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DEKALB COUNTY’S 2013 HS GRADS • INSIDE
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Take a look at this year’s graduating classes
T y, May 16, 2013 Thursday,
GIRLS SOCCER REGIONALS • SPORTS, B1
Barbs can’t keep pace with St. Charles North
DeKalb OKs Evergreen project He said the project’s budget could possibly be underfunded for relocation assistance. In the worst-case scenario, that would be an additional $1.5 million, but that cost wasn’t certain, he said. “Enough is enough,” Miller said. “The place is going to keep getting flooded and residents are going to stay in harm’s way. We need to get them out of the flood plain.”
Board officials approve residents’ relocation from flood plain By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – DeKalb County officials are searching for a project manager for the Evergreen Village Mobile Home Park relocation project after County Board members unanimously approved the project Wednesday. They are searching for a
leader with expertise in property acquisition and relocation assistance. The project aims to move about 400 people living in the mobile home park along Route 64 in Sycamore away from the flood plain. Evergreen Village has seen major floods in the past, including floods needing federal assistance in 2007 and
the project is $5.6 million. More than a dozen residents of Evergreen Village attended Wednesday’s County Board meeting. For the benefit of many of them, a Spanish translator was present to communicate the discussions of the County Board. John Frieders, a Sandwich Republican from District 12, had a question about the cost
2008. The relocation project comes after years of discussion and planning from county and federal officials. The county received a three-year $4.2 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in July and $1.5 million from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency in August for the project. The total cost of
of the project. He asked why people were thinking the state would come through on the money when they can’t come through with school funding. Paul Miller, DeKalb County planning, zoning and building director, said that wasn’t a concern because the funds from FEMA and IEMA were earmarked for this project.
Graduation bittersweet
for G-K students
See EVERGREEN, page A4
Sycamore Pumpkin Fest theme announced By DOUG OLESON doleson@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Pumpkin Adventures. That is the theme of the 52nd annual Sycamore Pumpkin Festival, which will be held Oct. 23 to 27. The winning entry was submitted by Savanna Dean, 7, a first grader at North Grove Elementary School in Sycamore. “She chose that theme because ‘pumpkins can be turned into many things and go on adventures like characters from a book or more,’ ” Sycamore Pumpkin Festival Committee member Jennifer Diehl said Wednesday during the formal announcement on the southern steps of the DeKalb County Courthouse. Savanna was one of 133 Sycamore school students who submitted themes for the annual contest. Festival Chairman Jerry Malmassi said a committee chose 18 semifinalists and narrowed them down to three before the winner was chosen.
See FESTIVAL, page A10
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Meredith Fitzsimmons hugs Cody Hunt before the commencement ceremony Wednesday at the Genoa-Kingston High School graduation. About 150 Cogs graduated this year. By STEPHANIE HICKMAN shickman@shawmedia.com GENOA – Alexandria Berott and Hayley Ready have been best friends since seventh grade. The Genoa-Kingston High School seniors met in their language arts class at Genoa-Kingston Middle School after Ready moved to Genoa from Sandwich. The two hit it off and have been inseparable ever since. The duo will attend Kishwaukee College together to study radiology in the fall.
Ready and Berott were among the 150 Genoa-Kingston High School seniors who graduated Wednesday. As the students filed into the gym to loud cheers from friends and family, Ready and Berott said the moment was bittersweet. “It’s the end of a chapter,” Berott said. “But you’re going to start another one.” As senior class President Samantha Fisher addressed her classmates during Wednesday’s ceremony, she recalled how much the eager seniors couldn’t wait to graduate. But now that the moment has arrived,
she said the students have realized just how significant a role the school has played in their lives, preparing them to be young adults beyond the halls of G-K High School. Donna Koehnke, one of the school’s academic guidance counselors, said it’s always rewarding to see the students go from confused freshmen with no idea what they want to do in life, to experienced seniors who have set their minds to accomplish certain goals.
See G-K GRADS, page A10
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Savanna Dean, a first-grader at North Grove Elementary School, is this year’s Sycamore Pumpkin Festival theme contest winner with a theme of Pumpkin Adventures. The Sycamore Pumpkin Festival will be from Oct. 23 to 27.
Acting IRS commissioner ousted over tea party targeting By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Hurrying to check a growing controversy, President Barack Obama ousted the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service late Wednesday amid an outcry over revelations that the agency had improperly targeted tea party groups for scrutiny when they filed for tax-exempt status. Obama said Treasury Secretary
Jacob Lew had asked for and accepted Steven T. Miller’s resignation. Obama made no public criticism of Miller but spoke of inexcusable “misconduct” by IRS employees and said new leadership at the agency was critical. “Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it,” Obama said in a televised statement from the White House. “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially in the IRS, giv-
en the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives.” Miller’s ouster came five days after an IRS supervisor publicly revealed that agents had improperly targeted groups with “tea party” or “patriots” in their applications for tax-exempt status. It came a day after an inspector general’s report blamed ineffective management in Washington for allowing it to happen for more than 18 months. The report said tea party groups
were asked inappropriate questions about their donors, their political affiliations and their positions on political issues, resulting in delays averaging nearing two years for applications to be processed. Miller’s departure hardly ends the matter. Three congressional committees are investigating, and the FBI is looking into potential civil rights violations at the IRS, Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier Wednesday. Other potential crimes include
making false statements to authorities and violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in some partisan political activities, Holder said. Miller, a 25-year IRS veteran, took over the agency in November when the five-year term of Commissioner Douglas Shulman ended. Shulman was appointed by President George W. Bush.
See IRS, page A9
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