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, April 2 - 3, 2016 $2.00
Rock Falls senior setting a high bar HIGH SCHOOL TRACK, B1
UNITED WAY WRAPS UPLEECAMPAIGN COUNTY, A3
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | LEE COUNTY
County’s tax roll powering up Nelson Energy will likely be top taxpayer; taxing bodies eagerly await full assessment BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
Energizing Lee County tax rolls
NELSON – When Invenergy’s Nelson Energy plant is fully taxed, preliminary numbers show it will become Lee County’s biggest tax contributor. The natural gas-fired power generation plant underwent a partial assessment last year, and the full appraisal will be ready for publication in midOctober. The assessment was done in two phases to accommodate construction that was wrapping up last year. As Lee County’s top taxpayer, it will
Power plant Total value Nelson Energy $40 million Lee Energy $31 million * excluding abatement
Total assessment $13,975,333 $10,453,333
Estimated taxes $1.1 million* $724,000
Source: Lee County Assessor Wendy Ryerson
surpass the Lee Energy Facility, operated by Duke Energy in Nachusa, which had been the county’s largest taxpayer. Nelson Energy’s total assessment has been set at $13,975,333 for taxes payable in 2017, but there is a caveat. “That is what I’ve placed on the prop-
erty, but the company will have time to appeal,” Lee County Assessor Wendy Ryerson said. “They have 30 days to appeal to the local board of review, and they also can appeal through the state.” Upon full assessment, tax abatement also becomes a factor. The estimated
WEEKEND FEATURE | SURVIVORS PROJECT
In a fight with ‘the devil’s drug’ County marks first month with Safe Passage Initiative BY ANGEL SIERRA asierra@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5695 @_angelsierra
Healing the wounds of sexual assault Survivors tell their stories to Dixon photographer DIXON – For Ashley Klein, opening up about sexual assault is like peeling a scab: It hurts at first, but the wound needs to air before it can heal. With the goal of providing comfort and empowerment to sexual assault survivors, the 22-year-old Dixon resident created the Survivors Project in 2014. Klein reaches out to rape victims and photographs them as they “voice” their stories using writing on sheets of paper. Klein has amassed a stack of stories
Mostly sunny
VOLUME 8 ISSUE 31 36 Pages
Today: 44/28 For the forecast, see Page A11
TAX CONTINUED ON A5
WHITESIDE COUNTY
Ashley Klein, of Dixon, takes photographs of Jenee Moore on March 25 in a park in Harmon. Klein photographs sexual assault survivors as they tell their survival stories on sheets of paper. She compiles the photos into a video that she releases each April, which is national Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Klein’s video for 2016 was posted Friday. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@ saukvalley.com)
BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
$670,000 to be paid on the 2015 partial assessment, payable this year, was not eligible for reductions. “Abatement at 50 percent for construction costs could affect some of the taxing bodies in the enterprise zone for the 2016 taxes, payable in 2017,” Ryerson said. “They are eligible for 50 percent for 6 years, but not all taxing districts agree to abate.” That nearly $14 million includes the value of the land the plant is on, which comes to $442,333. The rest can be eligible for capital improvements.
More information
Online extra
For more information on the Survivors Project, contact Ashley Klein on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ashley. child.39 or at ashklein12@yahoo.com.
Go to saukvalley.com and click on this story for links to Ashley Klein’s 2016, 2015 and 2014 videos.
from about half a dozen survivors each year, including her own. “When I photographed them, you can see their stories, their battles, their struggles, and they were able to take back the power they were robbed of,” Klein said. Each year, she compiles all of the photos into a video and, in April, national
Business
Heather Houzenga wants people to have a moment of zen. See Page C1
Sexual Assault Awareness Month, she posts it online to promote sexual assault awareness. Her latest video went up Friday. Survivors are not required to be photographed to join the project and can choose to be anonymous.
The Whiteside County Safe Passage Initiative launched March 1, and four drug addicts have been helped in its first month, Rock Falls Police Chief Tammy Nelson said. The chief did not say how many still are clean from heroin and opioids after treatment, but instead described progress as a continuous struggle – “a battle”. “When they get out of detox and come back for outpatient services, they have no safe place to go,” she said. “That’s where we’re losing people.” After leaving an intensive treatment program that can last weeks or more at a specialized facility, addicts return to outpatient therapy, and often to environments that triggered use in the past, causing relapse. “What do you expect?” the chief asked. “Safe Passage is great, but until we get some sort of a safe house or a place for these people to go, we’re fighting a losing battle.” Sometimes the addicts are clean for just 7 days, she said, because the outpatient facilities need the beds. Intensive outpatient treatment after detox usually is daily, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
HEALING CONTINUED ON A2 DRUG CONTINUED ON A5
Community Bill Kleiman at Nachusa Grasslands thinks there’s a lot of land in Illinois in need of a good burning. See Page C12
Index Births................ C5
Lottery .............. A2
Business........... C1
Markets .......... A12
Classified .......... B7
Obituaries ......... A4
Comics ............. A8
Opinion............. A6
Community ..... C12
Scoreboard ...... B6
Crossword Saturday ......... B11
Scrapbook ....... C3
Crossword Sunday ............. C8
Support groups .. C5
Dave Ramsey ... C1
Weather.......... A11
Dear Abby ........ C6
Wheels ........... B12
Sports .............. B1 Travel .............. C10