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ISSUE 103

INDEX TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE PAPER, CALL 815-625-3600 OR 800-798-4085

Today’s weatherHigh 74. Low 53.

More on A3.

Marching onGraduation listings, A3.

ABBY ...................A7COMICS ...............A8CROSSWORD ....B10

LIFESTYLE ...........A7LOTTERY .............A2NATION/WORLD A10

OBITUARIES ........A4OPINION ..............A6POLICE ................A2

BY ANGEL SIERRAasierra@saukvalley.com

800-798-4085, ext. 5695@_angelsierra

MILLEDGEVILLE – As it has for more than 40 years, a finned artifact stands watch day and night on Milledgeville High School’s front lawn.

It might appear ordinary or ornamental at first glance, but during active duty, the missile was ready to take to the skies, capable of delivering a nucle-

ar warhead and a fiery rain of destruction for 15 to 30 miles.

Now marked with white with orange and black letters, the school mascot perched on a marquee is what remains of the “Honest John” surface-to-surface artillery rocket, a relic of the Cold War that was developed in the 1950s at Red-stone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

‘A symbol of strength and pride’ Here’s the mission behind the missile

MILLEDGEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

BY SARA BURNETTThe Associated Press

PONTIAC (AP) – It’s the lat-est front in the continuing battle over organized labor’s influence. But what’s happening in Illinois looks nothing like the juggernaut unleashed in other Midwestern states where conservative state-houses have stripped power from unions with barely a second thought.

In this blue state, where labor is strong and has been for more than a hundred years, new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is trying anoth-er way of cutting unions down to size. He’s pitch-ing city councils, county commis-sioners and busi-ness groups on the idea of local e m p o w e r m e n t zones, in which v o t e r s c o u l d approve making union member-ship voluntary, rather than man-datory, at union-ized workplaces in their communi-ties.

“The special interests have got to be stopped,” Rauner told local officials during a speech in rural Livingston County, one of doz-ens of stops on a campaign-like tour that has stretched for weeks. “That’s the key to turning our state around.”

This town-by-town approach to expanding right-to-work, rather than state action, has been tried only in a few other places, none of them like Illinois, and it’s not clear it will work.

Novel plan to attack unionsGovernor pitching empowerment zones one town at a time

Bruce RaunerGovernor

taking town-by-town approach to expanding

right-to-work, rather than state action

UNIONS CONTINUED ON A5

OGLESBY (AP) – Illinois conservation officials are cautioning hikers to stay on marked trails after three people fell in or near Starved Rock State Park and had to be rescued in recent weeks.

All three had left marked p a t h s , i n c l u d i n g a n 18-year-old man who broke both legs after falling from a canyon ledge at Starved Rock in March, a 19-year-old who fell at Starved Rock

on April 26, and a 21-year-old woman who fell from a ledge at nearby Buffalo Rock State Park on Tues-day, officials said.

In wake of multiple accidents in recent weeks

Hikers urged to stay on trails OGLESBY | STARVED ROCK STATE PARK

TRAILS CONTINUED ON A3

For his eyes only? Gov. Rauner wants not-for-

profit, private agency to oversee state’s economic development.

Read more on A5.

MISSILE CONTINUED ON A4

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com The “Honest John” missile in front of the Milledgeville High School, an intimidator of fellow NUIC East mem-ber schools, was once armed and ready to fire.

ILLINOIS

Carla Lindner Paschal/Special to SVM

There are ample opportunities for hikers to enjoy Starved Rock State Park in Oglesby. But if they don’t follow signs’ direc-tions, there are also opportunities for injury, and officials are urging visitors to stay on the desig-nated trails.

Your source for community news and sports 7 days a week.

Student of the Month

DIXON HIGH, A3

ROCKETS SET SIGHTS ON SWEEP

SOFTBALL, B1

Photos by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com Burgermeister Larry Russell orders the streets be cleaned Saturday at the start of the Fulton Dutch Days parade. Decked out in traditional fashion, youngsters take to the street to throw water and scrub the route spotless.

GOOD, CLEAN FUN AT DUTCH DAYS IN FULTON

A pail of water is flung in the air

during the exu-berance of the

street-scrubbing tradition to start the Dutch Days

parade. The Andresen Nature

Center was a popular attraction during the event. Check out some

wild photos of the exhibits on A9.

dailyGAZETTEMonday, May 4, 2015 ■ SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854

In Memory ofPat Folkers

2/8/46 - 5/4/14

It’s hard to believe it’s been ayear. Some said time would

make it easier.Though thoughts of you still

bring a tear

So many things aren’t thesame without you.

Baking cookies, calls, daytrips & holidays.

The list goes on but theseare just a few

Sights of cancer ribbon inpink bring a sense of comfortIt’s of you that they make us

think

We’re so thankful you’refinally free of pain

To lose you so soon wasour loss but it was certainly

Heaven’s gain

We miss you in every wayYou will live forever in ourhearts. Until we meet again

one day

My GrandmaI miss you grandma. You

were a good grandma. I missmaking cookies with you.You were loving, fun, funnyand caring. We spent a lotof time together. You helpedme feed Sugie an apple. Youwould pick me up after I wasdone with preschool everyday & would pick me upafter I would fall. We wouldhave a fun time every day.We would make pumpkin pieand cookies. I had a fun timewith you. I love you and I

miss you a lot. I hope we getto see you soon up in heaven.I Love you a lot and I miss

you a lot.Love,

Marissa Folkers

200 East 4th St., Rock Falls | FamilyStoneMemorials.com

Family StoneMEMORIALS815-716-8047

Hug Someone Today!

“Choose Family”

Millies to MissilesBefore they became

the Milledgeville Mis-siles, the school and its athletic teams were known as Mill ies, a longtime tribute to a town grist mill.

The name was voted out 56 years ago, when the Missile identity was adopted.

“It’s very unique,” said Chadwick-Milledgeville Schools Superintendent Tim Schurman, who has been at the helm for 10 years. “It’s symbolic of strength and pride in our community.”

Coaches and students campaigned for almost 2 years to find a mascot that “would not sound so feminine,” accord-ing to a 2008 letter from Milledgeville resident Lois Simmons, which is kept in a thick binder of town memorabilia at Wysox Library.

In 1971, the local Jay-cees built a marquee to honor a student who had died in a car accident 7 years earlier; the next step was to find a missile, the letter said.

Another letter, dated Dec. 23, 1969, from Red-stone Arsenal to Prin-cipal Richard Duty, acknowledges receipt of an inquiry by school officials to acquire a mis-sile; it indicates that the request was made that Oct. 15.

The connection in pro-curing the rocket was Robert Weidman, a sci-entist who grew up in Savanna, said William

Ritenour, 85, Milled-geville mayor at the time.

Ritenour, now retired, served 28 years as mayor, then 8 years as Carroll County Board chair-man, then one more term as mayor. He is a 1947 Milledgeville High gradu-ate.

“[The missile] means quite a bit to me,” said Ri tenour, who l ives in plain view of the artifact on Holcomb Avenue that he helped bring to town. “I’m very proud.”

W e i d m a n w a s h i s uncle, and he worked as a civilian supervisor at Savanna Army Depot during World War II. Then Redstone Arse-nal called, and Weid-man followed his love of rocket science, excited to be transferred, Riten-our said.

Redstone is a garri-son that also is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Army Aviation and Mis-sile Command. Weid-man, who was in research a n d d e v e l o p m e n t , worked on improve-

ments to rocket physics and design.

Ritenour called in a favor, asking his uncle to see whether the school could acquire a missile, he said.

‘Honest John’ comes to town

During active service, the “Honest John,” as the weapon system was called, could be fired like artillery from a rail on the back of a util-ity transport truck, said Russell Rodgers, 55, command historian at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone.

The missile was free, as long as someone could pick it up at Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, about an hour’s drive southeast of Lexington and a holding area for demilitarized weapon systems.

Gene Behrens, 75, of Milledgeville, volun-teered for the pickup, and arrived in a grain truck. He figured he could swing by after making a delivery, he

said.“[The missile] seemed

pretty big,” Behrens said. “I went down, and they knew I was coming, of course. I had no prob-lem picking it up.”

T h e m i s s i l e , f i n s removed, was packed in a boxed container, gutted except for the motor and an inert warhead.

It’s a favorite of mod-elers because its profile is so recognizable, Rod-gers said. The body is slender with a bulbous top – the warhead – that comes to a point.

When asked the esti-mated production cost of the missile, Rodg-ers said in an email that “price per unit is simply beyond finding at this point,” and that systems like those were viewed under total program costs.

Paperwork Behrens obtained for the trans-port, though, notes “rocket motor M65 train-ing round inert” and “337500” under total price in dollars. Another document has “warhead section 762MM rock-et empty M1A2” with

“137000” under total price in dollars.

A letter of receipt pro-vided to Principal Rich-ard Duty by Redstone Arsenal indicated that the missile weighed 969 pounds at delivery, and its motor clocked in at a hefty 6,538 pounds – about the weight of two cars when fully assem-bled.

The fins, it noted, would have to be “locally fabri-cated.”

Using a wrecker and a crane, Byvick Service Station of Milledgeville helped Behrens move the missile from the truck to the school’s vocational/agricultural center, Behrens said.

An aged Polaroid photo dated June 1970 shows two trucks and the con-

tainer with a backdrop of a cloudy sky. A second photo shows three men – two on the ground and one in the back of the grain truck – working with the missile con-tainer.

Students and volun-teers helped extricate the rocket’s engine, which likely was sold for scrap, Behrens added.

In July, the marquee was updated to an elec-tronic screen in mem-ory of Rock Falls busi-nessman Tim Litwiller, 46, a 1986 Milledgeville High grad who died Feb. 1, 2014, in a snow-mobile accident in Wis-consin.

MISSILECONTINUED FROM A1

t

Missile was free, as long as someone picked it up

OBITUARIES

FUNERAL SERVICES FOR THE WEEK

t Today’s visitation:Jerrald E. James of Dixon,

6-8 p.m. at Jones Funeral Home in Dixon.

t Today’s funeral:Nolan “Russ” Deets Jr. of

Sterling, 11 a.m. at East Jor-dan United Methodist Church in Sterling.

t Tuesday visitations:Donald W. “Donnie”

Rinard of Rock Falls, formerly of Polo, 9:30-11 a.m. at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Polo.

Geraldine M. Reeser of Mendota, 5-7 p.m. at Schwarz Funeral Home in Mendota.

t Tuesday funeral;Donald W. “Donnie”

Rinard of Rock Falls, for-

merly of Polo, 11 a.m. at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Polo.

t Wednesday visitation:Michael C. Hawn of

Oregon, 10-11 a.m. at Farrell-Holland-Gale Funeral Home in Oregon.

t Wednesday funerals:Michael C. Hawn of

Oregon, 11 a.m. at Farrell-Holland-Gale Funeral Home in Oregon

Geraldine M. Reeser of Mendota; 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Holy Cross Church in Mendota.

t Friday funeralNed A Hartman, of Mor-

rison, noon to 2 p.m. at Chadwick American Legion in Chadwick.

MENDOTA – Geraldine M. Reeser, 101, of Mendo-ta, died April 30, 2015, at Heritage Health nursing home in Mendota.

Geraldine was born June 29, 1913, in Amboy, to Charles and Mayme (Morrissey) McCoy. She graduated in 1931 from Newman Central Catholic High School in Sterling.

She married Charles E. Reeser on Aug. 18, 1936, at St. Mary’s Church in Walton; he preceded her in death on June 21, 1991.

They farmed, and for 30 years, she was a baker in the dietary department of Mendota Commu-nity Hospital. She was a member of Holy Cross Church.

Survivors include her sons, Pat (Kathy) Rees-er of Falling Waters, West Virginia, and Ger-ald (Mary Lou) Reeser

of Rochelle; daughter, Teresa (Mark) Lane of Earlville; sister, Rita Fen-wick of Dixon; 11 grand-children and 25 great-grandchildren.

She also was preceded in death by her son, Dan-iel Reeser; brothers, Cyril in infancy, Joseph and Daniel McCoy; sister, Mil-dred Boehle; and a great-granddaughter.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., with rosary at 5 p.m. Tues-day at Schwarz Funeral Home in Mendota. Ser-vices will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Holy Cross Church in Mendota, with the Rev. Bo Schmitt offi-ciating. Burial will be in St. Patrick Cemetery in Amboy.

Memorials may be made to Mendota Area Senior Services or St. Mary’s Altar and Rosary Society.

Geraldine M. Reeser

MORRISON – Ned A. Hartman, 83,

of Morrison, died Satur-day, May 2, 2015, at Rockford Memorial Hospital.

Ned was born Feb. 22, 1932, in Chad-wick to Lee C. and Rhua M. (Leavens) Hartman. He mar-ried Nancy E. Thorp on Nov. 22, 1956, in Lan-sing; she preceded him in death Feb. 4, 2001. Ned retired as an inspec-tor with the Texas State Chemist Office at Texas A&M University in Col-lege Station, Texas. He served his country in the Army.

Survivors include one son, Andrew Hartman of Bryan, Texas; and several

nieces and nephews.He also was preceded in

death by his parents; son, Michael Hartman; brother, Lee Hart-man Jr.; and sis-ters, Norma Jeanne Jensen and Donna Appel.

A gathering of family and friends

will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Friday at the Chad-wick American Legion in Chadwick. Cremation rites have been accorded, and private family burial will be held in Chadwick Cemetery.

Arrangements were han-dled by McDonald Funer-al Home in Rock Falls.

Visit mcdonaldfuneral-homes.com to send con-dolences.

Ned A. Hartman

SAVANNA – Ralph Bowie Sr., 70, of Savanna, died Saturday, May 2, 2015, at Mercy Medical Center North in Clinton, Iowa.

Law-Jones Funeral Home is handling arrange-ments.

Ralph Bowie Sr.

Obituary informationAll obituaries, includ-

ing death notices, are due by 2 p.m. Sunday through Friday for the following day’s edition. They can be sent via e-mail, obituar-ies@saukvalley.com or fax, 815-625-9390.

Obituary corrections and

clarifications will appear in the Corrections box on page A2 the next publication day.

Receipt of all obituar-ies must be confirmed by phone.

For more information, call 815-625-3600 or 815-284-2222, ext. 5530 or 5502.

BUREAU VALLEY SCHOOLS

BY GOLDIE CURRIEgcurrie@bcrnews.com

MANLIUS – As Bureau Valley has continued to explore future opportu-nities within the district, the board has asked teachers to meet and discuss concerns.

BV North music teach-er Dave Larkin spoke on behalf of the teachers at the board meeting Tues-day.

“We like being able to share ideas with each other and bounce off ideas, especially when there’s more than one teacher from a build-ing,” he said. “It’s a great resource, because we learn a lot talking with each other.”

The first concern mentioned was having enough staff available for the special education classes.

“There’s a reason [stu-dents] are in the special ed program, and they need those teachers there to support them,” Larkin said. “Increased workload on special ed teachers means increased paperwork and less time for teach-ers to be able to work with those increased number of students.”

Also, at the high school level, in regards to reducing classes, Larkin explained it’s important special education stu-dents are provided the right courses that teach the life skills needed to succeed after high school.

Another concern is having Internet access in each classroom. Going along with that, teachers are dealing with a lack of electric outlets in their classrooms, as most

classrooms only provide two electric outlets.

Teachers also have concerns with heating and cooling within the buildings.

“This year, some class-es had to wear coats because it was too cool, and other classes had to open the windows when it was below zero because the heat was pumping so bad, and the kids were sweating,” Larkin said.

There also are issues with windows in the buildings. Larkin said some windows are bro-ken and don’t open or let air seep through into the classroom, while some windows don’t lock.

Larkin said there is also a lack of materials and sources for the Common Core.

“We have outdated text-books,” he said. “I can tell you one of my music [textbooks] talks about the upcoming Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona.

Also, some teachers don’t let students take home textbooks because they are falling apart.

L a r k i n e x p l a i n e d how computer labs are always full and hard to get into with such a high demand. Larkin said even if students are able to get into the computer lab, some computers are broken, or outdated or are missing keys.

The inefficient copy machines also make it difficult to get assign-ments and materi-als to students, Larkin explained.

“The copy machines are in really bad shape,” he said. “If it’s a warm and humid day, you can almost forget about using them.”

Educators lay concerns out on the tableSpecial ed, computers among issues

The “Honest John” mis-sile once was a key ele-ment of the U.S. weap-ons inventory, but no longer is in service.

It was the first rocket capable of deploying a nuclear payload, and in later variants, conven-tional explosives and Sarin nerve gas were used.

According to Wik-kipedia, in late 1950, Maj. Gen. Holger Toftoy,

then a colonel, was overseeing the develop-ment of the rocket. The project was in danger of cancellation because officials thought such a large, unguided rocket could not possibly be accurate. On a trip to White Sands Missile Range, Toftoy met a Texan prone to mak-ing unbelievable state-ments. Whenever any-one expressed doubt

about the man’s claims, he would respond, “Why, around these parts, I’m called ‘Hon-est John!’” Because the project was being questioned, Toftoy sug-gested the nickname to his superiors.

Go to http://shawurl.com/1v9o for more information on the mis-sile’s heritage, and http://shawurl.com/1v9p for production history.

More on the missile

A4 • Daily Gazette www.saukvalley.com Monday, May 4, 2015