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Monday, April 7, 2014
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Ill. hazing statute challenged Defense claims felony charges unconstitutional in 2012 fraternity drinking death formal request asking DeKalb County Associate Judge John McAdams to drop the charge against 22-year-old Steven Libert of Naperville, claiming Illinois’ hazing laws are too vague. The four others charged in freshman pledge David Bogenberger’s death quickly followed suit. Illinois’ hazing law prohibits people from requiring students to perform any unauthorized act that causes
By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE — Defense attorneys for the five former Pi Kappa Alpha members accused in the November 2012 death of a Northern Illinois University freshman are claiming that their felony hazing charges are unconstitutional. Defense attorney Richard A. Kayne was the first to file a
bodily harm in order to be accepted in a group connected with a school. Bogenberger died at the fraternity house with a blood-alcohol level of 0.351 percent after a non sanctioned party in which fraternity members and other guests ordered the pledges to drink vodka, authorities said. “This hazing statute is incurably vague, not only in application to the defendant, but in all other situations,” Kayne
said in court records. “The term ‘any act’ is not defined, and it is literally boundless in meaning.” But DeKalb County prosecutors are arguing Illinois’ law is similar to laws in 17 other states, where hazing laws prohibit any act or method that inflicts physical or mental harm. A hearing on the motion will take place at 1:30 p.m. April 24 at the DeKalb County Courthouse,
SHOWING OFF
133 W. State St., Sycamore. “Forcing somebody to drink large amounts of alcohol to get into a fraternity is a prime example for hazing,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Visher. Visher also compared Illinois’ hazing law to the battery law, which says a person commits battery when he or she causes bodily harm or makes insulting physical contact with someone “by any
The Associated Press
Monica Maschak - mmaschak@shawmedia.com
NIU hosts two American Kennel Club dog shows By STEPHEN HABERKORN news@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – Joel Haefner and his wife, Cynthia Huff, spent more than 18 hours preparing their three poodles for a dog show at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center this weekend. “There’s a lot before you even get to the show site,” said Haefner, of Carlock. “They’ve got to be washed and dried. They’ve got to be clipped. And they have to be scissored all over. It’s about
six hours to get one of these ready.” And that doesn’t include all of the work that is done at the show to maintain the dogs and prepare the large mane or “top knot” with the use of bands and hairspray. The reward can be pretty immediate, though: Haefner’s and Huff’s standard poodle, Marx, won the Open Dogs class and finished third in his group Saturday. They were among the 1,000 or so dogs and handlers who attended the Kennel Club of Yorkville’s
57th and 58th dog shows on Saturday and Sunday. The shows attracted dog owners and handlers who spend much of their spare time traveling to shows nationwide and preparing their dogs for these competitions. Haefner and Huff are hoping to get one more win to accumulate enough points for Marx to become a champion show dog. There is no prize money at dog shows, but if a dog becomes a champion they are then more valuable for breeding stock.
They plan to breed Marx and eventually give him to their son as a pet. “That’s been part of the problem today,” Haefner said. “He had him in his apartment and he’s spoiled now, so he’s not paying attention to us.” Jere Marder, an NIU alumnus who now resides in Valparaiso, Ind., has bred and shown her Old English Sheep Dogs for more than thirty years.
See DOG SHOW, page A10
See HAZING, page A10
Illinois’ next pension issue: Police, fire funds By CHACOUR KOOP
Different terriers wait to be judged individually in the best-in-group competition Saturday during the American Kennel Club Dog Show at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center.
means.” A doctor accused of inappropriately touching a patient unsuccessfully claimed the battery statute was vague in the past, Visher wrote in court documents. In Bogenberger’s case, Bogenberger’s family has claimed that Bogenberger and 18 other pledges drank several 4-ounce glasses of vodka in rapid succession, but
SPRINGFIELD – After addressing Illinois’ own employee pension crisis, lawmakers now face an equally challenging task with the state’s cities, as mayors demand help with underfunded police and firefighter pensions before the growing cost “chokes” budgets and forces local tax increases. The nine largest cities in Illinois after Chicago have a combined $1.5 billion in unfunded debt to public safety workers’ pension systems. Police and fire retirement funds for cities statewide have an average of just 55 percent of the money needed to meet current obligations to workers and retirees. A bi-partisan legislative report in 2013 showed that funding levels for police and fire pensions outside Chicago dropped 20 percent between 1990 and 2010, although many are improving since the worst of the recent economic downturn. The problems – a history of underfunding, the expansion of job benefits and the prospect of crushing future payments – mirror those that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel warned about when he asked the Legislature for relief last week. In 2016, state law requires cities to make required contribution increases – in some cases, more than an additional $1 million annually – so they’ll reach 90 percent funding by 2040. If they don’t, the state will begin doing it for them, diverting grant money now used by cities elsewhere
directly into the pension funds. “No community, no matter how much they love and respect their public safety officers, can pay that going forward,” Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said. The arguments over blame also echo the state and Chicago cases. While some officials question levels of worker benefits, union officials cite recent compromises and blame cities for bad choices in shirking payments. “Our view is that we’ve already done our part in terms of pension benefit reductions,” said Sean Smoot, director of the Police Benevolent and Protective Association. “While employees pay their mandatory required contributions, for many years employers [did] not.” Despite the urgency, the prospects for a solution are uncertain. Lawmakers may be hesitant to act against police and fire unions in an election year, and some who deal with the issue in Springfield consider it daunting to deal with about 650 unique police and fire funds throughout the state. “There is no question that it’s the municipalities’ No. 1 concern, but how one does that, I wouldn’t know where to begin,” said Republican Rep. Darlene Senger of Naperville. Here’s a sampling of Illinois cities’ challenges with police and fire pension funds:
AURORA With a population of nearly 200,000 and a booming Hispanic population, Aurora is
See PENSIONS, page A4
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