Serving Ogle County since 1851
OREGON Republican Reporter
April 2, 2015 Volume 165, Number 16 - $1.00
Extra Innings
Talent at Work
Earth Day
The Oregon Lady Hawks lost in extra innings Tuesday night to Byron. B1
An Adeline woman is raising awareness about Parkinson’s. A11
A recycling event will mark the 45th anniversary of Earth Day April 18. B3
Voters to decide ambulance fate Referendum issue is on the April 7 ballot By Vinde Wells Editor
Sunlight filters through a protective screen onto the face of the Black Hawk statue Tuesday afternoon. The historic statue has been covered for the winter awaiting repair work to begin this spring. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Repairs on hold again for contract OK By Vinde Wells Editor Spring may be unfolding, but a well-known landmark remains encased in its protective “winter coat.” Frank Rausa, Sterling, said Tuesday that he hopes the Black Hawk Statue will soon shed the plastic mesh wrap that protected it from the cold and snow so that longawaited repairs can begin. “I think in a few days we’ll know something more,”
Rausa said. Rausa, along with his wife Cherron, heads up the Friends of the Black Hawk Statue, an organization formed approximately six years ago to develop a plan and raise the funds to have the statue repaired. Most of the estimated $900,000 has been raised, and experts have developed a plan to repair the beloved statue’s crumbling exterior. However, red tape and getting official approval of
the plan and the contract for the work has repeatedly delayed the start of the repairs. Everything seemed to be in place late last fall after Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) officials signed a contract with project conservator Dr. Andrzej Dajnowski and his crew, from Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, Forest Park. The IDNR has jurisdiction over the statue because it’s
situated at Lowden State Park near Oregon. However, over the winter, Rausa said, the IDNR terminated that contract and revised it. Dajnowski recently received the revised contract, but another glitch slowed the process when engineer Amy Lamb Woods left her former employer Thornton Tomasetti and joined the firm of Simpson Gumperta & Heger, a Chicago-based Turn to A2
Three vying for Oregon mayor By Vinde Wells Editor A three-way race for mayor awaits Oregon voters when they go to the polls next week to cast ballots in the consolidated election. Current mayor Thomas Stone Sr. faces a challenge April 7 from two candidates, Mike Arians and Ken Williams. Stone has served as mayor since 2003 and is seeking his fourth term in that office. He also as a city commissioner from 1999 to 2003.
He served on the Ogle County Board from 1989-92 and on the Oregon School Board from 1994-95. Williams has served as a city commissioner since 2007 and is currently the city’s finance commissioner. Arians served one term as Oregon mayor from 19992003, and was on the Kane County Board from 1992-98. Four candidates are seeking four seats on the Oregon City Council. Jim Barnes, Thomas Izer, Terry Schuster, and Kurt Wilson are running
unopposed for the four-year terms. Barnes served as mayor from 1978 to 1999, when he lost a re-election bid to Arians. He also served on the city council prior to becoming the mayor. Barnes also served on the Ogle County Board from 2006 to 2012 and was the board’s chairman from 2010 to 2012. Izer served as a commissioner from 2001 to 2007 and was elected to his current term in 2011. He is presently the city’s Streets &
Sidewalks Commissioner. Wilson was appointed to an unexpired term on the council in January. Schuster, although new to city government, until recently was a member of the Oregon Public Library Board. He stepped down from the post because according to rulings made by the Illinois Attorney General, a person cannot serve on a library board at the same time as a city council, village board, or county board.
Voters will determine next week whether or not Oregon and the surrounding fire district has its own ambulance service. A referendum on the April 7 ballot asks voters in the Oregon Fire Protection District if they want the fire district to have the authority to levy taxes to support an ambulance service. Fire officials have said a yes vote means the fire district will have the means to provide a full-time, roundthe-clock ambulance service. The service will be funded by property tax dollars, and will add an estimated $175 to the tax bill on a $150,000 house, excluding exemptions. A no vote means the district will no longer have an ambulance service, and residents or visitors in the area will have to rely on mutual aid from neighboring fire districts, all of which have long since provided their own tax-supported ambulances, or call a private ambulance service from Rockford, Dixon, Freeport, or another city. Relying on an outside ambulance service, public or private, is likely to increase the response time to emergencies. The referendum will ask taxpayers to give fire district officials the authority to tax at 40 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation, wording required by state law. However, the fire board has already agreed to tax at only 35 cents, the same as the current tax for fire protection. The tax will bring in
approximately $440,000 per year to fund the ambulance service. Fire district officials decided to put the referendum on the ballot last year after the Oregon Ambulance Service, Inc., a private, not-for profit corporation, closed its doors for financial reasons. As a stop-gap measure, the fire district hired ATS Ambulance Service, Loves Park, to answer calls. Since July 1, an ATS ambulance and crew have been based at the Oregon Fire Station and answer calls from there. Their 10-month contract ends April 30. The fire district cannot continue indefinitely to pay for an ambulance service from funds levied for fire protection. State law stipulates that fire protection funds can be used for ambulance purposes only to the point that it is not detrimental to fire protection. Fire officials have said that if the referendum passes, the fire board will seek sealed bids for ambulance services while it gets its own service up and running. The new tax money, if approved, will not be available until tax bills are paid in 2016. A passed referendum will allow the district to borrow money for the ambulance service to cover the year until the tax revenues are available. If the referendum fails, however, the board has no plans to hire an ambulance service because no funds will be available for it. Neighboring districts’ ambulance services will be available, but only on a limited basis because calls within their home districts must get priority. The Oregon Fire District is 120 square miles and includes Castle Rock State Park, Lowden State Park, and Lowden Miller State Forest.
Wresting fans step into the ring at March 28 fundraiser By Chris Johnson Reporter Pro wrestling fans had the opportunity of a lifetime last Saturday when they stepped into the ring with realtime professional wrestlers. MWA Pro Wrestling wrestlers Brian Blade and Con Artiest, both stage names, held a training camp in Mt. Morris before a wrestling show, which was also a fundraiser for Wounded Warriors and the Let Freedom Ring. Festival. Before they could set foot in the ring, participating fans were given instructions on how wrestling works along with exercises for pre-event Sixteen-year-old Connor Hopkins leaps over Steve Rossi, 34, Mt. Morris, while being activity. observed by the wrestler Mantaur. Photo by Chris Johnson First, they had to carry in
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B12 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6
Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B6 Property Transfers, B6
parts of the ring to help Con Artiest set up the ring. Brian Blade then made the willing would-be wrestlers do squats, sprints, pushups, and sit-ups all as a warm up. He then talked about the reality of the pro wrestling business. “You have the WWE or not much,” he said. “Get your education and go to college. Have something to fall back on. Your odds are that you may not make it to the WWE. I had a chance at a developmental deal and turned it down. Financially it did not make sense.” He said many independent circuits pay wrestlers only on a per match basis which only results in a couple of hundred dollars for the night.
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B6
“You start off at this level. Mantaur started here,” said Brian Blade. “Jeff Hardy started at shows like this. This is the grass roots.” Mantaur is a former WWE wrestler. He said the small independent shows are where wrestlers learn the craft and develop a following. “If you can not get these people to like you, you can’t get 16,000 people to like you,” said Brian Blade. “It is not about the moves. If the fans do not care, then it doesn’t matter. It is what you do to make them out there care about you. The main thing is the people. They matter.” Turn to B2
Deaths, B5 Richard S. Clark, Curtis W. Miller, Nancy Peltz, Larry E. Schier, Mary E. Suneson, Shirley J. Turner
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