The Okawville City Council met Monday night and covered a wide spectrum of topics. City Clerk Waylan Jaspers tells WNSV that they passed a resolution on the Illinois Income Tax and a proclamation on Lawsuit Abuse Watch. Halloween has been set for October 31st from 6 to 8 PM for children 12 and under. The council renewed the contract with the senior citizens for the year beginning yesterday for $600 per month, which reflects no change. The Hanover Street project to install curbing and guttering by the new school was approved with Curry & Associates, but cannot exceed $20,000. Then street closures for the Chili Cookoff in Okawville on October 12th were approved. This includes Hanover Street from High Street to Walnut and East Saint Louis Street from Hanover to Nashville Streets. They approved that a 2006 police car can be put up for sale. The OCYA lift station was approved to have repair work done, but it cannot exceed $2,000. Also, a sewer line will be repaired on Walnut Hill Road from Pine Street to the end of the street in 3 phases. Costs cannot exceed $19,100 for materials, $17,800 for labor nor $7,600 for service lines and manholes.
The Washington County Health Department is all over the county this week with flu clinics, not being held in the office. They will be at the Okawville Senior Center today from 9 to 11:30 AM and 1 to 4:30 PM. Tomorrow morning, they will be at the Ashley Community Building from 8:30 to 10:30 in the park building and in the afternoon at the Oakdale Senior Center from 1 to 3. Flu shots are $25 and will be at full strength by the time the flu season begins to peak.
Bullying and cyberbulling issues will be addressed this week at the Nashville public schools this week. The high school and middle school are sponsoring assemblies on Thursday and Friday. Megan Meier committed suicide at the age of 13 after being bullied on myspace. Her mother, Tina Meier, travels the country speaking on both bullying and cyberbulling. Besides the student assemblies, there will be a parent assembly Thursday night at 7 o’clock in the Nashville Middle School cafeteria and is open to all parents and community leaders throughout the area. It will provide a better understanding of today’s technology and social media used by teens. Megan’s story will be shared along with topics such as bullying, bystanders, cyberbullying and sexting. Each presentation will be age specific.
Tri-County Electric Cooperative is once again awarding 7 academic scholarships to high school seniors, plus another scholarship to assist with costs in attending an electric lineworker school for an individual. Each scholarship is valued at $1,500 and will be awarded in 2014 through the Thomas H. Moore Illinois Electric Cooperatives Memorial Scholarship Program. 4 scholarships will be awarded to high school seniors who are sons or daughters of an Illinois electric cooperative member receiving service from the cooperative. Another scholarship is the Earl W. Struck Memorial Scholarship, which will be awarded to a student who is the son or daughter of an Illinois electric cooperative employee or director. Two other scholarships are reserved for students enrolling full-time at a 2-year Illinois community college who are sons or daughters of Illinois electric cooperative members, employees or directors. The final scholarship is the LaVern and Nola McEntire Lineworker’s Scholarship, which is to help pay for costs to attend the linworker’s school conducted by the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives in conjunction with Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield. For more information, contact Bruce Barkau at Tri-County Electric Coop at 1-800-244-5151 or check with a high school guidance counselor or go online at www.tricountycoop.com.
All U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operated campgrounds and day-use parks nationwide are shutdown now for lack of fiscal 2014 funding legislation. Affected recreation areas would not reopen until after the shutdown is lifted and this includes Carlyle Lake and Rend Lake. U.S.A.C.E. parks with leased areas and concessionaires will remain open, but cannot be supported by U.S.A.C.E. personnel or services while the shutdown is in place. Beginning yesterday and continuing through the end of the shutdown, no new visitors will be allowed into or reservations accepted for U.S.A.C.E. recreation facilities. Campers who are on site prior to the shutdown will be required to vacate campgrounds not later than 8 o’clock tonight. U.S.A.C.E. will post current information on the nationwide closure and reopening of facilities at www.usace.army.mil and locally on the Saint Louis District’s website at www.mvs.usace.army.mil/.
The State Executive Director for Illinois’ Farm Service Agency, Scherrie Giamanco, announced that the United States Department of Agriculture FSA offices are currently closed, due to the lapse in federal government funding. These offices will reopen once Congress restores funding. It is not sure how this will affect many deadlines or nominations for certain committees.
Members of the Veterans Tribute Committee at Kaskaskia College held a fundraising event in Greenville last Thursday as funds are still needed for the next phase. The Veterans Tribute is currently under construction on the main campus near Centralia. According to material circulated at the event, the Veterans Tribute at Kaskaskia College is to be built in three phases. Phase one consists of two concrete walls with black granite plates affixed that hold the inscribed names of over 25,000 area veterans. It also includes the Warrior’s Court, a centerpiece dominated by a large bronze American bald eagle sculpture and surrounded by large bronze seals of the five branches of the United States military. Phase one is currently nearing completion, with the walls, seals, and eagle sculpture in place. Phase two will consist of three additional walls, while phase three will consist of an educational building, suitable for visits by students and citizens, where the stories of area veterans will be preserved for future generations. The committee has established several giving levels for donors, which include the right to name the entire Tribute complex, all of the five walls, individual walls or to have the educational building named. In addition, donors can be part of a list of One Star through Five Star donations. Sales of inscribed bricks that will be laid around the central court are also ongoing. For more information on the Veterans Tribute Project, visit www.veteranstributeatkc.com/.
Marking the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon launched her third annual cell phone drive this week. For each phone donated, Verizon Wireless will contribute $10, up to $10,000, to domestic violence shelters in need. Collected phones will be donated to Verizon’s HopeLine program. They will be refurbished and sold, with the proceeds going to support local domestic violence shelters and programs. The program also provides domestic violence agencies with wireless phones and airtime for use by domestic violence victims. If a phone can’t be refurbished, it will be recycled in an environmentally sound way. Simon received more than 1,000 cell phones during her donation drive last year. The $10 matching donation this year will benefit two shelters demonstrating significant financial need: the Cairo Women’s Shelter in southern Illinois and HOPE in northern Illinois. Donations are also accepted year-round at Verizon Wireless stores.
The U.S. government’s first shutdown in 17 years is forcing unpaid furloughs of thousands of civilian military workers across Illinois. Dozens of state employees also are off the job, and campers at federally maintained sites across Illinois are being asked to take down their tents and head out. The federal shutdown that began early Tuesday is blamed for furloughs of some 3,500 civilian employees at Scott Air Force Base. Visitors to Abraham Lincoln’s former home in Springfield are being turned away. The state also laid off 53 employees of its Department of Military Affairs and 20 to staffers of the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
In high school volleyball, Nashville beat DuQuoin in two sets, 26 to 24 and 25 to 8. The JV and freshman Hornets also won in 2 sets each.