Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS December 10, 2015 Volume 48, Number 41 - $1.00
Hawks Fall
Ready for Sale
Open House
The Hawks fall to Dixon 46-33 in Big Northern Conference action. B1
The Oregon Chamber of Commerce is selling Christmas ornaments. A9
A retirement open house will be held for Don Griffin at the Nash Center on Dec. 11. A4
Public speeches may be limited Board mulls 5 minute limit By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Lengthy public comments at recent meetings has prompted the Mt. Morris Village Board to consider time limits on how long residents can speak. Village president Dan Elsasser introduced a tentative ordinance Tuesday that would limit each individual speaker to five minutes per meeting and the total time allotted for public comments to an hour. “We don’t have anything in place but we need to,” Elsasser said. Village attorney Rob LeSage said currently the section in the village code book on public comments dates back to 1969 before the Illinois Open Meetings Act (IOMA) was enacted. IOMA requires that time is provided during public meetings for citizens to address the governing board. LeSage recommended a new ordinance. “People have a right to address the board, but you don’t have to give an answer or engage in debate,” LeSage said. Elsasser asked LeSage to draw up an ordinance to be voted on at the Dec. 22 meeting.
Matthew Guschl, Davis Junction, leads the choir during a performance at the annual Christmas Concert Sunday afternoon at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mt. Morris. Photo by Chris Johnson
Annual concert fills Mt. Morris church By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com The sounds of Christmas surrounded packed pews Sunday afternoon in Mt. Morris. A standing room only crowd gathered at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church for the annual
Christmas Concert. This program described the story of Christmas through singing linked with narration. “Bethlehem’s Child” was performed by a dedicated group of volunteer singers and musicians from northwest Illinois. When driving up to the church Sunday afternoon, it
was clear that the church was the place to be in Mt. Morris. Cars lined the streets for four or five blocks. Anyone not knowing the concert was being held would have wondered why so many cars were in the area. For those in the church, they knew that the musicians and singers were putting on a fantastic show.
The performance, led by Dr. Matthew Guschl, Davis Junction, was a powerful rendition of traditional music. In 2004 the first cantata was held and over the years has turned into an annual tradition. “It was a big undertaking, getting singers from local churches, assembling an
orchestra, and integrating bell choirs from the host churches in Mt. Morris,” said Nelson Miller, who directed the 2004 cantata. “People loved it.” Over the past 10 years the performances have raised approximately $9,000 for local causes including the Turn to A2
Christmas event was enjoyed by children From breakfast and bingo with Santa in the morning to a magic show to wrap up the evening, kids of all ages helped kicked off the holidays Dec. 5 at Mt. Morris’ Christmas on the Village Square. Events for youngsters included visits with Santa, face-painting, a puppet show, stories read by Mrs. Claus, cookie decorating, a Christmas light show, and a magic and balloon show. For the adults in
their lives, several business hosted open houses featuring holiday promotions and refreshments. A craft and vendor show at Pinecrest Community offered numerous and varied shopping opportunities. The traditional Christmas tree lighting and proclamation was held downtown at the band shell, topped off with Santa’s arrival by Mt. Morris firetruck.
Above, Second grader Emma Chamberlain visits with Santa Claus Dec. 5 at the Pinecrest Grove Community Center. At left, Eighteen-month-old Camden Lessman enjoys a candy cane Saturday morning at the Mt. Morris Senior Center. Photos by Chris Johnson and Vinde Wells
OHS teacher brings entertainment to math class By Christopher Heimerman cheimerman@saukvalley.com Whether or not Danyel Larsen is funny is immaterial. Same goes for math, the subject she teaches at Oregon High School. Nonetheless, she was pretty doggone funny while going over how to graph sin and cosine waves during her seventhperiod honors pre-calculus class Wednesday afternoon. “Why does ‘K’ stand for vertical shift, when ‘H’ is for horizontal shift?” Kelsey Handschuh asked. “Because it starts with a silent ‘K,’” Larsen said. “You know. Kuh-Vertical.” Then there was the debate over why Larsen kept drawing the unit circle over and over again on her transparency. “I can’t put it on the board,” she said. “I’d keep turning around. I’d get dizzy.” Put it on the back wall, a student suggested. “Then you’d all be turning around,” she countered. “Who do you want to be dizzy? Me or you? I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.” A tattoo was suggested. “No tattoos,” she said, laughing, “no tattoos. How about I learn it, and tattoo it on my brain?” It was an overview of material the students already knew. The subject matter was boring, she said. But for the last period of the day, the environment was fun. From the moment she entered her second-floor classroom, Larsen was engaging students. Making sure her students know she cares is the key to being honored three times in the month of October alone. She was one of six teachers in the district to win a Those Who Excel award (the fourth straight year at least five Oregon teachers have earned the honor) from the state Board of Education. She was also one of five finalists in the state for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, earning her a $10,000 award from the
In This Week’s Edition...
National Science Foundation and an invitation to the nation’s “I’ve got bad transitions, too, and the kids like those.” capital for the national awards ceremony. Finally, she received “We’re only laughing at you, because you’re thinking that the Lee Yunker Mathematics Leadership Award from the it’s funny,” Coots said. Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics. “That’s because they are funny,” she countered, deadpan. “What class it is, however challenging the material, doesn’t Breaking the ice matter,” she said, “because it’s always about connecting with As a student in Hononegah, Larsen was quiet. the kids, on a human level.” “I didn’t say much at all,” she said. Turn to A8 Practical application Five-eighths of her second-period AP calculus BC class, all seniors, popped by after school to corroborate the humanconnection theory. “It just feels like I’m there with a group of friends and associates,” Paul Reckamp said. “We’re all there as equals trying to get the same thing done.” Joe Miranda’s a bowler. “There are all sorts of angles and trajectories, and proportions of oil on the lane that affect every shot I’ll take,” he said. “I’ve got to take all those things into consideration.” Cole Burke is a wrestler. “You’ve always got to be thinking about all the possibilities on how you can get to a solution,” he said. “It’s a similar thought process to math.” Will Coots plays French horn. So does Larsen. “We had a lot to talk about, and math helped me think about music in a more logical sense,” he said. “Usually I’m the dreamer who just goes off and does whatever he wants, but math has said, ‘Hey, these are some rules you have to follow.’” Zoe Nelson simply enjoys being eased into a class that involves complicated subject matter. She said that on Mondays, especially, they’ll take 5, sometimes 10 minutes catching up on what’s going on in their lives. During Wednesday’s seventh-period class, bad math puns caused waves of groans. The jokes all came from the students. Danyel Larsen teaches a pre-calculus class at Oregon Evidently, it’s a trickle-down effect. High School. Photo by Alex Paschal “How many bad math jokes do I make? A lot,” Larsen said.
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B7-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B5 Library News. A3
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B4 Pine Creek News, A3 Public Voice, A8 Property Transfers, B4
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1-B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Zoning Permits, B5
Deaths, B6 Mary Beth Etnyre, Duane E. Linscott, Norma J. Nalley, Jacob L. Ramp, Cassie Ross, Evelyn L. Whildin
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com