Sparta News

Phil Potter / Courier & Press Lloyd "Mac" Emge, of Owensville, Ind., and his dog "Coot" were participants and point leaders in the Ainard Shrine Temple's Shoot to Retreive trial near Sparta, Ill.

Ready for persimmon cookies and old fashioned fun? Then you will want to be in Sparta this weekend for the community's annual Persimmon Days Festival.

O'Fallon at Althoff, 7:15 p.m. Triad at Waterloo, 7:15 p.m. Collinsville at Belleville West, 6:15 p.m. Dupo at Valmeyer, 7:15 p.m. Nashville at Sparta, 7:45 p.m. Granite City at Belleville East, 6:15 p.m. Highland at Mater Dei, 7:30 p.m. Gibault at Columbia, 8 p.m. Red Bud at Wesclin, 7:15 p.m. Lebanon at Steeleville, 7:30 p.m. Prep Cross Country ...

An 18-year-old Sparta student accused of making a bomb threat against Sparta High School was arraigned this morning on a felony charge for the alleged Sept.

"The three, for whatever reason, were bullying the younger kid. It was classified as a bullying incident.

Three 16-year-old Sparta boys were charged with attacking a younger boy as he walked home from the township's athletic fields, police said today.

A Columbia, Mo., couple escaped injury Friday afternoon when their small airplane made an emergency landing in a soybean field in a remote area of southern Wayne County, Ill.

The Woodford County U of I Extension office is in need of at least two instructor volunteers for rifle and two for shotgun.

Competing for the first time in the 2009 season -- and on one of her least favorite courses -- didn't faze Freeburg sophomore Kristen Busch on Saturday at the Metro-East Lutheran Cross Country Invitational.

As a longtime biker, Ed Kemp founded Emergency Motorcycle Transport to help fellow bikers in need of conveyance.

Sparta resident Sara-Jane Petescia did precisely what was expected of her when she graduated from Sparta High School is 2006.

David and Theresa Thelen of Westphalia announce the engagement of their daughter Erin to Brent Beuschel.

It was the most literary of times. The town -- kids on summer break, parents, teachers and citizens at large -- are picking up and flipping through the same book as the lazy summer days draw toward their inevitable end.

Illinois Farm Bureau's photography staff would like to sahre with you the captured moments of two of IA Foundation's much-loved fundraisers.

Illinois Farm Bureau's photography staff would like to sahre with you the captured moments of two of IA Foundation's much-loved fundraisers.

Illinois Farm Bureau's photography staff would like to sahre with you the captured moments of two of IA Foundation's much-loved fundraisers.

Last week I wrote about our youth members of the Los Baños Sportsmen's Club Clay Target Program going back east to Sparta, Ill.

Last week I wrote about our youth members of the Los Baños Sportsmen's Club Clay Target Program going back east to Sparta, Ill.

The Grand American Trapshooting Championships is one of those things I'm ashamed to say I have yet to visit.

In the world of Canadian trap shooting, 23-year-old Patrick Lamont just might be the Wayne Gretzky of the 12-gauge. "He's a machine," says Larry Desjarlais, one of Lamont's fellow competitors at the 54th annual Canadian Trapshooting Championships, underway just south of Calgary near De Winton.