Volume 143 No. 39
Friday, September 1, 2017
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Lostant makes a move on fire safety The school also plans to host a basketball tournament By Zachary J. Pratt news@tonicanews.com
LOSTANT — The Lostant Grade School is entering into an agreement with Tyco Simplex Grinnel for fire alarm monitoring. “We have to be connected to some type of a monitoring company,” Superintendent Sandra Malahy said at the Lostant School Board meeting on Aug. 23. This agreement eases the burden of handling alarm-related actions from school officials, taking care of any issues should the fire alarms go off. “If the building catches fire off-hours, the alarm would go off at the monitoring company,” Malahy said, indicating the company would then take the proper steps to fix the situation. While she had not ironed out details with the company at the time, as the school had not yet entered the agreement,
Malahy suggested what would happen if an emergency arose during school hours: “If an alarm goes off, and we haven’t called them, they automatically assume it’s an emergency.” This way, Malahy said, the school can “just concentrate on getting the kids out.” The agreement is for $390 a year, locked in for five years. In other news, to meet the need for a new scoreboard, Lostant Grade School will be hosting a basketball tournament. Tracy Daugherty, president of the Lostant PTO, spoke about the tournament. The board clarified the event is not being sponsored by the PTO; instead, the idea is the coach and parents are organizing it. Ideally, the tournament would host eight teams, but the number is not absolute. “If not, we’d change the way the brackets are set up,” Daugherty said. “I would like the cafeteria so, throughout the day, we could make food all day,” Daugherty said.
Other rooms she said would be good to use were “the gym, the hallway, and even some of the rooms if possible.” The additional rooms were suggested to be used by different participating teams. “We’re going to cater ourself,” board member Quillard Skinner said. “I’ll provide the food.” Skinner believes the school’s facilities present a prime location for a tournament. “We have the parking. We have the attached cafeteria; we can cater it. And then we can use the proceeds,” Skinner said. Skinner estimated the cost of a new scoreboard to be around $5,000. The plan is to send money through the district’s activities account, into a sub-account specifically for the project. The tournament is set for Sept. 29-30. In other discussion, the PTO is sponsoring a Halloween dance. The grade ranges are still pending, but the dance is to be held in late October. “I think they’ll dress up, and they’ll have a fun time,” Dianna Ioerger said.
Cruising through summer There were more cars than ever at the Tonica Cruise on Aug. 26. Residents not only got to appreciate a wide variety of automotive styles, but they also danced, ate, partied and played through a beautiful summer’s day which was perfect for an event benefiting the Tonica Volunteer Fire Department. Tonica News photo/Dave Cook
Ameren isn’t shutting your power off
Scammers now targeting businesses and homeowners By Dave Cook
news@tonicanews.com
HENNEPIN — According to Putnam County Sheriff Kevin Doyle, phone scammers have begun a clever and complicated new scam which not only targets homeowners, but also businesses. Posing as representatives of Ameren, the utility company, the scammer will leave a message stating the victim’s account is overdue, and immediate payment is Vol. 143 No. 39 One Section - 12 Pages
required to avoid having their service shut off. “When you call back, the phone is answered as though you’ve called Ameren, and there’s even a prompt system where you have to push different numbers, so it looks like it’s directing your call,” Doyle said. To further the illusion the call is legitimate, the thieves have also found a way to
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From classroom to the field IVCC’s two-year ag degree program expects a healthy yield By Dave Cook
news@tonicanews.com
OGLESBY — Students throughout the Illinois Valley are busy preparing for the new school year, and high school graduates thinking of a career in agriculture need look no further than Illinois Valley Community College (IVCC). “It’s not too late to join other students beginning their ag careers at IVCC. There’s still room, and we’d love to have more students join us. There’s tremendous opportunity in the ag industry,” said ag instructor and program coordina-
tor Willard Mott in a press release. Fall courses for IVCC’s growing ag program include introductory courses in field crop science, agricultural mechanics, general education, agriculture business management and ag industry. A first-year student seeking to earn an associate of applied science degree in agricultural business can earn 15 credit hours during their first semester. The second semester of the first year includes the subjects of agricultural economics, general education, precision
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