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REMEMBERING THE GREATEST
MUHAMMAD ALI, A4, B1, B4
Rabid bats on the rise ILLINOIS, A3
TELEGRAPH Monday, June 6, 2016 n SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
ILLINOIS | CRIME
DIXON
Budget pulls out youths’ safety net Program to keep juveniles out of jail loses state funding ROCKFORD (AP) – After a rash of armed robberies and carjackings startled Rockford residents this year, police recognized a few teenagers among those arrested in an ensuing crackdown. The youths had been enrolled in a state-funded program called Redeploy Illinois, which is almost universally praised as an alternative to jail that diverts troubled youths from further crime. But due to a loss of funding in Illinois’ unprecedented budget impasse, a Rockford area nonprofit ended its program in October, leaving some 40 juve-
On with the Show Off ABOVE: What better way to relax a boy’s best friend than with an ear rub? Just ask Lucas Olde’s dog, Ruby. Lucas, 10, of Paw Paw and Ruby were taking part in the junior showmanship competition on Saturday during Granny Rose Animal Shelter’s eighth annual Show ’N Show Off Day. This year, the event was held for the first time in the shelter’s new K-9 Enrichment Center at 613 River Lane. It featured activities for youths and adults, including a “practice” show for 4-H’ers showing at county fairs, and dog judging in four different categories. RIGHT: Dogs were running the show Saturday at the Granny Rose Animal Shelter, where Austin Norman, 13, of Amboy took a turn around the course during the junior showmanship competition. Go to grannyrose.org, call 815-288-7387, or email grannyroseanimalshelter@hotmail. com for more information on the shelter.
niles without the one-on-one attention they’d been receiving. Within months, police say, some of those teens were rearrested, including after 14 robberies on one January day. “When all these social service agencies are cut, the only public agency left to pick up the pieces is law enforcement. We’re not equipped to do that,” said Pat Hoey, Rockford’s assistant deputy police chief. “You can’t arrest your way out of youth violence crime issues.” SAFETY NET continued on A54
Counties fail to file hate-crime reports More than 20 percent in Illinois didn’t send information to FBI
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
CHAMPAIGN (AP) – Between 2009 and 2014, more than a fifth of law enforcement agencies in Illinois did not report to the FBI on whether any hate crimes had been committed in their communities in spite of the federal agency’s push to track such crimes, according to an Associated Press analysis of FBI data. Starting next year, though, a new state law will carry at least the threat of losing out on some funding if agencies don’t file such reports. Most of the Illinois agencies that either failed to make a report or missed several years have a handful of employees. In cases where there were no hate crimes to report, filling out reports took a back seat to other work in some agencies, getting done when time was available. “In my case, it’s kind of helter-skelter here and you get to it when you get to it,” said Drew Nash, a secretary at the Creve Coeur Police Department in the town of 5,400 just southeast of Peoria. The department has eight officers. REPORTS continued on A54
Inside Thousands of law enforcement agencies across the U.S. fail to file hate-crime reports. Page A9 Violent crimes are on the rise in many major U.S. cities, but law enforcement officials are at a loss to explain why. Page A9
STERLING
Liquor commission opens discussion to full council Members can weigh in on proposal to put a freeze on liquor licenses BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
STERLING – The Sterling Liquor Commission’s recent discussions about liquor licenses and gambling parlors will be continued with a larger group of public officials.
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TODAY’S EDITION: 20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 166 ISSUE 25
Mayor Skip Lee and Liquor Commissioners Joe Martin and Retha Elston met May 18 to consider a liquor license freeze, in large part to better control the expansion of video gambling within the city limits. No recommendation came from the commission’s session, and a second meeting was to be scheduled, but the panel decided to open the discussion to the entire Sterling City Council when it meets at 6:30 tonight. Sterling has 32 liquor licenses available for the classification that includes liquor stores, taverns, restaurants, and bowling alleys, and 23 have been
INDEX
ABBY.................... A7 COMICS................ A8 CROSSWORD.......B9
What’s next
The Sterling City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. today at City Hall, 212 Third Ave., in the first-floor Council Chambers. Go to sterling-il.gov or call City Hall at 815-632-6621 for an agenda or more information. awarded. That number doesn’t include the beer- and wine-only licenses that are given to grocers and convenience stores. The mayor, who also heads up the
LIFESTYLE............ A7 LOTTERY.............. A2 OBITUARIES......... A4
OPINION............... A6 POLICE................. A2 STATE................... A3
liquor commission, said he would like to see the available licenses frozen at their current numbers. “We wouldn’t stop issuing them, but by tightening the numbers, it would allow us to look at each license on a case-by-case basis,” Lee said. While Lee said he isn’t trying to shut down gambling, Martin said it was the impetus for the discussions. “This is driven by video gambling operations, and the previous liquor ordinance change that has failed to hinder them,” Martin said. LICENSES continued on A54
Today’s weather High 79. Low 52. More on A3.
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