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COUNTY HOSTS BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
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Murder-suicide puts spotlight on domestic violence By JIM DALLKE jdallke@shawmedia.com
Photos by Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Taiga Numamoto (left), 14, and Mitsuhiro Takita, 14, of Japan watch Wednesday as Eric Rowe, 16, and Diane Rowe paint the Japanese flag on their car outside their Cary home. The Rowe family is hosting Numamoto and Takita for two weeks while they compete in the McHenry County Youth Sports Association Summer International Championship. BELOW: Numamoto (center left) and Takita eat their first meal with their host family Wednesday at the Rowe’s Cary home.
Host families field friendships away from diamond up that [last] morning, and we’re always so mad. It’s that feeling – they’re leaving. They’re going back.”
By SHAWN SHINNEMAN sshinneman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – It’s always a little awkward the first day. It’s 10 a.m. on a Wednesday, a few days before tournament play kicks off during the McHenry County Youth Sports Association Summer International Championships. A group of warm-up clad Japanese players arrive fresh off a bus from O’Hare International Airport, where they’d landed on the last of a series of planes that took them something like 6,000 miles. They stand, smile and wait. Across the brick dropoff area at Crystal Lake’s Holiday Inn, under a handful of international flags, there are about 10 McHenry County families. They stand, smile and wait.
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Breaking the ice
Soon, under MCYSA’s home stay program, these families will each meet and take home two players from Japan’s 15-and-under international team. With hardly any common language to fall back on, the two sides will coexist for the next two weeks, eating together, sleeping under the same roof and spending hours at
the ballpark. Host families – this year, 48 of them caring for about 100 players – become the de facto mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of players from countries like Japan, Brazil and Lithuania. “It’s a little awkward,” Diane Rowe, a 10-year home stay veteran, said of the first day. “And then I wake
No voices come from downstairs – just the steady, high-pitched knock of pingpong ball on paddle, then table, then paddle. It’s still Wednesday, about 2 p.m. The Rowe’s have brought home their two 14-year-olds, Mitsuhiro Takita and Taiga Numamoto. “I let my kids really talk to them more in the beginning,” said Diane Rowe, sitting at a kitchen table near the staircase in her Cary home. “I don’t even know if Eric’s down there playing pingpong with them now, but kids break the ice easier than parents.”
See HOST, page A9
When you’re the parent, you’re not playing games with them. You need to make sure that their physical and emotional needs are being met.” Kristen Lewis, Cary resident who coordinates the program for Brazil
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Lathan Goumas file photo – lgoumas@shawmedia.com
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ATMOSPHERE DESCRIBED AS ‘TOXIC’ The atmosphere at Prairie Grove District 46 is “toxic,” Andy Searle, its former business manager, recently told the school board during his exit interview. “There seems to be a culture of distrust, which is extremely unfortunate because it takes from all those good things I talked about,” he said. Searle is one of three administrators to leave this summer. For more, see page B1.
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DISTRICT 46
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HARVARD – Miguel Andrade had a history of domestic altercations with the mother of his child, Jackie Flores, leading up to Thursday’s murder-suicide that left both dead in a Harvard neighborhood. Representatives from Turning Point, McHenry County’s only domestic violence agency, want those in abusive relationships to know there are resources available to victims and abusers in hopes of bringing an end to the type of violence that took place in Harvard. “[Domestic violence] is a huge problem,” said Jane Farmer, executive director of Turning Point. “It’s not just in our county. It’s a huge problem everywhere. And it’s not talked about enough.” There were 651 cases filed in McHenry County that contained domestic violence charges in 2012, down from 724 cases in 2011, according to the McHenry County Circuit Clerk. As of Friday,
At a glance There were 651 cases filed in McHenry County that contained domestic violence charges in 2012, down from 724 cases in 2011, according to the McHenry County Circuit Clerk. As of Friday, there were 377 cases this year, which is on pace to surpass 2012’s mark. there were 377 cases this year, which is on pace to surpass 2012’s mark. Turning Point provides shelter, food, clothing, child care, job assistance, school supplies and other assistance to women and their children who are in abusive relationships. Farmer said there are also Partner Abuse Intervention Programs available for the abusers in a domestic violence situation. The majority of men in the programs are court-ordered to attend, but Farmer said roughly 40 percent enroll voluntarily.
See VIOLENCE, page A9
Ethics investigation of Roskam extended The ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON – The House Ethics Committee says it is extending an investigation of Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois. The committee said it received a report from the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent investigative body, and decided to extend its investigation of Roskam, who represents parts of Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties. The committee said it will announce its course of action on Roskam in September and that extending an investigation does not indicate that a violation has occurred. Roskam’s office said in a statement the OCE investigation into him involved a trip he took to Taiwan. Roskam spokeswoman Stephanie Kittredge said he
Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam is under investigation for a trip he took to Taiwan.
informed the Ethics Committee about the trip and his planned activities on it before he left. Roskam took the unusual step of publicizing his OCE report on Friday because he said he had done nothing wrong. “The record reflects that Rep. Roskam fully complied with all laws, rules and procedures related to privately sponsored travel,” Kittredge said. “The trip was vetted and approved by the House Ethics Committee, the body legally authorized to make determinations on congressional conduct.”
See ROSKAM, page A9