Serving the Mt. Morris area since 1967
MT.Times MORRIS
April 12, 2018 Volume 51, Number 26 - $1.00
It’s National Telecommunicator Appreciation Week! A9
Former OHS football coach John Bothe is inducted into the Illinois Coaches Hall of Fame. B1
Find out what Ogle County agencies are doing to help protect our children. A10
New volunteer team readies to raise funds for statue repairs By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A new volunteer group is attempting to raise funds as well as hope for the restoration of the Black Hawk statue. Oregon Together’s recently formed Black Hawk Restoration Team has plans to raise the estimated $500,000 needed to complete the repairs to the 107-year-old landmark that stands on a 125-foot bluff overlooking the Rock River at Lowden State Park. Team chairman Jan Stilson said members of the team met March 28 with representatives from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Conservation Foundation, Lowden State Park, and the Northern Illinois University Taft Field Campus to discuss the project, which was begun in 2014. Created by sculptor Lorado Taft in 1910 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009, the concrete statue needs the repairs due to the ravages of weather and time. It was unveiled and dedicated in 1911. Over the years, despite numerous repair efforts, parts of the statue have crumbled and
fallen off. Winter weather has been especially devastating. Before being encased in protective wrap almost four years ago, the 48-foottall landmark drew 400,000 visitors a year, according to state and regional tourism officials. Because it is situated in a state park, the statue is under the jurisdiction of the IDNR. At a team meeting Tuesday morning, Stilson said IDNR officials have agreed to remove the black plastic which has encased the statue for the last two winters. Ed Cross, IDNR Director of Communications, confirmed in a phone call Tuesday that the covering will come off next month. “We are going to remove the cover for the summer,” he said. “We’re going to wait until May for the weather to stabilize. We think that being able to see it will help with the fundraising.” The statue will be rewrapped before freezing weather set in next fall, he said. The cost is $19,000 each time the statue is covered and uncovered. In November of 2016, a team from Quality Restorations, Inc., Wood Dale, spent three days wrapping the concrete monument in 12
OHS student is charged with felony after threat By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
a danger. “Nothing in the investigation showed there was any immediate threat to staff or An Oregon High School students,” he said. student has been charged with According to a press release felony disorderly conduct after from the school, the threat he apparently made a threat on was reported to the office social media. immediately, and the school The 17-year-old was taken began the process of securing into custody by Oregon Police the student and investigating April 6 after they were called the social media posting. to the school around 10:30 a.m. “The student is no longer on Ogle County State’s Attorney school property and will not be Eric Morrow said the teen was until the issue is resolved,” the charged April 10 with two press release said. counts of disorderly conduct, Morrow said the boy was one a Class 4 felony and the evaluated by the Probation other a Class C misdemeanor. Department and released to Oregon Police Chief Darin his parents. He is scheduled DeHaan said the social media to appear in juvenile court on posting did not appear to pose April 17.
The Black Hawk Statue remains wrapped in black plastic as repair work on the iconic structure remains stalled. Photo by Earleen Hinton
millimeter thick dual-layered black polyethylene, padded underneath with blankets, and tied on tight with a half-mile of elastic rope. It has remained shrouded ever since. For the previous two winters it was encased in a scaffolding covered with green mesh, put
in place by then conservator Andrzej Dajnowski from Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, Forest Park. Cross said all the money raised by the Black Hawk Restoration Team will be used to repair the statue. “The agency [IDNR] has had Turn to A3
Solar Farm? The 20-plus acres of farmland from the Kable News building on Hitt Street to the utility poles is the area where a solar farm has been proposed. Discussion and a possible vote on owner David Luepkes’ request was on the Mt. Morris Village Board agenda Tuesday night. Photo by Vinde Wells
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6 Library News, A3
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B2 Public Voice, A6 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3
Parents’ attorney objects to plea offer in fatality By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The attorney for the parents of a Rockford woman killed in a boating crash almost two years ago voiced her clients’ objections to a plea offer April 5 in Ogle County Court. Rockford attorney Cynthia Koroll represents David and Robin Swaziek, Loves Park, whose daughter Megan Wells, 31, was killed on June 24, 2016, on the Rock River three miles north of Oregon when a johnboat operated by Marc Mongan, 47, Oregon, struck her as it went over the back of the pontoon boat she was riding in, throwing her overboard. Koroll said she received a copy of the plea offer sent by special prosecutor David Neal, from the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s office, to Mongan’s attorney David Tess, Rochelle. “We object vehemently to it,” she said. Mongan 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. Last Thursday’s court date was expected to be the final pretrial hearing before Mongan’s trial begins on April 23. Neal told Judge John Redington that he has made a plea offer to Mongan and has set April 12 as the deadline for accepting or rejecting the offer. He said he may also file a
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Zoning, B4
Marc Mongan listens during Thursday’s hearing. Photo by Earleen Hinton
motion in limine in response to a report he recently received from defense experts Cooper Barrette Consulting, Woodstock. The firm’s website says it does crash reconstruction. A motion in limine is a motion which asks the judge to limit or prevent certain evidence from being presented at trial. Neal said he has filed a subpoena for additional documents from Cooper Barrette Consulting. He asked Redington for an additional pre-trial hearing to consider the motion in limine. Redington set a final pretrial hearing for Tuesday, April 17, but told Neal to have the motion field by April 11. Tess filed a motion to exclude certain prosecution witnesses from testifying at the trial. Redington reserved his ruling after Neal said he believed a solution could be Turn to A2
Deaths, B5 Mary “Joyce” Franklin, Robert A. Gillick, Kathryn M. Laskos, Vincent P. Musso
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com