Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal July 20, 2017 Volume 155, Number 13 - $1.00
Butterfly Festival
County Fair
Free Concert
Search for butterflies at Elkhorn Creek during the Butterfly Festival July 29. A6
Plenty of family fun at the 2017 Ogle County Fair Aug. 2-6. A7
The Tom Sharpe Ensemble performs Friday, and Miles Beske will direct the Kable Band. A8,9
Village board views BDD and TIF maps By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com The Forreston Village Board accepted maps for the proposed Tax Increment Financing and Business Development Districts, and accepted a bid to conduct work on Avon Street. Community Funding & Financial Services consultant Sharon Pepin presented final maps for the TIF and BDD to the board Monday evening. The BDD includes 154 parcels within the proposed district, with approximately 31 residential properties and 95 commercial properties. The TIF includes 247 parcels within the proposed district, including commercial, industrial,
and vacant lots, with approximately 71 residential properties. President Mark Metzger said everything looked good, and that the next step is to go forward with the BDD. “The BDD is coming first, so we can get everything started by Oct. 1,” said Metzger. “The TIF is a little more involved, and we think we’re going to wait and try to establish that by January of next year.” A public hearing for the creation of the BDD is scheduled for Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. at the Forreston Public Library. A notice will be published mid-August. Metzger said that before a public hearing is held on the BDD, a letter will be sent to Turn to A2
This map details Forreston’s corporate boundaries (outlined in purple) while showing the areas included in the proposed Tax Increment Financing District (shaded in teal.) Exempted parcels are shaded in green.
This map details Forreston’s corporate boundaries (outlined in purple) while showing the areas included in the proposed Business Development District (shaded in green.) Graphic supplied
Hometown Days features family fun By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Forreston’s Hometown Days this weekend is all about family fun. “This year we’re featuring several new things that are family-oriented, such as the movie in the park on Friday night, and on Saturday there’s many more activities going on,” said Gene Green, president of the Forreston Area Business Association, which sponsors the festival. Events begin Friday, July 21 with a Kids 1 Mile Fun Run at 5:30 p.m. at Warnken
Park, followed by a 5K Fun Run and Walk at 6 p.m. Bingo will be played and the Forreston Mutual Relay 4 Life Team will serve food from 6 to 8 p.m. in the downtown beer garden. The movie in the park will be “The Sandlot” at 8 p.m. at Memorial Park. The beer garden will host karaoke from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m., which is open only to those 21 and older. Green said community has pitched in to put on the festival. “It’s a true community effort,” he said. “Every Turn to A3
County Board considers legal Statue’s future still in limbo action over jail A black plastic tarp shrouds the Black Hawk Statue in Oregon. Repairs to the statue are on hold due to state funding issues the recent passsage of a state budget. Photo by Chris Johnson
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com Despite the recent passage of a state budget, Ogle County’s most famous and favorite landmark remains shrouded in black plastic and uncertainty. Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director of Communications Ed Cross said last week that funding for repairs to the Black Hawk Statue is being evaluated. “As far as I know nothing has changed,” Cross said on July 13. The long-standing state budget impasse side-tracked the muchneeded repairs to the surface of the 106-year-old concrete monument at
Lowden State Park near Oregon. State Rep. Tom Demmer said in April that a $350,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) that was earmarked for the statue repairs couldn’t be released until the General Assembly passed budget legislation. Although that happened earlier this month, the statue, which is under the IDNR’s authority, remains encased in black plastic put there last November to protect it from further damage. Created by sculptor Laredo Taft in 1910 as a tribute to Native Americans, the statue stands on a 125-foot bluff overlooking the Rock River and draws thousands of visitors each year. It was unveiled and dedicated in 1911.
In This Week’s Edition...
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Marriage Licenses, A4
Taft called his monument “The Eternal Indian,” but it has been known as Black Hawk from the start, in memory of the Sauk medicine man and warrior who frequented this area before his people were driven west in the 1830s by European settlers and the U.S. Army. The Black Hawk statue has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009. Over the years, despite numerous repair efforts, parts of the statue have crumbled and fallen off. Winter weather has been especially devastating. Last November, a team from Quality Restorations, Inc., Wood Dale, spent three days wrapping the Turn to A2
Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
Social News, A4 Sports, B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Weather, A3
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The Oregon City Council could face a lawsuit in the wake of its recent decision not to grant the Ogle County Board’s request to close a block of South Sixth Street. The county board decided Tuesday evening to make one more try at getting the city council to see it their way. After a 35-minute closed session, county board chairman Kim Gouker said the board will send a formal offer to the city council for negotiations to revisit its June 27 decision.
The street vacation would have allowed the proposed new jail to connect to the judicial center across what is now the 100 block of South Sixth. If that fails, Gouker said the county will likely take legal action. The board also engaged Montana & Welch, Palos Heights, a law firm specializing in local government law, as special counsel through the state’s attorney’s office. According to a statement released by Gouker after the meeting, “The Montana & Welch law firm was contacted a couple weeks Turn to A3
Deaths, B4-B5 L. Keith Appel, Arlene Blake, Kristin A. Ellis, Madeline Jane Gribbins, Margaret E. Potts, Earl W. Ring
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com