Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal April 7, 2016 Volume 153, Number 50 - $1.00
Coach Leaving
100 Mile Walk
Services Cut
Polo’s head football coach Andrew Hofer accepts a job in Mercer County. B1
A Polo man will walk a difficult trail to benefit Serenity Home. B2
A lack of state funding has caused Sinnissippi Centers to cut some of their services. B3
Village approves permit for Mimmo’s Pizza By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com A 30 minute discussion was required before the Forreston Village Board approved plans to expand a local business. Paolo Maniscalco applied for a building permit to expand Mimmo’s Pizza, 111 E. Main St. to the south. The new addition will be
built on adjacent property which will require building a fire wall between the two structures. “Is this a different address?” said trustee Jeff Freeze. “He may need to have a second liquor license.” Plans call for the building to be setback 10 feet from the sidewalk at 204 S. Walnut Ave. “He understands the building needs to be on his
property and not interfere with any right of ways,” said village president Michael Harn, who called Maniscalco during the meeting to verify the plans. The permit lists the building as a $100,000 project. “With this investment I would be interested in a break in the water and sewer hookup fees,” said Harn. Currently the fees are
a minimum of $1,000 for sewer and $1,000 for water. “The fee is dependent on the size of the pipe,” said Freeze. The building permit did not list the size of pipes required for the hookup. “I would wave one of those fees,” said Harn. “He is investing in the community.” Trustee Ken Toms, who is the water and sewer committee chairman, agreed
that a reduction in fees would be acceptable. Freeze suggested 50 percent off both fees. “Do we know what the building is for?” said trustee Gary Buss. Trustee Mark Metzger heard the building could be used for video gaming machines and serve food from the restaurant. The vote to approve the project was unanimous with
one addition. The board will ask Maniscalco to clarify the building materials used on the facade. Buss voted yes, however, he had one note about the project. He said a walkway was installed on property owned by Maniscalco that was not approved by the board. This walkway is over the village’s sewer line right-of-way.
Ogle County gamblers spend $176M in slots By Andy Colbert acolbert@oglecounty news.com The figures are staggering. In 2015, gamblers played $176 millions in slot machines. No, those weren’t numbers for Illinois. That was for Ogle County alone. Statewide, $11 billion was fed into the slots. Since video gaming was approved by the state legislature in 2012, Ogle County went from $54 millions played two years ago to the $176 million last year, a growth of 220 percent. Of that amount, gamblers lost $14 million in 2015. Officially known as video gaming terminals (VGTs) by the Illinois Gaming Board and one-armed bandits in slang, these machines have pumped loads of money into businesses that house them, the machines operators themselves and state and local tax coffers. The same is true in Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the world. It is slot machines, not table games or sports betting that bring in the most revenue to a casino. Reviewing the amounts gambled in February statewide, there was more than a billion dollars pumped into machines. The February amount among Ogle county licensees with number of gaming terminals in parenthesis was: Rochelle (49) $2,790,259 Oregon (45) $1,854,061
Video gaming machines have been popular throughout Ogle County establishments. Photo by Chris Johnson
Mt. Morris (25) $708,130 Byron (24) $867,318 Davis Junction (15) $600,479 Stillman Valley (15) $513,766 Polo (15) $348,527 Forreston (5) $225,636 Grand Detour (5) $133,897 Chana (5) $122,629 Leaf River (4) $67,135 Ten Pennies ($735,000 for February) and Father and Sons ($524,000) dominate the VGT scene in Oregon with 10 terminals each. “Being a tourist community, we have more bars and restaurants,” said Oregon mayor Ken Williams, explaining why the community has nearly twice as many slots as Byron and Mt. Morris. “I think there has to be a balance. Economically, there is a point of diminishing returns. Each community will only support so many (VGT) businesses.” The biggest winners in the county are those near I-39. Road Ranger, on Ill. 38 next to Rochelle, had nearly a million dollars pumped into five machines in February and the neighboring Mac Convenience had $646,873. The Monroe Center Oasis at Rt. 72 took in over a half million dollars. “It’s the interstate draw,” Road Ranger corporate rep Steve Brooks said. “We get the over-the-road trucker and more foot traffic than traditional business. Plus, that location is Rochelle has always been good for us before (video gaming).” Truck stops are unique in that they are not required to have alcohol or on-premise consumption licenses. It is an exemption granted to them by the state gaming board. The win percentage nationwide on slot machines for the player is from 82 percent to 98 percent. In Oregon, there was $1,692,920 won in February, a 91 percent win rate. Of the $161,140 lost by gamblers in Oregon in February, the city got $8,057 (5 percent) and the state $40,285 (30 percent). The Turn to A3
In This Week’s Edition...
Auction Curiosity Justin Myers, age 9, Adeline, checks out a Ford tractor that was for sale at the Hazelhurst Sale west of Polo on April 2. Justin said he was checking how many hours the older tractor had on it. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Cook steps down from county post By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com The local ride is over for Ogle County Engineer Curtis Cook when he steps down after 24 years on the job. He is stepping away at the end of the month to work at the Rockford office of Chastain and Associates, Decatur. “It has been a good ride. The time was right to step away from the post. It has been a blast,” he said. “I look back at the projects we completed and we went from a period of high economic development to a recession. Economically I saw one extreme to another.” Despite economic challenges which impact the county highway department’s budget, Cook has been proud of the accomplishments the department has made. “There were several major projects I was tickled with,” said Cook. The highway department worked with the City of Rochelle, the BNSF Railroad, IDOT, and other agencies to build the Steward Road overpass. “It took coordination of all these agencies and the road benefits the companies along the road,” said Cook.
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Forreston Police, A3
This project started in 2005 with the concept and was completed in 2010 after a two-year construction. “Coordinated projects were fun because it shows we play well in the same sandbox,” he said. Another project he was proud of was the county Geographic Information Systems (GIS) project. The highway department, county board, zoning department, and assessor worked together to assemble the data for Ogle County. “The GIS system required coordination and 15 years later we have 38 agencies that participate,” Cook said. “GIS has the cooperation and is a product with information that the public wants.” Looking forward, Cook sees the need to address township bridges. “The county bridges are in good condition but the issue is looming for township bridges,” Cook said. Currently the funding model for bridges has the costs to replace one bridge every two years. In Ogle County there are 196 township bridges. “The state and local agencies will need to find a way to fund the replacement of these bridges,” said Cook. This concern is heightened
Marriage Licenses, A4 Property Transfers, B4 Public Voice, A7 Sheriff’s Arrests, B4
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B3 Weather, A10
Ogle County Engineer Curtis Cook will step away from the county engineer post after 24 years. Photo by Chris Johnson
because there have been talks at the state level of reducing or removing township governments. If the townships were removed, the highway department would have an extra 1,000 miles of road to maintain. For the current 270 miles the county maintains, the highway department can only afford to replace a road every 24 years.
Proper maintenance is required to ensure the roads last because the cost of maintenance and replacement continues to increase while revenue has declined, Cook said. “You can not maintain those roads without additional funding,” he said. “The road improvements we make today will need to last. You need to think long term.”
Deaths, B4 Mary Ann Greenawalt, F. Imogene Fridley Rothermel
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com