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Lady Miners take 4th at County

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Kayli Morris led the team with seven points against Southwestern.

Despite the unbearable temperatures and the ice storm that cancelled Friday nights play at the county tournament in Mt. Olive, the Lady Miners were still able to play Saturday afternoon against Southwestern. Before facing off against the 9-12 Piasa Birds for third place, the ladies had to beat the Mt. Olive Wildcats on their court. The Wildcats stood at 0-17 on the season and 0-2 in the tournament Thursday evening as the Lady Miners were 9-13 on the season and 1-1 in the tournament. Being ranked in the sixth position out of seven teams in the tournament, the ladies were vying for a better finish than many other coaches and spectators were expecting.

Before reaching the 3:00 game in the afternoon on Saturday, the ladies had to overtake the Wildcats on their home court. The game looked as if it was going to be a tight one after one quarter of play, but the Miners stepped it up in the second quarter and gained a considerable lead by halftime to carry them through the second half. Alexis Burns, Loni Nicole Manalia, and Shelby Jarman took care of the scoring for the first quarter for the Miners as the trio scored four points, four points, and six points respectively to tally 14 points in the first eight minutes. Carried by Chelsea Gill and Ellen Gray on the defensive end, the five were able to hold Mt. Olive to just 10 points as Eickmeyer scored 70% of their points.

With just a four point lead, the ladies built it up in the second half as the full court press factored five turnovers for the Wildcats and three easy lay-ups for the Miners. Haylie Kirkwood found her groove inside the paint and led the Miners with four points in the second quarter of play. Molly Gray chipped in with her big three pointer and the other seven points came from Ellen Gray, Manalia, and Morris who each had a field goal while Shelby Jarman had one made free throw. The six players contributed a team effort style of play as they still were able to gather 4 assists in the quarter and hold the Wildcats to just eight points to gain a ten point edge by halftime: 28-18.

In the drivers seat with 16 minutes left until the end of the game, the game plan was to continue to force the Wildcats to turnover the ball and make them pay on the offensive end. The plan was successful and the Miners walked away with the victory, but not before they were able to score 26 more points. Shelby Jarman led the team in the third quarter as she tallied six points and one steal while Chelsea Gill nailed a three pointer and Alexis Burns had a field goal and two free throws next to her name. Ellen Gray took pride in her defense as she stole the ball 4 times in the third quarter and 10 times throughout the game.

Holding the Wildcats to just a single digit nine points in the third quarter made way for a 16 point lead entering the fourth quarter, 43-27. With plenty of points to spare, the Miner bench was rotated throughout the final eight minutes of the game. Becca Ely led the team with four points in the quarter while Tyler Ross, Ellen Gray, and Shelby Jarman put forth an additional two points each. Scoring eleven points on the offensive end, the Miners were able to hold the Wildcats to just two field goals in the last quarter to get the 54-31 victory and the chance to vie for third place in the county tournament.

Scoring leaders for the Mt. Olive game were: Shelby Jarman (16), Alexis Burns (8), Loni Manalia (6), Ellen Gray (6), Haylie Kirkwood (4), Becca Ely (4), Molly Gray (3), Chelsea Gill (3), Tyler Ross (2), and Kayli Morris (2).


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After defeating Mt. Olive by 23 points, the ladies faced off against Southwestern at three o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday. Before entering Saturday’s match-up, Southwestern was 1-1 in the 94th annual county tournament after they were defeated 45-27 by North Mac and after they beat Staunton by just a three pointer, 47-44. With both teams being 1-1 in the tournament, third place was just beyond each teams’ finger tips.

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The Miners got off to a slow start in the first quarter as the team could only combine for just five points. Alexis Burns and Kayli Morris knocked down a field goal while Ellen Gray swished a free throw to total the five points while Southwestern, on the other end, scored 13 points with eight of them coming from Wild. Trailing by eight points after the first quarter, more players got involved on the offensive end in the second quarter and they nearly tripled their points from the first quarter. The ladies knew they had to step it up if they were going to be a contender for the third place title.

Loni Manalia was a contributing factor in the big win over Mt. Olive as she totaled 4 steals.

Down just eight, Alexis Burns led the team in the second quarter with four points while four other players contributed one field goal to total 12 points. Now with the guest side of scoreboard reading 17, the Piasa Birds still had the lead by halftime after they outscored the Miners in the second quarter by just a single point. The Miners realized Wild was doing majority of the scoring and were able to shut her down, but another girl sprouted up and carried the team in the second quarter as their efforts contributed 13 points so they could still maintain the nine point lead at halftime, 17-26.

The nine point deficit turned into 14 point deficit by the end of the third quarter as the ladies were outscored by another five points. The team could only manage to find the bottom of the net for just seven points as Shelby Jarman led the crew with four points. The defense got sloppy and again, for the third straight quarter, the ladies were outscored. This time by only five points as the scoring lied in the hands of just three Piasa players. Nearing the end of the third quarter, both teams were in the bonus from all the fouls called which lighted the way for the long fourth quarter.

Trailing 38-24, the Miners started their comeback. The defense stepped it up and the ladies were back to stealing the ball on a regular pace as Jarman, Kayli Morris, and Ellen Gray led the team in steals with four, four, and three respectively. As the team totaled 15 steals in the game, most of them came in the fourth quarter as the Birds struggled to put the ball in the basket. The Birds scored just six points in the entire quarter while the Miners teamed up to outscore them by double digits and score 16 points. The girls were able to shoot seven free throws in the forth quarter to try and close the narrow gap, but only capitalized on two of them to contribute to the 40% free throw percentage over the length of the game. Just four points short of taking the game, the Miners took fourth place in the tournament: 44-40.

Leading scorers for the Southwestern game were: Shelby Jarman (11), Ellen Gray (7), Alexis Burns (7), Kayli Morris (7), Loni Manalia (2), Chelsea Gill (2), Tyler Ross (2), and Molly Gray (2).

After defeating the undefeated Nokomis Redskins Monday night, the Miners next game match-up will be at home against Greenville this evening, January 25th.

 

 

 

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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.”

We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things

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.”

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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

We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development

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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