Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS August 25, 2016 Volume 49, Number 26- $1.00
New Greenhouse
Flying the VP
Season Finale
The new energy efficient greenhouse at OHS will be unveiled Aug. 27. A10
An OHS graduate recently flew VP Joe Biden to Kosovo. A4
The Bootleg Flyers will take the stage Friday for the last concert of the summer. A2
State’s Attorney will prosecute Mt. Morris cases By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Homemade Treat Sandra Flickinger, Sugar Grove, dishes up a cup of homemade ice cream made in her antique ice cream freezer Aug. 19 at the Mt. Morris Community Farmers Market while Mike Ward, Mt. Morris, enjoys a sample. Flickinger and her husband Larry also displayed their collection of ice cream scoops. The farmers market is open every Friday through October from 4 to 7 p.m. in the grassy lot beside Rockford Bell Credit Union on Main Street. Photo by Vinde Wells
County prosecutors may soon be helping a local municipality with enforcing its ordinances. The county board approved an intergovernmental agency agreement Aug. 16 with the Village of Mt. Morris that authorizes the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s office to prosecute persons who violate village ordinances. Currently, as in most municipalities, the village attorney prosecutes anyone cited under the village code. However, Mt. Morris Village Attorney Robert LeSage, of the law firm of Ward, Murray, Pace & Johnson in Dixon, recently suggested that village officials pursue an agreement with the state’s attorney as a cost saving measure. LeSage said that while his law firm would be willing to prosecute village cases, because of the distance from the Ogle County court, the attorneys’ fees would be
high. In similar situations, he said, villages and cities in other counties have reached such agreements with the state’s attorney. The Mt. Morris Village Board was expected to approve the agreement Tuesday evening. Under the terms of the oneyear agreement, Mt. Morris will pay the county $75 per case, and the state’s attorney can reject any case. County board member Marcia Heuer, Oregon, asked it the additional cases will over-burden the staff in the state’s attorney’s office. “They don’t anticipate a huge volume,” said State’s Attorney Eric Morrow. Heuer also asked if other villages and cities will follow suit. Morrow said he does not know. Board member Bill Welty, Chana, said he is opposed to the agreement and believes $75 per case is too little. “It’s not the county taxpayers’ responsibility to Turn to A3
Pat Donahue named Oregon Citizen of the Year Volunteer of the Year is Merlin Hagemann By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Oregon’s Citizen of the Year definitely was surprised when his name was called Aug. 18 at the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner. “This is the last thing I expected,” Pat Donahue said after accepting his award from Debbie Dickson, chamber executive director. “I came here for a good meal and a great view.” The dinner was held at Maxson’s Restaurant,
situated along the Rock River across from the Black Hawk statue. Dickson recounted Donahue’s numerous volunteer efforts over the years, including coaching youth sports and serving on the Village of Progress board and foundation board. “In numerous quiet ways, this individual has worked steadily and calmly behind the scenes throughout our community offering savvy, sage and steady advice and encouragement to many – particularly our most valuable commodity – our youth,” Dickson said when she introduced Donahue, a senior vice president at Stillman Bank. Oregon Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Debbie Pat Donahue makes his way to the podium after learning Donahue, like the other Dickson presents Merlin Hagemann with his award for he was chosen as Oregon’s 2016 Citizen of the Year. Photos by Earleen Hinton Turn to A9 being named Oregon’s 2016 Volunteer of the Year.
Speaker: small homes are sustainable, affordable By Chris Johnson cxjohnson@oglecounty news.com Living in a tiny home is not a new idea, however it is the direction some people think needs to be reintroduced to homebuyers. “Since the 1950s the average house size in the United States has increased steadily,” said Doug McWain, Dayton, Ohio. “The average Doug McWain, Dayton, Ohio, talks about the costs of the floor space is increasing, smallest tiny homes during his presentation during the however the family size is Illinois Renewable Energy and Sustainable Lifestyle Fair lower.” McWain was one of the Saturday morning. Photo by Chris Johnson
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presenters during the annual Illinois Renewable Energy and Sustainable Lifestyle Fair Saturday morning at the Ogle County Fairgrounds. He said homes in the 1950s averaged 1,000 square feet and today homes are more than double that. “We need to have sustainability and we need to reduce what we are using,” McWain said. “Do you need a McMansion or can you live in a small home?” Some television shows are showcasing the micro homes that are under 500
Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A7 Oregon Police, B4 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B5
square feet, but McWain said an energy efficient small or tiny house is anything under 1,000 square feet. “You learn how to organize and be creative with smaller homes,” he said. “Do you really need all that space?” Having a smaller house built on a foundation will cost the homeowner less initially than a larger home, and will also cost less over the life of the home than a larger home. “Tiny houses do take less to build and less energy to live in,” he said.
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The idea of living with what is needed was documented by author Henry David Thoreau, McWain said. Thoreau wrote “On Walden Pond,” a poem that looks at simple living and the reasons Thoreau decided to try simple living. McWain has been interested in sustainable energy efficient homes since the oil crisis in the 1970s. He built his first home, an earth sheltered home in 1983. Turn to A10
Deaths, B4 Mildred Brown, Irma Ossmann
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com