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LOCAL RUNNERS SEEK SUCCESS AT STATE
Rock Falls pads Sterling tax flow
CROSS COUNTRY EXTRA, INSIDE
OUT HERE, A3
dailyGAZETTE
Monday, November 11, 2013
SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
CITY GOVERNMENT | ADMINISTRATORS
Is living in town an absolute? Area mayors have different ideas BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
DIXON – City officials want their likely new administrator, David Nord, to live inside city limits by 2016. Many city governments have
similar requirements. Morrison, for example, has required its administrators to reside in the city. Barry Dykhuizen, who started as administrator last month, was given 6 months to move to Morrison. He has already done so. “He found a house he really likes and made his decision,” Mayor Everett Pannier said. “We just think it sends a bet-
To attend The Dixon City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 121 W. Second St., to vote on hiring David Nord, Cherry Valley’s former longtime ter message to citizens if their administrator, who is making decisions about the city, lives in the city. He’s experiencing
administrator. He would be Dixon’s first administrator. Go to www.DiscoverDixon.org or call City Hall at 815-288-1485 for an agenda, more information. the same things as everyone else.” In Dixon, the City Council is expected Tuesday to choose
VETERANS DAY
State Senate candidate stops in Rock Falls
Photographer discovers saying thanks can take a lifetime
S
AVANNA – Bill Delp was just a young boy at the time, but the memories of a smoky pool hall in his small hometown have stayed with him a lifetime. Delp, now 54, can still recall time spent with family at O’Canavan’s pub in downtown Savanna, next to the VFW. “I was only about 4, 5, 6 years old, but I’ve always had vivid memories of all the vets in similar military hats shooting pool after they came back from war,” Delp said. “Back then war was just something you saw on TV. I didn’t realize the magnitude of it until I was older.” The pool hall is now closed, but a boy’s first vision of the citizen soldier that was born there continues to evolve. It eventually reached a point in which his need to say thanks to those who have served has become a driving force in his life, professionally and personally. “One day I realized that these people aren’t John Wayne,” Delp said. “They are everyday people that go off and do this stuff.” But as difficult as war is, what really amazes Delp
is that the majority come home, find ways to put their experiences behind them, and resume their lives. “It really blows my mind how they are able to just come back and live their lives,” Delp said. “I have so much respect for that, and for years I struggled to find a way to express that.” Expressing things for Delp oftentimes involves a camera. A professional photographer with his own studio, he still has his first camera – one his mom got for selling Avon products when he was in junior high. His camera would later become instrumental in finding a creative outlet for his gratitude. But before that, he would write a poem he called “A Soldier’s Sacrifice” that would become his tribute. A tribute that was once very private, but is now being read by more people every day. The poem finally found paper in 2004, after many failed attempts. Many years would go by before anyone else saw it. “It took only minutes after I actually started writing,” Delp said. “But it was to those people, not the world, so I buried it in a drawer.” GRATITUDE CONTINUED ON A11
OFFICIALS CONTINUED ON A4
36TH DISTRICT
Images of gratitude BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 570
Nord as its first administrator. He will have until Jan. 1, 2016, to establish his “principal residency” in Dixon’s city limits, according to his proposed contract. Mayor Jim Burke said Commissioner Dennis Considine proposed that requirement as part of the contract. The mayor has favored such rules before.
Bivins shows up to support GOP challenger to Jacobs BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 529
Submitted by Bill Delp
An emotional Earl Delp of Mount Carroll listens while a tribute letter written by his son, Jim, is read during the flight home from a Quad Cities Honor Flight trip to Washington in September 2012.
ROCK FALLS – Moline firefighter Neil Anderson came to Rock Falls Saturday to introduce himself to residents as a candidate for the Illinois Senate. In front of a handful of residents at the Rock Falls Public Library, Anderson, who’s running as a Republican for the 36th District seat, talked about his background growing up in the Quad Cities, walking on to the football team at the University of Nebraska and then later becoming a firefighter. Anderson will run against State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline. “I will speak clearly and speak without fear,” Anderson said. “I will represent you, the individual. And I promise that my staff and I are dedicated to working not only hard for this office, but dedicated to working hard for you.” Anderson also said, if elected, he would make all his ideas and decisions based on principles, not on politics. CANDIDATE CONTINUED ON A5
THE WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday
Saturday
Dixon set to hire administrator
Football playoffs continue for Newman
DIXON – The Dixon City Council meets in special session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to vote on the hiring of David Nord as the first city administrator. The meeting is at City Hall, 121 W. Second St., on the second floor in the council chambers. Nord, the former village administrator in Cherry Valley, could start work as soon as Wednesday if he is hired. The proposed contract would start Nord’s salary at $101,500 and increase it to $105,000 on May 1. It would run through May 31, 2015.
The Newman Comets are back in the 2A quarterfinals after beating Eastland-Pearl City on Saturday. The Comets will travel to play Momence on Saturday. Official game time will be set today.
VETERANS DAY OBSERVANCES PLANNED TODAY IN THE SAUK VALLEY, DETAILS ON A7 $1.00
TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 159 ISSUE 236
INDEX
COMICS ............... A9 CROSSWORD....B12 DEAR ABBY ......... A8
LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2 STATE .................. A5
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 SPORTS ...............B1
Today’s weather High 41. Low 19. More on A3.
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B7.
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