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SVM PREVIEWS THE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE
LOCAL ENTERTAINMENT, A7-8, 10-11
dailyGAZETTE
Thursday, October 31, 2013
SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
CRIME IN THE SAUK VALLEY
Rock Falls bank robbed Suspect sought in afternoon holdup of First Federal Savings Bank BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521
ROCK FALLS – Police are looking for a man who robbed First Federal Savings Bank, 701 First Ave., shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday. According to a news release from police, a weapon was “implied, but not displayed.” The suspect was described as a Hispanic male, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, in his 30s or 40s, with a mustache. He was
Where were you when you heard?
wearing a denim baseball cap, a gray Chicago Bears sweatshirt, and blue jeans. Shelby Meyer, 44, of Sterling, was at the bank just before 1:30 when he pulled into the drive-thru to deposit some checks. “I could see that there were several people inside, but I don’t know; I assumed they were customers,” Meyer Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com said. A Whiteside County K9 officer checks the neighborhood surrounding First Federal Savings Bank in Rock Falls after a robROBBED CONTINUED ON A2 bery there Wednesday afternoon.
HALLOWEEN FEATURE | THE BLOODY GULCH ROAD STORY
‘It was actually scarier than any of us came up with’ S
BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 529
cary stories, sometimes based on true events, are a big part of Halloween. And in Dixon, there’s a chance the story of Bloody Gulch Road will be among those told.
EDUCATION | HOW SCHOOLS RATE
Most fail to meet standard
A.K. Thompson had heard and told those stories growing up in Dixon. But she also spent time researching what actually happened for her book, “Relentless, Envious Death: The Biographies of Katherine Shaw Bethea and Solomon Hicks Bethea.” “I remember, when I was a little girl, at sleepovers, people would say, ‘Oh, Bloody Gulch Road. What happened?’” she said. “We’d speculate and everything. It was sort of this urban legend or whatever. And then when I came across the original reporting in the Telegraph, it was actually scarier than what any of us came up with as kids.” On Sept. 18, 1885, 18-year-old Frederick Thiel’s body was found by a farmer named James Penrose near a farm just south of Dixon. His cattle, which he was crossing near the spot where Thiel’s body was, had reacted to the body’s smell, Thompson said. Thiel’s throat had been slit so severely his head was nearly detached, said Thompson, who researched the event from articles published in the Telegraph. Thiel also had his skull crushed in, several defensive wounds and some fingernails removed, she said.
One district puts ‘limited stock’ in federal ratings BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
SCARIER CONTINUED ON A14
About the book A.K. Thompson’s book, “Relentless, Envious Death: The Biographies of Katherine Shaw Bethea and Solomon Hicks Bethea,” is available at the KSB Hospital gift shop and Books on First, 202 W. First St., for $19.95.
At one time, it was Pearl Harbor. In more recent years, it was 9/11. But for a different generation, it was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas. Sauk Valley Media will publish a package of stories in late November in observance of the 50th anniversary of that national tragedy. We would like to hear readers’ recollections of where they were, what they were doing, and how they reacted when they first heard the president had been shot. You are invited to share your memories, in 200 words or less, by sending an email (slug line: JFK) to news@saukvalley. com or a letter to JFK Memories, 3200 E. Lincolnway, P.O. Box 498, Sterling, IL 61081. You may also take what you write to the SVM office in Dixon or Sterling. Please include your name, address and a phone number. Submission deadline is 5 p.m. Nov. 15.
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Dixon author A.K. Thompson stands at the top of the gulch where the body of Frederick Thiel was found in 1885. The gruesome murder is one of the subjects of Thompson’s book and also led to the naming of Bloody Gulch Road.
Most local schools failed to meet the federal standard of “adequate yearly progress” this year. But few administrators, in any case, are confident in the standard, saying it’s not a good gauge for student performance. The state plans to release the latest adequate-yearly-progress information today, but Sauk Valley Media contacted local districts Wednesday to see whether they had met the standard. Over the years, the AYP standard has increased. The national goal was to have all students reaching proficient levels in reading and math by 2014. The Rock Falls High School district already has posted the latest information on its website, showing that it didn’t make adequate yearly progress, as has been the case since 2007. None of the schools in the Sterling and Dixon districts made it either. FAIL CONTINUED ON A11
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TODAY’S EDITION: 28 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 159 ISSUE 229
INDEX
BUSINESS ......... A14 COMICS ...............B8 CROSSWORD....B14
DEAR ABBY ....... A12 LOTTERY ............. A2 OBITUARIES ........ A4
OPINION .............. A6 PLAN!T ................. A7 SPORTS ...............B1
Today’s weather High 63. Low 39. More on A3.
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B9.
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