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Zinke resigns from sheriff’s office Ex-McHenry County undersheriff takes job with different police agency About Andrew Zinke n YEARS WITH
SHERIFF’S OFFICE: 25 n WORK EXPERIENCE: McHenry County undersheriff since 2010; McHenry County Sheriff’s Office employee in various capacities n EDUCATION: Associate degree in criminal justice; bachelor’s and master’s degrees in leadership and management n FAMILY: Wife Kimberly; three sons
By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Andrew Zinke resigned Wednesday from his position as McHenry County undersheriff ahead of a new sheriff being sworn in. Zinke, of Woodstock, had been McHenry County’s undersheriff since 2010. He was longtime Sheriff Keith Nygren’s hand-picked successor for the job, but lost in a bitter primary election to Sheriff-elect Bill Prim. Prim was elected sheriff in November over independent candidate Jim Harrison. Prim – along with other elected county officials – will be
Sunday, although he declined to say publicly which department. He still will reside in the area. “I was offered an excellent opportunity at another law enforcement agency, and I took it. … I’ve been looking for the next challenge in my career. I love law enforcement and this opportunity that presented itself was so good I had to take it. The timAndrew Zinke ing was perfect.” Former McHenry County undersheriff Last week, Prim, a Republican, announced his three-person management team – one that does not include an undersheriff. He tapped sworn in Monday morning. Zinke’s resignation is effective Sandra Salgado, chair of the McHenry County Republican Party, to serve Monday. Zinke accepted a job offer with a as business manager. Ricardo Pagán different police agency, he confirmed and David Devane will head police
“I wish Bill Prim and the executive staff good luck. No matter who the sheriff is, our department is strong, and they can function no matter what.”
operations and jail and office administration, respectively. “I wish Bill Prim and the executive staff good luck,” Zinke said. “No matter who the sheriff is, our department is strong, and they can function no matter what.” After Prim’s announcement last week, it was unclear what would become of Zinke. As a merited lieutenant he couldn’t be fired without cause, but was facing a significant pay cut. As undersheriff, Zinke earned $143,108 year. Zinke had been with the department since 1989, and before being named undersheriff, was lieutenant in charge of investigations.
PAINKILLER ABUSE IN McHENRY COUNTY
‘IT ALL STARTS WITH PILLS’ Experts: Prescription medicine a pathway to heroin Story by CHELSEA McDOUGALL • cmcdougall@shawmedia.com Illustration by R. SCOTT HELMCHEN • shelmchen@shawmedia.com Local law enforcement, drug counselors or doctors say there’s a common denominator coming out of the scourge of heroin that’s taken root in McHenry County. “It all starts with pills,” McHenry County Sheriff Sgt. Mike Muraski said. “I want to say that nine out of 10 [suspects we question] say they started on pills and moved to heroin. “It’s not just a heroin epidemic anymore, it’s more of an opiate epidemic,” said Muraski, who heads the sheriff’s
office narcotics unit. Prescription drugs such as Oxycontin are used to treat patients with moderate to severe pain. The narcotic pain medication, when abused, can produce a similar high as that given by heroin. These medications can be highly habit forming, doctors said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more people died from prescription overdoses than car crashes in 2012. Deaths linked to abuse of the medications have quadrupled since 1990 to nearly 17,000 annually, the CDC said.
With that in mind, the sheriff’s office put a renewed emphasis on getting illegal pills off the street. The sheriff’s office last year collected 929 illegal pills, up from 315 collected in 2012. Pills included those to treat pain, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotics. Far too often, experts said, people don’t seek help for this kind of addiction. “I don’t see very many people coming to me with their primary complaint being an addiction to pain medication,” said Dr. Dennis Brightwell, medical director at Rosecrance McHenry County. “Even though it’s a big problem, people don’t tend to seek treatment when they still have a supply of pain medication.” Oftentimes, an addict’s supply starts in a legitimate way – with a prescription from a doctor. Doctors prescribe opioids for a range of ailments, from post-surgical pain to arthritis and migraines. The federal Controlled Substances Act stipulates only doctors and nurse practitioners can dispense prescription drugs and only in states where they are licensed. The act also lays out stringent requirements for acquiring, record-keeping, labeling, storing and transporting drugs. Medical experts disagree over the appropriate role of opioids in
See PAINKILLERS, page A5
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Mental Health Board doles out $8.6M to 23 local agencies Highlights more stringent funding process By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com Twenty-three local service agencies will receive $8.6 million in funding next year from the McHenry County Mental Health Board. The amount, slightly more than the $8.4 million projected available in the board’s draft 2015 budget, about matches what it distributed this year and in 2013, despite falling tax revenues. The Mental Health Board’s main job is to disburse funds from a special property tax levy to agencies that provide mental health, developmental disability,
substance abuse, behavioral health, prevention and traumatic brain injury programs. Agencies found this year that the process to decide next year’s funding became more stringent – they had to come before the board itself in a public hearing to justify their funding request. “In the past, it was normally done by the [Mental Health Board] staff and presented to the board, and this year, the board decided it wanted to take a more active role,” Interim Executive Director Lyn Orphal said. The nine-member board over the
past two years has gone through almost a complete turnover after longtime criticism of the old board’s budgeting and spending priorities reached a boiling point. The new board has pleased critics by slashing administrative costs and rededicating itself to funding local agencies. One agency that Lyn Orphal almost lost its funding under the newer scrutiny was Garden Quarter Neighborhood Resource Center. The McHenry-based after-school program was created in 2004 from a police initiative to combat the
large number of police calls coming from the center’s namesake apartment complex. Its initial request of $51,778 was denied, but was later approved after Garden Quarter pared it down to $32,305 for programs specifically targeting mental health and substance abuse issues. Agencies that received funding for 2015 include Centegra Health System, McHenry County Consumer Credit Services, the county’s 22nd Judicial Circuit, the Epilepsy Foundation, Family Alliance, Families ETC, Family Health Partnership Clinic, the McHenry County Department of Health, Home of the Sparrow, Horizons Behavioral Health, Mather’s Clinic, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Northern Illinois
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Special Recreation Association, Options and Advocacy, Pioneer Center for Human Services, ProActive Behavioral Health, Rosecrance, the Special Education District of McHenry County, Thresholds, Turning Point and the Northwest Center Against Sexual Assault. Scott Block, who ran the specialty court programs for the 22nd District, takes over Monday as the board’s full-time executive director. The Mental Health Board has not had a permanent leader since November 2012. The board’s tax rate of 15 cents per $100 in assessed valuation costs about $91 a year in property taxes for the owner of a $200,000 home who takes the homestead exemption.
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