By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post ELMWOOD – The Elmwood Elementary School is poised to have a new HVAC system installed after this school year. The Elmwood School Board met on June 23 and among the action items for the night was approval of a $110,000 agreement with Keith Engineering of Brimfield to design, bid and ultimately award the HVAC project. Work is slated to be completed in the summer of 2022. Funding comes from the federal CARES program. More good news on the financial front came from Superintendent Chad Wagner, whose end-of-year projections showed another year “in the black”…

Demolition of Elmwood dairy starts Monday By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post ELMWOOD – Demolition of a controversial dairy south of town starts Monday, and new owners of the property pledge there will never be a concentrated animal feeding operation there again. Doug and Diane Oberhelman purchased the 73-acre property after a Sheriff’s auction in late May for $160,000 from the Bank of Yates City. The Oberhelmans are the fifth owners of the dairy, whose last operators declared bankruptcy and were forced to halt operations. That should effectively close the book on a mass milking operation that opened in the…

By PHIL JOHNSON For The Weekly Post ROWVA-Williamsfield’s memorable baseball season of 18-8 ended three weeks ago with a heartbreaking loss to Illini Bluffs in sectional play. But the season didn’t really end there. After the season ended, players, coaches and a number of parents embarked on a baseball road trip that included a visit to Cooperstown, N.Y., to experience the Baseball Hall of Fame. While the 2021 baseball season was still in its early stages, R-W Head Coach Arnie Gonzalez was already thinking about this year’s seniors, who had lost all of their junior season to COVID-19 restrictions. Gonzalez pondered…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Police reports • PRINCEVILLE – Scott Eugene Gardner, 56, of Princeville was charged on June 24 with a violation of order of protection, according to a Peoria County sheriff’s report. • FARMINGTON – Farmington police met with Christopher Ward, 36, of Indiana at the Farmington Circle K on June 16, regarding a Fulton County warrant for deceptive practice, according to a Farmington police report. Ward posted bond and was given a court date. • FARMINGTON – Carrisa Monroe, 31, of Farmington…

Traffic citations & Ordinance violations 6-23 – Jordan S. McCauley – Driving 21-25 mph above limit. 6-18 – Terri L. Szymanski – Driving 15-20 mph above limit. 6-23 – Raiden E. Porter – Driving 15-20 mph above limit. 6-23 – Dameian B. Decker – Driving/operating a non-highway vehicle/ATV. Felonies & Misdemeanors Criminal misdemeanor – Chase T. Anderson – Domestic battery/physical contact. Incidents & Accidents Stark County 6-20 – A deer-related vehicle accident occurred at 1400E and 800N. The driver involved was Jessica Joos, 21, of Wyoming. There were no injuries reported, but estimated damage to the vehicle was over $1,500….

By JOHN A. BALLENTINE For The Weekly Post BRIMFIELD – The Brimfield Board of Education approved its newest member to complete a seven-person board. Brimfield’s Lauren Coyle took the oath of office June 16 and joins President Steve Updyke, Mark Bell, Brent Graham, Patrick Meyer, Todd Johnson and Jason Snyder on the board. The board then ran through a series of agenda items by first approving a contract with Heinz Transportation to provide buses for the school district for the 2021-22 school year. According to school superintendent Tony Shinall, this represents “a six percent increase on the base” cost. Second, registration…

Trojans take second in relay for fifth time in school history By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post CHARLESTON – One of these years, an Elmwood-Brimfield 4×800 relay is going to win a state title. But until that finally happens, the Trojans will be proud to add to an already-impressive resume of relay finishes. Another chapter was written last Thursday during a steamy state meet, as E-B ran to second place in the two-mile relay for the fifth time in school history. The quartet of seniors Blake Rosenbohm, Eli Stevenson and Luke Hoffmann and junior Thomas Harmon posted a season-best time…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post FARMINGTON – The Farmington City Council on Monday voted unanimously to accept a bid from UCM, Inc., for upcoming resurfacing of Apple Street, First Avenue and Second Avenue. UCM of Tremont offered the lowest of two bids submitted for the resurfacing project, which is funded by Motor Fuel Taxes. The UCM bid of $483,361.45 was under an engineer’s estimate of $530,619 and well under the bid of $604,175.16 from Tazewell County Asphalt. The council also voted unanimously to purchase an Owl Pro camera, laptop and necessary wires to allow for livestreaming of future council meetings…

Princeville’s festival back minus beer tent By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post PRINCEVILLE – While the beer tent is gone for another year, most activities that have made Heritage Days a popular event in Princeville are back this weekend after a one-year, pandemic-related hiatus. Getting to this point was not always certain, though, according to Beth Duttlinger, president of the Princeville Civic Association, which organizes the festival. “Some of this was like a wing and a prayer when we were doing the planning, because we weren’t sure how much would be open,” Duttlinger said. “So we’re very fortunate the state…

Board says it is watching budget By JOHN A. BALLENTINE For The Prairie News WYOMING – Four Stark County residents voiced concerns about a school renovation project during the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting of the Stark County Board of Education. The speakers told board members that the school renovation project should be put on hold, asked them to reconsider building a new school and expressed concerns about higher tax rates. Local farmer Doug Milby said in his statements that he “didn’t attend some of the other information meetings” because “I was gone, I wasn’t here.” Milby, in addressing…