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Ronald Irwin, left, presents a review of his problem with Elementary School District 15 before the board meeting Tuesday night. Irwin's Gifted Child, Thomas, at right, subject of a $1 million law suit brought by his mother, Mr4. Judith Irwin, against the school board, listens attentively. In top photo, a television camera clicks to record proceedings for network viewers on Wednesday. STAFF PHOTOS WAYNE GAYLORD The question of recon­ sideration of a special program for Thomas Irwin, the fifth grader at Edgebrook school who is the subject of a million dollar suit directed against Elementary School District 15, did not come to a vote at the meeting Tuesday, March 27. However, Mr. and Mrs Ronald Irwin addressed the board for such reconsideration. The tuition for the program (about $110), which had been disallowed by the board at a meeting March 13, was not reconsidered, but the board indicated that it would not oppose Thomas continuing in the "controversial" Spanish class at high school if the space was available and the high school authorities did not ob­ ject. A statement made by Gary Lockwood, board member, after coming out of the last of two executive sessions (for Victim Injured Arrest In Purse Snatching McHenry area residents are not anxious to have a new community building; they are eager for an outdoor pool; and those who expressed them­ selves favorably on either addition were anxious that it be constructed in a location other than Petersen park. These were highlights of the survey conducted by the Plaindealer to assist the city of McHenry in its planning for recreational needs of the future. Results of the survey appear on Page 20 in this issue. Some expressed concern tor funding, both for the con­ struction and operation. A few responses emphasized a need to provide something for the young. On the contrary, others were reluctant to provide facilities that might be vandalized by this age group. A few suggested that schools and other buildings were available and there is no need for a community building. One unique comment suggested that only one room be set up in connection with the pool, offering ping-pong. checkers, etc. In that writer's opinion this approach "is more sensible". One writer suggested that revenue sharing money is not free but comes from our taxes. In other words, look to the use of that money. An enthusiastic supporter of a pool said, "Build it now so it can be used this summer". A supporter of saving money expressed it this way: "The money should be spent on streets. Dreams and facts do not always mix". And so the comments were made. Now they will need to be sorted out by Council members who must assess the im­ portance of public opinion as they plan the future. Response to the survey was well above a highly successful survey on high school con­ struction conducted just a year ago. The vdices heard through that survey were repeated quite accurately, but in larger numbers, at the polls a week later. KAF A 16-year-old McHenry youth was arrested and charged with strong armed robbery and his 18-year-old accomplice charged with theft under $150, following a purse snatching on Waukegan road Tuesday morning. According to McHenry police, a 52-year-old McHenry resident was walking west in the 3800 block of Waukegan road when the juvenile ap­ proached, grabbed her purse and knocked her down. The two young men then fled the scene. City police were notified and the victim gave a description and possible identification of one of the subjects to the in­ vestigating officers. Approximately an hour later, Sgt. Zujewski and Officer Prazak observed a group of four people standing in an alleyway near Green street. Two persons in the group matched the description of the persons wanted in the purse snatching incident. Investigation by police led to the arrest of the two in con­ nection with the crime. John A. Blake. 18. 809 Allen street, was taken into custody and charged with theft under $150. He is scheduled to appear in court April 3. The juvenile was arrested and taken to the Lake County Youth home and later released into the custody of his family. The victim, who was injured in the incident, was treated and released at McHenry hospital It was the second reported purse snatching in McHenry in recent weeks. Both times, city police have arrested the alleged offenders discussion of pending litigation) had overtones of anger as it laid out the present board position. He said that he had promised Mrs. Janet Irwin that the board would reconsider their earlier action on the tuition question, but the •question of whether the lawsuit would be filed anyway was not clarified. When he learned that the suit was still active with the sevice by a deputy of the notice to Tim Althoff, board member, before the meeting began, he withdrew the request since the matter would now be decided by the courts. The suit for $1 million in damages, filed March 20 by the Irwins, charges that the district has "failed/to promulgate a curriculun? designed to meet the speci/l needs of the gifted child." Itlfollowed the board's denial of Uuition approval for the Spaniel class on March 13. Dr Facfner said the sense of the boaya in its non-action was that the question of the tuition would not He considered, but the board would not object to the continuation of the Spanish class for Thomas if District 156 agreed and if the problem of tuition did not arise again. Farmer noted that Thomas had never been out of the class and was continuing to attend even while the discussions were being carried on In the 15 minutes allotted to him by the board. Ronald Irwin briefly reviewed the history of their problem regarding Thomas with the school district Irwin related that in 1977 tests administered by school people to Thomas when he began having behavior problems in class revealed that rather than being learning disabled, as some teachers claimed, he was a gifted child. It was further predicted, by a p r i v a t e e d u c a t i o n a l diagnostician, that if there was no special adjustment made for him. he could become a problem child. This, Mr. Irwin noted, was confirmed by the school learning disabilities teacher, Carol Bolger, who also advised special attention in­ cluding proposals for foreign language study. Irwin added that Tom was making progress in the Spanish class to which he had been admitted in high school, but after five days the Irwins were advised by Dr. Farmer that the board had voted that Tom no longer be permitted to attend. Dr. Ronald Duckers, an educational psychologist from Barrington, supported the Irwins' claim based on tests that he administered in 1977 which showed that Tom was gifted with unusual capabilities that would require a special kind of attention, more than the regular child of his age would need Dr Duckers said that onlv one child in 10,000 had the IQ of 160 and that Tom's was, even higher. There's not too many of these around. Dr Duckers added, and pointed out Tom's enjovment of stimulating material at the adult level, his great curiosity and his need to be challenged. Since 1977 they had been meeting with the schools, with whom they discussed enrich­ ment programs including languages, typing, in­ strumental music, and suf­ ficient freedom for individual research that would permit Tom to pursue his interests. Duckers said the parents were delighted with Tom's progress in the high school Spanish class and deeply disappointed with its termination Duckers claimed that the youngster, because of his unusual gifts, needs the stimulation not found in the classroom Irwin suggested that there (Continued on page 21) , Fox River Crests The emergency phone number to call in case of flooding problems is 1-338- 6400. Calls may be made 24 hours a day through Sunday. Third Building Planned For MCC Preliminary plans under way at McHenry County college may see a third building on the property in the foreseeable future. The 25,120 square foot facility will include three classrooms, theatre space, theatre dressing room and workshop area, activities area, washrooms, lockers, shower rooms and storage. Favor Johnsburg Sport Camp Completing a highly suc­ cessful year in basketball, the board of Johnsburg School District 12 Tuesday night looked favorably on a Skyhawk Sport camp next summer. More than 100 young people, both boys and girls, are ex­ pected to participate in a program designed to encourage them in various sports as well as to help develop sport­ smanship and a spirit of cooperation. The school hopes to make the program self-supporting. Presentation of the camp proposal was made by Basketball Coach Bob Kies, Football Coach Mike Heimerdinger and Athletic Director Jim Meyers. The problem of tran­ sportation because of the present lack of some facilities in the athletic program also received considerable discussion. * Track was specifically mentioned, with no outside running course available. It is necessary to transport the girls to one school and the boys to another to participate. When the question of using private cars was put forth, the problem of insurance coverage became serious. Member Barbara Stanell commented that one accident could be "devastating". At the conclusion of the discussion, it was decided to use buses even though the cost would be higher. James Van Bosch, Junior high principal, made a mini- course presentation, for which registration will be held April 4- 12. Ten or twelve parents will assist in the program Among activities he outlined was a tour of the Crystal Lake airport. Also, an airlines representative will visit one of the courses to outline career offerings. Others who will participate are the Sheriff's department, rescue and fire departments. Coach Bob Kies brought to the meeting four trophies won by his team and presented them to the school. Board President Charles Boak ac- At the regular March meeting, the board appointed a screening committee to select an architect for the purpose of completing the preliminary planning and cost estimating for the building. Last month, Trustee Barbara Pautz, Crystal Lake, had requested legal opinion from Board Attorney Bill Carroll on the legality of changing structure plans for Phase II. Carroll stated, "This institution is not bound to anything other than the formal presentation to the public which did not spell out the type of builings. The public did not vote on what size building. You are generally doing what you reported you would do." The committee, made up of two members to be appointed by the Facilities Task force and Trustees Dave Murphy, Cary, and Dr. Bill Ryan, Crystal Lake, will solicit, and screen applicants, select three ap­ plicants for interviews and make a recommendation to the board. the Department and Vocational - Education for Illinois. ...approved merger of the of Adult Technical the State of the physical Individualized Study laboratory and the Learning Resources center The merger will result in a more efficient and effective (Continued on pa:;e 21) "The Fox river reached its crest Wednesday, and there has already been an inch to 2-inch decrease along the river," John Shay of McHenry, director of the Emergency Services & Disaster agency for the county, said Thursday morning. "We are still in a critical situation," Shay added. "Because of predicted precipitation, people can't let their guard down. We are watching these storms very closely." He explained that normally during the Spring, the river is ready to take on about 2 feet of water due to floodings and rains, but that wasn't the case this year "We don't have much to look forward to," the MCESDA director reported "The National Weather service has indicated the average rainfall for the area during April is 3.75 inches." , He added that because of the extreme saturation of the ground, the Weather service expects 50 to 70 percent of all precipitation will be runoff and not soak into the ground Usually the runoff is about 30 percent. "No doubt we will have high water for at least three weeks." Shay predicted. "This is probably the worst flooding in the history of the area." Shay explained that his office would be staffed 24 hours a day to handle emergency phone ctflls from people with flooding problems. The number to call is 1-338-6400 cepted them with sincere^ thanks and congratulated "the coach for his highly successful year. Special mention was made of his use of the players. Kies responded by acknowledging that he had been blessed with good players. (Continued on page 21) Hold Park Planning Forum With all the public discussion and controversy surrounding the issue of- a proposed com­ munity center and-or pool in Petersen park, the Woodstock- McHenry League of Women Voters is sponsoring an open forum on the wider issue of McHenry park planning and programs Thursday. April 5, at 7:30 p.m.. in the city hall Council chambers. Mayor Stanek will comment on his suggested community center plans. The league has invited representative- i»uin nearly 40 community organizations to attend this open forum. Janet Conway. League parks com­ mittee chairman, encourages public attendance, explaining that citizen input on this issue is of extreme importance to the community. In other business the board: ...employed Elmer Fox, Westheimer and company to conduct an audit of the National Direct Student Loans, Sup­ plemental Educational Op­ portunity Grants and College Work-Study programs for the period from July 1, 1976, to June 30, 1978. New federal guidelines require this audit of all community colleges. ...approved the college's one and five-year vocational plan as presented, to be submitted to Select Juniors For Girls State Happy smiles express the pleasure of these two MCHS junior girls after being they were selected by a faculty vote as Girls State representative and a Hutchinson, right, will attend Girls State at MacMurray college for a week next June to participate in a my thical government. JoAnne Blume was chosen as alternate. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYI.ORD Community Building Survey Results Page 20 Sue Hutchinson, 16-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Hutchinson of 3704 W. Lee, has been selected by a faculty vote to attend Girls State next June. Her alternate is JoAnne Blume, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Blume of 4002 W. Grand avenue. * A junior girl is selected each year to attend Illini Girls State, sponsored by the Department of Illinois, American legion auxiliary. This year the program will be held from June 17-24 on the campus of M a c M u r r a y c o l l e g e , Jacksonville. It is a mythical state, uatterned after the state of Illinois The girls form two political parties (non­ partisan), after which they hold conventions, campaigns and elections and. perform other duties pertaining to the various public officer It is a program ot education in me Aiiteucan form of government Locally. Sue is sponsored by the auxiliary to Legion Post 491. Attributes of honesty, leadership, good character, s c h o l a r s h i p a n d cooperativeness are considered in selecting the girl to represent each school Sue has had one year in Student Government and served her sophomore class as treasurer She has been a member of the girls' basketball and tennis teams ffir three years and of the girls' track team for two years. Sue plans to attend college JoAnne has been a cheerleader for the past three years H£r interests include waterskiing and other sports Future plans include a four year college to major in Business FRIDAY. MARCH 30, 1979 2 SECTIONS 28 PAGES 20' Irwin Case Unresolved THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER SERVING THE CHAIN O LAKES REGION SINCE 1875 VOLUME 103 NUMBER 70 Complete Village Bond Financing Residents of Lakemoor will soon be able to make con­ nection to the sewer system and service will begin upon com­ pletion of the sewage treatment plant in Island Lake in May or June of this year. That was the word last Thursday as the bond finan­ cing program of the village was completed with officials of Lakemoor delivering $150,000 sewerage Revenue bonds to the Farmers Home administration. They received, in return, a U.S. government check in full payment of the bonds. The village has been able to sell revenue bonds of the village to the Farmers Home administration at an interest rate of 5 percent during a period of high interest rates. Residential customers of the village will receive sewer service for a charge of $12.50 per month which will pay for the sewerage system in Lakemoor and treatment plant service in Island Lake. With the completion of the sewer system, it is expected that residential and commercial growth will increase at a more rapid rate which eventually will serve to reduce the mon­ thly charge. Present at the bond closing in addition to Richard J. Hyatt, village president, and other village officials, were officers of -Farmers Home ad­ ministration from Belvidere and Morris; Edwin C. Becker of the bank serving as depository, and the engineering, legal and financial consultants to the village. With these funds, and ad­ ditional $120,000 revenue bonds to be delivered to Farmers Home administration at a later date, the village will be able to complete payments to con­ tractors for construction of the sewer system. The total $1,700,000 sewer project has been paid from a State of I l l i n o i s E n v i r o n m e n t a l Protection Agency (EPA) grant of $1,175,000; the Far­ mers Home administration loan of $270,000. connection fees paid by residents of the village and $185,000 general obligation bonds. Sewer System Service