Today's News - November 27, 2009

Lions Share The Thanksgiving Feast

Several hundred Monroe Countians with hearty appetites were treated to a filling turkey dinner with all the trimmings yesterday as part of the Waterloo Lions Club’s annual Share The Feast Thanksgiving Dinner at the SPPS Grade School cafeteria.

Waterloo Lions member Ruth Ann Mueller and Joey Baldwin serve slices of pumpkin pie to those attending the Thanksgiving Share The Feast.

Curt Heusohn, 30, of old town Valmeyer died unexpectedly overnight. He was rushed to a St. Louis hospital but passed away earlier this morning. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Tickets remain on sale for the Valmeyer Centennial Ball. The gala will be held Saturday, Dec. 5, at St. Mary’s Parish Hall. Cocktails hour begins at 5 p.m., with dinner served at 6 p.m. The Gateway City Big Band will provide musical entertainment from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets are $25 each and are available at the Village Hall, Mike's Convenience, First Bank and State Bank. Reservations are required by Monday, Nov. 30.

The 28th annual Waterloo Christmas Walk is Sunday, Nov. 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Waterloo. The event features shopping, a Christmas concert, free carriage rides and the arrival of Santa Claus at his hut next to the courthouse bandstand. Participating merchants include A World of Difference, Back On The Rack, Clark’s Country Oaks, Drury House, Echoes of the Past Antiques, Mill Street Treasures, Reime Jewelers and Gifts and Vickie’s Hallmark. Stop by those stores for your chance to win one of 17 prizes totaling $800.

The Waterloo Municipal band will present a free Christmas concert beginning at 1 p.m. at the courthouse bandstand. City hall will be open to allow residents to meet their elected officials. The event is hosted by the Waterloo Merchants Group and chaired by Julie Holtgrewe of Reime Jewelers and Nancy Gross of Echo’s of the Past Antiques. For more information, call 939-6517 or visit the website www.thewmginc.com.

Columbia Christmas Cruise Set For Nov. 29: To kick off the Christmas shopping season, the annual Columbia Christmas Cruise will take place Sunday, Nov. 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “This is a great opportunity to gather your shopping buddies -- see what Columbia businesses have to offer, enjoy a relaxing lunch at one of Columbia’s restaurants and cruise down Main Street on a free horse drawn carriage ride with friends and family,” said Ellen Otten of Curves, one of the event’s organizers.

Participating businesses are Agnes Ross, Chic Junktique, Curtis Jewelers, Dee’s Floral and Gifts, Elements Off Main, The Final Touch, The Flower Company, Harres Furniture and Appliances, Mattingly Jewelry, Mist Spa, Vida Verde, Rooster’s Health Food, Shady Creek Nursery and Sylvia’s Alterations. 

New this year is the Santa Search Scavenger Hunt. Game sheets will be available at all the participating merchants. When you enter a business during that day, you will need to locate the hidden themed Santa in order to have your game card stamped. When all of your Santas are found, the game sheet can be turned in at your last stop, no later than 4 p.m., that day. Shoppers 18 years and older will be entered to win a prize, including a 22-inch flat screen television or a gift certificate from one of the merchants.  For additional information, visit the city of Columbia’s website: www.columbiaillinois.com.

Maeystown’s Old Fashioned German Christmas is Sunday, Dec. 6, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., between the Old Rock Mill and the Corner George Inn. The festival celebrates German Christmas customs and music. Sankt Nickolaus will be strolling throughout the village greeting girls and boys of all ages. A highlight of the day will be house tour from 12 noon to 4 p.m. featuring three village homes decorated in their Christmas best. Tickets are $3 and available at the Maeystown General Store. Horse-drawn carriage rides will be available for tours of the village from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Former Maeystown Church Pastor Ivan Horn (now of Hecker) will present two Christmas monologues in the ballroom of the Corner George Inn – at 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. There will be demonstrations of wrapping the sassafras tree and of paper star folding at the rock mill.

Food items will include the traditional Weihnacht stew, bratwurst and Kinderpunsch, all served by the St John Church Choir. The Maeystown Women’s Club’s annual Taste of Christmas will serve homemade desserts in the basement of the rock mill. In addition, the Village Kaffeehaus serve traditional German Glühwein as well as specialty coffees and wine. The Sweet Shoppe will feature stollen and gingerbread as well as a variety of other sweets.

Musical entertainment for the day will begin with organ music being heard over the tower of St John UCC from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Throughout the day at the rock mill, Carl Seavers, Jim Abbott and Mardy Eisleffel will play Christmas favorites on hammered dulcimer and accordion. The boys of the Band Room Brass will then stroll through the village from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Music will then move inside the Corner George from 2:15 to2:30 p.m., with piano music of the season by Larry Forsting. The Valmeyer High School Ensemble will be caroling from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15p.m. German Christmas carols will be sung from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., in the ballroom of the Corner George Inn. The day will be capped off at 4:30 p.m., in front of the rock mill with the traditional carol sing at the lighting of the village Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree). The O’Fallon High School German Club will demonstrate traditional German dances after the German Carol Sing.

The Maeystown General Store will be open all day offering gifts from both past and present and Georgia Mae’s Antiques will bring back memories of Christmas past. For more information, please call the Corner George Inn at 618-458-6660.

High School boys’ basketball action should not be hard to find this weekend with Thanksgiving tournaments in full swing. Waterloo’s tournament will include the cross-town rival Gibault Hawks, who defeated the Bulldogs earlier this season. WHS (0-2) will be looking for its first win Friday evening against Mater Dei (2-0) - game time is 6 p.m. The Bulldogs then match up Saturday with Nokomis. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Gibault (1-1) plays the Bulldogs from Highland Friday evening at 7:30 p.m., with a game on Saturday against Civic Memorial (1-1) - tipoff is 6 p.m.

Columbia travels to Lebanon for tournament games at McKendree Collage. The Eagles play Sparta at 5 p.m., on Friday. Saturday, they will take on Civic Memorial at 8 p.m. Valmeyer will play in the Okawville tournament, while Red Bud opens their season Monday at the Trico Pioneer Invitational. The Musketeers take on Elverado at 5:30 p.m.

Highland Wins Battle Of The Bulldogs: The Highland Bulldogs traveled south Wednesday and handed the WHS Bulldogs a 67-47 defeat. Waterloo was able to hold the game close at halftime, but were outplayed in the second half.

Waterloo forward Dalton Kaufmann goes up strong during varsity basketball action against Highland.                 - photo by Bob Haentzler-Game photos on sale at www.gatewayphoto.net

Gibault’s basketball team has opened the season with a win and a loss. They defeated Waterloo 38-35 on Tuesday, but fell Wednesday to Mater Dei 43-18. They are playing this weekend in a tournament at Waterloo High School.

Gibault’s Justin Rueter goes up for a three-pointer in the Hawks victory Tuesday over Waterloo.

Ben Neff killed a 170-pound, 10-point buck in Monroe County during the first firearm deer season. He went hunting with his son, Troy.

Deer killed during the first weekend of firearm season were down locally and throughout Illinois. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is reporting over the opening weekend, from Nov. 20 – 22, there were 66,126 deer harvested. That is down from 71,894 during the same period in 2008. The top county’s were Pike with 2,012 deer, followed by Fulton (1,725) and Adams (1,614). In Monroe County, there were 792 deer killed in the first firearm season, compared to 863 last year, a decline of 8.2 percent. Neighboring counties showed similar drop-offs – Randolph County had 1,576 this year compared to 1,770 in 2008, while St. Clair County dropped from 724 last year to 656 in 2009.                                                                      

“Standing corn was a significant factor affecting hunter success for the first weekend of firearm deer hunting this year,” said IDNR Forest Wildlife Program Manager Paul Shelton. “The wet weather this fall has delayed corn harvest in many locations, and that makes it tougher for hunters to find deer.”

IDNR reports that only 60 percent of corn had been harvested statewide during the gun season, while the five-year average is 98 percent harvested at that time. “The good news is that there is still a lot of deer hunting left, so loads of opportunities remain for Illinois hunters,” Shelton added.

The IDNR has issued more than 360,000 firearm deer hunting permits for the 2009 season. Most hunters register their deer harvest online through the IDNR web site or by phoning 1-866-ILCHECK. The Illinois firearm deer season concludes Dec. 3-6. The muzzleloader-only deer season is Dec. 11-13. The state’s 2009-2010 Archery Deer Season continues through Jan. 17, except during the second firearm season dates during the first weekend in December.

Columbia Christmas Parade Set For Dec. 5

A Christmas parade is being planned for downtown Columbia on Saturday, Dec. 5, beginning at 5 p.m. The event is being sponsored by the Celebration 2009 Committee and Columbia’s Resourceful Organization of Women Networking. The lighted, holiday parade will begin at the Old Distillery Building (across from Tiny’s Pub), travel south on Main Street and end at City Hall. Local businesses, churches, civic and school groups and organizations are invited to participate in this event which will help ring in the holiday season.

 “In order to control the length of this parade, only a limited number of floats will be accepted” said Jackie Hausmann, event coordinator for the city of Columbia. “Since this is a chilly time of the year, we would like to keep it to about a 40-minute parade.” Businesses along the parade route are invited to offer free, hot beverages to help keep the crowd warm. “This will also be a great opportunity for attendees to do a little Christmas shopping along Main Street or enjoy dining at a Columbia restaurant after the parade,” Hausmann added.

Santa will arrive by horse drawn carriage at the Santa Hut at city hall immediately following the parade. “I will visit with children for the rest of the evening,” Santa said. “I am looking forward to finding out what they all want for Christmas.” Santa said he will be back at the Santa Hut every Saturday and Sunday before Christmas from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Businesses which would like to help sponsor the parade or those wanting to have a float can contact Hausmann by calling her office at city hall at 281-7144, ext. 106, or by email at jackie@columbiaillinois.com.

St. Paul UCC of Waterloo’s annual Blue Christmas service is Monday, Dec. 7, beginning at 7 p.m. The service is designed for those experiencing dark times this holiday season.