Fire Levels Large Barn Two skittish horses move as far as possible away from a burning barn at 2817 Riverside drive last Saturday morning. The fire started at about 9:30 a.m. and equipment from six fire companies responded to the Maze. The cause of the blaze is currently under investigation. More photos and details appear on page 21 of this issue. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD \ We live in a world of bigness, and if you want to stay alive in it, you had better think in those terms. An old cliche cautions not to catch the common cold because doctors haven't found a cure. But you can get pneumonia and the docs have all the answers. The same idea carries ^through in the life of crime. Jfhe shoplifter - that light- ' Angered parson of any age who runs up the cost of merchandise for the rest of us - usually gets brought into court and receives a fine. But how about the really big fellows - the sharpies who take big hauls in tit more sophisticated way? Time after time we've seen them go free. Why? We've been told by lawyers that to put them in jail would prevent them from ever paying back what they owe the poor fellow who's been ripped off. As a result, the big takers many times stay on the street and live pretty much like the rest of us do. It may not be as luxurious as he lived before, but at least he sleeps in his own bed at night and has the opportunity to make a living. The same idea goes for the simple procedure of driving. The violator who goes through a stop sign will get a pretty good fine, as he should. But the drunk who kills an innocent motorist on the highway has the law on his side. He's innocent until proven guilty, and sometimes the legal procedure moves slowly. Sometimes he's able to get off with what appears to be a mighty small sentence for taking the life of another. We were thinking of bigness, and how it pays off, the other day as our arm ached as it has been doing for the past five months. No diagnosis at first, only pills prescribed over the j phone.Then the twisting and I turning, with the serious I decision that this was ten- 'V donitis. Two shots were the order, with the advice to go to someone who knew more about it if they didn't work. They didn't, so our foot steps took us to the or thopedic expert. X-rays looked good. Could it be they thought we were a hypochondriac? "Give it three weeks, and then come back if it isn't o.k." That was the Doc talking. Well, circumstances deemed that we wait more than 10 weeks and the arm was still hurting. We returned. This time the diagnosis was "probably a pulled muscle". "A rather unusual place for pain", was his professional observation. We wanted to ask if we should change it, but thought better of the facetious remark and remained silent. Pill samples galore this time, and the order, "Let me ' know by phone in two weeks". The first pill seemed to have a good effect on whatever ails us. Could it be that after five months we would be cured? No, it was not. The old adage, "If one pill is" good, two are better" didn't work. Two weeks have not yet passed, progress has slowed, and suspicion has emerged from our initial optimism. The ache remains in that "unusual" place, and as if at a whim, lets us know con traction of an ache is much easier than cure. So what will we do at the witching hour deadline of two weeks? Will we let him view us with a skeptical eye toward hypochondria? Or ® will be decide to suffer en dlessly for the sake of not being considered a kook? We will probably do neither. Much easier to go really big, like breaking the arm. They know how to heal that and we won't even notice that persistent, dull ache. KAF Ask Zoning Changes For Local Property A petition has been filed for hearing before the McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals by McHenry State bank under a trust, Hugh, Dorothy, William and Elizabeth Kirk for an amendment to the McHenry county zoning ordinance from "A-l" Agriculture district to "R-l" Single Family Residential. The property is located in McHenry township just east for Probationary Prisoners Work Program A public service in which probationary prisoners are worki outside jail has had a 96 percent satisfactory com pletion rate for the last 12 months In McHenry eodftty. At iiwhmiI, there are SS engaged in the program Instead of burdening taxpayers by being sen tenced to jail, where they must be fed, clothed and supervised, they are put to work for the taxpayers as punishment for their crimes. According to Illinois statute, offenders who are sentenced to probation may be ordered by the Court to perform non-compensatory work for the community as a condition of their probation. To provide such a sentencing alternative in McHenry county, tile Adult division of the McHenry County Department of Court Ser vices implemented a public service work program Sept. 9 of last year. Since then, judges in McHenry county have been able to sentence probationers to perform non compensatory public service work for the community. Public service sentences over the past year have ranged in time from 8 to 200 hours and have been proportionate to the seriousness of the offense. Coordinator of the public service work program, Richard J. Ciesielcxyk, states, "The program only recommends probationers for placement if they are physically and mentally sound and if a real benefit to the community can be derived from their placement." To date, 18 public agencies throughout the county have joined the program as job assignment outlets tor probationers' public service work obligations, they in clude police departments, public works departments, high schools, hospitals and the McHenry County Con servation district. Considering the minimum wage of 83.10 per hour, the program has already saved participating county agencies a total of 84,206.70, by providing them with non- compensatory labor. Besides this noteworthy savinp to taxpayers, the work program virtually pays for its own administration since it is operated by the Adult . division of the County Depart- Services. providing a punishment, the the potential to rs with good teach them job skills and, prove to be a to crime for both *jnd first-time of- certain THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER SERVING THE CHAIN O-LAKES REGION SINCE 1875 * f •llfik'; cSmr • VOLUME 105 NUMBER 12 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. 1980 1 SECTION 24 PAGES 25* Views Given At Wonder Lake Mgriy Morning. Storm C/oses Five Schools An early morning storm that blanketed McHenry county, resulted in the closing of the five schools in the Johnsburg school district. A spokesman at the District 12 administration office said that Ringwood, James C. Bush, Johnsburg middle, junior high and high schools were all closed Tuesday, Sept. 9, because of power outages. At Commonwealth Edison, Ron Russell reported that outages were pretty widespread throughout the county, but were par ticularly concentrated in the Johnsburg-Sunnyside- \ (Continued on page 22) Commuter Train Kills -- County Woman A Fox River Grove woman was killed at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday when the car she was driving was struck by the early morning Chicago & North Western train that left McHenry at 6:50. Coroner James Flagg said Marit Larsen, 22, of 110 Harding street, Fox River Grove, was enroute to work from her home when the accident occurred. Flagg explained that because of power failure which occurred in that area about 5 a.m., the crossing gates were down and motorists were driving around them. Ms. Larsen did the same, but failed to see the oncoming east-bound train. It was standing-room-only as approximately 500 people gathered Monday night to listen and ask questions about the recent in corporation movement in Wonder Lake. , The meeting was held at Christ the King church, 4918 E. Wonder Lake road, Wonder Lake. Attending were McHenry Mayor Joseph Stanek, Village of Wonder Lake (formerly Sunrise Ridge) president James Rachel, County board member A1 Collins, Mc- Cullom Lake president Kurt Weisenberger, McHenry township trustee Eugene D. Jakubowski, and former McHenry County Sheriff Art Tyrrell. RacMled off was concCTiicd lake, the privacy, -the recreation, the pollution Slid the possible loss of lake bottom if incorporation does not take place. He also mentioned the amount of crime in Wonder Lake which has been reported in various local newspapers. Rachel also quoted a comment reportedly made by Mayor Standi and he emphasized that the com ment was made in jest. The comment was to the effect that the City of McHenry should annex McCullom Lake and make a parking lot of Wonder Lake. Parts of a letter, from the City of McHenry to the County Zoning board, which referred to the zoning of parts of the Northern Pump and Norwood farms were mentioned as examples of how the City was growing. "I bring this up," Rachel said, "because I want you to S€6 the growth pattern. It's not to the east, the south, or the southeast, it's to the north and the northwest - where we are." "Joe (Stanek) has done a hell of a job in McHenry and Lhope hi keeps doing it - in Rachel added. Mayor Stanek spoke next saying, "I do not want to influence you, that's your decision." The only way McHenry would become involved, Stanek addded, is if a sub division that was within the mile-and-a-half planning area of the City was to in corporate. Stanek read, in its en tirety, the City letter to the County Zoning board which said that if large areas of land should be zoned residential, the land should be zoned under the City zoning classifications and should be annexed. The mayor of McHenry pointed out that he was speaking solely for himself and was not acting as a representative of the City. "City government is difficult. It is the hardest arena to govern, but if you choose to I'm sure enough qualified people will step forward to meet the challenge," he said. County board member A1 Collins addressed himself to some of Rachel's estimated finance figures which have met with some objection. Rachel's estimate-.of the annual revenue of the Village after incorporation, based on a population of 10,500, was $750,000. Collins commented that the preliminary census figures had come in low, but said some discrepancies in the count still needed to be resolved. A representative of the former Department of Local Government Affairs (it has since been renamed) said he saw nothing wrong with Rachel's estimated revenue figure, if the population was 10,500. Kurt Weisenberger, president of the Village of McCullom Lake, said problems would exist whatever decision was made. "I'm going to be sweet and to the point, I think you're foolish if you don't." Taking an opposite view, Eugene D. Jakubowski, McHenry township trustee, said he was not in favor of incorporation, annexation or anything of the like. It was pointed out that the issue of incorporation was essentially moot because of the previous incorporation of the Village of Wondsr Lake. The is whether other subdivisions wish to be annexed by the Village of Wonder Lake. McHenry Mayor Joseph Stanek pointed out that a subdivision cannot be an nexed against its wishes unless it is surrounded on four sides - or three sides and a body of water - by the annexing municipality. Another point made at the Saufen Und Spiel Fest Sunday The Johnsburg Com munity club's 58th an niversary celebration, Saufen und Spiel Fest will begin with the traditional parade through downtown Johnsburg at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14. Various high school bands are participating, along with a Marine color guard which will add a touch of splendor to the march. Beauty for the parade will come in the appearance of several beauty queens from the McHenry county area. Fun and nostalgia will be provided by the clowns, floats and antique cars which are always out standing attractions of the parade. Classic Kaisers and Thunderbirds of a more recent vintage will add pleasure for all car buffs. It's not too late to enter the parade. Call Bob Hopp at 385-4464 to register a float or entry. The parade will conclude at the Community club grounds, where the activities will begin with flag raising at 2 p.m. Music for listening and dancing and harmony by the Sweet Adelines will add to the day's pleasure. For the children, there will be a space walk, train rides, a miniature ferris wheel and the ever popular sand pile where they can keep busy and discover pennies. Of course the Saufen und Spiel Fest will have the tug- of-war, and the horseshoe contests along with the beer, brats, corn and other refreshments. The day's activities will be completed at 7 p.m. meeting was that the Village, if it is incorporated, would be responsible for the maintenance of the township rosds. According to Jakubowski, the cost of such maintenance is about 160,000 per mile. He also pointed out that once incorporated, the Village would receive little or no assistance from the townstfr. Another point was that most of the roads in Wonder Lake art "seal coat" roads which are not up to the same standards as the township roads ~ 22-foot, 10-inch base, three to five inch mat, dit ching and culverts. Two yoars ago, the cost of the roads was a foot, it was why other e annexing, mayor Joseph "To control out the Im- ^ orderly, con- trollefl 4 growth and illustritttf this with the network of bypass roads being required of developers around McHenry. "The fear of McHenry annexing (Wonder Lake) is blown out of proportion," Stanek said. "I don't know ef anyone wbo has ever con quered annexing Wondjr Lake. 1 Isn't know of anyone who haa tven discussed it." Regarding the lake, Dr. S.L. Ruggero, vice-president of the County Health department, said the lake was "better off now than it has boon for a long, long time." Any open body of water will be contaminated, he said, depending on your definition of contamination. Former McHenry County (Congous it on page 22) of 300 North River road and south of the intersection of State Route 120 and Chapel Hill road. It consists of about 42 acres. The hearing on this petition will be held Sept. 11, at 2 p.m., in Room 112 of the McHenry county courthouse, 2200 North Seminary avenue, Woodstock. All those who may be interested may appear and be heard. (Continued on page 22) I Speedboat On The River? Usually reserved for auto traffic only, Elm street at the height of Tuesday morning's electrical storm may have given this driver the Idea that he was craistag down the Fox river. Heavy accumulations of rain could not be carried in the storm sewer fast enough to avoid scenes like the above in the minutes before daylight. The ph glass-like highway at 6 a intersection of Elm and Gr high water on the northwest STAFF PH captured the' at the flooded with curb NE GAYLORD