NewsTribune_Monday_101419

Page 1

Giving new meaning to ‘fit to be tied’

Tiresome but rewarding: Area coaches balance football, new babies B1

A7

www.newstrib.com | Monday, October 14, 2019 | 75 cents

US pulling out of northern Syria; full withdrawal is possible

Uneven exchange rate

By Robert Burns

AP NATIONAL SECURITY WRITER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States appears to be heading toward a full military withdrawal from Syria amid growing chaos, cries of betrayal and signs that Turkey’s invasion could fuel a broader war. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that President Donald Trump had directed U.S. troops in northern Syria to begin pulling out “as safely and quickly as possible.” He did not say Trump ordered troops to leave Syria, but that seemed like the next step in a combat zone growing more unstable by the hour. Esper, interviewed on two TV news shows, said the administration was considering its options. “We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies and it’s a very untenable situation,” Esper said. This seemed likely to herald the end of a five-year effort to partner with Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters to ensure a lasting defeat of the Islamic State group. Hundreds of IS supporters escaped a holding camp amid clashes between invading Turkish-led forces and Kurdish fighters, and analysts said an IS resurgence seemed more likely, just months after Trump declared the extremists defeated. The U.S. has had about 1,000 troops in northeastern Syria allied with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to combat IS. The Pentagon previously had pulled about 30 of these troops from the Turkish attack zone along the border. With an escalation of violence, a widening of the Turkish incursion and the prospect of a deepening conflict, all U.S. forces along the border will now follow that move. It was unclear where they would go. The Pentagon chief did not say U.S. troops are leaving Syria entirely. The only other U.S. presence in Syria is at Tanf garrison.

TONIGHT Shower or two at times. Weather A8

INDEX Astrology B6 Business B4 Classified B8 Comics B6 Lifestyle A7

Local A3 Lottery A2 Obituaries B7 Opinion B5

COMING TOMORROW Established 1851 No. 201 © 2019 est. 1851

ALL ABOARD Locals remember the long-ago city bus line

‘Marty was all veterans, all the time’

Veterans’ advocate Martin Rue dead at 73 By Tom Collins

NEWSTRIBUNE SENIOR REPORTER

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Kendall Jenkins of Peru is an exchange student in Belgium, but she specifically waited until graduating from La Salle-Peru Township High School before deciding to study abroad. While U.S. schools still welcome foreign exchange students, they send fewer kids overseas. American high schoolers have too many extracurricular commitments and fear graduating late if their foreign credits don’t transfer. By waiting until she’d finished at L-P, Jenkins could enjoy her experience abroad worry-free.

Local kids wait until college to study abroad. Here’s why. By Tom Collins

NEWSTRIBUNE SENIOR REPORTER

He wants to visit New York City and has heard Niagara Falls in winter is something to see. When his father asked if he wanted to spend a year in America, Antonio Fuster said sure — “claro” in Spanish — and hopped a trans-Atlantic flight. Fuster hails from Spain’s Mediterranean Coast and now is an exchange student at La Salle-Peru Township High School, where he’s gotten a crash course in English and all things American. “You understand more about cultures and you learn about what happens outside your country,” Fuster said of his early experiences in a foreign land. “The first week it was like, ‘I don’t understand nothing, please repeat it.’ Now, I’ve been here about a month and

See RUE Page A2

NEWSTRIBUNE PHOTO/SCOTT ANDERSON

He went to school in Spain with foreign classmates, but few from the United States. Antonio Fuster is an exchange student at L-P where fewer students are going abroad on high school exchange programs. I can understand English.” Leaving home wasn’t daunting because he’s had

friends who’ve studied in the U.S. and studied with See EXCHANGE Page A2

MARK YOUR CALENDAR...if you dare! CITY OF PERU’S HALLOWEEN PARADE!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19TH 2:00 PM Line-up will begin at 1:45. The parade will begin at the Splash Pad at Washington Park – line up in the south parking lot. The parade will proceed north around Washington Park and finish in the park, where kids will receive goodie bags! Sponsored by the City of Peru & Peru Parks & Recreation

Martin Rue, a longtime advocate for veterans who played a key role in bringing the Illinois Veterans Home to La Salle, died Thursday. He was 73. Rue was La Salle County’s first veterans assistance commissioner, a post he held some 30 years, and was remembered most for lobbying Springfield to construct a veterans home in La Salle, which finally opened in 1990. Reed Wilson, a former district director to U.S. Reps. Tom Corcoran and Jerry Weller (RIll.), said the veterans home simply never would have come to La Salle were it not for Rue’s tireless efforts. “Marty was the ultimate champion of Illinois Valley veterans,” Wilson said. “Time and again he got veterans to lobby the state to bring the veterans home and he got it done. “Marty was all veterans all the time.” Supporting veterans was a heartfelt effort because Rue himself nearly gave the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War. Unhappy with stateside war protests, Rue left Northwest Missouri State University, which he attended on a football scholarship, to enlist in the U.S. Army. Initially, Uncle Sam gave Rue a clerical assignment but Rue pushed for duty in Vietnam, warning his commanding officer he’d smash the office equipment until he got his transfer. The CO finally relented after five typewriters crashed to the floor. “The ground wasn’t level, I guess,” Rue recalled cheekily in a 2006 interview. Rue returned alive from Vietnam, but hardly unscathed. He was permanently injured by enemy fire in the north central

NEW ROUTE THIS YEAR!!!

CHECK OUT THE BRAND NEW WASHINGTON PARK PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT!

NEWSTRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

Martin Rue, who died Thursday, was credited with helping establish the Illinois Veterans Home at La Salle and the veterans clinic at the Hygienic Institute.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.