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Which teams had 2ND ARREST MADE happy homecomings? IN LOCAL, POT GROW A13 PREP FOOTBALL SECTION INSIDE
WEEKEND ENTERPRISE | ROCK RIVER BASIN
6 years after disaster, healing underway Fish-kill area now spawns wetlands, catfish restoration work BY KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5535 @KathleenSchul10
In the wetlands, the quality – the very possibility – of life rises and falls with the water level: It’s crucial to maintaining habitat for birds, mammals, fish and plants that make such an ecosystem their home. Thanks to a court settlement, three Rock River ecosystems in Whiteside and Lee counties will get work done to
help heal some of the damage caused by a chemical spill 6 years ago. On June 19, 2009, a Chicago, Central and Pacific Railroad train derailed in Rockford, killing one person. The resulting explosion and fire released about 79,000 gallons of an ethanol and gasoline mixture into a creek that flowed into the Kishwaukee River, then into the Rock. HEALING CONTINUED ON A3
Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
A sign notes the boundary of the 2,400-acre Big Bend State Fish and Wildlife Area west of Prophetstown, where a $150,000 wetlands restoration project is underway. It’s one of three projects to come from the settlement with the Chicago, Central and Pacific Railroad, which the state sued in the wake of a derailment in June 2009 that spilled about 79,000 gallons of an ethanol and gas mixture that made its way into the Rock River, killing about 72,000 fish. The other projects involve wetland restoration in the Franklin Creek Natural Area near Franklin Grove, and the installation of flathead catfish spawning beds between SterlingRock Falls and Dixon.
SILVER LININGS | A WALLACE STREET RETROSPECTIVE
Many avenues led to Silver City
But for most, it was a step toward a better life
About Silver Linings Sterling’s Hispanic roots sprung from the Wallace Street neighborhood of the early 20th century. The arrival of the Silver City boxcar settlement in the late 1940s made it a melting pot. Northwestern Steel and Wire Co. was the lifeblood of the neighborhood, providing jobs and the means to a better life, as well as a common thread found in the fabric of the modernday Sauk Valley. This is the third of a 4-week series from SVM Night News Editor Christopher Heimerman about Wallace Street and Silver City that will be published in SV Weekend editions. To read all of the Silver Linings stories published so far, go to saukvalley.com.
BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5523 @CHeimerman_SVM
Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
George Ransom stands on the Avenue G bridge, which had not been built when his family lived in Silver City, which was in the area in the background where industrial facilities eventually located. TOP: Brothers Roy (left) and Mack Jones play in front of their Silver City home.
It’s a wonderful life, after all Polo man endures untimely, unusual deaths in family BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5523 @CHeimerman_SVM
POLO – The map of Bob Boothe’s life is pockmarked with curious occurrences that are simply too complicated to fully comprehend. On his golden birthday, Sept. 13, 1948, he, his parents, Albert and Ruby, and his four younger siblings, including 1-year-old Roger,
Sunny
VOLUME 8 ISSUE 4 56 Pages
Today: 78/57 For the forecast, see Page A13
moved from Tennessee to Sterling. They’d been sharecroppers, and Bob describes his father as one of the best in the Mississippi Delta. But when a tornado wiped out the cotton crop, it was likely a blessing in disguise: Mechanization was about to change the game and leave Albert in the dust. They hadn’t lived in the Silver City boxcar settlement for a year when a freight train forever changed the course of the Boothes’ lives – in fact, ending two of them. LIFE CONTINUED ON A10
Business
Deep South soul food is getting a more permanent new home. See Page C1
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Bob Boothe, 79, lost his mother, Ruby, and 11-year-old brother, Troy, on Aug. 15, 1949, when the family car stalled on railroad tracks near Silver City and was struck by a train. Their pictures are displayed on the wall behind him at his Polo home.
Community Combine a lot of paint and a lot of people and what do you have? Morrison’s annual Paint the Town event. An SVM photo essay appears inside. See Page C12
STERLING – They came from near and far, and their humble homes peppered the riverfront like the salt of the Earth. We’ve all played telephone, and realize that one errant retelling can skew history. Such was the case with Sterling’s story. Somewhere along the line, whether it was a resident or a historian, someone lumped the miniexodus of the Rio Grande Valley to Wallace Street in with Silver City, a boxcar settlement initially on the west side of Avenue G. But whereas the Wallace Street neighborhood was predominantly composed of Hispanics, Silver City was occupied by many Hispanic families over time, but was mostly made up of transplants from Minnesota, dairy farms in Wisconsin, tomato fields in Ohio, the cotton patch suburbs of Memphis, the Ozark Mountains, the wheat fields of Colorado, ... the list goes on. It was a melting pot. But no matter the previous walks of life, they all had one thing in common: They needed jobs. SILVER CITY CONTINUED ON A8
Index Births................ C5
Lottery .............. A2
Business........... C1
Markets .......... A13
Classified .......... B6
Obituaries ......... A4
Comics ........... A12
Opinion............. A6
Community ..... C12
Scoreboard ...... B4
Crossword Saturday ......... B12
Scrapbook ....... C3
Crossword Sunday ............. C8
Support groups .. C5
Dave Ramsey ... C1
Weather.......... A13
Dear Abby ........ C6
Wheels ........... B14
Sports .............. B1 Travel .............. C10