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Attempted murder trial begins Woodstock man accused of setting woman on fire after she refused to have sex with him By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Prosecutors on Wednesday asked McHenry County jurors to convict a 34-year-old Woodstock man of attempted murder for the “horrible injuries” he caused to a woman he allegedly set on fire. However, Anthony D. Cohn’s defense attorney, John
Gaffney, pointed to the state’s witnesses, saying they lied about what happened. Two of the prosecution witnesses are currently in custody of the McHenry County Jail. He also said there is not enough physical evidence to convict his client. “People lie, things don’t,” Gaffney said in his opening statement, adding the bottle of lighter fluid that Cohn is ac-
Bleacher options weighed by D-155
cused of using in the crime had no fingerprints on it, and the woman’s clothing had no burn marks. The clothes did have slight discoloration that the victim testified were Anthony burn marks. The D. Cohn items were not analyzed for accelerants.
One undisputed fact is that the woman suffered third-degree burns covering half of her back. Pictures showed dark red and pink skin, blisters and dead skin peeling around the injury. The woman said the burn came after Cohn, on May 29, 2014, doused her in lighter fluid and ignited it. She said he was angry because she refused to have sex with him.
“I heard him laughing,” she said, also that she was “in extremely painful pain.” The crime allegedly occurred in what is known as “tent city” in a wooded area behind Jewel-Osco off Route 47 in Woodstock. Cohn, the victim and two other witnesses were homeless and living together in tents in the area. Gaffney provided no alternate explanation for the wom-
an’s injuries in his opening statement. When Cohn was interviewed by Woodstock detectives, he denied the allegation, and said the woman fell on a grill at their campsite. However, Detective Sgt. Jeff Parsons said the grill was undisturbed the next day, there was no heat coming from it, and plastic objects on top were not melted.
See COHN, page A4
McHENRY COUNTY DEPARTMENTS COLLECT UNUSED PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS
By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Members of the Community High School District 155 Board on Wednesday favored a design concept for the controversial Crystal Lake South High School bleachers that would turn the east side of the stadium back into the home side. Almost two weeks after initial negotiations with the neighbors who filed the bleachers lawsuit and the city of Crystal Lake started, district Director of Operations Jeff Daurer laid out scenarios the district believed to be within the parameters discussed during that Oct. 2 meeting. At that point, the parties had until at least Oct. 29 to come up with an alternative to demolishing the bleachers. “We also met with the city planner and the city engineer to discuss zoning processes and timelines,” Daurer said. “Then we developed preliminary options that physically fit with what the neighbors and the city want.” There were three scenarios initially described, but it was a fourth and more impromptu option to which school board members gave an informal nod of approval during Wednesday’s operations committee meeting. Daurer, who called the fourth scenario a culmination of the first three, now has permission to go to architects and ask for that plan to be drawn up. Superintendent Johnnie Thomas added the concept can then be brought to the Oct. 22 court date as an illustration of progress. First, it will require a full board vote, which is expected to take place Tuesday. Under that scenario, the west side bleachers – the ones that prompted an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that school districts must adhere to local government zoning and stormwater regulations – immediately would be reduced to nine rows, or about 18 feet, 7 inches. That was one of the parameters both Daurer and Thomas said was stressed during talks with the neighbors and city officials – nine rows high on the west. The decided-upon scenario also involves taking down the
Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Woodstock police officer Dan Pauley watches as residents unload unused prescription medications for National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Sept. 26 in front of the police station in Woodstock.
Drug take-backs aim to prevent abuse of prescription medications Local agencies participate in national event
Tons of take-back
By HANNAH PROKOP Approximate pounds of prescription medications that McHenry County departments who participated in the Sept. 26 take-back day turned into the DEA between September and October, according to the DEA: Department
Pounds
• Algonquin Police Department • Cary Police Department • Crystal Lake Police Department • Harvard Police Department • Huntley Police Department • Johnsburg Police Department • Lake in the Hills Police Department • Lakewood Police Department • Marengo Police Department • McHenry Police Department • McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, Wonder Lake Fire Protection District • Woodstock Police Department
122 102 261 54 109 660 171 35 117 105 575 420
hprokop@shawmedia.com The ease of access for people to get a prescription could be a reason why Rosecrance McHenry County is seeing more young adults, and some older adults, struggle with prescription medication use, Chris Gleason said. Once addicted to prescription medications it’s easier for people to switch over to heroin because it gives the same high for a lower cost, said Gleason, director of Rosecrance McHenry County, a mental health and substance abuse treatment facility. “More people are coming in addicted to opiates and heroin than ever before,” Gleason said. To lessen the abuse of prescription drugs, locations in towns includ-
ing McHenry, Woodstock and Crystal Lake have participated in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug TakeBack Day, and hold permanent collection containers. “It’s always a good idea to clean out the medicine cabinets,” Gleason said. “ ... You never know who’s going to go in your medicine cabinet, and it’s just that easy.” Last fall, the Drug Enforcement Agency said it wouldn’t be able to have a take-back day anymore, Laura Crain said. Crain, drug-free program coordinator with the McHenry County Substance Abuse Coalition, said it can be very pricey to run the take-backs and there are many regulations involved
See DRUGS, page A7
See BLEACHERS, page A2
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