Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal May 12, 2016 Volume 154, Number 3 - $1.00
Tourney Time
Eden Honored
Spring sports will begin their postseasons next week. B2
Special Insert!
Stan Eden gets Illinois’ Lifetime Volunteer Award for his work with Ogle 4-H clubs. A4
Courthouse steps will be replaced By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com
The Village of Leaf River recently received a $25,000 grant to help with the cost of replacing the roof on the River Valley Complex, which houses the village hall. Photo by Vinde Wells
Grant will pay for part of new roof By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A federal grant will help pay for a new roof on the River Valley Complex in Leaf River. Leaf River Village President Josh Lamping said the village has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Rural Development. The village owns the River Valley Complex, which was formerly the Leaf River School. Village offices are located in the building. Lamping said the entire roof will be replaced at a cost of $75,000 by Freeport Industrial Roofing.
Village clerk Tena Krueger said the work is expected to begin in the near future. Lamping said the several areas of the large roof have been leaking for some time. He said the River Valley Complex Board will contribute $10,000 toward the project from the money they make from renting space in the building.
The remaining $40,000 will come from village coffers, Lamping said. Small businesses, including Chatty Lady Creations, a flower and gift shop, are located in the River Valley Complex. Classrooms and the gym and cafeteria can be rented for meetings, classes, and family events.
Visitors to the Ogle County Courthouse will quickly notice a large hole on the side of the building. The steps leading into the west side of the building have been removed and on Tuesday afternoon a gaping hole and construction equipment was at the site. Sjostrom & Sons, Rockford is replacing the deteriorating steps that lead to the first floor of the 125-year-old courthouse. “The work will cost $286,300 for both the east and west steps and the ADA entrance,” said Ogle County Board Long Range Planning Chairman Don Griffin. “The steps will be made of granite and will have a rough surface to prevent slipping.”
Plans also call for spending $22,000 to heat the steps. Griffin said that will make the steps safer during the winter months by keeping snow and ice from building up. “Work began on the west side a couple weeks ago,” he said. “The east side work will be done as soon as the west steps are finished.” Each set of steps is estimated to take six weeks to complete. Funds to pay for the project will come from the Long Range Planning Fund. The revenues in the fund come from host fees paid by garbage companies to dump in landfills in the county. Work will also be done on the ADA entrance into the basement of the building. Renovations to the courthouse were completed in 2010.
Black Hawk repairs are on hold By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Efforts to preserve Ogle County’s most well-known landmark are indefinitely on hold due to a conflict over artistic integrity. Repair work on the Black Hawk Statue has been halted while the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) looks for
a new general contractor for the project to replace Dr. Andrzej Dajnowski from Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, Forest Park. “The contract with the project’s general contractor has not been renewed, so repairs have halted temporarily while the Illinois Department of Natural Resources seeks a new general contractor. No timeline has been established
yet for when work might be restarted,” IDNR Communications Director Chris Young said in an email sent May 4. The IDNR has jurisdiction over the statue because it’s situated in Lowden State Park near Oregon. Dajnowski, who was under contract last year with the IDNR to work on the 105-year-old statue, said he declined to sign the contract
the IDNR sent him for this year because it stipulated that the repairs be done in a way he could not agree to. “They hired an engineer who wanted to remove more of the surface of the statue than necessary,” he said. “Ethically that’s not acceptable. I’m a conservator, she’s an engineer.” Workers from Sjostrom and Sons, Rockford, have been He confirmed that the removing the old steps on the west entrance of the Ogle Turn to A3 County Courthouse. Photo by Chris Johnson
Duane Linscott devoted four decades to police work By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A Mt. Morris man who really never intended to become a police officer ended up working for five area departments and devoting 42 years of his life to public service. Margie Linscott said her late husband Duane came from a family devoted to law enforcement but didn’t want that for himself. “He said he never wanted to be a cop because his dad was a cop,” Margie said. “He knew the demands of the job.” Duane’s father was a Lee County deputy, and his mother was a police matron. By the time of his death from a blood disorder last December, Duane had worked part-time as an Ogle County deputy and as a reserve officer for the Oregon, Mt. Morris, Polo, and Byron Police Margie Linscott shows her the badges and patches her husband Duane collected over his years as a reserve Departments. policeman and ambulance crew member. Photo by Vinde Wells
National Police Week is May 15-21 Besides that, he had worked on ambulance crews and was the Ogle County Chief Deputy Coroner for 18 years. “He loved people ,” Margie said. “Everyone kept asking him ‘will you help us out here, will you help us out there.’ He never said no. He was just glad to help.” After graduating from Ashton High School in 1970, Duane went to work for the DeKalb Ogle Telephone Company as a lineman. He worked for the same company for 30 years, through changes of ownership and name, retiring from Verizon in 2000. Duane and Margie were married in 1973, and not long after he and a friend applied for deputy positions with the Ogle County Sheriff’s Department. Both were hired. That started Duane’s career Turn to A4
Deaths, B4-B5
In This Week’s Edition...
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Library, A6 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B3
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, A7
Steven G. Benesh, Jan L. Feary, Dorothy Henry, Carol A. Mackey, Harold “Andy” Martin, Mark E. Moring, Walter G. Price, Marian L. Ratmeyer, Jenny Sikula, Patty A. White
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com