THURSDAY
December 10, 201 5 • $1 .0 0
CHICAGO FOOTBALL WEEKLY 55 37
NORTHWEST
HERALD
HIGH
Complete forecast on page A10
INSIDE TODAY NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
AREA MUNICIPALITIES TAKING EXTRA STEPS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
LOW
Facebook.com/NWHerald
@NWHerald
Warming center set for Jan. opening Daytime center in Woodstock to offer homeless resources By HANNAH PROKOP hprokop@shawmedia.com
Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Social services coordinator Sue Blechschmidt prepares a room for a peer jury trial Tuesday at the Lake in the Hills Police Department in Lake in the Hills.
Area police agencies look to provide social services By CAITLIN SWIECA cswieca@shawmedia.com CARY – As Cary Police Chief Patrick Finlon recently looked over statistics from his department’s service calls, there was one category that stood out among the litany of automobile crashes and burglar alarms: calls related to domestic violence and mental health issues. Aside from crashes, those calls were most likely to result in injury, Finlon said. Many of those calls repeated, draining the department’s limited resources. Unlike traffic issues, those are calls the department can do something about after the fact.
So in October, Finlon brought his problem to the Cary Village Board and proposed a contract with domestic violence awareness agency Turning Point of McHenry County that would bring an advocate to the village once a week. “[The police response is] kind of make sure everyone is safe and you have to intervene if there are safety issues.” Finlon said. “If there’s no violation, as a police officer, you’re kind of at the end of your options. That’s where, hopefully, this fills.” Rather than police simply telling those who needed help about available services and crossing their fingers they use them, having an expert on hand would allow
the department to be proactive in following up on problems, Finlon said. With the contract, which was approved a month later, Finlon is hoping to provide a service most McHenry County police departments don’t offer. According to the Association of Police Social Workers, Lake in the Hills has the only police department in the county with a full-time social worker on staff. That social worker, Sue Blechschmidt, said she was hired by the department in 1988 with the goal of addressing the frequent juvenile cases the town was dealing with. The position, which grew from 10 hours a week to part time and
then full time, increasingly shifted to handling domestic violence and mental health issues as the town grew. Blechschmidt’s duties are varied, but she said the general task is to bridge the gap between police response and social services. “Sometimes it’s just the ability for [residents] to come somewhere locally, to be able to speak with somebody and almost spoon-feed them how to access the system,” Blechschmidt said. “It’s very difficult for them to take that first step.” The Huntley Police Department took an approach similar to
See SOCIAL SERVICES, page A4
WOODSTOCK – Efforts to open a daytime warming and intake center on Wednesdays for the homeless in Woodstock’s old firehouse are underway. Sue Rose, community services director with McHenry County Housing Authority, said they hope to open the center by Jan. 13 at South Throop and West South streets. Currently, many homeless people hang out on the Square and do not use the Pioneer Center for Human Service’s center, 14411 Kishwaukee Valley Road, because it’s difficult to get to and it uses breathalyzers, Rose said. Opening a daytime center near the Square will give the homeless a place to shower, eat, use the bathroom and connect with service providers, who will be invited to come to the center, Rose said. “It is a start, and it will offer services that have not been offered in the past,” Rose said. Willow Creek Church in Crystal Lake offers Monday daytime hours from October through April, and Redeemer Lutheran Church in Woodstock has Thursday daytime hours from November through April. Area churches and McHenry County PADS, which merged with Pioneer Center, host the homeless overnight October through April. While the overnight church services are helpful, they are “not conducive to end the cycle of homelessness,” Rose said. Rose said she has been working with area church leaders, the city of Woodstock and the Special Education District of McHenry County to open the center. Currently, the old firehouse is used about three days a week by SEDOM for its transition program, SEDOM Executive Director Kathy Wilhoit said. She said they are adjusting their schedule to make sure
See CENTER, page A4
Chicago mayor apologizes for teen’s death, vows reforms By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press CHICAGO – Mayor Rahm Emanuel, known for keeping vise-like control over Chicago and his own political image, finds himself in the weakest position of his long public career as he struggles to respond to a police scandal, claims of cover-ups at City Hall and calls for his resignation. But the former White House chief of staff has said repeatedly that he will not step down. The nation’s third-largest city has no process for a mayor to be recalled, although a state lawmaker from Chicago introduced a proposal Wednesday to allow for it. And most of the cries for Emanuel to resign have come from grassroots activists and residents, not from the city’s political powerbrokers. The next election – should he seek another term – isn’t until 2019. On Wednesday, the mayor used a
special meeting of the Chicago City Council to try to calm the firestorm, apologizing for the fatal shooting of a black teen by a white officer and promising “complete and total” reform. “I take responsibility for what happened because it happened on my watch. And if we’re going to fix it, I want you to understand it’s my responsibility with you,” Emanuel said during a sometimes-emotional speech that lasted nearly 45 minutes. “But if we’re also going to begin the healing process, the first step in that journey is my step. “And I’m sorry.” The remarks were Emanuel’s lengthiest and seemingly most heartfelt since the public got its first look last month at the squad car video that showed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald veering away from officer Jason Van Dyke before Van Dyke began shooting, hitting McDonald 16 times. Van Dyke is charged with
first-degree murder. Critics have repeatedly accused Emanuel of keeping the footage under wraps until after he won a tougher-than-expected spring election for a second term. The mayor has denied the claim and acknowledged Wednesday that he should have pressed for prosecutors to wrap up their investigation sooner so the video could be made public. But his contrition did little to ease the anger in the streets. Hours after the speech, protesters overflowed an intersection in front of City Hall, then marched through the financial district and blocked a major intersection for a short time as police directed traffic around them. Officers guarded the doors to the Chicago Board of Trade as demonstrators approached. Outside City Hall, retired schoolteacher Audrey Davis carried a sign
See CHICAGO, page A4
AP photo
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (right) receives a hug Wednesday before speaking during a special City Council meeting that he called to discuss a police abuse scandal in Chicago. Emanuel apologized during the meeting for the 2014 shooting of a black teenager and promised “complete and total” reform to restore trust in the police.
SPORTS
PLAY
LOCAL NEWS
Tourism
Planned expansion Prep wrestling
RavenStone Castle in Harvard hosting Christmas faire / Inside
McHenry School D-156 votes down Fabrik property tax abatement / A3
Near misses fuel county athletes’ desire for state titles / B1
WHERE IT’S AT Advice ................................ B6 Buzz.....................................B8 Classified................... D1-6, 8 Comics ............................... B7 Local News.................... A2-6 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...................A7 Obituaries .........................A8
Opinion...............................A9 Puzzles ............................D6-7 Sports..............................B1-5 State ................................A6-7 Stocks.................................A8 TV listings ......................... D7 Weather ........................... A10