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City mum on filling empty seat DeKalb 7th Ward Alderwoman O’Leary has said she will turn in her letter of resignation Friday By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – City leaders have yet to announce how the soon-to-be vacated DeKalb 7th Ward City Council seat will be filled. Alderwoman Monica O’Leary, who won the seat by a single vote over her opponent in April, notified the city that she plans to deliver an official letter of resignation Friday,
Mayor John Rey said. DeKalb Municipal Code calls for a special election to fill a vacant seat if there are more than 18 months remaining on a council member’s term. DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Doug Johnson said that if the city were to run a special election, it would have to be in an odd-numbered year, but ultimately, the city would have to look to its municipal code – and any applicable ref-
World leaders at U.N. lay out different views on Syria crisis
erendums – to figure out what to do. But only when the resignation is official. “Basically, for me, until I have the letter in my hand, I wait and see,” Johnson said. “What if Friday comes and she changes her mind?” City Attorney Dean Frieders and O’Leary didn’t return calls seeking comment. Rey said O’Leary still represents the ward until an offi-
cial letter is turned in. He said he didn’t know why she was resigning. O’Leary was at the center of a state police investigation, which was closed with no charges Sept. 3, into whether she had been offered a bribe in exchange for a “no” vote on rezoning University Village. State police records show that she reported the offer after Frieders and City Manager Anne Marie Gaura told her she
might face jail if she didn’t. The so-called offer was in relation to a vote on Seattle-based Security Properties’ request that the city rezone University Village, DeKalb’s largest low-income housing complex. Security Properties plans to buy and renovate the complex. Council members voted 5-3 in favor of the rezoning at the second reading Sept. 14, with O’Leary voting yes. She was absent at the first
reading Aug. 24. Sixth Ward Alderman Dave Baker said he blamed city leaders for their handling of the report that led to the investigation. “I’m blaming the resignation on our city attorney and the way he questioned her instead of advising her one-onone, as he is required to do by contract,” Baker said.
See OPEN SEAT, page A7
Community protection
By CARA ANNA The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS – Vladimir Putin played it cool, Barack Obama was earnest but firm and Iran’s president walked in smiling. World leaders glided through the opening day of a U.N. gathering Monday that aims to wrestle with the globe’s biggest crises – a historic flood of refugees, the rise of threats, such as the Islamic State group and the conflict in Syria. The U.N. secretary-general for the first time called for the civil war in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court, while Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran’s recent nuclear deal with world powers had a broader goal: “We want to suggest a new and constructive way to recreate the international order.” Chinese President Xi Jinping made a $1 billion pledge for U.N. peace efforts. And Jordan’s King Abdullah II made a heartfelt defense of the kinder side of the Muslim world in the face of “the outlaws of Islam that operate globally today.” “When and how did fear and intimidation creep so insidiously into our conversation when there is so much more to be said about the love of God?” he asked, also quoting the Quran on mercy. The king has called the rise of extremist groups like the Islamic State, and the crises they have caused, “a third world war, and I believe we must respond with equal intensity.” Jordan borders both Syria and Iraq, and Syrian refugees now make up 20 percent of Jordan’s population. Iraq and Turkey also groan under the strain of millions of refugees.
AP photo
President Barack Obama (bottom left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (bottom right) attend a luncheon hosted Monday by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (bottom center) at U.N. headquarters.
Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Northern Illinois University Police Chief Tom Phillips leads a command staff meeting Sept. 17 at the police department on campus.
NIU police share powers, duties of municipal law enforcement By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com DeKALB – It was campus police who were the first responders when a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in 2008, killing five students. The department’s role to serve and protect was put on national display, and underscored its bona fide powers as a law enforcement agency. “Campus policing is nothing new,” said NIU Police Chief Thomas Phillips. However, he added, “the level of responsibility for campus police has evolved ... from a security mentality to a police mentality.” Each year since then, NIU’s Department of Police and Public Safety has brought federal, state and
But NIU police maintain a campus and community presence, and respond to everything from calls about stolen iPhones and reports of sexual assault, to outstanding warrant violations and possession of illegal drugs. The department is hardly anything out of Mayberry. It’s charged with protecting the state’s third largest university, including its 756-acre DeKalb campus with its 64 buildings, 4,500 employees and 20,130 students. And it assists on municipal 911 calls all in the town of 43,862, and greater DeKalb County. NIU paramedic/police officer Daniel Leifker blocks off Normal Road and diIt’s a $5.2 million operation, with rects traffic Sept. 15 on campus after an incident. a staff of 39 civilian employees, and a force of 52 professionals who’ve other local law enforcement agen- tionwide have often been dismissed been police-academy trained, takcies to the campus for large-scale as quasi-law enforcement agencies, en the oath to uphold the state and emergency response training. with their policing powers and juCampus police departments na- risdictions called into question. See POLICE, page A7
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