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PREPS • SPORTS, B1
Akim Suraji is the Boys Soccer Player of the Year
* Tuesday, November 19, 2013
HOLIDAY SPECIALS • MARKETPLACE, A6
Local businesses make plans for Thanksgiving
Disaster help on way downstate Sycamore volunteer heads to storm-ravaged Washington
Voice your opinion Do you know someone affected by the tornadoes in Washington or Coal City? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Sycamore resident Lee Newtson didn’t wait for authorities to assess all the damage a tornado caused in
Washington before heading to the town of 16,000 east of Peoria. A veteran of disaster sites, Newtson knows what is needed. He has worked at ground zero in New York City and in the tornado-ravaged communities of
Joplin, Mo., Ridgeway and Harrisburg, Ill., and Bethel Acres, Okla. “They are pretty well organized in Washington. My contacts there told me they are doing another sweep this morn-
ing,” Newtson said Monday. “I’ll probably be working with families to help them get paperwork to the proper agencies and helping them look through debris for their important papers.”
He’s not going to Washington empty-handed, either. Newtson said his truck is about three-quarters full with cleaning supplies and food donated by Pat Hill at Hill’s Country Store in Kaneville. “She always packs a lunch for me, too,” he said.
See VOLUNTEER, page A4
Corruption fears boost Philippine headaches By NICK PERRY and OLIVER TEVES The Associated Press
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
A construction worker stands in the Kishwaukee River as he helps guide a crane operator Friday as they work on the Five Points Road bridge in Kingston.
Bridge construction funding a weighty issue By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Building and repairing bridges are expensive projects, so local officials are crossing that bridge before they come to it. There are four bridges in DeKalb County that are undergoing repairs or complete replacement: the Lee Road and Pritchard Road bridges in the Squaw Grove Township, the Five Points Road bridge in Kingston and the Shabbona Grove bridge in Shabbona. None of these projects is inexpensive. The Five Points Road bridge – the one being replaced – will cost $2.5 million, said Nathan Schwartz, county engineer. Complete replacements typically cost between $300,000 to $1 million, Schwartz said, but the Five Points Road bridge is more expensive because it includes a sidewalk to one side of the bridge. As county officials plan to replace the Keslinger Road bridge in Afton Township next year, thanks to a $900,000 court settlement, they acknowledge that most other local bridge projects must wait for enough local property taxes and gas taxes to accumulate. Both those funding sources have been decreasing with local property values and improved vehicle fuel efficiency, while construction costs are increasing. State Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, said proposed legislation to change the system has failed to pass. The Transportation Illinois Coalition proposed a state tax for all cars, including hybrids and electric cars, to fund bridge and road repairs. “They had a creative proposal, but with the climate right now, people just don’t want to support any taxes,” Pritchard said. “That’s where the proposal fell on deaf ears.” When officials don’t have money to upgrade or repair local bridges, they limit the weight allowed to cross them. There are three bridges in the county which have a weight limit lower than the nearby road’s weight limit: two sister
TACLOBAN, Philippines – When a newspaper for Filipino workers in New Zealand told readers how to donate to the typhoon relief effort in their homeland, it mentioned agencies like the Red Cross but not a list of government bank accounts that the Philippine Embassy had sent over. “I’m not going to mince words,” said Mel Fernandez, the editorial adviser for the Filipino Migrant News. “We would like every cent to reach those poor people there rather than getting waylaid.” Corruption is a concern after any major natural disaster, as millions of dollars in cash and goods rush in from around the world. But those worries are especially acute in the Philippines, where graft has been a part of life for decades. The government of President Benigno Aquino III, who has made fighting corruption a priority, is promising full transparency in reconstruction spending in areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda. It announced Monday that it has established a website called the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub where funds given by foreign donors can be tracked. “There’s an urgent call now for us to monitor the movement of foreign aid funds for Yolanda so they will go exactly where they’re supposed to: to the survivors of the typhoon,” Undersecretary of Budget and Management and Chief Information Officer Richard Moya said in a statement.
See TYPHOON, page A5
A crane is used to place steel sheeting for a cofferdam in the Kishwaukee River.
For more information Construction completion for current bridge projects depends on the weather. For updates, visit dekalbcounty.org/Highway. bridges on South Paw Paw Road in the Paw Paw Township and a bridge on McNeal Road in the Franklin Township. This forces heavily-loaded trucks to divert around those bridges. “Other bridges [that] have a weight limit [are] in line for replacement, but we can’t do it,” Schwartz said. “We don’t have the money to replace these bridges after 50 years.” Federal construction money is used only
under certain conditions, Schwartz said. Whenever officials want to use that money, they need to fill out a lot of paperwork, Schwartz said. Eighty percent of the Five Points Road bridge replacement funding is from federal dollars. The rest will come from a combination of motor fuel taxes and property tax money. Perry Jungels, Squaw Grove Township road commissioner, is overseeing the projects for the Lee Road and Pritchard Road bridges. He said he gets by with the funds he has by saving money over several years. The road commissioners before him set up an account for bridge projects, which he still uses.
See BRIDGES, page A5
AP Photo
A plea for help in SOS is painted on a road in an aerial view from a U.S. Navy Sea Hawk helicopter Monday over San Jose, the Philippines. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by Typhoon Haiyan, which tore across several islands Nov. 8 in the eastern Philippines.
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