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Ma rch 12, 2015 • $1 .0 0
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Second chance for sober house? County Board asks Sycamore to reconsider a vote against issuing a special use permit By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – The County Board hasn’t given up. The board Wednesday approved penning a letter to the Sycamore City Council, asking officials to reconsider their vote last week against issuing a special use permit that would allow a house at 491 E. State St. to be used as an all-
male sober living home. County administrator Gary Hanson, who will be writing the letter, said he hopes to have it sent by the end of today to go before the Sycamore City Council meeting on Monday. “We want to reach out,” he said. “We have, for years, worked well with Sycamore on hard issues. We need to sit down and listen closer to what their concerns are, for them to
understand our program and how important it is to the community, and I think we should be able to find some common ground for both our constituencies.” If the letter does not make the board’s Monday agenda, it will take another year before it can go before the council again, Chairman Mark Pietrowski Jr. said. He declined to say what the
negotiations would if the talks are resurrected. “We aren’t getting into specifics on what the negotiations would be,” Pietrowski said, “but we want to be able to negotiate and talk and collaborate with the city on ways we can move forward.” The county and city long have been in conflict over the use of the house. The county wants it as their
house is the best option financially, board Vice Chairman Tracy Jones said. “This particular house is easily half the price of doing something new on any existing lot, and obviously, nobody wants to spend taxpayers’ money anymore than we have to,” Jones said during the meeting. “Everyone admits it’s a good program, even the people who voted against it.”
sober living home because of its ideal location and proximity to the courthouse, where rent-paying tenants will make regular appearances. Sycamore officials have countered that they don’t want the house taken off the county’s payroll. The house would have been bought for $145,000, plus $55,000 in refurbishments. From the county’s side, this
Justices press state’s lawyer on pension overhaul Amid fiscal crisis, court officials, workers debate retirement funding By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Supreme Court justices asked the state’s lawyer to explain Wednesday how the government can seek extraordinary power to reduce public pension benefits in the face of a fiscal crisis when the government itself is culpable for the financial mess. Justice Robert Thomas peppered solicitor general Carolyn Shapiro during oral arguments over the constitutionality of a 2013 law that cuts retirement benefits in a 30year plan to slay a $111 billion deficit. State employees and retirees challenged it, arguing that the state constitution prohibits action to “impair or diminish” the benefits of the contractual pension agreement. The state counters that it can resort to “police powers” to trump the constitution in moments of economic peril. The peril, they say, can largely be traced to the recession of 2008, which battered the value of the pensions’ portfolios and caused other problems. But until questioned about it, Shapiro didn’t mention that for decades, governors and legislators have given shortshrift to annual contribution obligations – including as recently as 10 years ago, well after the crisis was widely recognized, by skipping $2.3 billion in payments.
“If the court holds that the state can invoke its police powers to violate core constitutional guarantees to respond to an emergency that at least arguably the state itself created, then aren’t we giving the state the power to modify its contractual obligations whenever it wants?” Thomas asked Shapiro. “For instance, the state could simply fail to fund the pension systems and then claim an emergency.” Shapiro repeatedly emphasized the narrow conditions under which the government may assume such control – when it needs to “address an important public purpose,” she said. As to the specifics of what that purpose may be, she said that should be argued in Sangamon County Circuit Court, where a judge invalidated the law last fall without hearing arguments about the merits. If the high court upholds the law, it returns to the county judge. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the Legislature are aligned on the issue. But a high-court setback could widen the budget rift between them, forcing the new governor to make deeper spending cuts than he’s already proposing or agree to the demands of many Democratic legislators to increase revenues. Those challenging the law – teachers, state employees,
See COURT, page A6
AP photo
Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan is joined by state workers and retirees Wednesday outside the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield as he addresses the media following oral arguments in a lawsuit over a state pension overhaul.
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Nick Nagele, vice president and chief operating officer at Whiskey Acres, pours ground malted barley into the cooking mash for corn whiskey March 5 in the farm-operated DeKalb distillery. All of the ingredients of whiskey – rye, corn and wheat – are grown on father Jim Walter and son Jamie Walter’s farm on Keslinger Road in DeKalb.
‘From seed to spirit’ Whiskey Acres toasts local grains for its products Learn more
By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Nick Nagele was cooking up a lucrative future at Whiskey Acres last week – about 500 gallons worth. Starch was added to water, then brought to a boil in a large metal mash tun inside a 2,500-square-foot distillery at 1460 Keslinger Road. After it was cooled down, enzymes were added to convert the soft, boiled starch to sugar,. After that cooled, yeast was added to consume the sugar producing alcohol for whiskey, which is then sucked into one of four fermentation tanks. “Each yeast outputs a different flavor,” said Nagele, vice president and COO of Whiskey Acres. “Our corn whiskey has a very grainy flavor. It resembles the yeast we put in it.” Whiskey Acres, which officially bottled its first batch of whiskey last month, is the only distillery in the county, and Illinois’ first estate distillery, meaning they grow the grains “from seed to spirit,” Nagele said. “What makes us unique is we can focus on our best grain, and focus on the best
n WHAT: Whiskey Acres, an estate
distillery n WHERE: 1460 Keslinger Road in DeKalb n PHONE: 844-494-4753 n WEBSITE: www.whiskeyacres.com
Voice your opinion What is your favorite distilled spirit? Vote now at Daily-Chronicle.com. Pouring 3-month-old 125-proof bourbon into a tasting glass, Whiskey Acres President and CEO Jamie Walter shows March 5 the golden color the spirit takes on from the oak barrel it’s aged in at the DeKalb distillery. While Whiskey Acres currently is producing corn whiskey and apple-infused corn whiskey for store shelves, their bourbon won’t be ready for sale until the late summer of 2016. seeds and certain genetics to give us the best flavor, versus someone who buys commodity grains,” he said. “From a consumer standpoint, it’s highly sustainable to see where our grains are grown, and turn around and see where the whiskey is made.” The business is operated by father-and-son duo Jim and Jamie Walter, president and CEO, plus Nagele. All three are University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
graduates. “Farming has evolved,” Jim Walter said. “It’s not what farming was when I started.” The family-owned business received its federal distilled spirits plant permit last August, then received its state craft distillery license last November. They successfully distilled their first mash in December 2014, then filled and shipped their first whiskey bottles last month
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Peter Pan flies into the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb / C1
Change the World Day speaker shares his path in science / A3
Man accused of aggravated assault in Sycamore / A3
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through Niles-based distributor Legacy Spirits, a division of Heritage Wine Cellars. “For us, we wanted to capitalize on the geography,” Jamie Walter said. “We grow corn and wheat here. Here, we’re next to the third largest state and we saw an opportunity.” The distillery business only has been an option since 2010, when the state finally created a craft distiller’s license that allows small distillers to open tasting rooms and sell directly to the public. The trio has plans for the property, hoping to turn
See WHISKEY, page A6
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