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By BRETT ROWLAND browland@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Ray Briggs, 68, said he was caught by surprise Friday when city of DeKalb officials, acting on complaints from neighbors, obtained an administrative warrant from a judge that allowed them to enter his home at 509 N. Seventh St. and investigate. The property, long known for overgrown foliage and cluttered conditions, was later deemed hazardous and uninhabitable. During the search, Briggs was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The home was secured by court order Friday, with no one permitted to enter without city approval. “I wasn’t given a chance to make repairs,” Briggs said in a phone interview from Kishwaukee Hospital. “I was blindsided.” DeKalb officials said they tried to work with Briggs for months and only sought the court order as a last resort. Briggs said he relies on Social Security and was attempting to make piecemeal repairs to the house where he had lived for 15 years. Briggs said Tuesday he didn’t know when he would be released from the hospital or where he would live. He said he wanted to retrieve some of his belongings from the home, including a collection of memorabilia from the 1964 to ’66 comedy TV series “The Munsters,” artwork, model railroad equipment, books, exotic lamps and back issues of Playboy from the 1970s. “I don’t know where I’m going to go, possibly out of the county,” Briggs said. “I just want to get my stuff out of [the house].” Briggs said his plan was to put his possessions in storage until he could sort through “the little bit of everything” he had collected over the years and sell or keep what was valuable. “I don’t want them to throw it all in the Dumpster,” he said. City officials spent months working with Briggs to try to resolve ordinance compliance issues at his home, DeKalb city attorney Dean Frieders said Tuesday. They also reached out to family members and social service agencies working with him in their efforts to fix things
See HOUSE, page A8
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
DeKalb police and the DeKalb Fire Department searched this residence Friday at 509 N. Seventh St. in DeKalb for hazardous conditions.
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Jeff VanGetson, a managing partner and technician with Integra Business Services, puts a tabulation machine back in its place after checking its accuracy Tuesday in preparation for the April 7 election at the DeKalb County Administration Building, 110 E. Sycamore St., Sycamore. VanGetson and another technician, John Kruszynski, had 40 tabulation machines to test Tuesday.
Early community consolidated elections see first voters Voter information
By DARIA SOKOLOVA dsokolova@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Rita and Ed Miller were among Tuesday’s first voters at the DeKalb County Administrative Building in Sycamore, where early voting in the community consolidated election will continue through noon Saturday. The Millers said they will be election judges at Sycamore’s Federated Church on Election Day, and so came in to vote at 110 E. Sycamore St. because they can’t vote that day. Election judge John Linderoth said he had seen only three voters come in when the polling station was opened at noon Tuesday. The administrative building was one of the four facilities in DeKalb County where residents could cast their early votes for municipal, park, library, and school district officials. The run-up to local election is the same as other general elections and primaries, even if the local contests often draw some of the lowest turnout. Officials point to a number of factors behind the low turnout, including little competition, that voters often report they have little information about the candidates, and
To review registration information and view a sample ballot, visit dekalb.il.electionconsole.com/voter-lookup.php. Visit Daily-Chronicle. com for your election coverage.
DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Doug Johnson watches the testing being done by Integra Business Services on Tuesday while talking about new DS 200 tabulation machines, which are able to include 100 precincts instead of only 10, which the current tabulation machines count while at the DeKalb County Administration Building in Sycamore. The new machines are being tested during early voting for the municipal election in preparation for the 2016 presidential election. This is Johnson’s third election after being appointed to the DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder job and first election after being elected to the position. that the number of races causes voter fatigue. Turnout could vary by locale in the upcoming election. In DeKalb, for example, there are contested races for City Council in 3rd, 5th and 7th Wards. The DeKalb School District 428 board race has eight candidates vying for four seats – with six of them
write-ins. Meanwhile, in neighboring Sycamore there are no contested races. Linderoth characterized community consolidated elections as “slow” and said early voting at his site typically draws nine to 10 people a day, while another judge Sharon Holmes predicted that
countywide turnout wouldn’t exceed 25 percent. “[Turnout is] always low, unless somebody has got a contest going on,” Linderoth said. The Millers said they have also noticed a low turnout in community elections over their past few years as judges, but said races need to be contested for people to be interested in them. “And these people are running, they want to do a good job, they would like people to vote for them, but they are going to be elected whether we are going to vote or not since there’s only three of them there,” Rita Miller said about some of the ballot options. According to data from DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Doug Johnson’s office, during the 2013 consolidated election in DeKalb County the voter turnout was 22
See VOTERS, page A8
Schock’s staff will face tough prosecutor in investigation The ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON – Some of Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock’s current and previous employees will appear before a federal grand jury next month to answer questions about their old boss. When they do, they’ll likely face a prosecutor with a tough, meticulous reputation. Timothy Bass, a 20-year veteran prosecutor who’s involved in the investigation, is known for combing through every detail of his cases. He’s prosecuted drug and gun
crimes, money laundering, tax evasion, child pornography, exploitation and corruption cases. The government has been looking into Schock’s House office expenses, his re-election campaign spending and his relationships with longtime political donors. The Justice Department issued subpoenas as part of this investigation. The choice to investigate Schock in central Illinois – rather than in Washington D.C., home to his Capitol Hill office – could signify the
probe reaches beyond the potential misuse of his congressional office and into his congressional district activities or hometown financial contributors. Schock, a 33-year-old R e p u b l i c a n Rep. Aaron f r o m P e o r i a , Schock planned to step down Tuesday. His departure follows months of news reports into his office and political expenses, including improper mileage reimburse-
ments and trips on his donors’ aircraft, as well as business deals with those contributors. New details offer a rare look inside the secretive grand jury process, which takes place behind closed doors. That makes it difficult to understand how prosecutors may be building a criminal case against the congressman, what evidence they’re compiling and whether anyone else in his sphere might be in trouble. “Tim Bass will be very deliberate, very meticulous and very focused,” defense attor-
ney Jon Gray Noll said of the 51-year-old assistant U.S. attorney in Springfield. Bass was behind the creation of the Illinois Central District’s Public Corruption Task Force formed in 2007. “If I were sitting where Mr. Schock is, I would not want this gentleman on the other side,” said Noll, who’s not representing Schock. Since 2013, Bass’ task force has resulted in the convictions of 13 people related to $16 million in grant and contract-fraud schemes, his office said. Bass, who declined an
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interview, is known for being incredibly prepared, said another defense attorney who has gone up against him. Illinois is well known for federal prosecutions against former governors, crime bosses and municipal officials. They include the trial and conviction of former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the Justice Department’s northern Illinois district. Federal investigators who questioned likely grand jury witnesses indicated
See SCHOCK, page A8
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