Hershell B. Denton, 86, of Flora, Ill., died at 4:36 a.m. on Monday, March 8, 2010 at Clay County Hospital in Flora.

Hershell was born October 23, 1923, in Clay County, Ill. to Benjamin & Magnola (Carlyle) Denton. He married Bernice E. Strange on November 29, 1943, in Louisville, Ill. He was the manager of Liberty Gas Station in Flora for 35 years and later worked at Flora Western Auto Store. Hershell enjoyed playing the fiddle and providing music for area nursing home patients.

Joe O. Enlow, 61, of Flora, IL died at 6:40 AM Sunday, March 7, 2010 at Clay County Hospital in Flora.

Joe was born November 20, 1948 in Richland County, IL to Everett & Kathleen (VanFossen) Enlow. He married Eileen Mary Blank on October 19, 1972 in Toledo, IL. He was a Medical Technologist for Clay County Hospital and Richland Memorial Hospital, and his memberships included Xenia United Methodist Church, Flora Elks, Flora Moose, and Clay County C

Martha Esta (Travis) Levitt, 99, of Clay City, passed away at 2:20 a.m. on Saturday, March 6, 2010 at Burgin Manor in Olney.

Esta was born in Clay County on June 5, 1910 to George Lucas and Ida (Scrugham) Travis. On September 10, 1934, she was married to James M. Levitt, who preceded her in death on March 3, 1985.

Mr. and Mrs. Levitt owned and operated the movie theater in Clay City for several years. Esta was a member of Clay City United Methodist Church, where she served as head greeter for several years and was a member of the Ad Council and the Queen Esther Sunday School class. Esta joined the Venus Rebekah Lodge in 1949. During her member ship she was Noble Grand, Past District President and State Appointee.

Ronald Richard Hemrich, 67, of Noble, passed away at 11:59 a.m., on Sunday, February 28, 2010, at his home.

Hemrich was born on September 17, 1942, in Richland County to Ben and Marjorie (Gumble) Hemrich. On October 12, 1963, he was married to Judy Weidner. He was a farmer and a member of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Wendelin.

Ronald was born on the same farm where he passed away. He enjoyed going to farm sales and working on equipment. He loved farming, hunting, fishing, bulldozing and vacationing with his family. His grandkids, "his puddins" were his pride and joy. He will be greatly missed by all of them.

Facing a $4-million shortfall in funding due from the state, the Board of Trustees of Illinois Eastern Community Colleges has reduced faculty salaries $1.2-million by reducing faculty headcount.  The district had already cut non-faculty staff and administrative salaries and other spending by $2.1-million.

In Clay County, severe weather preparedness is a major part of ESDA’s work. Heading up ESDA’s efforts on the weather is Doug Spitzner, who runs the emergency operation center’s communications equipment.

The Clay City Village Board held their monthly meeting this Tuesday evening; the agenda was short enough that only two items of new business were voted on.

Taylor Pensoneau will be signing copies of his new book “Dapper and Deadly:  The True Story of Black Charlie Harris,” at Flora Public Library on Sunday, February 28, from 1:00-4:00 pm.  Copies of the book will be available for $20.00.

For rural school districts, one of the most important issues in education is getting the kids to school in order to be educated. Recent school closures due to snow attest to this. The Flora School District’s new transportation facility, or “Bus Barn” located on south Stanford Road, helps to make the job easier for the people and vehicles that get area children and young adults to their classes week in and week out.

One of the coldest winter periods, December to March, since the 1970s looks to continue for at least the next week and with the continued cold comes the possibility of more wintery weather.
The winter started off with temperatures that averaged about 1.5 degrees below normal in Clay County. January offered much the same with temperatures that were between two and three degrees below normal.

A Valentine’s evening snowfall dropped nearly five inches across Clay County Sunday night and into Monday morning.

The snow, which would have closed area schools, was of little consequence to the area that saw schools and some businesses closed for the President’s Day holiday.

The snow marked the largest accumulation to date for the County.

For the rest of this story and all your other Clay County Advocate-Press News, call 618-662-2108 to subscribe or pick one up at our office.

It’s getting to be barbecue time again for the Boy Scouts of Troop 282, based in Flora. Last week, Scouts began selling tickets to their barbecue, the annual fundraiser held every year by the Troop at the Flora Shriners Hall.

This year’s event will also be held at the Shriners Hall, and is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2010.

Flora’s winter wonderland is not just due to all of the weekend snowfall. It also was a Winter Wonderland at Flora High School this Saturday night where the annual Sweetheart Dance was held and saw Brittany Booth and Mychal Bush-King elected Sweetheart Queen and King, respectively.

The dance was held on Saturday evening, starting at 7 p.m. At 9:45 p.m., doors opened to the public to watch a 10 p.m. coronation.

The Clay County Ministerial Alliance Food Pantry has continued to see more people come through its doors over the last several months as tough economic times continue to plague the area.

The food pantry, which opened in 2002, has seen it numbers swell from 1,545 families served in the first year of operation to 5,974 families served in 2009.

In total, more than 31,300 families have received help from the organization and more than 83,600 people have received food thanks to the volunteers and donations of people throughout Clay County.

There will be a “Winter Wonderland” in Flora this weekend, and not just from all the snow forecast for midweek. Winter Wonderland is the theme of Flora High School’s Sweetheart Dance, which will be held this Saturday, beginning at 7 p.m.

The Dance’s colors are blue, white and silver. The public is welcome to come to the High School to see the coronation, set for 10 p.m. Doors will open to the public at 9:45 p.m.
The faculty sponsors for the dance are Jan Bible and Shari Hamilton. Heath Hamilton will be the evening’s DJ from “DJ Worxx.”

For the rest of this story and all your other Clay County Advocate-Press News, call 618-662-2108 to subscribe or pick one up at our office.