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Deal reached on bridge collapse $900K will go to fix Keslinger Road structure By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com Planning is underway to replace the Keslinger Road bridge that collapsed in August 2008, thanks to a recent $900,000 settlement with Enbridge Energy. The lawsuit filed in October 2011 was dismissed Thursday after DeKalb County and Afton Township officials reached an agreement that will allow crews to fix the bridge without any cost
to local government, DeKalb County State’s Attorney Richard Schmack said in a news release. “We wanted to get a bridge to the citizens of Afton Township as quickly as we could,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Stephanie Klein, who has been working on the case for about a year. “We wanted to get one as quickly and at as little cost as possible to the citizens.” In the lawsuit, local officials claimed Welded Con-
struction trucks carrying more than the legal weight limit of about 36½ tons damaged the bridge on their way to an oil pipeline construction project for Enbridge Energy. Enbridge Energy transports crude oil and other liquids in North America, with two pipelines operating in DeKalb County. The Keslinger Road bridge, which crossed the Kishwaukee River between First Street and Anderland Road south of DeKalb, saw about
100 vehicles per day before construction traffic increased in June 2008. On Aug. 19, 2008, the bridge’s eight timber piles buckled, and the concrete deck split in two and plunged into the Kishwaukee River. Litigation was complicated because Enbridge Energy and Welded Construction representatives argued they should be responsible for the depreciated value of the bridge built in 1975, not the replacement
Shaw Media file photo
A bridge on Keslinger Road west of South First Street in Afton Township collapsed on Aug. 19, 2008.
See BRIDGE, page A9
County may get sobriety facility
MILITARY MATRIMONY
Would help drug court participants By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – One man in the DeKalb County Drug Court program has to wake up at 3 a.m. to take a train to his job in DuPage County. As part of the program, the man has to stay in a supervised residential treatment program and work to pay rent at the treatment facility. Because there are no such sober living homes for men in DeKalb County, he has to travel to Addison for his job while also fulfilling his obligations to the DeKalb County Drug Court in Sycamore, said Marilyn Stromborg, drug court coordinator. Stromborg and other local drug court leaders want to make these circumstances a little easier for future drug court participants by opening a sober living home for men in Sycamore. City Council members revised Sycamore’s zoning rules to allow a sober living house near the courthouse in October, but leaders are still in the earliest planning stages. They haven’t selected a potential location. Of DeKalb County’s 35 or so current drug court participants, a third of them are men who stay in homes in places such as Addison, Elgin and Aurora, Stromborg said. The women typically stay at the Discovery House, which is run by the Ben Gordon Center in DeKalb.
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Steven Estes of DeKalb and Annie Baccetti of Sandwich share a laugh with Judge Thomas L. Doherty during their wedding ceremony Friday at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. Estes is an Army fire support specialist and will be deployed to Afghanistan in December.
DeKalb County couple marry before his 3rd deployment By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – DeKalb native Steven Estes soon will be deployed for a third time to Afghanistan. But this time, he’ll be doing it as a married man. Estes, a 24-year-old Army fire support specialist, married his girlfriend of more than two years – Sandwich
resident Annie Baccetti, 21 – Friday at the DeKalb County Courthouse. The couple planned to get married later in December, but Estes’ promotable status led his deployment date to be moved. “We work as a team pretty good,” Estes said. “I think in the future we’ll be well off.” About 15 close family members attended the wed-
deployment this time. When he comes home, he and Baccetti will move to El Paso, Texas, for a year while Estes is stationed at Fort Bliss. Baccetti isn’t looking forward to Estes being overseas. “It’s tough,” she said. “We Skype a lot when he’s over there.”
ding. Estes was dressed in his military uniform, and Baccetti wore a simple, white knee-length dress with lace detailing on the neck line. Estes seemed a little eager: He put the ring on her finger before Judge Thomas Doherty read Baccetti her vows. Estes, who has already served in Iraq and Afghanistan, anticipates a shorter
See MATRIMONY, page A9
“I’m looking forward to being with him every day and waking up next to him every morning.” Annie Baccetti of Sandwich, on marrying Steven Estes
See SOBRIETY, page A9
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