Rival girls teams meet on the hardwood, SJO vs Unity tonight

The undefeated St. Joseph-Ogden girls basketball team host the Unity Rockets tonight with both a junior varsity and varsity contest tonight. Both games along with Unity Middle School boys basketball's home game against Marshall are available this evening on the NFHS Network.

Here are tonight's games and links to the live streams:

SJO Girls Junior varsity Basketball vs Unity | 5:25 PM Central

Unity Boys Middle School Basketball vs Marshall | 5:30 PM Central

Unity Girls Varsity Basketball @ SJO | 6:57 PM Central

If you are not already a subscriber, follow this link sign up for a monthly or annual subscription to watch SJO or Unity sports via live stream or archived by the NFHS Network. Monthly passes are just $10.99 each or save 47% and purchase an annual subscription at $69.99.

Photo of the Day - February 18, 2021

Major decision

St. Joseph-Ogden's Nathan Johnson arches his back to avoid a pin attempt by Bismarck-Henning's Zack Martin during their 125-pound third place match at the Argenta-Oreana IHSA regional meet in 2011. Johnson, who finished in fourth place, advanced to the sectional meet after battling to a 20-11 defeat.

(Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Village Crier: Youth summer sport programs open for registration

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Summer softball registration in St. Joseph closes soon

St. Joseph Summer Softball is now underway. This year's registration fee will include the $5 village fee. Parents will to register online with a credit card.

The program will not have a separate age division for girls four years-old or in kindergarten this year. The organization is encouraging parents with kids in the age group to play Bitty Ball or T-Ball through the St. Joseph Youth Baseball program.

Questions can be sent by email to stjosephsummersoftball@gmail.com. Registration closes on February 21.

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Unity FFA pork chop lunch next week

The Unity FFA is celebrating FFA Week next week with their annual pork chop lunch. The drive through service will take place on the UHS east drive on Wednesday, February 24 from 11:00am - 12:45pm. Pork chop sandwiches are $5 each with proceeds going toward supporting the FFA program. Customers can get a meal deal for an additional $2, which will include chips, drink, and cookies.

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Sidney summer ball sign up this weekend

Sidney Baseball/Softball/Tball signups will be held this Saturday from 10am to 12pm at the new Sidney Community Building located at 211 E Main Street in Sidney. An additional sign up day is scheduled for February 22 from 5:30-7:30pm. Ages groups are ages five and six for T-Ball and ages 7-15 for baseball and softball athletes. Registration cost is $55.

Questions or if parents are unable to make it to the in-person registration dates, they are encouraged to send a message to (217)649-7450.

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Annual Chili Dinner in Sidney next week

The Sidney Fire Protection District will host its annual chili dinner on February 27 at the new community building, located at 211 East Main, from 4-7pm. The dinner will be available only through drive-through service. Toppings, hotdogs and drinks will be provided with the meal.

Sidney Fire Department cancer awareness shirts will also be available for purchase. Donations help support the local district's firefighter association.

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Spots still available in Tolono virtual raffle

The Tolono Firefighters Association is doing a virtual raffle for a $500 Allen Meats Gift Card. Tickets for the drawing are $10 a piece and limited to the first 100 sold. Tickets can be purchased through Venmo or PayPal.

As of yesterday there were 34 tickets still available for the drawing. For more information visit the Tolono Firefighters Association page on Facebook.

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Area COVID cases dips to 3-month low

Yesterday there were just 46 active Coronavirus cases across the six villages The Sentinel covers. The last time there fewer than 50 active cases in our area was back on November 13 of last year. A day later, that number surged to 60 and continued to rise from there to a peak of 142 active cases on several days.

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District reported the number of cases rose by five today.

The agency's dashboard now includes mortality data for Champaign County. Out of the 1,427 cases identified in our area, eight individuals lost their lives to the virus. Two individuals from Ogden, four from Tolono along with one resident from Sidney and St. Joseph succumbed after being infected. As of today, 123 county residents have died from the viral infection since March of 2020.

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Put it On The Market

Do you have a home for sale in one of our six communities? The Sentinel would like to highlight it in the upcoming new local real estate feature called On The Market.

Each calendar week our online paper will pick a residential property from those submitted for consideration to promote to our audience. With over 700 readers daily, The Sentinel hopes the new section will direct more potential buyers and competitive offers to sellers in our area. For more submission information, sellers and agents can contact us at editor@oursentinel.com.

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Show us your art

We know there are more artists in our area. We just haven't met you yet but would enjoy seeing fruits of your creativity. If you paint, draw, sculpt or do metal work, The Sentinel would love to feature your work and share your artistic talent. Do you spend hours at the potter's wheel, dabble in mixed-media, do glass-work or design jewelry pieces? We would like to hear from you.

If you are interested in having your work featured in a story, please send a brief bio in an email with a link to your website or a online gallery featuring your work to editor@oursentinel.com. We very much look forward to sharing your passion and vision with our readers.

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As time and space allows we will publish details for upcoming community events. Please send your business, social or community organization's press release or event information at least four days in advance to The Sentinel at editor@oursentinel.com.

Photo of the Day - February 17, 2021

Rockets wins shootout by 11

Unity's Nate Cain fights for a rebound with Cissna Park-Crescent-Iroquois' Quinn Steffen (right) at the Shootout at the Hall in Champaign on December 16, 2007. The Rockets beat the Timberwolves, 46-35.

(Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

SJO basketball faces Oakwood tonight at home, catch the game online

Bundled up in front of the fireplace and want to catch a local sports team in action? Too sore to move off the couch after shoveling the 10+ inches of snow? Below are the links to each of tonight's available streams.

After weather forced yesterday's home game against Central Catholic to be postponed until later in the season, St. Joseph-Ogden made a last minute addition to their schedule about 16 hours ago. SJO will play host to the Oakwood Comets boys junior varsity and varsity squads tonight. Like all SJO home games this season, the contest will be broadcasted via live stream on the NFHS website.

A day earlier, the Spartan boys' program added a non-conference game on Saturday, February 20 with Robinson High School. The JV game is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM and the Varsity game after that at 2:30 PM on the road. Both games will be available via live stream.

If you are not already a subscriber, follow this link sign up for a monthly or annual subscription to watch SJO or Unity sports via live stream or archived by the NFHS Network. Monthly passes are just $10.99 each or save 47% and purchase an annual subscription at $69.99.

Sentinel area sports tonight

St. Joseph-Ogden Boys Junior Varsity Basketball vs Oakwood | 5:25 PM Central

St. Joseph-Ogden Boys Freshman Basketball @ Central Catholic | 5:55 PM Central

Unity Girls Middle School Volleyball vs Argenta-Oreana | 6:00 PM Central

St. Joseph-Ogden Boys Varsity Basketball vs Oakwood | 6:55 PM Central

SJO & Unity basketball streaming schedule tonight on NFHS

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Games on hold

Update: At 1:16 PM, the St. Joseph-Ogden athletic department announced all games for tonight have been canceled due to weather conditions. New date TBA. At 1:42 PM, Unity games were also been postponed. JV and varsity contests will be played at Prairie Central on February 25.

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Catch the Unity boys basketball team or both the boys and girls St. Joseph-Ogden basketball squads in action tonight via the NFHS streaming services.

SJO senior Payton Vallee looks for an open teammate in SJO's home game against Monticello last year on January 20, 2021. Vallee and this year's undefeated Spartans are on the road tonight against Central Catholic tonight. Fans can enjoy the game from the warmth of their homes via a streaming services.

The Rockets varsity squad (0-4), in search of their first win of the season, take on Prairie Central tonight. In the team's best performance this season, Blake Kimball and Brady Porter led Unity with 21 and 20 points respectively in Unity's 10-point loss to Pontiac on Friday. The pair along with Damian Knoll and Dillon Rutledge are set to come away with a hard-fought win tonight.

Meanwhile, the undefeated St. Joseph-Ogden girls basketball team, 2-0 in Illini Prairie Conference play and 3-0 overall, travel to Bloomington to take on Central Catholic. The road game was originally scheduled for last night, but Mother Nature had other ideas forcing the Illini Prairie Conference game to be rescheduled for tonight. The Lady Saints are 4-2 after posting wins over Pontiac, Prairie Central and Normal University. The team's two losses were at the hands of larger programs, Redbirds of Metamora and Galesburg's Silver Streaks.

While the SJO girls squad plays to keep their perfect season record intact, the Spartan varsity squad looks to pick up win number 2 after a late start to the 2021 season due to COVID-19 protocols that had to be observed during the first week of play. All eyes will be on Ty Pence who led all scorers in the season opener against Rantoul with an impressive double-double. The sophomore D-I prospect drained 24 points and snag 20 rebounds in the victory.

SJO fans shouldn't let BCC's 2-4 record fool them. The Saints losses have come against Class 3A Normal Community, Moline, Rock Island and Morton leading up to tonight's IPC game in St. Joseph.

Here are the links to each of tonight's streams. If you are not already a subscriber, follow this link sign up for a monthly or annual subscription. Monthly passes are just $10.99 each or save 47% and purchase an annual subscription at $69.99.

Sentinel area sports tonight

SJO Boys Junior Varsity Basketball vs Central Catholic | 5:25 PM Central

Unity Boys Sophomore Basketball @ Prairie Central | 5:30 PM Central

SJO Girls Junior Varsity Basketball @ Central Catholic | 5:25 PM Central

SJO Girls Varsity Basketball @ Central Catholic | 6:55 PM Central

SJO Boys Varsity Basketball vs Central Catholic | 6:57 PM Central

Unity Boys Varsity Basketball @ Prairie Central | 7:00 PM Central

Citizen-Initiative proposal could give more power to special interest groups

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by Lily Bohlke
Public News Service

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Republican lawmakers will propose a series of constitutional amendments they say would give residents a more direct voice in Illinois government, but which critics counter could give more political power to special interests.

The three resolutions would open up the use of citizen initiatives, allow residents to hold referendums on legislation and expand the existing governor recall process to apply to all public officials.

Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, said regulating campaign spending on ballot questions is nearly impossible, so the amendments could give wealthy special interests an outsized impact.

"It's hard to find that balance between empowering citizens and preventing special interests from hijacking the process," Kaplan acknowledged. "But we think it's a worthwhile discussion to be having right now."

She pointed to the example of an initiative in California in which companies such as Lyft, Uber and DoorDash spent $200 million to effectively overturn a state law requiring those companies to classify workers as employees rather than independent contractors.

Kaplan pointed out other efforts in various states have brought about important change.

Michigan established an independent commission for redistricting by a ballot question in 2018. That same year, New Mexico voters passed an initiative to create an independent state ethics commission to keep lawmakers in check.

"We really are missing out in Illinois on the opportunity to use citizen initiatives to enact meaningful reforms," Kaplan contended. "That's particularly true of areas where politicians might be particularly invested in the status quo and unwilling to act themselves."

She noted the legislative inspector general's office in Illinois has often been seen as ineffective in providing oversight over lawmakers. She hopes democracy reform, without the influence of big money, will help in the future.

Guest Commentary | We need to all stop biting each other

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

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Democrats have proven once again that they can find fault in President Donald Trump.

Faults and flaws were found in him before the election. Many years before politics there were never any rave reviews about him being perfect.

During the recent impeachment trial, Democrats and Republicans hammered home their perspectives and interpretation of Trump's speech given on January 6th to those who came to Washington to protest. Once again, Americans either agreed or disagreed with the outcome of the impeachment trial.

Surely most Americans will agree there is no such thing as a perfect President.

Was John F. Kennedy perfect? Was Richard Nixon perfect? Bush Sr. or Jr? Obama? Go back through history and you can't find a perfect person sitting in the oval office. President Joe Biden is no exception.

You may remember what the Bible says, "All have sinned." Another verse says, "No one is righteous. No not one." There will never be a perfect President. Some will be better than others. Some will be much better and some will be much worse.

There are no perfect politicians.

Almost any politician will disappoint you...

Do you think Nancy Pelosi is perfect? I don't. Is Mitch McConnell perfect. He is not, nor are any of the other members of the House or the Senate. Some are better than others. Some try harder, work harder, try to live disciplined lives more than others. Some try to work harder for their districts better than others. Some are good moral people and excellent parents. Some may not be so great. Almost any politician will disappoint you, eventually. It's bound to happen; they are imperfect people.

We have to come to grips with the fact that perfect people are not to be found.

I thought my mom was pretty perfect but I'm very prejudiced when it comes to my mother. My heart would never allow me to see anything wrong with her. Love is like that. Love often sees no wrongs. Sometimes we are like this toward a child, grandchildren, a spouse, our minister, or priest. There are people that we often hold in such regard that even if they are doing something wrong and we know it's wrong, our hearts have a hard time seeing that it's wrong. Too often love is blind.

Americans want someone to love and respect. We want to be loved. We like holding people in high regard.

The people we direct it to enjoy the feeling when we make them feel special. It's all good to some extent. Truthfully though whoever you are enamored with will eventually disappoint you if you look and listen long enough. Human beings, all of us are capable, and often say the wrong thing.

Use the wrong language. Get angry. Say hurtful things. Do things that are often regretted. We make mistakes in words we use and things we do. All of us.

As 2021 moves forward, so must we.

Joe Biden is President of the United States. It is likely Donald Trump will run again. In the meantime, we need to all stop biting each other and get this country healthy, back to work, back in the restaurants, churches and kids back in school.

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Dr. Glenn Mollette is a syndicated American columnist and author of American Issues, Every American Has An Opinion and ten other books. He is read in all 50 states. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization.

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This article is the sole opinions of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Sentinel. We welcome comments and views from our readers.

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