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November 16, 2014 • $1.50
Trojans advance to Class 7A semifinal with dominant win over No. 4 Geneva / C2 NWHerald.com
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Man’s role in Carrick killing still debated Convict’s family asks why he was cleared as suspect By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
She is one of three Republican county officeholders, along with Treasurer Bill LeFew and Sheriff Keith Nygren, who decided not to seek re-election. The three have a combined 58 years of elected service. Like Schultz, LeFew’s tenure started with a phone call. LeFew, born and raised in Harvard, was serving what he said would be his final term as the city’s mayor after previously serving as an alderman and as a member and president of the District 50 school board. But he got a phone call in late 1996 from county treasurer William Ward, who told him he was stepping down for health reasons and wanted LeFew to apply to succeed him.
His family and the attorney looking to overturn Mario Casciaro’s murder conviction have been pointing the finger at another man, as they raise questions about Robert Render’s involvement in the 2002 disappearance of Brian Carrick. The Casciaro family and their attorney Kathleen Zellner are asking how Render was cleared as a suspect in the Johnsburg teen’s death in light of what they believe is overwhelming evidence against him. But Render isn’t around to answer those questions. He died in 2012 from an apparent drug overdose. He was 26. Even after his death, Render has an ally in the attorney who once defended him against charges that arose out of the Carrick investigation. George Kililis said he is outraged that his former client’s name is, as he sees it, being dragged through the mud. “They need to leave this dead kid alone,” Kililis said. “I feel for [the Casciaros], and in some ways I share their anger, but I will not let them, not let Zellner, assassinate this kid in his grave.” Kililis, then a special public defender for the county, was appointed to represent Render in 2010 against allegations that he concealed the 17-year-old Carrick’s homicide.
See STEPPING DOWN, page A8
See SUSPECT, page A5
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
McHenry County Clerk Katherine Schultz talks about different polling stations Nov. 3 before the election at the administration building in Woodstock. Schultz chose not to seek re-election after 55 years with the office, 24 of them as county clerk.
Leaders wrap up tenure McHenry County clerk, treasurer reflect on years of service By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – A phone call from a friend in October 1959 changed the life of recent Woodstock High School graduate Kathie Cross. Cross’ friend worked at the county clerk’s office on Woodstock Square, and told her that there was a position open. Cross was looking for a job, and had applied at the phone company, but she wanted to keep her options open. The interview with County Clerk Vern Kays was very informal – they talked in the hallway – but she made an impression, because Kays offered her the job on the spot. Cross, who would marry her high school sweetheart
“I remember going home and saying I got this job … and my great-uncle said, ‘Keep your nose clean, and you’ll have a job for life.’ ” Kathie Schultz McHenry County clerk on getting her first job in the county clerk office
the following year and change her name to Kathie Schultz, went home to the farm to share the good news, and the words of her great-uncle turned out to be prophetic. “I remember going home and saying I got this job … and my great-uncle said, ‘Keep your nose clean, and you’ll have a job for life,’ ” Schultz said. Schultz started out in the voter registration department,
worked her way up to chief tax extender in 1973, and chief deputy clerk by 1978. In 1990, voters elected Schultz to her first of six terms as county clerk after her predecessor, Rosemary Azzaro, decided to retire. Schultz’s 55 years with the clerk’s office – her interview with Kays took place on the day that a troubled young man named Lee Harvey Oswald tried to defect to the Soviet Union – ends Dec. 1.
At a glance
Robert Render n Questions raised about involvement in Brian Carrick’s disappearance in 2002
Mario Casciaro n His family and attorney are looking to overturn his conviction in Carrick’s death
Shane Lamb n Recanted testimony that implicated Casciaro
U.S. general to assess anti-IS campaign Recommends expanding number of American troops to fight extremist group By HAMZA HENDAWI and LOLITA BALDOR The Associated Press
AP photo
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks to approximately 150 U.S. military members during a town hall meeting Saturday in Baghdad. Dempsey later flew to Irbil, capital of Iraq’s largely autonomous northern Kurdish region.
PLANIT STYLE
BAGHDAD – America’s top military leader arrived in Iraq on Saturday on a previously unannounced visit, his first since a U.S.-led coalition began launching airstrikes against the extremist Islamic State group. The visit by Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman
of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, came just two days after he told Congress that the United States would consider dispatching a modest number of American forces to fight with Iraqi troops against the extremist group. The Iraqi military and security forces, trained by the U.S. at the cost of billions of dollars, melted away in the face of the group’s stunning offensive this summer, when
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Ohio-based company considers low-income tax credits for new development in Cary / A3 BUSINESS
Coping with cancer diagnosis Tom Stock and his family keep a hopeful outlook after he was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in 2012 / Planit, 6
it captured most of northern and western Iraq, including the country’s second-largest city, Mosul. Dempsey said Thursday that Iraqi forces were doing a better job now, although an effort to move into Mosul or to restore the border with Syria would require more complex operations. He also told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that America has a modest
force in Iraq now, and that “any expansion of that, I think, would be equally modest.” “I just don’t foresee a circumstance when it would be in our interest to take this fight on ourselves with a large military contingent,” he said. Dempsey’s spokesman, Air Force Col. Ed Thomas,
See MILITANTS, page A5
Beloved restaurant is back Support from the community has helped New China recover after a fire in 2013 / D1
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