Serving the Polo Area Since 1857
POLO
Tri-County Press December 8, 2016 Volume 159, Number 12 - $1.00
Wrestling Preview
Staying Warm
Holiday Hole
The Polo wrestling team will be coached by Mark Downey this season. B1
A Byron seventh grader helped to collect 5,000 coats for HOPE. B3
A one-of-a-kind Black Friday prank was dug on property near Oregon. A7
Council vacates former railroad right-of-way Property is east of 602 Adams By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The Polo City Council agreed Monday evening relinquish ownership of another piece of what was once Illinois Central Railroad right-of-way. The council voted to
vacate the portion of the old railroad bed that lies to the east of 602 N. Adams Ave., which is owned by Jim and Deb Busser. Jim Busser, who is an alderman, abstained from voting on the motion. The action came in response to a request several weeks ago from the Bussers and Charlie Schmidt, who owns the farm fields on the east side of the parcel. According to the
ordinance, half the former railroad property will go to each of the owners of the adjacent property. That means the Bussers will get the west half, and Schmidt will get the east half. The old right-of way is 100 feet wide and runs for several blocks. Much of it is overgrown with weeds and brush. The council vacated a portion of it approximately
two years ago when Schmidt and property owners in the 700 block of North Adams made a similar request. In another matter, the board approve the recommendation of the Park Board to enter into an intergovernmental agency agreement with the Polo School District for the use of Millard Deuth Westside Park. The agreement allows the school district exclusive use
of the baseball and softball diamonds and related facilities at the park from Feb. 24 through May 20 each year for high school games and practices. The school district will pay an annual fee of $1 to the city for the use of the park. In other business, Police Chief Kurt Cavanaugh reported that all but two of the owners of several apparently abandoned vehicles are now in compliance with city
Laptops for board members
Gouker remains chairman
County goes digital for all meeting packets
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com A challenge from a fellow Ogle County Board member from Byron fell short Monday evening of unseating Kim Gouker as board chairman. Gouker, Byron, was re-elected to a third two-year term as chairman by a vote of 17-7. A previous motion to elect Dorothy R. Bowers, also a Byron resident, was defeated 8-16. After the vote, Gouker thanked the board for its confidence in his leadership and pledged to continue making progress. “I think we’ve made a lot of progress over the last couple of years,” he said. “I want to help this board continue to move forward over the next couple of years.” Gouker, who has served on the county board for 18 years, said he hopes to build more unity on the board and make the committees more dynamic.
By Zach Arbogast zarbogast@oglecounty news.com
Ogle County Board members John Kenney, Rochelle, Greg Sparrow, Rochelle, Wayne Reising, Oregon, Pat Saunders, Polo, and Kim Gouker, Byron, take the oath of office Monday evening from Judge Robert Hanson. Photo by Vinde Wells
He said the biggest projects facing the board are building a new jail and remodeling the recently purchased clinic building in Rochelle. Board member John Finfrock, Mt. Morris, was elected to his third twoyear term as vice chairman. Before the votes for chairman and vice chairman, Judge Robert Hanson administered the oath of office to the 16 board members elected Nov. 8, including Ricky Fritz, Monroe
Center, and Zach Oltmanns, Davis Junction, in District 1; Wayne Reising, Oregon, and Thomas Smith, Kings, in District 2; Greg Sparrow and Garrett Williams, both of Rochelle in District 3; John Kenney, Rochelle, and Kimberly Whalen, Hillcrest, in District 4; Martin Typer, Stillman Valley, and Donald Griffin, Oregon, in District 5; Bowers and Gouker in District 6; Ron Colson, Mt. Morris, and Finfrock in District
7; and Patricia Saunders, Polo, and Marcia Heuer, Oregon, in District 8. Fritz, Reising, Sparrow, Kenney, Typer, Bowers, Colson, and Saunders were elected to two-year terms, while the others have fouryear terms. All 16 are Republicans and ran unopposed in November. The terms of the remaining eight county board members were not up for re-election this fall.
PCHS student works hard at his studies By Christopher Heimerman Sauk Valley Media It’s an elementary concept: The fastest route from Point A to Point B is a straight line. When it comes to education, though, Point B is a variable, meaning no two routes are the same. Three fast-tracking high school seniors, all of them taking full advantage of dual-credit opportunities through
ordinances. One has been issued a citation, he said, and the other was given more time due to an issue with the vehicle’s title. Polo resident Marv Bushman, who has addressed the council on several occasions, told Cavanaugh he knows of more vehicles which may be violating ordinances. Cavanaugh met with him after the meeting.
Sauk Valley Community College, were happy to speak to that – even if it was just days before finals week. By the end of the school year, 17-year-olds Chris Rademacher and Maura Harrison, students at Polo High School and Newman Central Catholic, respectively, will have associate degrees in hand. They entered their senior years with 35 and 28 college credits through Sauk, which has served
4,389 dual-credit students over the past 5 years. In 2014, 871 students were served, and that number jumped to 1,119 in 2015. Kaitlin Brown, 18, will effectively graduate from Rock Falls High School in December – aside from such activities as National Honor Society and cheerleading – and will then enter the nursing program at Sauk. “I’ll be able to apply for the nursing program basically a year
ahead of anyone else my age,” she said. Testing his threshold Finishing his associate degree wasn’t Rademacher’s original plan – that formed after his sophomore year, when he realized that, if he wanted to, he could graduate high school after his junior year. Or he could knock out 2 years of Turn to A3
Anniversary Celebration
Polo Rehabilitation & Health Care Center celebrated 45 years of operation on Dec. 1. The community was invited to join residents and staff for a reception. Photos supplied
The Ogle County Board is saying goodbye to paper waste and postage and going digital for the new year. In an effort to cut back on unnecessary expenses, reduce labor, and increase convenience and efficiency for board meeting information, the county board has invested in a set of 24 personal laptop computers - one for each of its members. According to board chairman Kim Gouker, the discussion to make the adjustment has been ongoing for around a year, starting with former County Clerk Rebecca Huntley in 2015 and continued by current Clerk Laura Cook. “I did state when I campaigned for County Clerk and Recorder that I would like to have the county board have their own access page for paperless packets,” said Cook. “I am happy to say this will have been accomplished within the first nine months of my time in office with the cooperation of the Ogle County Board.” Currently, one person at the clerk’s office spends two full days gathering any documentation from the 20 committees, which gets compiled with information regarding business items, copied, sorted, and mailed personally as inches-thick packets to 24 board members. Around three full packages of computer paper get expended to produce the packets, and postage costs around $3 per packet according to Gouker. Three members have moved to requesting the packets in the form of a CDROM, which have had their own issues. “One time - and we still have no idea why - when the Turn to A3
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B5
Marriage Licenses, A4 Oregon Police, B3 Public Voice, A7 Property Transfers, B5
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B3
Deaths, B4
Freda E. DuBois, Janice M. Gilbert, Charron M. Rausa, Sherman D. Schubbe, Thomas L. Simpson, Lorraine E. Straw, James R. Williams
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com