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/ Farm Bureau Says: Save Farm Land! Show Crafts Scout Week During Girl Seoul week and throughout the month of March, Lakeland Park's Junior Troop 320 and Brownie Troop 464 have set up a display of crafts in the McHenry library, including the large banner depicting scenes around McHenry seen in the picture above and made by the girls in Troop 320 under the leadership of Mrs. Barbara Williams. Each scene displays a portion of the city favored by a particular girl. McHenry Girl Scouts have also donated over a dozen books on outdoor cooking, camping, crafts, ecology and fun in the out-of-doors to the library this week to be used by all the citizens of McHnery as well as Girl Scout leaders. Tnia Is one way the McHenry Girl Scouts have of saying they appreciate the support they receive throughout the year. Viewing the banner, above, are Lori Widhalm, left, Junior Troop 320, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Widhalm, and Danielle Miller, Brownie Troop 464, daughter of Mr.and Mrs. Chas. P. Miller. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD Pointing to the steady loss of prime agricultural land to non- farm uses, the McHenry County Farm Bureau board of directors has adopted a resolution seeking help from the special zoning committee and the McHenry County board. In the resolution, the Farm Bureau board asks those two governmental units to develop the new zoning ordinance now under consideration so that "Classes 1 and 2 soils are preserved for the purpose of farming only." - Those are classes of soil that "• pose a minimum of con­ servation problems and have the soil type best suited for growing crops. Don Luerrsen, Alden dairy farmer who is the Farm Bureau president, cited data that shows the inroads made into agricultural land. Between 1967 and 1974, the McHenry county total cropland acreage dropped from 264,127 acres to 226,653 acres, a decline of 37,474 acres during the six-year period. Most went into shopping centers, subdivisions, roads and other non-productive cropland purposes, he said. In the resolution farmers say they realize the county's population will grow and that it *-*.'must grow in orderly fashion, and many acres in non-urban territory are suitable for developments and shopping facilities." "Our goal is to call the at­ tention of responsible officials to this land drain," continued Luerrsen. "We also ask them to take steps to develop a public awareness of the value of prime farmland and to generate support of reasonable zoning and best land use among all citizen." The Farm Bureau board reiterated a position taken last year in the resolution adopted late last month. It asks that the new zoning ordinance contain a provision that the' minimum acreage to be considered for zoning as Agriculture be 35 acres instead of the present 5 acres. Luerrsen said Farm Bureau will welcome the chance to discuss its viewpoint before meetings of the special zoning committee and the entire McHenry County board. All around us there are telltale signs of the ap­ proaching season, but until the thermometer began its ascent, not many people took notice. As late winter beckons to spring, enterprising ski lodges make their bid for skiers through sensational means. We figured some pretty young thing would avail herself of the sorting offer of a free day of fun for a bikini-clad skier. We even made the drive to Wilmot last Sunday but nary a one did we see. Another sure sign of the season ahead is the abundance of-kites in the stores and a few hardy youngsters along the highway, launching their new acquisition with al! ferv>- oi a jet pilot. Tennis nets in place at West campus was another indication that the latent enthusiasm of racquet wielders is yielding to the prompting of Mother Nature as she gives signs of coming to life in a familiar form. Still another indication of spring is the peaceful swim­ ming of ducks down an ice-free Fox river, probably very cqntent in the knowledge that they will not soon again be forced to pit their strength against the elements. Other signs are these: Basketball tournaments in full swing; School boards beginning to talk about teacher negotiations for another year; City, township and school candidates preparing to '•oenact the familiar practice of •cting leaders; ardinals voicing their un- .istakable call as they bid a^ieu to winter ; -And last but far from least, g$s and oil bills bringing a Wjnce and a frown, evidence that the peak heating period has passed. Amen! K.A.F. FINANCE MEETING The City Council Finance committee was scheduled to meet Tuesday night. Details will appear in Friday's Plaindealer. View Trailer-Hunt ACHIEVE Program Serves 221 Club Zoning Plans The Special Zoning com­ mittee of the McHenry County board will hold its next meeting Wednesday, March 9, at 9:30 a.m. in Room 101 of the cour­ thouse at Woodstock. At this meeting, sections of the Proposed Comprehensive amendment to the zoning or­ dinance dealing with Recreational Vehicles, Trailers, and Hunt Clubs will be discussed. Interested groups and in­ dividuals are encouraged to attend, and present their ideas to the committee. Public participation in this project is important since it provides a means of citizen input into the project, so that the Zoning Ordinance text will reflect ihe needs of McHenry county. Copies of the tentative (second draft) text are available for inspection at most public libraries in McHenry county. * Set Right To Read Cot n muni fy MEE ting There will be an information and planning meeting of the McHenry Community high school Right to Read program Thursday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the McHenry Public library. The purpose will be to share information with the schools, the library, and the community in regard to efforts to improve reading in McHenry. Jim Blum, director of the Right to Read program, and a representative of the McHenry elementary schools, will be present to discuss the reading programs at the McHenty schools and the coordination efforts now occurring between the two schools, the rationale for budget cuts in District 15, formulating plans for future involvement in the schools, and further means to share in­ formation between the com­ munity and the schools. Future plans of the Right to Read Program include 1 - Assisting parents in knowing what questions to ask at parent conferences; 2 - Holding an evening lecture session on reading for parents: how it occurs, and what they can do to help their children read better. A program that had its beginning in the minds of two McHenry educators was reviewed by the board of High School District 156 at last week's instructional meeting. ACHIEVE, which came into being through the efforts of East Campus Principal Gary Fields and Thomas Joynt, lists as its purpose to provide a highly structured learning environment where students will keep up with their regular academic work. In reality, it becomes an in-school suspension. Joynt is a former director of instructional services who is no longer in the local school system. Fields was present Tuesday to outline the program, which is totally funded by the state. After all efforts to correct behavioral problems failed, the administrator recounted that some students were expelled. It was at this point that working parents admitted they couldn't look after their sons and daughters. Ideas for the in-school ex­ pulsion began to take form, and were presented to the Illinois Department of Education, which was impressed. Funding in the amount of $19,635 followed for this first year of operation. James Aull, who teaches the program along with Miss Wuertley, was present at the meeting Tuesday to fill in details of ACHIEVES operation. He presented copies of questionnaires sent to teachers, resulting in an evaluation of the program by the staff. The total number of students involved this year has num­ bered 221. Board members took action to cooperate financially in a suit brought against the Illinois Office of Education in which several schools are involved, including Glenbrook. Business Manager Michael Kelly reviewed for the board the state law that requires all unit districts to be fully funded, whereas District 156 and other "Rescue 50" Giv^s Awards Harmony Snowmobile club will present a program of awards Friday evening, March 11, at the McHenry Moose lodge at 9 p.m. Checks representing more than $5,000 raised in pledges from the recent marathon, will be given to the Johnsburg and McHenry Rescue squads. Riders and donors who participated in the event are invited to attend. A sound movie and other awards will be part of the program. Marge Moore, "Rescue 50" director, reports this year's $5,000 collection more than doubles last year's figure. single districts are funded only (continued on page 12) McHenry county's 1975 tax collections, distributed in 1976, totaled $38,581,526, the largest dollar amount in the county's history, McHenry County Treasurer Audrey R. Walgenbach announced this week. The distribution of taxes was increased by $303,848.20 in mobile home privilege tax, agri-roll back tax, and delinquent real estate and personal property tax collec­ tions to raise the grand total of taxes collected and distributed to $38,885,374.95. "The total 1975 taxes charged were $39,036,205 and we collected and* distributed 98.84 percent," Mrs. Walgenbach said. "Real estate taxes of $35,503,0% were 99.31 percent collected, personal property taxes of $3,414,535 were 93.9 percent collected, and railroad leasehold and pollution equipment taxes amounting to $118,572 were 100 percent collected." Algonquin township led all townships in dollars received from these distributions, a total of $11,871,343.70, followed by McHenry township's taxing bodies with $6,779,670, Nunda township tax districts with $5,147,128 and Dorr township with $3,350,163. Lowest dollar distribution received by a township was the $343,413 going to Alden township's taxing districts. The leader in townships for percentage of collections was Seneca township with 99.90 percent of its taxes collected and distributed. Second was Riley township with 99.83 percent collected. Burtoii township had the lowest per­ centage of collection at 97.10 percent, followed by Richmond township, 98.28 percent and Algonquin township, 98.45 percent collected. Two townships, Hartland and Riley, had 100 percent collections of personal property taxes. "I want to compliment McHenry county's taxpayers for their fine record in paying taxes, especially in the light of the difficult economic situation that has faced many people," Mrs. Walgenbach said. "This (continued on pape 121 HOME IMPROVEMENT The Friday, March 11, issue of the Plaindealer will carry a 40-page tabloid Home Im­ provement section in color. It contains countless suggestions offered by local businesses for im­ proving the home. Vote Preferences On Senior Walk-In Site A meeting will be held Thursday, March 10, at 10 a.m. in McHenry City Council cham' --«« for persons in­ terested a walk-in center for senior citizens around and in the city of McHenry. That was the announcement made by Marge Jones, executive director of the McHenry County Senior Citizens council. This will be the second n.j .- , cL $e group which iwlitlosn to !H«? Council requesting a walk-in center. The purpose of the meeting will be to hear the report and recommendation of a committee, chaired by Roland Grayson, which had been appointed to look at dif­ ferent sites that might be ap­ propriate for a center. Persons at the meeting Thursday morning will have the opportunity to vote on recommendations of the site lorafion rommiftPP Other items on the agenda will include potential expenses, financing and programming for the center. If a location is agreed upon, an opening date for the center may be set. The Senior Citizens council maintains an information and referral service in Woodstock. For further information call 338-6075. If this number is not within the toll free calling area; the individual may caii collect. Mental Health Center Patient Drowns In Fox The body of a patient at the Elgin Mental Health center was found Friday afternoon in the Fox river, south of the Algonquin Rt. 62 bridge. Mary A. Hare, 32, was found drowned in the river by a fire department boat at ap­ proximately 1:30 p.m. Earlier, the McHenry County Sheriff's police were notified of a possible drowning in the Fox (continued on pope 12} Clean Water Experiment The McHenry city hall was the site of an experimental program by NIPC to explain the computer modeling process and the use of locally collected data in a recent presentation. Vic Crivello, NIPC staff member in charge of public participation planning, local services specialist, said the explanations were prerecorded on video tape by computer modeling consultants retained by the Northeast Illinois Planning commission at an unscripted meeting. The taping was a new * approach to disseminate information to the Local Steering Advisory committees. The "208" clean water project is a cooperative effort guided by NIPC to work with local officials, county by county, in order to plan facilities and regulations to insure "swimmable and fishable waters" in the six- county area and eventually over the nation. It was explained that the data collecting period is almost completed and the program is about to enter the computer modeling stage where the data is plugged into the program to identify problem areas and to furnish background for possible alternative solutions,, Dr. Roy Elmore, NIPC hydrologist added that the models would be initially set up with "surrogate values" (substitute) until the (continued on page 12) Present Painting To City Library William Bolger, left, president of the McHenry Li­ brary board, accepts painting from S.C.A. "Mac" MacNeil of Australia as Ken Bruce, president of the McHenry Rotary club, looks on. MacNeil, a member of the Bega Australia Rotary club, had given his own painting to the McHenry club, which, in turn, presented it to the library. The Australia^ visited the local club last week. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD' THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER SERVING THE CHAIN-O-LAKES REGION SINCE 1875 A workshop dealing with product liability for manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers and other business people will be held in Woodstock March ll. Five experts including Congressman Robert McClory, Lawyer Fred Lane, Manufacturer Orville Bergren, Insurance Expert F. David Rolwing, and Chamber of Commerce Executive James Beaumont will participate in the workshop. Open to any interested person, the workshop is sponsored by McHenry County college and by Chambers of Commerce in McHenry, Woodstock, Marengo, Harvard, Crystal Lake and Cary. Congressman McClory will explain current efforts in Congress to cope with problems caused by increased product liability claims and will also ask local business people for their recommendations on legislation to solve the problems, Lane, president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers association, will explain current laws on product liability and the recent surge of product liability claim cases. Bergren, president of the Illinois Manufacturers association, will discuss the problems manufacturers are experiencing and discuss legislation his association is proposing for enactment by the Illinois General assembly. Rolwing, a Cary resident, is vice-president of governmental affairs for an insurance company. In addition to outlining the product liability insurance problems facing most businessmen, he will outline proposed remedies developed by the insurance industry. He will also give practical advice on how an individual businessman can reduce his product liability claim exposure. Beaumont, manager of the government relations depart­ ment of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, recently conducted a statewide survey to ascertain the impact of product liability claims and insurance costs on business. His job is to coordinate the efforts of Illinois businessmen to cut the cost of government regulations to business. Beaumont is also executive director of the Illinois Political Action committee, which seeks to involve business people in; the political process and to raise funds to support business- oriented candidates for the Illinois general assembly. In addition to each par­ ticipant giving a brief speech, a discussion and question answer period will be included in the Workshop. Reservations are required to attend the workshop, which will be from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Old Courthouse Inn, Woodstock. Reservations majt be made with the McHenr£ Chamber of Commerce office^ 385-4300. - * VOLUME 101 NUMSER 52 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9. 1977 22 PAGES - 2 SUPPL. 20< - ' . . 1 " T. County Tax Collection Sets Record i