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Thursday, November 13, 2014
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON | CITY ADMINISTRATOR ANNIVERSARY
Nord gets back to basics Administrator reflects on first year at City Hall BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5570
DIXON – If variety is the spice of life, City Administrator David Nord has had one well-seasoned year. It was 1 year ago today that Nord entered his office as the first person to ever hold the administrator’s title in the city’s history. Although Nord
came to Dixon with 25 years as village administrator in Cherry Valley under his belt, there would be challenges that were anything but typical. Rita Crundwell had been sentenced 9 months before Nord’s arrival, but dealing with the aftermath of the largest municipal fraud case in the nation’s history would be a long process. Nord said Finance Director Paula Meyer had
done much of the heavy lifting before he started. “Paula was trying to track down at least 30 checking accounts that were floating around, and reining in everything with the financial process,” Nord said. “She was thrown into the jungle with a machete, and did a great job.” BASICS CONTINUED ON A4
OREGON | VILLAGE OF PROGRESS BANQUET
Consumer appreciation night
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Today marks the 1-year anniversary of David Nord entering office as the first city administrator of Dixon.
OREGON
Exhumation to unearth cold case evidence? Businessman says informants gave ‘really good leads’ BY VINDE WELLS Shaw Media vwells@shawmedia.com
Photos by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Kathi Heller awards Jennifer Meyers with the Carly Heller Special Olympian of the Year Award on Wednesday night at the 45th Village of Progress banquet in Oregon.
Contributions from all involved with nonprofit celebrated BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5521
OREGON – Sometimes, the greatest appreciation comes without a word – instead with a beaming smile. And sometimes, it’s followed by thunderous applause. Speaker Tom Wadsworth presented the first award of the Village of Progress annual banquet – the John Herrmann Personal Achievement Award – to Deanna Gregory, who first enrolled with the organization in 1993. In 2000, Gregory began working part-time at Rochelle’s Dairy Winners list Queen before a serious health Check it out on A2. issue forced her to leave her job, and the Village, too. She came back in 2005, and since then has continued to work hard toward achieving her personal goals, one of which is purely and simply to help others. Another is to be able to live independently. It’s for those reasons, Wadsworth said, that Gregory was given the award. Gregory smiled as he wrapped up his remarks, and quietly took her seat again as the crowd erupted in applause. More than 300 people showed up to St. Mary’s Learning Center in Oregon on Wednesday night to celebrate the talents and contributions of the Village of Progress’ many consumers and volunteers. CONSUMER CONTINUED ON A2
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An Oregon business owner said Wednesday he expects the exhumation of the body of a Rockford man to yield important evidence into a 66-year-old unsolved double homicide. Mike Arians said Stanley Skridla’s coffin might hold more than just Skridla’s remains. Informants have told him, he said, that the skull of the other murder victim, Mary Jane Reed, Oregon, and the gun that killed the two could be inside. Arians and Skridla’s nephew, Steve Skridla, 62, Rockford, held a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the bar and restaurant Arians owns on Oregon’s south side. They announced that Winnebago County Judge Eugene G. Doherty has signed an order granting their petition to exhume Stanley Skridla’s body from Calvary Cemetery, Rockford. The order says the exhumation must be completed by June 30, 2015. Reed, who was only 17 at the time, failed to return home after a date on June 24, 1948. She and Skridla, 28, her companion on the night she disappeared, were subsequently found shot to death. EXHUMATION CONTINUED ON A3
Fred Smith (left) of the F.N. Smith Corporation accepts the Rick Hahn Business of the Year Award at the Village of Progress banquet.
ABBY ................... A8 BUSINESS ........... A7 COMICS ...............B6
CROSSWORD....B11 LIFESTYLE ........... A8 LOTTERY ............. A2
NATION/WORLD .. A7 OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6
‘‘ ’’ The primary focus is to bring both families closure. Solving the double homicides would be a bonus.
Oregon businessman Mike Arians on allegations that his quest for justice is motivated by financial gain
Today’s weather High 32. Low 16. More on A3.
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