Scott County Times
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019
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Times NEWS Winchester Trunk or Treat scheduled for Halloween night. See page A2
Otherwise occupied. See page A2 Bluffs September Students of the Month. See page A3
SPORTS Lady Cougars split games last week. See page A7
WINCHESTER, IL 62694
VOLUME NO. 152 NUMBER 41
By CARMEN ENSINGER Scott County Times Students in Dr. Claire Coonrod’s archaeology class at Winchester High School held a ceramic’s lab at the Old School Museum where they went through tons of pieces of pottery dug from Dorsey’s Ditch around 10 years ago. “For many of these kids this is their first time working with pottery pieces so I am walking them through it,� Dr. Coonrod said. “That is how I learned it – hands on learning. They are sorting it according to rim, body and base and are basically constructing an inventory.� There are 50 five-gallon buckets full of pottery pieces that were discovered around 10 years ago when the city was widening the street on Maple Street. “I was working as an archaeologist with the Illinois State Archaelogy Survey at the University of Illinois when the city contacted me,� Dr. Coonrod said. “They were widening the street and ran across a lot of pottery so they knew they had found something.� At this point Dr. Coonrod
said she started digging into land titles and realized that this property was owned by the first potter in Winchester. “It was owned by a man named Harrison and then by Thomas Kilpatrick and George Ebey,� Dr. Coonrod said. “Then Ebey split off in 1840 and moved outside of town and it was sold to a man named Nash who was also a potter and he owned it up until the Civil War. So that particular property was a kiln site that was sold to several different potters over the years.� Dr. Coonrod thinks most of the pieces pre-date the Civil War going back to 1840. “We found one piece that had a stamp on it and that stamp was Thomas Kilpatrick,� she said. “The oldest piece of stamped pottery in Illinois was found at the Edwards Place House in Springfield and that was a Thomas Kilpatrick piece. It was found in a privy and that privy dated to 1841 so this piece here in our museum is potentially the oldest stamped piece of pottery in Illinois.� As for the students, they were tasked with creating an inventory of the pieces includ-
Carmen Ensinger/Scott County Times
Dr. Claire Coonrod talks to students about the dig at Dorsey's Ditch, which revealed thousands of pieces of pottery which possibly date back to 1840.
ing identifying the interior and exterior glazes, identifying how many are salt glazed, how many are Albany slipped and how many are unglazed. They also did a minimum vessel count and told what forms are represented such as if the piece belong to a bowl, vase, jug or some other form. “You can actually tell what a piece belonged to from these
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little pieces,� Dr. Coonrod said. “I can look at a piece and tell right away because I have been doing it for years but you can look at certain shapes of rims and bases and the curvature of the body and envision what that piece might have been part of.� Dr. Coonrod spent about four days digging up the 50 five-gallon buckets of shards
from a one meter by two meter area and going down one meter. “It was almost like a layer cake of ceramic shards,� she said. “A lot of what we have here are seconds – the fire in the kiln might have gotten too hot or it was just a bad firing. Sometimes they would try to (See, ARCHAEOLOGY, A2)
Fingers crossed; Dollar General is coming to Bluffs
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Winchester archaeology class digs through the past
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DIGGING
Carmen Ensinger/Scott County Times
THROUGH HISTORY
Logan Osterman, Jack Alberts and Raymond Jefferson go through a five gallon bucket of pottery shards that were recovered 10 years ago on Maple St. when the city of Winchester was widening the street. More than 50 buckets of ceramic pieces were found on the site which could date back to 1840.
By BETH ZUMWALT Scott County Times Bluffs Village President, Linda Sapp, was cautiously optimistic when she updated the village board on Bluffs’ attempt to attract a Dollar General Store. She apprised the board of the progress at the Oct. 2 meeting. “We have agreed to trade our senior center with the food pantry building and the bank has agreed to sell a portion of it’s lot,� Sapp said. “If we close the street, we will meet the minimum requirements for space and parking lot.� Sapp cautioned she has heard nothing official from The Dollar General Corporation but believes Bluffs is on the short list for new stores. The process may be a lengthly one, with the village being required to hold a public hearing for the swap of the two buildings, finding a new senior center, getting appraisals and other details. “None of it is complicated, just time consuming,� Sapp said. “Dollar General has told us what they need and we have put a package together.� The board also heard from Chuck Pine, Scott County’s representative on the Scott-Morgan-
“None of it is complicated, just time consuming. Dollar General has told us what they need and we have put a package together.�
Linda Sapp Bluffs Village president on the possibility of a Dollar General coming to town.
Cass Crimestoppers Board. “We want to get Scott more involved,� Pine said. “We want to put signs at all four entrances into town with the Crimestoppers phone number on them.� Village board member Tim Welch asked if this would replace the Neighborhood Watch, currently in place and active. “No, it will be in addition to the Neighborhood Watch,� Pine said. (See, DOLLAR GENERAL, A2)
Second annual Ladies Winchester awards contract for sanitary sewer extension Night Out Oct. 18 By BETH ZUMWALT Scott County Times Ladies Night Out in Winchester was a huge success last year and organizers are hoping it will be this year also. The event will strart at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18 and wrap up in time for everyone to make the home football game versus Brown County. “We have 17 vendors so far, “Jackie Kuchy, organizer of the event, said. “And 14 businesses will be open.� The evening will include raffle tickets for a number of good prizes, refreshments, and special give-aways. “Plus individual businesses will be offering special events, sales and prizes,� Kuchy said. Kuchy said the Great Scott Market will be offering a box for donations that will be donated to the Outreach (See, NIGHT OUT, A2)
1HZ VWRUH RQ WKH VTXDUH LQ :LQFKHVWHU By BETH ZUMWALT Scott County Times Those attending Ladies Night Out will have an extra stop on the trip around the square. Square Trade is a new store at 10 E. Cross Street. “It’s a good group of ladies including myself that have mixed a lot of things together,� MacKenzie BrownGeische, owner of the business, said. Brown-Geische says she has 12 women including herself that sell a mixture of gifts, household items, home furnishings and decor. The store has antiques, re-pur(See, NEW STORE, A2)
By CARMEN ENSINGER Scott County Times Winchester City Council awarded a contract for the Mechanic Street Sanitary Sewer Extension at the Oct. 2 meeting. City Engineer Reg Benton was also in attendance and reminded the council that the council allowed Benton and Associates to solicit proposals waiving the typical bidding process. “If the city wants to they can waive the bidding process and accept this proposal,� Benton said. “Our recommendations is the lowest bid from Brian Shafer Plumbing to be done in accordance with the IEPA permit that was secured.� Benton said the original estimate for the project was in the area of around $100,000. The bid came in much lower than expected with the total project cost, including Benton’s $12,500 engineering fees will not exceed $60,000. Superintendent of Public Works John Simmons suggested the city get new “Welcome to Winchester� signs.
“I’ve looked at signs in other towns and other than the one at Daws Funeral Home, ours look like crap,� Simmons said. “One is broken and leaning and they haven’t been updated in years. I think they need to be looked at and improved and maybe do some landscaping around them and make them stand out.� Simmons also suggested the city purchase a jon boat for use on the lagoon ponds at a cost of $600. “A lot of times people don’t want you to borrow their boat for out there,� Simmons said. “This boat would be perfect for us because it has bars on the side for stability. We have been treating the lagoons with some bugs that keeps the sludge down and in the future we can do it ourselves and save a ton of money.� The council approved the purchase of the boat at a cost of $600 which also included a trolling motor. The city is trying to come up with a solution to dealing with ordinance violations. Taking the individuals to (See, EXTENSION, A2)