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Lady Miners place second in County basketball tournament

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Lady Miners finish second in the Macoupin County Tournament.

Lady Miners finish second in the Macoupin County Tournament.

The Gillespie girls’ basketball team got a taste of another championship basketball game this past weekend in the Macoupin County Tournament held in Staunton this year. The Miners were entered as the second seed in the tournament, and they placed second, going 3-1 overall.

The ladies entered the championship bout Saturday evening to take on the #1 seed, Piasa Birds. After a tight first quarter, (12-10) the Lady Miners trailed 21-22 at the break.

Coach Kevin Gray was satisfied with the first half performance. “I thought we challenged them defensively and won the turnover battle,” Gray told us after the game. “Offensively, we missed too many opportunities in transition.” Gray also cited a low shooting percentage from the free throw line. The girls made two of their seven attempts in the first half as over 20 fouls were whistled in the 16-minute period.

Scoring was consistent in the first half, but senior Shelby Jarman led the team with 8 points. Haylie Kirkwood and Kayli Morris, both starters, landed on the sideline for nearly half the playing time due to foul trouble. The Miners were forced to play 6 deep in the first half.

Alexis Burns dribbles around her defender for a better look at the basket.

Alexis Burns dribbles around her defender for a better look at the basket.

The third quarter proved to be the Lady Miners’ falling point. Starting off the third quarter with 4 immediate fouls within 1 minute, and on one possession, the Miners had a rough time playing against the whistle to avoid petty foul calls.

By the end of the third quarter, Southwestern had built a 10-point lead (37-27) while 25% of their points came from the free throw line where they were shooting in the single bonus with 1 minute left in the third quarter.

“Fouls are part of the game and unfortunately Shelby, Haylie, and Kayli didn’t get to play as many minutes as normal,” Gray explained due to the exceeded fouls called. “But, the third quarter we did not execute defensively, or offensively, and dug ourselves a hole.”

The 10-point deficit was too much for the Lady Miners to muster a comeback in the final 8 minutes, especially due to the number of players being in foul trouble. The girls were able to score 9 points from the field in the fourth quarter, but Piasa tacked on an additional 14 points in the final quarter to secure the first place title.

Despite falling to Southwestern by a single point early in the season, the Miners fell 36-51 in the County Championship game. The girls shot 29.2% from the field and made only 6 of the 18 free throws attempted (33%). “That is not championship quality,” Gray said of the shooting percentages. “For us to be successful, we have to shoot a high percentage from the free throw line and around 40% from the field.”

Alexis Burns led the scoring efforts for the Lady Miners with 9 points while Shelby Jarman followed up with 8 points. Both of who were named on the All-Tournament team finalizing the tournament. Ellen Gray tallied 5 points in the loss while she led the team with 6 steals. Haylie Kirkwood carried the team in rebounds with 6.

Overall, Gray was happy with how hard the Lady Miners played in the entire tournament. “We beat a very good North Mac team in the semi-final game,” Gray said of the Panthers. “A team who is a #1 regional seed.” The Lady Miners wanted to extend their thanks to all the fans for their support in the tournament and the “2013 version of the Coal Mine Crazies.”

The support was overwhelming for the ladies and although they came up short, they have two more possible stabs at Southwestern before the season comes to an end. The Lady Miners will match up with Piasa next week on Thursday evening, January 31, for senior night.

Then, they could possibly meet the Birds in regional play as well. As of now, the Lady Miners are looking forward to next week’s games as they will face Litchfield on Monday and then Southwestern on Thursday. The girls dropped both of their games this week to Nokomis (42-55) and Greenville (47-55).

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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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