Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
State Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion) is asking Franklin County residents to donate old cell phones through the end of this month.
The cell phones will go to Cell Phones for Soldiers, which sells them to a recycling company and uses the proceeds to buy phone cards for soldiers.
Drop off phones by Nov. 30 at the following West Frankfort Public Library, 402 E. Poplar St., or the Benton Public Library, 502 S. Main St.
By Tom Wheeler
The 38th Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament starts Monday and it sure brings back memories for this ol’ Coach. So I thought, since I’ve seen every tournament. Here is some trivia that you may or may not remember.
I’ll just ramble so try to stay with me.
Three teams have been in the tourney all 38 years: Christopher, Zeigler-Royalton and Webber Township … Galatia coached by Benton’s Don Smith won the inaugural tournament and two years later his brother Ron Smith won the tournament with Coulterville … Christopher defeated Coulterville in 84,85,and 86 in the Championship game, in 86 current Sparta athletic director Richie Williams was the Eagles coach, his starting point guard was Gary Gischer who later coached at Christopher, Williams also coached in the tournament at Elverado where he got so excited one night he ripped the seat out of his pants … the St. Louis Cardinals Corey Bailey played in the tournament with Crab Orchard before moving to Marion for his senior year … Rodney Seips of Egyptian also played minor league baseball … the biggest star to ever attend the tournament was tennis great Jennifer Capriati, who came to see Shane Boner play (she dated Shane’s brother in California) … Logan athletic director and baseball coach Jerry Halstead played in the first tournament with Carterville when he started as a freshman … Z-R’s Matt Swalls was MVP in 1981 and teammate Sean Connor in 1983, Matts group won the tournament but Sean was the first player to win from a team that wasn’t champions (they finished fourth) … their best tourney team may have been in 1982 but the Tornadoes were busy winning the IHSA Class A state championship in football in Bloomington as all five basketball starters played football … Bruce Weber, coach at Kansas State, came to the tourney to scout Egyptian’s Dana Ford when he was at SIU … Current CCHS freshman coach Rick Cook was 12-0 as varsity coach in his four tournaments … my wife Lynda sure loves Turkey week as there are NO suppers prepared that week, I’m usually found in the great hospitality room along with many ‘regulars’ … CCHS revealed a beautiful new portable floor for the 77-78 season but this year’s floor won’t take a back door to that one …
Looking back I can’t believe how many of my ex-teammates coached in the tournament like John Kretz, Rick Cook,(fast pitch) Ed Belva,Steve Strickland, Wendell Wheeler, Russ Hobbs, Mike Henson, Wes Choate, Nick Laur(slow pitch) Cliff Davis, Ken Dillingham, (McKendree basketball) Roger Yates (Coal Belt baseball) and Don Gines (McLeansboro Jr. High basketball) … Mt. Vernon legend Doug Creel coached in the tournament at Thompsonville and his best player was current West Frankfort Lady Red Birds coach Matt Hampelman … ZR’S superintendent George Wilkerson played in the tournament as did CCHS’s super Rich Towers (MVP in 86) … Varsity coaches who played in the tournament include CCHS coaches Eric Stallman, Jeff Minor, Jeff Gossett, and Gary Gischer, ZR’S Quinn Laird, Matt Morgan, Jamie Moyers and Brent Kreid, Thompsonville’s Brandon Chapman and Brock Harris … now it’s time for more trivia from the 2012 tournament and with six members of the all-tournament team returning, including 2011 MVP Devantae Price of defending champion Egyptian, it should bring more great basketball to kick off the 2012-23 season.
A well-known Benton family needs your help.
David Tedrow was recently diagnosed with a rare form of thyroid cancer and is receiving aggressive treatment in St. Louis five days per week.
On Saturday, Dec. 1 friends of David and April Tedrow are sponsoring a fundraiser to help defray the costs of the ongoing medical treatment and travel. A rummage sale, auction, raffle and fish fry will be held at the Benton Kiwanis Hall located on Hudelson Street, adjacent to the Benton Civic Center. All proceeds from the event will go to the Tedrow family.
Currently, items for the rummage sale and auction are being collected and can be dropped off at the Whittington Water Department or at Martin’s Restaurant & Catering, located on East Main Street in Benton. Anybody wanting to purchase or help sell tickets for the fish fry or needing more information can contact Dale and Penny Brookins at 927-1960 or Bob and Linda Martin at 927-2627.
With little business to act on, a brief meeting of the Zeigler City Council was held Tuesday night.
The council unanimously authorized payment of bills of $25,206.18. Included in this total was November’s bill of $4,694.20 for West Franklin County Central Dispatch. This is the city portion for the month as a participant. “This bill could go down in January as some debts have been paid,” Mayor Dennis Mitchell.
An agenda item addressing employee salary was tabled. There was a question of a letter of de-certification of the labor union representing workers.
Zeigler Police Chief Tim Scuras reported that the Police and Fire Departments were now narrow band compliant to new FCC regulations. However, Scuras said he will work with city’s street and water departments to make sure that they also meet the mandate dealing with radios by year’s end.
— Bruce A. Fasol
Tickets go on sale Saturday, Nov. 10, for a December fundraiser officials hope will provide funds for a construction project at the Zeigler Fire Department. The Dec. 8 fundraiser called “Raise the Roof” aims to do just that, and provide covering for first responder’s vehicles at the fire station.
Tickets will be available starting today at Casey’s General Store and the Post Office in Zeigler.
The event starts at 6 p.m. on Dec. 8 at the Zeigler Eagles, with a meal of pulled pork sandwich, slaw and baked beans being served from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by music by Shakey Jake from 8 p.m. until midnight. Tickets will also be sold at the door on the night of the event.
For more information, contact any volunteer firefighter in Zeigler. “Raise the Roof” tickets are $15 for adults, and $7 for children ages 12 and under.
— Bruce A. Fasol
‘Obscene’ – that is the word that comes to mind when I see the amount of money being spent on elections nationwide, but particularly in our area.
I want to emphasize that this is not a political endorsement for either party, instead it’s just food for though here on Election Day Eve.
Dodging the mud and outright BS that is being slung, and fending off the lies and distortions that are being told via television, radio, newspapers, websites and I’m certain carrier pigeon and smoke signal these days, I ran across an article about spending in this year’s general election that caught my attention. Along with a kicked-in-the-gut feeling, the article brought to mind an interview I had last week on my weekly radio show, “Sound Off” – that airs each Wednesday night from 8 to 10 p.m. on WQRL (106.3 and wqrlradio.com online). And … yes … that was an unabashed plug.
Let me explain.
During the show I interviewed Mary Abbott, who is the Southern Regional Director for the Illinois Hunger Coalition and also serves on Governor Pat Quinn’s Commission to End Hunger. Abbott doesn’t mince words and laid out in black-and-white just how bad the situation is here in Southern Illinois. Abbott also emphasized that the situation is much worse than it is being portrayed in many of the political commercials that are airing virtually non-stop.
Abbott, by her own admission, is “in the trenches” and sees firsthand the dire circumstances of poverty, unemployment and hopelessness that has engulfed many people right here in our backyard in Southern Illinois.
While I could devote this entire offering to those numbers let me just share a few with you.
In Franklin County unemployment is 12.8 percent – highest in the state. But, Abbott said that number is far too low because it does not take into account those who have fallen through the cracks or those who have just quit trying. In her estimation the true unemployment number is “in the ballpark of 15 percent.” Or, nearly twice the national average. Along with being an embarrassment, that number is also unacceptable.
While it has been labeled a national disgrace that 1-in-6 people (16.4 percent) across the United States are now receiving food stamps that number pales in comparison to those using food stamps in the two biggest counties in the 59th State Senate District and two of the largest counties in the 112th Congressional District. According to Abbott 1-in-4 people (25 percent) in Franklin County and 1-in-5 (20 percent) in Williamson County receive food stamps. Based on actual numbers 10,183 people in Franklin County (population 39,627) and 13,000 in Williamson County (population 66,622) receive monthly food stamps and medical help.
Abbott also said that according to projections 2,500 more people will be added to the food stamp list next year in Franklin County, pushing the number to more than 13,000 in the county. Based on the population that is 1-in-3 or 33 percent. Again, that’s embarrassing and unacceptable.
Abbott said is is also common for 50-70 percent of schoolchildren in many Southern Illinois counties to receive two meals a day at school as part of the free lunch program, provided for families that live in below-poverty level households. My first thought was that a school calendar is 182 … so where do these kids eat the other 183 days?
With that list of numbers seared in your mind I want to share another contrasting set of numbers with you.
According to the Sunlight Foundation during the current election cycle there has been more than $7.3 million dollars spent on the 12th Congressional race between Republican Jason Plummer and Democrat Bill Enyart. Those two, as I’m sure you know, are vying for the seat being vacated by Congressman Jerry Costello. And most observers, both Republican and Democrat, would agree that this race is perhaps one of the ugliest, most negative and just plain disgusting election races … ever. Again, the number to keep in mind is $7.3 million.
And in the 59th Senate race between incumbent state Sen. Gary Forby, (D-Benton) and Republican challenger Mark Minor, also of Benton, it was reported more than a week ago that in excess of $1.1 million dollars – with the vast majority being spent by Forby – had been spent in the state senate race. Again, the number is $1.1 million.
OK, let’s compare those numbers.
On one hand we have people, and many of them children, hurting, struggling, unemployed and according to Abbott out of hope. And on the other hand we have political parties and deep-pocketed political action committees throwing fistfuls of money at a candidate or candidates right here in the middle of all that poverty and misery. In both races, again right here where the food stamp lists are growing and the food pantries are fighting to keep up, there will be more than $8.5 million spent to elect two candidates. After writing that last paragraph I feel like I need to take a shower.
I plan to trudge off to the polls tomorrow and vote my beliefs and my conscience regardless of party affiliation and I hope you will too. But, I will also take with me to the voting booth tomorrow the knowledge that these contrasting numbers are a sad, and nauseating reality that our political system is broken, perhaps beyond repair.
Zeigler-Royalton has a brand new golf coach, and he’s a familiar face at ZR. Joe Hargraves has made himself a permanent part of the Zeigler-Royalton school district. He went to high school here during his senior year and has been working here as a janitor for the past nineteen years. This year he became Coach Joe Hargraves and the newest Golf coach at ZRHS.
Coach Joe is a busy man at the school. Not only does he drive the bus in the morning and work around the district all school day, he now has taken on his duty as coach. He has never had time for extra jobs, such as coaching. This year when the job as the ZRC Golf coach came open, he decided to share his love for the game with the kids and applied for the job. Coach Joe has been golfing since 1997, which gives him fifteen years under his belt, and now he is “on the verge of excellence.” Coach Joe’s favorite golf course is Franklin County Country Club. He likes the course because it is well-kept and hard to play. The green is nice, the people are friendly, and the golf team plays there almost free. “It’s the nicest course in Southern Illinois.”
Coach Joe was an athlete while he was in high school. Although there wasn’t golf, he still participated in other school sports, basketball, track, and baseball. Coach Joe didn’t come to Z-R until his senior year because he went to Wayne City High School the other three years. During his freshman year at Wayne City, he played baseball, basketball, and track. He never got around to playing sports his sophomore through senior years because he found himself enjoying his favorite past time, fishing.
When Coach Joe was asked if he was a good student he said, “No, if I was I wouldn’t be a janitor.” Other than being a janitor, Coach Joe has held down other jobs too. He worked in construction and in the oil fields in Fairfield. He worked for Allen Industries and then came to Z-R. When Coach Joe is not working, he enjoys golfing, fishing, and carpenter work. His favorite part of his job is being around the kids at school. “There’s not a bad side to my job.”
Marrisa Battaglia is a senior at Zeigler-Royalton High school who is known as a leader on and off the court. Marrisa enjoys being a part of everything going on at Z-R. She is on the Zeigler-Royalton Volleyball team for the fourth time this year. She has been the setter, right hitter, and now the middle hitter. Volleyball is a sport where Marrisa says that she can “just have fun and not get too stressed.” She loves her volleyball team. Even though she is the lone senior on the team, Marrisa is welcoming the leadership role. “It’s lonely being the only senior, but I love being looked up to by the rest of the team.”
Marrisa is also a part of the Drama Club. She says, “Drama Club is fun because I enjoy acting crazy.” This would explain the ease in which she executed last year’s role as a delusional person who thought she was a superhero. “The most challenging part was trying to keep a straight face because of how funny the play actually was.” She has been a part of Drama Club for her all four years of being in high school but has acted for two of those years. Her plans to are act again this year.
Marrisa is one of the seniors who are a part of the basketball team. Even though it is not her favorite sport, she says, “Basketball takes a lot of time and effort, but keeps me in shape.” However, she doesn’t mind spending so much time with her teammates. Marrisa enjoys the dinners her team has because it makes her team more like a family. Marrisa’s favorite sport is softball. Because it is her and her father’s favorite sport, it puts a lot of stress on her. Her dad shows her that he really wants her to try her best, and try hard to make few mistakes. Since it is so important to her as well, she feels the same way about her mistakes.
Marrisa never really has any free time. “I’m usually always doing something with my time, even my free time.” When she does find the time to be free, she enjoys going out to eat with her family because it is a great way to bond and catch up on things. Marrisa has a yearly family vacation to Mexico that she enjoys as well. She finds herself going to the movies quite a bit with her best friend when she has the time.
In the classroom, Marrisa is an exceptional student, she is a high honor student at ZR. In fact, she is in the running for this year’s valedictorian. Marrisa’s favorite subject is science. Even though she is not sure what she is going to major in after high school, she is considering on going to a junior college before moving on to a four year university. She understands that she has the opportunity to try out many things in college. That way, when she does tell her major, she will know that is what she wants to do for the rest of her life.
