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Friday, July 11, 2014
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Police: Schulz shot with own gun Authorities not ruling out homicide in man’s death By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com KINGSTON – Divers found Steven Schulz’s handgun Thursday afternoon in the Kishwaukee River about 800 feet east of where his body was found a day earlier. Schulz, 23, of DeKalb, died of a gunshot wound to the head with no other signs of any struggle or trauma, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said. Schulz, a 2009 Sycamore High School graduate, was last seen Sunday and was reported missing by his family Monday evening.
DeKalb police have said his phone records showed he had not contacted anyone since Sunday. Officials have not ruled out homicide as a cause of death – they are exploring all possible causes, Scott said. An autopsy was conducted Thursday, but the final report is not yet available, pending laboratory results. “The investigation is continuing,” Scott said. “Until all the results are in, we are not in a position to make any definitive statements on that.” Scott said police had
not confirmed reports that friends who spoke to Schulz on Sunday said he was on his way to Genoa to exchange guns with a man they didn’t know. A five-member dive team from the St. Charles Fire Department recovered a small-caliber, semi-automatic pistol that Schulz had purchased legally about a year ago, Scott said. Divers found the weapon just east of the Glidden Road bridge north of Route 72 in rural Kingston about 2 p.m. Thursday. Scott said the cooperation of Schulz’s family and friends
throughout the investigation had been helpful, along with area residents and onlookers staying away from the river while authorities worked. Glidden Road was closed for part of Wednesday and reduced to one lane in that area for officers’ safety for part of Thursday. “The family has been very supportive, and we’ve tried to talk with them as often as possible with the information they would need,” Scott said. Police found Schulz’s red
See SCHULZ, page A6
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
DeKalb police Lt. Bob Redel (left) and Cmdr. John Petragallo walk along the Glidden Road bridge Thursday above the north branch of the Kishwaukee River while investigating the death of Steven Schulz.
DeKalb announces new finance director
More than connecting dots
By LAWERENCE SYNETT lsynett@shawmedia.com
Photos by Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
JP Rader (left), 13, and Adrian Cal, 10, play around with a Makey Makey prototyping board Wednesday during a video game camp at Northern Illinois University’s Founders Memorial Library.
NIU video game camp offers students creative outlet By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Diego Wu’s first trip out of Taiwan has landed him in DeKalb, where the 11-year-old is learning how to create his own video games. During a Northern Illinois University co-ed video game camp this week, Wu already has learned how to make a shooting game and platform game similar to Mario Bros. Students in the camp are using a program called GameMaker to develop their own characters and game concepts. Diego said his goal is to create a baseball game, since he wants to be a baseball player when he gets older. “I like to play baseball with my friends in Taiwan,” he said. “My favorite part of the United States is baseball games.” There are 20 students, six of them Taiwanese, in the vid-
Video game camp participants learn to use prototyping boards to play their games they created Wednesday at Northern Illinois University’s Founders Memorial Library. eo game camp headed by Aline Click, director of E-Learning Services and director of the Digital Convergence Lab at NIU’s library. The children range in age from 9 to 13 years old. The six Taiwanese students
who are participating in the camp are part of a 26-student group from the National University of Tainan Affiliated Primary School. They are participating in six camps NIU is hosting to give them exposure to U.S. culture. Some NIU offi-
cials know instructors at the Taiwan school and gave presentations there to encourage the students’ participation. The Taiwanese students in the video game camp are interacting with their American counterparts. Since their English skills are limited, communication is mostly restricted to showing each other what games they’ve created and helping each other when needed. “Some of them are doing things we don’t typically see with the American students,” said Eric Russell, video game camp instructor for the past four years. “A couple of them made a two-player game on their first day, sharing a keyboard. That’s the first time I’ve seen two kids sharing a keyboard.” The students are having a lot of fun, too, said Taiwanese
See VIDEO GAMES, page A6
DeKALB – The finance director for the village of Carpentersville is headed to DeKalb. Cathy Haley, a graduate of Northern Illinois University, will begin her new role as DeKalb’s finance director Aug. 4, DeKalb officials announced Thursday. She takes over for Assistant City Manager Rudy Espiritu, who has been serving as interim finance director since Lisa Pisarcik resigned in March. “This is a great opportunity for me to build a stand-alone finance department that [DeKalb] really hasn’t had in years,” Haley said. “That is a unique thing for a finance director to be able to accomplish.” Haley’s annual salary will be about $122,000, compared with Pisarcik’s salary of $97,948. Haley has Cathy Haley been the finance director in Carpentersville for the past two years. Before that, she spent 10 years in Roselle as assistant finance director and seven years in West Dundee as a treasurer and accountant. Her new role will include monitoring the city’s cash flow by overseeing purchasing, accounts payable and receivable, water billing and tax collection, as well as preparing the city’s budget and audit. She also will help with the hiring of two vacant positions in the finance department. There were a total of 13 people who applied for the position, City Manager Anne Marie Gaura said. “Cathy [Haley] was the top candidate, and even if it was a much larger pool, I am confident she still would have been the top candidate,” Gaura said. “She is coming in at a time where there are a number of financial issues and challenges we are beginning to address. With her background in key positions, she will be able to hit the ground running.” Mayor John Rey agreed. “Cathy [Haley] has some excellent municipal finance experience,” he said. “I was pleased to see the transparency in her past experiences from a control and reporting standpoint, and look forward to her bringing those skills to our team in DeKalb.” Pisarcik resigned March 7 after more than three years as finance director. That same week, Gaura announced two financial consultants from GovTemps USA would review the city’s financial policies and procedures at a cost not to exceed $45,000. The financial consultants also assisted in the interview process for the new finance director.
“Some of them are doing things we don’t typically see with the American students.” Eric Russell, video game camp instructor
See FINANCE DIRECTOR, page A6
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