PREP EXTRA
For full game coverage, see Prep Extra in today’s Sports section or visit McHenryCountySports.com.
Burlington Cent.....13 Rich.-Burton ..........14 Marian Central ..... 35 Montini ................. 40 Stillman Valley ..... 49 Marengo ..................7
R. Christian ............. 0 Harvard ................. 48 Huntley ................. 42 McHenry ................14 Hampshire ............ 48 Woodstock ..............7
Grayslake Cent......21 Grayslake N .......... 24 Dundee-Crown ....... 0 Prairie Ridge......... 42 Cary-Grove ........... 35 Jacobs ................... 36
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2013
WWW.NWHERALD.COM
Johnsburg ................7 CL South................ 34 CL Central ............. 46 Woodstock N........ 33
75 CENTS
Health Board budget clears hurdle County Board committee consents to recommend approval By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – If the federal budget showdown has you down, rest easy that a county one has been averted. The McHenry County Board Public Health and Human Services Committee on
but changed course after the Mental Health Board pledged to continue with cost-cutting measures. One of the few statutory powers that county government has over a mental health board, besides appointing its members, is signing off on its total appropriation, which the
Wednesday consented to recommending approval of the Mental Health Board’s budget for fiscal 2014. A slim majority of the committee in August voted against approving the budget, which could have caused problems for county government adopting its own budget,
board can spend as it sees fit. The Mental Health Board in August presented a slimmer budget in the wake of shrinking revenues. It slightly raised the amount it disburses to county agencies that work with the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, while slashing its adminis-
trative budget and shrinking from 33 to 19 full-time equivalents. But a slim 3-2 majority on the public health committee did not think the budget was austere enough and voted against it.
See BUDGET, page A6
At a glance The McHenry County Board Public Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday consented to recommending approval of the Mental Health Board’s budget for fiscal 2014. The Mental Health Board has faced mounting criticism over the years that it is a top-heavy agency that spends too much on administration and overhead.
McCullom Lake cancer plaintiff dies Death comes just a day after first litigant gets a new trial By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Ken Weisenberger
About this series “Coincidence or Cluster?” is the Northwest Herald’s ongoing investigation of the McCullom Lake brain cancer lawsuits.
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WONDER LAKE – Whenever Kurt Weisenberger’s son tested his patience by coming home late, dad would warn that he had one good fight left in him. Weisenberger’s biggest fight turned out to be the tumor that grew in his brain. The Mayo Clinic gave him two years to live after his 1998 diagnosis. He fought for 15 years. But Weisenberger’s fight ended early Friday with his death at age 72. His health rapidly declined after an emergency surgery in July to remove the tumor, which had more than doubled in size. One of the original three McCullom Lake brain cancer lawsuit plaintiffs, he died barely a day after a Pennsylvania appeals court, after 2½ years, overturned a verdict dismissing the first of the cases to go to trial. Weisenberger and two of his former next door neighbors in McCullom Lake, also diagnosed with brain cancer, were the first of 33 to file lawsuits claiming that pollution from the Rohm and Haas specialty chemical plant in neighboring Ringwood made them sick with brain and pituitary tumors. His wife, Joanne, told him of the verdict just before his death, but he couldn’t respond, said his son, Jason.
s@shawmedia.com Photo illustration by Kristina Peters – kpeter
FOR HELP An identity theft hotline run by the Illinois Attorney General's Office can be reached at 866-999-5630. A resource guide is available at illinoisattorneygeneral.gov under Protecting Consumers.
WHAT TO DO 1. Report fraud to credit card companies and banks. Also notify phone, utility, Internet and other service providers. 2. Place an initial fraud alert on credit report, which entitles people to a free copy of their report. Only one of the three companies needs to be notified because they are required to contact the two others. 3. File a police report. This serves as proof of the crime while dealing with creditors. 4. Consider placing a security freeze on credit report, which prevents it from being released to another person without permission.
Source: Illinois Attorney General's Office
HOW BIG A THREAT IS IDENTITY THEFT? Local experts offer advice to consumers By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com McHENRY – Identity theft was a hot-button issue when Patrick Letizia started offering identity theft protection and restoration insurance about 35 years ago. Letizia, who lives just outside Ringwood, runs a small financial advisory firm with his son, Paul Letizia, in McHenry. “What we do is look at every aspect – taxes, inflation, investment return, Social Security, pensions, all the assets a client has – and this just fell into place because if someone takes your identity, they have
Voice your opinion Has your identity ever been stolen? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
access to, well, they can reroute Social Security checks, they can abscond with quite a bit,” Letizia said. An estimated 12.6 million U.S. adults, or about 4 percent of the population, were the victims of some form of identity fraud in 2012, according to a survey by private research firm Javelin Strategy & Research. Of the 2 million complaints
See PLAINTIFF, page A6
LOCALLY SPEAKING
CARY
MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SEX ABUSE A McHenry County judge handed down a 45-year sentence to a Cary man who admitted to engaging in or performing sex acts on children. Michael Scott Reck, 39, could have been sentenced to three life sentences for sexual encounters with children in McHenry and Cook counties and in Wisconsin. Instead, he accepted a plea agreement Friday. For more, see page B1.
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
HIGH
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71 47 Complete forecast on A10
UNION: New owners hope to breathe new life into Clasen’s Tavern, a more than 100-year-old establishment. Business, E1 Vol. 28, Issue 285
Where to find it Advice Business Buzz Classified
B8 E1-2 B10 E3-8
Comics B9 Local&Region B1-4 Lottery A2 Movies B7
Obituaries Opinion Puzzles Sports
B4 A9 E7 C1-6
filed with the federal Consumer Sentinel Network in 2012, 18 percent of them were related to identity theft. Government documents or benefit fraud at 46 percent was the most common form of reported identity theft, followed by credit card fraud, phone or utilities fraud and bank fraud, according to the Consumer Sentinel Network 2013 report. It can take years to clear up the results of a stolen identity, said Virginia Peschke, the executive director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of McHenry County.
See IDENTITY, page A6