Serving Ogle County since 1851
OREGON Republican Reporter
March 5, 2015 Volume 165, Number 12 - $1.00
Yum...Pancakes
Spring Ahead
Family Selected
The Oregon Lions Club will hosts its pancake breakfast at RRC on March 7. A9
Set your clocks one hour ahead at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8.
A Mt. Morris family has been chosen for the 2015 Habitat for Humanity build. A2
Medical marijuana cultivation coming to Ogle PharmaCann plant to be built in Hillcrest By Vinde Wells Editor A Hillcrest official was ecstatic Tuesday with the news that a medical marijuana cultivation center will be coming to the village of 1,000. “It’s an incredible opportunity,” said village president Kim Whalen. “We’re trying to do a sewer project and this will help. The news about PharmaCann was the icing on the cake.”
The medical marijuana cultivation center in this area was supposed to open in Dixon – and with a different company. However, state officials announced Monday that the permit will instead go to Oak Park-based PharmaCann. According to the Associated Press, PharmaCann CEO Teddy Scott said the company will open the cultivation center in Hillcrest, which touches the north edge of Rochelle. The license had been awarded in February to GTI Clinic Holding LLC, parent company of Green Thumb Industries, but last week the company gave it up by
failing to pay the state fees required. The Dixon license, for a lot in the Lee County Industrial Park, was one of three the company had been awarded. The purchase agreement between GTI and the Lee County Industrial Development Association for the lot in the industrial park was contingent on GTI being awarded a license. PharmaCann was the second-highest scoring application for Illinois State Police District 1, which includes Lee, Whiteside, Ogle and Carroll counties. PharmaCann has 15 days to provide the required $200,000 license fee and a
$2 million surety bond or escrow account. The distribution center for District 1 will be in Fulton. The Hillcrest Village Board gave its unanimous approval last August to a resolution supporting PharmaCann’s application for a license for the cultivation of medicinal marijuana under the Illinois Compassionate Care Act. A PharmaCann representative told the board in August that the facility will create an estimated 20 jobs. Whalen said PharmaCann broke ground for the facility last fall on land at the intersection of Twombly and Dement Roads, with the
idea that the approval would likely come in winter when the ground was frozen. The company has a longterm lease for the property, she said. Having the facility within the village limits means officials there can go ahead with and complete a sewer project that’s been in the works for 40 years, Whalen said. The project calls for installing sewer mains which will connect to the City of Rochelle’s sewer system. Hillcrest does not have its own municipal wastewater treatment plant. Whalen said the village has already secured a grant for
$500,000 and a low interest loan for $2.5 million from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which will allow about a quarter of the project to be done. The revenue from PharmaCann will ensure the project can be completed in a timely way. The first stage of the project will include the business district and 60-80 homes, she said. Hillcrest has approximately 20 businesses and 425 homes. Matt Mencarini, Sauk Valley Media, contributed to this story.
Title search shows who owns old hotel in Polo By Vinde Wells Editor
Michaela Eden helps Wesley Immel with his memory board Feb. 28 at Day of Dabbling. Immel is a member of the Blackhawk Crossings 4-H Club and Eden is an Oregon FFA member. Photo by Vinde Wells
Day of Dabbling helps 4-H kids beat the winter blahs By Vinde Wells Editor
chicken — or duck or goose — from its cage for a show judge. Down the hall, a group was stapling fabric to wood
to create a memory board while in another classroom youngsters drew designs on a block of wood to create Turn to A2
Ogle County 4-H club members beat the winter blahs Feb. 28 by learning about topics ranging from poultry to aerospace. The annual Day of Dabbling, held at the Oregon Church of God, offered 18 hands-on workshops. Classes included visual arts, cooking, natural resources, woodworking, aerospace, intercultural, scrapbooking, poultry, and science. In one classroom, youth polished up their poultry handling skills by first making a chicken from a white inflated balloon and then adding paper wings, feet, and beaks, along with drawing on eyes. Then they practiced how to pick up their chicken for showing it off to its best advantage at fair-time. “Pin, hold, go with the grain, and out,” repeated instructor Sarah Carter as she demonstrated the Brenda Holm, Oregon, helps Carefree 4-H Club member correct way to remove a Karyssa Dale with stamping the Easter card.
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B8-B12 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B7
A title search has revealed who owns a deteriorating building in downtown Polo. City attorney Tom Suits told the Polo City Council Monday night that B&L Partnership, comprised of Leo Hathaway and Brad Bartnick, is the owner of record of the Polo Hotel, 208 E. Mason St. The partnership bought the hotel in 2006, Suits said. The council authorized Suits to do the title search at its Feb. 16 meeting as a necessary step before having the three-story brick structure demolished. The building has broken windows and doors and structural deterioration. An inspection found it to be in violation of the International Property Maintenance Code and deemed it, under the code, to be dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary, and unfit for human occupancy. Suits said the search also revealed that the owners have not paid the property taxes for several years, causing it to be sold for the taxes.
Crumbling front steps and missing or falling porch ceiling boards are just two of the issues at the Polo Hotel at 208 E. Mason St. Photo by Earleen Hinton
One of the partners bought it for the taxes but never recorded the deed, he said. Another party later bought it for the taxes, Suits said, but also did not record the deed. The tax deeds have now been obtained by Joseph E. Meyer & Associates, the delinquent tax agent for Ogle County. The next step, Suits said, is to file a complaint for the demolition. Once the building has been torn down, the property will be foreclosed on, he said. Clerk Susie Corbitt said that so far, building inspector Casper Manheim has been
unable to inspect the building because Bartnick has not provided a key. The inspection is necessary to see if the building is safe for work crews to enter to begin the demolition process. It still contains furniture and other items. Suits asked police officer Shawn Knight to get written permission from Bartnick for city officials to enter the property to inspect it. Corbitt said she has contacted Ironwood Environmental about inspecting the building for asbestos and lead.
New county sheriff’s building to have letters in lieu of sign By Vinde Wells Editor Ogle County’s newest building will be identified with lettering rather than a sign. County board chairman Kim Gouker said the nearly completed Ogle County Public Safety Complex, 103 Jefferson St., Oregon, will be identified with letters on the building instead of a sign in front of it. The county’s Long Range Planning Committee discussed the lettering at a special meeting Feb. 25, a day after the Oregon City Council rejected its request
Marriage License, A4 Oregon Library, A10 Oregon Police, B7 Property Transfers, B6
to locate a large brick sign in the city right-of-way in front of the building, which faces First Street. The city council turned down the committee’s request by a vote of 4-0 with commissioners Ken Williams, Bob Rees, and Kurt Wilson and mayor Tom Stone voting. Tom Izer did not attend the meeting. The Plan Commission considered the request on Feb. 17 and recommended its denial to the council. “The Plan Commission didn’t want to set a precedent,” said Oregon Street Superintendent Mike Bowers, who is also a member
Sheriff’s Arrests, B6 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B6
of the Plan Commission. Bowers said he had granted a previous request from the committee to locate a parking area in front of the building on the city right-ofway. The new $4.1 million public safety building, which is scheduled to be completed in the next few weeks, will house the sheriff’s department, coroner’s office and county morgue, and the 911 telecommunications center. The current sheriff’s building, which is more than a century old, will be demolished to make way for additional parking.
Deaths, B5 Duane A. Garkey, Angela K. Haak, Helen V. Naden, Nancy L. Peltz, Oren E. Stengel
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com