Serving Ogle County since 1851
OREGON Republican Reporter
December 24, 2015 Volume 166, Number 2 - $1.00
Hawks Second
Dear Santa
Chicago Ride
The Hawks take second at the Forreston Holiday Tournament. B1
Area school children wrote letters to Santa. Inside
The Ogle County Drill Team rode in the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade. A6
Nothing new after exhumed bullets tested Reed, Skridla murdered in June 1948 By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Tests done on two bullets found in the casket of a 1948 murder victim earlier this year revealed no new information about a decades-old unsolved double homicide. A hand gun given to the Ogle County Sheriff’s Department was also tested. Sheriff Brian VanVickle released the findings Tuesday of lab tests done on a .32 caliber handgun turned over to investigators and on the two .32 caliber bullets found in Stanley Skridla’s casket Ken Foss, who operates the McKendrie Street Cafe in Mt. Morris, shows the two sizes available of sets of the U.S. May 28 when his remains Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Photo by Vinde Wells were exhumed from Calvary Cemetery, west of Rockford. “An analysis of the bullets revealed only one bullet was suitable for comparison, and that bullet was not fired from the submitted .32 caliber handgun,” the press release read.
Million Constitution Challenge Local men are selling prints of U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence
Tie votes delay decision on gun range proposal
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com A Byron man and his business partner are working to put two important American documents into the hands of as many citizens as possible. Ken Foss, Byron, and Jeff Johnson, Genoa, will launch the Million Constitution Challenge on Jan. 1 in an effort to get copies of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence to schools and military veterans, as well as other Americans. For each print that they sell from their website WeThePeoplePrints.com, the men plan to donate a print to a veteran, a veteran’s family “or anyone who risked their life defending these documents,” Johnson said. The price for one set of both documents is $99, either full size or three-quarters size of the originals. Anyone who buys a set during the Million Constitution Challenge gets a second set free. Foss explained that their hope is that purchasers will give the second set to a veteran, a veterans’ organization, a police station, or a school. “We want to see to it that men and women who have served our country have the opportunity to own this document,” he said. Foss and Johnson began
One bullet could not be tested because it was too corroded. According to the press release, the sheriff’s department submitted the bullets and handgun to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab for testing after Skidla’s exhumation. Winnebago County officials ordered the exhumation, requested by Skidla’s nephew, Stephan Skridla, 62, Rockford, in an effort to solve the murders of Stanley Skridla, then 28, and his date, Mary Jane Reed, then 17, on a lover’s lane just outside of Oregon. In 2005, the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office reinvestigated the deaths. Those findings indicated that any of the possible culprits were likely dead. “We believe all the people involved in their murders are deceased,” VanVickle said in the press release. Former Oregon Mayor Michael Arians pushed for the 2005 reinvestigation of Reed’s murder, and with her brother Warren Reed, Rock Turn to A2
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
This photo shows a closeup of the U.S. Declaration of Independence offered in the Million Constitution Challenge. Photo by Vinde Wells
their association with the and became fascinated with Foss and Johnson’s find documents by chance. capturing and preserving included about 10,000 prints Back in 2011, the two the original look of both of the Constitution and 100 began tearing into old, the Constitution and the prints of the Declaration of wooden crates left behind by Declaration of Independence Independence, along with the former tenants at a warehouse after coming to the U.S., original printing plates and they owned in Kingston. according to literature glass photo negatives and They knew that the written by Walter Mahan, positives that produced them. crates held fragile printing which accompanied the “Ohman’s goal was to have materials, but they had no collection. a copy of the Constitution in idea what kind of connection Ohman employed a every school,” Foss said. “We to U.S. history they were complicated and painstaking hope to accomplish that.” about to uncover. The two have made They began several The price for one set of both documents appearancestelevision pulling out metal talking press plates, giant is $99, either full size or three-quarters about their find. size of the originals. lithographic prints, They were also and glass photo invited to the negatives and positives process to create what was Freedom Summit in Chicago that revealed images of the considered to be the truest in November. U.S. Constitution and the replica of the Constitution. “We met some very Declaration of Independence. In 1953, he printed interesting people. It was an Foss contacted an expert thousands of copies on his honor to be there,” Foss said. and learned that the prints four-step printing press in He said he hopes the and the plates that made them Memphis, Tenn. plates and glass negatives were the work of CzechSome of his prints have and positives can find a born lithographer Theodore been displayed at the National permanent, safe home. Ohman. Archives, the Library of “They’re very fragile,” he Ohman learned the Congress in Washington, lithographic printing process D.C., and Independence Hall said. “They need to be put in a museum.” from his grandfather as a boy, in Philadelphia.
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B12 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B6
Library News, A7 Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B6 Public Voice, A8 Property Transfers, B4
Two tie votes earlier this month prevented an Ogle County committee from making a recommendation to the county board about a special use permit for a handgun caliber range at the Byron Sportsman’s & Conservation Club. The Supervisor of Assessments and Planning & Zoning Committee ended up in a 4-4 tie Dec. 8 after motions, first to approve and then to deny, the controversial special use permit. Zoning Administrator Mike Reibel said Monday that the county’s Executive Committee directed the Supervisor of Assessments and Planning & Zoning Committee to reconsider the matter and present a recommendation for the county board to vote on at its Jan. 19 meeting. Sportsman’s club president O.K. Welty filed the special use request on behalf on the club earlier this year, and it was considered by the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals at a lengthy hearing on Sept. 24. Several neighbors voiced their opposition at the
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4
hearing to the gun range due to safety concerns. More than 150 people, many of whom live nearby, signed a petition opposing the gun range, and it was also presented to the ZBA. The ZBA voted 3-2 to recommend that the county board approve the request. The ZBA found that the request met the six required standards for special use permits, if it is properly designed, built, and operated. However, they also added 14 conditions for approval, including Condition 14 that stipulated having a National Rifle Association certified range supervisor on duty whenever the facility is open. The matter then went to the Supervisor of Assessments and Planning & Zoning Committee for its recommendation to the county board. According to the minutes from the Nov. 10 Supervisor of Assessments and Planning & Zoning Committee meeting, chairman Bill Welty, who is O.K. Welty’s uncle, recommended postponing the decision because of “issues of accuracy” in the transcripts of the Sept. 24 ZBA hearing. Turn to A3
Deaths, B5 Shirley A. Babb, Edward G. Brattrud, Christ J. Fillip Jr., David P. Short Sr.
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