Thursday June 13, 2013 Vol. 1, No. 17 REMEMBER, FATHER’S DAY IS SUNDAY!
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Funding problems impact extracurriculars By BILL KNIGHT
When schools feel financial pressure and look for places to cut, some eyes land on extracurricular activities – to the tune of $3.5 billion nationally in the last two years, according to the advocacy group Up2Us. In Illinois, such moves have seen Galesburg School District 205 raise sports fees from $110 to up to $200 per sport; Jacksonville District 117 cut extracurricular activities’ funding by 10 percent; Mokena District 159 dropping extracurricular activities (which were For The Weekly Post
retained because parent low-income families hit Gone Fishin’ harder because of rising groups raised money to unWe will not pubderwrite them); and Chamcosts or that they live in lish an edition of paign District 4 consider districts with fewer reeliminating coaches’ stipends The Weekly Post sources to maintain exon June 27. We or coaching positions. tracurricular activities). will resume publiExtracurriculars have not “At a time when an estication on July 2. yet been cut at Brimfield, mated 80 percent of Elmwood or Williamsfield. school districts are elimiBecause of tight fiscal conditions, nating jobs and making cuts to other trends nationwide include reduced vital educational programs, many will budgets, higher “pay to play” fees for argue that sports must also take a hit,” extracurricular (or “co-curricular”) ac- says Up2Us in its report “Going, tivities, fewer opportunities for such Going Gone: The Decline of Youth activities, and growing inequities (with Sports.”
MY PLACE FUND RAISER
“This viewpoint is shortsighted. Sports programs are one of the most cost-effective activities that promote positive youth development.” Brimfield High School Principal and incoming District Superintendent Joe Blessman recently said, “We haven’t looked at cutting athletic programs yet, but we’re in the business of educating kids. If this inequality of funding isn’t addressed, that may be a conversation that will have to start.” That would be a shame, according to the National Federation of High Continued on Page 2
Brimfield adds new business By TERRY BIBO
BRIMFIELD – One new business will move in; one old business may go to the dogs. At its Monday meeting, the Brimfield Village Board of Trustees voted 4-0 for the annexation, an annexation agreement and rezoning, which will allow Iowa-based TRECK LLC. to open a Specialty Sprayers retail store here. “If allowable, we’d like to break ground at the end of this month, beginning of July,” said TRECK project manager Bill Garrett. The company purchased 15 acres of land east of Maher Road along U.S. Route 150. It will use three acres of that parcel to sell mostly farm-related equipment from nozzles and hoses to sprayer booms. “Eighty-five percent of our business is the agricultural industry, or turf business,” Garrett said, adding that Brimfield is well-located for the company’s purposes. “There’s a lot of farming ... a good number of our customers are within 100 miles.” Rezoning the property from R-1 residential to C-2 commercial was approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals on June 4. A brief hearing before the village board’s regular meeting brought out a few questions. “Is that zoning for the whole 15 acres or just three?” asked Rita Kress of Kress Corp. “Just three,” Garrett said. Eventually, TRECK would like to sell the remaining 12 acres, he said. After the meeting, Garrett added the potential land sale is part of the reason he doesn’t have a firm number for the total project cost. For The Weekly Post
St. Jude benefit tops $95,000 By JEFF LAMPE
YATES CITY – Given the way this wet spring has gone, the question seemed logical. “Are you worried about rain?” someone asked Jody McKinty heading into last weekend. “Nope. God has it covered,” she answered. Maybe McKinty knows something. For the 11th straight year her My Place St. Jude Benefit enjoyed perfect weather, large crowds and yet another increase in overall funds raised. This year’s all-day event generated $95,000.45 for St. Jude’s – Weekly Post Staff Writer
up from last year’s total of $81,000. Overall in 11 years the event has raised $443,416. “We’re extremely pleased,” said McKinty, who praised Sharon Coykendall and a group of close to 100 volunteers who worked at the all-day festival/fund raiser. “At 6 a.m. on Saturday we probably had 30-40 people helping set up the auction stuff,” she said. The only event impacted by weather was the new tractor ride, which attracted about a dozen participants (including Eric Windish above left, photo by Amy Davis). Many other likely drivers were busy in the field planting beans.
Crowds packed the area around My Place in Yates City for Saturday’s St. Jude fund raiser that included adult and youth events. Photos by Alicia Provence.
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