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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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How to spend $21M grant?
Search for survivors in D-428 board starts weighing question of schools’ needs Okla. nears completion By DAVID THOMAS
dthomas@shawmedia.com
DeKALB – The DeKalb school board is beginning to consider how to spend its $21 million construction grant. On Tuesday, the board heard a presentation that would use $11.4 million of the grant on various school buildings in DeKalb School District 428. The board will hear a similar presentation on the district’s technological capabilities in the future. Board President Tom Matya
summed up the policy question that will face the school board this year. “Ultimately, the board will have to weigh how much grant money to keep aside … and how much we can put into upgrades in buildings, upgrades in technology,” he said. Matya said he wanted to hold a joint meeting with the board and its financial and facilities committee, a group of school officials, teachers and community leaders that has been devising ways to save money. Matya expressed a desire to move slowly with this process,
saying that more public meetings would be needed before the board takes action on spending the grant. The presentation was led by Kerry Mellott, a former Fermilab engineer who sits on the committee. He identified Tyler Elementary School as needing the most work. Parts of Tyler do not have any doors at all. “When we got to Tyler, wow – we really need to do some work there, we thought,” he said. Mellott said the $11.4 million would provide a good start to improving building parity.
Fresh fare
“While we come with a dollar amount on the next slide … we truly need to spend more to bring equity and parity across the district,” he said. He noted that the district had planned to pass another referendum that would give it another $100 million to improve buildings, but the recession put a stop to that. Another potential monkey wrench in any district spending plan is the Illinois General Assembly. The district is already anticipating receiving less money in state aid for the upcoming school year.
Farmers selling harvest at many local markets
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Barb Pondelick of Sycamore plants zucchini Tuesday in a field at her parents’ farm in Maple Park. Produce from the family-owned Theis Farm II is sold at farmers markets in Aurora, Genoa, DeKalb and Sycamore. By STEPHANIE HICKMAN
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shickman@shawmedia.com Barb Pondelick has no problem staying busy during the summer. While running her family’s store at Theis Farm II, 6N953 County Line Road in Maple Park, she sneaks into the fields in between customers to get planting done for the upcoming farmers markets. The list of items Theis Farm offers continues to grow this time of year as she prepares to sell her harvest in Aurora, Genoa, DeKalb and Sycamore throughout the summer. “It’s just a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation that people don’t necessarily think about,” she said.
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Pondelick is among several local farmers, businesses and community members who will set up shop at DeKalb County’s farmers markets in the coming weeks. The three area farmers markets will host about 75 vendors combined this season. Farmers markets have gained popularity over the years as many people are becoming more conscious of where their food comes from and just how healthy it is.
The ASSOCIATED PRESS MOORE, Okla. – Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children. Scientists concluded the storm was a rare and extraordinarily powerful type of twister known as an EF5, ranking it at the top of the scale used to measure tornado strength. Those twisters are capable of lifting reinforced buildings off the ground, hurling cars like missiles and stripping trees completely free of bark. Residents of Moore began returning to their homes a day after the tornado smashed some neighborhoods into jagged wood scraps and gnarled pieces of metal. In place of their houses, many families found only empty lots. After nearly 24 hours of searching, the fire chief said he was confident there were no more bodies or survivors in the rubble. “I’m 98 percent sure we’re good,” Gary Bird said at a news conference with the governor, who had just completed an aerial tour of the disaster zone. Authorities were so focused on the search effort that they had yet to establish the full scope of damage along the storm’s long, ruinous path. They did not know how many homes were gone or how many families had been displaced. Emergency crews had trouble navigating devastated neighborhoods because there were no street signs left. Some rescuers used smartphones or GPS devices to guide them through areas with no recognizable landmarks. The death toll was revised downward from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion. More than 200 people were treated at area hospitals. By Tuesday afternoon, every damaged home had been searched at least once, Bird said. The fire chief was hopeful searching could be completed before nightfall, but the work was being hampered by rain. Crews also continued a brick-by-brick search of the rubble of a school that was blown apart with many children inside.
“The pendulum is kind of swinging back in favor of farm stands,” Pondelick said. “It is nice to see we are starting to be appreciated more.” Lindsey Engelsman, who coordinates DeKalb’s annual market through Re:New DeKalb, said she also has noticed a trend of more people shopping through local farmers. With every national food recall, Engelsman said, people are becoming more aware of what they are consuming. “Knowing what field that melon came out of and who picked it ... there’s a little bit more peace of mind when you’re going to purchase those vegetables,” she said.
See FRESH, page A4
AP photo
Justin Stehan salvages photographs from his tornado-ravaged home Tuesday in Moore, Okla.
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