MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014
WWW.NWHERALD.COM
75 CENTS
MY SISTER’S DRESS FUNDRAISER
Fundraising with formal wear
District 46 parents call for Ponga’s resignation Board president accused of slander, hostile emails By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Photos by Michelle LaVigne for Shaw Media
With her armful of potential prom dresses, Antionette Menge, 18, of Hebron, looks for her mother Sunday before heading to the fitting rooms at the My Sister’s Dress prom dress sales event at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake. Dresses, shoes and accessories were included in the donated items for sale.
Event benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters with prom dress sale More information
By CYNTHIA WOLF editorial@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Lori Thier and her 17-year-old daughter stood alongside a rack of lacy, ruffled and beaded gowns. “What do you think?” Mikyla Thier asked after her mother zipped a smooth, black satin dress over the teen’s tank top and pants. Mikyla twirled, and the full, black skirt floated outward. “She says she has to have one that spins,” the Wonder Lake mom said, looking on as her daughter walked and occasionally spun round in the McHenry County College gym. The Thiers were among dozens of mother-daughter pairs – and a few dad-daughter pairs – present for the seventh annual “My Sister’s Dress” event. The event places new and
To learn about Big Brothers Big Sisters of McHenry County, visit bbbsmchenry.org or call 815-385-3855. gently used gowns in the hands of young prom-goers for the bargain price of $25 each. The dresses, as well as purses, shoes and other accessories, were donated, and event proceeds benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of McHenry County. At least 300 people were waiting for the doors to open at 10 a.m. Sunday, said Emily Smith, a Lake in the Hills resident who is co-chairwoman of My Sister’s Dress with her sister-in-law, Whitney Ruth of Huntley.
See FUNDRAISER, page A6
While shopping for a prom dress Sunday, Shelby Weidner, 18 (center), of Crystal Lake, gets a second opinion on one of her choices from her brother, Corey McCullary, and friend, Kieran Ruddy, 18, also of Crystal Lake.
PRAIRIE GROVE – Some Prairie Grove School District 46 parents are calling for the school board president’s resignation. The move is the culmination of 10 months of infighting, tense school board meetings and outright accusations of defamation among board members and district staff. “I’m concerned,” said Judy Butler, who has a fifth-grader and eighth-grader at District 46. “I feel like we’re becoming the laughingstock of the county, if not the state.” Butler hasn’t been attending the board meetings, but she’s one of a number of parents planning to attend Tuesday’s meeting, the re- Margaret sult of an online and word- Ponga of-mouth campaign against school board President Mar- If you go garet Ponga. “I’m disappointed it’s The District reached this point,” Ponga 46 school said. “I wish if people had board will a question or concern that meet at 7 they would all call board p.m. Tuesday members and talk about it.” Ponga also noted that in the Prairie much of the information Grove Junior being circulated is cherry High School picked, contains false infor- library, 3225 mation and often is missing Route 176, Crystal Lake. much of the context. An anonymous chain letter has been making the rounds, and a website based on the letter has been set up, accompanied by emails and other documents obtained from the district. A group of about 20 parents has been meeting about every other week for the past couple of months since Superintendent Lynette Zimmer announced her resignation, said Rich Yelle, the parent of a fourth-grader and a fifth-grader. “The concern was that we have a superintendent that is resigning, and we’re not going to be able to get a superintendent of any quality because they know they won’t
See RESIGNATION, page A6
More details emerge in missing jet case Officials: Searchers fail to find debris, two used stolen passports to board plane By CHRIS BRUMMITT and EILEEN NG The Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Vietnamese searchers on ships worked throughout the night but could not find a rectangular object spotted Sunday afternoon that was thought to be one of the doors of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that went missing more than two days ago.
Doan Huu Gia, the chief of Vietnam’s search and rescue coordination center, said Monday that four planes and seven ships from Vietnam were searching for the object but nothing had been found. The Boeing 777 went missing early Saturday morning on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. The plane lost contact with ground controllers somewhere
LOCALLY SPEAKING
between Malaysia and Vietnam, and searchers in a low-flying plane spotted an object that appeared to be one of the plane’s doors, the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said, citing the deputy chief of staff of Vietnam’s army, Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan. The jetliner apparently fell from the sky after reaching cruising altitude in fine weather, and the pilots were either unable or had no time to send a distress signal, adding to the
mystery of flight’s final minutes. There are also questions about how two passengers managed to board the ill-fated aircraft using stolen passports. Interpol confirmed it knew about the stolen passports but said no authorities checked its vast databases on stolen docuAP photo ments before the Boeing jetlinA relative of passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane cries er departed Saturday.
See MISSING, page A6
CRYSTAL LAKE
HOBBYIST TURNS EXPERT COLLECTOR
Sunday as she is escorted while leaving a hotel room for relatives or friends of passengers aboard the missing airplane.
If Your Dentures Are Not Becoming To You, You Should be Coming To Us! • • • • •
Michael Osacky’s story as a baseball card collector begins like many others – by receiving of a box of old cards presented to him by his grandfather. But as he started to sift through the box and discovered vintage treasures, a funny thing happened. A hobby turned into an obsession, eventually turning the him into one of the hobby’s top experts and appraisers. For more, see page B1.
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
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