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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Monday, June 16, 2014
FLAG DAY • LOCAL, A3
BOYS TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR • SPORTS, B1
DeKalb Elks celebrate with dinner for veterans
Sycamore’s Dion Hooker will use shortfall as motivation
Exploring Sycamore’s watershed Tour presenters spoke about water management practices, past mistakes to avoid citizens in the community,” said Anita Zurbrugg of the DeKalb County Community About 25 people boarded a Foundation. “By proactively bus for a tour of key areas in doing this, our county should the 78,000-acre watershed ex- be much better off.” tending far beyond Sycamore. The second “Know Your “The more people under- Watershed” tour included stand watersheds, the more six stops on Saturday mornthey’re going to support the ing and focused on the East decisions that our local elected Branch of the South Branch and appointed officials make of the Kishwaukee River watrying to do what’s best for the tershed, an area 78,000 acres
By STEPHEN HABERKORN news@daily-chronicle.com
in size that extends into Kane County. A watershed is an area of land where all of the water from rain, or snow and ice melting, drains into a single point – in this case Sycamore. The main speakers for the tour were Dean Johnson of the DeKalb County Soil and Conservation District and Mike Konen, a soil scientist and professor in Northern Illinois
University’s Department of Geography. Presenters taught about the particular challenges of managing storm water in the area, past mistakes to avoid and best water management practices for farmers, landowners and municipal administrators. “Several comments we heard is how valuable this [tour] would be for elected
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DEKALB COUNTY
By JULIE PACE The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
During their annual camping trip Glen Wack (center) puts barbecue sauce onto chicken legs alongside his sons Danny Wack (left), 17, and Bobby Wack (right), 19, at their campsite Tuesday, in Shabbona Lake State Park. They said despite the rain, they were enjoying their first camping trip to Shabbona Lake and liked the fact that it was only 50 minutes from their Warrenville home. ABOVE: Avid walker Ron Klein, 74, a semi-retired DeKalb lawyer, walks along the nature trail Thursday in DeKalb. Klein walks everyday, all year round, and incorporates the nature trail into his 2½ to 3-mile stroll. By JESSI HAISH
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See WATERSHED, page A4
Questions, criticism arise for Obama on how wars end
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news@daily-chronicle.com
for land in a floodplain than urban development. “It’s 2014. We know where the floodplains are,” Konen said. “To me, it’s just mind-boggling that we still put buildings in floodplains. It’s the dumbest thing in the world.” Paul Miller, DeKalb County Planning, Zoning and
and appointed officials who are new to the process to give them a good overview of how so many components of governments and non-profit organizations can work together to accomplish things they can’t do by themselves,” Zurbrugg said. One of the ideas presented was that agriculture, recreational areas and wetland restoration are much better uses
nois,” Shabbona Lake State Park on Shabbona Grove Road, offers not only fishing, but hiking, biking and camping. However, most What is your favorite way to enjoy nature? Vote come for the fish. online at Daily-Chronicle.com. “It’s a very pleasant, quiet experience here,” said Molly Haseman, Shabbona Lake office coordinator. “The lake is unique for “You sort of have the feeling you’re in the area. We’re surrounded by farmland, but the woods out here,” Klein said in between then you have this beautiful woodland and lake area.” strides. Fishing can be done by boat or from the
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vid nature trail walker Ron Klein, 74, remembers when the meandering pavement he walks on daily was a railroad track through DeKalb. Still spending about 40 hours a week working as an area lawyer, a profession he’s practiced for 51 years, the “retired” Klein finds time to get a three mile walk in daily along the nature 1. FISHING AND CAMPING Known as the “Muskie Capital of Illitrail.
See DeKALB COUNTY, page A4
WASHINGTON – From the Rose Garden, President Barack Obama outlined a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of the last U.S. troops in Afghanistan and said confidently, “This is how wars end in the 21st century.” But less than three weeks after his May 27 announcement, there is a sudden burst of uncertainty surrounding the way Obama has moved to bring the two conflicts he inherited to a close. In Iraq, a fast-moving Islamic insurgency is pressing toward Baghdad, raising the possibility of fresh American military action more than two years after the last U.S. troops withdrew. The chaos in Iraq also raises questions about whether Obama’s plans to keep a small military presence in Afghanistan until the end of 2016 can prevent a similar backslide there or whether extremists are simply lying in wait until the U.S. withdrawal deadline passes. “Could all of this have been avoided? The answer is absolutely yes,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said of the deteriorating situation in Iraq. McCain, one of the White House’s chief foreign policy critics and Obama’s 2008 presidential rival, added that Obama is “about to make the same mistake in Afghanistan he made in Iraq.” That criticism strikes at the heart of Obama’s clearest foreign policy pledge: a commitment to ending the conflicts started by his predecessor, George W. Bush, and keeping the U.S. out of further military entanglements. The turmoil in Iraq presents a particularly troubling dilemma for the White House. Obama’s early opposition to the Iraq war was a defining factor in his 2008 presidential campaign and he cast the withdrawal of all American troops in late 2011 as a promise fulfilled. The president and his top advisers have since cited the end of the war as one of Obama’s top achievements in office. But the vacuum left by American forces has been filled by waves of resurgent
See OBAMA, page A4
More inside For more on Iraq, see page A8.
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