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Jan u a r y 12, 2015 • $1 .0 0
TOUGH TOURNAMENT Sycamore’s Malone takes second as team places 13th in home invitational / B1
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Sycamore makes progress in 2014 By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – You can’t see them now with the snow, but the city’s sidewalks are better than they were a year ago. More than $70,000 was used to fix the sidewalks. In addition, $2.8 million was used to widen and resurface Bethany Road. North Avenue also was resurfaced. Those are just some of the ways Sycamore made progress in 2014, working to “maintain the quaint charm of Sycamore,” while also propelling the city into the future, City Manager Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com Brian Gregory said. Sycamore Public Works employee Vince Ormond checks chlorine lev“Sycamore had seen signifels Tuesday during a daily water check at Sycamore’s Well No. 10. Syc- icant growth in the early and mid-2000s, then things slowed amore now has five active wells and two water towers.
Festivities begin before Rauner’s inauguration By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – From a museum visit to a swanky $1,000-a-plate dinner Sunday at the Illinois Capitol, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner spent his last day before assuming the governorship celebrating and thanking supporters. The Winnetka businessman will take the oath of office as Illinois’ 42nd governor today, the first Republican to hold that position since George Ryan left in 2003. Rauner told attendees at Sunday’s dinner – including numerous elected officials, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner and Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago – that it was time to enjoy the festivities because there was a lot of work ahead. “We are on the verge of a major transformation of our state,” he said in his brief remarks. “This is our home. We deserve so much better than we’ve had for the last decade.” About 800 people attended, with tables set up outside the office that will soon be Rauner’s. Attendees, who feasted on “deconstructed Caesar salad” and marinated beef tenderloin, also got bottles of wine to take home. Cupich offered a blessing. Others in the crowd included Senate President John Cullerton, Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, congressmen and state lawmakers. The event followed a cocktail reception, a veterans job fair and a visit with children at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which was open free to the public Sunday as part of the inauguration weekend. This morning a prayer service and the swearing in of constitutional officers will take place. Rauner beat Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in Novem-
down due to the recession,” he said. “This afforded us an opportunity to look inward.” Last year, guided by the city’s comprehensive plan, Sycamore made strides to update the look and infrastructure of the city, such as fixing the sidewalks, replacing unsightly trees and launching a new water well. This year, city officials hope for more of the same to advance that charm, with breaking ground on even more additions. “There’s significant investment in our infrastructure and our utilities,” Gregory said. Last September, a new well, Well No. 10, went online. The 1,225-foot deep, 29-inch wide well includes radial removal equipment. With no centralized
water system, Well No. 10 helps distribute water to where the need seems to be increasing. “We have deep wells scattered throughout the city and our growth appears to be to the north,” said Mike Swedberg, superintendent of Public Works’ water division. “This is the first well north of the Kishwaukee River.” The comprehensive plan, the major reason for the city’s updates this year and last, focuses on the community’s physical, social and economic development. It was last updated in 2008 with future growth prospects. Back in October, a professional service contract between the City Council and Wills Burke Kelsey and Associates
was made to help make the comprehensive plan become a reality. Gregory said it was a major step forward for the comprehensive plan. “It’s our vision, it’s what we want to be in the future,” Gregory said. “With new development, a lot of times we’re focused in on business that arrives, but there’s also jobs in the trades when homes and buildings are being constructed.” The Sycamore Park District, which operates separately from the city, focused last year on removing the unsightly trees plagued with the emerald ash borer beetle and replacing them with newer trees, Park District
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Recipe for trouble?
“We are on the verge of a major transformation of our state. This is our home. We deserve so much better than we’ve had for the last decade.”
Bruce Rauner Illinois governor-elect ber. After that will be an open house at the Old State Capitol and dinner, capped off by a concert with country star Toby Keith. A $125 admission price for that event includes food and drink. Earlier in the day – wearing his trademark open-collar dress shirt and khakis – Rauner visited the museum, but had forgotten his glasses. The 57-year-old couldn’t see to read a portion of the book his wife was sharing with a group of young children. Diana Rauner read “Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers,” by Karen Winnick, which tells the true story of an 11-yearold who wrote to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and encouraged him to grow his iconic beard. Diana Rauner asked her husband to read Lincoln’s response, but he begged off, despite his wife’s promise to “hold it way back.” Rauner laughed when a reporter asked if he had ever grown a beard. “My beards are very scruffy,” the former college football player said. “They look bad. I’ve had many, but not like Lincoln’s.”
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Bartender Jimmy Addante fills a beer order Thursday at Fatty’s in DeKalb. “I don’t think it would really change much,” the 23-year-old said about the possible lowering of the bar-entry age to 20 in DeKalb. An NIU student approached Mayor John Rey with the idea.
NIU students explore lowering bar-entry age to 20 Voice your opinion
By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Mixing underage patrons with DeKalb bars creates a cocktail that’s enticing some and repelling others. The combination is up for debate as a handful of Northern Illinois University students are exploring what impacts lowering the bar-entry age from 21 to 20 would have in DeKalb. While some local bar owners and patrons said they wouldn’t mind, city leaders and police aren’t keen on throwing underage drinkers into the mix. Jimmy Addante has been a bartender at Fatty’s, 1312 Lincoln Highway in DeKalb, for three years. As a junior at Northern Illinois University, he sees underage drinking mostly happening at house parties or fraternities, not in bars where ID checks are stringent. Allowing 20-year-olds into bars won’t change that, he said. “You can have a 20-year-old who can handle themselves and a 25-year-old that gets hammered,” Addante said. “I don’t really think it would make that much of
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a difference.” But it would make a difference because it would make drinking laws tougher to enforce, said Mayor John Rey, who was approached by a member of NIU’s Student Association in December regarding the possibility to permit 20-year-olds access to bars. Rey said the idea was presented as a way to get students under 21 more involved socially. “I think we need to look at more positive social settings that would be attractive to students,” Rey said. “I don’t think drinking has to be part of a social setting.”
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Fatty’s owner Jeff Dobie isn’t sure where he stands on lowering the bar-entry age from 21 to 20. The bar could benefit from increased food sales, but it also could suffer from having greater risk of underage patrons sneaking drinks. “The cons are the security issues,” Dobie said. “No one wants an underage kid drinking in your place.” For Joe Chavez, who owns Rosy’s Roadhouse at 930 Pappas Drive, having access to more customers equals more profit. Although it could require bolstering security and ID checks, he sees lowering the entry age to 20 as more beneficial than harmful. “It would be good to get more people into the bar to have dinner,” Chavez
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