Area Breaking News
Citizens Observe Modest Christmas Celebration in St. Elmo
Though relatively few locals turned out for the festivities, the City of St. Elmo still observed its annual Christmas in St. Elmo event on Sunday, Dec. 2. Vendor booths, including Altamont’s Craft’n Couple (Jennifer and Rob Gentry) and Ray and Tina Scott of Tina Scott’s Gourds and More of St. Elmo, set up wares inside…
Read MoreBig Plans Upcoming for 2019 Effingham County Fair
The Effingham County Fair held its annual meeting at the Carriage House Event Center in Altamont todiscuss a number of plans and improvements in the works for the 75th annual Effingham County Fair in the summer of 2019. 2018 Effingham County Fair Queen Serena Strullmyer was given the honors of drawing names from the fair board’s list of schools entered in the annual…
Read MoreLowe Named as 2018 St. Elmo Citizen of the Year
Longtime St. Elmo Lion and WWII veteran Richard Lowe was presented as St. Elmo’s Citizen of the Year for 2018 during a 6 p.m. ceremony at Community Park on Labor Day. Mayor Ernie Myers gave a short speech in Lowe’s honor. Dozens of citizens were in attendance to hear of the award. The following…
Read MoreMarching Indians Prepare for Season of Crowd-Pleasing Parades
Gone are the years of pep band sets on the parade route: Altamont Community High School band director Sara Berg has bigger goals for her ensemble. This year, the Marching Indians are taking a medley of songs from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, as arranged by Paul Murtha and distributed…
Read MoreWilhour Memorial 5K to Honor Beloved Wife, Mother
Haley (Miller) Wilhour, the daughter of Bruce and Sandra Miller of rural Beecher City, lived what many could call a blessed life. She married her high school sweetheart, Jason Wilhour, the summer after her graduation, and happily raised four children with him. She loved her husband and her children, helping her church family at Church…
Read MoreLocal Cheerleaders to Perform in Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade
In late June, the Altamont Junior High cheer team attended a Universal Cheer Association camp together in order to hone their skills as performers. At the camp, students from Altamont, Effingham, St. Anthony, Dieterich, Louisville, and New Athens schools auditioned for roles in UCA’s All-American squad, which will perform in Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, slated…
Read MoreStrullmyer Takes Crown at 2018 Fair Queen Pageant
BY SHELBY NIEHAUS Serena Strullmyer, 21-year-old daughter of Joe and Sherri Strullmyer of Altamont, gasps in pure joy as her name is announced late Tuesday evening. She has just been awarded the title of 2018 Effingham County Fair Queen. Strullmyer, along with five other Queen candidates, competed over the course of a three-hour Queen and…
Read MoreSefton and Lach Claim Crowns at Fayette County Fair
BY MARK HOSKINS Last Monday evening, Brownstown saw two of their own earn county fair titles as Kaylee Sefton was named Miss Fayette County and Ella Lach won the Little Miss Fayette County crown. Sefton, 20, attends Lake Land College and is pursuing a nursing degree. She then plans to transfer to SIUE to obtain…
Read MoreCity of Altamont Rallies in the Face of Storm Damage
BY SHELBY NIEHAUS As a result of a major thunderstorm on the afternoon of Saturday, July 14, all Altamont electrical utility customers were without electric power, and many homeowners found tree limbs, shingles, and other debris on their property. City clerk Sarah Stephens, calculating figures in her office on Wednesday morning, claimed that immediate…
Read MoreBrownstown Car-B-Q Serves Ribs, Pulled Pork, Experiences
BY SHELBY NIEHAUS “You just gotta be here,” Grant Sefton says. From the center of his corner lot in Brownstown, he looks around at classic trucks and cars, rusted out, half-buried in the ground, and converted into art objects: fountains, flowerbeds, and signs. A gravel road leads around the fountain and past a cluster of…
Read More