Today's News

The day before Thanksgiving, it was brother against brother for the first of three meetings this season between Patoka, coached by Joe Eddy, and Ramsey, coached by Bill Eddy.

It would be Joe Eddy who would come out on top in the first Fayette County civil war of the season, as Patoka won 55-49.

Drew Baldrige scored 23 points and was 9-for-16 from the free-throw line for the Warriors.

Andy Carter of Ramsey had a season-high 26 points as he drained four three-pointers.

A number of revisions to the city of Vandalia's budget for the current fiscal year will take effect on Tuesday following a committee meeting on Tuesday.

At a meeting on Tuesday evening, the council’s personnel, finance and insurance committee also recommended that the council vote on an increase in water rates.

However, that committee ¬ – after meeting in closed session for about an hour ¬– voted not to recommend that the council consider at this time furlough days for city employees.

With the economic conditions that we’ve endured in recent months, getting in a Thanksgiving mood may take a little work this year.

But it shouldn’t.

In an ideal world, gratitude should be our natural response to the many things we DO have – regardless of our circumstances and the things we DON’T have. Granted, that’s not an easy position to take. Yet, it’s a good approach that produces an attitude of gratitude.

Here in Vandalia, we have many things for which we should be thankful:

Vandalia officials were saying through the early part of this year that despite a sagging economy nationally, the city was still seeing strong retail sales tax numbers.

That picture changed later in the year, however, and it is one of the factors causing city officials to look at some budget-tightening measures in the new fiscal year.

In fact, they are working with department heads and city aldermen to make some cuts in the current budget year, which ends next April.