Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, Nov 26, 2021
OGLE COUNTY NEWS
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COUNTY NEWS
Judge Hanson retires after 16 years on the bench BY ALEXA ZOELLNER
azoellner@shawmedia.com OREGON - Chief Circuit Judge Robert T. Hanson celebrated his retirement during a Nov. 19 open house attended by friends, coworkers and family. The event took place at the Ogle County Judicial Center in Courtroom 204. Hanson served 16 years as a judge in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois. He was an associate circuit judge from 2006-12 and a circuit judge from 2012-21. Hanson became chief circuit judge in 2019.
Alexa Zoellner/Shaw Media
ABOVE: Chief Circuit Judge Robert T. Hanson dons his robe and takes a seat at the bench one final time during a Nov. 19 open house celebrating his retirement. Hanson served 16 years as a judge in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois. LEFT: Hanson holds a certificate of recognition from the Ogle County Board.
LOCAL HISTORY
Remember the days of homemade canned mincemeat?
D
ecember is approaching fast and we are busy with preparations. I have made the first batch of toffee and it is in the mail. Two packages need to be gotten off early so I have to be thinking Christmas before Thanksgiving. I missed my pumpkin pie at our ham loaf supper last week so I am going to have to get one at the grocery store. I always make two pecan pies for the supper but the health department said no to that so Sara Lee had to help me out. I had found mincemeat pie at the store by Sara Lee several weeks ago and they were very good. Remember the days of homemade canned mincemeat? We made our own and they were great and always served at our Thanksgiving meal. Mincemeat pie was something you either liked or disliked intensely. Then we would buy it from some of the churches who sold
POLO HISTORY Betty Obendorf it until that was stopped. I wonder how many people actually died from homemade mincemeat? We are now being protected from this and protected from that until the virus hit. Maybe we have not been able to build up natural immunities as we have gone along in life so we are more vulnerable to something new. Krista and Jim came yesterday to get her P.E.O. pecans for cookie making so they helped me in outdoor preparations for the holidays. Then we tackled the tree inside. It is old and the cat as a kitten spent most of her time
sitting in it which did not help. So we bent up the branches, wedged it again in the stand, and decided it would do again for another year. The cat sleeps under it and maybe she thinks she is outside. Krista also brought the shadow box for the museum to hold two small pieces of pottery. It was Beth’s idea to put them in a shadow box near the lithographs. One is from the Acoma Native American tribe and another, while not made by Native Americans, resembles pottery that is Indian made. It is called Nemadji pottery and it has taken its place in the Native American world. So the two pieces will be placed in the shadow box. We are now putting on the finishing touches on the museum for our Christmas party. It means tucking away things that are still out on the table, cleaning the floor, putting away the
totes that held ornaments, and things like that. Then on the day of the party, everyone will be busy getting tables ready. I need to make the slush punch and get out the big punch bowl. I always like to get out the antique punch bowl during the holidays. I also have one reserved for homemade eggnog at home. It would not be Christmas with my eggnog. So it is a fun time of the year as we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. One of the biggest gifts for Polo is the winning of the state title in football. Thanks for all the hard work and practice. Our team has put Polo on the map again and it is time to celebrate in our community.
• Betty Obendorf is a volunteer for the Polo Historical Society.
