Serving Ogle County since 1851
OREGON Republican Reporter
February 1, 2018 Volume 168, Number 8 - $1.00
Lady Hawks Win
Lecture Series
IAPD Award Winner
OHS Senior Bailey Montavon leads Oregon to a win over Rockord Christian on Senior Night. B1
Learn about prehistoric dogs at Byron’s Jarrett Center. A6
Oregon Park District Commissioner Dan Engelkes received a 2018 Rising Star Award. A7
Mongan trial pushed back By Earleen Hinton ehinton@oglecounty news.com
Steve Koek, from the Holocaust Museum, Skokie, speaks about the life experiences of his father, Joseph, as a child hiding from the Nazis in the 1940s. Here, his slideshow stops on a photo of he and his father. Photos by Zach Arbogast
Skokie man keeping father’s story of survival alive By Andy Colbert acolbert@oglecountynews.com Going back centuries, there is a Jewish tradition of preserving history from one generation to the next. That is what Steve Koek is attempting to do as the son of a Holocaust survivor. In conjunction with National Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, Cindy Belleque of the Mt. Morris Public Library contacted the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie and requested a speaker. Koek, who also hails from Skokie, spoke at both the Oregon and Mt. Morris libraries on Jan. 23. The talk he gave was titled “Hidden Child: The Story of Joseph Koek”. It was the same story his father, Joseph Koek, had told numerous times, recounting the harrowing days as a youth when he and his two sisters hid from the Nazi soldiers in their homeland of The Netherlands. A month before he was to share this tale with the United Nations, Joseph Koek died in 1985 at the age of 85. Since then, his son Steve is keeping the story alive. And, a remarkable one it is, as 75 people listened to it at the two libraries. Joseph, or Joop as he called then, was 12 years old when the Nazis invaded The Netherlands and began rounding up Jews. Being well-connected, Joop’s parents made arrangements with the Underground and Resistance Fighters for Joop and his two sisters to go into hiding. Sadly, Joop wasn’t even able to say goodbye to his mother or father, a memory that would haunt him later in life. Nor, would he ever see them again, as they were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp and were among the one million who died there. In 1940, there were 140,000 Jews in The Netherlands. The odds were against Joop and his sisters surviving, as only
The trial of an Oregon man charged in a fatal boating crash in 2016 won’t start on Feb. 14 as previously planned. Special prosecutor David Neal, from the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s office, filed a motion Jan. 29 to continue the case and delay setting a trial date until he gets a report from a defense expert in the felony case against Marc Mongan, 47. Mongan has been charged with one count of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, a Class 2 felony; three counts of reckless homicide, all class 3 felonies; and three counts of reckless conduct, all Class 4 felonies, in the death of Megan Wells, 31, Rockford. Wells was killed on June 24, 2016 on the Rock River three miles north of Oregon when a johnboat Mongan was operating struck her as it went over the back of the pontoon boat she was riding in, throwing her overboard. Neal told Judge John Redington on Tuesday that he filed the motion in response to a yet-to-be-received report from a defense expert. “There are discovery issues outstanding,” Neal told Redington. “Because of those I just don’t see how the people
would be ready to go forward on Feb. 14.” Neal’s motion reads: “The expert’s report has not yet been tendered to the People. Said expert’s report would reasonably be anticipated to inform the People of any specific or affirmative defenses that the defense may present. The People do not allege that this delay was intentional by the defense and is the result of the scheduling and other issues that go into the preparation of an expert’s opinion.” Redington granted the motion to continue the case until Feb. 8 at 2:30 p.m. for a status hearing. “We will talk about a trial date them,” Redington said. Redington said he met out of court with Neal and Mongan’s attorneys, Dave Tess and Russ Crull, Rochelle, before the hearing to discuss scheduling issues. Cynthia Koroll, the attorney representing Wells’ parents Robin and Dave Swaziek, said she was not included in that discussion and had a conflict for the Feb. 8 hearing. She asked if she could participate via telephone. Redington said she could not participate via telephone, but he would call her before a trial date was chosen. (Vinde Wells contributed to this story)
Benefit is Friday for 4-year-old Around 50 people attended a program at the Oregon Public Library to listen to the life experiences of Joseph Koek hiding from the Nazis .
40,000 Jews remained after the war ended. At first, the three kids were hid in the upstairs in a house of a sympathizer, afraid to even look out the window for fear of being spotted. Then Joop was separated from his sisters and sent to a working farm. Luckily, he broke his leg there and ended up in a hospital. That saved him from being shot, as shortly afterwards the Nazis rounded up all escapees, sympathizers, and Jews from that area and brutally murdered them. “The resistance fighters (underground) were heroes to Joop and his sisters,” Steve Koek said. “They risked their lives to save them. The kids were constantly being shuffled from family to family.” Koek asked the audience to imagine what it would it would be like not to be able to say goodbye to your parents and be taken away by a total stranger. It was daunting for the three Koek children, but survival took precedence over the nurturing support of a parent. Koek also related a close call the sisters had. They were in a public building when the Nazis made an appearance, seeking out Jews. The two girls hid in a bathroom stall,
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Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B8 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6
and the older one feigned helping the younger one pull her underwear up, as a Nazi soldier checked the stalls. Not recognizing them as Jews, he continued on without apprehending them. As months became years, it was a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse between the Koek children and the Nazis, with an inherent fear of being caught. “What the story of the Holocaust tells us is there are people that hate so much, they are willing to kill,” Koek said. “The other story is there are others that will risk their life to save yours.” Before Germany capitulated in 1945 and the Dutch became free, Joop had a host family that loved him and would have been glad to have him stay on as a member of the family. Instead he ended up moving to Chicago, following in the footsteps of his sister Eva. Children of that era were sponsored by someone from this country. Joseph Koek, who became a tailor, kept his story secret for many years, until being encouraged by another Holocaust victim to begin sharing it. Now, it is his son’s Steve’s turn to keep those remembrances from fading from history.
Fines, B5 Library News, A2 Marriage Licenses, A4 Public Voice, B4
Girl was injured in car accident By Kathleen Schultz kschultz@saukvalley.com The Ogle County community is invited to celebrate the recovery of 4-year-old Kylia Johnson, who lost her mother and unborn brother in a car crash Dec. 11 that also left her with extensive injuries. A party with cake and refreshments will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Polo Fire Department, 206 S. Franklin Ave., where her dad, DJ, volunteers. DJ, 27, and Kylia were injured in the collision, which happened when their car hit a patch of ice on snowy state Route 26 around 3:45 p.m. and slid into the path of an oncoming pickup truck. Sarah, 26, who was pregnant with their son, Oliver, was in the front passenger seat. The Polo family was nearly home after attending her 35-week check-in with her Sterling obstetrician. Kylia, who suffered brain injuries and a cracked hip,
Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B4 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B 2
was treated at MercyHealth Hospital-Rockton Avenue in Rockford, and will be discharged Thursday from the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago. Outpatient therapy is next on the agenda. “She’s really doing well,” Grandpa Dan Johnson of Milledgeville said. DJs injuries were less severe; he was treated and released from MercyHealth on Dec. 16. In addition to a GoFundMe campaign, an account has been established at First State Bank Shannon-Polo-Lake Carroll to help DJ with medical and other expenses. DJ, whose given name is Daryl Allan Johnson, works at Exelon in Byron and is a military police officer with the Army Reserve. Sarah grew up in Lanark and graduated from Eastland High School in 2009. She and DJ were high school sweethearts who had just celebrated their seventh anniversary on Dec. 4. As one can image, this has been a truly painful time for DJ, but “he’s doing pretty well. I told him I’m really proud of him,” his dad said.
Deaths, B5 James W. Cratty, John I. Mershon Sr., William S. Noonkesser, Todd Pfab
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