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Today's News

  • Future of boat in St. Elmo up in the air

    Despite of vote of support on Thursday night, the future of The President in St. Elmo is up in the air.

    The St. Elmo City Council voted 4-2 to continue the city's support of the boat project, but the vote came after project developer David Campbell said that he and project investors were ready to move The President to another community.

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  • Open house for VCHS state champs is Tuesday

    Vandalia Community High School athletes who have earned individual state championships will be honored at an open house in the high school gymnasium next Tuesday, May 12.

    Those individuals, plus the girls state champion 4x400-meter relay team, recently have had their pictures placed on the west wall of the gymnasium to recognize their achievements.

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  • Boys place second at Pana, Breese Mater Dei

    The Vandalia High School boys track team last Thursday finished second in a quadrangular meet at Pana.

    The host Panthers won the meet with a score of 66.5 points, followed by Vandalia with 52, Greenville with 38.5 and Gillespie with 15.

    A new school record of 1:39.2 was set by Vandalia’s 4x200-meter relay team of Andy Koonce, Angel Osorio, Michael Galletto and Mitch Whightsil. The old record was 1:40.7.

    Due to wet conditions, no field events were contested.

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  • Relay team sets new school record as girls track team places 4th at conference

    The Vandalia High School girls track team set a school record for the third time this season in the 4x800-meter relay on their way to capturing first-place in that event in Tuesday night’s South Central Conference meet at Litchfield.

    The relay team of Ashley Durbin, Kayla Houston, Paige Dodson and Tori Hagy recorded a time of 10:29.5 – which was about six seconds over the state meet qualifying time.

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  • Girls softball roundup

    Pana 4, Vandalia 0

    Ali Meyer and Maggie Childers held Pana to just seven hits on Tuesday afternoon, but they were enough to give the Lady Panthers a 4-0 win.

    Laura Hobbie, Audra Donaldson and Katie Vieregge each had a double in the contest, but all were stranded. Dakota Kellow added a single to Vandalia’s offensive, stealing second and reaching third before being thrown out at the plate on a fielder’s choice.

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  • Zingraf will play at Millikin

    Mulberry Grove softball player Amanda Zinkgraf has announced that she plans to attend and play softball at Millikin University in Decatur.

    Zinkgraf, the daugher of Sandra Zinkgraft, plans to study nursing and play for second-year coach Debbie Kiick.

    “Amanda Zinkgraf is a talented outfielder who comes highly recommended from a strong high school program,” Kiick said.

    “She is a consistently strong hitter with good power and speed. We’re glad she chose Millikin and are eager to get her on the field with us.”

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  • Saving office of human services a victory for all

    From the beginning, it was a decision that didn’t even meet the state’s own criteria for closing offices. The client base was higher than the minimum set by the agency for closure and the driving distances to alternative Department of Human Services offices were greater than the standard set by the agency.

    It just didn’t make sense.

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  • Cemetery statues were sculpted in Italy

    A couple of weeks back, my friend, Joyce McClary, was showing me photographs taken on one of her walks.

    Joyce was scrolling through the images, telling me where she had taken the shots when all at once I stopped her. The next photo was of the statue in South Hill Cemetery of a seated woman.

    The previous week, I had searched newspaper microfilm at Evans Public Library, looking for a story about four statues, sculpted in Italy, unveiled during a Memorial Day ceremony in 1952. The seated woman was one of the four.

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  • Local DHS office will remain open

    If Illinoisans want an example of what government reform truly is, according to state Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon), they need to look to the employees of the Illinois Department of Human Services in Vandalia and other local residents.

    It was those people, McCarter said, who held him and state Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Greenville) accountable at a time when DHS officials announced their plan to close agency offices in Vandalia and 16 other communities.

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  • Statehouse now open seven days a week

    The state delivered the good news two weeks ago that the Vandalia Statehouse would remain open past the middle of this year. Then, late last week it announced the Statehouse and other state historic sites would be open seven days a week.

    Prior to being impeached at the end of 2008, Gov. Rod Blagojevich closed all state historic sites as part of his budget cuts.

    The Vandalia Statehouse was reopened in March, after a local resident stepped forward with an anonymous donation that would fund the operations of the old state capitol for six months.

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The Leader Union is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Vandalia, Il, and the surrounding area.