Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal March 2, 2017 Volume 154, Number 45 - $1.00
Carnival at Coliseum
State Champs!
First Fridays
Ogle County 4H Clubs host the Penny Carnival for kids this Saturday in Oregon. A7
Byron’s Lady Tigers repeat as Class 2A basketball champs. B1
The monthly free, open-mic stage show returns to Mt. Morris Friday night. A6
Residents raised questions about proposed jail By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com
$28 million price tags, he said. Besides that, he said, the county would need to buy more land to relocate storage buildings currently on the First Street site if the jail was built there. County board member Lyle Hopkins, Polo, said the FS site, which the county doesn’t own, may have underground storage tanks and ground contamination that would have to be addressed. The county board voted in November to approve a concept design for the new jail located on South Sixth Street. Several neighbors have voiced opposition to having the jail so close to their homes. Other Oregon residents have said they don’t want the jail so close to the downtown. Ogle County jails have been on the courthouse square, a block away from the South Sixth Street site since 1841. The plan calls for the new jail to connect to the judicial center by a large sally port for transporting prisoners to both buildings and back and forth to court appearances. The sally port would go across South Sixth Street, making it necessary to close the street. The county board has filed a formal request asking the city council to close Turn to A9
Many of the questions centered on the proposed location of Ogle County’s new jail last Thursday evening at a meeting held in Polo. Almost 50 people attended second of seven meetings planned in various communities to inform the public about project. County board member Don Griffin, Oregon, who also chairs the Long Range Planning Committee, told the audience that his committee considered at least two other sites before recommending the new jail is built in the 100 block of South Sixth Street in Oregon, across the street from the judicial center. Besides the Sixth Street property, which the county has owned since 2006, Griffin said they also looked at putting the jail on First Street next to the public safety complex, and the former FS property on Pines Road. He said the soil is too compacted to support the multiple stories needed for a portion of the jail building on the First Street property, where the sheriff’s and coroner’s offices are situated. Putting in adequate footings would greatly increase the estimated $25 to
Jail Meetings The Ogle County Board is hosting public meetings about the proposed jail project. The meeting is a chance for the public to learn about the project and express their
opinions about the project. A meeting in Forreston will be held on Thursday, March 2. at 7 p.m. at the Forreston Public Library, 204 1st Ave.
Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker, left, Long Range Planning Committee Chairman Don Griffin, and Sheriff Brian VanVickle presented information and fielded questions about the proposed county jail Feb. 23 at the Buffalo Township Hall, Polo. Photo by Vinde Wells
Forreston speller third at Regional Bee
Day of Dabbling The Ogle County 4-H clubs held the annual Day of Dabbling event for all area youth – not just 4-H members – ages 5 to 15, letting them try their hand at different workshops. Above, Bits ‘N’ Reins 4-H member Cassidy Vincent strips a wire Saturday morning while assembling an extension cord during. Below, Leaf River Soaring Eagles 4-H member Micah Wehler works on his extension cord Photos by Chris Johnson
Forreston Grade School fifth grader Miles Gordon was a top three finisher at the Regional Spelling Bee Feb. 23 at Dixon High School. This was his second time at the regional bee. Photo by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley. com
By Christopher Heimerman cheimerman@sauk valley.com If only sixth-grader Rebekah Zeigler didn’t know what she knew, earning her third straight trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Feb. 23 wouldn’t have been so grueling. The Aplington middleschooler was all too familiar with Lydia Cermak, the eighth-grader from David L. Rahn Junior High in Mt. Morris, whom she had to outlast two years ago. Worse yet was knowing the unknown was lurking: any moment, emcee Tom
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4
Wadsworth could have run out of the 1,500 words the competitors are privy to in advance of the Lee-Ogle Whiteside Regional Spelling Bee, held at Dixon High School. That happened last year, and he was forced to go off the list. “I was very, very close, within a few rounds of losing all the words on the spelling list,” Wadsworth said. “I didn’t think we’d trip up either of these girls. They were so good.” “It was awful wondering,” Rebekah said. “I was so nervous. I kept moving and getting water. It was just awful.”
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1-B2 State’s Attorney, B5
Meanwhile, Lydia confidently stepped up the mic each round and rattled off each spelling as she scribbled it on her right thigh with her right hand. While other competitors routinely asked for words’ definitions and language origins – and rightfully so – Lydia declined virtually every round. Sure, she and Rebekah exchange nods and smiles – especially when Rebekah was given the word Borzoi, with which she won in 2015 – but Lydia’s confidence was unnerving. “That makes me nervous,” Rebekah said. Lydia was as prepared as
ever. This was her last shot, and she missed out on the regional bee last year when she didn’t study up enough and misspelled hoity-toity. “I was like, ‘Whoa! What is that?’” Lydia said. “That’s a pretty wacky word,” Rebekah said. So is mandir, to most, including Lydia and Wadsworth. He mispronounced it, and she misspelled it, he misheard her misspelling, and thank goodness the judges were paying staunch attention. “For me, this event isn’t humbling, it’s humiliating,” Wadsworth said. “I should Turn to A3
Deaths, B4 Dennis Albrecht, Dana Garman Stables, Donald A. Vaughan
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com