PREP FOOTBALL 2016 Special Pullout Section – Inside, Pages 9-16
Thursday August 25, 2016 Vol. 4, No. 25 Hot news tip? Want to advertise? Call (309) 741-9790
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Lessons of football not all easy
Tyler Bunting (left) and Evan Asbell listen to Elmwood-Brimfield coaches after Friday’s scrimmage.
The air goes out of a football field when it happens. You watch a painful injury and you almost hesitate to breathe for a moment. That’s one of the brutal realities of a Jeff sport that is alterLAMPE nately the most popular game in the country on the pro level and the most problematic for parents on the
high school level. The question is asked every summer, and nowadays with greater regularity: “Are we going to let Little Johnny play football?” Events like last Friday night in Elmwood make that question even more difficult to answer for some. On a simple rollout play in a relatively meaningless scrimmage, Elmwood-Brimfield quarterback Tyler Bunting appeared to twist his knee when his foot stuck in the turf. Instantly, he was rolling in agony. Just
like that, his season was over. That’s when the agony became worse for Bunting, a senior who had won the QB job in a heated competition. A few weeks ago, something similar happened at Farmington to junior Cade Lansford, whose broken kneecap will sideline the player coach Toby Vallas said “is the absolute heart of this team.” To say those injuries are unfair is a vast understatement. Both players had worked hard to prepare for this fall Continued on Page 2
Building project advances
SAWMILL HYDRAULICS
Farmington sawmill sells internationally
By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – The old saying is that “a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.” And though School District 322’s proposed building project won’t take 1,000 miles, and the process already began, the Board of Education on Monday continued to set one foot in front of the other toward a $6.9 million facility upgrade. The Board unanimously approved: • First Midstate investment bank of Bloomington and the Chicago law firm of Chapman and Cutler for work on the District’s Debt Certificate and anticipated General Obligation bonds; • a four-pipe, chiller-style system for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); • and five alternate bids to accompany the overall package for the project. For The Weekly Post
By BILL KNIGHT
FARMINGTON – Company policies at Sawmill Hydraulics seem to indicate an understanding workplace as natural and solid as a tree trunk. Number 4 concedes, “Everybody has a bad day. Give your co-worker some slack.” No. 9 notes, “We all make mistakes.” And No. 10 explains, “Everyone is part of sales and cost control.” Yet the provider of sawmill gear doesn’t let tradition impede progress. Just back from a vacation, Sawmill Helle Hydraulics vice president of sales and marketing Chris Helle leans back from a desk stacked with paperwork in a single-story steel building about a mile east of Farmington and explains the company’s approach. For The Weekly Post
Sawmill Hydraulics of Farmington has grown steadily from a single sawmill in 1941 to become a company that sells products around the world and has 24 employees.
“We like being involved with products from start to finish,” says, Chris, 37. “We know our customers, their families. I’ve been to their kids’ birthday parties or go through and stop and get lunch or something. That’s really pretty rare. Customers see us as having a hands-on touch, a small, family company.” But size doesn’t mean a lack of innovation. Next month, Sawmill Hydraulics is unveiling a massive concrete bunker, a
combination break room and shelter – the area’s only storm-ready facility like that except for Caterpillar. And there are other recent investments, from a track-touch plasma cutter and 3-D CNC [computernumerical-control] prints to new routine equipment from welders to forklifts. “And we’re involved heavily in safety,” he adds. “It’s a clean shop, with daily maintenance.” Continued on Page 8
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