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PENALTY TAKES A Savor a flavor TOLL ON DUKES of fall: Chutney SOCCER, B1
FOOD, A9-10
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016 n SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
LEE COUNTY | MENDOTA HILLS WIND FARM
A new-spin zone County gives OK to replace turbines with more efficient models BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
DIXON – The state’s first wind farm also will be the first to decommission its entire fleet of turbines and replace about them with larger, more efficient models. Lee County Board members approved the Men-
dota Hills Wind Farm project Tuesday after it was introduced about 2 months ago and sent to the county zoning board for a recommendation. The zoning board gave its blessing for the project Sept. 27 after going through about 10 hours of testimony, public comment and discussion spread across a few weeks. TURBINES continued on A54 Submitted
DIXON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
OREGON
Looking for the best flight plan Board sorting through options to address airport problem BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
Earleen Hinton/ehinton@shawmedia.com
Oregon Park District employees (from left) Tyler Hagemann, Andy Egyed and John Barnhart shovel concrete out of a skidloader driven by Brent Suter as the crew works Tuesday to secure the supports for the new playground behind Oregon Elementary School. The school district bought the new equipment to replace the old wooden Project PLAY, which was torn down in August.
Nu and improved
AIRPORT continued on A54
OGLE COUNTY
Students will soon be able to work out some of their extra energy on new playground equipment BY VINDE WELLS Shaw Media vwells@shawmedia.com
OREGON – Students will be able to get some play time in before the snowflakes fall at Oregon Elementary School. Workers were at the school Tuesday putting up the framework and pouring concrete supports for the colorful exercise stations behind the school that will replace Project Play, a wooden playground torn down in August for safety reasons. The school board voted in September to buy the new equipment from NuToys, the same firm that supplies playground equipment for the Oregon Park District, at a cost of $94,475. Oregon Park District employees are installing the set.
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The design for the new playground, comparable in size to Project PLAY, was chosen by elementary students after they came back to school this fall. Project Play, with its castles and twisting walkways, was built by hundreds of volunteers in 5 days in October 1989. Months of fundraising, including a Pennies for the Playground drive at the elementary school, brought in the $45,000 needed to build the unique wooden play set. In the end, the very wood the playground was made of turned out to be its downfall. Superintendent Tom Mahoney said an increasing number of kids were getting injured, mostly with large splinters. The demolition, which cost $5,800, and the new playground were paid for from the school district’s Tort Fund.
ABBY.................... A8 BUSINESS.......... A12 COMICS................B6
CROSSWORD.....B10 LIFESTYLE............ A8 LOTTERY.............. A2
DIXON – Improve the Dixon Municipal Airport or shut it down? Neither option would be an easy solution to what’s become a financial burden to the city. Ron Price, principal of Florida-based QED Airport and Aviation Consultants, presented the Dixon Airport Board with the final draft of a feasibility study Tuesday to gauge options to make the facility more viable. “It’s challenging,” Price said. “You’re neither here nor there, and it’s going to be hard to get to there.” The airport is currently operating on a deficit of $33,756, down from being about $100,000 in the red in 2015. After Airport Manager Larry Haley retired last summer, the city saved about $61,630 in salary costs.
Firm sketches out plan for proposed jail BY VINDE WELLS Shaw Media vwells@oglecountynews.com
OREGON – The Ogle County Board got a look at what a new county jail in the heart of Oregon might look like. Jeff Goodale, director of justice at HOK, a Chicago architectural and planning firm, gave board members a drawing of a proposed detention center located on county property on South Sixth Street, west of the judicial center. HOK was hired a year ago to do a jail needs assessment. Goodale said the proposed building, which would house from 180 to 200 prisoners, would fall within the $28 million previously estimated for the project. The site is large enough, he said, to allow for future expansion. The board has not yet voted on whether to build the new jail, or where it would be. JAIL continued on A54
OBITUARIES......... A4 OPINION............... A6 POLICE................. A2
Today’s weather High 70. Low 48. More on A3.
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