Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal July 6, 2017 Volume 155, Number 11 - $1.00
Running Again
In Memory
Kennel Postponed
Ogle County Clerk & Recorder Laura Cook will seek a second term in 2018. A7
Serenity Hospice & Home will hold a butterfly release July 8. A6
The DeKalb County Board sent B&C Kennel’s zoning request back to committee. A7
911 funded
Fourth of July
By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com After two bills and two vetoes, a pair of supermajority overrides in the Illinois General Assembly got Ogle County 911 the funding it needs. House Bill 1811 passed Saturday after a 90-22 House vote and 43-1 Senate vote to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s morning veto. The bill increases the monthly telephone surcharge, which is collected for 911 services, to $5 in Chicago and $1.50 in the rest of the state, up from $3.90 and 87 cents, respectively. It also maintained the Emergency Telephone System Act, a set of rules and regulations for setting up and funding emergency 911 services at the local government level, until December 2020. HB1811 was identical in language to Senate Bill 1839, which Rauner openly intended to veto. Rauner kept good on his intention Friday, but with amendments — namely, revoking the sunset on the Emergency Telephone System Act. These changes denied the surcharge increases, but would have allowed 911 to continue in Illinois without needing the General Assembly to pass legislation to renew services.
Above, Pete and Linda Meyer’s house in Adeline is all decked out for the Fourth of July. Their daughter and granddaughter helped with the annual project. Photo by Linda Meyer At right, Pete Meyer and Luke Sheely, both of Adeline, talk shop during the Jonas Fultz Memorial Car Show held during Let Freedom Ring on Sunday. Sheely had six cars entered in this year’s event. A story on the car show appears on page A9 Photo by Earleen Hinton
However, SB1839 expired Friday evening, at which point the House pushed forward HB1811, surcharge increases and all. Rauner vetoed the bill entirely, without any amendments, but was overridden. “I’m feeling really good about this right now,” said Sandy Beitel, 911 Coordinator and president of the Illinois chapter of the National Emergency Number Association. “We’ve fought hard to try and move 911 forward, and this will afford us that opportunity. We’re in good shape now.” Rauner called the surcharge increases an unfair and indefensible tax hike. “The majority in the General Assembly waited until the last moment to send this 911 service reauthorization bill to my desk. Unfortunately, those lawmakers also inserted a major tax hike into this bill, a tax that’s both excessive and unwarranted, and that I strongly oppose,” Rauner said. “This extreme increase is unfair and indefensible.” Ogle County officials held a press conference June 28 to plead with Gov. Bruce Rauner not to let emergency services funding or regulations vanish. At the conference, Beitel explained that Senate Bill 1839 included, among several other items, an Turn to A2
Teens pitch in to help Polo couple with their home By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com “Shocked and blown away” were the words Amy (Faber) Beard, Polo, used to describe her feelings when a group of teens from an Evanston church offered to paint her house and spruce up her yard. Beard has suffered from lupus for the past 38 years. “I can’t do much,” she said. Her husband Paul, a meat cutter, works his full-time job plus a part-time one mowing yards “to make ends meet,” she said. “I don’t think it would have got done otherwise,” Beard said as she watched the teenagers and adults bustling around her yard with rakes, shovels, hammers, and paint brushes on June 30. Former Polo resident Mike McGuire, who now lives in Evanston, was behind the project. He grew up in Polo and his mother Julie was one of Beard’s teachers at Polo High School. He brought the youth group from Evanston United Methodist Church and their leaders to the Beards’ home to paint the exterior and do
A youth group from Evanston United Methodist Church and their leaders, along with local residents turned out last week to do yard work and painting for Paul and Amy Beard, Polo. Pictured in the front row, left to right are: Jack McClintock, Sam Diener, Henry VanDeWalle, Amy (Faber) Beard, Jane Cheema, Libby Ketzback, Annie Johnson, Jack Kalil, Grace Johnson, Grace Bernhardt, Sydney TerMolen, and Faith Ogunbola. Back row: group leader Mike McGuire, Emily Sherrick, Henry Eberhart, Laurie Sherrick, Dave Sherrick, Jodi (Faber) Galik, Dave Burkhart, Chris Winslow, Connor Keene-Gefvert, and Connor McGuire. Photo by Vinde Wells
yard work. They started June 28 and worked for three days, getting two coats of paint on the house, trimming and removing bushes, raking, and planting perennials and
In This Week’s Edition...
annuals. They stayed overnight at his farm in rural Polo. “We’re trying to brighten Amy’s life,” he said. He also enlisted the help of local volunteers including
Birth, A4 Church News, A5 Classifieds, B5-B10 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6
Dave and Laurie Sherrick and their daughter Emily and others. In all, he said, approximately 20 people volunteered to help. McGuire said the youth
Fines, B4 Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, A3 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
Social News, A4 Sports, A12, B1 State’s Attorney, B5 Weather, A3
group, comprised of 12 to 14 year-olds, does a service project every summer, usually in Rockford. This year, he said, the youth leaders wanted to make the experience more
personal. “We wanted them to get to know the people we are serving,” he said. He consulted his classmate Dave Sherrick for someone in need in his hometown and learned about Beard’s situation. “Amy has a lot of medical issues and she needed some help,” McGuire said. Ben Katner, Polo, who works at Sherwin Williams in Dixon, pitched in by getting supplies for the project at a reduced cost. “At first I was shocked, but I shouldn’t have been knowing Mike and the Sherricks,” Beard said. “They define what a true Christian should be.” She praised the hard work and willingness of the teenagers. “It’s already done and it’s beautiful,” she said. “We’re so blessed and grateful. We’re just humbled that someone would do this for us.” Having the company of the group was also very welcome, Beard said. “I love meeting people, and I love teenagers,” she said. She invited anyone interested to stop by and see the completed project.
Deaths, B5 Vera J. Noffsinger, Alice R. Rebuck, Roger L. Saaijenga
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com