Historical dates don’t always reflect reality.

For example, children learn that slavery was abolished in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. 

But, because of the lack of Union soldiers in the Confederate state of Texas, approximately 250,000 persons were still enslaved, according to the History Channel. The proclamation, which stated “that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free” was not followed in Texas until June 19, 1865 when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Texas to announce that the Civil War and slavery had ended.

Known to many African Americans as Independence Day, the day when enslaved Texans foud out they had been free for the two years prior, June 19 date became known as Juneteenth. 

It’s a word that the St. Joseph’s Jon Arteaga recently learned.

Arteaga, who organized the St. Joseph Peaceful Protest for Equality on June 5 in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, said that the whole picture wasn’t painted for him as a student when the abolition of slavery was taking place.

“A lot of that history is overlooked,” he said. 

“I didn’t even know about it until people started mentioning it with this movement that’s been happening “I’m just like, holy cow, this is really important. And I think it’s very important for us to highlight that especially in our community.”

After the June 5 protest, Arteaga joined forces with SJOnward, a racial equity group that was formed in 2017, but lost steam after hitting some roadblocks. Organizer Kelly Skinner reached out to Arteaga, asking him to become part of the leadership team.

The protest led to at least 80 new members in the SJOnward group, doubling their numbers.

With Skinner, Arteaga and others in the St. Joseph community working together, SJOnward now plans to host events every few weeks to keep the conversation going. The first event will be St. Joseph’s first Juneteenth Peace Walk & Community Rally on June 19 from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Juneteenth is widely accepted among the black community as an independence day, their freedom day,” Arteaga said. “We wanted to elevate that and kind of celebrate with them. This is an event that deserves to be celebrated, it should be a holiday. It should be something where people come together and talk about things that need to be talked about.”

The Juneteenth Peace Walk & Community Rally will begin on the south lawn of St. Joseph-Ogden High School where the Peaceful Protest was held. The group will march down Main Street to the St. Joseph Municipal Building where they will observe a moment of silence to remember the 8 minutes and 46 seconds that George Floyd endured before he passed away after having an officer’s knee on his neck as he laid on the ground.

The group will then move on to Kolb Park where speakers will share their stories and perspective. 

Community members like Sophie Gallo have made music and information less of a task by providing a microphone and speaker system. The group was also able to secure a generator.

St. Joseph-Ogden’s History Teacher Marshall Schacht will begin by talking about how black history is framed in textbooks and how it gets marginalized or abbreviated in lessons. He will also share additional information about the history of Juneteenth.Synthia Sydnor, a St. Joseph resident, will talk about her experiences growing up in St. Joseph and sundown towns. Then Heather will talk about her experiences as a bi-racial couple.

While the event will touch on some topics like upstaging and backstage and systemic racism, Arteaga said that SJOnward is already looking at smaller events and group settings where people can ask questions and have discussions about racism and racial equity.

Skinner plans to end the event with asking community members to make a verbal commitment to moving forward in the movement towards equality.

“A lot of the most effective times when people change their behaviors is when they do a public declaration of ‘this is something I’m going to change,’ Arteaga said. “Who knows how many people actually do it, but we hope that a lot of people do.”

SJOnward is also making the commitment to move forward with bi-weekly events that will focus on education, events, book groups, small groups and working with the school district to make effective changes. 

“We can teach our community as much as we want, we can hold endless amounts of events but if we don’t make real change, nothing’s actually going to change; we need to change the systems that are in place.”

The post St. Joseph to celebrate Juneteenth with community march to Kolb Park first appeared on SJO Daily.

The Village of St. Joseph Board of Trustees will take action on amending the existing liquor license to allow for a Package/Pour License which would allow the opportunity for additional business owners to pursue a video gaming license.

In Feb. 2012, Village Trustees passed an ordinance to allow restaurants that serve food and liquor on-premises to apply for a video gaming license and have machines on-premises if the total gross revenues from video gaming do not exceed 50-percent of the total gross revenues from the combined sale of food and alcoholic liquor and video gaming on the premises in any calendar year.

According to Illinois Gaming Board Reports, Roch’s is the only establishment within the Village of St. Joseph that has a video gaming license at this time.

In 2019 the municipality tax revenue the Village of St. Joseph received totaled $12,408.19. Since 2012, the Village has collected $113,707.51 in video gaming tax revenue.

La Luna Cafe also had video gaming available until 2018.

The Village of St. Joseph uses video gaming tax money to make improvements to the stormwater system.

Nearby local municipalities have expanded liquor and video gaming ordinances that meet the state standard and allow for a variety of establishments that serve liquor to also provide video gaming.

In 2019, nearby Ogden, which has six establishments and 27 video gaming machines, collected $39,497.06 in video gaming taxes. One establishment in Homer, which has four machines provided $4,115.54 in tax revenue. Royal’s one establishment with three machines collected $2,293.07.

In 2019 the State of Illinois increased the number of video gaming machines an establishment can have from five to six. Truck stops on three acres of land within a 3-mile distance from a freeway interchange with a convenience store and a sales average of at least 10,000 gallons a month are allowed up to 10 terminals.

The State also increased the maximum wager from $2 to $4. Within SB 0690, the maximum cash award increased from $500 to $1,199 and allowed an in-location progressive jackpot up to $10,000.

The Village of St. Joseph’s board meeting will also include action after a presentation from Clark Dietz on the 2020 MFT Resolution and an update from Jim Page on a new grant application proposal for a bike path at Woodard Community Park.

The post Village of St. Joseph to look at liquor license to broaden video gaming establishments first appeared on SJO Daily.

Don Archer has had a few passions in his life: his family, his work, golfing, and pottery.

Archer began making pottery close to 30 years ago. 

“My wife and I always loved pottery, and when we were on vacations we’d stop at a pottery place if we’d see one. About 30 years ago, we decided we’d take a pottery class at the Champaign Park District.” 

Turns out, Archer had a natural talent for it. 

“My stuff kinda came up, and hers came up and fell in. She quit, but I kept going.” 

“I took a couple more classes, then I joined a potter’s club. Eventually, I got my own wheel and kiln and started doing stuff at home.”

For a long time, pottery was just a side hobby while Archer worked in the housing industry and then for both the City of Champaign and the City of Urbana.

“I was a fourth-generation house builder. I used to build houses in St. Joe.”

“Then housing slowed down, and I was the building inspector at the City of Urbana for a while. Then housing picked back up and I went back to it, then it slowed again, and I got a job in the Engineering Department at the City of Champaign. I stayed there until I retired.”

While working a full-time job, he also had another full-time job as the Golf Pro at Blue Needles Golf Course. Now that he is retired, he has more time to spend golfing and working on pottery. 

Archer used to live in St. Joseph, but it looked a little different when they lived there. 

“We used to live on 8th Street, when 8th Street was the last street on the edge of town.”

Currently, he lives outside of Oakwood, near Kickapoo State Park, and that’s where his shop is.

“We moved out here about 12 years ago, and I had this barn built,” he said. “I told my wife I’m gonna start doing pottery. I’m only open one weekend a month as my little retirement gig. I’m only open nine weekends a month the whole year, so it’s only 18 days the entire year.”

Archer’s pottery is mostly functional pieces that can be used every day. 

“My stuff is stuff that you use every day to eat, drink, cook, bake food in. It’s microwave, oven and dishwasher safe.”

“Everything can be put in the oven. Not everything you would put in the oven though. There’s some colanders, some batter bowls, luminaries, yarn bowls. All different sizes and shapes of cups and plates.”

Every month, Archer is making new pieces to replace the ones he sold. There is always something new to see.

“I make 30-40 brand new pieces a month. I try to keep an inventory around 700 pieces.”

“There’s always something new. Always something different.”

Archer also does pieces in Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue colors for sports fans. And he even does special orders.

“I do special orders, if you wanted something for a wedding or a birthday, or Christmas, you come pick out a piece, then I can remake it and put a custom message on the bottom.”

Archer has glazes in 21 different colors, and some of them he even makes himself. And he cuts designs in some of the pieces by hand. 

Kickapoo Pottery is open the first full weekend of every month, or by appointment. Archer decided to open a shop on his property rather than travel to art shows and festivals due to the labor of transporting his products and the fragility of those products.

“I thought I would go do a couple of shows to help people find out about my stuff. I went to an art show over in Danville. Clothing or jewelry isn’t too bad [to transport], but pottery is hard. I broke a couple pieces hauling the stuff to Danville and back.” 

“That was when I first opened, and I was still doing radio and newspaper advertising. I was having pretty good traffic in the pottery shop. I was selling three times more in a weekend than what I made in one weekend at the art show.”

Archer doesn’t do any radio or TV advertising now, so he relies mainly on word of mouth to bring people in. He does have an email list, and once a month before the weekend he is going to open the shop he sends out a coupon to his email subscribers. 

“Business has slowed down quite a bit since when I first started, about 8 years ago. It takes new people coming to see the pottery.”

Archer keeps himself busy and active. He still golfs regularly, sometimes five days a week if he can, and he walks every day with his dog, Emma. 

He has a big family: four kids and fourteen grandkids.

His wife never got into the pottery after that first class. 

Archer said, with a laugh, “She likes coming out to pick stuff out to give to people, but other than that she doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

Archer says he plans to be open as long as he physically can. 

“Probably as long as I can throw pots, and get to the barn physically. At my age, that may not be a long time.”

“I’ll be 75 next month. I’ve lived three-quarters of a century.”

Kickapoo Pottery will be open December 5th-8th as a part of the Little Country Tour. After that, the next official open weekend is in April of 2020. However, Archer will open up by appointment. More information on how to contact him and more pictures of his work are available on the Kickapoo Pottery website. 

The post Archer still finds joy in Kickapoo Pottery first appeared on SJO Daily.

Alex Neubauer, owner of Neubauer’s Barbershop and Shave Parlor, located at 109 N. Main St., St. Joseph, has realized his dream in becoming a barber.

From the time Neubauer was in high school, becoming a barber was in the forefront of his mind. But until three years ago, he pursued other avenues.
“I’d done a number of different careers, or jobs that I tried to make into a career.,” he said. 

That all changed when the Paxton native visited a barber shop in Monticello. After watching the customer before him get a haircut and a beard trim, Neubauer decided to talk to the barber about pursuing a change in employment.

“It was time for a change,” Neubauer said. “I went home and emailed a school.”

Upon finishing the program, Neubauer was hired as an employee of St. Joseph’s Wicked Rascal Barbershop, which he purchased a year later and changed the name.

While Neubauer enjoys cutting hair and trimming beards, it was the social aspect of barbering that drew him in.

“I think I was interested in the social aspect and being able to be creative,” he said. “I like getting to express myself and see the joy on people’s face when they turn around and have a good haircut.”

“I hope (my customers) feel welcomed, that they come in for a good haircut and conversation.”

While Neubauer and his customers talk about “anything and everything,” he does like to sneak in a few barbering facts every once in a while.

Within Neubauer’s Barbershop and Shave Parlor sits a traditional white, red and blue barber shop pole. Neubauer said there are many myths around the origin of the barbershop pole, but the one he enjoys the most tells the story of how barbers used to also be surgeons.

“They did everything, including dentistry, back in the day,” he said.

In Europe, the barber pole is linked to bloodletting, with the red representing blood and the white representing the cloth bandages. The pole symbolizes the stick the patient squeezed to make the veins on his/her arm stand out.

In America, the pole also includes the blue stripe. Some suggest this is may be to represent the veins while others think it may be a show of patriotism.

“I’m glad I don’t have to do that. I don’t know if I would be doing that if that were part of the job,” he said.

The tradition of barbery is something that Neubauer believes is important.

“I really like to dive in and learn more about products, sculpting and shaping and angles of barbering; it’s not just cutting hair, it’s learning about the tools and the care of the tools, taking care of your customers,” he said.

Neubauer doesn’t want to just stop at status quo, though. He hopes to offer more services and products to customers in the future.

A fan of beards, Neubauer offers beard trimming, but he is also interested in adding a product line in his shop so that men can experience beard oils, body washes and balms before purchasing.

“There’s not a place to go for men to buy that stuff, unless you go online,” he said.

Currently, Neubauer offers men’s traditional haircuts, beard trims, beard shaping, straight razor shaves and razor fades.

To schedule an appointment with Neubauer, call (217) 840-0259, Tuesday through Friday 9 to 6 and 9 to 1 on Saturday.

The post Neubauer realizes dream as a barber first appeared on SJO Daily.

Fithian
Kyle A Weise

Homer
Haley L Miller
Megan C Perry
Taylor J Pruitt
Katherine M Quick
Collin K Rohl
Cole A Woodmansee

Longview
Kaylea D Webber

Oakwood
Clayton D Walker

Ogden
John M Acklin
Cody A Ayers
Bonnie G Collins
Tanner E Morris
Katelyn M Smith

Saint Joseph
Benjamin D Albrecht
Justin A Beck
Lacey N. Berlatsky
Abigail C Burnett
Austin R Chilton
Paige B Dalton
Dezarae R Dowers
Mason A Edwards
Carson D Florey
Tenneal R Frerichs
Justyn R Fruhling
Chloe A Graver
Kohlten D Johnson
Riley S Knott
Danielle C Long
Rebecca L Long
Alexis G Manning
Brendan Z Olauson
Adalyn J Parke
Autumn M. Pecchenino
Austin M Reitmeier
Sarah C Sanders
Raegan J Smith
Amanda M Stevens
Macy R Vallee
Jason M Waldeck
Taura Ward
Hannah O Watson
Sarah E Wiseman
Tori R Witruk

Villa Grove
Kyrsten N Cox
Logan D Hettinger
Courtney L Howard
Kari J Kemnetz
Cameron A Knell
Mokaylee M Knell
Kirsten L Oberg

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