FRIDAY
O c tobe r 24 , 2014 • $ 1 .0 0
SPARTANS NEED WIN Sycamore football facing do-or-die test in finale / B1 HIGH
LOW
64 50 Complete forecast on page A10
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Gas fire causes $150K in damage No one injured in 3-hour gas line fire in DeKalb By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com and KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Crews installing a fence broke an underground natural gas line that caught fire and burned for about 3 hours Thursday in the Meadow Trail subdivision. DeKalb Fire Chief Eric Hicks said firefighters responded at 10 a.m. Thursday to a home in the 400 block of Red Wing Lane, which is off Bethany Road east of First Street. When they arrived, they found
On the Web View video from the gas line fire at Daily-Chronicle.com. flames shooting out from around an excavator in the front yard between two homes. “With gas leaks, you’re better off letting it burn,” Hicks said. The excavator had been installing a fence around a DeKalb Sanitary District lift station that sits in the front yard of a home. Residents said they have waited months to
have the fence installed. “We’ve been having discussions about putting up a privacy fence,” said Matt Swan, who lives next door to the lift station. “I guess the fire just becomes an interesting part of the story.” The fence burned in the fire, which also melted the siding on the nearby home. Fire officials estimated the fire caused $150,000 in damage. One person in a home next to the fire was evacuated, but no one was injured, Hicks said. DeKalb firefighters doused the nearby homes with water
Frightfully fun
to create a water curtain that would protect the homes while they waited for Nicor to arrive and turn off gas service. Nicor workers arrived about 11:15 a.m. Using shovels and another excavator, crews dug two holes about 1,000 feet apart, six feet deep to the gas lines near the fire and crimped both 2-inch plastic gas lines simultaneously to staunch the flow of gas. The fire was extinguished about 1 p.m. Mark Eddington, the manager of the DeKalb Sanitary
See FIRE, page A8
Monica Synett – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Crews work Thursday to crimp gas lines to prevent gas from fueling the fire that erupted while the DeKalb Sanitary District was installing a fence around a lift station on the 400 block of Red Wing Lane in DeKalb.
District 2 hopefuls differ on the issues
Scarers and the scared explain joy in DeKalb County haunts
By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com
Photos by Monica Synett – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Actors Courtney Bong and Brandon Bong scare a group of haunted-house goers during opening night Oct. 17 at the Amenti Haunted House at the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb. BELOW: Makeup artist Derek Katrein applies makeup to actor Jacob Costliow before opening night of the Amenti Haunted House. By ANDREA AZZO
If you go
aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – It was pitch black for about five minutes at the Egyptian Theatre’s haunted house when a lost Michelle Mears bumped into her biggest fear: clowns. Mears, 19, of Elgin estimated she has been to more than 50 haunted houses in her life. She recently visited Egyptian Theatre’s Amenti Haunted House, 135 N. Second St. in DeKalb, where she screamed and jumped while making her way past actors with chainsaws and straitjackets. “I literally have ‘clownaphobia,’” she said. “I was grabbing onto this lady in front of me, and I didn’t even know her.” Mears voluntarily puts herself into these situations for the thrill of it, and there is some science behind how scared ghoulish thrills make individuals react. Those who study how the brain reacts to fear say the mind is often trained to assess a fearful situation and people react to a fearful situation based on how they are able to regulate their emotions.
n What: Amenti Haunted
House
n When: 7 to 11:30 p.m. Fri-
day, Saturday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1; 7 to 10 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 30 n Where: Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. Second St., DeKalb n Admission: $13 general admission, $20 priority pass, $30 combo priority pass for Amenti Haunted House and Jonamac Orchard’s Haunted Corn Maze
GENOA — The candidates in the DeKalb County Board race in District 2 differ on what issues they consider most important. John Noyes, a Genoa Democrat, and Maureen Little, a Kingston Republican, are both vying for a seat in District 2, which covers the northeastern portion of the county and includes both G e n o a a n d John Kingston. Noyes Noyes, a retired teacher from District 300 in Carpentersville and political newcomer, said he considers the Maureen DeKalb County Little Jail expansion a top priority, as well as the air odor issues from Waste Management’s landfill near Cortland. At an April workshop meeting, County Board members said they wanted to spend $23 million on the jail expansion project, less than the cheapest proposal of $29 million, which would add 163 beds. Noyes said the best way to solve the jail expansion issue would be to look long term at the county’s anticipated revenues over the next few years. The current county jail has only 89 beds and is usually full. As a result, the county now spends about $1 million a year paying Kendall and Boone counties to house inmates.
See DISTRICT 2, page A8
n What: Haunted Corn
Maze
Even for people who are easily fearful of haunted houses, the best way to train the brain to be less scared is to practice by going to haunted houses more often, said David Zald, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Vanderbilt University. Zald has studied combinations of brain areas involved
in fear and whether there is preferential detection of fearful stimuli. What he has found is the amygdala, the region of the brain that controls emotions, is essential for having a learned context to control the extent to
See HAUNTS, page A8
n When: Dusk to 10:30
p.m. Friday, Saturday and Oct. 31 n Where: Jonamac Orchard, 19412 Shabbona Road, Malta n Admission: $13
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Creative outlet
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ArtSmarts club gives students a chance to shine / B10
Ice cream pumpkin sculpture by Sycamore student a winner / A3
Illinois Commerce Commission OKs new power line / A2
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