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Officials want to roll back jury pay
McHENRY COUNTY DIGS OUT AFTER SNOWSTORM DROPS MORE THAN 12 INCHES
Bill would allow counties to opt out of new fee schedule By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com Proposed legislation could free Illinois county boards from the burden of a new law upping most jury pay to $50 a day, but only by putting the decision in their hands. Senate Bill 59 allows county boards to significantly lower the new mandate of $25 for the first day and $50 each additional day if they determine they cannot pay it. The bill does not set any criteria that a county government has to meet in order to cite financial hardship. It was filed last week by Peter Austin Sen. John Mulroe, McHenry D-Chicago, the law- County adminmaker who filed the istrator original bill setting the higher rates. On the Web McHenry County officials and staff You can read complained the new Senate Bill 59 law, signed by forat www.ilga. mer Gov. Pat Quinn gov. in his last weeks of office, would become yet another expensive and unfunded mandate handed down by state government. County Administrator Peter Austin said the new pay scale will cost county government an extra $225,000 a year when it takes effect June 1. McHenry County jurors presently get $5 a day or $12.50 if they are seated and hearing testimony, and all jurors get mileage. Austin said the law’s compromise that lowers all civil juries from 12 jurors to six, not just for damage claims of less than $50,000, does not offset the increased cost. “[The bill] had a principal motive to make civil juries six members. The component of increased juror pay was, I think, a sort of carrot for some members of the General Assembly to get them on board. But it misrepresented that [lowering] the number of jurors would offset the increase in juror fees and compensation. That certainly isn’t the case,” Austin said Monday morning. Mulroe’s bill, if passed in its present form, would allow counties to opt out of the new fee schedule, but sets
H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Pedestrians cross north Jefferson Street at East Church Street on Monday morning as crews work to clear piles of snow in Woodstock.
Towns work around the clock to clear snow By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com Before the crowd of 150 people could venture out to the annual prognostication by Woodstock Willie on Monday, crews had to clear out the snow from the Square. With more than 12 inches of snow falling on parts of McHenry County from late Saturday through Sunday and into Monday, crews worked around the clock to keep roads clear. In Woodstock, snow removed from the central business district, which includes the Square, was hauled away to the city-owned Woodstock Water Works parking lot, as no one uses the outdoor water park at this time of year. Woodstock Public Works Director Paul Ruscko said if that parking lot fills up, crews will bring snow to other city park parking lots. Ruscko said Woodstock doesn’t have the luxury of melting snow like larger cities. Snow in the downtown area is moved into piles, moved by front loaders into large gravel haulers and taken away.
Inside n A campuswide snowball fight was planned Monday on campus at Northern Illinois University. PAGE A6
On the Web To view video from Woodstock’s Groundhog Day event, as well as Northwest Herald staff and reader-submitted photo galleries from throughout the weekend, visit NWHerald.com. Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Ryan McCoy, 12, of Huntley screams while sledding down a hill Monday at Veterans Acres Park in Crystal Lake. According to the National Weather Service, some areas in McHenry County were buried under more than a foot of snow from the weekend’s storm. The large amount of snow did take a little longer for crews to remove from the central business area, Ruscko said. Normally, workers start removing snow about 11 p.m. and are done by 4 or 5 a.m. For this storm, they started at 10 p.m. Sunday, but weren’t done until 9 or 10 a.m. Monday, Ruscko said.
“We do those operations in the wee hours in the morning, or late night hours when most go to bed,” Ruscko said. Crews, such as in Cary and McHenry among others, had to work throughout Sunday to keep roads clear, and some missed the
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Rapper denies allegation that he threatened Crystal Lake cop By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – The attorney representing Gerard Golston says his client was merely expressing himself in a rap video posted to Facebook that authorities say threatened a police officer. Crystal Lake-based criminal defense attorney George Kililis filed an appearance to represent 25-yearold Golston of Lake in the Hills on charges alleging Golston threatened
the officer who once issued him a seat belt ticket. Threatening a public official is a felony and, if convicted, Golston faces a possible prison term of two to five years. He pleaded not guilty at a McHenry County Court appearance Monday. Crystal Lake police said they found the video while wading through public profiles on Facebook. In the video, Golston produced a rap song authorities say was aimed
at Crystal Lake police officer Dimitri Boulhains. In slang for shooting a 9 mm weapon, Golston says: “I’m gonna get the nine” and “I’m gonna pop you,” and “Officer Dimitri, where the [expletive] you at?” Gerard Kililis noted Golston Golston’s words echoed sentiments expressed by those in the black com-
munity around the country. “We all seem to forget that no matter how ugly [the statements] the other guy is saying, how much it upsets or offends us, in the end, we all have the right to say it,” Kililis said. “What Mr. Golston was doing was an expression of political frustration. “I honestly don’t think it was a threat against Dimitri.” According to case law, the limits of free speech protection stop at threatening speech, which will have to be a determination made in
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Golston’s case. Golston has been in custody since his Jan. 12 arrest, unable to post $35,000 bond. On Feb. 9, Kililis will argue for a lower bond. Golston made the same request in January but it was denied because McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather said he couldn’t establish residence. Golston’s parents are expected to testify that he can live with them in Lake in the Hills, and they will bring him back and forth to court, Kililis said.
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