Thursday May 19, 2016 Vol. 4, No. 12
The Weekly Post
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Elmwood awards Maple Avenue bid By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – The City Council on Tuesday night took two major steps in the long-delayed work on four blocks of Maple Avenue between North Magnolia Street/Illinois Route 78 and Fairground Way, awarding a bid and arranging financing for the $450,000 project. After opening four sealed bids, the Council selected the $306,525.16 offer from United Contractors Midwest (UCM) from For The Weekly Post
Three Chilly Saints gone, So go plant!
Tremont. “The bids were slightly higher than what we’d anticipated,” said Alderman Bryan Davis, who proposed accepting UCM’s bid. Also, “we are going to try to value-engineer it and could be bringing [the overall cost] down.” Some work and expense will come from City workers. The renovation will include grading, tilling and resurfacing the street; adding a sidewalk on its north side; widening the street; im-
proving drainage; and paving entrances to driveways, according to engineer Patrick Meyer. Also offering bids were Illinois Civil Contractors, Inc. (ICCI), P.A. Atherton Contractors, and Tazewell County Asphalt. The City will pay for the project through a combination of Tax Increment Financing funds (which are maintained separately from General Revenue), City Treasurer Harold Jehle said on May 3, and a $350,000 loan also approved TuesContinued on Page 2
A major construction project is slated for Maple Avenue in Elmwood. Photo by Jeff Lampe.
THEY WILL ALL BE HOME SOON!
By RON DIETER
If you follow horticultural folklore you may know that the cold spell we had this past weekend was the work of the Three Chilly Saints. In medieval France and England, farmers noticed that a late spring frost often occurred around the feast days of St. Mamertus, St. Pancras and St. Servatius, May 11, 12 and 13. So they postponed planting coldsensitive crops until the latter half of May to avoid the wrath of these “Chilly Saints.” With those feast days behind us now, it’s time to start planting warm-weather vegetables, such as tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and melons. The most popular of these, of course, is the tomato. The tomato is really not a vegetable at all, botanically speaking, but a fruit because it contains seeds. Native to the For The Weekly Post
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Libel suit proceeds vs. Schock, LaHood By BILL KNIGHT
EDWARDS – A lawsuit that alleges the area’s current and former Congressmen libeled Edwards Democrat Dick Burns on Friday had its first case management hearing after the case was filed more than seven months ago. Judge Jodi Schock Hoos plans to issue an order giving U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood and his predecessor, Aaron Schock, a limited amount of time to respond to the complaint that they defamed Burns. Burns’ attorney Christopher Ryan said no defendant has answered the initial complaint, which says a letter signed by For The Weekly Post
Youngsters enjoy one of their last days of recess at Elmwood Elementary School. After today, there are only three days of school left for Elmwood students. Photo by Jeff Lampe.
Local schools wrapping up the year
Elmwood and Farmington high schools celebrated high school graduation on Sunday (May 15), and here are schools’ schedules for the rest of the school year: • Brimfield Graduation is at 3 p.m. Sunday (May 22) and the last day of school is May 31. • Elmwood is having an 8th grade promotion program today (May 19) at 11 a.m. (with Junior High awards from 9-10:30 a.m.), and
the last day of school is May 25. • Farmington already celebrated 8th graders’ promotion to high school on Wednesday (May 18), when the district also had its last day of school. • Princeville Graduation is at 3 p.m. May 29 and the last day of school is June 6. • Williamsfield Graduation is 2 p.m. Sunday (May 22) and May 25 is the last day of school.
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