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• ‘idol’ alum and CL native forms pop-folk duo Gray Havens • Norge tourney this weekend • H 1⁄2 for Statham’s ‘parker’
‘IDOL’ ALUM DAVE RADFORD FORMS POP-FOLK DUO
THursday, JaNuary 24, 2013
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The only daily newspaper published in McHenry Co.
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Mental Health Board’s way at stake Critics stress importance in filling 4 vacancies By KEViN p. CRAVER
kcraver@shawmedia.com
WOODSTOCK – The fact that 15 people have applied for four open seats on the McHenry County Mental Health Board is no coincidence to its critics. To Patrick Maynard, president and CEO of Pioneer Center for Human Services, it’s a public cry for more transparency and fiscal accountability from the board
that collects and disburses – and spends – property-tax money. Maynard, who heads the county’s largest social service agency, was one of three speakers who told the McHenry County Board to seize the opportunity for reform. The County Board appoints Mental Health Board members. Critics have alleged over the years that the agency has become a bloated bureaucracy more interested in spending tax
money on itself than doling it out to agencies that work with the mentally disabled, which is what it was created by voters to do. “The community is aware and concerned and wants to see a change,” Maynard told board members last week. The Mental Health Board has heard the complaints before, and Interim Executive Director Todd Schroll stressed Wednesday that the agency is a good and transpar-
ent steward of taxpayer funds. “This is not new. We’ve responded to these comments before,” Schroll said. “My biggest concern is the inaccuracies in some of these.” The County Board’s Public Health and Human Services Committee met Wednesday morning to discuss the process by which to fill the four seats on the nine-member board. Chairwoman Donna Kurtz, R-Crystal Lake, said she hopes the committee will have recommendations for a full board vote by the end of
February. Two Mental Health Board members stepped down, and two others are reapplying for their seats because their terms have expired. Kurtz, herself a longtime critic of the Mental Health Board’s operations and spending, said the choices made by the sevenmember committee will be important, but declined to comment further to preserve the integrity of the selection process.
patrick maynard, president and CEO of Pioneer Center for Human Services
See mENTAL HEALTH, page A5
Quest for blood is never-ending Spring
Donors sought to overcome shortages born of bad weather, illness, economy By LAWERENCE SYNETT lsynett@shawmedia.com
It started with a blood drive at a hospital 12 years ago. Tracy Higgins donated blood and from that point on, “It just seemed like the right thing to do,” the 66year-old Crystal Lake resident said. She now donates four to five times a year. “People need to understand how important it is for the hospitals to have a continuous source of good blood,” Higgins said. “People always want to react when there is an emergency, but it is a continual need.” Residents such as Higgins are needed both nationally and locally to make up for a blood shortage caused by unpredictable weather, an early influenza outbreak and a continuing sluggish economy. McHenry County is within the American Red Cross Heart of America blood services region, which encompasses Illinois, eastern Iowa and parts of Missouri. For the past two years, the region had collected about 118,000 pints of blood a year. Blood shortages oc curred after hundreds of blood drives were canceled on the East Coast in November because of superstorm Sandy, said Ben Corey, program manager at the American Red Cross in Peoria. But because of an outpouring of support, the American Red Cross blood
fiscal fights ahead By DAViD ESpo
The Associated Press
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Denise pruitt of Spring Grove has blood drawn during a Jan. 15 blood drive at Community Church in Richmond. Blood donors are needed locally to ease a shortage. supply quickly was replenished after the storm. Those who donated blood or platelets in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy may be eligible again to give, Corey said. There is a push to donate in January, which is National Blood Donor Month. “National Blood Donor Month comes at an opportune time, as January can be an especially challenging month to collect donations due to inclement weather and seasonal illnesses,” he
said. “Right now, all blood types are needed to maintain a sufficient blood supply.” Blood types O negative and B negative are especially needed because its use in hospitals outpaces donations. In addition, about 44,000 pints of blood are needed each day at hospitals across the United States to treat cancer patients, trauma victims, organ transplant recipients and sickle-cell disease patients, among others.
Red blood cells have a shelf life of 42 days and platelets five days. The recent surge in influenza cases nationally and locally is affecting blood organizations that depend on healthy donors to stay ahead of demand. Flu season typically runs through May, with activity peaking in January and into February, according to the McHenry County Department of Health.
See BLooD, page A5
Web poll When was the last time you donated blood? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
“People always want to react when there is an emergency, but [blood donation] is a continual need.” tracy Higgins of Crystal Lake
WASHINGTON – Retreating with a purpose, Republicans sped legislation through the House on Wednesday to avert the imminent threat of a government default but pointing the way to a springtime budget struggle with President Barack Obama over Medicare, farm subsidies and other benefit programs. The current legislation, which cleared the House on a bipartisan vote of 285-144, would permit Treasury borrowing to exceed the “debt ceiling” limit of $16.4 trillion through May 18. As it passed, Speaker John Boehner pledged that Republicans would quickly draft a budget that would wipe out deficits in a decade, and he challenged Democrats to do the same. The Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to approve the debt bill as early as Friday or perhaps next week. The White House welcomed the legislation rather than face the threat of a firstever default at the dawn of the president’s second term in the White House, and spokesman Jay Carney pointedly noted a “fundamental change” in strategy by the GOP.
See FiSCAL, page A5
LOCALLY SPEAKING
HuNtLEY
HuNTLEY CouRTS SENioR CompLEx A Chicago health care and senior living company is looking to develop a multimillion-dollar campus near Huntley’s Regency Square to serve the nearby Sun City population. Conceptual designs for Alden Network’s proposed 13-acre development are set to be approved by the Village Board today. For more, see page B1.
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
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