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•T^ McHenry County Emergency Services & Disaster agency (MCESDA), in cooperation with Illinois Emergency Ser­ vices & Disaster Agency (IESDA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), is sponsoring a statewide tornado drill Wednesday, March 8, at 10:15 a.m., according to MCESDA Director John J. Shay of McHenry. The purpose of this drill is to provide an opportunity for all those concerned with protec­ tion from tornadoes to review their plans for tornado preparedness and to test the operations of those plans. "We are particularly interested," Shay said, "in making certain that schools, hospitals, fac­ tories and offices test their plans." Of all severe winds, tor­ nadoes are the most violent. They strike swiftly and pass in only seconds leaving incredible destruction and often deati* in their paths. History haa> flecdrded tor* nadoes in McHenry county on several occasions. In October, 1959, the Edgebrook Heights section of McHenry suffered thousands of dollars damage to property. On April 11, 1965, Crystal Lake, Island Lake and much of the area between these cities experienced tornadoes that left six people dead and millions of dollars in property damage and scores injured. On April 21, 1967, the western portion of McHenry county received considerable property damage at the time Lake Zurich and Oak Lawn were recording thirty-three deaths and 500 injuries. A min-tornado was also recorded in Lawrence June 16. 1973. When a watch is received by the McHenry county Sheriff's office from the Illinois state police, it is immediately transmitted simultaneously over the county Sheriff, Fire, and Emergency service's frequencies and received on special tone coded receivers in schools, hospitals and businesses all over McHenry county. Volunteers of MCESDA are sent to pre-assigned locations to watch the weather. All these volunteers receive numerous hours of specialized training. The MCESDA office receives and evaluates this information along with radio reports from nearby areas and monitors the NWS teletype in the office. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms are not always preceded by the issuance of; watches because forecasting (Continued on page 18) To Former McHenry Man $1 Million Plus Suit Settlement A former McHenry man is the recipient of more than $1.5 million, reported to be the second largest personal injury settlement in the state of Illinois. The award was made last Friday in a Chicago Circuit court. The former local resident is Niaz A. Nazir, 27, who was seriously injured in a Nov. 19, 1976, accident which occurred on Et. 120, 4 miles east of McHenry. The McHenry County Sheriff's report of that date said Raymond Piesen of Northlake lost control of his eastbound transit truck, which jackknifed into the westbound traffic lane and hit the Nazir vehicle headon. The injured McHenry mah (Continued on page 18) Village Objects To Zoning Change Heads Seal Drive Five-year-old Tony Zidek of Wonder Lake has been named the 1978 National Easter Seal When the McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals hears A request for a Conditional Use permit so that gravel mining operations may be carried on in the vicinity ' of Holiday Hills, that village will present a strongly worded resolution objecting to it. The village board announced at last week's meeting that it has not had an opportunity to finalize its comprehensive plan and the property represented in the petition is a substantial portion of undeveloped land within the planning boundaries of the village not already in­ volved in gravel mining. The petitioners are R.C. and Neva Raven, Donald Roberts, Jr., and Frances Roberts. Their request is made for the stripping and stockpiling, mining, crushing, grading, washing, loading and hauling of sand, gravel, soil, aggregate, etc., and the use of permanent and temporary equipment and installation. The petition also asks for the construction and use of storage buildings to be used in the business. Board members expressed the belief that, if granted, the business "would create an eyesore and a nuisance for the residents of Holiday Hills and would reduce the potential value of their properties." The property contains ap­ proximately 78 acres and is located in Nunda township, bounded on the north by a Commonwealth Edison easement and qn thpeast by River road. It is two miles northwest of the village of Island Lake. The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday* Mm Mi 2, la Room 112 of McHenry county courthouse, 2200 N. Seminary avenue, Woodstock. Person desiring to be heard may at­ tend. . Two RTA Meetings Focus On Different Attitudes Two meetings, each focusing on the future of the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) will be held early in March in McHenry. The first is scheduled Wednesday, March 1, at McHenry city hall, announced by Pete Hellios of Wonder Lake of the Committee for the RTA. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. and the public is invited to attend. Hellios said the committee feels that since the RTA exists and affects this community, a positive effort should be made to view its possibility for bet­ terment of the transportation needs of the area. Hellios may be contacted at 385-5542 for further in­ formation. On Thursday. March 9, the Senior Citizens council will feature talks by the McHenry and Lake county regional af­ fairs officers, Van Sells and Keith Ryan, with questions on local service commitments encouraged from the audience. The public is invited to attend. The Senior Citizen talks are slated for 1 o'clock in the af­ ternoon at the Moose lodge on Rt. 120. Offer School Survey Returns on a school survey which appeared in the Friday, Feb. 24, issue of the Plaindealer have started coming in. This same issue carried facts cm Page 1 which might help respondents. The survey form appears again in this issue, on Page 13. The board of McHenry High School District 156 is planning the future direction of education in the community and has set April 8 as the referendum date seeking funds for a construction program that would make West campus a four-year high school. To determine the opinions of the public on the future of McHenry secondary education, residents of District 156 are urged to fill out the survey form and return to the Plaindealer office by March 6. W"*°N THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER SERVING THE CHAIN-O-LAKES REGION SINCE 1875 * ig rim y VOLUME 102 NUMBER 61 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1978 .1 SECTION 22 PAGES 20r Tornado Drill March 8 Child by the National Easter Seal society, Chicago. In that role, he will travel throughout the United States during the 1978 Easter Seal campaign, March 1-31, and will appear on the Easter Seal Telethon, April 1-2, to represent the thousands of men, women and children who are helped each year by Easter Seal services. Now a kindergartner at West school, Crystal Lake, Tony is a handsome, alert child who has managed, with the help of Easter Seal therapy, to combat the effects of a disabling spinal defect. Through treatment at the McHenry County Easter Seal center in Woodstock, Tony has learned to walk with the aid of leg braces and crutches. He has also become an accomplished swimmer and tricycle ace. The youngster, who lives with his mother, Janice, a widow, began receiving Easter Seal physical therapy in January. 1975. Gregarious and inquisitive. Tony takes an interest in people, camping, school, his pet cat "Tiger" and in helping his mom prepare lessons for the courses she is taking in para­ legal education at Harper college, Palatine. The National Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults is the world's oldest and largest voluntary health agency providing services to disabled persons. Smoke Forces Firemen Back Two unidentified firemen from Wonder Lake make a forced retreat after attempting to climb stairs in this burning residence Monday afternoon. Two of them suffered smoke inhalation as a result of the intense smoke. The Paul Seeber home was destroyed by the blaze. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD Alternative School Fights For Life school, we have been told that no funds are available. However, they will support the program if funds can he found.' ' The Alternative school, which is a learning center for high school drop-outs and other students who function better in an atmosphere outside the regular classroom, has a proposed budget of $67.000 for next year. The Illinois Con­ tinental Bank and Trust has pledged $32.<MM> to the school if it can be shown that there is local community support for the program located at :5701 W Waukegan road, the Alternative school would still be faced with a deficit of $35,000 for the coming year. •"We cannot hope to raise that amount of money through our projects," said Pratt, "but we hope to raise $5.(KM) through local support and fund drive efforts " It is hoped that the response to the fund drive ill convince the bank that there is com­ munity support for the program ^ ' Pratt continued by saying that the Alternative school has applied for special funding from the state for partial funding, and has also asked seventy-five private foun­ dations for financial assistance The fund raising drive began with a Read-A-Thon. which is still in progress Students secured sponsors who will pay them for books that they read "We call it our Buck a Book' program.' ' stated Pratt. "Sponsors pay for all books students can prove that they have read." he added • The school also held a rummage sale last week, and is planning more events for the future " The activities are student- centered. and involve students and people of the community." Pratt continued Future events planned in elude a newspaper drive, a pancake breakfast and a special event There are currently forty students enrolled in the Alternative school, and it is staffed by three teachers, one instructional aide and an office manager Pratt hopes that the school will know by mid April whether funds will be available to meet the budget for next year "If we do not secure enough funds, we will be forced to diminish the quality ot the program, or abandon it com pletely." Pratt said Blaze Destroys Seeber Residence Smoke pours from a window in the Paul Seeber home, 3115 Shady drive, Wonder Lake, as firemen of Wonder Lake Company I play their hoses on the blaze. The Monday afternoon Are, of undetermined origin, destroyed the structure except for its frame. Family members were removed from the home unhurt, but four firemen were taken to the hospital. STAFF PHOTO»WAYNE GAYLORD The McHenry high school District 156 Alternative school is facing a serious financial shortage for the coming year, and is conducting fund raising activities to help alleviale the problem, according to Director Doug Pratt. The school, which has been fully funded by a trust set up by the Illinois Continental Bank and Trust for the past three years, will no longer receive full funding from the bank. "We expected the alternative school to be funded by District 156." said Pratt, "but due to their financial situation created by the new Johnsburg high Wonder Lake Rescue squad for treatment of smoke inhalation. Jack Jacobson was admitted to the hospital and was reported in satisfactory con­ dition, while Randall Mc- Cafferty was treated and released. Another fireman, Gary Hummel, was admitted to the hospital for treatment of in­ juries to his side he sustained while fighting the fire on the roof of the structure. He was also listed as satisfactory Tuesday. John Rice suffered burns to his leg while on the roof of the (Continued on page 18) Besides the strictly McHenry stories that appear in the Plaindealer, a number of feature articles are run from time to time, selected for their appeal to the greatest number of readers. One of these came from Bill Kiser, a victim of cerebral palsy who not only conquered more of life's problems than most of us are asked to do, but also became an inspiration to thousands who were han­ dicapped. We ran his monthly column under the head of "Speaking of the Disabled". On Jan. 8, Bill Kiser died of cancer after a brief hospitalization. We had never met him, but news room staff members came to feel he was part of them. His stories had a way of encouraging others by the very fact that he so well understood their fears and inability to cope with them. His last column arrived at the publishers too late to be used in December. At first the decision was not to release it at all. Then they saw it as a special last word from a courageous young man. Because it is so timely, with the inauguration of the Easter Seal drive to help the han­ dicapped, starting today, March l, we are printing his Star Of Hope. It will be his last time to reach many who might not otherwise have given thought to the problems and progress of disabled people. Star of Hope "In this often cynical world of discord and conflict, Christmas has rome to symbolize the underlying hope of mankind. In A Wonder Lake residence was totally destroyed by a fire which injured four firemen from Wonder Lake Company I Monday afternoon. Two firemen were hospitalized. The fire completely destroyed the Paul Seeber home, 3115 Shady drive. Ac­ cording to Seeber, smoke and heat detectors alerted his wife, who was at home, and she went to a neighbor's home with her daughter, who was also at home, and summoned firefighters. Mrs. Seeber then went back to the house to try to rescue the family dog which was inside the > home, but thick smoke and heat from the flames prevented her from entering. The dog is believed to have perished in the fire. When Company I of Wonder Lake arrived at the scene, the entire house was engulfed by flames More equipment was needed to battle the blaze, and Wonder Lake Company II, McHenry Company I and the Woodstock Rural fire depart­ ment responded to give assistance Over thirty men and eleven pieces of equipment were at the scene trying to bring the fire under control. Two firemen were taken to McHenry hospital by the Jerry G. Bishop, Chicago host of the 1978 Easter Seal Telethon, Is shown with Tony Zidek of Wonder Lake, 1978 National Easter Seal Child. Jerry Bishop and Tony worked as a team at the annual meeting of the Easter Seal Society of Metropolitan Chicago. On April l and 2 they will Join a team of more than 1M celebrities on the seventh annual Easter Seal Telethon, broadcast on WSNS TV Channel 44.