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NEWMAN GRAD LEADS THE SKYHAWKS
Strawberry shortcakes
SAUK TENNIS, B1
FOOD, A9
dailyGAZETTE Wednesday, April 2, 2014
SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
UPDATE | ROCK FALLS SHOOTING DEATH
Questions remain a month later State’s attorney weighs reports as investigation lingers BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5521
ROCK FALLS – One month after a Rock Falls High School student was shot and killed in the home of a state trooper, state police are still investigat-
ing what happened. Few details have been released about what led to the death of 15-year-old Matt Anderson. So far, all police have said is that he was shot accidentally by Matt a close friend just before Anderson noon March 1 at a house somewhere in Rock Falls. He died later that day at CGH Medical Center in Sterling. Whiteside County State’s Attorney Trish Joyce said Tuesday that she had received several reports from state
police, but that she was waiting for the investigation to be completed before she decides whether to file charges. On Tuesday, state police Lt. Victor Markowski, the Trish interim commander for joyce Zone 2 investigations, said that the shooting investigation continues. He said he had no timeframe for when the investigation might be completed. The community of Rock Falls was hit hard by Anderson’s death, with Rock
Falls students wearing school colors in his memory – green and black. Anderson played football and basketball for Rock Falls and was a member of the 2011 and 2013 Rock Falls Little League state champion teams. The Rockets’ final basketball game of the season, 3 days after the boy’s death, ended in a 59-48 loss to Mendota. The game was an emotional one, with the student section’s chants of “Anderson” filling the rafters. QUESTIONS CONTINUED ON A4
DIXON
In today’s Dateline Dixon What does Dixon City Commissioner Dennis Considine thnk should be done with the rest of the money recovered from the legal settlement and sales of assets after the Rita Crundwell case? SVM reporter Matt Mencarini writes about it in this week’s Dateline Dixon column. Page A3
ROCK FALLS
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
This building at 306 W. First St. in Dixon’s downtown soon will be home to a new entertainment venue, Dixon Stage Left. Artistic Director Tim Boles said the “small, special event venue” will be more like a cabaret.
‘Special event venue’ nears debut BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5529
DIXON – Dixon will have a new entertainment venue by the end of the month. Dixon Stage Left, which will be on the second floor of a building at 306 W. First St., will have its grand opening
April 24, with a performance of the comedy “Vanities.” Artistic Director Tim Boles described the theater as a “small, special event venue” more like a cabaret than a theater or a nightclub. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he said. “I just had never stum-
bled across the space that was needed for this to work.” Dixon Main Street Executive Director Josh Albrecht said the venue will fill an underserved market in the city. “It’s going to be a great addition – live theater like that,” he said. “... It’s going
to be a great addition to the downtown, so that’s really cool.” Work on the venue began in March, and on Tuesday, Boles said, some of the final elements of the stage were coming together. DEBUT CONTINUED ON A4
ILLINOIS TOWNSHIPS | ANNUAL MEETINGS
A ‘dry’ meeting for Coloma Township? Annual meetings for townships set for next week BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5525
ROCK FALLS – Mary Bowman, Coloma Township’s cemetery manager, says she wouldn’t miss the township’s annual meeting. In past years, she said, the meetings have been “dry,” with officials emphasizing Coloma’s positives.
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That could change at this year’s annual meeting. Late last year, the township’s financial problems came to light, with the state threatening to levy thousands of dollars in fines because Coloma hadn’t submitted a financial report in years. It has struggled to keep track of its money – for instance, $19,000 from the sale of a truck apparently went missing for years. Bowman said she expected few people to attend the annual meeting, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t interested in the township’s problems.
INDEX
“People are talking about the township,” Bowman said. “If I’m out someplace, they ask me whether we have gotten things straightened out.” In her view, Coloma hasn’t. Townships often are an overlooked level of government that are non-existent in most of the country. Perhaps their most high-profile role is the maintenance of less-traveled rural roads. They also hand out assistance to the poor and assess the values of properties for tax purposes. Many run cemeteries, too.
BUSINESS ......... A11 COMICS ...............B6 CROSSWORD....B12
MEETING CONTINUED ON A5
DEAR ABBY ......... A8 LIFESTYLE ........... A8 LOTTERY ............. A2
When they are Tuesday’s annual meetings for some of the area’s bigger townships: Coloma – 7 p.m. at the town hall, 1200 Prophetstown Road in Rock Falls Dixon – 6 p.m. at the town hall, 315 Highland Ave. in Dixon Palmyra – 7 p.m. at the town hall, 214 Palmyra Road in rural Dixon Sterling – 7 p.m. at the Center for Youth building, 312 E. Fourth St. in Sterling
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 SPORTS ...............B1
Water hookup deadline extended City: 140 well users not yet connected BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5570
ROCK FALLS – City residents using private wells for drinking water have a little longer to hook up to the city’s water system. The City Council on Tuesday extended the deadline from April 5 to Oct. 1. In 2011, when the city decided to make all residents within city limits connect to city water, there were 248 houses that needed to connect by the original deadline. There are now 140 well users still not connected, and 22 homes that have yet to install the stop boxes, the city’s water superintendent, Ted Padilla, said. Padilla hopes to get back to work in May. If all goes according to plan, he says it takes about 4 hours to get a house connected to the city system. The process, however, can be costly. If residents don’t have a service box, it costs $500 to get connected. For those who already have the box, it costs $100 to connect. The expensive part is the plumbing work that must be done to connect to the service box. That starts at about $1,100 and can be considerably higher depending on how far the plumbing needs to run on its way to the box.
Today’s weather High 50. Low 30. More on A3.
WATER CONTINUED ON A4
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B7.
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