Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal September 7, 2017 Volume 155, Number 20 - $1.00
Seventh Place
Prepare for Fall
Railroad Denied
The Cardinals volleyball team finished in seventh at the Oregon Tournament. B1
With the weather starting to cool, make plans for Autumn on Parade. A6
Plans for a railroad project in eastern Ogle County were denied by a federal panel . B1
Black Hawk funds weren’t in state budget By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The Black Hawk statue appears to be doomed to spend another year shrouded in black plastic. State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) said Friday that a $350,000 grant earmarked for repairs to the Black Hawk statue may not be funded by the state legislature until the 2018-19 budget. Hopes were high that the grant, from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, would be part of the recently passed 2017-18 budget. However both Demmer and an IDNR official said that didn’t happen. “Grant funding was not included in the budget that was just passed,” Demmer said. “That’s basically unresolved. It wasn’t appropriated this year.” IDNR Director of Communications Ed Cross said Friday that the new budget did not include capital projects, which is where repairs to the statue falls. “What was passed was an operational budget, not a capital budget,” Cross said. “That’s why we haven’t been able to resume anything. Once we get a capital budget passed by the General Assembly then we can begin looking at
that [the statue repairs].” Demmer said he backed an earlier budget bill that included capital projects, but it failed to gain approval. He said a bill for capital projects could still be brought up, but it may be next year until it gets another look from state legislators. In the meantime, he said he is working with the IDNR and the Illinois Historical Preservation Association, which is now under the IDNR, to find other resources, hopefully from outside the state, to fund the statue repairs. Demmer said he is frustrated by the delay in getting the repairs started on the 106-year-old landmark created by sculptor Lorado Taft as a tribute to Native Americans. It was unveiled and dedicated in 1911. “I don’t want to give up because this got caught up in the budget mess,” Demmer said. “I think we’ve got to look fro everything and anything we can. Time is of the essence here.” The 50-foot statue, which sits on a 125-foot bluff overlooking the Rock River at Lowden State Park, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009. The ravages of weather and time have taken a toll on the concrete monument, which draws thousands of visitors each year.
A woman sits on the stone railing below the Black Hawk Statue that remains covered in black plastic as it continues to await repairs from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Officials say the budget impasse continues to delay funds needed to repair the historic tourist attraction. Photo by Earleen Hinton
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 50foot concrete monument in 12 millimeter thick dual-
Fresh from the Farmer’s Market Forreston’s Farmer’s Market provides a chance to by fresh, locally-grown produce without having to hike out to a supermarket. Here, Ron Bahr and Marian Haijenga, bring their best and brightest bounties. Zucchinis, eggplant, banana peppers, yellow squash - if you were looking for it, odds were you could find it at Forreston’s Farmer’s Market between Subway and the Forreston Public Library on Friday morning. Photos by Zach Arbogast
In This Week’s Edition...
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B4-B8 Entertainment, A6 Marriage Licenses, A4
Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 Weather, A3
layered polyethylene, padded underneath with blankets, and tied on tight with a half-mile of elastic rope. For the previous two winters it was encased
in a scaffolding covered with green mesh, put in place by then conservator Andrzej Dajnowski from Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, Forest Park.
Schools await funding news By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Two area school superintendents are taking a reserved approach to the state lawmakers’ long-awaited approval to a bill for school funding. Oregon Superintendent Tom Mahoney and Forrestville Valley’s Sheri Smith both said they are reserving comment until they have definite numbers on how much their districts will receive as a result of the compromise bill approved by the General Assembly early last week and signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner on Aug. 31. “I have not seen the final numbers on how the funding bill will impact the district,” Mahoney said. “If it is the same as Senate Bill 1 we will received approximately an additional $80,000 in General State Aid. But I want to wait until I have seen the final dollar amounts before I make a comment.” Smith said she, too, is awaiting information from the ISBE on the final allocation for the current school year. “For now, I can tell you that Forrestville Valley
should start to receive state aid payments in 10-12 days,” she said. “These payments will mirror our payments from last year, so there will be no loss to the district. We are still owed one categorical payment from FY [fiscal year] 17, and we do believe we will receive this final payment in this fiscal year. However, there has been no date verified by the state board of education.” Polo Superintendent Chris Rademacher did not return phone calls. Due to the legislature’s failure to pass a school funding bill earlier, the districts did not receive two promised state aid payments in August. The fiscal year for the state and school districts begins July 1. According to a press release on the ISBE website, districts should start receiving their state aid checks late this week, but final calculations on the amounts each district will receive will not be available for a few months. Initial payments will be based partly on last year’s allocations. “Districts will receive payments on the 10th Turn to A2
Deaths, B4 Margaret C. Ashurst, Wiley J. Lynch, Darlene Nelson
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com