News Briefs 3/10/2024

At the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation state championship on Saturday, Mar. 10, 2024 at the BMO Center, 8th grader Bella Castelli won 2nd place at 121 lbs for the Hononegah Kids Wrestling Club.

Macktown Living History will be holding a Blacksmithing Sunday on March 10, 2024 from 2-4 p.m.  Visitors can watch a blacksmith ply age old skills by pounding, shaping, and twisting red hot metal, see the many types of blacksmithing tools, and learn what tasks they were used for. Some items will be for sale. Admission is $5.

Three students from Roscoe and one from Rockton were named to Illinois Wesleyan University's Dean's List for the 2023-24 fall semester: William Eiss of Rockton and Karsten Nordlie, Luke Alberstett, and Addison Laumer of Roscoe.

Balsley Printing in Rockton is celebrating an anniversary. In 1914, R.I. Balsley became the publisher of a weekly newspaper and print shop on Main Street in downtown Rockton. Sam Balsley manages the business now. They also own Gem Printing in Beloit and Freeport Press in Freeport.

The Roscoe Ace Hardware has recently been purchased by Ziegler's Ace of Elgin, which has nine stores in the Fox River Valley. The Roscoe store has been an Ace since 2019. Before that, it was a True-Value, owned by Bob Nowicki, who closed his store in 2018.

For health reasons and other circumstances, Rockton-Roscoe News contributor Bev Pomering has decided to step down as executive director of Live R.E.A.L. Foundation. Because of that, the organization's board of directors voted to dissolve the organization she founded. Bev writes that the decision "was not made hastily. I believe that God has had me save people's lives, train hundreds of hundreds of people on overdose death prevention and touch thousands of lives for me to find healing and understanding." Her son Alex, a 2017 Hononegah graduate, died at 20 years old from an opioid overdose at their Roscoe home. The foundation recommends Liv4Lali - Rockford Office for help with recovery or harm reduction and the Tommy Corral Memorial Foundation for emotional or mental health support.

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