News

Jul 01, 2023

Name Dropping

Our County Editor Don’t mind Todd Cotter if he seems a little distracted these days: So much to do, so little time. A livestock farmer for which there are no days off, Cotter is general manager of

Our County Editor

Don’t mind Todd Cotter if he seems a little distracted these days: So much to do, so little time.

A livestock farmer for which there are no days off, Cotter is general manager of Stout’s Building Service in Urbana.

And what does he do in his spare time? He’s president of the board of the Fisher Fair, which opens Sunday with a horse show

“We’re in full fair mode,” Cotter said. “Right now it’s a lot of behind-the-scenes” work. “Everything is in the last-minute planning, getting some of the fine-tuning details down, working out some logistical things like how the admission gates will run, logistics for each event, making sure our volunteers are lined up to do whatever needs to be done.”

On Friday, volunteers started physically setting things up.

Cotter, who has served as fair president for six years, said it takes a village and more to run what he calls “the single biggest event that the town has going on.”

He estimated up to 50 people from the community alone help with set up. That group includes everyone from some existing fair board members to people inside and outside of Fisher.

And when the fair opens, “On any given night we might have 20-25 people coming in” as volunteers, Cotter said. “Some will be more than one shift.

“We do have organizations that help — like the teachers in Fisher have a group that will help with the gates,” Cotter said. “We have some local businesses that will come in and monitor the admission gates for the evening.”

What the fair means to Fisher can’t be measured. It not only helps economically, it’s a tradition that helps the Champaign County community retain its identity. A tradition that dates to 1942.

The fair is a family affair for the Cotter clan. Todd’s wife, Kim, serves as livestock secretary and is involved in the kids event. Their oldest son Nick, who is ag teacher at Rantoul Township High School, serves as sheep show superintendent and entertainment director. Nick’s wife, Carson, helps with the fair’s social media.

Todd and Kim’s youngest son, Kaleb, helps with the hog show “as well as whatever else dad tells him they need.”

Their daughter, Lacey, is the current reigning fair queen. She will give up her crown Monday when a new queen is crowned and has promoted the fair throughout the year at various functions. She has also served as a member of the junior fair board and has been helping the younger children in that group with ideas and letting them know what her experiences were like. She also helps in the office during fair week.

The Cotters’ children also help on the farm, and Kaleb and Lacey work for Todd at Stout’s as epoxy technicians.

The fair will run longer this year — seven days.

“We used to be a five-day fair,” Todd said. “Last year we started the second Professional Pullers League tractor pull. That’s a big draw for us.”

Cotter said the fair’s biggest draw is either the Friday night concert (this year will feature country music band Lonestar) or Saturday’s demolition derby.

“Our demolition derby is always a tremendous crowd,” he said. “I hear if from other fairs. They talk about Fisher has one of the best demo derbies and one of the most well attended.”

You can bet Cotter will be on hand. After the fair ends, Cotter might get a break, but it will likely be a short one. Livestock need to be tended every day, and the construction industry is always busy. But if he does, he likes to go camping and “spend time with family and my grandchildren. I have two granddaughters.”

No doubt one day the grandchildren will be helping at the fair as well.

MURRAY

Luna-Drone

FERGUSON

EDWARDS

Four young women will compete for the title of Fisher Community Fair queen Monday night.

They are Lexi Murray, 17, of Fisher, daughter of Chris Murray; Ella Luna-Drone, 18, of Mahomet, daughter of Michelle Luna and Luke Drone; Paige Ferguson, 17, of Fisher, daughter of Dion Ferguson and Kristi Page; and Ella Edwards, 17, of Mahomet, daughter of Ben and Rachel Edwards.

Local 218 Sheet Metal Workers.

Members of Local 218 Sheet Metal Workers were among 50 East Central Illinois residents who recently graduated from their union apprentice training programs, earning the title of journeymen.

This is the third of three weekly items listing some of those graduates.

The sheet metal workers honored were Daniel Large, John Mathine, Carson Woodworth, Collin Childress, Isaiah Goulding, David Bamert, Jeremy Zaayer, Lucas Beard and Terry Seets.

EISENMANN

PUTNAM

KLEIN

Three area residents — Dayten Eisenmann of Mahomet, Lexi Putnam of Loda and Addi Klein of Seymour — were among the 30 members of the class of 2023 Farm Credit agriculture scholars recently selected

Each scholar receives $2,500 from FCI to pursue a degree within the field of agriculture. Recipients were selected from 145 applications throughout Central and Southern Illinois by a panel of judges in the agriculture industry.

This fall Eisenmann, son of Derric and Jodi Eisenmann of Mahomet, will attend Oklahoma State University to study farm and ranch management with a minor in animal science with hopes to return to his family farm and become a self-employed farmer and rancher.

Putnam this fall will attend the Parkland Pathways program to study agriculture business with hopes to pursue a career as a precision agriculture specialist.

She is a daughter of Craig and Pam Putnam of Loda.

Klein will attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this fall to study political science and agriculture economics with hopes to pursue a career as an agriculture attorney.

She is a daughter of Paul and Jackie Klein of Seymour.

RANTOUL FIRE RECEIVES DONATION

Dawn Babb, far right, Country Financial agent in Rantoul, recently donated $1,500 to the Rantoul Fire Department. The money was used to purchase new thermal-imaging cameras for the department — a tool that helps in many ways, including search and rescue.

Dawn Babb, far right, Country Financial agent in Rantoul, recently donated $1,500 to the Rantoul Fire Department. The money was used to purchase new thermal-imaging cameras for the department — a tool that helps in many ways, including search and rescue.

THOMAS

Jeff Thomas has retired after 26 years with the Champaign Police Department.

Having started with the department in 1997, Thomas has served in a number of roles, including as a member of the bike patrol unit, crime scene unit, crisis intervention team and field training cadre.

He said his greatest passion was serving as a member of Champaign County’s multi-jurisdictional explosive ordnance disposal team, having served there since 2008 with more than 150 deployments in the field.

Thomas’ work with the department has not gone unnoticed. He has received eight commendations for exemplary work, three life-saving awards and a 2007 Medal of Valor for saving three children from a burning residence.

PAIR WIN TALENT COMPETITION Gibson City’s got talent. A pair of the community’s young residents — Katie Steidinger and Lucas Clinton — were named winners of the talent competition at the Ford County Fair. They are shown with Fair Queen Maci Kingren.

Gibson City’s got talent. A pair of the community’s young residents — Katie Steidinger and Lucas Clinton — were named winners of the talent competition at the Ford County Fair. They are shown with Fair Queen Maci Kingren.

The Peanut League champion Blue Diamonds.

Champaign’s Blue Diamonds, coached by Doug Reynolds, captured the Peanut League All-Star Tournament hosted by Urbana Little League June 17-18 at Yankee Ridge Elementary School.

Six teams from the four C-U leagues competed in pool play then a single-elimination bracket.

The Blue Diamonds defeated the First String All Stars in the championship game.

Comprising the Blue Diamonds: Finn Bossert, Bryce Eaton, Benson Elliott, Aiden Harney, Jack Patterson, Zach Woloszyn, Seth Vermillion, Everett Drew, Will Hiser, Yarel Gutierrez, Bo Christ and Ben Reynolds

Joining Reynolds as coaches were Jeff Eaton and Travis Vermillion.

Newly elected officers were installed by the Governor Bradford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Illiana Genealogical & Historical Society hosted the June Daughters of the American Revolution luncheon and an installation of the 2023-2024 newly elected officers for the Governor Bradford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Installed were Regent Peggy Kotcher, First-Vice Regent Viki Powell, Chaplain Susan Riggle, Treasurer Phyllis Busey and Historian Cynthia Acton.

Arcola Rotary members at the newly installed drinking fountain at Moore Park in Arcola.

Recently completing a drinking fountain matching grant project at the north baseball diamond at Moore Park in Arcola were members of the Arcola Rotary.

The fountain is a top-of-the-line model, offering two levels of drinking fountains, a water bottle filler and a dog watering station.

Showing up for a dedication of the fountain were Rotarians Winnie Stortzum, Kris Graves, Suzy Saunders, Bill Wagoner, Jane Seaman, Julie Mills, Kate Watson, John Watson, Larry Howell, Jesus Garza and Dixie Curry.

Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette’s “Our County” section. Reach him at [email protected] or 217-249-2404.

The Harrisons are part of a committee that organized a first — the day-long Fourth of July-themed celebration along the Kickapoo Rail Trail.

It dawned on Miller. They thought he was Harland Sanders, founder of the international chicken chain.

“I just love hearing everyone’s stories. It keeps me young too, hearing about how long it took them to get here after four years and sometimes after 40 years of service.”

“We were given the opportunity to make a donation, and it just seemed to be the thing to do,” she said. “It’s water and summer and kids. What more could you ask for?”

That all happened in February during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six months later she received a text from her best friend in Denver who asked her, “Did God lay it on your heart to write a book?”

The jungles of Vietnam are a long way from Urbana’s Candlestick Lane, famous for its annual expansive Christmas displays and home to Richard Barnett.

“It’s crazy,” Smith said. “The average cost of a wedding is $25,000 to $30,000. You can go to the courthouse, and it’s a beautiful building, but there’s no privacy, and you don’t want to take your whole family through a metal detector.”

'Our whole idea of Lyric Theatre ... is we want our students to be really flexible and learn all kinds of music and be able to handle that so when they go into the world they can work with all sorts of different people.'

Phillips’ community service came naturally. His father, Harry, was fire chief for about 25 years. As a youngster, Phillips enjoyed being able to push the fire button sounding the fire sirens to alert firefighters to a call while his dad headed the two blocks to the fire station.

He works out practically every day — jogging/walking about 200 miles a month in the Mahomet-Seymour field house and outdoors. It’s a good way to continue his recovery from a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

“For the 2017 show, I got a note from a guy in Kentucky,” Armstrong remembers. “He said, ‘I don’t have long to live. (Attending the show) is a bucket list thing for me.’ He (lived) at least 300 miles away from Rantoul.”

The pandemic interruption not only caused academic hiccups, in some students it produced emotional and mental hurt.

'I get to show the kids I didn’t start as an Olympian and a world champion. I was this really tiny person. It kind of showed them through example, if you buy into the training, it comes alive.'

“I go to church, love on my kids and try to do the best I can and try to make sure they’re positive.”

Woodrum was in awe when as a young lad he walked into the Lincoln Memorial, where the seated 16th president towered over him.

Part of that great time is due to the hosts, and Tomlinson is in his element at an IHSA event. He refereed basketball for 25 years, including two state tournaments in Peoria in 1999 and 2000.

His advice on the track: “You go into the corner until you see God and then you mash the accelerator. I had to learn to finesse it into a turn. When you feel it in your rear end, you can tell whether the car’s loose or tight or pushing. When you learn that, you’ll be a good racer.”

The 97-year-old Roellig, who still drives and maintains a garden at his rural Tolono home, looked back on his time with the local.

Murray, a rural Champaign farmer, helps to coordinate, as a trail guide, an annual snowmobile ride — The MS Snow Tour — that was held in January on the grounds of Lake of the Torches Casino at Lac Du Flambeau, Wis.

'This group started meeting a couple of months ago, and where we are today it’s so much deeper and more complex, and so much more interesting and so much more inspiring'

At an age (19) when many young people are focused on getting their college work done and hanging out with friends, the 2021 Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond graduate is also looking out for his peers.

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