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Wednesday, February 12, 2014
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Effortless expressions of love this Valentine’s Day
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Andrea Binkley
Cities keeping sidewalks clear By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKalb officials have issued more than 100 warning notices to residents for failing to clear snow off their sidewalks during a winter that has seen about 35 inches of snow so far. Countywide, local laws vary on when property owners need to remove snow and ice from sidewalks. DeKalb
Laws vary on when, who should remove snow allows 48 hours after two inches of snow, while Sycamore’s ordinance doesn’t specify time or snowfall and Genoa has no policy regarding sidewalk snow removal. In DeKalb, city staff checks sidewalks in commercial areas, near private health care facilities and
along designated routes children use to get to school. Other areas of town are inspected only if the city receives a complaint, according to Public Works Director T.J. Moore. None of the warnings from the city have escalated to someone being fined for
not clearing snow from the sidewalks, Moore said. “For the most part, if you issue a warning, you get 100 percent compliance,” Moore said. “In some areas of the community, you might need reminders, but right now its pretty good, even with the winter we’ve had.”
At the DeKalb City Council meeting Monday, alderman discussed stiffer penalties for failing to clear walks, but took no action. Fifth Ward Alderman Ron Naylor suggested placing a lien against the property for the city’s cost to remove snow if the property owner
T.J. Moore
Ron Naylor
failed to clear the sidewalk three times. His suggestion failed to garner support from fellow aldermen.
See SNOW, page A5
D-428 to study future student demographics By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Sycamore Assistant Fire Chief Art zern demonstrates how the four-gas meter and the combustible gas detector monitors the air around a water heater Tuesday. Common areas for carbon monoxide leaks are around water heaters, furnaces and stoves.
Carbon monoxide calls more frequent in the winter By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com Many residential carbon monoxide problems are because of malfunctioning equipment, but Sycamore Fire Chief Pete Polarek said his department is receiving more calls than usual this winter. Sycamore firefighters responded to 22 carbon monoxide incidents from Dec. 1 to Jan. 31, including four with elevated carbon monoxide levels and three others where residents had troubling symptoms such as a severe headache. The rest were blamed on malfunctioning detectors. At least one call was serious, however, sending four residents of a Sycamore home to Kishwaukee Hospital for treatment for high levels of carbon monoxide in December. “They didn’t have a detector at the time; they have one now,” Polarek said. As the frigid winter continues, Polarek and other fire officials suggest residents maintain carbon monoxide detectors in homes heated with natural gas or propane and review simple safety tips, such as avoiding warming up automobiles inside
garages. DeKalb Fire Chief Eric Hicks said his department has answered 64 carbon monoxide-related calls in the past four months; 23 of those showed increased levels of the gas. “That number is pretty much the same as last year,” Hicks said. He attributes many of the calls to the long stretch of frigid weather in the area. “We’ve had a hard winter, and houses are so closed up,” Hicks said. “I remember in the days of single-pane windows when you could see curtains move on really windy days.” As homes have become more energy efficient, Hicks said malfunctioning fireplaces or appliances – furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers, ovens, any gas appliance – are more obvious. Hicks also cautioned against running vehicles to warm them up inside the garage. “Even with the garage door open, the exhaust can get into the house and cause elevated CO levels in the house, the garage and inside the car,” Hicks said.
See CARBON MONOXIDE, page A6
Prevent carbon monoxide poisoning • Have home heating systems, including chimneys and vents, inspected and serviced annually by a trained service technician. • Never use portable generators inside homes or garages, even if doors and windows are open. • Keep household appliances in good working order. • Do not use gas ovens or ranges for heating. • Keep air vents open and unobstructed. Make sure all rooms are well ventilated. • Never bring a charcoal grill in the house or garage for heating or cooking. • Open the fireplace damper before lighting a fire and keep it open until ashes are cool. • Install battery-operated CO alarms or alarms with a battery backup on each level of the home. • If carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected, get outside to fresh air immediately and call 911. • For more information, visit www.sfm.illinois.gov. Source: Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal
DeKALB – Before DeKalb School District 428 leaders change elementary school boundary lines, they want a better understanding of how the student population will shift during the next decade. District 428 board members hired the Ohio-based firm Cropper GIS for $9,500 to do a districtwide demographic study that will give insight into areas where the district will undergo significant changes in population and enrollment. Boundary changes that would affect where students go to elementary school had been discussed for as early as the 2014-15 school year, but school officials now say boundary changes will not happen that quickly. “First we need to see this information,” Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Andrea Gorla said. “This will give us an idea of how we need to shift due to overcrowding.” Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Student Services Doug Moeller said the district also would wait because of the anticipated move of pre-kindergarten and early childhood classes Doug Moeller from the elementary schools to Huntley Middle School in 2014-15. The move will open about seven classrooms across Brooks, Jefferson, Littlejohn and Tyler elementary schools. Demographers will take this move into consideration when performing the study. “Any boundary changes we make, we want to be confident they will be in place for five to 10 years,” Moeller said. The district last altered school attendance boundaries in 2011, when it also instituted a class-size cap of 28 students at the elementary schools. The district has a handful of seats in classrooms and has “overflowed” 120 students from their home schools to others because of a lack of seats, primarily in kindergarten. Cropper will create forecast populations for 2015, 2020 and 2025 by age, sex and total population for the elementary schools and the district as a whole. The firm also will give enrollment forecasts by grade from the 2014-05 school year through the 2023-24 school year. The study will be based on data from the 2010 U.S. census. Cropper will also look at students’ socioeconomic backgrounds.
See DEMOGRAPHICS, page A6
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