OREGON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Ogle County Board tabled a resolution in potential support of State Senate Bill 0045, which seeks to ban steer tailing.
Steer tailing is a specific rodeo event where a rider on horseback chases down a running steer, bull, or calf and grabs onto the animal’s tail; the rider then wraps the tail around his leg, slamming the animal to the ground.
The state bill has a local tie, relating to rodeos that have been taking place at 16989 E. Ritchie Road, a property in Ogle County south of Rochelle. The rodeos have drawn concerns from Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), an animal activist group, which has asked the board in the past to revoke a special use permit for the venue to host events and has asked the Ogle County Sheriff's Office and Ogle County State's Attorney's Office to charge and prosecute those committing what they believe to be animal abuse at the rodeos.
"Two resolutions were discussed at our committee meeting last week," County Ethics and Governance Committee Chair Steve Huber said of tabling the resolution. "One was this resolution and the other was one submitted by SHARK and referred to the State's Attorney Mike Rock for his input and it will return to us and continue to be discussed at our next meeting. We referred the other action to the zoning committee for review and investigation of the special use permit concerning this matter. It will come back to the county board and we will decide what to do. We wish to further discuss this and get input from the agriculture committee as well."
Public comments were heard against steer tailing and what happens to animals at the Mexican-style rodeos from SHARK representatives and a county resident.
Representatives from SHARK have spoken at Ogle County Board meetings in the past. SHARK has been in contact with Ogle County Board members, State's Attorney Rock and Sheriff Brian VanVickle in the past, providing video evidence of what it believes to be animal abuse.
"Since 2022 and as recently as a few weeks ago, we have provided clear video evidence of crimes to law enforcement," Steve Hindi of SHARK said. "The state's attorney's, sheriff's and animal control offices are paid. All we ask is that they do their job."
The property at 16989 E. Ritchie Road where rodeos have been held in the past has also seen previous police and EMS response for issues such as fights and reports of shots fired. A rodeo is planned at the venue on Sunday, May 25, SHARK representatives said.
"Please deny and revoke the permit," Jodie Wiederkehr of SHARK said. "Sunday's event should not happen."
Special use
The board approved a special use permit for the operation of a towing/vehicle impound and auto & truck repair facility on agricultural-zoned land at the Chana address of 1735 S. Meridian Road by a vote of 15-8.
The special use permit was voted against by Board Members Skip Kenney, Dan Miller, Aaron Mudge, Dan Janes. Jeff Billeter, Dean Fox, Bruce Larson and Huber.
"In my opinion, it's subtracting due to its close proximity to residential areas," Kenney said. "I don't see the value. I see the value in having a garage. But I absolutely do not see the value in having an impound area unless there's something else going on that we're unfamiliar with. I can't support this."
Following the approval, the board heard public comments against the special use permit from residents of the area, including Marty and Denise Winterland.
"My number-one concern is what happens to our property values," Denise Winterland said.
Vehicles
The board heard a presentation by Enterprise Fleet Management Account Executive Scott Perkinson and unanimously approved a leasing agreement with Enterprise for county vehicles. The agreement will involve a total of 36 vehicles across different departments, excluding the Ogle County Sheriff's Office.
Perkinson said 39 percent of the county's vehicle fleet that is light duty or medium duty is over 10 years old and a plan has been made to provide new vehicles at lower maintenance and fuel expenses.
"We'd like to identify an effective lifecycle that maximizes the potential resale value of the fleet by creating conservative savings of over $430,000 over the next 10 years. We want to shorten the average lifecycle of vehicles from over nine years to five years. This will free up $131,000 in capital by selling the 15 oldest vehicles in the fleet in the first year which will significantly decrease maintenance costs to $69 a month from what today is $142 a month."
