‘THE HOBBIT’ SEQUEL BREATHES FIRE INTO TRILOGY
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013 • NWHERALD.COM • 75 CENTS
Girls swimmer of the year: McHenry’s Matthys made 1st trip to state meet ‘NO SUCH THING AS 100 PERCENT SAFE ICE’
Sports, C1
TCF Bank set to close 37 branches 5 county locations to be shuttered By LAWERENCE SYNETT lsynett@shawmedia.com
ON THIN Experts offer guidelines for winter safety
ICE
By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
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cHenry County residents may be tempted this week to ice fish, skate, drive a snowmobile along the Fox River or play some pond hockey as temperatures dip to frigid levels. But area firefighters warn the cold weather doesn’t mean ice over a lake, pond or river is safe for walking or other winter activities. “There is no such thing as 100 percent safe ice,” said Chris Bedore, dive rescue coordinator for Crystal Lake Fire Rescue. “Determining the strength of ice is extremely difficult, especially for an untrained individual.” Those inexperienced individuals can face grave consequences. A fall through the ice is always life threatening, said Bedore, who has 14 years of dive expertise at the Crystal Lake department. The extremely cold water and shock can instantly cause hypothermia, where the body loses heat faster than it can replace it. If body heat can’t be maintained, death is almost certain, Bedore said. A Johnsburg man drowned early last year after falling through ice in a pond near his home. In February 2012, residents in Grayslake made the evening news after saving four kids who fell through a frozen neighborhood pond. In almost any instance, people can follow general guidelines to determine the strength of ice and to recover from a fall through it. Temperatures need to be lower than 20 degrees for at least a week to
Northwest Herald file photos
Ice divers use side sonar to search Pistakee Bay for the body of an angler who fell through the ice last year.
Keep yourself safe Ice thickness safety guidelines for new, clear, solid ice: n 2 inches or less: stay off n 4 inches: ice fishing or other activities on foot n 5 inches: snowmobiles or ATVs n 8-12 inches: car or small pickup n 12-15 inches: medium truck Would-be rescuers should: n Immediately call 911 and use others to make a rescue n Reach the victim by extending items like tree branches or ladders n Throw items like a rope or hose for longer distances n Go to the victim, if all other options have failed
Source: Crystal Lake Fire Rescue make ice strong enough to be considered safe, Bedore said. The safety of the ice also depends on age.
LOCALLY SPEAKING
For children, two-inch-thick ice might be safe enough, but ice needs to be at least four inches thick to support adults. Children should be discouraged from venturing onto thin ice since adults may not be able to rescue them, Bedore said. Temperatures, snow cover, currents, springs and fish all affect the safety of ice, which can be a few feet thick in one area and inches thick a few yards away, Bedore said. Appearances also matter. Thin, white, cloudy or snow-covered ice is not safe, while ice that is clear or bluish is generally safe, Bedore said. “The most important tip is, ‘If you don’t know, don’t go,’ ” Grayslake Fire Lt. Rodney Buckley said. Buckley is a team leader on the dive rescue team for the Lake/ McHenry County Fire Departments Specialized Response Team. A team of divers from 45 area fire departments make up the rescue team, dispatched to assist individual departments in emergency situations. Buckley also speaks to high school students around the Grayslake area about ice safety. A common misconception he encounters from people is that clothes make it harder to swim.
See ICE SAFETY, page A6
McHENRY
D-15 APPROVES TAX LEVY INCREASE Property owners can expect to pay an extra $30 on average to District 15 in property taxes next year, its chief financial officer said. The District 15 school board voted 5-2 for an 8.74 percent increase to its levy Tuesday, although it only expects to see about 1.7 percent of that increase. The district expects to collect only the $768,000 it is allowed under inflation, bringing the levy to $46 million. For more, see page B1.
Jeramy (left) and Joseph Morgan
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
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19 15 Complete forecast on A8
McHENRY COUNTY: Big Brothers Big Sisters seeks mentors for area youth on waiting list. Local&Region, B1
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Five TCF National Bank locations inside Jewel-Osco grocery stores throughout McHenry County will close by the end of March. The closings are part of 37 bank branches in the Chicago area that will shut their doors as part of a realignment of retail banking resources meant to support the company’s strategic growth initiatives, according to a news release. Four branches in Lake County also will close, as well as a location in Barrington. “We determined our customer base at these branches could be served by other nearby TCF locations, enabling us to redirect resources to fund our growth initiatives,” said Thomas Jasper, TCF vice chairman of funding, operations and finance, in the release. “We are work-
County closings TCF bank branches in the Jewel-Osco stores in Spring Grove, McHenry, Cary, Woodstock and Algonquin are scheduled to close by the end of March.
ing aggressively to minimize the impact of these changes on our customers and we expect to retain many of the employees impacted by the consolidations.” Branches closing include those located inside grocery stores in Antioch, Zion, Spring Grove, Grayslake, Barrington, Wauconda, McHenry, Cary, Woodstock and Algonquin, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. Several of the locations to close are in northwest Indiana. TCF still will have 118 in-store Jewel branches
See TCF BANK, page A6
Feds: 7K in state pick health plans Total is well under goal for Illinois By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO – More than 7,000 Illinois residents signed up for private insurance coverage in the first two months of the troubled HealthCare.gov website, less than 30 percent of the federal government’s projection for the state’s enrollment at this point of the rollout. Enrollment figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed the pace picking up in the state and nationally; 364,682 Americans signed up for private coverage under President Barack Obama’s new federal health law, including 7,043 in Illinois. In October, when the website was barely working, only 1,370 Illinois residents managed to select a health plan and sign up. The new figures mean an additional 5,673 people made it through the process in November as
By the numbers 7,043: Number of Illinois residents who successfully signed up for health insurance under Obamacare in October and November. Most of those people (5,673) signed up in November. 24,310: Illinois’ goal for health insurance sign-ups in October and November. 67,210: Illinois’ goal for health insurance sign-ups by the end of December. The state would need to have 60,167 people successfully sign up this month to meet that target. the government scrambled to make website repairs. Catching up on enrollment will be challenging. The target for Illinois was to have 24,310 people signed up by the end of November, according to an internal federal memo first obtained by The Associated Press.
See OBAMACARE, page A6