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ponce McHenry is inA the I Halloween spirit as Plain- I dealer Photographer Wayne Caylord discovered early Monday morning. He took a I quick trip through the areas of Country Club Estates, Bull Valley, Whispering Oaks, Lakeland Park and Maple street and found these . displays. There were also many more, too numerous j to be included. A suggestion is to pack the kids in the family auto and enjoy displays featuring ghosts, corn shocks, goblins and pumpkins. AROUND RRRP^^hI : ' iXSssI ' 'r:: J • ' • - - J • ' • •.Wrr-v.i . ', n ' mmm i 'V " - SALESTAX CHARTS Hie revised sales tax charts reflecting the in­ crease to 5V4 percent in McHenry county, effective Thursday, Nov. 1, will be available at the Chamber of Commerce office this week. TJiey are free of charge to area merchants, who are urged to call 385- 4300 to verify their arrival. i . ' . ' " ; . • v , ' ' ' • ) ' , • ' ' . i'" • i. • '2J- ' > '• "t- • • i- • • • " . ; : V "• ' •r »•. V ' A very unique Halloween display can be seen in the tiews room window of the Plain- dealer office - a large pumpkin man wearing an Easter hat. And it all happened because the roof fell in! Literally it fell in Friday morning, upsetting the last work day of the week and definitely ruining plans for a beautiful window display. After a week of prodding, two of the younger, more nimble members of the crew reluc­ tantly took to the ladder leading to an. attic area where holiday decoration goodies are stored. Then disaster befell us. With the only warning a crackling sound, there was a sudden avalanche of ceiling squares, insulation and miscellaneous material crashing onto our desk. A cup of coffee withistood the attack, but papers were strewn about, pelted as we were with odds and ends. Looking up, a first glance disclosed a leg hanging through the opening and we imagined its owner was clinging to a rafter. Within seconds it disappeared and a smiling face looked down. When we regained our composure, it was evident Mr. Pumpkin's high black hat was not among the attic treasures we had expected. And no amount "of coaxing could convince the two young men they should return for it. And so, born into an age when "where there's a will there's a way" was not only an axiom but a necessity, we set about to jnake Mr. Pumpkin as presentable as possible. A rather fancy bonnet that 1 served us well in an Easter SERVING THE CHAIN-O-LAKES REGION SINCE 1875 ' ~ - » -i- j? ,>i <• ' i+y ;" *~WEOTIfSD^YftSGreWER 31, 1979 2 SECTIONS 32 PAGES 20' Splay was brought from the dregs of an ornament box and set saucily on his head. But somehow a pink hat with lace looks less than appropriate for an orange pumpkin, even though he continues to exhibit the silly grin that has characterized his fat head since we brought him into being two yeai^ago. But does anybody care? Of course not! As we sit beneath this yawning gap in a capricious ceiling, other staff members are taping a large sign on the outside of our door that reads, "hard hat area, beware of falling objects"! It occurs to us that the hassle of decorating for each season is too great. Our next project is concocting a window display to fit all seasons. K.A.F. Mayor: Freeway Issue Not Dead F.A.P. 420 (a freeway connection north for McHenry county) is not dead, insisted Mayor Joseph Stanek at last week's meeting of the McHenry County Municipal association. Edward F. Kramarz, Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) official, confirmed that there is a commitment for a study "for the most feasible and cost :. effective way to provide transportation for the area." Also highlighted at the meeting was the concern of municipalities over a county amendment to their zoning ordinance that would allow the School Administrator Named To State Office Richard Farmer, superin­ tendent, McHenry Community Consolidated District 15, was elected to the office of secretary-treasurer at the fall conference of the Illinois Association of School Personnel Administrators. Officers of the group are responsible for the association's business matters and organization of its annual conference. This year's conference, held at Tfie~Holiday Inn in Rolling Meadows, was attended by more than 60 school personnel administrators. Workshop sessions included Reduction in Force, Staffing-Teacher Market, Staff Development, Collective Bargaining, Fringe Benefits, Structuring Salaries, Evaluation of Personnel and Contract Management. Cal Skinner, Illinois State House, and Dr. Mel Heller of Loyola university, were the keynote speakers. The newly formed organization will affiliate with the American Association of School Personnel Ad­ ministrators at the latter's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. issuance of conditional use permits without notice to a municipality within a mile and half of the site, and with a simple majority vote of the County board. The mayors adopted a resolution addressed to the County board for an amendment to provide for input by adjoining cities or villages and for a three-quarters board vote for approval. Kramarz, IDOT program development section chief, said that $2 billion freed up by an agreement between Chicago and the state not to develop the Crosstown Freeway would probably make possible a number of needed tran­ sportation improvements in Illinois. He noted that $1 billion would be spent inChicago and the other $1 billion outside of the city. He listed the categories in which the expenditures would fall: $100 million for new transportation initiatives, $80 million for doubling the federal urban funds, which would cover the FAP 420 study and other projects. The amount would be in the $220 million to $330 million range. Other monies would go for improvements of the state highway system. For the rehabilitation of the existing expressway system, $655 million was alloted. About $48 million is proposed for miscellaneous items, railroad crossings, traffic signalization, road resurfacing and other "low cost projects". For major improvements of the arterial road system McHenry county would get up to $28 million of the $480 million available over and above the projects usually funded. Kramarz said they were seeking concurrence of the regional councils for the projects already proposed. About FAP 420, Kramarz said right-of-way acquisitions will probably be completed and a study made to determine whether it should be a full freeway, a limited access high­ way or a two-lane highway with possible completion of more lanes later; also where to make connections, possibly tying it into Route 12 or continuing it to Grayslake, with possible connections with Route 53. Money has been allocated for the study but no final recom­ mendations have been made, he said. The mayors voted unanimously to adopt a resolution suggested by Mayor William LeFew of Harvard which would ask the County board to modify the county zoning ordinance to give municipalities a voice in county Special Use decisions and to increase the vote margin needed for approval to three quarters of the board. Stanek said he was concerned with the effect of the county's recently adopted zoning ordinance (with the simple majority vote requirement) on the growth of the cities. Dick Klemm, County board chairman, explained that the board had added the Special Use provision to the new zoning ordinance to make possible the passage of a permit for a needed disposal facility for sludge in the county. He said the prospect of approving such a facility in any part of the county would present a political problem to get a two thirds vote for approval under the former ordinance. Dave Rogers, attorney for Harvard, said the new or­ dinance would allow the county to hold hearings and issue Special Use permits for such things as airports, gravel pits and planned unit develop­ ments, without notifying the municipality that would nor­ mally have a voice in the mile and half area of such a proposal and to approve the use with only a majority vote. He also noted that a last minute effort by some County board mem­ bers to amend this provision was defeated by a 22 to 1 vote. Klemm said he supported the two-thirds vote provision and that a motion by the County board to reconsider the Special Use provision failed by a vote of 13 to 8. This meant only that the board majority refused to reopen the issue at that Oct. 23 meeting, Klemm said. The board had then recessed the meeting until Monday morning, Oct. 29, for final consideration of the zoning ordinance.. Klemm added that a sub­ division ordinance would be coming before the board in later winter or early spring, and a planned unit develop­ ment (PUD) ordinance in spring or summer. He also predicted more reclamation of gravel pits because of the in­ creasing prices of all land in the county. Robert Grossman, a planning consultant presently working for McHenry and Woodstock, in his remarks to the group, ex­ pressed surprise at the abuse officials are currently receiving from the public, the rude language with which they are addressed. He noted this in connection with his com­ mendation of the county in adopting its new com­ prehensive plan, the process of which involved a lot of "bat- (Continued on page 22) Bartlett Takes Post MCC President Leaves; Hopes Action Is "Healing Motion" ROBERT C. BARTLETT Dr. Robert 6. Harris and the board of McHenry County college arrived at a mutual agreement last Thursday night, when it was announced the president would be leaving his post The board will honor his contract until June, 1980, and Harris will leave the college Nov. 1. Harris said he hoped his departure would be a "healing motion" after recent problems between factions on the board and involving the college administration. He praised the college staff as being highly qualified and highly dedicated people. Harris said he would remain in the community and that he hopes "at some future date to contribute to the college in some other capacity". Robert C. Bartlett was named acting president of the college by the board of trustees. Bartlett, MCC dean of instruction, will take over the presidential duties ifrom Dr. Harris Nov. L Bartlett came to the college in 1973 from a post as assistant executive secretary of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. He has a master's degree from the University of IUiiiois and engaged in doctorate level study at the University of Chicago and Michigan State University. Fire Destroys Summer Home Members of McHenry Fire Department Companies One and Two are shown at the blaze that gutted the summer residence of Vera Pedersen, of Northfield, 111., Monday morning. The home at 908 S. Route 31, McHenry, was vacant at the time of the fire and McHenry Fire Chief Glenn Peterson said the fire appears to have been caused by an electric timer. Peterson estimated the damage to the one-story structure at approximately $19,600. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD Last Sunday at about 3:15 a.m., Company One of the McHenry Fire department was called to assist the Richmond Fire department at a blaze at 7210 Keystone road, near Rich­ mond. Also present at the fire, which destroyed the building and all its contents, were units of the Spring Grove and Wonder Lake Fire depart­ ments. According to the Sheriff's police report, the building was b e i n g r e m o d e l l e d t o a c ­ commodate the raising of mushrooms. The resident of the structure's, single apartment, Duane Schroeder, said the building contained an office, his apartment, and about 100 bales of hay. The cause of the fire and the total damage estimate have not been determined, according to the report. I Johnsburg Scrutinizesr Cash Flow Determination to maintain close scrutiny on cash flow was evidenced once again at last week's meeting of the John­ sburg school board, as many bills payable were questioned by board members. Board President Charles Boak expressed concern at what he felt was an exorbitant cost for pompons, $608.50, and high school Principal Bill Hayes broke the figure down to approximately $12 each for some fifty metallic pompons. Similar disbelief was expressed by other board members. ^ V The cost and practicality of> student help in the cafeteria^ J was questioned, and it was mentioned that there is a shift to more adult help, since supervision of a large student work force is not practical, and therefore not economical. Phone costs once again came into question, and Boak asked that comparisons of month by month costs be made with last year's figures for the same time periods. Installation charges should be deducted to give accurate-pictures of actual usage costs, and, Boak stressed, the mails should be used as often as practical. Principal Harry May men­ tioned that attempts to hold costs down were not entirely reflected yet in the current phone bills, since the directive just went out last month. The cost of bread and rolls, a bid item, was questioned with an eye to whether there was much waste involved. The larger part of the quoted figure was the cost of rolls for hot dog days. It was brought out that the bread required on type A lunches is largely wasted. The cost of replacing broken windows with lexan, a form of plexiglas, was broken down to show $1,200 to $1,500 for the high school and $780 for the middle -- school, both replacements necessary due to vandalism. Some typographical errors on figures were corrected, and after long discussion of many expenses, John Heidler moved that bills be jpaid with adjusted totals. Steve Pollock reported on the unprecendented success of the second annual PREP con­ ference, an in-service training program for vocational education personnel, conducted in Springfield by Johnsburg high school. A total of 618 people attended the two-day conference, and gave suggestions as to how the forty 1-hour sessions may be im­ proved to fewer 2 or 3-hour seminars. State funding will once again be available for next year's conference. Suspension reports, compiled on a monthly basis, were ex­ plained. Bill Haag, dean of students at the high school, felt that this year's twenty-three s u s p e n s i o n s c o m p a r e d favorably with last year's ten for the same time period, because last year, at the (Continued on page 22) Highway Crashes Kill Two Two persons, one from this area, died in separate highway accidents during the past week. A McHenry woman was killed when the car she was driving passed in front of a semi at the intersection of Route 23 and Kishwaukee Valley road, near Marengo. Mary Novotney, 25, of 5011 McCullom Lake road, McHenry, was pronounced dead on arrival at Memorial hospital in Woodstock. According to the Sheriff's driving east on Kishwaukee Valley road and pulled out into the path of the northbound tractor-trailer which was driven by Frank Robinson of Maitland, Fla. The investigation into the accident is continuing. At the intersection of Route 20 and Big Timber road, a car driven by a Marengo man was broadsided by another vehicle in Monday morning's heaVy fog, according to the Illinois State police in Elgin. Darryl Satterthwaite, 29; of Marengo, was driving east on Big Timber road at Route 2D and pulled out in front of the other vehicle. The driver of the other car, Charles Brooks of Bekrit, Wis., was southeast bound on Route 20 when the collision occurred. No citations were issued. ' A Barrington man was in­ jured and received two tickets (Continued on page 22) fi