Your source for community news and sports 7 days a week.
Rockets block a Warriors win
SVM ATHLETES OFSPORTS, THE WEEK B3
GIRLS BASKETBALL, B1
dailyGAZETTE Tuesday, February 16, 2016
SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
ROCK FALLS
CRIME
Tests don’t dig up any dirt
Second person charged in heroin homicide
Land gets clean bill of health; Council can now vote to back up closing date BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
ROCK FALLS – The Rock Falls City Council will work to tie up some loose ends regarding recent land acquisitions for future development when it meets tonight. City Administrator Robbin Blackert will seek approval for an amendment to the pur-
chase contract for 30 acres of land near the interstate the city bought from local farmer Wayne Schmitt. The property is in the northeast corner of the intersection of state Route 40 and I-88. The original contract, dated Sept. 1, 2015, included a Dec. 31 closing date. That date was later backed up to Feb. 16, and this amendment would change the closing to on or before March 31.
The city has delayed closing on the property in order to complete the necessary environmental site assessments. The initial environmental reports on the property came in last week. “The ground and the water samples came back great,” Blackert said. “There had been some concern because there had been a firing range nearby, and an asphalt business there, too.” COUNCIL CONTINUED ON A5
Next meeting The Rock Falls City Council next meets at 6:30 tonight at City Hall, 603 W. 10th St. The agendas will be posted at rockfalls61071. com and at City Hall. Call 815-622-1100 for more information. The City Council meeting also airs live on Channel 5.
BY ANGEL SIERRA asierra@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5695 @_angelsierra
DIXON – A second Dixon woman is charged with druginduced homicide in the death of Felicia Halstead, 22, who overdosed and died Nov. 11 after what police say was her first time using heroin. Heather A. Wilcox, 32, faces 6 to 30 years in prison if convicted. She also is charged with delivery of a controlled substance (less than 1 gram of heroin), punishable by 3 to 7 years; and possession of a c o n t r o l l e d Heather Wilcox Seen here in a substance ( l e s s t h a n 2013 police photo 15 grams of heroin), punishable by 1 to 3 years. Rebecca S. Dixon, 35, still was in Lee County Jail Monday Felicia on $100,000 Halstead bond, arrested Jan. 22 and charged with the same three felonies as Wilcox. Dixon has pleaded not guilty. Halstead was found unresponsive at a house in the 700 block of Assembly Place; she was pronounced dead at KSB Hospital. Wilcox is not in custody; she was given a notice to appear March 2 in Lee County Court, Police Chief Danny Langloss said Monday. Charges were filed in court Thursday.
DIXON
Enjoying a presidential pardon from school Tonya Yingling and son Dylan, 4, zip down the hill Monday at the Kiddie Corral in Dixon while enjoying the few inches of snow that fell Sunday. The Presidents Day holiday meant that kids could swap the homework for hills – but they might not get another chance to sled this week. Come this weekend, most of the snow will likely be gone, as temperatures are forecast to rise through the week, hitting a high of 55 on Friday. After that, things will start to cool off again, with temps settling back in the lower 30s and upper 20s by next week.
HOMICIDE CONTINUED ON A5
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
ILLINOIS
Inmates get the drop on jailers Lawmaker floats a bill to keep drone-delivered contraband out of prisons SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Wily inmates and their associates on the outside are deploying drones to deliver drugs, cellphones, and other contraband to prison yards, leaving prison guards and correctional authorities trying to decide how to deal with the new technology. After smuggling incidents around prisons in Maryland, Ohio and Oklahoma,
$1.00
TODAY’S EDITION: 20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 162 ISSUE 48
Illinois lawmakers are proposing legislation to penalize the activity, even though the state has yet to see an incident on its own turf. Wisconsin and Michigan also have pending legislation to Tim criminalize the use of Bivins drones over prisons. The idea for the Illinois measure came from the state’s Department of Corrections. While drones haven’t been a problem yet, the department “is taking a proactive
INDEX
ABBY ................... A7 BUSINESS ......... A10 COMICS ............... A8
approach to ensure it does not” become one, spokeswoman Nicole Wilson said. “It’s like anything; new technology brings new problems,” said Sen. Tim Bivins, a Republican sponsoring the Illinois legislation. Bivins’ bill would add an extra year of prison to inmates involved in bringing contraband into prison with a drone. In Ohio, a drone delivering drugs to a prison in Mansfield in July triggered a fight among inmates when the package with heroin, marijuana, and tobacco was dropped in the yard. Maryland police arrested two men planning to use a drone to drop off drugs, pornog-
CROSSWORD......B9 LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 POLICE ................ A2
raphy and a cellphone into a prison in Cumberland in August. And in October, prison officials at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary found a drone that crashed on facility grounds with hacksaw blades, a cellphone and heroin. Knowingly taking aerial images of a correctional institution would also be punishable with a felony charge under Bivins’ bill. That’s because in addition to being worried about contraband, officials also are concerned that drones could be used to plan escapes or other crimes by capturing videos or photographs of a prison’s layout. DRONES CONTINUED ON A5
Today’s weather High 36. Low 24. More on A3.
TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE PAPER, CALL 815-625-3600
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B6.