Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS April 28, 2016 Volume 49, Number 9 - $1.00
Hawk Classic
Recycle Friday
Man Charged
Competition is the operative word at this annual track meet. B1
Ogle County residents can recycle their electronic items April 29. B3
A Byron man has been charged with reckless homicide following a 2014 accident. B3
Officials await word on state’s repayment plan By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
New Parking Lot A crew from Martin & Company, Oregon, was busy Tuesday afternoon paving the parking lot of the new Sullivan’s grocery store in Mt. Morris. Photo by Earleen Hinton
County residents speak against rail line By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Two women voiced vehement opposition to the Ogle County Board last week to building a railroad line through the east side of the county. Miriah Ranken, Rochelle,
and Cindy Brown, Lindenwood, both urged the board April 19 to get involved and oppose the proposed Great Lakes Basin Railroad. Building the rail line would cost an estimated $8 billion. The rail system would be entirely funded by private investors led by Frank Patton, Crete, a former software
developer. Ranken advised board members to attend an April 20 informational meeting held in Rochelle to become familiar with the project. “We implore you to get involved now rather than later because this is when you’ll have the most say,” she said.
The Surface Transportation Board, an agency that works independently within the U.S. Department of Transportation, organized 10 public meetings, including the one in Rochelle, to gather input on a proposed 278mile rail line project that Turn to A3
Local officials are awaiting direction about how taxing bodies will be expected to repay money they received due to a state error over the past two years. An error by the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) means hundreds of taxing districts across the state that received disbursements from a personal property tax replacement fund in 2014 and 2015 must repay an estimated $168 million to the state. Like other county officials, Oregon School Superintendent Tom Mahoney has heard nothing from the state about how the repayments will be accomplished. “We don’t know the true impact to our finances because we don’t know how much or how long the repayment schedule will be,” he said Tuesday. Ogle County taxing bodies must repay a total of $582,777.07. That includes the county, school districts, cities and villages, townships, fire districts, and park
districts. The Oregon School District was the hardest hit in the county with $93,621.17 to pay back. Mahoney said personal property tax replacement reimbursement (PPRT) is a factor in determining how much general state aid school districts receive. “Higher PPRT decreases general state aid,” he said. “So in the last three years our general state aid should have been higher.” The district is already feeling the pinch, Mahoney said with a smaller than anticipated PPRT payment in April. “The last PPRT payment was short, and that will impact this year’s budget,” he said. The school district’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30, the same as the state’s. The personal property tax replacement was instituted in 1976 to replace money that was lost by local governments when their powers to impose personal property taxes on corporations, partnerships, and other business Turn to A2
Anti-bullying seminar impacts students, faculty Father’s heartfelt story brings tears, message to kids By Christopher Heimerman Sauk Valley Media
cheimerman@sauk valley.com Students sobbed, and the door to the gym at Oregon High School revolved, as teachers left and returned with more boxes of tissues, and even toilet paper when the tissues ran out. Before the fifth graders through freshmen absorbed the intense antibullying message from Kirk Smalley of the activist group Stand for the Silent, their administrators warned their parents.
Letters were sent with a form that could be filled out to excuse their child. Not one parent asked that their child be excused. “I was so proud of all our parents,” said Ann Tilton, principal of Oregon Elementary School. “I knew it was going to have to be powerful. He’s a dad who lost his child.” Smalley tearfully shared the story of how, after two years of being bullied, his 11-year-old son, Ty, shot himself. The phone call from his hysterical wife. The promise he made a month and seven days later to never bully again. He shared statistics, such as students being bullied every seven seconds nationwide, and that one of
four high school graduates have made plans to commit suicide. He held up his cell phone and explained how easy it is for students to terrorize each other. About midway through the 90-minute assembly, he asked how many in the crowd had been bullied. All but a few hands went up. “I love you guys,” he said, signing that phrase with his thumb, index finger and pinkie. “You are somebody.” Then he asked how many kids in the audience were bullies. Three hands went up in the corner of the gym. Smalley strode toward them and signed again. “I love you guys,” he said. Hundreds of fifth-graders through freshmen in the Oregon School District sign “I love you” to speaker Kirk Smalley of Stand for the Silent on April 21 during his anti-bullying
Turn to A10 presentation in the Oregon High School gym. Photo by Christopher Heimerman
Contested zoning request sent back to committee By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com A controversial zoning request was tabled by the Ogle County Board April 19 and sent back to committee. The board tabled a request from Mike Stukenberg, Forreston, and Steve and Kevin Moring, also of Forreston, for a special use permit to allow a Class 2 Motor Carrier Facility on property zoned for agricultural use. The property, at 11123 W. Ill. 72 just east of Forreston, is owned by Stukenberg and being purchased by STKE LLC, a company owned by the Morings. Board member Bill Welty, Chana, said
Steve Moring contacted him earlier that day with changes in the layout of the proposed facility. Welty asked for the request to be reconsidered by the Assessments and Planning & Zoning Committee at its May 10 meeting. Steve Moring told the board that he is willing to relocate dumpsters on the property to make them less visible to the public. The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) recommended approval of the request March 28. Some nearby property owners have voiced opposition to the request at the ZBA hearing, citing environmental
In This Week’s Edition...
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B5
concerns. Most were concerned about contamination from the garbage trucks and dumpsters that will be stored on the property. Walter Paul, who owns a farm just across Ill. 72, said the groundwater is just below the surface in that area and a creek is nearby. The creek feeds into the Leaf River, a tributary of the Rock River. Paul and several other neighbors voiced concern that wells and aquifers, as well as the streams, could be contaminated by garbage as well as motor oil. The county board is expected to This property, owned by Mike Stukenberg, at 11123 W. reconsider the request on Tuesday, May Ill. 72 east of Forreston is the subject of a controversial zoning request. Photo by Vinde Wells 17.
Marriage Licenses, A4 Mt. Morris Library, A3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B3
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4
Deaths, B4 Charles C. Beard, John W. Camplain, Howard E. Detra Sr., Dolores Patterson
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com