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Performers put on their best Plaid
ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR GIRLS SOCCER
PLAN!T, A9-13
OREGON, B1
TELEGRAPH Thursday, June 23, 2016 n SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON PARK BOARD | ROADWORK
Work planned for Page Drive BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
DIXON – The Park Board addressed road improvement plans for Page Drive on Wednesday including adding curbs, gutters and extra parking. The park district is looking to start
construction next month on the south side of Page Drive, which would extend on the river side from the bike path to the stone bridge. The project would include between 870 and 950 feet of curb at an estimated cost of $22,500 to $26,500, not including the cost of blacktop, which the district hasn’t gotten estimates for yet.
Construction work will be completed by the district’s in-house maintenance crew, which would about half as much as hiring an outside contractor, board vice president Ron Pritchard said. “The curb and gutter will add to the aesthetics of that area, and overall, it will save a lot of wear and tear on the road,” he said.
STERLING
Board member Steve Pritchard said that without the curb, there’s nothing to hold back the outer pressure on the road, which causes breakage. The curbs would help prevent that by stabilizing the edges. The project also includes connecting to the city storm sewer system to control water run-off. PARK DRIVE continued on A34
SAUK VALLEY
Having a
field day
Wild weather hits – again Tornado reports, thunderstorms shove their way through Sauk Valley a year to the day after 2015 tornado STAFF REPORT news@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5501
AMBOY – June 22 is turning out to be a bad day for weather. Exactly 1 year after a tornado twisted through the Sauk Valley, storms struck again, this time bringing a fast-moving system that delivered heavy rains and a reported brief tornado touchdown in Lee County. Wednesday’s tornado was spotted 8 miles east of Amboy, several miles north of Sublette where, last year, a twister caused nearly $2 million in dam- That National Weather Serage at Woodhaven Lakes vice out of Chicago posted camping resort. this photo from weatherThe National Weather spotter Will Wight of a torService reported the tornado about 7:25 p.m., nado that he said touched and posted a photo from down east of Amboy on a weather spotter of what Wednesday night. appeared to show a funnel cloud touching down outside of Amboy, but the Chicago office would not confirm the touchdown Wednesday night. WEATHER continued on A34
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Mikeila Sanders, 18, of Prophetstown, walks Isabella Harrold, 4, back to the bus Wednesday afternoon during the Whiteside County Farm Bureau’s Farm Camp after the group visited the Koster farm in rural Sterling.
From the minute 4-year-old Isabella Harrold planted her feet in Farm Camp, the shy young girl blossomed into a social butterfly filled with a bumper crop of smiles
BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5523 CHeimerman_SVM
STERLING – What a week little Isabella Harrold is having. The 4-year-old has met cows, pigs, bunnies and more during farm tours through the Ag in the Classroom Farm Camp run by the Whiteside County Farm Bureau. Online extra Tuesday, she got to check out the Click on this story ginormous farming machinery at at saukvalley.com Peabudy’s, next to Walmart. Wednesto watch video of the day, after snuggling bunnies and pigs Ag in the Classroom at Dan Koster’s hog farm and learning children meeting bunall about a day in the life of a pig farm- nies and pigs at Dan er, there she was, steering a combine Koster’s pork farm. with a smile that would melt the coldest of hearts during a Midwest winter. Back at Woodlawn Arts Academy, where the weeklong camp is based, she got to make pig-themed ear-notching art and human diet-friendly pig feed. Then it was off to soccer through the Sterling-Rock Falls YMCA. FIELD DAY continued on A114
PUBLIC UTILITIES
Time to make an electric switch? ComEd electric rates drop; customers wonder if it’s worth switching plans BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
STERLING – Lower electricity rates from ComEd have some local ratepayers wondering if they should switch from the city’s community aggregation plan. The topic came up at Monday’s City Council meeting, where Mayor Skip Lee said he’s been eyeing the nearly 1.5-cent per kilowatt hours that could be saved by switching to ComEd, but ratepayers must make that decision individually. “The city is not authorized, under the city’s aggregation plan, to automatically switch people over to something else,” Lee said. “Anyone in the city’s aggregation plan can switch without a fee, but they should remember they can’t switch back again for 6 months.” RATES continued on A34
$1.00
TODAY’S EDITION: 28 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 166 ISSUE 38
INDEX
ABBY.................... A8 BUSINESS............ A7 COMICS................B4
CROSSWORD.....B13 LIFESTYLE............ A8 LOTTERY.............. A2
OBITUARIES......... A4 OPINION............... A6 POLICE................. A2
Today’s weather High 77. Low 57. More on A3.
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