TUESDAY
Nov ember 24, 201 5 • $1 .0 0
HIGH STAKES
DAILY CHRONICLE NIU looks to wrap up MAC West title at Huskie Stadium / B1
HIGH
35 30 Complete forecast on page A10
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
LOW
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
@dailychronicle
Stalled library funds mean levy hike By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Library officials plan to increase the library tax levy to make up for lack of state funding for its $25.3 million construction project. The library has received $7 million of an $11.6 million state grant to go toward the expansion project that will more than triple its size, but the remaining funds won’t be coming until the state of Illinois has a budget, officials said.
“The remaining $4.5 million from the state is being held up,” Dee Coover, executive director of the DeKalb Public Library said. “In September, we received a letter acknowledging the contract. … The bonds have been sold, the money is there. It needs to be appropriated in the current budget.” The library received an $11.6 million grant from the state of Illinois to go toward its expansion project, which is set to be complete at the end of next summer. The rest of the fund-
ing came from donations, loans and bonds and tax increment financing funds. The library will close in early December, and the new building will open around Jan. 18, while the existing Haish building undergoes construction. While library officials originally intended to keep their levy flat, officials now propose a $500,000 increase to its levy, which would tack on an extra $56 annually to property tax bills for the homeowner with a $150,000 home value. The extra
$56 would go on top of the city’s increase of $88 for that same homeowner. The library plans to abate the taxes if state funding comes through. Taxes can generally be abated through June, Finance Director Cathy Haley said. “The [library] board has unanimously agreed we are caught as collateral damage,” Coover said, referring to the state budget impasse. The city of DeKalb also is in the midst of setting its levy
and must incorporate the levy amount the library board establishes, according to City Attorney Dean Frieders. David Jacobson, 1st Ward alderman, suggested the city act as lender to the library instead and fund that $500,000 through tax increment financing in order to keep property taxes lower for residents. Dave Baker, 6th Ward alderman, and 4th Ward Alderman Bob Snow were against the idea. “It shouldn’t be our problem,” Baker said. “They should
have gotten private pledges before they started.” Council members approved a levy ceiling of $8.6 million at their Nov. 9 meeting. and heard the first reading of a levy $7.4 million with an additional $500,000 for the library Monday. Members voted, 5-2, to approve the levy, a more than 12 percent increase from last year’s levy, with Jacobson and Baker against. A second reading will be held at the city’s Dec. 14 meeting.
Suicide vest found in Paris
DECKING THE HALLS
Worker’s find could be link to suspect By RAF CASERT and ELAINE GANLEY The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Pete Robinson of Waterman ties a support rope to the snowfall arches Wednesday along the train tracks of his holiday train that operates through Lions Park in Waterman as he prepares for the start of the season. The holiday train will open on the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving and run through Christmas.
Making merry, bright DeKalb holiday magic takes year-round preparation By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Christmas is a year-round holiday for those who make sure traditions can carry on. Pete Robinson, operator of Waterman and Western Railroad, has been preparing for opening weekend of the Holiday Train all year. For the past six weeks, he’s been setting up the wire frames, light displays and other accessories like the garland and wreaths around the city park in Waterman. “I’ve always loved Christmas,” he said. “And I love trains and decorating outside, so it was just a natural thing.” When the Holiday Lights train opens at 5 p.m. Saturday, it will mark the 22nd year that the train will have provided
free rides to visitors. Robinson was undeterred despite vandalism last season that caused $22,000 worth of damage. The vandals never were found, but the display is set to be even better this year, Robinson said. “We’re adding 20 new wire frames,” Robinson said. “We’re adding four palm trees, 12 new flamingos and six angels. We are constantly changing the display.” The train runs through the 11-acre city park in Waterman on a half-mile loop, chugging along under swans and leaping reindeer. Robinson said that while running the train is a time-consuming hobby, there is no bigger thrill than to see those excited children waiting for their turn on the Christmas train.
See PREPARATIONS, page A5
Charleen Robinson pulls a support rope tight as she and her husband, Pete Robinson, work on protecting the snowfall archways from high winds Wednesday at Lions Park in Waterman.
MARKETPLACE
LOCAL NEWS
SPORTS
WHERE IT’S AT
Shop local
Yuletide sharing
Mat preview
Holiday shoppers expected to spend money locally / A8
Program to help children at Christmas grows out of NIU class / A3
Kaneland wrestlers want build on last year’s success / B1
Advice ................................ B4 Classified....................... B6-8 Comics ............................... B5 Local News.................... A3-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World............... A2,6
BRUSSELS – A street cleaner in a Paris suburb found an explosive vest similar to those used in the Paris attacks on Monday near the place where a suspect’s mobile phone had been found, raising the possibility that he aborted his mission, either ditching a malfunctioning vest – or fleeing in fear. The discovery of the vest came as Belgium’s prime minister cited a “serious and imminent” threat justifying keeping the highest alert level operational for at least another week. The security measures, already in place for three days, have severely disrupted normal life in the capital. In France, police said an explosive vest – without a detonator – was found by a street cleaner in a pile of rubble in Chatillon-Montrouge, on the southern edge of Paris and a considerable distance from the sites of the attacks on the Right Bank of the Seine to the north. A police official later said the vest contained bolts and the same type of explosives – TATP – as those used in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that claimed 130 lives and left hundreds wounded. The device was found Monday in the same area where a cellphone belonging to fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam was located on the day of the Paris attacks but the vest has not been formally linked to him, said two police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. Belgium-based terrorism expert Claude Moniquet, who has been in contact with both Belgian and French investigators since the attacks, laid out two possibilities: that Abdeslam became afraid of carrying out a suicide mission or, more likely he says, that he simply ditched a defective explosive vest. Nervousness could have played a role in concocting a defective vest, but he said he doubted fear played a role, for among Islamic State followers, “it is rare not to go to the end.” Moniquet said this was only theory since he had not
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A9 Puzzles ............................... B4 Sports..............................B1-3 State ...................................A4 Weather ........................... A10
See VEST, page A6