Prairie Advocate_022223

Sing along with the music of Irving Berlin at next WWW@WCC

The Windmill Volunteer Educators at the Windmill Cultural Center in Fulton invite the public to attend the next program of Wild Winter Wednesday on March 1.

Linda Russell will share the story of Irving Berlin, America’s master song

writer, and we will sing along with some of his most familiar songs. Russell has enjoyed sharing music with others since taking piano lessons as a child. She graduated from Central College and has taught music and directed choirs. Her favorite retirement hobby

is creating singalong movies, which she shares with retirement/ health care facilities and will share with us at our program.

Doors open at 9 a.m. for coffee, tea and mill treats. The program begins about 9:20 a.m. The building is disabil-

ity accessible.

The program is funded through a grant from the D.S. Flikkema Foundation and a donation from Nelson Corp. Programs are free and open to the public. If River Bend schools are closed because of weather, WWW is canceled.

OBITUARIES PRAIRIE ADVOCATE

CLARK

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Fax 815-625-9390

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www.prairieadvocate.com

Circulation Abbie Clark

Editor ........................................................... Earleen Hinton

Advertising Sales Jennifer Heintzelman

The

Prairie Advocate is published weekly by Sauk Valley Media,

The publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for space actually occupied by that portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred - whether such error is due to the negligence of the publisher’s staff or otherwise - and there shall be no liability for non-insertion of any advertisement beyond the amount paid for such advertisement

CARROLL COUNTY FARM BUREAU

It’s National FFA Week; celebrate our young leaders!

This week, we celebrate National FFA Week. I was not a member of FFA in high school. Back then, I think there were only about two or three girls in FFA.

It also seemed, back then, FFA was much more focused on what I would say is traditional ag – agronomy and animals. Just like ag has grown, so has FFA and it covers so many more areas and has become more diverse.

We have some very active FFA chapters in our county and we want to celebrate them as we know they are our Young Leaders of the future.

•••

Applications are available for nurse practitioner scholarships through the Illinois Farm Bureau Rural Nurse Practitioner Scholarship Program. There will be 15 scholarships, worth $4,000 each, granted this year.

The scholarship program, in its 31st year, helps encourage and develop the pool of rural health practitioners to help meet primary health care needs in rural Illinois. Students who receive scholarships agree to practice for two years in an approved rural area in Illinois.

AT A GLANCE

Chastity Heeren

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be Illinois residents and be registered nurse accepted or enrolled in an accredited Nurse Practitioner Program. Funding is provided by the Rural Illinois Medical Student Assistance Program.

Applications are available on the Rural Illinois Medical Student Assistance Program website at RIMSAP. com.

•••

A reminder: The days are ticking by to get applications in for 2023 Carroll County Farm Bureau Foundation scholarships. The application is available at our office or on our website. The deadline is March 6.

We are accepting summer intern applications through March 15. This is a great opportunity for someone looking to go into ag to be able to learn

Carroll County Farm Bureau members can place up to two free classified ads per week, with a limit of 250 characters per ad (not including spaces). Ads are limited to personal or farm items for sale/wanted to buy, or farm labor or services available or wanted. No ads for the sale or rental of real estate, garage sales or commercial businesses will be accepted. To place an ad, call the Farm Bureau office at 815-244-3001 by 3 p.m. Thursday to get your ad in the following week’s paper. The Farm Bureau office compiles the ads and Shaw Media runs them in the Prairie Advocate as a courtesy in conjunction with the weekly column. Shaw Media is not responsible for the ads and any errors or corrections need to be made to the Farm Bureau office.

For Sale: 2nd crop alfalfa large round bales, wet wrapped 28%. Call 815-590 5265.

For Sale: Heavy snowmobile trailer, good for hauling 4 wheeler, 815-590-3305.

For Sale: Case 450B Bulldozer, 4 way bucket loader, 4 tooth ripper, 815-273-2898 evenings.

more about the Farm Bureau and ag business and make connections. Anyone interested can contact our office or find the application available on our Facebook page.

•••

We had a great turnout for our Lifeline Screenings last Wednesday. In fact, the schedule was completely booked. We are glad we are able to work with them to offer this very important and much-needed service to our members.

The numbers are in for the Young Leader’s Harvest for All. Thank you to all who donated. We will be running our full page ad next week in the paper thanking all who donated. I can tell you this was a record year!

Our Primetimers, the 4C’s, will be meeting again here on March 8. They will be playing bingo. They meet at 11:30 a.m. This is a group of members over age 65 who get together for food, fellowship and fun! If you are interested, please reach out to me.

By Cody Cutter | Sauk Valley Media

COLETA — There’s a lot more than just two stories in Lee and Kathy Hinrichs’ barn.

Upstairs, downstairs, everywhere you look there are stories about life on the farm, and the Coleta couple is happy to tell them.

Lee and Kathy are the barn-tenders who invite people to take a stroll, or a jog, down memory lane in the two-story barn they built with spare time and spare parts, turning it into a museum that celebrates the history of the people who raised their crops and raised their families, and the places they called home.

“What we do inside our barn is to try to jog your memory,” Kathy said. “We’ll make it remind you of something your grandma had, or maybe when you were little you remember something — just something to jog a person’s memory. We think we do that quite often, and people enjoy that.”

The couple grew up not far from their current home and have spent years picking and antique hunting, amassing an impressive collection that’s found a home in the barn that they built in 2011. Today, inside those red walls, visitors will find toys, tools and trinkets, signs of simpler times, furniture and farmhouse decor from days gone by, and much more.

Many of the items tell a tale of toil in the fields, when farmers used their hands to plow fields and not push buttons.

“We think we work hard now, but you just go back years and years ago, and you can’t imagine how hard those people had to work,” Lee said. “We worked hard on the farm, but if we go back to my great-grandpa, I didn’t work as hard as he did. I think that’s why when you look at some of these pictures and look at these people in their 60s and 70s, they look a lot older.”

“The women, too,” Kathy added. “They didn’t have a microwave.”

The museum’s wood walls all are repurposed from long gone farm buildings — barns, corn cribs, sheds — adding authenticity and a vintage feel to the building. Some parts have

PHOTOS BY CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM

It may look like just another outbuilding from the outside, but inside it’s a different story: History has found a home in a Coleta couple’s museum, where they’ve put together pieces of the past to paint a picture of what life on the farm used to be like.

Lee and Kathy Hinrichs of Coleta stand behind the counter at their farm museum, where they house thousands of pieces of farm memorabilia and agricutlural artifacts.

• BARN FIND from previous page come from old buildings both of their parents used to own. Erecting the building was a family affair, with the Hinrichs’ children and grandchildren all involved — even if it was just “for the hell of it,” as Lee likes to tell visitors.

“We had always talked about building a barn, and so just decided we were going to build one and I had stuff stashed away from auctions,” Lee said. “One day we were working on it, and it came to me that, I’m building this barn for the hell of it.”

The Hinrichs’, who have been married for 52 years, had piled up a collection of stuff for about a decade before they built the barn. Along all of the repurposed wood walls are farm signs, hammers, axes, wrenches, license plates, toy trucks, garden tools — just about anything one would find in on an old farm, or in a farmhouse.

Acquiring the abundance of artifacts was fun, the Hinrichs said, but these days it gets a little harder to add new pieces of the past because of how scarce old barns are becoming along the rural landscape. Red wood barns are giving way to white Morton buildings on many farms, making scavenger hunts a little more of a challenge.

“We grew up with barns, and when you think about, the barn is going away,” Kathy said. “If it’s a wooden barn, it’s going away. People in today’s world, they don’t milk in a barn like that; and the farmers that own them, they really can’t use them for anything because their equipment is too big, or they don’t have animals. Some people are preserving them, but it’s an expensive thing to do.”

Another sign of the times are — signs of the times. Lee’s gathered a collection of vintage farm-related ad signs, but that’s becoming a tougher task too, as many signs didn’t survive farmers’ ingenuity, having been cut and bent and repurposed for other uses on the farm; and the ones that did survive have already

been picked off walls and put into collections. Some still shine with their original color, but some show their age.

Local items really intrigue the Hinrichs, whether it’s signage, milk jugs from dairies, or the many rulers and calendars that ag businesses would give away for advertising.

“I like to pick up old signs, but it’s really kind of hard,” Lee said. “The signs have become just enormously expensive because there’s not much around. All of these old farmers that had them, they just got pitched out to the side.”

“Some of them would get used to patch a hole in a building,” Kathy

said. “Farmers used what they had. They didn’t go to Menards to get anything.”

Hanging along the ceiling in one of the rooms are a line of old cloth feed sacks from local stores and elevators that are long gone. One of them is for Master Mix Feed, which • See BARN FIND on next page

Lee’s father would get from an elevator in Hazelhurst, east of Milledgeville. Identifying feed sacks can sometimes be a challenge. It’s not always easy to find a sack with the printing still legible. Years of use and washing leave the ink as little more than a faded memory.

“They used to use these feed sacks afterwards for clothes,” Lee said. “They would have instructions to tell you how to remove the ink from the sack. The people back then would cut them up and use them for clothing, dish towels or whatever. Back in the old days, they used everything they had.”

Although Lee has been around farms and barns his entire life, he still comes across tools and trinkets that he hasn’t laid eyes on before. That’s when his detective skills kick in. He’ll take the time to track down information and learn more about a piece and find out what it was used for. Take for example all the wrenches that line his walls, big and small, curved and straight. Decades ago, farmers didn’t just break out a socket set to bust a bolt loose; there were different wrenches for different jobs.

“Sometimes I have some things that I’m not 100 percent certain what they are, and then someone will know what they were used for,” Lee said. “A lot of people will ask questions about what they were and why they were used.”

Wrenches aren’t the only tools on display: The barns also houses axes, soldering irons, clevises, hacksaws, tile spacers, branding irons, pitch forks, hay hooks, froggers, hinges, fence stretchers, steel tractor seats, gardening tools, thermometers and post pounders and more, lots more. The Hinrichs’ find the tools as-is and then take time to clean the rust off of them without damaging the item.

Corn knives also are part of the vast collection. One of them has a steel handle on it, and when Lee found it, it rekindled memories of his childhood.

“We broke so many different corn knife handles that my dad

started putting steel handles on them so we wouldn’t break them,”

Lee said. “We found one at an auction recently, and I had to get it. It just had to come home with me.”

Elsewhere, shovels of various sizes are lined up along one wall, including one used by phone and electric companies to install poles.

“I had someone from Commonwealth Edison come in one day and told me if they put a pole in that was 100 feet tall, it had to be 12 feet in the ground,” Lee said. “I can’t imagine digging 12 feet down by hand. The first couple of feet ain’t bad, but after that it gets pretty rough.”

On-Farm Tire Service

Some of the toys on display come from manufacturers long gone, such as the Buddy L Toy Company of East Moline, and Structo of Freeport. Near the toys is a wall full of old license plates, including fiber-based plates made between 1943 and 1948 due steel rationing

during World War II.

previous page when they can’t, some of the older guests clue them in on these bits of living history.

More toys can be found on the barn’s second floor, which is where much of Kathy’s collection is kept. She shares her husband’s fascination with history, be it around the house or on the farm — kitchen tables, centerpieces, food packaging, brown bottles, thermoses old games. There’s even a collection of plaid items, including bags, boxes and picnic baskets that Kathy got hooked on.

Lee also has a part of the upstairs dedicated to car repair equipment and a collection of about 100 Starline pulleys – of which only two are the same.

“We just see something and go, ‘That’s kind of cool,’” Kathy said. “One thing evolves into many things.”

Two interesting pieces of local history also are found at the museum, and both involve grocery stores from towns that you’d be hard-pressed to find on most maps. One is for a grocery store in Malvern, about 3 miles southwest of the museum, and hangs near the stairway. That sign was acquired at an auction. The other is for a store in White Pigeon, 2 miles from the museum. The red sign may have been part of a truck or wagon bed at one time.

“I tore boards out of an old corn crib one day, and I found this and it was all dusty,” Lee said. “I didn’t know what I was going to use it for, so I threw it on the hay rack and brought it here. One day I started cleaning the boards up, and I see ‘White Pigeon Store, poultry and eggs.’ I don’t know how old it is, but it’s very unique that I found that.”

The Hinrichs’ museum has been a stop on barn tours and tractor ride events in recent years, and tours from several nursing homes have stopped by. Though the museum is open by appointment only (see info elsewhere with this story for details on arranging a visit), they also host an occasional open house, and they often find some of the children who visit are stumped by some of things on display — but the Hinrichs are happy to help them learn. And

“The younger ones are amazed, and ask ‘What is that?’ or ‘What did you use that for?’” Kathy said. “We just like to instill a memory.”

“We enjoy doing what we do,” Lee said. “We like having people come and look at them, and they enjoy it.”

Take a trip back in time

The Hinrichs’ farm museum, at 21738 Pilgrim Road near Coleta, is open by appointment only, with visits best scheduled at least 3 days in advance. Email hnrchs@frontiernet.net or call 815-336-2125 to schedule a visit or for more information.

Senators: Some inmates removed from Thomson

By TROY E. TAYLOR ttaylor@shawmedia.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Some prisoners are being removed from the federal penitentiary at Thomson, a joint news release from Illinois’ two U.S. senators said.

Dick Durbin, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Tammy Duckworth said the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons will be temporarily moving some inmates from Thomson.

“We have been informed by the Department of Justice that Bureau of Prisons leadership is taking corrective action to address deeply troubling findings of a recent review of the facility,” the news release said. “We were assured by the Attorney General that these changes are temporary and that Thomson will continue to play an important role in the Bureau of Prisons system.”

The Bureau of Prisons identified “significant concerns” with regard to institutional culture and compliance with operational policies, said Scott Taylor with the Office of Public Affairs

for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

“We believe these issues are having a detrimental impact on facility operations and the BOP has determined that there is a need for immediate corrective measures,” Taylor said.

Taylor said the bureau activated a team that will provide support to the existing leadership and employees. The team also will provide additional assistance and training at the facility.

The bureau said it will be making necessary changes that better align the institution’s operation with the agency’s expectations.

Taylor also said a change in mission is being considered for Thomson, but there is no plan to close the institution.

Former Thomson inmate sentenced to 7-plus years for attacking guard

By KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@shawmedia.com

ROCKFORD – A former Thomson prison inmate will serve more that seven years for attacking a correctional officer almost four years ago.

Joseph Van Sach, 50, of Chicago, was convicted on March 15, 2022, after a seven-day jury trial in Rockford. He was

NEWS BRIEFS

New Illinois presentation will be March 2 in Erie

A presentation on New Illinois will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 2, during a meeting of the Conservative Coffee Club at 916 Albany St.

G.H. Merritt, co-founder and state chairman of New Illinois, will discuss the organization’s effort to form a new state that excludes Cook County.

ENF’s annual meeting to take place March 25

The public is invited to attend the 26th annual meeting for the Eagle Nature Foundation to be held at 11 a.m. March 25 at the Apple River Event Center.

The meeting will start with a silent auction at 11 a.m., luncheon at 11:30 a.m. (catered by the Apple River Side Track Inn), noisy auction at 12:30 p.m., business meeting at 1 p.m. and program at 2 p.m. This will be followed by a short board meeting at 3 p.m.

During the business meeting, ENF’s general membership will nominate three board members.

Board members whose terms

expire at this meeting are Ron Baumann, David Sigafus and Anne Zankovich.

Also during the business meeting, Certificates of Appreciation will be presented to people and businesses who have supported ENF during the past year, and the results of ENF’s latest research work will be presented.

The program will be a slideshow on “Eagle Valley,” which is located north of Cassville, Wisconsin.

The cost for the 26th anniversary luncheon is $25 for members of ENF and $30 for nonmembers.

Nonmembers who sign up for the meeting will receive a one year’s membership into the Eagle Nature Foundation.

Those interested in attending the meeting should send a check for as many seats as they need to: ENF, 300 E. Hickory St., Apple River, IL, 61001 before March 21.

For more information, contact Terrence Ingram, the executive director of the Eagle Nature Foundation, at 300 E. Hickory St., Apple River, IL, 61001 or 815-594-2306.

sentenced Wednesday, John R. Lausch Jr., U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a news release. No details of the assault, which happened April 2, 2019, were provided.

According to U.S. Court of Appeals documents, Van Sach was convicted in 2006, also during a jury trial, of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 171/2 years.

Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media

The prison is located north of Thomson and west of Illinois Route 84.

Savanna council approves redevelopment agreement with SippiSide Pub and Grill

By MICHAEL MILLER For Shaw Media

The Savanna City Council approved a TIF agreement Feb. 14 with SippiSide Pub and Grill, 701 Main Street, wherein the city will pay out a maximum of $230,000 to the business for redevelopment projects, or 25% of its total costs, whichever is the lesser amount.

The funding will be paid out over a period of five years and will be dependent upon the business conforming to the TIF stipulations.

An ordinance approving this redevelopment agreement was given final approval, with the second reading being waived. Alderman Deb Long was the lone “nay” vote, noting that she would prefer the payment be stretched out for seven instead of five years.

In other action, Water/Sewer/ Streets and Alleys/Refuse Committee Chairman Tevan Hartman reported that the committee had elected to give Police Chief Jeff Doran and Public Works Superintendent Brent Corey the authority to place speed control devices, including stop signs or speed bumps, at neighborhoods that were trouble spots for speeding vehicles.

He said Pike Street was being particularly troublesome.

Public Works/refuse and street and alley committee member Pat Sanchez made a motion to have city workers remove four trees from Main Street. Plans for replacement trees are still ongoing and no date was set for the removal.

Mayor Val Gunnarsson said architectural students from the University of Illinois might be involved in determining what trees would be best to replace those removed.

In further action, Public Events Committee Chair Jocelyn Boyd told the council that the committee had decided that the Pub Crawl would be held on March 18.

Gunnarsson said plans were to have the annual fireworks display on July 2, with the third of July being slated as a rain date. He said the company that does the fireworks said the fourth was not available to Savanna.

Gunnarsson said Savanna has been granted a $40,000 grant from the IEPA to inventory lead service line replacements, but cautioned that, like many communities, Savanna now faces the question of how to pay for the replacements.

The council also approved Gunnarsson’s appointment of Tommy Miner, Stacey Lamp and William Wright to the Fire and Police Advisory Boards for three-year terms. The terms will end Feb. 11, 2026.

The newly formed Public Events Committee submitted for approval an ordinance that would update existing language on public events.

Included in the updates were items such as the definition of a public event and the public events committee, rules for the application to hold a public event, issues to consider when issuing a public event permit, insurance, requirements, and other items.

Gunnarsson said he also included those events that were held on private property but would require the use of emergency services in the definition of events that would require approval by the committee.

He said this event potentially would create a public nuisance and this would give the city the ability to gauge that and deny the permit if need be.

EXTENSION EVENTS

Success with indoor plants

Four Seasons Gardening, Feb. 28, 1:30 p.m., online: Seasons come and go, but home gardening never stops. Pick up the knowledge you need to maintain a safe and healthy home landscape, create friendly spaces for indoor plants and support a resilient environment by joining Illinois Extension’s Four Seasons Gardening horticulture experts. Sessions are free to attend. Registration is required at go.illinois.edu/4SeasonsHouseplant.

Grow a garden anywhere

Growing Great Vegetables series, Feb 28, March 7, 14, 28, 6 p.m., online: Dig in with confidence this spring with Growing Great Vegetables, a webinar series covering how to grow a vegetable garden from seed to harvest. Log on at 6 p.m. for a weekly online workshop covering a new topic, engage with Illinois Extension horticulture experts and receive emails with fact sheets and more research-based tips. Register before Feb. 26 for the series at go.illinois.edu/GrowingGreatVegetables. Cost to attend the series is $10.

Relaxation and herbs

Carroll County Master Gardeners, 5 p.m., March 6, Thomson Library: Join Master Gardener Nancy Gmitro at the

Thomson Library for a lesson on relaxation and herbs. Learn the basics about what herbs to use for relaxation and create an herbal sleep pillow. To register for this program, call the library at 815-259-2480.

Ready ... Set ... Grow

8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., March 18, Loveland Community Building, 513 W. Second St., Dixon: Join the Master Gardeners of Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties for this one-day event offering participants information about horticulture, backyard gardening, pest control and more.

This keynote program, Literary Gardens, will be presented by Master Gardener and natural history writer Cindy Crosby. Ready … Set … Grow will offer two breakout sessions, a swag bag, a book nook, door prizes and a Master Gardener Help Desk. Breakout sessions include Growing Great Grapes, Natural Fairy Gardens, Tree Management, Hummingbird Gardens, Contained Compositions, Backyard Orchard, Growing Vegetables Through the Seasons and Nature Journaling.

The fee for this program is $25.

Registration will be accepted until March 10.

For registration and session information, visit go.illinois.edu/ReadySetGrow

Icy road conditions may have played part in fatal accident

Icy road conditions could be blamed for a Feb. 16 accident that claimed the life of a Lanark woman.

Karen S. Harmon, 57, was pronounced dead after her car was struck at the intersection of Freeport Road and Illinois Route 64 in western Ogle County.

An Ogle County Sheriff’s Department news release said the three-vehicle accident occurred at 7:31 a.m.

“Upon investigation, sheriff’s deputies determined that a 2003 GMC Yukon driven by Rebecca A. Marschang, 50 of Polo, was northbound on Freeport Road and was unable to stop for a stop sign, possibly due to icy road conditions,” according to the news release.

As a result, the GMC entered the intersection and collided with Harmon’s 2011 Honda Accord that was eastbound on Illinois 64.

“After being struck by the GMC,

the Honda then spun into the westbound lane where it was struck by a 2016 Peterbilt semitractor-trailer driven by Robert S. Engen, 45, of Champlin, Minnesota, that had been westbound on Illinois 64,” according to the release.

Engen was uninjured in the collision. Marschang was transported by private vehicle to Freeport Memorial Hospital for treatment of possible minor injuries.

Harmon was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Ogle County Coroner and was transported to the Ogle County Coroner’s Office.

The incident remains under investigation.

Deputies were assisted at the scene by Polo Fire and Ambulance, Mt. Morris Fire Department, the Illinois State Police and the Polo Police Department.

McCombie announces office locations, traveling office hours

State Rep. Tony McCombie has reopened her Savanna office and announced traveling office hours in Ogle County for February.

Recent reorganization has been completed to better serve the 89th legislative district, which includes all of Carroll and Jo Daviess counties, as well as parts of Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, Ogle and DeKalb counties, McCombie said in a news release.

“Constituent services and getting around my legislative district has been my top priority over the last six years. My team and I are ready to help you navigate issues and/or con-

cerns with state agencies, to provide updates on state legislative issues, and to hear feedback from you,” McCombie said.

the 89th District and has joined our team following the retirement of Sen. Brian Stewart (Freeport), who she staffed previously,” according to the news release.

• Feb. 23, Mt Morris Village Hall, 105 W. Lincoln St., noon to 1 p.m.

• Feb. 23, Forreston Public Library, 204 First Avenue, 2 to 3 p.m.

The Savanna office is located at 9317B IL Route 84 and will have regular Wednesday office hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Marney can be reached at mccombie@ilhousegop.org or by calling the office’s telephone number at 815-2918989.

State Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna

“Residents are invited to stop by and meet District Director Connie Marney. She is located centrally in

The first round of McCombie’s traveling office hours are:

• Feb. 21, Byron Community Room, 232 W. Second St., 10 to 11 a.m.

• Feb. 21, Stillman Valley Village Hall, 120 N Walnut St., 1 to 2 p.m.

•Feb. 23, Oregon City Hall, 115 N. Third St., 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Additional staff assistance to McCombie, in her role as the House Minority Leader, will be provided by Liz Buckwalter who serves as Executive Scheduler and will also serve as a district director to Rep. Ryan Spain.

Buckwalter has been with McCombie’s office for several years and has extensive experience as a legislative assistant.

Email lbuckwalter@ilhousegop. org for all scheduling requests.

Big surge by Ogle County archers in wild turkey harvest

SPRINGFIELD – Bow hunters in Ogle County harvested the state’s second-highest total of wild turkeys during the season between Oct. 1 and Jan. 15.

Statewide, it was the third-highest turkey harvest on record, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources reported. 801 wild turkeys were harvested. That’s up from 683 in the previous year.

The IDNR said the harvest was 52% hens this year.

Vermilion County had the biggest harvest at 27, an increase from 12 the year before.

Ogle County had 24, an increase from 14 the previous season.

In other Sauk Valley areas, the results varied.

Carroll and Whiteside counties each had 10, an increase over six

and seven the previous year, respectively.

Two counties were in decline: Lee County dropped from 11 to eight. Bureau County fell from 12 to five.

According to the IDNR, there were 25,373 permits, which was 605 more than the previous season. All Illinois counties were open for turkey hunting.

Dennis VanZuiden awarded volunteer service medal

Dennis VanZuiden, a Navy veteran, was awarded the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal for outstanding public service while serving as the Senior Vice Commander and Building Committee Chairman for Morrison American Legion Post 328 from August 2018 to August 2021.

VanZuiden devoted more than 680 off-duty hours in support of the American Legion, where he established a team and oversaw the renovations for the local post. His experience and skill ensured the renovations of a full kitchen, foyer and furnace room were completed despite several obstacles.

Additionally, as a member of the Post’s Honor Guard, he rendered 28

military funeral honors, marched in numerous parades and honorably laid wreaths for both Wreaths Across America at Lusk Cemetery in Albany and Morrison Memorial Day Assembly at Grove Hill Cemetery.

VanZuiden’s dedication and commitment to the community during offduty hours is an inspiration to all. His actions have helped ensure the continued success of the Legion Post and the positive development of military-community interaction. His concern for others and generous spirit reflect his high regard of the Navy’s core values of honor, courage and commitment as well as the preamble to the American Legion’s Constitution.

Lena-Winslow student wins spelling bee at Highland Community College

FREEPORT – Mason Coulthard, a sixth grader in the Lena-Winslow school district, was the winner of the 41st annual Carroll, Jo Daviess and Stephenson Regional Spelling Bee con-

ducted by Regional Office of Education 8 on Tuesday at Highland Community College.

Coulthard spelled versatile in the concluding round.

Zaydan Schoonhoven-Hussain, a seventh grader at Lena-Winslow, was

the runner-up.

Coulthard qualifies for the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 28 to June 3 in Washington, D.C.

Coulthard was awarded a gift card, a subscription to Merriam-Webster Online, the Samuel Louis Sugarman

award of a U.S. Mint proof set and a subscription to Britannica Online Premium.

Schoonhoven-Hussain was awarded a gift card, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Nautical Words Topical List by Hexco Academic.

Sporting goods, pistols, shot-guns, deer hunting equipment, art auction, kids raffle, ladies raffle, “Young hunters” can win hunting firearms. We will draw to give away 7 or more hunting guns for kids attending with Waterfowl USA members.

Meal Catered By Boars Nest

Photo provided

Post Commander L.J. Zuidema (right), on behalf of Navy commander S.L. Brown, presents the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal to Dennis VanZuiden.

Morrison sees season end in 1A regional final

By ANDY COLBERT For Shaw Media

PEARL CITY – Morrison’s best season since 2016 came to an end in a 64-36 loss to state-ranked Orangeville in the Class 1A Pearl City Regional final Feb. 17.

Behind sophomore guard Kaylynn Cahoon, who led all scorers with 22 points, the Broncos (26-4) took control from the opening tipoff and never looked back. It was their first regional title since 1997.

“We were able to isolate her and go 1-on-1,” Orangeville coach Jay Doyle said. “She plays with confidence and has done it all year.”

“We came out slow in the first quarter and had trouble getting back into the game,” Morrison coach Kerry Grim said.

Morrison’s main focus was to slow down NUIC North Player of the Year Whitney Sullivan, Orangeville’s 6-foot-3 center. With 5-9 Diana Robbins tailing her and getting backside help from posts Camryn and Shelby Veltrop, Sullivan was held to one basket and four free throws in the first half. Still, Orangeville led 30-17.

Meanwhile, Orangeville had its own strategy to combat the bigs of Morrison (23-8).

“No. 22 (Shelby Veltrop) and 21 (Camryn Veltrop) are outstanding,” Doyle said. “We sagged on them and decided to let other girls make shots from the outside.”

That game plan worked to perfection.

The Fillies had problems getting the ball inside and rang up 22 turnovers. Robbins had 12 points and Camryn Veltrop nine, but they couldn’t muster much more scoring punch.

“We knew they were going to play us in a 1-1-3 zone,” Grim said. “We practiced against it, but couldn’t get our guards to capitalize on outside shots.”

After Orangeville took a 20-7 lead early in the second quarter, Morrison went on its best run of the game with six unanswered points to close to within 20-13 on scores by Jordan Eads, Robbins and Camryn Veltrop. Sullivan missed two free throws and the Broncos committed two straight turnovers during Morrison’s run.

That momentum shift was only temporary.

Orangeville had only one more turnover in the next 12 minutes and nailed 11 of 14 free throws in that same stretch, doubling the score to 42-21 late in the third quarter.

“This is one of the toughest regionals in the state,” Grim said of the three

teams with 20-plus wins, including Lena-Winslow, which Morrison beat in the semifinals.

Coming back onto the court after being in foul trouble, Sullivan began to make her presence felt under the basket with 14 points in the final 10 minutes, starting with a pair of scores in identical cutter plays with an assist from the coach’s daughter, freshman Nadalee Doyle.

“We did a great job getting the ball to the corner to Nadalee and letting her feed Whitney,” Coach Doyle said.

In the fourth quarter, Sullivan went to the line six times, and after one of the Morrison fouls, Grim was whistled for a technical.

“Sullivan could do whatever she wanted and not be called,” Grim said. “With 26 fouls for us and 11 for them, the officiating did not go our way.”

Both Robbins and Shelby Veltrop saw their high school careers come to an end on the bench. Both finished with five fouls in attempting to defend Sullivan.

To their credit, the Fillies had three early blocks, but could not get any sort of offense going between turnovers and missed shots. Rebounding was about even, with 19 for Orangeville and 17 for Morrison.

“I’m still proud of the season we had,” Grim said.

TOLL

Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media

ABOVE LEFT: Morrison players react as they watch the final seconds of their 64-36 loss to Orangeville in the 1A Pearl City Regional. ABOVE RIGHT: Morrison’s Camryn Veltrop (21) tries to block a shot by Orangeville’s Whitney Sullivan (5).

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Eastland beats Milledgeville in regional action

The Eastland Cougars took full advantage of their trips to the charity line on Saturday as they dropped Milledgeville 52-41 in a Class 1A regional quarterfinal in Lanark.

Eastland rallied from deficits of 16-10 at halftime and 28-24 through three quarters en route to the win. Eastland will take on Fulton in a regional semifinal Wednesday night at Stan Borgman Court at Fulton High School.

Parker Krogman had 11 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth period for Eastland, which held a 28-13 scoring edge in the quarter thanks in large part to shooting 21 for 26 from the free-throw line.

Krogman was 7 for 7 from the line, Peyton Spears went 8 for 10, and Carsen Heeren hit a 3 and shot 4 for 6 from the line. Spears finished with 14 points, Heeren had 13, and Trevor Janssen scored seven for the Cougars, Connor Nye and Kacen Johnson

both had 11 points for Milledgeville, while Bryce Aude added eight and Eric Ebersole chipped in six.

2A West Carroll Regional Riverdale 85, West Carroll 59: The Rams advanced to the West Carroll Regional semifinals with a win over the Thunder in Port Byron. Riverdale will face Farmington on Wednesday night.

1A Fulton Regional Fulton 62, Forreston 49: The Steamers pulled away in the second half in a regional quarterfinal win at home, outscoring the Cardinals 19-12 in the third quarter and 18-13 in the fourth.

Baylen Damhoff had 19 points, Ethan Price scored 16, and Payton Curley added 13 for Fulton (23-8).

Damhoff and Curley each hit a pair of 3-pointers, and Dom Kramer chipped in eight points for the Steamers.

Owen Greenfield’s 14 points paced Forreston (12-19), while Payton Encheff scored 10, Kendall Erdmann added eight, and Brendan Greenfield finished with six.

See ROUNDUP, Page 14

Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media

Eastland’s Parker Krogman (33) shoots during 1A regional action against Milledgeville in Lanark on Feb. 18.

Fulton’s Pannell, E-P’s Grunder finish in top five

By DAN WUSSOW dwussow@shawmedia.com

CHAMPAIGN – Fulton senior Zane Pannell, the fifth-place finisher at 170 pounds last year, led the group of local medalists this year at the same weight, pinning Tolono Unity’s Kyus Root in 3:46 in the third-place match.

After losing to Root in the quarterfinals, Pannell won three straight matches, avenging his earlier tournament loss in the medal round to cap his high school wrestling career.

“I like to end my high school career on a pin. It felt good. Getting another pin and another win right after I took 51 wins, it feels good,” Pannell said. “I’d rather have gotten first instead of third, but you can’t really change that now.

“I enjoyed [the state tournament] last year. I enjoyed it this year. It’s always fun staying up with your friends. I’m kind of sad that it all has to end, but who knows? Maybe I’ll wrestle at some college somewhere and I’ll wrestle in places like this every day.”

Erie-Prophetstown senior Jase Grunder finished fifth at 152 with a 5-1 tiebreaker against Stillman Valley’s Jack Seacrist, avenging a third-place match loss at the Oregon Sectional last week.

Although he hoped to place higher than last year’s fourth at 145 pounds, he was still happy to end his high school wrestling career in the medal round on a win.

“It’s not where I wanted to be, obviously – I want to be on top of the podium – but to wrestle back after losing at quarters – and I had to wrestle four matches after that – I showed a lot of grit,” Grunder said. “I had a lot of really tough matches and came out on top here, finished with the ‘W.’ It’s great.”

Riverdale freshman Dean Wainwright won the 106-pound championship in Class 1A, pinning Illini Bluffs junior Hunter Robbins in 3:40.

“It feels good. It’s pretty exciting [to be a state champion],” Wainwright said. “That was the goal. I put some hard work into it, and, eventually, I achieved it.”

• ROUNDUP

Continued from Page 13

1A East Dubuque Regional East Dubuque 45, Morrison 39: The Mustangs watched a 28-21 halftime lead disappear in the second half of a regional

Wainwright’s senior teammate and reigning 152-pound state champ Collin Altensey ended his high school wrestling career with a second-place finish at 160, losing an 11-3 major decision to El-Paso Gridley’s Dax Gentes.

Altensey advanced to the finals by beating Shelbyville’s Will Fox 15-0 by technical fall in 1:58, breaking the previous IHSA tournament record of 2:04.

From the initial moments of the match, Altensey was in control.

“I was working my tilts on top and it seemed to work from the start, so I just kept doing it over and over,” Altensey said. “It feels really good [to have a chance to win back-to-back state titles]. I’m excited for that match tomorrow. I’m not really worried about what [my opponent is] doing, I just want to focus on myself and try to dominate the match.”

quarterfinal loss on the road as the Warriors outscored them 24-11 over the final 16 minutes.

Brenden Martin had 20 points to lead Morrison, and Carson Strating scored seven.

Aidan Colin finished with 16 points, Carter Widmeier added 12, and Brody Culbertson chipped in eight for East Dubuque.

Brock Soltow scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter for Polo, while Brady Wolber added seven points and Carter

Riverdale’s Dean Wainwright throws down Illini Bluffs’ Hunter Robbins in the 106-pound Class 1A champi-

1A South Beloit Regional Somonauk 53, Polo 42: The Marcos lost a regional quarterfinal at home, trailing 19-12 by halftime and 31-27 through three quarters.

Merdian finished with five. Weston Hannibal led the Bobcats with 14 points and Parker Sexton scored 11.

2A Byron Regional Winnebago 56, Oregon 29: The Hawks’ season came to an end with a loss on the road against Big Northern rival Winnebago in a regional quarterfinal.

Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.com

Fulton’s Zane Pannell and Tolono Unity’s Kyus Root wrap up in the Class 1A 170-pound third-place match Feb. 18 in the IHSA individual state wrestling finals at the State Farm Center at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

onship match.

Gary Middendorf/ Shaw Media

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT CARROLL COUNTY, ILLINOIS

CLASSIFIED

Locally raised pork and beef for sale. Processed at Johnson's Locker in Chadwick, IL. Frozen & packaged. Call 815- 632-7149 please leave a message

Estate of:

IVON L. MILLER, Deceased No. 2023 PR 7 CLAIM NOTICE

Notice is given of the death

Estate of: IVON L. MILLER, Deceased No. 2023 PR 7 CLAIM NOTICE

Notice is given of the death of IVON L. MILLER. Letters of Office were issued to KRISTY J. STREHLOW, 207

W. Will St., Forreston, IL 61030, as Representative, whose attorneys are WARD, MURRAY, PACE & JOHNSON, P.C., 202 E 5th Street, Sterling, Illinois 61081.

Claims against the estate may be filed in the office of the Clerk of Court, Carroll County Courthouse, 301 N. Main