Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal February 19, 2015 Volume 152, Number 43 - $1.00
Season Finishes The Lady Cardinals season finished Feb. 11 with a loss to Freeport Aquin. B1
HUD Funding
Emergency Plan Emergency planning brochures have been mailed to residents living near the power plant. B3
Ogle County will receive $393,755 to help fund improvements to public housing. A7
Village to share spare squad car By Chris Johnson Reporter The Forreston Village Board approved an intergovernmental agreement with German Valley to split the use of a squad car. The board unanimously approved spending $2,810.78 Monday night to cover half of the cost of the car. “The car has a blue stripe and says police,” said Forreston Police Chief Mike Boomgarden. “There is no town name on the squad.” He said legally the car meets the requirements for a marked police car. The car will be used as a spare squad. Boomgarden said it can be used by either community depending on the need. “The car is titled as German Valley’s car, but this agreement says we own half of the car,” he said. “It will be shared when needed.” It can be brought to either community during sporting events, town festivals, or if a car breaks down. “It is not a new car but it looks like a new car and is road ready,” said Boomgarden. “The car will be stored in the heated German Valley garage.” The German Valley Village Board paid the entire $5,621.56
cost for the vehicle and with the approval of the agreement, a $2,810.78 check was cut to the Village of German Valley. The board also learned Monday night that door to door solicitors have approached the village about rules for going around the village. These solicitors are discussing electric rates. “We can not prohibit them from going around town,” said Boomgarden. “They are coming. Read the fine print.” The village board approved an energy contract that residents were able to switch to last year. That contract is still in effect. Village Clerk Carol Gagliardi said residents can look at their electric bills to see what rate residents are paying for their electricity. The board also approved a $250,000 transfer from the Illinois Fund to the State Bank of Freeport. Village treasurer Fred Schneiderman said the bank is offering .85 percent for up to a $250,000 deposit. He said the village can withdraw the funds at any time without penalties and it would be a money market account. Schneiderman also said the village checking accounts are being switched to money market accounts with a onetenth of a percent interest rate.
Farmers concerned
with semi regulations By Vinde Wells Editor Residents of the rural Ogle County voiced their concerns to the county board Tuesday over stepped-up enforcement of laws governing the length of semis. Brian Duncan, a Polo farmer and president of the Ogle County Farm Bureau, said farmers and truckers are concerned because of the recent increase in enforcement of a state law that limits semis to 55 feet in length on roads not designated as truck routes. Adrian Book, Leaf River, who farms and operates a trucking business, said many township and county roads have 80,000 weight limits — the maximum allowed for trucks — but since they aren’t designated as truck routes, the law limits the bumper-to-bumper length of trucks to 55 feet. Most trucks are now 65 feet long, he said. “It can’t be met,” Book said. “There’s not a truck short enough.” Buffalo Township Road Commissioner Bill Clothier agreed. “It’s a law that’s never been enforced. It should go away,” he said. Duncan said the length limit on state highways and county roads that are
Ogle County Sheriff Deputies and rescue workers from the Mt. Morris Fire Department, Leaf River Fire Department, and Forreston Fire Department responded to an accident at Townline Road and Mt. Morris Road on Tuesday. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Three hurt in Tuesday accident By Vinde Wells Editor
Three people were injured in a two-vehicle crash Tuesday afternoon approximately four miles north of Mt. Morris. Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said late Tuesday afternoon that a crash report was not yet available with
full details of the incident that occurred just before 12:30 p.m. at the intersection of Mt. Morris and Townline Roads. According to initial reports, a sports utility vehicle driven by Lisa Brubaker, 50, Oregon, was southbound on Mt. Morris Road when it was struck by car driven by Kieundrea
Fortner, 26, Freeport, which was eastbound on Townline Road. Traffic at the intersection is controlled by stop signs on Townline Road. Vehicles on Mt. Morris Road are not required to stop. Fortner and two occupants of her car, including a small child, were transported to Freeport Memorial Hospital
by Leaf River and Forreston ambulances. Brubaker and a third passenger in the Fortner car were not injured. Ogle County Sheriff’s Police were assisted at the scene by the Leaf River Fire Department, and Mt. Morris Fire Department and ambulance.
County board approves contract By Vinde Wells Editor Ogle County Sheriff’s Department employees will be getting raises thanks to a new four-year contract approved Tuesday by the county board. The board okayed the collective bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) following a closed session. Board chairman Kim Gouker, Byron, said the contract is retroactive to Dec. 1, 2013 and covers 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The contract includes a base pay increase of 2 percent for 2014, 2.25 percent for 2015,
2.9 percent for 2016, and 3 percent for 2017. He said that amount of base pay varies with the position, but starting pay for a deputy is $41,000 annually. Another change in the contract is the establishment of a Health Care Planning Committee. “The most significant part of the negotiations is that we’ve created a new committee to address health care. Our health coverage is getting very expensive,” Gouker said. The committee, he said, will be comprised of management and employees. Management members are
three county board members, Greg Sparrow, Rochelle, Pat Nordman, Oregon, and John O’Brien, Rochelle, and three department heads, Sheriff Brian VanVickle, Engineer Curtis Cook, and Zoning Administrator Mike Reibel. The employee members will include four union members, three from the FOP and one from the Teamsters, and two non-union employees, one chosen by the FOP and the other chosen by the Teamsters. Sheriff’s, Corrections, and Probation Department employees are part of the FOP. Circuit clerk and Health Department employees are in
the Teamsters Union. Changing employees’ health coverage will take a three-fourths vote of the Health Care Planning Committee, Gouker said. Rejecting the proposed changes will take a threefourths vote of the county board. The county needs to bring its health coverage into line, Gouker said. “The county is facing possible penalties from the “Obamacare” plan [Affordable Care Act] in 2018,” he said. “I’d rather use the money for things we need here than send it to Washington.”
designated truck routes is 65 feet. To further complicate the issue, he said, federal law mandates that trucks be built longer to spread out the 80,000 pounds they are allowed to carry. Duncan said the limits need to be consistent. For example, he said Pines Road from Spectrum Meats west to Polo is not a truck route. However, from Spectrum Meats east to Oregon, the road is designated as a truck route. Consequently, a semi-load of pigs headed from the Polo area to Spectrum Meats for slaughter must go either to Dixon or to Ill. 64 to get to Pines Road in Oregon, rather than just traveling through Polo and on east. Duncan offered two solutions to the problem. He asked the county board to support a bill in the state legislature to change the length limit from 55 feet to 65 or abolish the law together. “Another way to solve this is to create more truck routes in Ogle County,” he said. Board chairman Kim Gouker said the board’s Agriculture Committee is working on the problem. He said the sheriff’s department has so far issued Marian Haijenga buys Valentine treats Feb. 13 from Marta Poppen at the St. James Lutheran Church women’s nine warning tickets for annual Valentine Bake Sale at Forreston State Bank. Photo by Vinde Wells length violations.
Bake Sale
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B8-B12 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6
Forreston Police, A2 Marriage License, A4 Public Voice, A8 Property Transfers, B6
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, A11, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B6
Deaths, B5 Ruth M. Deneau, Eileen F. DeWall, Catherine A. Keyes, Doris E. Silvius, Joe M. Twigg
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com