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2014 IN REVIEW
Transportation options made for New Year’s Eve drinkers By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com Police, bars and taxi services are gearing up for tonight’s New Year’s Eve celebrations by providing extra patrol and ride services to get revelers safely back home. Molly’s and Fatty’s Pub and Grille, both on Lincoln Highway in DeKalb, will have their own shuttle buses available to safely take impaired drivers back home. Fatty’s bus service begins at 9 p.m. and runs until closing time. “Our buses basically take you anywhere in DeKalb, no charge,” pub manager Brian White said. “We just ask that you be polite to the driver and maybe throw a little something in his tip jar.” Fatty’s has provided the year-round bus services the past four years, and there’s always higher demand on New Year’s Eve, White said. Molly’s also will be providing a bus service, but a manager declined to offer further information. The bus service can be reached by calling 815997-3013. It’s a different story this year at Rosie’s, 930 Pappas Drive in DeKalb. The bar discontinued its New Year’s Eve shuttle service after two years. “It wasn’t used at all last year,” said Joe Chavez, the bar owner. “If a large group needs it, we’ll get the bus out, but we’re not advertising it.” MVP Sports Bar, 122 California St. in Sycamore, will distribute taxi information, bartender Brittany Stiles said. DeCab Taxi and Sycamore Transit Services will also be available. They are the only two taxi companies licensed to operate in DeKalb, said Peter Gerlach, a driver for DeCab. DeCab will be running its only vehicle beginning at 7 a.m. Gerlach cautions party-goers to make sure the taxi they are getting into is a legit one
If you go Some New Year’s Eve driving services • DeCab Taxi 815-757-6430 $5 a person, flat rate anywhere within DeKalb city limits. • Sycamore Transit Services 815-899-1902 $1.90 meter start, $2.25 per mile. • Fatty’s Shuttle Bus Will take patrons anywhere they need to go in DeKalb. • Molly’s Shuttle Bus 815-9973013 Report impaired drivers by calling 911.
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– check that the license plate ends in TX, he said. “There are a lot of scumbags out there that aren’t licensed taxis, and they don’t have insurance,” Gerlach said. Sycamore Transit Services, which provides rides in both Sycamore and DeKalb, will have two taxis available instead of the usual one tonight, driver and dispatcher Keith Chesser said. Rides are arranged through dispatch only at 815-899-1902. A “few more” DeKalb police officers will be out on patrol to crack down on drunken drivers, as well as those texting and driving, Lt. Jim McDougall said. For those heading out tonight, McDougall’s biggest piece of advice is to make a plan in advance, while still sober. “Save a number for a taxi company in your cellphone. Plan ahead, and have a designated driver,” McDougall said. “That’s what we’re really pushing for.”
Landfill incident tops DeKalb County stories of 2014. Other stories left impressions on kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com the newsroom: Patricia Schmidt beand JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI ing found not guilty in connection jduchnowski@shawmedia.com with the crash that killed Tim GetAn odor that drifted from Waste zelman and Alexis Weber in 2011 and Management’s DeKalb County land- “the polar vortex,” one of the coldest, fill apparently lingered – figuratively snowiest winters that plagued northspeaking, of course – in the news- ern Illinois. Without further ado, room. here’s a look at the stories that made At least that’s how the votes for a lasting impression on 2014: the Top 10 stories of the year shook out when the ballots from Daily Landfill odor leads to evacuation at Chronicle staff members were tabuCortland Elementary School lated. The incident at the landfill in Just before 10 a.m. Jan. 14, January that sent about 60 students school officials reported a foul odor and staff from Cortland Elementa- at Cortland Elementary School. By ry School to Kishwaukee Hospital claimed the spot as the biggest story See REVIEW, page A5
By KATIE DAHLSTROM
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Shaw Media file photos
TOP: A boy is taken on a stretcher Jan. 14 from Cortland Elementary School after gas released from the nearby landfill got caught in the school’s ventilation system, making staff and students nauseous. LEFT: Patricia Schmidt hugs a family member April 3 after a judge ruled her not guilty on all four counts at the DeKalb County Courthouse. RIGHT TOP: The “Polar Vortex” of 2014 brought DeKalb County and the Midwest a foot of snow and temperatures plunging in the double-digit negatives. RIGHT BOTTOM: Tearing down an abandoned trailer, Bob Sipes of Sipes & Sons Dumpster Rentals uses a mini excavator while his brother carries a garbage can of debris. The company was contracted by the county to clear abandoned trailers located on the property of Evergreen Village.
Searchers find wreckage, bodies from AirAsia Flight 8501 jet By DEWI NURCAHYANI and ROBIN McDOWELL The Associated Press PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia – The first proof of the fate of AirAsia Flight 8501 emerged Tuesday from the shallow, aqua-colored waters of the Java Sea, confirming that the plane crashed with 162 people aboard in an area not far from where it dropped off radar screens. Two days after the jet vanished, searchers found as many AP photo as six bodies and debris that A crew member of Indonesian Navy CN-235 airplane looks out of the included a life jacket, an emerwindow during a search operation Tuesday for the missing AirAsia gency exit door and a suitcase about 10 miles from the plane’s Flight 8501 over the waters off Bangka Island, Indonesia.
last known coordinates. The airliner’s disappearance halfway through a twohour flight between Surabaya, Indonesia, and Singapore triggered an international hunt for the aircraft involving dozens of planes, ships and helicopters. It is still unclear what brought the plane down. Images of the debris and a bloated body shown on Indonesian television sent a spasm of anguish through the room at the Surabaya airport where relatives awaited news. The first sign of the jet turned up about 10 miles from its last known coordinates.
Parts of the interior, including the oxygen tank, were brought to the nearest town, Pangkalan Bun. Another find included a bright blue plastic suitcase, completely unscratched. “I know the plane has crashed, but I cannot believe my brother and his family are dead,” said Ifan Joko, who lost seven relatives, three of them children, as they traveled to Singapore to ring in the new year. “We still pray they are alive.” First Adm. Sigit Setiayanta, commander of the Naval Aviation Center at Surabaya Air Force base, told reporters six
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corpses were spotted about 100 miles from Central Kalimantan province. Rescue workers descended on ropes from a hovering helicopter to retrieve bodies. Efforts were hindered by 6-foot waves and strong winds, National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi said. The first body was later picked up by a navy ship. Officials said as many as six others followed, but they disagreed about the exact number. Supriyadi was on the aircraft and saw what appeared to
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