The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Power Outage In Storms Wind, Fells Willow Tree Emily Rees of 71< N. John Street, McHenry, at right, explains to family member* how high winds of the early Wednesday thunderstorm tore a large willow from the ground on her property. Fortunately, the tree missed the home and two ears parked in the driveway. Only minor damage was reported. ) STAFF PHOTO-DONNA BERTULIS Power outages and fallen trees constituted the major damage in two thunderstorms in the early hours of Wednesday. John Shay of McHenry, director of the McHenry County Emergency Services & Disaster Agency, clocked winds outside the Woodstock agency at 61 miles per hour. Trees were blown over in several places, he said, but no emergency staff members were called out. Commonwealth Edison Company reported power outages in McHenry and Nunda Townships and in Wonder Shoplifting Focus Of Retail Seminar Retail merchants at the McHenry Market Place shopping center will be attending a seminar Saturday mor­ ning geared toward the prevention of shoplifting. The seminar is being sponsored by the McHenry Police Department at the request of the shopping center merchants, according to Chief George Pasenelli. "Several of the merchants had seen a prior seminar sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and felt there was a need," Pasenelli said. Lake. Most of them were caused by a 34,000-volt transmission line being knocked out of service. In addition, a tree fell on a feeder line, causing 500 customers to be without power. Scattered outages were reported between midnight and 1 o'clock, but the transmission line problem bet­ ween 5 and 6 in the morning caused the greatest number of power failures. ' Edison personnel worked throughout the night to restore ser­ vice. By mid-morning Wednesday there were only a few scattered customers for whom service had not District 156 Salaries been restored, according to the spokesman. Harvard firemen assisted the Walworth, Wis., Fire Department in fighting a barn blaze on Rt. 14, north of State Line Road, near the Wisconsin border. The barn was destroyed and contents, including a sports car, a truck and a boat, were damaeed The property on which the barn was located was reported to be owned by Gordon Stade of McHenry. Cause of the 1:30 a.m. blaze is believed to have been lightning. Six Percent Hike For School Administrators PLAINDEALER CHAIN-O-LAKES REGION SINCE SERVING SECTION AUGUST VOLUME FRIDAY, Subdivision Plat Okayed t)v Anthonv Oliver * by Anthony Oliver Final plat approval for Unit 3 of the Winding Creek subdivision, on McHenry's southwest side, received City Council approval at Monday night's regular meeting. Residential Development Group (RDG) consultant Roger Muter- \ spaugh told the aldermen that Unit l x was completed and Unit 2 was under j. noostruotion at the pmm* time. g«sftjg.̂ igs portion of the unit in the final plat . The small northern parcel is owned jointly in trust by RDG and the city. The land wasputup as collateral as a condition of the 1979 annexation agreement. Muterspaugh and Berg said the developers were prepared to add whatever certificates were necessary to allow the platting. If allowed, in­ clusion of the parcel would eliminate the need and expense of t|ie developers to go through the platting procedure for such a small tract. Aid. William Busse (2nd) asked if the developers had any proposal to alleviate the mess, i.e. mud on the roadway, associated with the con­ struction in Unit 3. A resident of the area, Busse voiced concerns of other Fox Ridge residents. "No matter where we go, we'll run into that potential problem," Berg admitted. A motion to accept the final plat of Winding Creek Unit 3 passed unanimously. The RDG representatives also requested release of a $10,000 letter of credit, noting that three remaining requirements for the release had been met. Hie letter of credit concerned Boone Valley Units 12 and 13. The motion to release the letter of credit also passed unanimously. Berg also asked permission to place three signs, two of them offsite, ad­ vertising and providing direction to the Boone Creek (McHenry La^es Estates) development on the city's --The council expressed no ob­ jection to an abutting landowner who is planning to petition the city for annexation. Hal Paul, who owns about two acres at Bull Valley and Route 31, addressed the council. --The final plat for Unit 3 of the Tonyan Industrial Park was approved by unanimous vote. --City Attorney Bernard Narusis reported that the Lakeland Park Water Company had filed a petition for rehearing to the Illinois Com­ merce Commission (ICC) concerning its recent order. The order dismissed a petition for a general rate increase. (Continued on pogo IS) Following executive session Aug. 16, the District 156 high school board approved a 1983-84 salary hike of an average 6 percent for the district's administrative staff. They also extended District Supt. Robert Swartzloff's contract for three years. The salary increase covers the suoerintendent through the assistant principals of tne district's two high schools. In addition, classified staff (em­ ployees other than administration or teachers) increases were tentatively approved contingent on agreement with McHenry Elementary District 15 on increases for jointly employed staff members. These include bus drivers and some clerical staff who work for both school districts. Swartzloff noted that a percentage figure could not be released until District 15's decision is incorporated into the calculations. He said District 15 planned to act on the increase at the Aug. 23 meeting. In other action, the school board expanded the responsibilities of Administrative Assistant Norbert Wolter to include "providing the district with curriculum and program coordination and leadership in developing curriculum modifications and reforms to insure educational program excellence" according to Swartzloff. Wolter will also provide direct supervision and evaluation for the district's director of vocational education and the director of special programs. Additionally, his new duties will include a district thrust toward evaluating the present educational program in light of the recent National Commission on Education report from Washington and other studies. Graduation requirements will be reviewed in this evaluation, also. Swartzloff indicated that Wolter is well-qualified to take on the new responsibilities. "He has the preparation and background in these areas and will assume a leadership role, " he added. At the earlier board session, efforts to cut operating costs at the schools this summer showed tangible results in a lower electric bill for West Campus for last month. A savings of about $3,888 over last year was achieved through shutting down the air conditioning at the school. Air conditioning was used only in offices being used and during brief periods when painting and carpet laying work was taking place. Business Manager Michael Kelly reported 1982 records as showing 180,400 kilowatt hours at $10,655 for July and 1983 with 99,600 kilowatt hours at $6,766.40 for the same month. This resulted in a savings of $3,888.60 over last year. The combination of higher elec­ tricity costs and the hot weather would have cost the district a steep (Continued on pogo IS) Bernard Narusis that because the sign its were a part of the zoning ordinance, RDG would have to go through a complete zoning hearing. He said that if the council chose to "streamline" the procedure, the city should petition the Zoning Board of Appeals to change the text of the ordinance. "Would we be committing ourselves to wall-to-wall billboards?" asked Aid. Gary Snell (4th). "When do we say 'no?' " "Whether or not its wall-to-wall depends upon the strength of the council at the time," Narusis replied. "Do you mean we (the city) have to go to" the zoning board, tell them we want to change the ordinance and whatever they do, we change it anyway?" asked Aid. Ray Smith (3rd). "Right," Narusis said. The council approved a motion to petition the city Zoning Board of Appeals to change the zoning or­ dinance regarding signs. Council action also approved the temporary placement of the three signs requested by RDG. In other business: Date Opens For School Board Posts Problems surround us, and one of the most frequent offenders in creating them has to be the driver of a car. Sitting behind the controls of a few thousand pounds of metal is enough to buoy the confidence of some people to the point of feeling in complete command of any situation. It is un­ fortunate when two individuals with like meet, as they often do. Trickle-down thinking has also come to some drivers. If they are sufficiently self-assured behind the wheel to get away with major in­ fringements, why not the same cer­ tainty that they can get away with felling tn uphold the smaller rules that apply to drivers. T_ case in point occurred in one of McHenry's large store parking lots last week. A friend had perked in a marked handicapped plajce when a couple drove up beside her and left their car on the brightly striped lines that clearly mean 'no parking'. They are especially marked in that way to allow for easy turning down the next corridor. She lowered the window of her car and politely asked if he realised he violation. irritated at being reminded that he was breaking the rule, the driver sputtered, "If you were a cop I'd move, but you're not". Angered by his arrogance, she took the license number and called the city ice station. Although interested in concern, the clerk said 'no parking' violations in a private lot were not within the jurisdiction of the police. Iliis was a matter for the store manager or owner of the property. Only the fire lanes , are in the authority of the police. Would she press the matter further? She would not. And what good would it have done? Would a store manager be inclined to bring charges, or even harsh words, agafawt a parking violation? After all, the offender may be a good customer. And would the property owner be interested?. Hardly. He's being paid for the rental and has little interest in the operation of the parking lot. Therefore, signs designating handicapped stalls, or 'no parking' (daces, are placed there only for good citizens who try to obey the rules even though they can fed confident that not to do so will mean they go unpunished. KAF by Donna Bertulis The names of candidates for school board positions will be known on Friday, Aug. 26. In the meantime, there is still time for a potential candidate to pick up a petition, cir­ culate it, and file it by the deadline. Due to the state's new consolidated elections law, virtually all school boards will see a majority of their members' terms expire in November. In McHenry School Districts 156 and 15, and in Johnsburg Consolidated School District 12, five seats on each seven-member board are open for election. Members whose terms expire are: McHenry Grade School District 15 Gerald Bunting, trustee; Joan Miller, trustee; Arthur Newbrough, trustee; Karen Salman, school board president; and Eileen Zurblis, trustee. McHenry High School District 156 Bob Anderson, trustee; Mike Low, trustee; Edward Neumann, school board president; Barb Slater, trustee and Jim Tonyan, trustee. Johnsburg School District 12 Bobbie Hart, president; James Preston, trustee; John Heidler, Increase County Employees' Pay by Angela Burden SHAW/MK PMSS MBNA Tentative pay increases totaling approximately $396,000 were ap­ proved Tuesday for county em­ ployees, effective next year. McHenry County board, at its regular meeting, approved a pay increase of four percent across the board for all employees in the 1963-84 tentative budget, in addition to a recommended one-step merit in-. crease per employee at the discretion of department heads. The step increase amounts to 2.5 percent for each employee, but will only be given by the department head if merited following evaluation. The board's finance committee chairman, Phyllis K. Walters, of Algonquin, explained that this- year's county revenues totaled about $5 million with expenditures at $5.8 million. She said there was a $2 million fund balance at the start of this fiscal year, Dec. 1, and to date $l74,000 of that had been expended. "We still have about $700,000 due in real estate taxes, which leaves us $1.9 million," Ms. Walters said. She noted that after the remaining year's expenditures are earmarked trustee; Sue Maiorca, trustee and Kenneth Schaefer, trustee. James Sanders, president of the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) has urged present school board members to seek re-election, explaining that the public schools will face a potential turnover in leadership at a time when they must struggle with unprecedented budget problems, due to cuts in state aid. "If there is anything our schools don't need right now, it's a mass turnover in school board mem­ bership," Sanders said. "It takes seven strong backs to carry the problems facing schools today, particularly when the problems in­ clude deep cuts in programs and staff." Sanders urges board members who might have been planning to retire to consider running for one more term. (Contlnuod on pogo IS) mm Waterfront Mall In Construction Dick Orton, shop foreman for the City of McHenry Public Works Department, hoses down the concrete around the picnic area in the new Green Street pedestrian mall. Orton explained that freshly-poured concrete should be kept damp in this unusually hot weather so that it holds moisture and is preserved. Concrete picnic tables were installed in the park Wednesday. Construction costs for the park were donated by the McHenry Rotary Club. • STAFF PHOTO--WAYNE GAYLORD (Contlnuod on !•) By summer's end, w&k will be completed on a small public park facility in the center of McHenry's business section. A pedestrian-waterfront mall is now in its first phases of construction on Green Street, between Boone Creek and the McHenry Theater. The McHenry Rotary Club has pledged a donation of $2,750, to see the project to completion. According to Pete Merkel, director of Parks and Recreation, the city's only ex­ penditure will be the time and labor of city public works employees who are constructing the mall. "Since dredging of Boone Creek has been completed, this area can be put to use as a boating, fishing and park area," said Merkel, adding that it will be a convenient place for boaters to dock while running errands, shopping or eating in the center of town. Earlier this week, city crews began laying concrete for a 25-foot platform (Continjod on pogo IS) Vote To Bid Road Program City Council Action Pogo 5 FREE TV Guide In Today's Edition Reaching For The Stars Bid For Heavyweight Tltlo Pogo 7