News

From left to right: Carter Hammack, Carsen Hammack, Bryce Mann, Lucas Pherigo.

Scouts march to honor Lincoln

Beardstown Cub Scout Pack 127 and Scouts BSA Troop 127 took part in the 79th annual Abraham Lincoln Pilgrimage on Sunday, April 28th in Springfield. Hundreds of scouts from eight different states marched from Lincoln’s Tomb to the Old State Capitol in honor of the 16th president of the United States of America. Pictured on the top right is Beardstown Scout Leader Randy Pherigo, shown leading the way with his son, Webelo Luke Pherigo, Scout Master Phillip Hadden and Webelo Carson Hammack following. Pherigo said the scouts meet at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday at St. Alexius Catholic Church, 215 West 6th Street, Beardstown. Boys ages 5-10 (Cub Scouts) and 10-14 (Boy Scouts) are encouraged and welcomed to join any Thursday. Photos submitted.       

Pet of the Week, Blizzard, cat.

Pet of the Week

Blizzard was born in September of 2023 and came to the Humane Society on January 18, 2024. He has a unique pattern in his fur and is very handsome. He is very cuddly and loves attention. He has a lot of energy and loves to play. This sweet boy, along with all other animals at SCHS will be spayed/neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated before adoption. You can meet Blizzard and all pets at Schuyler County Humane Society, 17000 County Farm Road in Rushville. Visitor hours are Tuesdays from 4-7 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m.-noon, and Sundays from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. You can also make an appointment by calling (217) 322-2220. Applications are available online at https://schuylerhs.com/adopt/application/.

Trophy winners are shown left to right; Gavin Cristman, Makaylin Evans, Luci Metz, Isabel Mendoza and Quinn Cristman

AADM competes in Mt. Zion

The AADM (All About Dance & More) Airborne Team attended the Southern USTA State Championships at Mt. Zion High School in Mt. Zion, IL on April 20th & 21st. This meet was an open invitational championship meet, hosting around 50 clubs.  

There were 37 athletes from the Airborne team that competed in 108 events total on tumbling, trampoline, and double mini.  Seventy-one percent of these athletes placed in the top 15 in their events and were named National Qualifiers. All national qualifiers are invited to the USTA National Championships this summer in Louisville, KY.

Shown above is a group picture of “Fuego.” This is a jazz routine choreographed by Laura Evans and scored the highest on our team this weekend. From left to right are Izzy Claudius, Ellie Jones, Anlee Jones, Blalynn Lovekamp, Serena Graham-Martinez, and Sapphire Graham-Martinez

AADM team wins big

Dance team members from the AADM Dancettes Team attended their third regional competition with Groove in Washington, IL. on April 12th-14th.  The studio dance team performed 15 routines choreographed by AADM teachers, Laura Evans, Emery Maliongas, and Ciara Hibbs.  The team brought home one elite diamond, 10 diamond, and four elite sapphire adjudication awards.  

A gaggle of geese sun themselves beside the water next to the soccer fields at the Beardstown Park District. Photo by Nick Krohe

Geese in the sun

A gaggle of geese sun themselves beside the water next to the soccer fields at the Beardstown Park District. Photo by Nick Krohe

A-C ball diamond may get water line

The A-C Central school board discussed running a water line to the school’s baseball diamond at last week’s meeting. The discussion was prompted by a request from the Ashland Youth Association to purchase the dugout bleachers at A-C for the AYA’s baseball diamond. The A-C trustees expressed they would rather have the AYA play more games at A-C’s ball diamond so they did not vote to sell the bleachers and instead decided to see if a water line could be run to the school’s field.

Superintendent explains grants

Beardstown Superintendent Brent O’Daniell reported to the Board of Education April 17th the situation of the grants received by the district. Some of the grant distributions run on the fiscal year ,January 1 through December 31st, while others run like the school year, June 1 through May 31st. He tried breaking these grants down to show what is left in each and where the money is going or is slotted for. He hopes to have a better spreadsheet developed soon to show this break down better in the near future. Superintendent O’Daniell also noted that different staff have control over different grants.

Ashland Fire Station

Crisis Management to assist Ashland firefighters

Ashland Fire Protection District Chief Shane Hall reported at last week’s meeting of the district board that Crisis Management Services would be on hand to assist firefighters dealing with emotional trauma. Several of the district’s firefighters responded to the tragic death of Ethan Mahoney the day before the meeting and crisis counselors were being made available to firefighters needing them. At the suggestion of former fire chief Tylor Latham, a moment of silence was held for Mahoney.

Nathan Theis

Theis new Gard School Principal

Beardstown School Board hired Nathan Theis as the new Gard Elementary Principal at its regular meeting held April 17. Current Principal Lori Young has accepted a position as a superintendent in another district.Theis started teaching in Beardstown several years ago as a Special Education teacher at Gard Elementary School for 3rd and 4th grade students. He said he fell in love with teaching here because of the staff, students, and community and the sense of belonging and family that exists.

Burglary at solar farm

Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott & Cass Counties are requesting Information to assist the Morgan County Sheriffs Department in their investigation of a recent burglary.

Sometime between 6 p.m. April 16 and 8 a.m. April 17: Unknown person(s) damaged a lock to make entry into a worksite trailer at a Solar Farm located in the 1800 block of Concord-Arenzville Road. A large amount of ‘Milwaukee” brand tools was then removed. Among those were batteries, drills and hole saws. All of the tools have “Michels” inscribed on them.