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Friday, November 22, 2013
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Remembering a national tragedy 50 years later, solemn events honor Kennedy By JAMIE STENGLE The Associated Press DALLAS – Loose gatherings of the curious and conspiracy-minded at Dallas’ Dealey Plaza have marked past anniversaries of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, featuring everything from makeshift memorials to marching drummers to discussions about who else might have been in on the killing. But in the place where the president’s motorcade passed through and shots rang out Nov. 22, 1963, a solemn ceremony on the 50th anniversary of his death designed to avoid such distractions will include brief remarks by the mayor and the tolling of church bells. It’s an approach that will be mirrored today in Boston, where the JFK Library and Museum will open a small exhibit of never-before-displayed items from Kennedy’s state funeral and host a musical tribute that will be closed to the public, and in Washington, where President Barack Obama will meet privately at the White House with leaders and volunteers from the Kennedy-established Peace Corps program. “It’s 50 years later and it’s also a moment to look forward to the future,” said Thomas Putnam, executive director of the library, which usually doesn’t observe the anniversary. “We want our tone to be respectful and we want it to have a certain reverence, but we also want it to be hopeful and end on this notion of what JFK stood for.” The committee convened by current Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to plan the city’s event wanted to focus “in a positive way more on the legacy of President Kennedy,” Ron Kirk, a former mayor and member of the panel, said. About 5,000 tickets were issued for the free ceremony in Dealey Plaza, which is flanked by the Texas School Book Depository building where sniper Lee Harvey Oswald perched on the sixth floor in 1963. Today’s event will include readings from the president’s speeches by author David McCullough. In a nod to Kennedy’s military service, the U.S. Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club will perform and there will be an Air Force flyover. A moment of
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AP photo
Flowers rest on the headstone at the gravesite of President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Today is the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas. BELOW: Kennedy’s motorcade travels through Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
Area residents recall day JFK assassinated By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com Shock. Disbelief. Sadness. All are words used to describe feelings experienced this day 50 years ago as Americans learned of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was shot at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, while riding in an open car with his wife, Jacqueline, Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife, Nellie. Within minutes of the shooting, TV and radio reporters broadcast the chilling news that the president had been shot. He was pronounced dead at about 1 p.m. at Parkland Memorial Hospital. “I felt an overwhelming sadness,” said DeKalb resident Michele Silverstein. “I voted for Kennedy in the first election I was able to vote.” A housewife with two small children in 1963, Silverstein said she had just put the children down for a nap and turned on the TV. In shock, she called her parents and told them to turn on the TV. “My father almost started crying,” she said. “It was just unconscionable that something like that could happen.”
Kennedy anniversary President Barack Obama is ordering that flags be lowered at government buildings today to mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. In a presidential proclamation, Obama said the anniversary is a day to honor Kennedy’s memory and “celebrate his enduring imprint on American history.” Obama said Kennedy’s vision for the U.S. and the world lives “in the generations he inspired.” RIGHT: The Nov. 22, 1963, edition of the DeKalb Daily Chronicle.
VOICE YOUR OPINION: Do you remember Kennedy’s assassination? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
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High court’s airline fuel tax ruling could affect Sycamore By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – A top official at the Regional Transportation Authority said a Thursday decision by the Illinois Supreme Court could spell the end for Sycamore’s lucrative sales-tax agreements with United and American airlines.
But Sycamore leaders aren’t so sure. The court found Cook County-based Hartney Fuel Oil Co., a fuel oil retailer, could no longer use a contractor in Putnam County to take advantage of lower sales-tax rates there for sales it made in Cook County. The court ruled that because the bulk of the company’s sell-
ing activity was in Cook County, it should be subject to the Cook County tax rate. However, the court also found that the company’s actions were consistent with rules in place at the time, so the company will get back the $23 million in taxes and penalties it paid under protest. A similar situation might
exist in Sycamore, where United Airlines and American Airlines for years have had satellite offices for making jet fuel purchases, enabling them to avoid the 9.5 percent sales tax in Cook County. The RTA filed a lawsuit in January alleging the arrangement improperly was diverting tax money from the RTA
and Cook County. The suit named Sycamore, United Aviation Fuels Corp. and United Airlines Inc. In a statement released Thursday, Jordan Matyas, RTA chief of staff, said the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision was a “tremendous victory” for transit riders and taxpayers in northeastern Illinois.
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The RTA is the umbrella organization for the Pace bus service, Metra commuter rail and Chicago Transit Authority. Businesses and towns including Sycamore, Channahon, Kankakee, and others have been put on notice that going forward with “sales-tax
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