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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Monday, September 16, 2013
HALLOWEEN CLUB • LOCAL, A3
NIU FOOTBALL • SPORTS, B1 NIU’s Tommylee Lewis
Huskies overcome slow start in win
Sycamore student collecting costumes
Taking in Ellwood’s beauty
Rain cuts Big Rock plowing event short Other festivities carry on Sunday at festival By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com
more, said he is very familiar with the Ellwood House. Two of his daughters were married there. “It’s amazing what they’ve done to the property,” Linnae-Smith said. “I’ve been here for more than 40 years, and I remember when it was almost abandoned. “I’m wondering how they were able to do it. I can’t imagine how much work it takes to maintain this.” In the 1960s, a member of the Ellwood family donated the house to the DeKalb Park District to become a museum.
BIG ROCK – Rain cut short one of the oldest plowing competitions in the state Sunday, but many festivities supporting it pressed on. As the rain came in Sunday, the planned competition between antique tractors from the 1930s and earlier was canceled, along with many carnival rides that were open earlier in the weekend. But several other competitions and auction stands selling produce, old-fashioned items and food stayed open. Bill Brickert, a plowing match coordinator, was disappointed by the weather shortening the plowing matches as hard work went into preparing the fields. Every year, Big Rock holds the Big Rock Plowing Match, which is rooted in Welsh heritage that is more than 100 years old. It’s an event that can draw people from all over the nation to see old-fashioned plowing techniques. In most cases, the machines they used had less horsepower than lawnmowers, Brickert said. “It’s interesting to see the old trackers and plowers,” he said. “We’ve even had a guy from South Dakota come here to plow.” The competition is not just about watching people plow, it’s also about the agricultural history of the area, said Roger Hatfield, president of the Big Rock Plowing Match Association. Hatfield has been a member of the association since 1967 and has been president for 28 years. “You get all these people who try to get their father’s or grandfather’s tractors,” Hatfield said. “A lot of it is a family tradition.” Hatfield said the competition used to be held Saturdays but now has entertainment and other activities from Friday to Sunday. On Sunday, the Big Rock Plowing Match featured a farmers market auction, baked goods auctions and a 4-H beef show. The grain and vegetable auction featured prize-winning food such as apples, Indian corn and large pumpkins. Cindy Dean, supervisor of the stand, said the Big Rock Plowing Match is sort of like homecoming.
See ELLWOOD, page A5
See PLOWING, page A5
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Jennice O’Brien (front) and Tina Heffernan try some wine Saturday on the terrace at the Ellwood House Museum in DeKalb . Guests enjoyed wine and catering from Inboden’s Meat Market and music by Craig Mathey.
Wine on the Terrace fundraiser raises funds for programs, care By ANDREA AZZO
Visit Ellwood House Museum
news@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – By the time Sycamore resident Matthew Brown was 9 years old, he could give a tour of the Ellwood House Museum by heart. The son of a former Ellwood House board of directors member visited the 139-year-old building again Saturday for the Wine on the Terrace fundraiser. “It’s one of the only things that identifies DeKalb besides NIU,” Brown said. The event was expected to raise between $12,000 and $15,000 for Ellwood House educational programs and general care for the museum, said Brian Reis, Ellwood House executive director. Almost 900 school children visit the museum at 509 N. First St. in DeKalb each year from as far away as Rockford and Belvidere for a free tour, Reis said. During the tours, participants learn about the history of the house, which was built in 1879 by barbed wire sellers Isaac and Harriet Ellwood. Wine on the Terrace attendees
Admission is $8 for adults, $3 for children ages 6 to 7 and free for children younger than 6. For information, visit www.ellwoodhouse.org.
Voice your opinion Have you visited the Ellwood House this year? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Alfred Tatum takes a self-guided tour on the first floor of the Ellwood House Museum in DeKalb on Saturday. paid $50 each to enjoy wine tastings, food from Inboden’s Meat Market, entertainment by Craig Mathey, a silent
auction and raffles. Roscoe Linnae-Smith, beekeeper for Queen & I Honey Farm in Syca-
Syrian official: Weapons deal a ‘victory’ The ASSOCIATED PRESS
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BEIRUT – A high-ranking Syrian official called the U.S.-Russian agreement on securing Syria’s chemical weapons a “victory” for President Bashar Assad’s regime, but the U.S. warned Sunday “the threat of force is real” if Damascus fails to carry out the plan. The comments by Syrian Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haidar to a Russian state news agency were the first by a senior Syrian government official on the deal struck a day earlier in Geneva. Under the agreement, Syria will provide an inventory of its chemical arsenal within one week and hand over all of the components of its program by mid-2014.
Vice President Joe Biden discusses Syria and diplomatic progress while in Iowa, on page A5. “We welcome these agreements,” Haidar was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti agency. “On the one hand, they will help Syrians get out of the crisis, and on the other hand, they averted a war against Syria by removing the pretext for those who wanted to unleash one.” He added: “These agreements are a credit to Russian diplomacy and the Russian leadership. This is a victory for Syria, achieved thanks to our Russian friends.”
There has been no official statement from the Syrian government, and it was not clear whether Haidar’s comments reflected Assad’s thinking. The deal, hashed out in marathon negotiations between U.S. and Russian diplomats, averts American missile strikes against the Assad regime, although the Obama administration has warned that the military option remains on the table if Damascus does not comply. President Barack Obama said last week the U.S. Navy will maintain its increased presence in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to keep pressure on Syria and to be in position to respond if diplomacy fails.
See SYRIAN, page A5
AP photo
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (left) shakes hands with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after speaking to the media Sunday at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Israel.
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