W eekend SV
Saukvalley.com
Your source for news and sports 7 days a week
Serving Lee, Whiteside, Carroll, Ogle and Bureau counties Saturday&Sunday, October 5-6, 2013 $2.00
Full coverage of Week 6 showdowns
CITY’S LEGAL FEE AN ATTENTION GETTER DIXON, A3
SPECIAL SPORTS SECTION INSIDE
WEEKEND FEATURE | HONOR FLIGHT
Veterans would not be deterred
INSIDE
Flight delay? Shutdown? No problem BY DEREK BARICHELLO dbarichello@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 526
Derek Barichello/dbarichello@saukvalley.com
An Honor Flight veteran looks over at the Atlantic portion of the World War II Memorial from a vista just below the Pacific arch Thursday in Washington.
WASHINGTON — What does that World War II word ‘snafu’ mean again? Korean War veteran Donald Matthiessen, of Sterling, gave a censored version of the answer: “Situation normal, all fouled up.” Thursday’s Honor Flight No. 25 of the Quad Cities almost never got off the ground. After the plane struck an owl on its way to the Quad Cities airport, there was the possibility of the flight being canceled. It wasn’t, but takeoff was delayed for nearly 3 hours.
Then there was the matter of memorials in Washington being closed to the public because of the federal government shutdown. And, while the 92 veterans – about 60 from the Sauk Valley – were touring the sights, the death of a Connecticut woman who tried to ram her car through a White House barricade led to a temporary lockdown of the Capitol. Despite all of that, Thursday’s Honor Flight was “one of the most successful flights we’ve ever done,” hub director Bob Morrison said. VETERANS CONTINUED ON A10
Men of Honor Meet the Sauk Valley participants in Thursday’s Honor Flight to Washington. Community, Page C12
WEEKEND ENTERPRISE | OPEN GOVERNMENT
A lock on public access? State’s attorneys no longer must share records BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
Illustration by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Access to search warrants not always clear SVM requests for documents denied by Ogle County BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 529
Is a search warrant a public record in Illinois? Usually, but not always. Sometimes the answer is unclear, according to an official from the office of state
Showers
VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6 52 Pages
Today: 74/43 For the forecast, see Page A9
attorney general and an Illinois Press Association attorney. IPA attorney Don Craven said Ogle County officials have made an inadequate case for their denials of Sauk Valley Media’s requests to see the search warrant that resulted in drug paraphernalia possession charges against a Mount Morris man in August. While search warrants generally are documents available to the public, a judge can seal them for a legitimate reason, Craven said.
“If there are other people involved in some criminal activity that don’t yet know they’re the subject of investigation – we don’t want the bad guys to know,” Craven said. Sarah Pratt, the public access counselor with the Illinois Attorney General’s office, said the fact that an investigation is ongoing is not enough of a reason to keep a search warrant from the public. Specific reasons must be given, she said, that prove that releasing the documents would hinder an investigation or prosecution.
A postal solution?
Can a fix for the U.S. Postal Service’s financial mess be found overseas? See Page C1
“It depends on the circumstances,” she said after being given the reasons Sauk Valley Media received from the sheriff’s office. “But that does sound kind of general. It’s often case by case.” Sauk Valley Media made two requests under the Freedom of Information Act to see the search warrant and police affidavits that led to the Aug. 20 search of Justin Coltrain’s home in Mount Morris. WARRANTS CONTINUED ON A2
Health tips for women Connie Britton and TV’s “The Doctors” share tips Also inside USA Weekend: How Mo Rocca makes a difference Lemon-thyme salmon
Last year, in his final days as Lee County’s state’s attorney, Henry Dixon released emails that showed his office had engaged in political activity. Dixon, who had just lost a bid for re-election, gave up the emails upon the request of Sauk Valley Media in November. He did so because of the state Freedom of Information Act, which requires that most government records be made available to the public. These days, though, the new state’s attorney, Anna Sacco-Miller, might keep such emails under wraps. Sacco-Miller and other state’s attorneys now say they aren’t subject to the Freedom of Information Act. They cite a Second District Appellate Court ruling in May that says the state’s attorney is part of the judicial branch and, thus, is not required to follow the public records law. LOCK CONTINUED ON A5
Index Births................ C5 Markets ............ A9 Business........... C1 Nation .............. A9 Classified .......... D1 Obituaries ......... A4 Comics ............. B6 Opinion............. A6 Community ..... C12 Scoreboard ...... B5 Scrapbook ....... C3 Crossword Saturday ........... D6 Sports .............. B1 Support groups .. C5 Crossword Sunday ............. C8 Travel .............. C10 Dear Abby ........ C9 Weather............ A9 Lottery .............. A2 Wheels ............. D8