Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS July 20, 2017 Volume 50, Number 40 - $1.00
Testing Dates
County Fair
At the Band Shell
Pre-participation drug testing dates have been set for OHS athletes. B2
Plenty of family fun at the 2017 Ogle County Fair Aug. 2-6. A7
The Tom Sharpe Ensemble performs Friday, and Miles Beske will direct the Kable Band. A2,3
Fore! Dillehay
Straw statue
may get disc golf By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Sculptures will be created in Mt. Morris during Aug. 1127 competition
Mt. Morris residents may soon have a new sport in town. Village trustee Jim Hopkins told the board July 11 that he is getting details and prices on putting a nine-hole disc golf course at Dillehay Park east of the shelter. “It won’t affect anything down at the park,” he said “It’s out of the way.” He said the course will cost about $500 per hole or a total of $4,500. However, Hopkins plans on contacting businesses
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Let Freedom Ring festivalgoers got a sneak preview recently of unique upcoming event. Two straw sculptures were on display in Mt. Morris’ downtown over the Fourth of July to highlight the U.S. National Straw Sculpting Competition that will take place Aug. 11-27. The competition’s showpiece, a 21-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty created by Fran Volz, sits near the Memorial Fountain on the northeast corner of the downtown campus. A giant straw spider was on display at the entrance of the Mt. Morris Fire Station during its July 4 breakfast. The competition is Volz’s idea after seeing a straw sculpture competition that drew thousands of visitors to the village of Hochenschwand Turn to A2
County board may take legal action against Oregon Officials hope to negotiate street closure A straw Statue of Liberty was part of the Let Freedom Ring celebration in Mt. Morris last week. The statue, created by Fran Volz, also announces the straw sculpture competition that will be held in the downtown on Aug. 11-27. Photo by Vinde Wells
Black Hawk’s future still in limbo By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Despite the recent passage of a state budget, Ogle County’s most famous and favorite landmark remains shrouded in black plastic and uncertainty. Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director of Communications Ed Cross said last week that funding for repairs to the Black Hawk Statue is being evaluated. “As far as I know nothing has changed,” Cross said on July 13. The long-standing state budget impasse side-tracked the much-needed repairs to the surface of the 106-yearold concrete monument at Lowden State Park near Oregon. State Rep. Tom Demmer said in April that a $350,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) that was earmarked for the statue repairs couldn’t be released until the General Assembly passed budget legislation. Although that happened earlier this month, the statue, which is under the IDNR’s authority, remains encased in black plastic put there last
about sponsoring holes for $100 each to help with the cost. The closest courses are in Freeport and Rochelle, he said. Disc golf players throw a disc at a target, and the game is played using rules similar to golf. Players complete a hole by throwing a disc from a tee area toward a target, throwing again from the landing position of the disc until the target is reached. To win, a player must complete the course in the lowest number of total throws. Turn to A2
A black plastic tarp shrouds the Black Hawk Statue in Oregon. Repairs to the statue are on hold due to state funding issues despite donations raised to fix the landmark.
November to protect it from further damage. Created by sculptor Laredo Taft in 1910 as a tribute to Native Americans, the statue stands on a 125foot bluff overlooking the Rock River and draws thousands of visitors each year. It was unveiled and
In This Week’s Edition...
dedicated in 1911. Taft called his monument “The Eternal Indian,” but it has been known as Black Hawk from the start, in memory of the Sauk medicine man and warrior who frequented this area before his people were driven west in the 1830s by
Church Bells, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Library News, A2 Marriage Licenses, A4
European settlers and the U.S. Army. The Black Hawk statue has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009. Over the years, despite numerous repair efforts, parts of the statue have crumbled and fallen off. Winter weather has been especially devastating. Last November, a team from Quality Restorations, Inc., Wood Dale, spent three days wrapping the 50-foot concrete monument in 12 millimeter thick dual-layered polyethylene, padded underneath with blankets, and tied on tight with a halfmile of elastic rope. The durable black plastic used to cover the statue is designed to keep out moisture, protecting the surface from further damage from the cold and freezing and thawing. The blankets underneath are wrapped around the shoulders and arms to further protect them and to keep their sharp edges from cutting the plastic. This was the third winter the statue has spent under wraps. For the previous two winters it was encased
Mt. Morris Police, A2 Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The Oregon City Council could face a lawsuit in the wake of its recent decision not to grant the Ogle County Board’s request to close a block of South Sixth Street. The county board decided Tuesday evening to make one more try at getting the city council to see it their way. After a 35-minute closed session, county board chairman Kim Gouker said the board will send a formal offer to the city council for negotiations to revisit its June 27 decision.
The street vacation would have allowed the proposed new jail to connect to the judicial center across what is now the 100 block of South Sixth. If that fails, Gouker said the county will likely take legal action. The board also engaged Montana & Welch, Palos Heights, a law firm specializing in local government law, as special counsel through the state’s attorney’s office. According to a statement released by Gouker after the meeting, “The Montana & Welch law firm was contacted a couple weeks ago to review possible legal remedies, after several options were viewed to construct the new county Jail without vacating Sixth Turn to A9
Judge continues bond for Polo man By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
An Ogle County judge denied a bond reduction for a Polo man charged with the aggravated battery of a month and one-half-old baby. Judge John B. Roe continued the bond for Ian C. Green, 23, at $200,000 July 14 despite a motion from public defender Dennis Riley to cut it in half. Assistant State’s Attorney Ann Switzer objected to the bond reduction, telling Roe she had not received enough information about Green’s criminal history in the pretrial report. Roe agreed that the bond Turn to A2 should remain at $200,000
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B2 State’s Attorney, B4
Ian C. Green
and ordered the Probation Department to provide more information so that the bond amount can be addressed at Green’s next hearing on July 26. Green was arrested June 7 after Ogle County Sheriff’s deputies, along with Dixon police, responded to KSB Turn to A2
Deaths, B4-B5 L. Keith Appel, Arlene Blake, Kristin A. Ellis, Madeline Jane Gribbins, Margaret E. Potts, Earl W. Ring
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