Orr 2017 08 31

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Serving Ogle County since 1851

OREGON Republican Reporter

August 31, 2017 Volume 167, Number 38 - $1.00

Hawks Win Opener

People Pleaser

Farm Stroll

The Hawks win their season opener 13-7 over Harvard at Landers-Loomis Field. B1

A Rockford woman’s sculpture of a bear wins first prize. A2

Nine farms will be featured Sept. 10 at the Ogle County Farm Stroll. A7

Still no word on Black Hawk statue repairs By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com

Dana Nappi, a volunteer and board member of the Friends Forever Humane Society in Freeport leads Neeko through a jump on the agility course at the Rescue Rally on Saturday. Neeko, age 9, is available for adoption. Photo by Earleen Hinton

Rescue Rally all about the dogs Mt. Morris woman wants homes for dogs in shelters

Boss, a 3-month-old mixed breed, plays in the agility area at the Bonafied Rescue Rally on Saturday. Boss is available for adoption at Friends Forever in Freeport. Photo by Earleen Hinton

Jace Keyster, age 6, of Stillman Valley, laughs as his foster dog Mia comes out of the tunnel of the agility course. Photo by Earleen Hinton

“There are things that you just don’t know about a dog when they are only in a shelter environment,” Falconer said. “With foster homes we can see how they react with regular household tasks so when someone asks ‘How are they around a vacuum cleaner’ we have an answer.” Stillman Valley’s Kelly and Shawn Keyster, and their six-year-old son, Jace, are the foster family for Mia, a pit bull and blue heeler mix, who arrived at Friends Forever with a litter of puppies.

In This Week’s Edition...

Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B4 Library News, A3

“We’ve had her as a foster dog for two and a half months and she’s a very sweet girl,” Kelly said. “She had a litter of puppies when she came in to the shelter as a rescue. We have another dog at home and she gets along with him fine.” Jace was all smiles as he encouraged Mia through the agility course. “Come on Mia, come on,” he said even entering the plastic tunnel himself with dog treats in hand to lead her through. Turn to A2

Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3

The statue stands on a 125-foot bluff overlooking the Rock River and draws thousands of visitors each year. It was unveiled and dedicated in 1911.

OHS student taken into custody Aug. 28 A 15-year-old boy from Mt. Morris was taken into custody at Oregon High School Monday after he was accused of making threatening comments. Oregon Police took the boy, an OHS student, to the police station after they responded to a disorderly conduct call at

By Earleen Hinton ehinton@oglecountynews.com Three-month-old Boss could not control his enthusiasm as he jumped over one bar, crashed into another, and then grabbed his leash in his mouth and just flat out ran. Minutes earlier, Mia, age 5ish, opted to walk around the first jump, but then carefully stepped over the next one before going through the “tunnel” with a lot of encouragement from her six-year-old human buddy, Jace. That was just some of the canine action at the first Rescue Rally, held by Bonafied, an up and coming rescue group founded by Melodee Hoffman, of Mt. Morris. “We are working towards having a rescue group for dogs,” said Hoffman at Saturday’s rally, held at the City of Oregon’s dog park in Carnation Park, along the Rock River. “Rescue dogs are wonderful dogs that need saving. A lot of the rescues are dogs that someone got when they were a puppy and then because of life changes they were taken to a shelter. They can be all kinds of breeds, including pure breds.” Hoffman said one of the goal’s of her group is to get shelter dogs into foster families to make then more adoptable and save their lives. “We like to take them from a shelter and get them in to actual homes,” Hoffman said. “One of our members has a farm where we take the dogs and see how they react to goats, chickens, and cats.” Carol Falconer, director of the Friends Forever Humane Society of Freeport, said foster homes enable shelter dogs to acclimate to real homes to help make them more adoptable.

With another summer quickly drawing to a close, nothing has changed for the Black Hawk statue at Lowden State Park, near Oregon. The area’s most famous landmark remains in encased in black plastic with no apparent progress on efforts to restore it. “I do not have anything new available at this time, but I will keep you posted when I do,” wrote Ed Cross, Director of Communications for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, in an email. Cross’ answer was in response to an emailed question about when the work on the statue will resume. He did not reply to an email asking what is holding up the work, now that the state budget has been passed. The state’s long-standing budget impasse side-tracked

some of the funds for the statue’s repairs. State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Rochelle) said in April that a $350,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) that was earmarked for the statue repairs couldn’t be released until the General Assembly passed budget legislation. Demmer could not be reached for comment by press time on Tuesday. The 50-foot statue, which is under the IDNR’s authority, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009. The ravages of weather and time have taken a toll on the concrete monument, which was created by sculptor Laredo Taft in 1910 as a tribute to Native Americans.

the school at 1:45 p.m. The boy was later released to his mother’s custody with a referral to the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office with a petition for juvenile delinquency. The incident remains under investigation.

Block party celebrated Oregon volunteerism By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com The Oregon Coliseum was host to an event dedicated to showing a year’s worth of accomplishments to the public, thanking volunteers who made it all possible, and hopefully recruiting a few more to join in. Oregon Together, a volunteer group dedicated to beautifying, restoring, and bringing community events to Oregon, hosted its second annual Community Block Party at the Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. Just inside the Coliseum was a presentation of Oregon Together’s various accomplishments and events volunteers have helped with through the year, such as the Rockin’ River Fest, Chocolate Walk, and cleaning up all over Oregon. “We’re looking to reinvigorate the community,” said presentation host Tom Mahoney, Oregon School Superintendent and Oregon

Social News, A4 Sports, A10, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4

Jarrod James, 5, of DeKalb, pitches a bean bag in the Block Party kid zone. Photo by Zach Arbogast

Together Coordination Council member. “Our intent here is to provide the community with a sample of what we do, have them enjoy some food and fun, and hopefully become a part of this with us.” On the eastern lawn was a kids zone, a collection of games for children of all ages to play, including a tube ball toss, hula hopping, bean bag

Deaths, B5 Reuben “Jim” Bolen Eugene C. Kitzmiller

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

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