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Green Garden Moving Ahead with Renovations

By Karen Haave Green Garden Township officials are moving ahead with plans for the renovation of the town hall on Center Road. Among the improvements town officials have discussed are plumbing, a new septic system, HVAC, a better parking lot, and wiring. Officials also have noted the building is old and non-ADA compliant. It reportedly…

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VEDETTE SPORTS REPORT

By Jeff Vorva It was a clash of area powers meeting in the Elite Eight.  Manteno Middle School’s eighth-grade girls volleyball team finished second in the state in Class 3A and had to beat Beecher in order to bring a trophy home. Both area schools qualified for the Illinois Elementary School Association quarterfinals and Manteno…

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Monee Eighth Grader Proposes a Community Garden

By Karen Haave A Crete-Monee Middle School eighth grader told the board of trustees recently a community garden could help mitigate the absence of a grocery store there. Lauren Young offered information she learned researching her community project assignment. “We have to complete a community project as part of our graduation requirements,” she explained. “So…

Pics from the Monee Historical Soc. presentation on the railroad and history of Monee.  Christi Holston is standing and Rachel White is seated on the left. Photo by Karen Haave.

History of Monee Shaped by Railroad

By Karen Haave The Village of Monee seems like a quiet little place now, but in the 1850s, it was a boomtown and the nucleus of Will County. In a presentation for the Monee Historical Society recently, MHS President Christi Holston said the village, at that time, had a general store, post office, schoolhouse, and…

Crete PD posed before their run in the Manteno Lake. –Photo by Karen Haave.

Crete, Monee Take the Plunge

By Karen Haave Law enforcement teams from Crete and Monee were among the hundreds of participants to take a dip in the icy waters of Lake Manteno for Polar Plunge 2024. Both teams are award-winners recognized for the record amounts of money raised to benefit Special Olympics Illinois. Monee Police Department’s Sgt. Teresa Cancialosi said…

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Thies Park Improvement Bid Won by Bourbonnais Company

By Stephen Nelson/Andrea Arens At the Monday, March 4, Manteno Village Board meeting, trustees voted to accept a bid for Phase 2 improvements at Thies Park from Tenco Excavating of Bourbonnais.  The cost for the improvement work is $2,075,972.75, with the project expected to begin this spring. It includes work on the parking lot, pickle…

Beecher Bobcat Adyn McGinley –Photo by Jim Piacentini.

Bobcats Made History

By Jeff Vorva “Sad that the ride is over, but what a ride it was!” That sentence found on the Beecher Basketball’s X social media page, complete with the exclamation point at the end of it, put the exclamation point on a wild and historic boys’ hoops season. It was a season that came to…

Manhattan Police Chief Jeff Wold to attend FBI Command Course. –Photo submitted.

Police Chief Wold Selected for FBI Command Course

Among select group chosen nationwide. Manhattan Chief of Police Jeff Wold was selected, along with 99 other police chiefs from across the nation, to attend the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) National Command Course (NCC) in Quantico, Virginia, May 6 – 10. Wold was notified of the prestigious honor in a recent letter from the…

Monee Police Department took the plunge on march 2. Photo by Jim Piacentini.

Polar Plunge Raises $190K-Plus!

By Andrea Arens The annual Manteno Polar Plunge, once again, surpassed its goal and raised more than $190K for Special Olympics. The Manteno Polar Plunge is an event that is conducted as a fundraiser for the Law Enforcement Torch Run, which is the single largest fundraising movement for Special Olympics. Police departments from Monee, Crete,…

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Crete to Celebrate Earth Day 2024 with Week Long Celebration

By Karen Haave The Village of Crete will mark Earth Day 2024 with a week-long event from April 22 to 27. Police Chief Scott Pieritz noted during the February 26 board of trustees meeting that the village has previously celebrated Earth Day with an October Clean-up Day. “Several years ago, I created Crete Community Clean-up…

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Frustrated; Beecher Back to the Drawing Board

By Jeff Vorva Beecher officials are not giving up on building a new police station, but something has to give. The price tage is still too high, even after re-bidding. The village was set on spending close to $4 million after a $3.9 million referendum passed on the project, and original bids in 2023 came…

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Monee Honors CREW Award Recipients

By Andrea Arens Ten Village of Monee employees were recognized for exemplary performance with semi-annual CREW awards during the February 28 meeting of the board of trustees. “CREW is an acronym that defines an employee who provides exemplary work,” Mayor Therese Bogs said, introducing the recipients. “CREW stands for Credibility, Respect, Equality/Fellowship/Identity, and Work Commitment/Personal…

Peotone’s Madi Schroeder achieved some pretty exciting accomplishments even though the season is over. Photo by Jim Piacentini.

VEDETTE SPORTS REPORT

By Jeff Vorva Let the postseason honors begin. Peotone’s girls basketball team’s big run ended March 25 in supersectional play, but star player Madison Schroeder picked up some good news as she was named to the Illinois Media All-State Class 2A team (formerly the Associated Press team). She was also named first team on the…

Bobcat Adyn McGinley #24 led the scoring for the night. Photo by Jim Piacentini.

Bobcats Make Elite 8; Super-Sectional Action March 4

  By Jim Piacentini Friday, March 1, with the Clifton Sectional Championship on the line, first period scoring was tough for both the Bobcats and the Fieldcrest Knights. Neither team seemed to have a direct line to the basket, as the first quarter was tight, leaving the Bobcats leading by only four, 13-9, as the…