The Huntley Farmside

              Volume 40 No. 20
Your hometown newspaper
Thursday May 18,2000
© 2000 Press-Republican Newspapers
Mobley and MeMahon put local Boy Scout ideals to work
Cassie Peterson
Corespondent
Courtesy photo Russ Mobley and Jim McMahon help Matt Mobley build benches in the gazebo at the Huntley Area Library.
Young people today are fre¬ quently criticized as being apathetic and uninvolved in their communities. Matt McMahon, 12, and Matt Mobley, 13, are proving the critics wrong.
The boys, good friends and members of Boy Scout Troop 167, have each recently complet¬ ed a community service project. In addition to campouts and merit badges, community ser¬ vice is an- intrinsic part of the Boy Scout tradition.
Individual scouts are expected to organize and per¬ form several community ser¬ vice, projects to proceed through six levels of achieve¬ ment - Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle.
For his life service project, McMahon, collected medical supplies for the residents of the Valley Hi Nursing Home in Woodstock. McMahon remem¬ bered how he and his father came up with the idea, "My
"It's teaching them
to have the right
attitude...of helping
others."
- Lynette IVlobley
Mother ofa Boy Scouts
grandma was sick and needed the equipment, but it was hard to find."
Last Saturday at the First Congregational. Church in Huntley, Matt accepted donated items such as, crutches, wheel; chairs, canes and walkers. McMahon will be cleaning and repairing the items this week. He plans to deliver them to the nurs¬ ing home on Saturday.
Pat Trotz, a supervisor at Valley Hi, said of McMahon's project, "It's very good. We can really use those items."
While Valley Hi residents will reap the benefits of McMahon's work, everyone can share in the rewards of Mobley's efforts.
On April 29,-with the help of other Boy Scouts and their parents, Mobley completed his Star service project. The vol¬ unteers assembled and installed benches in the gaze¬ bo at the Huntley Area Public Library. Mobley said that his project taught him a lot about planning and organization. He said that he "spent several hours on the phone to obtain funding, order supplies and coordinate volunteers.
The project was financed by the Wayne Berghorn Memorial Fund that promotes local projects to benefit the community. ^
Mobley said he learned that organizing a project required more work than he expected, but ultimately, it was well worth it.
"You get a good feeling when you finish," he said.
Mobley's mother, Lynette, said she was very proud of both boys. She added that scouting has taught them some important life lessons,
"It's teaching them to have the right attitude... of helping others."
Environmentalist uses paintbrush to illustrate the value of local resource
By Val D'Anna
For the Farmside-Press
There is a natural resource meandering through our locality so rare that there are just three of them in the entire state. Yet, few area residents recognize the value of the Kishwaukee River as one of those precious few A-rated streams in Illinois. Altogether, 65 miles of the river's main branch, which runs through Marengo alongside Route 176, Piscasaw Creek and Rush Creek are A- _ rated by the Illinois Department, of Natural Resources. A-rated streams are home to pollution- and silt-intolerant fish species like the smallmouth bass and sportfin shiner.
This widespread underappre- ciation of the "Kish" has prompt¬ ed a public education project by the Friends of the Kishwaukee River and the McHenry County
Defenders. Funding came from the Illinois Department, of Natural Resources' Conservation 2000 grant program.
The message that the Kishwaukee is a local treasure that should be preserved is being brought home by schoolchildren in the form of a poster with a lush river scene brimming with wildlife, painted by Crystal Lake artist Nancy Williamson. In addi¬ tion, a manual detailing threats and ways to preserve the Kishwaukee's A rating has been prepared for Kishwaukee munic¬ ipalities including Marengo, Union, and Huntley.
This pro-active program is a wake-up call that "the Kishwaukee is a community asset. We need to take care of it and save it. We shouldn't give it away," Willianison says, refering
See Artist Page 2
Courtesy photo Marengo-Union Chamber of Commerce members view posters and displays about Kishwaukee River conservation during a recent mixer.