THURSDAY
D ece m be r 4 , 2014 • $1 .0 0
WINNABLE GAME? Hub Arkush: Cowboys are the real deal, but they can be beaten / C1 NWHerald.com
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Police: Aunt armed man
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Jail layoffs possible, sheriff says Contract uncertainty adding fiscal pressure By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
She is accused of supplying rifle used in shooting By CHELSEA McDOUGALL Illustration by R. Scott Helmchen shelmchen@shawmedia.com
cmcdougall@shawmedia.com Scott B. Peters’ aunt is accused of giving him the rifle he allegedly used to shoot and injure McHenry County sheriff’s deputies who were responding to his Holiday Hills home. Katherine Kriepke, Peters’ aunt, was charged by Illinois State Police and will be prosecuted in Cook County, McHenry County Sheriff’s Lt. James Popovits confirmed. Illinois State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said Kriepke, 67, was charged with unlawful transfer of a firearm Scott B. – a Class 4 felony. She Peters could face up to three years in prison. Kriepke, who was held on $100,000 bail, posted the necessary bond and was released, Bond said. Her next court date is Dec. 23. According to court records from Peters’ 1995 arrest in Wilmette, weapons that belonged to Peters were released to Kriepke because his firearm owner’s identification card had been revoked. “We were able to identify the weapon we believed was used to shoot our deputies, and that was one of the weapons released to Kriepke from Wilmette,” Popovits said. Sheriff’s police initially described the weapon as an AR-15 rifle. Wilmette eventually dropped charges of reckless discharge of a firearm against Peters. State police later revoked his FOID card, after a Wilmette police officer at the time wrote to the agency requesting that Peters’ gun ownership privileges be suspended. The officer wrote that Peters had “the potential to do great harm.” Peters, 52, is facing a possible life sentence on allegations that he fired multiple rounds at three deputies responding to his Holiday Hills home in October for a domestic incident. Deputies Dwight Maness and Khalia Satkiewicz each sustained gunshot wounds. Maness’ injury required surgery. Both have since been released from the hospital. Peters has been described as anti-police and anti-military. After the incident, he avoided police capture for 16 hours before eventually being taken into custody about six miles away in Crystal Lake. He remains in custody of the McHenry County Jail, unable to make his $7 million bond.
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OPTICAL I N C L U S I O N McHenry County agencies exploring possibilities for new fiber-optic network By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO
“We are not doing this to make money. We are doing this to provide a good service to these governments and, hopefully, expand access to the northern and western parts of the county that are underserved.”
sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
Numerous officials behind a $2.11 million project that would create a broadband fiber-optic network in the Woodstock area acknowledge that the endeavor brings government into a utility business typically handled in McHenry County by private sector providers. But the future breadth of government-owned broadband networks is just beginning in McHenry County, even as questions linger over the necessity and financial viability of government-owned networks already created across the country. A new five-member group of area governments recently formed to manage the Woodstock fiber-optic network will soon try to answer those questions. “We created a group to make decisions in the future, but we don’t know for sure how it’s all going to play out. We all thought providing the service to governments was justification in and of itself,” said County Administrator Peter Austin. “Everything else is just a bonus, but we see a lot of po-
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Peter Austin McHenry County administrator
tential for bonuses.” The five-member group, including officials from Woodstock, District 200, McHenry County, McHenry County College and the county’s 911 board, currently is focused on providing faster Internet and data connections to public facilities throughout Woodstock. The group, which has yet to meet, would own and manage the high-speed communications network, once construction crews
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Crystal Lake family recovering after fire at stable killed dozens of horses / A3 SPORTS
WOODSTOCK – A new fiscal year, a smaller budget and an uncertain federal contract have some McHenry County corrections officers on edge about possible layoffs. Newly minted Sheriff Bill Prim warned as many as 40 jail staff could be cut, on top of the 17 vacant positions at the jail that won’t be filled. Prim officially took office Monday, the same day a new fiscal year budget began. It included $1.2 million less for the sheriff’s office. “That [budget] was handed to us. It did not Sheriff in any way arise on input Bill Prim from the sheriff-elect,” said David Devane, who is part of Prim’s new three-person management team. In a memo Prim sent to corrections employees Tuesday, he tried to ease fears that staff reductions are immediate or even in the near term. At the same time, Prim spoke frankly about the budget circumstances he’s facing. “I don’t want to give the impression that the budget is set in stone for the next year and cannot be subject to a process that might mitigate or delay some of the negative impacts,” the memo read. “To be frank, however, either revenue has to go up or spending will have to go down in order to avoid impacts on the staff roster.” The budget Prim inherited can be amended at any time. The shortfall largely was because of the uncertainty about the future of the county’s contract to house immigrants awaiting deportation proceedings and U.S. Marshals inmates. As part of a 10-year-old contract with the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the county receives a fee per inmate, and a fee for transporting them to court proceedings. For years the program was making money, and part of the contract included $6.4 million to expand the jail. However, revenue has been declining in recent years, and that could lead county officials to reject a contract renewal when it expires in October. That could mean about 40 corrections officer positions could be cut. County officials were quick to add that discussions about whether to renew the contract are ongoing with the federal government. In May, the County Board and U.S. Marshals reached an agreement to raise the rate from $85 an inmate per day to $95. But with that rate, the U.S. Marshals began pulling inmates from the McHenry County Jail, McHenry County Administrator Peter Austin said. “U.S. Marshals revenue stopped completely after the rate increase in May,” Austin said in an email to the Northwest Herald. “However, historically, the U.S. Marshals have made up a relatively small part of the overall federal jail bed rental revenue. The ICE revenue was larger each of the four months after the May rate increase than any of the preceding five months.”
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Happy ending for raptor
Gators win in boys hoops
Red-tailed hawk that was hurt in collision at Lake in the Hills Airport is released / A3
CL South stays ahead of Woodstock for 50-43 victory in FVC crossover play / C1
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