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Graduates accept countless awards during graduation

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Jenni Alepra awards Zachary Taylor with the Student of the Year Award.

Jenni Alepra awards Zachary Taylor with the Student of the Year Award.

Hundreds of awards and scholarships were presented to the Class of 2014 Sunday afternoon during the 106th annual graduation ceremony. The identities of the commencement awards were kept confidential until the ceremony and it was evident in the graduates’ faces as they sparkled with excitement.

The top student awards were awarded by school board member and branch manager of United Community Bank of Gillespie. Alepra presented the school’s top awards to Justine Hill for the perfect attendance award, Kayli Morris for the Illinois Principal’s Award and Zachary Taylor for the 2014 Student of the Year.

High school agriculture and welding instructor Rick Spencer had the honors of distributing a number of awards to his graduating seniors who have greatly impressed him over their high school tenure. Spencer said it was hard for him to see his seniors go, but he’s excited to see what they accomplish. The welding awards were presented to Jerry Crites and Nathan Dickinson, the agriculture award was presented to Stephanie Hartke and the horticulture award was presented to Shelby Heyen. Spencer went on to present the FFA Alumni Scholarship to Stephanie Hartke and Shelby Heyen and the Leland “Colonel” Ashby Scholarships to Stephanie Hartke, Shelby Heyen and Jerry Crities.

Mark Dugger, Brent Hustedde and Pete Visintin Jr. took the podium next to award three more vocational scholarships. Stephanie Hartke was the lucky recipient of both the Macoupin County Ag Education scholarship presented by Dugger and the National FFA Rabo AgriFinance Scholarship presented by Hustedde. Visintin presented the Arden Clemonds Vocational Education Scholarship, which includes a $1,000 scholarship, to Nathan Dickinson.

Shelby Heyen gives Rick Spencer a hug after receiving the FFA Alumni Scholarship.

Shelby Heyen gives Rick Spencer a hug after receiving the FFA Alumni Scholarship.

Michelle Smith, high school softball coach and high school science instructor, awarded four more graduating seniors with athletic awards. Smith awarded Nathan Henrichs and Kayli Morris with the Betty (Dunn) Bray Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award and then awarded Derrek Tiburzi with the Dr. Charles R. Heinz Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award. Then, Smith got to award Molly Gray, a senior softball player of hers, with the honorable IHSA Sport a Winning Attitude Award. Smith said Gray was chosen by a coach from an opposing team who said Gray “exemplifies what it is to be a good sport and support a winning attitude.”

Smith continued by distributing department awards to Samantha Elizondo (Chemistry Award), Ashley Corbin (Biology Award), Blake Peterson (Math Award), Erika Schmidt (Math Award), Samantha Elizondo (English Award), Zachary Taylor (English Award), Derrek Tiburzi (DAR Award) and Mirena Pebley (SAR Award).

High school history instructor Jennifer Brown then replaced Smith and continued to hand out department awards. Brown award Austin Lytle (History Award), Samantha Elizondo (Spanish Award), Kayli Morris (Bertolino Business Award), Colin Hose (Information Processing Award), Jake Fredericks (Business Award) and Larissa Borror (Graphic Arts Award).

Zach Simon and Angela Brink then took over the podium to distribute their annual music awards. They both said it was a very tough decision for them and they wanted to award multiple students with the award, but they had to decide on one. Simon awarded the John Philip Sousa Award to senior Zachary Taylor and Brink awarded the Vocal Music Award to Layne Knoche.

Lastly, high school guidance counselor Joni Paine presented the Illinois State Scholar scholarship award to Samantha Elizondo, Ellen Gray, Stephanie Hartke, Ashlen Hayes, Justine Hill, Austin Lytle, Mirena Pebley, Erika Schmidt, Jason Stromsland, Zachary Taylor, Derrek Tiburzi and Tyler Whitfield.

Paine continued by recognizing the 2013-2014 graduating members of the National Honor Society – Samantha Elizondo, Jacob Fredericks, Ellen Gray, Molly Gray, Stephanie Hartke, Ashlen Hayes, Michael Henderson, Nathan Henrichs, Shelby Heyen, Erinn Karlak, Layne Knoche, Eric Lancaster, Mirena Pebly, Tateum Rosentreter, Erika Schmidt, Jason Stromsland, Zachary Taylor and Derrek Tiburzi.

In closing, Paine awarded the Staunton Ladies Auxilary Scholarship to Derrek Tiburzi and announced the recipients for the Chad Ashby Scholarship – Jenna Boaz, Joseph Dopuch, Samantha Elizondo, Ashlen Hayes, Ashlynn Jackson, Kayli Morris, Mirena Pebley, Tateum Rosentreter, Zachary Taylor and Derrek Tiburzi.

The Doug Ashby Scholarship was awarded to Abby Pitchford and the Selma J. Hartke Scholarship winners were Joe Dopuch, Shelby Heyen, Ashlynn Jackson, Abby Pitchford, Maiya Bertolis, Kayli Morris, Kim Werner, Summer Johnson and Erinn Karlak.

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Gillespie man injured in DUI accident

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Genisio's Ford Mustang in the City of Gillespie's impound lot Tuesday morning.

A Gillespie man was taken to a local hospital after suffering injuries following a single-vehicle accident that occurred Sunday morning, October 11, after he drove off the roadway and into a deep ditch near the intersection of Route 16 and Charles Street in Gillespie.

Gillespie Police Chief Jared DePoppe reported that the police department was dispatched to the scene of the accident shortly before 3 a.m. Officers arrived to find Jonathan Genisio, 29, of Gillespie as the driver and only occupant inside the Ford Mustang vehicle.

Genisio was arrested, but give a notice to appear in court so he could seek medical treatment. He was charged with six different counts in addition to having his vehicle impounded. His charges include driving under the influence of alcohol, no insurance, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failure to notify SOS of an address change and failure to wear a seat belt.

At the time of publication on Thursday evening, the vehicle was recovered from impound and Genisio was discharged from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was unable to be released by medical personnel.

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Community News

Gillespie council discusses budget and meeting process

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Treasurer Dan Fisher addresses the council.

Treasurer Dan Fisher (right) addresses the council.

The treasurer for the City of Gillespie had a lot to say about how city officials handle their subcommittees and how city funds are spent during the city’s committee meeting held Monday evening, July 27.

Dan Fisher, the elected treasurer for Gillespie, spoke to the council for over 30 minutes about how bills are paid and more importantly, how purchases are appropriated for and planned. During the city’s board meeting held earlier this month, Fisher suggested the council move their meeting dates to coincide with how the bills are paid.

He explained that many council members bring up issues or have questions about certain bills during the council meetings, but the questions are left to be answered by the city clerk who isn’t present at the board meetings. In addition to dragging out the meetings, Fisher said the questions should be taken care of before the meeting is held.

“We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things,” Fisher told the council Monday evening. “We need to spend more time on appropriating.”

[pullquote]We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things[/pullquote]Fisher distributed a “Budget Basics” packet to board members during the committee meeting held Monday and said the council should consider implementing a purchase order system to account for all purchases. “That way when the bills come in, we can match the form up with it and everyone knows what the purchase was for and what account it comes out of,” he clarified.

Council members agreed with what Fisher had to say to them. “We need to spend a lot of time when do our appropriation and it’s going to take a lot of time from everyone, including myself,” he continued. “We need to find a way to be collective in how we do things.”

Fisher closed by adding that the council also takes too long at their regular city council meetings, which are held on the second Monday of each month. Speaking of the city’s July meeting that lasted nearly 3 hours, Fisher said the council needs to be much more “business-like”.

“We take too long at our meetings,” he closed. “It’s been proven that people lose focus after 90 minutes and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get a meeting done in 1 hour and 15 minutes.”

City clerk Frances Smith spoke up after Fisher referred to the council’s last meeting. She prefaced her statement by saying she didn’t intend to saying anything, but continued by saying that the council’s July 13th meeting took her three days to transcribe. “It makes the clerk’s job hard – whoever it is,” she said. “There is a lot of side conversations and it’s very hard to hear on the tape.”

Ash Street Project

Alderman Steve Kluthe informed the board that he received the bid specifications back for the Ash Street Project which allows the council to advertise the specs to get an idea how much drainage project will cost.

Kluthe said the bid specifications cover everything including equal opportunity employer and prevailing wage information, but said the project could probably be handled by a local contractor. The project includes installing a culvert that will transfer the water to Cherry Street.

The council hopes the completed project will then alleviate the water that currently gets backed up north of Ash Street. “They are going to put a culvert underneath Ash Street to the north and grade the ground on the north side so the water flows to the culvert and down to the south end where there is a storm drain,” Kluthe explained.

TIF District

[pullquote]We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development[/pullquote]Fisher informed the council that the tax bills for the TIF district went out and the city can expect to receive close to $60,000. He reminded the council that even though the city made a big payment to United Community Bank last year in excess of $90,000, there will still be a payment made to UCB for their portion paid into the TIF until the TIF expires, which Fisher said is 12-14 more years.

After the city pays UCB, Fisher said the council can expect to still have somewhere north of $40,000 remaining each year. “I would like us to start to look at other projects that meet the TIF criteria that we could spend $20-$30,000 per year,” Fisher explained. “Long-range projects – projects that could last 10-12 years. We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development.”

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Elementary School News

Elementary school releases supply lists for fall

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School Supply 2

Kindergarten

  • 5 boxes CRAYOLA brand crayons (24 count)
  • 1 box CRAYOLA brand broad-line markers (classic)
  • 1 backpack
  • 1 box of water paints
  • 1 pair FISKAR brand scissors (children’s)
  • 6 large glue sticks
  • 1 small plastic school box
  • 4 pocket folders
  • 4 large erasers
  • 20 pencils (#2, lead, plain yellow)
  • 2 boxes of Kleenex
  • 2 rolls of paper towels
  • 2 containers of anti-bacterial wipes
  • 1 large box of sandwich size ZIPLOC bags (girls)
  • 1 large box of gallon ZIPLOC bags (boys)
  • 1 clipboard
  • 1 highlighter
  • 1 spiral 1-subject notebook (wide ruled)
  • Extra set of clothes to keep at school
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

First Grade

  • 1 plastic school box
  • 3 packs of pencil top erasers
  • 2 large pink erasers
  • 5 packs of Ticonderoga brand pencils
  • 2 yellow highlighters
  • 2 boxes of CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 12 Elmer’s brand glue sticks
  • 1 pair of FISKAR brand scissors
  • 1 spiral 1-subject notebook (wide ruled)
  • 2 plastic 2-pocket folders
  • 1 8ct classic CRAYOLA fine line markers
  • 2 dry erase markers
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • 2 boxes of Kleenex
  • 3 containers of Clorox Anti-Bacterial Wipes
  • 1 box of sandwich size ZIPLOC bags (girls)
  • 1 box of gallon ZIPLOC bags (boys)
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.
  • Extra set of clothes to keep at school

Second Grade

  • Handheld pencil sharpener
  • 8 large Elmer’s glue sticks
  • 1 large zippered pencil bag
  • 24 – #2 pencils
  • 1 wide ruled spiral notebook
  • 1 package wide ruled loose leaf paper
  • (2) 1” three ring binder
  • 1 pack of pencil top erasers
  • 1 pair of FISKARS brand pointed scissors
  • 1 yellow highlighter
  • 1 box broad line classic CRAYOLA markers
  • 2 boxes CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 2 plastic pocket folders
  • 1 CRAYOLA watercolor paints
  • 1 box of Kleenex
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • Large Ziploc bags
  • Sandwich size Ziploc bags
  • 2 containers of Clorox wipes
  • 1 box of CRAYOLA colored pencils
  • 2 dry erase markers
  • Extra set of clothes to leave at school
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Third Grade

  • 1 small school box
  • 4 packages of pencils (#2, plain yellow)
  • 2 boxes CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 1 box CRAYOLA colored pencils
  • 1 highlighter
  • 1 pair pointed scissors
  • 6 ELMER glue sticks
  • 2 pocket folders
  • 3 boxes Kleenex
  • 2 containers of CLOROX wipes
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • 1 package of loose leaf paper (wide rule)
  • 2 notebooks (wide rule)
  • (2) 1” binders
  • 2 packs of pencil top erasers
  • Gallon-sized Ziploc bags (boys)
  • Sandwich-sized Ziploc bags (girls)
  • 2 packages of post-it notes
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Fourth Grade

  • 2 packages of wide rule loose leaf paper
  • 48 pencils
  • 3 packs pencil top erasers
  • (1) 2” binder
  • 1 box 24 or 48 count CRAYOLA crayons
  • 1 pair FISKAR scissors
  • 1 box of colored pencils
  • 1 single subject notebook (wide rule)
  • 3 folders
  • 2 packages of white index cards
  • 4 highlighters
  • 4 packages of post-it notes
  • 2 boxes Kleenex
  • 1 container of Clorox wipes
  • Hand held Pencil Sharpener
  • Dividing tabs for binder
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Fifth Grade

  • Art Box
  • Pencil Pouch
  • 36 pencils (mechanical preferred)
  • 12 pencil top erasers
  • Crayola crayons
  • Markers
  • Crayola Colored Pencils
  • Red or Blue Pen
  • Scissors
  • Clear Ruler
  • Clear Protractor
  • 1 Bottle of Elmer’s Glue or 2 Glue Sticks
  • (1) 3 Ring Binder (2 inch)
  • 2 notebooks (one subject-wide ruled)
  • 1 package of loose leaf paper (wide ruled)
  • 3 folders
  • 2 highlighters
  • 2 boxes Kleenex
  • Girls-Antibacterial Wipes
  • Boys-4 pack of post it notes
  • Hand Held Pencil Sharpener
  • Pocket Dictionary
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

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