From: lastrefuge.geo
To: againstslaughter@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 11:35 AM
Subject: [againstslaughter] DeKalb

DeKalb is a town surrounded by farms, ranches, and a lot of horses.  The town is primarily supported by Monsanto and side trade generated by NIU. The county Farm Bureau sits in a magnificent brick building that has to be worth in excess of 400,000. Fanciest farm bureau building I've ever seen. There is a tie between that farm bureau and the old holding company for Cavel, and interesting duplication of names on the bureau roster and the city council.

The people seem nice and most state they did not know Cavel was there until it burnt. Cavel survived for years by being quiet and out of the way. Now that the word is out they are accelerating the build, hoping to get it open and running so we will all go away. True evil wants no notoriety, it thrives in secrecy.

The park was beautiful and the facilities were fantastic. Picture a rolling park setting with a pavilion, and clamshell amphitheater with ample seating for 100s of people. The pavilion had a fire place, restrooms, an indoor meeting room and a kitchen. We set it up into various areas that I will describe in the next post.

The police were friendly and seemed interested in the why and wherefores of what we were doing. The workers at Walmart and the Dollar Store were vocally in favor of the vigil and passing the information out to their customers. The local Pizza Hut donated pizza, and another establishment supplied drinks. It was very clear that they did not want Cavel to reopen and were looking for guidance in how to keep it from happening.

Over and over again was the refrain "This is terrible, this must not happen. Help us stop it please".

Angela had certainly prepared the town, everyone knew her name and what she was trying to do. I heard nothing negative from anyone as we finalized shopping, picking up grab bags, buying those small items we always forget till the last moment and heading to the park.

Carol