Dixon stuck with Crundwell legacy for now
I would like to nominate Rita Crundwell as Dixon’s person of the year. Who else did more to put our town on the map in 2012? Unfortunately, no one. I wish it weren’t true, but we must face the truth. She has made Dixon famous.
Of course, this nomination is not for her good works. We all know the story by now. As city comptroller, she ripped off the city of Dixon to a tune of $53 million. We’ll see very little, if any, of that money.
Her notoriety has spread across the state and the Midwest. Friends of mine were on a cruise through the Panama Canal this past year, and they heard people talking about Rita all the way down there.
If you consider what makes Dixon unique, what Rita Crundwell did to the city is unparalleled when you take into account our community’s size. If you divide $53 million into 16,000, you get about $3,312 a person. Wow.
Right now, Dixon is known nationally for two things – boyhood home of Ronald Reagan, and Rita Crundwell. Wish the latter were not true, but there’s no changing the fact. We’ll be known for a long time as the town that someone stole a lot money from.
