Audition tapes sent to the ISHA proved to be the ticket for Mercer County Pep Band's appearance at the girls' state basketball semi-finals.

A Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving campaign is being enforced on Illinois highways over the next few days to try to eliminate drunk drivers from the roadways.

Members of the Aledo Volunteer Fire Department agreed Feb. 3 to cancel this year's Firemans' Ball. The ball has been a fund-raiser for the department for the past 85 years.

Members of the Reynolds Volunteer Fire Department are hosting an all you can eat pancake and sausage breakfast on Sunday, Feb. 7, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the American Legion.

Aledo Area Chamber of Commerce members are encouraged to get their reservations for next week's meeting in by 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 5. The noon luncheon will be at The Livermore Tuesday, Feb. 9.

There were 775 ballots cast in the Mercer Carnegie Library referendum that proposed issuing $2.8 million in bonds to expand and improve the 95-year-old library in Aledo. Fifty five percent of the voters rejected the bond issue.