Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS May 4, 2017 Volume 50, Number 29 - $1.00
Hawk Classic
Art Show
Third in State
The OHS boys track team shows strong Friday at the annual Hawk Classic. B1
The Eagle’s Nest Art Group’s Spring Show opened April 29. A10
The OHS Band and Choir won third place in the state music contest. A9
Police continue to investigate double homicide and arson By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Randy Ocken, left, and Ogle County Zoning Administrator Mike Reibel preside over the April 27 hearing. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Zoning Board of Appeals denies special use permit for dog kennel PAZ, county board to hear request in May By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A DeKalb County dog breeder failed Thursday to get the support of the Ogle County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to expand her kennel to Ogle County. After a five-hour hearing, the ZBA voted 3-2 to deny Christie Hardt’s request for a special use permit for a commercial dog kennel on property she and her husband Robert DeCosta own northeast of Kings. Several county residents spoke in opposition to the kennel, voicing concerns that it is a “puppy mill,”
and 2,500 signed a petition against it. Hardt is the owner of B&C Kennels, Clare, located in DeKalb County west of Annie Glidden Road. She hopes to establish a second facility at 14189 E. Dutch Rd. on the east side of Ogle County. The site is zoned for agricultural use, and the request asks for a special use permit to allow dog breeding, import and sale of puppies, dog grooming, and dog obedience training at the kennel. Hardt told the ZBA that she wants to move the puppy sales from Clare to the new location. She said she sells an average of 100 pups a month, most of which come from A-1 Kennels, Morris Chapel, Tennessee, which is Turn to A7
National soil contest held at Grasslands By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Ogle County Animal Control Administrator Tom Champley questions the owners of the B&C Kennels at the ZBA hearing on April 27. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Bakery opens to enthusiastic customers By Earleen Hinton ehinton@oglecounty news.com Business was brisk and the customers enthusiastic during the opening day of the brand new Village Bakery, operated by the Village of Progress in downtown Oregon. “It’s been very busy,” said Jackie Fransen, the bakery’s manager. “I think we went through 40-plus dozens of doughnuts this morning and it’s been steady ever since.” Village of Progress Director Brion Brooks said customers were waiting outside when the bakery opened at 6 a.m. “There was a line outside. I know we sold a lot,” he said. “We’re just so grateful for the community’s support.”
Janet McGrail, Ashton, poses by the mural she painted on of the inside walls of the new Village Bakery, located at 101 N. Third Street in Oregon. Janet is the mother of Jackie Fransen, the bakery’s manager. Photo by Earleen Hinton
The bakery, located at 101 N. Third St. on the northeast corner with Illinois 64, offers cakes, cupcakes, pies, doughnuts and other sweet
In This Week’s Edition...
Police are continuing to investigate a double homicide and arson in Byron last October. Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said Monday that detectives are actively investigating the Oct. 19 deaths of Margaret Meyer, 31, and her three-year-old son Amos. “They are working very hard on it and still going through the evidence,” he said. The deaths were ruled homicides in February, and the fire that destroyed their home at 2020 N. Silverthorn Ave. was determined to be an arson. VanVickle said more than one person are considered suspects. The fire was reported around 6:40 a.m. by Meyer’s ex-husband, Duane C. Meyer, 34, Stillman Valley, who told officials he was there to pick
up his son. When firefighters arrived, smoke alarms were sounding, the house was filled with heavy smoke, and Meyer and a Byron police officer were on the lawn performing CPR on Amos, who had been in an upstairs bedroom. Amos and his father were taken to Rockford Memorial Hospital, where the little boy was pronounced dead. An autopsy showed he died from smoke inhalation. Firefighters found Margaret dead on the couch on the first floor. Ogle County Coroner Lou Finch said in February that the cause of her death is undetermined. The sheriff’s department along with the Illinois State Police and Byron Police Department are involved in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office at 815-732-2136 or Ogle Lee Crime Stoppers at 888-2284488.
treats in addition to a full line of coffees, and customordered ice cream. Customers can dine in, or pick up their orders at a
Business Briefs, B4 Church News A5 Classifieds, B5-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4
College students from around the nation delved into the dirt at the Nachusa Grasslands southeast of Oregon last week to take a close-up look at the soils there. More than 100 students from 24 colleges and universities as far away as California and as close as Wisconsin took part in the 2017 Collegiate Soils Contest, sponsored by the American Society of
Agronomy and hosted by Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. The students braved a steady drizzle, brisk wind, and temperatures barely above 40 degrees to analyze the soil layers in three pits dug especially for the national soil judging contest. Emily Fuger, representative of the Soil Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy, said each school sent a team of four plus alternates. To make it to the national Turn to B3
drive-through. The building previously housed Max Media and before that Basler’s Ace Hardware and has undergone an extensive remodeling since the Village of Progress (VOP) bought it last fall. The Village Bakery provides jobs for developmentally disabled youth and adults in the community, following the mission of the VOP, a private not-for-profit corporation that was founded in Oregon in 1969 to meet the training needs of adults with disabilities who reside in Ogle County. Fransen hired a full-time baker, a full-time assistant A member of the Kansas State Soil Judging team works manager, a part-time cake on identifying the samples he took from one of the soil decorator and a part-time pits on land owned by the Nachusa Grasslands. The Turn to A3 judging competition was hosted by Northern Illinois
Library News, A2 Marriage Licenses, A4 Mt. Morris Police, A2 Pine Creek News, A3 Public Voice, A7
University. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Property Transfers, B4 Senior Center News, A3 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com
Deaths, B4 Avis J. Donahue