THURSDAY
Nove mbe r 20 , 2014 • $1 .0 0
UP AND DOWN YEAR
Huskies running back Akeem Daniels returns to form against Ohio / B1 HIGH
LOW
22 6 Complete forecast on page A8
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Enterprise zone gets county OK Next step is for area’s municipalities to also give proposal a thumbs-up By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Now that DeKalb County Board members have approved the county’s bid for an enterprise zone, the next step will be to have local municipalities follow suit. The board voted unanimously Wednesday to establish the enterprise zone in DeKalb County with cooperation from city officials in DeKalb, Sycamore, Genoa, Cortland,
Sandwich and Waterman. Resolutions to adopt an intergovernmental agreement and to allow the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation to be the administrator of the enterprise zone also passed, with only one board member opposing those resolutions. “It’s just wonderful and so refreshing to see all the municipalities come together for this common goal,” said County Administrator Gary Hanson. “We’ve been in a depressed economy
for a while. This is going to help us get out of it, so it’s very exciting.” An enterprise zone would make increased state and local incentives available to DeKalb County to attract investment, development and job creation, county documents show. The county likely won’t know for months whether it will land an enterprise zone. After local municipalities also vote to approve the county’s proposal, the application will be sent to the
state of Illinois by Dec. 31. The state will have until Sept. 30, 2015, to either approve or deny DeKalb County’s enterprise zone proposal. There are 97 enterprise zones across Illinois, all of which will expire in the next five years. Next year, up to 49 new zones will be created. Eligible areas must meet three of the 10 criteria, which include unemployment, economic opportunities,
See ENTERPRISE, page A6
What’s next Municipalities in DeKalb County are expected to vote on approving the county’s enterprise zone proposal before county officials send the proposal to the state by Dec. 31. The state will have until Sept. 30, 2015, to either approve or deny DeKalb County’s enterprise zone proposal.
From IS militant to Iraqi informer
FIELDS OF DREAMS
Ex-jihadi betrays group after capture By VIVIAN SALAMA The Associated Press
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Scott Heinsohn, 20, finishes making macaroni and cheese for a family dinner Tuesday at his family’s home in DeKalb. Heinsohn, who has Down syndrome, plans to work at the Walnut Grove Vocational Farm when it is up and running – hopefully, next summer. BELOW: The Heinsohn family currently runs the Walnut Grove Farm in Kirkland and has plans with DeKalb County Community Gardens to turn a piece of the farmland into a vocational farm where those with disabilities would be able to learn skills and work. The farm is planned to be up and running by the summer.
New community garden project aims to help those with disabilities By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Gene Heinsohn worried about what his 20-year-old son Scott, who has Down syndrome, would do once he finished an educational transition program in two years. So Heinsohn, a DeKalb resident, met earlier this year with Dan Kenney, executive director of the DeKalb County Community Gardens, to germinate an idea: start a garden that individuals with special needs can learn to maintain. Perhaps one day, the farm will produce enough to pay the disabled people who work there wages. “Ever since [Scott] was born, being a dad, I wonder what’s going to become of him,” Heinsohn said. “I always had an idea of a place where he could work. ... It became a place in my mind where adults with disabilities could come and learn a trade, not necessarily work on the farm.” Heinsohn’s family owns the 280acre Walnut Grove Farm in Franklin Township on Pearl Street two miles north of Kirkland in northern DeKalb County. He allowed
DeKalb County Community Gardens to use 10 of those acres to help people with disabilities. So far, supports for a greenhouse have gone up. Leaders hope to begin growing vegetables and raising livestock by this spring and employing people in the summer. The Walnut Grove Farm is the latest effort by the DeKalb County Community Gardens, a nonprofit organization Kenney formed three years ago. Kenney said his group has more than 70 partnerships, over 40 locations and has raised over 20,000 pounds of food this year alone for local food pantries. They also planted more than 100 fruit and nut trees this year, Kenney said. Of all the efforts started by the DeKalb County Community Gardens, the Walnut Grove Farm is a very big deal, Kenney said. He envisions people from surrounding Boone and Winnebago counties also working on the farm due to its proximity. There has already been interest from local organizations to partner with the effort, Kenney said.
See GARDEN, page A6
Walnut Grove Farm timeline DeKalb County Community Garden leaders hope to begin growing vegetables and raising livestock by this spring and employing people, including those with disabilities, in the summer. Once spring begins, major efforts will be to get the first of two greenhouses operational, as well as build a wheelchair-accessible bathroom that will include a germination room.
How to help To volunteer or donate to the DeKalb County Community Gardens, visit www. dekalbgardens.org.
BAGHDAD – The former Islamic State group commander walked into the visitors’ room of his Baghdad prison, without the usual yellow jumpsuit and shackles his fellow inmates wear. In slippers and a track suit, he greeted guards with a big smile, kissing them on the cheeks. The scene testifies to the strange path of Abu Shakr, a 36-year-old who joined al-Qaida out of anger over treatment of Iraq’s Sunnis and rose in the group as it transformed into the extremist juggernaut now called the Islamic State. Finally, he became an informant against the group after his capture. Arrested in late 2013, he was presented a choice by Iraqi security officials: Help them against the extremists and in return he would get jailhouse perks. Now with relatively free rein inside the confines of a maximum security prison complex, Abu Shakr can play with his five children, enjoy supervised visits and buddy up with the guards. Security officials say he has given them guidance on the extremists’ tactics and helped them find and interrogate suspected militants. In Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, he helped the military win back key areas this week, including the town of Beiji, where troops secured Iraq’s largest oil refinery. He clearly has been willing to act against his former group in return for access to his family – and perhaps, implicitly, to prevent any government action against them. But his personal sentiment toward the militants is hard to gauge. Speaking to The Associated Press, he didn’t express any remorse for his involvement in the group or directly denounce its actions. He only said he never liked the group’s ferocious targeting of Shiites and Christians. “It was not supposed to be this way,” he said. “We can’t stop this thing, but we can limit it,” he said of the Sunni militant group. “Daesh has nothing to lose,” he added, using its Arabic acronym.
See INFORMER, page A5
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