Serving Ogle County since 1851
OREGON Republican Reporter
October 29, 2015 Volume 165, Number 46 - $1.00
Lady Hawks Win
Fall Back
Soccer Loses in OT
The Lady Hawks will play in the regional championship game Oct. 29. B1
Turn your clocks back one hour to Standard Time at 2 a.m. Sunday.
The Hawk soccer team lost to Keith Country Day in the sectional final. B1
Request for proposed gun range draws opposition Club president says safety is primary focus By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Two men aired opposing views last week about a request for a gun range at the Byron Sportsman’s & Conservation Club. O.K. Welty, Byron, who is the club’s president, told the county board Oct. 20 that safety will be the primary focus of the proposed gun range at the club at 1509 East Townline Rd. However, Craig Dimond, a neighbor of the club, wasn’t so sure. He said the design of the proposed gun range would
not ensure that all bullets will remain inside and could pose a danger to homes and hikers in the area. “They want to expand to have hand guns and pistol grip rifles, which have a range of one to two miles,” he said. Dimond said homes are located within 1,000 feet of the proposed range. The sportsman’s club has requested a special use permit that would allow a shooting range for hand gun caliber weapons on their property, which is zoned AG-1 (agricultural use). Zoning Administrator Mike Reibel said Tuesday that hand gun caliber weapons can include long guns of certain calibers. The club is surrounded by homes, farmland, and forest preserve land. At a lengthy hearing Sept.
24, the Ogle County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) voted 3-2 to recommend that the county board approve the request. The ZBA vote came after members heard testimony on both sides of the issue. The county board is expected to vote on the request at its Nov. 17 meeting. The club currently has a trap shooting range that has restricted hours. Patricia Hogan, another neighbor, voiced concern at the hearing that the proposed range would be unsupervised and have unlimited hours. Besides safety, she cited noise concerns and that property in the area could be devalued due to the noise. Welty said access to the enclosed shooting area will be electronically controlled
This drawing shows the gun range proposed by the Byron Sportsman’s & Conservation Club on Townline Road southwest of Byron. Image supplied
and monitored by motionactivated security cameras. “This will allow the club to monitor activity at the range and will create a log of member use,” he said in a press release issued late last week. “This level of security will allow the club to deal with any safety violations or misuse quickly.” Welty said the range will
be constructed of concrete walls two feet thick and eight feet tall with a “no blue sky” baffle system over the top to keep shooters from seeing outside and rounds of ammunition from leaving. The Byron Forest Preserve Board, which owns the adjacent Ripplinger Gouker Preserve, also expressed
opposition to the plan. Reibel said at the hearing that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) recommended that trees greater than three inches in diameter be removed only from Oct. 1 through March 31 because the site is suitable habitat for at least two bat species, one of which is threatened.
Man charged with stealing $1,000 in tornado aftermath Cash was taken from restaurant cash register By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Halloween Decorations This home on S. Fifth Street in Oregon has been fully decorated for Halloween. Photo by Chris Johnson
Lack of state budget hurting RRC By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com A local senior center is closing early to try and prevent a complete closure. The Rock River Center, Oregon, receives funding from the state for caseworkers. “Our board felt we needed to do something due to the lack of a state budget,” said RRC Executive Director Ann Haas. “We are currently using reserve dollars. We are trying to be cautious.”
The Rock River Center is located at 810 S. 10th Street.
The center will be closing at 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday which is an hour earlier than its normal closing time of 4:30 p.m. This will cause the caseworkers to have five hours less each week to get
their work in and visit with all the clients. The funding from the state that is not being received is what the center uses to pay the caseworkers. “Our caseworkers are a big point of what we do,”
said Haas. “We still can pay our caseworkers but we are trying to make the dollars we have last longer.” The state has been without a budget since July and there is no clear answer as to when one will be approved. Haas encourages the public to contact their representatives and voice their concerns. Other agencies are also struggling with the state’s lack of a budget. “We are trying to bring this to the attention of the public,” said Haas.
An Indiana man has been arrested for taking cash from an Ogle County restaurant after it was destroyed during an April 9 tornado. Michael G. McDonald, 67 of Whiting, Indiana, was arrested Monday by the Rochelle Police Department on an Ogle County warrant for theft, more than $500, a Class 3 felony. McDonald works in Rochelle. The arrest stems from a sheriff’s department investigation into theft of money from the former Grubsteakers Restaurant, which was located at the intersection of Ill. 251 and Ill. 64. The investigation revealed that during the April 9 tornado that struck Grubsteakers, McDonald was a patron inside the
Michael G. McDonald
business and that he stole approximately $1,000 from the cash register. McDonald posted 10 percent of his $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 6. The well-known restaurant was destroyed in the EF4 tornado that swept through Ogle County April 9 leaving a path of destruction. Grubsteakers owner Ava Mirtoska ushered customers and employees to the safety of a storm cellar as the storm approached. Sheriff Brian VanVickle said he is not sure where McDonald rode out the storm, but he did not go into the storm cellar with the others.
Polo woman enters not guilty plea in embezzlement case Sauk Valley Media A Polo woman pleaded not guilty last week to federal charges that she embezzled more than $59,000 from First State Bank. Kayla Bergstrom, 46, entered a not guilty plea Oct. 22 during her arraignment before the Judge Iain D. Johnston in federal court in Rockford. Federal authorities say Bergstrom embezzled the funds over four years, funneling the money through her account and her husband’s auto repair business. Bergstrom was indicted Oct. 20
in federal court in Rockford. She is free on her own recognizance and a status hearing has been set for Dec. 3. Bergstrom, a first vice president of the bank, handled all of its correspondent accounts, including one with U.S. Bank, the U.S. Attorney’s Northern District office said in a news release on Oct. 21. She had “the highest security level assigned” for the bank’s software program, with access to customer bank and general ledger accounts, and the ability to add new accounts, the release said. According to the indictment:
In This Week’s Edition...
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B7-B12 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6
Kayla Bergstrom
From Feb. 23, 2010 to Feb. 3, 2014, Bergstrom embezzled money
Marriage Licenses, A4 Byron Police, B6 Oregon Library, A8 Public Voice, A7
by creating cash advance tickets for the U.S. Bank correspondent account. She would credit the amounts of cash advance tickets to her personal account and the business account Bergy’s Automotive, which is owned by her husband, Mark Bergstrom. She concealed her embezzlement by changing bank account statements, “manually cutting and pasting false account balances on the statements,” the indictment said. She has since repaid First State Bank, the release said. The bank
Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2
has branches in Polo, Shannon, and Lake Carroll. Bergstrom, who is free on her own recognizance, faces up to 30 years in federal prison and up to $1 million in fines. She was arraigned Oct. 22 in federal court in Rockford. Bergstrom was hired as manager of the Polo pool in June, but the job is seasonal and she does not currently work for the city, City Clerk Susie Corbitt said. Vinde Wells contributed to this story.
Deaths, B4 Glen M. Borneman, Lois Hagemann, Donald Hammerman
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com