By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post FARMINGTON – Just a few feet away from a new lightpole banner thanking first responders for their work, local firefighters once again battled a major structure fire here. A fire that started Monday night sometime before 9 p.m. in Whiskey Dixie’s Bar at 16 N. Cone St. quickly engulfed the bar and the attached Parkside Deli & Diner. Before the fire was contained by about 11:30 p.m., Farmington Fire Chief Matt Waters said 27 neighboring departments had replied to the call for help, bringing more than 100 firefighters to assist in putting out the blaze on…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post The Princeville School District switched to remote learning on Tuesday and has called off all sports until Dec. 7 due to a recent increase in COVID-19 cases. In Elmwood, a promising 7th grade girls basketball postseason came to an abrupt end after two players tested positive for COVID and the 8th grade girls basketball postseason appears to have barely survived becoming a pandemic casualty. No question, COVID is rearing its ugly spiky head locally. At Princeville, Superintendent Shannon Duling said the school district there went from three students out for COVID-related issues during the…

By JOHN A. BALLENTINE For The Weekly Post PEORIA – A jury of 12 people has awarded $7,020,883 to the family of a Wyoming woman whose wrongful death occurred on July 11, 2017, two miles west of Toulon on Route 17. Corina Miller, 41, was headed westbound on Route 17 when at 4:42 a.m. she drove into, underneath and beyond the tanker-trailer of a milk semi-truck driven by 51-year-old Timothy E. Schwenk, of Brimfield. Schwenk had stopped in the eastbound lane of Route 17 in front of Doug Murray’s dairy farm and had backed the trailer across the westbound lane…

Farmington appears poised for big season By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post Three new head coaches will lead local basketball programs this year, though technically there’s nothing “new” about any of the three. Farmington’s Marty Lozier, Brimfield’s Kevin Kreiter and Princeville’s Tait Sennett have all served as assistants in the programs they are taking over, so there’s plenty of familiarity with all three. Lozier and Kreiter inherit more experience than Sennett, who looks to have his work cut out after graduating five starters and seeing other likely candidates hurt during football season. Elsewhere, Bob Anderson is back with high hopes…

Brimfield girls BKB starts season strong By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post BRIMFIELD – The Brimfield girls basketball team has started this year in mid-season form. The Lady Indians have raced to a perfect record through the first week of play, featuring a combination of potent, balanced scoring and stingy defense. Brimfield (4-0) opened the season with a 64-32 rout of Princeville, followed up with a 99-28 win over West Prairie on Nov. 18 and last Saturday opened play at its own Turkey Tournament by trouncing Kewanee Wethersfield, 55-15. Monday was more of the same in a 63-22 win over…

Aupperle earns honor from ag group By JOHN A. BALLENTINE For The Prairie News TOULON – Eldon R. “Bud” Aupperle has dedicated his life to advancing the Future Farmers of America program from the national to the local levels. His association with FFA began in 1946 when he joined the FFA at Fairbury Township High School as a freshman. It was then that his Ag teacher and FFA teacher, Robert Maurer, significantly influenced Aupperle for the rest of his life. “We had a super fantastic Ag teacher. I became very active in FFA although I had three brothers [Elias, Willis…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Prairie News OREGON – Despite running her best race ever on the challenging new sectional course here, Stark County senior Ashley Orrick narrowly missed advancing to the Class 1A state cross country meet last Saturday. Orrick placed 29th out of 148 finishers overall in 21:31 on the 3.1-mile course for the Lady Rebels, who placed 12th as a team. Alex Welch (64th, 18:54), the first SC boys runner to compete in a sectional, also ran well, but missed advancing to state Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria. “Ashley ran her best race ever on this layout…

Traffic citations & Ordinance violations 10-17 – Kavon A. Russell – Unlawful possession of cannabis. 10-30 – Hunter C. Easterberg – Driving 15-20 mph above limit. 10-26 – Juan A. Amperez-Ruiz – Driving 15-20 mph above limit. 10-25 – Paulo Castro – Driving 15-20 mph above limit. 10-25 – Timothy L. Postin – Driving 21-25 mph above limit. 10-31 – Melanie G. Sadowski – Operating an uninsured vehicle, failure to signal and driving on a suspended license. 10-25 -Veronica Sierra Mejia – Speeding 26-34 mph over limit. Felonies & Misdemeanors 10-29 – DUI Traffic – Gavin J. L. Abbott –…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Elmwood man subdued with taser by deputies ELMWOOD – Peoria County Sheriff deputies used a taser to subdue an Elmwood man on Oct. 23 after he became combative with officers. Police responding to a domestic situation in the 300 block of N. Pleasant St. found Michael M. Overend “yelling and bleeding from his head,” according to an Elmwood police report. Overend said he had smashed his phone against his head before beating his head on the wall. A female said she…

Inability to finish haunts SC By JEFF LAMPE For The Prairie News ELMWOOD – Finishing drives is proving to be an Achille’s heel for this year’s Stark County football team. The problem cropped up again last Friday in a pivotal game at Elmwood-Brimfield, where both the Rebels and Trojans faced off in dire need of a win. That E-B wound up claiming a 30-9 non-conference victory was at least in part to the Rebels’ inability to make the most of possessions. Case in point came on the first drive of the third quarter. After E-B (2-2) went up 16-0 on 12-…