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SYCAMORE TEEN ADVOCATING AGAINST ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS
IS militant unmasked as London lad By GREGORY KATZ and JILL LAWLESS The Associated Press LONDON – The unmasking of Islamic State militant “Jihadi John” as a Londoner who had repeatedly been questioned by security services sent shock waves through Britain on Friday, with Prime Minister David Cameron stepping in to defend British spy craft. Cameron tried to defuse criticism of Britain’s intelligence community, which had “Jihadi John” on its list of potential terror suspects for years but was unable to prevent him from traveling to Syria, where he has played a prominent role in grisly beheading videos. Cameron did not mention “Jihadi John” or refer to his real identity: Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwait-born computer science graduate raised and educated in Britain. But he said the country’s spies make “incredibly difficult judgments” daily about how to pursue threats to national security and have broken up plots that would have caused immense damage. Emwazi had been known to the British intelligence services since at least 2009, initially in connection with investigations into terrorism in Somalia. David Anderson, who is in charge of reviewing Britain’s terrorism legislation, said intelligence agencies may have dropped the ball, but faced a big challenge to identify real threats from “hundreds, probably thousands” of suspects. “Perhaps they did slip up in this case but one won’t know until there’s been an inquiry or a report of some kind,” he told the BBC. The case has some parallels to that of two al-Qaida-inspired extremists who murdered a British soldier in a London street in May 2013. A report by lawmakers concluded that delays and other failings by the agencies had contributed to that tragedy. However, it is not clear what laws could have been used to
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
ABOVE: Katie Rajterowski, 17, of Sycamore, sits with her parents Mike and Lynette Rajterowski on Feb. 19 in their Sycamore home. Rajterowski shared her story about an ex-boyfriend who was physically and verbally abusive before he threatened her life in June. She hopes her story will make more teens aware of what harmful relationships are and what community resources, such as Safe Passage, are available. BELOW: Katie holds remaining momentos from her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.
‘I wanted to change it, I just couldn’t’ By DARIA SOKOLOVA dsokolova@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Katie Rajterowski looked out her window shortly after midnight one night last summer and her heart sank. Kavoisia D. Thomas, an 18-yearold she had broken up with recently over his abusive behavior, was standing in the driveway of her Sycamore home. A few minutes later, Rajterowski, 17, received a text message from him saying that if she didn’t come outside, there would be consequences. “There were several breaking points, but at a certain point, you just can’t get out of the relationship, and that was the problem,” Rajterowski
to DeKalb County Court records. Thomas had blocked Rajterowski from seeing his posts on social media, but a friend called to warn her. She eventually went outside and What’s an argued with him over his claims she appropriate cheated on him, which she denied. age for teens Thomas was arrested and conto begin victed of intimidation in connection dating? Vote with the incident, and Rajterowski is online at starting a domestic violence awareDaily-Chroniness club at Sycamore High School cle.com. after using counseling services at Safe Passage, a domestic violence and sexual assault agency that serves DeKalb County. said recently, brushing aside her others told him to calm down, he An order of protection prevents tears. replied on Facebook that he was on Thomas from having contact with Thomas had posted on Facebook his way to her home to kill her beSee ABUSE, page A6 that he planned to kill her, and when fore committing suicide, according
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DeKalb boy in intensive care awaits open-heart surgery By DARIA SOKOLOVA dsokolova@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Christopher Canaday has spent the past three weeks at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, but he’s making the best of it, having fun with volunteers and staff, painting and playing video games. Christopher, 14, was born with pulmonary atresia, a heart defect that left the right ventricle of his heart nonfunctional. He has had 37 surgeries and Danielle Guerra file photo – dguerra@shawmedia.com procedures including seven Christopher Canaday, 14, fist bumps NIU’s Tommylee Lewis with his heart surgeries, according to dad, Mark Canaday, after the coin toss before NIU’s home opener Aug. his father, Mark Canaday. Three months ago, Christo28 against Presbyterian at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb. Canaday was born with pulmonary atresia and has had 33 surgeries in his 14 years. pher was diagnosed with hy-
poxia, a condition that leaves his blood deprived of oxygen and makes him lethargic, dilates his pupils and makes his left eye droopy, according to Mark Canaday. Despite his ordeal, Christopher said he is grateful for support from his family. “It’s awesome,” he said. “I feel happy inside that they love me.” Community organizations have rallied behind the Canaday family, which has struggled with medical expenses not only with Christopher’s condition but also from Mark Canaday’s battle with esophageal cancer. Last fall, for example, the family was one of three benefi-
ciaries of a Corn Fest auction of corn-themed Northern Illinois University football jerseys. Now, Christopher needs open-heart surgery and awaits a decision by doctors on when it will take place. The condition affects Christopher to the point where he can’t function because of low oxygen levels, his father said. “He hasn’t gone to school very much,” Mark Canaday said. “... I think we can count on one hand the number of full days he has been to school in the last year and a half.” Christopher usually goes to school for half a day, his father said. His blood-oxygen percent-
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age is usually in the high 80s or low 90s, as opposed to the 98 to 100 percent normal range, he added. Amy Canaday, Christopher’s mother, said Christopher had been able to keep up with some schoolwork thanks to DeKalb School District 428’s pilot one-to-one technology program at Clinton Rosette Middle School, which allows students to do schoolwork on Chromebooks, laptop computers. “He misses being at school,” she said. Both Mark and Amy credited Clinton Rosette Middle School and District 428 for
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