Ottumwa Courier Week 2

Sophomore wing Marcus Posley rebounds the ball Wednesday during the IHCC basketball game against Iowa Western. 

Radio controlled flyers line the wall Tuesday night during the Ottumwa Radio Control Flyers club meeting at Bridge View Center. The club consists of about 35 members and has various events throughout the year. During the winter months they hold meetings and fly indoors, but they also have outdoor runways for the warmer months. 

Jerry Cheney catches an RC plane mid-flight Tuesday night during the Ottumwa Radio Control Flyers club meeting at Bridge View Center. Cheney said that he started flying RC planes when he about about 11 and is amazed at how far the technology has come.

“I was lucky if I got two flights in a day when I was a boy,” Cheney said. “Now my flights are only limited by the amount of batteries I bring with me."

Bob Bratten holds his plane together while the glue sets Tuesday night during the Ottumwa Radio Control Flyers club meeting at Bridge View Center. Bratten has been a member of the club for about 25 years and has used may different planes. Bratte said that usually all it takes to these RC planes back in the air after a is a little glue and that they are very low maintenance. 

Senior swimmer Michael Wagner competes in the boys 200-yard freestyle Monday for the Ottumwa boys swim team. 

Ottumwa Courier Week 1

Brittany Pilcher, of Ottumwa, watches the clock count down as she donates plasma and platelets at the BridgeView Center Thursday during a Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Drive. Pilcher said that she has been donating blood since high school and has donated about 10 times. This is the first time she has donated plasma and platelets and the whole process can take anywhere from an hour to two hours. “Donating blood and plasma just seems like a good thing to do,” Pilcher said. 

Billy McGuigan, left, and Rave On! band members preform Friday at The Bridge View Center. Rave On! The Buddy Holly Experience is a tribute show that brings people back to old days of rock-and-roll. McGuigan, a Buddy Holly interpreter, and the Rave On! Band preformed various Buddy Holly hits throughout the show. 

Sophomore wing Roosevelt Scott shoots the ball Tuesday during the mens basketball game at IHCC. 

Annette Wittrock, left, shows off a corn snake to Pam White and Mike Wilt Saturday at the Bridge View Center. Wittrock was attending the Eagle Watch event as a representative of the Wapello County Conservation Board and spent the day teaching people about some of the local wildlife and their habitats.

Junior player Andrew Altfillisch shoots the ball Tuesday during the boys basketball game at Evans Middle School.  

Robert “Gene” Pilcher, right, listens to witness testimony Thursday at the Wapello County Courthouse during his murder trial. Pilcher is being charged with the murder of 17-year-old Mary Jayne Jones in 1974. 

Kim Armstrong, right, took the stand Thursday at the Wapello County Courthouse during the Robert “Gene” Pilcher murder trial. Armstrong and Pilcher had a relationship for six or seven years up until 2012 and often did drugs together, including crack cocaine. It was during on of these visits that Armstrong said Pitcher told her that he had “offed someone” in Ottumwa. 

Former DCI Agent Michael Peterson, left, examines a piece of evidence Thursday at the Wapello County Courthouse during the Pilcher murder trial. Robert Eugene Pilcher is being charged with the murder of 17-year-old Mary Jayne Jones in 1974.  Prosecuting attorney Denise Timmins supplied various evidence from the crime scene to Peterson, who then further described what he witnessed.  

Michael Pilcher, left, and Logan Kelly clip a yearling heifer Saturday during the Cornbelt Cow-Calf Convention at the Bridge View Center. Pilcher has been clipping cattle for ten years and is the second generation in his family to show cattle. Pilcher said that they come to the convention each year to get more kids interested in the programs it highlights. 

A maine-anjou yearling heifer waits to be clipped Saturday during the Cornbelt Cow-Calf Convention at the Bridge View Center. Clipping involves trimming the cows hair in preparation for a show to highlight its good qualities and mask its bad ones. 

Ottumwa wrestler Nathan Cary gains an advantage over his opponent during the Ottumwa Invitational Saturday. Cary went 5-0 on his was to corralling first place at 126 pounds. 

Flood

An Olive Branch, Il. resident tows his belongings through flood waters April 28, 2011. Heavy spring rains caused the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to overflow and flood many southern Illinois towns. Over 200 homes were destroyed during the flood. 

Olive Branch, Il. residents pack sandbags into the night to try to save their homes from the encroaching flood waters. 

Flood waters over take a stop sign in southern Illinois. 

Randy Masterson, left, a retired steel worker, discuses the construction of the levee along the Ohio River, while family and friends of Helen Stilley, owner of the Horseshoe Lake Motel in Olive Branch, Il., take a break from cleaning up the flood damage, to catch their breath and entertain some local children.

Helen Stilley, right, hands James Farrell glass cups that she salvaged from the flooded first floor of her house in Olive Branch, Il. The water receded enough for people to get back into their homes to start the slow process of cleanup. 

Graduates

The Southern Illinois University Carbondale class of 2013 is showered in streamers at the end of their graduation ceremony.

Old Squat

Hub caps line the walls of an old barn at Old Squat Inn in Marion, Ill. The barn holds a multitude of old tools, antiques and trucks.

Shootout for Support

Wayne Skobel, of Murphysboro, prepares his shot at the Carbon Lake Shooting Club in Murphysboro, Ill. Skobel participated in a shootout-match fundraiser at the clubhouse that was raising money for the Murphysboro Elks Club. “We all came out to support the Elks,” said Rebecca Clover, another shootout participant of Murphysboro. “They are doing good work, and it feels good to do what we can to help and have fun doing it.” 

Outside the Box

Frank Ferko demonstrates how to play a song on the organ at Shryock Auditorium at Southern Illinois University. Ferko participated in this years Outside The Box music festival as a demonstrator for various events including the organ demonstration, his own compositions and a lecture on scoring music for films.

Bee keeper

Colin Kuehl, left, and Angie Kuehl, open one of their beehives at their father’s home in Alto Pass. “Colin and my dad usually handle the bees with little to no protection; they learned how to do it without and keep the bees calm enough to work with,” Angie said. Angie, however, has developed an allergy and has to wear head-totoeprotection. They open the hives to collect honey and check the health of the colony. 

Eye on the Wall

Climbers warm up to boulder at the Climb So iLL gym in St. Louis. David Chancellor and Daniel Chancellor, who began making climbing holds in their parents’ De Soto basement ten years ago, created the gym in 2012 to give back to the climbing community. The gym celebrated its first year of operation March 23, 2013.

Seaweed

Fish swim though seaweed littered water at the St. Louis Zoo. ​