The Greater Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual dinner last night at the Willow Creek Venue near Fairfield and announced, moving forward, it will be known as the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and will incorporate businesses in the rest of the county, including Cisne and Wayne City. Tim McBride was named the 2022 Outstanding Community Service Award winner at the event, and La Fuente was honored as the Business of the Year. In the dinner's newest tradition, Fairfield Mayor Mike Dreith handed out his second annual SMILE Award to the director of the Fairfield Community High School and City bands, Joshua Livesay. The award stands for "Shines, Motivates, Inspires, Leads, and Excels;" last year's honoree was Kristi Hornung. Frontier Community College has introduced a Small Business Development Center, or SBDC, in conjunction with a grant with Southeastern Illinois College. The program aims to help with accounting, financing, web development, and similar a
Fairfield Mayor Mike Dreith says he will propose 36-year-old Cody Attebery to fill the unexpired term of Alderman Brett Coale, who announced he would step away from the seat in February and has moved to Florida. His name will be presented to the City Council tomorrow night for a vote. If approved, Attebery would serve for the next year before deciding if he will run as an incumbent in 2023. Mayor Dreith says the nomination was based on Attebery's qualifications and the fact he ran for a seat on the council in 2021, losing by five notes to Dewey Eckleberry. The Fairfield City Council will meet tomorrow at 6:00 at City Hall. Following the resolution to appoint Attebery as First Ward Alderman, the council is set to appoint a leadman for the Water Distribution Department, authorize the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners to proceed with hiring and testing, and discuss fees for transient or temporary ag operators. It is also anticipated to change utility collection dates. There will
49-year-old Carmi resident Brian W. Dartt was sentenced to 13 years in prison yesterday in White County Circuit Court by Judge T. Scott Webb. He entered an open plea of guilty in January to a Class 2 felony count of Aggravated DUI Causing Death; in so doing, he admitted to driving a truck on Route 1 while under the influence of methamphetamine and getting into an accident that resulted in the death of 18-year-old Norris City resident Clinton J. Richardson. The Wayne County Farm Bureau held its 100th Annual Meeting last night at the Fairfield First Christian Church. Robert Pearce, Fred Blessing, Tim Chambliss, Anthony Vaughan, and Randy Ellis were re-elected to the Board of Directors for two-year terms. Manager Doug Anderson gave a financial and membership report, as well; as of the end of September, the county organization had $1.16 million in unrestricted net assets, compared to about $913,000 to begin October 2020. Membership as of September 1st was at 855 regular members, compared t
The Illinois Eastern Community College Board of Trustees met Tuesday night at Olney Central College. Trustee Al Henager announced his retirement from the board on January 18th, and the board appointed Roger Browning to fill his seat on Tuesday. Browning will be seated in March and will serve until the 2023 election, at which time he may seek election to a two-year term. Browning ran for a seat in 2021 and missed election at that time by about 40 votes to Brady Waldrop. The Cisne Village Board met this week and approved a $1,000 donation to the Cisne Reunion, and it approved city workers to help the bank clear an area of Barth Park near the gazebo to be decorated for holidays. The board also approved covering the cost of three dumpsters for cleanup of property at 113 South Watkins Street. Edwards County Sheriff Darby Boewe has announced he will seek re-election to his post. He has been sheriff for nearly 14 years; Boewe says former Sheriff Scott Meserole resigned in 2008, and he was app
The Greater Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors is supporting the establishment of a Business District in Fairfield. At a meeting yesterday morning, the board heard a presentation from Mayor Mike Dreith and unanimously voted to support the idea. A public hearing has been set for March 8th at 5:30 at City Hall before a City Council meeting, and the majority of the council will have to support the idea for it to become a reality. All council meetings are streamed on the City's Facebook page. The Edwards County High School ACES team earned second place in the Regional Academic Challenge in Engineering and Science competition, which was hosted by Olney Central College last Wednesday. The team will advance to compete in Sectionals in March in a virtual competition via Eastern Illinois University. First-place individual finishers included Emma Wiseman in English, Lauren Luker in Biology, Tobias Reineke in Physics, and Molly Swardstrom in Engineering Graphics. Fairfield