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County prepares for winter with road salt influx
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D-158 looks to support students Board to consider alternative school proposal Thursday By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Crystal Lake public works employee Chris Blum (orange shirt) describes salt spreader calibration as he leads a segment of the Winter Snow and Ice workshop for area public works employees Wednesday in the Crystal Lake public works garage.
Mild weather, prices last year allowed local governments to stock up By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
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mild winter last year and a mild winter forecast this year could save local road districts from the latest hassle when it comes to procuring enough road salt to keep their lane miles clear. In some years, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services – the state agency in charge of procuring supplies in bulk to lower the cost – drops local governments from the statewide road salt bid and they have to scramble to find their own. In other years, the state includes them, but the price per ton is far more than they want to spend. This year, the problem is local governments are not getting their share of the motor fuel tax used to pay for the road salt, courtesy of a state budget impasse now in its fifth month. But a number of these local governments said they are ready, provided Mother Nature cooperates as forecasters are predicting, courtesy of El Niño.
Blum (left) talks with village of Elburn Public Works Director John Nenenhoven (center) and foreman Bob Edwards about salt spreader calibration at the Winter Snow and Ice workshop. “[Lack of motor fuel tax] could face us going into the winter, but right now it’s having little effect because most of us are in pretty good shape,” said Robert Miller, Algonquin Township highway commissioner and president of the county’s
highway commissioner association. Illinois collects a tax on fuel and disburses a percentage of it back to local governments on a monthly basis for road maintenance. But the state cannot legally disburse the money without a budget in place –
Illinois currently owes more than $181 million in back motor fuel taxes to municipalities, counties and townships. In the townships’ case, Miller said, they took advantage of last year’s mild winter to buy more salt at last year’s prices, not knowing what could be in store when working with the state in the spring to secure more. The McHenry County Division of Transportation decided to be proactive as well, and it invited other municipalities to join. With the state bid last year ending up at $106 a ton, and given that CMS dropped a number of local governments from the bid, the county highway department let out its own bid, which was joined by Crystal Lake, Lake in the Hills, McHenry, Woodstock, Algonquin, Huntley and Cary. They secured a cost of $72.24 per ton, which should be delivered sometime this month, Crystal Lake Public Works Director Victor Ramirez said. Both the county and
ALGONQUIN – A proposal to create an off-site alternative school that would provide certain students a higher level of academic and emotional support will be further considered this week by the School District 158 Board. District 158, with an enrollment of about 9,400 students, has an extensive list of interventions for students in need of extra help or attention at Huntley High School, said Danyce Letkewicz, associate principal of student services at the school. “What we’re finding is our interventions help most of our students,” Letkewicz told board members during Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. “But they don’t help all of them.” The proposed solution: an off-site alternative school that would facilitate smaller class sizes. Last year, Huntley High School officials observed 33 out of 720 freshmen were not going to achieve enough credits to be considered sophomores their second year, Letkewicz said. Those 33 students participated in a pilot intervention program through which they received “intensive mentoring.” Since then, the number who were credit-deficient has been reduced to 20, but that’s still 20 students who are struggling, she said. Students such as these, some who have poor attendance, poor behavior and sometimes both, are “slipping through the cracks,” Letkewicz said. Looking at certain criteria, based on information from school counselors, there are about 53 students, including middle schoolers, who could be eligible for an alternative school setting, she said, later adding there could be more.
See SALT, page A4
See D-158, page A4
Illinois medical marijuana dispensaries begin regulated sales By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO – Regulated medical marijuana sales began Monday in Illinois with patients flocking to state-licensed retail shops in five cities. Of 23 states with medical marijuana programs, Illinois has one of the most restrictive, requiring patients to undergo fingerprint-based background checks, limiting qualifying health conditions, mandating testing for pesticides and banning homegrown pot. All the moving pieces and a change in governors delayed the launch. The pilot program expires in 2017. Among the first buyers Monday was Maggie Chatterton, a 25-year-old homemaker in central Illinois, who
drove with her husband and two children 20 miles to the Salveo Health & Wellness dispensary in Canton where doors opened around 9:30 a.m. Chatterton is emblematic of how Americans are rethinking marijuana. A gardener and beekeeper who sells her wares at farmers markets, she’s concerned about side effects of prescription drugs and believes cannabis is safer. She said she taught her 4-year-old son it’s a natural medicine. “I’m pretty excited about it. I didn’t think that something like this would happen in Illinois,” Chatterton said. The price – $385 an ounce – seemed fair, she said, for a drug she hopes will help her manage spinal pain. About 3,300 patients with Illinois-issued ID cards were able to purchase medical cannabis at one of
five dispensaries opening Monday. Besides Canton, retail shops in Addison, Marion, Mundelein and Quincy were the first with possibly 25 opening by the end of the year. In the southern Illinois city of Marion, about 100 people cheered when a dispensary called Harbory opened at 1 p.m. Kevin Sauls, 54, of Ridgway said he’d arrived at 5 a.m. and was first in line. He spent about $100 for a quarter-ounce of marijuana. “We are making history today,” he told The Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale. Here are more details about the Illinois program:
Revenue and budget impasse
Illinois’ budget stalemate has had
See MARIJUANA, page A4
Mark Black/Daily Herald, via AP
About a dozen people line up Monday to buy medical marijuana products at EarthMed in Addison. Regulated medical marijuana sales began Monday in Illinois with residents flocking to state-licensed retail shops in five cities around the state.
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President, chancellor leave U. of Missouri amid tensions / B3
Alleged overdose jails WL woman with drug-induced homicide charges / A3
Former Huntley coach, teacher Larry Kahl to be remembered / C2
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