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St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, May 17
• Friendship Manor Nursing Home Week activity – Olympics and ballpark snacks, 2 p.m.
• Vit-Em-In Sunday school class potluck, 6 p.m., First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.
• Friendship Quilt Club, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
Friday, May 18
• Students are to pick up their grade cards this morning.
• Friendship Manor Nursing Home Week activity – Carnival Day, 2 p.m.
Saturday, May 19
• A 3-D Shoot benefit to help with the medical expenses of 5-year-old Jack Nall of St. Elmo is being hosted by Rack Attack Archery and will be at the location of 15 N and 2700 E Road, rural Pana (turn east off of U.S. Route 51 at the Christian-Shelby county line and follow the signs).
Registration is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The classes are for men’s open, men’s hunter, women’s open, women’s hunter, youth and cub. Open classes may use any bow setup. ASA bow hunter rules for other classes.
The fee is $15 for adult classes and $10 for youth 12-17 years old; cubs shoot free. Payout will be determined by the number of shooters in each class.
There also will be a bow raffle (value $849.99), and 200 tickets will be sold for $10 each. With questions, contact Travis Rhodes at 217-827-6911 or Mike Evrley at 217-413-1662.
• A Golf Scramble to help a mission team of the Freedom Reigns in Christ Church go to Haiti for the second year to help with the orphanage and crusade work will be held at the Four-Way Golf Course, starting at 8 a.m. The cost is $25 per person, and there will be prizes and giveaways. To sign up, contact Brad Beck at 217-343-6074. If you want to be involved, but can’t get a team of four, contact Beck.
• High school graduation, 7 p.m., high school gym.
Monday, May 21
• Deadline for St. Elmo Alumni Banquet reservations. See the alumni article following the announcements.
• Registration for the Summer Reading Program will be held through Friday during library hours at the St. Elmo Public Library, Brownstown Branch Library and Beecher City Branch Library.
• The Fayette County Home and Community Education Board, 10 a.m., Vandalia Extension Office.
• Historical Vandalia Inc. Board, 6:30 p.m., Fayette County Museum, Vandalia.
• St. Elmo Board of Education, 7:30 p.m., Unit Office.
Tuesday, May 22
• Ladies of all ages are invited for fun, fellowship and refreshments at 7 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. A garden theme will be carried out, and the program will be “Seeds of Kindness.”
• Dad/Grandpa and Me Reading Night, with special guest, “Clifford, the Big Red Dog,” will be at the St. Elmo Public Library at 7 p.m.
• The St. Elmo Masonic Lodge, 7:30 p.m., Masonic Temple.
Wednesday, May 23
• Royal Neighbors of America, 1 p.m., Phillips Building.
Thursday, May 24
• The St. Elmo Unit of Home and Community Education, 1:30 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
Alumni Announcement
The annual St. Elmo High School Alumni Banquet will be on Saturday, May 26, in the high school gym. The event is open to all who have ever attended St. Elmo schools, including family, friends, teachers and support staff.
Cost for the meal is $12 per person and reservations need to be made by Monday, May 21. Reservations may be made at Fayette County Bank or by calling Laura Feezel at 427-2210.
At the banquet, registration starts at 5 p.m. The dinner is at 6 p.m.
Avena Park Board
The meeting of the Avena Township Park Board held the evening of May 8 lasted almost two hours. The board received a check of $200 from the Freedom Reigns in Christ Church to help with the park cleaning expenses.
After the meeting opened in the St. Elmo Community Park Centennial Building, the board members present – Daryl Calvert, Jim Caraway, Ro Mars and Buddy Mitchell – walked the grounds of the park to check out the many things in the park that need work.
They made a list of the descriptions of work needed for the pavilions, picnic tables, bathrooms, etc. The outside bathrooms are vandalized often. The flag pole doesn’t have a flag and could use some flowers around the pole.
The dumpsters in the park are not for community use, but some people make them overflow with trash. The park dumpsters are for use only when people use the park.
Within the past month, two push mowers, a chain saw and a weed eater were stolen from a locked shed.
Much of the work needed in the park has to be paid, but some of the work can be done by volunteers to help with the park expenses. Youth, church, organization volunteers can call a board member to see about painting, etc. In addition to the four mentioned, those on the board are Greg Haslett, Daphne Oldfield and Janice Russell.
American Legion
At the American Legion Post No. 420 meeting held the evening of May 8 at the Legion Home, Laverne Wright was presented with a certificate for being a member for 50 consecutive years.
A guest at the meeting was Bob Heckert, who gave the itinerary for the Memorial Day service, to be at the Veterans’ Memorial at 1:30 p.m. on May 28. Those attending are asked to take lawn chairs.
The Legion is having the top 10 scholastic sixth-graders help during the Memorial Day service.
The Legion donated $200 to the new Boy Scout Troop #444. The Scouts will help clean and put new chips in the walks at the memorial. The Legion repaired the siding and soffet on the Phillips Building to help keep the birds away from the nearby memorial stones.
The handicap equipment in the Legion Home is being moved into the new storage building. The Legion is asking for bids for guttering on the new building. Leaf guards are to be put on both building.
This year’s officers were re-elected and will be installed at the June 12 meeting at the Legion Home.
Members present at the meeting were Chuck Bosomworth, Dan Cox, Clement Lilly, Xon Hanna, Wayne Lovett, Richard Lowe, Ernie Myers, R. W. Smith and Laverne Wright.
Lunch Bunch
Present for the Lunch Bunch at Mary Ann’s Restaurant at noon on May 10 were Wayne and Sandra Lovett and Don Lovett of Brownstown, Pat Porter of Farina, and Karen Denning, Mark and Jennie Ann Heischmidt, Anna Jean Rhodes, and R. W. and Mary Smith, all of St. Elmo.
Library Board
On May 10, after approving the minutes of the April 12 meeting, the St. Elmo Public Library District Board heard reports from each library. The May meeting was held at the Beecher City Branch Library.
St. Elmo librarians reported that Abie Whipple will paint driveway lines for $150. He is to check with the library again in the fall.
The computer camp, book fair and registration for the Summer Reading Program will be the week of May 21-25, with Tuesday, May 22, being a Dad/Grandpa and Me Reading Night with special guest, “Clifford, the Big Red Dog.” In addition, the librarians plan to get curtains for the windows.
Beecher City reported that their door lock needs some work. They are waiting on Wayne Moran to repair and return two computers. Seven new bookcases are needed, and Joan Evans will check on prices from a carpenter. She also will look into memorial bricks that look like book spines. A motion by Norma Tipsword, seconded by Don Crawford, to offer memorial bricks at Beecher City, carried.
Brownstown Friends of the Library are waiting for Wayne Moran to set up the new printer. Tony Koberlein will check on it. The Brownstown Branch Library adult book club will continue to meet during the summer.
The Digital Divide Grant ends May 31. The l ibrary has started getting books and software with the Penny Severns Grant.
Billie Enlow is working on the lost book list.
Both Bike Safety days, at St. Elmo and Brownstown, had good crowds and went well.
Electrical work at the Beecher City Branch Library has not yet been finished and the building needs more insulation.
Ordinance 2012-1 to set meeting dates for the 2012-2013 fiscal year and Ordinance 2012-2 for prevailing wages were adopted.
A public hearing for the Budget and Appropriation Ordinance will be held on Thursday, July 12, at 7 p.m. at the St. Elmo Public Library.
Non-resident fees were set at $75.
The libraries’ Summer Reading Program kickoff is during the week of May 21-15 and the program starts June 5 at St. Elmo, June 6 at Beecher City and June 7 at Brownstown
Starting July 1, the Library will charge five cents per copy for school-related copies, 15 cents per page for black and white copies, $1 per page for color copies and $2 to send or receive a fax.
Rhodes-Side Gleanings
Billye Jo Marchman and I were invited to the Mother-Daughter catered dinner given by the Altamont United Methodist Women in the Fellowship Hall of the Altamont UM Church. There was about 55 in attendance.
Our friend, Rosemary Hardaway of Altamont, invited us to be her guests, because her daughters live in the Chicago area, but they surprised her and also sat at our table.
Hardaway was the chairman of the decorating committee. Each table had two potted flowers, several different varieties of them. Favors were small clothespins  – the top had “hair” above a cute face and a piece of fabric was wrapped and tied around the pin to represent an apron; the theme of the program was “Grandma’s Aprons.” Each clothespin sat in a small plastic container of nuts and chocolate mint.
Oleta Massie of Carterville gave a program on the history of aprons. Altamont UMW took aprons that hung on clothes lines strung up. There were all types, mostly homemade – various styles, different fabrics, crocheted, embroidered, etc. After telling about the history, Massie went to each of the aprons on the clotheslines and asked the person who brought the apron to tell something about it. Many had been made by mothers and grandmothers.
I have known Massie for many years – we were officers of the Kaskaskia River District United Methodist Women when we were in the Southern Illinois Conference. We may get together soon, because her daughter and son-in-law have the Altamont McDonald’s and the Effingham McDonald’s, and she often visits them.
The flowers on the tables were given as door prizes, and I was one of the winners.
United Methodist Mother’s Day
The St. Elmo First United Methodist Church observed Mother’s Day during the morning worship. Shannon Moss named the following winners: oldest mother present, MaryEllen Lovett, age 98; youngest mother present, Aleta Triplett (granddaughter of Lovett); mother having the most children and grandchildren present, Joanne Maxey; and the child who traveled the farthest, Kimberly Jornd who lives in Salem (she is Maxey’s daughter).
Lovett, her daughter Kathy Spitler, Spitler’s daughter Triplett and Triplett’s daughter Sierra made four generations of women present for the worship service.
The hanging baskets were from Cumberland Trail Growers, and after the worship service, each female in the congregation got to take home a potted gerbena daisy from Richardson Brothers Greenhouse.
“Just a Little Talk with Jesus” was the anthem sung by the Chancel choir, with Kathy Spitler accompanying them on the organ.
 

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