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Boys basketball coach leaving
SVM ATHLETES OF THE WEEK SPORTS, B3
DIXON, B1
TELEGRAPH Tuesday, April 19, 2016
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON | CITY COUNCIL
Budget and rate hikes approved BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
DIXON – The City Council approved its budget for the upcoming fiscal year and increased water and sewer rates Monday.
The proposed budget contains about $21.9 million in total revenue and about $23.46 million in total expenses. The additional $1.56 million in planned expenditures will be funded through dedicated capital fund reserves and will go toward infrastructure projects.
Mayor Li Arellano Jr. said that while the budget appears to be at a deficit, the money for the projects will come from onetime revenues in reserves and recovery funds. In the past, the funds have been used for various infrastructure projects, including about
$700,000 allocated for improving Seventh Street last year as well as about $3 million for improvements to River Road. “I think the purpose of that money is to use it to get us caught up to date on infrastructure,” Arellano said. Capital projects for the fis-
cal year, which begins May 1, include $300,000 for improvements to the Galena Avenue Bridge railings, $200,000 for installing rip rap, or large rocks, along the river, and about $1 million in for street overlays and road repairs. COUNCIL CONTINUED ON A5
PETUNIA FESTIVAL
OGLE COUNTY
Dixon will pipe in some music Lineup for annual event announced BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
DIXON – Come summer, festivalgoers can expect some new additions for the 52nd annual Petunia Festival, including a pipe organ concert and youth ambassador program, organizers said Monday. New this year will be the Historic Dixon Theatre Barton pipe organ concert, where organist Glenn Tallar will perform 90 minutes of music from the 1950s to the present. The free concert will take place June 30, the opening day of the 5-day festival, which concludes July 4. “People can see the theater, can hear that great pipe organ sound and get entertained by a lot of different tunes,” said Dave Johnson, festival vice president of operations. Festival officials also have established the first ambassador program, in which high school student volunteers will help run the events. It will be another avenue to involve youth who aren’t on the royal court.
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Retired teacher Jim Cole will be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail later this month. Cole is hiking the trail with two of his sons as a bonding experience, but also to raise money for Serenity Hospice and Home in Oregon.
Crest
BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
Hitting his
A Polo man is going the extra mile – a hundred of them, in fact – to help an Oregon hospice home
POLO – In favorable weather, Jim Cole can be found walking around with a pack stuffed with books strapped to his back. He’s not transporting them, selling them, giving them away or even reading them. Instead, the books, wrapped snugly in towels, serve as placeholders for the weight the 69-year-old plans to carry through 100 miles of desert under an unforgiving sun. On April 23, the Polo resident plans to journey with his two sons, Matthew, 40, and Ben, 36, to hike a leg of the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington. CREST CONTINUED ON A9
FESTIVAL CONTINUED ON A5
WHITESIDE COUNTY
Autopsy scheduled for inmate who died in jail BY ANGEL SIERRA asierra@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5695 @_angelsierra
MORRISON – An autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon in the death of a 28-year-old inmate who died Saturday at Whiteside County Jail. Walter E. “Boogie” Divers Jr., of Sterling, was found unresponsive in his cell shortly after 11 a.m., Lt. John Booker said in a news release. Life-saving measures were performed, and Divers was taken to Morrison Community Hospital where he was
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pronounced dead. State Police are investigating, which is standard practice any time there is a death at the jail, the release said. Neither suicide nor foul play is suspected, Booker said. Walter E. Toxicology results Divers Jr. are pending, Coroner Joe McDonald said. Divers was arrested about noon Friday in the 700 block of Locust Street in
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ABBY ................... A7 BUSINESS ......... A10 COMICS ............... A8
Services Visitation for Walter E. “Boogie” Divers Jr. begins at 10 a.m. and the funeral at 11 a.m. Thursday at McDonald Funeral Home in Rock Falls. Divers is survived by his father, Walter Divers Sr. of Rock Falls; his mother, Debra (Metzler) Williams of Sterling; his fiancee, Elizabeth Gonzales of Sterling;
and three children: Aryah Emily Divers, 6, and Jordan and Janea Mitchell, 13 and 6, respectively. His obituary is on Page A4. A gofundme account has been established to help the family pay funeral expenses. Search for “RIP Walt “Boogie” burial fund” at gofundme.com.
Sterling for failure to appear in court in a 2013 case in which he was convicted for driving with a revoked licensed and resisting a peace officer.
CROSSWORD......B5 LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 POLICE ................ A2
He also was charged in September with felony domestic battery, and pleaded guilty in October to a misdemeanor.
Today’s weather High 69. Low 55. More on A3.
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