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Vigil held to remember Schulz Friends honor man; probe of his death continues Inside Read Steven Schulz’s obituary on PAGE A4.
Online To view more photos from Friday night’s memorial gathering for Schulz, visit DailyChronicle. com.
By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com
and JESSI HAISH jhaish@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A sea of cutoff jean shorts, brightly colored balloons, candles and cowboy boots flowed into Hopkins Park to honor the life of Steven Schulz. “He made his own little jorts and wore them all the time,” said Tyler Isham, Schulz’s friend. “He would wear them out, he’d wear them to work. We’d say, ‘It’s just Steven.’ ” At least 200 friends and family of Schulz, 23, of DeKalb, celebrated his life Friday night with
a balloon release and candlelight vigil. A day earlier, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott announced that Schulz, a 2009 Sycamore High School graduate, died of a gunshot to the head from the gun he bought legally about a year ago. His family reported him missing Monday evening. Event organizer Marissa Jackson, a friend of Schulz, thought it was important that the community was invited to Friday’s event. “I felt like it would help his family,” Jackson said. “It shows the spirit of the community and just how many people Steven touched. He had a huge impact
on my life.” Meanwhile, the police investigation continued Friday with about 15 DeKalb police and county sheriff’s officers following up on leads. Scott said he had not ruled out homicide or suicide in Schulz’s death, but said he did consider it an isolated incident with no threat to public safety. “We want to leave the case open for any information that may still be out there,” Scott said. “We don’t have all the electronic information back that we need. We don’t have all the autopsy information back.”
See VIGIL, page A8
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Colin Mattison, 22, hugs Morgan Lowie, 22, during a memorial event held Friday for Steven Schulz at Hopkins Park. Authorities reported Thursday that Schulz, 23, of DeKalb, died of a gunshot wound to the head.
A TASTY DeKALB TRADITION
183 NIU workers leave in spring Pension reform effects not as drastic as feared By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Pizza Villa owner Larry Finn stirs a new batch of fried dough beer nuggets after they puffed to the surface in the kitchen July 2. Finn claims he was one of the original inventors of the nuggets in 1985 and has worked to perfect the dough recipe. Pizza Villa offers four varieties of Villa Nuggets: regular, Parmesan, cinnamon and cinnamon roll. Finn said many former students and even former delivery drivers come back to Pizza Villa to get their fill of the treat.
Local lore proclaims DeKalb as original home of beer nuggets By JESSI HAISH jhaish@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Larry Finn says what so many locals know: Beer nuggets are “a DeKalb thing.” “They say beer nuggets, but there’s no beer in them,” said Finn, owner of Pizza Villa, 824 W. Lincoln Highway. “I guess it came that way because they go good with beer.” Finn claims he was one of the original inventors of beer nuggets in 1985. At the time, many local pizza places would deep fry scraps of leftover pizza dough and sell them as “nuggets.” Finn started working at Pizza Villa after it first opened in the 1950s, and it became his family’s operation in 1968. Joiner History Room Director Sue Breese compares the tales behind the creation of beer nuggets to those behind the creation of barbed wire in DeKalb. While barbed wire’s paternity was duked out by Isaac Ellwood,
Where to find nuggets
DeKALB – The number of retiring Northern Illinois University employees more than tripled this spring, but the total was nowhere near the 800 employees university officials feared would leave in the wake of the state’s pension reform bill. From January to June, 183 employees submitted retirement applications to the State Universities Retirement System, which covers employees from state universities, community colleges and state agencies. “It turned out to be not too far from where we normally are,” NIU President Doug Baker said. Almost 3,600 NIU employees are covered by the state retirement system. Those covered include faculty members, those in civil service and professional support staff. Retirement system spokeswoman Beth Spencer said the agency received 2,726 applications in the first six months this year from across Illinois. That was almost 500 more than in all of 2013. Only 60 NIU employees submitted retirement applications during the same period last year, according to the retirement system’s data.
See RETIRING, page A8
NIU retirements Voice your opinion: What is your favorite place to order beer nuggets? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com. Joseph Glidden and Jacob Haish until Glidden’s was dubbed the winner, no one has officially been deemed inventor of DeKalb’s doughy treat. The online Urban Dictionary provides a fitting definition of beer
nuggets: “A tasty late-night treat or party food essentially made of chunks of deep-fried pizza dough invented in DeKalb ... mostly for broke students from Northern Illinois University.” Various blogs and answer forums also beg for the
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recipe for beer nuggets, with many requests coming from former NIU students. Breese looked through old telephone books at the Joiner History
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National and world news Opinions Sports
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Source: State Universities Retirement System
See BEER NUGGETS, page A7
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