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Liability Insurance Discount Free Rose Bushes Praise Lifesaving Service# For Drivers Over 55 For New Plalndealer Subscribers Recognize Paramedics Page 4 For Details Call 385-0170 Page 16 Fox Water Quality Standards Under Study State of Illinois officials will discuss the need for new water quality standards for the Fox river during a public meeting at 7:30 p.m. April 21, at the Central Elementary school, 131 E. Paddock street, Crystal Lake. Jim Park from the Illinois En­ vironmental Protection Agency (IEPA) will explain the need for new standards and the standards setting process. Dan Sallee from the Illinois Department of Conservation (DOC) will describe aquatic habitats in the Fox and its tributaries ; and Ms. Linda Huff, a consultant to the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) will discuss the economic value of clean water and recreation. The meeting is being sponsored by the McHenry County Defenders, the Woodstock-McHenry League of Women Voters, and the Crystal Lake- Cary Area League of Women Voters. Under federal law, IEPA is required to review existing regulations every several years to determine whether adequate progress toward clean water is being made and whether new standards are needed. IEPA has been working with DOC, DENR, and other state and regional agencies during the past several months to develop the data base needed to revise the standards. New standards must be approved by the Illinois Pollution Control Board (PCB) before they can be enforced. IEPA tentatively plans to submit proposed standards to the PCB for approval in May. The proposed standards, which, if approved, will replace standards that have been in effect more or less un­ changed since the early 1970s, will represent a significant change in approach to regulation of water quality. In the past, one set of general water quality standards applied to virtually all waters of the state, with only three or four exceptions. The new IEPA proposal will establish different standards for different streams and segments of streams based on stream uses that are considered economically achievable. For example, a certain set of standards might apply if a stream can be used for fishing; another might apply if a stream can be used for swimming; and another might apply if a stream can be used only for agricultural drainage or industrial discharge. The key element of this standards- setting process is the designation of stream uses. Eventually, the regulation of all polluters will be tied to the designated uses of a particular stream. All investments in pollution control by both public and private entities will be tied to the stream use and the quality of water needed to maintain it. The designated uses of a stream will depend to a great extent on uses desired by local residents. The Defenders and the leagues urge all citizens who are interested in the Fox river to attend this meeting to learn how to participate in the st­ andards-setting process. To find out more about the meeting, citizens may call the Defenders office, (815 ) 459- 0450. VOLUME 107 NUMBER 74 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1983 1 SECTION 24 PAGES 25' Mental Care Outlook Bleak "Ms. O'Malley will provide out- ; standing leadership and direction for < the hospital," Cain said. "She is nationally known and held in high • esteem in the health care field. Her background and expertise will be in- valuabfe in the completion of our major building project, and in im- A graduate of Little Company of Mary Hospital School of Nursing, Evergreen Park, 111., Ms. O'Malley graduated magna cum laude from St. Joseph's college, Rensselaer, Ind., with a B.S. degree in management, and received a Master's in Business (Continued on page 22) Action At The Polls Wlien these three voters expressed their preference among candidates at the polls at 7:45 Tuesday morning, they brought the total vote at city hall (Ward I) to 51. The five candidates in the aldermanic race to fill one vacancy made the Ward I race one of the most heated contests. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD Executive Director Of Hospital Named NORA C. O'MALLEY M. David Cain, president of the McHenry hospital (Northern Illinois Medical center) board of directors, announced Monday that Nora C. O'Malley has been named executive director. plementing further progress in the present hospital." As the chief executive officer, her duties will include planning and policy formation, long range development, and administering the 136-bed hospital. McHenry hospital currently is building a complete replacement facility, the 180-bed Northern Illinois Medical center located at Route 31 and Bull Valley road, just north of Crystal Lake and in McHenry. Ms. O'Malley previously was executive vice-president of Saint John's Medical center in Anderson, Ind. Prior to that she was associate program director of the Hospital Accreditation program for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH). Before joining the JCAH staff in 1971 as administrator field representative, Ms. O'Malley served as chief executive officer of Memorial hospital, Jasper, and administrative resident at Union Memorial hospital, Baltimore, Md. A registered nurse, she also served as director of nursing, director of purchasing, director of personnel and in administrative positions in hospitals in Illinois, Massachusetts and Indiana. A gloomy prospect for mental health care was painted by representatives of six local agencies at last week's meeting of the Planning and Management board of the McHenry County Comprehensive Mental Health Service System (708 board). The subject was housing and health care issues as affected by decreasing funding from both state and federal sources. Deni.is Smith, director of the MH service system, advised the P and M board that this coming crunch is the urgent reason for them to update priorities for use of the locally allotted mental health funds. After listening to B.J. Jones, supervisor of the county Public Aid office, tell of rejection of two-thirds of the aid applications submitted to her office during past months, and Nancy Briscoe, McHenry County Housing Authority administrator, describing a two to five-year wait for housing assistance, Smith suggested that the biggest producer of mental illness is poverty. To aggravate the problem, it is now difficult for Mi's (mentally ill), considered to be an at-risk population, to receive financial assistance, Smith added. This is a situation which any reasonable person, if he or she were aware of it, would not tolerate, Smith said. The money shortage is creating more Mi's and they don't get the type of care needed, he claimed. Jones added that the case count for the Public Aid department is the highest that it has ever been and they have fewer workers to process and monitor the cases. She reported her office is now serving about 1,900 cases. She said there are 500 families receiving assistance under AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) requirements, 500 persons being aided in nursing homes, 400 receiving medical aid only and 500 getting food stamps. Regarding the large number of turn-aways in the 120 applications received monthly, Ms. Jones said the standards (cutoff level) to receive public aid is lower than the lowest SSI (disability) payment. She noted also that provisions for state aid to the medically indigent was eliminated on March 1 by the governor in his budget cutting, making it almost impossible for the recent dischargees in the "Elgin project" and others to get their medicine. Even if they go to the hospital, which is possible, she pointed out, they still can't get their medicine. So far in this county no deaths have resulted from this, Jones noted. Jones declared also that the average AFDC case consists of a woman with two children who receives $302 per month and also possibly food stamps, and about 30 to 40 percent of the cases receive housing assistance. Without the housing aid it is almost impossible for such a family to afford it, she said. This leaves them three courses of action: go home to live with relatives, live with an unrelated person (spelled m-a-n), or cheat, or some combination of the three. Ms. Briscoe reported that her office operates four programs in the county: Section 8 rental assistance for existing housing, fuel payment program, weatherization for existing housing, and community service block grants. She said there are 398 assistance approved units for housing (with a waiting list of up to two years for families. There is an extreme shor: tage of units for elderly with a current waiting period of four to five years. She said the reason is a heavy com­ petition for available funding for this program and local resistance to such housing. Some board members wondered if the worry about a flood of minority groups could be a restraining factor. Ms. Briscoe conceded that this was possible, but the county has 15 housing units (qualified for housing payments) reserved for minorities since 1976 and only one unit has been lived in. Ms. Briscoe noted that the county has been allotted about $105,000 in the fuel payment program and can't spend it all. She said there are also funds for weatherization of homes in (Continued on page 22) Comparing Election Costs by Anthony Oliver Prior to the Consolidation of Elections law, each governmental organization levied for funds to cover the cost of its own election. Nowadays, the county clerk's office in Woodstock is responsible for the administration of all elections in McHenry county. "If the locals were levying, there should be some savings to the tax­ payer now," said Rosemary Azzaro, McHenry county clerk. She noted that the cost of regular elections is somewhat higher than the off-year elections because of a greater number of ballot formats. In the first election under the new law (April, 1981) there Were about 63 separate units of government holding elections. The cost of the election was $88,800. Broken down, the cost was about $1,400 per unit of government. Mrs. Azzaro pointed out that the cost now is higher because of in­ creases in the cost of materials. In an even year, the county-wide cost averages at about $105,000, while during the odd years, the outlay is about $20,000 less. One of the common criticisms of the Consolidation law is that it really does not save the taxpayers any money. Mrs. Azzaro commented that the law's detractors are not looking at the larger, county-wide picture. Prior to the consolidation of elec­ tions, voters in McHenry went to one of four ward polling places, rather than the existing 29 precinct polling places. If each unit of government conducted its own elections, voters may have gone to four different polls at four different times of the year, she said. "People could be voting at different times, in different places for park (Continuod on pago 22) We carefully folded the document, looked to be sure a check was in­ cluded, and closed the envelope. We opened it, repeated the procedure, then counted a third time until we were sure everything was in place. Of course, it could be nothing less than our annual contribution to Uncle Sam's coffer via the IRS. As we drove to the postoffice and asked for certified mail service, the magnitude of what we were doing came upon us. We recalled the size of the check and we felt very tall. We certainly were not one of our Uncle's little people. With some imagination we could picture ourself as a giant among taxpayers. iTiis was no small amount of money we were being asked to shell out and it was hurting. 1 But didn't our late President urge us "not to ask what our country can do for us, but to ask what we can do for our country?" Just remembering made us feel good. True, we had not asked to give, but in the end we were making the sacrifice and it was no small thing to do. Each week our paycheck shrinks by a substantial sum as the bookkeeper faithfully relieves us of an amount Uncle Sam says we owe him. It makes us feel patriotic as we help keep the schools running and the highways free of potholes. This amount we give up ungrudgingly. It's the extra, year end Make' that bogs us down. We aren't quite old enough to claim extra relief, and our dependents extend no further than Dumpling, the cat. To date, Uncle Sam has frowned on making any claims for his dependency although his food bill alone is responsible for a big share of our salary. No disaster has befallen us and good health has kept us out of the hospital. Must such tragedies be ours to keep the bill a modest one? For those who have not yet filed, we ask them to take note of the in­ structions contained in the income tax packages telling how each person can make "voluntary contributions to reduce the public debt". It was something we had to refuse Uncle Sam this year of 1983. In making our final payment we felt part of that national debt. KAF Record Crowd At Trade Fair Setting a record in its tenth anniversary year, crowds estimated at between 14,000 and 16,000 visited the McHenry Trade Fair from the time doors opened Friday night to its closing Sunday afternoon. This compared with from 10,000 to 12,000 who attended the previous year. This scene shows visitors signing up for some of the many prizes awarded throughout the three-day event. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD