Avert MCC Teacher Strike THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER "SERVING THE CHAIN-O-LAKES REGION SINCE 1875 3toar& Winning ilraspaptr 1978-- Illinois Press Association Newspaper Contest FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1978 2 SECTIONS 26 PAGES 20* New Johnsburg School In Weekend Homecoming Wayne Besserud, Linda Schafer, Margo Lund, Kim Reese, Scott Young, Barb Ansell , Kim Sutherland and Lynn Lupo The parade theme will be "Best Sellers". A bonfire is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday night at Novotny Sales, when announcement of the king and queen will be made. Candidates are Nancy Switzer, Kristi Stanell , Nancy Preston, Jan Stetter. Lisa Jackson, Gretchen Heidler. Shelly VonBruenchenhein. Karen Szumlas, Judy Vyduna and Alison Boyer for queen, Russ Oziminski, Mike McBride, Rick Beck, Scott Dixon, Steve Lingeman, John Ramberg, Wayne Moran. Kent Ames, Steve Moulis and Mike Behan for king. The Friday evening hop wiil be heid at the Johnsburg high school cafetorium from 8 to 11 p.nv. ; •; • Tne main event of the weekend will be two Saturday afternoon football gamtes on Mc( racket) field. The sophomore game lists kickoff time for noon and the Johnsburg Skyhawk varsity players and the Harvard Hornets will be seen starting at 2 p.m. A formal coronation of the reigning queen and king will be a highlight of the homecoming dance scheduled from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday night in the cafetorium of the new high school Theme for the dance is "The Promise". • Twenty Vie For Royalty Crowns VOLUME 103 NUMBER 20 Festivities will open Friday with a parade at 2 o'clock. The line of march will start at the corner of Spring Grove and Church streets, proceed east on Church past the Johnsburg Community club to the Junior high and Middle school entrance. The parade will continue east on Church to Fairview, then south to Johnsburg road and turn west to Spring Grove road and disband. Heading plans for the parade and other events are Shelly VonBruenchenhein, chair person; Judy Vyduna, These attractive young people will carry a mark of distinction in later years as they recall the first homecoming held at Johnsburg high school. They are the king and queen candidates, two of whom will be selected this week to reign over the memorable occasion. From left are Nancy Switzer, Russ Oziminski. Kristi Stanell, Mike McBride, Nancy Preston, Rick Beck, Jan Stetter, Scott Dixon, Lisa Jackson, Steve Lingeman, Gretchen Heidler, John Ramberg, Karen Szumlas, Kent Ames, Shelly VonBruenchenhein, Wayne Moran, Judy Vyduna, Steve Moulte, Alison Boyer and Mike Behan. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD A possible strike was averted Tuesday, when McHenry County college teachers voted to accept a two-year contract offer from the school board The acceptance of the con tract ends five months of negotiations between the teachers and the board The contract was accepted by a vote of 24-14 It affects all of MCC's fifty full-time teachers A strike vote had been scheduled for Thursday morning if the pact had been rejected The new contract gives full t ime faculty members an automatic 2.5 percent pay boost and a $300 bonus for each half step in the teacher 's merit system Any teacher who earns four merit steps will receive a one time bonus of $3<M) Also included in the contract was a twenty hour class load for some teachers, a $24 an hour fee for summer lecture classes and a $20 fee for laboratory classes A problem during negotiations of the pact cen tered on salary changes Negotiators for the teachers had wanted any; salary changes to be spelled out in the contract A two-day event to be recorded as Johnsburg high school's first homecoming is scheduled Friday and Saturday, Oct. 6-7 Chamber Sponsored Set MCHS Coach Salaries Fact-Finding Forum On Insurance For City The awarding of the municipal insurance for McHenry to Arthur J Gallagher & Co again highlighted the City Council meeting Monday night A member of the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Kit Car- stens, invited the alderman to attend a "fact-finding" forum to discuss the awarding of the Musin' And Metmderin* They say the spirit and drive has gone out of youth They are living in an era of government handouts in a permissive society where "do your own thing" prevails Right? Not quite' Handouts, yes. and the society is permissive to a point that worries anyone over 25 But no spirit and drive"' Absolutely not The same inspiration that prompted Horace Greeley to go west to seek his fortune is present among many of our young folks today, and not all of them expect to get rich quick without starting at the bottom We had a good example in a letter that came to our desk this week from an eighth grader at Parkland Junior high school The young lady writes, "When I get older I plan on going into newspaper repor ting, 1 was wondering if you had any sort of a job (sweeping, dusting, cleanup) that you need done I would be happy to do it" And if that generous offer wasn't enough to spark the attention of one who has also swept the floor and dusted, she added this bit of diplomatic approach. "I enjoy your paper much". Perhaps the young lady would prefer that her name be withheld, a preference we will be happy to honor. With staff changes keeping everyone busy, the sweeping is being left to professionals at this time But when the teaching process is concluded (Continued on page 5) insurance package to the Rolling Meadows firm. The forum is scheduled for Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the West campus cafeteria. Controversy over the awarding of the package started Sept 5, when the Council voted to award all the city's insurance to the Gallagher firm, without allowing the McHenry area insurance agents to bid on the package Five McHenry agents had handled the city insurance until the recent decision Carstens said that tran scripts of all meetings of the Council in which insurance was discussed would be examined at the forum He explained that the forum will help the Chamber to decide if the city was right or wrong in awarding the insurance to Gallagher. He added that "the meeting will determine what action or inaction the Chamber will take" concerning the issue Mayor Stanek said that it was unusual to request the Council and himself to appear before a group to defend their actions. Discussion centered around the legality of the Council at tending the forum in a group. Attorney Narusis questioned the possible legality of the issue under the Illinois Open Meetings act. Carstens indicated that he knew of no law prohibiting the questioning of public officials for facts regarding an issue After calling the request a "command performance ", Stanek said he would attend the forum None of the alderman indicated whether or not they would attend A representative of Arthur Gallagher & Co , Jim Gault, who sold the insurance package to the city, appeared before the Council, giving several recommendations on coverage that his firm could offer the city The Council decided to raise its umbrella liability coverage from $1 million to $2 million as Gault suggested The increase will cost the city an additional $2,000 They voted not to obtain separate coverage for plate glass for valuable papers The remainder of Gault s recommendations were referred to the Insurance committee. Alderman Edward Datz was reappointed to chair the committee and Alderman George Harker volunteered to be a member of the committee Alderman William Bolger had resigned as chairman and a member of the committee when the city hired Gallagher to handle the city insurance In other Council action, three motions were passed annexing the Martin-Anderson property Ordinances were passed approving the annexation agreement, annexing the property to the city and zoning it R-l and approving the preliminary plat of Unit one of the property The annexed property is located at the corner of Ringwood road and Martin road near Route 120 and totals 361 acres Unit one will contain approximately 30 homes on 40 acres The 101 acres of the Anderson (Continued on page 5) Following an executive session of Tuesday night's meeting of the board of High School District 156, members approved a six percent in crease for coaches of boys' sports and a 324 percent in crease for coaches of girls' sports With more coaches of boys' sports, the total increase amounted to 11.7 percent Tuesday night's action brings allcoaches of girls' sports into 75 percent parity with boys' coaches for respective categories It puts the local district in compliance with Title 9, dealing with discrimination. and its requirement to have equal pay for equal responsibility. Compliance has been phased in by the McHenry board over a period of years Supt Robert Swartzloff said this was the last of the large adjustments to be made The matter of coaches' salaries is a non-negotiable area In other action after executive session, the board expelled two students at West campus, one for possession of a controlled substance and one for possession and sale The expulsion is effective for the remainder of this year McHenry Musicians At 22nd School Band Day The McHenry Community high school band, under the direction of John Leighty and William Toalson, has accepted an invitation from Northwestern university to appear at its twenty-second annual High School Band day Church Landmark Expansion r± I Pictured is the architect's drawing of the projected enlargement planned by the First United Methodist church of McHenry. The new addition will extend the 120-year-old sanctuary eastward along Main street from its present location at the corner of Main and Center streets. -$ne of the oldest religious landmarks in the county will tike on a new look with the expansion program announced tU> month by the first United Methodist church of McHenry An important part of the church's planning for its new addition, however, has been to preserve the location, design, and character of the sanctuary which has been in continuous service to its congregation and community since before the Civil war. The enlargement planned by the church now is to provide increased space for worship services in keeping with the needs of its steadily growing congregation and community. The proposed addition will jextend the present sanctuary some 80 feet eastward along Main street. Combined with existing sanctuary space, it will provide approximately three times the altar, pew and foyer space now available More adequate choir lofts and practice space for the church's five vocal choirs and handbell choir are also included Additional usable space for educational, social, and musical ministries will be gained from some 3,000 square feet of added basement space below the sanctuary extension Most important, this additional space can alleviate growth problems for Sunday school. Vacation Bible school, and Youth Fellowship groups presently overflowing into the church parsonage. When not needed for church school ac tivities, however, the new basement space can serve some twenty-five fellowship and study groups already active in the church, and make room for others planned for the future. Community service groups with which the church has enjoyed a long time tradition of space-sharing will also benefit from the added comfort and convenience of new facilities, as will ecumenical worship and fellowship programs shared with other churches of the city To make room for the eastward extension, the present parsonage will be moved and sold, and the im mediately adjacent Stoffel property at the corner of Main and Third streets is being purchased to serve as the new Methodist parsonage. The history of the old church coincides closely with the history of McHenry, and is rich in the traditions of a pioneer .church. Its story began with a (Continued on page 5) MERCHANTS MEET McHenry merchants are being invited by the Chamber of Commerce to attend an important meeting Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 7:30p.m. at the city hall It will deal with the subject of Thursday night opening Also to be discussed will be the Zoning board recommendation on the revision of the off-street parking ordinance Considerable discussion was held regarding the food service program, particularly as to the board's w ishes at East campus The architectural firm of O'Donnell , Wicklund and Pigozzi is currently engaged in conducting a life safety survey at the building and needs to know the desires for this program in the future in order to plan for appropriate kitchen and cafeteria facili t ies It was the general consensus that the school should continue to furnish a Type A meal, with choice of entrees, as w ell as a la carte, including sandwiches and "fast foods" In fact members were of the opinion that an expansion of the second option might be wise Mrs Gerald Baczkowski presented a request that her son. a student at West campus, l>e allowed to leave school during the last period of the day <a study hall > to carry on with his job She explained that he could do his homework after finishing work and thus keep up with his studies It was noted that the new closed campus policy allows no one to he excused except- studentS engaged in the work release program The Bac zkowski boy is not enrolled in this program. After explaining the need to treat all students the same, and pointing out that any change in policy would lead to others making similar requests. Board President James Althoff asked the hoard if they wanted to make an exception When there.was no affirmative reply, the discussion ended on the Evanston campus Saturday, Oct 7. The band will join 3,000 teenage musicians who will travel from thirty- three different Illinois high schools to present a spectacular and colorful halftime pageant at the N.U. vs. Arizona State university football game at Dyche stadium before an anticipated crowd of 40,000 fans McHenry musicians have attended all twenty-two Band days at N.U. Geneva, 111., is the only other school that claims this distinction. After two weeks of local preparation and rehearsal, the band will travel by bus on the morning of the game. Band members and chaperones will be guests of the university for the day. A morning session will (Continued on page 5) 4-H WINNER -- In competi t ion with twenty-four other clubs in McHenry county, thf Cherry Valley 4-H club emerged winner of first place in the annual window display contest sponsored by the County 4-H federation. The displa\. which ran be seen in the Spurgeon store window in the Market Place, expands on the contest theme, "Freedom To Be ." to say that the "the seeds of today are the flowers of tomorrow", l arge crepe paper flowers carry cards indicating the accomplishments possible for those who enter into the 4-H program. Russell and Arlene \\ right, leaders, will receive a cash award in behalf of the club, which has thirty- two members. I STAFF PHOTO V\ \YNEGAYLORD