Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS April 9, 2015 Volume 48, Number 6 - $1.00
Third Place
What’s Cookin’
Bird Walks
The boys and girls track teams finished in third place at home track meets. B1
Teams are still needed for the annual May 2 cooking competition. A6
The Audubon Society is planning several spring bird walks at stateline areas. A6
Two incumbents off village board By Vinde Wells Editor Two incumbents were unseated Tuesday in their bids for re-election to the Mt. Morris Village Board. Jan Hough and Mary Francis were defeated in a tight race between five candidates running for three board seats. Phillip Labash, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term last year, was the top vote getter with 258. Newcomers Shane Pope and Jeff Pennington also gained seats on the board with 190 and 184 votes
Philip J. Labash ......... 258 Shane Pope ................ 190 Jeffery Pennington..... 184 Janice Hough ............. 158 Mary Francis ............. 134 Over Votes................. 2 Under Votes............... 99 The top three were elected to the village board Tuesday. These results are unofficial until certified. respectively. Hough garnered 154 votes and Francis 134. Hough was seeking a second term on the board, and Francis was running for a third term.
Voters say yes for ambulance By Vinde Wells Editor
Voters said a resounding yes Tuesday to paying taxes to support an ambulance service in the Oregon Fire Protection District. A referendum for the taxsupported ambulance service was approved 1,251 votes to 173. Fire district board president Jim Egyed was jubilant and relieved with the election outcome. “We’re all very excited, and I guess we’re in the ambulance business,” he said. He said he believes voters recognized the importance of having a local ambulance service. “I think just the fact that there’s no ambulance service made them understand they
On The Egg Hunt Above, Serenity Belleque picks up Easter Eggs Saturday morning at Dillehay Park. At right, Daniel Cruz, age 7, holds up a piece of candy he found in an Easter egg Saturday morning. Photos by Chris Johnson
had to do something,” he said. “This is life and death.” Egyed said the first step for the board will be to advertise for bids for an ambulance service to help out for the next year or so while the fire department gets its own service up and running. The yes vote will add an estimated $175 to the tax bill on a $150,000 house, excluding exemptions. The tax will bring in approximately $440,000 per year to fund the ambulance service. However, the increase will not appear on tax bills until 2016, meaning the fire district will not get tax money until next year. Fire district officials decided to put the referendum on the ballot last year after Turn to A2
Election day glitches keep officials busy Tuesday By Vinde Wells Editor Unusual situations in two polling places Tuesday morning meant making some quick decisions. A ballot glitch in two Polo City Council wards put election officials to work changing voter instructions, while to the north a candidate for Leaf River Village President arrived at the polling place only to find he was not registered to vote. Ogle County Clerk Rebecca Huntley said the ballot for Polo’s Wards 1 and 3 incorrectly said “vote for two,” when it should have said “vote for one.” With two candidates running in each race for one open position, the glitch led to voter confusion. “It was caught early so we were able to correct the ballot and continue with the election,” Huntley said. The error was discovered
about 8 a.m., and she immediately called the State Board of Elections. Following their advice, Huntley said, the “vote for two” was crossed out on each ballot and replaced with “vote for one.” The change was made before a large number of voters had cast their ballots, she said. “I really don’t think more than 10 or 15 ballots had been voted per ward by then,” she said. In Ward 1, newcomer Phillip Peterson defeated incumbent Louise Hall 97 votes to 45, and in Ward 3, incumbent Randy Schoon defeated challenger Jeremy Heller 78 to 52. Both are four-year terms. Huntley said that when the vote margin is close enough, a losing candidate can file a challenge to the results. She said the error occurred because of mistakes made in certifying the candidates for
In This Week’s Edition...
the two races. “It was certified incorrectly to us,” she said. City and village clerks are responsible for certifying candidates who file in their offices to the county clerk. At the Leaf River precinct, an election judge was unable to find a record in her voter book for Tim Morris, who was running for village president. A call to Huntley revealed that Morris, who moved back to his hometown last year after a career in the U.S. Air Force, was not registered to vote, a requirement for holding a public office. Huntley said that since Morris believed he was registered, she allowed him to vote a provisional ballot and gave him a week to show proof of his registration. “He can’t be sworn in if he’s not registered to vote,” she said. Election judge Lois Steffan finds Lola Duncan’s name in her voter book Tuesday That turned out to be a morning at the Mt. Morris Township precinct in the basement of the village hall. Photo Turn to A2 by Vinde Wells
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B10 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6
Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B6 Property Transfers, B6 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B3 Weather, A3
Deaths, B5 Karen L. Boren, Viola A. Myers, Norma R. Woessner
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com