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O c t o be r 13 , 2014 • $1 .0 0
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SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
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SYCAMORE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL
MARCHING ON Marlyn’s Majorettes’ founder retiring corp after this year’s event
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Eatery hosts 2 benefits Texas Roadhouse opens its doors to public today By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com
Monica Synett – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Marlyn Burkart, founder of Marlyn’s Majorettes and Majors Color Guard and Drum Corps in Sycamore, opens a package Thursday containing a baton for one of her students at her home. The parade corp, which has marched in every single Pumpkin Fest parade, will be retired after this year’s event.
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By JESSI HAISH jhaish@shawmedia.com
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YCAMORE – Marlyn Burkart is preparing for her last stride in the Pumpkin Festival parade. This final time, she’ll be surrounded by a large number of her “family” members, more than 100 of them, as a sendoff to the woman who taught them about manners, culture and how to march in a parade through Sycamore-based Marlyn Majorettes and Majors Color Guard and Drum Corps.
Which is your favorite part of Marlyn’s Majorettes? Vote online at DailyChronicle.com. “I think I’m the luckiest lady in the world to have had all those people share their lives with me,” she said. “I consider that one of the greatest things in my life. It’s like the stars in the heavens, there’s that many.” Burkart is retiring her parade corps this year. The corps has
marched in all 53 Pumpkin Festival parades and has won more than 1,000 world, national and state championships. The Pumpkin Festival is one of about 12 parades the group participates in each year. The parade corps is generally made up of 6-year-olds to twenty-somethings, although there is no official cut-off age, Burkart said. The nonprofit organization is supported by fundraising, with parents sometimes footing the bill, but the program has always been free to any person who wanted to be involved. To celebrate Burkart’s years
with her “family,” more than 100 alumni are flying in from all over the country to walk with Burkart, who calls herself “the lady of the street,” in their final parade. The group includes baton twirlers, rifle squad, color guard and more. They will sport matching maroon shirts with a message: “Marlyn’s family.” Burkart said parades were a family tradition, as both her father and her grandfather marched with the Burlington band.
See RETIRING, page A8
SYCAMORE – DeKalb resident Connie Pinckney was eager Sunday to dig into one of her favorite steaks at Texas Roadhouse in Sycamore. The area’s newest steakhouse, 1950 DeKalb Ave., Sycamore, held a fundraiser Friday for Safe Passage, DeKalb County’s domestic violence and sexual assault prevention and counseling organization. On Sunday, it held a fundraiser for Hope Haven, a homeless shelter in DeKalb. During both events, friends and family of Texas Roadhouse employees as well as those who supported the restaurant during its construction were invited as the first guests before its grand opening today. Pinckney attended as a friend of an employee at Hope Haven. “We needed a place like this around here,” Pinckney said. “The steaks are delicious. There’s no comparison. And the atmosphere – you can’t get it anywhere else.” The fundraisers were held partly so employees could get the necessary training serving guests before the restaurant officially opened, said Texas Roadhouse managing partner Steve Boals. Boals declined to disclose how much they were able to raise for the DeKalb County charities, but called the events successful fundraisers. The restaurant officially opens from 4 to 10 p.m. today, bringing a total of 160 jobs to the community, according to a news release. Employees include a mix of part-time and full-time workers who are outgoing and filled with energy, Boals said. “At the end of the day, it’s entertaining,” Boals said. “People can spend their dollars anywhere. We just want to be that choice.”
See EATERY, page A8
Dallas health worker tests positive for Ebola By NOMAAN MERCHANT The Associated Press DALLAS – A “breach of protocol” at the hospital where Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan was treated before his death led to the infection of a health care worker with the deadly virus, and other caregivers could potentially be exposed, federal health officials said Sunday. The hospital worker, a woman who was not identified by officials, wore protective gear while treating the Liberian patient, and she has been unable to point to how the breach might have occurred, said Dr. Tom Frieden, head of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Duncan was the first person in the U.S. diagnosed with Ebola. The CDC confirmed Sunday afternoon the woman had tested positive for Ebola – the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the U.S. The missteps with the first patient and now the infection of a caregiver raised questions about assurances given by U.S. health officials that any American hospital should be able to treat an Ebola patient and that the disease would be contained. At a briefing in Atlanta, Frieden said that at some point
during Duncan’s treatment, “there was a breach in protocol, and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection.” He added that officials were “deeply concerned” by the infection of the worker. President Barack Obama asked the CDC to move as quickly as possible in investigating the incident, the White House said. Dallas police stood guard outside her apartment complex and told people not to go inside. Officers also knocked on doors, made automated phone calls and passed out fliers to notify people within a four-block radius about the situation, although Dallas au-
thorities assured residents the risk was confined to those who have had close contact with the two Ebola patients. The worker wore a gown, gloves, mask and shield while she cared for Duncan during his second visit to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, said Dr. Daniel Varga of Texas Health Resources, which runs the hospital. Duncan, who arrived in the U.S. from Liberia to visit family Sept. 20, first sought medical care for fever and abdominal pain Sept. 25. He told a nurse he had traveled from Africa, but he was sent home.
See EBOLA, page A8
AP photo
Police stand guard outside Sunday the apartment of a hospital worker and a yellow barrel that holds hazardous materials in Dallas. The Texas health care worker, who was in full protective gear when she provided hospital care for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who later died, has tested positive for the virus and is in stable condition, health officials said Sunday.
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More than 30 kids compete in Royal Warrior Challenge / A3
More than 200 quilts on displat at benefit show in Sycamore / A3
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