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Tuesday, December 10, 2013
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
LEE COUNTY
Did calls get proper response? Two 911 contacts made hours before body found on I-88 BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521
DIXON – Two 911 phone calls made the night of Nov. 12 regarding a man – alive and waving his arms – on the side of the Interstate 88, just west of mile marker 51.5 were
released to Sauk Valley Media on Monday. The first call was placed at 8:24 p.m., almost 12 hours before the body of Lee E. Catlin, 65, of Bettendorf, was found near the Hoyle Road overpass on Interstate 88. Ray Specht, 50, was driving his
semi east, scanning the highway for deer, when Catlin’s waving hands caught his eye. 911 Dispatch: Lee County 911 where’s your emergency? Specht: There’s a guy laying alongside Interstate 88 about the 51.5 mile marker. Right by the overpass, he’s waving his
arms back and forth. He’s laying down, though? “Yeah, he was laying down on the ground waving his arms” OK, hang on just a second. Let me give you the proper authority, OK?
Hear the 911 calls To listen to the two 911 calls released to Sauk Valley Media on Monday, visit saukvalley.com.
CALLS CONTINUED ON A4
DIXON | CHARLES GEORGE HEARING
DIXON
Was right to stay silent invoked? Whether man pled fifth unclear, crucial to manslaughter case BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521
Photos by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Yet unfinished, Jack Bally’s one-third scale model of a B-17 G bomber wears a “B” on its tail to represent his name. And he liked the look of the triangle. Bally says it’s the fourth plan the former carpenter has built.
Just like the real thing
Only smaller, Bally Bomber nearly finished
RIGHT: Bally looks into the cockpit of the one-third scale bomber he’s building from its glass nosecone. BELOW: Bally BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com ordered the 800-798-4085, ext. 529 plans for a one-ninth scale DIXON – Inside a hangar made model of the of old telephone poles, with a wood-burning stove for heat, Jack B-17 and multiplied the meaBally has been working on his surements by “obsession.” That obsession, nearly 13 years three in order to in the making, is a one-third-scale lay the blueprint version of a B-17 G, which Bally for his one-third hopes will be flyable in 2 years. model. The plane, which he calls The Bally Bomber, has a 34-foot wingspan and is 25 feet from nose to tail. The only part of the plane that doesn’t work, the 72-yearold Bally said, are the guns. “All the prints were really good,” he said. “They were all up scaled. I had to bring them up three times. They were oneninth-scale prints, so I had to enlarge all the prints. Every piece on this [plane] has basically been made by hand.”
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Decision day Judge Ron Jacobson plans to announce his decision about whether Charles George invoked his Fifth Amendment rights Jan. 9.
REAL CONTINUED ON A3
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INDEX
BUSINESS ......... A10 COMICS ............... A9 CROSSWORD....B10
DIXON – A Dixon man accused of causing the death of his 3-month-old daughter appeared in Lee County Court on Thursday for a hearing on a request to suppress potentially incriminating statements. Those statements were made during an interview with Dixon Police after, his attorney says, he invoked his constitutional right to remain silent. Prosecutors say that in September 2010, Charles T. George, 36, shook his 3-month-old daughter, Tamari, before dropping her to the ground. She died 5 days later at a Rockford hospital. The motion, filed by George’s attorney, Lee County Public Defender Bob Thompson, says that while being interviewed by Dixon Police officers on Sept. 30, 2010, George exercised his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment, and that as such, any incriminating statements made afterward should be void. “Do I need a lawyer?” George said during the interview. “That decision’s up to you,” the officer responded. “Well I don’t want to say anything,” George said. “And I know that y’all recording this [expletive], and it’s gonna come back to haunt me later on.” What’s at question is whether the statement made by George qualifies as a clear and unequivocal invocation of his right to remain silent. In the motion, Thompson argues it does.
DEAR ABBY ......... A7 LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 SPORTS ...............B1
Today’s weather High 21. Low 12. More on A3.
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