County News
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Ogle County Newspapers, Thursday, April 21, 2016, Page A7
Proposed rail line may go through Ogle, Lee Counties By Pam Eggemeier peggemeier@sauk valley.com A federal regulatory agency is running public meetings to gather input on a proposed 278-mile rail line project that would extend from southern Wisconsin to northern Indiana. Building the Great Lakes Basin Railroad would cost an estimated $8 billion. The rail system would be entirely funded by private investors led by Frank Patton, Crete, a former software developer. The system would extend from La Porte, Indiana, to Milton, Wisconsin, requiring overpasses for several interstates and four rivers, including the Rock in Ogle County. The rails would reach Illinois near Manteno, and catch the far eastern edge of Lee County. The route would run through sparsely populated areas, bypassing the congested Chicago rail system. The new rail lines would connect with existing Class I railroads. The 10 public meetings were organized by the Surface Transportation Board, an agency that works independently within the U.S. Department of Transportation. The information gathered at the meetings is used primarily for the assessment of the project’s potential environmental impact. Opponents, primarily landowners, have gathered to voice their concerns about
the project. About 300 people showed up at the first public meeting April 11 in Manteno. Farmers there said the path would split through farmland, ruin irrigation systems, and displace wildlife in nature areas. Landowners also were concerned about the possible use of eminent domain to acquire property. In Rochelle, about 150 opponents didn’t even wait for the public meeting planned for April 20 at the high school. The crowd gathered April 10 at Lincoln Elementary School, sharing many of the same concerns as the landowners in Manteno. While regional officials are intrigued by the proposed project, the enormity of it presents many challenges. Plans call for one of the branches to connect with Rochelle’s rail system on the city’s southeast side before continuing to an Interstate 39 overpass. “If it ever does come to pass, it would be an interesting dynamic to have equal access to three major railroads,” Rochelle Economic Development Director Jason Anderson said. But Anderson knows firsthand what an arduous process it can be to bring rail projects to fruition. “We have been trying to get one small bridge over a tiny creek for the city’s system, and we’re still working on it well over a year later,” Anderson said. “We think it’s going to take a while to get
The proposed Great Lakes Basin Railroad would extend from La Porte, Indiana, to Milton, Wisconsin, requiring overpasses for several interstates and four rivers, including the Rock in Ogle County. The rails would reach Illinois near Manteno, and catch the far eastern edge of Lee and Ogle Counties. Submitted image
permitting for a project like this.” Patton has said he thought permitting and construction could be done in four years, which at that time would have put the project’s completion date in 2019. That timetable would seem overly optimistic. “Looking at the map, this involves building overpasses over several major highways, and bridges over four rivers,”
Anderson said. “This could be a long process.” Lee County Board President Rick Ketchum said he will go to one of the public meetings, but it’s too early in the process to spend much of the county’s time or energy on it. “I didn’t want to bring it to the full board until I had more details,” Ketchum said. “It’s kind of a pie-in-the-sky project at this point.”
The county board is also working on a more pressing rail project. Rochelle is working with the county to expand the city’s rail system north of tiny Steward into the intermodal hub. “Our industrial park is built to the county line, so our next major project will probably be in that Steward area,” Anderson said. Utilities would be run along the Elva Road area, as
part of a 1,000-acre buildout included in Rochelle’s comprehensive plan. “It’s not that we’re not interested in the Great Lakes Basin project, it’s just that the rail extension with Rochelle is more important right now,” Ketchum said. The public comment period for the Great Lakes Basin environmental impact study has been extended to June 15.
John Deere site in Grand Detour will open May 1 The John Deere Historic Site will open its gates to the public for its 52nd season on Sunday, May 1. Located in Grand Detour, the site is the original Illinois homestead of John Deere and is the location where he built his first “self-scouring” steel plow. New this year, the John Deere Historic Site will offer Family Free Days, providing free admission to all guests on the second Saturday of each
month, May through October. Opening Day, May 1, will also be free and will include special activities for kids including making rag dolls and pioneer-era kid’s games. The site includes the John Deere home, archaeological site, blacksmith shop, and a gift shop. The original home John Deere built in 1836 gives an intimate glimpse of pioneer life. Visitors see how the Deere
Illinois is failing when it comes to helping those with disabilities
special education program and begin receiving help from Illinois’ Department of Human Services (DHS). DHS would help him live in group home, if he desired. It would help him attend a place like the Village of Progress – where he’d have work to do, a paycheck in his pocket, and a community of friends. That’s how it should work. Instead, when a young person turns 22, he’s placed on a state-wide waiting list. It’s become a bureaucratic limbo. The reality is that, unless there’s a crisis that leaves him homeless, he and his family will remain on that waiting list for years. Many years. Why the waiting list? Not because of anything the young person or the family did wrong; rather, simply because Illinois hasn’t committed the needed funds. Statewide, there are over 20,000 families on the list. All waiting for their name to be drawn at random. At the Village of Progress we thought this was just plain wrong. And so in 2014 the Village of Progress and the Village of Progress Foundation decided to act.
By Brion Brooks Executive Director Village of Progress Editor’s Note: Brion Brooks is an attorney, ordained minister, and the father of an adult child with developmental disabilities. When it comes to serving men and women with lifelong disabilities, Illinois is failing. Badly failing. How bad is it? United Cerebral Palsy ranks Illinois at 47th in providing services. As if that’s not bad enough, it gets worse. Among the Great Lakes states, Illinois is dead last in its commitment to the disabilities community. One result of this failure is that many young people with disabilities who should be receiving state services don’t. If Illinois worked as it should, when a young person with developmental disabilities turns 22 he’d leave his local school’s
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family raised eight children, not to mention live-in apprentices, in their six-room home. See the rooms as the Deere family would have known them, furnished with period household items that show how pioneers cooked, cleaned, bathed, and spent their few leisure hours. In 1963, an archeological team uncovered the exact location where John Deere forged his first self-scouring
steel plow. While looking over the preserved site and seeing firsthand the artifacts excavated, a video tells the story of how John Deere built a thriving manufacturing business. A highlight of any visit to the site includes seeing a recreation of Deere’s original blacksmith shop. Entering is like a time warp to early pioneer days as guests see the shop as it would have
Guest Column
Brion Brooks
The Village created “Attendance Grants.” These grants help people on the waiting list attend the Village now, instead of years from now. Think of it like a scholarship, except it’s not based on merit. The first year the Village’s Foundation enthusiastically
pledged $24,000 for the grants. News quickly spread. Within a couple months the A. Charles & Lillemor Lawrence Foundation donated a substantial matching gift. And with that, the Village Attendance Grant Program was launched. Each year the Attendance Grant program has grown. This year we included the Attendance Grants as a donation item in our annual Christmas Wish List. I’m pleased to report that we received over $7,000 in gifts to help this program grow. The project began with seven grants. This year we’re able to help over a dozen men and women attend the Village. These grants cover the costs of travel to and from the Village as well as all the services our other men and
looked more than a century ago. Generally, five to seven times a day, resident blacksmiths demonstrate what it takes to be a skilled iron worker. Works created by the resident blacksmiths are sold in the site’s gift shop along with a variety of John Deere licensed products. Special events include the June Jam on Sunday, June 26, Hammer In on Saturday,
Aug. 6, and Grand Detour Art Festival on Sunday, Sept. 11. The John Deere Historic Site is open seasonally May 1 through Oct. 31. Gates open daily, Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for ages 12 and older. For more information, call 815-6524551, email JohnDeere HistoricSite@ JohnDeere. com or visit www.JohnDeere Attractions.com.
women enjoy. Grant recipients are offered paid work opportunities, social outings, and training to help them with daily living. In short, they are given a sense of purpose, a place of community, and respect. The same things we all long for. The impact of the grants has been profound. One family faced the prospect of a parent giving up her full time job because her adult child could not be left home alone. Other families reported seeing their sons’ and daughters’ social skills improve after starting to attend the Village. These families are still on the waiting list, but their children are moving forward. My dream is that Village Attendance Grants can one day secure services for all men and women awaiting
funding in Ogle County. Hubert Humphrey once said that the moral test of government is how it treats those in the dawn of life, the children; those in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped. If that’s the measure, our state leadership is failing on so many levels. But what’s heartening to see is the generosity and grace of the people. Over and over again, I speak with directors of other nonprofits and hear stories of volunteers who give their time freely and donors who share their blessings generously. Illinois’ leadership is stuck and failing. But its citizens – especially those in Ogle County – are committed to moving forward.