oregon

As a kid, I dreaded the first day of September. Even though my birthday comes at the end of the month, I never looked ahead to that, I was too busy lamenting the end of summer and the beginning of school. My dad felt differently.

Having grown up directly across the Rock River from The Eternal Indian Statue (known by many as Blackhawk, or Chief Blackhawk), I've been following the restoration efforts going on in Oregon for quite awhile now. A news report published yesterday indicates that we're going to have to keep waiting.

Not every town is created equal, and that's unfortunate. Some are better off than others.

You might look at that photo and think to yourself, "Wait, The Eternal Indian? I thought that was Chief Blackhawk's statue."

If you're not familiar with Team Rubicon, they're a group that's well worth knowing, and supporting. What do they do? Their mission statement sums it up: Team Rubicon unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams...

A retired Army brigadier general from Byron will be the keynote speaker at the dedication ceremony for the new Ogle County Fallen Soldiers Memorial. Steve Huber was deputy commanding general of 1st Army Division East and commanding general of the Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan...

OREGON, Ill. (AP) — A restoration team is testing different mixtures to fix cracks running through a 104-year-old statue of a Native American overlooking the Rock River in northern Illinois. Sauk Valley Media reports that the effects of time and weather have damaged the 50-foot-tall tribute to Native Americans that sits atop a 125-foot bluff at Lowden State Park...

OREGON, Ill. (AP) — Preparations are starting in an $825,000 restoration project to repair a more than century-old statue of a Native American overlooking the Rock River in northern Illinois. Dr. Andrzej Dajnowski, the project's conservator, says a crew has been testing various repair mixtures to fill cracks in the 50-foot tall statue...

OREGON, Ill. (AP) — The nephew of a northern Illinois man who was shot to death in 1948 says he hopes the exhumation of his uncle's body will yield clues to a double homicide that's never been solved. SaukValley.com reports that 62-year-old Steve Skridla of Rockford announced Wednesday that a Winnebago County judge has signed an order allowing the exhumation of Stanley Skridla's body...