’s bid comes in by the end of this week, the project could be re-visited.

The board consid-ered installing new sliding doors, but that would have cost more than twice as much as swinging doors.

The cost of the pro-ject might be eligi-ble for reimburse-ment from the federal CARES Act.

Mayor Bob Sutton noted that Steeleville has already spent close to $86,000 on various items related to COV-ID-19. The village will seek reimbursement for that amount.

In other action, Den-nis Trask with the ComWell youth drug abuse prevention pro-gram, presented the board with the Friends of Prevention Award. Trask noted that the board, along with Steeleville schools, has

hosted programs on substance abuse edu-cation and has coop-erated with efforts to stem drug misuse by youth.

Trask also noted that the village board has voted to not allow can-nabis sales in town.

Jennifer Barbour of the Steeleville Rotary Club received permis-sion from the board to use the metal lamp poles around the vil-lage hall and City Park for a public Christmas decoration contest.

Participants will be assigned a black iron lamppost to decorate. There will be a $25 entry fee, with those proceeds going to ben-efi t Peace Lutheran Church’s Angel Tree gift program.

Poles can be decorat-ed any time between November 27 and De-cember 6. Photos of the decorated poles will appear on the Rotary’s Facebook page begin-ning December 7, and the public will vote December 11-18. There will be no electricity available.

The contest is open to individuals, busi-nesses and organiza-tions. The winner will be announced Decem-ber 22.

A donation was ap-proved of $100 for the Cops & Kids at Christ-mas gift program. Steeleville and Chester police and the Ran-dolph County Sheriff’s Offi ce to host needy kids for a holiday shopping trip to a lo-

cal store.November 27, the

day after Thanksgiv-ing, was approved as a fl oating holiday for village workers, who will also get a half day off Christmas Eve.

Police Chief/Project Coordinator Jim Zei-dler and maintenance supervisor Dale Ern-sting were given per-mission to spend up to $35,000 to purchase a new truck for the wa-ter and sewer depart-ment. It will replace the department’s Ford F-150.

The annual tax levy ordinance was ap-proved. It calls for $109,407 in property taxes to be levied for village operations next year.

The remainder of the town’s $6,040,550 appropriations will come from fees and other revenue sources.

From left are Dennis Trask of ComWell, presenting the Friends of Prevention Award to Mayor Bob Sutton, who accepted on behalf of the village.

FUNERAL HOMES111 W. Main Street | Sparta | 618-443-2139

www.heilschuessler.com

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 15

A SALUTE TO OUR HEROES:

OUR VETERANS

PinckneyvilleCommunity Hospital

Leading the way to a healthier tomorrow.

5383 State Route 154Pinckneyville, IL 62274618-357-2187 www.pvillehosp.org

A special thank you to our PCH Family

of Veterans for their courage, sacrifice

& service.

On Veterans Day, we pause to reflect on the courage, dedication and loyalty of our nation’s military veterans. Throughout history, their hard work and sacrifice have kept us safe and protected our freedom. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, and we salute them for their service. To all of the brave men and women who have sacrificed to put their country first, we thank you.

Arlen CarsonUSMC

Board Member

Garret HugginsUS Army

Maintenance Technician

J. Gregg FozardUS Army ReservesMedical Director

Sherry FulkUS Army

Auxiliary Member

Gary TimpnerUS Army

Auxiliary Member

Bill RoeUS Army

Board Member

Dave TroverUS Army ReservesAuxiliary Member

Ray YeagerUS Army

Auxiliary Member

Jesse SmithUS Army

Maintenance Technician

Howl-a-baloo a huge success in Chester

In order to work around restrictions from COVID-19, Ches-ter’s parks and rec-reation department planned a different kind of Halloween event for the city last weekend.

On October 30, the public was invited to bring their chil-dren in costumes to a drive-through style trunk or treat in Cole

Memorial Park.Every city depart-

ment was represented with a vehicle in the lineup of trunks, as well as several mem-bers of the public and other businesses and organizations.

Participants lined the road from the gate entrance down to the lot behind the old pool structure.

As cars full of chil-

dren arrived, the vehicles stretched around the park and down the road.

In total, 737 cars passed through the event, far more than expected.

Recreation Direc-tor Patti Carter said there was an aver-age of three kids per car, meaning around 2,000 children bene-fi tted from the event. Kaison Bell, 5, son of Cameron and Keylena Bell of Perryville, was a hit

in his Chucky costume from the horror movie “Child’s Play.”

Santa and Mrs. Claus even made an appearance at the Halloween event.

This adorable little unicorn made sure she was safe from COVID-19 during the drive-through event.

Dressed as a fox, Lydia Lott, 7, daughter of Travis Lott and Sabrina Ebers, looks out the window in anticipation at the mass of cars.

Lisa Luebkemann and daughter Emily Luebkemann ran the booth for Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School of Evansville.

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 16

Medical School Saba University Residency St. Joseph Mercy Health System

Stuff The TurkeyFood Drive

These ItemsWill Help The

Most!

~ Peanut Butter & Jelly~Mac & Cheese~Canned Pasta~Soups~Canned Meat

~Sugar~Flour~Instant Potatoes~Crackers~Cereal~Boxed Dinners

Since 2014, with the support of our Customers and Staff,First State Bank of Campbell Hill has been able to donate over 27,000 items

to the food pantries in the Trico, Steeleville, and Coulterville Areas.Once again we are asking for your help to “Stuff the Turkey”.

Starting November 1st, please drop off your canned or non-perishablefood items at one of our three locations.

7th Annual

Ava trick or treatRemi and Amelia Sager, the daughters of Brad and Jessie Sager of Ava, made the rounds in Ava looking for treats Halloween evening. Dressed as a cowgirl, Amelia is aboard her pony Ranger.

By Carol Mercer The Marissa Busi-

ness and Profession-al Women organized parties, parades and trunk or treats for area children for 40 years. The last few trunk or treats had about 400 kids in at-tendance.

The last year the BPW held trunk or treat was 2018 be-cause it disbanded. Although some mem-bers still helped, the chamber of commerce and the village took the reins, with assis-tance from others, in 2019.

This year, some members of the com-munity recognized that since there was no longer a BPW or a chamber of com-merce, and the pan-demic had put a damper on much of normal life, there was a distinct need for a safe enjoyable Hal-loween for Marissa’s children.

With COVID-19 pre-venting the normal ways to celebrate Halloween, Marissa schools, their ad-ministrations, staff, teachers and parents wanted something special for the young-sters. Through a co-operative effort of the schools, community

organizations and concerned citizens, a plan was developed for a trick or treat event for Marissa Elementary School students at the high school October 29.

It was to be held outside, but damp and rainy weather caused the event to move in-doors. Of course, that took some reconfi gur-ing and teamwork to make it happen.

Cars were systemat-ically parked by high school students, and the children and their accompanying adult entered the school on a timed, social-dis-tanced routine.

Participants entered through a spooky door covering.

Spread throughout the school’s hallways, common areas and gym, booth-type areas were decorated and staffed with costumed and masked people giving out goodies. Themes included Mickey Mouse and friends, Safari, Super Heroes, Ghost Bust-ers, Harry Potter, Day of the Dead, witches brewing, a cat whose mouth shot out candy and creepy crawlies.

A photo opportu-nity was cleverly de-signed, and hot choc-olate and a bagged

take-home meal were provided.

Costumes for those attending and those working the event were phenomenal. It appeared that some adults enjoyed help-ing with the apparel of Halloween more this year than usual. Had there been a cos-tume contest, there would have been many entrees.

One of the more en-joyable concepts that a few of the older children commented on afterwards was that many of the cos-tumed characters had been their teachers.

One boy was heard saying of a “Hocus Pocus” character, “I would have never known it was Mrs. Schmersahl. Oh, my gosh, she didn’t look like our principal.”

A lot of planning had gone into the event.

Many people were involved behind the scenes, and no one person claimed credit for its success.

It was a wonderful example of commu-nity members coming together for the sake of its youngsters, and a special time of Hal-loween magic was en-joyed by several hun-dred children.

From left, Davin Galle, Marissa school superintendent Jeff Strieker, Hol-leigh Hiller and Clayton Galle enjoyed the Halloween party last Sunday.

Marissa provides a Halloween treat

Hocus PocusFrom left are Danny Beck, Susie Stewart, Principal Lacey Schmersahl and Trish Baker dressed as characters from the movie “Hocus Pocus.” They were just some of the special people who dressed up for the youngsters at an October 29 Halloween party at the Marissa High School. Photo by Carol Mercer

Section Two CountyJournalNOVEMBER 5, 2020

Section Two

Join Our Christmas Club

You’ll have more money for holiday shopping next season. Just add a few dollars each week. By the time the holidays

roll around, you’ll have the money you need.

See us today about opening up a

CHRISTMAS CLUB ACCOUNT

You Make 49 Payments

WE PAY THE 50TH

$5 Each Week

$250$10 Each Week

$500$15 Each Week

$750$20 Each Week$20 Each Week

$1,000$25 Each Week

$1,250For 50 Weeks

Broadway & Market • PO Box 377 • Sparta, IL 62286618-443-2187 • www.fnbsparta.com

Ruling the schoolLexi Renner and Ray Dagner stole the show October 30 at the Steele-ville High School outdoor homecoming. Renner was named queen and Dagner king. Renner is the daughter of Mark and Kansas Beare and Josh and Jessica Renner. Dagner is the son of Scott and CeCe Dagner. Coronation was streamed live on the school’s Facebook page. The theme for the evening was Monster Mash.

Just one of the lo-cal towns will move forward with a public Veterans Day ceremo-ny this year.

All others have been canceled or altered due to COVID-19.

Red Bud will hold its ceremony at 11 a.m. Wednesday, November 11 at the veterans me-morial in Ratz Memo-

rial Park.Event organizer

Darnelle Bruegge-mann said the event will take place rain or shine, because service members do not get to take days off because of the rain.

Red Bud’s event will feature a 21 gun sa-lute, and an Elvis im-personator will sing

the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Brueggemann said the event will not have a keynote speaker in the interest of keeping the program short.

Richard Stefani will bring his two-seater sprint car, which he designed, to honor lo-cal veterans who died in Vietnam.

Red Bud to hold public Veterans Day service

Richard Stefani’s sprint car will be featured at the Red Bud Veterans Day ceremony.

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 18

We salute our VeteransWe don't know them all but o them all.

JERRY L. REPPERTLieutenant Commander United States Naval Reserve. 21 Years

Service Public Affairs Office, Nuclear Weapons Training Officer

Also Saluting Our DriverJohn KirbyFor His Service In The Navy

WWW.REPPERTSALES.COM

148 West Broadway | Sparta

Halloween at the ManorWhile the Manor at Craig Farms in Chester was unable to have its traditional Halloween trick or treat this year due to COVID-19, employees at the facility handed out candy at an October 30 drive-through at the front door. From left are Stan Newby, Tammy Steele, Lauren Van Sant, Patti Dean, Renee Spurlock, Meghan Cowan and Alicia Niemeyer.

RED BUD CITY COUNCIL

Bistro gets OK to apply for CDB grant

By Travis LottA resolution was

passed by the Red Bud City Council Monday night in support of Op-era House Bistro apply-ing for a Community Development Block Grant from the Depart-ment of Housing and Urban Development.

David Dannenberg, owner of restaurant at the four-way stop, spoke to the council prior to the November 2 vote.

Dannenberg said the Opera House has struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic the same as many es-tablishments like it.

Dannenberg said revenues are down 47 percent from last year, putting the busi-ness in dire straights. He said he has laid off staff and made other cuts, but things are still tight.

“We’ve managed to keep our doors open, but our future is cer-tainly at risk,” Dan-nenberg said.

The council unani-mously approved the resolution, which was necessary to show support for the busi-ness receiving the grant.

The city will also apply for its own Community Devel-opment Block Grant that would be used to purchase an upgrad-ed water aerator sys-tem.

Both grant applica-tions were approved to be sent, following public hearings held prior to the regular city council meeting.

In other news, the council also approved an ordinance for non highway vehicles.

The city will allow UTVs, but other ve-hicles such as golf carts, four-wheelers and dirt bikes are not allowed.

The city defi nes a

legal non highway vehicle as one that is 64 inches or less in length with four or more non highway tires, having a manu-facturer’s dry weight of 2,000 pounds or less with a non strad-dle seat and a steer-ing wheel.

The vehicles must have brakes and brake lights, turn sig-nals, rearview mir-ror, red refl ectors front and back, rear slow moving emblem, headlights and tail-lights and seatbelts for each occupant.

Drivers of the ve-hicles must be 21 or older, have a driver’s license and register the vehicles with the city. The vehicles can-not be driven on the highways that cross through the city.

The city also ap-proved a resolution to rezone a portion of property on West Market Street owned by Main Street Rede-velopers.

The property is lo-cated between 510 and 616 West Market Street. It has been re-zoned from multiple family residential to highway business, al-lowing for businesses to develop along that stretch of road.

The city also ap-proved the purchase of four new handheld devices used by the maintenance depart-ment for reading me-ters. They will be pur-chased from Core and Main of Granite City for a cost of $18,300.

Ste. Genevieve will celebrate all things pe-can Saturday, Novem-ber 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with its fi rst Pe-canapalooza Street Fes-tival.

The festival will be the fi rst event in the city since the Ste. Gen-evieve National His-torical Park was estab-lished October 30 of this year.

Pecanapalooza is spearheaded by French Colonial America. It will include cooking demonstrations with pecan elements, a pie contest, fabric dying with pecans and sam-ples of pecan beer.

Activities will take place in Ste. Gene-vieve’s historic down-town, as well as Na-tional Park Service and Missouri State Parks properties.

Music will be played by the Missouri blue-grass band Po’ Anna in Lions Park beginning at 11:30.

Food will be served at Lions Park, Centre for French Colonial Life and by snack vendors.

The event will ben-efi t charitable causes. While there is no ad-mission charge, dona-tions of canned goods will be accepted for the Cub Scouts’ Scout-ing for Food drive, and monetary donations will be accepted by USO

Missouri to provide hol-iday dinners for low-in-come military families.

Military service will be recognized with a living history military timeline and a display of World War II era mil-itary vehicles.

The Jean-Baptiste Valle House will be open for visitors to see the sketches of Roscoe

Misselhorn, paintings by M. Charles Rhine-hart and from the 1930s Art Colony collection of the Woman’s Club of Ste. Genevieve.

At the Felix Valle House State Historic Site, demonstrations will showcase how to smoke brisket using pe-cans and dying fabric with pecan shells and

husks. Another demon-stration will show how chocolate was made from cocoa beans, and pecan pralines will be available for sale.

Pecan beer samples will be available for a charge at Harold’s Fa-mous Bee Co., which also has samples of mead and varietal hon-ey.

Ste. Genevieve Pecanapalooza

UTV ordinance approved

By: Dan ZobelSPORTSCOUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 19

By Dan ZobelThe jump ball has

been tossed. Instead of coming

back down, however, it has been left sus-pended in midair, and high school basketball players, coaches, par-ents and spectators can only watch it spin.

When news broke Oc-tober 27 that the Illinois Department of Public Health elected to move the sport of basketball to a high-risk classi-fication, it sparked a

IHSA, IDPH and Pritzker clash over prep basketballDecision to play this winter currently in the hands of school districts

state of confusion and unrest across the state.

Since the start of the school year, basketball had been classified as a medium-risk sport. The high school season was scheduled to begin with practices November 16 and games November 30.

However, shortly after this news was released, Governor J.B. Pritzker stated that the basket-ball season was not canceled—it was simply put on hold.

Pritzker has since suggested that it be moved completely to the spring.

The I l l inois High School Association was not going to stand pat on this issue.

The IHSA conducted its October 28 special board meeting as sched-uled to discuss its win-ter sports season.

The highlight of the meeting was that the board determined it would allow basketball to begin as scheduled

as long as it follows the guidance of its Sports Medicine Advisory Com-mittee, which includes, among other things, players, coaches and officials wearing masks during game play.

The board stated that it remains considerate of rising COVID-19 cases in the state and under-stands the importance of adhering to safety guidelines for the good of all citizens.

“However, the board has not been presented

any causal evidence that rising COVID-19 cases make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organi-zation nationally or internationally,” the board stated in an Oc-tober 28 news release. “On the contrary, the IHSA has been look-ing to bordering states who have sponsored both medium-risk and high-risk sports in the fall that have noted a low incident rate of

COVID-19 spread.”The IHSA has stated

that it is now up to each individual school district on whether it will allow its teams to participate this winter.

“At this point, we’re just waiting to see how things play out a little more,” said Steeleville Superintendent Steph-anie Mulholland Tues-day. “The governor, the IDPH and all of them have put schools in a

By Dan ZobelWhile the uncertain-

ty of basketball has sto-len most of the head-lines, the high school wrestling season was also affected in a large way in the past week.

Labeled as a high-risk sport by the Il-linois Department of Public Health during the COVID-19 situation,

the IHSA wrestling season had been slated to begin with practic-es November 16 along with the rest of this school year’s winter sports.

However, the IHSA Board of Directors de-cided during its Octo-ber 28 meeting to move wrestling to its sum-mer season, which is

scheduled for April 19 through June 26.

This option was re-quested in September by the Illinois Wres-tling Coaches and Of-ficials Association and a group of coaches. At the time, the IHSA tabled the discussion.

“I had mixed thoughts about it at first, but the IHSA went with what

the coaches association recommended, so I can’t be frustrated because they did what we asked them to do,” said Trico wrestling coach Shane Pierce. “We wanted the best opportunity to have a full season. I think this is the best for us to move forward.”

Sports classified as high risk by the IDPH

are allowed only no-contact practices.

Pierce said his team has been weight train-ing in anticipation of a season, something they will continue into the winter months.

Another aspect of the change is that by get-ting flipped to the sum-mer season, wrestling will coincide with the

likes of baseball and track and field.

“I do have other kids who will be playing baseball,” Pierce said. “That will be tough, but I’ll do my best to work around that as a coach.

“A lot of these kids have jobs, too. They can’t play sports all of the time. We’ll just work around it.”

Prep wrestling season slated for the summer monthsRequest for the season change came from the coaches association

Continued on Page 20

Runners in the first heat of the day start their race up a hill at Swansea Clinton Hills Conservation Park. Among those in this group are Adrienne Vallett (211) of Red Bud and Lauren Heape (98) of Du Quoin.

Du Quoin wins sectionalsHigh school girls cross country

By Dan ZobelIt seemed like a des-

tined outcome for the Du Quoin High School girls cross country team.

After a season of domi-nance, and being armed with one of the top run-ners in the state, the Lady Indians surged to the Class 1A Belleville Althoff Sectional cham-pionship at Swansea Clinton Hills Conserva-tion Park.

“First of all, it was a relief that they got to do it,” said Du Quoin coach Eric Kirkpatrick. “There have been a lot of things canceled and a lot of these girls, had track taken away from them in the spring. That was tough to lose. Cross country was the first competition for a lot of these girls since March.

“Every teams puts in a lot of work to get to this point. There are a lot of lonely miles that goes into this success.”

Du Quoin was fresh off its third consecutive regional title and third straight SIRR Missis-sippi championship. The Lady Indians had qualified for state the four previous seasons.

This year, however, because of COVID-19, the Illinois High School Association opted to not hold the state meet, instead effectively end-ing the season with sectionals.

Because of that, Pinck-neyville also missed out on its third trip to state in four years, despite finishing fourth at sec-tionals.

Normally, the top five teams at sectionals and the seven fastest indi-viduals not on those teams advance to state.

“Their challenge was to be in the top five like it was a regular sec-tional if we would have had a state meet,” said Pinckneyville coach Ryan Bruns. “If there

had been a state meet, that’s where we would be. I don’t think we clicked on all cylinders in this race, but we bat-tled back.”

Also missing the op-portunity to run at state is Red Bud senior Adrienne Vallett, who finished 16th overall in a time of 20:53.67.

Vallett was not sat-isfied with that time after setting a personal record one week prior at regionals.

Still, she would have been the seventh quali-fying individual.

“I think it was a tough race,” Vallett said. “It was probably one of the roughest races we’ve ever run, being that it’s all on grass, and the grass was super wet. I wish I could have set a personal record, but I think it’s been a good season overall. I managed to knock off

Continued on Page 21

By Dan ZobelIn what can only be

described as a unique season across the board because of COVID-19, the Pinckneyville High School boys cross coun-try team concluded this year losing to just one team.

The Panthers capped off their successful run October 31 at Swan-sea Clinton Hills Con-servation Park with a second-place finish at the Class 1A Belleville

Pinckneyville boys XC finish second at sectional meetSteeleville’s Dagner 20th overall

Ray Dagner of Steeleville nears the end of his heat, with Connor Riley of Belleville Althoff trailing him and Warrior teammate Christian Rees not far behind.

Du Quoin’s Landen Swiney and Pinckneyville’s Isaac Teel sprint toward the finish line. Teel defeated Swiney by less than one second for fourth place overall.

Althoff Sectional meet.The only team they

finished behind was Benton, as the Rangers topped the Panthers by 15 points.

In a normal year, Pinckneyville would be heading to the state meet with high expec-tations. Instead, it will have to lean on the fact that it dominated most of the season, includ-ing running away with SIRR Mississippi and regional titles.

“Anytime you have a chance to compete for a sectional cham-pionship, it’s a special year,” said Pinckney-ville coach Ryan Bruns. “I told them winning in cross country is not a normal year, and we’ve won a lot this year, indi-vidually and as a team. The only team to beat us was Benton.”

The second-p lace mark was the highest

Continued on Page 21

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 20

David M. Holder

Located on Rte. 154 West of Sparta

Certifi ed Public Accountant

Call 443-5050Here To Serve

You With• Fast, Courteous Service• Affordable Rates• Individual & Business• Professional Care To Details• Electronic Filing Available

Steeleville Won LostMonday EarlyHileman Farms 8.5 5.5Brunzee’s Divas 7.5 6.5Splits & Giggles 6 8County Journal 6 8

High Team GameHileman Farms 732High Team Serie sHileman Farms 2003Brunzee’s Divas 2003High Ind. GameJanet Jacobs 203High Ind. SeriesKansas Beare 533

Tuesday EarlyHenry’s Tax Service 207 108Shiloh Tavern 197 118NAPA 179 136Farm Bureau 165 150Busch Hoggers 163 152Brew Crew 153 162Mevert’s Auto 146 169

High Team GameHenry’s Tax Service 1372High Team SeriesHenry’s Tax Service 3859High Ind. GameJustin Craig 289High Ind. SeriesLuke Kilgore 705

Thursday EarlyChester Eagles 24 11Pistol City 22 13Legion Bowl 21 14Peace Lutheran 14 21Kueker Ins. 13 22

High Team GameTroy Kueker Ins. 1187High Team SeriesLegion Bowl 3424High Ind. GameDylan Hepp 267High Ind. SeriesCale Young 718

Bowling standings

Pictured is Megan Engelhardt with her parents Tom and Laurie.

By Dan ZobelPinckneyville High

School softball third b a s e m a n M e g a n Engelhardt will head out of state to continue her athletic career.

Engelhardt made it official October 30, when she signed with Lyon College in Bates-ville, Arkansas.

The Lyon Scots is an NAIA Division I pro-gram that competes in the American Midwest Conference.

“I’ve been dreaming about going to college for a while,” Engel-hardt said. “I’m kind of nervous, of course, but I’m super excited.”

Engelhardt is the daughter of Tom and Laurie Engelhardt.

She said Lyon Col-lege made her feel very comfortable, call-ing the environment amazing.

The Pinckneyville High School softball season never even started this spring, and the Scots had their 2020 season cut short because of COVID-19, just as.

Despite losing her entire junior season, Engelhardt already

Pictured on either side of Lexi Renner and Wabash Valley coach Asa Deffendall are her parents Kansas and Mark Beare. Back row: Renner’s hitting coach Ralph Santana and Steeleville coach Andy Gerlach.

By Dan ZobelStee l ev i l l e H igh

School softball stand-out Lexi Renner has locked up her college future.

Renner, a senior, signed November 2 to play for Wabash Valley College, located in Mt. Carmel, Illinois.

She is the daughter of Mark and Kansas Beare and Josh and Jessica Renner.

“I’m really excited,” Renner said. “I ’ve worked for this my en-tire life. I’m just happy I get to actually live my dream.”

COVID-19 has led to an interesting recruit-ing process for a lot of athletes.

Renner’s junior sea-son at Steeleville never got started as it was canceled because of the virus.

“(The recruiting pro-cess) was really scary,” Renner said. “Junior year is like prime time to get recruited. Since we missed out on that season, luckily I had a really good sophomore season to go off of.”

Lexi Renner will head to Wabash Valley for softballLady

Warrior standout

She was coming off of a monster sophomore season that included an 18-11 record in the pitch-er’s circle and a .500 batting average at the plate. She hit five home runs and drove in 44 teammates. She also was tied for the team lead in runs scored with 35.

Steeleville finished 19-13, including winning regional and conference titles.

“We went to a lot of college camps,” Ren-ner said. “Wabash’s re-ally stood out. Luckily, I showed my skills there that they could see. We talked throughout COVID just to try to get things figured out.”

Part of what sold Ren-ner on Wabash was the coaching staff, includ-ing head coach Asa Def-fendall.

Wabash also lost most

of its 2020 season due to COVID but finished 44-14 in 2019, including the program’s fourth consecutive Great Riv-ers Athletic Conference title.

In 2015, Wabash was Region XXIV champion and finished seventh in the National Junior Col-lege Athletic Association National Tournament.

“It is a really great program,” Renner said.

“I think it will be a great fit for me. (Deffendall) thinks I’ll fit in really well. It’s a really smart school, too. They have a lot of academic achieve-ments.”

In July, the Wabash softball team was named the NJCAA academic team of the year.

Renner plans to study sports medicine with the goal to become an athletic trainer.

terrible position. I re-ally don’t know what our school board will decide.”

In the days follow-ing the announcement from the IHSA that it will continue with its basketball season as planned, Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Education heaped warnings on the school districts, saying there could be consequences if illness or injury comes out of sports being played, considering what the state put in place.

“Public health ex-perts have determined that basketball poses a high risk of COVID-19 transmission and is not currently safe to play,” said ISBE Super-intendent Dr. Carmen Ayala in a statement. “Defying the state’s public health guid-ance opens schools up to liability and oth-er ramifications that may negatively impact school communities.

“Our Illinois schools and communities are

safer when we work together in support of public health stand-ards. We are relying on superintendents and school leaders to make responsible choices to protect health and safe-ty and to focus on bring-ing all of our students back to the classroom.”

Randolph County Health Department Administrator Angie Oathout told the County Journal Tuesday that she was concerned about the effect playing basketball with a mask on could have.

“I think any activi-ty, such as basketball, would be difficult to play while wearing a mask when they’re try-ing to breathe,” Oathout said.

She also reiterated the fact that it only takes on person infected with COVID-19 to lead to an outbreak.

The uncertainty has left the majority of lo-cal school districts in a wait and see hold-ing pattern, with many holding discussions

with their insurance carriers about potential repercussions if they do decide to play, while hoping that more in-formation will come to light before a decision has to be made.

“With the IDPH and the IHSA not being on the same page, school districts and their boards of education are placed in a position they shouldn’t have to be in,” said Red Bud Su-perintendent Jonathan Tallman in a statement Tuesday. “It’s unfor-tunate that our state leaders have not come together on this issue, and we’re hoping in the next two weeks they will. Our board of education hopes that there will be movement between the two sides, and we will be monitor-ing that, along with the decisions of our fellow conference school dis-tricts, all while main-taining close commu-nication with our legal counsel and insurance carrier.”

Chester Superinten-

dent Brian Pasero hopes that something is developed to allow the kids an opportunity to play, but he also un-derstands the other side of the issue.

“Trying to find some-thing that works and is comfortable with the safety measures, as well, is the trick,” Pasero said Tuesday. “Not having the ap-proval of the IDPH and the ISBE are pretty big hurdles to get past. If we don’t get approval from those, it will make it pretty challenging to go forward.

“I don’t want to say for sure we will do this or that, but there is a lot to consider.”

Pinckneyville Super-intendent Keith Hagene talked about the fact that there are a lot of components at play, including social and emotional aspects, as well as community re-lations, litigation and political components.

“We have to weigh our priorities,” Hagene said Tuesday. “We still have

to take some guarded steps. Being a lifelong member of the Pinck-neyville community, my knee-jerk reaction is that we will play. Even at the conference level, however, it still takes others to cooperate and come play. You can’t just play yourself.

“It is a lot of waiting and watching things unfold. There are some really deep conversa-tions being held.”

IHSA, IDPH and Pritzker clash...From Page 19_____________________________

Pinckneyville’s Engelhardt will play softball at Lyon CollegePlayed third base for state runner-up club

had an idea where she was headed after her prep career.

“Luckily, I started my process pretty early on, so I pretty much knew where I wanted to go when (COVID-19) hap-pened,” Engelhardt. “So, I just jumped on the opportunity.”

Engelhardt said she received the scholar-ship offer last October.

She was coming off of a sophomore season with the Lady Panthers that saw her bat .306 with eight doubles and 26 RBIs. She scored 30 runs and stole eight bases. She was hit by 11 pitches, drew 17 walks and carried a .462 on-base percentage.

That production came for a strong Pinckne-yville team that ad-vanced to the Class 2A state tournament for the third consecutive season, ultimately fin-ishing in second.

“Megan is an outstand-ing defensive player and is tremendous at drawing walks and working at-bats,” said Pinckneyville coach Alan Engelhardt. “She exemplified last year’s team philosophy of

getting on base how-ever possible. She has worked on her strength and athleticism, and her power numbers will definitely go up the next time we are able to get onto the diamond.

“Lyon College is get-

ting an outstanding student, person and softball player. I am excited to see what her future holds.”

Engelhardt plans to study political science.

For now, she can look forward to the pros-

pects of her senior sea-son for the Lady Pan-thers in the spring and summer.

“I’m relieved now and a bunch more relaxed,” Engelhardt said. “I’m just happy I got this over with.”

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 21

another two minutes from my time from my best time last year.

“Making it past this point isn’t an option this year, so it’s been an amazing year because we still managed to make it to sectionals as a team.”

Red Bud finished ninth as a team. The team’s score of 262 led what could ultimately be considered the sec-ond tier of teams at sectionals, as Belleville Althoff was the eighth-place team with 169.

“The competition was deep as always,” said Red Bud coach Julie Fehr. “The course was very challenging, but we gave it all we had. I asked the kids to do their best, and that’s what they did. They’ve had a great season. It went by quickly.”

Another notable run-ner was Sparta sopho-more Sadie Hamilton,

Pinckneyvi l le has placed at sectionals since doing the same in 2016 and 2017. The Panthers were section-al champs in 2015.

The Il l inois High School Association made the decision to not hold a state meet this year, instead wrap-ping up the season with sectionals.

Normally, the top five teams and fastest sev-en individuals at sectoi-nals thereafter would qualify for state.

Steeleville fell just out of that team range by placing seventh.

The top five teams were Benton, Pinck-neyville, Freeburg, Belleville Althoff and Du Quoin.

Du Quoin tied with Trenton-Wesclin in terms of points, and the tiebreaker was set-tled by comparing the teams’ sixth fastest runners in the race.

For the Ind ians , that was senior Reese Tilley, who finished 74th overall in a time of 19:21.36. That mark turned out to be faster than Wesclin’s sixth runner, who came in at 93rd.

“I’m so happy on so many levels for those guys,” said Du Quoin coach Eric Kirkpat-rick. “The seniors on the team have put in a ton of work over the course of three to four years of building this program.

“What was so awe-some was our sixth runner was a senior who put in a ton of miles and work over the summer. For it to come down to him in a tiebreaker, I thought that was great.”

Senior Justin Mum-ford of Wesclin blew the doors off of the competition to win the individual title, finish-ing in a time of 15:19.93.

He was followed by a pair of Benton run-

ners, including Rang-er standout freshman Gavin Genisio, who was second in 15:56.78. His teammate senior Reece Johnson was third in 16:02.89.

Fourth and fifth went to a pair of runners who have battled all season in numerous SIRR competitions.

Pinckneyville fresh-man Isaac Teel was able to hold off Du Quoin junior Landen Swiney one last time, although it would be by less than a second. Teel finished in 16:10.76 and Swiney 16:11.24.

“Landen is a competi-tive dude,” Kirkpatrick said. “Fourth or fifth, it doesn’t matter; he wants to win. I think he was happy about the race though. He and Landen are both talented. It came down to a foot race at the end, and I think it could have gone either way.”

Steeleville’s top run-ner was the team’s lone senior, Ray Dagner, who finished 20th with his time of 17:44.25.

Dagner was the 10th fastest individual after removing those from the top five teams. He said he was absolutely satisfied with his fin-ish.

“I’m beyond proud of my time,” Dagner said. “I never got to see the course before, so I didn’t really know what to expect going out there. I knew it was my last race, so I was going to leave it all out there no matter what happened. Every mile, I made a new mental note to just keep going and rolling.”

Other notable individ-ual runners were Red Bud juniors Nick Fehr (18:30.49) and Ethan Summers (19:34.39) in 47th and 80th, as well as Marissa-Coulterville senior Caydin Wagner (18:36.9) in 48th.

Like regionals, the

event was broken down into heats, this time with four races.

Bruns held some con-cerns about how his Panther group would do with the format, but in the end, Pinck-neyville won six of the seven heats over the past two weekends.

Following Teel in Pinckneyville’s top five were junior Dy-lan Bledsoe (17:18.41) in 13th, senior Daniel Garavaglia (17:20.39) 15th, senior David Wag-ner (17:48.21) 23rd and sophomore Dawson Chaney (17:54.48) 29th. Panther junior Holden Clark (18:04.19) was 34th and senior Steven Hirte (18:07.61) 37th.

“There are a lot of things we can take away from this,” Bruns said. “I went up to Da-vid Wagner and told him most people do not get to win their last race. Being a senior, he gutted it out and came back and won his heat. With about a mile to go he was in fourth, prob-ably 10 seconds behind.

Nick Fehr of Red Bud leads a pack of runners early in his heat.

He ended up winning by a couple of seconds. It was a special race for him.”

Other Du Quoin run-ners in the mix were junior Nathan Smith (17:26.54) in 17th, sen-ior Jonathan Gomes (17:58.56) 31st, senior David Gomes (18:56.16) 64th, freshman Connor Gross (18:59.15) 67th, Reese Tilley (19:21.36) 74th and junior Hunt-er Douglas (21:57.04) 104th.

“Nathan Smith had a pretty good race, run-ning in that second heat and finishing 17th,” Kirkpatrick said. “I think he’s starting to feel healthy. I wish we had another two to three weeks yet.”

This would have marked the first time since 1985 that the In-dian boys would have gone to state as a team.

“After all of the work that we’ve put in to try to make it to state in the past, then to finally break through this year, it’s super dis-appointing,” Kirkpat-

rick said. “They still get the honor, though, that they would have made it.”

Steeleville, on the oth-er hand, would have been on the outside looking in for just the second time in the last six years. The Warriors had qualified for state each of the past two seasons and four of the last five.

Dagner has been part of that stretch and has felt honored to see it come full circle since he was a freshman.

“I know I put in the work to be here,” Dag-ner said. “My freshman and sophomore year, I wasn’t fast at all. See-ing the seniors win constantly, I said I want to be part of that really bad, so I worked just as hard as they did.

“Once I found myself as a senior this year, I knew I’d step up as a team leader and kind of show the guys what they need to do and what it means to be great. I’m beyond proud to say I’m part of

a winning team.”Other Warriors in the

race were junior Chris-tian Rees (17:52.3) in 26th, freshman Cayton Cratch (18:25.77) 44th, sophomore Clayton Donagher (18:44.89) 52nd, freshman Cam-den Pierce (18:50.8) 59th, sophomore Evan Reitz (18:51.82) 60th and sophomore Eli Rushing (18:54.31) 61st.

“Right around the time that everything went into quarantine, I didn’t even know if we would get a season,” Dagner said. “Once I was told we would have a season, I knew it could be the last race at any moment, so I took every race with pride, and I knew I had to give my all every step of the way with my team.

“For us to make it this far after we’ve had so many races together, I’m so proud of my guys. I know they’ll do some great things next year.”

Team Scores: Benton 63, Pinckneyville 78, Freeburg 101, Belleville Althoff 160, Du Quoin 163, Trenton-Wesclin 163, Steeleville 179, Breese Mater Dei 187, Christ Our Rock Lu-theran Centralia 200, Anna-Jonesboro 244, Vienna 263, Nashville 307, Fairfield 309, Hamilton County 338

Top 10 Individuals: J u s t i n M u m fo r d , 15:19.93, Trenton-Wes-clin; Gavin Genisio, 15:56.78, Benton; Reece Johnson, 16:02.89, Ben-ton; Isaac Teel, 16:10.76, Pinckneyville; Landen Swiney, 16:11.24, Du Quoin; Ty Barbre, 16:20.79, Carmi-White County; Zach McKow-en, 16:34.78, Christ Our Rock; Jack Hill-er, 16:44.27, Belleville Althoff; Gavin Hill, 16:45.95, Trenton-Wes-clin; Tommy Marron, 16:47.65, Breese Mater Dei

Pinckneyville boys cross country finish second... From Page 19__________________________

Du Quoin wins sectionals...From Page 19______________________________________________________

Ronnie White RANDOLPH COUNTY COMMISSIONER

Thank you to all my supporters and those

who worked so hard for our candidates! I’m both humbled and grateful to

continue to serve as your Randolph County

Commissioner.Commissioner.

Sofia Castellano of Pinckneyville runs hard during the second heat.

Sparta’s Sadie Hamilton sticks with a Breese Mater Dei runner in the midst of the third heat.

who finished 49th in a time of 22:11.41. It was her second sectional appearance.

“As a coach, I think she ran well,” said Sparta coach Abbey Miles. “It was probably not her best race, but she has been very con-sistent with her times from race to race. We both had a goal for her to kind of run in the 20-minute mark. She didn’t get that goal, but I thought she ran pretty well.”

Miles credited Hamil-ton’s work ethic while Sparta was shut down for due to COVID-19 quarantine leading up to regionals.

“When we were off the two weeks lead-ing up to regionals, I thought that was the nail in the coffin for us,” Miles said. “She took it upon herself to run on her own, and it showed. That’s

not a knock on any of our other kids, but she worked and did what she had to do.”

As was the case in re-gionals, the event was broken up into heats, this time four separate races.

Massac County stand-out senior Ansley Bai-ley dominated the com-petition, winning the race in a time of 18:39.4.

Senior Kristen Ess of Breese Central was sec-ond at 19:20.42 before junior Olivia Phillips of Du Quoin crossed in 19:38.48 for third. Phillips’ running mate for most of the sea-son, junior Lauren Heape, picked up 11th in 20:38.52.

“I think a lot of times, Olivia and Lauren get taken for grant-ed,” Kirkpatrick said. “They’ve each had steady performances all year, and they did it again at sectionals. A lot of times when I’m asked what stood out from a race, I’ll focus on who popped up and did great, and I’ll fail to realize Heape and Phil-lips do this every meet.”

It was a collective ef-fort that allowed Du Quoin to capture the sectional title.

Senior Jacqueline Cra in s t epped up again by taking ninth in 20:24.78. The Lady Indians then had fresh-man Kallie Oestreicher (20:46.06) in 14th and junior Alexis George (21:26.14) 28th.

In addition to the team’s top five, junior Grace Alongi (21:36.56) was 33rd and freshman Lainey Miller (21:55.44) 42nd.

“Crain getting ninth overall from that sec-ond heat was big,” Kirkpatrick said. “She wasn’t in the race with the rest of the girls who finished in the top 10. Winning your heat with nobody else around to pace, that was probably one of the most impressive things

I saw.”Kirkpatrick calcu-

lated that Du Quoin trailed by six points heading into the third heat, where his pair of freshman, Oestreicher and Miller, were run-ning.

“We walked down to the line going into the third, down by six points to Benton,” Kirk-patrick said. “We had two freshman coming up next, and we told them that. I’m not sure I would do that again. I think it rattled them a little, but they shook it off; and both of them responded.”

In front for the Pinck-neyville charge was junior Ashlee Hirsch, who t ook 1 7 th in 21:02.18.

She was followed by freshman Sofia Castel-lano (21:19.57) in 24th, senior Gayle Winter (21:26.03) 27th, fresh-man Emily Baggett (21:48.71) 36th, Madi-son Morgentha ler (22:04.15) 44th, junior Taylor Kurtz (22:06.63) 45th and junior Carsyn Cowley (23:00.71) 68th.

“My only senior, Gayle Winter, was running in the last girls race, kind of running by her-self, as there weren’t as many people in that race,” Bruns said. “At the time, we were down 11 to Freeburg. She made up that plus a few. It was an out-standing performance for her.”

Pinckneyville fin-ished five points ahead of Freeburg to earn fourth.

Red Bud’s runners be-sides Vallett were sen-ior Merideth Whelan (22:34.3) in 55th, soph-omore Simone Liefer (23:19.05) 72nd, sen-ior Mackenzie Hahn (23:47.63) 79th, freshman Harlie Braun (24:44.64) 92nd, sophomore Anna Wolters (26:00.5) 104th and freshman Kamry Koester (26:43.84) 108th.

“It was just a really great group of sen-

ior girls,” Fehr said. “Not only athletically, but personally. They are easy to be around and extremely easy to coach. I will definitely miss them. The un-derclassmen have big shoes to fill, but I’m confident they will.

“I’m already planning for next year, trying to see what athletes we will have.”

Team Scores: Du Quoin 53, Hamilton County 88, Benton 90, Pinckneyville 123, Freeburg 128, Breese Central 145, Breese Ma-ter Dei 166, Belleville Althoff 169, Red Bud 262, Nashville 272, Mur-physboro 286, Carter-

ville 288, Anna-Jones-boro 308, West Frank-fort 377, Fairfield 464

Top 10 Individuals: Ansley Bailey, 18:39.4, Massac County; Kris-ten Ess , 19 :20.42 , Breese Central; Olivia Phillips, 19:38.48, Du Quoin; Julia O’Neill, 19:52.92, Belleville Althoff; Mia Wills, 19:56.82, Benton; Sarah McKowen, 20:06.68, Christ Our Rock Lu-theran Centralia; Hai-ley Wallace, 20:15.39, Benton; Eris Nelson, 20:24.63, Belleville Althoff; Jacqueline Crain, 20:24.78, Du Quoin; Maddie Karch-er, 20:26.46, Hamilton County

OBITUARIESPage 24

RANDOLPHMONUMENT

WORKSServing Families Since 1900

Allison Deterding-Rainey, Manager

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

MonuMent SaleSCeMetery lettering

CuStoM DeSign

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 22

106 Fox Run • Sparta • Next To Hardee’s

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

Markers • MonumentsMausoleums

NashvilleMemorial Co.

John & Madeline Bergfeld

DEGEN R. SANDERSDegen R. Sanders,

31, of Percy, died Sun-day, November 1, 2020 at Sparta Community Hospital.

He was born July 7, 1989 in Carbon-dale to Loren Richard and Ann Degenhardt Sanders.

He was a correction-al officer at Menard Correctional Center. Degen was of the Lu-theran faith. He was a member of Eagles Aerie 3960 in Steeleville, lifetime NRA member, Eagle Scout and Troop 348 in Steeleville. He en-joyed hunting, fishing and outdoor activities. Most of all, he enjoyed spending time with his family.

Degen is survived by his parents of Percy; pa-ternal grandmother Mary L. Sanders of Sparta; maternal grandfather Glenwood Degenhardt of Percy; paternal aunts Karen and Cindy; mater-nal uncle Glen and aunt Amy and cousins Ash-ley, Nicole and Sydney.

He was preceded in death by his maternal grandmother Allene Degenhart and paternal grandfather Loren “Flea” Sanders.

Visitation is Thursday, November 5, 2020 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Steeleville. Services will follow, with Rev. Mark Harriss officiating. Face masks are re-quired, and social distancing guidelines must be followed.

Burial will be in Ebenezer Cemetery in Rock-wood.

Wilson’s Funeral Home in Steeleville is assist-ing the family with arrangements.

Memorials may be made to Randolph Coun-ty Humane Society or Steeleville Scouting Pro-gram.

Sign the guest book at wilsonsfuneralhome.net.

LISA L. O’DELLLisa L. O’Dell, 61,

of Champagne, died at home peacefully Wednesday, October 21, 2020.

Lisa was born March 26, 1959 in Shelby County Memorial Hos-pital in Shelbyville, Illi-nois to Joe R. and Patri-cia Younger O’Dell. She was born six weeks prematurely and spent the first 4½ weeks at St. John Premature Center in Springfield.

Lisa married Dr. Scott Poole of Minneapolis, Minnesota at Wesley United Methodist Church in Percy September 6, 1986. Lisa and Scott’s son Samuel Joe Edward Poole was born November 13, 1991 while living in Minneapolis. They later made their home in College Station, Texas, then in Champagne. Scott survives.

Lisa graduated from Trico Community Unit District 176 as valedictorian of her Class of 1977. She graduated from the University of Illinois summa cum laude in 1981 with a bachelor’s de-gree in speech communication, in 1983 with a master’s degree in educational psychology and in 1989 from the University of Minnesota with a PHD in applied statistics. She was employed by Honeywell in Chicago and Minneapolis and later at the University of Illinois.

Lisa was a kind loving person who loved learn-ing and education.

She is also survived by son Samuel; mother of Kansas City, Missouri; twin sister Laurie (Steve) Lisa of Paradise Valley, Arizona; sister Beth (George) Matz of Liberty, Missouri; sister-in-law Rev. Kimberly Poole of Washington state; nephew Anthony (Bridget) Lisa of Scottsdale, Arizona; nieces Michelle (Dan Brown) of Portland Oregon, Caitlin (Adam Bosch) Chicago, Leah Matz of St. Louis and Caroline and Anna-Claire Matz of Lib-erty; great-niece Cory Brown and great-nephew Carson Bosch.

She was preceded in death by her father and brother Doug O’Dell.

A memorial services will be held in Champaign in December of 2020.

Memorials may be made to American Heart As-sociation.

AUGUST BURMESTER

August “Gussie” Bur-mester, 94, of Red Bud, died Friday, October 30, 2020 at Red Bud Regional Care.

He was born Au-gust 13, 1926 in Red Bud to August and Anna Schoenbeck Bur-mester.

He married Mildred “Millie” Harms. She preceded him in death.

Gussie was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and the Randolph County Farm Bureau. He was a lifelong farmer, which he loved. He loved animals and got so much pleasure from caring for them. He also enjoyed talking to people and telling stories from the past. He cherished and adored his granddaughters.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953 in Korea. He was stationed in Germany.

He is survived by sons Bruce Burmester and Keith (Tracy) Burmester and granddaughters Kay-la, Brittney and Keri Burmester, all of Red Bud.

He was also preceded in death by his parents, father and mother-in-law Henry and Emma Hell-er Harms, sisters Anna Burmester and Aurelia Schliefer, brothers-in-law Delmar Schliefer and Julius McCloure and sister-in-law Carol McCloure.

Due to COVID-19, all services will be private, with burial at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Red Bud.

Leesman Funeral Home in Red Bud assisted the family with arrangements.

Memorials may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church.

Sign the guest book at leesmanfuneralhome.com.

CHARLES WAYNE COMMUSOCharles “Chuck”

Wayne Commuso, 78, of Sparta, died Sat-urday, October 31, 2020 at the Randolph County Care Center in Sparta.He was born Octo-

ber 12, 1942 in Win-kle to James Henry and Pansy Opal Taylor Commuso.He married Edith

Torri. She preceded him in death.Chuck was a U.S. Navy veteran. He came from a large family of nine siblings

and loved every one of them. He worked for Jensen’s Plumbing in northern Illinois. Chuck enjoyed deer hunting and fishing.He is survived by stepson Len (Donna) Kuchar-

ski; stepdaughter Debbie (Steve) Litin; brothers Larry (Julia) Commuso of Sparta and Carl (Janet) Commuso of Baldwin; foster brother John (Linda) Stoner of Du Quoin and stepgrandchildren Erik, Kristine, Brittany and Kayla.He was also preceded in death by his parents,

stepdaughter Diane Ketmann, brothers James David, Pete Norman, Gilbert H., Raymond Clyde and Clarence Eugene Commuso, sister Nellie Marie Sadler and half-brother William Warren.Services were held Wednesday, November 4,

2020 at 11 a.m. at Heil-Schuessler & Sinn Funeral Home in Sparta. Burial was in Fairview Baptist Church Cemetery in Sparta.Memorials may be made to Fairview Baptist

Church Cemetery.

HAROLD W. GERLACHHarold W. Gerlach, 77, of Steeleville, died at 8:30

a.m. Sunday, October 25, 2020 at Cedarhurst As-sisted Living in Sparta.He was born July 28, 1943 in Sparta to W.H. and

Frances Blind Gerlach. He married Martha Finley June 13, 1964 in

Sparta. She survives.Harold was of the Presbyterian faith. He retired

from Stamm Trucking after 42 years of driving.He is also survived by son Bill Gerlach of Steel-

eville, brother Walter Gerlach of Sparta, sisters Marilyn (Cecil) Shockley, Roberta Guebert and Esther Craig, all of Sparta, and Ruth Stellhorn of Perryville, nieces and nephews.Harold was preceded in death by his parents.Private graveside services were held Tuesday,

October 27, 2020 at Paradise Cemetery in Steel-eville, with Rev. David Hoffelmeyer officiating. Wilson’s Funeral Home in Steeleville assisted

the family with arrangements. Memorials may be made to Randolph County

Humane Society. Sign the guest book at wilsonsfuneralhome.net.

BETTY A. LAPPEBetty A. Lappe, 83,

of Steeleville, died Fri-day, October 30, 2020 at Memorial Hospital in Belleville.

She was born March 31, 1937 in Campbell Hill to Herman H. and Anna D Wachsmicht Hornbostel.

She married David A. Lappe April 27, 1957 at Immanuel Lutheran Church-West Point in Campbell Hill. He survives.

Betty was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church-West Point. She was a homemaker.

She is also survived by sons Kevin (Mickiyo) Lappe of Adain, Oklahoma and Scott (Tammy) Lappe of New Athens; daughters Karrie (Rick) Quigley of New Athens and Shelly (Kenneth) Shev-lin of Freeburg; grandchildren Joshua (Cathleen) Swan, Chelsea, Ezekiel, Jacob, Cameron, Kayla and Owen Lappe, Derrick Quigley and Sarah (An-drew) Leonard; great-grandchildren Ellison Leon-ard and Jason, Elaina and Isabella Swan.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, son David A. Lappe Jr., brother Eldred Hornbostel and granddaughter Mackenzie Lappe.

Services were held at 10 a.m. Monday, November 2, 2020 at Immanuel Lutheran Church-West Point in Campbell Hill, with Rev. Sean Smith officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery.

Wilson’s Funeral Home in Steeleville assisted the family with arrangements.

Memorials may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church Steeple Fund.

Sign the guest book at wilsonsfuneralhome.net.

JOANN LINDSEYJoAnn Lindsey, 85,

of Carbondale, died Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at The Landings at Reed Station Cross-ing.She was born Novem-

ber 14, 1934 in Ava to Ralph Ray and Nora Kenner Melville. She married James

“Trigger” Lindsey De-cember 30, 1960 in Carbondale. He preceded her in death April 4, 2011.JoAnn worked as an executive secretary for

Prairie Farms and Stevenson Arms for many years. She was a longtime active member of Uni-versity Baptist Church in Carbondale and Red Hat Ladies of Carbondale. She delivered Meals on Wheels in Jackson County and volunteered at the Pink Geranium at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale.JoAnn is survived by son James Trigger

Lindsey of Carbondale; sisters Vivian Melville McCrary of Steeleville, Karen Melville (Steven) Ramsey of Port St. Lucie, Florida and Judy Mel-ville (Roger) Rieckenberg of Willisville; son-in-law Tim Moorehead; grandchildren Lucas and Daniel Moorehead and Noah Lindsey, nephews and nieces.She was preceded in death by her parents,

stepmother Julia Melville, daughter Tina Ann Moorehead, infant brother, brothers Charles Melville and Henry “Buddy” Heine Jr. and sis-ters June Howard, Marie Tanner and Neola Blair.Services were held 11 a.m. Saturday, October

31, 2020 at University Baptist Church in Carbon-dale, with Rev. John Annable officiating. Burial was in Boskydell Cemetery in Carbondale. Memorials may be made to University Baptist

Church.A video of the service is on the Meredith

Funeral Home in Carbondale website at mer-edithfh.com.

WALTER “MICKEY” OLIVER SR.

Walter “Mickey” Ol-iver Sr., 68, of Coulter-ville, died Saturday, Oc-tober 31, 2020 at 6:59 a.m. at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon.

Micky was born July 29, 1952 in Coulterville to Arretta Oliver.

He worked for the City of Coulterville. He enjoyed fishing, watching TV, movies and mowing grass.

He is survived by his fiancée Tammy Martin of Coulterville, sons Walter “Mickey” Oliver Jr. and Terry Burns of Sparta, daughters Chery-lyn Haslatt of New Athens and Cheylene Oliver of Marissa, sister Beverly Porter of Sparta, 10 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his mother and brothers James L. and Donald E. Helms.

Graveside services were held at 11 a.m. Wednes-day, November 4, 2020 at Coulterville City Ceme-tery, with Ron Mazander officiating.

Pyatt Funeral Home in Coulterville assisted the family with arrangements.

Memorials may be made to the family. Sign the guest book at pyattfuneralhome.com.

PAT SCHWARTZPat Schwartz, 89, of Modoc, died at 4 p.m. Fri-

day, October 30, 2020 at Oak Hill in Waterloo.Funeral Mass was at 11 a.m. Wednesday, No-

vember 4, 2020 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Prairie du Rocher, with Father Sebastian Ukah officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery.Pechacek Funeral Home in Red Bud assisted

the family with arrangements.Memorials may be made to St. Joseph Catholic

Church.Sign the guest book at wpfh.net.

JOYETTA SHERIDANJoyetta “Joy” Sheri-

dan, 89, of Tilden, died Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at Randolph County Care Center in Sparta.

She was born June 28, 1931 in East St. Lou-is to Dolph and Gladys Tozier Williams.

She married James W. Sheridan. He pre-ceded her in death November 1, 1997.

Joy enjoyed reading different novels. She was a member of the Tilden Presbyterian Church and participated in a group known as the Ollie Dunn Circle.

She is survived by her special daughter Judy Etling of Tilden, sister-in-law Berta Sheridan of Millstadt, nieces and nephews.

Joy was also preceded in death by her parents.Services were held at 11 a.m. Monday, Novem-

ber 2, 2020 at Tilden Presbyterian Church, with Dennis Hamilton officiating. Burial was in Maris-sa Township Cemetery.

Heil-Schuessler & Sinn Funeral Home in Tilden assisted the family with arrangements.

Memorials may be made to Tilden Presbyterian Church or Tilden Fire Department.

Sign the guest book at heilschuessler.com.

DALE HOLLOMANDale Holloman, 89, of Belleville, formerly of

Chester, died at 5:34 p.m. Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at Memorial Hospital in Belleville.Private services were held at Pechacek Fu-

neral Home in Chester Monday, November 2, 2020, with Dr. Mike Fogerson officiating. Burial was in Chester Evergreen Cemetery.Memorials may be made to Wounded War-

riors.Sign the guest book at wpfh.net.

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 23

VETERANS Reminder, We Will Be Closed On Thanksgiving At Both LocationsSPARTA & PERCY

Thank You

SARAH ELLEN OWENSSarah “Sally” Ellen Owens, 92, of Sparta,

formerly of Marissa, died at her home Sunday, November 1, 2020.

She was born May 2, 1928 in Billett, Illinois to Rev. Frank W. and Elsie Harris Tredway.

She married Clifford Owens in October of 1983. He survives.

Sally loved children and enjoyed their com-pany. Cliff and Sally were one of the couples who helped start and operate Sonshine Corner in Marissa. She always had you leaving with a smile on your face with her saying, “See you later alligator, after awhile crocodile.” She was the type of person who always went out of her way to help others.

She is also survived by children William Harrell of Tempe, Arizona and Belinda (David) Diecker of Marissa; grandchildren Amanda and Jeffrey Harrell, Ryan (Suzette), Christi-na (John Gerger) and Andrew (Alison Innes) Diecker; great-grandchildren Connor, Madi-son and Adeline; step-great-grandchildren Fin and Marlee and sister Martha (Bob) Philips of Ocklawaha, Florida.

Sally was preceded in death by her parents, fi rst husband Clelan Harrell, brothers Hobart, George and Dale Tredway and sister Frances Howard.

There is a private visitation for the family. Public graveside services will be held Friday, November 6, 2020 at 2 p.m. at Marissa Town-ship Cemetery. Face masks and social distanc-ing are required.

Heil-Schuessler Funeral Home in Marissa is assisting the family with arrangements.

Memorials may be made to Sonshine Corner or Marissa Methodist Church.

Sign the guest book at heilschuessler.com.

IRENE A. DIERCKSIrene A. Diercks,

92, of Chester, died at 7:55 p.m. Monday, November 2, 2020 at Red Bud Regional Hospital.

She was born No-vember 12, 1927 in Waterloo to Henry and Minnie Schmieg Meyer.

Irene married Gil-bert Diercks Novem-ber 15, 1947 in Chester. He preceded her in death May 22, 1985.

She had worked at Waterloo Electric Plant, International Shoe Company in Chester and Steeleville and retired from St. Ann’s Nursing Home in Chester.

Irene was a member of St. John Lutheran Church in Chester and was a volunteer for nu-merous church functions. She was also a mem-ber of the Chester Senior Citizens and VFW Auxiliary.

She is survived by daughter Debbie Diercks (Norm Meadows) of Chester; brother Willis “Butch” Meyer of Columbia; sisters-in-law Lav-erne Morrison of Chester and Edith Diercks of Percy; grandsons John (Laurie) Knop, Edward and Dillon Ladendecker; great-grandchildren Ian Hankammer, Austin and Gavin Knop and Klynn Korando, nieces and nephews.

She was also preceded in death by her par-ents, son Steve Diercks, infant daughter Mar-garet Diercks, brothers Edgar, Elmer, Arthur and Roy Meyer and sisters Alice Sickmeier, Vera Fisher, Esther Sickmeier and Rose Banks.

Visitation is Thursday, November 5, 2020 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pechacek Funeral Home in Chester and Friday from 9 to 11 a.m. at St. John Lutheran Church. Services will follow, with Rev. Justin Massey offi ciating. Burial will be in Paradise Cemetery in Steeleville.

The church is limited to 50 people. Everyone is asked to wear a mask.

Memorials may be made to St. John Luther-an Church.

Sign the guest book at wpfh.net.

CHESTER GRADENovember 9-13

BreakfastMONDAY: Pancakes, bacon.TUESDAY: Cinnamon roll.WEDNESDAY: No school.THURSDAY: Muffi n, yogurt.FRIDAY: Cereal, graham crackers, breakfast pizza.

LunchMONDAY: Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, strawberries.TUESDAY: Italian chicken wrap, broccoli w/ranch, tomatoes, pears.THURSDAY: Spaghetti, bosco stick, cheese, peaches.FRIDAY: BBQ rib patty, baked beans, applesauce.

ST. MARK’SNovember 9-13

MONDAY: Soft shell taco, salad, pears.TUESDAY: Chicken patty, green beans, pineapple.WEDNESDAY: No school.THURSDAY: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, mixed fruit.FRIDAY: Pizza, corn, peaches.

EVANSVILLENovember 9-13

BreakfastMONDAY: French toast.TUESDAY: Cereal, Gripz.WEDNESDAY: No school.THURSDAY: Sausage pancake nuggets on a stick. FRIDAY: Cereal, smoothie.

LunchMONDAY: Hot ham and cheese on a croissant, chips, carrots, peaches.TUESDAY: Tacos, spicy pinto beans, oranges.THURSDAY: Eggs/sausage, biscuit, hash browns. FRIDAY: Cheeseburger, oven fries, applesauce.

School menu

K of C donates coatsBilly Sutterer, left, and Norb Heather of the Knights of Columbus in Sparta recently donated several coats to Sparta Lincoln. Assistant Principal Lynda Loesing accepted the coats on behalf of the school.

Shriners donateFrom left are Sparta Senior Center Executive Director Kevin Wilson, accepting a recent donation from Bob Kempfer of the Randolph County Shrine Club. The center is open from 11:30 to noon weekdays for curbside delivery. Call 443-4020 to order a meal.

VeteransDay

A Tribute To Our Armed Forces! We

Remember Your Sacrifice.

Castens Insurance

Agency406 E. Main | Steeleville

(618) 965-3854

JOHN L. SMITH SR.John L. Smith Sr.,

86, of Percy, died at 4:49 a.m. Tuesday, November 3, 2020 at Three Springs Lodge Nursing Home in Chester.

He was born March 12, 1934 in Cutler to Albert J. and Ollie Irene Moore Smith.

He married Tin-neth “Ruth” Church Mathews March 15, 1982 in Cutler. She sur-vives.

John fi rst worked for Hunter Meat Co. then retired from Morrell Meat Company after 23 years. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Cutler. He was an avid St. Louis Car-dinals fan.

He is also survived by children Donna (Wayne) Carroll of Mt. Vernon, Indiana, Eddy Mathews of Percy, Joy (John) Underdown of Herrin, John L. (Sharon) Smith Jr. of Willis-ville, Larry (Kathy) Mathews of Beach Park, Illinois and Sandy (Scott) Reiman of Campbell Hill; 14 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchil-dren; sisters Carol (James) Lively of Camp-bell Hill and Patsy (Jerry) Briley of Cutler and brothers Kenneth Smith Sr. and Robert (Kathy) Smith of Cutler.

John was preceded in death by his parents, granddaughter Emily Reiman, sister-in-law Patsy Smith, two sisters and four brothers.

Visitation is Friday, November 6, 2020 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Cutler. Services will follow, with Rev. Zachary Furlong offi ciating. Burial will be in the Cut-ler Cemetery. Social distancing and face mask guidelines are to be followed.

Wilson’s Funeral Home in Steeleville is as-sisting the family with arrangements.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Cutler.

Sign the guest book at wilsonsfuneralhome.net.

RALPH’SSMALL ENGINE REPAIR

HUSTLER • TOROECHO • INGERSOLLARIENS • GRAVELY568-1707 • Hwy. 51 South • Elkville

EvansvilleNews

By Eloise Kueker449-2043

Sparta senior siteactivities, menu

By Diana Cole758-2880

Coultervilleand SwanwickNews

SOCIETYCOUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 24

S’ville nutrition center menu

Cooler weather has arrived. In fact, some days it is downright cold. We old folks can tell it in our bones.

If I could give one piece of advice to young folks, it would be: Be careful, and don’t break any bones.

Although my frac-tures have healed, when the weather changes, especially when it gets colder, I can really feel it.

There are other signs in nature that warn us of upcom-ing weather condi-tions, like the persim-mon trees. Everyone I have talked to this fall tell me when they have cut into a persimmon seed, it shows spoons, which mean snow. Forks mean rain, and knives mean ice. So get your icy melt and shovels ready.

My broken leg gives me about 24 hours of warning of snow or storms. It doesn’t mat-ter what the weather man says, the leg is al-ways right. If it hurts, look out.

My coworkers at EAC learned to trust the leg,

and now I have added a broken arm and foot and a bum knee to the forecasters.

Another of nature’s forecasters is the cat-erpillar. I have not seen any this year, so I’m not sure what they are calling for.

All brown is OK. Black in front means yucky weather ear-ly, and black in back means we will have a late, wet, cold spring. Black all over means it will be a long, long, winter.

Happy birthday to Maddie Schulein, Sar-ah Kohrs, Doris Jack-son, Vivian Kemp-fer, Eileen Heinen, Sean Kempfer, Emma Rains, Mary Schilling, Kelsie Buss, Makayla Tripp, Elizabeth Hess Bert, Matt Stephens Jim Kessler and Tyson Riecke.

Happy 95th birthday to my mother, Allene Becker.

Those helping her celebrate Friday were Wanda Long, Janet Louveau, Patrick, Mi-chelle and Paisley Mill-er, Gina and Rosemary Heinen.

Those visiting and celebrating Saturday were Collin, Adalynn, Jo Jo and Eleanor and Debbie Largent.

Celebrating with her Sunday were Malachi, Becky, Alistair and Addy Forsythe, Deb-bie Largent and Eloise

Kueker. Happy 25th anniver-

sary to Jim and Angie Cissell and Jay and Mi-chelle Zimmermann.

St. John’s Lutheran Church Ladies Aid is selling apple butter at $8 per quart or $5 per pint. Contact Marlene Ling or Pearl May.

Congratulations to Lily Tejeda for placing fi rst at the SIJHSAA Cross Country Class A Regional Meet Oc-tober 18 at the Marisa Recreational Area and to Chloe Adams, who scored in the top fi ve.

Others competing were Courtney Drake, who placed eighth, Brianna Orella 24th and Lyla Wilson 25th.Evansville Enterprise

October 31, 1941Patty Meyer was sur-

prised at a party. Invit-ed guests were Rose Marie Birk, Geraldine Davis, Frances Bieth-man, Dolores Skid-more, Mary Lee Laub-er, Jeannette Wolff, Ei-leen Spreitler, Dolores Wittenbrink and Ber-nice Wittenbrink.

The Illinois Aero-nautics Commission announced that it se-lected Chester and Red Bud as tentative sites for airports in its 10-year plan of expan-sion.

A Harvest Festival was planned by the school’s Mother Club to obtain funds for the school lunch program.

Starting January 3, Coulterville United Methodist Church ser-vice time will be 8:15 a.m. The change will al-low Pastor Cody time to safely reach each church and have time with each church family.

A funeral and lun-

cheon were held Octo-ber 30 at the Coulter-ville VFW for Michael Shubert.

Condolences to the family of Mickey Oli-ver, who was a mainte-nance worker for the village of Coulterville for many years. Mick-ey would go beyond his job duties if anyone would call with issues. He was a valued mem-ber of the community. May he rest in peace.

The Coulterville VFW Auxiliary will have a fi sh fry November 6

from 4 to 7 p.m.The Coulterville VFW

Auxiliary will meet Monday, November 9 at 7 p.m.

Elodie and Daxton came Saturday eve-ning to trick or treat in Coulterville, then we took off for Campbell Hill. It was a very nice Halloween for every-one. The weather was great, and it was good to see residents sitting on their porches, let-ting the kids get their candy. Some families even had campfi res.

At the libraryRoberta Wolf of Marissa recently obtained a library card from librarian Linda Henson. It will allow Wolf to check out books, audios, CDs and games. All libraries welcome those who want to sit and read or use computers, but to check out items, a library card is needed. Getting one is quick and easy by presenting an ID and signing up. Photo by Carol Mercer

Mobile marketSteve Sympson of Chester offers watermelons to clients at the October 28 Chester Area Christian Food Pantry’s mobile market held at the Cohen Recreation Complex. Clients were also given onions, potatoes, cereal, apples, frozen chicken patties and nuggets and a bag of mixed food items provided by the St. Louis Area Foodbank. The mobile market served 98 families at the event, and the food pantry served 600 individuals from Chester and the surrounding area. The pantry is now accepting monetary donations to provide Thanksgiving food to clients. Donations can be mailed to CACFP, 693 W. Holmes, Chester, IL 62233. The next mobile market is November 25. Jim Beers photo

MenuNovember 9-13

MONDAY: Vegetable soup, cheese salad, corn bread, fruit. TUESDAY: Country fried steak, mashed po-tatoes, gravy, corn, pie.WEDNESDAY: Closed.THURSDAY: Meatball sub w/cheese, scalloped potatoes, creamed peas, cake.FRIDAY: Chili, cheese stick, fruit w/bananas.

Hours: Monday-Thurs-day 8-3, Friday 8-2.

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

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

Curb service pick-up time: 11:30 to noon. Drive under the aw-ning.

Clothing store hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

MenuNovember 9-13

MONDAY: Breaded chicken sandwich, slaw, pears, chocolate chip cookie bar.TUESDAY: Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, mixed vegetables, applesauce.WEDNESDAY: Closed.THURSDAY: Codfish,

sweet potato fries, s t e we d t o m at o e s , o r a n g e s , b r e a d pudding.FRIDAY: Meat loaf, m a s h e d p o t a t o e s , C a r o l i n a b e a n s , creamed corn, peaches.

Hours: Monday-Fri-day 8:30-4.

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

Stop By And See

KUEKERAt The “Y” In Ruma

(618) 282-2386

Auto Sales

JANET

Card of ThanksThank you for all of the love and support you have

shown through your prayers, cards, memorial donations and calls following the death of our son Curt. donations and calls following the death of our son Curt.

A special thank you to Horan & McConaty Funeral home, The Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation and Commerce City FOP Lodge 19 for their incredible

support of all of us. Thanks also to Pastor Lin Cheek of Hope UMC in Greenwood Village, CO. We were often

thanked by his brothers and sisters in blue for sharing Curt with them. We had no choice in that. That's just Curt with them. We had no choice in that. That's just

who he was. To know Curt was to love him.

Sincerely, Carl &Sharon Holland

Ken 6 1 8 -521-6174Justin 618-967-0075

JK THOMPSON CO.New Homes And

Custom ConstructionSeptic System Installation

Visit Us On Facebook/jkthompsonco

Innovation & Quality

Real estate transactionsREAL ESTATE

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 25

FULLY LICENSED & INSURED • SERVING PERRY & RANDOLPH COUNTIES

Knight Hawk Coal, LLC • (618) 426-3662

Trespassers Subject To Arrest

NO TRESPASSING

Dirt, Rock & Sand

HAULINGDUMP OR TAILGATESPREADDriveway & Road Rock • All Sizes •Call For Pricing And Scheduling

RANDOLPH COUNTYMelanie Johnson

County Clerk & Recorder

WARRANTY DEEDSRosie J. Berry to

Rosie J. Berry, John M. Berry, John Mi-cheal Berry Trust & Rosie J. Berry Trust NW NE Sec 13 5-6Ray Wedemeyer, Ray

Wedemeyer Trust & Judith Ann Wede-meyer Joint Tenancy Trust to Tanya L. Cowan Lt 6 Westfi eld SD, Consideration $33,500Daniel H. & Patsy P.

Hartmann, Patsy P. Hartmann & Daniel H. Hartmann to Nan-cy J. Nerone Lts 1 & 2 Blk 10 Baldwin, Con-sideration $112,000Justin C. Rahn &

Jessica D. Rahn to

John T. Murray Lt 8 Henry SD, Consider-ation $155,000Archie Ward & June

M. Ward to David Leo Damm & Katherine Arlene Damm Lts 1 & 2 Jany SD, Consider-ation $102,500Jonathan A. Heller

& Cassie A. Heller to Chad D. Buch & Mor-gan B. Buch Lt 16 Cty SD, Consideration $230,000Justin L. Papenberg

& Jami C. Papenberg to Justin L. Papen-berg NE SW Sec 28 4-8W i l l i a m Ad o l p h

Becker & Diane K. Becker to Robert Frisch & Veronica D. Frisch Lts 1, 2 & 3 Blk 15 Village of Percy, Consideration $103,000

Leslie J. Zoellner & Leigh Ann Haynes to Trevor David Heine-meyer Lt 6 Blk 1 McCL SD, Consider-ation $7,000James D. Hartmann

& Treena Hartmann to Nancy A. Gerfen, SE SW Sec 26 6-6 Con-sideration $127,500Pamela K. Tiller

to Garrett L. Berry & Amanda L. Berry NE NW SW Sec 34 6-6, Consideration $152,000Darrel l Bolen to

Jimmy E. Hunt & Cheryl L. Hunt Lts 1 & 2 Blk 2 Gordon 1st Addn, Consideration $30,000Darrel J. Juenger

& Kimberly Juenger to Jacob Atchison & Shea Mueller, Consid-eration $30,000

QUITCLAIM DEEDS

Robert V. Lehnhoff to Mark E. Lehnhoff SE Sec 36 6-5

Mark E. Lehnhoff to Robert V. Lehnhoff same as above

Brenda S. O’Rear & Harold O’Rear to Stephaine Knope & James O’Rear SW SW Sec 13 4-5

Ronald Kellerman, Nancy Kellerman, Christopher Kern & Tina Kern to Ronald Kellerman, Nancy Kellerman, Chris-topher Kern, Tina Kern & Dean Kloth SW SE Sec 19 5-6

Jodi L . Al len & Christopher G. Allen to Christopher G. Al-len Lt 9 Busse 1st SD

Justin L. Papenberg & Jami C. Papenberg to Jami C. Papenberg Blk 6 Sam Crozier SD

Debra K. Liefer & Harvey L. Liefer to Timothy J. Liefer & Jessica L. Liefer NE SW Sec 11 4-8, Con-sideration $1,000

Timothy J. Liefer & Jessica L. Liefer to Timothy J. Liefer & Jessica L. Liefer NE

SW Sec 11 4-8J o r d a n K r u g &

Kourtney Bayer to Jor-

dan Krug Lts 1-6 Blk 2 WA Houston SD

Joshua F. Kohring & Andrea C. Kohring to Joshua F. Kohring SW NW Sec 26 4-5

John E. Wingerter & Joyce G. Wingerter to Jeffrey Wingerter SE Sec 20 7-6

Billie J. Leigh & Cal-vin A. Leigh to Calvin A. Leigh & Beverly J. Leigh Lts 1, 2 & 3 Blk 1 AM Thom SD

Rodney G. Krull to Rodney G. Krull SW SE Sec 20 5-6

PERRY COUNTYBeth Lipe

County Clerk & Recorder

WARRANTY DEEDSMary Elizabeth Lewis

& Timothy R. Lewis to Astra Hurst & Jerron M. Hurst NW SW SE Sec 10 5-3, Considera-tion $146,000

US Bank National As-sociation to John Mer-cado NW NE Sec 5 5-1, Consideration $11,700

Diane Sherman Kro-etz, Ronald Sherman & Waren Sherman to Emily K. Lovelady & James Ausin Lovelady SW Sec 3 5-1 Consid-eration $350,000QUITCLAIM DEEDSCaroline Epplin &

Caroline Epplin Giger to Caroline Epplin Giger & David Giger NE SW Sec 23; NW SE; NW NE SE Sec 26 6-3

Michael W. Maciura to Augusta S. Maciura NE SW Sec 19 6-4

Charles W. Helsley, Judith A. Helsley & Cathy Jo Ann Lemons to James J. Lemons, Joshuah D. Lemons & Austin D. Lemons SW Sec 15 6-1

Larry R. Sandberg to Leslie A. Sandberg Lt 5 Blk 11; Lt 4 Railroad 1st Du Quoin

DEEDSKenneth J. Stock-

ton, deceased, Nina V. Stockton, deceased & Joe G. Wilks, Suc-cessor Trustee to Ja-net M. Kirk & Joe G. Wilks SW NE Sec 12 5-2

Eddie Kutz573-513-6622

www.kkguttering.com

For All Your Real Estate Needs...Buying Or Selling.

2347 Roosevelt Road, Coulterville, IL 62237 • (618) 578-8833(618) 758-2731 • email: gutjahrrealty@gmail.com

David Gutjahr, Managing BrokerGUTJAHR REALTY, LLC

NEW PROPERTY LISTINGS ARE BEING ACCEPTED!

See Listings On realtor.com, zillow.com And trulia.com

Reasonable Monthly Rental On Storage Space

See Us Before YouPay TOO Much!

Rte. 13 • Tilden, IL587-3707 or 534-2855

5’ x 10’ • 10’ x 10’ • 10’ x 20’SECURITY LIGHTING & CAMERAS

SPACE AVAILABLE

TRASH PICKUP

Sparta, Tilden, Percy, Rockwood, Red Bud,

Campbell Hill AndRural Steeleville

Dumpster & Roll-Off SERVICE

AVAILABLECall For A Free Estimate!

QUIVEYSanitation, Inc.

(618) 317-6790LocalCall

128C W. Main • Sparta

We Proudly Serve

Locally Owned

Residential And Commercial

Dependable Service

Timely Pick-up

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE TWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUITRANDOLPH COUNTY, ILLINOIS

In the Matter of the Estate of DAVID L. STINE, deceasedNo. 2020P65

CLAIM NOTICE

Notice is given of the death of David L. Stine of 111 N. Washington, Sparta, Illinois 62286. Letters of Offi ce were issued on October 26, 2020, to Janice A. Stine of 111 N. Washing-ton, Sparta, Illinois, 62286, as Executor and whose attorney of record is R. Jeff rey Kerk-hover of Fisher, Kerkhover, Coff ey & Grem-mels 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

FOR SALE: Bu i l t -Mor Buildings. 24x40, $11,175; 30x50, $16,284; 40x60, $24,631; 50x70, $36,437. Erected, choice of colors. 732-8704 or 316-9278 or go to builtmorbuildings.com.............................. 0-x-xFOR SALE: 1993 5th wheel camper, 2 slide-outs, 1 full bed, 2 bunk beds, located at Lakeport Resort RV Park & Condo, 1076 Lakeport Plaza, Okeechobee Lake, Florida. Call Ernest Bubba or Ron Kuhnert, 618-318-3210.......................... 1-11-12

I Buy Houses!Any Price. Any Area.

Any Condition.Local Investor

(618) 559-3525southernillinoishomebuyers.com

CLASSIFIEDSCOUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 26

Phone: 618-497-8272Fax: 618-497-2607

Email: cjournal@egyptian.netDeadline: Tuesday At 2pm

A P A R T M E N T SAVAILABLE FOR RENTPERRY COUNTY

FOR MORE INFO CALL

Perry CountyHousing 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-xF O R R E N T: 1 & 2-bedroom apartments in Sparta. Ground level. Water & trash provided. Background check, references & security deposit required. Broker owned. $425/mo. & $550/mo. 618-791-3289.............................. 0-x-x

FOR RENT

REAL ESTATE

FOR SALE

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 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.

LEGAL NOTICES

YARD SALE

FOR RENT IN ELLIS GROVE: 3-bed, 1-bath, all appliances, no pets. House for sale in Ruma, priced to sell. 618-977-3937.......................... 1-11-12FOR RENT: Smal l 2-bed, 1 bath home in Steeleville. Carport, 618-317-6593.......................... 1-11-12FOR RENT: 3-bedroom, 1-bath farm house outside of Campbell Hill. $800/mo. deposit required. 618-317-0043.......................... 1-11-12

HELP WANTED

YARD SALE: 5512 Percy Rd., Percy. Wood burning stove, CB radio, smoker, ladies’ clothes, motocycle helmets, leather jacket, tools, shelves, lots of houshold & knick-knacks. Wednesday, Nov. 4, 12pm-4pm, Thursday, Nov. 5, 10am-4pm & Friday, Nov. 6, 12pm-4pm............................ 1-11-5LARGE YARD SALE: Kawasaki 2008 all terrain 4-wheeler, side by side model 610# 4x4 UTV, Bombardier 2005 all terrain, 4x4 4-wheeler ATV, IH 1972 154# Cub Low Boy tractor with cab, Woods belly mower and snow blade and many extras, JVC large 200-watt home stereo system with speakers, 1982 Harley Davidson gas 4-wheel (rare) golf car. Like new rear tine gas roto-tiller, large fl at screen LCD TV with DVD player, tools of all kinds, electric air compressor, hunting/fi shing equip., dishes, furniture, antiques, zero turn riding mower, CB, DVD movies, games, pots/pans, appliances and so much more! November 6, Friday all day long 7am-5pm. 107 W. Chestnut, Percy............................ 1-11-5YARD SALE: 201 W. Knauer, Ava. Nov. 6 & 7, 8am-? Assorted power tools, new scroll saw, table saw, sawzall, assorted garden tools, 2-wheel plows, propane tanks, kerosene heaters, extension ladder, 2-story chain fi re ladder, assorted f ishing lures, metal 2-door utility cabinet, household items, iron bed , gun cab ine t , 2-pressure cookers, canning jars, X-mas decor & ornaments, assorted pics, DVD & VHS movies, too much to list. ........................... 1-11-5

WANTED

WANTED TO BUY: Mobile home with central air in good condition. 765-637-5815.......................... 1-11-12

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THETWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUITRANDOLPH COUNTY, ILLINOIS

In the Matter of the Estate ofROGER RAY EILERS, deceasedNo. 2020-P-62

CLAIM NOTICENotice is given of the death of Roger Ray

Eilers. Letters of Offi ce were issued on Oc-tober 19, 2020 to Doris J. Eilers, 12906 Wine Hill Road, Campbell Hill, IL 62916, 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 April 29, 2021, or three months from the date of mailing or de-livery 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: Cctober 19, 2020Doris J. Eilers, Representative

By: Arbeiter Law Offi ceAttorney

........................................................... 0-11-12

NOTICE OF ACCEPTANCE OFNOMINATIONS

To all persons of legal voting age who own or reside within the boundaries of the Ran-dolph County Soil & Water Conservation Dis-trict. Beginning December 7, 2020, nomina-tions will be accepted for the offi ce of director for Randolph County Soil and Water Con-servation District at 313 W. Belmont, Sparta Mon. – Thurs. 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Fri. 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Nominees must pro-vide proof of residency or ownership of land located within the boundaries of the district and respond by 12 p.m. January 15, 2021............................................................0 - 1 1 - 5

BY ORDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCESColleen Callahan, Director

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCESOFFICE OF REALTY

& CAPITAL PLANNINGDIVISION OF REAL ESTATE SERVICES

& CONSULTATION NOTICE OF SEALED BID

PROPOSALS FOR FARM LEASING

Sealed bids for farm leasing will be ac-cepted by the Department of Natural Re-sources for one agriculture lease, consist-ing of approximately 90 acres respectfully. The acreage is located near the Kidd Lake Marsh State Natural Area, forms and related information will be discussed at a Mandatory Vendor Conference to be conducted by the Department of Natural Resources at the Kidd Lake Marsh State Natural Area offi ce at 4301 S Lake Drive, Chester Illinois 62233 on De-cember 7, 2020 at 11:00 a.m.

Prospective bidders will need to download and print the necessary forms from the Bid-Buy Website at www.bidbuy.illinois.gov prior to the vendor conference. Plan to arrive early for assistance in registering on Bid-Buy or register prior to the meeting online at www.bidbuy.illinois.gov. Masks are required, and vendors must practice social distancing

Bids and supporting documents are due on December 22, 2020 by 2:00 p.m. to: Depart-ment of Natural Resources, Attn: Leigh Ann Henline, Fiscal/Procurement, One Natural Resources Way, Springfi eld IL 62702.

Bids will be opened on December 22, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. via Webex, the farm lease shall be awarded to the responsive, responsible, qualifi ed bidder with the highest price.

The State of Illinois, Department of Natural Resources, shall not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, sex, national origin, age or handicap in admission to, or treatment or employment in, programs or activities.

The Department of Natural Resources re-serves the right to reject any or all proposals. For more information visit https://www2.illi-nois.gov/dnr/CLM/Documents/AgLeaseWeb-site.pdf............................................................0 - 1 1 - 5

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THETWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUITRANDOLPH COUNTY, ILLINOIS

In the Matter of the Estate ofMICHAEL R. ALMASY, deceasedNo. 2020-P-66

CLAIM NOTICENotice is given of the death of Michael R.

Almasy. Letters of Offi ce were issued on Oc-tober 26, 2020 to Kathy Liefer, c/o Arbeiter Law Offi ces, PO Box 367, Chester, IL 62233, as Executor, 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 May 5, 2021, or three months from the date of mailing or de-livery 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: October 26, 2020Kathy Liefer, Representative

By: Arbeiter Law Offi ceAttorney

........................................................... 0-11-19

SERVICES

representative, or both, on or before May 6, 2021, or three months from the date of mail-ing 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: November 3, 2020 Janice A. Stine

Executor of the Estate ofDavid L. Stine

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.........................................................0-11-19

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THETWENTIETH JUDICIAL CIRCUITRANDOLPH COUNTY, ILLINOIS

In the Matter of the Estate ofELMER OPPERMAN, deceasedNo. 2020-P-61

CLAIM NOTICENotice is given of the death of Elmer Opper-

man. Letters of Offi ce were issued on Octo-ber 9, 2020 to Roy N. Brockmeyer, 212 Ridge Drive, Chester, IL 62233, as Executor, and whose attorney of record is Arbeiter Law Of-fi 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 April 22, 2021, or three months from the date of mailing or de-livery 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: Cctober 9, 2020Roy N. Brockmeyer, Representative

By: Arbeiter Law Offi ceAttorney

............................................................. 0-11-5

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020 PAGE 27

ENTRY LEVEL POSITIONSJACKSON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

MURPHSYBORO, ILLINOISThe Jackson County Sheriff’s Officer Merit

Commission will accept applications for entry-level positions of Deputy Sheriff Police Officer, Deputy Sheriff Jail Officer and Dispatcher Deputy Sheriff Jail Officer and Dispatcher

beginning November 2, 2020 until midnight, November 30, 2020. Any application received

after the 30th will not be considered.

QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants must: Be a U.S. citizen, of good moral character, at least 21 years of age at time of applications, possess a valid Illinois Driver’s License at the time of application and a high school diploma or GED.SELECTION PROCESS: SELECTION PROCESS: The selection process will include physical agility, written and oral examination, extensive background and a physical examination.

EOE

Applications can be picked up at Jackson County Sheriff’s Office,

1001 Mulberry Street, Murphsyboro, Illinois, 62966Phone: 618-687-7380

Applications available online at www.jackoncounty-il.gov

Chesterton Manor Apts and Steeleville Apts are both seeking a

PART-TIME MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

Must have basic maintenance and carpentry skills, be dependable, and carpentry skills, be dependable, and

pass background check. Please send resumes to Maco Management,

PO Box 657, Robinson IL 62454 Attn: Alycia Shotwell  

Resumes and requests for applications or Resumes and requests for applications or information can also be emailed to

alycia@macocompanies.com EOE

IMMEDIATE OPENINGS

EOE Apply online atredbudindustries.com

ELECTRIANINDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE

MACHINERY BUILDERPLC PROGRAMMER

SERVICE TECHNICIANSee website for description of jobs. Competitive wages & excellent benefits.

County JournalReaching Over 7,500 Homes

6 1 8 . 4 9 7 . 8 2 7 2

O n l i n e O r I n T h e M a i l

www.countyjournal.org

NOW THAT YOU’RE LOOKINGWhy?

TO YOUR LOCAL PAPER

NOT PICK UP YOURPHONE AND SUBSCRIBE1615 S. Main St. • Red Bud

LUBE & TIRE TECHPerforming oil changes & tire

rotations, mounting & balancing tires, cleaning up shop, helping

mechanics with repairsMonday - Friday 8am-5pm

Apply In Person Or Call 618-282-2375

Full-Time Position

WEIR

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 28

618.826.2511Hours:

Mon–Fri: 8:30am–6pmSat: ClosedSun: Closed

Chester2323 Old Plank Rd • Chester, IL 62233

Steeleville324 W. Broadway • Steeleville, IL 62288

618.965.3511Hours:

Mon–Fri: 8:30am–6pmSat: 8:30am–1pm

Sun: Closed

www.MyMediCenterPharmacy.com

Enrollment Help Available

Ste. Genevieve, Mis-souri, will hold its Holi-day Christmas Festival December 5 and 6.

Masks will be required at all indoor concerts and lectures because of requests of the musi-cians and speakers.

The Ste. Genevieve Art Guild will have its Christmas show Satur-day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 at the historic mu-seum building at 310 Merchant Street.

There will be Christ-mas displays from 11 to 4 at the Ste. Genevieve Museum Learning Cent-er at 360 Market.

SaturdayThe events will kick

off at 11 a.m. with a parade in the Ste. Gene-vieve Historic District.

At noon, the Lions Park spectacular will include pictures with Santa on Market Street. Masks required.

Hot chocolate, hot dogs and chili will be avail-able. Kids under 12 eat

free when accompanied by an adult.

Vernon Fleig will per-form traditional coun-try, rock and Christmas tunes.

Christmas crafts for children by Diane Wil-son will take place at the ORRIS at 265 Merchant until 2. Masks required.

From 1 to 1:45 p.m., there will be a pipe or-gan concert by the Joy-ful Sound Ringers di-rected by Matt Palisch, professor of organ for SEMO and director of music for St. Paul’s Lu-theran Church in Jack-son. The program will include Christmas car-ols by the ringers and organ solos at Ste. Gene-vieve Catholic Church at 49 DuBourg Place.

The Southeast Mis-souri String Quartet will deliver a concert, featuring baroque, clas-sical and romantic pe-riod Austro-German music, performed by accredited directors, teachers and sympho-

ny performers at Holy Cross Lutheran Church at 200 Market.

The Isaac Lausell Trio, will perform at First Presbyterian Church at 160 S. Main. The trio plays modern jazz with standards in Latin mu-sic, featuring award-winning Isaac Lausell from the SIUC School of Music, Jimmy Beers and Richard Kelly.

Authentic French café music, jazz, soul, blues and Christmas tunes will be performed by Adele Martin and Blue-sette at the historic Jean-Baptiste Valle House at 99 S. Main.

From 2 to 2:45, there will be repeat perfor-mances from the String Quartet, Isaac Lausell Trio, and Adele Martin and Bluesette.

Palisch will perform a solo pipe organ concert at the Catholic church, featuring multiple gen-res of music, from ba-roque, classical, roman-tic and impressionistic

to 20th and 21st Cen-tury Christmas tunes.

Fr e n c h C o l o n i a l American Executive Di-rector Geoff Giglierano will portray Pere Sebas-tian Louis Meurin in a first-person program at DuBourg Centre at 305 Merchant that will explore the importance of faith in 18th Cen-tury French Colonial communities of upper Louisiana and the in-tersection of European and Native American spirituality.

From 3 to 3:45, Gerry Huggins will have a saxophone solo perfor-mance at 99 S. Main featuring contempo-rary, smooth jazz and holiday music at the Jean-Baptiste Valle House.

Stormy Bennett will perform an acoustic guitar concert, special-izing in thumb rhythm and melody, at the OR-RIS.

Huggins and Bennett will repeat their con-

certs from 4 to 4:45.From 4 to 6, the

Guibourd House will host an open house at Fourth and Merchant streets, with a display of Colonial Christmas decorations. There will be a baroque period solo violin performance by Megan Heithaus.

Bluegrass music will be performed by Acad-emy Hill at Music Art Love at 199 N. Main.

At 6, the community Christmas tree light-ing ceremony will take place at the Welcome Center at 66 S. Main. This will include Santa and Mrs. Claus and per-formances by Les Chan-teurs Francais with Bill and Patti Naeger and the SGHS madri-gal choir, all hosted by Gary Scheel.

The live Bethlehem nativity scene will be on display at First Pres-byterian Church.

Christmas carols will be sung outside the church.

Lynn, Jack and Jen Trio will perform pop standards from the 1930s to the 1970s with some country and Broadway at Audubon’s Grill and Bar at 9 N. Main.

SundayFrom 12:30 to 1:15,

Heithaus will have a violin solo performance featuring impressionis-tic period music at the Welcome Center.

There will be a clas-sical guitar concert by Isaac Lausell, featuring 500 years of French, Italian, Spanish and American music at Holy Cross Lutheran Church.

These two perfor-mances will be repeat-ed from 1:30 to 2:15.

At 3 at the Catholic church, Amy Camie will perform solo harp interpretations in Em-bracing the Spirit of Christmas.

At 4, the Ste. Gene-vieve Municipal Band Symphonic Wind En-semble will perform at the Catholic church.

Ste. Genevieve Christmas festival planned

Showing supportWestminster Presbyterian Church in Sparta recently recognized the Sparta Police Department for its service to the community. Church deacons presented offi cers with a note of appreciation and gift certifi cates to Dairy Queen. From left are Deacons Anne Bourner and Doris Lehman, Police Chief Sean Lukes and Deacons Laura Schulte and Mark North.

HarmsExcavating And Landscaping, Inc.

443-2900 Or 201-7890

DRIVEWAYROCK

Jeremy Harms, Owner712 Industrial Drive • Sparta

Deliver And Spread-- Large Selection --

Bulk Hardwood MulchAnd Decorative Rock

Lawn Seeding Available

COUNTY JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 5, 2020PAGE 30

Evansville Halloween paradeThe coronavirus didn’t stop some folks in Evansville from celebrating Halloween night. About two dozen lighted and decorated UTVs and golf carts paraded from the ball diamond along Broad and Liberty streets, ending up at the village park. The event served as a fundraiser for the Evansville Fire Department, which was unable to host its Haunted Woods this year due to the pandemic. Half of each $10 entry fee went to the department, with the remainder used for cash prizes for the parade participants. Shown here is Steve Hess driving a UTV decorated as a shark. It won for best kids theme. Other winners were Mary Pettus and Sam Schlueter, mayor’s choice; Bob and Jacob Huether, best theme; and Lisa and Rick Zweigart, best lit. The parade theme was fi rst responders.

Eagle Scout projectA group of Scouts and adults from Boy Scout Troop 348 in Steeleville spent much of their day October 31 replacing fl ag holders along the Avenue of Flags in front of the Steeleville village hall complex. The project was led by Gage Roberts, shown here, as part of his community service requirements to become an Eagle Scout. He is the son of Mike and Candi Roberts of Steeleville. Roberts said some of the holes had fi lled with dirt and debris since they were fi rst installed in 1976 by the Steeleville American Legion 480 Auxiliary, preventing placement of some fl ags. A total of 22 new sleeves were installed.

The Missouri Valley Art Guild in Chester will hold an art contest December 4-6 during the city’s Christmas on the River celebration.

This contest is for all ages, with a wide vari-ety of mediums.

Artist categories and registration fees are 16 and older, $10 per piece artwork; 9-15, $5 per piece; 8 and younger, $5 per piece.

Registration is Decem-ber 4 from 8 to noon.

Arrangements can also be made by call-ing Barbara McCor-mick at 826-4962 or emailing her at mvart guild2233@gmail.com.

In the 16 and older di-vision, one $50 winner will be chosen for each medium: oil/acrylic,

charcoal/pencil/pen/ink, photography, wa-ter color/pastel and mixed. One $50 best of show award will also be presented.

In the two younger divisions, first place will receive $25, sec-ond place $10 and third place an art supply gift. Each division will have a $25 best of show win-ner.

Honorable mention awards could be pre-sented in any category at the discretion of the judges.

The size of the art-work is at the discre-tion of the artist. Visual presentation, aesthetics of framing and fi nish-ing will be considered during judging.

Each piece of artwork

must be labled with an identifi cation form pro-vided by the art guild at the time of registration.

All artwork presented for judging could be photographed and re-produced for noncom-merical promotion by the art guild.

Sales of the artwork are encouraged by having all entries re-main displayed all day December 5 and from noon to 3 December 6. Artwork not for sale should be marked NFS.

All unsold artwork must be picked up De-cember 6 at 4.

An award presenta-tion will be held De-cember 6 at 3 p.m. at the guild’s studio at 987 State Street.

Art contest Dec. 4-6