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Friday, February 14, 2014
RENEWED COMMITMENT • FAITH, C1
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Couples celebrate Valentine’s Day by affirming wedding vows
Sycamore’s Armstrong full of confidence as a top seed
Rivermist lots face foreclosure Property owner: Bank’s action a ‘miscommunication’ By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A Sycamore bank is seeking to foreclose on several lots in the Bridges of Rivermist subdivision, saying the property owners are more than $12,000 behind in mortgage payments. American Midwest Bank in January filed two foreclosure lawsuits against Rivermist Unit 5 LLC, John Pappas, Peter Iatrides, the Bridges of Rivermist Subdivision Homeowners Association and ten-
ants of the property located near First Street and Bethany Road in DeKalb. Unit 5, or phase five, encompasses 85 unplatted lots between Larking Avenue, Bethany Road and Comstock Avenue in the 324lot subdivision. American Midwest’s foreclosure suits name Rivermist Unit 5 LLC, Pappas and Iatrides personally liable for the default. Pappas said he is one of five investors in Rivermist Unit 5 LLC. “It is a miscommunication be-
tween the investors,” Pappas said. “The investors are not on the same page, but they are getting together to work it out.” He declined to comment further. In its lawsuit, the bank said the defendants have not made monthly payments on two mortgages totaling more than $700,000. According to court documents, the defendants have not paid the monthly principal and interest installments on the mortgages since Oct. 24 and Dec. 10, leaving them behind $4,161 and $8,246 as of Jan.
2, respectively. Pappas purchased lots in the subdivision in August 2008 and transferred the land assets to Rivermist Unit 5 LLC, according to a letter from the Bridges of Rivermist Homeowners Association to the DeKalb City Council in 2013. Property manager Dan Pavelich said the subdivision contains 185 homes. It was annexed to DeKalb in 1997 and has added phases since, with the phase five being the last, according to DeKalb’s principal planner Derek Hiland.
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
American Midwest Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against several lots in the Bridges of Rivermist subdivision.
NIU awards memorial scholarships 5 students earn Forward, Together Forward honors By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
“I was able to get my degree and still find the guy I was going to spend the rest of my life with,” she said. Cindy Wallin, special events planner at NIU, said some students who meet on campus also become engaged there. Wallin remembers one couple who met in the student center’s Duke Ellington Ballroom during a concert and ended up getting engaged in the same room.
DeKALB – Kaitlyn King was home sick from high school when the news of a shooting at Northern Illinois University, where her father, Joe, worked flashed across the screen. She vividly remembers Feb. 14, 2008, and learning her father was unharmed. King, a Sycamore native, is part of the university’s effort to remember that day as one of five NIU students to receive the Forward, Together Forward Scholarship this year. The $4,000 awards were established in 2009 and are given annually to up to five NIU Joe students who display strong Palmer character, compassion, ambition and community service. They are given in honor of Gayle Dubowski, Catalina Garcia, Julianna Gehant, Ryanne Mace and Daniel Parmenter, the five people killed in NIU’s Cole Hall. Joe Palmer, Kaitlyn King, Kaitlyn Juan Molina Hernandez, King Lauren Noonan and Christian Villalobos received the scholarship this year. “It’s really special,” said King, 20, a junior speech pathology and audiology major. “Not because of the money, but because of being honored Juan Molina to carry on their legacy.” Noonan, a 21-year-old Hernandez Naperville native, is also a junior majoring in speech pathology. She remembers being a freshman in high school who had considered NIU when she learned about the shooting. The scholarship is a way to respect those who lost their lives, as well Lauren Noonan as their families, she said. “I really appreciate that people at the school remember,” Noonan said. “I think that it makes NIU a little bit stronger community. I want to keep showing people that it’s important to contribute to their community.” Christian College once seemed like Villalobos an unattainable dream for Villalobos, 21, of Chicago. Now a junior majoring in business, Villalobos said after she graduates she will return to NIU to give back and to honor those the scholarship was created to remember.
See RELATIONSHIPS, page A5
See SCHOLARSHIPS, page A5
Photos by Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Northern Illinois University graduate students Megan Kozenczak and Alex Pitner, both 24, browse Pinterest in their free time Wednesday on campus. They will both graduate in May and get married Dec. 19. By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com eKALB – It all started with a package of hot sauce. Northern Illinois University graduate students Alex Pitner and Megan Kozenczak attended a friend’s wedding in July, where Pitner found a hot sauce package reading, “Will you marry me?” It was a point in the relationship which first made the couple consider marriage. Three months later, they were engaged. “He got down on one knee and said, ‘I couldn’t imagine spending my life with anyone else,’ ” Kozenczak, of Hampshire, said. The couple is just one example of many who meet at NIU and end up getting married – many of them right on campus at the Holmes Student Center, Altgeld Hall or the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center. Ellen Andersen, special events director for the President’s Office, said 12 to 15 weddings are held at Altgeld alone each year. The student center caters to all three university venues. “If couples did meet here, a lot of them want to come back to campus because it’s significant for them,” Andersen said. Oswego native Meredith Garren will have NIU elements in her wedding in September. Garren, an NIU admissions counselor, met her future husband, Camer-
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Northern Illinois seniors Susie Richard and boyfriend of one year Jack Barry stop to talk Thursday on a walk by the lagoon. on Eskoss, while studying at NIU. On Garren and Eskoss’ first date, they watched “The Proposal” followed by eating at Dairy Queen. At their wedding, they will have pictures on display from their time living in campus dorm rooms and time spent around campus. Garren still remembers her dates with Eskoss on a college budget, when they gazed at the stars in NIU’s observatory, had study dates in the library and attended athletic events together.
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
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National and world news Opinions Sports
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