Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal July 14, 2016 Volume 154, Number 12 - $1.00
Vintage Game
Art Gallery
Judge Vacancy
The Ganymedes took on Aurora Sunday afternoon in Oregon. B1
An art gallery will open in Mt. Morris July 15. A9
15th Circuit Judges seek public comments about judge applicants to fill a vacancy. A3
Hometown Days returns to Forreston July 22-24 By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Food and family fun will be the highlights of the newly reinstated Forreston Hometown Days July 22-24. Green Gene, president of the Forreston Area Business Association (FABA), said a Kids Fun Run will at Warnken Park will kick off the event at 6 p.m. Friday, June 22, followed by a 5K Fun Run and Walk at 6:30 p.m. The Forreston Legion Auxiliary will serve food at the park from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Forreston’s Hometown
Days festival was formerly held every June, but was discontinued more than a decade ago. “We started it back up this year,” Green said. “It’s a community effort.” An all-day 3-on-3 basketball tournament will start off Saturday’s activities beginning at 8 a.m. in the junior high parking lot. A craft and vendor show is planned from 8 am to 4 p.m. at Memorial Park. “We already have 28 vendors,” Green said. The Forreston FFA will hold a tractor show from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Memorial Park with a food stand from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
FABA will sponsor a Bouncy House and obstacle course at Memorial Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. The Lions Club will hold its cheese sale, and a petting zoo will be available during the same hours at Memorial Park. A car wash to benefit Relay for Life will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at Green’s Motors. “We did this last year and had more than 90 cars,” Green said. “It really went over well.” A softball tournament is planned Saturday at Warnken Park. Several activities are planned for Saturday
afternoon in the downtown, including a 3 p.m. pieeating contest sponsored by Christy’s Bakery and a 4 p.m. spaghetti eating contest sponsored by Mimmo’s. The Forreston Lion’s Club will serve pork chops and Drake’s sweet corn from 4 to 7 p.m. at the fire station. Karaoke sponsored by Kim Moring is slated for 4 to 7 p.m. in the downtown beer garden area. The beer garden begins at 8 p.m. with live music by the Funnies. A community breakfast and church service will wrap up the festival on Sunday.
The sign at the Forreston Fire Protection District is advertising the Home Town Days festival and scrolls through several events. Photo by Chris Johnson
Turn to A3
Clerk sends out call for more election judges By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Election judge Kristine Daws watches as Audrey Kilker puts her ballot in the counting machine for the March 15 Primary Election at the Maryland Township precinct. Photo by Vinde Wells
Ogle County Clerk Laura J. Cook is looking for some help on Election Day. In the last several weeks, she has addressed city councils and village boards all over the county seeking individuals to serve as election judges. Cook said last Friday that judges are often in short supply for the March primary elections and April consolidated elections. “A lot of our election judges are snow birds,” she said. “So for the spring elections we are short.” Being an election judge involves overseeing the procedures at the county’s 32 polling places whenever an election is held. Each of the 52 precincts has its own judges, although several precincts may use the same polling place. They have to be there at 5 a.m. to set things up, stay all day, and then deliver the
Laura Cook
ballots and voting machines to the courthouse in Oregon after the polls close at 7 p.m. “It’s a long day,” Cook said. “It’s not a very glamorous job, but it’s an important job.” “The election judges who operate the polling places are a very important part of the electoral process,” she said. “These persons are the only contact the county clerk’s Turn to A3
IDNR officials meet with conservator applicants By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Another step was taken in the right direction this week for the restoration of the Black Hawk statue. Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) officials and engineer Amy Lamb Woods met Tuesday morning with two applicants for conservator on the project to repair the iconic monument. The group met at Lowden State Park near Oregon where the 105-year-old statue stands on a high bluff overlooking the Rock River. State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) said Tuesday that he had spoken with IDNR officials, who told him they have narrowed their search for a new conservator to two candidates and were meeting with them to discuss the project.
Woods confirmed Tuesday morning that she was attending the meetings as well. Previous conservator Dr. Andrzej Dajnowski from Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, Forest Park, declined to sign a new contract with the IDNR for this year due to a conflict with Lamb Woods over how to proceed with the repairs. Created by sculptor Lorado Taft in 1910 as a tribute to Native Americans, the 50foot statue draws thousands of visitors each year. It was unveiled and dedicated in 1911. Black Hawk, as it is commonly called, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009. The effects of time and weather have caused parts of the statue to crumble and fall off. The repair project ground
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to a halt earlier this year because of state budget woes and the conflict between Lamb Woods and Dajnowski. Demmer assured a group of Oregon residents at a Chamber of Commerce Lunch ’n’ Learn June 21 that he would work with the IDNR to get the project underway again. “I’ll definitely be a strong advocate for Black Hawk,” he said then. Part of the lunch discussion focused on funds raised to repair the statue. The Friends of the Black Hawk Statue, an organization formed approximately seven years ago to develop a plan and raise the funds to have the statue repaired, has raised most of the estimated $900,000 needed. All but $350,000 came from private donations that are being kept in a fund with the Illinois Conservation
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4
Foundation, which supports IDNR programs. The rest is a $350,000 grant to the IDNR from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). The DCEO grant must be spent before the private donations can be tapped. The grant money can’t be released until the General Assembly passes budget legislation allowing it, which Demmer said still hasn’t happened. “Money for the grant was not included in the stop-gap budget [passed June 30],” Demmer said. “We mainly focused on keeping agencies open.” He said grants will be considered in future budget action. “Hopefully, that will happen in the next round — hopefully,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Forreston Police, A2 Marriage Licenses, A4 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4
Staff at Lowden State Park put up orange plastic fence around the Blackhawk Statue after chain link fence and scaffolding around the 105-year-old statue was removed in June. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Sports, B2 State’s Attorney, B3 Weather Forecast, A3 Zoning, B4
Deaths, B5 Doris J. Ackerman, Gregory M. Frantz, Ewell D. Gardner, Wilma P. Pierce, Megan M. Wells
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com