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II -- PLAINDEALER- HERALD Friday, January 11, 1985 2 5 C E N T S Township caucus Regner wins on GOP ticket A ma* 14 votes separated the tetM for McHenry Road CommiisioQer it (or position on ballot ~ counting was Incumbent John C. oame out ahead of Kevin Shay.a former •t the OOP caucus ueiday night at the hall In McHenry. fUflMT garnered enough my /(} whUe Shay nfMn wm a few lit manhalled a lot support than I expected," "It's strictly a will be the of- f oandidate for those voting a straight ticket, he noted that this does not preclude 1 anyone from challenging. * - The incumbent GOP township Office-holders found no challenge to their re-election bids at the caucus. The Republican candidates on the April ballot include Albert A. "Albie" Adams, for supervisor; Thomas L. Birmingham, for clerk; Theodore Pitzen, for assessor; and Carol Perschke, Eugene D. Jakubowski, Bruce Novak and Howard H. Snyder, for trustees. At the Democratic caucus, only one person sought nomination. Donna Schaefer, of McHenry, will be vying for one of the trustees seats at the up­ coming April election. Christmas tree pickup set Hw City announced annual pickup of McHenry has the dates of its Christmas tree Public works crews will IN performing the service lesday and JUKI. iHBJSssusSLaa The city requests that all trees be placed at the curbline by Monday mor­ ning, Jan. 14. All streets within the city limits will be covered within the three days, but once the trucks have passed through a Out on a limb Plelndeeler Herald photo by Anthony Oliver From time to time in any Job, people get to feeling like they're out on a limb. For some people, like the man shown above, the job literally does take them out on a limb. Pathologist testifies in Lee murder trial tyAngili Burden mm*** i»nn nw sum The death of Steven Feldt, 29, of Woodstock, was caused by a knife wound to the chest which Mitred his aorta, according to murdeMrial testimony Wed­ nesday, testimony was given by ry Blum, a specialist in and forensic pathology, oonduoted a 3 *-hour anamination on Feldt in y morgue on Aug. 17, wound to the aorta.. Testimony in the trial Wed­ nesday revealed the victim was clothed in only a T-shirt, which was pulled up to his armpits. His blue jeans and underwear were found near the body, according to testimony. State's Attorney Theodore Floro told the trial jury Tuesday that the state's evidence in the home invasion and murder trial of Lee will show that Lee felt rejected by the victim and at­ tacked him with knives as he slept. IS, is standing trial Aug. 1ft, 1982, murder of the victim's Woodstock Apartment, found upper body. The doctor the wounds were on four In the chest area five In the lower back, in Itlon to wounds on the vic- slde and arm. He testified that a knife with an eight-Inch blade, admitted as evldenoe In the trial, was similar to the knife he removed from Feldt's chest during his anamination. Blum said the knife was en- Into the chest up to it's Blum explained that other knife wounds had jUmaged the victim's mum tared li handle, other am, lungs and liver. / nine ofthe knife wounds eould have been fatal, the doctor testified, However he said the cause of death was the stab, le explained that evidence will be presented to link Lee's handwriting to a letter sent to Woodstock police and a message found writtai on the wall inside Feldt's apartment on the day his body was discovered. The letter was signed by "GINK," which, according to Floro, Lee told his therapist meant "Good Ira Never Kills." According to Floro, Lee was sexually attracted to Feldt, and on being rejected by Feldt, attacked him as he slept. Floro said Lee made admissions to a therapist and a psychiatrist concerning the knife attack on Steven Feldt. Defense lawer Dan Mengeling told the jury that Lee had always been a "daydreamer and fancied himself as a writer, up a diary all his life." defense counsel said Lee had sexual identity problems and sexual fantasies. Mengeling said Lee's alleged admissions about the Feldt murder were part of his sexual fantasies. Editor's Note: With the holidays just over, most of us face the new year optimistically and with the hope of prosperity. This then, may also be the ap­ propriate time to reflect on those who are not so fortunate-- those whose needs are great and pressures many. The McHenry family, which is the focus of this feature, is a singular case, but not an uncommon one in this community. In response to their request for anonymity, fic­ ticious names are being used. By Robert Gordon PUIadealer Herald eUH writer A visibly weary John Williams, 22, sits bade in his apartment's black vinyl chair, and blankly stares at his color console television set which is currently broadcasting one of the many network soap operas. He has just gotten back from his 5 a.m. to 2:30 p.m job. "That's one thing young >ple should know," the led man warns in his southern drawl. "Don't step into anything too fast....I went too fast. That's just what we did." Williams' wife, Nancy, 21, sits across the room, holding her five-month-old baby while trying to dress and primp her four-year-old's doll to the little girl's satisfaction. At the same time, she gets ready to go to her 4 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. factory job. "We got over our heads in debts," she says. During a three-year period, between October of 1960 and 1983, John and Nancy worked many hours together in a fac­ tory in Crystal Lake, and made close to $35,000 a year between them. The couple had their own house, plenty of credit cards at their disposal and even extra funds to re-decorate rooms in their proud home. Jofcft, working an average of 95 hours a week, was moving up the ladder in the factory, and long-term financial security seemed inevitable. But then things went sour. All of the never-ending hard work got to John. His relationship with Nancy began falling apart. Spending all of their time together, put a tremendous strain on their marriage, and the bills kept piling up. Feeling he was on a path of self-destruction, John quit his job and traveled back to his home state, Kentucky, to visit relatives and think things out. "I felt I was going to die, to be honest," John said. "The pressure got so bad that our lives weren't going anywhere, and we had a separation-and then we got back together after two weeks' time," he said. But despite the happy reconciliation of the couple's marriage, the damage to the Williams family had been done. John and Nancy lost their house. John could not get his job back and soon after, Nancy lost her position with the factory. Yet despite the hardship of the experience, the couple believes it may have been a great blessing for their future. "With our lives now, it's a whole different story," John . said. "We think more of each other. We care for each other more. Before we were always tired. ^ "We knew we made a mistake, but sometimes I think that mistake paid off. During this low point of their financial situation, the Williams family moved into their current $400 a month McHenry apart­ ment. John managed to get a different factory job, but cleared only $169 a week. Nancy stayed home with the kids after she got pregnant since " her growing belly became a liability m the eyes of prospective em­ ployers. Besides keeping her from working, Nancy's pregnancy was also a huge financial bur­ den, which broke the couple's budget. "The hospital cost was $1,100 if we had it paid by the discharge date, and that was impossible," Nancy explained. "So they charged us $2,500. We couldn't pay rent, eat and pay our electric bill, let alone that." "We knew it was a mistake to have that baby, but we thought it would be wrong to have an abortion," John said. "And now we look at this child here, and we see what we would miss. But we knew we couldn't afford the child." "So the Williams' looked for help. Since John had to work, Nancy was put in charge of inquiring about public aid. She said the Salvation Army told her she'd "already been helped once this year," and would not help her. Trying to get some help from the government was also difficult. According to the couple, seeking public aid is a very frustrating, time con­ suming and humiliatihg task. "We were like $50 a month Over for foodstamps, and we went to the housing authority and our income was $20 a month over(the salary guideline to receive aid)," Nancy said. In order to get foodstamps, the couple said they were required to not only snow the public agency their children's birth certificates, but also had to get each child a social security card. "Hie only thing they cared about was getting the stuff," Nancy said. "They wanted (pay) check stubs every week, wanted check stubs from three months back that we just didn't have.,". The couple continued to at­ tempt to wade through the red tape and paperwork, but they said they felt that the people working- at the government agencies looked down on them and had little or no sensitivity to their situation. "That's the problem with public aid and foodstamps," John said. "You have to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth-and by the time you get it, you've lost more (in gas and time) than you've gained. "I got to the point where I said I don't have to beg to nobody." However, the hospital and their landlord had to be paid, so Nancy called FISH in McHenry and the area Lions Club. FISH paid the Williams' electric bill after the couple's electricity was shut off for a day, paid the overdue rent and brought packages of food to the apart­ ment. The Lions Club paid the hospital bill. The couple said they appreciated the fact that neither the Lions Club nor FISH HARD TIMES--Page 4 GOOD MORNING! Agent Orange fight not over, say local vets By Cliff Ward fNMNiw Hm M Niti Service A federal judge Monday ga\ val to a $180 millic ive final approval to a $180 million settlement in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought^, by thousands of Vietnam veterans, but local Vietnam vet spokesmen are criticizing the decision and saying the fight is not over. U.I. District Judge Jack B. Wetnsteln awarded $9.2 million in fees and expenses to lawyers in the suits against seven chemical companies, which produced the dioxin-based herbicide used extensively in Vietnam and blamed hy many vets for causing serious- health problems. The settlement was reached May 7, 1984, just hours before the case would have become the largest product liability suit ever to go to trial. Weinstein, after giving tentative approval, then conducted hearings across the country soliciting vets' opinions </n the settlement. "It stinks" is the opinion of Crystal Lake's Jack Wojewoda, former president of McHenry County VietNow and now vice- president of the national Viet­ nam veterans group. Vets opposed to the settlement claimed that many of the facts about the herbicide would never become public without a trial. The chemical companies con­ tend that exposure to Agent Orange cannot be specifically linked to health hazards. , Wojewoda predicted that research on the chemical will now cease, depriving vets of information about possible long- term effects on them and their children. Despite traveling \ with Wojewoda to Chicago to testify in opposition to the settlement AGENT ORANGE--Page 4 HWHU6HT The top five stories in the sports fan's poll, as chosen by our readers, appear in to­ day's sports section oit page 20. For details on the top five - and of course the number one -- stories of 1984, see Chris Juzwik's story. SHAW FREE PRESS MEDIA. INC. Business . Sec 2, Page 1 Life Today Page 6 Neighbors.. Sec. 2, Page 5 Volume 109, Number 41 Obituary '. Page 3 Opinion Page 2 Sports . Pages 18, 19, 20 2 Sections. 26 pates New Names LIFE TODAY < PAGE