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PLAINDEALER- HERALD S H A W F R E E P R E S S M E D I A . I N C O c t o b e r 2 6 , 1 9 8 4 2 5 C E N T S Zoning board nixes fast food restaurants By Anthony Oliver Platodealer-Herald staff writer A proposal which would have ultimately resulted in two more fast food restaurants and a muffler shop on Elm Street in McHenry received a mixed review from the McHenry Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) last Thursday. The board voted 4-3 against a petition to reclassify three tracts on the north side of Elm Street, between Zion Lutheran Church and the Chicago and North Western railroad tracks. The land, as it currently exists, is classified for heavy industrial district use and the developer, Devlin, Inc., sought subdivision of the parcel into Local woman three tracts and rezoning to B-l commercial, B-l commercial and B-3 business. According to testimony, a Wendys' . restaurant and Taco Bell restaurant were slated for the B-l pieces and a Midas Muffler shop for the B-3 section. The 4-3 vote against the peitition means no positive recommendation will be sent to the McHenry City Council. If the petitioners pursue the matter, the council will need an ex­ traordinary vote to pass the measure. The total property involved in the contract purchase by Devlin Inc., was about 5.5 acres, but only 2.1 acres was subject to the petition. The developer's represen­ tative, Wayne Erickson, said the balance of the property would be donated to Zion Lutheran Church. He also commented that negotiations between the church and the developers called for sufficient screening to protect the church property. The ZBA expressed concern about the traffic impact of the two drive-through restaurants so c close to the Crystal Lake Road intersection. ZBA member Harry Semrow Jr., asked about peak hour traffic anticipated by the Wendy's facility. A spokesman for the company said peak hours would probably be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. He anticipated sales of 60-100 cars during these times. Lesser volumes were estimated for the Taco Bell restaurant. Noting that the petition concerned frontage on a state highway, member Fred Kupstis asked what the petitioner's plans were if the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) denied the ingress- egress permit. It was noted that state law allows driveways on all parcels on an unlimited access hig" like Route 120, and the question was whether there would be two driveways or one. A motion to recommend ap­ proval of the petition to the city council, failed 4-3. Voting in favor of the petition were members Donna Tobeck, James Fouse and Annie Cuda. Voting against were Fred Kupstis, Harry Semrow Jr., Philip Coatar and Robert Jessup. Hioc in nrach Police combine efforts to find rapist UlvO 111 Vsl dull ... . A Wonder Lake woman died Monday from injuries she sustained in a Sunday morning auto accident near Richmond. Cheryl A. Biggers, 18, died at St. Anthony Hospital in Rock- ford. She had been transferred to the Rockford hospital from McHenry's Northern Illinois Medical Center after she was injured in a 3 a.m. auto accident on Keystone Road in Richmond Township. According to McHenry County sheriffs police, she was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Steven R. Fleming, 22, of Twin Lakes, Wis. Fleming reportedly lost control of his car as he fried to brake for the stop sign at the intersection of Keystone Road and Try on Grove Road. The car then slid into a ditch and struck a pole, according to police. Fleming was listed in good condition Tuesday at NIMC. Services for Biggers, a 1983 graduate of McHenry High School, will be held Friday morning. A complete obituary appears elsewhere in this issue. By Cliff Ward PUlBdMter-Hmld New* Service The same man may be responsible for 15 rapes over the past 18 months in Lake and McHenry counties, including one Monday in unincorporated Beach Park north of Waukegan, Lake County Sheriff's Depart­ ment officials said. Det. Charles Fagan of the Lake County Sheriff's Depart­ ment said a knife-wielding man broke into a Beach Park home, raped a 32-year-old woman, threatened to injure her sleeping children and ransacked her house. Fagan said the man's description matches that of a man sought for a series of rapes last fall. The man usually covers a woman's face, cuts the phone line and then steals something from the home, according to Ray McKoskey, assistant state's attorney in Lake County. rapist's methods match /Pleaae tarn to pagf 31 My 1*1 ttOITM The Six-year term for child abduction JHS homecoming couple PlaiDdMtor-HmM N«w» Service A Chicago woman who was found guilty of attempting to abduct ner child from a Wonder Lake foster home received a six- year jail sentence Tuesday in 19th Judicial Circuit Court. Marietta Kovacs, 33, was sentenced by Judge Michael Sullivan on six charges that included armed violence, home invasion, residential burglary, criminal damage to property, battery and attempted child abduction. She was found guilty of the charges after a September jury trial. During her trial, authorities contended that on March 15, Kovacs forcibly entered a Lear Street home in Wonder Lake by cutting a screen with a knife and breaking a window. The victim, foster mother to Kovac's child, reportedly fled the home when Kovacs entered. Kovacs caught the woman and jedly kicked her and at­ tempted to take the child from the foster mother's arms, ac­ cording to trial testimony presented by the state. Kovacs was arrested a short time later after she was seen boarding an RTA bus on Wonder Lake Road. At the time of the arrest, a knife was found in her possession. Sullivan ordered that a 364- day sentence for battery and attempted abduction be served concurrently with the six-year sentence for home invasion and residential burglary. The judge granted Kovacs credit for tne 220 days she has spent in the McHenry County jail while awaiting her trial. > Seniors Roberta Kucharski and Mike Haag reigned as the king and queen of this year's Johnsburg High School homecoming. The event was celebrated Oct. 13. Recognition or election sought by bus drivers County beginning study of aviation needs "We're interested in the issue and hope to provide comments in theprocess, but we have no position on it," Lindsey said. Tne group is doing its own environmental impact sti new port, he added. "A number of citizens called (the Defenders) because of concern about the county subsidizing an activity that, if not properly planned, could have adverse effects," Lindsey added. One of the adverse effects Lindsey noted was destruction of farmland; something that may be inevitable in constructing or expanding an airport. In the case of Gait Airport in Greenwood, nestled ili the gently rolling farm fields west of Wonder Lake, expansion probably would mean buying more land. George Kropf, shop and flight manager at Gait, estimated it would cost more than $1 million to make his airport suitable for the bulk of corporate aviation. On the other hand, Kropf said, the new capabilities might more than balance out with the costs. "I don't think we could even guesstimate what we could bring into the area (with improvements)," he said. Needed improvements would include making the paved run­ way 700 feet longer, larger hangars and expanded fuel tanks, Kropf explained. That, he said, is not likely to happen under the facility's current ownership. "It alwavs did work good as a friendly, neighborhood airport," Kropf said, adding change would come only with a new owner. Gait is currently for sale. impact study on a Editor's Note: This is the fourth and final part of a Plaindealer- Herald series examining the critical problems facing aviation in McHenry County. By Jim Nash PUindealer-Herald Newt Service State and county officials, concerned that McHenry County could be left without a viable airport, have begun researching 's three general-purpose air- airport, current problems and possible solutions. Collectively, McHenry Counl ports-Gait, Lake in the Hills and Dacy in Harvard-raise nearly $30 million a year. Faced with the possibility of losing all or most of this revenue, officials have begun a study to determine the rivate aviation needs of the county. The study, supported in part f state funding, is in its infancy. Dean Cunat, chairman of the McHenry County Board's Economic Development Commission, said businessmen and pilots are being polled and a citizens' advisory committee is forming. Based on information gathered from both projects, the county will address a crucial question: Can it benefit from the increased business of corporate air service? If it were decided potential benefits outweigh disadvantages, two primary options would confront the county board. One would be to build a new air facility with longer runways, more hangars and better technology. The other would be to renovate an existing facility. Interest in the subject is heavy. More than 100 county residents have applied for just 15 seats on the airport study's advisory The story is much the same at Lake in the Hills Airport. Short „ unways and inadequate equipment 'T*~u ™ ------* flight training and the use of small, pe: said Ray Klaus, president of Metro Aero flight school at Lake in limit us at the moment to rsonal business planes,'6' the Hills Airport. "A longer runway dollars)," Klaus said. could generate millions (of Craft maintenance, hangaring, fuel sales, higher employment and plane sales would be natural offshoots of airport expansion, he continued. It's nothing to spend $1 million on a corporate airplane," Klaus said. Klaus expressed sympathy for people living near noisy airports but denied that Lake in the Hills airfield would" traffic. tige unde^ O'Hare (Airport) flight patterns, and upsetting, but that is not the type of "There is at least a strong undercurrent of support for the idea (of a larger county airport)," Cunat said. "There also will be people sensitive to the environmental impact that any im­ provement causes." No organized opposition to an airport has surfaced. Protests to the board have come in the form of individual outcries from residents. Greg Lindsey, spokesman for the McHenry County Defenders, said his organization has taken no position on the matter yet. Id be noisier because [ corporate aire "I live in Park The noise is annoj situation here," he said. "We're not talking about pure jet traffic. The planes are off the ground and thousands of feet in the air in minutes." Klaus said, "a neighbor's lawn mower is louder... and is going for an hour or more." Cunat likened airports to race tracks, county fairgrounds and factories: "People need them and sometimes enjoy them, but they don't want to live near them." In the same vein, Klaus compared the importance of airports to the importance of the nation's roadway network. In the eyes of Terry Schaddel, airport planning engineer for Illinois Depart­ ment of Transportation's Division of Aeronautics, the best way to ensure that general aviation airports will survive in McHenry County is to take them out of private hands and put them in public hands. Grants and low-interest loans are available to public airports to help them modernize and expand, Schaddel said. By Marion Olsen PUindealer-Herald Newa Servtcc A request for recognition, the second in two days, was made by a representative of the McHenry Schools Tran­ sportation Association at the District 15 elementary school board meeting Oct. 17. Jackie Sheehan, president of the group, repeated a formal statement which announced formation of: a collective bargaining group associated with the Illinois Education Association-National Education Association to represent bus drivers employed jointly by Districts 15 and 156. The group presented the same request to the Dist. 156 high school board at the Oct. 16 meeting. Sheehan said the association had 34 members, "a clear majority" of the bus drivers and if it did not receive voluntary recognition from the board, the association would ask for an election agreement (mandatory under the law) which would lead to recognition. The tran­ sportation group would like the election to take place in con­ junction with a school support rsonnel election Monday, ov. 19. Dr. Richard Farmer, superintendent, told the association members present, "We promise to respond to you as requested-judiciously." In further business, Farmer announced that a formal complaint filed with the Illinois Pollution Control Board (PCB) ainst the Eastwood Manor ater Company has been placed on the PCB agenda on Oct. 25 for consideration a and setting of a hearing date. Farmer said he is confident a hearing will be held in the McHenry area. The complaint arose when Hilltop school authorities were not informed of a "boil water" situation affecting the school.: A Public Relations Committee report by board member Ed­ ward Samen included plans foe.*, recognition dinner to horigh district employees with service s or longer. Plana for employees marldqjt of 20 hono service milestones of less 20 years are also being con­ sidered, he said. In a monthly "good news? report, Audrey Rei representing the McHenry C l a s s r o o m T e a c h e . r f Association, presented a letter of commendation to the board for participating in a liaison committee which, she added, led to a very good working relationship b between $$ board, administration teachers. The board approved the employment of Kathy English, playground aide; Patricia Greco, substitute cafeteria worker; David Wohle<£ custodian; and Donald Hoft- man, William Norwill and Robert Pinn, bus drivers. GOOD MORNING! NICNU6HT Mae Stinespring of McHenry is given the Community Ser­ vice Award by the Family Services and Community Mental Health Center, page 18. I N D E X Editorial Page 2 NeighborsSec. 2. Pages 2.3 School Sec 2, Page 6 Society Pages 6.7 Vol 109. Number 19 Sports Pages 19, 20 Obituaries Page 4 Crime of Week .. Page 4 2 Sections. 28 pages Area spikers eliminated SPORTS OA PAGE