NORTHWEST
HERALD
SUNDAY January 10, 2016 • $1.50
FLYIN’ HIGH Jacobs boys basketball rolls past Crystal Lake South / C1
NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
HIGH
LOW
12 5
Complete forecast on page A12
Facebook.com/NWHerald
@NWHerald
Sex-abuse education addressed Erin’s Law requires school districts to implement prevention curriculum By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – If someone ever makes them feel uncomfortable, elementary-aged students in Crystal Lake School District 47 have learned to do three things. “They’ve learned ‘no, go and tell,’ ” said Charmian Fletcher, District 47’s director of math and science, whose
department handles health education in addition to STEM. “The kids practiced this. No – hold out your hand; go – point your thumb over your shoulder; and tell – cup your hands around your mouth and tell someone.” The three-step lesson, similar to the familiar “stop, drop and roll” taught as part of fire safety, is part of a prevention-oriented sexual abuse
curriculum the district implemented in compliance with Erin’s Law. Named after an Illinois woman who was sexually abused as a child and signed into state law in 2013, Erin’s Law mandates school districts to provide child sex-abuse education to students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Since the law’s passage – Illinois was the first state to pass it and it’s
since been passed by 25 others, according to erinslaw.org – a number of McHenry County school districts have rolled out programs to provide this type of education. Sexual abuse is a tricky topic, school officials said, especially given elementary-aged students often don’t even know what sex is. “You don’t want to dramatize this, but you want to make sure
you’re informing kids to be safe,” Fletcher said. Teachers who lead these lessons have become accustomed to using specific terminology, sensible for young children, she added. For example, kindergartners are taught the word “private,” and that “your body belongs to you and there
See LAW, page A5
FBI probes another police shooting
CRYSTAL LAKE MOM VOWS TO REBUILD HOUSE RAZED IN FIRE THAT DISPLACED 9
Family challenging if motorist was armed The ASSOCIATED PRESS
Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Shirley Polk sits alone with a book on Friday in an undecorated living room in her temporary rental home in Crystal Lake. The Polk family survived a Nov. 2 fire that destroyed their home and took the lives of their two dogs. Insurance is covering costs of the home, but they still need financial help replacing all of their belongings.
‘Now we have a starting point’
Home’s plans found in closet damaged by smoke, water CRYSTAL LAKE – After her home burned down in November, Shirley Polk didn’t know that the key to getting it back was nestled in the soot and burnt wood of her former bedroom. It wasn’t until the next day she learned that sitting in a case in a smoke- and water-damaged closet were the plans to her home, where about nine people had lived before the fire. In the two months since losing her home at 6015 Blue Court in unincorporated Crystal Lake, finding those plans has given her the most hope she’ll be able to rebuild and be back at home by the end of the year. “Now we have a starting point,” Shirley Polk said. “We will use that. We knew this was going to be our home. We just fell in love with it. It had everything we asked for. Why change it? I want to end my days there.”
BUSINESS
Shirley Polk Lost Crystal Lake home in November fire The family spent a month at the Holiday Inn in Crystal Lake after an explosion followed by flames leveled their home Nov. 3. Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department officials said a space heater might have been to blame. The Polks moved into a rental home in Crystal Lake about a month ago. “It’s OK,” 20-year-old Jaime Polk said of their current living situation. “It’s not like a home
SPORTS
Red Raider redemption Huntley wrestling takes 3rd at the XLI Sycamore Invitational / C1 STYLE
Working to outperform INTREN’s work with utilities spans nationally following recession / D1
to me, because for 19 years I lived in the same home, but we could be on the street. So I’m grateful.” The Polks lived in the home for 23 years. Shirley raised more than 20 foster children with her husband, Richard, who died six years ago. They adopted six. Shirley Polk still grapples with the loss of the photos and family heirlooms that filled her home. The trunk Shirley Polk’s grandmother had when she emigrated from Sweden, her father’s U.S. Army uniform and the blue suit her mother wore when they were married all went with the house. She said she sometimes visits an antiques store in Crystal Lake to feel like she’s in her home. “I’m trying,” Shirley Polk said. “I just try to look at the positives. We all walked out of that
See FAMILY, page A5
See INVESTIGATION, page A4
WHERE IT’S AT Business .................... D1-4 Classified.................... F1-8 Community ....................B1 Local News................ A3-9 Lottery............................A2 Nation&World...........B3-6 Obituaries .............. A10-11 Opinions ........................B2 Puzzles ........................F7-8 Sports..........................C1-7 Horoscopes................... F8 TV listings ..................... F8 Weather ....................... A12
Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing mbing & Electrical
Lic#055-001101
“I just try to look at the positives. We all walked out of that house. I lost my two best friends, my puppies, but all my kids are here.”
By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
CHICAGO – The FBI is conducting a civil rights investigation into the fatal 2013 Chicago police shooting of a motorist whose family is challenging officers’ accounts that he was armed and opened fire. A brief mention of the case was contained in thousands of pages of emails related to police shootings that the city released on New Year’s Eve, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday. According to sworn depositions by the two officers pursuing him, Esau Castellanos was speeding at 80 mph and crashed on the city’s northwest side. The officers say that when they approached, Castellanos opened fire. His family disputes that, and no gun was ever found. The officers fired 19 shots at Castellanos, hitting him three times. Chicago’s police department has come under intense scrutiny, including a U.S. Department of Justice Investigation, since the release in November of squad car video showing a white officer shooting a black teenager 16 times. Seventeen-year-old Laquan McDonald was carrying a small knife, but the video showed him walking away from police and contradicted officers’ accounts that he posed a serious threat. The FBI is known to be investigating that shooting and several others. The quasi-independent local agency that investigates all police shootings in Chicago says it also referred the Castellanos case to the FBI in the weeks after the March 2013 shooting.
Wearing well CL native and style strategist says for 2016, cut down on clothes, clutter / Style, 5
adno=0338636