Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS September 3, 2015 Volume 48, Number 27- $1.00
4th Place Finish
Drinking Law
In the Running
The Hawks soccer team finished fourth Aug. 29 in 10-team tournament. B1
A new law encourages calling for help during emergencies. A8
Deputy Clerk Tiffany O’Brien has announced she is a candidate for Ogle County Clerk. A7
Man wants action from village board Village president says plant will be on next meeting agenda By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com A Mt. Morris man would like the village board to take action about the former printing plant next door to his home. In fact, Chris Corcoran has put up a sign to that effect in his front yard at 202 Sunset Lane, just west of the former Quad Graphics plant. “Old printing plant is eyesore to neighborhood. Village board needs to act on it,” the hot pink lettering on the four by eight-foot signs reads. Corcoran has addressed the village board several times, voicing his concern that the nearly abandoned plant is deteriorating and poses safety and environmental hazards, violates building codes and weed ordinances, exposes citizens to a liability, and reduces property values in the community. He reiterated his concerns on Tuesday, citing a large hole in one wall that has pipes hanging down and weeds growing on the property. “I want that section all cleaned up,” Corcoran said. “And I want
the weeds cut. They need to respect the neighborhood. The rest of the neighbors keep their properties up.” Youngsters riding their bicycles into the property has been one of Corcoran’s main concerns. “There’s rerod sticking up back there, and I’m afraid one of those kids will get impaled on it,” he said. “Someone is going to get killed back there.” The tall chain link fence surrounds the property, but until recently the gate was left open. The gate was closed and locked to keep the uninvited out. However, Corcoran is less than impressed. “Those kids are going to climb the fence and get in there anyway,” he said. He is also worried that wildlife, such as raccoons, will take up residence in the empty plant and become a nuisance in the neighborhood. Quad Graphics ceased operations at the plant on May 13, 2011, ending 113 years as a printing facility. For decades the printing plant was the village’s largest employer, at one time providing jobs for more than 2,000 people. The business, originally called Kable Brothers Printing, was founded in 1898 by twin brothers Harvey and Harry Kable.
Tornado relief is allocated Money spent on efforts on east side of county By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Chris Corcoran, 202 Sunset Lane, Mt. Morris, stands next to the sign he has placed in his front yard asking the village board to do what it can to clean up the printing plant property next door to him. Photo by Vinde Wells
According to records on file at the Ogle County Clerk and Recorder’s office, the plant was purchased on Feb. 21, 2013 by Mt. Morris Business Park LLC, Downey, California. Quad Graphics currently leases the sprawling plant and uses it as a warehouse to store equipment. Mt. Morris Village President Dan Elsasser said Tuesday that the issue
will be on the agenda for the Sept. 8 village board meeting. He quickly pointed out that despite the name of the plant owners, the village is not involved in the plant’s ownership in any way. “It has nothing to do with the Village of Mt. Morris,” he said. Turn to A2
Are you ready to help sweep?! Volunteers are needed to help clean up river By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com A treasure hunt for strange and unusual items will take place along and in the Rock River next Saturday. Mannequin parts and a lawn mower were just two of the memorable items discovered in and next to the Rock River over the past seven years during the annual Rock River Sweep. “Every year there is something interesting,” said Ogle County Solid Waste Department director Steve Rypkema. The waste department is working with Section
Coordinator Mark Nehrkorn, the Oregon Park District and the Oregon Area Rock River Sweep to clean the Rock River on Saturday, Sept. 12. “The river is a great environmental and tourist attraction for this region,” said Rypkema. “It is an attraction. Having it healthy makes it aesthetically pleasing and helps the ecosystem.” Volunteers are again needed to ensure the sweep cleans up this year. Registration for volunteers is easy. All interested individuals and groups need to do is show up to the Oregon Kiwanis Park at North Second Street and Franklin Street at 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 12 “Show up with long pants and long sleeve shirts and be ready to clean,” said Rypkema. “We will have water for the volunteers.”
Plastic bottles, tires, and other trash items float in the Rock River above the Oregon dam. The annual Rock River Sweep, an effort to clean the river and its banks, will be held Sept. 12. Volunteers and boats are needed to help with this project. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Garbage bags will be available during volunteer check in and assistance with driving to locations for cleaning the river can be requested. “Over the years we have worked to clean the river but many sections are not accessible,” said Rypkema. “Anyone with a boat, canoe, or kayak can help clean the harder to reach areas.”
Canoes and kayaks can be launched at the park or at the boat launch north of Oregon on Ill. 2. Rypkema requests that anyone going in the river with a boat to stop at the registration table at Kiwanis Park before heading to the river. All the trash collected will be brought back to the park to be sorted for proper disposal.
“We always have a lot of plastic bottles and cans that can be recycled,” said Rypkema. “We separate them out and we also separate the scrap metal.” Unique items and any potentially hazardous waste found is addressed on a case by case basis. “We urge volunteers to Turn to A9
for silage, and then to the corn shelling operation at the church’s ninth annual Farm Heritage Festival. Harold Schryver, Shannon, and his brother Ames, Polo, chatted as they watched the old chopper, powered by an antique tractor, grind up green corn stalks and blow the chopped silage into a wagon. “I remember working on one of these,” said Harold. The two said they came to
the festival mainly to see the old tractors. They have one they are working on, Harold said, but don’t have it quite ready to show. Meanwhile on the other side of the spacious lawn, youngsters tried out a hand sheller, turning a crank to move an ear of corn through the mechanism that spit shelled corn out one side and
Farm heritage was on display Saturday By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Farming operations of yesteryear were wellunderway Aug. 29 all over the grounds at the East Jordan United Methodist Church, southwest of Polo. The crowd of young and Brothers Harold Schryver, Shannon, left, and Ames not-so-young, farmers and Schryver, Polo, look over the antique tractors on display city dwellers watched as oats at the Farm Heritage Festival Aug. 29 at East Jordan were threshed, then moved United Methodist Church. Photo by Vinde Wells on to see corn being chopped
In This Week’s Edition...
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6
Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B4 Public Voice, A9 Property Transfers, B4
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 State’s Attorney, A7 Sports, B1, B2 Zoning, A7
Turn to A3
One hundred percent of monies allocated to Ogle County from the Northern Illinois Disaster Relief Fund have been spent directly on restoration efforts in Rochelle through American Red Cross of Northwest Illinois, United Way of Rock River Valley officials reported last week. The money was allocated for restoration efforts after the EF4 tornado that damaged homes and other buildings on the east side of the county on April 9. Roman J. Salamon, United Way of Rock River Valley Director of Communications and Marketing, said the funds were distributed to families west of Rochelle who lost their homes and possessions. “Our investment in Ogle County went to support families with immediate relief needs such as transportation and hotel expenses as well as long-term recovery not covered by insurance,” said Alan Jones, Ogle County Director, United Way of Rock River Valley. Ogle County’s share of the Northern Illinois Disaster Relief Fund represented nearly $54,000 or 41 percent of total dollars. United Way of Rock River Valley, in collaboration with Kishwaukee United Way, United Way of Boone County, United Way of Lee County, and United Way of Ogle County, created the Northern Illinois Disaster Relief Fund to support relief and longterm recovery efforts for communities devastated by the tornadoes. More than $130,000 was collected through the Northern Illinois Disaster Relief Fund, including contributions from Chicago Bears ($100,000) and FCA Foundation ($25,000), a charitable arm of FCA US LLC (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles). Funds were allocated based on estimates of damage per county, without administrative fees, to relief and recovery efforts through the United Way partners as follows: • Kishwaukee United Way (DeKalb County) – $59,751 (46 percent) • United Way of Boone County – $13,000 (10 percent) • United Way of Lee County - $4,000 (3 percent) • United Way of Ogle County - $53,996 (41 percent) Organizations that received United Way disaster fund assistance were evaluated and held strictly accountable.
Deaths, B5 Timothy L. Bothe, Arta L. Smith, Ruby Van Brocklin
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com