.....Advertisement.....
.....Advertisement.....

Today's News

  • The Way We Were-Oct. 7, 2010

    15 Years Ago

    1995 – The Interstate Commerce Commission and Clinton County officials touted Enhanced 911 emergency phone services as Fayette County voters were preparing to vote on an Enhanced 911 referendum.
    The Vandalia Chamber of Commerce’s downtown revitalization committee announced its City of Candles project. The committee was encouraging local residents and business owners to put electric candles in their windows during the upcoming holiday season.

    20 Years Ago

    Click here to read more...
  • Responding to emergencies takes guts

    We live on a road with a dangerous s-curve. Over the years, many vehicles have failed to negotiate that difficult stretch. Just before 3 a.m. Monday, another one ended up in the ditch.
    For some reason, I was awake enough to hear the vehicle approaching. Then came squealing tires, a thud and an eerie silence.
    I went to the window to confirm what I thought I’d heard…hoping that my sleep-clouded brain had manufactured the incident. No such luck; I could hear voices yelling for help.

    Click here to read more...
  • Vandals dominate Hillsboro in second half

    Without two key special teams plays to start the second half, the Vandals would have had a much harder time recovering from a controversial official’s decision at the end of the first half during Friday night’s 48-19 Vandalia win.

    With about five minutes left, Hillsboro punter Luke Cerutti mishandled the snap and two flags were thrown – one against Hillsboro for illegal motion before the play and one against Vandalia for a late hit out of bounds after the play was whistled dead.

    Click here to read more...
  • Perrysville became Perryville, then disappeared

    A query from B.J. Mueller, publisher of  The Ramsey News-Journal, about the historic village of Perryville, located south of Pittsburg, caused me to pull out my file on this ancient village.
    Perryville was platted in 1817 as the first county seat of Bond County. It stood on the bluff west of the Hurricane fork of the Kaskaskia River.
    The village has long since turned to soil, but to stand near the millstone and read the signboard erected there by Steve Schildknecht in 1990 gives the visitor a sense of the history of the primitive village.

    Click here to read more...
  • Use situation to consider options

    The newly hired Vandalia city administrator's decision  to back out of job before starting it leaves the city of Vandalia facing a bad news, good news situation.
    The bad news is that the city will have to start from scratch in hiring a city administrator. The good news is that the person who was hired just two months ago was probably not a good fit.

    Click here to read more...
  • Community Garden festival is this Saturday

    To paraphrase a familiar old nursery rhyme, “How does the Little Community Garden grow?
    “With work and toil, to prepare the soil,
    By Master Gardeners and volunteers,
    Working side by side through the years.
    Tilling, planting and weeding many hours,
    To provide the community with food and flowers.
    The Little Community Garden, tended with love,
    And blessed by the rains and sun, from Heaven above.”

    The Vision Planted

    Click here to read more...
  • Early interest in alderman seats

    As it stands right now, residents in at least two of Vandalia’s four wards could have a choice when picking their aldermen next spring.
    City Clerk Peggy Bowen reported at Monday’s city council meeting that eight individuals have picked up nominating papers for aldermanic contests and that a ninth person has requested an election packet.

    Click here to read more...
  • Prayer for a pooch

    The Rev. Viktoria Halmagyi of St. James Lutheran Church in Vandalia, blesses Bella, Nancy Lewis's cocker spaniel, during an animal blessing held in the church courtyard on Sunday afternoon.

    Click here to read more...
  • Hearing set in smoking case

    A judge will rule next month on a request from the owners of a Vandalia bar to dismiss tickets issued by the city for allegedly allowing people to smoke in their business.
    At a court hearing in Fayette County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Judge Ericka Sanders of Hillsboro scheduled a hearing at 11 a.m. on Nov. 9.
    At that hearing, attorneys for Lisa and Albert Doyle, owners of the Redwood Inn, will argue for their dismissal of tickets issued by the city that allege smoking violations on Aug. 12, 19 and 21.

    Click here to read more...
  • City administrator quits before he starts

    Instead of welcoming their new city administrator on Monday, Vandalia officials learned on that day they will have to begin a new search to fill the position.
    At the end of Monday’s city council meeting, Alderman Bret Brosman asked for confirmation on that day being the first day of work for John McIntyre, who was hired as the city administrator in August.

    Click here to read more...