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mm. THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER VOLUME 107 NUMBER 51 " S E R V I N G T H E C H A I N 0 - L A K E S R E G I O N S I N C E 1 8 7 5 FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 1983 1 SECTION 16 PAGES 25* After The Crash... FREE TV Guide In Today's Edition McHenry Hosts Honors Bands At West Campus Jan. 23 , Page 15 Non-"Victims" Suffer Visitors From Peru Far from their native Peru, two South American students are at­ tending McHenry high school East campus for 10 weeks as part of the American Youth Exchange program. Guillermo Gaberscik, 15, is residing with Mr. and Mrs. Bill Gates, their daughter, Wendy, a freshman, and Jeff, a Junior. Liliana DelflnT 16,' is Guillermo Gaberscik, 15, and Liliana Delfin, 16, are shown with a miniature replica of a Llama, an animal native to their country of Peru. The young South American students are spending 10 weeks attending the local high school as part of the American Youth Exchange program. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD living with Mr. and Mrs. Richard Skinner and daughter, Julie, a sophomore. The American Youth Exchange program is a non-profit organization in which McHenry high school has participated for eight years. Many local students have had the op­ portunity of traveling to South America or have hosted foreign students. Students in this country pay the air fare and then live and attend school for 10 weeks in an a South American country. Students enrolled in Spanish at East or West campus should con­ tact Miss Debbie Baldwin, Spanish teacher at East, if they are interested in the summer exchange program. Problems Plague Prenatal by Anthony Oliver It was cold and windy at about 11:15 the night of Dec. 21, 1982, when a speeding car crashed into five parked vehicles along Front Royal drivte^in front of the Royal Terrace nurfcing home. For most, theaccident was an irritation, an inconvenience to be handled through normal chan­ nels. For the Komalskis, of 905 N. Draper road, McHenry, the accident dealt a crushing blow to the family's morale and left them financially devastated. "People who saw it said his car was moving at 80 to 100 miles an hour," said Mrs. Susan Komalski. "0ur car was pushed 200 feet, sideswiping other cars. It was declared totalled." A nursing home employee, a 17- year-old who lives in Woodstock, was driving the speeding car. He refused to make any statement about the accident and was charged with driving under the influence and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. The Komalski car was fully equipped to meet the needs of a severely impaired youngster. The Komalski "car" was a 4V2- year-old van that contained a suction unit, monitor, auxiliary heater, wheelchair galley and electrical outlets. "New, these cars go for $20,000 to $30,000," Mrs. Komalski said. "We could never afford to make payments on a new van." The Komalskis' young son, Adam, was afflicted since birth with tuberous sclerosis, a brain disorder that has left him developmentally at two months of age, deaf, blind and subject to seizures. "For the first two years of Adam's life, I lived in the van in hospital parking lots in Michigan and Minnesota," she said. "We chose to keep him. The car let us go on trips, go camping for a weekend -- it gave us the ability to travel as a family and feel comfortable." One such trip was scheduled for the holidays. The Komalskis intended to goio Michigan to visit Adam's grandparents, but the trip was cut snort by an allegedly intoxicated cyiver. as a family a lot," she sfl-arwiping a tear from her eye. "Even if we go to the shopping center, we go as a family. We're very close." Hospital bills stemming from Adam's care and treatment the first two years amounted to about $800,000. These bills and the fear the bank might repossess the van forced the Komalskis into Chapter 13 (bankruptcy) in September of 1982. "If you're late with a couple of payments, they don't hesitate to repossess your car," she said. Chapter 13 restrictions prohibit the Komalskis from getting any additional loans. "We couldn't afford the payments, anyway," Mrs. Komalski said. In addition to a five-day-a-week job, her husband works weekends at Royal Terrace. Mrs. Komalski also worked there, but knew the job was up at the turn of the year. Now, she is stranded at home because she has no means of transportation. "When an insurance company pays off, the bank is there first," Mrs. Komalski said. "This left us with about $1,400 from the ac­ cident." Other expenses stemming from the accident, but not covered by insurance, brought that total down to about $1,000. "There is no way out except to find an $800 car that will last for at least three years," she said. "We're left high and dry, if something medical crops up.... we wouldn't be able to stay with Adam." She commented that a family with a severely impaired Child often fosters a false morale -- a feeling that everything will be all right -- to keep things going. "The little things we used to do, like the weekend camping trips, have been pulled out from under us -- for a stupid reason," Mrs. Komalski said. "People have heart attacks at the wheel, a lot of things can happen and I -un­ derstand that, but for a 17-year- old kid to be drunk?" "I'm sure he has no idea of what he's done," Mrs. Komalski said. "Now, we're financially devastated and legally no one wants to bother." She commented that, after checking a couple of legal avenues, the matter was not financially rewarding enough for someone to undertake. "There was no personal injury (on the part of the victims) and not enough property damage. We're not talking about $100,000; we're talking a few thousand dollars and no lives." "We (parents) have to act responsibly to save the lives of our children," Mrs. Komalski said. "They are not going to stop drinking. Maybe we should carpool and pick them up when they've been out. We should probably have a closer monitoring of where they are." "I'm not against alcohol, but it is not proper behind the wheel of a car. At 17, he was still too inexperienced to make a decision of whether to drive," Mrs Komalski said. She noted that this was second incident where the famil; had been hurt by allegedly drunk drivers. Five-year-old Rachel Komalski was a student of Mrs. Janet Cody, an elementary school teacher killed in a head-on collision last November. The driver of the vehicle in that< collision was allegedly in­ toxicated. "She suffered a real, special loss," Mrs. Komalski said. "To lose that important a role model at five-years-old still haunts my daughter." r Care Program Within County Policy Change On Food Vendors The difficulties encountered in establishing a prenatal care program for pregnant girls and women in McHenry county with financial problems is a dilemma confronting Eileen Hanson. Ms. Hanson is director of the county Health department:, division of Public Health Nursing, who recently discussed her dilemma with the P&M board of the McHenry County Mental Health system. She acknowledged that after some on-again, off-again grant promises from the state, she finally received Most of the time we individuals who make up the public are concerned about how big government can possibly function without our expert opinions. And most of the time we have a right to worry, even with a House and Senate filled with men and women we sent there by our votes. After all, we weren't able to get their commitment on all of our pet theories before we voted them in. And occasionally' the choice was a problem in itself. We worry, too, jf we are Democrats, whether the Republicans will deny us the services to which we have become accustomed. If we are of the GOP persuasion, we are troubled about whether there will be money left for anything when we get back in power. This should be sufficient for any constituent to worry about, but there's something new. At last, we have the Democrats and Republicans agreed upon a delicately contrived Social Security rescue plan. Now what could go wrong? Plenty as long as there are people in the world! The first cries of protest have arisen from representatives of senior citizens, business and workers. That takes in a pretty fair share of the whole. The American Association of Retired Persons doesn't like the six- month, cost-of-living freeze and (Continued on page 14) assurance of $30,000 to implement the program as of Oct. 1. The main problem, Ms. Hanson noted, was reaching an agreement with obstetricians or other doctors to work in this program. She asserted and was supported by Lee Pesce, director of the Memorial hospital at Woodstock, that the hospital had signed an agreement to work with the program. One obstetrician had agreed also, but three others had scheduled a meeting among themselves to resolve their concerns about working in the program. Ms. Hanson said she un­ derstood the doc tors'.main concern was the effect on their liability in­ surance (malpractice.) Pescte believed the doctors desired a high quality program in that they wanted to follow through on prenatal care to the delivery. He noted that the people to be benefitted by this program tended to be higher risk patients. "Malpractice insurance is costly", he reminded the board, "and the physicians want to be sure they are covered." Some one asked if the additional coverage or modification could be provided by the county under its "umbrella" coverage. Ms. Hanson noted that the doctors felt they needed some negotiations EDC Boosts Business s While federal and state spending are being cut in certain sectors, financing programs for industrial expansion, capital improvements and " employee training are on the upswing, according to G. William Hubbard, chairman of the McHenry County Economic Development Committee (EDC). -"We want our manufacturers, realtors, accountants and bankers to know about these various programs available to private companies at favorable terms," Hubbard said, "and what EDC can do to help." In keeping with this aim, the local EDC will host an informational meeting for industrial developers at (Continued on page 14) before entering the program, and she conceded that it is difficult to change conditions of working in a program once it is started due to the need to follow state and federal guidelines. She said the P&M board might be interested in the organizational structure of the program for possible approval. Jan Marsh, chairman of the P&M board, asked what kind of program was being planned with the $30,000 promised. Ms. Hanson said it would fill a gap in a fairly complete series of child care programs now being offered by her division. She added that it would include counseling on nutrition and care of the new born and growing child. They would advise pregnant teenagers and offer sources where (Continued on page 14) by Angela Burden Shaw Media News Service A change in the health department ordinance, adopted Tuesday by the McHenry County board, allows suspension of any permit issued by the department to establishments serving or selling food and beverages if a permit holder violates the county's public health law. The amended ordinance provides that an immediate suspension of the permit can be made whenever the Health department or its represen­ tatives find conditions which con­ stitute danger to public health or if a permit holder or establishment operator ignores, neglects or carelessly responds to notices on corrections issued by the department or has interfered with an enforcing officer in performance of his duties/ The original ordinance called for revocation of a permit for serious offenses, which meant the permit could be discontinued on a permanent basis. Tuesday's amendment to the rule allows for a suspension of the permit with immediate discontiuance of operations with a chance for the suspension to be lifted after hearings. Board members were divided on the amendment. Thore Emricson said he thought the suspension rule would give too much power to a health inspector who may have a personality clash with an operator of a restaurant or tavern. County Health Administrator Richard Wissell assured Emricson the department's representatives would be required to contact a supervisor or the department head before a suspension. Ann Hughes,, chairman of the board's health\ and agricultural committee, sai\l the ordinance amendment allowing suspension instead of revocation was "more equitable." She said the amendment gives field inspectors the option of issuing a suspension instead of a revocation. Wissell called the amendment "a hammer instead of a sledgehammer." He explained that a revocation is very serious. "It can put a person out <rf business forever in this county and we don't want to do that," he said. Another proposed amendment to the health ordinance, which was unanimously adopted by the board, allows for one fee to be set when several organizations set up tem­ porary eating and drinking establish­ ments for public festivals. End Of The Line There was a time when commuters arriving in McHenry waved goodbye to friends who continued on to Ringwood, Lake Geneva and Williams Bay. That was yesterday. When these commuters stepped off the last evening train Wednesday evening they knew the big, diesel-fueled locomotive would remain in place for the return trip Thursday morning. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD Tighten Food Stamp Redemption Reduce Black Market Potential Page 18