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Most sign off on enterprise zone By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – In less than a week, Craig Coil will drive to Springfield to hand-deliver a copy of DeKalb County’s enterprise zone application. It’s a little closer to the Dec. 31 deadline than Coil, the county’s consultant on the enterprise zone application, would have liked. But it’s the timeline he had to work with after the application hit a few roadblocks. “We had a couple little de-
officials delayed votes on the intergovernmental agreement Officials will submit an enterprise between seven local municipalities that lays out the inzone application to the Departcreased state and local incenment of Commerce and Economic tives available in areas around Opportunity, which will review the DeKalb County to attract inapplications by July. A yet-to-be vestment, development and job assembled state Enterprise Zone creation. Board will award zones by Sept. 30. DeKalb Ward 3 Alderman They will take effect Jan. 1, 2016. Kristen Lash and District 7 County Board member Misty Haji-Sheikh also raised conlays,” Coil said. “At the end of cerns about Northern Illinois the day, what’s important is we University’s Holmes Student get the application in on time.” Center being included on the Sycamore and DeKalb city map as a place a private com-
What’s next?
mercial developer could receive incentives. But all six cities and villages, as well as the county, eventually approved the agreement and map, County Administrator Gary Hanson said. In fact, the County Board approved it twice – the second time was on Dec. 17 after DeKalb officials requested changes to the language. DeKalb School District 428 officials tailored an agreement that will limit the school district’s involvement to five years, as opposed to at least 15
and up to 25 years. Board President Tracy Williams said although board members want the district to be part of helping the industrial tax base grow, they don’t want a long-term committment because of uncertainty in state funding. “We really don’t know what’s going to come out of Springfield,” Williams said, “We did this in a way we could participate, participate fully, participate officially, but also not be obligated to something for the next 20 years we may
not be able to live up to.” Meanwhile, board members for the DeKalb Park District voted not to be part of the enterprise zone, meaning businesses that locate in DeKalb won’t receive a tax break from the park district. In Sycamore and Sandwich, school board members decided not to be part of the enterprise zone. “We would have preferred to have everybody,” Hanson said. “But that fact that we have everyone we have is a really good sign.”
After NYC deaths, nation sees support for police By DAVID CRARY The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Dori De La Cruz (center), a Goodfellows volunteer, delivers a bag of presents to Reynaldo Abad of DeKalb during the Goodfellows of DeKalb/Sycamore’s annual present distribution Wednesday. Sandy Lancaster, a Goodfellows board member, said the group bought presents for 897 kids from 349 families in the DeKalb and Sycamore school districts.
Growing tradition DeKalb/Sycamore Goodfellows hands out gifts; new Genoa group begins By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Christmas Eve wouldn’t feel the same for Alex Hueber-Walsh if she didn’t get up at 6:30 a.m. to drive around handing out presents. The bustling crowd at Blumen Gardens on Wednesday morning was proof that Hueber-Walsh and her dozen family members had plenty of company in their altruistic holiday tradition. Hueber-Walsh was one of hundreds of volunteers gathered for the DeKalb/ Sycamore Goodfellows’ annual Christmas Eve morning gift distribution. For many, the event marks the start of Christmas every year. But for some, this year was the start of a new custom they hope to carry out year after year. “We all just get into the Christmas spirit with giving,” Hueber-Walsh said. “I live in Florida now, but I would not miss it. I would drive if I could not catch a flight. I would be here.” Every year, the DeKalb/Sycamore Goodfellows distribute hundreds of Christmas gifts throughout the two communities. This year, the group reached 897 children and 349 families, board member Sandy Lancaster said. This year’s distribution was down by about 20 children compared to the past
Goodfellows of DeKalb/Sycamore board members Sandy Lancaster (left) and Tom Doty talk about this year’s present delivery Wednesday at Blumen Gardens in Sycamore. Volunteer delivery drivers met at Blumen Gardens to pick up their presents and were out for deliveries by 8 a.m. year, she said. The group works with local school districts and the area’s Women, Infant and Children, Community Coordinated Child Care and Head Start programs to find children who need clothes. The Goodfellows then enlist personal shop-
pers at JCPenney to pick out about $35 worth of clothing for each child. Volunteers wrap the presents a few weeks before the gift distribution Christmas Eve morning.
NEW YORK – Rocker Jon Bon Jovi donned a New York Police Department T-shirt on stage. Well-wishers delivered home-baked cookies by the hundreds to police in Cincinnati. In Mooresville, North Carolina, police and sheriff’s officers were treated by residents to a chili dinner. At a time when many in the nation’s police community feel embattled, Americans in cities and towns across the country are making an effort to express support and gratitude. “I’m showing a little solidarity for my brothers in the NYPD and all of those who protect and serve us every day,” Bon Jovi told a cheering crowd at his concert Monday in Red Bank, New Jersey. The surge of support is linked to two distinct but overlapping developments. The immediate catalyst was the killings of two New York City police officers as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn on Saturday. For many of those making appreciative gestures, there also was a desire to counter the widespread protests that followed grand jury decisions not to charge white officers for their roles in the deaths of black men Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York. Becky Grizovic of Walton, Kentucky, helps orchestrate a campaign called Cookies for a Cop that provides treats to officers in more than 200 departments in 23 states. She was joined by her husband, son and a neighbor in delivering cookies to Cincinnati police stations on Monday. At the District 2 station house, Capt. Jeffrey Butler said the gesture was especially appreciated in light of the deaths of the two officers in New York. “The reason that this started is that I’ve just been so disheartened by the news,” Grizovic said in a phone interview. “I wanted to do something positive to lift their spirits because this is so hard on all of them.” Rallies and vigils in support of police have taken place recently in several locations, including Nashville, Tennessee; West Orange, New Jersey; Annapolis, Maryland, and New York City’s Riverdale neighborhood. Among those gathering Monday night in Nashville was Merri Puckett, a retired police officer. “The police are really taking a hard hit right now,” she told The Tennessean newspaper. “Ninety-nine percent of the officers out there are doing a good job, and it’s a thankless job and they need to know that the public supports them.” In Minden, Nevada, there was a one-man rally in support of local officers. John Munk, a retired sheriff’s deputy, stood in front of the post office with a sign reading, “God Bless Law Enforcement.” “It’s disheartening how people are treating law enforcement across the country,” Munk told the Record-Courier of nearby Gardnerville. “I wanted to do this to show what a great community we have here.” Another former officer, Rick Goforth, was the chef and organizer for Monday night’s dinner in Mooresville, North Carolina, for which he served up 30 quarts of chili. “I told the chief ... loosen your gun belt, man,” Goforth joked with a reporter from Charlotte’s WCNC-TV. The police chief, Carl Robbins, said it’s been a difficult time for officers, particularly after the two deaths in New York. In New York’s bustling Times Square, several officers reported that people on the street were shouting
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Feed’em Soup serves up Christmas Eve meal to needy / A3
Holiday Light Train to receive improvements with donations / A3
Marshall’s receiver Tommy Shuler had hand in NIU loss / B1
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