Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal June 4, 2015 Volume 153, Number 6 - $1.00
State Performance
Sectional Loss
Tax Abatement
Polo-Forreston athletes competed in the IHSA 1A Boys State Track Meet May 28-30. B1
The Forreston Cardinals season came to a close Monday night. B1
The Ogle County Board approved “Project Green” during the May 19 meeting. A7
Prep work ongoing for the Black Hawk repairs By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com While nothing has been happening onsite to repair the Black Hawk Statue, preparation work for the project has been going on behind the scenes. Project conservator Dr. Andrzej Dajnowski, from Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, Forest Park, said Tuesday that he and his crew have been testing various repair mixtures to make sure the blend to fill the cracks will match the statue. “We’re working on it all the time,” he said. “We’re testing the injection material. That’s very important.” The statue remains covered with its protective winter wrap of green plastic mesh over a framework of scaffolding, but that will all be changing in the very near future, Dajnowski said. “We’ll be out there finishing the scaffolding next week,” he said. “What’s up there now was just to protect it for the winter. Now we have to finish it for working on it.” Portions of the 104-year-old iconic statue are crumbling and falling off due to the effects of time and weather. Dajnowski is part of a team of experts who put together a plan to repair the 50-foot concrete statue that overlooks the Rock River at Lowden State Park. Designed by Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft in 1910 and dedicated in 1911 as a tribute to
Highs and Lows The Forreston Cardinals played in the Byron Sectional May 27 and June 1. Above, Forreston-Polo’s Nathan Schneiderman, left, and Caleb Poffenberger celebrate after the team earned a 2-1 win over Aurora Christian. At right, head coach Kyle Zick, left, talks to pitcher Nathan Schneiderman as he is pulled from the game in the fifth inning Monday night in the sectional final against Rockford Christian. Photos by Chris Johnson
Summer Daze starts Friday
Hundreds help restaurant By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews. com Hundreds of people turned out May 30 to help an Ogle County restaurant owner get back in business. The crowd was estimated at 1,000 at a fundraiser to assist Ava Mirtoska, owner of Grubsteakers, rebuild her restaurant. The all-day event, held at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lindenwood, and put on by Mirtoska’s employees and friends, raised approximately $20,000. “It was amazing,” Mirtoska said. “All the customers for years were there. It was happy and sad. I was very glad to see everyone but not for that reason. I’m so grateful. I can’t thank them all enough.” The well-known restaurant, located at the intersection of Ill. 64 and 251, was demolished by the EF4 tornado that swept through eastern Ogle County around suppertime on April 9. Mirtoska saw the storm approaching and quickly ushered about a dozen customers and employees into a storm cellar, preventing
Native Americans, Black Hawk was named to the state’s list of Most Endangered Historic Places on April 22 by Landmarks Illinois. The work was expected to begin nearly a year ago but was delayed while Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) officials reviewed and approved contracts. The contracts were finally signed in late April. Most of the money for the $825,000 project has been raised by the Friends of the Black Hawk Statue, an organization headed up by Frank and Cherron Rausa, Sterling. A large portion of the funds came from a $350,000 grant the IDNR received from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The rest came from donations from individuals and organizations, as well as funds raised during the annual Oregon Trail Days festival held at Lowden Park since 2010. A large contributor was the Jeffris Family Foundation, Janesville, Wis., which gave a $150,000 matching grant. The Chicago Black Hawks hockey team also contributed. Checks for the restoration project can be made out to the Illinois Conservation Foundation and marked for the Black Hawk Statue. Donations can be mailed to Illinois Conservation Foundation, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield IL 62702.
The Leaf River Summer Daze festival will kick off on Friday night with the FFA alumni tractor rodeo and free fireworks show, sponsored by the Leaf River Lions Club. The three-day festival will be held June 5-7. Saturday will feature many activities at the park, including a craft-collectiblebusiness show, corn bag tournament, and free games for the kids from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Food is available all weekend from various non-profit groups and food vendors. The Lions Club Car Show is downtown on Saturday,
with trophy presentations at 2 p.m. The FFA Alumni truck and tractor pulls and the Leaf River antique tractor/ engine show will be at the River Valley Complex on Saturday. The Leaf River Historical Museum on Ill. 72 will be open on Saturday and Sunday. The Lions Club will serve a pork chop barbeque at the Bertolet Memorial Building. The parade closes out the weekend, brought to town by Exelon Nuclear, Leaf River Communications and the Leaf River Lions Club. The parade includes many local groups and businesses,
several fire departments, and the Forreston High School Band. The Rockford Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corp will march in the parade and end with a short performance in front of the Bertolet Memorial Building. After the parade, free face painting and balloon creations are offered at the Bertolet Park. Drawings for the Lions Club Raffle, the Merry Martha Quilt Raffle and the Leaf River Historical Museum Quilt Raffle will also be after the parade. For more information go to the website at leafriversummerdaze.org.
Second exhumation yields few clues about old murder Rhonda Riesing, Oregon, looks at an information poster during the Rebuild Grubsteakers fundraiser in Lindenwood on May 30. Photo by Earleen Hinton
serious injuries and possibly saving their lives. Mirtoska said Tuesday that she hopes to begin digging the foundation for a new restaurant in July. “I can’t wait,” she said. “It’s been seven weeks and it feels like seven months. For the last 11 years that [the restaurant] was my life.” Architects are already working on a design, she said, but several things need to be worked out before construction can start. “There’s a lot of things that need to be done,” Mirtoska said. The first issue to be resolved is where to locate the
In This Week’s Edition...
new building, she said. Illinois Department of Transportation rules won’t allow it to be as close to the two state highways as the old building was. Meeting those standards may put the new structure too close to the septic field. “As far as I have to go back, it’s running into the septic,” Mirtoska said. She hopes to avoid having to move the septic field because of the expense involved. The insurance she carried on the property will help pay some of the cost of rebuilding but is not going to cover all of it.
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B12 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4 Marriage Licenses, A4
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com The exhumation of a Rockford man murdered in 1948 has yielded little new information about Ogle County’s oldest cold case. However, the man’s nephew, Stephan Skridla, 62, Rockford, said May 29 that he is hopeful the findings may lead to solving the decades-old double homicide of his uncle Stanley Skridla, then 28, and his date, Mary Jane Reed, then 17, on a lover’s lane just outside of Oregon. “I’m very hopeful,” Skidla said at an afternoon press conference in Oregon. “I think Ogle County investigators are going to work with us. Let’s put almost 70 years to rest. My uncle was shot in the groin and burned with acid. That’s a statement. Someone definitely wanted him dead and [wanted to say] don’t mess with us.” “We’re certainly closer than we’ve ever been before,” said Michael Arians, the now retired owner of an Oregon restaurant, and
Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A9 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Weather, A3
Mike Arians, left, and Stephan Skridla, the nephew of 1948 murder victim Stanley Skridla, listen to a question from the media during a press conference in Oregon on Friday afternoon. Photo by Earleen Hinton
former Oregon mayor, who has tried to help solve the murder for several years. Arians obtained a court order from Winnebago County Judge Eugene G. Doherty last November to have Skridla’s remains exhumed from Calvary Cemetery, just west of Rockford, in his ongoing personal quest to Turn to A3
Deaths, B5 Mary F. Copeland, Janice V. Davidson, Vivian M. Unger
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com