Serving the Forreston area since 1865
FORRESTON Journal July 13, 2018 Volume 156, Number 12 - $1.00
Go Schneiderman!
Freedom Rings
Ag Summit
Nathan Schneiderman wins named to an NCAA All-Region baseball team. B2
Mt. Morris’ annual patriotic festival ends, with lots of good memories. B1
Forreston State Bank hosts its second annual agriculture summit at Barnacopia on Aug. 15. A7
Sauerkraut and Hometown Days combine Aug. 3-5 Forreston Sauerkraut Days are less than a month away. This year the weekend festivities are a combined effort of the Hometown Days Committee and the American Legion Families. With the combined effort, even more activities will be offered for kids of all ages. The weekend kicks off on Friday, Aug. 3 with a community picnic from 5 to 7 p.m. The picnic is sponsored by Terrace Ridge. This is a nonprofit organization that helps provide work and housing for disabled adults. Bingo is back this year and the fun begins at 6 p.m. Along with Bingo there will be other carnival games sponsored by various Forreston groups. The Kids 1 Mile Fun Run is at 6:30 p.m. and the 5K Fun Run/Walk is at 7:30 p.m. This year both races will start and end at Memorial Park. Registration forms for the races can be picked up at Green’s Motors or Koeller Forreston Hardware. Capping off Friday night is a movie in the park. This year “The Goonies” will be shown on a huge blow up screen on the east side of the grade school. Bring lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy this
classic film. The Hometown Days committee will have concessions available. Saturday, Aug. 4 starts bright and early at 7 a.m. with Sunrise Yoga. Kelcy Moring will lead everyone through some gentle stretching to get your day started. The 3 on 3 Drew Crase Memorial Basketball Tournament starts at 8 a.m. at the outdoor basketball courts at the high school. Registration forms and more information can be found at 3on3forrestonhd. com. Saturday is filled with a lot of favorite activities – car show, tractor show, craft and vendor fair, Faith Lutheran bake sale, co-ed softball tournament, petting zoo, Lions cheese sales, sauerkraut lunch, spaghetti eating contest, and the Lion’s pork chop dinner. This year additional events have been added that are sure to keep everyone entertained. The bingo tent and other carnival games will be open at 10 a.m. Forreston Car Care is sponsoring tire races. For a $5 registration fee you will receive a tire to decorate any way you like. On Saturday morning the tires will be lined up and raced down Walnut Avenue.
Parade Fun Kathy Rose and Connie Hartje weathered the heat to represent the Leaf River Lions Club, cruising through Mt. Morris’ Let Freedom Ring Fourth of July Grand Parade. Photo by Zach Arbogast
Magician Dawn Marie will be on the entertainment stage at 11 a.m. to amaze everyone with her magic. After the magic show will be face painting, glitter tattoos, and balloon animals for $1 apiece. The Forreston Fireman’s Association is bringing back water fights. The fun starts at 12 p.m. for the kids. Then at 1 p.m. the big boys and girls go at it with
contests between different fire departments. Along with the spaghetti eating contest, a watermelon eating contest is planned, at 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Forreston’s own Blue Heat, a group of Forreston High School seniors, will perform at 4 p.m. Following Blue Heat, Josh Naylon and Friends, local bluegrass band, will perform. Saturday night will end with Karaoke by Switchback
DJ and Karaoke. Unless otherwise mentioned, all events will be held in Memorial Park. The eating contests and bands will perform on the Entertainment Stage. The weekend comes to a close on Sunday with the Community Breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m. at the fire station and a community church service at 9:30 a.m. at Memorial Park. Information and updates
can be found at https:// www.facebook.com/ forrestonhometowndays/. The committee is in need of volunteers to help with events on Saturday. For more information of to volunteer, call one of the following committee members – Julie Heeren at 815-985-7787, Kimberly Brown at 815-266-1414, or Jane Koeller at 815-2661095.
Polo farmer finds fawn in 12-foot hole in cornfield By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A routine task held some big surprises for a Polo farmer over the weekend. Phil Fossler, who is also a realtor, was mowing the grass in a waterway through a cornfield southwest of Polo Saturday afternoon when the front tire of his tractor lurched into what turned out to be a 12-foot hole. “All of a sudden the tractor stopped,” Fossler said. “It threw me against the steering wheel. I was going slow probably only about two miles per hour — because I was up next to the corn.” When he shut the tractor down and got off to survey the situation, he saw something brown at the bottom of the hole and assumed it was a field tile — until it moved. “Then I saw it was a fawn,” Fossler said. “He was alive and healthy. He was running around down there, trying to get out.” He called his wife and asked her to bring an end
loader from his nearby farm. Then he noticed the hole was wider as it got deeper and decided to call Ed Dyer, of Polo, for a tow truck. “I didn’t want an end loader anywhere around it,” he said. Dyer soon arrived, took a look at the hole, started back to his truck — and totally disappeared. Fossler said he had fallen into a second 12-foot hole. Dyer told Fossler he had dislocated his shoulder and needed the ambulance. Besides calling the ambulance, Fossler called Greg Wagner, who knew how to operate Dyer’s tow truck, and the Conservation Police. Using equipment from Dyer’s truck, they hoisted him out of the hole and took him to the waiting ambulance for a trip to the hospital. That done, they pulled the tractor out of the hole and rescued the rambunctious fawn using a lasso. Conservation officer Steve Beltran said the fawn’s mother was spotted nearby, and the two were soon reunited.
In This Week’s Edition...
Dyer’s shoulder was put back in place at the hospital, and he is recuperating. The mystery that remains is what caused the two holes. “Right now there’s no explanation,” Fossler said. “I’ve been cutting this waterway for 10 years and nothing like this has ever happened.”
The field, which Fossler recently sold, is farmed by David and Keith Poole. Fossler said they told him they have not seen the holes there previously either. Experts from the Ogle County Soil & Water Conservation Department were scheduled to take a look Tuesday morning.
Phil Fossler, of Polo, was mowing a waterway Saturday afternoon when his tractor got stuck in a very large hole. He soon discovered a fawn had fallen into the hole and was trying to escape. Here, Dyer’s Tow Truck from Polo works on getting the tractor out of the hole. Photos courtesy of Steven Beltran
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B5-B8 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B4 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B3
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B2 State’s Attorney, B3
Deaths, B4 Ronald J. Davis, Michael H. McNett, Diane M. Welenc
Published every Friday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com