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D e cember 18, 2015 • $1 .0 0
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DeKalb’s Cole Tucker earns Offensive Football Player of the Year honor / B1
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Survey: Support weak for joint pool By BRETT ROWLAND browland@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Almost half of DeKalb residents said they don’t want to share a pool with their neighbors in Sycamore. A survey of 697 people in DeKalb, Sycamore, Cortland and Malta found that 49 percent of respondents wouldn’t support a joint pool project, according to a presentation Thursday by Public Research Group at the DeKalb Park District Board of Commissioners meeting. Of the remaining respondents, 27 percent said they would support such a project and 24 percent said they weren’t sure. For several years, leaders with both the DeKalb Park District and Sycamore Park District have discussed building a pool jointly owned and operated by the taxing bodies in an unspecified location. The survey results dampened enthusiasm for a shared pool, said DeKalb Park District Board of Commissioners President Phil Young. “After seeing this, I think we have our answer,” he said. The DeKalb Park District will need to look at other options for the future of the aging Hopkins Pool. That could include rebuilding or renovating the existing pool or waiting until 2019 when the recreation center bonds are paid off, Young said. Young said the board wasn’t in favor of a tax referendum “now or in the foresee-
able future.” Of those opposed to the joint pool project, 65 percent said they didn’t want to pay taxes to support it, 36 percent said they don’t swim, 24 percent listed “other,” 17 percent said the community should build its own pool and 17 percent said they didn’t want to travel, according to the survey. Typically, the company’s survey results show about a third opposed, a third in favor and a third unsure, Tod Stanton, a partner with Naperville-based Public Research Group, told the board. With nearly half of respondents against the plan, it would be a tough sell, he said. “You’re going to have to work extra hard if you’re going to advance the project to convince the public that there is a good reason to do this,” Stanton said. Most people surveyed wanted a pool built in DeKalb. The top responses were DeKalb (48 percent), Sycamore (27 percent) and “other” (12 percent). Most of those who said “other” suggested building between DeKalb and Sycamore, according to the survey. Of the remaining options, Cortland had 8 percent, Malta got 3 percent, and Genoa and Kingston tied at 1 percent. The survey found the most support for the venture in Cortland, 41 percent in favor, and the least in Malta, 14 percent.
See POOL, page A7
Daily Chronicle file photo
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Star Wars fans Nakayla Dykes (center), 11, and Evan Hammersley, 10, fight with their lightsabers Thursday in front of Sycamore State Theater before the 7 p.m. showing of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
‘The force is strong with this one’
Fans pack theater for ‘Star Wars’ premiere By KATIE SMITH ksmith@shawmedia.com
SYCAMORE – Kevin Crittenden was 10 when he saw his first Star Wars movie in theaters, but Thursday, having recently turned 30, he was dressed in Jedi attire and as eager as he was 20 years go. JJ Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is projected to earn $223 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales in the first weekend alone, according to box office estimates. Sycamore State Theater welcomed On the Web the film with a 7 p.m. premiere Thursday, and a sold-out show To see a today, theater owner video from the Daryl Hopper said. premiere, visit “I’ve been in this Daily-Chronicle. business over 40 com. years, so to me, sometimes when it’s these big movies, it’s the crowd that makes it really good. If you wait and there’s nobody in the theater, it’s not as good,” Hopper said. “It’s not as exciting as the energy the crowd is going to share. That’s one of my favorite things about the business.” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is currently showing at both Sycamore State Theater in Sycamore, and Carmike Cinemas in DeKalb. Hopper has worked the premiere of
Dressed up as Princess Leia, Matison Thomsen, 7, of Sycamore talks to her dad Scott Thomsen before taking their seats Thursday at the Sycamore State Theater. every “Star Wars” installment to date, but it isn’t very often she sees people dressed like the film’s characters. Thursday night, however, one of the first guests in theater was 7-yearold Matison Thomsen, whose hair was twirled into Princess Leia buns in honor of one of her favorite characters. “I never really saw ‘Star Wars’ in the theater, only at home,” she said. “That’s why I was so excited. I think they’re going to do pretty cool stuff.” Thomsen has cleaned her room and done her chores every day so she could see the movie with her dad, an avid “Star Wars” fan, Scott Thomsen. “We have been counting down for this: day 7, 6, 5,” Scott Thomsen said.
DeKalb Park District employee Ron Lanier paints the inside of one of the water slides in May 2014 at Hopkins Pool in DeKalb.
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I’ve been in this business over 40 years, so to me, sometimes when it’s these big movies, it’s the crowd that makes it really good. If you wait and there’s nobody in the theater, it’s not as good. It’s not as exciting as the energy the crowd is going to share.” Daryl Hopper
Sycamore State Theater owner
See STAR WARS, page A7
Tentative 4-year labor agreement reached in Kaneland By AL LAGATTOLLA alagattolla@shawmedia.com MAPLE PARK – A tentative agreement has been reached between the Kaneland School District 302 Board and the Kaneland Education Association. According to a news release sent by both organizations, the agreement is on a four-year contract, which would make it effective through the
2018-19 school year. whether to ratify the agreement lat“Both the board of education er that night. Acksel and KEA worked hard to develop said Thursday’s negoan agreement that meets the needs tiations lasted from 9 of our teachers, students, and coma.m. to 2 p.m. munity without a disruption to the “We are just happy school year,” the release stated. “We and relieved that we look forward to working together were able to reach the moving forward.” tentative agreement,” Teresa Witt Susan Acksel, the chief negotiaAcksel said. tor for the KEA, said Thursday that The release indicated that “the union members were to vote on terms of the new agreement are not
available until ratification by the full membership of the KEA and the board of education,” the release stated. As of Thursday evening, it was not yet known whether the teachers had ratified the agreement. The next meeting of the school board is set for Jan. 11, but Teresa Witt, the school board president, said it was possible that another meeting could be scheduled before then for the board to con-
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sider ratifying the agreement, if the KEA already had ratified it. Witt said she was “pleased we were able to reach an agreement,” but she said she could not reveal any additional details as of Thursday night. She said at some point, a joint statement would be released from the board and the KEA, but she did not know when such a statement might be released.
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