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Parking meters come to Sycamore City officials pick up replacement parts on trip to Joliet By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Brian Gregory and Giovanni Serra drove about 145 miles round-trip to Joliet on Thursday, but it will pay off it spades. Or at least in pennies, nickels and dimes. Using a Sycamore Public Works truck, Gregory, the city manager, and Serra, a city parking enforcement officer, picked up about 75 card-
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coin-operated parking meters that accept pennies, it’s become a struggle to find For more photos of the Public needed replacement parts. Works parking project, log onto Particularly scarce have Daily-Chronicle.com. been the timers, which have been Serra’s priority since some broken ones have been board and Styrofoam boxes short-changing customers, he containing about 600 parking said. meters in all in Joliet, then “It feels pretty good to have returned to Sycamore Police some working parts,” Serra Department to unload them. said. “It will be a long time beAs one of the last remain- fore I have to replace them.” ing communities to use the The city of Joliet switched
Olympic teams to swim, boat in Rio’s filth
to digital meters about five years ago. Earlier this month, the Joliet City Council declared their old parking meters as surplus property, and agreed to sell them to Sycamore for $300, or scrap value. “Through media coverage, we’ve been able to get the word out that we were looking for parts,” Gregory said. Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com Sycamore’s parking meSycamore City Manager Brian Gregory takes a look at some nine-hour ters accept pennies, nickels
See PARKING, page A6
parking meters Thursday at the Sycamore Police Department after receiving a truckload of parking meter parts from Joliet.
SIGHTS OF THE CITY
By BRAD BROOKS and JENNY BARCHFIELD The Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO – Athletes in next year’s Summer Olympics will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games, an Associated Press investigation has found. An AP analysis of water quality revealed dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage in Olympic and Paralympic venues – results that alarmed international experts and dismayed competitors training in Rio, some of whom have already fallen ill with fevers, vomiting and diarrhea. It is the first independent comprehensive testing for both viruses and bacteria at the Olympic sites. Brazilian officials have assured that the water will be safe for the Olympic athletes, and the medical director of the International Olympic Committee said all was on track for providing safe competing venues. But neither the government nor the IOC tests for viruses, relying on bacteria testing only. Extreme water pollution is common in Brazil, where the majority of sewage is not treated. Raw waste runs through open-air ditches to streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites. As a result, Olympic athletes are almost certain to come into contact with disease-causing viruses that in some tests measured up to 1.7 million times the level of what would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach. Despite decades of official pledges to clean up the mess, the stench of raw sewage still greets travelers touching down at Rio’s international airport. Prime beaches are deserted because the surf is thick with putrid sludge, and periodic die-offs leave the Olympic lake, Rodrigo de Freitas, littered with rotting fish. “What you have there is basically raw sewage,” said John Griffith, a marine biologist at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Griffith examined the protocols, methodology and results of the AP tests. “It’s all the water from the toilets and the showers and whatever people put down their sinks, all mixed up, and it’s going out into the beach waters. Those kinds of things would be shut down immediately if found here,” he said, referring to the U.S.
AP file photo
Members of Austria’s Olympic sailing team train July 16 in the Rio de Janeiro municipality of Niteroi, Brazil.
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Northern Illinois University President Doug Baker (center) speaks about the relationship between NIU and DeKalb on Thursday during the unveiling of the 50th anniversary of Huskie Stadium windows in front of Chilton’s Sporting Goods, with Sean Frazier (right), NIU associate vice president and athletic director, and DeKalb Mayor John Rey (far right) in downtown DeKalb.
Window portraits celebrate NIU athletics, relationship with DeKalb By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Huskie football fever is set to go long, rushing from the confines of its Northern University stadium to storefront windows of downtown DeKalb. Officials from the city of DeKalb and Northern Illinois University unveiled three of a series of window displays Thursday. The Downtown Window Clings Display Initiative will highlight the team’s prowess and tell the story of Huskie Stadium’s humble beginnings. It marked the start of the third year of the NIU history-in-pictures on display at local businesses, billed as a collaboration that promotes the relationship between the city and the university. “We’re trying to bridge the university and the community,” NIU President Doug Baker said. “We’re inextricably intertwined, and this is just a great example of coming together to promote the community and NIU together.” Each of the window clings this year will commemorate the history of the university’s Huskie Sta-
Local World War II veteran Don Schoo (center), 90, was honored with a window Thursday during the unveiling of the 50th anniversary of Huskie Stadium windows on the Lincoln Inn window with Northern Illinois University President Doug Baker (left) and DeKalb Mayor John Rey (right), in downtown DeKalb. dium, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Baker called the stadium an “amazing engine for athletics.” For the first time since they’ve gone up, this year’s images will be accompanied by a written description.
A total of 22 full-size clings, bearing portraits of NIU players and coaches, will hang in windows at 16 downtown businesses. They will be on display at shops and restaurants located between First and Fourth streets along Lincoln Highway, and in the municipal
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building and police headquarters. Community events and members also will be featured. The university and its athletics department split the $10,000 cost of the Downtown Window Cling Initiative. No funds came from the city of DeKalb, NIU officials said. The clings will be displayed through the end of NIU’s football season, which officials hope will be after a bowl game victory, sometime in January. The images unveiled Thursday include ones of Huskies defensive end and MVP Larry English, drafted in 2009 by the San Diego Chargers, wide receiver John Spilis, drafted in 1969 by the Green Bay Packers, and Don Schoo. The 90-year-old is a World War II veteran, former DeKalb police officer and NIU employee, who was last year’s honorary captain at the Huskies’ homecoming game. Mayor John Rey said the initiative “reinforces the partnership that the university represents with the city.” “It’s exciting to see the expression of that partnership, certainly
See WINDOWS, page A6
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