Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal November 20, 2014 Volume 152, Number 30 - $1.00
Season Previews
Candlelight Walk
Game On
The Forreston Lady Cardinals and Polo Lady Marcos are prepared for the season. A11
The Christmas season begins with an annual tradition. A6
The Forreston Cardinals are prepared to face a tough NUIC opponent Saturday. B2
Steps at county
courthouse fixed By Chris Johnson Reporter
The steps at the Ogle County Courthouse got a partial face lift last week. Workers from Sure Prep Concrete Preparation, Pewaukee, Wis. worked Nov. 14 to remove the Ardex, a top-coating, from the stairs, treads, and risers. The company was recommended for the preliminary work by Saavedra Gehlhausen Architects, Rockford, which did the design work for the new sheriff and coroner’s administrative building. The surface of the steps was breaking apart and posed a potential danger to the public. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt,” said Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker. An Oregon woman fell on the steps in October. Forreston’s Wyatt Kerchner secures a catch in the second quarter Saturday night against Stark County. The Sure Prep submitted a bid Cardinals will host Galena Saturday night at 5 p.m. Gates open at 3 p.m. Photo by Chris Johnson
Snowy Victory
for $4,800 for the labor and equipment to remove the surface in one workday. The steps are approximately 600 square feet. During a November county Infrastructure Committee meeting, an update of the project was presented. County officials have not voted to proceed with the project past the initial prep work. Gouker said the county’s Long Range Planning Committee will study the issue further to come up with a long-term solution. Concerns were raised about the look of a proposed aluminum tread cover with the historical look of the courthouse. Architect Guy Gehlhausen had said there were limited options for the treads. Gehlhausen attended the Oct. 14 Ogle County Long Range Planning Committee Turn to A3
Exhumation may shed light into unsolved murders By Vinde Wells Editor The exhumation of the body of a Rockford man could yield important evidence into a 66-year-old unsolved double homicide, according to an Oregon businessman. Mike Arians said last week that Stanley Skridla’s coffin may hold more than just Skridla’s remains. Informants have told him, he said, that the skull of the other murder victim, Mary Jane Reed, Oregon, and the gun that killed the two could be inside. Arians and Skridla’s nephew Steve Skridla, 62, Rockford, held a press conference Nov. 12 at the Roadhouse, the bar and restaurant Arians owns on Oregon’s south side. They announced that Winnebago County Judge Eugene G. Doherty has signed an order granting their petition to exhume Stanley Skridla’s body from Calvary Cemetery, Rockford. The order says the
exhumation must be completed by June 30, 2015. Arians said he expects it to take place in March or April. Reed, who was only 17 at the time, failed to return home after a date on June 24, 1948. She and Skridla, 28, her companion on the night she disappeared, were subsequently found shot to death. Skridla’s body was discovered the next morning on County Farm Road south of Oregon. He had been shot five times. Reed’s badly decomposed body was found four days later in a ditch along Devil’s Backbone Road west of Oregon. She had been shot once in the head. The double murder has never been solved, although a new investigation of the case by the Ogle County Sheriff’s Department in 2005 pointed to possible culprits. Arians said he has new evidence. “Three people have come forward with information,” he said. “One said there may
be additional body parts [in the coffin] that aren’t his [Skridla’s].” Another informant said some of the ballistics questions could be clarified by exhuming the body, he said. Steve Skridla, who never knew his uncle, said he hopes the exhumation will answer some questions. “I hope it uncovers enough that we get answers to what happened,” he said. “A lot of questions aren’t answered. What happened to body parts of Mary Jane? Could they be in my uncle’s coffin? Could the murder weapon be in there, too?” “I’d like to have this solved,” Skridla continued. “The parties involved are likely gone, but it’s still family.” Ogle County Judge Steve Pemberton, now retired, ordered the exhumation of Reed’s body in 2004 after Arians and her brother Warren Reed, Rock Falls, filed a petition. The body was exhumed
Stanley Skridla
in August of 2005 from its grave in Daysville Cemetery, southeast of Oregon, for a post mortem examination and forensic testing. The body was interred later the same day, except for the skull, several vertebrae, and a femur, which were held for several months for further testing. Pemberton later ordered those remains returned to Warren Reed, Mary Jane’s closest surviving relative, to be reburied. However, the bones have not yet been reburied. Arians
Stephan Skridla, Rockford, nephew of Stanley Skridla, talks about the plans to exhume Stanley. Photo by Chris Johnson
said they are in a vault in Rockford. Arians claims the skull and at least one of the vertebrae are not Mary Jane’s. He hired Linda Keplinger, a professor emeritus in anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 2007 to examine the skull and several vertebrae he said came from
Mary Jane’s casket. Klepinger’s report said the skull and one vertebra did not match up with the other vertebrae and appeared to come from different people. Arians said Wednesday that if Mary Jane’s skull is found in Stanley’s coffin, he believes that would Turn to A9
Beaming smiles and applause at annual banquet By Christi Warren Sauk Valley Media Sometimes, the greatest appreciation comes without a word – instead with a beaming smile. And sometimes, it’s followed by thunderous applause. Speaker Tom Wadsworth presented the first award of the Village of Progress annual banquet – the John Herrmann Personal Achievement Award – to Deanna Gregory, who first enrolled with the organization in 1993. In 2000, Gregory began working parttime at Rochelle’s Dairy Queen before a serious health issue forced her to leave her job, and the Village, too. She came back in 2005, and since
then has continued to work hard toward achieving her personal goals, one of which is purely and simply to help others. Another is to be able to live independently. It’s for those reasons, Wadsworth said, that Gregory was given the award. Gregory smiled as he wrapped up his remarks, and quietly took her seat again as the crowd erupted in applause. More than 300 people showed up to St. Mary’s Learning Center in Oregon Nov. 12 to celebrate the talents and contributions of the Village of Progress’ many consumers and volunteers. The night marked the 45th annual banquet for the Village of Progress, the private, not-for-profit organization that provides training and rehabilitation for Ogle County adults with developmental
In This Week’s Edition...
Byron Police, B6 Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B12 Entertainment, A6
disabilities. These clients are called consumers. Founded in 1969, the organization works with dedicated volunteers to help their consumers live fulfilling lives as contributing members of society. The annual banquet is the organization’s chance to thank volunteers and consumers alike for their work. It was the 22nd time the John Herrmann Personal Achievement Award was given out, and it’s named for the 30 years of dedicated service that Herrmann put in as a member of the Village’s Board of Directors, starting in the organization’s first year of operation, and then later as a member of the Village’s Foundation Board. Village of Progress consumer Kara Kjenner of Byron is Turn to A10 interviewed to Tom Wadsworth. Photo by Alex Paschal
Marriage Licenses, A4 Public Voice, A8 Property Transfers, B5 Sheriff’s Arrests, A9
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2, B3 State’s Attorney, B5 Weather, A2
Deaths, B5 Eleanor P. Armstrong
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com