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NEWS
American Legion chapters honor Flag Day. See page A2
COUNTRY Financial presents checks to local fire departments. See page A2
Cawthon bids city farewell. See page A8
WEEKEND WEATHER FRIDAY, JUNE 19
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SATURDAY, JUNE 20
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86 68 High
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INSIDE Classified . . . . . . . A7 Community . . . . . A6 County News . . .A2, A4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6-8 Court . . . . . . . . . . A7 Marketplace . . . . . A5 Obituaries . . . . . . A4 Opinion . . . . . . . . A3 Obituaries in this issue: Benjamin, Donaldson, Dunham, Foutch, McCann, Neese.
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VOL. 178, NO. 25
Pike-Scott Farm Bureau distributes a ton of pork to area food banks Thomas went on to say that their By DAVID CAMPHOUSE family has a history of giving farm Pike Press produce to area food pantries. On Friday, June 12, food banks “We also raise sweetcorn,” Thomas throughout Pike and Scott counties said. “We always give sweetcorn away received a total of nearly 2,000 pounds to the food pantries. With the pigs, it of ground pork thanks to Farm Bureau was a good way to add protein that Young Leaders’ Harvest for All initia- people need.” tive. Processing of the hogs was funded by The pork was donated by brothers Pike-Scott Farm Bureau Young Leaders Jeremy and Jason Thomas of Thomas and the Pike County Endowment Fund. Farms south of Pittsfield, who con“Food insecurity has always been tributed 14 hogs. The a focus of our Thomases recognized grants,” Pike County a growing community “With everybody Endowment Fund need due to COVID-19 chair Kaye Iftner said. layoffs at the beginning out of work, there Marlee Schultz, of April, which prompt- was a great need chair of the Pike-Scott ed the brothers to conFarm Bureau Young sider contributing pork to help.” Leaders, added that the to local food pantries. Harvest for All initia“With everybody tive is a long running Jeremy Thomas out of work, there was program of the Farm a great need to help,” Bureau, designed to Thomas Farms Jeremy Thomas said. connect farmers with The COVID-19 crisis also resulted people in need of nutritious food. in a bottleneck in the meat packing “This is the program’s nineteenth industry, which has adversely affected year,” Schultz said. “It’s local farmers the Thomases and other pork producers helping local people.” throughout the area. According to the American “Shortly after we thought of provid- Farm Bureau more than 50 million ing the pork to food banks, the lockers Americans, including nearly 17 million started shutting down,” Thomas said. children, are food insecure, meaning “Beardstown never closed but slowed they live at risk of hunger down. We had to change our schedule Last year, Harvest for All programs and send half-loads, but we never had across the country donated a total to euthanize hogs.” of 26.2 million pounds of food, spent
Pikeland athletes resume conditioning and weight training by DAVID CAMPHOUSE Pike Press In a special meeting Wednesday, June 10, Pikeland’s school board adopted the Illinois High School Association’s “Return to Play” plan. According to Pikeland coaches and administrators, the plan allows athletes to begin coach-led conditioning and limited weight lifting activities in groups of ten or smaller. Sportspecific activities, balls, and direct contact are barred until the next stage of IHSA’s plan. “The biggest part of what IHSA is calling stage one is that there are no more than ten kids per group, it’s non-sport specific, the weight room will be open, and social distancing must be observed,” PHS football coach Paul Petty said. “Athletes must have masks in the event of lightning or anything else that brings them closer than social distancing guidelines.” Petty added that more students have signed up for football than in recent years. “58 kids signed up,” Petty said. “That’s more than we’ve had for maybe ten years.” According to Petty, coaches and athletes are relieved to be back on the practice field, but are eager to be running plays. “I’m excited, but I’ll be more excited when we can be catching balls,” Petty said. In order to accommodate the limitations of IHSA-mandated numbers per practice session and social distancing, Pikeland athletic director Jerred Heinz said that practices were broken
up into several morning and evening sessions. “Right now we’re doing Monday, Wednesday, Thursday,” Heinz said. “It’s 8-9:30 in the morning, and 5-6:30 and 6:30-8 in the evening.” Heinz also said that while the non-sport specific nature of the practices present challenges, students and coaches are benefitting from the inter-sport interactions. “Most coaches would like to do sport-specific activities,” Heinz said. “It’s beneficial, though, for all of our kids to interact and all of our coaches to interact. All of our coaches are welcome at each of the sessions to work with their respective athletes.” Heinz went on to say that he had met with IHSA officials through Zoom meetings, and IHSA indicated that the organization would continue to relax restrictions throughout the summer. “IHSA’s Craig Anderson said that we would likely be entering stage two by the beginning of July,” Heinz said. “That would allow sport-specific practices with contact to begin in groups of up to 50 people and would allow for weight lifting with spotters.” While frustrated with some of the limitations, Heinz was optimistic regarding the IHSA’s direction. “It’s not ideal — not where we want to be in the summer, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Heinz said. “We haven’t done anything since March. The kids and coaches are excited.”
David Camphouse/Pike Press
PHS football coaches Paul Petty and Kurt Bogatzke discuss plans Friday, June 12 as they hand out packets to PHS players and explain practice procedures during stage one of IHSA’s “Return to Play” plan.
David Camphouse/Pike Press
Pike-Scott Farm Bureau Young Leaders, the Pike County Endowment Fund, and Thomas Farms contributed nearly 2,000 pounds of ground pork to Pike and Scott counties’ food pantries Friday, June 12, including Pittsfield’s Two Rivers Reach Out Center. Left to right are Reach Out Center manager Rachel Baker, Two Rivers community service director Becky Pruden, Pike-Scott Farm Bureau president Kim Curry, Illinois Soybean Association District 12 director Roberta Dolbeare, and Pike County pork producer Jeremy Thomas.
14,380 hours volunteering, and donated over $494,700 to their local food banks. Food pantries that received the ground pork on Friday are Barry Food Pantry, The Crossing Food Pantry, Two
Rivers Reach Out Center Food Pantry, Naples Food Pantry, and the Scott County Food Pantry. (See, FARM BUREAU, A2)
Pike County reports second COVID-19 case By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed that a second Pike County resident has tested positive for COVID-19. According to the PCHD, the positive case is a female, in her 40’s. She is recovering at home in isolation. Contacts of the positive case have been identified. The PCHD wants to reassure the public that immediate action is taken by the health department when a positive case is identified. “We are in Phase 3 now,” Sharon Bargmann of the PCHD, said. “This should not put us back a step or delay moving to Phase 4, however everything is subject to change.” Bargmann said nationwide, states that have opened up early are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases. “In Tennessee, they have delayed moving to Phase 3 due to their increase in COVID-19 cases,” she said. “Other states are considering moving back to Phase 2 due to the surge. “ According to the PCHD, Arizona has seen a big spike in cases three weeks after their governor lifted the stay at home order, raising the concern of not having enough hospital beds or enough PPE (personal protective equipment). “This situation is still evolving,” Bargmann said. “As of now, the virus is still out there and there is no cure and no vaccine available.” On the upside, testing is much easier
to obtain. “As a state, are testing more now than we were initially due to the availability of testing supplies,” Bargmann said. “PCHD facilitated the testing of all three long term care facilities in Pike County. All residents and staff are negative. To date, over 615 Pike County residents have been tested with two being positive. One has since recovered. Bargmann said residents need to be vigilant about wearing a face covering over their nose and mouth when in public and it is not possible to be socially distant; wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol; keep hands away from eyes, nose and mouth; clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces; and stay home if sick or feeling ill. Another point to remember is that not everyone that has COVID-19 exhibits symptoms. That is why it is so important to wear a face covering in public. “If you have COVID-19 and have no symptoms, you can still spread the disease,” Bargmann said. “You could infect someone that could then cause severe illness or even death.” Anyone who feels sick and has respiratory symptoms, such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath, stay home and call a medical provider. Local hotline numbers include Blessing Hospital (217-277-3504) and Quincy Medical Group (217-277-4001).
Mayor to ask city council for permission to buy unsafe Temptaions building By BETH ZUMWALT Pike Press Demolition of an unsafe, unstable building on the Pittsfield square could start soon if the Pittsfield City Council voted to purchase the building at last night’s council meeting. Hayden has said purchasing the former Temptations Beauty Salon building and proceeding with demolition is necessary to save the northeast corner of the square. “We are afraid of the domino affect,” Hayden said. “The west wall is pulling away from the building and if it goes, it could bring the next building with it.” The problems started when Lisa Aspocolas purchased the former Irving law office building with plans to repair it. Those plans never panned out and the building became more of a safety concern. Demolition was started on that building in December, 2018. The shared wall between Temptations and the Irving building pulled away from the Temptations building and caused severe
damage. Temptations has since merged with Old Monroe Salon and the building has been vacant for nearly a year. If the council okayed the purchase at last night’s meeting, Hayden says he hopes demolition can start as soon as possible. The council was also expected to pass a budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year at last night’s council meeting. The budget was difficult because no one knew the impact the COVID-19 had on the outlook. “We’ve been told to expect about $200,000 less from the state,” John Hayden, mayor, said. “We are not in too bad of shape because we had some money on hand.” The council did implement a repair-only, no new equipment unless necessary policy, made the airport manager’s position parttime, saving between $40,000-$50,000 per year. “We also have had two men retire and they were earning a higher salary than an entry level employee will be making,” Hayden said.