Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS November 20, 2014 Volume 47, Number 38 - $1.00
Season Preview
Candlelight Walk
Businesses Close
The Lady Hawks are prepared to perform in the tough Big Northern Conference. B1
The Christmas season begins with an annual tradition. A6
Two Ogle County businesses will close their doors due to economic reasons. A8
Footing fixed at the courthouse By Chris Johnson Reporter The steps at the Ogle County Courthouse got a partial face lift last week. Workers from Sure Prep Concrete Preparation, Pewaukee, Wis. worked Nov. 14 to remove the Ardex, a top-coating, from the stairs, treads, and risers. The company was recommended for the preliminary work by Saavedra Gehlhausen Architects, Rockford, which did the design work for the new sheriff and coroner’s administrative building. The surface of the steps was breaking apart and posed a potential danger to the public. “We don’t want anyone to The front entrance of the Ogle County Courthouse was blocked off Nov. 14 so workers from Sure Prep Concrete get hurt,” said Ogle County Preparation, Pewaukee, Wis. could work on the steps. The surface of the steps was breaking apart and the county Board Chairman Kim hired Sure Prep to remove the surface so the steps could be repaired. Photo by Chris Johnson Gouker. An Oregon woman fell on the steps in October. Sure Prep submitted a bid
Body could yield more evidence By Vinde Wells Editor
Steve Skridla, Rockford, nephew of Stanley Skridla, talks about the plans to exhume his uncle. Photo by Chris Johnson
The exhumation of the body of a Rockford man could yield important evidence into a 66-year-old unsolved double homicide, according to an Oregon businessman. Mike Arians said last week that Stanley Skridla’s coffin may hold more than just Skridla’s remains. Informants have told him, he said, that the skull of the other murder victim, Mary Jane Reed, Oregon, and the gun that killed the two could be inside. Arians and Skridla’s nephew Steve Skridla, 62, Rockford, held a press conference Nov. 12 at the Roadhouse, the bar and restaurant Arians owns on Oregon’s south side. They announced that Winnebago County Judge Eugene G. Doherty has signed an order granting their petition to exhume Stanley Skridla’s
body from Calvary Cemetery, Rockford. The order says the exhumation must be completed by June 30, 2015. Arians said he expects it to take place in March or April. Reed, who was only 17 at the time, failed to return home after a date on June 24, 1948. She and Skridla, 28, her companion on the night she disappeared, were subsequently found shot to death. Skridla’s body was discovered the next morning on County Farm Road south of Oregon. He had been shot five times. Reed’s badly decomposed body was found four days later in a ditch along Devil’s Backbone Road west of Oregon. She had been shot once in the head. The double murder has never been solved,
for $4,800 for the labor and equipment to remove the surface in one workday. The steps are approximately 600 square feet. During a November county Infrastructure Committee meeting, an update of the project was presented. County officials have not voted to proceed with the project past the initial prep work. Gouker said the county’s Long Range Planning Committee will study the issue further to come up with a long-term solution. Concerns were raised about the look of a proposed aluminum tread cover with the historical look of the courthouse. Architect Guy Gehlhausen had said there were limited options for the treads. Gehlhausen attended the Oct. 14 Ogle County Long Range Planning Committee Turn to A2
Two vote no on new 2015 county budget By Vinde Wells Editor
Only two Ogle County Board members voted their disapproval of the county’s budget for 2015. The $43.7 million budget was approved 22-2 Tuesday night with Skip Kenney, Rochelle, and Pat Saunders, Polo, voting against it. Prior to the vote both said they would vote no. Saunders said she disapproved because of a fund transfer reflected in the budget that was not approved by the county board. “We need to be more transparent,” she said. “I feel Turn to A11 that’s a vote within a vote
and I’m not comfortable with that.” Kenney said he questions the amount of expenditures compared to revenues. “I know it’s balanced budget, but we’re still spending more than the revenues coming in,” he said. “I’m opposed to that.” Kenney also voted not to last year’s $37.9 million budget and protested the amount being taken from the Long Range Planning Fund to bolster other funds. Revenues in that fund come from the host fees paid by garbage collection firms to dump refuse in the landfills Turn to A3
45th annual Village of Progress banquet was held By Christi Warren Sauk Valley Media
Village of Progress consumer Megan Voss, Mt. Morris, is interviewed to Tom Wadsworth. Photo by Alex Paschal
In This Week’s Edition...
Byron Police, B6 Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B12 Entertainment, A6 Library News, A3
Sometimes, the greatest appreciation comes without a word – instead with a beaming smile. And sometimes, it’s followed by thunderous applause. Speaker Tom Wadsworth presented the first award of the Village of Progress annual banquet – the John Herrmann Personal Achievement Award – to Deanna Gregory, who first enrolled with the organization in 1993. In 2000, Gregory began working part-time at Rochelle’s Dairy Queen before a serious health issue forced her to leave her job, and the Village, too. She came back in 2005, and since then has continued to work hard toward achieving
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B6 Public Voice, A9 Property Transfers, B5 Reading Matters, A9
her personal goals, one of which is purely and simply to help others. Another is to be able to live independently. It’s for those reasons, Wadsworth said, that Gregory was given the award. Gregory smiled as he wrapped up his remarks, and quietly took her seat again as the crowd erupted in applause. More than 300 people showed up to St. Mary’s Learning Center in Oregon Nov. 12 to celebrate the talents and contributions of the Village of Progress’ many consumers and volunteers. The night marked the 45th annual banquet for the Village of Progress, the private, not-for-profit organization that provides training and rehabilitation for Ogle County adults with developmental disabilities.
Sheriff’s Arrests, A9 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2, B3 State’s Attorney, B5
These clients are called consumers. Founded in 1969, the organization works with dedicated volunteers to help their consumers live fulfilling lives as contributing members of society. The annual banquet is the organization’s chance to thank volunteers and consumers alike for their work. It was the 22nd time the John Herrmann Personal Achievement Award was given out, and it’s named for the 30 years of dedicated service that Herrmann put in as a member of the Village’s Board of Directors, starting in the organization’s first year of operation, and then later as a member of the Village’s Foundation Board.
Deaths, B5 Eleanor P. Armstrong
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com
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