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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
PREP BOYS TRACK • SPORTS, B1
FITNESS • MARKETPLACE, A5
Indian Creek’s Gullstrand looks to better last year’s finish
Sycamore yoga studio focuses on children
DeKalb buildings up for auction Old clinic locations part of changes going on in downtown district By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com
and KATE SCHOTT kschott@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Two former DeKalb Clinic buildings will be auctioned this week as a handful of smaller shops and restaurants downtown announce changes. The buildings at 217 Franklin St. and 302 Grove St. have
served as storage since the DeKalb Clinic moved its operations to a new facility near Kishwaukee Community Hospital in 2009. DeKalb Public Library officials considered buying the two buildings for $1.8 million, but abandoned the plan in October 2010 amid concerns over an improper closed-session vote and estimates that removing asbestos from the buildings would cost
$100,000. Since then, the properties’ worth has slipped with declining values throughout the area, with no starting value determined for Thursday’s auction. Neither Roger Hopkins, the city’s economic development consultant, nor DeKalb Clinic administrator Alice Frier could say who may show up for the auction. “We’ve had a few inquiries
over the past week,” Hopkins said. According to Almburg Auctioneer’s website, any member of the public can bid on the two buildings, which have a total of 50,435 square feet. Potential bidders must be able to place $10,000 down Thursday, and pay the remaining balance by April 15.
See AUCTION, page A6
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
The DeKalb Clinic building on Franklin Street is seen recently. That and a second building will be auctioned Thursday.
In-car breath testers backed
PRICE OF CATCHING A CRIMINAL
Proposal targets drunken drivers By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com DeKALB – More drivers may need to blow into a Breathalyzer to start their cars if Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s proposal becomes law. White is pushing to expand the state’s Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device program to include more drunken driving offenders and to require jail time for offenders caught driving without the device. The program requires drivers to take a Breathalyzer test before the vehicle can start. Any person with a blood-alcohol content of 0.025 or greater registers a failed Roger Scott test with the DeKalb Co. s e c r e t a r y o f sheriff state’s office and faces an extension of the time the device must be used. DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said expanded use of the in-vehicle alcohol detection system would benefit everyone. He said the device allows drunken driving offenders to maintain their driving privileges and protects the public by keeping intoxicated drivers off the road. “People would have the incentive to get them,” Scott said.
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Sgt. Brad Carls holds up a Remington 700 sniper rifle Thursday during a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Citizens Police Academy at the DeKalb County Highway Department.
Local police agencies weigh costs of technological advancements By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott can envision a day when local police use unmanned aerial vehicles to search for lost individuals or
criminal suspects. “Our main focus would be for field searches,” Scott said. “This would be for a concentrated area ... short-term searches of wooded areas or fields.” He’s not interested in using un-
manned technology for long-term surveillance, though. Those unmanned aerial vehicles, often called drones, have generated much conversation in political and government circles, with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul delivering a
13-hour filibuster March 6 on the possibility of the U.S. government using them to execute kill orders on Americans on U.S. soil. The next day, a bill to restrict drone use in
See TOOLS, page A6
Fury mounts in Cyprus over bank bailout plan By DAVID McHUGH and MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS The Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus – A plan to seize up to 10 percent of savings accounts in Cyprus to help pay for a $20.4 billion financial bailout was met with fury Monday, and the government shut down banks until later this week while lawmakers wrangled over how to keep the island nation from bankruptcy. Although the euro and stock prices of European banks fell, global financial markets largely remained calm, and there was little
sense that bank account holders elsewhere across the continent faced similar risk. Political leaders in Cyprus scrambled to devise a new plan that would not be so burdensome for people with less than $129,290 in the bank. The authorities delayed a parliamentary vote on the seizure of $7.5 billion and ordered banks to remain shut until Thursday while they try to modify the deal, which must be approved by other eurozone governments. Once a deal is in place, they will be ready to lend Cyprus $13 billion in rescue loans. A rejection of the pack-
age could see the country go bankrupt and possibly drop out of the euro currency – an outcome that would be even more damaging to financial markets’ confidence. Even while playing down the chance of fresh market turmoil, experts warned that the surprise move broke an important taboo against making depositors pay for Europe’s bailouts. As a result, it may have longer-term consequences for confidence in Europe’s banking system – and its ability to end its financial crisis. “It’s a precedent for all European countries. Their mon-
ey in every bank is not safe,” said lawyer Simos Angelides at an angry protest outside parliament in Cyprus’ capital, Nicosia, where people chanted, “Thieves, thieves!” Eurozone finance ministers held a telephone conference Monday night, and concluded that small depositors should not be hit as hard as others. They said the Cypriot authorities will stagger the deposit seizures more, but they remained firm in demanding that the overall sum of money raised by the seizures remain the same. The decision to hit deposits up to $129,290 – the deposit in-
surance limit in Cyprus – with a 6.75 percent tax and those above that with a 9.9 percent tax was dictated partly by the unusual qualities of the country’s financial system. Cyprus, with only 0.2 percent of the eurozone economy, has a bloated banking system seven times the size of the island’s economy. Losses on Greek government bonds had crippled Cypriot banks and required government money to bail them out. Meanwhile, a large proportion of deposits – 37 percent – come from people outside Cyprus and the European Union, much of it from Russia.
See BREATHALYZER, page A6
What it means State and local law enforcement officials want to require more offenders to have Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Devices installed in their vehicles. Now, first-time DUI offenders can opt to drive while their license is suspended so long as the device is installed in their vehicle; the car won’t start if the device detects alcohol on the driver’s breath.
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