Serving the Polo Area Since 1857
POLO
Tri-County Press May 24, 2018 Volume 160, Number 4 - $1.00
Boys Track Takes Second
Tourism Guide
Graduations
Forreston-Polo finishes behind Rockford Christian at Oregon 1A Sectional. B1
Scenic Ogle County has a lot to offer this summer and fall. Insert
Eighth grade and high school graduations are this week. A3
Council may close burn pile By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
Mike Waack and Tom Keller, both of Muscatine, Iowa, visit with Bill Brackemyer, of Morrison, about one of the garden tractors he displayed Saturday at AJ’s Garden Tractor Jamboree. Photo by Vinde Wells
Polo officials may close the city’s landscape waste site due to illegal dumping. Alderman Jim Busser said people have dumped plastic tarps, rocks, lattice panels, a garbage can, and landscape timbers with steel rods at the site near the wastewater treatment plant that is reserved for leaves, grass clippings, and small branches. “If this continues we won’t have a public burn pile,” he said, as he circulated photos of the offending items. Busser said the site was set up for the convenience of Polo residents, giving them a place to get rid landscape waste. City employees burn the leaves and small branches as needed, and the grass clippings go on separate compost pile. The council also discussed changing the hours at city hall
so it can remain open over the lunch hour. Current hours are 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. City clerk Sydney Bartelt proposed changing the hours to 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and having half-hour staggered lunch hours for her and deputy clerk Sue Waszak. Alderman Randy Schoon objected to closing before 5 p.m. because he said some residents, including himself, cannot get off work in time to get to the city hall by 4 p.m. “We did a tally,” Bartelt said. “Not very many people come in after 4 o’clock.” Busser said he likes the idea of having keeping the office open over the lunch hour. The proposal was tabled for further discussion. The council also discussed purchasing tablets for city council members to electronically receive cityrelated emails and documents.
Jamboree draws record crowd By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Saturday morning’s cloudy, cool weather made a 180-degree turn mid-morning to lend warm sunshine to the ninth annual AJ’s Garden Tractor Jamboree. A record crowd and close to a record number of garden tractors made the day a success for its hosts Andy and Lisa Hinrichs and their son AJ, at their home west of Oregon on Columbian Road just off Pines Road. “We had 400 to 450 people that’s the most ever,” Lisa said. “The weather was a big help. It was cold and damp early but then about 10 o’clock the sun came out. It turned out to be a
really nice day.” Rows and rows of garden tractors - more than 300 in all - drew a lot of attention from the crowd. Mike Waack and Tom Keller, both of Muscatine, Iowa, were visiting with Bill Brackemyer, of Morrison, about his dad’s 1965 Simplicity Broadmoor Deluxe. Keller said they are regulars at the jamboree. “We’re collectors. We try to get her every year if we can,” he said. Waack said the event has grown significantly over the years. “The first year we came it was just a few tractors. Now look,” he said, gesturing to the long lines of garden tractors of all brands and colors.
The Simplicity wasn’t the only garden tractor Brackemyer was showing; he also brought two newer ones of his own. “I’ve got two that are worth something and one that means something,” he said with a grin. The Simplicity was purchased by his grandfather and great-grandfather 53 years ago and still works. “I actually have an oldfashioned eight millimeter movie of my great-grandpa taking it out of the truck with a grin on his face,” he said. “It’s been cutting grass all this time.” Brackemyer has the original paperwork for the purchase of the mower, which has been repaired a couple of times over the years.
He rebuilt it in 2012, he said, getting the needed parts from eBay. Lisa Hinrichs said the usual events were held — the tractor parade, plowing demonstrations, the poker run, and the slow tractor race, where the last tractor across the finish line wins — along with some new events. This year AJ planted Indian corn using a one-row planter pulled by a garden tractor. Kids’ activities, like corn shelling, was moved to a brand new barn, which also houses the family’s flock of chickens. The annual auction to benefit the Blackhawk Crossings 4-H Club featured tractor-themed hand-made quilts and even a rhubarb cake.
Plastic tarps, a garbage can, rocks, lattice, and landscape timber were recently illegally dumped at the city’s site for landscape waste. The city council discussed closing the facility Monday night. Photo supplied
Memorial Day service All veterans are welcome to march in the Polo Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 28. The parade will line up at Mason Street and Green Avenue and step off at 9:30 a.m. Those who wish to participate are asked to assemble between 8:45 and 9 a.m.
The parade will march west on Mason Street to Division Avenue, and then north to Fairmount Cemetery north of Polo for the annual Memorial Day ceremony. A trailer will be available to carry veterans who are not able to walk the route.
Following Dixon incident, schools prioritize safety By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com Last week’s shooting at Dixon High School has put the focus on security measures at local school districts. The Oregon School District has reached out to state Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon), about finding a source of revenue for a resource officer, Superintendent Thomas Mahoney said. “It would cost us about $50,000 to $70,000 annually to hire a full-time officer,” Mahoney said. “If we were flush with money, we would move on it immediately.” “It’s going to be a point of discussion in the next month’s board meeting, but we are
underfunded by about $4.5 million per year,” he said. Like most Illinois school districts, Oregon has seen a significant decrease in mandated state funding in recent years due to the state’s budget woes. One solution might be to use money from a onepercent county sales tax levy, Mahoney said, which Ogle County does not have at the moment. Voters rejected a referendum in April of 2013 to implement a county-wide sales tax to aid the schools. Polo Police Chief Kurt Cavanaugh told the city council Monday night that School Superintendent Chris Rademacher has been working with the police department for
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several years to be prepared in case of an active shooter. “We have good communications with the schools,” he said. “I think we are well-prepared.” He said drills have been held in the buildings. Forrestville Valley Superintendent Sheri Smith could not be reached for comment on security measures in that district. Visitors in all three districts cannot enter the buildings without being “buzzed in.” Security cameras are located at the entrances and the doors are locked until school personnel inside release the lock allowing the visitor to enter. A Dixon High School senior, Matthew Milby Jr., 19,
Chamber Chatter, A3 Church News, A5 Classifieds, B7-B10 Entertainment, A6
was charged in Lee County Court Friday with three felonies involving aggravated discharge of a firearm, the first two for firing at school resource officer Mark Dallas and gym teacher Andrew McKay – who threw the gym foyer doors shut and told the seniors to run when the shooting began – and the third for firing a gun in a school building. Investigators have declined to say who, if anyone, was Milby’s target, citing the ongoing investigation. All are Class X felonies, the most serious that can be levied in Illinois. The first two are punishable by a mandatory 10 to 46 years in prison, the third by 6 to 30 years. Each charge also comes
Library News, A3 Marriage Licenses, A4 Polo Police, A3 Pine Creek News, A3
with a mandatory 3 years’ supervised release. Milby had a preliminary status hearing before Judge Jacquelyn D. Ackert at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Milby, who has not attended school for several weeks but still was enrolled and eligible to graduate, took a 9mm semiautomatic rifle to graduation practice May 16 shortly after 8 a.m. He fired at McKay, then took off running when confronted and pursued by Dallas. He fired at Dallas outside the gym; the Dixon police officer returned fire, hitting Milby in the upper shoulder. No one else was injured. Milby was released from KSB Hospital shortly after 10 a.m. May 17 and taken to Lee
Property Transfers, B3 Sheriff’s Arrests, B4 Social News, A4 Sports, A10, B1, B2
County Jail where he remains under a $2 million bond. The Illinois State Police are investigating, as they do with all officer-involved shootings, “and more charges may be filed in the near future,” Dixon police said in a news release Thursday. DHS graduation was held Sunday afternoon with tightened security in place. Fortunately, plans to tighten security already were in place at DHS, where remodeling and repairs already under way will include the addition of a secure vestibule, which will help control who is allowed in, and more surveillance cameras. Gavin Jensen and Kathleen Schultz contributed to this story.
Deaths, B5 Darlene V. Bauer, William L. Boland Sr., Todd A. Burwitz, Johnny B. Crumley, Glenn V. Green, Richard T. Hazelton
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com