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THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER SERVING THE CHAIN-O'lAKES REGION SINCE 1875 VOLUME 103 NUMBER 57 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1979 2 SECTIONS 28 PAGES 20' Schedule Final RDG Arguments For Feb. 21 Blame Arson In House Fire Arson is believed to have caused $30,000 damage to a vacant home at 1406 Eastwood lane Friday night. Firemen from McHenry Companies I & II were at the scene for three hours battling the blaze, which destroyed about 50 percent of the structure, owned by James Parenti. Fire Chief Glenn Peterson indicated t^o separate locations were found where flammable liquid had been spilled in the house. The fire fighters were hampered by the cold weather and by sightseers, according to Assistant Fire^hief Chris Bennett. "We had a major problem with people who had followed the fire trucks," Bennett said. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD Final arguments in the RDG- Backhaus farm hearing before the McHenry Zoning Board of Appeals concerning *the proposed Winding Creek Planned Unit Development will be presented Wednesday, Feb. 21. Vice-chairman of the McHenry ZBA, James Fouse, indicated no further witnesses would testify at the next hearing, after recessing tht hearings Friday afternoon. ^ The ZBA had originally begun hearing the petition in June of last year, when it was recessed until joint conferences and public hearings could be completed. The present series of hearings started Jan. 12. • Superintendent of McHenry Red Tape is an expression (Hat's been around for a long time, and f6r most of that time it meant little more than an annoyance. But as government gets bigger and delves deeper into our lives, Red Tape has become one big headache. Last Spring we carried a local editorial rather prominently, suggesting that the small businessman might be an endangered species. Except for two McHenry businessmen who told us they felt the encroachment of government Red Tape rather severely, we were never sure ojthers read it or were con­ cerned. But the signs are persistent. Anyone who isn't convinced should ask a firm's bookkeeper. Most of them are having trouble maintaining their sanity amongst the government forms. And if they are troubled, who do nothing but keep books, pity the poor small businessman. He often is obliged to be both manager and bookkeeper, an assignment that becomes next to impossible as he becomes lost in the melee. One small businessman has stepped forth to tell everyone who will listen that it would take his staff about 120 man- hours to fill out one form alone from the Census bureau. His prediction is that in the not too distant future first one, then hundreds and thousands of Americans like himself will just throw up their hands in despair and simply refuse to fill out any more fprms. Could it ' be another grassroots revolt? This annoyance to people, of course, is keeping thousands of people on the job working for government. In 1955, it was estimated that the direct cost to the govern­ ment of processing paperwork was about $4 billion. By 1973 the cost had almost quadrupled to $15 billion, about 6 percent of all federal expenditures in that year. Then, in late 1974, the Federal Paperwork com­ mission was established to correct the federal paperwork problem. According to the commission, the total costs, including those to the private sector, of federal paperwork exceeded $100 billion per year in 1977, or about $500 for every man, woman and child in the country. No one has told us what the Federal Paperwork com­ mission costs us, but the whole thing seems like a heck of a lot of money to snoop in other- people's business. K.A.F. Island Lake Blood Drive All residents eligible to donate blood - all those healthy individuals, who are between Youth Remains Critical After Sliding Into Car Ten-year-old Steven A. Heide, 1203 Circle court, remained in critical condition Tuesday in the intensive care unit of McHenry hospital, suffering from multiple head injuries he suffered Feb. 7 in a car-sled accident. According to Sheriff's police, Heide and another youth, Donald K. Hurst, 11,1211 Circle drive, were on sleds and had slid downhill on Elder avenue into the path of a southbound vehicle on Riverdale road, driven by Carol DesCamps Foreman, 4319 Riverdale drive. The two youths were taken to McHenry hospital by the Johnsburg Rescue squad, where Hurst was treated and released. ZONING PRESENTATION The Special Zoning com­ mittee of the McHenry County board will present a series of modifications and suggestions concerning the proposed comprehensive amendment. This presentation will be conducted Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. at the McHenry county cour­ thouse. The public is en­ couraged to attend. Community Scheduled the ages of 17 and 65, who weigh more than 110 pounds and who have not donated blood in the last eight week period - are urged to participate in the Island Lake community blood drive to be held from 9 a m to noon Saturday, Feb. 24, at Island Lake grade school. Joe Zaminski is community blood chairman. To schedule an appointment to donate, call the village hall at 526-8764. This blood drive i& held in cooperation with the Lake county community blood program, the volunteer blood donor program of the region School District 156, Robert Swartzloff testified Friday. Swartzloff, District 15 Superintendent Richard Farmer and McHenry Hospital Executive Director Anthony Corcoran had been subpoened by objectors to the petition to testify at the hearings Swartzloff told the board the present enrollment of the high school is 1,647. This represents a decrease of 651 students from *he previous year, mainly because of the opening of Johnsburg high school. "I feel to run the program we are currently running (closed campus and no staggered beginning or ending of school) we could go to 2,000 students," Swartzloff said High school district business manager. Mike Kelly, testified the district is levying the maximum amount allowed in all eight of its tax levies. Fouse asked how many of the present students live within the city limits, but Swartzloff in­ dicated he did not have the figure readily available. Board member Anne Cuda questioned the results of recent referendums undertaken by the district and Swartzloff replied that referendums in October and December of 1977 and April of 1978 had been defeated. He added there were no plans for another referendum because of program cur­ tailments which eliminated about $400,000 from the district budget V "No more cuts are planned because of the recent m&jor curtailment," the superin­ tendent explained. Corcoran told the board the hospital was operating on an average of 86 percent capacity and 40 percent of the total utilization of the hospital comes from residents of McHenry He indicated the hospital had a maximum operating capacity of 136 beds, but short term plans call for an additional floor to be added at the present site, which would increase the total by 28-30 beds. The executive director added that the hospital owned property on Route 31 near Bull Valley road, but plans to ex­ pand there were tabled because it was "not economically feasible". The hospital services a population of 130,000, but Corcoran explained several other hospitals overlap the primary service center City Superitendent of Public Works Fred Meyer also testified Friday and reported there are now 65 miles of streets in McHenry, 55' a of which are residential in nature. He told Attorney Richard Babcock, who represented the objectors at the hearing, no one from Harlem Bartholemew consulted him regarding the fiscal impact study or traffic study done by the firm. The study attributed 60 percent of street maintenance expense to residential streets. Residential Development Group Vice-president Jim Berg resumed his testimony at the beginning of Friday s*1>qanng Berg was testifying when the hearing was recessed last Wednesday evening. Berg reported the price of single family homes in the development would be between $65,000 and $90,000- in one section and between $80,000 and $100,000 in another section. Condominiums would range from $39.000-$55,000 and apartments would rent for over $300 a month for a two-bedroom flat Berg said the prices he estimated were in today's dollars. Berg explained there had been a change in the buyer profile since the Boone Valley development was started about fifteen years ago He reported when the development started < Whispering- Oaks) most buyers were over 45-years-old. Now, most buyers were younger couples "Our experience in developments leads to our,own analysis of the current market," Berg stated, /based on buying facts rather than a study based on a lot of assumptions." Berg said the single family homes on the east side of the creek adjoining the present Fox Ridge subdivision would be the first developed Anne Cuda questioned his estimate that buyers would need an income of at least $20,000 to purchase homes in the development "People would be hard pressed to afford a $50,000 mortgage on $20,000," she said Last Wednesday. Berg had said RDG would comply with any legal requirements to assure the new development would not have a detrimental effect on Boone Creek because of its storm water runoff. Attorney Jeffrey Ladd, who along with Babcock has represented Shamrock Beef Cattle Corp throughout the hearings (objectors) continued his questioning of Harlem Bartholemew representative Thompson Dyke at the Wed nesday night hearing Ladd asked how allocations in the fiscal study were made and what cities were used to acquire comparable data "It is our professional responsibility," Dyke said, "to use comparable data Best judgment is used after the data is gathered and analyzed." "We are not trying to rein­ vent the wheel," he added He said the study was completed for the city to use as a guideline Dr Farmer and the business manager of the grade school district William Landis testified at Wednesday's hearing Farmer reported the enrollment of the grade school district in McHenry was 3,006 as of Jan 1. In 1971, the enrollment was 3,000 He explained the three elementary buildings < Valley View, Hilltop. Edgebrook) were over capacity by 85 students The junior highs could take another 204 students (Continued on page 18) Celebrate Catholic Schools Week Expansion Plan Phase 1 of their plan will call for a $10-million expenditure; ' we are looking for solutions which recognize that our services are now regional in scope -- going far beyond the city limits of McHenry - and which acknowledge that the plans we make will also be regional in scope." yj The eight members of the board of directors who were reelected were M Kendall Bird of Crystal Lake; Dennis A. Conway, Donald C. Howard and Mary A. Snyder of McHenry; Anthony Corcoran as chief operating officer (executive director); George P. Freund, Sr., director emeritus; Edward F. Wilt, Jr., M.D., a representative of the Medical- Dental staff; and Olsen him­ self. New board members are Basudeb Saha, M i> . representative of the Medical- Dental staff; and Hjordis Karlsen, representative of the auxiliary. All of the 14 employees honored were presented with testimonial plaques for their 10/ year service records They include Lillian Bonk, housekeeper; Nancy Bowman, pharmacy technician. Christine Coburn. dietary clerk, James Collins, R Ph , chief pharmacist; and C l a r e n c e D i e d r i c h . housekeeping technician Also, Helen Duarte, nurse technician; Esther Gallagher. LPN in nursery; Gayle Laursen, surgery schedule coordinator; Sharon Lewis, office clerk; Shirley Rowe, pharmacy technician; Ruth Staveteig, Dietary clerk; Theresa Van Fleet, R.N., m&nt nursing supervisor; EvelynH. Walter, R.N., head nurse in emergency; and Dixie Welter, pharmacy technician In presenting the hospital's fiscal report, board treasurer, Daniel Schmitt. noted that revenues and employee- productivity had. both in­ creased significantly during 1978. resulting in a surplus in operating funds "Hospital costs increased as the cost of supplies, equipment, food, services, fuel and utilities increased during the past year," Schmitt said "Ad­ ditionally, the government is adding to our costs by continual intervention and red tape "Government bureaus try to justify their activities by citing the need for cost control. (Continued on page 18) MCHS Evaluation Under Way At the McHenry High School district instructional meeting held last week, the major portion of the discussion was James Blum's presentation on the North Central evaluation currently under way. Blum explained that there are two major parts of the evaluation, the self-study now in progress and the visitation phase which will take place next Nov. 5-8. He reviewed for the board the 24 committees that have been developed to work on self- study, involving all staff members in some way. Next November, the visitation team will review the local self-study, visit classrooms, talk with ad­ ministrators and people in the community, as well as studying school records. An analysis of the findings will be submitted to the district, including commendations and recom­ mendations made by the team on areas in need of change or improvement. Blum told the board the evaluation is a cooperative effort to promote the quality of education. Supt. Robert Swartzloff noted that there is normally a seven- year interval between NC evaluations, but due to the transition of students to Johnsburg, the regularly scheduled evaluation was Hospital In "McHenry hospital's medical-surgical departments are averaging 86 percent oc­ cupancy and unfortunately, during 1978, we sometimes had to turn away patients who were on an elective basis. "This is not good, and we will have to make changes to respond to the growing demand for our hospital services," announced LeRoy E. Olsen, board president of the McHenry hospital not-for-profit corporation, at its annual meeting. Olsen's announcement of impending changes was made to a dinner meeting which had already reelected eight board members; elected two mem­ bers as representatives of the auxiliary and the Medical- Dental staff; honored 14 em­ ployees who teach had 10 years of hospital service, and ac­ cepted a treasurer's report which sounded an optimistic financial note The more than 200 members of the citizen-sponsored cor­ poration were informed during Olsen's report. "You may be called back within the year to evaluate some changes proposed by the consultants who produced our long range plan The plan, as mandated by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning board, calls for the addition of three beds to McHenry hospital's Intensive Care unit and 28 beds to the medical-surgical departments. "We are determined to provide the best possible care and still keep costs in line," Olsen concluded. "The con­ sultants are estimating that postponed from last year to this. In other business, the board approved a request 1 by the administration that Feb. 14 and March 8 be shortened school days, dismissing students after five hours of attendance to provide staff time for the North Central self-study committee work. West campus students will be dismissed at 12:45 p.m. and East campus at 12:55 p.m. The meetings will be held from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. at East campus. The board also approved a motion to apply for a provisional vocational cer­ tificate for Martha C. Rudnick in the area of Industrial Arts (Graphic Arts). A special liturgy brought to a conclusion Catholic Schools week celebration at the Montini Primary center last Friday. Following the open house at the school, students, teachers and parents assembled in St. Patrick's church to share their gratitude to God for the gift of family and Catholic school education. Officiating at the liturgy was the Rev. Raymond Kearney, associate pastor of St. Patrick's parish. STAFF PHOfO-WAY NE GAYLORD