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WARRIORS, ROCKETS READY FOR ACTION FOOTBALL PREVIEW, B1
Meet the man behind the ‘Massacre’ mask PLAN!T, A9
dailyGAZETTE Thursday, September 22, 2016 n SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
BUSINESS
Remodels are on grocer’s list Sterling store will close this weekend, reopen in November; Dixon work will start after that BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
STERLING – The prep work is almost finished, and the Aldi store at 3409 E. Lincolnway will close Sunday for construction work. The Sterling site, which opened in 2002, will be renovated and expanded. The store will close at 7 p.m. Sunday, and plans are for a Nov. 11 reopening, kicked off by a 9 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Aldi is renovating many of its stores, including Dixon’s, but not all are getting extra space – including Dixon’s. Sterling customers will see a noticeable size difference when they return. “We’re going to add about 3,300 square feet to the Sterling store,” said Heather Moore, vice president of the company’s Dwight division. “We’ve moved the entire first aisle into the parking lot.” The renovations will include an open ceiling design, energy-efficient lighting, new shelving and graphics. The company is making the use of environmentally friendly building materials a priority in its renovation projects. The biggest driver in many of the redesigns, however, is a need for more refrigeration space. ALDI continued on A44
The Aldi store in Sterling will close Sunday for renovation, and a re-opening is planned for Nov. 11. Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
SAFE PASSAGE | 1 YEAR LATER
ROCK FALLS
Students put their own spin on Peace Day
Celebrating the Passage of time
People on the road to recovery, and those helping them, celebrate program’s first year BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
DIXON – The drug addict’s road to recovery can be rough. Sometimes, tragically, it spirals off into a dead end. But sometimes, people are lucky enough to find a safe passage, like the one in Lee County. Safe though that passage has been, it hasn’t always been smooth, and its end wasn’t always clear – but it was a new course, and one that’s still being mapped. In Dixon on Wednesday, the people who’ve been a part of that journey celebrated a symbolic mile marker: The 1-year anniversary of the Safe Passage Initiative, a program that aims to save the lives of heroin and opioid addicts by getting them into treatment instead of jail. Users can come to the police, surrender their drugs and paraphernalia, face no criminal charges, and be accepted into drug rehab, no matter their ability to pay. A year later, many people have come a long way, but the road ahead is long, and some days it seems like there’s no end in sight, but that doesn’t deter the people who are helping addicts on their journey. “One life we save each day is better than what we were doing a year ago,” Lee County Sheriff John Simonton said Wednesday during the 1-year celebration of the Safe Passage Initiative. PASSAGE continued on A44
Photos by Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Middle school students plant their pinwheels Wednesday in a flower bed near the front of St. Andrew Catholic School in Rock Falls. Nearly 50 middle school students made the pinwheels for the International Day of Peace. Afterward, Deacon William Lemmer and Sister Marcianne Bzdon spoke to students about the International Day of Peace and what it means to them. The day was established in 1981 by a unanimous United Nations resolution as a day devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace throughout the world. According to the event’s website, it “provides an opportunity for all humanity to come together, in spirit and in action, to forward the ideals of and conditions for peace.” The celebration of peace is observed by hundreds of millions of people through peace-related activities. Go to http://internationaldayofpeace.org for more information. Turn to Page A5 for more photos.
CARROLL COUNTY
Daughters testify at father’s murder trial Teens say dad admitted to shooting their mother; Jury also hears Hake’s apology to wife’s family BY PHILLIP HARTMAN phartman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5525 @phartman19
MOUNT CARROLL – Morgan and Suzanne Hake got drunk and had a fight the night before he shot her, according to testimony Wednesday at his murder trial in Carroll County court. Hake, 50, who is facing six counts of first-degree murder in
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the Dec. 5 shooting death, wrote a letter of apology to Suzanne’s mother and stepfather, Mary Lu and Richard Johnson, 3 weeks later. It was read Wednesday by Carroll County Sheriff’s Detective Michael Rannow. “I’m so sorry for taking her from you and everyone else,” Hake wrote. “I know I deserve to burn in hell, but I beg the Lord for forgiveness.”
INDEX
ABBY.................... A8 BUSINESS.......... A12 COMICS................B7
The Hakes, who were spending 2 nights in Galena, “drank way too much” and got into an argument in a bar, he wrote. He couldn’t remember what the fight was about. “We were both very drunk. I don’t say that to put any blame on her. It was what it was,” Hake wrote. Later, under questioning by State’s Attorney Scott BrinkmeiCROSSWORD.....B12 LIFESTYLE............ A8 LOTTERY.............. A2
er, daughter Hannah Hake, 20, said her parents lived together in Freeport, and her mom also had a home in Lanark, an easier commute to her job in Sterling. Late Dec. 4, her dad called and asked her to pick him up at a Galena hotel. He didn’t seem upset, she said, and “during the ride back to Freeport, we had very little conversation.” TRIAL continued on A44
OBITUARIES......... A4 OPINION............... A6 POLICE................. A2
Today’s weather High 85. Low 66. More on A3.
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Morgan D. Hake
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