Bridge Returns, Immigration Divides Growth the Hot Topic As Main Street Bridge Reopens in Carpentersville
Northern Kane and southern McHenry counties were anything but quiet this year.
From the couple found murdered in Cary, to the kidnapping of eight people that unfolded in Carpentersville, there were plenty of troubling stories out of the Fox Valley in 2006.
But there were bright spots.
Carpentersville’s Main Street Bridge reopened.
And lawmakers revamped the state’s tax cap law, with help from some area residents.
Still, one story stood out above the rest.
With Community Unit District 300 caught in the crosshairs between population growth and dwindling resources, local residents stepped up to the plate.
Voters approved a pair of tax increases this spring, staving off millions of dollars in budget cuts that would have seen the end to many student activities.
The referendum campaign made about as much noise as the actual result, dividing friends and neighbors in one of the most polarizing debates in recent memory.
In the end, voters approved a 55-cent tax-rate increase to pay down the deficit, reduce class sizes and accommodate new students, as well as a $185 million bond issue to build and renovate schools.
Had those measures failed, district officials said they would have stripped down the district’s offerings, eliminating all extracurricular activities, chopping gifted education and other curriculum, and cutting elementary school music.
Now, district officials are already putting their windfall to use by hiring teachers and breaking ground on three of the district’s proposed four new schools.
Here are the other top stories from this year.
Immigration debate
Carpentersville and Elgin were at the epicenter of the illegal immigration debate.
In July, the Illinois Minutemen converged on Elgin city hall, demanding police enforce immigration law.
But Elgin Mayor Ed Schock argued local governments can do little to enforce federal immigration laws.
Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto echoed Schock’s statement when the immigration debate landed on Carpentersville’s doorstep in October in the form of a proposed ordinance cracking down on illegal immigrants.
The proposed measure, cosponsored by trustees Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt, would fine landlords and business owners who rent to or hire illegal immigrants. It would also recognize English as the official language of the village.
When more than 2,000 protesters converged on village hall, trustees voted to table the discussion until a larger venue that could accommodate the huge crowd was found.
But those plans were thwarted when trustees voted 4 to 3 to hold off finding a larger venue until pending litigation in other towns is resolved.
In November, both towns sent resolutions to Congress and the president. Elgin’s resolution called on the federal government to enact and enforce a comprehensive immigration policy, while Carpentersville demanded the federal government effect law enforcement and reform.
Kidnapping horror
The kidnapping of eight people from a Lake County restaurant didn’t end in tragedy, but the crime horrified the Carpentersville community, where the day-long ordeal unfolded.
The eight people, including a father, his wife and four children, were taken from a Round Lake Beach restaurant to a house in the 100 block of Tee Road in Carpentersville by a gang of gunmen who stormed the restaurant.
Tied up and blindfolded, the victims were beaten at gunpoint and burned with cigarettes. The eight, who were not seriously injured, were rescued when police raided the house.
Victor A. Hernandez, 22, of Marengo, Juan C. Martinez, 26, and Paul Munoz, 25, both of Chicago, were nabbed in the raid on the house and also face kidnapping and other offenses. Antonio Torres, 25, of Algonquin was arrested Aug. 24, along with Sergio Martinez, 17, of Carpentersville, and Carlos Ortega, 31, of Berwyn, who also are charged in the case.
Water woes loom
It seemed like in 2006 government officials on all levels realized the need to make sure Chicago’s suburbs never run out of water.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued an executive order for a pair of pilot projects to measure water availability, and figure out how to make sure two regions in Illinois never run out of water. If the pilot projects prove successful, they will be duplicated statewide.
This led to a kickoff meeting in November launching a project to see how much water lies beneath the 11 most northeast counties of Illinois. That project will likely take until 2009 to complete.
The reason for the concerns is that no new towns will be able to tap into Lake Michigan water. And some studies have suggested that certain portions of northern Kane County and southern McHenry County might one day need more water than the underground aquifers can supply.
But the state wasn’t the only government body looking for water. While Kane County is wrapping up work on its brand new water study, due to be released in 2007, McHenry County board members decided to hire someone to oversee county water supply issues.
In addition, a grassroots group of people are pushing to ask voters in the spring whether they want to form a water authority, which would oversee rural water supplies in the rural parts of McHenry, DeKalb and Boone counties.
Tax cap overhauled
State lawmakers this year passed sweeping changes to the 15- year- old property tax cap law, seeking to stymie taxing bodies that were collecting millions of dollars more than promised from voter- approved tax-rate increases. The old tax cap drew heavy criticism when a 2005 Daily Herald analysis showed taxing bodies collected hundreds of millions of dollars more from voter-approved tax-rate increases than many taxpayers – and school officials – anticipated. The new truth-in-taxation law, shepherded by state Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, and state Rep. Mike Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican, changes everything from the ballot question, to the way county clerks calculate property tax increases.
Santa’s Village closes
After 47 years of entertaining suburban children, the longtime owner of Santa’s Village put the park on the auction block in October to pay off his debts. Hugh Wilson owed the park’s owners $170,000 in back taxes and rent.
The property owners later confirmed that the sale of all of the park’s familiar attractions all but spelled the demise of the suburban landmark.
The future of the park had been cast in doubt ever since it failed to reopen for its summer season this year. A group of East Dundee businessmen that took over Santa’s Village this year was unable to reverse the park’s fortunes.
The park was plagued by financial difficulties that resulted in two lawsuits to collect about $700,000 in unpaid utility bills, taxes and rent.
Cary murders
Shock, anxiety and mystery replaced the peaceful calm of a Cary- area neighborhood the morning of Nov. 20 with the discovery of a couple murdered execution-style in their home.
Authorities said Nickolas Romano, 71, and his wife, Gloria Romano, 65, were killed by gunshots to the back of their heads, a slaying that to date remains unsolved and has raised questions about who would want to kill a couple remembered by friends as loving and generous.
Investigators said there were no signs anyone broke into the Romanos’ home in the unincorporated Lake Killarney subdivision, and nothing appeared missing from the residence. One of the couple’s sons found his parents dead at about 3 a.m. Nov. 20 after going to the home to check on their well-being.
Sheriff Keith Nygren said recently that while the pace of the investigation is slowing weeks after the slayings, he believes detectives are getting closer to catching the Romanos’ killer.
Main Street bridge
It took more than six months and three false starts, but the Main Street bridge in Carpentersville opened in September.
The bridge, which is one of three regional Fox River crossings, was closed in March when work began to replace the 71-year-old structure. Unanticipated work on underground water utilities delayed the opening more than a month. For most of a year, motorists had to travel south to the bridge connecting East and West Dundee or north to the one in Algonquin. The chaos the $3.2 million project caused bolstered arguments for an additional bridge over the Fox River.
Hospitals look west
Sherman Hospital wanted to build a new $310 million facility on the city’s west side. But Provena St. Joseph Hospital, two miles from where the new Sherman building will be, said it would go out of business if Sherman was allowed to build.
A state panel rejected St. Joe’s arguments and gave Sherman the approval it needed to build.
St. Joe’s wasn’t finished yet. It mounted a lawsuit against Sherman and the state planning board, alleging that the board violated its own standards by approving Sherman’s plan to build a new hospital at Randall and Big Timber roads. The case will be heard in January. Sherman has since broken ground on its new facility, set to open in 2009.
Sherman wasn’t the only hospital that decided it needed more space. St. Joe’s is building a new $97 million addition and Centegra Heath System officials plan to build a campus on 110 acres in northern Huntley.
Deadly year on river
Seven people drowned between May and August.
Bruce Sperling, 31, of Lombard and his brother Mark, 27, of Yorkville died in May when the two men tried to rescue kayaker Craig Fliege, a 38-year-old Villa Park resident, from a dangerous current.
Less than two weeks later, 12-year-old Pedro Solis of Carpentersville died after police said he fell into a deep hole in the river’s bed. Solis and a friend were wading in knee-deep water about 40 feet from the shore near Singapore Drive in Carpentersville when the accident occurred.
The body of a 47-year old Melrose Park man was pulled from the river in South Elgin also in June. For three days, the identity of Norman C. Lewis remained unknown until South Elgin police matched fingerprint records.
A South Elgin toddler with a penchant for slipping out of his family home and wandering through his neighborhood drowned in the river in July. Chase Rumachik, 2, was found about 75 feet from shore.
An attempted getaway turned deadly in August when a 19-year-old Wisconsin man jumped into the river in Algonquin after a traffic stop. John Kotiw of Pell Lake, Wis., a passenger in the vehicle, was wanted for failing to appear in court on a charge of resisting a police officer.
Kotiw ran from police, who later spotted him in the Fox River. Despite attempts to rescue the man using several flotation devices, Kotiw’s head slipped underwater. An hour later police recovered his body.
Other headlines
Several other major stories made headlines in 2006.
Eighth angel: In a cruel twist of fate, the Seven Angels railroad crossing in Fox River Grove claimed its eighth young life on Oct. 25, exactly 11 years after seven kids died in an accident involving a train and school bus at the same intersection.
This time, Justin Glassmyer, 15, was killed on his bicycle by a commuter train. The Cary-Grove High School sophomore lived near the crossing.
Officials concluded that the gates were down at the time the train rolled across. Improvements have been made to railroad crossings around the world to make them safer than they were 10 years ago as a direct result of the prior deadly Fox River Grove train and bus crash.
District 26 unrest: Never a completely serene school district, Cary Elementary District 26 once again endured plenty of upheaval this year. On Sept. 29 Superintendent Mike Smith submitted his resignation one year into his post. Officially, he said it was to finish post-graduate research in the education field. Initially the school district said he would continue working on projects for the district. But the day Smith’s resignation was announced, his office was cleaned out and locks were changed.
Smith’s resignation was far from the only one this year.
Valerie Moxley resigned in April; then in October Gary Wleklinski, another board member, opted to step down. Also Andrea Gorla, the district’s chief financial officer, left for a job in DeKalb.
Some school district insiders blamed the problems on the board, which they said was micro-managing the school district. Current school board leaders flatly denied the micro-managing allegation, saying they needed to become more involved in order for the district to run efficiently.
Supermarkets on east end: This year Algonquin trustees made good on their promises to bring some grocery stores to the east side of town.
In January, a Butera Market opened where the Piggly Wiggly once was. Then in September, Jewel-Osco opened a brand-new 61,301-square foot grocery store, across the street from Butera Market. Customers thought the two stores complemented each other, instead of purely competing, since the inventory is not identical. There was also good news for Carpentersville residents on the east side. Though they lost the 35-year-old Jewel-Osco on Lake Marian Road in October, for most of them the new store on East Algonquin Road isn’t much farther.
Lake in the Hills tuberculosis: A Lake in the Hills woman and her son battled McHenry County authorities in and out of court for much of the latter half of 2006 over their affliction with tuberculosis. Both were quarantined by court order at times during the legal fight, and required by a judge to take medicine or face a possible jail sentence.
Deportee held in fatal crash: A man deported to his native Mexico three times in the previous 11 years faced charges of aggravated driving under the influence in McHenry County alleging his drunk driving was to blame for a June 24 crash that killed a Crystal Lake man. Eulalio Haro was deported in 1995 after being found guilty of similar charges in a 1993 crash that killed his brother, but he returned and was deported at least twice more prior to this year’s fatal crash.
Save the Silo success: The thicket of branches, bramble and debris was relatively easy to remove, but supporters of the former Meadowdale Raceway’s iconic Pure Oil silo marking the eastern corner of Raceway Woods found cutting through the of government resistance more difficult. Despite the barriers, the volunteer effort found support from Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto, numerous residents and – ultimately – the village board and Kane County Forest Preserve to win their quest to save the silo from the wrecking ball.
District 158 woes: Huntley District 158 dealt with a host of operational woes. The district had to hire a forensic auditor to scour financial records for possible misdeeds, as well as rework its transportation plan after an effort to shave bus stops overloaded district buses.
(c) 2006 Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.