By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post WILLIAMSFIELD – The Williamsfield School Board voted Monday to expand its athletic coop with ROWVA. That R-W Cougars sports coop will now expand to middle school boys and girls basketball and will add high school wrestling and expand high school cheerleading to include competitive cheer. The board also approved expansion of the district’s solar array to include storage and electric vehicle charging. New rooftop solar panels will be installed on the roof over the gym and the Fine Arts classroom. Funding will come from a $50,000 state grant. Tabled was the purchase of an…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post WILLIAMSFIELD – The Williamsfield Village Board revised a draft budget at its March 7 meeting in anticipation of approving a final budget that should include “substantial” infrastructure work, according to Village President Matt Tonkin. The board is expected to vote at its April meeting on a Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget that should fund continued repairs to existing sidewalks, ongoing repairs at KP Hall, repairs or reconstruction of road margins that are slipping into adjacent ditches and implementation of stormwater management improvements. The latter is in response to a village survey that’s still in-process. Trustees also…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post FARMINGTON – The Farmington School Board voted unanimously to hire Clint Mathewson as elementary principal for next school year. Mathewson is currently the assistant principal and will replace Missy Ryba, whose is resigning at the end of this school year. Mathewson is a former social studies teacher within the district who has coached scholastic bowl, track and basketball in the past. The past two years he has served as assistant principal and technology integration specialist. “The district is excited to see his career continue to grow with us and look forward to him advancing…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Police reports • HANNA CITY – Dale A. Wise II, 34, of Hanna City was held for another law enforcement agency on Feb. 28, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s report. • ELMWOOD – Phillip D. Smith, 27, of Elmwood was charged on March 5 for aggravated battery, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s report. • HANNA CITY – Morgan Marie Beck, 26, of Hanna City was charged on March 4 for domestic battery/bodily harm, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post As if the honor wasn’t enough, being promoted to colonel earlier this year comes with an added bonus for Elmwood native Kyle Shoop. After spending the past few years working a desk job in the Pentagon and handling money matters, Colonel Shoop will soon be doing what attracted him to the military in the first place: flying. “I work on budgetary things here, and it’s been interesting to see how the sausage gets ground,” Shoop said Monday from his Pentagon office. “But I’m glad my permanent assignment is not in this field. I’d rather…

By JOHN A. BALLENTINE For The Weekly Post ELMWOOD – The Elmwood City Council approved having sealcoating and fog coating done on numerous city streets at its March 3 meeting. The board approved the work for $120,691, which is broken down in parts of $109,719 for the contractors and $10,972 for engineering costs. Fog coating is, according to an online description, “an application of a specially formulated asphalt emulsion (a thin liquid oil) to an existing asphalt pavement surface. A fog coat seal gets its name from its spray application sometimes referred to as ‘fogging’.” “I explain it as an oil…

Schedule assisted Brimfield Schedule assisted Brimfield By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post NORMAL – Moments after Brimfield walked off the Redbird Arena floor with its Class 1A trophy, Winnebago and Quincy Notre Dame battled for a Class 2A title. Brimfield had already played both title contenders this season, routing eventual champion Notre Dame (73-49) and losing to Winnebago in the State Farm Classic title game (57-42). No question, the Lady Indians were a battle-tested group. After going unbeaten in last year’s COVID-shortened season, Brimfield opted to take on larger schools this season, many of them ranked. Coach Maribeth Dura said…

Lady Indians play Thursday at Redbird Arena By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post They prefer to play fast. But Monday night, the top-ranked Brimfield girls basketball team proved they can grind out a game with the best of them. After jumping to a characteristic big early lead, Brimfield (30-4) had to rally late for a 45-42 win over No. 2 ranked Okawville (29-3) at the Brown County Supersectional. As has been the case so many times, senior cousins Ella Lune and Elynn Peterson delivered big plays in the clutch – plays that sealed Brimfield’s first trip to the state tournament…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post ELMWOOD – After interviewing nine candidates for an open school board position last week, the Elmwood School Board selected Jessica Reyling for the board at its Monday meeting. Reyling has three children who attend the school, has lived in Elmwood since 2014 and is employment manager at Liberty Steel & Wire. She was approved by a 5-1 vote. Kevin Windish was the lone dissenting vote. “I just feel like there were better candidates out there,” Windish said. “But I’ll be the first to welcome her and I’m more than happy to work with her.” Reyling…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post KNOXVILLE – After sitting for more than half of the third quarter while a once-comfortable lead disappeared, Farmington senior Ethan Evans was ready. As the fourth quarter began, with the score tied 32-32 following a 12-4 run by Knoxville (27-7), Evans was reinserted into the lineup and wasted little time making a difference. In a pivotal three-minute stretch of the fourth, Evans grabbed three rebounds, made three layups and gave Farmington the breathing room it needed to win its first boys basketball regional since 2007. While the Farmers (25-7) wound up winning by a…