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Karlie Mellott is Player of the Year SVM ALL-AREA SOFTBALL, B1
KINZINGER VISITS TO TALK VETERANS ISSUES LOCAL, A7
ENTERPRISE SERIES | DIXON CORRECTIONAL CENTER
Inmates as caregivers
COMMUNITY
Sights from the war A look back at last weekend’s World War II re-enactments in Dixon. PAGE C12
Unique program pairs prisoners with elderly
MORRISON | SEWER PLANT PROJECT
BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5521
DIXON – Sam Villalobos delicately lays a crocheted blanket on top of a resting elderly man before stepping out of the third-floor room. He takes off his latex gloves and shakes the hand of a reporter who wants to talk to him. Smiling politely, he adjusts his glasses. Sure, she can interview him, he says. They sit in a small, bright room full of chairs in the Dixon Correctional Center’s geriatric wing – the kind of chairs that can be found in schools, with desks that attach at the back and wrap around the front. “I feel like I’m in trouble in the principal’s office,” Villalobos says. He is in trouble, but he’s not in any principal’s office. Villalobos is in prison, serving a 60-year sentence for murder. In November 1994, Villalobos was 22 and living in Chicago when, driving with a few friends on the Dan Ryan Expressway, he fired nine shots at another man’s car. One bullet entered the left side of that man’s head, killing him. But that’s not what this story is about.
City may delay work for a year New rules could mean lower annual loan payments BY KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5535
CAREGIVERS CONTINUED ON A4
Next Saturday The Dixon prison has the highest number of inmates with mental health issues among Illinois facilities. Nearly 1 in 5 prisoners are in special psychiatric care housing there. Read about it in next Saturday’s edition of SV Weekend.
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
An inmate sits in his wheelchair in the hallway of the geriatric care unit at Dixon Correctional Center. The average age of inmates at the Dixon facility is 42, 6 years older than the average at all state prisons. One way the prison provides care for its older inmates is to have younger prisoners work as caregivers in its hospice and adult care program, the only one of its kind in Illinois prisons.
MORRISON – Thanks to new rules governing the loan process, holding off a year on building the estimated $23 million sewer plant could substantially reduce the city’s annual payments. Still, that could mean the project would cost more Mayor Everett Pannier in the long term, although how much more won’t be known until bids are in – also a process that would be delayed a year, Mayor Everett Pannier said Friday. A special City Council meeting is scheduled for Monday afternoon, when members will discuss the pros and cons of delaying construction, and likely make a decision whether to do so. The new plant, to be built on a 30-acre site on the west side of state Route 78, just south of the Morrison Institute of Technology, is needed to meet environmental regulations. DELAY CONTINUED ON A2
DIXON | PREVIEWING THE SOUNDS OF PETUNIA FESTIVAL
Relay to replay in Dixon Band played with Mumford & Sons in August 2012 BY LUCAS PAULEY lpauley@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5576
In Monday’s edition A look at Thursday night headliner Parmalee.
Inside story Setup for next week’s Petunia Festival is scheduled to begin today in Dixon. Story on Page A3
DIXON – Having Mumford & Sons and The Gentlemen of the Road Tour take the town by storm in August 2012 was a significant moment for Dixon. For The Apache Relay, a Nashville-based band that shared one of the festival stages with Mumford & Sons on that
Scattered T-storms
VOLUME 6 ISSUE 44 48 Pages
Today: 84/71 For the forecast, see Page A13
picturesque summer day, it was a significant moment for the band, as well. “We were just talking about how it was our favorite show we have ever played,” the band’s frontman, Michael Ford Jr., said. “We had an amazing Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com experience, and it was such a The Apache Relay guitarist Michael Harris (left) hugs a guest big moment for us.” musician during the band’s performance Aug. 18, 2012, at Page RELAY CONTINUED ON A3 Park in Dixon.
Food and fun
In Mount Morris, McKendrie Street Café puts the fun in food. See Page C1
Facts about fireworks Explore history, science of those bombs bursting in air Also inside USA Weekend: Red, White & You winners Mixed berry pie Alison Pill
Index Births................ C5 Lottery .............. A2 Business........... C1 Markets .......... A13 Classified .......... D1 Obituaries ......... A4 Comics ........... B12 Opinion............. A8 Community ..... C12 Scoreboard ...... B8 Scrapbook ....... C3 Crossword Saturday ........... D6 Sports .............. B1 Support groups .. C5 Crossword Sunday ............. C8 Travel .............. C10 Dave Ramsey ... C1 Weather.......... A13 Dear Abby ........ C6 Wheels ............. D8