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aindealer 2 Section* 32 Pog«« 25' Wednesday Octobers, 1983 Number 17 Volume 106 'WW- ***$*? I STAf* PHOTOS/W ATM CATtOU Parents on the hot seat MCHS staff member Jim Blum, shown at left/ explains to West Campus Parent Group the type of test given freshmen students last week. At right, Moms and Dads ponder some of the sample questions ̂ lich show how students measure up to the new high school minimum standard. Walsh park honors service to city by Anthony Oliver The little park between the McHenry theatre and Boone Greek, on the east side of Green Street, was named in honor of Ear! and Jack Walsh at Monday night's regular city council meeting. Robert 0. Swartzloff, District 156 superintendent and president of the McHenry Rotary Club, said he was maMng the presentation on behalf of the cls>. A number of Rotarians had asked about naming the park after the Walshes, who together have yyiLT? y**" 1° ctty wrrtey. #asB wiisn was a magistrate m 40 years and Eari of the Purchasing Committee, the council approved going to bid on a van to replace tne truck in the water department. -The council authorized a 35- day extension for completion of the centrifuge installation. It was noted that the late delivery of ancillary equipment for the centrifuge was beyond the control of the contractor. Some councilmen felt the contractor should share the cost of transporting sludge until the centrifuge was on-line. -The council accepted the recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals and transferred the authority to grant variations from the sign ordinance from the ZBA to the council. -Aid. Ray Smith noted the parking situation on the west side of Green Street, which according to the ordinance should be posted "No Parking." The signs have been put up and the Ponce Department will issue warning citations to violators for the next work week. On Monday, Oct. 10, "hard copy" will be issued. The old Plaindealer--a new look by Anthony Oliver n. 1. a Muffin* Meanderin' *nH editorial articles wiD have a rranilar home on naseH IBsar" wfflhe found I ŝrtou t̂udies have • reader had been than 25 developed cooperative anient between the Rotarv h provided the money for materials, and the City of McHenry, which provided the labor. Swartzloff said Oct. 26 was the tentative date for the dedication l% mMm, ceremony. Aid. Frank McClatcbey (3rd) made the motion to name Walsh Park. The motion was seconded by Aid. Ray Smith (3rd) and passed unanimously. In other business: -The council resolution au issuance of $400 revenue bonds for the of Alpha Plastics, Inc Is seeking to relocate Us npftTfffqm i] Tonvan Industrial Park. The bonds impact neither the city's indebtedness nor its liability. * -The council amended two ordinances, relating to truck weights and inoperable vehicles in order to bring them in line the firm and the frith recent phfnpi in line state : -Payments in the amounts of $18,827 (less five percent for minor work to be completed) for Ihower and locker faqDities and at the were |6S4 for steel doors sewage treatment epproved by the • -Mayor Joseph Stanek reported that the lakeland Park Owners Association lib 2to dissolve. Stanek said the attorneys will draw up the papers transferring LPPOA assets to the city, as part of a previous arrangement. -Upon the recommendation As you have probably noticed, The McHenry Plaindealer has undergone some rather substantial changes in the last month. Changes, not in content, rattier, in how the content is presented. Our primary goal is to produce a newspaper that is both appealing to the eye and, at the same time, easy to read. Newspaper readers acroes the United States have indicated, through many studies and surveys, what they like and dislike about newspapers. By far, the most common charge put to the newspaper industry was, "Clean up the clutter. In an effort to address this concern, we have tried to keep stories of the same nature or subject within one category. Thus, the reader will find stories relating to our local school districts and county college located primarily on a page designated, "schools/1' likewise, church articles and business stories will be placed on one or two pages, whenever possible An in-houae study of The McHenry Plaindealer, prior to the changes, showed that most of the news of local interest was I in the first seven pages of paper. This did nothing to ourage the reader to peruse rest of the paper. With the new design, the three biggest "draws," the front page, society news and sports have been placed in the front, middle and back of the paper, respectively. General news, neighborhood columns, school, church and business items are interspersed among the big three. behooves to preeent a way that is easy for the reader to An important change in this regard was the change in the size of the body type. Until a month ago, the paper used one of the wnallest type faces in the industry. The resulting change r^ypejnakes reading • - ineae recent reorganisation efforts have been aimed at eliminating the roadblocks to reading that existed in our newspaper. The McHenry Plaindealer would appreciate your reaction and response to the changes we have made. In order to do this, use the survey blank provided by Donna Bertulis It is a difficult thing to measure exactly how much an individual learns in high school. But educators have long been concerned about the opposite end of the scale- minimum competency. Thie State Board of Education has recommended that school districts adopt a minimum standard test that all students should pass before graduation. Following four years of work, McHenry High School District 156 now has such a test. "The test was put together by our teaching staff," explained Norbert Wolter, assistant superintendent. "It was devised to try to reflect the minimum requirements of our own curriculum." All-freshmen at the high tefeoftl took the test last week. & on page survey o 2 of this issue. also was introduced to the test at its last meeting. They were given a list of sample questions, so they can see how much ~ measure up to the new school minimum standard. The test contains approximately 60 questions in each of three categories: reading, mathematics and language arts. The entire test takes about three hours to complete. About 36 correct answers are required in each of the categories to pass. From experience with "pilot" test groups, the administration feels that a majority of the students will pass the test. "Kit we certainly expect that there will be some who will not," said Wolter. The students who do not pass will have the opportunity to take the same test once a year until the goal is accomplished. The test is initially given to the freshmen class so that the school has sufficient time to indicate learning deficiencies and plan appropriate programs for the student. Students in special education programs are exempt from taking the test. At this time, successful passage of the Minimum Competency Test is not required for graduation. "But it is our intent to have all students pass the test before graduation," said Wolter. Students who do pass the test will have a designation on their school records and transcripts. Members of the District 156 teaching staff who worked on making up the test include : Jim Blum, Pat Marks, Pat Wirtz, Bob Putnam and Denny Welter. A 25-member board of directors recently met at McHenry Qty Hall to kick off the new citizens' organization, the AAc Henry Area Crimestoppers. Roger Sether, of the Crystal Lake Crimestoppers described the organization, which presents cash ST AFT PHOTO-DONNA KVTUIIS awards for information that leads to the arrest and .filing of criminal charges against an individual. Center is Mike Cajthaml, director of the local effort. Right is McHenry Police Chief George Pasenelli, have official start in area A look inside- High schgpl leaders program Yoyth orchestra fills void Land agreement approved Regular* features Twice Told Tales Mostly Spcial Births - Obituaries Page 14 . Page 4 Page 9 Section 2, Pege 9 Pages 10-11 Page 15 Pege 3 Bertulis McHenry Crimestoppers ram officially got off the I last week as its board of met for an orientation into the program. Within months, the group will be in full swing with promotion and fund raising activities, flooding the public with word oi the program's structure, and dynamic impact on the area's crime statistics. Crimestoppers is a community-run program which fights crime by offering itv and cash rewards to who furnish information leadin a the arrest of program has been in existence for two and a half years in Crystal Lake, with great success. Roger Sether of tne Crystal Lake Police Department explains why. "On a nationwide average, investigation, three of four of these criminals will not be arrested." "The information that will imlock those investigations is somewhere in the community. Someone has information that will solve those cases, but setting that information from the people to the police is the problem." Sether said that two things keep important information hela by citizens from the proper authorities- fear and apathy. "The public is scared of a system they know has failed again and again. And most people feel that 'If it doesn't affect me, I'm not going to get involved'." The Crimestoppers program bridges that void because it allows citizens to share information without them to come to the police ^station or identify themselves. As an additional incentive, it offers cash rewards up to $1,000 to persons, if their information leads to the arrest and filing of criminal charges. A 25-member board of directors has been elected to serve the McHenry Area C r i m e s t o p p e r s . T h e s e individuals, who are respected members of the community from various occupations, have the role of publicizing and fund raising for the program. Additionally, they will meet once a month to hear Crime stopper cases which have been successfully solved, and determine the cash award that will be given the individual. Mike Cajthaml is serving as the McHenry Crimestoppers director and Police Sgt. Patrick Joyce will serve as the local police representative. The McHenry Area C r i m e s t o p p e r s , a n d organizations in the neighboring communities of Woodstock, Marengo and Cary will work closely with the Crystal Lake program. The Crystal Lake Crimestoppers phone number and its staff will be used county- wide for' uniformity and simplicity. All calls received at that number will be referred to the proper authorities. On a county level, the Crimestoppers program will choose a "Crime of the Week". The crime, which has been determined unsolvable by the police department, will featurc each of the communities on a rotating basis. Rewards will be given for information pertaining to only those Crimes of the Week. (Continued on pog* 3) ii