DAILY CHRONICLE
POSTSEASON PREP FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD
WEEKEND October 31, 2015 • $1.50
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
CLASS 6A
No. 9 Belvidere North. ................ 31 No. 8 Kaneland.............................33 CLASS 6A
No. 12 Hampshire ....................... 44 No. 5 DeKalb..................................57 CLASS 5A
HIGH
No. 10 Sycamore (6-3) at No. 7 Nazareth (7-2), 1 p.m. today
50 44
CLASS 4A
No. 16 Genoa-Kingston.................7 No. 1. Phillips................................41
daily-chronicle.com
LOW
Complete forecast on page A12
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
@dailychronicle
DeKalb eyes property tax hike By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A property tax increase that could cost homeowners another $127 a year for every $100,000 in assessed value is needed to help the city better fund its pensions and repay its debt, DeKalb officials said. For years, the city has
City would use money to fund pensions, pay debts collected less in property tax than it needs to cover obligations to employee retirement plans and has funded its police and fire pensions at the lowest acceptable levels, City Manager Anne Marie Gaura and Finance Director Cather-
ine Haley said in a memo. DeKalb also has relied on revenue sources other than property taxes to repay bonds. In this fiscal year, the city budget calls for borrowing $1.5 million from the general fund for debt payments.
The city does not levy any property tax for its day-to-day operations, and forgoes levying any property tax for most of its bonds. However, the continued reliance on other funding sources to pay for these items
is leaving the city short of funds for other needs, such as road repairs, and vehicle and equipment purchases, Haley said. “It is cutting back from other operational needs of the city,” Haley said. “One of
them, of course, is streets.” The funding shortfalls have been noted, not only by city staff members but also by Moody’s Investors Service, which recently gave a negative outlook for the city’s bond rating. Bond ratings can affect how much governments must pay to borrow money.
See TAX LEVY, page A8
Rauner says he will send Emanuel dead fish after spat
GHOST HEAD SOUP – SUPERNATURAL SLEUTHS
By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press
Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Members of Ghost Head Soup, a DeKalb County paranormal investigative group, Dean Thompson (left) and Tim Schmuldt investigate on Friday a Sycamore client’s bedroom for paranormal activity. Some historical digging revealed that Dolores Nelson lived in the house in the 1940’s and died several days before her 1944 graduation from Sycamore High School.
Paranormal pursuits DeKalb County ghost hunters investigate local home By KATIE SMITH ksmith@shawmedia.com DeKALB – An engineer, a construction worker and minister walk into a haunted building. That’s how the night began for the five hobbyists that make up Ghost Head Soup, a DeKalb County-based paranormal investigative group, as they set up camp Friday in a supposedly haunted house. “We’re not your ordinary TVtype paranormal team,” Mark Schwabe said. Their business Friday was no joke. The team consisting of: Schwabe, Dean Thompson , Michael Minard, Tim Schmuldt, and Paul Sheppard, entered the home ready to stay overnight for a chance to experience something supernatural. Two weeks ago, a woman and self-proclaimed skeptic, contacted Ghost Head Soup with concerns that her DeKalb home might be haunted. “The pots and pans were swinging. There was no one down there. Doors will open when they know it was closed,” Schwabe said. While the woman and her roommates were out of town, the men seized the opportunity to wire the house with professional equipment in an attempt to contact Dolores
Provided photo
Some historical digging revealed that Dolores Nelson lived in the Sycamore house in the 1940’s and died several days before her 1944 graduation from Sycamore High School. Nelson, a high school student who died in 1944 from complications of diabetes,only four days before her graduation from Sycamore High School. Schwabe and his crew know not everyone believes in ghosts, but 18 percent of American adults said they have had a supernatural experience, according to a Pew Research Center study. And some of the group’s findings have backed up those of popular TV investigative crews. In 2012, Schwabe appeared on an episode of SyFy’s “Ghost Hunters,”
when the “Ghost Hunters” team investigated reports of ghost activity at Tinker Swiss Cottage in Rockford, which Ghost Head Soup had previously investigated. The team caught a glimpse of what they were hoping for almost immediately Friday. The woman who contacted Ghost Head Soup mentioned having trouble sleeping in her room, and a playback of audio captured on their modified scanning radio seemed to answer their question: “I slept in that room.” “They say the veil gets thinner between the planes or whatever,”
Schwabe said. “But we notice that it does get pretty active around Halloween.” The frightening childhood memory that has never left Schwabe might be the very thing pushing him to look for paranormal activity now, he said. “I must have been 8 or 9 years old,” Schwabe said. “It was a big, old house and I used to wake up in the middle of the night. There would be an older woman standing there looking down at me while I was in bed.” Many of the group’s members have a story to share about their first experience, which they believe is common among people who find themselves drawn to ghost-hunting TV shows. “I think, in this day and age 50 percent of us believe in ghosts,” team member Thompson said. “There are more people out there that are more intrigued by it than not.” Schwabe still gets nervous before every investigation, but feels better-protected armed with a group of friends and professional ghost-hunting equipment. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m looking for answers,” Schwabe said. “I’m more comfortable with it now – at age 56 – than I was.”
LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
LIFESTYLE
WHERE IT’S AT
Food summit
Warm out
The right vibe
Summit probes county’s hunger, poverty / A3
Firefighters, teachers team up for Operation Warm DeKalb / A4
The Delano at 20 still leads boutique hotel design trend / C1
Advice ................................ C4 Classified........................D1-4 Comics ............................... C5 Local News.................... A2-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World. A2, 5-6, 8, 10
CHICAGO – The public spat between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel reached a new level Friday, as the mayor said the Republican should stop name-calling and “do your job” and Rauner responded with plans to send the Democrat a “dead fish.” The two lawmakers – who have previously worked and vacationed together and describe themselves as friends – have been in a back-and-forth over a months-long state budget impasse, city finances and Rauner’s push to curb public-employee union influence. Rauner’s office on Thursday criticized Emanuel for pushing through a record property tax increase and asking Springfield for financial help while being unwilling to back Rauner’s legislative agenda, including letting local governments opt out of collective bargaining with public-employee unions. On Friday, Emanuel fired back. “I would just say this to the governor and the governor’s office: You’re 120 days behind budget, $6 billion and counting in not paying bills,” Emanuel said. “Stop name-calling and just do your job.” Hours later Rauner walked into a local meat market in Chicago for a press event and – after picking up some pork chops and a beef tenderloin – asked the owner if he also sold fish. The governor bought a $4.87 frozen tuna steak, which he proudly displayed to reporters, saying he planned to send it to Emanuel. The gesture – which Rauner described as being “in fun” – is a reference to Emanuel once famously sending a dead fish to a pollster who’d made him angry. “I think he will deeply appreciate that, as only he can,” Rauner said.
See BUDGET, page A8
AP photo
Gov. Bruce Rauner holds a piece of dead fish he said he bought to send the Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in jest Friday in Chicago as the two continue their public feud over budget and tax issues. The gesture refers to when Emanuel sent a dead fish to a political pollster he was not happy with.
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion..............................A11 Puzzles ............................... C5 Sports..............................B1-4 State ...................................A4 Weather ........................... A12