BOYS HOOPS Marian Central one of the local winners at Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic / C1
December 21, 2014 • $1.50
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A warm welcome for pair
by R. Scott Helmchen - shelmchen
Two McHenry County soldiers return home
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By JEFF ENGELHARDT
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Area police departments offer tips to keep snowbird homes safe Story by KEVIN P. CRAVER
A mass migration that began when the weather first turned colder will soon kick into high gear. McHenry County’s snowbirds – people who spend the winter in places with warmer climates – will pack up in the days following Christmas, to head south until spring. But leaving one’s home unattended for several months presents a set of challenges. A home that appears unoccupied could become a more appealing target for criminals, and a burst pipe or old tree branch that gives way in a snowy winter can mean significant and costly damage. The problems are easily handled with a little work and some common sense, according to local police. Many police departments, such as Crystal Lake and Huntley, offer a patrol service for snowbirds. While Crystal Lake has a sign-up so police make daily drive-by inspections of such homes, Huntley police will make routine external inspections on foot, Chief John Perkins said. About 100 people sign up for the service a year, he said. Huntley has an appreciable number of snowbirds courtesy of the Del Webb Sun City retirement community. “You can sign up, let us know, and we try to get by daily just to check,” Perkins said. “We have a lot of people who leave right after the holidays.” The police patrols are an extra layer of protection – both Perkins and Crystal Lake Deputy Chief
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Illustration by R. SCOTT HELMCHEN shelmchen@shawmedia.com
CARY – Poland native Karolina Tohill does not mind grabbing a large gun, getting on a Black Hawk helicopter and defending America. The 22-year-old Cary resident just returned from a six-month tour of Afghanistan as a door gunner for the Army and received a hero’s welcome Saturday from Warriors’ Watch Riders, friends and family. Tohill’s stay is brief – she will head to Germany on Dec. 30 to finish the remaining months of her four-year term. “I did not expect any of it. I was so surprised and it was all amazing,” Tohill said of the welcoming she received. “I
was crying like a little baby. I couldn’t imagine a better homecoming.” Tohill does not mind heading back to Germany, though. After enlisting in the Army after graduating Cary-Grove High School in 2011, Tohill has embraced the military and even volunteered to be a gunner on a Black Hawk helicopter in Afghanistan after initially being given a potentially less dangerous designation. Tohill had to go through thorough testing to take on the responsibility and she was the only woman in her company to perform in that role. “I was scared to make a decision like that but it
See HOMECOMING, page A9
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
See SECURITY, page A9
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Ewa Chodasewicz (left) watches as her daughter Army Specialist Karolina Tohill of Cary reacts to a surprise welcome home gathering Saturday that included the Warriors’ Watch Riders at her grandmother’s home in Cary. Tohill just finished up a combat tour in Afghanistan as an Army door gunner. She will be returning to her base in Germany at the end of the year to finish out the rest of her tour.
U.S. criminal investigations nab 13, raise questions about race By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – In the past three years, U.S. Attorney James Lewis’s office has dug up enough evidence of stolen taxpayer money to justify prison time for more than a dozen people – including a Chicago couple after their 17-count conviction this week for stealing $3.4 million in state grant funds to sustain a sump-
tuous lifestyle. The case of Leon and Karin Dingle is one of the more brazen cases that Lewis’ public corruption task force has encountered since it formed several years ago. The Dingles and their bookkeeper stole what amounted to $2 of every $5 received from an $11 million Illinois Public Health Department grant intended for raising awareness of AIDS and cancer in minority and
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under-served communities. But the case invited biting, race-based criticism for Lewis. Prosecutors had considered calling former public health Leon Dingle director Dr. Eric Whitaker, a close friend of President Barack Obama, as a witness but demurred when,
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in outside testimony, Whitaker accused the U.S. attorney’s office of racial bias. Whitaker is black, and 13 of the 14 people the unit has indicted since 2011 are black. Questions about race are fair, but evidence is colorblind, Lewis told reporters Wednesday. “When cases are presented on an analysis of money and an analysis of evidence, it’s not about a person’s race, gender, national origin, or any-
Saving Santa Claus Volunteers fix beloved decoration on display at McHenry home for 52 years / Planit 5
thing else,” Lewis said. “It’s about evidence and following the money.” Lewis’s boss, Attorney General Eric Holder, who is black and a friend of Whitaker, told the Chicago Sun-Times that his central Illinois prosecutors are fair. Karin Dingle is the only white defendant among those convicted. The other 12 who are black include:
See PROBES, page A9
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