50¢ MAY 27, 2020
PITTSFIELD, IL Thank you,
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NEWS
Honoring those who gave all. See page A2
Pikeland to apply for $360,000 in coronavirus relief funds. See page A3
G-P announces prom royalty. See page A8
WEEKEND WEATHER FRIDAY, MAY 29
Pike Press
By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press Illinois will reach Phase 3 of COVID recovery June 1 and a number of businesses are already making plans to open on that date. Danielle Lemons, owner of Old Monroe Salon in Pittsfield, says the re-opening won’t be 100 percent but it will be a start and also help with the bills. “There will be no double bookings,” Lemons said. “Only one customer at a time. They will call or text us when they are out front and we will go out and get them after we have cleaned and sanitized from the previous customer. We will be using disposable caps and won’t be doing any blow drying as they say that could spread the virus.” Lemons said customers will have to sign in to the shop with a time in and and time out, in case there is a reported case of the corona virus, it will be easy to track who was exposed. “It’s going to make for longer days,” she said. “But we hope to get everybody in. One parent in with one child at time.” Most restaurants will be offering on-site eating Friday, May 29. Patty Ruble, of Courtyard Cafe, said the new rules allow outdoor eating and she has purchased some smaller tables for outside use. “We will be serving lunch and dinner,” she said. “We are going to try to stay on the sidewalk, but the city has said we can take a few parking spots and put tables there. They have been great to work with.” Robert Brewer of Nucci’s isn’t sure it’s worth the effort. “I’m not convinced I”m going to do it,” Brewer said. “Right now I can do carry-outs with two employees but if I open the patio, I’m going to have to have four. If it rains, I have to send people home and that messes with their unemployment and such. Plus, at just 25 percent capacity, I’m not sure it’s worth that. Outdoor dining means fighting the weather, bugs, etc. We won’t have any entertainment for a while because even if it rains, I would have to pay them.” Pam Utterback, of Bainbridge Street Cafe in Barry, is excited about the opportunity. “The Barry City Council has been great,” she said. “They are going to let us close the street in
&KXUFKHV VWLOO LQ OLPER By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press United States President Donald Trump has ruled churches are allowed to open, but Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker still has not given the okay. “We are meeting May 26 to discuss it,’ Michael TenEyck, pastor of the Christian Church in Pittsfield, said. “We can’t wait to re-open but we want to give it some serious thought and prayer before we make the decision.” TenEyck said no COVID-19 cases have been reported in Pike County since the first and only one back in April. “I don’t agree with our governor, but I don’t take civil disobedience lightly, either,” TenEyck said. Greg McClain of the Nazarene Church in Pittsfield say his church will open May 31 and everyone is encouraged to follow protocols to keep themselves safe. There will be only one service, no Sunday School, no children’s church or small groups. Handsanitizer and soap will be in the bathrooms and at the entrances and exits. “And if you are in a high risk category, we will still have the FaceBook and on-line services for you to watch,” he said. “We will have only one service at 10 a.m. Sunday morning. We are not limiting the number of those who can attend at this time.” Jo-Ann Rufff, a Methodist minister, who preaches at the Barry, Hull, Kinderhook and Pleasant Hill Methodist Churches, says she has checked with her council of churches and they recommended staying with online sermons for at least the next two weeks. “We just can’t see a way to hold our congregations to 10 people,” she said. “And because of our four church schedule, we can’t really do multiple services so we are staying with online services for at least a while longer.
Submitted photo
Jason Lemons uses a ladder to install sneeze guards between the work stations at Old Monroe Salon. Old Monroe will open June 1 amidst a huge number of restrictions.
front of the restaurant and they are bringing over picnic tables from the park. Patrons will have their choice of to-go boxes or paper plates.” Wally Lindsay, owner of Lindsay’s Tavern and Lindsay’s II, says his beer garden will be open but there will be no bands in the foreseeable future. Patrons will be asked to observe the recommended guidelines. Doug Daniel of the Riverbank in Florence is facing a triple threat with the COVID-19 restrictions, the flood and the Florence Bridge closing for two and one-half months, June 1. “As soon as we can get the water off the patio, we will open it,” Daniel said. “We will continue to have
food for curbside pickup.” All Secretary of State departments and offices will be open for business on June 1. the first two months focused on serving only new drivers, customers with expired driver’s licenses/ID cards and vehicle transactions. Doug Pool/Pike Press
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CELEBRATING G-PHS SENIORS!
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Dalton Sheurman, a 2020 graduate of Griggsville-Perry High School celebrates his high school graduation by shooting off a confetti cannon Friday night during the parade to honor the graduates. The class had individual graduation ceremonies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Friends and family were able to wish the graduates well at a parade through Griggsville and Perry.
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VOL. 178, NO. 22
Re-opening! What will it look like?
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INSIDE Classified . . . . . . . A7 Community . . . . . A6 County News . . . . .A2-4, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A6, A8 Court . . . . . . . . .A7-8 Marketplace . . . . . A5 Obituaries . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . A4 Obituaries in this issue: Bower, Meighan. Pike Press © 2020 All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
County extends First season under the belt, Illinois River looking for a better 2020 disaster declaration By DAVID CAMPHOUSE Pike Press The Pike County board — on Monday, May 25 — voted to extend a declaration of flood disaster from Meredosia to Pearl for an additional 30 days from the original May 19 disaster declaration. “We’ve already declared a disaster,” Pike County emergency management director Josh Martin said. “The main reason to extend the declaration is to show the state and federal governments that there is still a disaster going on. It helps bring in some state resources.” According to Martin, the state does not immediately provide additional funding to assist with disaster response, only resources such as National Guard members, prison work camp labor, dump trucks, and sand bags. While Martin said that weather forecasts are fluid and uncertain, he recommended the extension of the disaster declaration for only 30 days. “The 30 day extension seemed appropriate,” Martin said. “I wrote the extension for 30 days truly believing we’ll be done with this in 30 days.” In addition to extending the disaster declaration, the board discussed ongoing budget concerns for the current fiscal year.
“We’re still having some discussion about budget amendments in light of lower revenue streams,” county board chair Andy Borrowman said. “We want to get ahead of it. We know sales tax will be down from businesses being closed.” Borrowman added that the board’s target of 11 county employees voluntarily furloughing themselves has not been met, so the board and county department heads were exploring other options for cost saving. “We hoped for 11, but we have five furloughed,” Borrowman said. “During the next finance committee meeting we’ll meet with department heads to look at other line items that can moved to offset personnel.” In other business, Rich Hoover was appointed to the Farmland Assessment Review Committee; James Reed was appointed to the Hull-Kinderhook Fire Protection District; Noelle Flesner was appointed commissioner of the Pike County Housing Authority; Reagan Hoskin was appointed trustee at the Taylor Martin Cemetery; and Greg Brummel, Trudi Brummel, Seth Graham, Kara Lippincott, Richard Brummel, and Gary Wombles were appointed trustees at the Miller Cemetery.
By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press Last season Dennis Collard and Lance Kendrick became two of the first legal growers of hemp in Pike County. The two encountered almost every detriment to a crop possible. “At first it was too wet to plant and then even though we got the crop in late, we were hopeful that we could get a good outcome,’ Collard said. “Then we had a drought, bugs, wind and then a wet fall.” This year is different. Kendrick has left the area to manage a medicinal marijuana cultivation center in Arkansas. “This year it is just me,” Collard said. “Last year we had 2,100 plants over approximately 1. 5 acres. This year it is 5,000 plants on 2.5 acres.” Last year, even getting the crop started was an issue with seed hard to find. Collard said the seeds were not started until after May 1 last year. “This year I bought seeds from the leading seed breeder in the country,Oregon CBD,” Collard said. “We received our seeds March 30 and started planting April 1. The first seedling went out April 30 so we will be a full month ahead of last year’s production cycle.” Collard said that will be beneficial for the plants as cannabis is photosensitive when it flowers around September when the area is in a 12/12 lighting season. “Our plants will have a full 30 days extra vegetative growth this year versus last year,” Collard said. “If that is the case we will have three to four times the yield we did last year. Also with my pest control management plans this year, we should be able to harvest 100 percent of our crop compared
Submitted photo
Dennis Collard of the Pleasant Hill area, shows off some of his 5,000 healthy, lush cannabis plants. Collard tried a crop last year and faced nearly every obstacle nature could throw at him, but is hopeful this year will have a much higher production.
to last year’s 35 percent paltry yield due to mold.” Cold weather since the plants have been moved outdoors is a concern but not a major one as Collard says the crop is frost tolerant to about 25 (See, HEMP, A2)
&ROODUG FUHDWHV RZQ KHPS PDUNHWLQJ FKDLQ By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press While many of last years issues growing cannabis in Pike County were the affects of nature, marketing also had its challenges. This year Dennis Collard, one of the trailblazers in hemp production is more optimistic about finding a
place for his crop. “As far as markets go, it has only become more competitive,” Collard said. “We decided to launch our own brand of CBD (hemp extract) products. Right now we only have a full spectrum tincture that has been giving us many return customers and overwhelmingly positive results. We
are expanding our product line to at least one more tincture with a formulation that may taste better to some people than our original formula. We are also working on three to four topical products to suit other people’s needs. We have a website to make purchases (See, MARKETING, A2)