Your source for community news and sports 7 days a week.
Waiting in the HOCKEY? IN JULY? RECREATION, A2 wings for Emma YOUTH TENNIS, B1
TELEGRAPH Tuesday, July 28, 2015
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON
Stamps of historical approval Plaques to commemorate downtown fixtures BY BRENDEN WEST bwest@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5529 @BWest_SVM
DIXON – Owners of historical properties might get a call in the near future. By way of the Dixon Historic Preservation Commission, roughly 30 properties, mostly clustered downtown, soon will be commemorated with bronze plaques bearing a brief history of the structure. City Hall – among the historical
Get a closer look Click on this story at saukvalley. com to see a much larger photo of the bronze plaque. sites recognized – posted its plaque Monday. This was a $16,000 project commissioned by the previous administration. A survey was conducted last summer, and owners should have received a letter from previous Mayor Jim Burke stating their
properties were eligible. Property owners who want them won’t have to pay for them, just ensure they will install them, Interim City Manager David Nord said. “What’s going to be done shortly is a letter from the city saying that if property owners are willing to install [the plaque], we will happily turn the plaque over to have it installed,” Nord said during last week’s council meeting. “We have the plaques. We just have to give them out to the owners.”
Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
A plaque placed outside City Hall in Dixon recognizes it as a historical building in Lee County.
ROCK FALLS
Going up? You bet. Riverfront hotel coming together, despite handful of obstacles
SAUK VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Enrollment takes a dip; 2016 budget follows suit Final number about $300K less than the one approved in June BY JERMAINE PIGEE jpigee@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5525 @JPigee84
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Workers position walls on the second floor of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites along the Rock Falls riverfront Monday afternoon. Last May, the city announced plans for the 68-room hotel to anchor redevelopment efforts in the RB&W District. The project marched forward despite myriad obstacles: Construction was delayed by lack of available space between the East Second Street site and the Rock River. This spring, the construction team had to wait for a main structure beam. In addition to the hotel delays, a $400,000 state grant the city plans to use for the green space project has been frozen by Gov. Bruce Rauner, further complicating development plans in the area. For more on the fallout from the deadlock in Springfield, see A5.
RECREATION
River advocates to launch sports expo Vendors, organizations invited to free event at Moonlight Bay BY KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5535 @KathleenSchul10
STERLING – It’s no secret that Dave Druen loves the great outdoors. The Sterling businessman, owner of Dave’s Outdoor World, has spent years reveling in the beauty of the Rock River and the Hennepin Canal, promoting their economic benefits and advocating for their care and upkeep. Now he and fellow Rock River Trail Initiative council member Matthew Hilligoss are taking their passion for the local waterways to another level, by creating a free outdoor-
$1.00
TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 164 ISSUE 57
themed event they hope will attract people from all over, and draw attention to the Sauk Valley’s natural wonders. Vendors regionwide are invited to participate in the inaugural Outdoor Sports Expo, to be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dave Druen Aug. 22 at Moonlight Bay Marina. Admission will be free for vendors and the public, Druen said in an email.
INDEX
To sign up For more information or to sign up for the inaugural Outdoor Sports Expo, to be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 22 at Moonlight Bay Marina, 1552 Mound Hill Road, contact Dave Druen at 815-716-3366 or davesoutdoorworld@gmail. com, or find Dave’s Outdoor World on Facebook. Admission is free to vendors and the public.
EXPO CONTINUED ON A4
ABBY ................... A7 BUSINESS ......... A12 COMICS ............... A9
CROSSWORD....B11 LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2
NATION/WORLD .. A8 OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6
DIXON – Anticipating a dip in enrollment, the Sauk Valley Community College Board of Trustees on Monday night approved a budget a bit lower than previously expected. The $14.9 million 2016 budget has $307,250 less than the tentative budget the board approved in June. School officials expect a 7 percent enrollment decline for the upcoming school year. At this time last year, students signed up for a little more than 20,000 credit hours, compared to a 18,000 credit hours projection for the 2015-16 year. “Students still have a couple weeks to register for classes, so this number can go up or down,” said Melissa Dye, dean of business services at Sauk. “This is just a guess as to where we are at right now.” School officials base their revenue dollars off the credit hours students sign up for, instead of a head count. “You can have one person taking 9 hours, or another person taking 12 hours,” Dye said. Instead of making painful cuts or raising tuition to offset the shortfall, Dye said Sauk will spend some of the $6.1 million the college has in cash reserves. BUDGET CONTINUED ON A4
Next meeting The next Sauk Valley Community College Board of Trustees meeting will be at 6 p.m. August 24 in the third floor board room, 173 state Route 2, Dixon. Visit www.svcc.edu or call 815-8356303 for an agenda or more information.
Today’s weather High 88. Low 72. More on A3.
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B6.
TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE PAPER, CALL 815-284-2224 OR 800-798-4085