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SVM ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
ROCK FALLS & NEWMAN, B3
DIXON, A5
dailyGAZETTE
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 n SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
STERLING SCHOOLS | CHALLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL
Challand in line for expansion Board will vote on $10 million addition; upgrade was among top topics on school district survey BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5523 CHeimerman_SVM
STERLING – Shovels could go into the ground as soon as July 1 for a $10 million to $12 million, 42,000-plus-square-foot addition to Challand Middle School. The addition, slated for the east side of the school, will have four full-sized bas-
ketball/volleyball courts, a new orchestra room, and a chorus room that will serve other purposes. The need for expansion, in large part to allow for on-site sports, was the thirdmost-often topic brought up in the community survey the district conducted last year, and the most frequently cited issue pertaining to the middle school. On Wednesday, Sterling schools
Superintendent Tad Everett will recommend the school board seek bonds up to $21.5 million for a 3-year facility plan, which would include money for the addition. The plan will be funded by $14 million in alternate revenue bonds, which can be borrowed against up to 80 percent of the anticipated revenue from the countywide 1 percent sale tax, and
up to $7.5 million in general obligation bonds issued during fiscal year 2018. Because the board approved $333,333 in property tax abatement in December, part of its pledge to abate $1 million over 3 years, and the district’s equalized assessed value is expected to go up again for FY18, property taxes will not go up, Everett said. CHALLAND continued on A54
BIG CAT QUEST TOURNAMENT
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Quest and guests coming back Catfish tournament will return to Rock Falls for second year BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
ROCK FALLS – The city will try to reel in visitors by hosting the Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest Tournament for a second year. The event serves as a Midwest qualifier for the national championship, which again will be held in Richmond, Virginia. The tournament has a guaranteed purse of $10,000 in cash and prizes. It will be held June 24 and 25, the same weekend as Summer Splash. Last year, the River Chase was packed into the same weekend, but that event is moving to July 8 and 9. CATFISH continued on A54
Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
Sarah Giroux, a former Sterling High School student and freelance cinematographer, says that “everyone’s perspective of the world is different,” but as for hers? “I was meant to show mine through the lens of a camera.”
Life, camera, action i Sarah Giroux looks at the world with eyes wide open from behind her camera, channeling her insatiable hunger for learning and sharing into her work as a globe-trotting cinematographer
Whose story are you following? Do you know a Sauk Valley native who’s gone on to do something interesting? Do they work for a unique company? Are they studying something innovative in higher education? Are they starving artists who deserve to be fed? Let us know. Post a tip on our Facebook page, send us an email at news@saukvalley.com or give News Editor Kathleen Schultz a call at 815-625-3600, ext. 5535.
BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5523 CHeimerman_SVM
STERLING – Sarah Giroux sees the world through a camera lens, and it’s not often she sees the same thing twice. The 2009 Sterling High School graduate always had an insatiable appetite for information and culture. The digital media arts course at Sterling High School, taught through the Whiteside Area Career Center, merely whetted that appetite. Today, as a freelance cinematographer, Giroux gets her fill of everything the world has to offer – from films, TV, and music festivals to documenting the lives of refugees in Africa. Among her innumerable unforgettable experiences? The first time she operated a camera in Denis Mennie’s studio at Sterling High. “I felt alive,” the 26-year-old said. “It gave me a reason to wake up every day. I love learning, and I soak up information like a sponge. This was definitely one thing I had a hunger to learn more about.” Mennie gave her the pamphlet for Tribeca Flashpoint College, the trade school where she took a 15-month program. She graduated with job offers waiting. Her only stipulation: no permanent work, let alone banker’s hours. CAMERA continued on A114
DIXON PARK DISTRICT
Budget faces a hard landing Early draft shows $81,000 deficit, and district’s director says there’s no cushion to soften the blow BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
DIXON – Park Board members once again are faced with a deficit budget. On Wednesday, Park District Executive Director Deb Carey will present a draft fiscal year 2018 budget to the board that’s about $81,000 in the red – roughly totaling $1.2 million in revenue and $1.3 million in expenses. The district’s new budget cycle begins April 1, and the board will be tasked during the next few months with deciding whether to make cuts to fill the budget hole or to operate at a deficit. The board chose the latter last year to chip away at a laundry list of capital projects, including resurfacing roads in Lowell and Page Parks for about $95,000, resurfacing the Emma Hubbs Tennis Courts for about $30,000, and repairing a portion of a seawall near Lincoln Statue Drive for $15,000. DEFICIT continued on A54
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TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 163 ISSUE 31
INDEX
ABBY.................... A7 BUSINESS.......... A11 COMICS.............. A10
CROSSWORD.....B11 LIFESTYLE............ A7 LOTTERY.............. A2
OBITUARIES......... A4 OPINION............... A6 POLICE................. A2
Today’s weather High 43. Low 37. More on A3.
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