Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal March 5, 2015 Volume 152, Number 45 - $1.00
Regional Champs
Spring Ahead
Family Selected
The Forreston Cardinals defeated Polo to advance to the Eastland Sectional. B1
Set your clocks one hour ahead at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8.
A Mt. Morris family has been chosen for the 2015 Habitat for Humanity build. A10
Marijuana will grow in county Hillcrest selected to have medical marijuana center By Vinde Wells Editor
Regional Celebration Forreston coach Travis Ross gets ready to hand a net to senior Robert DeVries after the Cardinals beat Polo 56-46 at the Erie Regional on Feb. 27 See story on B1. Photo by Earleen Hinton
No sign for new county building Lettering will be installed on the building By Vinde Wells Editor
Ogle County’s newest building will be identified with lettering rather than a sign. County board chairman
Kim Gouker said the nearly completed Ogle County Public Safety Complex, 103 Jefferson St., Oregon, will be identified with letters on the building instead of a sign in front of it. The county’s Long Range Planning Committee discussed the lettering at a special meeting Feb. 25, a day after the Oregon City Council rejected its request to locate a large brick sign in
the city right-of-way in front of the building, which faces First Street. The city council turned down the committee’s request by a vote of 4-0 with commissioners Ken Williams, Bob Rees, and Kurt Wilson and mayor Tom Stone voting. Tom Izer did not attend the meeting. The Plan Commission considered the request on Feb. 17 and recommended
its denial to the council. “The Plan Commission didn’t want to set a precedent,” said Oregon Street Superintendent Mike Bowers, who is also a member of the Plan Commission. Bowers said he had granted a previous request from the committee to locate a parking area in front of the Turn to A2
Day of Dabbling beats the winter blues By Vinde Wells Editor Ogle County 4-H club members beat the winter blahs Feb. 28 by learning about topics ranging from poultry to aerospace. The annual Day of Dabbling, held at the Oregon Church of God, offered 18 hands-on workshops. Classes included visual
arts, cooking, natural resources, woodworking, aerospace, intercultural, scrapbooking, poultry, and science. In one classroom, youth polished up their poultry handling skills by first making a chicken from a white inflated balloon and then adding paper wings, feet, and beaks, along with drawing on eyes.
Then they practiced how to pick up their chicken for showing it off to its best advantage at fair-time. “Pin, hold, go with the grain, and out,” repeated instructor Sarah Carter as she demonstrated the correct way to remove a chicken — or duck or goose — from its cage for a show judge. Down the hall, a group was stapling fabric to wood
A Hillcrest official was ecstatic Tuesday with the news that a medical marijuana cultivation center will be coming to the village of 1,000. “It’s an incredible opportunity,” said village president Kim Whalen. “We’re trying to do a sewer project and this will help. The news about PharmaCann was the icing on the cake.” The medical marijuana cultivation center in this area was supposed to open in Dixon – and with a different company. However, state officials announced Monday that the permit will instead go to Oak Park-based PharmaCann. According to the Associated Press, PharmaCann CEO Teddy Scott said the company will open the cultivation center in Hillcrest, which is just north of Rochelle. The license had been awarded in February to GTI Clinic Holding LLC, parent company of Green Thumb Industries, but last week the company gave it up by failing to pay the state fees required. The Dixon license, for a lot in the Lee County Industrial Park, was one of three the company had been awarded. The purchase agreement between GTI and the Lee County Industrial Development Association for the lot in the industrial park was contingent on GTI being awarded a license. PharmaCann was the second-highest scoring application for Illinois State Police District 1, which includes Lee, Whiteside, Ogle and Carroll counties. PharmaCann has 15 days to provide the required $200,000 license fee and a
$2 million surety bond or escrow account. The distribution center for District 1 will be in Fulton. The Hillcrest Village Board gave its unanimous approval last August to a resolution supporting PharmaCann’s application for a license for the cultivation of medicinal marijuana under the Illinois Compassionate Care Act. A PharmaCann representative told the board in August that the facility will create an estimated 20 jobs. Whalen said PharmaCann broke ground for the facility last fall on land at the intersection of Twombly and Dement Roads, with the idea that the approval would likely come in winter when the ground was frozen. The company has a longterm lease for the property, she said. Having the facility within the village limits means officials there can go ahead with and complete a sewer project that’s been in the works for 40 years, Whalen said. The project calls for installing sewer mains which will connect to the City of Rochelle’s sewer system. Hillcrest does not have its own municipal wastewater treatment plant. Whalen said the village has already secured a grant for $500,000 and a low interest loan for $2.5 million from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which will allow about a quarter of the project to be done. The revenue from PharmaCann will ensure the project can be completed in a timely way. The first stage of the project will include the business district and 60-80 homes, she said. Hillcrest has approximately 20 businesses and 425 homes.
to create a memory board while in another classroom youngsters drew designs on a block of wood to create faux metal tiles. Wesley Immel, a member of Blackhawk Crossings 4-H Club, was happy with his finished memory board with its camouflage fabric and green ribbon grid. Although he was not yet sure what he would display on it, he said he learned a lot Matt Mencarini of Sauk from the project. Valley Media contributed to “It was fun to make,” he this story. said. “It was fun to use the staple gun on something besides my greenhouse at home.” Hannah Seaworth, a member of Ogle Jolly 4-H Club, was busy rubbing a piece of aluminum foil onto the design she had made on a wooden block that was the base for her faux metal tile. The designs were given depth by applying diecut pieces of card stock or outlining drawn designs with hot glue. Foil was then applied, and the design was brought out by carefully and thoroughly rubbing the foil over and around it. The final touch was a light coat of black spray paint. Each session was an hour long, and youngsters could choose to attend their three Two and a half-year-old Shannon Pals, German Valley, favorites during the three- dives into a dish of ice cream for dessert Feb. 28 at the Turn to A2 fish fry at St. Mary’s Community Center, Oregon. Photo
Tasty Treat
Youngsters made chickens from balloons Feb. 28 at Day of Dabbling to sharpen their skills at handling poultry when showing them at the 4-H Fair. Photo by Vinde Wells
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B8-B12 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B7 Forreston Police, A3
Marriage License, A4 Oregon Police, B7 Property Transfers, B6 Sheriff’s Arrests, B6
by Vinde Wells
Social News, A4 Sports, A11, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B6 Weather, A3
Deaths, B5 Duane A. Garkey, Angela K. Haak, Helen V. Naden, Nancy L. Peltz, Oren E. Stengel
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com