75 cents
Breaking eaking news at Daily-Chronicle.com
Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Monday, July 29, 2013
FACE TIME WITH • LOCAL, A2
SUMMER GOLF SERIES: PART V • SPORTS, B1
Joel Maurer performs with music quartet
Instructor’s technique can improve short game
Building resumes at Reston Ponds By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – After slow progress since the 2009 economic downturn, Shodeen Homes is reopening their sales office in the Reston Ponds subdivision, along with their faith in the Sycamore housing market. Shodeen Homes will reopen their sales office in August at Reston Ponds and continue developing the Sycamore subdivision, according to a news release. They plan to build and market new homes in the area,
including a new ranch home currently under construction that will open in November. Nathan Amidon, sales manager of Shodeen Homes, said the company is excited to resume building in Sycamore. “Based on our significant sales at our Mill Creek community in Geneva, we have great confidence in the Sycamore market now that the housing market is heating up,” Amidon said in a news release. Sycamore City Manager Brian Gregory agreed with Shodeen’s expectations for the city’s hous-
Voice your opinion Do you think the local housing market will improve in the next year? Go to Daily-Chronicle.com to vote. ing market. Based on the current trends, the city expects to finish the year with 20 to 25 new home building permits issued, he said. “Shodeen Homes’ belief that demand has increased in the Sycamore housing market is consistent with what the city has been seeing,” Gregory said.
Reston Ponds, which is near Somonauk Street and Becker Place, was approved in an annexation agreement 11 years ago, Gregory said. The original owner of the property was Wiseman-Hughes Enterprises, Inc. Shodeen acquired the property in 2009. Activity came to a halt in the subdivision as the housing market nose-dived during the Great Recession, and some residents complained about upkeep of vacant lots in the subdivision. Sycamore Mayor Ken Mundy said he was glad to see any build-
CARS, BACON DELIGHT AT FEST
ing activity in the city. He looks forward to more single- and multifamily homes being built in the area. The developments will not only benefit the developers and residents, but also local workers such as plumbers, bricklayers and electricians, he said. “We always champion people staying home and finding work here,” Mundy said. He wished Shodeen Homes the best in their future endeavors. “As they go, so a lot of people who work in the trades here,” he said. “We’re very hopeful.”
Signs of economic prosperity declining By HOPE YEN The Associated Press
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Doug Eaton of Boy Scout Troop 4 prepares a bacon wrapped frank skewer at the start of BaconPalooza at the Frank Van Buer Plaza on Saturday in downtown DeKalb as part of Kishwaukee Fest.
Kishwaukee Fest enjoys high attendance for its events By FELIX SARVER
More online
fsarver@shawmedia.com
and ANDREA AZZO
Go to Daily-Chronicle.com to a see a photo gallery from Kishwaukee Fest events.
news@daily-chronicle.com SYCAMORE – With the Kishwaukee Fest, Michael Embrey has found a successful formula to unite and market many festivities throughout the county. The festival, which wrapped up Sunday after featuring dozens of events for more than a week, was created four years ago by Embrey to help cities in DeKalb County attract larger audiences to their events. Attendance has grown higher, with hundreds of people, even those
from neighboring states, visiting the parades and concerts, said Embrey, executive director of the festival. The festival, named after the Kishwaukee River, has been so helpful in increasing audience attendance that other cities are looking to have their events included in future festivals, he said. “We’ve been approached by Genoa for an event in 2014,” Embrey said.
Embrey said the Kishwaukee Festival can be a way for people to find a good vacation in their own area. He also found it a good way to increase tourism and spotlight local businesses in the county. “There’s so much to see and do here in the community,” he said. While the hot weather last summer brought low attendance, Embrey said the cooler weather this year has helped to bring in more people to the shows and events. One of them was the Turning Back Time car show Sunday, which featured more than 500 cars, with many that haven’t been in production for decades. A few were military
vehicles from the 1940s bearing machine guns. The downtown area was blocked off and people crowded the streets to admire the cars from different eras, and in some cases, sit in them. Cars such as Chevrolet Corvettes from the 1980s shared the same pavement with Chevrolet trucks from the 1950s. Ford roadsters and sedans from the 1930s could be found with bright, fiery paint jobs. The rebuilding of one dark green 1966 Ford Mustang featured at the car show was a Becker family effort.
WASHINGTON – Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend. The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration’s emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to “rebuild ladders of opportunity” and reverse income inequality. As nonwhites approach a numerical majority in the U.S., one question is how public programs to lift the disadvantaged should be best focused – on the affirmative action that historically has tried to eliminate the racial barriers seen as the major impediment to economic equality, or simply on improving socioeconomic status for all, regardless of race. Hardship is particularly growing among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their families’ economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy “poor.” “I think it’s going to get worse,” said Irene Salyers, 52, of Buchanan County, Va., a declining coal region in Appalachia. Married and divorced three times, Salyers now helps run a fruit and vegetable stand with her boyfriend but it doesn’t generate much income. They live mostly off government disability checks.
See FEST, page A3
See SIGNS, page A3
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
A2 A2-4 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
Weather A2, A7-8 A9 B1-3
Advice Comics Classified
B4 B5 B6-8
Bothered by painful varicose veins? ATTEND A FREE VEIN SCREENING! Tues., July 30 (8am-4pm) • Mon. Aug. 5 (8am-4pm) • Wed., Aug. 14 (11am-4pm) 2127 Midlands Ct #102 • Sycamore, IL 60178 • 815-981-4742 • www.GilvydisVein.com
High:
75
Low:
59
• Covered by all medical insurance • No referral necessary • Call for a free ultrasound screening exam