Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal September 22, 2016 Volume 154, Number 22 - $1.00
Dominating Win Forreston ran over Amboy for a Homecoming win Sept. 16. A10
Golf Season
Scenic Ride
The high school golf postseason will begin next week. B1
A fundraising bicycle ride will be held in Ogle County on Saturday, Sept. 24. A6
New sports fields at high school will be examined Preliminary work on long-term plan By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com A possibility of the Forrestville Valley School District building a softball and baseball field at the high school was brought up during Monday night’s Forreston Village Board meeting. “Any rumors about a ball diamond at the school?” asked trustee Ken Toms.
“I think that is the plan at the school,” said village president Mark Metzger. The rumors are accurate. Athletic director Kyle Zick confirmed Tuesday that a meeting was held to discuss the possibility of bringing softball and baseball to school property. “We are working with engineer Shaun Gallagher to see if it is possible to build to the east of the football field,” said Zick. “This is all preliminary and it is in the early planning stages.”
“We are working with engineer Shaun Gallagher to see if it is possible to build to the east of the football field,” — Kyle Zick Athletic Director He said Gallagher is the engineer for the City of Freeport and has offered to help the school out with engineering for the site. Gallagher is a member of the Forrestville Valley School Board and also serves on the German Valley Village Board.
“We will be holding meetings once an engineering study is complete,” Zick said. Currently the softball team plays games in German Valley, and the baseball team plays at Forreston’s Warnken Park, a few blocks away from the school.
The school used to have on-site diamonds. “They had two fields,” said trustee Marc Stamm. “One at the high school and one at the grade school. They abandoned them.” Stamm said the school asked the village to help with a field. Warnken Park became the site for the baseball diamond and improvements were made. “We made the park meet school guidelines,” said Stamm.
The school district helped pay for improvements at Warnken Park through a one-third cost agreement. “We ran extra electrical for the lights and scoreboard,” said trustee Gary Buss. A few years ago plans were discussed to expand Warnken Park to include a softball field but they were abandoned and the land was sold. “I want to be part of the school’s committee,” said Metzger.
Woman dies in ATV accident A Leaf River woman died early Tuesday morning when the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) she was riding on a gravel road rolled over approximately four miles southeast of German Valley. Sara Coulman, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on North Mt. Morris Road south of the intersection with Egan Road. She lived less than a mile from the scene. Ogle County Sheriff’s
Cost of remodeling county building is coming down
Homecoming Parade
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Above, Brett and Kathy Schemel show their colors for the American Legion Riders in the Homecoming Parade Sept. 15. At right, the Forreston High School Band plays the school fight song as it passes by the grade school. Photos by Vinde Wells
Sunshine, bison bring visitors to prairie By Earleen Hinton ehinton@oglecounty news.com Close to 1,000 visitors came to the Nachusa Grasslands’ Autumn on the Prairie Sept. 17 with most of them hoping to get a closer look at the preserve’s bison herd. Some of them did and some did not, but such is the case when it comes to seeing an undomesticated herd that has 1,500 acres to choose from. “This is a wild herd, we may not be able to see them on demand,” Grasslands’ volunteer Mike Carr told a wagon full of visitors as they used binoculars to search bison in the distance. And there they were…
Police said Coulman was riding the ATV north on North Mt. Morris Road, for agricultural purposes, in thick fog at approximately 6 a.m. The ATV traveled into the west ditch and overturned. Police said Coulman was ejected from the ATV and was found in the west ditch. The German Valley Fire Department and ambulance and the Mt. Morris ambulance assisted at the scene.
“It was exhilarating seeing them run, and I think all of us were amazed at their power,” — Sarah Zuniga, Oregon walking very slowly with the just the tops of their large brown bodies framed against a hill of flowing prairie grass. “Yes, the grass is very tall, but there, there they are,” said a tour participant. Carr confirmed the sighting. “Seeing them at distance like this is one of the best things for me,” he said. “It’s a balance here. We don’t want them to become domesticated.” The tour wagon Sarah Zuniga, an Oregon resident and student at Eureka College, was riding in
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watched as bison neared their group. “Our tour had a group of bison run past us to catch up with the rest of the herd. It was exhilarating seeing them run, and I think all of us were amazed at their power,” she said. Wagon rides out into the fenced bison unit were just one of several educational offerings available at the event. Kids could check out animal pelts, play with wooden toys, or see how Native Americans used bison hides and bones in
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B5-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4
their everyday lives. Participants could also take hikes out into the prairie to learn about prairie plants and habitat. A food tent, provided by Oliver’s Market, Dixon, also offered bison burgers along with more traditional fare. Mother Nature helped this year’s event providing sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s. “It’s just a beautiful perfect day for this,” said visitor Dawn Smith, from Rochelle. Marlene Witmer, of Oregon, said the tour to see the bison was interesting. “We didn’t get to see the bison close up, but it was really interesting,” she said.
Marriage Licenses, A4 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4
Turn to A3
After plan revisions and inspections, the estimated cost to remodel a countyowned building in Rochelle has decreased by more than $200,000. Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker told the board Tuesday evening that the estimated cost of renovations to the former Rochelle Clinic is $642,000. Last month, architect Greg Rewerts of Rewerts Design Group, Rockford, estimated the cost at $877,000. Neither amount includes an estimated $372,000 to redo the roof and two parking lots. Rewerts said Tuesday that he met with the building’s tenants and based on those discussions, he has refined and improved his original design. Changes to the plan lowered the anticipated cost, he said. “We feel we now have floor plans everyone has approved,” Rewerts said. Gouker said one of the biggest changes was turning the elevator 90 degrees so that only one door will be required instead of two. He said that significantly reduced the cost. After a discussion, the
Sports, A10, B1-B2 State’s Attorney, B3 Weather, A3
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board approved by a vote of 16-5 moving to the next phase of the project and spending $30,000 for Rewerts to prepare construction documents. The county purchased the clinic building, previously a bank, and its two large parking lots at 510 Lincoln Highway in downtown Rochelle last fall for $180,000 from Rochelle Community Hospital. The county had already been renting the basement for its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) when hospital officials put the building on the market late last summer. The plan is to locate the Rochelle offices of the Ogle County Health Department and Ogle County Probation Department in the building, as well as the University of Illinois clinic. The two county departments currently rent spaces in Rochelle for almost $50,000 per year. Last month several board members questioned the cost of the remodeling and asked for another architectural firm to inspect the building. Long Range Planning Committee member Zach Oltmanns, Stillman Valley, said Tuesday that two building inspectors went through it in the month between meetings.
Death, B4 David E. Buzinski