Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal May 4, 2017 Volume 155, Number 2 - $1.00
Hawk Classic
Art Show
School Board Seat
The Forreston-Polo boys track team shows strong Friday at the annual Hawk Classic. B1
The Eagle’s Nest Art Group’s Spring Show opened April 29. A10
The Forrestville Valley School Board is seeking applicants for a two-year vacancy. A3
National soil contest held at Grasslands By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
College students from around the nation delved into the dirt at the Nachusa Grasslands southeast of Oregon last week to take a close-up look at the soils there. More than 100 students from 24 colleges and universities as far away as California and as close as Wisconsin took part in the 2017 Collegiate Soils Contest, sponsored by the American Society of
Agronomy and hosted by Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. The students braved a steady drizzle, brisk wind, and temperatures barely above 40 degrees to analyze the soil layers in three pits dug especially for the national soil judging contest. Emily Fuger, representative of the Soil Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy, said each school sent a team of four plus alternates. To make it to the national Turn to B3
Plant Sale Kathy Rose, Leaf River, picks out a hanging basket at the Forreston FFA plant sale April 29. The sale, which is being held at the high school greenhouse, will run until mid-May. Plants offered include vegetables and annual and perennial flowers. Photo by Vinde Wells
Village hits rocky situation in sewer project By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com
A member of the Kansas State Soil Judging team works on identifying the samples he took from one of the soil pits on land owned by the Nachusa Grasslands. The judging competition was hosted by Northern Illinois University. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Police continue to investigate double homicide and arson By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Police are continuing to investigate a double homicide and arson in Byron last October. Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said Monday that detectives are actively investigating the Oct. 19 deaths of Margaret Meyer, 31, and her three-year-old son Amos. “They are working very hard on it and still going through the evidence,” he said. The deaths were ruled homicides in February, and the fire that destroyed their home at 2020 N. Silverthorn Ave. was determined to be an arson. VanVickle said more than one person are considered suspects. The fire was reported around 6:40 a.m. by Meyer’s ex-husband, Duane C. Meyer, 34, Stillman Valley, who told officials he was there to pick
up his son. When firefighters arrived, smoke alarms were sounding, the house was filled with heavy smoke, and Meyer and a Byron police officer were on the lawn performing CPR on Amos, who had been in an upstairs bedroom. Amos and his father were taken to Rockford Memorial Hospital, where the little boy was pronounced dead. An autopsy showed he died from smoke inhalation. Firefighters found Margaret dead on the couch on the first floor. Ogle County Coroner Lou Finch said in February that the cause of her death is undetermined. The sheriff’s department along with the Illinois State Police and Byron Police Department are involved in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office at 815-732-2136 or Ogle Lee Crime Stoppers at 888-2284488.
In This Week’s Edition...
The Forreston Village Board swore in several members to four-year terms, discovered a complication with the sewer extension project, and received brief updated on the progress of the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district and Business Development District (BDD.) The meeting began with village clerk Courtney Warren being sworn in to a four-year term. She then swore in trustees Jeff Freeze, Ken Toms, Vickye Norris, and village president Mark Metzger to four-year terms. Ken Vinnedge was sworn into an unexpired two-year term as well.
The board discussed the sewer extension project, which will run a village sewer main from the Chestnut Street lift station to Dr. Keith Ruter’s Smokin’ Gun Worx gun range, as well as an additional extension to the Dollar General at the corner of Ill. 26 and Baileyville Road. Fischer Excavating, the contractor for the project, is boring underneath the soil and roadways to run the extension. They ran into rock beds underneath the topsoil, between Smokin’ Gun Worx and the Dollar General location. “Boring through the rock underneath the roadway would be an extremely expensive procedure,” said Fehr Graham’s Seth Gronewald, who has been overseeing the
sewer extension project. According to Metzger, Ogle County Engineer Jeremy Ciesiel gave the approval for the village to open-cut Baileyville Road. “Nothing has been decided yet, and we will conduct testdigging to see if the rock is present all the way through,” said Gronewold. “With that said, I am confident it would be significantly cheaper than boring through the rock.” Gronewold said if cutting the road is necessary, it would not stop traffic; only one lane at a time would be cut, and traffic control measures would be employed. Sharon Pepin, Community Funding and Services Planner, attended the meeting to bring the board up to speed on the
TIF and BDD progress. “We’re in the datagathering stage,” said Pepin. “We’re gathering information pertinent to the TIF and BDDs and collecting them into spreadsheets.” For the TIF, this includes parcels, owner information, age of buildings, types of structures, and their equalized assessed value (EAV) for the past six years, all within a suggested TIF map that covers the Vieitmeiers’ 17-acres annexed into the village, the corporate boundaries east of Ill. 26/Walnut Avenue, as well as vacant lots on the southeast part of the village. The BDD information includes a list of businesses and where they relate to the TIF map.
Zoning Board of Appeals denies special use permit for dog kennel PAZ, county board to hear request in May By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A DeKalb County dog breeder failed Thursday to get the support of the Ogle County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to expand her kennel to Ogle County. After a five-hour hearing, the ZBA voted 3-2 to deny Christie Hardt’s request for a special use permit for a commercial dog kennel on property she and her husband Robert DeCosta own northeast of Kings. Several county residents spoke in opposition to the kennel, voicing concerns that it is a “puppy mill,”
Business Briefs, B4 Church News A5 Classifieds, B5-B10 Entertainment, A6
and 2,500 signed a petition against it. Hardt is the owner of B&C Kennels, Clare, located in DeKalb County west of Annie Glidden Road. She hopes to establish a second facility at 14189 E. Dutch Rd. on the east side of Ogle County. The site is zoned for agricultural use, and the request asks for a special use permit to allow dog breeding, import and sale of puppies, dog grooming, and dog obedience training at the kennel. Hardt told the ZBA that she wants to move the puppy sales from Clare to the new location. She said she sells an average of 100 pups a month, most of which come from A-1 Kennels, Morris Forreston Animal Control Officer Paul White asks a Chapel, Tennessee, which is question at the ZBA Hearing on April 27. Photo by Turn to A7 Earleen Hinton
Fines, B4 Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B4 Public Voice, A7
Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com
Deaths, B4 Avis J. Donahue