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Febr ua r y 10, 2015 • $1 .0 0
R-B COMES UP SHORT Burlington pulls away in second half to clinch BNC East / C1 NWHerald.com
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Hiring of spouse causes unease Board committee tables request to reclassify two positions - one held by clerk’s husband Committee. Committee members voted Thursday, 6-1, to table the proWOODSTOCK – A request by posal to reclassify the positions McHenry County Clerk Mary from hourly to salaried, which McClellan to reclassify two elec- McClellan said would help save tion-related positions – one of taxpayers at least $11,500 a year which is now held by her husband by cutting overtime incurred – was not well-received by the during elections. But the fact that County Board Human Resources McClellan hired her spouse for a
By KEVIN P. CRAVER
kcraver@shawmedia.com
position outweighed thoughts of cost savings, committee members said after the meeting. “I just couldn’t wrap my head around it,” Committee Chairman John Jung, R-Woodstock, said. “To be honest, the big gorilla in the room was her husband.” Under McClellan’s proposal, the existing positions of election
administrative supervisor – now held by husband Edward Gil – and election administrative analyst would become salaried positions of chief deputy and chief of operations. However, McClellan stressed Monday afternoon that her husband would not be receiving that management position, and would continue in his cur-
rent position of maintaining optical-scan and touch-screen voting machines. McClellan, a Republican from Holiday Hills, said she did not run for the office so she could give her husband a job, but said he had a unique skill set that she did not
See HIRING, page A4
Mary McClellan County clerk
Rauner order aimed at unions
FEBRUARY IS AMERICAN HEART MONTH
Gov. eliminates ‘fair share’ dues for state workers By KERRY LESTER The Associated Press
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Ashley Cota of Hampshire pauses while speaking about her experience in which she went into cardiac arrest in November while working at Starbucks in Huntley. Cota, 28, had not had any previous conditions and thought of herself as generally healthy. Cota left the hospital 10 days after the incident with one small defibrillator installed on the left side of her chest.
Woman shares heart-stopping story Hampshire resident’s experience highlights need for heart health awareness By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com HAMPSHIRE – In the morning hours of Nov. 17, then-27-year-old Ashley Cota’s heart stopped beating. It was shortly after the Hampshire resident, now 28, reported to work at the Huntley Starbucks. Cota had been feeling poorly the previous couple of days. One moment, she was complaining to a co-worker about feeling ill – the next, she had collapsed in that co-worker’s arms, heart stopped. It only restarted after a jolt of electricity was administered by Huntley paramedics minutes later. These recollections are not her own, Cota said, but rather pieces put together from the grim pictures painted by co-workers and family members. “I don’t even remember getting
up and going to work that day,” Cota said at the start of February, the month designated to heart health awareness throughout the country. Days after she collapsed, lying in a hospital bed at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, she received the shocking news that she had gone into cardiac arrest – an odd thing to hear, Cota said, considering her propensity for activity and healthy eating. “When everyone told me what had happened, my first words were, ‘What the hell?’ ” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it.” Considering her age and lack of cardiac-related issues in the past, Cota’s case of arrhythmia – a condition in which there is an irregular heartbeat – is quite uncommon, Advocate Health Care cardiologist Syed Hasan said. “Her situation is kind of an outlier, but there is still something
to take away,” Hasan said. “That is to not sit on symptoms or dismiss them, whether it’s in yourself or your family or a friend. In her situation, time was of the essence.” Heart disease is rare for someone like Cota, but it is prevalent among McHenry County residents, in general. According to the 2014 McHenry County Healthy Community Study, heart disease was one of the most lethal causes of death between 2008 and 2010, second only to cancer. Nationally, heart disease strikes someone every 43 seconds, making it the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, according to statistics from the American Heart Association. While the death rate from heart disease has fallen locally and otherwise over the past 10 years, hearthealth care remains a top priority
at Centegra Health System, said Rachel Sebastian, site administrator at the McHenry hospital. At the end of January, Centegra received approval to increase its services in McHenry County by way of an additional cardiac catheterization lab at the incoming Centegra Hospital – Huntley, slated to open July 2016. That means catheterization, used to diagnose and treat heart conditions, will be available at both the McHenry and Huntley locations, in addition to the screening, surgical and post-op services already available through Centegra, Sebastian said. Hasan said the full gamut of services also is available through Advocate Health Care, and anyone, whether they have a known
See HEART, page A4
“Her situation is kind of an outlier, but there is still something to take away. That is to not sit on symptoms or dismiss them, whether it’s in yourself or your family or a friend. In her situation, time was of the essence.” Syed Hasan, Advocate Health Care cardiologist, speaking on Ashley Cota’s case of arrhythmia
SPRINGFIELD – Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner struck a first official blow Monday against the public sector labor unions he frequently has criticized by ordering an end to a requirement that workers pay dues even if they decide not to join a union. His executive order sets up a fight with the state’s powerful labor unions, a key ally of members of the Democratic-led Bruce Legislature, just Rauner as Illinois has begun divided Voice your government opinion for the first time in more Do you than a decade. Unions imme- support Gov. diately lashed Bruce Raunb a c k , w h i l e er’s executive top Democrats order to block questioned the union fees for legality of Raun- state workers er’s action and who don’t said their legal wish to be teams would re- in unions? view it. Vote online at R a u n e r , a NWHerald. wealthy busi- com. nessman and self-described admirer of governors in Wisconsin and Indiana who’ve championed anti-union policies, said 6,500 state employees are paying so-called “fair share” dues, or an average of $577 a year per worker. Rauner frequently criticized organized labor during his campaign for governor, saying it hinders economic growth by stifling competition and has far too much political influence in President Barack Obama’s Democratic-leaning home state. “These forced union dues are a critical cog in the corrupt bargaining that is crushing taxpayers,” Rauner said, adding that forcing nonunion employees to pay union dues
See RAUNER, page A4
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Woodstock police seek information in three robberies / A3
Prairie Ridge soccer player Nick Hoklas signs with UW-Platteville / C1
U.S Rep. Aaron Schock faces ethics questions on home sale / B3
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