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PLAINDEALER By Anthony Oliver HOIIIJMIW Harold Staff Writer The year is 1953 and George Pasenelli had recently left military service. Looking for a job, he'd heard that the Waukegan Police Department was testing for new officers. When Pasenelli was told he had gotten the job, little did he know it would be the start of a career in law enforcement-a career that would last more than 31 years and end here as Chief of Police in McHenry, HI. It's been no secret that the Pasenellis would one day be moving to the East Coast, for Mrs. Pasenelli is high up on the ladder with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and was recently transferred to the Washington office. Born in New Jersey and schooled in Connecticut, Pasenelli reported for his first day as a Waukegan Police Of­ ficer on July 12, 1953. "My training consisted of riding with two senior patrolmen. Police academies, at tbjt time, were just coming into vogue," Pasenelli said. "My one sets career ears open and your big mouth shut, y* He spent one month "training" in the patrol car and was then assigned to a walking beat, where he stayed for about a year-and-a-half. Pasenelli had expressed an interest in becoming a detective and admits to an avid interest in fingerprinting. "I worked on my own time with the Records and Iden­ tification Division to learn the ropes," Pasenelli said. A short time later, he was tabbed to go to work as a detective. But in 1957, a sudden surge in the crime rate in a particular downtown section of Waukegan brought him back to the walking post. The black area of Waukegan in the late '50s centered around the South Genessee and Market Street areas and it was here that Pasenelli and his partner were assigned. "We walked from eight o'clock at night until four in the morning. With 'aggressive' patrol techniques we knocked the crime rate back down," Pasenelli said. rtVm • 1 V at best training ground for an officer. "We didn't have portable radios in those days, just a call box. If you got yourself into trouble, you had to get yourself out," Pasenelli said. While the walking beat was no picnic, particularly in winter along the lake, it did have its moments of fun. Pasenelli recalled the coffee shop owners toho were open into the wee hours where a cop could always get a hot cup and tbi generous store owners at Christmastime, Or, watching the entire beat from the top of a tall building in the dead of night. "You knew everyone and everyone knew you," Pasenelli ' said. Following that stint on the walking port, Pasenelli returned to the Detective Bureau, and in 1964, was promoted to sergeant and made officer-in-charge of the Identification Division. From there, he went back into investigation and was made Chief of Detectives in 1987. In 1969, he was named Assistant Chief and took the top spot as Chief of the Waukegan Police Department in 1974. ii» -iitue burg to the west, McHenry. . "I found the department a Challenge. It had a lot Of needs,, especially training and public image," Pasenelli said. "Truth- hilly, I can say the men have been marvelous. I am very proud of their accomplishments and they are hard workers." The change in public image was one of the biggest problems Pasenelli faced in 1978. "The attitude of the people toward their police department was not what I would have liked," Pasenelli said. To that end, Pasenelli reinstated the walking beat, the bicycle safety program and a "total" public relations campaign. The walking beat in par­ ticular, where a patrolmen leaves the squad car for at least an hour and walks the parks, the business district, the residential areas, has been well received by most of the McHenry public. "It s been ftm," Pasenelli said. "Oh, we've had our tragedies, like the Albanese and Iwert cases, but there have been a lot of good times too.The sheer demand of the job throws info the miseries of life, there are a whole lot of good Continued on pago 3 „.r" GEORGE R. PASENELLI McHenry Township has recently awarded a $21,482 contract to upgrade and replace guardrails, according to John C. Regner, road commissioner. Guard Fence of Schaumburg has been awarded the contract, which includes removal, replacement or rehabilitation of guardrail at the following locations in McHenry Townslip: -Lincoln Road at Lily Lake drainage ditch, north side. -Lincoln Road at Lily Lake drainage ditch, south side. -Riverside Drive at Dutch Creek, east side. -Lake Street and Pleasant View, southeast corner. -Fox Lake Road and Rand Road, northwest corner. -Lincoln Road at Appaloosa Trail. -East Wonder Lake Road at Oakwood Shores, west side. East Wonder Lake Road at Oakwood Shores, east side. •Bunny Avenue at Nippersink Drive, south side. -lily Lake Road at North Avenue, east side. Regner said that there has been a fair amount of guardrail around the township damaged in the past year, necessitating a repair project. Hie township itself does not have the capability to install or replace guardrail, which requires specialized and expensive equipment. "To contract out for repair or installation of - one or two guardrails at a time is just too expensive and time con­ suming," Regner said, "which is why we have a large project like this." Guardrail is important in traffic safety, he said, to keep cars and trucks that go off the pav« ment for any reason from going down steep slopes, run­ ning into buildings or otherwise going in an undersirable din ction and causing injury or damage. By Angela Burden MelndeeUr-Herald Him Sarvic* If the tentative budget for McHenry County stands, the county tax rate will increase by 19.4 percent, or an additional 10.2 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation. Appropriations for all funds in the 1984-85 county's tentative budget approved Tuesday night by the McHenry County Board total in excess of $22.5 million, an increase of $3.2 million over last year's $19.1 million budget. The 19 percent increase will not be an overall tax hike - it will mean about a $20 increase for the average homeowner for the county's share of the total property tax bill. Phyllis Walters, the board's finance committee chairman, 'presented the tentative 1984-85 fiscal year budget to the board with little discussion and few objections. She explained there will be no increase in the general fund tax rate, which is already at its maximum. "The increased levy is generally the result of two major highway projects for which funds are being budgeted," she said. Ap­ propriations for the highway projects next year include $700,000 for the McHenry South Bypass (Bull Valley Road to River Road); $400,000 for the Crystal Lake Bypass (Illinois 31 to Randall Road), and $150,000 for the Phase II study of the proposed Algonquin Bypass. The much-discussed $6.5 million buUtfing program for the expansion of the McHenry County Courthouse was ooa- spicuous by its absence in the tentative budget, which did include $625,000 for building improvements. The tax rate necessary to fund the budget as it was presented Tuesday night will be 0.627 cents; per $100 of a« seised valuation,: compared to the current rate of ; 0.52S, an increased of 0.10S. The tentative budget includes a proposed 6% percent increase: in the personal services ap\ propriation for an across-the- board four percent wage hike for; county employees and 2%> percent for merit increases. Board member Ann Hughes of ! Woodstock voted against the. budget because, she said, she could not support the ap? propriations for three highway ̂ projects atone time and because the salary increases had not definitely been determined by the board. Ronald Morris of Harvard suggested the board hold the two and a half percent merit in­ crease in abeyance. "I have a problem with the general fund being 19 $1 million over last year in personal services," Morris said. The General Fund ap­ propriations total $11.9 milliop, an increase of $1.8 million ovet the current year. Hie tentative figures in these funds include $7,06,209 for personal services, $2,372,060 for contractual ser- Contimied on p«f« 7 GOOD MORNING! HMMHICNf The McHenry High School cross­ country team journeys to central Illinois tomorrow for the prestigious Peoria Invitational. The Warriors of coach Bill Hutchinson, are led by Chris Creutz, right. More in Sports, page 21. Sidewalk project underway iMnindralrr photo by Anthony Oliver INDEX New sidewalks are the order of the day at various locations in required to pay 25 percent of the project cost. Benefitted residents McHenry, like this one on Lillian Street, just east of Crystal Lake wtil be asked to contribute half the city's cost of the sidewalks in blacktop. The sidewalks are part of a Federal Aid Urban (FAU) front of their property. project funded jointly by federal and local funds. The city is .\ i • ••• r ; « • . National News Sect 2, Business Sect. 2, Church .• Sect 2, Vol 109, Number 1.3 1 Neighborhood News oeu. 2, Page 2 4 Life Today Page 6 9 Sports Pages 18*19 2 Sections. 32 Pages October 5, 1984 S H A W \ H I I »'KI S S M S IX A INI Merit Scholars SCHOOLS PACE 4 .....