Cary president candidates differ on economic tactics
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013
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Wife: Shooting was unintentional Murder suspect’s spouse testifies at his trial over death of Prairie Grove man By SARAH SUTSCHEK ssutschek@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday after calling a murder suspect’s wife, who said that her husband pimped her out on the Internet, but didn’t mean
to kill the man who answered an ad for sex with her. Timothy S. Smith, 28, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the May 28, 2011, shooting of Kurt Milliman, 48, of Prairie Grove, a former courthouse security officer and Island
Lake bar owner. Forced to testify after prosecutors granted her immunity in her own case for whatever she said on the stand, Kimberly A. Smith, 30, said that it was her husband’s idea for her to have sex with men for money.
Over about six months, she had sex with about 50 men, Kimberly Smith said. The night of the shooting, Kimberly Smith said, she hadn’t been aware that Milliman would be coming to the couple’s home on Doty Road, but her husband “said basi-
cally to get it done so we could go out.” Kimberly Smith, who was about two months pregnant at the time, said she very briefly had sex with Milliman before stopping.
See TRIAL, page A6
President loses his mental health seat
By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press
By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
See ELLIS, page A6
What’s next The McHenry County Board Public Health and Human Services Committee recommended candidates to fill four vacancies on the nine-member McHenry County Mental Health Board on Wednesday morning. The full County Board is expected to approve the recommendations at its meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the county Administration Building, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock.
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Ken Anderson walks around his Sun City, Huntley, neighborhood Monday. Anderson has been part of a neighborhood watch group for the past three years.
Eyes and ears of community Neighborhood watch groups help police enforcement By JANE HUH jhuh@shawmedia.com MARENGO – Sometime in December, police received a call reporting suspicious activity. By happenstance, a Marengo police officer was stationed nearby and quickly arrived at the scene. It turned out that a group of juveniles were “going through cars,” attempting to find unlocked vehicles to burglarize, Marengo Police Chief Joseph Hallman said. A neighborhood watch group volunteer made the call. The incident illustrated how neighborhood watch groups can be a vital community resource and play a significant role in preventing criminal activ-
ity, Hallman said. “We can’t be at every place at once, so it allows us to do our jobs better,” he said. Across the nation, there are at least 25,000 neighborhood watch groups, according to USAonWatch, a program founded by the National Sheriffs’ Association. At the same time, reports of suspicious activity can turn out to be false. Hallman recalls a time when neighbors reported an individual going in and out of a house that had been vacant for some time. The “suspicious” individual turned out to be the Realtor for the property. Despite the false alarm, Hallman said he would
rather see watchful residents follow their instincts and contact police. “If something’s not right and they make a call, we’d rather have it be an embarrassing situation, a wrong call, than for them to not call when there’s a criminal activity going on,” he said. Marengo police work alongside two active neighborhood watch groups in the Brookside Meadows and Maple Farms subdivisions. The groups formed about a year ago, largely in response to a string of residential burglaries and thefts that hit Marengo and surrounding areas last summer.
See WATCH, page A6
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ABSENTEES COULD CHANGE RACES Lee Jennings appears to have advanced through his primary. But excuse him if he’s holding off on the touchdown dance. The Nunda Township supervisor candidate is one of the township’s three unofficial winners in Tuesday’s Republican primary who are separated from their opponents by a combined 23 votes. There’s a slim chance those races still could flip. For more, see page B1.
Dr. Michael Thompson
Jim Dallke – jdallke@shawmedia.com
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32 22 Complete forecast on A8
How to start a group How to start a neighborhood watch group (from USAonWatch.org) 1. Recruit and organize as many neighbors as possible 2. Contact your local law enforcement agency and schedule a meeting 3. Discuss community concerns and develop an action plan 4. Hold regular meetings and train on relevant skills 5. Implement a phone tree and take action steps
seeking volunteers To get involved with the McHenry County Conservation District’s Safety Watch Education and Environmental Program (SWEEP), call the district office at 815-338-6223.
SPRINGFIELD – The top Illinois House Republican and the Democrats’ pension point person proposed another solution Wednesday to the state’s public retirement system debacle, one that signals the GOP’s first concession toward shifting teachers’ pension costs to local school districts. Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego and Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, suggested moving the state out of funding retirement for schoolteachers and university employees, maintaining defined-benefit accounts supplemented by a 401(k)-style, defined-contribution system. If signed into law, the idea would reduce the state’s annual contribution to five employee pension accounts by $2 billion, reduce the $96 billion funding shortfall by 30 percent, and reduce the deficit within three decades, according to Cross and Nekritz, who were joined by about a dozen other representatives and senators at a news conference outside the House chamber. The pitch was made on the eve of a House session scheduled by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, to allow open floor debate on four pension ideas. They include elimination of pension cost-of-living increases, an apparently extreme measure that Madigan put forth as a serious potential remedy because “there’s a huge problem,” spokesman Steve Brown said.
See PENSIONS, page A4
locally sPeaKinG
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Kimberly A. Smith
Pension cost shift accord proposed
Effort for Ellis falls flat WOODSTOCK – Two members of a McHenry County Board committee made a failed last-ditch effort Wednesday to keep embattled McHenry County Mental Health Board President Lee Ellis from losing his seat. The Public Health and Human Services Committee rejected, 2-5, a bid by members Anna May Miller, R-Cary, and Mary McCann, R-Woodstock, to appoint Ellis to a one-year unexpired term. The committee instead stuck by its original plan – and original vote earlier this month – to reject Ellis’ reappointment in favor of new blood. Wednesday’s vote was a do-over for the most part. The committee first made the recommendations Feb. 15 on a 6-0 vote, with County Board approval scheduled for its meeting four days later.
Timothy S. Smith
JoHnsBURG: Orthodontist helps St. John the Baptist Catholic School students brush up on dental health. Business, D1 Vol. 28, Issue 57
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