Prairie Advocate_111622

PRAIRIE ADVOCATE ON THE HUNT

Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media A

Construction activity begins at Shimer Square

MOUNT CARROLL – Expect to see construction activity at Shimer Square as Rock Island Economic Growth Cor poration, doing business as Economic Growth Corporation (GROWTH), awarded its Rebuild Illinois grant con tract Nov. 4.

The Rebuild Illinois grant was pub licly bid out in two separate contracts: construction and abatement. The con struction contract was awarded to Galena Repair & Maintenance and the abatement contract was awarded to the IITI Group.

Abatement will first begin in the interior of the Sawyer House and once the site has been fully abated and cleared, construction work will begin. Timing of any visible construction work likely will occur in early 2023, weather permitting.

“GROWTH has been diligently working behind the scenes for years to secure all of what the community is about to visibly see within the Shimer Square campus. Once trucks start pulling up, mark that as a huge pendu lum swing with major construction activity following right behind it,” said Brian Hollenback, President/CEO. “Shimer Square’s redevelopment has attracted millions in federal and state resources. We have a lot of support and momentum. Look for big things happening in 2023.”

GROWTH was one of 11 projects

funded by the Regional Economic Development (RIRED) component of the Rebuild Illinois grant by the Illi nois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (IL DCEO). The objective of the Regional Eco nomic Development component, in keeping with the governor’s 5-year Economic Development plan, is to pro vide grants to strengthen local econo mies and encourage the development of regional industry clusters.

Plans originally incorporated Rebuild Illinois funds into its first phase of construction efforts, but after careful review and input by IL DCEO, Rebuild Illinois funds were carved out into its own phase considered “Shimer Square Phase 1A.”

Phase 1A lays the groundwork for the larger Phase 1 and Phase 2 redevel opment efforts, specifically addressing the general rehabilitation to the Saw yer House, parking lot and sidewalk replacements, and masonry repairs to the main entrance gate.

GROWTH will use the Sawyer House to provide financial literacy services to individuals to help advance wealth building opportunities for those that live, work or visit Shimer Square by providing vital community services including financial literacy, housing counseling, business resources through CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution)

7.

lending resources that result in new businesses opening within the Shimer Square campus and beyond.

Activity already is starting on the campus, as Growth General Contract ing, LLC has coordinated the demoli tion of the dilapidated maintenance building on campus that occurred on

OBITUARIES

CHERYL ‘WING’ LYNN NEILL

Cheryl “Wing” Lynn Neill, 66, of Chadwick, Illinois, passed on October 30, 2022.

Arrangements entrusted to Law-Jones Fu neral Home, Mount Carroll, Illinois. Additional information: 815-273-2264.

DEL PYSE

Del Pyse, 50, of Freeport, Illinois, passed on November 3, 2022.

Arrangements entrusted to Law-Jones Funeral Home, Lanark, Illinois. Additional information: 815-273-2264.

Nov. 7. The demolition was carefully coordinated to maintain and preserve as many of the bricks to reuse in rede velopment efforts on other buildings, a news release said.

For more information, visit www. ShimerSquare.com and www.Eco nomicGrowthCorporation.com.

GLEN DALE KNESS

Glen Dale Kness, 89, of Mount Carroll, Illinois, passed on November 2, 2022.

Arrangements entrusted to Law-Jones Fu neral Home, Mount Carroll, Illinois. Additional information: 815-273-2264.

JAMES DOUGLAS RUSSELL

James Douglas Russell, 87, of Savanna, Illinois, passed on November 6, 2022.

Arrangements entrusted to Law-Jones Funeral Home, Savanna, Illinois. Additional information: 815-273-2264.

Photo provided by Beth Payne, Economic Growth Corporation Activity already is starting on the old Shimer College campus, as Growth General Contract ing, LLC has coordinated the demolition of the dilapidated maintenance building on the campus Nov.

Everything you want to know about peanut butter

Whether your candidate won or lost last week, we cannot allow ourselves to stop when the election is over. We need to step up and contact our representatives on important issues.

I have learned from my many trips to D.C. as part of the managers to Wash ington program how important it is to have our voice heard!

We are closed today, Nov. 16, for our trip to see “Wicked.” It seems like for ever since we did the bus trip to see “Hamilton” many moons ago. I am look ing forward to a great day in the city.

Our office also will be closed Thanks giving day and the day following it. It is crazy to think it is that time of the year already. It seems like the weather changed overnight as well!

I have an ample supply of nuts cur rently on hand. We didn’t get overzeal ous with ordering as it was shocking to see the price jump on pecan halves. I am not sure why I would be shocked seeing the increases in so many other areas.

Speaking of nuts, I find it a little odd that November is National Peanut But ter Month. One would think it would be National Turkey month or something.

One of the first things I think of when someone mentions peanut butter to me

Chastity Welch AT A GLANCE

is that is it not a protein! As a fitness and nutrition coach, I have learned that peanut butter is a fat source because it has more fat calories than protein calo ries. There is a little fun fact for you.

It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter. By law, any product labeled “peanut butter” in the United States must be at least 90% peanuts.

It takes 3.2 gallons of water to pro duce 1 ounce of peanuts. (Bonus fact: 1 ounce of almonds takes 28.7 gallons) The average peanut farm is 200 acres.

The average person will eat almost 3,000 PB&Js in their lifetime, according to a 2016 survey by Peter Pan Simply Ground Peanut Butter.

According to Little Brownie Bakers, cookie bakers use about 230,000 pounds of peanut butter a week to bake Girl Scout’s Do-si-dos and Tagalongs. Speak ing of which soon the girls will be out selling!

Carroll County Farm Bureau members can place up to two free classified ads per week, with a limit of 250 characters per ad (not including spaces).

Ads are limited to personal or farm items for sale/wanted to buy, or farm labor or services available or wanted. No ads for the sale or rental of real estate, garage sales or commercial businesses will be accepted.

To place an ad, call the Farm Bureau office at 815-244-3001 by 3 p.m. Thursday to get your ad in the following week’s paper.

The Farm Bureau office compiles the ads and Shaw Media runs them in the Prairie Advocate as a courtesy in conjunction with the weekly column. Shaw Media is not responsible for the ads and any errors or corrections need to be made to the Farm Bureau office.

For Sale: Landoll Model 2325 Disc Ripper. Very good condition, $8,500 OBO. 563-219-5491.

For Sale: 15-ft. Alamo wing mower $4,000 obo, 2007 16-ft. flatbed trailer $4,800 obo, 563-613-3670.

And the most impressive fact: In a high-pressure environment, peanut butter can be turned into diamonds.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, it is also National Stuffing Month. I recently found out that my grandma, who in my opinion makes the best stuffing, doesn’t even like stuffing! This blew my mind.

I had taken her a meal we had made with stuffing and was in shock! The good thing is though she still makes it and it is DELICIOUS, although I have

figured out why sometimes it is so salty… she doesn’t use recipes and doesn’t taste if it has enough.

Don’t forget we are selling smaller meals. The meal set includes two of each of five meals. These are individual meals so basically it is 10 meals. They are microwave and freezer safe. The form is on our website, www.carrollcfb. org and you can order online and pay there as well. Cost is $80 and pick up will be Dec. 20.

Volleyball: Aquin wins state 1A, Newman 4th

By TY REYNOLDS treynolds@shawmedia.com

Experience usually plays a huge factor the deeper you get into the post season, and that was evident Nov. 11 in the first semifinal match at the IHSA Class 1A State Tournament at Redbird Arena in Normal.

The Newman Comets (29-8-1), at the state tournament for the first time in program history, looked a bit awe struck and played tentative and tight. Freeport Aquin (40-1), which finished third at the state tournament last sea son, was visibly more comfortable and confident on the big stage en route to a 25-13, 25-16 victory.

“Last year, I feel like that was us, what Newman went through,” Aquin senior hitter Lucy Arndt said. “We were scared, we weren’t mentally ready, and this year, we were ready to go and we knew what we had to do.”

Newman looked to bounce back in Saturday’s third-place game. But like Arndt and the Bulldogs, the Comets feel that now that they have a match under their belts and they know what to expect, they’ll be ready to come out and get back to the stellar form they’ve

showed throughout the postseason when they take on Norris City-Oma ha-Enfield.

“We already came here and did exactly what we didn’t want to do, so I think at this point we’re ready to come back and play better,” said junior hit ter Jess Johns, who had 10 kills and six digs. “I think we’ve got that all out of our system now, and we’ll come out and play loose, play our game. We’re going to come out stronger, because it kind of can’t get any worse.”

The key will be to bring back that energy that Newman has played with for the past few weeks. A slow start spelled doom in the semifinals, but get ting back on track and being better prepared mentally for what they’re going to see has the players ready to shake off the loss and get back out on the Redbird Arena court.

“I think we just have to come in with a positive mindset. Like Jess said, it can’t get worse,” said junior middle Kennedy Rowzee, who spiked four kills. “Just going off of how we ended today and going up from there, just really having a team positive mindset. We want to end the season with a high, so we’ll be really just going after it

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tomorrow.”

Another driving force for the Com ets will be sending out lone senior Katie Grennan with a win in her New man finale. She thought the pressure the players put on themselves leading up to the semifinal played a role in them not playing to their full poten tial.

Aquin coach Robyn Stovall felt her team reacted the same way last season in its first state semifinal, and pointed to that past experience when she noted how the Bulldogs felt none of that pressure or nervousness this time around.

“I think it’s a huge advantage that we were here last year,” Stovall said. “We knew it was going to be hot on the floor, the lights were going to be bright. We knew what to expect this time; last year, we didn’t. So it was definitely to our advantage to have been here before.”

Newman coach Debbi Kelly said the big stage and a talented Aquin team were both reasons for her players being “a little tense,” but also felt like once the Comets started looking ahead to Saturday’s match, they’d be refo cused and re-energized to come out and play well.

“This is a great team, and after this sting gets over and we start focusing on tomorrow, I think they’ll all realize – they all probably already do – what a great job they’ve done so far,” she said.

“It’d be really nice just to end with a nice positive tomorrow.”

Not only would closing with a win be the perfect cap to a historic season, but Kelly also hopes that finding some success at the state tournament will serve as a springboard for next season. With 14 of the 15 players on the state roster returning in 2023, she hopes this experience will serve her team as well as last year’s state appearance helped Aquin this time around.

“I think anytime that you get the opportunity to play in a big venue, make it to state, you’re only going to build on that,” she said. “We lose Katie as our only senior – it’s a big loss with her leading us in setting and the lead ership she provides – but everyone else on the team returns. So it is some thing that hopefully all those girls take with them to build off next year as well.”

Saturday’s results

Aquin downed Springfield Lutheran 25-20, 25-15 to win the 1A championship. Ainsley Stovall had 15 kills, 3 digs; Lucy Arndt, 13 kills, 8 digs; Bentleah Stovall, 6 kills, 3 digs; Megan Holder, 28 assists, 10 digs, 1 ace; and Hanna Pizzolato, 20 digs, 1 ace.

Aquin ended the season with an overall record of 41-1 and 12-0 in con ference play.

Newman took fourth place after falling to Norris City 25-17, 25-18, in the third-place match.

Football Playoffs

Forreston 20, Dakota 8: The Cardinals didn’t break an explosive play in their 20-8 Class 1A quarterfinal win over the Dakota Indians on Nov. 12 – their longest gain was 12 yards – but they stuck to the same formula that’s worked for them all season long: pounding the football again and again. The ground-and-pound approach spear headed by senior running back Johnny Kobler, combined with stingy defense, allowed the Cardinals to avenge a 34-28 Week 5 loss to Dakota.

took an end-around to the right sideline and got the edge for the 13-yard score. After a Reid Wales run for the two-point conversion, the Indians had an 8-0 lead with 6:12 to play in the half.

Forreston (8-4) answered on the next possession with a touchdown. Starting from their own 45, the Cardinals marched 55 yards down the field, capping the drive with a 5-yard Kobler touchdown run.

Dakota maintained its 8-6 lead at the halftime break.

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Making the win even sweeter is the trip to the state semifinals.

“It feels great,” Kobler said. “Growing up, seeing ’14, ’16, ’18 go all the way [to state titles], and now we’re sitting here right within reach of where they were and trying to put Forreston back on the map as the best team in the state. It’s amazing.”

The Indians (7-5) drew first blood midway through the second quarter, capitalizing on a Forreston fumble with a 42-yard touchdown drive. Dakota running back Adrian Arellano

A massive miscue by the Indians early in the third quarter proved to be the turning point of the game. An errant pitch to the left floated too far behind the running back and fell to the grass. From there, it was an easy path to the end zone as Sanders scooped the fumble in the Dakota backfield, then ran about 35 yards down the right sideline for a Forreston touchdown. It gave the Cardinals a 14-8 lead with 10:34 left in the third, and with the wind in their sails, they never looked back.

Lighted tractor parade is Nov. 25 in Lanark

LANARK – Area residents are encouraged to help the Celebrate Lanark Committee kick off this Christmas season with the annual Lighted Tractor Parade on the eve ning of Nov. 25.

“Last year’s entrants were a hilari ous and varied lot,” said Denise Kry siak, coordinator. “We hope this year’s participants are just as creative.”

Entrants can begin lining up along

Community Christmas caroling returns

Churches and community members in the Lanark and Shannon communities are invited to join together for a Christmas caroling event Sunday, Dec. 4.

Carolers will gather at the churches in the communities about 2:30 p.m. to visit several homes and share favorite Christmas songs with residents.

At 4 p.m., all carolers are invited to come to the cafeteria of Eastland High School in Lanark to share Christmas songs and fellowship together.

A free barbecue meal will follow. Any area residents not wishing to carol, but who still would like to join in the festivities at the school are welcome to join us at 4 p.m.

Boyd Street at 6 p.m. The parade will commence at 6:30 p.m. Parade partici pants will travel north on North Boyd Street, turn left onto West Leland Street and go west to North Burns Street, where they will drive south to finish at the Ag Center.

The City Park Board will preside over the lighting of the Christmas Tree and offer free hot chocolate and cook ies.

For more information, please call Pastor Marilyn at Lanark UMC at 815-493-6300.

Jingle Fest

Lanark will host Jingle Fest 2022, a free event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 26.

The event will include 40 crafters and vendors, pictures with Santa, kids’ crafts and tasty treats from Eastland student organiza tions’ fundraisers.

The Eastland Jr/Sr High School building, at 500 School Drive in Lanark, will host everything from holiday décor and stocking stuffers to quilts and homemade gifts.

Santa will be available for photos from 10 a.m. to noon. Children can create their own ornaments while they wait.

The Eastland Yearbook committee will sell

barbecue food, hot dogs, chips and drinks while the junior Class of 2024 will sell cheesecake with choice of topping, cinnamon rolls, coffee, expresso and hot chocolate. Cheerleaders will sell Dippin’ Dots and offer face-painting.

For more information, visit Celebrate Lanark on Facebook.

Jingle Fest 2022 is sponsored by the Celebrate Lanark Committee.

Holiday Calendar in Lanark

The Celebrate Lanark Committee announc es the Holiday Event Calendar for 2022.

Nov. 25: 6:30 p.m. - Lighted Parade, Tree Lighting at City Park, Nov 26: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jingle Fest/Santa Claus at EJSHS

Dec. 1: 14th Light up Lanark (judged Dec. 14)

Dec. 1-11: Letters to Santa mailbox open at information booth.

Dec. 10: 10th Breakfast with the Grinch at the Heritage Center

Visit Celebrate Lanark Facebook page for more information.

Photo provided by Denise Krysiak

The Celebrate Lanark Committee will kick off this Christmas season with the annual Lighted Tractor Parade on Nov. 25.

after that and a fourth-down punt went straight out of bounds on the Lena-Winslow sideline.

But a pair of Forreston defenders stopped an Arellano fly sweep

no

on fourth-and-goal from the 9, preserving the one-score lead.

Forreston travels to Lena-Winslow on Saturday, Nov. 19, for the semifinal. Game time is 2 p.m. It will be the third time the two programs have met in the semifinals since 2017.

Lena Winslow 52, Fulton 14: Lena Winslow rolled over Fulton on Nov. 12.

“They are just so good, so very good,” Fulton coach Patrick Lower said. “You have to play perfect, and you have to rely on them to make a couple mistakes. I think they made one mistake in the first half and we didn’t capitalize on it.

“You’d like to say that we just didn’t play well, but they had a lot to do with that. They are good and you have to be perfect and we weren’t perfect by any means. They’re the better team and they’re moving on.”

The Steamers (9-3) received the opening kickoff and momentarily moved the ball as quarterback Brayden Dykstra connected with Ethan Price on a 12-yard pass on the second play of the game. The drive stalled

The Panthers took over on the Fulton 42 and after a 2-yard gain by Gunar Lobdell, Jake Zeal burst into the open for a 40-yard touchdown. It was the first of six offensive plays of more than 40 yards for Le na-Winslow.

The Steamers were forced to punt again after three plays, and this time, Lobdell fielded the punt at the Fulton 40 and returned it 34 yards, setting the Panthers up with first-and-goal from the six. Zeal did the rest, scoring on the first play on a 6-yard run to put Lena-Winslow up 14-0 with six minutes left in the first quarter.

“It was really devastating,” Fulton senior Ryan Eads said. “It was like ‘Wow!’ and it was 14-0 right away. We can’t come out like that.

“They are just a really, really good football team. I think we played a little bit scared today and they got the best of us.”

Lena-Winslow kept rolling after the half as Gage Dunker rumbled 56 yards on the first play to put the Panthers at the Fulton 15. Le-Win crossed the 40-point running-clock barrier moments later when Streckwald hit Jace Flynn for a 15-yard touchdown pass.

Fulton followed that with a six-play, 63-yard touchdown drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Eads.

It was the second straight quarterfinal appearance for the Steamers in their second season in the NUIC after leaving the Three Rivers. All four quarterfinal teams in the northern half of the 1A bracket were from the NUIC.

“I think since coming to the NUIC, we have enjoyed some great success,” Eads said. “We’ve definitely gotten better over the last two seasons. This conference is really great and definitely makes us better.”

8-Man: Polo falls to West Central

After the Marcos scored a touchdown with 42 seconds left to take the lead, West Central answered with a score as the final horn sounded to pull out a 50-48 victory.

“We felt pretty good after we scored. Obviously, we didn’t want to give them any time because they’re just too explosive,” Polo coach Ted Alston said. “Probably not the play we were expecting and they put it in the hands of their best player and he came through. He went through half of our defense and made the play. He’s just a heck of a player.”

That player was West Central all-state running back Kaiden Droste, who ran for 302 yards and six touchdowns on 24 rushes. But it was the final carry and the last 26 yards that will haunt the Marcos’ nightmares.

With the ball on the Polo 26-yard line and 6.7 seconds on the clock, Droste took the pitch on a tailback toss to the left. He raced toward the sideline with a pair of Polo defenders stringing out the play. Before going out of bounds, Droste cut back to his right and turned up the field, avoiding would-be tacklers.

As he got to the 15-yard line, time expired, so it was all or nothing. He broke through one line of Marcos, then another, and finally he burst clear and ran to the end zone, leaving a heartbroken pack of Polo players on the ground in his wake.

Polo’s reign as the two-time defending state champions ended one step short of a third straight trip to the title game.

West Central will face Amboy in the title match.

Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media

West Central’s Kaiden Droste turns the corner for a gain.

Administrative

FORESTRY TECH POSITION

Midwest

ITS Helpdesk Specialist

Custodian (Part-Time)

EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT

EQUIPMENT MECHANIC

The City of Sterling, Illinois is seeking applicants for the Equipmen t Mechanic position. The position has the responsibility to perform a journeyman level of maintenance and repair to gasoline and diesel-powered equipment as well as diagnosing and repairing electrical, hydraulic, cooling, heating, air conditioning and other equipment related systems under the direction of Public Works Superintendent. Other duties may include welding, fabricating, routine maintenance on City equipment, logging records, keeping inventory, purchasing materials and supplies, maintaining a clean and safe shop and working with the street and sewer maintenance crews as directed including snow and ice removal Applicant must have a valid driver's license, a Class A CDL is preferred, but must be able to acquire a Class A CDL with tanker endorsement; within 90 days of being employed. The City of Sterling offers an excellent work env ironment, fringe benefits, and IMRF pension Resume or application including at least three (3) work related references should be addressed to: City of Sterling, Public Works, 212 Third Avenue, Sterling, IL 61081, faxed to (815) 625-1940, for more information, full job description and/or an application visit; www.ster ling-il.gov and email to mfarmer@sterling-il.gov by no later than 5:00 PM, November 23rd, 2022. Questions concerning this position m ay be directed to Brad Schrader at (815) 632-6657, or emailed to bs chrader@sterling-il.gov

The City of Sterling is an Equal Opportunity Employer

AUCTION

Sat., Nov. 19th 10:00

Don & Sharon Behrns Est. 13705 Elizabeth Rd., Savanna, IL

From Mt. Carroll: N. 1 ½ mi. on 78, W. on Elizabeth Rd., 5 ½ mi. to sale site.

FARM RELATED: Parker 2600 gravity box, 400 bu.; Kewanee 9-shank chisel; JD 16ft. disc; Kraus 21ft. wing disc; Knowles gear, 8x16 bale cage; 15ft. soil finisher; Bushhog 2315 wingbat mower; 45ft. & Eagle 48ft. conveyor on truck; 4-section drag harrow; 3pt. blade; 600 gal. bulk tank; qu. SS pipeline; 2T. & 6T. bulk bins; GARAGE ITEMS: AC 608 mower; TroyBilt tiller; COLLECTIBLES: cider press; sleds; JD & Int. planter plates; milkcans; cast iron kettle; (4) steel wheels; CONSIGNED BY DON NEISEMEIER EST.: JD flat rack; Kline hog chute; long horns; dbl. trees; 2 saddle bar stools; saddles

TERMS: CASH OR CHECK MUST HAVE PHOTO ID TO REGISTER JIM CALHOUN, AUCTIONEER IL LIC.440000333 MT. CARROLL 815-244-9660 FOR FULL LISTING & PICTURES www.calhounauction.com

AUCTIONS AUCTIONS AUCTIONS

Personal Property Auction

Wednesday, November 23rd to Saturday, November 26th

Bruce Francis Estate Roxanne Francis, Owner 326 Main St., Milledgeville, IL, 61051

This is an Online Sale ONLY. Please visit https://aandtauctionservices.hibid.com/ for sale viewing beginning 11/21/22.

Personal Property: Various antiques (including vintage local memorabilia), household items, decor items (including holiday decorations), glassware, antique oil lamps, Shirley Temple memorabilia, lots of collectibles, vintage tapes, records, CDS, rugbeaters, vintage duck decoys, Disney memorabilia, antique furniture, collectible signs, plus much more! Something for everyone!

Viewing Hours: Items will be available for optional viewing on Tuesday, November 22nd from 4-8pm at the address listed above.

Item Pick-up: Items will be available for pick-up on Sunday, November 27th from 2-6pm unless alternate arrangements are made between buyer and auctioneer.

Follow A & T Auction Services on Facebook for the Online Sale Link and additional sale information, including pictures, how to register for online bidding, and complete sale terms and conditions.

Travis Cunningham, Auctioneer IL Lic. # 441.002600

A & T Auction Services, LLC atauctionservices@gmail.com • 815-297-4595