Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS March 12, 2015 Volume 48, Number 2 - $1.00
College Signing
Farm Focus
Coloring Contest
Oregon’s Emy Wright will suit up for Judson University next basketball season. B1
Farm life is the topic of a special section about Ogle County. Inside
Kids are invited to show off their creative skills by entering an Easter coloring contest. A10
2014 Friday Night Concerts drew record crowds By Vinde Wells Editor The nine-week Friday Night Summer Concert Series at the Mt. Morris band shell drew more than 3,500 people last summer and brought in record donations. “Last year was really
outstanding,” organizer Larry Ubben told the village board Tuesday evening. “We about doubled our donations. We’re coming very close to being self-sustaining.” The money placed in donation cans by concertgoers totaled more than $3,500 last year, he said.
Two concerts, the first and last, drew 550 and 650 people respectively. Ubben recounted the event’s success and asked the board for $1,000 as a “cushion” in case expenses run higher than expected. He said each year since the concerts were started in 2013,
he has received grants from both the Rockford Area Arts Council and the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois (CFNIL). However, the CFNIL grant has decreased significantly this year. It was $2,500 in 2013, the year the concerts were begun, $3,400 last year,
and $500 this year. The Rockford Area Arts Council was $1,300 in both 2013 and 2014. Ubben said that the increase in donations helps to offset the decrease in the grant. The free concerts usually begin in June and run through the summer, but
with the interest shown by the public, Ubben said he hopes to increase the number of concerts and lengthen the season. “I would like to see this grow further,” he said. “My goal is to make the Mt. Morris band shell a premiere music venue in northern Illinois.”
Few candidates on April 7 ballot for some local boards By Vinde Wells Editor
Five-year-old Katlyn Miller closes her eyes as she releases a bean bag at a target Saturday evening at the 4-H Penny Carnival. Miller is a first year Cloverbud with the Circle M 4-H Club. Photo by Chris Johnson
Penny Carnival shoots for stars By Chris Johnson Reporter Pigs were “flying” last Saturday evening at the Oregon Coliseum — thanks to a catapult. A small stuffed pig was part of a game made by the Circle M 4-H club. “We are doing a catapult game and the object is to get the animals to the stars,” said club president Carly Miller. “The theme of the game is Shoot for the Stars. I am
having a blast tonight.” Circle M was one of the Ogle County 4-H clubs with games made for the annual Penny Carnival. All of the games were space themed for this year’s event. Another object-launching game was created by the Summerhill Huskies. Carter Daws, 10, was running the booth at the start of the carnival. “We made a slingshot, that you pull back a band to try and hit the stars with a ball,”
he said. “The game is kind of hard.” When asked if anyone hit the target, Daws said some people have been successful. Not all of the clubs made games. The Polo Pioneers lived up to their name by making the International Space Station out of cardboard boxes. “Our booth is the space station,” said Brianna Kuhne, 8, “This morning when we went through you could see through it, but tonight it is
dark in there so we are using flashlights to see.” She said the kids that went through their booth were able to explore the space station with their imagination. The annual event is always a draw for area children and Saturday night was no exception. Within 30 minutes of the start the coliseum was filled with families walking between the games and exploring the games created by the clubs.
Voters in some local taxing districts will find no one to vote for April 7 when they go to the polls. Many so-called races have fewer candidates than positions open. The Oregon Library Board has three terms on the ballot, but no one has filed for any of them. Write-ins aren’t an option because even the deadline to file for that is long past. After the election, the situation will only get worse, Oregon Public Library Director Andrew Dettman said Tuesday, because one trustee, Terry Schuster, whose library board term isn’t up, is running unopposed for the Oregon City Council. According to rulings made by the Illinois Attorney General, a person cannot serve on a library board at the same time as a city council, village board, or county board. A list from the Illinois Board of Elections declares those positions “incompatible.” Dettman said Schuster has indicated he will step down from the library board, leaving four of its seven seats unfilled. “We’re looking to make some appointments after the election,” Dettman said. “We’re seeking some
recruits.” He said he believes the dearth of candidates is part of a trend toward less participation in community activities. “Volunteerism in general is down, and this is a form of volunteerism because our board members aren’t paid,” Dettman said. “It’s a disturbing trend.” Board members Scott Stephens, Angie Theissen, and Rick McCanse did not seek re-election. The Oregon School Board election is only slightly better off. Three seats are open and only one candidate is on the ballot. Superintendent Tom Mahoney said the board will post the vacancies and seek applicants after the election. He said the situation is unusual. “We’ve never had this many seats without candidates in an election, at least not since I’ve been with the district,” he said. He said the board has occasionally appointed someone to fill a vacancy left by a resignation, however. Current board member Mary Jo Griffin is the only candidate on the ballot. Board members Curt Howard and Barry Barton did not seek reelection. In Forreston, two boards Turn to A2
Oregon voters will decide on ambulance service By Vinde Wells Editor Oregon Fire District voters will have an important decision to make when they go to the polls early next month. A referendum on the April 7 ballot will ask fire district voters if they want a taxsupported ambulance service associated with the Oregon Fire Department. The question on the ballot reads, “Shall the Oregon Fire Protection District levy a special tax at a rate not to exceed .40 percent of the value of all taxable property within the district as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue
for the purpose of providing an ambulance service?” Fire officials have said a yes vote means the fire district will have the means to provide a full-time, roundthe-clock ambulance service. The service will be funded by property tax dollars, and will add an estimated $175 to the tax bill on a $150,000 house, excluding exemptions. A no vote means the district will no longer have an ambulance service, and residents or visitors in the area will have to rely on mutual aid from neighboring fire districts, all of which have long since provided their own tax-supported ambulances, or call a private
In This Week’s Edition...
ambulance service from Rockford, Dixon, Freeport, or another city. Relying on an outside ambulance service, public or private, is likely to increase the response time to emergencies. For the last several months, as coordinators of the Friends of the Oregon Fire District, Lindsey Breeden and Marie Tilly have been talking to organizations and other groups about what the referendum means to the community. “It’s important to vote yes on this because our community needs a good infrastructure, and that includes an ambulance service,” Breeden said
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B8-B12 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B7
Tuesday. “This affects people’s lives.” The Friends of the Oregon Fire District was formed in the late fall to promote the referendum because fire district officials, by law, cannot campaign for it. Late last year, the fire district board decided to place the referendum on the ballot in the wake of the June closing of the Oregon Ambulance Service, Inc., a privately-owned, not-forprofit corporation. The closing left the 120-square-mile fire district without its own ambulance service. Since the early 1970s, the fire district had been served by the Oregon Ambulance
Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4 Property Transfers, B6 Sheriff’s Arrests, B6
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B6 Zoning, B7
Service Inc., which was managed by Oregon residents Jim and Betty Ferris. Over the years, fire department officials had off and on discussed the possibility of establishing an ambulance service. The issue came to a head last June 11 when Betty Ferris told the fire district board that the ambulance service would close its doors June 17 for financial reasons. The far-flung district includes Castle Rock State Park, Lowden State Park, Lowden Miller State Forest, the Rock River, and two state highways. At the time, Oregon Fire Chief Don Heller voiced his
concern for the safety of not only the district’s residents but also the thousands of tourists and other visitors who pass through. Heller and other fire officials scrambled to enlist the assistance of neighboring fire districts, and within two weeks had secured the services of ATS Medical Services, Loves Park, a private ambulance service. Since July 1, an ATS ambulance and crew have been based at the Oregon Fire Station and answer calls from there. Their 10-month contract ends April 30. The options are limited. The fire district’s funds are Turn to A2
Deaths, B5 Shirley A. Burke, Robert G. Cheatham, Judith E. Sponseller, Bonnie L. Swift
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com