Photo: Doug Larson A banner marked with a line from the Northern Illinois University fight song is seen outside the NIU Convocation Center Sunday night in DeKalb. Inside, more than 10,000 people attended a memorial service for victims of the Feb. 14 shooting that left six people dead and 17 more injured. Photo: Jim Killam/The Northern Star Jim Killam The scene outside Cole Hall at Northern Illinois University this afternoon. Photo: The Moline Dispatch-Rock Island Argus/Paul Colletti Jaime Borda of Hoffman Estates (right) comforts a tearful Linda Alberty of DeKalb Thursday night on the Northern Illinois University Campus in DeKalb. Borda and Alberty were among the many students who gathered on different parts of campus to pray following the deadly shooting that took place Thursday afternoon. Also pictured are (from left) Sarah Payton, 21, of Hampshire, Christina Kouyoumdzoglou, 21, of Athens, Greece, and Brianna Tyler of Park Forest. Photo: Tom Sistak Students at St. Patrick School in Ottawa prayed for the victims of the shooting at Northern Illinois University, the shooter and their families during a special rosary service Friday morning. Photo: Katy Mull Pallbearers carry the casket of Northern Illinois University shooting victim Julianna Gehant at Holy Cross Cemetery on Wednesday. The Army veteran was buried with military honors. Photo: Doug Larson Northern Illinois University students, faculty, alumni and staff and DeKalb residents packed the university’s 10,000 seat Convocation Center Sunday night for a memorial service conducted in honor of the victims of the Feb. 14 campus shooting. Photo: Photo: Doug Larson Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. (center), attended Sunday’s Northern Illinois University memorial service but did not speak. His Senate colleague, Democrat Dick Durbin, spoke on behalf of Illinois’ Congressional delegation. Photo: Doug Larson “This past week, I have seen despair and I have seen hope,” said Northern Illinois University President John Peters at a memorial service Sunday for victims of the Feb. 14 shooting. “I have seen deep sorrow of the five victims’ families, but I have seen your courage and I have seen your strength. We are not alone. We are not islands but bridges. Bridges to each other and bridges to the world.” Photo: Doug Larson “This past week, I have seen despair and I have seen hope,” said Northern Illinois University President John Peters at a memorial service Sunday for victims of the Feb. 14 shooting. “I have seen deep sorrow of the five victims’ families, but I have seen your courage and I have seen your strength. We are not alone. We are not islands but bridges. Bridges to each other and bridges to the world.” Photo: Flood waters over the weekend followed by a quick freeze have created large blocks of ice along the Fox River in Ottawa. Cold temperatures are expected to linger through midweek, followed by a chance of snow Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Photo: doug larson Northpoint Cinema employees (from left) Robert Johnson, manager Kayla Kudrick and Jake Wiechman diligently work the final rush Thursday night, Feb. 21, 2008, after learning Wednesday the theater would close after Thursday's final screening. Northpoint showed six films that Thursday, all starting at 7 p.m. People who opted to see "Fool's Gold," with a run time of 113 minutes, were the last in their seats. Photo: Katy Mull Debbie Harkeshows off her car license plate, which reads "Leap Yr 1." The Ottawa resident was born Feb. 29 and therefore has a leap year birthday. When it's not Leap Year, she celebrates her birthday Feb. 28 and March 1. One year her son sent her flowers to her office the first day and balloons the second. Her husband joked she sometimes tries to extend her birthday to four or five days.

Valentine's Day 2008 was not so sweet at Northern Illinois University.

NIU graduate student Steve Kazmierczak opened fire in a lecture hall that day, killing five and injuring 18 before committing suicide. The university was closed for more than a week before reopening to students.

At first, officials planned to raze Cole Hall, where the incident took place, and replace it with a memorial. The plan would have entailed building a new facility, estimated at $40 million.

Later, however, that plan was scrapped and Cole Hall will be reconfigured to be used again, though the classroom where the shootings took place is not expected to remain intact.

Also in February, Illinois hosted an early primary as Democrats and Republicans fought to clear the field for the general election in November.

All eyes were particularly focused on U.S. Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., as they duked it out to see who would claim the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency that summer.

Both candidates had Illinois ties: Obama as the junior senator and Clinton a former resident, having grown up in the Chicago suburbs. But Obama took the state with almost 65 percent of the votes.

Other major races included the one to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris, who was vacating his seat in the 11th Congressional District. New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann won the Republican nomination over two challengers, but left the race just weeks later, citing personal reasons. His replacement, Marty Ozinga, faced Democratic party candidate Debbie Halvorson of Crete.

Locally, several political newcomers scored upsets. Chuck Borchsenius of Sheridan and Catherine Owens of Sandwich defeated La Salle County Board incumbents Ronald Johnson of Leland and Allen Erbrederis of Somonauk respectively during the Republican primary. Both Borchsenius and Owens went on to win their seats in the November election.

The election also included some historic moments. Cornell High School District voters took steps to dissolve their district and join the Flanagan School District, among the first schools in the state to take advantage of new legislation making it easier for school districts to merge.

Cornell High closed 20 years before and students already were enrolled at Flanagan High School, with the Cornell district paying tuition. With the consolidation, the two districts were officially joined and a new board elected.

Also, voters in the village of Grand Ridge overwhelmingly approved the sale of alcohol in the village limits, the first time alcohol will be sold there since the 1930s.

And La Salle County voters narrowed the field of Republican contenders to take a shot at being the first County Board chairman elected at large. Randy Freeman, Lostant, defeated Russel Boe, Ottawa, and Stephen Carlson, Mendota. Freeman lost to incumbent Jerry Hicks, D-Marseilles, in November.

Other February happenings included:

• James Alvarado was sentenced to 45 years in prison after being convicted of killing his wife, Angela, in their Streator home.
• Strange weather—bitter temperatures followed by bouts of rain—caused flooding. The temperature swings also wreaked havoc with roadways, creating a deluge of potholes that road crews scrambled to fill.
• Strong odors from the Landcomp Landfill on Dee Bennett Road plagued residents of the nearby La Salle County Nursing Home, causing county officials to investigate.
• Ottawa native Steve Brusatte, a 2002 Ottawa Township High School graduate, co-published an article in a scientific journal about the discovery of two new dinosaurs. While a graduate student at the University of Bristol in England, he assisted paleontologist Dr. Paul Sereno, his mentor at the University of Chicago, in naming and describing two carnivorous dinosaurs whose remains were discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2000.
• Developers of Fox River Woods, a 1,200-lot mega-subdivision planned for Ottawa's northeast side, announced their plans to move ahead with the project, despite the slowing housing market.
• Streator's Northpoint Cinemas closed its doors after nine years. The owner cited the economy and the increasing costs of running the theater as factors in his decision to close.
• This year, Feb. 29 was on the calendar and Leap Year babies celebrated their "real" birthdays.