The Fairfield City Council will hold their Regular Meeting tonight at 6pm. Items in Routine Business include Award Bid for Water Filter Chemicals, IML Agreement Revision FY 22-23, Airport Maintenance Agreement with Albion Radio Communications, and Ordinance Requiring Access to Utility Meters. Also, in Routine Business the council will discuss an Ordinance for the Abatement of Certain Fines Imposed in Municipal Court, Discussion with Possible Action Concerning the Auxiliary Building, and the Water Tower Tif Agreement. FCHS has released their 2022 Make A Difference Day Activities. In Scheduled Events is Center Street Hat Day – Any Center Street Student, Faculty, or Staff member who would like to wear a hat on Friday, August 26 can pay $1 and wear a hat. Ongoing Activities include: FCHS Faculty/Staff Jean Days – FCHS faculty and staff have been challenged to pay $1 to wear jeans on Friday, or $10 to wear jeans between now and MADD. All Wayne County Schools and businesses are challenged to do the same. Class of 2025 Matching Funds Challenge - The FCHS class of 2025 is donating $100 for their contribution to make a difference day and would like to challenge the other classes/clubs to match. They are also inviting all Wayne County Schools to join. Class of 1982 Alumni Matching Funds Challenge – The FCHS class of 1982 is donating at least $100 to the MADD and are challenging all FCHS alumni classes to match their donation. The classes of 1979 and 2009 have already accepted the matching funds challenge and will be donating $100 to MADD as well. Center Street Lady Colts and Jasper-Geff Lady Polecats – The Center Street Lady Colts and Jasper-Geff Lady Polecats will be sponsoring a Softball Splash. Players will be selling 50/50 tickets for a raffle to be held on Thursday, August 25th. The drawing will be held after the game, and the winner does not have to be present. And the Wayne White/City of Fairfield Pie in Face Challenge – Mayor Gary Moore and Wayne White Electric President/CEO Chris Hopfinger have accepted a challenge regarding the Make a Difference Fundraiser. Wayne White Electric will challenge the City of Fairfield to see who raises the most money for the Make a difference Day (Splash Pad) between August 1st and October 14th. If the City raises the most money, they get to throw a pie in Chris's face. Either Gary will throw the pie in Chris's face or let Chris throw the pie in Gary's face, or they will draw a name out of a hat of employees to decide who gets to throw the pie. If you would like to make a donation to MADD, make checks payable to FCHS memo MADD and send to Angi Tucker at FCHS, 300 West King Street, Fairfield, IL 62837. If you are conducting a fundraiser, please contact Donna Reever at 842-2649, ext. 402, so that your project can be added to their advertisements. Fairfield Memorial Hospital honors an employee each month who has been nominated by their peers for providing extraordinary patient care and customer services within and outside of the Hospital. Jessica Austin R.T. (R)(CT), who works as a Radiology Technologist in the Diagnostic Imaging Department at Fairfield Memorial Hospital, was selected as the August 2022 Employee of the Month. Jessica has been with Fairfield Memorial Hospital since May of 2015. Jessica is hardworking and always provides great patient care. She is willing to help wherever she is needed. "Jessica works very hard daily for our patients while identifying and working on improvements for the department. She is recognized by the patients for her empathy and compassion and by her team for her knowledge and dedication to the work that we can do together as team." commented Mendie Heater MBA, BS, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, RT (R), Diagnostic Imaging Department Manager. "Jessica is exceptional in her role as a Radiology Technologist and a versatile member of our team. When our Orthopedic Clinic opened up in the new Surgical Pavilion, Jessica stepped into a new role working on the 2nd Floor of the Pavilion doing x-rays. We are very proud to announce Jessica Austin as our August Employee of the Month." stated FMH CEO Katherine Bunting-Williams. 39-year old Seth A. Kimpel of West Salem, Illinois, was sentenced Tuesday, August 16, 2022 to a total of 6-years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by a term of 1-year of Mandatory Supervised Release (formerly known as "parole") on Count I, Burglary, and a total of 5-years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on Count II, Theft, in Edwards County Case No. 2022-CF-5. The defendant also pled guilty to Possession of Methamphetamine in Edwards County Case No. 2020-CF-18 and was sentenced to 5-years in the Illinois Department Corrections. Mr. Kimpel's sentences will run concurrent with each other. Edwards County State's Attorney Eric A. St Ledger prosecuted the case on behalf of the People of the State of Illinois and public defender Brian Shinkle represented the defendant, Seth A. Kimpel. The Illinois Department of Transportation has redirected traffic on the Route 161 Extension Bridge over Skillet Fork to one lane with a likely 11-ton weight limit. Highway Engineer Mike McCormick says the restrictions will go into effect today and are due to a deterioration of the spans of one of the approach bridges. A repair solution is in design that will allow for two-way traffic when completed. McCormick is pushing the state to complete design work by the end of the month when an emergency contract can be left for repairs. He says the actual repair work will likely take a few months to complete. McCormick says the one-way traffic will be directed by stop lights. Larger truck traffic will have to detour over either US 50 or Illinois Route 15. Another scam is circulating dealing with text messages that appear to originate from the US Postal Service. The message indicates there are issues with packages needing to be delivered from the USPS and it lists a fraudulent Tracking Number with a link provided to click on. Do not click on the link. Disregard this text and immediately delete it. The U.S Postal Service will always provide a paper notice if there are issues with deliveries. It's also noted that fake Amazon text messages are also circulating. Grandstand tickets remain on sale for the Du Quoin State Fair, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. This year will feature ARCA and USAC car races, plenty of Harness Racing, and fantastic grandstand shows featuring Cole Swindell with Ashley Cooke and Dylan Marlowe, Randy Houser with Murphy 500, and solo acts each by Jordan Davis and Chase Rice, plus comedian Jeff Foxworthy. The tickets are available online at ticketmaster.com. The 2022 Du Quoin State Fair starts this coming Friday, the 26th, and runs through September 5th. River stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 20.32 feet, above the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 5.07 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 5.92 feet (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 1.66 feet. The Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 22.53 feet, and the Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 3.50 feet. Today's Crude Oil price is $83.23 down $.24 from yesterday. The September Crude Oil price is $90.67 up $.72 from yesterday morning.