TEL_04222014

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Main Street merger approved

SVM ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

DIXON CITY COUNCIL, A3

SPORTS, B3

TELEGRAPH Tuesday, April 22, 2014

SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851

DIXON

CenturyLink closing office ‘Competitive pressures’ regretfully blamed BY KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5535

DIXON – In yet another sign of the changing way in which companies and customers interact, CenturyLink is dropping its downtown business office. The retail store at 207 W. Second St. will close at the end of the day May 2, said Jack Moore, the company’s market development manager for its Illinois-Indiana-Michigan market.

The office has two employees, who will be given the opportunity “to bid on any other jobs that they would be qualified for,” Moore said. For customers, though, all it means is they must mail in their bills or pay them online. A phone number will be provided for customer support, he said. The company provides home phone, high-speed Internet, and DirecTV services in the Dixon area;

no change is planned there. In addition, CenturyLink owns the building, where switching equipment will remain on site. Only the business office is closing, Moore said. According to its website, centurylink.com, the company has 270 employees in 12 sites in Illinois. Rockford, Moline and Chicago are the nearest to Dixon. CENTURYLINK CONTINUED ON A2

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

CenturyLink will be closing its downtown Dixon business office in early May.

DIXON

DIXON | ZAZA’S PIZZA

Thinking outside the crust

Read her lips: Fall in love ... with books Teacher to give away novel for World Book Night BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5525

Photos by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

Ann Khan, co-owner of Zaza’s Pizza in Dixon, says the food – hardly limited to pizza – is made fresh with very good ingredients. The restaurant avoids deep-frying, when possible, striving to deliver what Kahn calls “accessible gourmet.”

New carry-out spot after the hearts of more than pizza-lovers BY KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5535

DIXON – Like so many other business owners who close up shop, the Khans could have just given up the ghost, left the area, and found another way to make a living. But they like Dixon. They like Sterling. Their boys are young, and still in school. So when Arif Khan made the financial decision to give up his Domino’s Pizza franchises, his wife, Anne, had a backup plan: go it on their own. Arif, 45, most recently owned three Domino’s franchises: in Dixon, Sterling and Clinton, Iowa. (At one point over the past 25 years, he had eight franchises.)

He closed the Sterling site in June 2012, and the Dixon and Clinton stores early this year. He kept the building leases in Dixon and Clinton, though, and now he’s working for Anne. On March 3, Anne, 43, opened Zaza’s Pizza, a carryout and delivery eatery, in the former Domino’s spot. Its “Khancept,” as she calls it, is “accessible gourmet.”

Zaza’s Pizza takes pride in being different, and offers a variety of artisan pies.

ZAZA CONTINUED ON A10

Zaza’s Pizza: The Great Khancept Where: 122 N. Peoria Ave. When: Open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday & Saturday How to order: Call 815-288-9292 or 815-284-9000; or visit www.zazaspizza.net to order or get more information

DIXON – First-grade teacher Jenny Brown has a target Wednesday: nonreaders and light readers. In celebration of World Book Night, the Washington Elementary School teacher will distribute 20 copies of the novel “Miss Darcy Falls in Love” by Sharon Lathan. It’s a spinoff of a Jane Austen classic, “Pride and Prejudice.” World Book Night is a nonprofit group that celebrates reading by organizing book giveaways on that night. This year, 25,000 volunteers are expected to Jenny Brown hand out 500,000 Washington books. Elementary “This year, I first-grade signed up to be a teacher chosen book giver, someby nonprofit to thing I have never be a book giver done before, and I was chosen,” Brown wrote in an email. “I requested and was granted permission to give away these free copies outside of the school [Wednesday] after I dismiss my students.” The organization, she said, wants to focus on nonreaders and light readers. “I thought a lot about where to distribute books,” Brown said in an interview. “I know parents are busy people. Whether they open the book or not, at least they’ll have it in their hands. I know how much joy I get out of reading.” BOOKS CONTINUED ON A2

$1.00

TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 163 ISSUE 249

INDEX

BUSINESS ......... A12 COMICS ............... A9 CROSSWORD....B12

DEAR ABBY ......... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2 NATION/WORLD A11

OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 SPORTS ...............B1

Today’s weather High 63. Low 36. More on A3.

Need work? Check out your classifieds, B7.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE PAPER, CALL 815-284-2224 OR 800-798-4085


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