Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS April 14, 2016 Volume 49, Number 7 - $1.00
Hawks Win
Drug Take Back
Two Car Chases
The Oregon Hawks track team finished first at the Gebhardt-Worley Invitational. B1
Safely return all unwanted medications on April 30. A6
Officers responded to a pair of car chases over the past week in Ogle County. A7
Woman’s vision for Mt. Morris leads to workshop Former resident sees campus as an art center By Pam Eggemeier peggemeier@sauk valley.com A vision for the downtown to become an arts destination point came into focus during a three-day conference that wrapped up April 9 at Pinecrest Grove Community Center, Mt. Morris. The third session drew about 80 people who participated in smaller action planning sessions. Each group made presentations that included timelines, and who would be accountable for carrying out the plans. The vision of the arts fueling downtown revitalization and growth belongs to a former Mt. Morris resident. Artist Andria Thorngren Burchett, Geneva, has been a longtime believer in the potential of the Mt. Morris College campus. The buildings would become a rural artists retreat with studios, galleries, renowned guest instructors, and space for the visual and performing arts. A flourishing arts community would need the support of new businesses, from restaurants and brew pubs to bed and breakfasts and gift shops. Andria visits her hometown often, to see her 94-year-old father, and the vision continues to grow. “She’s had this dream for 10 years now, that the old campus can be revitalized as an arts center,” her husband Steve Burchett said. “She believes this can be the core for driving economic development.” Andria has made a believer
“She’s had this dream for 10 years now, that the old campus can be revitalized as an arts center. She believes this can be the core for driving economic development.” —Steve Burchett of the village’s Economic Development Group, and she has been working closely with City Clerk Paula Diehl to make the vision a reality. The village had been planning the conference since November. “This was an ambitious undertaking because this project was launched with just volunteers,” said Rob Urish, chairman of the Economic Development Group. “We tried to put together diverse skill sets, and we’ve assembled a group Rob Urish, left, gestures while talking about what Mt. Morris residents should be proud of while Gary Ernst listens of quality people.” during a brainstorming session Friday morning at Pinecrest Grove. An economic development workshop was held The serendipitous April 7-9. Photo by Chris Johnson gathering of volunteer talent almost seems to have city planning brainpower. given the village’s planned Former city managers and marriage of the arts and administrators from suburbia, business a stamp of approval. including Arlington Heights It all started with one and Elgin, and planners from of Andria’s art students academia have volunteered at Beech Tree Studio in their services. Geneva. Gary Ernst, retired after Larry Maholland, a a quarter-century on the longtime city administrator faculty at North Central in St. Charles, was taking College, Naperville, is pencil courses at the studio. an emeritus professor of He retired from city international business and government in 2005, and marketing. is now a management He has no ties to Mt. consultant with Sikich. Morris, but made the trip “Andie told me about from Naperville all three her vision, and how she days of the conference. was thinking of doing the The overwhelming meetings,” Maholland said. volunteer response, just to “I said I’d help if she needed the conference, has already someone because it would saved the village tens of get me back into what I love thousands of dollars in doing.” consulting fees. A member of one of the brainstorming groups gestures while talking about the proud Maholland, who had never The movement’s leaders and sorry list they developed Friday morning. This group was proud of the campus, even been to Mt. Morris prior say there could be other parks, Pinecrest, and music programs. They were sorry about the capital improvement to the meetings, used his plan, code enforcement, and claiming the White Pines State Park as a Mt. Morris park. Turn to A3 connections to bring in more Photo by Chris Johnson
Community celebrates recovery By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com
Rueben Capen holds a scrapbook of photos from damage last year’s tornado did to his property. He brought the scrapbook to the tornado anniversary event at the Rochelle Township High School April 9. Photo by Chris Johnson
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4
Residents impacted by last year’s tornado turned out Saturday to remember the day, the recovery efforts, and to thank everyone who helped out. Homeowner Reuben Capen was one of the residents directly impacted by the storm. His home on Fowler Road by the Cherry Hill subdivision northwest of Rochelle was destroyed by the April 9, 2015 EF4 tornado. Capen and his wife Lilly were not home when the storm leveled their home. “We were in Rockford with family while it happened,” he said. “We received a call to let us know the house was gone. The couple lived in the home for 46 years and in an instant it was gone. However, the memories they have of the home were spared. “I thank God that we recovered
Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4 Public Voice, A8 Property Transfers, B5 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
85 percent of what money can’t buy,” said Capen. “Volunteers found old photo albums and other items. A refrigerator can be replaced.” Some of his wife’s instruments were also recovered, but the owner of a riding lawnmower that dropped on the property was not identified. Knowing memories are important to the family, Capen and his daughter started a scrapbook of the tornado cleanup. This scrapbook contained photos of the home before the storm and had a day by day account through the rebuilding of the home. He brought it to the community event at Rochelle Township High School April 9 to share his story of the tornado. “My brother helped out with the rebuilding,” said Capen. “He works at Anderson Plumbing and Heating in Rochelle. With his help and all the volunteers we were able to clear everything from the
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B3 Zoning, B4 Weather, A3
property.” Less than a week after the storm, plans to build a new home on the property were underway. Capen credits all the volunteers for the quick recovery. “We built the home on a different part of the property which allowed us to get moved in only 40 days after the storm,” he said. “Without the volunteers we would not have gotten the property cleaned.” In the months following the storm, Capen was amazed by the generosity of strangers. He received cancelled checks that were swept away by the storm. Some were found in Wisconsin. “This lady that I did not know sent us the checks and included money to help with the rebuilding,” said Capen. “People have been generous and they all wanted to help.” Throughout the community event, stories were being shared about the tornado and the community came together to remember.
Deaths, B4 Georgeanne F. Donegan, Margaret J. Reichenbach, James E. Samsel
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com