Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal October 5, 2017 Volume 155, Number 24 - $1.00
Golfers Advance
Face Lift
First Fridays
Two Polo golfers and two Forreston golfers advance to next week’s sectional. B1
Lorado Taft’s “Fish Boys” fountain was restored by a loving family. A6
The popular free music event will be in Mt. Morris at Pinecrest Friday night. A7
Solar farm will meet with village By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com
Kids with Kids Left to right: FFA Student Tia Boss helps Maddox Busker, Kinsley Ryia, and Elise Rummel feed an eightday-old baby goat. The baby goat feedings were beloved by the kids during Forreston Grade School’s Agriculture Day. Photo by Zach Arbogast.
Left to Right: Isabella McIlvanie, Gabriel Morris, and Colson Lamm take turns feeding an eight-dayold baby goat. The baby goat feedings were a favorite among the children at Forreston Grade School’s Agriculture Day. Photo by Zach Arbogast.
A company looking to put in a solar energy farm near Forreston will be meeting with the Forreston Village Board. Cypress Creek Renewables, a Californiabased company, will give a presentation to the board during the Oct. 16 meeting in the Community Room at the Forreston Public Library, 204 First Ave. CCR wants to build a solar farm on 200 acres of land, owned by Rod Wubbena, south of Townline Road, surrounding Ill. 26. The area sits outside of Forreston village limits, but the village board will still make a recommendation to the Ogle County Board whether or not to approve building it. “All we can offer is a recommendation, but history generally shows that the county board heeds those recommendations,” said Village President Mark Metzger. CCR is only conducting a presentation to the village board, not a public question and answer session. Sharon Pepin, Community Funding & Planning Services consultant, was also in attendance, keeping the board up to speed on the proposed Tax Increment Finance District. A TIF District freezes the equalized assessed values of property for 23 years.
Taxing bodies draw their revenue through these frozen values, and any further tax revenue generated by an increase in EAV goes into a TIF fund, which can only be spent on projects within the TIF district. Metzger and Pepin met with the Forrestville Valley School District at their last board meeting, Sept. 20, to discuss the TIF. “We conducted a sort of ‘TIF 101,’ since not many board members were familiar with how a TIF works, and the benefits it can bring,” said Pepin. Pepin said the historical data shows villages as small as Forreston still see EAV increases through redevelopment efforts a TIF district brings. “It’s natural for school districts, fire districts, to be — not necessarily against, but in defense mode — regarding a TIF, because that revenue is how they get their money,” said Metzger. Metzger said he felt they eased some concerns from the board with explaining why they included the school district in the TIF, and what they intend to do with it, including helping the school out where they can. Pepin said the board can expect more details on the TIF itself at the next meeting. The village board meets again on Monday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., in the Community Room of the Forreston Public Library. The meeting is open to the public.
Oregon gas leak
Fall into the season at AOP By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Handmade craft items, a parade, and lots of food are just three of the attractions awaiting visitors to Oregon’s Autumn on Parade festival Oct. 7-8. “We have new crafters, new parade entries, and plenty for kids and families to do,” said AOP Committee President Marseyne Snow. “Hopefully the weather holds out, and it looks like it will.” The festival, which started with a handful of vendors selling bittersweet and apples in 1970, is celebrating its 47th anniversary this year. It continues to be organized and run by an all-volunteer committee and is funded through sponsorships, donations, booth fees, and
Jerry Newman holds a stack of cornstalks as Sandy Boehle and Marseyne Snow tie the stack around one of the poles in downtown Oregon on Sunday in preparation for the upcoming Autumn on Parade festival this weekend. Photo by Earleen Hinton
food court revenues. The heart of the festival is the Farmer’s Market and Craft Fair that features upwards of 190 vendors selling a variety of arts and crafts ranging from handmade wood items to
In This Week’s Edition...
homemade baked breads. “We have lots of homemade and homegrown items for sale,” Snow said. Ornamental produce, painted items, jewelry, soaps, candles, antiques, and seasonal items are just a few
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B5-B8 Entertainment, A6 Marriage Licenses, A4
of the hundreds of items that can be found throughout the craft show. Booths are located around the lawn of the historic Ogle County Courthouse and surrounding streets. There is no charge for admission. Paddlewheel boat rides on the scenic Rock River are offered for the first time this year. “Maxson’s is offering sight-seeing tours on the Pride of Oregon at several different times on Saturday,” Snow said. Visitors to Autumn on Parade can also partake of a variety of scrumptious treats in the Food Court where local not-for-profit organizations prepare their specialties each year. Apple fritters, pork chop and ribeye sandwiches, funnel cakes, bratwurst, and Turn to A3
Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A natural gas leak in the basement of a building in the 400 block of West Washington Street in Oregon prompted emergency personnel to evacuate one full city block on Tuesday as workers from Nicor Gas tried to cap the leak. A contractor working in the basement of the building at 408 W. Washington St., accidentally cut the gas line. By late afternoon, the leak had been repaired and residents and businesses were getting back to normal. “The gas leak has been stooped and they’re venting the building,” Oregon Police Chief Darin DeHaan said at 5:30 p.m. “The good thing is we had a strong wind today so the gas quickly dissipated.” As the building filled with gas, firefighters asked police to clear the one-block area as a precaution. Businesses in the 100 block of North Fourth Street (Ill. 2) and 400 block of West
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Weather, A3
Washington (Ill. 64) were also evacuated around 11:28 a.m. Motorists were detoured around the one-block area and sidewalks were also closed to pedestrians. Jonathan Champion was upstairs in his apartment with his two dogs at 408 1/2 W. Washington St. when a business operator alerted him to the leak. “The lady from the antique store came up and told us we needed to be evacuated. I was running around chasing the dogs to get them,” Champion said. “I smelled a little of the gas after she told me there was a gas leak.” Champion moved his two dogs, Lola and Graham, outside and into his car in the North Fifth Street parking lot as Oregon firefighters waited for workers from Nicor Gas to come and stop the leak. The first worker for Nicor to arrive tried to find the shut off for the leaking pipe, but could not prompting additional Nicor workers to respond and eventually use Turn to A2
Deaths, B5 B. Charles Ames, Travis L. Gates, Diane S. Heeren, Lois Elaine Mount
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com