Being deaf is no problem for Elzbieta Dynda, a senior management major and first place winner in the Miss Deaf Illinois pageant.

"I accept who I am," Dynda said. "I am proud of being deaf no matter what."

The hearing world and deaf world are seen as equal to Dynda. She was born in Poland and moved to the U.S. when she was five years old and has been deaf all of her life.

"The cause of my deafness is unknown," Dynda said. "My parents, Walter and Anna, found out that I was deaf a few weeks later, after I was born."

Dynda said being deaf is normal to her.

"All I know is that I can't hear everything that people talk about," Dynda said. "I get to miss all the rumors that people like to spread around.

"I do wear hearing aids, but that doesn't mean I can understand people talking without reading their lips," she added. "I don't necessarily feel special being deaf. I feel equal to hearing people because I have grown up in the hearing world," Dynda adds.

Dynda loves her deaf friends and enjoys learning new things from them.

"It is great to socialize with deaf people and learn from each other, who we are and where we are from in our deaf culture," Dynada said. "We learn from each other all we can to help and improve our culture."

Marta Laskus, a senior deaf education major, believes that Dynda has brought a lot to deaf awareness.

"Elzbieta has really worked hard and has been very successful," Laskus said. "This is evident by her accomplishments as Miss Deaf Illinois."

Dynda never really had any ridicule or hardships in her life related to deafness.

"I never had anyone make fun of me in my life. I have had a wonderful life, and I mostly socialized with hearing people in middle and high schools, and also college students who treat me as equal, like other people," Dynda said.

Dynda will reign as Miss Deaf Illinois for three years straight, 2001-2003. As Miss Deaf Illinois she has to give a lot of presentations pertaining to education of deaf people.

"Being Miss Deaf Illinois has given me a great opportunity to educate deaf people about writing, English and grammar," Dynda said.

Next year, Dynda plans to run for Miss Deaf America. It is between 25 to 35 states that have Miss Deaf State run for Miss Deaf America.

Freshman business major Danielle Young attended last year's pageant.

"Elzbieta was sensational!" Young said. "She is a great compliment to the deaf culture."

Dynda believes that deaf awareness is a great event that people can go to and learn about the deaf culture.

"I encourage hearing people and deaf people to go and learn about deaf culture," Dynda said. "Exploring the deaf culture is an experience that every hearing person should be exposed to."

Horizon Management president Susan McMaster resigned her position on the landlord-tenant fact-finding committee during Tuesday afternoon's meeting at the DeKalb Municipal Building.

McMaster said she made her decision because she felt criticized for voicing the concerns of small landlords who opposed the controversial access clause provision of the landlord-tenant rights ordinance.

"I resigned from the task force today because the attacks have gotten personal," McMaster said. "When I was asked to serve on this task force, I understood my role to be a representative of the landlord community. Horizon Management doesn't own property, and a lot of landlords know me. They felt comfortable coming in and talking to me about their concerns.

"I took [this] role very seriously, but somewhere down the line, what happened was that the press, tenants and other people assumed all the concerns I brought up were the concerns of Horizon Management or my concerns. In many, many cases, they weren't. It's as if other people made the snowballs and I was the one who threw them."

The fact-finding committee was created by former Mayor Bessie Chronopoulos last year when 5th Ward Ald. Pat Conboy and former 6th Ward Ald. Aaron Raffel co-sponsored a landlord-tenant rights bill during a City Council meeting. Several local landlords objected that they had not been consulted for the project.

The proposed ordinance was thought to have passed on its first reading at the Oct. 22 meeting, but, as it turned out, Mayor Greg Sparrow was mistaken in believing that 7th Ward Ald. Joe Sosnowski's abstention counted as a vote with the majority.

McMaster had expressed concerns that landlords wanted explicitly defined exceptions to the one-hour access clause, which requires landlords to give at least one hour's notice before entering a tenant's property in non-emergency situations.

Committee member Don Henderson, director of NIU Students' Legal Assistance, said he regretted McMaster's decision to resign.

"I believe she was a positive contributor to the committee," Henderson said. "She, from my point of view, operated in good faith. I believe she, equal among all others, was responsible for the work of the committee. It is ironic that the further work of the task force was done to resolve concerns raised about the one-hour notice provision led to her resignation."

McMaster said her organization will comply with the ordinance if it is passed.

"We shouldn't be the scapegoats or labeled ‘the landlord opposition' to this going through," she said. "I was in a moderate position going into this. I have maintained the same position throughout. I'm not the enemy."

The remainder of the meeting was devoted to fine-tuning the ordinance, lease and handbook.

Copies of the ordinance are available at www.cityofdekalb.com.

City attorney Margo Ely said the last task force meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, two hours before the bill will have its second reading before the DeKalb City Council.

"This is it," said Glen Hofer, landlord and committee member. "It's over. It will become law."

With cold weather just around the corner and the economy falling on potentially hard times, some residents of DeKalb and Kane Counties will be in need of assistance in paying winter energy bills.

Hoping to assist these residents is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a program that is sponsored by Community Contacts, Inc., based in Geneva. Lynne McLaughlin, the Energy Assistance Coordinator for Community Contacts, said that she has noticed an increase in applications since last year. The program has recieved approximately 5,900 applications from both DeKalb and Kane County residents.

The money that LIHEAP gives to residents is designed to help them pay for both heating and energy bills.

"We've noticed that more families are coming in who are on unemployment. It's across the board," McLaughlin said, adding that since the application process for the elderly and disabled began in September, and for residents beginning on Nov. 1, it is too early to tell exactly how much of an increase there is.

Eligibility for the program is determined by the total gross income of the household for the previous 30 days. The minimum income is set by state legislators. This year, for a one person house, the minimum income is $1,074, a two- person house has a minimum of $1,451 and for three people, it's $1,828.

LIHEAP's budget has gone down from $2.8 million last year to about $2.25 million, which could be a reflection of how much money is in the nation's capital right now, McLaughlin said.

LIHEAP is designed to help income-eligible households with a grant to help meet winter energy costs and is open to both homeowners and renters. It operates in both DeKalb and Kane Counties and is administered throughout Illinois by the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. It is a not-for-profit operation that receives both state and federal funding.