Top Stories of 2005: Life in DeKalb CountyTurkey tale named No. 1

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Editor's note: Today brings the third installment in the Chronicle's annual top-stories-of-the-year lists. Below are the top 10 human-interest stories from 2005, as selected by Chronicle news staff.

Sycamore man's fowl love affair SYCAMORE - Randy Schaff has a menagerie of pets, which could put him in the doghouse. He keeps turkeys, chickens, ducks, peacocks, pheasants and quails on his farmette on North First Street near Route 64. He also has three dogs and a parrot. He said he is repeatedly warned about keeping his animals off the road. DeKalb County sheriff's deputies are familiar with the turkeys - the deputies are the ones who get the call when the turkeys roam off Schaff's property. Just before Thanksgiving, Schaff said he kept track of his 22 turkeys to make sure none of them ended up being served on a platter. The turkeys often got into the road, which got him in trouble with police. Last summer, he was fined after his four peafowl were getting onto his neighbor's property. Schaff said that after Thanksgiving, his turkeys again got on the road and an off-duty deputy called it to his attention. That's when he chose to surround the turkeys' brood house with an 8-foot-tall chain link fence with netting over it. His turkeys, he said, would no longer be seen wandering in a ditch near the road. Though those turkeys won't be greeting him at his truck's door, he's added two new poults to his flock - a Narragansett and a black Spanish - which greet him indoors. He hatched the now-8-week-old turkeys, which roam his house and hang out in his home office with his African gray parrot, Tasha. His three dogs also are accustomed to the birds. Schaff said he doubts the birds will be outside anytime soon because they still don't have their feathers. &#8220I don't know what I'm going to do with them,” Schaff said Wednesday. &#8220They're real tame.”

Pitching an RV at Camp Wal-Mart DeKALB - Betty May of Yuma, Ariz., found an unlikely place to stay Aug. 23 when traveling through the area in her RV - Wal-Mart Supercenter's parking lot. The 77-year-old had stayed in 86 Wal-Mart parking lots the year before and used the DeKalb location, at 2300 Sycamore Road, as a resting point between her travels in Michigan and a trip to Beloit. Although hers was the only RV in the lot that evening, dozens others have stayed at night there this summer and during previous summers. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton began allowing people to stay in Wal-Mart parking lots decades ago. May said that while she travels, she seeks out Wal-Marts to rest at because they are well-lit and free and she has access to any supplies she'll need.

‘Caps 4 Sam' DeKALB - When 10-year-old Sam Ihm of DeKalb learned he had a brain tumor, he didn't feel scared. Instead, he started a headgear trend with &#8220Caps 4 Sam” ski caps. In January, he had the nonmalignant, 1-inch tumor removed at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. But even before he went in for surgery, he was so impressed with the help and kindness he received that he and his family wanted to do something so the hospital could help other children, he said. The $10 caps, which were the first in the &#8220Caps 4 Sam” line of orange-lettered, embroidered merchandise, were started as a way to raise money for brain tumor research and treatment at the hospital. The line now also includes baseball caps, visors and rubber bracelets. Sam's family and local retailers helped sell the ski caps, which brought in $10,000. Sam, now 11, missed last year's basketball season, but the fifth-grader is back on the court this season. He's playing on a team called The Heat, and he wears No. 4. His grandfather's business, SunCatcher Productions, sponsored the team on behalf of &#8220Caps 4 Sam,” which is emblazoned on the team's shirts. In February, the DeKalb High School team honored him at a &#8220Barbs 4 Sam” night. In October, Sam had a clean MRI. &#8220They couldn't see any evidence of a new tumor or any tumor growth,” his mother, Patty Ihm, said. His family has continued to sell merchandise and plans on donating a few more thousand dollars next year. A family walk to raise funds is tentatively planned for this spring, his mother said.

Community helps ‘Mr. Pumpkin' SYCAMORE - When Hurricane Katrina destroyed the home of the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival's founder, the community rallied to help him out. Wally &#8220Mr. Pumpkin” Thurow, a former Sycamore resident who started the festival in the 1950s, fled his Slidell, La., home with his wife, Janet, shortly before the hurricane destroyed the area. They journeyed to DeKalb County and stayed with friends while figuring out what to do. They brought with them more than 40 years' worth of Pumpkin Festival photographs and memorabilia, some changes of clothing and a few personal belongings. The couple, who are in their late 70s, lost everything else. Community members provided them shelter while they were here, held raffles, gave benefit dinners for them and collected money for them. A group of locals also journeyed to Slidell to help the Thurows attempt to salvage belongings and begin reconstructing the home. The American Red Cross provided the couple a trailer in North Fort Myers, Fla., to live in while their home is under construction.

8-year-old dives into pool to save his sister DeKALB - Eight-year-old Jordan Keck of DeKalb became his family's hero when he saved his sister from drowning. On June 29, the family visited friends in Rochelle who have a pool. When leaving the water, Jordan realized his 3-year-old sister, Jolie, was lying at the bottom of the pool. She had been wearing a suit with built-in foam pockets that act as a life vest, but must have taken it off while her mother, Jackie Keck, looked away to feed another child. Jordan immediately dove into the pool, brought the unresponsive child to the surface and called for his mother, a nurse at Valley West Community Hospital in Sandwich. Jackie Keck got Jolie breathing again. Emergency services personnel took the girl to Kishwaukee Community Hospital. She was released the next day in good condition but still a little frightened. Jackie Keck said her son is an &#8220inquisitive boy” who's great with his siblings. She also called him a hero.

Police aid marriage proposal DeKALB - The DeKalb Police Department had a hand in the marriage of Kristina Hauch and Ryan Brown on Dec. 10. Officers from the department helped Brown, 21, ask Hauch, 22, on Feb. 4 to marry him. The Rockford couple, who are both students at Northern Illinois University, had been dating for about four years when Brown asked local police for the help. He wanted to propose in a unique way and had police stop Hauch's car on Hillcrest Drive for a bogus traffic charge. She was nervous but cooperated and took field sobriety tests for a video the department was supposedly making. Brown also took the test, but when it was his turn to pick a coin off the ground, he got on one knee and pulled out a ring. His idea was so distinctive that the couple were flown to New York City on Valentine's Day and appeared on &#8220Good Morning America.” They were married at Northeast Christian Church in Rockford exactly five years after their first date, Hauch said. They didn't show the video of the ABC television program, but a slide show at the reception included photos taken by police. Both plan on graduating from NIU in May.

10-year-old karate instructor SYCAMORE - When one pictures a martial arts instructor, Pat Morita or David Carradine may be more likely to come to mind than a 10-year-old girl. But 10-year-old Dana Hienbucher of Sycamore was certified in September as the first junior martial arts instructor at the Karate Institute in DeKalb. Head instructor Andrew Torok said the quiet, laid-back fifth-grader helps teach lower-belt classes and do one-on-one tournament training. &#8220She's pretty intense,” Torok said. &#8220It might take her a while to work on a skill, but once she's processed it in her own way, she's got it down.” In addition to being a disciplined student, Dana is a fierce competitor. In two and a half years of competition, she has claimed nearly 50 trophies. &#8220She came back with a trophy after her first (competition) and she was hooked,” her father, Ron, said. Dana said that one day she hopes to open her own martial arts academy with her sister, who is 5 years old and also studies at the Karate Institute.

New animal shelter opens DeKALB - Hundreds of people, local politicians and Benji, the movie-star dog, turned out for the opening of a new animal shelter in May. TAILS (Taking Animals Into Loving Shelter) Humane Society opened its 6,100-square-foot facility at 2250 Barber Greene Road, just west of Peace Road, on May 7, after six years of fund raising and planning. Its opening-day celebration included visits from state Sen. Brad Burzynski, state Rep. Bob Pritchard and Benji, a former shelter dog who has starred in several movies. The idea for the facility was hatched in 1999 after a group of local animal lovers saw a need for additional space to house abandoned, neglected and injured animals. The only shelter in the county at the time was in rural Genoa. The group conducted numerous fund-raisers to build the facility, which has room for 50 dogs; 120 cats and rabbits; babies of small, wild mammals; and songbirds. Since the facility's opening, the organization has found homes for 630 animals, said Beth Drake, the shelter's executive director.

County residents help in Katrina cleanup Dozens of DeKalb County residents reached out to do what they could to help out the Gulf Coast area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August. At least 20 area firefighters were sent down as part of the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, an intergovernmental agency. Around 600 firefighters from Illinois joined others from New York and Maryland. They helped rebuild fire stations and clean up homes. Police officers, such as DeKalb Police officer Burt Johnson, were among the 300 Illinois police officers sent by the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System, as help requested by the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Local ham radio operators helped in Mississippi. Members from TAILS and SAFARI rescued animals left behind by their owners. Those who didn't help there in person did what they could here. Hundreds of boxes and bags of toiletries, cleaning supplies and food were collected by area schoolchildren, churches and the general public to send down south. Volunteers drove trucks filled with the donated items to Mississippi and Alabama.

Somonauk rallies behind 17-year-old SOMONAUK - When 17-year-old Richard Kossak fell ill with a life-threatening infection, his family did not expect the outpouring of support it received from the small town. &#8220My biggest fear about moving to a small town was that if you were not born and raised there, you would be considered an outsider,” Richard's mother, Cheri, said. &#8220But they literally wrapped their arms around us.” Richard came down with strep pneumonia in early March. Within a week, the infection had spread throughout his body and caused his lungs, kidneys and heart to shut down. In April, the teen began to recover after receiving a life-saving heart transplant. In the meantime, the Kossaks' friends Larry and Christi Gibson started a fund-raising group called Miracles Happen to offset the family's expenses. As of early September, the group had raised more than $30,000 for the Kossaks, and donations were continuing to come in.