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Ja n u a r y 27, 2015 • $1 .0 0
ARMY WANTS HIM Jacobs senior running back Josh Walker to play for Army / C1
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More women buying guns, cite self-defense, hunting
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Man hit by car on life support Arrest made in crash that injured CL South grad, 20 By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
Photos by Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Pam Pinkley of Crystal Lake aims for the target while attending a women’s shooting group Wednesday at On Target Range and Tactical Center in Crystal Lake. BELOW: Pinkley loads her gun Wednesday. By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Four ladies watched, their unloaded handguns on the tables in front of them, as instructor Susan Parker went over the fundamentals of hitting their target. A stance with a foot out in front makes for better control for women, Parker lectured, as does putting the nonfiring hand on the other side of the grip rather than holding it on the bottom like a saucer for a teacup. And among the many things Parker drilled into them was the need to practice – especially how to recover from a weapons jam – and the need for safety. Parker quoted a saying popular among firearm instructors: Every round you fire has a lawyer attached to it. “You are responsible for every bullet that exits your gun, even in self-defense,” Parker told her students. The women – two younger, a senior citizen and her middle-aged daughter – then practiced their
and salespeople. A 2011 Gallup poll put the number of women who own firearms at 23 percent, almost double the 13 percent it found in 2005. Another 2011 survey by the National Sporting Goods Association found women’s participation in shooting sports surged over the previous decade by more than 50 percent for target shooting, to more than 5 million women, and by more than 40 percent for hunting. Parker, a 30-year instructor with civilian and military law enforcement experience, said the majority of her female clients are getting into guns for self-defense. While she teaches the female-oriented gun course for On Target, she owns her own training business, Artemis Protection Training. Voice your opinion: Do you own a gun? Vote online at NWHerald.com. “Many want to empower themselves so they can be responsible for their own personal safety. Most stances and grips while facing the paper targets. The stereotype of the American aren’t getting into firearms because walls of the John Wayne Room at On Target Range and Tactical Cen- gun owner as a middle-aged white they want to become a competition ter in Crystal Lake. Once the down- male is becoming increasingly in- shooter. It’s not the world it was 20 stairs handgun range was clear, accurate as the number of female years ago,” Parker said. they would end their morning “Gals shooters surges, according to surand Guns” basic class by shooting veys and local firearms instructors See GUNS, page A4
NORMAL – A 2012 graduate of Crystal Lake South High School is on life support after being struck by a car Saturday at Illinois State University, where he is a student, a close family friend said. Benjamin Allison, 20, of Crystal Lake was hit sometime Saturday morning by a car that fled the scene, according to a Normal Police Department news release. “It’s not good,” said Wayne Bower, who was one of Allison’s hockey coaches in high school and whose son is Allison’s close friend. Bower, along with his son, Benjamin w e n t d o w n Allison to Normal to be with Allison’s family and friends at the hospital. “He’s in critical condition on life support. ... We’re basically in a waiting period, and it’s not like it’s waiting for him to recover.” Allison was found unresponsive in the road about 8:45 a.m. Saturday near College Avenue and Fell Street in Normal, Assistant Police Chief Eric Klingele said. He was taken to Advocate Bromenn Medical Center in serious condition. An arrest was made in connection to the incident, the release said. Acting on tips from the public, officers found a car suspected of being involved in the crash. As a result, Joshua M. Dunn, 21, of Normal, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving injuries and driving under the influence of alcohol. He is being held on a $750,000 bond at McLean County Jail. According to a message from ISU President Larry Dietz, Allison’s major is communications and he had a position at WZND, ISU’s student radio station.
See LIFE SUPPORT, page A4
Documents: Quinn had marijuana recommendations, didn’t act By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO – Ex-Gov. Pat Quinn’s aides prepared lists of businesses that were to receive lucrative medical marijuana licenses in Illinois, but he did not act to issue them before leaving office, prolonging the wait for patients seeking relief, newly released documents show. On the eve of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s inauguration this month, just hours be-
fore Quinn would leave office, the Chicago Democrat’s administration still was making changes to the lists as it drafted news releases that never were sent, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request. One version announced licenses would be awarded to 18 top-scoring marijuana cultivation businesses. Another version pared the list to 12 license-winners. The documents
provide no explanation for the shortened list or why Quinn, who had promised to issue the licenses by the end of 2014, instead left the matter for Rauner to Pat Quinn decide. Two weeks earlier, Bob Morgan, the state’s medical marijuana program coordinator, was pushing the
administration to award the licenses, writing in an email to a Quinn spokesman: “I know we can’t do it at this point, but would be great if we can say – we will have it done by next week. Just sayin’ ...” When Quinn left office, his administration publicly said the agencies in charge of evaluating applications still had more work to do. But the emails and other documents show the agencies were ready to award many of the licenses, having
evaluated and identified as top scorers 18 businesses to grow medical marijuana and 56 retailers to sell it. The new information could trigger lawsuits, said patient advocates and the lawmaker who sponsored the legislation that created Illinois’ medical marijuana pilot program. “The scoring system should have played out and those with the highest number of points in each area should have won,” said Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie
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Democrat, questioning why the Rauner administration released the documents before granting the business licenses. “This creates fodder for litigation. And there will be litigation.” Some dispensary applicants with known political ties or other complications had high scores but were disqualified or put on hold at some point in the process. For example, one
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See QUINN, page A4