SJO youth wrestling club needs your help to build a permanent home

Dear Editor,

Wrestling has been part of the St. Joseph-Ogden community since 1990. Oftentimes this is the first organized sport that kids partake in as members have started as young as four years old. Athletes who have been part of the program have been taught life lessons such as commitment, hard work, dedication, responsibility, resiliency, and a sense of ownership. The program has also produced numerous State Qualifiers, All-Staters, and SJO’s first two state champions.

Here is where your help is needed.

For years the youth wrestlers have used the St. Joseph-Ogden High School facilities as their wrestling home. Although the relationship has been a mutually beneficial one, it is time for the youth wrestling program to find a permanent home.

The SJO Youth Wrestling Club has been conducting a search for a new facility that will meet the ever changing needs of the community and the program. The idea is for the Youth Wrestling Club to have a place that can be used year round for practices, dual meets, and off-season training. This need has arisen due to the popularity of the sport and a lack of space to provide more opportunities for those interested. The facility will allow wrestlers, from pre-K through college, a space to wrestle, lift weights, and build relationships; a place that all SJO wrestlers can call HOME.

The SJO Youth Wrestling Club is looking for individuals and businesses to help our current and future wrestlers find a home. Each generous donation will receive recognition via a donor wall that will be visible to all that enter the future home of Spartan Wrestling. The donations levels are listed below.

SPARTAN LEVEL -$2500 +
MAROON LEVEL- $1000-$2499
COLUMBIA BLUE LEVEL- $500-$999
WHITE LEVEL- $250-$499
INDIVIDUALS CONTRIBUTIONS-up to $250

Email: sjoyouthwrestling@gmail.com
GoFundMe: SJO Wrestling Building

We thank you for taking the time to consider donating to this tremendous opportunity. We are grateful for any amount you are able to donate and thankful we live in communities that are always supportive of our youth. Go Spartans!!

Richard Vetter, Vice-President
SJO Youth Wrestling Board

Senior drivers have up to a year to renew Illinois state drivers license

Secretary of State Jesse White recently announced that Illinois residents 75-years-old or older will have a year to renew their licenses if they expire in 2020. The state is extending the renewal deadline 365 days from the current expiration date in 2020 on the individual's current license.

Illinois requires drivers 75 and older to renew their licenses in person and to take both a vision and road test. The extension allows older drivers to wait until a few weeks before their 2021 birthday to visit a Secretary of State facility to renew their licenses.

"I am mindful of the heightened risks associated with seniors contracting COVID-19 and that is why I have authorized this important change during this challenging and unique time," White explained in a statement released by the SoS.

Drivers whose licenses are suspended or revoked do not qualify for the extension.

There are 147,000 drivers age 75 and older whose licenses have already expired or will expire in 2020. They are being notified by letter of the extension. Licensed drivers are advised to keep the letter with them as further proof that they have been given an extension. Law enforcement agencies throughout the state have been notified that the drivers have been given an extension.

All other Illinois drivers under the age of 75 whose licenses expired earlier this year have until Nov. 1 to renew them.