The Weekly Post
Thursday August 29, 2013 Vol. 1, No. 27 Relax And Enjoy
LABOR DAY!
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PRSRT. STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Elmwood, Illinois Permit No. 13
“We Cover The News of West-Central Illinois With A Passion”
Serving Brimfield, Dahinda, Edwards, Elmwood, Kickapoo, Laura, Oak Hill, Williamsfield and Yates City
Council hears Spoon River Drive drama By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – Dozens of concerned citizens filled the Elmwood City Council’s chambers for a special meeting Wednesday, when the council approved an initial sales offer to Horan Construction to develop the lot at the corner of Main and Magnolia and suggested a compromise between people feuding over Elmwood’s participation in For The Weekly Post
Spoon River Drive. That dispute centers on the drive’s organizers, the nonprofit Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Associates, Inc. – which this year officially accepted Elmwood’s application to be included in the route – trying to get participants to share the costs of involvement. A related effort put on by St. Patrick’s Catholic Church’s Altar & Rosary Society is a craft show
that charges commercial merchants for space in the church hall during the Saturdays of Spoon River Drive but does not want to pay Spoon River Drive’s $50-per-merchant fee. Spoon River Drive representatives previously appealed to the Elmwood council to pass an ordinance prohibiting commercial vendors from setting up during the drive, and attorney Bob Potts drafted language, but the
council asked for revisions because it seemed overly vague. “It’s too broad,” said Alderman Bryan Davis. Alderman Jared Howerton agreed, saying the council didn’t want to give homeowners or charities the impression that they couldn’t sell items on their own property, but they were concerned about multiple outside vendors coming in without sharing the Continued on Page 13
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TROJANS FOOTBALL 2013 Season Preview • Turn to Pages 7-10 for stories, pictures and statistics on the 2013 ElmwoodBrimfield football team. • The Trojans’ bid for a third straight undefeated regular season starts Friday at 7 p.m. in Elmwood against Peoria Heights.
Enrollments mixed, budget in flux for Brimfield schools
PLENTY OF PRODUCE
By BILL KNIGHT
BRIMFIELD – Brimfield schools’ enrollments are up and down, as are projected figures for next year’s budget, which depends on the outcome of ongoing negotiations with the teachers union. “This is the biggest 7th and 8th grade classes we’ve had,” said Grade School Principal Jeannie Blane, who totaled the enrollment there at 509. The high school numbers were down slightly, according to Superintendent and High School Principal Joe Blessman, who said the high school this fall starts with 226 students. Meanwhile, contract talks with the Brimfield EducaElmwood Wind tion Association are proTurbine ceeding, with one meeting • Read about having been held and two Elmwood CUSD scheduled for this week. 322’s new wind tur“We’re still early,” said bine, Page 3. Board president Dave Harmon. “So far, there’s nothing unusual or unexpected.” One expected consequence has been the effect on budgeting. District 309’s tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2014 shows a starting balance of $3.2 million, estimated revenues of $7.2 million and estimated expenditures of $6.9 million, projecting a year-end balance of $3.5 million. However, those numbers don’t reflect the outcome of a settlement with the teachers. “It’s basically a ‘best guess’,” said Harmon, who noted that upon reaching agreement with the teachers union, the budget proposal will be updated prior to the public hearing at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at the school. For The Weekly Post
Jerry and Becky Wyatt of Edwards sell produce they harvest out of familiar red barn on Illinois Route 8 within view of Kickapoo Creek. Photo by Bill Knight.
Red Barn hobby turns into a business By CARLY TWEDELL
EDWARDS –During the summer months, it’s not uncommon to see local folks parked in small towns selling the produce from their garden off tailgates. What is uncommon, however, is seeing the temporary roadside stands turn into a permanent establishment. If you go west from the intersection of Kickapoo-Edwards Road and Illinois Route 8, you are bound to see a large red barn on the left, which is where Jerry Wyatt and his wife Becky sell the produce they harvest from their garden. The proFor The Weekly Post
duce stand and the land surrounding it was previously a dairy farm owned by Jerry’s aunt and uncle, who raised him and his older brother. Along with a dairy farm, his aunt and uncle had a large garden, where he worked alongside them pulling weeds and picking vegetables. That gave him the background knowledge for starting a garden of his own. After graduating from high school in 1967, Wyatt worked for CILCO until retiring in 2007. It wasn’t until three years before he retired that Jerry and Becky began
selling sweet corn off a hayrack alongside the road, using a money box and relying upon the honor system to turn a profit. After deciding to expand the stand, they remodeled the dairy barn and moved the operation inside in July of 2008. What began as a hobby “grew” into much more, Jerry says “[It was] just something to do, because we had the ground,” he says. “We put a lot of our ground into different federal programs and then we had some that we didn’t and we thought ‘Well, we ought to Continued on Page 11
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