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.

Many NIU students come from the Chicago metropolitan area and are accustomed to the Regional Transit Authority's comprehensive public transportation network, and go into shock when they discover there is nothing comparable in DeKalb County.

Near Chicago, there are Chicago Transit Authority trains and buses in the city and inner ring of suburbs, Pace buses in the outer suburbs, and Metra commuter trains running throughout the region. DeKalb only has the Huskie Line of buses paid for with student fees and the Green Line of buses TransVAC operates with subsidies from the City of DeKalb.

Most of the NIU students dependent on the Huskie Line, however, have never heard of TransVAC or the Green Line, and many who have heard of the service are under the impression it only operates during the Winter & Spring Breaks, when the Huskie Line is not in operation.

In actuality, it runs year-round from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on major holidays. Explaining the history of TransVAC, Assistant Transportation Director Ellen Rogers said, "TransVAC is what is called a ‘para-transit service,' and is an outgrowth of the Voluntary Action Center (VAC), a social service agency that has been in existence since 1974," she said. "We operate in cooperation with the City of DeKalb, the Green Line, which has established stops like the Huskie Line."

"The Green Line really began a little over two years ago when the Huskie Line had cutbacks," Rogers said. "There were pockets in DeKalb that were formerly served by the Huskie Line that no longer are served, and we certainly understand that the Huskie Line is paid for out of student fees. We've been able to make up the service on the south side of DeKalb, but unfortunately not in Sycamore, and we don't run on weekends."

The door to door service charges a $1.50 fare each way for the able-bodied, but this sum is only a suggested donation for the elderly and disabled. The service is only available to begin with because of the Federal Government's 5311 grant, which subsidizes rural transportation. The Illinois Department of Transportation disburses these funds to the City of DeKalb, which then provides the money to TransVAC.

"Not every rural area has been fortunate enough to get this money, so DeKalb is lucky," Rogers explained. There is a 50 cent fare to ride the Green Line because the Green Line is not financed through the 5311 grant. Instead, the Green Line service is subsidized by the City of DeKalb.

"Many towns of DeKalb's size don't have public transportation networks at all, so it says something about the town that they have made the commitment to subsidize the Green Line," said Rogers. If the town has been slow to advertise the service, she continued, it is because the service is still in an experimental stage.

To coordinate transportation in the town, Tom Zucker, Executive Transportation Director of TransVAC, meets with Charlie Bautista from the Huskie Line and Rick Clark, Director of University Programming and Activities.

"It is difficult to estimate transportation needs. In Ogle County out west, they say they're fine [transportation-wise], but they're not. Since there isn't any service there, they don't know they need it," Rogers said.

A major development in financing public transportation will come about as a result of DeKalb, Sycamore, and Cortland's combined population having climbed over 50,000 people, according to the latest census figures.

"By law, the City of DeKalb, Sycamore, and Cortland will have to be declared a metropolitan area to receive and spend federal money. By virtue of having the Huskie Line, one of the largest public transportation systems in the state, NIU will be part of the MPO [Metropolitan Planning Organization]," Ray Bachman, the DeKalb County Board's County Administrator, said.

Going a step further, Eileen Dubin, DeKalb County Board Member for the eighth district, advocates the DeKalb County Board creating a Regional Planning Commission. Dubin said this body would make long range plans for a wide range of issues, including land use, transportation, urban and rural development and waste disposal for all the towns and townships in the county.

To realize this goal, she wants the budget, which will be determined later this month, to include money for a feasibility study.

"A lot of the lower-paying jobs in the region are attracting a diverse population who need public transportation," Dubin said, or else some of the workers must get illegal drivers licenses to commute.

Only about half the members of the Landlord-Tenant Rights Fact-Finding Committee convened for a scheduled meeting with City Attorney Margo Ely on Friday afternoon.

As a result of this failure to make a quorum, the task force will have to meet again Tuesday at 1 p.m. at City Hall to make a handbook recommendation to the DeKalb City Council.

It had appeared that the Landlord-Tenant Rights Ordinance had passed at the city council meeting on Monday, Oct. 22 and only the associated model lease and handbook had to be approved on Oct. 26, but the law did not pass as Mayor Greg Sparrow believed, because of a legal technicality.

Sparrow had assumed that 7th Ward Ald. Joe Sonsowski's vote to abstain counted as a vote for the majority, but abstentions are not counted as being majority votes in cases where the city council votes to pass a bill on its first reading. As a result, the bill will have a second reading on Monday, Nov. 13, at which time the council also will be able to decide on the model lease and handbook.

At Friday afternoon's meeting, the fact-finding committee was due to review both the proposed model lease and proposed handbook and make a recommendation to the DeKalb City Council. The lease and handbook are due to be voted on as a resolution, separate from, but associated with the Landlord-Tenant Rights ordinance. Since only about half the committee members attended the meeting, they agreed to review the model lease and meet a second time before Nov. 13 to discuss the handbook.

On the ordinance itself, committee member and President of Horizon Management Susan McMaster informed everyone that she would talk to the aldermen individually on or before Nov. 13 about changing the way fines are to be imposed in the Landlord-Tenants Rights bill.

As it is written, if a landlord knowingly enforces a provision prohibited by the proposed law or continues to include such provisions in new leases after receiving notice, an affected tenant can keep a month's rent and judges may fine the landlord for compensatory damages payable to the tenant.

"This is the first time in the municipal code that the city isn't collecting fines," McMaster said.

Henderson and Ely disagreed, pointing out that individuals can already collect fines in towing violation cases.

McMaster was concerned that when the city collects fines, the city uses considerable discretion, but high fines might be imposed if judges know the money is going directly to the tenants. She also expressed concern that the word "knowingly" is vague and would be difficult to substantiate.

Dr. Guadalupe Luna, an associate professor of law at NIU, said the word "knowingly" is defined by case law. Luna also joined Henderson, Ely and law student Edwin Trinta in saying that "notice" is a term that generally implies receipt of a written document.

The first draft of the landlord-tenant agreement was created by Student's' Legal Assistance last December, and sponsored in the DeKalb City Council by 5th Ward Ald. Pat Conboy, who had been the founding director of Students' Legal Assistance, and former 6th Ward Ald. Aaron Raffel. Former Mayor Bessie Chronopoulos intervened at that point, forming a fact-finding committee after local landlords expressed concern over not being involved in the process.

Erin Bell lives in a world where the simplest sounds such as a bird's chirping or the roar of the ocean's waves can't be heard.

Bell, a sophomore deaf education major and Deaf Pride president, has been deaf since birth, but she has a positive outlook about her condition.

"I am proud to be deaf," Bell said.

Bell, who is the middle child to parents Dorothy and David Bell, has had a lot of support from her entire family.

"Being deaf hasn't been that hard for me because my parents have supported me all my life," she said. "My brothers, Tyler and Eric, have been such an encouragement to me, also."

Bell said growing up deaf was especially a challenge in high school, but she doesn't complain about it.

"There were a lot of kids that would make fun of me because I wasn't like them," Bell said. "What those kids didn't realize is that I really am just like them."

She also said that growing up with this ridicule would get her into trouble at times.

"I would get so frustrated that people couldn't understand me that I would sometimes fight," Bell said. "It wasn't until later that I realized being deaf is special, and I just accepted it."

During high school, Bell said that being on the pom squad helped her get along with others and help them realize that she wasn't handicapped.

"I was in the pom squad for all four years of high school," Bell said. "Being on the squad proved to everyone else that I could do what I wanted to do. This broke the barrier between hearing people and me."

As Bell reflects on the world, she said that she wouldn't want to change too much in her life.

"The only thing I would want to see changed in society is people's thoughts about deafness," Bell said. "We really aren't different at all."

Anita Zgoda, a sophomore political science major, lives on Bell's floor.

"Erin is such a fun person to hang out with," Zgoda said. "She puts a smile on everyone's face."

Marta Laskus, a senior deaf education major who also lives on Bell's floor, agreed.

"She is very willing and open to help people enhance their sign skills," Laskus said. "I am proud to think of her as a friend."