Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal January 25, 2018 Volume 155, Number 40- $1.00
Lady Cards Win
Tires Dumped
Dress-Up Ball
Lady Cardinals defeat Lady Marcos 52-23 in Friday night action. B1
A Polo man is arrested for dumping tires on the river. A2
The fourth annual Masquerade Ball is Saturday night at the Polo Town Hall. A8
FV district gets $69,000 grant for STEM
A small plane sits on the ice after hitting a power line and crashing on the Saturday afternoon. Photo by Earleen Hinton
The Forrestville Valley School District is the recipient of a $69,000 grant award from the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois. The grant will be used to create and implement Forreston High School Engineering Pathway to enhance STEM programming (science, technology, engineering and math). Grant funds will be used by school officials to purchase Rock River just west of Grand Detour supplies and equipment to implement Project Lead the Way curriculum starting in the 2018-19 school year. Over the next four years, FHS will implement five elective courses to equip students with a general background to meet the regional workforce needs related to STEM areas as well as increase the academic rigor in the areas of math and science. “This is an amazing opportunity for our students and community to expand Which investigating agency should take charge in an emergency situation can be a little confusing sometimes. Especially when a plane crashes onto the ice-covered Rock River as happened on Saturday afternoon. Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle, who was on the scene, said the crash took place very close to the dividing line between Ogle and Lee Counties. That line runs down the middle of the river. “Where it happened there are two islands, one of them is in Lee County and one is in Ogle,” he said. Lee County 911 got the first call and that sheriff’s department took charge. By Vinde Wells “It was closer to their island, and vwells@oglecounty they called the state police,” VanVickle news.com said.
Plane crashes on to frozen Rock River, minor injuries y Earleen Hinton B ehinton@oglecountynews.com A handful of local residents were outdoors taking advantage of the springlike weather Saturday afternoon when their chores were interrupted by a plane crash. Illinois State Police responded to a call at about 12:50 p.m. that a small plane had landed or crashed in the Rock River near Grand Detour. The pilot, David R. Manske, and his passenger, Jamie K. Nadowski, 60, both of Machesney Park, were taken to a hospital, but luckily escaped serious injury. No information on their flight plan was available. Jim Ross was working in his garage just north of the crash site when he heard the plane fly over his home around 12:40 p.m. “I was in the garage and I heard a plane flying by. Then there was a big noise – and silence,” Ross said. “Then a neighbor came by and said a plane was on the ice and to call 911. He had heard it too and drove over and saw it on the
ice.” Ross walked south a few yards where he saw the pilot exit the plane and walk around a bit. Kelley Snyder, who lives just a house down from Ross, and almost directly across from where the plane came to rest, also heard a loud bang, but thought it was just a vehicle backfiring. “I heard a pop, pop and I thought it was just a Jeep or truck backfiring. I went outside a few minutes later and started playing with our dogs and tossing them balls down the hill,” Snyder said. “When I walked down our hill to get one of the balls I saw the plane and at first I was, ‘Oh no, a plane crashed,’ and my first thought was that if it started to sink it was pretty shallow there. Snyder said she then saw the pilot. “I yelled and asked if he was all right and he waved his arms,” she said. Snyder’s son Dax, 12, was inside his family’s house and also heard a “snapping” noise. “I think that was when they hit the Turn to B3
Crash almost on Ogle line
both our science and math curricular areas while preparing our students for careers post high school,” said Superintendent Sheri Smith. “We are incredibly grateful to be the recipient of this grant award and want to thank the Community Foundation for this opportunity.” Parents and students will be provided more detailed information regarding the Engineering Pathway at an upcoming informational meeting scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. at Forreston High School Library. All parents of students currently in grades 8-11 are invited and encouraged to attend. Forreston Junior High started the implementation of STEM programming two years ago for all seventh and eighth grade students through funding from the Turn to A2
Late motion could delay Mongan trial Trial tentatively set for Feb. 14
A possible late motion could mean a delay in the start of the trial of an Oregon man charged in a fatal boating crash. Special prosecutor David Neal, from the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s office, told Judge John Redington Monday that he may be filing a motion in response to a yetto-be-received report from a defense expert in the case against Marc Mongan, 47. Mongan has been charged with one count of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, a Class 2 felony; three counts of reckless homicide, all class 3 felonies; and three counts of reckless conduct, all Class 4 felonies, in the death of Megan Wells, 31, Rockford. His trial is set to begin Feb. 14. Wells was killed on June 24, 2016 on the Rock River three miles north of Oregon when a johnboat Mongan was operating struck her as it went over the back of the pontoon boat she was riding Three onlookers watch from the bank as the plane that crashed on the Rock River just west of Grand Detour is in, throwing her overboard.
Marc Mongan
Defense attorney Russ Crull, Rochelle, said he expected to receive the expert’s report as early as Wednesday. Neal said once he has read the report, he may need to file motions in response to it, and asked for another hearing date before trial begins. Monday’s hearing was supposed to have been the final pre-trial. Redington set another hearing for Tuesday, Jan. 30, but pointed out that jury summons notices must go out this week for the trial to begin as scheduled. He told Crull that he wants a copy of the expert’s report no later than 9 a.m. Thursday. Neal said after the hearing that he will need time to evaluate what the expert has to say, and that could delay the trial. The prosecution presented three motions during the
pulled to the shore by a winch hooked to a tow truck on Saturday night. Photo by Earleen Hinton
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B8 Entertainment, A6 Library News, A3
Marriage Licenses, A4 Public Voice, A6 Property Transfers, B4 School Menus, A3
Sheriff’s Arrests, B5 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B5
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com
Deaths, B4 George L. Martens
Turn to A2