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POLO
Tri-County Press September 21, 2017 Volume 159, Number 41 - $1.00
Fourth Place
AOP Festival
Fifth Officer
The Marcos finished in fourth at the Sally Wessels Golf Invitational. B1
Read all about Oregon’s upcoming Autumn on Parade festival. Insert
The Polo City Council approved a plan to hire a fifth police officer. A3
Drivers in construction zone may get tickets By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Unauthorized drivers who travel through the construction zone on West Dixon Street may find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Police Chief Kurt Cavanaugh said Monday night that anyone besides residents of the street who drive through the wellmarked construction zone can be ticketed. “They are disobeying traffic signs,” he said. The cars speeding through the zone brought a West Dixon Street resident to Monday’s Polo City Council meeting. “The problem is that
the cars are going through there instead of using the detour,” said Dave Spaine. “Weekends are the worst.” Although West Dixon is closed to through traffic from Ill. 26 almost to Lincoln Street, Spaine said plenty of drivers are ignoring the signs and barricades and are driving through the construction zone anyway — often at speeds much faster than the legal limit of 30 mph. “I feel sorry for the construction guys — when a car speeds through there they get covered with dust,” he said. “I’m concerned about the kids walking to school, too, the way some of them [vehicles] go through there.” The recent dry weather
A construction crew from Fischer Excavating, Freeport, digs a trench Friday for new sewer mains on West Dixon Street. Photo by Vinde Wells
has made the dust problem even worse, Spaine said. “It gets all over you, it gets in your house,” he said. For several weeks, the area
has been under construction while Fischer Excavating, of Freeport, replaces sewer and water mains. The construction zone is
clearly marked at each end with a series of signs. At the east end the signs read, “Road Construction Ahead,” “Road Closed Ahead,” and finally “Road Closed to Through Traffic.” At the west end, the signs warn, ““Road Closed to Through Traffic” and “Road Closed Ahead.” In addition, large orange detour signs clearly mark the route that directs traffic around the construction site. From Ill. 26 the detour goes west on Wilson Street to Lincoln Street and then back to West Dixon (Milledgeville Road) near the city limits. Spaine suggested reducing the speed limit in the construction zone to 10 mph.
Alderman Randy Schoon, who lives on West Dixon, asked if the street could be completely closed instead of leaving a lane open for emergency vehicles and residents of the street. Police Chief Kurt Cavanaugh said the street must remain partially open for emergency vehicles. He said the speed limit is set by state statute and must remain at 30 mph. Cavanaugh said he will station officers at the construction zone to monitor traffic and write tickets when warranted. On the bright side, Schoon, who heads up the Water & Sewer Committee, said the project is on schedule and should be wrapped up by Thanksgiving.
Red ink prompts a hiring freeze By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Mary Salstrom, an Oregon native, was busy painting a portion of the prairie at the Nachusa Grasslands during Autumn on the Prairie on Saturday. Photo by Earleen Hinton
Bison big draw at prairie event Weather was perfect at the Grasslands By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The weather was perfect and the prairie was in full fall dress, but the bison stole the show again on Saturday at the annual Autumn on the Prairie at Nachusa Grasslands southeast of Oregon on South Lowden Road. Of the nearly 1,000 people who attended the event, 870 took advantage of the wagon rides that took them into the prairie to see the bison herd, under bright blue skies with the temperature in the high 80s. “Lots of people went on the tours,” Bill Kleiman, restoration project director at the Grasslands said. “We had five wagons going.” Turn to A7
A looming deficit has prompted the Ogle County Board to unanimously adopt a hiring freeze. Finance Committee Chairman Greg Sparrow, of Rochelle, told the board Tuesday evening that the county is facing a projected shortfall of $750,000 to $1 million in the General Fund unless it takes steps to reduce expenses and bolster revenues. He also recommended freezing wages, and said that will be part of upcoming contract negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police and other unions that represent some county employees. He said the Finance Committee has already rejected salary increases requests for the new fiscal year that begins Dec. 1 from departments with non-union employees. Sparrow said that treasurer John Coffman had to borrow from other solvent county
funds to pay the bills coming from the General Fund before property tax revenue payments came in. Once the tax payments were received the interfund loans were repaid. The hiring freeze will go into effect immediately, he said, and comes at a good time because several county employees will become eligible for retirement over the next four years. The alternative would have been eliminating the jobs of an estimated 25-30 employees, Sparrow said. “It made sense to do it through attrition,” he said. The county employs more than 200 people. According to the new hiring freeze policy, when an employee leaves, that position must remain open and unfilled for three months while the department head evaluates the need for it. If the department head believes the position is critical, he or she can file a request to fill it with the Personnel & Salary Committee.
Sign-up for cook-off
Visitors to Autumn on the Prairie could ride on hayracks out on the prairie to see the bison herd. Photo by Earleen Hinton
In This Week’s Edition...
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B5-B10 Entertainment, A6 Fines, B3
Library News, A8 Marriage Licenses, A4 Public Voice, A4 Property Transfers, B3
Sheriff’s Arrests, B3 Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B3
The annual chili cookoff, sponsored by the Polo Chamber of Commerce, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 30 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Louise Quick Park at the corner of Mason Street and Franklin Avenue in downtown Polo. Trophies and cash prizes in the form of Polo Dollars will be awarded for Judge’s Choice-$100, People’s Choice-$50, Non Traditional-$25, and Showmanship-$25. Cooking begins at 8 a.m. Registration forms are available at First State Bank, Polo Credit Union, Polo City Hall, or at www. polochamber.org. Completed forms and fees need to be turned in by Thursday, Sept. 28.
Polo’s All-Town Garage Sales will begin on Friday, Sept. 29 and run through Saturday, Sept. 30. The annual Larry Lannen Memorial Blood Drive will also be held Sept. 30 at the same location as the chili cook-off. The Polo Lions Club will sponsor the Mobile Hearing Screening Unit also on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Louise Quick Park. Mobile Hearing Screening activity is conducted through cooperation of the Lions of Illinois Foundation, the charitable arm of the state’s more than 700 Lions Clubs and is funded primarily through Candy Day, which is held the second Friday in October.
Deaths, B4 Margaret J. Bauling, Harold E. Brooks, Frances K. Duro, John G. Griffin, Jerry L. Witmer
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com