Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal December 21, 2017 Volume 155, Number 35 - $1.00
Trial Controversy
Basketball Tournament Santa Letters The Cardinals basketball team puts up good efforts in their own tournament. B1
Defense attorneys in a summer fatal boat accident wants reports excluded as evidence. A3
Area school children send their wish lists to St. Nick. C1-12
Forreston Village Board sets TIF public hearing By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com The Forreston Village Board established a date for a public hearing regarding the creation of a Tax Increment Finance District in the village. The board voted unanimously
Monday to accept an ordinance establishing a public hearing for Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. at the Forreston Village Hall, 102 S. Walnut Ave., as the next step in establishing a TIF district. The public hearing is a chance for the board to present its intentions to the public and garner feedback. Action will not be taken at the
hearing. Sharon Pepin, Community Funding & Planning Services consultant, said notices will be mailed out over the next couple weeks to surrounding taxing bodies and residents. A TIF district is a method of financing economic development projects by freezing the equalized
assessed value of the affected area for 23 years. Taxing bodies then draw taxes from that frozen EAV, not from any increase in the EAV over the time period of the TIF. Taxpayers in the TIF, however, pay taxes on the EAV with its increases. The amount of taxes from the EAV increases (above the
frozen level) go into a fund to be spent only on the TIF district. The TIF money can be used for building and renovation projects as well as infrastructure. The Forreston Village Board meets again on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. at the village hall. The meeting is open to the public.
Oregon, county agree on closure By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The long-debated question of closing one block of a city street for construction of a new Ogle County Jail is finally settled. Both the county board and the Oregon City Council approved an intergovernmental agency agreement Tuesday evening that transfers jurisdiction over the 100 block of South Sixth Street in Oregon from the city to the county. This means the county board can move forward with its plans to close the block and connect the new jail to the existing judicial center across the street. The last hurdle will be securing approval to close the block from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The plan, which faced fierce opposition from some Oregon residents including two city commissioners, has been under discussion for more than a year.
Preliminary plans call for the breaking ground for the new 180-bed jail, with an estimated price tag of $28 million, in the fall of 2018. Tuesday night, the county board approved the agreement first, by a vote of 22-1, with board member Lee Meyers, of Byron, casting the only no vote. Kim Whalen, of Hillcrest, did not attend the meeting. The city council approved the agreement by a 3-2 meeting with commissioners Jim Barnes and Tom Izer voting no, as they did in a previous vote last June. Mayor Ken Williams, and commissioners Terry Schuster and Kurt Wilson voted yes. Before the vote, Barnes made an impassioned plea to his fellow commissioners to reject the agreement. “If we vote in favor of this, we are yielding to the county board without even an argument, let alone a fight,” he said. “We are selling out Oregon to the county. We are not doing justice for most of the citizens of Oregon…I
This artist rendering shows the proposed Ogle County Jail with the 100 block of South Sixth Street closed to connect the new building to the Ogle County Judicial Center.
really cannot believe this is happening.” Part of the agreement is that the county will pay for street improvements near the courthouse, judicial center, and new jail. It will pay to repave Jefferson Street from Fourth to Sixth Street, Fifth Street from Washington to Jefferson, and Sixth Street south to Madison, and replace gutters and sidewalks in those blocks. County board chairman Kim Gouker, of Byron, said
the county will also pay to reroute sewer and water mains affected by the street closure. The total cost for those projects is estimated at $600,000. Gouker said the city and county engineers and attorneys worked together on forging the agreement. “This is in the best interests of both of us,” he said. Oregon Mayor Ken Williams said the agreement was the result of several months of negotiations.
“Tonight’s vote was not about where the jail should go, that was decided seven months ago,” he said. “Tonight’s vote was to decide whether or not to allow the county to acquire Sixth Street or risk a long court action.” He asked residents to respect the passion others have for their city even when they disagree. “The strong argument about the character and beauty of our downtown and surrounding neighborhoods
Polo family was just minutes from their home when tragedy struck Donations are being sought for Johnson family By Kathleen Schultz kschultz@saukvalley.com Sarah and DJ Johnson and 4-yearold Kylia were just minutes away from their Polo home when they hit a patch of ice in the snowstorm Dec. 11, and slid into the path of an oncoming pickup truck. Sarah and the baby boy she was expecting died as a result, and DJ and Kylia were critically injured. They were on their way back home from a 35-week check-up with their Sterling obstetrician. “Sarah Rose Johnson, only 26 years old and 35 weeks pregnant, was lost to us forever, and Oliver, the baby boy whom Sarah was so proud to bring into the world for DJ, before breathing his first breath and despite the effort of multiple physicians, followed his mother to the golden shores beyond,” her brother-in-law, Robert “Robby” Shaw, wrote in a posting on the GoFundMe site he and the family have established to help DJ, 27, and
Sarah and DJ Johnson and their daughter, Kylia. Photo supplied
Kylia recover. “This fragile, beautiful family was not and could not have been prepared for this tragedy,” Shaw wrote. “With the hard road already ahead, we do not believe that they should be further hindered by funeral and medical expenses out of their reach. Please help us do the little that we can to make their days ahead just a little bit easier.” The Johnsons were northbound on state Ill. 26 around 3:45 p.m.
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B8 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4
when DJ lost control of their 2013 Dodge sedan on the icy road and crossed into the southbound lane, where a 2008 GMC pickup driven by Dan Ditzler, 29, also of Polo, hit the sedan’s passenger side. They were three miles south of town. All were taken to KSB Hospital, where Ditzler and three children – girls, ages 5 months and 2 years, and a boy, 5 – were treated for minor injuries. Sarah, who was in the passenger
Marriage Licenses, A4 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
front seat, was pronounced dead at KSB; DJ and Kylia were transferred to MercyHealth Hospital – Rockton Avenue in Rockford. Despite multiple injuries “DJ is making a beautiful recovery,” Shaw wrote. Kylia, who was in the back seat of the car, “is now courageously recovering from her trauma as we anxiously watch.” Funeral services will be held on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at Crossroads Community Church. Polo Family Funeral home is handling arrangements. Go to polofamilyfuneralhome.com for the complete obituary, and to send condolences. According to her obituary, Sarah, who was an assistant manager at Walmart in Freeport, grew up in Lanark and graduated from Eastland High School in 2009. She and DJ were high school sweethearts who met when working at Rolling Hills Progress Center in Lanark. They had just celebrated their seventh anniversary on Dec. 4. They moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, shortly after they were married; that’s where DJ began his military career and Sarah was a manager at the Army and Air Force
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Zoning Permits, B5
was a good one and the county agreed,” he said. “That is why the city had significant input into the exterior design of the jail so it will mirror that of the attractive architecture found in the judicial center; the county agreed. “That is why the city negotiated to spend half a million dollars to upgrade neighborhood streets surrounding the complex buildings leaving them in better shape that they are now; the county agreed.”
Services Services for Sarah Rose Johnson and her son, Oliver Daniel Michael Johnson, are from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Faith Discovery Church, with the funeral at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Crossroads Community Church. Burial will be in Fairmount Cemetery in Polo, followed by a luncheon at Crossroads. A memorial has been established.
To donate
A GoFundMe account has been established to help DJ and Kylia recover. Go to www.gofundme. com and search for the Sarah and Ollie Memorial Fund to donate. Exchange Services. They moved back to Illinois in 2013. DJ, whose given name is Daryl Allan Johnson, works at Exelon in Byron, is a volunteer firefighter with the Polo Fire Department and, according to family, a military police officer who served in Afghanistan. To donate, go to www.gofundme. com and search for the Sarah and Ollie Memorial Fund.
Deaths, B5 Donald F. Gallup, Marlene L. Gaul, Jeromy D. Marth, Richard L. Otten
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com