Stories to remember from 2007 (continued 2)

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Club, county reach a truce Felix Villa, owner of Lee County's only strip club, Heartbreakers, hauled the County Board before a federal judge, alleging in his civil suit that it violated his constitutional rights by imposing ever-tougher zoning and liquor licensing regulations aimed solely at shutting him down. Before the court issued a ruling, Villa and the board struck a compromise, creating a new $30,000-per-year liquor license that allows the club on U.S. Route 30 to serve alcohol and packaged liquor and have topless dancers, while creating an industrial zoning "for the purpose of adult entertainment." Lee County officials said they will use the new license as a tool to ensure that Heartbreakers is following the rules. The compromise ended a six-year legal battle. Forreston wife, husband testify about veteran son's suicide Kim and Mike Bowman, of Forreston, whose son, Spc. Timothy Bowman, 23, took his own life eight months after returning from war, went to Washington in December to testify before Congress. They questioned why there is no comprehensive tracking system for tracking suicides of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and said more should be done for veterans with post traumatic stress disorder. Mike Bowman said his son, a member of Dixon's Bravo Troop, 106th Cavalry, an Illinois National Guard unit, is a member of the "unknown fallen," not counted in statistics. He considers him "KBA" - killed because of action. Tim patrolled a six-mile stretch of highway in Baghdad known as the "Highway of Death," and every day pitted him against snipers, suicide car bombs and booby traps. Between his own inability to face those demons, and his concern that asking for help would stigmatize him and jeopardize his military career, he turned to what appeared to be his only option - he shot himself on Thanksgiving day, 2005. "If the veteran suicide rate is not classified as an epidemic that needs immediate and drastic attention, then the American fighting soldier needs someone in Washington who thinks it is," Bowman told the members of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee at hearing on mental health issues and suicides among veterans. Dr. Ira Katz, the Department of Veterans Affairs' deputy chief patient care service officer for mental health, defended the work being done by his agency to tackle the issue, including implementing a suicide prevention hotline. Veterinarian, son killed in February crash Jennifer Thompson, an Amboy veterinarian, and her 4-year-old son, Samuel, died on Valentine's Day when their SUV was hit by a semi at Nachusa Road and U.S. Route 30, about three miles northwest of Amboy, around 8 a.m. Thompson, 35, was southbound on Nachusa with Samuel, 4, and son Charles, 1. She failed to stop at Route 30 and was struck by the semi, driven by Verl L. Koller, 54, of Coal Valley. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her sons were taken to KSB Hospital then flown to Rockford Memorial Hospital, where Samuel died. Charles, now 2, is back home. "He's got a nanny that takes care of him when I'm at work," said his father, Brad Thompson. "He's doing very well. He does therapy." Thompson had been a veterinarian for 10 years, and recently had purchased the Amboy Veterinary Clinic. She also is survived by daughters Grace and Mary. KSB expands its parking lot, adds elevator KSB Hospital took on one of the area's biggest infrastructure projects this year when spending $3.75 million on a parking lot renovation that lasted nearly eight months. Brown Construction, of Milledgeville, completed the two-level concrete parking deck at the intersection of Second Street and Crawford Avenue. The deck accommodates 360 patients and visitors, about 200 parking spaces more than before the expansion. All told, the hospital now has 450 parking spaces, including the surrounding lots on hospital property, which extends from Second Street and Dement Avenue to Ottawa Avenue and East River Road. The deck has a public address system that will play music on the lower level, 16 security cameras, the bulk of which are on the first level, and monitors in the emergency room. During construction, KSB spent about $250,000 on a shuttle and 12 valets. When work was over, hospital officials decided to keep one employee to park visitors' vehicles and another parking attendant to monitor the Commerce Towers lot. The project, which lasted from mid-March to early November, was funded by money from the hospital's operations budget and from loans. KSB took on another sizable project immediately afterward - installing a $1.5 million elevator on the west end of the hospital, near Commerce Towers. Sterling Schools referendum fails After months of educating the public of financial difficulties the school district faced, Sterling School District put a solution to voters, but the people rejected a property tax hike that would have boosted the district's education fund. A successful referendum would have brought $1.3 million a year to the district, which cut $300,000 from its budget to help stave off the $1.1 million projected deficit. After the failure, the district turned to the Sterling Schools Foundation, which started a fundraiser to raise money to support fine arts and high school sports, which are in danger of being cut. The money raised will be matched by the Dillon Foundation. In the meantime, the state Legislature passed a budget that would increase education funding enough to help Sterling avoid running a deficit. Schools still waiting for state money Local school districts received good news this summer when the state Legislature raised the foundation level, the amount of money it pays a district per student, by $400. For many districts with tight finances, the news means better balanced budgets. The governor has yet to sign the bill, officially unlocking the money, though. If he does not sign or veto the bill by Jan. 4, it will become law. East Coloma, Rock Falls Elementary District 13 and Sterling Schools all will have balanced education funds if the state money arrives. Sterling Schools would be the biggest winner - it would receive $1.3 million more this year than last, which would keep the district from running a deficit. If the money comes late, schools will miss out on interest income the money could have earned while sitting in the bank. Ogle County woman arrested in huge animal cruelty case In one of Illinois's worst animal-hoarding cases, a Rochelle-area woman was arrested in October after a search of her home turned up almost 300 cats, dogs and birds living in squalor. The county became aware of the situation after Barbara C. Munroe, 65, of rural Rochelle, failed to bring 35 of her dogs in for their rabies vaccinations. Lee County Animal Control had visited the home several times and found animals living in the house, in several outdoor pens and in three cars in the front yard, as well as hundreds of animal carcasses. Animal Control officials called the Lee County Assistant State's Attorney's office, and Munroe was taken for psychiatric evaluation and arrested. Volunteers and workers from TAILS Humane Society, in DeKalb, took most of her 106 dogs and 160 cats to an airplane hangar in DeKalb to be treated. The 31 birds were treated elsewhere. Saying her biggest concern was for her animals, Munroe forfeited them, and they eventually were adopted. She has pleaded not guilty to 10 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and not caring for her pets. She now is being evaluated for her fitness to stand trial, and a status hearing will be held Jan. 18. More bugs, bats Local hospitals and public health administrators went batty in 2007, the most rabid year in recent Illinois history. An unusually warm and humid summer spawned dense insect populations well into September and October, which supported lots of bats - bats in homes, bats in bars, bats in restaurants and bats in cars. Officials had a busy year answering calls to come trap the winged critters, which are the largest carriers of rabies. Lee County found four that tested positive; Whiteside County found three, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Most years, none turn up. Thanks to the ramped up bat-spotting efforts of animal control and environmental health departments, no people contracted the deadly virus, which attacks brain and nerve tissue, although a few did report tiny bites.