Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal December 18, 2014 Volume 152, Number 34 - $1.00
Tournament Action
Dear Santa
4-H Achievements
The annual holiday tournaments are in full swing in Polo and Forreston. B1, B2
Area children send their Christmas lists to St. Nick. Special Section
4-Hers were honored for their achievements and hard work during the 2014 year. A7
Board rejects retail business in subdivision By Vinde Wells Editor A Forreston developers’s request for retail zoning on the east side of town fell just one vote short of approval at Monday’s village board meeting. The village board approved most of the changes, including some business lots,
requested by Jon Ludwig, JML, LLC, at a subdivision he owns along Ill. 72 across from the high school. However, the zoning map amendments that would have allowed two tracts to be zoned for retail business both failed to get the necessary three-fourths votes. Village trustee Mark Metzger cast the only no
votes, while trustees Marc Stamm, Gary Buss, Ken Toms, Tim Drayton, and village president Michael Harn voted yes. Trustee Jeff Freeze did not attend the meeting. Six yes votes were required from the village board because the Planning Commission vote on the two measures ended in a 3-3 tie.
Measures ending in tie votes are considered to have failed. According to village ordinances, a threefourths vote, or six of the seven, is required to overturn Planning Commission recommendations for zoning changes. Ludwig expressed his disappointment and surprise at the outcome.
“Retail sales would have meant revenue for Forreston,” he said after the meeting. He said he will consult with his attorney Gary Gehlbach of Ehrmann, Gehlbach, Badger, Lee & Considine, Dixon, to explore options. The village board confirmed eight proposals recommended by the Planning Commission at its
hearing Nov. 20. More than 30 people, many of them residents of the subdivision, attended the hearing to voice their concerns about Ludwig’s zoning requests. Approximately 10 people came to the village board meeting Monday, but none raised any questions. Turn to A3
Concern voiced
over 50-year plan By Vinde Wells Editor
Christmas Bake Sale Judy Dorsey, Freeport, left, visits Virginia Borneman, Leaf River, and Patty Peterson, Mt. Morris, visit Dec. 12 at the Christmas Bake Sale held by the women of St. James Lutheran Church at Forreston State Bank. Photo by Vinde Wells
Lucky dog is a Christmas miracle By Vinde Wells Editor A spunky Gordon setter is one lucky dog after his impromptu late-night romp through the streets of Oregon left him fighting for his life in the icy Rock River. Except for a slight limp, Jerry, a seven-year-old, seemed none the worse five days later for his nearly-fatal adventure. His owner Sharon Lauer credited the quick action of two good Samaritans who work at Maxson’s Riverside Restaurant with saving her beloved pet’s life. “It’s my Christmas miracle,” she said, with tears welling up in her eyes, as she stroked Jerry’s head. “I’m just so grateful for what they did.” The adventure began late Dec. 9 when Lauer let her three dogs, Jerry, Charlie, a seven-year-old black Labrador retriever mix, and Dexter, a 13-year-old Lab, out in her fenced-in backyard at the corner of Third and Madison Streets near McDonald’s around 10 p.m. She heard Jerry howling
“It’s my Christmas miracle. I’m just so grateful for what they did.” — Sharon Lauer and went to investigate. “Charlie had dug under the chain link fence and was out, and Jerry was caught under the fence,” she said. As she scrambled to get the dogs back in the house, Jerry, who is microchipped, got free and joined Charlie outside the yard. The pair took off south on Third Street. Dexter, fortunately, stayed put. Lauer alerted the Oregon police and got in her car with the hope of rounding up her truants. However, they were nowhere to be found. “I spent about an hour driving around looking for them, but you can’t see black dogs in the dark,” she said. Sad and worried, Lauer returned home. “I know it sounds silly, but I left the gate open and the porch light on all night just in case they came back,” she said.
In This Week’s Edition...
But, come morning there was still no dogs, and Lauer again searched for them unsuccessfully. Finally, sometime before 9 a.m. she got a call at work from Ogle County 911 supervisor Heather Butler that the dogs had been located at Maxson’s, about a mile north of town. In the meantime, Chad Row, 35, Oregon, had just arrived at his job as a cook at Maxson’s when his boss Daniel Wiegman called him to the window overlooking the Rock River. Wiegman had been alerted by Charlie’s frenzied barking out on the river bank. “He [Wiegman] saw something in the river but didn’t have his glasses on,” Row said. “I saw it was a dog that had broken through the ice. You could tell he was about done in. The other dog was on the bank freaking out.”
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B8-B12 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B3
The two men went into action — Wiegman got an extension ladder, and Row grabbed a rope hook from the Pride of Oregon riverboat. They placed the ladder on the ice, and Row inched toward the dog and was able to reach his collar with the rope hook. He pulled Jerry to where he could reach him, and he and Wiegman wrapped him in a blanket to carry him to safety. “Charlie was by my side the whole time,” Row said. “We had to keep him off the ice.” Row said when he saw Jerry was barely able to struggle any longer in the cold water, he knew they had to act fast. “I couldn’t just let that dog out there like that,” he said. “When the owner got there I saw how happy she was. I was just glad I could help.” When Lauer arrived, she found a very cold, unresponsive Jerry wrapped in the blanket and being loaded into animal warden Kevin Christensen’s vehicle for a ride to Pines Meadow Turn to A3
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B7 Public Voice, A8 Property Transfers, B3
Two Ogle County Board members voiced their concern Tuesday that a 50-year plan for buying property is just too far into the future. “I don’t think we need to plan that far ahead,” said board member Lee Meyers, Byron. “We always have eminent domain.” Board member Skip Kenney, Rochelle, agreed. He called the 50-year plan “arrogant,” pointing out that very few of the 24 county board members will be “around” in 50 years. Nonetheless, the board approved the plan that was first discussed Nov. 18, by a vote of 20-4. Besides Meyers and Kenney, board members Bill Welty, Chana, and Pat Saunders, Polo, voted against it. Voting yes were Ashley Sims, Rochelle, and Zach Oltmanns, Stillman Valley, who drew up the plan, as well as Kim Gouker, Byron, Dorothy Bowers, Byron, Jerry Brooks, Oregon, Ron Colson, Mt. Morris, Don Griffin, Oregon, Rich Gronewold, Forreston, Marcia Heuer, Oregon, Lyle Hopkins, Polo, Dan Janes, Stillman Valley, Nic Bolin, Holcomb, Bruce McKinney, Rochelle, Pat Nordman, Oregon, John O’Brien, Rochelle, Dick Petrizzo, Davis Junction, Greg Sparrow, Rochelle,
and Marty Typer, Stillman Valley. The 50-year plan includes a map that shows various properties in Oregon near the courthouse and judicial center marked as possible future acquisitions. Underlining his point, Meyers said brought up the five houses the county board bought in the 100 block of South Sixth Street in Oregon in 2006. The houses, across the street from the judicial center, were purchased in 2006 for $561,000. They were then razed, and the property remains empty. Meyers said he believes that it would have been financially more prudent to leave the houses in private ownership and on the tax rolls. He said the lost real estate taxes amounts to an estimated $15,000 per year. Griffin, who heads up the county’s Long Range Planning Committee said the plan can be changed by any board at any time to fit the county’s needs. Oltmanns said he and Sims worked on the plan for about a year, consulting with DeKalb County officials. “It gives us a picture of where we’re going and how we’re going to get there,” he said. Sims also defended the value of the plan. “The goal is to try and centralize county government,” she said.
Convicted murderer asks for an appeal By Vinde Wells Editor A former Oregon man found guilty of a 2003 murder is seeking to have his conviction overturned. David A. Klein, 34, has been unsuccessful so far in the appeal process, but has a status hearing Jan. 30 before Ogle County Judge Robert Hanson on a petition for post conviction relief. Ogle County Assistant State’s Attorney Bob Schuman said Tuesday that the petition says Klein’s constitutional rights were violated. He said the process has several steps.
Sheriff’s Arrests, B7 Social News, A4 Sports, A13, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B3
David A. Klein In the first step, a review by a judge, the petition was denied by now-retired Judge Stephen Pemberton on June 19, 2012. Turn to A3
Deaths, B4 James A. Daws, Keith A. Dearborn, A. Albert Frey, Margaret L. McConaughy
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com