LOSTANT — Taxes will creep a little higher for Lostant residents next year. Under the new tentative tax levy passed Dec. 22 by the Lostant Grade School Board, school taxes will go up 5.172 percent, approximately $25 per year on a $100,000 home. A truth-in-taxa-tion hearing was held before the reg-ular meeting as the board anticipated the levy would be above the 5 percent increase level that requires such a hear-ing. The exact dollar amount will not
be known until assessments are com-pleted.
Increases of 5.07 and 5.26 percent were also discussed, but school Super-intendent Sandra Malahy told the board the 5.07 levy would likely not cover the upcoming cost of living increase for the teaching staff. Board member Bob Lawless felt the 5.26 percent increase was too much to burden the public with under the current economy.
In other action, the board:• Heard a presentation from students
Megan and Jacob Wiesbrock, request-ing permission for a lock-in at the school gym. The students presented
details on what would be allowed at the lock-in and the requirements students would have to meet in order to attend. Chaperones were already lined up by the students as well. A letter was read from student Ethan Phillips which also requested the board’s permission. The request was approved unanimously.
• Voted to break up the next cer-tificate of deposit which matures for the school, enabling it to be deposited with two different due dates in order to ensure the possibility money can be liquidated to cover unexpected events.
• Approved the fuel bid from Grainco FS Inc. for $2.71 per gallon, includ-
ing delivery fees. Board member Jeff Skinner thought the price was a little steep given current gas prices, but the board agreed those prices may not hold through the new year.
• Discussed this year’s procedure for canceling school on days of inclement weather. The process will be the same as last year.
• Recognized board members Matt Vincent and Mike Phillips as well as Jer-emy Zulz and Roy Kruchton for moving furniture and removing the old televi-sions from the classrooms. The board is still discussing options for disposing of the old televisions.
Happy New Year!
Tonica News photo/Ken Schroeder
Welcome 2015Joyce Obermiller at the Tonica branch of Illini State Bank holds up one of the calendars the banks gives to its customers. A new year means it’s time to toss out last year’s model for the new. Don’t forget to go through the year and mark down important anniversaries and birthdays that may have happened in 2014 for celebration in 2015.
New year, new laws
By Goldie currieShaw Media Service
With a new year, comes new laws for 2015.
Of the hundreds of new laws going into effect on Jan. 1, several have to do with crime, courts, corrections and law enforcement. Various topics include ticket quotas, bulletproof vests, drones, extending probation, defendant costs and more.
Beginning Jan. 1, law enforcement will no longer be able to implement a ticket quota system.
This law pertains to police administra-tors who may have implemented some kind of interdepartmental policy that required policemen to write so many tickets per officer.
While many may have heard of this system, it’s actually quite unusual for an area police/sheriff department to imple-ment a ticket quota system around this area.
Another new law that will go into effect is the “sign and drive” law, which pro-hibits the taking of a driver’s license as bail following a traffic law or ordinance violation. Instead, those in violation will instead have to give a signature.
Illinois is only one of six states which currently takes a driver’s license for a minor traffic offense.
The Illinois Secretary of State and Illinois legislators had a lot to do with this new law, which will hopefully clear up a lot of issues with driver’s licenses getting misplaced through the system. Many times when a driver’s licenses was taken, there were times when it would be misplaced while going from officers to departments to records division and to the court
Another new law coming in 2015 will allow law enforcement to use a drone without a search warrant during a disas-ter or public health emergency, such as a flood, tornado or earthquake. It will not require an official declaration of a disas-ter or public emergency prior to use.
While this could be useful for police enforcement looking to use drones, it is
December 2014 has come and gone and already the state’s Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act is behind schedule. The 22 centers — one for each State Police district — were to be announced during December, but so far, the 159 applicants are waiting and hoping their application will be picked with no word from the Illinois Depart-ment of Agriculture, which is charged with selecting the producers.
It appears as if finger pointing has already begun ...
Apparently, many of the cultivation center applicants have voiced fears of cronyism playing a part in the selection process and have wondered whether the closed process will favor those who are politically connected. The current laws for application selection protects the names of applicants from being shared or discussed in public medium.
Governor-elect Bruce Rauner has also demanded transparency from Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration and the selec-tion process. Rauner pointed to former Quinn Chief of Staff Jack Lavin, who is representing one of the medical mar-ijuana applicants, as having an unfair advantage. David Rosen, former finance officer for Hillary Clinton, is another key Democratic figure among those vying for a license.
However, across the aisle are two indi-viduals who represent financial institu-tions who are backing prospective medi-cal marijuana facilities. Steve Denari and Tom Cronin are helping with the financ-ing of two separate applicants. Denari and Cronin are also two of the top finan-cial supporters of Rauner’s successful bid for office.
While Rauner is blasting the Quinn administration for lack of transparency, he has also suggested the licenses be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with
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2 • The Tonica News • Friday, January 2, 2015
SeekingSources
Where in the world is The Tonica News? Are you plan-ning a vacation or holiday trip? Don’t forget to take along a copy of the The Tonica News. Once you get to your desti-nation, have someone snap a photo of you holding the newspaper, and then send the photo to us along with perti-nent information about who is in the photo and where you are. We’ll be happy to share your photo with other Tonica News readers, your friends, family and neighbors. Email your photo and information to [email protected]. You can also drop it by our office in Tonica.
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TONICA – The Decem-ber Tonica Volunteer Fire Department (TVFD) meeting was called to order by Chief Al Strem-lau with 28 members present.
There were 14 emer-gency calls during November. Two were fire related, one accident and 11 ambulance calls. The total year-to-date emer-gency calls as of the end of November stands at 159.
The TVFD received donations over $100 from Irma Wright and Darlene Fleming for Larry Fleming.
The monthly fire department training cov-ered live fire training with a controlled structure fire. Twenty-five TVFD members participated along with members of the Lostant, Cedar Point, Oglesby, Peru, Normal, Elk Grove Township, North Field and Clinton fire departments. The director of special oper-ations of the Illinois Fire Safety, the Chicago Fire Department deputy dis-trict chief, the Hanover Park Fire Chief, and Can-ton, Bolingbrook and Bettendorf fire depart-ment officers, along with local certified instructors, conducted the training.
Firefighter Jeff Pugh’s NIMS training file has been updated for IS-ICS100 Introduction to Incident Command System, IS-200 ICS For Single Resources and Ini-tial Action Incidents and IS-800, an Introduction to National Response Plan.
Six EMTs attended the Quarterly Defibrillator and CPR training. New protocols from Illinois Valley Community Hos-pital, a review of medi-cation dosages and their administration were cov-ered.
Stremlau and Direc-tor Rick Turri repre-
sented the Tonica Fire Department at Utica Fire Department Dep-uty Chief Bill Gallup’s memorial service. Turri also represented TVFD at the memorial service for Peru’s retired Fire Chief Russ Reed II.
Stremlau attended the MABAS Division 25 meeting in Ottawa. Top-ics of the meeting were MABAS agreements with the various communi-ties served by Division 25, IMAT Team Resourc-es and NIMS 300-400 requirements for officers.
EMT Monica Kreiser completed her one-year probation period and was accepted as a full member of the depart-ment.
The deer display and chili night report was given by chairperson Dave Huss. It was one of the biggest deer events thus far.
Annual SCBA fit test-ing conducted by EMT Woody Olson was com-pleted by 19 Tonica inte-rior firefighters.
The new highway safe-ty traffic control devices and halogen tool have been received and are now in service on the appropriate trucks.
The updated NFPA-1500 Firefighter Safety and NFPA-101 Life Safety Codes books have been received.
Huss reported on the possibility of the depart-ment purchasing an RO-Water system and water softener to be used to aid with the washing of the trucks.
Elected officers for 2015 are Chief Al Strem-lau, Secretary Woody Olson, Treasurer Sue Huss and Assistant Trea-surer Rena Kohr. Two directors for a three-year term are Dave Huss and Bob Kolczaski.
Stremlau emphasized the need for all members to participate in training.
Meeting calendarJan. 5 — Tonica Grade School board, 7 p.m.,
Tonica Grade School.
Quinn honors Carus CorporationLASALLE— Gov. Pat
Quinn is officially rec-ognizing Carus Corpo-ration’s achievements in energy conservation.
Carus is a 2014 recip-ient of the Illinois Gov-ernor’s Sustainability Award. The company has reduced energy con-sumption 28 percent in just five years at its LaSal-le manufacturing facility.
In a letter to Carus’ corporate engineer-ing manager Ralph Moshage, Quinn states Carus’ “commendable green practices serve as a model of environmen-tal stewardship for res-idents, businesses and institutions throughout our state.”
“This achievement is the result of plant-wide efforts to operate in the most environmental-ly-friendly manner,” said Moshage. “The award reflects the hard work and diligence of every employee.”
The Governor’s Sus-tainability Award is given annually to Illi-nois organizations that demonstrate a commit-ment to environmental excellence through out-standing and innovative sustainability practices, according to the website of the Illinois Sustain-able Technology Center, the organization which
partners with the Gover-nor’s office to present the award.
Carus began partici-pating in the Department of Energy’s Save Energy Now LEADER program in 2009, and through equipment and process upgrades, has achieved reductions in energy consumption each year since. The Save Energy Now program encourag-es companies to reduce energy use 25 percent in 5 years. The Ameri-can Chemistry Council has recognized Carus’
accomplishments, hon-oring the company with the Responsible Care Energy Efficiency Award each year since 2010.
Carus is an environ-mental company that produces and supplies products, equipment, and services for water treatment, air purifica-tion, and remediation. Carus is a member of the American Chemistry Council and participates in the industry’s Respon-sible Care initiative. 2015 marks the company’s 100th anniversary.
Photo contributedCarus Corporation’s Vice President of Global Operations Scott Hoge and Corporate Engineering Manager Ralph Moshage accept the Governor’s Sustainability Award at a ceremony in Chicago.
Couch fire in TonicaTONICA — The Tonica
Volunteer Fire Depart-ment was called out for a reported couch on fire at 2:13 p.m. Dec. 23 at 113 Elm St. in Tonica. On arriv-al, the firefighters found the residents had already
suppressed the small fire and were removing the couch and wastebasket from the residence. The fire was believed to have started in a wastebasket located next to the couch.
Damage was limited to
a portion of the couch, a small area of the floor-ing and some light smoke within the house. Fire-fighters completed their investigation and cleared the scene in approximate-ly 25 minutes.
ISP to conduct Nighttime Enforcement Patrols
The Illinois State Police District 17 will conduct Nighttime Enforcement Patrols (NITE) in LaSalle County during the month of January, according to Captain Robert Atherton.
The ISP has zero toler-ance for impaired drivers. Therefore, officers work-ing NITE patrols will be watchful for drivers who
are operating vehicles in an unsafe manner, driv-ing with a suspended or revoked driver’s license, transporting open alco-holic beverages, driving under the influence (DUI) and are not properly buck-led up.
Alcohol and drug impairment is a signif-icant factor in nearly 40
percent of all fatal motor vehicle crashes in Illinois. These nighttime patrols are designed to keep roads safe by taking dangerous DUI offenders off the road and ensuring all vehicle occupants are buckled up.
This project is funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Traffic Safety.
White warns businesses of statewide corporate scam
SPRINGFIELD — Illi-nois Secretary of State Jesse White is warning businesses to beware of a solicitation letter targeting Illinois corporations.
A firm called Annual Business Services is con-tacting Illinois business-es in an attempt to col-lect a $125 fee to fill out a corporation’s “corporate minutes.” The fake notice states that the fee must be paid by Jan. 9, 2015. White recommends that corpo-rations do not reply to the
solicitation.The Illinois Business
Corporation Act does not require corporations to file an “Annual Minutes Form” or pay such a fee with the state or any pri-vate entity. The only fee that corporations must pay is the fee that is paid with their annual report. Illinois corporations should be on the alert for this and similar attempts to collect fictitious fees.
“The problem is that the form this bogus firm is
sending out looks similar to our Secretary of State’s annual report form,” White said. “We are con-cerned that companies may be filing the form and paying the $125 because they believe they are filing their annual report with us, as required by law.”
If a business would like to file a complaint in regard to the solicitation, contact the Illinois Attor-ney General’s Consumer Fraud Division at 800-243-0618.
3 Obit Records
HHurst FFuneral HHomeTTonica, IILL2223-0380
Friday, January 2, 2015 • The Tonica News • 3
Robert ‘Breck’ Breckenridge
LOSTANT — Robert G. “Breck” Breck-enridge, 66, of Lostant passed away Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014, at his home.
Bob was born Aug. 28, 1948, in Spring Valley to Dale and Ruth (Harper) Brecken-ridge. He and his brother, Don, were the co-founders of Breckenridge Bros. Truck-ing (Breckenridge Truck-ing), then Bob ventured into owner and operator of Breck’s Trucking. Bob was also farmer for more than 30 years. He was a volunteer for the Lostant Fire Department and the McNabb ambu-lance. He was a member of the NRA, Lostant FFA, and an avid fisherman and hunter. He was a muscle car enthusiast and loved participating in truck pulls and four-wheeler pulls.
He is survived by Vivian Breckenridge of Dalzell; his children, John (Shau-na) Breckenridge of Streator, Maryann (Kevin) Stieghorst of Tremont and Bar-bara (Joe) Vinyard of Washburn; eight grandchildren, Blaze Stieghorst, Ridge
Stieghorst, Salina Breckenridge, Gracie Vinyard, Montana Stieghorst, Joey Vin-yard, Cadence Breckenridge and Lilly Breckenridge; and a brother, Don (Karen) Breckenridge of Lostant.
He was preceded in death by his par-ents.
Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 29, at the Lostant United Methodist Church with the Rev. Mark Nowakowski, pastor, officiating. Burial followed in Hope Cemetery.
Visitation was held from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 28, at the Mueller Funeral Home in Lostant. Additional visitation was held from 10 to 11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 29, at the church.
Pallbearers were John Breckenridge, Joe Vinyard, Kevin Stieghorst, Don Breck-enridge, Marion Naas, Ronnie Harlan, Ryan Thompson and Matt Thompson. Honorary pallbearers will be Blaze and Ridge Stieghorst, Joey Vinyard and Willie Wever.
Memorial contributions may be direct-ed to Putnam County FFA, Lostant Fire Department, Lostant Methodist Church or Lostant Grade School.
The online guestbook may be viewed and remembrances shared at www.Muel-lerFH.com.
Ruth BoersPERU — Ruth A. Boers, 95, of Peru,
formerly of McNabb, passed away Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, at St. Mar-garet’s Hospital in Spring Valley.
Ruth was born May 12, 1919, in Lostant to Frank and Elizabeth (Dagner) Keilty. She married Edward Boers on Jan. 15, 1939, in Peru. Ed passed away on Feb. 11, 2013.
Ruth was a beautician and a homemaker, and helped her husband, Ed, with the farming for many years. She was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church.
Survivors include one daughter, Lynn (John) Shimkus of Granville; three grandchildren, Tim (Missy) Schloss-er, Dan (Julie) Schlosser and Stepha-
nie (Steve) Lieb; three stepgrandchil-dren; six great-grandchildren, Nathan Schlosser, Kailey Schlosser, Kye Schloss-er, Kenzie Schlosser, Lexi Lieb and Cody Lieb; and four stepgreat-grandchildren.
Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, three brothers and two sisters.
Services were held Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014, at Immanuel Lutheran Church (County Line), Peru, with the Rev. Roger Helgren officiating. Burial was in Friends Cemetery, McNabb.
Visitation was also held Saturday, Dec. 27, at her church prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be directed to Immanuel Lutheran Church or to the donor’s choice.
The Dysart-Cofoid Funeral Chapel in Granville is assisting the family with the arrangements. Online condolences may be made to Ruth’s family at www.dcfunerals.com.
Breckenridge
Boers
Obituaries
doubtful it will have much impact on area police/sheriff departments.
Other laws related to law enforcement include:
Victim registry confidentialityProhibits the Prison-
er Review Board from releasing the name or address of a victim to anyone other than law enforcement. The law also prohibits the attor-
ney general’s office from releasing the personal information of any per-son or entity registered to receive a victim’s infor-mation or notifications to anyone other than state or local officials.
‘Skype’ search warrants
Allows for electron-ic search warrants that utilize simultaneous audio and video trans-mission between the person requesting the search warrant and the
judge. The chief judge or presiding judge in the issuing jurisdiction is to determine standards and best practices policies for filing and retaining the transmissions.
Bulletproof vestsRequires law enforce-
ment agencies to pro-vide vests for officers. It outlines requirements that the law enforcement agency, the state and local governments must pursue to provide fund-ing for the costs of these vests.
the selection process on hold until the auctioning can start. Illinois NORML (National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws) believes any further delay in the selection proce-dure is unjust. Executive Director Dan Linn also said the idea of granting the permits to the highest bidder turns the process from helping others into a for-profit venture.
During Rauner’s cam-paign, he said he opposes the use of medical mar-ijuana and would have vetoed the cannabis pilot program.
No matter who wins the licenses, medical marijuana is big money for Illinois. The applica-tion for a cultivation per-mit required a $25,000 non-returnable applica-tion fee, something 13 applicants in District 17 — consisting of LaSal-le, Bureau and Putnam counties — were able to do. In addition, appli-cants had to show the possibility of presenting $500,000 in liquid assets.
Cultivation facilities will
also pay a hefty $200,000 for the first year of their license and $100,000 each year afterward. With those rates and the cost for start-up, one of the applicants — a horticul-
turist named Blake Lange — said most applicants won’t turn a profit until 2017, the year the pilot program ends.
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
LawsFrom Page 1
PotFrom Page 1 Where does it come from?
One of the largest hurdles a medical marijua-na cultivation center will have to overcome is not how to come up with the money, but rather, where do we get the marijuana?
Although 23 states have legalized marijuana for medical usage and two states have allowed recreational usage, the possession, cultivation or transport of marijuana is still illegal under federal law. There is no legal way for an Illinois cultiva-tion facility to obtain the marijuana in order to grow it.
To that, state officials will turn a blind eye and leave growers to their own devices. In most cases, that means obtaining pot from licensed growers in other states, or if necessary, less legal markets — a process one grower has referred to as a “belief in immaculate conception.”
Dan Linn, executive director of Illinois NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Mari-juana Laws), said the serious growers will have plans in place to obtain seeds or clones before they turn in their applications to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. They can volunteer those plans on the application, but only have to describe the strains of medical marijuana they intend to grow, not the source of the seeds.
Visiting restrictions implemented at IVCHPERU — Because of widespread influenza activity, Illinois Valley Community
Hospital is restricting patient visitation privileges.Effective immediately, no one age 18 and below will be allowed to visit patients at
IVCH, and patients will be allowed only two visitors at any one time.IVCH is also requesting that people who are ill with respiratory symptoms not visit
the hospital.
• • •
Visit us online at www.tonicanews.com
‘Tis the season for returningThe week after Christmas
when the gift-return season kicks in can be as hectic as the shopping time before the holiday. To make the effort as easy as possible, consumers should be aware of store return policies.
“Some retailers have changed their policies and these may not necessarily be to the benefit of the con-sumer,” explained Steve J. Bernas, president/CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and North-ern Illinois. “Shortening the amount of time for returns and making specific requirements for different types of merchandise are all store issues that con-sumers need to be aware of. Returns of electronics and appliances are most impacted by these require-ments.”
Bernas noted that con-
sumers who were used to having as many as 45 days to return their unwanted gifts now have in some case 30 days or as few as nine days. He also urged con-sumers to remember that returns are a customer ser-vice and are not required by law unless the merchandise is defective.
Consumers need to take extra care in understand-ing the return policies of the stores where they shop, and should not rely only on what they may be told by a sales clerk. They should look for and read the stores written policy, which by law must be displayed.
If you plan to return an item, be prepared:
• Know the stores return policy – Read the store’s return policy in the store or online.
• Have the receipt avail-
able.• Keep the original pack-
aging – Electronics or sim-ilar products often require their original packaging when returning the item.
• Know the online return policy – If the item was purchased online, check the online return policy for what is needed when mak-ing the return.
• Returns are a courte-sy, so be courteous – Many people are returning gifts, so remember that it can be a trying time for both the returners and the store per-sonnel.
• Understand unusu-al policies – Your gift may have special requirements that can prohibit the return of certain items like hats and intimate apparel
Find out more on Christ-mas returns by visiting bbb.org.
4 Perspectdive
The Editorial Page
Sam R FisherPublisher
Terri SimonEditor
The Tonica News
4 • The Tonica News • Friday, January 2, 2015
Make a resolution you can keepIt’s that time of year again. Not the
post-Christmas sales events, or the stock-up-the-bar-guests-are-coming-over-for-New-Year’s. It’s the time of year when we all lie to ourselves.
Time to make New Year’s resolu-tions.
I’m sure throughout the years, you’ve made a New Year’s resolution or two. I’m also sure more often than not, they didn’t last long. “I’m going to lose weight.” “I’m going to quit smoking.” “I’m done spending the entire night on the Internet.” The list goes on and on, but how often do we actually make those changes?
According to researcher John Nor-cross and his colleagues, who pub-lished their findings in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, approximately 50 percent of the population makes resolutions each New Year. Of those, perhaps 8 percent will stick it out.
Part of the reason is we set huge goals that we know are good for us, but we’ve never had the willpower to stick it out before. Somehow, by some sort of magic, making the vow on Jan. 1 will surely make it happen. However, in your subconscious mind, Jan. 1 is the same as March 25 or July 9 or any other day.
I last made New Year’s Resolutions some 15 years ago. I made two that year, and they were actually not very humble, but I thought I might be able to pull them off for a while, at least until spring. So far, I haven’t broken them.
What were they? They’re actually simple to do, and they go a long way. I’m throwing them out as ideas for anyone who might want a resolution that’s easy and works.
• Learn something new every day. That may sound difficult, but in today’s world of social media, the Internet and 24 hour news outlets, it’s easier than ever. When I say, “Learn something new,” I don’t mean what the Kardashians are doing or which pro football player is going to punch his girlfriend today. Find out things that matter.
What does the Affordable Health-care Act really say? Who is ISIS and
what do they really want? What is dihydrogen oxide? What does frack-ing do to the environment? What’s the deal with wind farms?
Too often, we hear what someone “in the know” says and that makes up our mind for us. Before you commit to a belief about something, isn’t it a good idea to figure out what it is? Don’t let someone else tell you what you should think. Find out for your-self.
• Do at least one kind thing for someone each day, preferably someone you don’t know. You’d be surprised the difference it makes not only to that person but for you. I bought a coffee once for a person a couple of people behind me at a gas station. He looked kinda depressed and was counting change in order to buy it himself. The look on his face when he found out his coffee was paid for was priceless.
He felt better knowing someone cared, and I felt better knowing I made someone happy. Can you imagine what it would be like if we all became accustomed to doing things like that?
Family: Husband, Steve Milota; sons, Jon and Michael Milota.
Pets: None.
What is the last song you listened to: Don’t know that either.
What is the last book you read: I don’t know what I read last.
What is the last TV show you saw: Hallmark Channel.
If someone stranded you on a deserted island, what would be the meal you would eat forever: Roast beef.
If someone stranded you on a deserted island and you could take only one thing with you, what would it be: My family.
If someone handed you a million dollars, what would you do with it: Give most of it away.
What is your favorite area restau-rant(s): IHOP, and we like the break-fast at HyVee.
Would do you like best about your hometown: It’s small and everybody knows everybody.
Would you change anything about your hometown: No. That is why you live in a small town.
First Person
What’s life like in a big family?I don’t need to watch the Duggar
family on television to know what life in a big family is like. My parents have nine children — a fact that always seems to interest people. When they hear I have four brothers and four sisters, they always have questions for me. The first one is usually, “What is it like to have such a big family?” Here are some of the highlights I think anyone with a big family will understand:
• If you see me scarfing down food at an alarming rate and practically snarling at anyone who sits next to me while I’m eating, I blame my big family. To make sure you weren’t shorted at dinner, you ate as fast as possible. For instance, when my family ordered pizza when I was a kid, we ordered two. You do the math. That doesn’t translate into a lot of slices per person. We were allowed to only take one slice at a time. As an adult, I’ve made a con-scious effort to refine my eating hab-its, but I still remember the panic I felt when I realized one of my broth-ers had reached piece No. 3 and I was still on No. 1.
• Ninety percent of my clothes were hand-me-downs. Most of them didn’t fit properly. They were either so big they looked like clown clothes or so tight it looked like I was wearing a sausage casing. Even
when cuffing your jeans at the ankle wasn’t cool, I was doing it — out of necessity so I didn’t trip over the too-long pant legs on the jeans I always inherited from my older sis-ter.
• Fights were a daily occurrence, and now that I’m a mom of two children, I can’t understand for the life of me how my mother survived. With nine children, fights were like gang warfare. There were two sides, sometimes three, and no one ever seemed to mind their own business. Allies were prized; traitors were everywhere; and sometimes the other side employed spies.
• I was never lonely, or alone at all for that matter. Privacy was a for-eign concept. Finding a room which didn’t contain another kid was diffi-cult to do. Even the backyard at our Lake Thunderbird home seemed to have more kids than trees at times. I shared a room with at least one sister my whole childhood, which frequently led to more gang warfare.
• Being one of nine definitely has
its fair share of perks. We always had enough kids for an impromptu Wiffle ball game. If I wanted to throw the Frisbee around, there were mul-tiple volunteers. If I wanted to play with some toys that I knew I was far too old for, I’d claim I was being a good older sister and play with my younger siblings.
• You learn not to get too attached to anyone you are dating until they have met your family. They might have second thoughts about the relationship when they finally meet everyone. The nerves are usually bad enough when meeting the family of a boyfriend or girlfriend — imagine if the parade of family members never seems to stop. On top of that, the new boyfriend or girlfriend will immediately hear about every embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you. Any illusions of you being cool will be instantly shat-tered.
• You have lifelong best friends. Even today, there’s no one I would rather hang out with than my brothers and sisters. Kids in a big family are often close — because of my family’s tight bond, we’ve all remained in Illinois, within two hours of each other.
Shannon Serpette is the copy edi-tor for The Tonica News. She can be reached at [email protected].
Shannon Serpette
COMMENTARY
From the editor’s desk
I hope each and every one of you had a wonder-ful Christmas, filled with many memory-making moments — enough to last until next Christmas.
I found myself traveling from home to go get my mom early Christmas morning to bring her to my house to help celebrate the special day ... With a Christmas CD playing in my car, I only passed one other vehicle on the roadway during the 20-mile drive. Rather than a lonesome jaunt, though, the serene countryside seemed to speak loudly of Christmas, as I made my way into town. It gave me a good share of time to think, reflect and focus on the real meaning of Christmas.
I pictured small children waking up and scurrying to see what Santa had left for them. I remembered my own child-hood Christmas moments of many, many years ago. I thought about families arriving at the homes of their loved ones — having the opportunity to see faces they don’t get to see very often. I could almost smell my dear grandmother’s extra pie crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar baking in the oven for a special Christmas morning treat, and I quickly remembered how we would fight over who would get the last piece.
I could go on and on, but the bottom line is ... I hope you had the opportunity to reflect during this year’s Christmas celebrations — knowing full well that someday, you and those you love may remem-ber Christmas 2014 with the same heartfelt recol-lections.
•••With Christmas 2014 just a memory now, we
approach 2015 with much anticipation — not just personally, but also as your hometown newspaper. I’d like to say it’s such a pleasure to be a part of your lives. We at The Tonica News take you and your newspaper very seriously, and we work hard to give you a product of which you, too, can be proud.
Throughout the past two years (yes, it’s been that long), I have to tell you I’ve been so impressed with the people I’ve met and grown to enjoy from Tonica, Lostant, Leonore and the surrounding area. The majority of folks have been so kind, so com-plimentary, so eager to help. That speaks worlds about you, our readers.
As we approach 2015, my promise to you is to continue to not just provide you with a good news-paper, filled with timely news and stories about the people, places and things that make your area special, but to also get your input about what you’d like to see in your newspaper. Already, we have some new and exciting special ideas planned for 2015, but I still need your help ...
My door is always open, and I appreciate all your suggestions, comments, ideas and even construc-tive criticism. Without you — our readers, we don’t have a newspaper, and your ideas are integral to its success. Please know we will also be happy to publish the photos you take of your special events, as well as your press releases about upcoming hap-penings. I can be reached at [email protected] or give me a call at 815-875-4461, ext. 6330. I look forward to hearing from you.
•••So are you making any New Year resolutions for
2015? I could use the rest of this newspaper page to tell you all the things I’d like to change, improve, work on ... well, you get the idea. Instead, though, I’m going to keep it easy ...
First and foremost, I want to live each day to it’s fullest. Equally important, I just want to focus on being kind. I already consider myself to be a kind person, but like everything, there’s always room for improvement. Living each day to its fullest and being kind ... I think everything else falls into place, if I master those two elements.
How about you?•••
As we move into 2015, I just want to wish you a year filled with good health, happiness and kind-ness. OK ... wealth wouldn’t hurt either, but in the long run, if we have our health, we have everything. Happy New Year, my friends. And remember ... you are important to me and The Tonica News
Corner of Rt. 18 & 251, Lostant, ILExit 41 on I-39
Dr. EricAnderson
Dr. RhondaMarty-Anderson
Friday, January 2, 2015 • The Tonica News • 5
Community
Photo contributed
Christmas gift pays IVCH Auxiliary pledgeIllinois Valley Community Hospital Auxiliary fundraisers and sales in the Auxilia-ry-managed IVCH gift shop helped the Auxiliary raise the money needed to pay off the $100,000 pledge it made in 2010 to the fund drive for the new IVCH obstetrics unit. Tommy Hobbs, IVCH chief executive officer, accepted a $12,000 check from Auxilia-ry president Mary Beth Brantner (right) and Lobby Shoppe manager Marsha Roliardi.
IVCIL starts Snowflake campaign
Easter Seals sixth annual ball is Feb. 28
ASSE seeks local representatives
Lostant Library news
LASALLE — This is the second year for the Illinois Valley Center for Inde-pendent Living’s annual fundraiser, the Snowflake campaign. Launched in 2013, the campaign is appealing to residents of the Illinois Valley to sup-port its services for people with disabilities through donations.
IVCIL helps people of any age with any type of disability to overcome attitudinal and physical barriers of everyday daily living, access resources to maintain their inde-pendence in the com-munity or return to the
community from a nurs-ing home setting, as well as keep people out of a nursing home. IVCIL is also a selection center for ITAC amplified phones provided free of charge to individuals with hearing loss and now operates the Mobile Meals program, a community service for-merly run by the Illinois Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Peer support groups meet regularly and workshops are provided throughout the year on topics of interest to peo-ple with disabilities and their families. Executive
Director Rachael Mellen hopes the generosity of the local community will help the Snowflake Cam-paign reach its goal of $5,000.
IVCIL is a United Way agency and receives funding for its programs through the Department of Rehabilitation Ser-vices. If you would like to make a donation, mail a check to IVCIL Snow-flake Campaign, 18 Gunia Drive, LaSalle, IL 61301. If you have any questions or are in need of any type of assistance, call IVCIL at 815-224-3126 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
LASALLE — Eas-ter Seals of LaSalle and Bureau Counties will host the sixth annual Black and White Ball from 5 to 11 p.m. on Feb. 28 at Senica’s Oak Ridge. The event will include music by Sweet Soundz DJ, por-traits by Annette Barr Photography, dancing, auctions, raffles and a for-mal dinner and presen-tation. All proceeds from the event will benefit the children served by Easter Seals each year. Tickets are $60 prior to Feb. 1 and $75 thereafter. Spon-sorships are available for $1,000, $1,500 and $2,000 and benefits include pre-miere seating, an ad in the program and recog-nition during the event program.
Susan Bursztynsky, CEO/president of Eas-ter Seals of LaSalle and Bureau counties, urged the community to sup-port this event and the work Easter Seals has been doing in the com-munity since 1947.
“Our goal is to raise over $30,000 (gross) in support of annual critical care, programs and services provided to hundreds of children in LaSalle and Bureau counties each year,” said Bursztynsky.
Easter Seals is asking local businesses to con-sider placing an ad in the program, making a mon-etary donation or pro-viding gift certificates or items for the auction.
Easter Seals co-chair-man and Black and White
Ball Committee member Meg Skelly urges local businesses to step up and support the Black and White Ball.
“Through the years, I have been honored to be associated with an extraordinary place like Easter Seals of LaSalle and Bureau counties. The care they provide for chil-dren is simply amazing. To witness the impact Easter Seals has had on family’s lives is truly a blessing. For this reason, I am pleased to contrib-ute my time, talents and financial gifts, and I hope you will do the same,” said Skelly.
For more information, contact Tracy Beattie at 815-434-0857 or [email protected].
ASSE International Student Exchange Program is seeking representatives to work with volunteer host families and international exchange students in the community. ASSE provides academic year and semester exchange programs in the United States for high school students from around the world. Stu-dents are 15 to 18 years of age, have passed a series of academic and char-acter requirements, and are awaiting an opportunity to embark on their Amer-ican adventure. Local representatives also have the opportunity to support American high school students in their journals abroad.
Area representatives recruit and screen prospective host families, super-vise the exchange students in their com-munity throughout the year and inter-view American students who wish to live
and learn abroad. Area representatives are compensated based on the number of students they are supervising.
ASSE’s primary goal is to contrib-ute to international understanding by enabling students to learn about other languages and cultures through active participation in family, school and community life. Through sharing their home, host families and communities also gain new knowledge and appreci-ation of other cultures and languages. ASSE’s representatives are the corner-stone of the organization making all of this possible.
For more information about ASSE or becoming an area representative, call the Midwest regional office at 800-736-1760, email at [email protected] or go to host.asse.com to learn more.
LOSTANT – The Lostant Library has many resolu-tions for the new year.
One of the items or wish list that needs to be addressed is volunteers. High school students may earn community service hours for graduation or other needs by volunteer-ing at the library. Cur-rent projects underway include hosting chess lessons for patrons, con-ducting a movie night or craft night for kids and adults. The current his-tory project could also be addressed. Patrons donate photos with infor-mation and they can be added to the library scrapbooks.
The Lostant Library publishes a newsletter three times a year in Jan-uary, May and Septem-ber. Parents of school age children will receive
the newsletter through school. September’s newsletter had an article on the break-in which occurred at the library. The newsletter is also dis-tributed at the post office and Illini State Bank in Lostant.
The Lostant Library continues to add books for all ages and announces “A New Reindeer Friend” which is a story featuring Elsa and Anna from the Disney movie “Frozen.” The book opens with the sisters preparing for a ball to thank the people of Arendelle for accepting Elsa back with her magi-cal powers.
“Connecting Links” by local author Ron. G. Blue-mer has been added to the non-fiction area of the library. This book fol-lows the construction and use of the Illinois Mich-
igan Canal, the Henne-pin Canal and the Illinois Waterway project.
A New York Times best-seller in 2012, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed has also been purchased. This biography follows the author on her solo 1,000-mile hike along the Pacif-ic Crest Trail through the Mojave Desert, California and Oregon to Washing-ton.
The Lostant Library hosts Library Time each week. This birth to pre-school program for chil-dren and their caretakers has resumed after the holiday break. Volunteer Shauna Breckenridge, with assistance from the Oglesby Public Pre-School program is host. The event is from 10 to 10:45 a.m. on Tuesdays and includes stories, sing-ing, crafts and a snack.
Stage 212 is playing your songLASALLE — Stage 212 opens their
2015 season on all the right notes with “They’re Playing Our Song,” the engag-ing musical love story by Neil Simon, Carole Bayer Sager and Marvin Ham-lisch. Vernon, an established compos-er, teams up with an offbeat aspiring young female lyricist. Professionally, their relationship works beautifully, but ultimately leads to conflict on the home front.
Cast as Vernon and Sonia are Daniel Haun and Emily Hanck. Featured in the chorus are Megan Zomboracz Cullinan, Kelly O’Connell Johnson and Deb Torri as Sonia’s voices and Derek Addison Buckley, Daniel Hoeft and Nik Frig as Vernon’s voices.
Production staff includes director Joseph Ennenbach, co-producer Scot Smigel, co-producer/stage manag-er Dixie Schroeder, assistant director Jenny Parks, music director Samantha Farb, choreographer Deana Brown, set construction coordinator Mike Kreush, set construction crew Christopher Mar-tyn and Todd Ditka Samus, prop coor-dinator Joan Eiberger, costume coor-
dinators Jill Marti and Dixie Schroed-er, lighting designer Dom Passini, light operator Ken Schroeder, sound opera-tor Andrew Paden, stagehand/assistant stage manager Nick Polo and stagehand Kyle Foley.
“They’re Playing Our Song” will be presented Jan. 23 to 25 and Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 at Stage 212, 700 First St., LaSal-le. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Sunday matinees begin at 2 p.m. Tickets will be avail-able to the general public for $20 each beginning Jan. 12. Box office hours are Monday 4 to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to noon. Tickets may also be purchased online by visiting the Stage 212 website at www.stage212.org or reserved over the phone with Visa, MasterCard or Discover. Call 815-224-3025 for details.
“They’re Playing Our Song” is pro-duced by special arrangement with Samuel French Inc.
Notice is herebygiven of the death ofLawrence W. Lindgren,late of LaSalle, Illinois.Letters of office wereissued on November26, 2014, to Linda Ator,whose attorney is GaryGearhart, GEARHARTLAW OFFICE, 951 FifthStreet, LaSalle, Illinois61301.
Claims against theEstate may be filed withthe office of the CircuitClerk, Probate Division,Downtown Courthouse,119 W. Madison St.,Ottawa, Illinois, orwith the representative,or both, within six (6)months from the date ofissuance of letters. Anyclaim not filed withinthat period is barred.Copies of a claim filedwith the Clerk must bemailed or delivered tothe representative andto the attorney within10 days after it has beenfiled.
ANDREW SKOOGClerk of the
Circuit CourtGary L. GearhartGEARHART LAWOFFICEAttorney for Plaintiff951 Fifth StreetLaSalle,IL 61301Phone: (815) 223-8009FAX: (815) 223-8003
Published in the TonicaNews Dec. 26, Jan. 2 and9, 2014.
IN THE CIRCUITCOURT OF THETHIRTEENTH
JUDICIAL CIRCUITLA SALLE COUNTYOTTAWA, ILLINOIS
IN RE: )THE ESTATE OF )ALLAN J. WOECKEL,)
DECEASED. )NO. 2014-P-226CLAIM NOTICE
Notice is herebygiven of the death ofAllan J. Woeckel, lateof Ottawa, Illinois.Letters of office wereissued on November 26,2014, to James Schmidt,whose attorney is GaryGearhart, GEARHARTLAW OFFICE, 951 FifthStreet, LaSalle, Illinois61301.
Claims against theEstate may be filed withthe office of the CircuitClerk, Probate Division,Downtown Courthouse,119 W. Madison St.,Ottawa, Illinois, orwith the representative,or both, within six (6)months from the date ofissuance of letters. Anyclaim not filed withinthat period is barred.Copies of a claim filedwith the Clerk must bemailed or delivered tothe representative andto the attorney within10 days after it has beenfiled.
ANDREW SKOOGClerk of the
Circuit CourtGary L. GearhartGEARHART LAWOFFICEAttorney for Plaintiff951 Fifth Street
LaSalle,IL 61301Phone: (815) 223-8009FAX: (815) 223-8003Published in the TonicaNews Dec. 26, Jan. 2 and9, 2014.
IN THE CIRCUITCOURT OF THETHIRTEENTH
JUDICIAL CIRCUITLASALLE COUNTY,
ILLINOISIN PROBATE
ESTATE OF )DAVID J. SAUTER, )
Deceased )NO. 2014-P-233CLAIM NOTICE
Notice is given of thedeath of David J. Sauter.Letters of Office wereissued on December4, 2014 to Noelle L.Sauter as IndependentExecutor, whoseattorneys are Russell,English, Scoma &Beneke, P.C., Ten ParkAvenue West, Princeton,Illinois 61356.
Claims against theEstate may be filed inthe office of the CircuitClerk, LaSalle CountyCourthouse, Ottawa,Illinois 61350, or withthe representative, orboth, on or before June26, 2015, or if mailingor delivery of a noticefrom the representativeis required by Section18-3 of the Probate Actof 1975, the date statedin that notice. Any claimnot filed by that date isbarred. Copies of a claimfiled with the Clerk areto be mailed or deliveredto the representative andto the attorney withinten (10) days after it hasbeen filed.
Dated this 15th day ofDecember, 2014
s/ Andrew F. SkoogLaSalle County
Circuit ClerkPublished in the TonicaNews Dec. 26, Jan. 2 and9, 2014.
IN THE CIRCUITCOURT OF THETHIRTEENTH
JUDICIAL CIRCUITLA SALLE COUNTYOTTAWA, ILLINOIS
IN RE: )THE MARRIAGE OF )GINA F. GENGLER, )
Petitioner, )and )DAVID M. GENGLER,)
Respondent. )NO. 2014-D-329
NOTICE BYPUBLICATION
The requisiteAffidavit for Publicationhaving been filed, Noticeis hereby given you,DAVID M. GENGLER,that this case has beencommenced in thisCourt by the Petitioneragainst you for disso-lution of marriage andother relief.
Unless you file youranswer or otherwisefile your appearance inthis case in the officeof the Clerk of thisCourt, LaSalle CountyCourthouse, 119 W.Madison Street, Ottawa,IL 61350, on or beforeJanuary 20, 2014, aJudgment or decree bydefault may be takenagainst you for the reliefasked for in the com-plaint.
ANDREW SKOOGLaSalle County
Circuit CourtGary L. Gearhart#0927864GEARHART LAWOFFICE
Attorney for Plaintiff951 Fifth StreetLaSalle,IL 61301Phone: (815) 223-8009FAX: (815) 223-8003Published in the TonicaNews Dec. 26, Jan. 2 and9, 2014.
CIRCUIT COURT OFTHE THIRTEENTHJUDICIAL CIRCUITLASALLE COUNTY,
ILLINOISESTATE OF )RUTH HOGE )
Deceased )No. 2014-P-242
CLAIM NOTICENotice is given of the
death of RUTH HOGE.Letters of Office were
issued on December 19,2014, to Terry Hoge, 825E. 9th Road, Wenona,IL 61377, as Executorwhose attorney is JohnBalestri, 149 GoodingStreet, LaSalle, Illinois61301.
Claims against theestate may be filed inthe Office of the Clerkof Court, LaSalle CountyCourthouse, Ottawa,Illinois 61350, or withthe representative, orboth, within 6 monthsfrom the date of issu-ance of letters and anyclaim not filed withinthat period is barred.Copies of a claim filedwith the clerk must bemailed or delivered tothe representative andto the attorney within10 days after it has beenfiled.
Dated this 22nd dayof December, 2014.
Attorney John BalestriAttorney for Estate149 Gooding Street
LaSalle, IL 61301815-223-6600
Published in the TonicaNews Jan. 2, 9 and 16,2015.
CIRCUIT COURT OFTHE THIRTEENTHJUDICIAL CIRCUITLASALLE COUNTY,
ILLINOISESTATE OF )JEAN E. BLOCK )
Deceased )No. 2014-P-241
CLAIM NOTICENotice is given of
the death of JEAN E.BLOCK.
Letters of Office wereissued on December19, 2014, to Gregory F.Block, 1285 SunnyshoreDrive, Varna, IL 61375 asExecutor whose attor-ney is Bernabei, Balestri& Fiocchi, 149 GoodingStreet, LaSalle, Illinois61301.
Claims against theestate may be filed inthe Office of the Clerkof Court, LaSalle CountyCourthouse, Ottawa,Illinois 61350, or withthe representative, orboth, within 6 monthsfrom the date of issu-ance of letters and anyclaim not filed withinthat period is barred.Copies of a claim filedwith the clerk must bemailed or delivered tothe representative andto the attorney within10 days after it has beenfiled.
Dated this 19th day ofDecember, 2014.
Attorney John BalestriAttorney for Estate149 Gooding Street
LaSalle, IL 61301815-223-6600
Published in the TonicaNews Jan. 2, 9 and 16,2015.
- 400 -Merchandise
450 • Under $1000
- 700 -Real Estate For Sale
767 • MobileHome Sales
The Tonica Newsreserves the right to classi-fy correctly, edit, reject orcancel any advertisementat any time in accordancewith its policy. All ads mustbe checked for errors bythe advertiser, on the firstday of publication. We willbe responsible for the firstincorrect insertion, and itsliabilities shall be limited tothe price on one insertion.
Items $1,000 or lesscan run FREE for 1time. Limit of 5 lines.Up to 3 items with priceand price totaling under$1,000. 1 ad per house-hold per week.No commercial ads,firearms oranimal sales.
****************PUBLISHER'S NOTICEAll real estate advertis-ing in this newspaper issubject to the FairHousing Act whichmakes it illegal to ad-vertise “any preference,limitation or discrimina-tion based on race, col-or, religion, sex, handi-cap, familial status ornational origin, or an in-tention, to make anysuch preference, limita-tion or discrimination.”Familial status includeschildren under the ageof 18 living with par-ents or legal custodi-ans, pregnant womenand people securingcustody of children un-der 18.This newspaper will notknowingly accept anyadvertising for real es-tate which is in viola-tion of the law. Ourreaders are hereby in-formed that alldwellings advertised inthis newspaper areavailable on an equalopportunity basis.To complain of discrim-ination call, HUD toll-free at 800 669-9777.The toll-free telephonenumber for the hearingimpaired is800 927-9275
– Classifieds –
YOU NEVER KNOW WHATYOU MIGHT FIND righthere in the Bureau CountyRepublican Classified!You could find furniture,appliances, pets, musicalinstruments, tools,anything. You might evenfind a kitchen sink!
6 • The Tonica News • Friday, January 2, 2015
MenusLostant Grade School
BreakfastJan. 5 – Ham and cheese omelet,
hash browns, cereal, granola, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice and milk.
Jan. 6 – Banana mini muffin, cereal, granola, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice and milk.
Jan. 7 – Sausage, egg and cheese muffin, cereal, granola, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice and milk.
Jan. 8 – Pancakes, sausage patty, syrup, cereal, granola, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice and milk.
Jan. 9 – Pop-Tart, string cheese, cere-al, granola, yogurt or toast, fruit, juice and milk.
Jan. 8 – Meatloaf, Au gratin potatoes, corn, rolls and butter, mixed fruit, des-sert.
Jan. 9 – Meatloaf, Au gratin potatoes, corn, rolls and butter, mixed fruit, dessert.
Suggested donation per meal is $5. Call 815-339-2711 to make reservations at least 24 hours in advance.
Helping others learn to growOTTAWA — University
of Illinois Extension, cover-ing Bureau, LaSalle, Mar-shall and Putnam counties, is offering the 2015 Mas-ter Gardener training pro-gram at the LaSalle County Extension Office in Ottawa.
The program provides 60 hours of classroom instruction on horticul-ture related areas. The class will provide partici-pants with the knowledge needed to become skilled Master Gardeners. Master Gardeners involve people in improving the quality of life by helping them find sound management prac-tices for home and natural resources, by enhancing environments, by promot-ing well-being plant-people projects, and by contribut-ing to a safe, abundant food supply through home fruit and vegetable production.
“Participants come from all walks of life. The com-mon interest is gardening, indoors and outdoors. This is a great way to connect with others who have simi-lar interests, and it is a way to give back to your com-munity by doing something that you enjoy,” according to Paul Barrett, coordina-tor of the program. “Many times we have city workers or community groups who sponsor a participant so they can be certified to help with special projects in those towns or for the groups.”
To register for the class, contact Barrett at the Uni-
versity of Illinois Extension Office located in Ottawa, by calling 815-433-0707. You can request or pick up the training program applica-tion packet, which includes the application for the class and required background check information. The packets are available at the Extension offices located in Ottawa, Princeton, Henry and Oglesby (IVCC cam-pus). The completed appli-cation should be turned in to Barrett at the Ottawa Extension Office.
After the application is reviewed, applicants will be contacted for a short inter-view before being accepted into the program. The cost of the class is $250, which covers Master Gardener reference books, handouts and refreshments. If you need a reasonable accom-modation, indicate when registering. The registration deadline is Jan. 16.
The classes will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at the LaSalle County Extension Office in Ottawa. Classes are sched-uled as follows: Jan. 20, orientation; Jan. 27, bota-ny; Feb. 3, lawns; Feb. 10, insects; Feb. 17, soils; Feb. 24, woody plants; March 3, annuals/perennials; March 10, diseases; March 17, fruits; March 24, vegetables; March 31, IPM (Integrat-ed Pest Management) and graduation.
Upon completion of the 60-hour class, participants
will be awarded a Master Gardener intern certificate. Master gardener mentors will be assigned to acquaint new Master Gardeners with approved projects for com-pleting volunteer hours. Interns must volunteer 60 hours the first year. Upon completion of volunteer hours, interns become a certified Master Garden-er. To maintain certified Master Gardener status, a minimum of 10 hours con-tinuing education and 30 hours volunteer hours are required each year. The continuing education and approved projects are pro-vided through University of Illinois Extension. Com-munity service projects are completed in communities across Extension’s service area.
“The program is open to all interested in Bureau, LaSalle, Marshall and Put-nam counties as well as sur-rounding counties. Online classes are also an option, but most prefer the social-ization and learning from the experts and benefiting from the discussion,” Bar-rett said. He urges those interested to sign up soon as possible since the class is only offered locally every other year.
For information, call the extension office at: IVCC, 815-224-0889; Bureau County, 815-875-2878; LaSalle County, 815-433-0707; and Marshall-Put-nam, 309-364-2356.
Friday, January 2, 2015 • The Tonica News • 7
Business DirectoryMarketplace
Auto Body SpecialistsTruck Toppers& Accessories
325 North 25th Rd, Route 251 South of Peru815-224-1506
EMERGENCY: 815-252-0032
Mike Supan Jr. ∙ Linda Supan ∙ Michele Straughn
“You bend ‘em,we mend ‘em”
Oxy Green Carpet Cleaning of Central IllinoisMcNabb, Il 61335
(309) 740-4470 • (815) 882-2150
Carpet • Furniture • Hardwoods • Mattresses
McCONVILLE INSURANCE
Frank McConville - Agent200 South Peru Street • Tonica, IL 61342
(815) 442-3116
“I crave Jazzercisebecause it makesme feel rejuvenatedand stress free.
– Piper, 35
CLASS SCHEDULEM 9:20am, 4:20pm, 5:30pm | T 5:30am, 4:20pm, 5:30pmW 9:20am, 4:20pm, 5:30pm | TH 5:30am, 4:20pm, 5:30pmF 9:20am | SA 8:45am
2901 N. Peoria St. | Peru815.878.5965 | jazzercise.com
Class times range from 30 to 60 minutes
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*
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The perfect way to discardold roofing materials.
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8 • The Tonica News • Friday, January 2, 2015
Photo contributed
TGS announces Students of the MonthTonica Grade School has announced the Students of the Month for December are Carly Christman, Daniel Senica and Molly Just. Teachers and staff nominate students each month for the honor based on their conduct and academic achievements.
Marshall-Putnam 4-H’ers recognized at achievement night
HENRY — The Uni-versity of Illinois Exten-sion Marshall-Putnam honored 4-H’ers from throughout Marshall and Putnam counties on Nov. 2 to celebrate a year of hard work, leadership and dedication to personal growth.
M a r s h a l l - P u t n a m Federation members announced the awards during the evening. The award presenters were: Sammi Bessler, Caroline Downey, Anna Mattern, Samantha Rediger, Pay-ton Knisley, Logan Sasso, Meagan Cook, Megan Wink and Bradley Wink. The M-P 4-H Ambas-sadors also played a big role as they passed out all awards and led the Spir-it Stick Competition. The 2014-2015 Ambassadors are Meagan Cook of the Wenona Highlighters and Megan Wink of the PC Progressors.
The Recognition of Excellence awards are the largest group of awards handed out. A 4-H’er earns that honor through the work they do in their 4-H club and additional ser-vice and leadership work at the county level. The award areas are Project, Service and Leadership.
Project Achievement recipients included Bell Plain Hustlers Jolene
Bobinski and Mikel McQuilkin; Bennington Go-Getters Brett Smith, Carter Stutzman, Sierra Fandel, Myka Stutzman, Jordan Smith, Logan Nenne, Rachel Cook, Laura JaQuet, Clayton Klehm and Emily Brauch; Henry Guys and Gals Athena Lindstrom; Lostant Lead-ers Caden Mertes, Leah Anderson, Cody Ander-son, William Daughtery, Makayla Ritko, Sydney Miller, Meleah Mertes and Kaleb Urbanowski; Low-point-Washburn Achiev-ers Alexis Beltramea, Katie Bond, Karissa Barth, Mak-enna Warnkes, Jenna Eilts and Levi Zulz; PC Pro-gressors Mikenna Boyd, Sophia Brown, Rachel Ely, Erin Brooker, Brook-lyn Parks, Haley Sae-pharn, Cody Milby, Jentsie Petersen, Renae Ramey, Isaac Wujek, Nick Mat-tern, Gianna Pozzie, Molly Boyd, Megan Brooker, Emily Bruch, Cassie John-son and Justice Petersen; Saratoga Leadaways Ella Bergfeld, Erin Hufnagel and Jonathan W. Downey; Steuben Rangers Ailsa Lionberger, Lauren Shel-burne, Susannah Poeppel, Lucy Poeppel, Leena Den-ham and Christina Wier and Wenona Highlighters Serina Olson, Jersey Sim-mons, Cassidy Petrimoulx, Justin Janssen, Ashley
Krischel and Collin Mor-ris.
Service Achievement recipients included Bell Pain Hustlers Lilah Bobinski and Logan Sasso; Bennington Go-Getters Marissa Manning, Malika Ralston and Faith Thees-field; Henry Guys and Gals Lillian Hentchel and Pay-ton Knisley; Lostant Lead-ers McKayla Urbanows-ki; Lowpoint-Washburn Achievers Jerica Kull and Rylan Warnkes; PC Pro-gressors Olivia Brown, Becky Ramey, Michael Dzierzynski, Emily Ely, Kendell Owens, Anna Mattern, Ashley John-son, Derek Glenn and James Petersen; Saratoga Leadaways Jay Hufnagel; Steuben Rangers Leah Wier and Michaela Wier and Wenona Highlighters Grace Jones, Nate Morris, Dylan Petrimoulx, Jaclyn Janssen, Kelly Coons, Mat-thew Cook, Kira Griffin, Meghan Jones and Logan Schmillen.
Leadership Achieve-ment recipients were Bell Plain Hustlers Dylan Herridge; Benning-ton Go-Getters Ashley Strauch; Lowpoint-Wash-burn Achievers Alysa Hof-statter; PC Progressors Madison Brown, Brad-ley Wink, Jarod Petersen, Megan Wink, Samantha Smoode, Jon Mattern,
Loralee Wilson and Dustin Miller; Saratoga Lead-aways Caroline Downey and Evan Bogner; Steuben Rangers Samantha Bessler and Mallory Martin; and Wenona Highlighters Meagan Cook.
In addition to the Rec-ognition of Excellence awards there are also many special awards and honors presented. Those winners were Kelly Coons, Outstanding Secretary; Caroline Downey, Senior Best Kept Records; Faith
Theesfield, Junior Best Kept Records, and Ash-ley Johnson and Collin Morris, Extreme Exhibits Award
Leaders with Anniver-saries: One year: Tracy Ritko, Shauna Brecken-ridge, Carol Bond and Helen Boyd; five years: Phillip Sheppard; 10 years: Julie Bogner and Cheryle Doyle; and 15 years: Lori Toepper.
The awards program ended with a favorite new tradition among the clubs.
Clubs compete for the 4-H Spirit Stick. Creativity and group involvement is the key to winning the Spirit Stick. This year’s winner of the Spirit Stick is the PC Progressors.
If you have questions or need more information call University of Illinois Extension, Bureau-LaSal-le-Marshall-Putnam Unit at 309-364-2356. Exten-sion offices are located in Princeton, Ottawa, Henry and in Oglesby on the IVCC campus.
Farmers are a vitalpart of our community.We’d like to seeyou stay that way.
The agriculture industry is full of surprises. That’s why it’simportant to use caution and observe safe farmingpractices every day. We’re proud to salute our areafarmers and ranchers who go the extra mile to keep theirfamilies, employees and themselves safe on the job.
WALNUT — Dave Kepner of Walnut has always had a knack for all things mechanical.
He admits being called a “gear head” when he was in school.
“I was that kid who would rather tear his bike apart than ride the dang thing,” he said.
Kepner started his career in mechanics in 1959, right after high school when he went to work at the John Deere Dealership in Walnut.
With 56 years of experi-ence under his belt, he’s developed a reputation as being a “go-to” guy when a piece of equip-ment isn’t running prop-erly.
Often times, Kepner can be found in his machine shed tinkering around with tools and old
tractors, but lately that time tinkering has pro-duced a unique project that’s completely mod-ernized his 1965 John Deere 4020 tractor.
Kepner has trans-formed his tractor’s die-sel engine into an elec-tronic fuel injection (EFI) system that runs on regu-lar unleaded gasoline.
The modern, technol-ogy touch to his vintage tractor allows it to run pretty much like “a new pick-up truck,” he said.
It’s an idea that has yet to really make it into the agricultural scene, according to Kepner.
“I’ve never heard of anyone who has done this yet,” he said. “But the need is out there to use these old tractors.”
He added that with this conversion, farmers can transform their old die-sel tractors into a better product than what they were before.
Dave Kepner turns old, diesel-powered tractors
into ones that use regular, unleaded gasoline
Shaw Media Service photo/Goldie CurrieDave Kepner of Walnut stands near his latest mechanics project. Kepner found a way to put an electronic fuel injec-tion (EFI) system on his 1965 John Deere 4020 diesel engine. The new system now allows his old tractor to start just like a brand new pickup truck.
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With a mechanical background, Kepner had the idea for the conver-sion. He said the automo-bile industry had found a way to convert old vehi-cles to EFI systems, and he wanted to incorporate the same idea for his trac-tor.
His first step in com-ing up with the method was calling a company in Memphis, Tenn., who works on conversions for old vehicles. Kepner was able to get in touch with a company engineer who was willing to give direction, via the phone, with the EFI retrofit sys-tem hookup. The engi-neer happened to be a farmer from Mississippi and had a good idea of what Kepner was trying to accomplish.
Kepner said once he was able to get direc-tion from the engineer, the project didn’t take much time to complete. A tad bit of remodeling to parts on the tractor had to be done to incorporate the new system, but the modern touch has barely touched the vintage look of the John Deere 4020 model.
“It’s just awesome what it does (to the tractor),” Kepner said, referring to
the conversion. “It doesn’t smoke. It starts easily, and it’s really like driving a new pickup truck.”
Kepner said the new twist gives his tractor 10 percent more horsepow-er than when it left the dealership, while using 20 percent less fuel.
“It’s just correcting a lot of mistakes made when they were first built,” he said.
Showing off the new conversionKepner took his project
to a corn pickers show this past fall and received a lot attention from fellow farmers interested in his conversion.
Today, he is keeping busy doing the same con-version to four tractors people have requested him to complete.
Kepner said he is more than willing to share his idea with others. He said he doesn’t care who does it; he just thinks it needs to be known that it can be done so farmers can uti-lize the late model diesel tractors.
“The country is just full of them, and they’re just sitting around not being used,” he said, adding there is still a good market for the small tractor for the little projects around the farm.
Shaw Media Service photos/Goldie CurrieKepner explains his work and technique in hooking up an electronic fuel injection (EFI) system on his old diesel engine tractor. According to Kepner this is an idea that has yet to make it into the agricultural scene, but the demand is out there as many farmers have kept their old diesel engine tractors but have yet to find use for them.
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4 • Winter 2014 Ag Matters
Making the most of your compostURBANA — After the fall,
many homeowners won-der what to do with the leaves that have accumu-lated on the ground.
“Composting can be a beneficial process to man-age yard waste,” said Uni-versity of Illinois Exten-sion horticulture educator Andrew Holsinger. “Proper planning and effort can provide the opportunity to generate organic matter beneficial to the soil.”
Composting is defined as the transformation of raw organic materials into biologically stable humus-like substances suitable for growing plants. “Organic matter improves soil qual-ity in a number of ways including, soil moisture retention, nutrient-hold-ing capacity and nutri-ent cycling,” Holsinger explained.
Nutrient-holding capac-ity is the ability for soil to hold nutrients that would otherwise leach away, and nutrient cycling is basi-cally recycling nutrients that were previously taken up by plants. The cycling of nutrients balances the availability of nutrients from the plant material back into the soil.
What are the keys to success when it comes to composting?
Compost materials are made up of a proportion of carbon to nitrogen in
an organic material. When these materials are com-bined in proper proportion and in combination with air, water and warmth, it creates a proper environ-ment for decomposition.
Decomposition is what is desired when it comes to composting, Holsinger explained.
“Unfortunately, during the winter months, some of these key components may be lacking to achieve the success desired in decomposing your organic waste,” he added.
The key components are:
TemperatureCompost piles should be
covered in the winter. Cov-ering the compost pile in the winter excludes excess rain or snow, which can make the pile too wet. Insu-lating the pile in the winter
has the benefit of reduc-ing cold air, which can decrease microbial activity.
The carbon to nitrogen ratio
There are two main com-ponents of organic waste that are transformed to compost: the green mate-rials (nitrogen) and brown materials (carbon).
Nitrogen is used to build proteins (amino acids). The microorganisms need nitrogen in order to sur-vive. There is a shortage of nitrogen in the soil because everything living wants to consume it and it can be leached away by rain-water. The green materi-als are sources of nitrogen and protein. Usually they consist of fresh green plant materials, including fresh grass clippings and organ-
ic food waste. Never use dog, cat, raw hog manure, or human waste because these can contain poten-tial biohazards that can be harmful to family mem-bers.
Carbon is used for ener-gy by microorganisms. Sources of carbon differ in their chemical structure and some can be challeng-ing for microorganisms to digest. The brown mate-rials are also absorbers of excess moisture. Usually they consist of dried brown plant materials, includ-ing ground-up leaves and straw.
“It is important to have an optimal ratio of carbon to nitrogen which is typical-ly 30:1,” Holsinger pointed out. “If there is too much nitrogen in the mix, the compost pile can become too hot, which may kill the compost microorganism, or it may go anaerobic, resulting in a stinky mess.”
He added that with too little nitrogen in the mix (high C), the compost will not heat up proper-ly, which could result in a longer waiting time for fin-ished compost. This ratio is most important in the breakdown of the compost
materials to feed the micro-organisms the proper diet of carbon and nitrogen.
AirComposting materi-
als are broken down by aerobic organisms, which require air for their surviv-al. In high-temperature sit-uations, it can help reduce odor. The initial moisture content of composting materials tends to be high and can be reduced with aeration. Turning of the compost pile is the most common method for aer-ation. Other methods of aeration include passive aeration with a network of perforated tubes or using an aerated static pile.
WaterWhile moisture is a
requirement for compost-ing, high moisture results in a reduction in the pore spaces for air. Low mois-ture deprives organisms of needed water for metab-olism and inhibits their activity. Ideally, home compost piles should contain 45 to 65 percent moisture. The ideal mois-ture for most materials is 55 percent. You can check your moisture level with a simple squeeze test. Squeeze a handful of com-posting material, force-fully, and check for drips. The compost should feel like a wrung-out sponge.
Make the most of compost· Mix the pile as needed to reduce moisture and
odors.· If the pile is too dry, add water until there is the
feel of a dampened sponge.· Keep meat products out of the pile to reduce
animal and insect pests.· Cut or chop organic materials to increase sur-
face area for quicker breakdown (optional).· Cover compost pile with a tarp to retain heat
in winter.· Increase volume from the ideal size of 1 cubic
yard to 4 feet x 4 feet x 4 feet if pile is located near windy area (optional).
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Ag Matters Winter 2014 • 5
USDA reports provide some surprises, particularly for cornURBANA — Based on the
worn adage that “big crops get bigger,” analysts gener-ally expected the USDA’s November Crop Produc-tion report to contain larg-er forecasts for the size of the current U.S. corn and soybean harvest. According to a University of Illinois agricultural economist, the soybean production fore-cast was larger, but the corn forecast was smaller than the October forecast.
“The U.S. soybean crop is now forecast at 3.958 billion bushels, 31 million bushels larger than the October forecast,” said Darrel Good. “The U.S. average yield is forecast at 47.5 bushels, 0.4 bush-el larger than the October forecast. Yield forecasts changed by a bushel or two for the majority of states, with smaller forecasts in six of the 29 states. Pro-duction forecasts were not changed for the rest of the world. In the November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, the USDA increased the forecast of both the domestic crush and exports during the current marketing year so the forecast of year-end-ing stocks remains at 450 million bushels, or 12.4 percent of projected con-sumption. The domes-tic crush should be sup-ported by strong soybean
meal demand, particularly in the export market, and by favorable crush mar-gins. The pace of soybean export sales and shipments also supports the larger export forecast. The mar-keting-year average price is still forecast in a range of $9 to $11. Current spot prices in the eastern Corn Belt are near the midpoint of that range,” Good said.
Good said the U.S. corn crop is projected at 14.407 billion bushels, 68 million bushels smaller than the October forecast. The U.S. average yield is forecast at 173.4 bushels, 0.8 bushel below the October fore-cast. The yield forecasts declined by five bushels in Minnesota, three bushels in Kansas and two bushels in Iowa. “The change in the production forecast is rel-atively small, but is in the opposite direction of the expected change,” Good said. He added that the projection of both corn and total coarse grain produc-tion in the rest of the world was increased slightly, with declines in the projections of Chinese and Argenti-na coarse grain produc-tion more than offset by increases for the European Union and Mexico.
The USDA forecast of marketing-year consump-tion of corn for ethanol production was increased by 25 million bushels,
but the forecast of corn for other food and indus-trial uses was reduced by 20 million bushels. Mar-keting-year consumption is forecast at 13.66 billion bushels, which would leave year-ending stocks at 2.008 billion bushels or 14.7 percent of projected consumption. The pro-jection of marketing-year exports remains at 1.75 bil-lion bushels, but as Good pointed out last week, the current pace of both export sales and shipments are trailing the pace needed to reach that projection.
“In today’s WASDE report, the USDA lowered the forecast of current marketing-year exports from both Argentina and Brazil by a total of 59 mil-lion bushels, but increased the export projection for the Ukraine by 20 million bushels and lowered the forecast of Chinese imports by 20 million bushels,” Good said. “The forecast of the marketing-year average farm price was projected in a range of $3.20 to $3.80, 10 cents higher than the Octo-ber forecast. Current spot-cash prices in the eastern Corn Belt are near the low end of that range.”
The final USDA produc-tion estimates for corn and soybeans will be released in January while projec-tions of marketing-year consumption, ending
stocks, and average price will be updated month-ly through the marketing year. In addition to the final yield estimates, there will be some interest in the final estimates of harvested acreage.
Good said that the differ-ence between the current National Agricultural Sta-tistics Service (NASS) esti-mates of planted acreage of corn and soybeans and planted acreage reported by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) last month are historically large.
“NASS estimates are much larger than the FSA estimates, particularly for corn,” Good said. “The FSA will release an updated report of planted and pre-vented acreage on Nov. 13. If the gap between the two estimates remains large, there will be some expec-tation that the final NASS acreage estimates to be released in January (based
on the December Agricul-tural Survey) will be smaller than the current estimates.
“If current production and consumption forecasts are actually verified, the big story this year will be that extremely large corn and soybean crops resulted in less than burdensome year-ending stocks,” Good said. “The modest level of stocks relative to the con-sumption base opens the door for a tighter supply and consumption balance for the 2015-16 marketing year, particularly for corn. If consumption next year remains near the projected level for this year, a corn crop less than 13.66 billion bushels would result in a drawdown in stocks,” he said. With a national aver-age yield at the trend value of 163 bushels per acre, harvested acreage would have to increase by about 700,000 acres to produce a crop greater than 13.66 bil-
lion bushels. Similarly, with acreage at this year’s level, the national average yield would have to be at 164.4 bushels to produce a crop of 13.66 billion bushels.
The soybean picture is a little different. “If soy-bean consumption next year continues at the level projected for this year, a crop less than 3.615 billion bushels would result in a drawdown in year-end-ing stocks,” Good said. “A trend yield of 44.3 bush-els per acre would require harvested acreage of only 81.6 million to produce a crop of 3.615 billion bush-els. That is 1.8 million fewer acres than expected to be harvested this year.
“While the large harvest this year will keep prices at relatively low levels, par-ticularly for corn, the odds now favor prices that will be profitable for both corn and soybean producers in 2015-16,” Good said.
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6 • Winter 2014 Ag Matters
Tips for planning next year’s vegetable gardenURBANA — It’s always
a good idea to have a plan before you start digging up your yard, said a Uni-versity of Illinois horti-culture educator.
“Sometimes a location seems like the perfect site for a garden until you start digging and find the soil is like concrete,” said Chris Enroth. “Or you start growing and real-ize the water supply is way out of reach. Now you’re hauling buckets of water.”
Enroth suggested four basic items that will help in having a more success-ful garden next season.
SoilA very common item
that is overlooked by many beginner and expe-rienced gardeners alike is soil health and fertili-ty, he said. Most home-
owners rely solely on store-bought fertilizers for their plants’ nutrition with little worry about soil health or the actual nutrient composition of their soil.
So how do we give our soil a checkup?
“If you are serious about growing good veg-etables, you need to know the nutrient composition and basic properties of your soil,” Enroth said. “A soil test is a way to find that out. Collect samples of soil from your pro-posed gardening sites, mix them together and bag them up to be sent to a nearby soil testing lab-oratory. If you would like to compare two different garden locations, in the same manner take sam-ples from each location, but do not mix one with the other. Therefore, you can compare the results
when you get them back from the lab. Also make sure to specify to the soil lab you are a home vege-table gardener and would like the results tailored to your needs.”
SunMost of the summer
vegetables we know and love to eat require at least six hours of sunlight per day. That means the gar-den needs a full-sun loca-tion. “Plants feed them-selves through photo-synthesis, and each plant leaf is a food factory,” Enroth said. “By restrict-ing the amount of light, you lessen the amount of sugars the plant can make for itself, and it will be unable to perform to its optimum capabilities.
“Provided you meet the full-sun minimum of six hours, afternoon shade
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Ag Matters Winter 2014 • 7
can be beneficial. Shade late in the day offers a good spot to work during hot summer afternoons, and some of your veggies do like a bit of respite from the sun during the hottest part of the day, especially for gardeners in southern Illinois,” he added.
Water SupplyHauling water in 90
plus degree weather is hard work. Therefore, you should site your garden so that you don’t have to. Don’t make the mistakes many other gardeners have made. Many veg-etable gardeners think they can supplement with buckets of water, but unless you have a bucket brigade, Enroth said most plants are only watered enough to barely keep them alive.
“Ideally you want some form of permanent irri-gation system. I highly recommend some type
of drip or soaker hose system. Drip irrigation works great to minimize water lost to evaporation and applies water very slowly so runoff does not occur. Plus, drip irri-gation takes a lot of the guesswork out of water-ing,” Enroth said.
“If possible, investigate harvested water options. By using water harvested in an above- or below-ground cistern, you can save yourself some back-ache and lower your own potable water usage. Rain barrels are a great notion, but you would need a lot of water storage for a large vegetable garden,” he said.
ToolsGardening can be a lot
like cooking; they both require tools, and com-panies are out there to sell all kinds of gadgets. “Don’t get suckered by gimmicks,” Enroth warned.
Tools popular in the garden include:
• A sharp shovel — A sharp blade on the end of your shovel is critical to easy digging. Once you have your blade sharp-ened, you will keep up the habit every year.
• A pair of pruners — “When I’m outside gar-dening, my pruners are always in a sheath attached to my belt, notably because I always seem to tear my plants apart when picking their fruit or leaves. Pruners account for a clean cut,” Enroth said.
• A collinear hoe — This is used for cultivating weeds or slicing them off at the soil line. A collin-ear hoe is not a digging hoe; it is a hoe that can be used while stand-ing upright and using a sweeping motion to cul-tivate small weeds. Have a file on hand to keep this blade sharp after use.
• A soil knife (trowel) — “If you are planting a
lot of smaller transplants and your soil is rela-tively friable, I prefer to use a soil knife,” Enroth explained. “It is a point-ed blade with a handle. Simply stab the soil, pull it back, drop in the trans-plant, and remove the knife and firm up the soil around the new plant.”
• A bucket — Good for storing and moving tools, gathering up plant mate-rial, harvesting the fruits of your labor and sitting. Make sure to label which bucket is for harvested vegetables and which one is for carrying manure to the compost pile.
• A good wheelbarrow — “You never know when you will need to move something heavy to the other side of the yard. And a sturdy wheelbarrow can come in mighty handy. There are also several different types of garden carts on the market that may make maneuvering around the garden a little easier,” Enroth said.
8
8 • Winter 2014 Ag Matters
Hog and pork prices return to reality
URBANA — Hog and pork prices were launched to almost unexplainable heights by concerns over reduced pork supplies from the PED (porcine epidemic diarrhea) virus in the spring and summer. More recently, prices have been in descent and now have returned to more realistic levels, according to a Purdue University Extension economist.
“The high-price peri-od began to emerge in mid-February 2014 as media attention began to focus on the death losses from the PED virus,” said Chris Hurt. “There were media descriptions of nearly 100 percent death losses in some herds with a disease that was spread-ing rapidly to other herds. There were rumors of the possibility of 20 per-cent reductions in pork supplies. Hog prices shot higher.”
By late March, live hog prices reached near their yearly highs of $98 per live hundredweight.
“The extraordinary fact is that this was nearly $40 higher than the same time a year earlier, or about 70 percent above year-ago prices,” Hurt said. Prices continued to be sharply above year-earlier levels for the spring, summer, and into the fall. From March through mid-Oc-tober, live hog prices this year averaged $86 com-pared to $68 for the same period in 2013.
“The ‘fact’ or reality is that pork supplies have not been down sharply in 2014,” Hurt said. “So far this year, pork supplies are only down 2 percent as 5 percent fewer hogs have been largely offset by percent higher weights. It seems that market partic-ipants vastly overbid hog prices to ‘fantasy’ levels. On the other hand, at the time the uncertainty of supplies was very real and markets bid a huge ‘risk
premium’ into prices.”Looking back on the
year, it seems clear that the old adage of ‘buy the rumor, and sell the fact’ may be the best way to characterize this year’s price pattern,” Hurt said. “The ‘rumor’ that PED might greatly reduce pork supplies was an import-ant factor in the elevated prices. But the ‘fact’ that PED was not a major dis-ruptor of supplies has now allowed prices to return to more realistic levels.”
According to Hurt, the media has also given con-siderable attention to record-high retail pork prices this year, although consumer beef prices have received even more attention. With hog pric-es returning to reality this fall, retail pork prices are expected to also experi-ence some declines, Hurt said. Wholesale pork prices reached their highs in July and have now had three months of moderation. Retail prices tend to lag wholesale prices by three to six months, but the offi-cial October estimate of retail prices shows some consumer relief as prices fell 7 cents per pound, the first sign of lower prices in nearly a year. Retail pork prices should continue to moderate somewhat through 2015 as pork sup-plies increase.
“Consumers have not complained much about retail pork prices that averaged $4.14 a pound in October, according to USDA’s estimate of the average grocery store price of pork,” Hurt said. “The reason is because beef prices were at $6.24 a pound, making pork look like a bargain at $2.10 a pound lower than beef.”
What do “more realis-tic” hog prices mean for the remainder of this year and 2015? Hurt said PED is still having an impact and is still killing some baby pigs. However, markets
are treating PED as some-thing that can be managed unlike last spring and sum-mer when the “rumor” mill was creating grave uncer-tainty for pork supplies. Pork supplies are expect-ed to be down 1 percent in December, January, and February, and then increase by 3 percent in the spring and 5 percent in the summer.
Live hog prices are expected to average about $67 to $68 in the final quarter of this year and through the winter. The highest prices for next year are expected in the second quarter, averaging near $70, but then falling to the mid-$60s in the summer and down to the mid-$50s by the fall as pork supplies continue to increase.
According to Hurt, the most profitable year on record will be 2014, with estimated profits near $55 per head. Those will remain strong for the first three quarters in 2015, averaging around $44 per head, before tailing off to around $10 per head in the final quarter. Profits for the entire year of 2015 are still expected to be $36 per head, which would be the third highest profit year of the last 26 years dating back to 1990.
“High hog prices and lower costs are the keys to current profitability,” Hurt said. “Estimated annual costs of production have dropped from a high of $67 per live hundred-weight in the drought year of 2012 to $56.50 for this calendar year and to $52 anticipated for 2015. Nota-bly, corn prices declined sharply in the fall of 2013, but meal prices did not decline overall until the fall of 2014 (with some near-by supply shortages still to work through). So 2015 will be the first calendar year when both corn prices and meal prices have moderat-ed, dropping feed costs to five-year lows.”
Shaw Media Service file photo
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Ag Matters Winter 2014 • 9
Consortium receives $7 million to empower women farmersURBANA — A consor-
tium led by the University of Illinois College of Agri-cultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) has been awarded $7 million from the Unit-ed States Agency for Inter-national Development (USAID) to increase glob-al food security and sup-port effective rural devel-opment by empowering women to better con-tribute to higher house-hold incomes, increase agricultural productivity and improve nutritional outcomes for family and community members.
The new project, “Inte-grating Gender and Nutri-tion within Agricultur-al Extension Services” (INGENAES), aims to strengthen gender and nutrition integration within and through agri-cultural extension and advisory services and ulti-mately reduce poverty,
improve food security and reduce malnutrition.
“This is a program of action,” said Paul McNamara, INGEN-AES project director and associate professor in the ACES Department of Agri-cultural and Consumer Economics. “We will be working in these countries to help improve women farmers’ access to exten-sion services. We will also be using extension ser-vices to improve women’s access to critical inputs and helping extension services address nutrition concerns through their programs. We have com-mitted to not just thinking and writing about these issues but to actually improving the situation; it is action-oriented schol-arship and outreach.”
INGENAES is the latest of three associate awards that have followed the $12 million, USAID-funded,
ACES-led Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services (MEAS) project, which serves to define and disseminate good practice strategies and approaches to establishing efficient, effective, and financially sustainable rural exten-sion and advisory service systems in selected devel-oping countries.
“During our MEAS work, we’ve seen that especially for poor farm-ers, many of whom are women, access to services is a problem; and access to extension services, which, for example, may be able to help women get better access to fer-tilizer or improved seeds, is simply not available,” explained McNamara. “An additional compo-nent to INGENAES is the intersection of nutrition and agriculture and how agricultural extension programs can help pro-
mote practices that help improve nutrition.”
The INGENAES team will be working in at least eight countries that will be selected over the next couple of months. Led by McNamara, the team includes three associate directors: Andrea Bohn from the U of I College of ACES, who is also the proj-ect manager for MEAS; Kathleen Earl Colverson from the University of Florida; and Kristy Cook from Cultural Practice LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm.
“It is most important to consider the multiple roles that women hold,” said Colverson. “It is crit-ical that when you intro-duce a new technology you are not adding anoth-er responsibility to wom-en’s already overbur-dened lifestyles. Women and children are generally responsible for repetitive
household tasks (such as gathering firewood and carrying water), often without mechanization and electricity, so the question is how can we introduce innovations that will reduce their bur-den and not add a dif-ferent burden, such as providing equipment that is too big, heavy, or dan-gerous.”
Cultural Practice LLC is a consultancy firm that will provide support to the management team and provide technical assistance to the program. “We all know that agricul-ture is key to improved nutrition, but we don’t pay enough attention to the roles and relation-ships of men and women in agriculture,” said Cook. “These relationships determine what is pro-duced, sold, purchased, and fed to children.”
According to Bohn, the
INGENAES project will focus on changing behav-ior at the individual and organizational levels with the goal of improving live-lihoods. “This is not about us going and telling peo-ple what to do,” she said. “It is about being a sound-ing board. It is about lis-tening more than telling and engaging with organi-zations and individuals to help identify how chang-ing behaviors is for their own profit and in their own best interest.”
Initially concentrat-ing on four countries, the team will apply a multistep programmatic approach for 15 months and will later revise the program as needed for an additional four countries. The specific countries have yet to be selected, but they will be selected from among the existing Feed the Future coun-tries.
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10 • Winter 2014 Ag Matters
2015 AFBF Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show features more exhibits, innovation and interaction
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Farmers, ranchers and growers will focus on inno-vation and engagement when they converge on San Diego, Calif., Jan. 9-14, for American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2015 Annu-al Convention and IDEAg Trade Show.
The AFBF Annual Con-vention will feature head-line speakers, timely infor-mation and strategies farmers need to engage on the many public policy issues. The latest in agri-cultural technology, equip-ment, programs and ser-vices will take the spotlight at the all-new, interactive IDEAg Trade Show Jan. 9-11.
“The new IDEAg Trade Show is a greatly expanded exhibition of all the tools and technology that are essential for farmers and ranchers to succeed in today’s efficient and pro-ductive agricultural envi-
ronment,” said Raymond Bianchi, senior director, expositions and events for AFBF and IDEAg Group. “The IDEAg brand is truly premier in the farm show business. Adding this expertise to the AFBF Annual Convention offers farmers and ranchers a great opportunity to pack a lot of business into one dynamic event.”
The IDEAg Trade Show will feature cutting-edge technologies and products for America’s farmers and ranchers. Featured exhib-itors will include Case IH, Dow Agroscience, DuPont Pioneer, General Motors, John Deere, Monsanto, Nationwide Insurance and Valley Irrigation. The show is divided into four focus areas:
Innovate: focused on the latest technology; Invest: focused on the business of agriculture; Infrastructure: focused on the systems
used in agriculture; and Engage: focused on state Farm Bureau’s and policy engagement.
The IDEAg show will also feature an on-site Cultiva-tion Center programmed with short content that will engage attendees on the focus areas of the show. The show also will feature, on Jan. 10, the IDEAg Inno-vate conference, which will spotlight topics such as managing agricultural big data, the use of drones for farming purposes, preci-sion agriculture and Inter-net strategies for farmers and ranchers. That day’s events and all the exhibits will be open to all farmers, ranchers and agricultural professionals.
Coupled with the trade show, AFBF’s Annual Con-vention is even more of an essential event for Ameri-ca’s farmers and ranchers. Speakers will include AFBF President Bob Stallman,
Jay Leno, U.S. Navy SEAL Commander Rorke Denver and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (invited).
Before registering online at annualconvention.fb.org, farmer and ranch-er members should check with their state Farm Bureau office to see if they have already been regis-tered. The full Farm Bureau member registration fee is $100 and includes the IDEAg Trade Show and Young Farmer & Rancher competitive events, gen-eral sessions, workshops and the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture Silent Auction. Non-members may pay $10 in advance for a one-day registration to attend the IDEAg Trade Show and Foundation Silent Auction on Saturday, Jan. 10.
For more information on the IDEAg Trade Show, contact Raymond Bianchi at 847-969-2915.
Survey: Gauging the aspirations, needs of women in agricultureWASHINGTON, D.C.
— The American Farm Bureau Women’s Lead-ership Program has launched “Women in Ag,” an online survey that aims to gauge the goals, aspi-rations, achievements and needs of women in Ameri-can agriculture in a num-ber of different areas.
All women who are con-nected to agriculture are invited to participate in the survey at womeninag.fb.org. Respondents must reside in the United States. Farm Bureau membership is not required to partic-ipate.
“This comprehensive survey is the first of its kind to ask women in-depth questions about how they are connected to agricul-ture and what leadership skills they think are most important today, as well as the top business chal-lenges they’re facing,” said Terry Gilbert, a Kentucky
farmer and chair of the American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee. “All women involved in agriculture – not just Farm Bureau members – are invited to participate in the survey,” Gilbert emphasized.
Data collected from respondents will be used to gauge trends related to the achievements of women in agriculture.
The AFB Women’s Lead-ership Committee is spon-soring the survey and is working with other farm and agriculture organiza-tions to encourage partici-pation. Participants will be eligible for an opportuni-ty to win one of five $100 gift cards after the survey closes. Preliminary find-ings from the survey will be released in February 2015 at AFBF’s FUSION Conference in Nashville, Tenn.; the full report will be released in late spring.
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Ag Matters Winter 2014 • 11
Cover crops can sequester soil organic carbonURBANA — A 12-year
University of Illinois study shows that, although the use of cover crops does not improve crop yields, the practice does increase the amount of seques-tered soil organic carbon using three different soil management systems.
U of I soil scientist Ken Olson evaluated plots that were subjected to no-till, chisel plow and mold-board plow treatments with and without hairy vetch and cereal rye cover crops.
“By 2012, we found that the soil tillage plots that had cover-crop treat-ments had more soil organic carbon stock than those without cover crops for the same soil root zone and tillage treatment,” Olson said.
In fact, Olson said the no-till system, with cover crops, sequestered the most soil organic carbon
when compared to the pre-treatment from the year 2000 no-till baseline soil organic carbon stock.
“In addition, the no-tilled, chisel plowed and moldboard-plowed plots with cover crops all sequestered soil organ-ic carbon above the pre-treatment baseline levels of the same tillage treatment.”
With the addition of cover crops to all tillage treatments for the 12-year study, the soil organ-ic carbon stock gains were 30 percent high-er for no-till, 10 percent higher for chisel plowed and 18 percent for mold-board-plowed plots.
“This suggests that soil organic carbon stock losses from tillage, water erosion and some distur-bance or mixing during no-till planting, aeration, nitrogen injection in corn years and mineraliza-
tion were less than the soil organic carbon gain from the cover-crop treat-ment,” Olson said.
Olson stressed that establishing a baseline of
soil organic carbon prior to the study is critical in order to claim that soil organic carbon is truly being sequestered.
“Management prac-
tices, such as no-till and cover crops, must create an increase in net soil organic carbon from a previous pre-treatment baseline, as well as result
in a net reduction in atmospheric carbon diox-ide levels to be described as having sequestered soil organic carbon,” Olson said.
The study was con-ducted at U of I’s Dixon Springs Agricultural Research Center in south-ern Illinois beginning in 2001 on sloping ground with a moderately well drained, eroded soil.
“Long-Term, Effects of Cover Crops on Crop Yields, Soil Organic Car-bon Stocks and Seques-tration” was published in Open Journal of Soil Sci-ence and was co-authored by Stephen A. Ebelhar and James M. Lang. Olson is a researcher in the Depart-ment of Natural Resourc-es and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sci-ences at the University of Illinois.
Young farmers, ranchers tell EPA to ditch the rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. — America’s young farmers and ranchers are speaking out on the impact their new businesses will suffer under the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers’ pro-posed Waters of the U.S. rule, the American Farm Bureau Federation said.
AFBF’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee outlined its key concerns regarding the Waters of the U.S. rule in formal comments submitted to the EPA.
“EPA keeps grasping for control over our farms and ranches,” AFBF Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee Chair Jake Carter said. “Young farm-ers and ranchers are the future of American agri-culture, and we take our role of protecting the land seriously. This proposal puts serious roadblocks
in our way without any material improvements in water quality.”
Young farmers and ranchers are especially vulnerable to increased costs in farming. Since the already narrow “nor-mal farming and ranch-ing” exemption in the Clean Water Act excludes farms and ranches that started operating after 1977, farmers and ranch-ers with newer business-es will need permits for basic farming activities, including simply moving dirt.
Under this proposed rule, the only thing that is clear and certain is that it will be more difficult to farm and ranch, or to make any changes on the land – even if those changes would bene-fit the environment, the AFBF committee said.
Shaw Media Service file photo
The calm of winterThe harvest is over and planting is still a few months away. It is now time to enjoy a little quiet time before the cycle starts over.
