by Chuck Sweeny

ROCKFORD - Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., came to Rockford on Tuesday on a wide-ranging agenda that included signing a flood control agreement, attending a black leadership conference and taking a tour of the Belvidere Chrysler plant.

Durbin began the day by hailing a pact between the Army Corps of Engineers and the city for a flood control study of the Keith Creek area.

The two-year probe will determine what improvements, if any, should be made to Alpine dam and Keith Creek to protect people and property from further flooding.

Durbin inspected the dam and neighborhoods of southeast Rockford that were inundated in back-to-back “100-year floods” in 2006 and 2007.

The study will begin in March thanks to a $400,000 federal earmark secured by Durbin and U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan. The total cost for the study is $1.8 million, with $500,000 coming from Rockford’s citywide storm water management master plan, and $80,000 from the Winnebago County countywide hazard mitigation plan.

More money will be needed from Washington to complete the study, leaders said.

“There are 11,000 people who have homes downstream from the Alpine dam, and a third of them are in danger if we don’t make changes here. Some have already suffered damages in floods, and we want to do everything in our power to avoid that in the future,” Durbin, the Senate majority whip, said at city hall.

The city is buying homes in the Churchill Park area, and will make temporary repairs to the city-owned dam, which was built in 1942 and does not meet modern federal standards. City, county and volunteers combined forces last fall to clean the Keith Creek channel as a temporary flood relief measure.

“By partnering with the Army Corps of Engineers, the citizens of Rockford should expect an independent assessment of the creek that will allow us to better plan and manage Keith Creek,” Mayor Larry Morrissey said.

Durbin also commented on last week’s mass shooting at Northern Illinois University. He praised the university’s fast response to the incident and promoted a bill by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., that would provide more resources to colleges and universities for public safety. Durbin also called for increased awareness of mental illness among students.

“We have to be mindful of the fact that young people come to college and for the first time of their life show signs of serious mental illness. We have to be aware of it and make certain that there’s an alert on the campus for students that may be going through these difficulties,” Durbin said.

The nation must do a better job of keeping firearms out of the hands of people who will misuse them, he said.

“The current law is very limited. It says that if a person has been (judged) incompetent or dangerous, they can’t buy a firearm. We have to explore other ways to find those people who are unstable and dangerous, and stop them from obtaining these weapons of death,” Durbin said.

Durbin also commented on the decision of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to retire, saying it’s a good time to begin the process of opening up to Cuba.

“For 50 years we’ve tried to isolate Cuba with no apparent success. Castro retired, we didn’t bring him down. We should look for ways to infiltrate Cuba with American values,” Durbin said. “I think it’s a mistake to isolate them. I think once they see what they’re missing, what the opportunities are in a free society, many of them will move toward our values.”

Durbin’s visit to the Rockford area included a tour of the Chrysler assembly plant in Belvidere, a meeting with black leaders at Booker Washington Center, a chat with students at Martin Luther King School and a briefing on the progress of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford’s expansion.