Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS April 17, 2014 Volume 47, Number 7 - $1.00
Middle of Pack
Performing
Taft Book
The OHS boys and girls track team finish in the middle of the pack April 12 B1
Members of PACT are preparing for their spring show. A3
A new book about sculptor Lorado Taft will be published this fall. A9
Trial date set for ex-minister By Chris Johnson Reporter
The new administrative building for the sheriff’s department will be located at 103 Jefferston Street in Oregon. above, is the architect’s drawing of what the new building will look like. Photo supplied
County board approves $4M bid for new sheriff’s building By Vinde Wells Editor Despite opposition to the location, the Ogle County Board went ahead Tuesday with plans to build a new sheriff’s administration building. The board accepted a $4.1 million bid from Rockford Structures for the project. Plans call for the building to be located at 103 Jefferson Street, Oregon, where the
current sheriff’s office is situated. However, that site has brought opposition from board members and citizens. Beth Henderson, owner of the Eagles Nest, located a block north from the sheriff’s building, urged the board to reconsider because that area, which is next to the Rock River, has been earmarked for a riverfront district. “Oregon has all the components to promote
tourism,� she said. One of the main components for tourism and recreation is the river and the area surrounding it, she said. As a nearby landowner, Henderson said she was never contacted about the plans for the new sheriff’s building. Not developing the area for tourism will reduce the value of her property, she said. Henderson also said the taxes on her property are high because of its location next to
the river. A better location for the sheriff’s building, she said, would be on the property the county owns on South Sixth Street west of the judicial center. Henderson asked the board to delay the project at least long enough to do an economic impact study of the area and determine the effect the sheriff’s building would have on it, Turn to A10
Forensic audit coming for Tow Fund Gouker says sheriff is “fully cooperative� By Vinde Wells Editor In an apparent reversal of its stand three months ago, the Ogle County Board authorized Chairman Kim Gouker Tuesday to proceed with getting a forensic audit of the sheriff’s Tow Fund. “I would like to see a full audit of the Tow Fund from beginning to end,� Gouker said. He said the audit will
determine whether or not Sheriff Michael Harn has misused money from the Tow Fund, and lay to rest the questions brought up over the last several months. Gouker said Harn is also eager to have the matter resolved. “I spoke to the sheriff on my way here and told him what I was going to propose,� Gouker said. “He thinks it’s a great idea. He’s fully cooperative.� Harn has come under fire in the last few months over expenditures from the Tow Fund, which included purchasing a new vehicle, flowers for Secretaries Day,
a tent at the county fair, and $4,000 for the department’s Facebook page to be managed. Gouker said he has an estimate for the forensic audit of $7,500 from Sikich, the firm that does the county’s regular annual audits. Because it was not on the agenda, the board will have to wait until its May meeting to vote to hire Sikich for the forensic audit. Board member Richard Petrizzo, Davis Junction, made a motion for a forensic audit of the Tow Fund as well as the sheriff’s credit card expenditures at the board’s Jan. 21 meeting.
However, Gouker said the matter could not be voted on then because it was not on the agenda. Petrizzo’s subsequent efforts to have the matter placed on the agenda were unsuccessful. In February, the board diminished the sheriff’s control over the Tow Fund by limiting how monies could be spent and requiring the approval of expenditures by the county committee that oversees the sheriff’s budget. At Tuesday’s meeting the board approved a resolution establishing the Tow Fund. Gouker said that although Turn to A10
A jury trial has been scheduled in a case against a former minister accused of sexually molesting an 11-year-old child. Charles Babler, 65, Mt. Morris, appeared in court Monday morning with his attorney David Tess. Babler, formerly the campus pastor at Crossroads Community Church, Polo, was arrested June 21, 2013, on a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony. The arrest stemmed from an investigation into a single incident that took place in early 2011. “We have come to an impasse to negotiations,� said Tess. “We have talked.� Ogle County Judge Robert Hanson asked how long the trial would take. “Two days,� said Assistant State’s Attorney Joshua Versluys. Hanson set the two-day trial to start June 17 at 9 a.m. A final pretrial conference was set for June 5 at 1:30 p.m. “All motions should be on file at that time,� said Hanson. Tess asked for his client
Charles Babler
to be excused from the June 5 pretrial for his granddaughter’s wedding. Versluys had concerns that during the wedding Babler would have contact with persons under age 18 which his bond does not allow. “He needs to be supervised,� said Versluys. Hanson was prepared to grant a motion to allow Babler to attend the wedding but Versluys asked for a hearing on the matter. “Okay, we will set this for a hearing,� said Hanson. A hearing on the motion to amend the bond conditions was set for April 28 at 10 a.m. The maximum penalty for conviction of a Class 2 felony is 3 to 7 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Mt. Morris firefighters extricate the victims from the cars involved in a two-car accident Tuesday at 7:18 a.m. at the intersection of South Ogle Avenue and East Front Street. Three people were taken by ambulance to KSB Hospital, Dixon. Names were not available at press time. Photos courtesy of the Mt. Morris Fire Department
Grass fire burns 130 acres near Stillman Valley By Vinde Wells Editor Well over a dozen fire departments turned out Friday afternoon to fight a grass fire that burned 130 acres east of the intersection of Ill. 72 and Meridian Road just outside of Stillman Valley. Wind gusts of more than 40 miles per hour drove the flames almost faster than firefighters could put them out, Stillman Valley Fire Chief Chad Hoefle said. “It was difficult to catch up to because of the wind,� he said. The very smoky fire made conditions dangerous for firefighters. When chasing a fire in the poor visibility, Hoefle said, it can be very easy for a grass rig to end up in the flames without the driver even realizing it.
The fire swept though areas of timber, as well as brush piles, Hoefle said. Despite less than ideal conditions, the fire crews, who remained on the job for four hours, were able to save the buildings of an old farmstead from the flames. “The main thing is we all went home safely and no homes were damaged,� Hoefle said. “We had a lot of help and they stayed to the end.� The fire was reported at 1:45 p.m., he said, and started from a homeowner who was burning off a prairie plot. The wind-driven flames jumped Ill. 72 and began burning corn stubble between the highway and railroad tracks. “We had to shut off traffic completely because of the wind and the intensity of the heat,� Hoefle said.
In This Week’s Edition...
That meant also rerouting school buses delivering students home from classes for the day. Firefighters contained the flames before they spread across the railroad tracks into
a large field on the other side. Although it was the biggest, it was hardly the only grass or brush fire April 11. Hoefle said several of the departments called for mutual aid could not respond
because they were already on other calls. At least five other grass or brush fires were reported in Ogle County before the Stillman Valley fire. The Oregon Fire
Department was called to a timber fire on the west side of town at noon and had barely returned when they were called to a corncrib fire, started by trash burning, on Turn to A11
The Mt. Morris Fire Department was one of several fire departments that responded to a field fire just south of Ill. 72 and east of Meridian Road. Here, Mt. Morris firefighters work on Armour Road. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Business Briefs, B6 Church News, A5 Classifieds, B8-B12 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6
Fines, B2 Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B5 Public Voice, A12
Property Transfers, B3 Sheriff’s Arrests, B5 Social News, A4 Sports, A12, B1 State’s Attorney, B7
Deaths, B2 Iris Cashman Anderson, Virginia R. Masters, Kathleen R. Mongan, Marvin K. Terviel
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