FRIDAY
Dece mbe r 19, 2014 • $1 .0 0
LAST STRAW Hub Arkush: With Cutler move, Trestman cements Bears’ spot on list of most inept football operations / C1 NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
Facebook.com/NWHerald
HIGH
LOW
33 23 Complete forecast on page A8
@NWHerald
Holiday Special Christmas delivery storms ahead? WOODSTOCK CHRISTMAS CLEARING HOUSE
Meteorologists: Watch for bad travel conditions By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
Photos by Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Volunteer Andy Layoff of Woodstock carries bags filled with gifts during a packing night for gifts inside a warehouse Wednesday in Woodstock. The annual Woodstock Christmas Clearing House this year will assist about 1,400 families with gifts and food.
Annual effort aims to present 2,500 kids with food, toys By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
W
OODSTOCK – About a week before Christmas, Cheryl Nolan of Woodstock spent Wednesday night in a drafty warehouse with her sons, who were more excited to pick out toys for strangers than to discuss prospective gifts from Santa. “They’re very excited to see how many families they can help tonight,” Nolan said. “What’s the most we’ve ever done, Bill? Like 10?” “Yeah, it was around 10,” the 11-year-old responded. The family stood, hands in pockets and hats on head, waiting in a long winding line to assemble packages of toys as part of the 44th annual Woodstock Christmas Clearing House. The local effort – it was originally a product of Girl Scout troops in 1970 before the Woodstock Rotary Club took over two years later – works to provide food and toys to needy Woodstock families, which become recipients on a referral basis. Hundreds of volunteers spent this past week sorting food and toys to package and prepare for delivery. On Wednesday, Nolan and each of her family members received a piece of paper, each representing a household and each including the number of kids in a given family, plus their ages. “When you go through the line, you say how old the person you have is, and someone gives you an age-appropriate item,” Nolan explained. A similar assembly-line process for food ensued Thursday night. Then on Saturday, volunteers will deliver more than a week’s worth of food to 1,400 Woodstock families, as well as toys for the kids of those families, Christmas Clearing House chairman Joe
Rain, snow and wind could put a damper on holiday travel plans throughout the Midwest, including in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, an AccuWeather meteorologist said. “Unfortunately, we’re looking at a pretty potent storm system coming in Dec. 23 through Dec. 25,” meteorologist Ben Noll said. “There will likely be impact on all three days.” A system moving Voice your from the northwest near opinion Minnesota is expected to result in rain on TuesWill preday in the Chicago area, dicted poor and rain mixed with weather on snow on Christmas Eve, Noll said. Temperatures Christmas are expected to be in the Eve change 30s or 40s and get grad- your travel ually colder between plans? Vote online at those two days. “I think the bigger NWHerald. story, though, will be the com. wind,” he said. He added people traveling in the Chicago area should expect wind gusts up to 20 to 30 mph Christmas Eve and gusts up to 40 mph on Christmas Day. “Anyone looking to travel in that time frame should definitely pay attention to the forecast,” Noll said, estimating that delayed flights could be a result. “It’s not going to be a ton of snowfall, but I’d say it certainly could be disruptive weather.” Those with direct or connecting flights to Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Washington,
See WEATHER, page A4
Gov. Quinn calling back lawmakers Volunteer Erika Mahamuth, 14, of Crystal Lake fills up a bag with gifts for a specific age and gender during a packing night inside a warehouse Wednesday in Woodstock. Volunteers still are needed to drop off this year’s gift deliveries on Saturday. Starzynski said. He added there are about 2,500 kids who will benefit from this year’s efforts. “I really do think there’s something about Woodstock; that it’s a place where the residents really care about each other,” he said, as a continuous flow of volunteers trickled into the warehouse behind HarleyDavidson. “This is home to me, and one of the reasons I’m really proud is – I mean, look at this. Look at how many people are here. They like coming, and they want to help each other.” Despite high numbers of volunteers this past week – Starzynski estimated he’d see close to 1,000 volunteers before the Clearing House’s end – the amount of donated food and
toys still left shortages for the increased need this year, he said. The Clearing House efforts are serving about 100 more families than last year and several hundred more than years ago. “I would say 10 years ago, we weren’t even at 1,000 families,” Starzynski said. Each year, Marine Toys for Tots donates a number of toys and the Northern Illinois Food Bank donates some of the food. After individual and school collections of food and toys, monetary donations and reserves of the Clearing House, a nonprofit organization, help to buy what’s still needed. While enough has been collected and purchased this year,
“I really do think there’s something about Woodstock; that it’s a place where the residents really care about each other. This is home to me, and one of the reasons I’m really proud is – I mean, look at this. Look at how many people are here. They like coming, and they want to help each other.” Joe Starzynski Christmas Clearing House chairman
See CLEARING HOUSE, page A4
Session to weigh special election for comptroller By SOPHIA TAREEN The Associated Press CHICAGO – Outgoing Gov. Pat Quinn has called state lawmakers back to Springfield next month to consider a 2016 special election to replace the late Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka – a move he described Thursday as a “democratic right,” but that Republicans attributed to partisan motives. The legislative special session will be Jan. 8 – days before Gov.- Gov. Pat elect Bruce Rauner be- Quinn comes Illinois’ first GOP governor in more than a decade and would have the power to name a fouryear replacement. Topinka, a Republican, had won a second term in November but died last week.
See COMPTROLLER, page A4
SPORTS
LOCAL NEWS
STATE
WHERE IT’S AT
Winning lineup
OK for depot plan
Finding jobs
Injury-depleted McHenry relies on subs to beat C-G / C1
Woodstock City Council approves proposal for cafe with video gambling / A3
State unemployment rate falls in Nov. to 6.4 percent / B3
Advice ................................ C7 Business Snapshot ......... A7 Buzz.....................................C8 Classified........................ E1-8 Comics ............................... C9 Community ........................B1 Local News.....................A2-7 Lottery................................ A2
Movies................................ C6 Nation&World...................B5 Obituaries ......................... A7 Opinion...............................B2 Puzzles ............................ E7-8 Sports..............................C1-5 State ................................... B3 Weather .............................A8