Skip to content

St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, July 26
• ExxonMobil Annuitants, noon, Maverick Restaurant in Litchfield.
Friday, July 27
• Men’s Bible study, 6:30-7:30 a.m., St. Elmo Gold Course.
Sunday, July 29
• A pie and ice cream social will be held at 5:30 p.m. in a tent next to St. Elmo Christian Church, with music by Marly and Heather from 6-8 p.m.
Tuesday, July 31
• School registration from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the St. Elmo Elementary and Junior-Senior High schools.
Wednesday, August 1
• School registration from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the St. Elmo Elementary and Junior-Senior High schools.
• Wright’s Corner Unit of HCE, 11 a.m., Vandalia Ponderosa.
• St. Elmo City Council, 6 p.m., City Hall.
Thursday, August 2
• St. Elmo Business Association, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
Important Announcements
• Monday, Aug. 6 – St. Elmo Red Cross blood drive, 2-6 p.m., St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish Hall.
• In July, Royal Neighbors of America #5784 put a decorated container at Mary Ann’s Restaurant to collect school supplies that around Aug. 15 will be given to the St. Elmo and Beecher City elementary schools. Items needed are Crayola crayons, Elmer’s bottle and stick glues, large latex free erasers, folders (not plastic), two-part folders, large Manilla envelopes, soft pencils, permanent markers, water color markers, 5-inch pointed scissors, 12-pack assorted scissors, washable paint, black chisel tip markers, Paper Mate pink pearl erasers, pencil boxes-no bags, plastic rulers, Kleenex, Dixon Ticonderoga #2 HB.
• The deadline for purchasing tickets for the SEHS Alumni Dinner is Tuesday, Aug. 14.
The catered dinner will be at noon on Saturday, Aug. 18, in the First Church of God S.H.E.D. Tickets are $12 per person and are available at the United Fidelity Bank in St. Elmo or by sending a check to Marcia Heckert at 1944 E 2075 Ave., St. Elmo, Ill. 62458.
In addition to the check, this info has to be included: name(s) of alum(s) and guest(s); if alum, enter year graduated, and if a female, maiden name.
Also enter any connection to school – teacher, cook, janitor, administrator, etc. It is open to everyone remotely connected to St. Elmo schools, including current and former connections.
Fayette County Museum
A closed-circuit TV system is being installed in the Fayette County Museum in Vandalia and will be used for “show and tell”; it will show the upstairs to tour groups with handicapped people not able to go up the winding stairs. More details will be given on this when it is installed.
Artifacts the museum has received since the June meeting are: 1918 photo of the Charles Miller family; a Decatur Herald and Review 2010 newspaper clipping showing 1949 photo of Klasing and Muelchi, co-owners of Capps Drug Store; and a Vandalia Leader-Union clipping about Phil Shroyer and Marilyn Beyes preserving history with display cases in the Fayette County Museum.
Board members of Historical Vandalia Inc. met the evening of July 16 in the museum, with the following present: President Steve Durbin, Donna Blair, Joyce Mueller and Phil Shroyer of Vandalia; Marilyn Beyes of Smithboro; and Anna Jean Rhodes of St. Elmo
Beyes reported that she works in the garden two and three early mornings each week.
Because this year is Illinois’ 200th birthday, Land of Lincoln tours are being offered throughout Illinois. Fayette County’s Land of Lincoln events weekend is Saturday, Aug. 11, and Sunday, Aug. 12. In addition to Saturday, the museum will be open 1-4 p.m. on Sunday.
District UMW Leadership Team
The United Methodist Women Embarras River District Leadership Team meets once each quarter.
The July 18 meeting was held in the Effingham Centenary United Methodist Church.
The coffee /fellowship started at 9 a.m. and President Jane Casey of Newton opened the meeting at 9:30 a.m., with all singing the “Purpose of United Methodist Women.” Treasurer Rhonda Whitaker of Neoga gave the devotions and opening prayer.
The Illinois Great Rivers Conference UMW Celebration will be at Normal First on Saturday, Oct. 6, and there will be two lunch times for district officer training.
Vice President Carol Martin of Effingham finalized plans for the Embarras River District Annual Fall Meeting. It will be on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at the Marshall First. The program speaker will be Sylvester Wetherall.
The chairman of nominations, Joan Miller of Mode, reported that the full slate of 18 officers for the 2019 year has been filled, and will be presented and voted on at the annual meeting.
Each UMW unit in the 24 churches in the Embarras River District will make a 2019 pledge for missions at the annual meeting. Pledges also are to be made by members at-large.
District officers present in addition to Casey, Whitaker, Martin and Miller were Nancy Sperry of Nokomis; Cheryl Murphy and Jo Sanders of Marshall; Shirley Harder of Altamont; Linda Trent of Oakland; Kate Dickens of Effingham; Ione Elliott and Carol Kessler of Shelbyville; Evelyn Icenogle of Toledo; and Anna Jean Rhodes of St. Elmo. Also present was Louella Christensen of Altamont, the UMW Conference treasurer.
Rhodes-Side Gleanings on Fair Entries
My entries at the Fayette County Fair last year were 21 floral arrangements, two hobbies and four photography pictures. This year, I had 18 entries in 11 categories (each category is limited to two entries).
In the following six categories I received a blue ribbon and a red ribbon: Hobbies (larger nativities and nativities less than 6 inches); and flower arrangements—miniature, bottle, roses, for mantel and dried.
In the arrangement featuring flowers and candles, I received a blue ribbon; in the dining table arrangements, I received a blue and a white ribbon; in the holiday other than Christmas, I received a blue ribbon on a Thanksgiving (or reunion) arrangement of not-real vegetables in a not-real cabbage; in the all-white flowers in a red, white & blue cup, I received a blue ribbon; and in the live arrangement using roadside materials, I received a blue ribbon.
These had to be picked up between noon and 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, so that kept me from eating lunch with the UMW district officers. I had to leave at noon; the meetings usually are over by 12:30 p.m. and most of them then eat lunch together at a restaurant.
July School Board Meeting
The St. Elmo Board of Education met the evening of July 19 in the unit office. The following consent agenda items were approved: regular board meeting minutes from June 20 special board meeting June 27; bills and financial reports; and monthly administrative reports.
The board adopted the dual credit fees.
The board approved an athletic trainer agreement with St. Joseph’s Hospital, Breese (HSHS).
The board awarded fiscal year 2019 milk bid to Prairie Farms, the 2019 bread bid to Aunt Millie’s and the 2019 fuel bid to Effingham Equity.
The board appointed Superintendent Healy to prepare the budget for fiscal year 2019.
The board approved an interfund loan of funds from the education fund to the torte fund in the amount of $40,000.
The board adopted PRESS Policies (May/June 2018) issue.
The board approved the elementary student handbook.
The board accepted a letter of resignation as paraprofessional from Pam Parish, effective June 28.
The board accepted a letter of resignation as assistant fifth- and sixth-grade basketball coach from Abby Fryer.
The board approved a leave of absence for Abby Fryer.
The board approved a leave of absence for Erica Barker.
The board approved employment of Kathryn Niemeier as high school agriculture teacher for the 2018-19 school year.
The board accepted a letter of resignation as high school special education teacher from Amy Schimmelpfenning, effected July 18, 2018.
The board approved employment of Dana Pasley as junior high softball coach for the 2018-19 school year.
The board approved employment of Gabi Frailey as assistant high school volleyball coach for the 2018-19 school year.
The board approved employment of Natasha Warner as paraprofessional at the elementary school for the 2018-19 school year.
The board approved employment of Christy Uptmor as parafrofessional at the elementary School for the 2018-19 school year.
The board approved the S.E.A. negotiated contract.
 

Leave a Comment