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dailyGAZETTE Wednesday, October 9, 2013
SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
STERLING
Council approves sign petition Stauter votes against making code change
business. An ordinance will be drafted that allows for the change in the city’s Highway Business District. Alderman-At-Large John Stauter was the lone no vote. He said the Planning Commission spent 2 years working on the code and didn’t want to set a precedent and undo what the Planning Commission worked on. Marvin Keys, general counsel for Sterling Commons Development, said the company was at risk of losing two tenants, Verizon Wireless and Kay Jewelers, if the businesses, which would be located on the corner units of the building at 4204 E. Lincolnway,
BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 529
STERLING – Sterling’s sign code took about 2 years to develop and has been on the books for about 2 years. But in the name of economic development, Sterling City Council changed it Monday night. The City Council voted 5-1 to approve a petition from Sterling Commons Development Inc. to amend city code to allow signs on both sides of a corner
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signed a lease, Keys said. On Aug. 19, the city referred the issue to the planning commission, which met Sept. 19 and heard from Keys and city staff. The Planning Commission voted to deny the petition and also recommended, along with city staff, that the City Council deny the petition. “We’re taking a big step here,” Stauter said. “The Planning Commission spent almost 2 years on this and it’s working well. ... And now you want all this changing, even after that meeting a month ago. It is a real slap in the face to our Planning Commission, that their services are not needed.”
It is a real slap in the face to our Planning Commission, that their services are not needed.
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Alderman-At-Large John Stauter
weren’t allowed two signs. Verizon’s only opt-out clause in the lease agreement existed for if only one sign was allowed, and Kay Jewelers was waiting on the sign ruling before it
Ward 2 Alderman Barry Cox was the most vocal supporter of allowing the change, pointing toward economic development and increased sales tax that could be lost if the two businesses or others decided to look elsewhere because of the ordinance. “Retail development pays taxes, pulls in taxes,” he said. “And that actually makes it easier on our citizens of the community. I would much rather see a retail development come to this community and lighten up my [property tax] load on my piece of property.” PETITION CONTINUED ON A2
CRIME | DRUG INVESTIGATION
ATHLETES TEAM UP FOR SERVICE PROJECT
Wiretaps assisted in sting Drug buyers are ‘on the periphery’ BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
The Sauk Valley Community College baseball team cleans and repaints a fence Tuesday at the Dillon Home in Sterling. The team is working on the fence as a community service project.
ROCK FALLS
Park, city property struck by vandals again Chief says officials are ‘extremely mad’ BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521
ROCK FALLS – Rock Falls Police this week responded to the sixth vandalism call on public property in a little more than a month. All of the damage has occurred at parks and city property, police say, with the damage reaching thousands of dollars. Rock Falls
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Police Chief Mike Kuelper said the incidents appear to be related. On Monday, police responded to vandalism at Sieglinger Memorial Park, 2199 Ninth Ave., where authorities found picnic tables, dumpsters, and trash cans overturned – the second call about damage at Sieglinger in as many days. On Sunday at the park, authorities discovered picnic tables, dumpsters, and trash cans flipped over, as well as smashed lights. The day before, police found
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two city cars parked in the city street garage with their windows and headlights smashed in. One car had its wiring torn out in what police say was an attempt to start it. On Sept. 4, 11 and 19, police similarly responded to calls of criminal damage to property at Centennial Park, 508 E. 11th St., where, over the course of the month, they found picnic tables, dumpsters, bleachers, and trash cans overturned; a water fountain broken in half; tennis nets burned, PVC poles broken; support brackets to soccer nets bro-
BUSINESS ......... A13 COMICS ............. A12 CROSSWORD....B13
DEAR ABBY ......... A8 LIFESTYLE ........... A8 LOTTERY ............. A2
ken; and windows at the Little Red Schoolhouse smashed in. “We’re extremely mad,” Rock Falls Chief Mike Kuelper said. “It’s thousands of dollars of damage – taxpayers’ money. We just want to get the whole thing cleared up as quickly as possible.” Anyone with information is asked to call the Rock Falls Police Department at 815-622-1141, Crime Stoppers at 815-625-7867, or email the the police at tips@ rockfalls61071.com. Rewards may be paid upon convictions of the offenders. OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 SPORTS ...............B1
STERLING – Wiretaps were a big help in the drug investigation that led to the arrests of 14 suspects over the summer, an official says. “This was a much more involved case than usual,” said Todd Shaver of the Blackhawk Area Task Force, which is a group of area police agencies that cooperate in drug inquiries. “This case involved the normal things such as surveillance and wiretaps. It also involved wiretaps. “It spun off into investigations in other jurisdictions,” said Shaver, a state police master sergeant based in Sterling. The charges against the 14 suspects were filed in Whiteside County Court. In 2011, police got judicial approval of wiretaps, Shaver said. Most of the suspects were charged with dealing marijuana or cocaine in 2012, but weren’t arrested until last summer. “Wiretaps make for very fruitful cases, but they take a long time,” he said. “[The suspects] weren’t big fish, but they’ve been around doing this for a while.” The case resulted in information that led to suspects in other areas, including the suburbs, he said. During the investigation, officers happened upon people buying drugs, but not selling them. “They were on the periphery,” Shaver said. “We weren’t too concerned about them.” WIRETAPS CONTINUED ON A5
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