American Indian tribe Prairie Band Potawotomi still plans to bring a casino to Shabbona, tribe spokesman Jim McCarthy said.

The tribe is trying to re-establish what it thinks is its land near the small town in southern DeKalb County.

"They are having dialogue with the [Illinois] governor’s office to move that process forward," McCarthy said.

Brad Hahn, a spokesman from Congressman Dennis Hastert’s office, said the tribe contacted the Department of the Interior with the proposal about three years ago. It has not heard from the tribe since then, he said.

McCarthy said John Leshy of the Department of the Interior sent a letter to Hastert and Gov. Rod Blagojevich stating that the land belonged to the tribe.

A former official in the Department of the Interior originally said the land belonged to the tribe and it was free to build a casino on it. That official did not have the authority to do that, Hahn said.

"There has been no communication since," he said. "There are still a lot of questions."

The tribe first lost its Illinois reservation in the 1840s. While the band was in Kansas, being forced out of its land there, people claimed the tribe abandoned its land in Illinois. The former Office of Indian Affairs didn’t conduct an investigation, and the land then was sold at a public auction.

When the tribe returned to Illinois, it discovered its land was sold illegally and was forced out of the reservation.

Since then, the tribe has tried unsuccessfully to regain its land.

The tribe in Kansas built a casino on its land, and the casino has proved to be a very positive source of income there, McCarthy said. The casino helped bring jobs into the area, and other area businesses also were able to profit.

McCarthy said he doesn’t see a problem with business, even though there is a casino nearby in Aurora.

Shabbona Mayor Claudia Hicks said the tribe is not required to go to the village board to bring the casino to the town.

"We haven’t had any communication with the tribe," she said.

She also said no community members have gotten too upset about the possibility of having a casino nearby.

McCarthy said he has heard a variety of reaction from the community, most being very encouraging.

"It will make more jobs and better infrastructure," he said.

Also, the profits the casino makes will be given back to the community. The tribe does not keep the money, he said.

Karen Eliot, an associate professor of dance at Ohio State University, will give two presentations this week as part of Women’s History Month. They are sponsored by NIU’s Women’s Studies Program and the Graduate Colloquium Committee.

Tuesday’s speech, “Lives and Livelihoods: Six Women Dancers from the 18th Century to the Present,” will examine the lives and careers of several dancers across Europe and the United States. The speech will be given at 7:30 p.m. at Neptune Central’s Northeast and Southeast Meeting Rooms.

“I am interested in what is left out of the history texts since most of the time we hear only about stars or dancers who are notorious in some way,” said Eliot, a former dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

The presentation is meant to remind everyone that history is made by the changes made daily in the dance studio as well as the bigger ones made onstage, Eliot said.

Among the dancers discussed will be Tamara Karsavina, a Russian ballerina who also was a working mother and writer; Moira Shearer, a ballerina who performed in movies during the 1940s and 1950s; and Catherine Kerr, a modern dancer and colleague in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Eliot said.

Eliot, who has a Ph.D. in English, will give a second seminar, “Careers in English and Dance,” at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Reavis Hall, Room 211. She will discuss her experiences with the two careers and advise students who are looking to combine them.

“I think students who have multifaceted, rich lives and who hope to explore a number of different career opportunities may want to hear about my ongoing efforts to pursue both careers and my continual balancing of one lifelong interest with another,” Eliot said.

Even with an additional Class A liquor license, DeKalb still would have fewer bars and liquor stores by population than other Illinois college towns.

Currently, there are 16 liquor licenses held in DeKalb, but one may be added after the city’s special census is completed.

In the 2000 census, DeKalb had a population of just more than 39,000. DeKalb’s liquor ordinance allows for a 17th license if the city tops 40,000 people and an additional license for every 5,000 additional residents.

Signs point to DeKalb surpassing 40,000 once the census is complete next month, DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said, but an additional license is not guaranteed. In 1992, the city surpassed 35,000 people and was in line for a 17th license, but the DeKalb City Council changed the ordinance to 40,000 people for a 17th license.

The desire for additional Class A licenses then was not as great as it is now, Sparrow said.

Dennis Radcliff, owner of Husky’s Bar & Grill, 1205 W. Lincoln Highway, has experienced the demand firsthand.

When he opened his restaurant in the fall, Radcliff said he was hoping to get a Class A license, but he was forced to get an E license because of the limitations.

For better or worse

Even if DeKalb does add a 17th license, it still would have fewer Class A equivalent licenses than other major college towns in Illinois. Class A equivalent licenses include bars and packaged liquor retailers.

In Champaign, a city with a population of just more than 67,500, the city has a limit set at 48 licenses for bars and 25 licenses for package sales or liquor stores. In neighboring Urbana, population 36,400, the city has issued 33 licenses to bars and liquor stores.

Even with more bars, Dustin Wesley, assistant manager at Clybourne in Champaign, said his bar does well.

“[Other bars] don’t really affect our business overall,” Wesley said.

In DeKalb, added licenses and added competition isn’t seen as a good idea by some current bar owners.

Nick Tsiftilis, owner of Starbusters Bar & Grill and Thirsty Liquors, 930 Pappas Drive, said DeKalb doesn’t have the customer base for many more bars or liquor stores.

“There’s not that much of a demand here [as compared to other communities],” Tsiftilis said. “If the bars in town had lines three, four nights a week, I would say ‘why not?’ I would open another one myself.”

One factor allowing more bar business in the other towns is the lower bar-entry age, Tsiftilis said. Both Champaign and Carbondale allow 19-year-olds into bars as long as they don’t drink alcohol.

A provision to allow 19- and 20-year-olds in DeKalb bars failed at the city council three years ago.

At the Pinch Penny Bar, one of the more popular student bars in Carbondale, owner Frank Karayiannis said allowing younger people to enter does bring more people to the bar, but he is doubtful that allowing more licenses in Carbondale would fare well for everyone in town.

Carbondale (population 20,681) has 15 bar licenses and another eight for liquor stores. That’s about as many as Karayiannis said he thinks the town can handle before people begin putting each other out of business.

Putting other bars out of business is something Sparrow said he does not want to see in DeKalb. Additional licenses could do that, he said, especially if someone comes in well-funded and is able to drive down prices to the point with which established bars can’t compete.

For Jeff Dobie, owner of Fatty’s Pub and Grill, 1312 W. Lincoln Highway, the argument for fewer liquor licenses goes beyond competition and into perception.

“You can’t have the town overrun with bars,” Dobie said. “It looks bad.”

Self-serving?

Radcliff argued that Class A bars are just trying to look out for their economic benefit when they say they don’t want more bars in town, Radcliff said.

“I’ve never been through anything like DeKalb,” said Radcliff, who has owned a bar outside of Charleston and lived in Champaign for many years, where many of his friends owned bars.

“They have no problems with business,” said Radcliff, about his friends in Champaign. “There’s no problem with so many of them down there.”

When or if a new license becomes available, Radcliff said he would be interested in it. He added that an additional license might put an end to the talks of licenses in town.

Sparrow agreed with Radcliff, saying that the discussion of liquor licenses is greater than it has been in his 20 years as mayor, Sparrow said. But that’s not necessarily bad, he added.

If bar owners know there is a desire for their license, they will work harder to abide by the rules, so as not to lose the coveted license, Sparrow said.

Three single people landed dates in the CHANCE program’s “Singled Out” game Wednesday night.

The show raised money for the CHANCE organization, a group that supports and cultivates the potential of students who might not meet one or more of the NIU admission criteria.

Poets, rappers, dancers and singers opened up the show in a talent competition.

Some of the performers included Danza Quence, a dancing group; rapper Sam-I-Am; and corporate communication major Candice Currie, who won the competition by singing a version of Tamia’s “You Put a Move On My Heart.”

“She has a real, deep, soulful voice,” said Sheila Bond, a freshman hospitality administration major.

She was chosen by the audience “Apollo-style,” meaning whoever the audience clapped loudest for won.

Special guest G-Mar sang next, picking out random women in the crowd and singing to them individually, much to the crowd’s pleasure.

Junior broadcast journalism major Careese Kearney emceed the program.

A single man or woman sat behind a screen while Kearney asked questions about their style, preferences, build and voice.

Contestants whose answers didn’t match up had to leave the stage.

The show ended with Aaron Dorfman, a sophomore music performance major, and Chris McBride, a sophomore music education major, playing Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood.”

The Army tied the Air Force in the 2004 “Toilet Bowl,” which was played on the east end of Huskie Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Since 1969, the Toilet Bowl, played prior to the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday, is the annual football game between members from the NIU Veterans Club. The Air Force and Army typically compete against the Marines and Navy.

Both teams receive a white toilet bowl signed with black and red permanent markers with scores from previous years.

Previous scores filled the toilet-seat trophy to the point where senior music education major and Army veteran Jennifer Webster said she is considering purchasing a new one.

This year’s game was different than in past years. Veterans of the Air Force played the Army because only one Navy veteran showed up for the event.

One Army veteran, sophomore business administration major Bill Frederickson, said he preferred playing football in the chilling snow to playing football in what he said he considered “the sands of hell” - the 135-degree temperatures of Iraq. Frederickson served six months in Iraq before being relieved in early August.

Playing on snowy, frozen ground roughly 42 yards in length and 30 yards in width, the two teams battled without turning over the ball once.

The Air Force took an injury break when Tony Marrero, a communication health-health administration major, went down with a bleeding nose. He was running down field when he took the ball in the face, said Darin Lilly, an Air Force teammate and senior business management major.

The teams tied, ending the game at 35-35.

A Woodridge man is being held at the DeKalb County Jail for his actions at a local day care center.

Charles F. Allen, 34, was arrested Tuesday after he entered Precious Kid Child Care in Sycamore and attempted to leave with his daughter, police said.

Allen, who is separated from his wife, is not allowed to pick up his daughter, but only visit her, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said.

When Allen attempted to leave with his 9-month-old daughter, an employee intervened. Allen allegedly shoved the employee out of the way, Scott said.

Allen then left the day care with his daughter. At the time he was leaving, the child’s mother arrived at the day care and got into the car with Allen.

Police said Allen then fled and drove “in a reckless manner” without securing the child in a car seat.

While fleeing, Allen also hit another vehicle. He then was persuaded by the child’s mother to return, Scott said.

Allen is being charged with aggravated battery, reckless driving, disorderly conduct and endangering the life of a child. He also was cited for operating an uninsured vehicle and failure to secure a child.

The aggravated battery charge stems from the fact that the victim of the attack was a child care worker, Scott said.

A Memphis children’s hospital is getting a big boost this year from NIU Greeks who have been fundraising for months.

Up ’til Dawn is a student-run college program dedicated to raising funds for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and educating people about serious pediatric illnesses, said Crystal Hoppe, president of NIU’s College Panhellenic Council.

The program has been raising money since last October, and has collected more than $10,000 so far, leading its respective collegiate division, Hoppe said.

This is the program’s first year at NIU, and seven NIU chapters are helping out. Hoppe credited St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital spokeswoman Brooke Weberling with bringing Up ’til Dawn to NIU after speaking with the CPC and Intrafraternity Council last year.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital specializes in finding cures for children with serious illnesses such as AIDS and cancer, according to the hospital’s Web site. Most of the hospital’s income comes from fundraising, Hoppe said.

Fundraising for Up ’til Dawn consists of several teams of participants writing letters to friends and family members asking for donations to St. Jude, Hoppe said. All proceeds go to the hospital and give the donor a chance to participate in the program’s final event at the end of the fundraising period.

The final event for program participants will start 9 p.m. Friday at the Student Recreation Center and will end at 5 a.m. Saturday. The fundraising total will be announced during the event, Hoppe said, and winners will receive prizes and certificates.

Students interested in learning more about Up ’til Dawn can call 800-822-6344, ext. 2039, or visit St. Jude’s Web site at www.stjude.org.

The DeKalb Fire Department is set to put a little bling-bling into its new ride, thanks, in part, to a federal grant.

The grant, as part of the 2003 Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, will award the department $96,805. The department plans on using the money to purchase equipment for a new rapid intervention vehicle, Fire Chief Lanny Russell said.

Items to be purchased include new air packs and portable radios for the vehicle.

“Everything is going to make the vehicle safer,” Russell said.

The new intervention vehicle was purchased last year with a similar $300,000 grant. The vehicle is set to arrive this summer and will replace the department’s current intervention vehicle, which Russell said “has seen its better days.”

“It’s being custom-built,” said Russell, of the vehicle. “It will help us keep current with technology.”

The vehicle will resemble a traditional fire engine, but lacks water or rescue ladders, said Bruce Harrison, assistant chief of operations. However, the vehicle will have more sophisticated equipment on board to better respond to non-fire emergencies, including traffic accidents and structure collapses.

Lt. Eric Hicks, who was one of 10 members on the committee responsible for designing the vehicle, said it will be the first vehicle the department has had with 100 percent new equipment.

DeKalb was one of 7,000 departments nationwide to receive funding from the grant program, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Nationwide, more than $750 million in grants were awarded.

The program is great, Russell said, adding that it benefits more than just the fire departments.

Being able to receive money without having to tax residents is an advantage, especially during times when many municipalities have to raise taxes to cover other costs, Russell said.

The Rev. Sandra Olewin, a Methodist missionary, came to DeKalb last Thursday as an emissary from a New Jersey-sized country that has seen 4,000 killings over the last three years.

Her stop was part of a six-month, 22-state lecture tour, “Living Under Military Occupation - What Americans Need to Know About the Israeli Occupation.” The tour’s purpose is to educate Americans and to help bring resolution to the turmoil in Israel.

The lecture began with Olewin sharing her experiences of living in Israel for the last seven years and working across the lines of religious denominations. She explained how she lived with and ministered to Palestinians over the last three years, sharing in their joys, discomforts and pain.

With her she brought a call for help from the community she lived with and a commission to greet the people of America by saying: “It is our common faith in God and in the love of Jesus Christ that binds us together to find a way across many oceans to work for a [peaceful] world where God’s reign is on earth as it is in heaven.”

Olewin said her community had been disappointed in the past when millions of Christian tourists would come to Israel, not knowing Palestinian Christians existed, or that they were under occupation, or what that really meant.

Since then, Olewin has made it her purpose to spread the stories of these people that are not being covered by traditional media. She believes if she can provide an understanding of life in Israel, it can aid the peace process.

“Very seldom do you see the daily reality the Palestinians are under and the pressure and violence they are living with on a daily basis,” Olewin said. “One of my big goals is to help these stories get out and to give life and voice to that.”

Olewin said the overriding reality for Israelis is a sense of fear of terrorist attacks surrounding every aspect of daily life. For the Palestinians, there also is fear, and an existence in which no aspect of daily life has gone unaffected due to military presence, curfews, roadblocks and the destruction of private property in cities surrounded by barbed wire. She said she believes both groups feel they are stuck and have no hope for peace.

“A good sign is people are starting to come together to meet and talk,” Olewin said.

A video was presented to illustrate the daily tragedy along with a seed of hope. The video documented a Palestinian family that was removed from its home with virtually no notice. The home was demolished by the Israelis. It was the fifth home lost by that family to demolition.

The video showed the cruelty and the loss experienced by the family. It also showed a small group of Israeli citizens who came to defend the family and, in the end, helped them rebuild their home.

The video informed the audience of the pressure and violence of daily life in Palestine and to show the possibilities for cooperation.

“If you put a video like this on ‘60 Minutes,’” said Craig Greenman, NIU philosophy professor, “it would change the entire U.S. foreign policy. People do not know the realities and the history of what is going on. If you give people the facts, they will make the right choice.”

A Shabbona man has been charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse stemming from an alleged incident that occurred several years ago.

DeKalb County Sheriff’s police arrested Ron Panttila, 40, of Shabbona on Friday afternoon. The victim told police the incident occurred several years ago.

Panttila is being held in DeKalb County Jail with bond set at $50,000.

Fred Anderson, a Delta Omicron Sigma fraternity member, uses the holiday season as an opportunity to help others through charity.

Toys for Tots is a U.S. Marine Corps program designed to help disadvantaged children during the holidays.

Delta Omicron Sigma, a national veterans fraternity, will be involved this year to help raise money and collect toys.

“We wanted to do some kind of community service,” Anderson said. “We figured that this would be a good fit for us.”

The fraternity thought supporting Toys for Tots would be a great idea because many of the brothers are Marine Corps veterans.

Toys for Tots campaigns are conducted in more than 450 communities in all 50 states each year. The campaigning usually lasts from October to Dec. 22. After Dec. 22, the organization prepares the toys for delivery.

Collections already began at NIU, and will be accepted until Dec. 20.

The Holmes Student Center’s south bus turnaround and the Campus Life Building have boxes where new toys can be dropped off.

There is no preference as to the types of toys donated, just as long as they are new and unwrapped, Anderson said.

The primary goal is to collect new, unwrapped toys and distribute them to children by Christmas. The organization also accepts monetary donations.

The community plays a big role in the process. Dan Gallagher, a community coordinator of Toys for Tots in DeKalb County, said almost $5,000 was collected last year.

Social service agencies call the community coordinators to advise them which and how many children are in need of help. Police and teachers also may be aware of children in need of assistance.

Sycamore, Genoa, Somonauk and Sandwich also are pulling together to help the organization in DeKalb County.

The organization urges the community to get involved to bring happiness to many children this year.

“Anybody who wants to be involved can,” Gallagher said.

For more information, or to make a donation, call Dan Gallagher at 815-784-2606 or Fred Anderson at 847-668-9858.

NIU’s Information Technology Services is changing the logon process for the university’s network systems.

“In an effort to improve security of systems at NIU, ITS will begin to enforce the use of eight-character alphanumeric passwords across all platforms beginning [today],” said Elizabeth Leake, associate director of ITS customer support services.

The decision to enforce the eight-character password resulted from a State of Illinois audit recommendation.

“NIU is audited because we are operated by the State of Illinois and must show proof of compliance with best practices and audit requirements on behalf of the taxpayers,” Leake said. “It isn’t being done as a result of an increased risk or occurrence. The risk always has been there. By enforcing a standard across all platforms, we hope to further improve the security and privacy of our patrons’ personal information.”

For those whose passwords do not follow the new standards, there is no need to rush out and get a new password just yet, Leake said.

“If you are currently using a password that doesn’t follow these guidelines, the next time your password is due to be changed, you will need to create an eight-character alphanumeric combination,” Leake said. “It doesn’t magically take place [today], but thereafter as new passwords are created.”

Enforcing the new passwords seems to have had little effect on students thus far.

“I haven’t heard anything about it,” sophomore management major Brian Kazmierski said. “It doesn’t seem like a big deal though. I’ll change it when I have to.”

When choosing a new password, Leake suggests avoiding common words, names, birthdays, addresses or other information that could be available to the public.

For those interested in changing their password, visit www.webfoyer.niu.edu. You must know your current password to get a new one. If you do not know your current password, call 752-7738.