DDC 9-15-2015

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TUESDAY

September 15 , 2015 • $1 .0 0

DAILY CHRONICLE LIMITING ERRORS

Bears’ Long looks to avoid mistakes in his new position / B1 HIGH

82 64 Complete forecast on page A10

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University Village rezoning OK’d DeKalb City Council passes measure on 5-3 vote late Monday evening By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The City Council approved Security Properties request to rezone University Village on a 5-3 vote after a marathon meeting Monday. Mayor John Rey joined 7th Ward Alderwoman Monica O’Leary, 3rd Ward Alderman Michael Marquardt, 5th Ward Alderwoman Kate Noreiko, and 2nd Ward Alderman Bill Finucane in backing the plan. First Ward Alderman David

On the Web To see a video from this meeting, visit Daily-Chronicle.com.

Jacobson, 6th Ward Alderman Dave Baker, and 4th Ward Alderman Bob Snow voted against it. Finucane said that he considered Security Properties’

plan for a $21 million renovation of University Village a positive for DeKalb, despite the controversy that has surrounded the plan. “It’s too bad there have been so many misconceptions about this thing spread around,” he said. “This is a tremendous thing for our city.” The vote is subject to pending litigation, Rey said. “At this time I ask that the vote is recorded and is subject to the outcome of court rulings,” he said.

University Village tenant Tiara Huggins urged council members to grant the rezoning request, which will allow the sale of the 32-acre, 534unit housing complex to Seattle-based Security Properties. “There has been a lot of distraction during this process,” she said. “Security Properties and Evergreen Management have proposed a plan to bring needed resources to our community. Their plan will not only improve the living environment, but help build a

better community in an area where residents once felt isolated.” Others came forward to raise issues such as the lack of public discussion surrounding a council member’s bribe report, which triggered a state investigation, and uncertainty over the future of the housing complex, which Security Properties plans to keep 100 percent subsidized and income-controlled housing for years to come. Security Properties plans

Irene Clay’s house arrives

to fund the renovation project in part with low-income housing tax credits. In order for the company to receive financing for the project, the city had to agree to rezone the property so it could be rebuilt at its current density in the event of a catastrophic loss. The complex off Annie Glidden Road north of Northern Illinois University has a net density of about 18 units an acre; local ordinances limit

See VOTE, page A5

Tall crops pose seasonal road hazard By SCOTT McFETRIDGE The Associated Press

Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com

Irene Clay’s new modular home is put together Monday in Fairdale. The home was transported in two halves and put in place in only a couple of hours. For more photos of the house and delivery, visit Daily-Chronicle.com.

Family says they will sell it if their mom isn’t able move in On the Web

By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com FAIRDALE – Irene Clay just wanted a home that she could call her own again, one to spend her twilight years in, since hers was destroyed in the April 9 tornado. “Just a small house,” she would say. “I don’t care how big it is.” Under a cloudless sky and a beaming sun Monday, two halves of a modular home were lifted onto the foundation where her old home once stood at the corner of Brown and West streets, and Irene, 87, got her dying wish for a new home. But she wasn’t there. Last week, her bout with lung cancer took a tragic turn. Her family rushed her to Kishwaukee Hospital after she experienced stroke-like symptoms. Doctors said the cancer had spread to her brain and caused lesions and swelling. Chemotherapy had previously been stopped because it was proving ineffective. “She just sleeps,” her daughter Geri Hopper said. “If you talk to her, occasionally she’ll open her

To see a video from the delivery of the house, visit Daily-Chronicle. com. move into the house, then none of the family members will, and they’ll put the property up for sale. Irene’s son Mike Clay said he felt “just OK” about the whole situation. “There won’t be any family that lives here if Mom doesn’t,” he said at the site. “That’s kind of Geri Hopper, daughter of Irene Clay, tours Clay’s new home after only a couple how it’s looking right now, unless of hours of work to put it in place Monday in Fairdale. we see some drastic turn.” eyes or respond a little bit (with) a one-word response. She’s not on any nourishment.” The family has been told Irene only has days to live. Given her health, family members said she may not ever see the new house. And if she does, in her current state, she probably won’t be coherent enough to understand what’s going on.

“I was hoping she would at least have a little time in there,” Hopper said, holding back tears. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen. “It’s probably not going to happen.” It muted the celebration Monday as the house finally arrived. Irene’s children and in-laws have vowed that if their mom doesn’t

DES MOINES, Iowa – The broad leaves and thick stalks can stand up to 12 feet tall, forming a wall of foliage that turns rural roads into long, narrow corridors of nothing but corn. For drivers navigating the gravel roads that crisscross Midwestern farm country, the plants go by in a noiseless blur of green, yellow and brown. But the annual crop brings an often-ignored danger: Some roads are so sheltered by the towering corn that motorists can’t see each other until just before they collide, with potentially deadly results. “There are so few people out driving, if you’re a gambling person, the odds are it’s not going to happen. But it only takes one time,” said Dave Struthers, who grows corn and raises hogs near the small central Iowa city of Collins. The peril is especially pervasive in Iowa, the nation’s top corn producer, where crops are grown on more than 90 percent of the land and at least five people have been killed so far this season in crashes blamed on corn. Authorities issue regular warnings to the public, but generally they can do little more than plead with drivers to use caution. The problem is also widespread across Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana. Each year, the risk climbs with the corn itself, beginning around mid-July, when the plants top 6 feet, and lasting until harvest in early October. Key contributors are the sparse traffic and the lack of stop signs. For eight months a year, motorists can easily spot other vehicles or at least the plume of dust they stir up. Consequently, many drivers barely slow down when approaching intersections. And they often stick to that habit even as the corn grows taller, traveling 50 or 60 mph down the thin ribbons of gravel or pavement. Two people died last summer in Iowa. In the past decade, there have been 28 to 51 crashes a year in which obstructions – primarily corn – have been a factor, according to the Iowa Transportation Department.

See CROPS, page A5

Moving home

Of the 17 homes ravaged by the tornado, Irene’s is the first to be rebuilt. The EF-4 tornado, which produced winds up to 200 mph, also killed two Fairdale residents, friends Jacklyn Klosa, 69, and Geraldine Schultz, 67.

See HOUSE, page A5

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DeKalb crash

Whiskey Acres Distilling Co. hosts grand opening / A8

DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport hosts drone-rules seminar / A3

District 428 bus involved in 3-car accident / A3

Advice ................................ B4 Classified....................... B6-8 Comics ............................... B5 Local News.................... A3-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...........A2, 5-6

AP photo

A street sign is seen in front of a corn field Sept. 8 at an uncontrolled rural intersection where a driver was killed in an August crash near Maxwell, Iowa. Corn grows up to 12 feet tall, and this time of year can be a serious hazard for motorists in rural areas of the Midwest.

Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A9 Puzzles ............................... B4 Sports..............................B1-3 State .............................. A2, 4 Weather ........................... A10


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DDC 9-15-2015 by Shaw Media - Issuu