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TWO THUMBS UP FOR GINGERBREAD
Oregon shuts down Rock Falls
FOOD, A9-11
BOYS BASKETBALL, B1
TELEGRAPH
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON | SCHOOL BOARD
High school makes its debut Residents get their first look at renovation plan BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5523 @CHeimerman_SVM
DIXON – When Craig Buchanan walked into the cafeteria at Dixon High School, he was in favor of tearing the 87-year-old school down and building new. Buchanan, a Toyota sales manager with Ken Nelson, left a convert, thanks to the numbers and images he was shown by Green Associates during the community forum. The firm showed renderings of a renovated Dixon High, which would cost about $74.4 million, about $5.1 million more than a brand new, state-of-the-art facility would cost to build.
Online extra
Click on this story at saukvalley.com to see John Thompson’s endorsement of GreenAssociates’ work on the plan for a renovated Dixon High School, more photos from Tuesday’s meeting, and building renderings. What sold Buchanan was the fact that the firm’s architects found a way to fit into the existing site all the 21st-century education elements that would go into a new facility. “I have no emotional connection to this building, and I know people do,” said Buchanan, whose wife teaches at Washington Elementary, but whose two children are already out of high school. “But I also understand that this building, as it exists, is extremely inefficient and outdated. So I had no qualms if they wanted to tear the building down and build somewhere else, if it served the purpose better.” DEBUT CONTINUED ON A4
Submitted
This rendering of a renovated Dixon High School drew both cheers and jeers Tuesday night. One person said he was “very impressed,” while another said it looked more like a hospital than a school.
ROCK FALLS
DIXON
The one that didn’t get away Rock Falls lands catfish tourney BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
Photos by Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
ROCK FALLS – A huge destination weekend for the city is about to get bigger. The Rock Falls Tourism Committee Tuesday gave the goInside Divers drop some ahead to sign a deal to host a Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest corrugated bait to Tournament. The event is the help attract more Midwest qualifier for the 2016 fish to the Rock national championship in RichRiver: Page A5 mond, Virginia. The fishing tourney, sponsored by the Missouribased outdoors retailer, will be held June 25-26 – the same weekend as the Rock Falls River Chase boat races and the chamber’s Summer Splash festivities.
Tom Kitson takes a photo of Jolene Eberhart and Mason and Sylas Martinez on Saturday at his farm outside of Dixon. Kitson will be closing his tree farm after this season.
TOURNEY CONTINUED ON A5
Farewell to a family tree farm
CRIME
Business will close after years of making memories
As shock wears off, sadness settles in, but town remains resilient
Murder can happen anywhere – even in Lanark BY TOM KOCAL Shaw Media tkocal@shawmedia.com
BY JERMAINE PIGEE jpigee@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5525 @JPigee84
DIXON – A 27-year holiday tradition is coming to an end. Kitson Tree Farm will close Dec. 20, the last Sunday before Christmas. “It’s time,” said Tom Kitson, who owns the farm. “It’s time to do something different.” Kitson, 66, wants to spend more time with his 10 grandchildren, and he’s also been dealing with some health issues in recent years. KITSON CONTINUED ON A3
Kitson shakes the needles from a freshly cut Christmas tree Saturday at his farm.
Cut your own Kitson Tree Farm, 2051 Sink Hollow Road in Dixon, will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays until Dec. 20. It can be reached at 815-288-6330.
LANARK – On average, there are more than 14,300 murders in the United States every year. That’s almost 40 every day. But when a small town like Lanark experiences only one murder in more than a century, the effect is stunned silence, and heartache. Morgan D. Hake, 49, was arrested at 3 a.m. Saturday in Freeport, less than an hour after the body of his wife, Suzanne M. Hake, 46, was found in her home on West Locust Street by Carroll County deputies responding to a 911 call about a shooting. LANARK CONTINUED ON A7
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TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 164 ISSUE 156
INDEX
ABBY ................... A7 BUSINESS ......... A12 COMICS ...............B6
CROSSWORD....B12 FOOD ..............A9-11 LIFESTYLE ........... A7
LOTTERY ............. A2 OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6
Today’s weather High 50. Low 38. More on A3.
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Tom Huggins Mayor: “It’s a small world, and it’s a small town. Everybody knows somebody who was affected by this. [Murder] can happen anywhere, [but] I believe our community is still safe.”
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B7.