Orr 2017 01 26

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Serving Ogle County since 1851

OREGON Republican Reporter

January 26, 2017 Volume 167, Number 7 - $1.00

Hawks vs. Cardinals

Recycling

No Agreement

Oregon and Forreston tipped off Tuesday night in non-conference action. B1

The schedule for electronics recycling in Ogle County is set. A6

The Byron School Board is negotiating with the teachers union over a new contract. A7

Conover project on hold due to safety concern By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Just when the repair project to save Conover Square seemed to have all blue skies ahead, the storm clouds have rolled in. Work on the south wall has been halted due to Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulations, and meeting the requirements will cost more than $15,000. “We’re stuck. We can’t go any further,” said Rick Ryland, a member of Hands On Oregon (HOO), the volunteer organization that has taken on the project of repairing the bowed out wall. In early January, HOO received an anonymous donation of $25,000 that enabled them to hire Tip Top Roofing, DeKalb, to fix the upper portions of the wall. “We’ve worked very hard, but we, as volunteers, do not have the equipment or expertise to finish these upper floors. Now we can hire professional help,” Ryland said when he announced the donation.

Last Thursday, Tip Top’s crew arrived and the work began. Ryland said great progress was being made until he learned from ComEd that they were too close to electric lines and must stop work while that was remedied. “According to regulations we cannot be within 10 feet of those overhead lines. The center of the electric pole is only 15 feet from the building,” he said. “ComEd has to reroute the power or something so we won’t be in violation of OSHA laws.” On Tuesday, Ryland got even worse news: a work agreement from ComEd with a price tag of $15,773.28. Ryland said the forced stoppage is especially disappointing because Tip Top was hoping to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and complete the project before their busy season begins in March. Another frustrating aspect is that previously he was told insulating the wires would solve the problem. Turn to A2

Police Training Police from several area agencies advance on the front door of the old Spoor house alongside the Ogle County Judicial Center during a training on Monday. The home has been purchased by Ogle County and will soon be razed. Photo by Earleen Hinton

Old home will be demolished By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com An Oregon landmark is coming down as the second phase gets underway of a plan to expand parking near the Ogle County Judicial Center. County board member Don Griffin,

Oregon, told the board Jan. 17 that employees of the county highway department are helping with the demolition of the Spoor house at 102 S. Fifth St., Oregon, which was a part of the Spoor Hotel a century ago. Most recently the house has been the law offices of attorney Robert Lowe.

A power point showed the board the deteriorating condition of the inside of the house and the progress being made to tear it down. Griffin said he planned to contact representatives of the Ogle County Historical Society to see if they are interested in having components of Turn to A2

Pastor went missing Monday By Ashley Cady Sauk Valley Media Police are looking for an 88-year-old pastor who went missing Monday afternoon. Gordon Landry, Oregon, who family says was showing signs of memory loss, last was seen around 1 p.m. at Oregon Living and Rehabilitation Center, police said. He was driving a gray 2006 Buick Lucerne, license plate

Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle stands with his wife, Marla, and daughter, Ali, in view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The VanVickles attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony Friday. Photo supplied

Sheriff attends inauguration By Rachel Rodgers Sauk Valley Media Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle and his family greeted the chilly January morning surrounded by thousands waiting to see the nation’s 45th chief executive come into power Friday. “It was neat to see the peaceful transition from one president to another and see that part of history that still works more than 200 years later,” VanVickle said shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration

“It was neat to see the peaceful transition from one president to another,” — Brian VanVickle ceremony. VanVickle, his wife, Marla, and daughter, Ali, traveled to the capital Wednesday during the calm before the inauguration storm, walking down an oddly hushed Pennsylvania Avenue not far from where Trump will call his home for the next 4 years. “It was surprising; it

In This Week’s Edition...

was really quiet, and there was no traffic,” he said. “Then, it all changed, and there were people everywhere.” The family set out at 6:30 a.m. prior to the sun rising on hundreds of thousands of people finding a spot in the National Mall, a mixed

Church News, A5 Classifieds, B5-B10 Entertainment, A6 Oregon Library, A3

Turn to A2

L334122, and may have been heading to KSB Hospital to visit his wife, Barbara, 84. He could be wearing dark pants and a lightweight dark blue jacket, said granddaughter Angie Danielson, Oregon. Landry, who has been a pastor for 68 years, the last 41 years at Flagg Center Church of God in Rochelle, has not been officially diagnosed with any condition, Danielson said.

P o l i c e Chief Darin DeHaan has units out checking routes Landry may have Gordon traveled, but Landry does not yet have any substantial leads, he said. Anyone with information is asked to call the Oregon Police Department at 815732-2162.

BOR denies printing plant’s tax appeal By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The Ogle County Board of Review deliberated only about 5 minutes Tuesday morning before denying a tax appeal filed by the owners of a shuttered Mt. Morris printing plant. Board Chairman Joe Yockey, Stillman Valley, recommended keeping the assessment of the former Quad Graphics plant the same as last year, the $895,912 set by Mt. Morris Township Assessor Paul Peterson. The appeal sought an assessment of $122,761. Board member Mitchell Montgomery, Rochelle, agreed with Yockey, and

Oregon Police, B4 Public Voice, A7 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3

Paula Diehl, Mt. Morris, recused herself because she is the village clerk for Mt. Morris, one of the taxing bodies that receives revenue from the plant. Daniel Tucker, from Ryan Law LLC, Chicago, represented the plant’s owner, Mt. Morris Business Park LLC, Downey, California, which has no connection to the village of Mt. Morris. He said the value should be much lower because the plant has been taken off the real estate market. “I think the $400,000 appraisal is what we should go with to put a value on this thing,” Tucker said. Yockey disagreed. “I, personally, think the appraisal is too low at

Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B3

$400,000,” he said. The appraisal is based on the fair market value of the printing facility, and assessments are a third of the fair market value. Peterson set the fair market value at $2.68 million. Being taken off the real estate market should have no bearing on the current assessment, Peterson said, because it still was on the market when the value was set. “As of the date of value a year ago, it was on the market,” he said. Oregon School Superintendent Tom Mahoney agreed with Peterson. “If it’s not on the market for this tax year, then we Turn to A7

Deaths, B4 Margaret L. Blake, Emerson Garman Jr., Martha Sue Gilbert, Andrew J. Smith, Sandra J. Spinks, Richard E. Wing

Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com


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