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Seek MCHS Pront Titles These handsome young high school students are candidates for the title of MCHS prom king and queen. Girls, from left to top of stairs, are Lori Blankenhorn, Lori Fossum, Sandee Peterson, Cathy Boak, Linda Koffend and Mary K. Wynveen. The boys, from left to bottom of stain, MMnMdidtner, Brian De Blasi, Doug Oeffling, Jim Hall, Barry Paulsen and Jeff Partenheimer. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD With the enticing theme of "Pieces of April" by Three Dog Night, the junior class will honor seniors at this weekend's MCHS prom The setting will be llurlingshire resort, located on the shoreline of Brown's lake in Burlington. Wis Prom goers will leave by bus at 5: :u> Saturday evening and enjoy dinner at 7 at the resort, followed by a formal dance. Highlight of the activities will be crowning of the king and queen at 10 o'clock After entertainment by a magician, the young people will change into casual attire at 12:30 a.m. and enjoy pool and game room facilities through the night There will also be a casual dance at 1:30 a.m. Cartoons and showing of a movie will be followed by a 6 :30 breakfast The prom court is selected by seniors, who choose six boys and six girls from the class roster The prom committee in­ cludes junior class officers, Mike McBride, Shelly Von Bruenchenhein, Judy Vyduna and Lisa Amici. as well as Patti Pintozzi, Patty Condon, Karen Szumlas and Cheryl McNish In what has been described as "a dramatic and welcomed about-face by the Illinis Department of Tran­ sportation", McHenry joins Kane county in receiving more than $4 million of the $10.5 million just made available to previously ineligible parts of the six-county Chicago metropolitan area. The money comes from the Crosstown arrangement of Governor Thompson and May of Bilandic, according to " State Rep. Cal Skinner, Jr. It is part of the $500 million released as a result of the redesignation of the Crosstown's north leg. Among projects outlined for McHenry county, totaling over $2.4 million, are several in this area. The major intersection improvement at the western intersection of Rtes. 31 and 120, in McHenry, is designated to receive $250,000. This is the dangerous intersection that also involves Waukegan street, where accidents occur frequently. Traffic signals are also planned for the intersection of Rt. 31 and Bull Valley road if sufficient traffic exists. This is a $55,000 project. Signals are also in the plans at the intersection of Rt. 31 and Pearl street in McHenry, with the provision that here, too, there must be sufficient traffic to warrant them. The traffic Jights would be connected with one at Rt. 120. The co£t would be $100,000. r The widening and resur­ facing of Draper road from Rt. 120 to Curran road, plus traffic signals if enough traffic exists, is another project, this one in the amount of $450,000. Whenever the clause, "if enough traffic exists" occurs, the Illinis Department of Transportation must take traffic counts before final approval is given by the federal government. If sufficient traffic is not found, another project will be selected which does qualify. Other area projects on the roster for improvement call for traffic signals on U.S. 12 at State Park road, $55,000; in­ tersection improvement, in­ cluding traffic signls, at U.S. 12 and Richardson road, $127,000; and intersection improvement, including traffic signals, at U.S. 12 and Winn road, also $127,000. Musin And Meanderin9 There aren't many actions that governmental units take that get a favorable nod by everyone. In fact, we can't come up with anything in our remembrance that ever pleased an entire committee, to Kay nothing of something as large as a city But we would like to express an opinion on two recent ac­ tions in McHenry, one that struck our fancy, the other did not It is our feeling that many motorists were more than a little surprised to be greeted in a recent issue of the Plain- dealer by a full page of pictures and information under the title, "Speeders Beware". Any time there is a sudden increase in the number of speeding tickets issued, drivers level the charge "speed trap". This held true even in the city of McHenry, where a generous 10 miles over the limit was allowed. How any fair-minded driver could complain with this liberal interpretation of the law is hard to understand. Well, the full page frankly called the streets to be un­ dertaken under heayy radar surveillance as "speed traps" before anyone else could stamp that label. And . the an­ nouncement even stated streets which would be most closely watched. There had been 165 accidents investigated in the first two months, and this was a deciding factor prompting a crackdown. The message to the public was made March 10. We're glad to know, as indicated by squad cars we have seen in the various areas, that this was not just a short term drive against speeders. Usually the driver who speeds has less reason to be somewhere else in a short time than the law abiding motorist. Our encouragement in this, area of local traffic en­ forcement was counteracted by the recent announcement that any help to correct the situation at the Front-Waukegan-Elm street intersection will not be forthcoming for another two years. Even sadder is the fact that previously announced recommendations of the State of Illinois can't be expected to solve the biggest part of the problem The state has suggested several changes that apply mainly to the highway. Until city fathers decide that something has to be done about allowing Waukegan street drivers to push into the in­ tersection at will, a traffic tieup will continue to exist for nor­ thbound drivers. In the meantime, we can expect the Turns business to grow by leaps and bounds in our attempt to control the gastric acids which flow abundantly at this particular point in McHenry's traffic unflow. For future reference, we would like the intersection to be known as the TejEjible Trio KAF The Dutch Creek Woodlands Homeowners association, in Johnsburg, has announced its first annual spring Clean-Up day . At a meeting held April 20, the association organized volunteer clean-up crews for the 20 acres of parks and en­ trances it owns and maintains in the subdivision. On Saturday, May 6, five separate groups will repair fences, trim and cut trees and (Continued on page 18) Conduct Blood Drive May 8 The McHenry Area Jaycees and Kiwanis will be sponsoring a blood drive Monday, May 8, at the McHenry V.F.W from 3 to 7 p.m The McHenry Area's Blood Assurance program is ad­ ministered by the Aurora Area Blood bank. This program allows all McHenry area residents, plus their parents and grandparents, to receive blood at any hospital in the country at any time. For local residents, their parents and grandparents, it is not necessary to worry about replacement of blood units used. However, this program can only work if everyone shares in donating the required blood supplies. All requests for blood settlement claims are handled by the McHenry Chamber of Commerce. Skinner said $300 million allocated to build the Franklin street subway, while the other $200 million was designated for highway improvements within something the Illinois Department of Transportation *IDOT) calls Chicago's "ur­ banized area" Neither McHenry county or parts of Lake, Kane and Will counties farthest from Chciago fall within the boundaries of this "urbanized area" and for that reason many area legislators voted against what one of them called the Crosstown Deal. Skinner helped Rep. Betty Lou Reed (R- Lake county) set up a meeting in February between area legislators, local highway of­ ficials and high ranking IDOT officials. Four days later IDOT announced that the definition of areas eligible for part of the $200,000 million had been changed to include the entire s i x - c o u n t y C h i c a g o metropolitan area. Wanted: Victims Of CB Thefts McHenry County Sheriff's department detectives are asking any residents of the East side of Wonder Lake who had their autos burgalized during the early morning hours of April 25 to notify the department. According to Detective Fitzgerald, two young McHenry men were arrested and are believed responsible for fifteen burglaries from autos, but only six victims have notified police of thefts from their cars. Norbert C. Lee, 18, who resides at the Depot hotel on Main street, and Charles J. Logan, Jr., 18, 3418 W. John­ sburg road, were arrested by police shortly after the crimes were committed. The two men were charged with two counts each ot burglary to auto and each was charged with possession of cannabis. Police confiscated CB's, tape players, radios and speakers which were apparently stolen from what they believe may be a total of fifteen cars. Although an entire inventory has not been taken of the stolen property, Sheriff's detectives say they have five CB's, two tape players, car speakers, 8- track tapes, a portable radio, and assorted tools which have not yet been identified or reported missing. j Detectives have said that all the property confiscated was stolen by the two men April 25 from cars on the East side of Wonder Lake. (Continued on page 18) Hold Sun Day Observance May 3 Spring Clean-Up At Dutch Creek Woodlands The celebration of sun day will usher the Solar Era into McHenry county and the rest of the nation May 3. It will be a day to observe, through ac­ tivities and demonstrations. the present and potential use of solar energy as a free, safe, n o n - p o l l u t i n g . a n d inexhaustable energy source. In McHenry county most mayors and village presidents have officially recognized Sun day in their own towns. Schools, conservation groups, libraries and private homes will host activities and programs to show how solar energy is already being used in different applications. The following activities have been planned by members of the Environmental Education committee of Elementary School District 15. McHenry: Declare May 3,1978 Sun day for all schools; encourage students to wear yellow; planting of sunflowers by students; and a poster contest by individual grades K through 8 will be held. The theme of the contest will be "Uses of the Sun". Two winners will be chosen from each school for each grade. Final winners will be chosen from each grade and prizes will be awarded. Win­ ners will be announced Sun day , Any other activities or displays which could make Sun day a success will be en­ couraged. One of the highlights of Sun day will be an evening program sponsored by the McHenry County Defenders. Robert Selby, an architect and vice- president of Hawk weed Group, Ltd., will speak at 7:30 p.m. at Northwood Junior high school in Woodstock. His architectural firm designs only solar projects, emphasizing inex­ pensive but effective solar techniques. The speaker received his degree in architecture at the University of Illinois, and has lectured at the U. of I., Nor­ thern Illinois university, and many community colleges. The public is invited to his presentation, in which he will show progress slides of a solar home he is building for himself in Wisconsin, along with slides of other solar installations. His group designs buildings specifically adapted to the (Continued on page 18) Laud Gifted Education The Illinois Office of Education's State Gifted Education director. Joyce Van Tassel has given an out­ standing commendation to McHenry elementary School District 15. The grade school district's Gifted program was cited as one of twenty-four "exemplary programs" in the state of the more than 400 existing programs. The district's new Gifted program approach stresses the challenge of academic ex­ cellence to over 100 grade school students. District Gifted* Education chairperson, Dan DeRoche; assistant superintendent, Fred Kusch, and reading coor­ dinator. Cathy Berlinger, were New Sludge Removal Truck City Purchase average 10,000gallons a week." The new truck being pur­ chased by the city is equipped with large floatation tires, which enable it to go through fifteen inches of snow, over plowed fields and over planted fields without leaving in­ dentations. . The present truck used cannot go into wet fields without sinking and becoming stuck and compressing plowed soil. The new truck being pur­ chased will be equipped with a stainless steel 1,600 gallon tank. The present truck is equipped with a 1,200 gallon tank. Superintendent Meyer ex­ plained that manpower will be (Continued on page 18) Faced with an immediate problem of too much sludge at the city sewer plant, the City Council voted at its annual meeting Monday night to authorize purchase of a brand new 1977 Big-Wheels sludge removal truck. Vfcn tcurit will be purchased at a price of $48,750 and should be delivered to the Public Works department by Monday. According to Public Works Superintendent Fred Meyer, recent bad weather has prohibited the present truck from hauling sludge to designated farms. A sewer plant employee explained, "In the past five weeks, we've hauled 13,000 gallons of sludge. Usually, we Sophomore Excels In National Spanish Test invited to meet with State Director Van Tassel to discuss "model program" funding possibilities for the coming school year. Model program status will make District 15 a demonstration center for Gifted Education for the entire state. The success of the new program may provide ad­ ditional funds above those already earmarked for the program at no additional burden to local taxpayers. The exceptional efforts of DeRoche. Ms. Berlinger. and fourteen members of the school district's outstanding faculty have made the program an exemplary one. CINDY VAN CLEAVE STAFF PIIOTO WAYNE GAYLOKD Competing against 300 other high school students. Cindy Van Cleave ranked second in the National Spanish exam The competition held last week was sponsored by the American Association for the Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese ^Cindy's second place ranking was in the non-native category of the exam Ranked with both categories of students com­ bined. she placed eleventh. Other local students who (Continued on page 18) * III TtUI > THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER 5E "SERVING THE CHAIN-O-LAKES REGION SINCE I87S VOLUME 102 NUMBER 78 FRIDAY, APRIL 28. 1978 2 SECTIONS 26° PAGES 20' Pieces Of Crosstown Pie Charge 15-Year-Old With Recent Business Burglaries A fifteen year-old McHenry youth has been arrested in connection with two recent McHenry burglaries. According to McHenry police, the juvenile was taken into custody Saturday evening following a stakeout at an apartment building in McHenry where the youth had been hiding in a stairwell. Police charged the youth with the April 11 burglaries of Althoff Industries' on Front street and Mister's Coiffures on Elm street. The juvenile offender Is also wanted in Wyoming in con­ nection with a burglary of­ ficials charge he committed while in the state. Local police officials said that the youth stole a car from McHenry and drove to Wyoming with an accomplice. The accomplice was arrested by Wyoming authorities in connection with the theft while the McHenry youth escaped and returned to the area. The youth is also believed to be responsible for several thefts from autos in the area. Police said that the youth was living under the stairwell in the building and had not been living at his home for over a month. The juvenile is currently being held in the Lake County Youth home pending his trial in juvenile court. McHenry police are in­ vestigating the early Tuesday break-in of Glenn Draper Real Estate and Southgate Beauty Salon, both at 810 Front street. It was reported that nothing was taken at the real estate firm but some money was stolen at the beauty salon. Entrance was made by frying open the front door and kicking open the doors to the individual business establish­ ments. A nearby grocery store closed at 12:30, and nothing was noticed amiss at that time. Police on routine patrol detected a rear door ajar after 1:30 a.m., leading to the con­ clusion that the burglary oc­ curred within that time span. . Several cars were broken into"**^ile parked at the Showcase Theaters in Crystal Lake Saturday night, including two belonging to McHenry residents. Sheriff's police are searching for offenders responsible for breaking into the auto of Carol Reed of McHenry and removing a 40-channel CB radio and the truck of Raymond Deringer of McHenry and taking a 40-channel CB, a skil saw, a leather nail pouch and assorted hand tools. Two other cars were also reported broken into the same night. Police are continuing their investigation into the thefts. Many incidents of vandalism were reported in the area recently, several of which were apparently done by the same offenders. On April 22, vandals struck residences in the Wonder Lake area and used spray paint to damage cars parked at the residences and buildings on the property. Douglas Pitman, W * Lake Shore drive, told police that during the night, someone had sprayed the taillights and license plates of his car. which was parked in front of his home, with black paint. Clarice de Gelder, 8419 Acorn Path, reported to police that the (Continued on page 18) Highway Projects Aided