Southern Illinoisan from Carbondale, Illinois • A3

THE SOUTHERN ILLINOISAN THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2018 A3 00 1 LOCAL STATE MARILYN HALSTEAD The Southern VIENNA Everyone knows a teacher or another sta member of a school district who has made a great impact in the lives of their students and communities. Consider the words of Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize at age 17 after being shot on her way to school by the Talaban because of her advocacy for rights and education: us remember: one book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the National Life Group, a business that provides insurance and nancial services, and National Life Group Founda- tion, has created LifeChanger of the Year to recognize the orts of those special individuals, and a Vienna High School teacher is one of this nominees. Jason West, agriculture teacher at the high school, was nominated by a student for the award. His le is available on lifechanger- oftheyear.com West is a kind, hard-work- ing, honest man who has all the qualities of an amazing the nominator said, according to a news release. is an excellent FFA advisor and an even better human being.

Mr. West deserves recognition for all the hard work and ort he puts forward in his job. Vienna High School be able to function normally with- out Superintendent Joshua Sta ord called West an outstanding teacher and dedicated individual. Besides being ag West also is the advisor and sponsor of the FFA chapter, supervises a 4-H Teen Program and works with the Tech Wizards, a junior high school program. goes above and beyond in every way to provide opportuni- ties for our students.

He spends countless nights and weekends taking students on eld trips for competition and learning experi- Sta ord said. Some of those trips include state and national FFA conventions, cat- tle judging, soil judging and the Farm Progress Show in Louisville, Kentucky. deserves a ton of credit for expanding Tech Wizards Program in the junior Sta ord said. The program teaches students to use high-tech equipment such as 3D printers and plasma cutters. The person who nominated West has chosen to remain anonymous.

know who the student was and he Sta ord said Tuesday afternoon. Students, parents, colleagues and members of the community can help move West toward win- ning LifeChanger of the Year by sharing his le on social me- dia, commenting on his le at lifechangeroftheyear.com, or post- ing a video about experiences with teaching. marilyn.halstead@thesouthern.com 618-351-5078 Vienna teacher nominated for national award West NAT WILLIAMS Illinois Farmer Today EWING The original no-till planter was not the primitive but ingenious machine parked here at the Ewing Demonstration Center. It was a screwdriver. Current and former educators associated with the research eld gathered recently to observe the 50th year of continuous no-till research, possibly the oldest plot in the nation.

A point of interest other than the half-acre trial itself was one of three planters built at the nearby University of Illinois Dixon Springs Agricul- tural Center. Donnie Morris, who turns 84 on Aug. 5, designed and built a two-row planter engineered to put seed into sod instead of plowed soil. Morris was on hand to reminisce about the dawn of the no-till era. The late University of Illinois weed scientist George McKibben was a pioneer of no-till farming, experimenting with the concept as early as the late 1950s.

Morris, a mechanic and ag engineer at Dixon Springs, watched rst- hand as McKibben coped with an agronomic practice that was considered radical. tried a lot of di erent ways of planting. He even planted corn with a screwdriver, to nd out if this would Morris said. The original experiments consisted of planting corn into standing fescue. Early attempts, using ed conventional planters, frustrated Dixon Springs sta ers, including Morris.

worked with planters that were he said. opener was too wide. There was no way you could get a planter that was designed to put corn into worked soil, and put it into sod. I made some di erent types of press wheels for the back that work. We decided we were going to have to start from Morris spent a winter de- signing and building a two-row planter that could cut through standing crops and place seeds in the soil.

One solution was adding weight. planter is built extremely he said. put weight on the back, and that helped. There was a transfer spring that transfers weight from toolbar to the opener. We made a narrow opener, then made what I call a cutter-packer wheel that is ad- justable up and down.

We had a large coulter up in the front to cut through the soil so that the opener could get in The crew tried it in the spring of 1967 and found it did the job. The machine was then hauled to Ewing and other places, where other researchers joined in. One of the most re- nowned ag equipment dealers was not impressed. we were getting going with no-till, the people at John Deere think it was a very good Morris said. John Deere alone in its skepticism.

was actually pretty good ridicule for people who were trying no-till early said Dennis Epplin, a former Univer- sity of Illinois Extension agron- omist. said, simply work. doomed to failure. And besides that, really making the neighborhood look Things have changed a great Dennis Thompson, an Exten- sion educator who rst became involved in research at Ewing in the mid-1970s, said every- thing fell into place for a new way of farming. Some of the earliest users were farmers in Kentucky.

time for no-till was Thompson said. demonstration center was an excellent venue to support the work at Dixon Springs. It took about ve years for adoption of the practice to really begin. This was a tool for sloping land, good drainage, places where you wanted to avoid erosion. seeing that Kentucky was adopting it, we learned the types of soils and slopes here where it would work.

Now it is common not only in the Midwest, but throughout the Epplin said observation of the plot here provided researchers with some insight to the prom- ise of no-till. were some challenges with both crop production and water drainage in southern Illi- he said. no-till plot have those same chal- lenges. It was clear that no-till was working pretty well. Also, it could save a bunch of Morris looks back fondly on the early days.

proud to be a part of what got no-till started in our country and saved a lot of soil down through the he said. has stopped a lot of ero- sion, which truly thankful No-till plot still yielding useful data after 50 years NAT WILLIAMS, ILLINOIS FARMER TODAY Donnie Morris shows the experimental no-till planter he designed and built in 1966. The planter was rst used in 1967, and the next year at a half-acre plot at the Ewing Demonstration Center. BRIEFLY JACKSON COUNTY Police seek shooting suspect Carbondale Police have iden- ed a suspect in the shooting that injured one person this past Friday. According to a news release from Carbondale Po- lice Department, police have a war- rant for the arrest of Nicholas A.

M. Hastings, 23, of Carbondale, in connection with the shooting that happened in the 800 block of West High Street. The warrant charges Hastings with aggravated battery with a rearm and armed robbery. Bond has been set at $750,000. Police say Hastings should be consid- ered armed and dangerous.

Any- one with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact Carbondale Police Department at 618-457-3200. According to an earlier release from the department, the victim was treated at Memorial Hospi- tal of Carbondale for a gunshot wound that was not life-threat- ening. The victim said he met with a female acquaintance a juvenile who has been arrested on High Street, when the sus- pect displayed a rearm and de- manded property from the vic- tim. Hastings allegedly shot the victim in the abdomen. The Southern FRANKLIN COUNTY 91 dogs from Macedonia, 3 arrested Three Franklin County resi- dents have been arrested after deputies discov- ered animals liv- ing in According to a news release from Franklin County Sheri Don Jones, animal control responded Mon- day to a request for assistance in Macedonia volving the cruel treatment of a large number of Once on the scene, authori- ties discovered and scated 91 dogs living in con- the re- lease states Authorities ar- rested Trudi D.

Casler and her two sons, Mat- thew L. Casler and Sean R. Casler. All three are currently being held in the Franklin County Jail on tentative charges of cruelty to animals, though the release said other charges are expected after the attorney reviews the evidence. The Southern Sheri seeks help hit-and-run suspect Franklin County authorities have released more details about the vehicle involved in fatal hit-and-run.

According to a news release, based on evidence, authorities believe the suspected vehicle is black and likely to be a Dodge Ram pickup truck from between 2009 and 2015. Damage to the ve- hicle would be on the front pas- senger side, primarily the head- light assembly, the release said. Previous reports indicate that Jack. J. Brown, 47, of West Frank- fort, was walking south on Illinois 37 sometime after 1:55 a.m.

Sat- urday morning when he was hit. His body was later discovered by a passing utility worker at about 7:40 a.m. Anyone with information about the suspect vehicle or driver is asked to call 618-438- 4841 or 618-439-9252. The Southern WASHINGTON COUNTY Woodlawn woman arrested in fatal hit-and-run crash A Woodlawn woman is facing a charge of reckless homicide as the alleged driver in a January hit-and-run crash on Interstate 64 that killed a man. Caitlin R.

Hap- pach, 26, was ar- rested Tuesday, according to a news release from Illinois State Po- lice. The crash happened on Jan. 5. Ervin Goeden, 93, of Omaha, Nebraska, was killed in the crash, which happened a few miles northwest of the Nashville exit. Another passenger sustained major injuries in the crash.

Happach is charged with three felonies: two counts of failure to report an accident, and one count of reckless homicide. Happach was booked at Je erson County Jail on Tuesday; she posted bond and was released. Happach allegedly was driving a Cadillac when she entered the left lane to pass a Toyota; as she merged back into the right lane, she hit the Toyota, which then left the roadway and hit a tree. Police say Happach drove away from the scene of the crash. The family had ered a $3,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the hit- and-run driver.

Police did not say whether a public tip led to Hap- arrest, and said the case is active and no more information is available. The Southern STATE Rauner will not send National Guard to Chicago Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says he will not dispatch the Illinois National Guard to Chicago to stem gun vio- lence. The Republi- can on Wednes- day said that National Guard is not for neighbor- hood He dismissed suggestions that he call up the state militia after 74 people were shot in the city last weekend. At least 11 were killed.

Chicago police have ordered 600 additional cers to the a ected neighborhoods through the weekend. Rauner told reporters in Peoria that violence in Chicago is heartbreaking, got to But he says state troops would only be appropriate for riot or some issue like Rauner says ending violence will take improved economic op- portunity by cutting state taxes and regulations and giving mi- norities more opportunities in state contracting. Associated Press Ex-state rep withdraws from November ballot Former state Rep. Nick Sauer has withdrawn from the No- vember election ballot after an ex-girlfriend accused him of posting nude photos of her on- line. The rst-term Lake Bar- rington Republican resigned from the House of Representa- tives last week.

Politico reported that the Chicago woman claims Sauer posted ex- plicit photos of her on a social media site to lure other men into sexual conversa- tions. Lake County GOP cials will decide on a replacement for the 35-year-old Sauer. The woman told Politico she met Sauer online. They began a relationship and she shared in- timate photos with him. The two broke up last spring.

The woman says she led a complaint with Chicago police in July when she learned Sauer had posted the photos. Lake County Attor- cials said Monday also investigating. Associated Press 5,000 Illinois Purple Heart recipients honored State cials honored about 5,000 Illinois Purple Heart re- cipients for service to the United States. The military veterans were honored Tuesday in the rotunda of the Illinois State Capitol. The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the president to any member of the armed ser- vices who is wounded or killed while serving in any military capacity.

It took ect April 5, 1917. The Illinois Department of Veterans A airs conducted the ceremony. cials lighted the Capitol grounds in purple Tues- day night. Members of the Military Order Purple Heart Hayes-Krell Chap- ter of eld partici- pated in the Capitol ceremony and presented the Veterans Af- fairs Department with a Purple Heart Service Flag. Associated Press New Illinois ride-share law takes eect Illinois legislation designed to ensure ride-share drivers undergo adequate background checks is now law.

A statement from Illinois Sen- ate Democrats says it took ect Tuesday. It requires that those applying to be ride-share driv- ers provide their full name and social security number, as well as their date of birth. The statement says that before the new law prospective drivers were only required to give their address, age, license number, motor vehicle registra- tion and automobile insurance liability. State Sen. Daniel Biss, an Evanston Democratic, was a sponsor of the bill.

He says re- quiring the additional informa- tion means that companies are now held to the same standard that other li- censed transportation services have been held to for Associated Press Hastings T. Casler M. Casler S. Casler Happach Rauner Sauer.