Riverbender 🕸

Couples names: Kevin & Kris Blumenberg City: Hardin Date met or started dating: March 17, 1984 Date married: September 23, 1989 What makes your relationship special? He’s type A and I’m type B. Complete opposite personalities but we compliment each other. Share a memory you have made together: Our 30 year anniversary trip. We went on a road trip with no reservations or plans. We ended up in Tunica - Memphis - Lynchburg TN and ended in Nashville. A week of open roads and so many memories.

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EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine on Monday announced that his office has filed charges of predatory criminal sexual assault against a defendant who, if convicted, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors charged Brok A. Weigand, 33, of South Roxana with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, one count of attempted predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count of criminal sexual assault. The counts of predatory criminal sexual assault are the most serious of the charges – class X felonies. Those counts carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison because they involve two separate victims. The charges allege that Weigand committed acts of sexual contact with three relatives, all of whom were younger than 13, between January 2014 and December 2022. “Any crimes committed against children are inexcusable. These types of offenses against children

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ALTON – People who have cardiac arrests may benefit from CPR, yet many people who witness cardiac arrest do not perform CPR. That’s why OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center (1 St. Anthony’s Way, Alton) is hosting two (2) additional first aid and CPR training class so Riverbend area residents are prepared to take action if necessary. These additional first aid and CPR training classes will be held: Wednesday, February 15, 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Monday, March 6, 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Each class will be held in the hospital’s Perpetual Help Center and led by a certified instructor. Space is limited and the cost is $65.00/person. Registration can be completed by calling (618) 920-6816 or by email at susiesweetman22@gmail.com. “Knowing CPR and first aid can help save lives,” says Dennis E. Sands, MD, Chief Medical Officer, OSF Saint Anthony’s. “If your child or loved one isn't breathing, knowing how to do CPR could mean

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EDWARDSVILLE - Nektar, one of the bands that developed what became known as progressive rock, will bring their Music and Light Theatre to the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville for 7 p.m. performances on Saturday, March 18 (sold out) and Sunday, March 19 (tickets available). The group is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the landmark recording, "Remember the Future," by playing the album in its entirety at each concert. Their performances also feature a spectacular light show. “It’s wonderful to be out on the road playing for our old and new fans,” says founding member Derek ‘Mo’ Moore, “sharing classic material from ‘Remember the Future’ and other early recordings, and introducing them to the sounds of Nektar's most recent album 'The Other Side.'" Formed in Germany in 1969 by British expats, Nektar soaked up the musical freedom they found in their new home, favoring extended compositions and concept albums over the constraints of pop.

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GODFREY – The Visiting Artist Lecture Series returns to Lewis and Clark Community College this month with respected master artist Victor Wang. Wang, a professor at Fontbonne University, has exhibited internationally and has been recognized with several awards for excellence in both painting and instruction. L&C Art Program Coordinator Angela Hung looks forward to resuming the Visiting Artist Lecture Series with such a distinguished artist. “We are pleased to welcome Victor Wang as the first guest speaker in the Visiting Artist Series,” she said. “Victor is a renowned master artist whose work is broadly published and exhibited internationally.” Wang is known for the way he conveys the human experience by representing the emotional tension and psychological drama of life’s turning points. “In the lecture, I will share my work through different periods and talk about how I developed my body of work ideally and technically,”

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JERSEYVILLE - A Jerseyville man has been charged with failing to register as a sex offender, according to the most recent felony filing report from the Jersey Circuit Clerk’s Office. Jacob B. Shaw, 19, of Jerseyville, was charged with unlawful failure to register as a sex offender. The incident took place on Jan. 27, when Shaw “knowingly failed to register” with the Jerseyville Police Department “within three days after he established a residence in Jerseyville,” Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Tellor said of the charge. Shaw was charged with a Class 3 felony. His failure to register violated Chapter 730, Act 150, Section 3(a) of the Illinois Compiled Statuses . A warrant for his arrest was issued on Jan. 30 and his bail was set at $15,000. His preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 6 at 9 a.m. at the Jersey County Courthouse. More information and updates on this case are available from the Jersey Circuit Clerk website .

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URBANA – Love. Amor. Aimer. Liebe. Milovat. A red rose. Six different languages, all expressing the same emotion. Floriography is the forgotten language or secret language of flowers. Throughout history, including the Victorian Era and many cultures including the Persians have used flowers to send secret messages to others. Nowadays, many people use flowers to convey emotions but rely on florists to translate emotion into flowers. Flowers in a bouquet are like words or phrases in a sentence. Each one can convey a different part of the message or emotion but are you sure your flowers are sending the right message? When thinking about luck, people often think of the four-leaf clover, however, there are other flowers representing luck. Since Victorian times, Bells of Ireland have been considered a symbol of good luck, the perfect flower to send to someone who is starting a new job or moving to a new home. Shamrocks are a symbol of good luck and fortune. Myrtle at a wedding means

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EDWARDSVILLE – A new Chick-fil-A ® restaurant will begin serving the Edwardsville community on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Chick-fil-A, Inc. has selected Phillip Brunner as the independent franchised Owner/Operator of Chick-fil-A Edwardsville. Located at 2319 Troy Road, near the Edwardsville Marketplace shopping mall, Chick-fil-A Edwardsville will be open for dine-in, drive-thru, and carry-out from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Guests of Chick-fil-A Edwardsville can place an order for pickup, dine-in, or drive-thru on the Chick-fil-A ® App or online . When joining the Chick-fil-A One ® tiered membership program, guests receive points on every qualifying purchase, which can be used to redeem available rewards. The Edwardsville restaurant joins 22 other Chick-fil-A restaurants serving the wider St. Louis market. Locally Owned and Operated As full-time, hands-on leaders in their restaurants and communities, Chick-fil-A Owner/Operators proudly

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EDWARDSVILLE - The Lincoln School Alumni Foundation has generously provided Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 with funding to employ a part-time home-school liaison. The liaison will be responsible for working collaboratively with families and community partners to ensure the needs of the whole child are being met, while supporting parents/guardians in addressing family needs, social/emotional and academic needs of the student in the home setting, as well as partnering with the educators serving the child. “Part of the Lincoln School Alumni Foundation’s mission is to help under resourced students across the district. Their generosity enables the district to help provide additional resources and opportunities to students who need it the most,” said District #7 Superintendent Dr. Patrick Shelton. “The historic Lincoln School Alumni Foundation is very much aware of District #7’s effort to improve our students’ reading skills,”

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ALTON - Lorenzo Small and several other Alton-area musicians have been forming a group called “Our Father’s Music” to highlight the connections Alton and its residents have to music and music history. They had a photoshoot at Lewis and Clark Community College on Saturday, Jan. 28 to help the community visualize the group as they go forward. "We decided if we're going to start group, to at least get a picture so that as we try to promote other artists, anyone on the outside of this group would know who we are," Small said of the photoshoot. “Our purpose is to bring attention to people from the Alton area who are accomplished musicians and/or artists themselves,” he added. Other group members include several Alton-area musicians. The current members are as follows: Howard Neal - frontman and visionary of the group Lorenzo Small - percussionist, group secretary Dilbert Caldwell - vocalist from Alton group “Picture This” Louis Bratte

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ALTON - Marquette Catholic’s St. Baldrick’s fundraiser event was highly successful once again Friday afternoon in raising funds for research and cures for cancer. Marquette Catholic Principal Tim Harmon said as of Friday, $7,276 was raised and the class competition donations had not yet been counted. He said usually another few thousand dollars come in from the class competition in the St. Baldrick’s event. “The St. Baldrick’s went very well,” Harmon said. “I believe 12 people had their heads shaved in raising funds for cancer. We also had an overwhelming response from hair stylists to cut hair." The people who had their heads shaved were Mary Donahue (head custodian), Michael Eddy (teacher), Garrett Flowers (teacher), Joe Boevingloh (alumni) Peter Walch (student), Steven Walch (St. Mary’s student), Andrew Roth (student), Christian Maag (student), Thomas Alonso (student), Devon Doherty (student), Michael Wahl (student), Joey Nugen

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Couples names: Kevin & Kesthien Smith City: Godfrey Date met or started dating: August 24, 2010 Date married: October 26, 2019 What makes your relationship special? What makes our relationship special is not the aesthetic, but it is the history and adventure. It is the inspiration we give to not only pursue what you love, but fight for what may seem unbeatable. In the year 2010, two( once unfortunate) kids met on the first day of highschool, and learning more than what meets the eye fell for one another. In the time period for us where it was most advised to "have fun" and take most romantic experiences as a lesson for the future, we fearlessly deemed ourselves ready to take on the world together. We both had come from imperfect backgrounds which brought us closer. We had ever class together from 1st period to lunch, so it only seemed destined, but it wasn't just a snatch and grab. "Kevin had proposed a relationship multiple times but I had rejected it due to distance

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Couples names: Matt & Mary City: Carrollton Date met or started dating: February 25, 2003 Date married: February 25, 2006 What makes your relationship special? We are Highschool sweethearts. We met our senior year of high school and have been together ever since! When I met Matt, I had a daughter already and even tho we were so young, he took my daughter in as his own and eventually legally adopted her. We have been through the ups and downs, the hard times and the best times. We have 3 beautiful children together, 1 daughter and 2 sons. We were also blessed with a beautiful granddaughter in 2021! Share a memory you have made together: Oh where to start?! We have so many memories together but the ones I love the most are when we are traveling as a family. All the road trips, all the camping trips, all the hiking trips and all the places to see!

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JERSEYVILLE - In conjunction with Jersey State Bank, J.C.H.S. has selected their “Student of the Month”. The recipient for the month of January is Kateryna Savienkova. The selection of a “Student of the Month” is based upon the number of F.O.C.U.S. nominations, which a student receives for a given month. F.O.C.U.S. (Finding One Clearly Unique Student) is a program, which acknowledges a student each week for academic or kindness. Each week teachers may recognize students who have performed well in their classes by selecting them as F.O.C.U.S. students for that particular week. During January, Kateryna received the most F.O.C.U.S. nominations. Because she received the most nominations, he was named “Students of the Month” at JCHS. She is being congratulated by Marci Tonsor of Jersey State Bank. In conjunction with Jerseyville Banking Center, J.C.H.S. has selected their “Students of the Month”. The recipients for the month of January

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Couples names: Don & Heather City: Palmyra Date met or started dating: May 1, 1995 Date married: June 8, 2013 What makes your relationship special? We are a bleneded family with 9 kids. We original met back in 1994, but we grew apart and both went on and started a family. After major life changes and many years later we rekindled the fire and got married. Here we are living our best life, going to car shows, cruises and the beaches in Florida. Can't wait to continue this journey. Share a memory you have made together: One of our best memories is the week we spent on the beach. Such a paeaceful, relaxing, making memories time.

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Couples names: Lexie & EJ City: Wood River Date met or started dating: June 4, 2013 Date married: August 12, 2023 What makes your relationship special? We’ve always knew we could come back to each other. Share a memory you have made together: Finding out we were having a baby together after years of knowing each other.

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Couples names: Chris aka Nipper & Brandie DeSherlia City: Grafton Date met or started dating: September 4, 2000 Date married: September 4, 2003 What makes your relationship special? We knew of each other in high school and ran into each other at a Super Bowl Party the year the St. Louis Rams won. There was not an attraction at that time, at least on my part lol we quickly became friends. Nip dated a few of my friends and I just Could not see why they were attracted to him, he would pick me up for lunch everyday. We talked non stop, hung out all the time then he got a girlfriend outside my group of friends and we didn’t really see each other for a few months, I was actually mad at him for making stupid choices so I wasn’t talking to him. He wrote a note on my front door with a bar of soap asking me to call him, I didn’t I was in the hospital and he just showed up one day, the priest came into my room grabbed my hand & his and blessed us. Prayed with

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Couples names: Sarah & Michaela City: Alton Date met or started dating: February 4, 2013 Date married: December 4, 2020 What makes your relationship special? Against all odds, we started our own family. We got married. We now have a child of our own together. Our 2nd child together will make her arrival next month in March. Love is love. Share a memory you have made together: We love traveling the United States together. All of our adventures have made many good memories. Our most epic adventure, was hiking in the mountains in Arkansas. The mountain we were attempting, was so steep, I didn’t even think it was possible to hike up. Half way up, we got caught in a bad rain storm. Thinking it was crazy we even hiked up, and despite’s all the obstacles, we made it to the top. Our adrenaline was going and we was so excited to have finally made it all the way up. We just sat there for hours staring at the view.

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Couples names: Tim & Courtney City: Godfrey Date met or started dating: February 16, 2022 What makes your relationship special? We are like 2 peas in a pod. We laugh together and work great together. Share a memory you have made together: We had our first helicopter ride together and it was awesome.

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CARROLLTON - Several individuals have been charged with battery, drug offenses, and more in Greene County over the last few weeks, according to the most recent Jail Booking Report from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. Dustin A. Schnelten, 46, of Carrollton, was charged with aggravated battery of a police officer and criminal trespass to land. He was arrested by the Greene County Sheriff’s Department on Jan. 27 and remains in custody. Jeffrey T. Taylor, 55, of White Hall, was arrested by the White Hall Police Department for aggravated battery - he also had a warrant out for his arrest in Greene County. He was taken into custody on Jan. 26 and has since been released on bond. Jessica M. Giberson, 38, of Carrollton, was charged with domestic battery and arrested by the Greene County Sheriff’s Department on Jan. 25. She has since been released on her own recognizance. Amy D. Faltin, 38, of Carrollton, was arrested by the Greene County Sheriff’s Department

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