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Thursday, T y, December 26, 2013
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Meals brighten holiday on the job DeKalb, Sycamore emergency responders share food, fellowship on holiday By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com Even emergency service personnel who have to work on Christmas Day find time for food and fellowship. Sycamore firefighters gathered at Station 1 for a holiday meal, with everyone contributing. Those work-
ing at the station prepared turkey, and had to improvise when they had trouble with an oven. “I’ve grilled a turkey at home before, but never here,” said Adam Honiotes as he checked the progress of the bird. He enlisted a little help from Mike Hardesty to turn the quickly-browning turkey. Honiotes said he celebrated with
Pope’s wish: Hope for a better world
his family on Christmas Eve. “We just wrote a letter to Santa so he came to our house early,” Honiotes said. He has four children, ages 5 months, 2, 7 and 10. Bob Maciejewski said his family celebrates whenever they can find the time. DeKalb firefighters took their celebration one step farther by cooking
parts of the meal at each of the city’s three stations, bringing everything together at the new police station to share with on-duty police. “They usually invite us to join them at one of the fire stations, but this is the first time we’ve all been able to sit down together in one place,” said DeKalb police Sgt. Jim Haacker.
DeKalb fire Lt. Jim Zarek said, other than preparing and sharing the big meal, Christmas was a pretty routine workday. “We came in and did our inventory, checked all our vehicles and equipment, and now we’re just hanging out cooking,” Zarek said.
See MEALS, page A3
New job after domestic cases
Leader looks for progress during the holiday season By FRANCES D’EMILIO The Associated Press VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis offered Christmas wishes Wednesday for a better world, praying for protection for Christians under attack, battered women and trafficked children, peace in the Middle East and Africa, and dignity for refugees fleeing misery and conflict around the globe. Francis delivered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for “to the city and to the world”) speech from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to more than 70,000 cheering tourists, pilgrims and Romans in the square below. In his first Christmas message since being elected pontiff in March, he asked for all to share in the song of Christmas angels, “for every man or woman ... who hopes for a better world, who cares for others,” humbly. Among places ravaged by conflict, Francis singled out Syria, which saw its third Christmas during civil war; South Sudan; the Central African Republic; Nigeria; and Iraq. In Iraq on Wednesday, militants targeted Christians in two attacks, including a bomb that exploded near a church during Christmas Mass in Baghdad. The separate bombings killed dozens of people. The Vatican has been trying to raise concern in the world for persecution and attacks on Christians in parts of the Middle East and Africa. “Lord of life, protect all who are persecuted in your name,” Francis said. Adding an off-the-cuff remark, Francis said he was also inviting nonbelievers to join their desire for peace with everyone else. The pope also prayed that God “bless the land where you chose to come into the world and grant a favorable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.” Francis then explained his concept of peace. “True peace is not a balancing of opposing forces. It’s not a lovely facade which conceals conflicts and divisions,” the pope
See POPE, page A5
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Detectives Jackie Hill (left) and Sarah Frazier of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office look over a previous case for training purposes Friday in Sycamore. Frazier, who investigates domestic violence cases, is returning to patrol in January and training Hill to take over her position.
County detective returns to patrol after 8 years helping victims By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKalb County Sheriff’s Detective Sarah Frazier figures it’s time to move on. Frazier is handing her position over to Detective Jackie Hill to return to patrol in January after eight years of handling domestic violence cases. The decision wasn’t easy for Frazier. “I’ll miss it all,” she said. “You get wrapped up in the lives of the victims ... but I did what I could. We needed to be there, ready to help them.” When Frazier started, she was the county’s only officer devoted to handling domestic violence cases in a job she said two officers could do. Now, in
Frazier (right) is training Hill, who will take over investigations of domestic violence cases. addition to Frazier, the county has four patrol officers who work on domestic violence cas-
es part-time: three from DeKalb and one from Sycamore. Frazier’s job left her scarred
as well. In 2010, she was intentionally run over in a car driven by a 34-year-old DeKalb woman, requiring a total of four shoulder surgeries. The woman, Megan Zielinski, of the 500 block of Green Street, was involved in a car chase on March 1, 2010, after law enforcement attempted to pull her over in Winnebago County. Zielinski fled through four counties, ending up at Evergreen Village Mobile Home Park in Sycamore. Frazier was at Evergreen Village dropping off a domestic violence victim from court, she said. She followed Zielinski and approached the stopped car, ordering Zielinski to get out.
See CASES, page A5
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