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For 3! Sauk Valley teams keep rising
PRIEST: LENT ABOUT MORE THAN SUBTRACTION THE PEOPLE’S VOICE, A3
BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS, B1
ELECTION 2014 | LEE COUNTY SHERIFF RACE
Few requirements to run Lee sheriff’s challenger makes issue of certification BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
The job of sheriff in Illinois has few requirements. State law requires that a sheriff be a citizen, live in the county he serves, and not be a convicted felon.
However, there is no requirement for certification or professional experience in law enforcement. In the Republican race for Lee County sheriff, candidate John Simonton, a Dixon police officer and retired state police
commander, has advertised his more than three decades in law enforcement. He said he is a certified law enforcement officer, while Sheriff John Varga is not. Varga, who is facing Simonton in the March 18 Republican
primary, objects to that characterization. “I’m a sworn certified officer just like [Simonton] is,” Varga said. “I have arrest powers and carry a gun just like he can.” REQUIREMENTS CONTINUED ON A4
EDUCATION | WHITESIDE AREA CAREER CENTER
Republican challenger John Simonton
Lee County Sheriff
John Varga
Says, “I could not imagine running for an office like this if I haven’t had the training.”
Responds to Simonton’s criticism: “I have arrest powers and carry a gun, just like he can.”
ELECTION 2014 | OGLE CO. SHERIFF RACE
In Harn’s way? Two challengers Three police officers square off in primary BY VINDE WELLS AND KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ news@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 535
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Dixon High School students Halie Harkins (left), 18, and Aspen Gunnon, 17, watch Friday morning as Tim Stewart, 17, from Ashton-Franklin Center High School, checks a battery during their class at the Whiteside Area Career Center in Sterling. The center, which opened in 1971, is projecting a 20 percent dip in enrollment this fall.
Enrolling downhill But center’s director predicts numbers will ‘level off’ BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
STERLING – Bryanna Flynn and Cheyenne Hines, both juniors at Milledgeville High School, are clear about their career plans: They
want to become registered nurses. This school year, they started with the certified nursing assistant program at the Whiteside Area Career Center in Sterling, a 15-minute bus ride from Milledgeville.
“I wanted to get a head start so I don’t have to do that work when I get out of high school,” Flynn said. Hines said the program is good “hands-on” experience.
Breakdown on A3 Enrollment by high school Enrollment by field of study
ENROLLING CONTINUED ON A3
AMBOY | FROZEN WATER LINES
Were residents notified? February bill didn’t warn about frozen pipes BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
The Beef Hut co-owner Sam Taormina boils water to wash dishes. Without running water for nearly 4 weeks, Taormina says Amboy Mayor Tom Nauman said to wait for spring, a claim the mayor denies.
Snow possible
VOLUME 6 ISSUE 28 44 Pages
Today: 33/11 For the forecast, see Page A11
AMBOY – Mayor Tom Nauman says the city warned residents about the potential for frozen pipes, so they should have heeded the city’s advice to let their faucets drip. “It’s mind-boggling why these people don’t leave their water on,” he said in an interview this week. But the city’s February water bill,
Edited out
Join the SVM photo staff for favorite photos that didn’t make the cut. See Page C12
which was issued the first of the month, contained no warning to keep faucets dripping. Such a notification didn’t appear until the March bill, weeks after some pipes had frozen. “Due to extreme cold and frost,” the bill read, “the city is advising residents to let water drip to avoid freezing pipes.”
Three longtime Ogle County residents, all of them law enforcement officers, are in the running for the Republican nomination for Ogle County sheriff in the March 18 primary election: incumbent Michael Harn, of Forreston, and Rochelle residents Joe Drought, chief of the Rock Valley College Police Department, and Brian VanVickle, K-9 officer with the Rochelle Police Department. The winner likely will run unopposed in the Nov. 4 general election, because no Democrat filed for the seat this year, and no Democrat Profiles was on the ballot in on A8, A9 2010. Read about The duties of the sheriff in Ogle the issues County are numer- and where all three candious and varied. Besides the law dates stand. enforcement responsibilities that go with the job, the sheriff is in charge of the jail and, in Ogle County, manages the buildings and property owned by the county, including the judicial center, courthouse, sheriff’s office, jail, Pines Road Annex, all in Oregon, and Focus House, just outside Rochelle. The sheriff also supervises 84 employees and oversees three budgets: the Sheriff’s Department, Corrections, and Buildings & Grounds. This year, budgeted expenditures for the three total close to $7 million.
NOTIFIED CONTINUED ON A4
Family time “Surviving Jack” star opens up about real-life role as a dad. Also inside USA Weekend: Find the right summer camp Recipe for savory frittata Sugar danger
Index Births................ C5 Markets .......... A12 Business........... C1 Obituaries ......... A4 Classified .......... D1 Opinion............. A6 Comics ............. B8 Scoreboard ...... B5 Community ..... C12 Scrapbook ....... C3 Sports .............. B1 Crossword Saturday ........... D6 State .............. A11 Support groups .. C5 Crossword Sunday ............. C8 Travel .............. C10 Dear Abby ........ C6 Weather.......... A11 Lottery .............. A2 Wheels ............. D8