Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS
April 19, 2018 Volume 51, Number 27- $1.00
Alert Engineer
Benefit Run
Chocolate Walk
An engineer of a passing train saw a home on fire and called it in. Everyone is safe. B3
The Infinity Run is Saturday, April 28 for Maggie and Amos Meyer. B1
Oregon’s Second Annual Chocolate Walk was a success. B3
Oregon teen dies after struck by semi-tractor Counselors offered at OHS for students By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com Grief counselors were on hand at Oregon High School Sunday evening and Monday to offer comfort to students after the death of a classmate. Weslee Rice, 17, a junior at OHS, died early Saturday morning after he was struck by a semi-tractor while
he was walking in the 2600 block of West Pines Road near his home about two miles west of Oregon. School Superintendent Tom Mahoney said counselors spent two hours Sunday evening and all day Monday at the school, available to students and staff members. “Anytime you lose a young life, it breaks your heart,” he said. “Myself, the staff and students, and the entire Oregon School District community are grieving the loss.” Rice participated in football and track at OHS.
According to Ogle County Sheriff’s Police, Rice was struck by a westbound semi-tractor driven by Dakota Snyder, 21, Mt. Morris, shortly after 1:30 a.m. Rice was airlifted to Mercyhealth Hospital (formerly Rockford Memorial), Rockford, where he died. Snyder, who police said was driving a truck owned by Bocker Trucking, Polo, has not been ticketed. He was transported to KSB Hospital, Dixon. His condition was not available. Winnebago County Coroner Bill Heintz said the preliminary results
of an autopsy performed Monday indicate Rice died from blunt trauma. The results of toxicology tests will be available in approximately three weeks, he said. Sheriff Brian VanVickle said Rice was walking on the roadway. The incident remains under investigation. Funeral services for Rice are set for Saturday, April 21 at 2 p.m. at the Blackhawk Center, Oregon. Visitation will be held on Friday, April 20 from 4 to 8 p.m. at FarrellHolland-Gale Funeral Home, Oregon. His obituary appears on B4.
Weslee Rice
Plea offer is extended in fatal accident Mongan trial is slated to begin on Monday By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Chocolate Walkers Autumn Nelson, Mt. Morris, and her daughter Bailey Crawford get a whiff of one of the hundreds of soaps offered April 12 at the Oregon Soap Shoppe, one of the stops on the second annual Chocolate Walk. Photo by Vinde Wells
An Oregon man charged in the boating death of a Rockford woman two years ago got an extension of a plea offer in Ogle County Court Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors offered Marc Mongan, 47, another chance to take the plea deal they offered two weeks ago and extended the deadline for accepting it until 5 p.m. Thursday. Mongan has been charged with seven felonies, including drunk driving, in the death of Megan Wells, 31, on June 24, 2016, on the Rock River three miles north of Oregon when the johnboat he was operating struck her as it went over the back of the pontoon boat she was riding in, throwing her overboard. He has been charged with
one count of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, a Class 2 felony; three counts of reckless homicide, all class 3 felonies; and three counts of reckless conduct, all Class 4 felonies. Judge John Redington recessed Tuesday’s hearing to meet in his chambers with Mongan and his attorneys, David Tess and Russell Crull, and special prosecutors David Neal and Brooke Shupe, both from the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s office. Neal said the state is again making the plea offer previously made April 5 and extending the deadline for Mongan to accept it. Redington set another hearing for Thursday morning. Jury selection for Mongan’s trial is set to begin next Monday. During the hearing, both the prosecution and defense presented motions to exclude the other side’s expert witnesses. Shupe argued that defense Turn to A3
Village board rejects zoning change for solar farm Trustees say it’s not a fit for the village’s Comprehensive Plan By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com A request for a solar farm within the Mt. Morris village limits got a setback last week when the village board voted not to proceed with amending its zoning ordinance to allow for it. The board voted 4-1 April 10 against authorizing village attorney Rob LeSage to prepare a petition to amend the zoning ordinance to permit solar farms as a special use. Voting no were trustees Phil Labash, Shane Pope, Jeff Pennington, and Jim Hopkins.
Jerry Stauffer cast the only yes vote, and Mike Fay did not attend the meeting. The action was a result of a Feb. 27 presentation Patrick Dalseth of SunVest Solar, Inc., Geneva, for a small solar farm on 23 acres owned and farmed by David Luepkes on the north side of the village, north of the Mobil Gas Station on Ill. 64. The parcel, which is within the industrial park and tax increment funding district, is zoned light industrial. Since current the ordinance doesn’t allow for solar farms in that zoning classification, Dalseth asked the board to consider amending it to make solar farms a permitted special use. Before the vote, LeSage told board members the vote was not to allow this specific solar farm, but rather to start the rather lengthy
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process of amending the ordinance. Labash read a statement that voiced his opposition because, he said, a solar farm in light industrial would not fit the village’s Comprehensive Plan, which was updated last year to extend into 2035. “When looking at the uses that are defined under the section titled Light Industrial District, these uses encourage the creation of businesses that create employment, generate sales tax revenue, or support existing businesses,” he said. The solar farm would not create jobs, he said. Stauffer, who is chairman of the Ordinance Committee, obtained estimates from Ogle County Supervisor of Assessments Jim Harrison indicating that the $831 in annual real estate taxes on the parcel could increase to $6,035 if the solar Oregon Police, B4 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4 Reading Matters, A8 Senior Center News, A3
farm is built there. Pope, who is employed at Exelon’s Byron Generating Station, said that increase is not enough to justify allowing the solar farm. “Is it worth tying up industrial land for 20 years for $5,200?” he said. A business with employees would bring more money into village coffers than the solar farm, Pope said. He told Luepkes that selling the land for a business would likely be more lucrative than renting the land to SunVest. “I’m a farmer by heart. It’s good productive land. I’m probably going to farm it,” Luepkes replied. Stauffer said that in the more than 40 years since the industrial park was purchased and designated, no businesses showed interest, and the village ended up selling it for
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“pennies on the dollar.” “The land has never been built on except for [Luepkes’] storage bins,” he said. Labash said that the intent for the land was for industry to be developed there. He agreed that there has been no development, “But that doesn’t mean there won’t be,” he said. Stauffer disagreed. “I understand your arguments but I wonder how long we can wait for something to come along,” he said. John Finfrock, a member of the Mt. Morris Economic Development Committee, said he also opposes the solar farm because it doesn’t fit the economic development plans. LeSage said despite the board’s vote, Luepkes or another property owner, a village resident, or the Planning Commission could petition for a zoning change to make solar farms a permitted use in the village.
Deaths, B4 Weslee L. Rice