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Mayoral hopeful eyes write-in run Challenger for Crystal Lake post moves forward after being removed from ballot By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Despite getting kicked off the ballot earlier this month, Sascha Chadwick is running for mayor in Crystal Lake. The certified public accountant and property manager picked up the paperwork to run as a write-in candidate last week and is getting togeth-
er a committee that will lay out plans for Chadwick’s candidacy. And after incumbent Mayor Aaron Shepley’s successful objection to Chadwick’s nominating papers, he’s already been hearing from residents. “A lot of people were very upset,” Chadwick said. “They felt as though it was unfair and all the more reason to vote for a new mayor.”
Shepley, who has been Crystal Lake’s mayor since 1999, filed the objection to Chadwick’s papers, arguing they were not consecutively numbered and neatly bound as required by election law. “Based on 16 years of service, I know that the mayor is expected to learn and know
the rules better than anyone else on the council because he or she presides over the meeting,” Shepley said. “If my opponent cannot follow the simple rules [in this case], how is he supposed to do the hard work associated with being mayor? If he failed to follow simple instructions in applying for a job, no employer would even give him an interview.” Chadwick had five days
after the Municipal Officers Electoral Board’s unanimous decision to file for a judicial review, but he said he chose not to take that path – even though he felt there were grounds for a challenge – because he didn’t want to get caught up in the legal process. Instead, he’s pursuing a write-in candidacy, which requires him to file a declaration of intent by Feb. 5.
Chadwick said he was “really motivated by [his] personal experience in Crystal Lake” to run for office. He grew up in unincorporated Crystal Lake and graduated from Crystal Lake Central High School. He now lives in the city limits with his wife and four small children and runs his own business.
See MAYORAL RACE, page A2
Divisive issues ahead for Ill.
‘THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS THAT THE PEOPLE WALK AWAY HAPPY’
State to confront pensions, prisons and more in ’15 The ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP photos
Patient Emily Pietsch spends time with Mystery, one of two miniature horses from “Mane in Heaven” that made a visit on Nov. 13 to the pediatric unit at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Mystery and Lunar are equines on a medical mission, to offer comfort and distraction for ailing patients. It is a role often taken on by dogs in health care settings – animal therapy, according to studies and anecdotal reports, may benefit health.
An unconventional mission Lake in the Hills organization provides comfort with mini horses By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com Christina Fedor’s 9-year-old daughter Emma wouldn’t normally be able to play with horses. The Chicago girl is wheelchair-bound, nonmobile, nonverbal and living with cerebral palsy, her mother said, adding she would feel uncomfortable with such large animals near her daughter. But a mid-December event in Rosemont and a Lake in the Hills nonprofit organization presented an opportunity Fedor didn’t even know was available. Mane in Heaven, founded in 2012 by Jodie Diegel of Hoffman Estates, brings four miniature horses – “minis” – to different events and venues throughout the area every weekend from April to December. The minis met Emma and her mom at one such event, Operation North Pole, a public charity that organizes a day of holiday fun for Chicago-area children with life-threatening or terminal illnesses. Invited to be part of the event this year, Mane in Heaven attended with its usual
en retrievers, but are smaller than Great Danes, Diegel said. The four minis – Lunar, Mystery, Turnabout and Jennie – have been carefully trained to be therapy animals, but not for the kind of riding therapy normally associated with horses, she said. “You can’t ride them,” Diegel said. “It’s not that kind of therapy. When you tell people the minis are more ‘comfort’ horses, they understand better.” The type of therapy she described involves goal-oriented interactions. “If we go to a nursing home, it’s getting someone who doesn’t normally talk to interact, someone who doesn’t move to move, or someone Mane in Heaven volunteers Jodie Diegel of Hoffman Estates (left) and Dina Mor- who doesn’t socialize to socialize,” gan of Barrington work with Nathaniel Lopez (second from left) and Isis Lindsey Diegel said. “It’s emotional therapy, and the ultimate goal is that the peo(center) as they pet Lunar the miniature horse. ple walk away happy.” mission: providing unconventional which – she’s always been in a Mane in Heaven operates with comfort by way of its fun-sized, gen- wheelchair so she’s always had a volunteers who become certified tle-tempered animals. different perspective. It was neat to handlers through Pet Partners, a “When we saw the mini horses, have them right in her face.” national organization demonstratI think I got more excited than [my Boarded at Silver Lining Eques- ing and promoting positive hukids] did,” Fedor said. “But [Emma] trian in Lake in the Hills (formerly man-animal interactions. really seemed to enjoy them. She Rosegate Equestrian Center), the See MINI HORSES, page A7 was at the same eye level as them, minis compare in size to large gold-
Keeping schools and social services funded. Making higher education more affordable. Addressing crowded prisons. Possibly redoing pension reform. As it enters 2015, Illinois faces a list of daunting issues that always seems to grow longer. The Jan. 12 inauguration of a new governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, will bring a new approach a n d m o m e n - Voice tary festivity to your Springfield, but whether he then opinion can find com What’s mon ground with Democrats who your outlook control the Gen- for 2015? eral Assembly is Vote online yet another issue at NWHerto be worked out. ald.com. New leadership at the University of Illinois also holds out promise but faces serious tests. Below, Associated Press reporters provide a guide to what the year ahead holds:
DIVIDED GOVERNMENT For the first time in more than a decade, Illinois will try divided government after voters opted for a Republican governor while returning Democrats to the Legislature with at least nominally veto-proof supermajorities in each chamber. A test of wills may be in store, as first-time officeholder Bruce Rauner faces off with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, who have served a combined seven decades in the Statehouse. The biggest issue confronts them immediately – how to deal with a $35.7 billion budget that didn’t provide enough money to cover state expenses. If new revenue isn’t found to replace an expiring temporary income tax hike, the state will face a roughly $2 billion gap over the next six months and a $5 billion budget
See STATE, page A7
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Father of teen who went missing in 2002 dies in Johnsburg home / A3
McHenry County athletes, coaches look back on memorable 2014 / C1
Debris also recovered from AirAsia crash; 162 were aboard / B4
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