Birthdays for Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012

Sauk Valley Bank opens new branch

STERLING – Sauk Valley Bank newest branch is open at 3319 E. Lincolnway.

Drill

It was easy to get distracted by the performance of it all. The active shooter drill held by Sterling and County Police last week at the high school. The scenario; two armed shooters in the school killing students and teachers and the police and medical technician's response. It's an unfortunate drill, but a necessary one. In the hallways a Halloween mentality took over, especially when the ketchup-blood concoction was applied on the students. Small talk and "what I'm going to do" plans were passed around freely between laughs and odors of the sickly sweet blood stand-in. It was an odd contrast between real and imaginary, one I'm sure psychologists will explain to be a type of coping mechanism. I took these "portraits" of the injured and de