Serving the Polo Area Since 1857
POLO
Tri-County Press November 10, 2016 Volume 159, Number 8 - $1.00
Drama Club
Earth Angels
Business Workshop
The PCHS Drama Club will perform “CATS... ish” on Friday and Saturday evening. A2
Donations will be accepted to help families during Christmas. A6
A free small business workshop will be held in Mt. Morris on Nov. 17. B1
Council approves Cavanaugh as new police chief By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The Polo City Council approved several police department personnel changes Monday evening. Aldermen unanimously gave the nod to the appointment of a new police chief, the reassignment of the
current chief, and accepted the resignation of an officer. The council approved a request from Police Chief Dennis Christen to be reassigned as a sergeant, then approved the appointment of Kurt Cavanaugh, a retired Illinois State Police trooper, as chief. The council also accepted the resignation of officer
Robert Jasper. The changes are effective immediately. Although no reason was given, Mayor Doug Knapp said Tuesday that Jasper stepped down “to move on to other things.” Christen replaces Shawn Knight as the department’s only sergeant. Knight stepped down in September
to accept a post as an Ogle County Corrections officer. In his letter to Knapp and the council, Christen, 51, called the chief’s job “very demanding.” “In fact, I have had two full-time jobs in the last 18 years being a patrolman and the chief of police,” he wrote. “I’m down to my last 4 years [until retirement],
and I want to take a step back and maybe have fewer responsibilities and less stress,” he said in an interview Monday afternoon. Christen was hired as a patrolman in July 1990. He was a sergeant from 1992 to 1998, when he was appointed chief. Knapp thanked Christen Turn to A3
Kurt Cavanaugh
Yes votes are not enough for Polo By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Polo School Referendum
Polo School District voters approved at-large school board elections by 445 votes Tuesday, but the measure still failed to meet the two-thirds majority required to pass. A referendum asking if school board members should be elected at large and without restriction as to where they live received 1,149 yes votes to 704 no votes, but that amounted to only about a 65 percent majority, just short of the 66.7 percent needed. “It was a very good vote, but we needed 66.7 percent for the referendum to pass,” said Superintendent Chris
Aggie gets fed from Polo animal science class student Alicia Greve. The students are helping raise the kittens that were found Oct. 10 on a rural farm west of Lanark. Photo by Alex Paschal
Purr-fect educational project
PCHS students are learning to raise kittens in animal science class By Terry Thomas For Sauk Valley Media Kittens, by most estimations, are cute, cuddly and lovable, the sort of winsome creatures that adorn Christmas and birthday cards. But they are also remarkably helpless, especially during their initial days and weeks of life. When kittens are born, their eyes are closed, rendering them blind, and they are also deaf.
They can’t walk, and they can’t feed themselves without the mother cat nursing them. In short, without their mother’s nurturing, they face an almost certain death sentence. That was the grim fate facing a litter of five newborns Polo High School agriculture teacher Stephanie Ruppert discovered Oct. 10 on her family’s farm west of Lanark in rural Carroll County. “We had backed a couple of racks of hay into a barn,” Ruppert said. The racks sat for a few days before family
members moved the wagons and began unloading the bales. That’s when she saw the kittens in the hay – but no mom. Having been around animals her whole life, Ruppert knew the kittens were in dire straits. “We couldn’t just leave them on the hay,” she said. So she gathered up the little balls of fur and placed them in a box. Although four of the kittens had managed to open their eyes, the smallest still was groping around with her eyes nearly shut. Ruppert estimated they were perhaps 2 weeks old. For the kittens to survive, someone Turn to A2
Parents tried to prevent heroin overdose Editor’s note: This is the third of a 4-part series on the growing use of heroin in Ogle County and how it is affecting governmental agencies, addicts, family members and the political process. By Andy Colbert acolbert@oglecounty news.com Strange as it sounds, one of the most relaxing times for the parent of a heroin
addict is when their son or daughter is in jail. “There is a sense of relief knowing they are locked up,” said Bob (not his real name), father of an addict. “Jail is the best place for our kids. For a least a while, we don’t have to worry about them overdosing.” Bob and his wife spent many a day worrying about that. “Any day, you could walk into his bedroom and find him dead,” Bob said. “Many
In This Week’s Edition...
times, I heard his mom screaming at him, ‘I don’t want to find you dead’.” Unfortunately, that is what happened several months ago. Their son took an injection of heroin and some oxycontin. He was scheduled to report for work at 11 that night. Instead, he overdosed about an hour earlier. He had overdosed before, by his own count, 12 times, including three in which an ambulance was called for
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B5-B10 Entertainment, A6 Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4
Yes No Brookville 31 18 Buffalo1 266 128 Buffalo2 273 133 Buffalo3 267 132 Eagle Point 53 67 Grand Detour 3 4 Lincoln 74 69 Pine Creek 50 53 Woosung 114 77 Palmyra 6 11 Jordan 12 12 Totals 1149 704 Rademacher. “We got darn close with around 65 percent. It may not have passed, but it’s a feat nonetheless; we Turn to A9
Voters approve tax referendum By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Residents of the Forreston Fire Protection District said yes to higher taxes Tuesday. Voters approved two referenda to hike the taxes by a maximum of 10 cents, from 30 cents to 40 cents, per $100 of equalized assessed valuation (EAV) in both the fire service and the ambulance service. The ambulance referendum was approved 691 to 515 and
the fire measured passed 612 to 590. “Naturally we’re happy with the win,” said fire board president Jack Daws. “This will give us a chance to get everything going in the right direction.” Fire officials said the increases were needed to pay salaries of EMTs and for future purchases of equipment. The ambulance service budget has run in red ink. This is the first time the Turn to A9
Voters rejected
township merger
him. “You never know,” Bob said. “You can shoot up every day for years and still be alive and then one day be gone.” Their son died from the mixture of heroin and oxycontin. It wasn’t until the next morning, that his sister found him unresponsive. “In 10 seconds, I went from a dead sleep to bounding down the basement stairs to
Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B3 Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Township Merger
Voters in two Ogle County Townships had a difference of opinion Tuesday about joining forces. Lafayette Township voters favored a referendum to merge with Taylor Township 55 to 35, while those in Taylor narrowly rejected the measure 270 to 277. For the merger to happen, a majority of voters in both townships had to approve the Turn to A10 referendum.
Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Weather Forecast, A8 Zoning Permits, B4
Yes No Taylor 270 277 Lafayette 55 35 “The people have spoken,” said Lafayette Township Supervisor Cliff Jones. “We’ve talked about it for 12 years, and it was time to let the people decide. They’ve decided.” Officials in the two townships, on the county’s southern border, have been discussing the possibility Turn to A9
Deaths, B4 Wilma M. Buse, Edward L. Ludwig, Pauline V. Rowland
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com