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Marengo girls softball team looks at getting better one game at a time / C1
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Sheriff’s office changes get OK
Balancing act for care Those helping aging parents feel stress, seek resources
Job reorganization approved by board; will save about $38K By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – A reorganization of upper management of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office sailed through the McHenry County Board with no fanfare, despite controversy over one of the hires. Board members voted Tuesday evening, 22-0, to approve reclassifying five positions, most notably that of undersheriff, which under the roster developed by new Sheriff Bill Prim has become chief of administration. An analysis by Prim and his staff determined that reclassifying certain management positions and redistributing certain responsibilities could save money and improve efficiency, according to the office’s request. The reclassifications come with salary reductions that save $37,821 in the sheriff’s office personnel budget for the current fiscal year, not counting additional Social Security and pension savings with the reduced wages. Besides undersheriff, changes include making a deputy sheriff commander the deputy chief of patrol, and making another deputy sheriff commander the deputy chief of administration. The shuffle also changes two positions in corrections, altering the chief of corrections to chief of operations, and making the deputy chief of corrections a regular lieutenant in operations. The only reason the item was pulled from the consent agenda, a group of usually routine items to be approved without discussion, was because member Diane Evertsen,
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Bob Maronde (left) helps his 90-year-old father, Bob Maronde, walk to the kitchen for dinner Wednesday during his visit to his dad’s Crystal Lake home.
By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Bob Maronde reached a defining conclusion almost four years ago after a health scare hospitalized his dad for weeks. Maronde, 65, had already begun frequent check-ins with his dad – a part of Maronde’s new caregiver role – after he and his two sisters convinced his aging parents in 2007 to relocate from Wisconsin to Crystal Lake, a few blocks from Maronde’s home. The Crystal Lake resident bought a condominium for his parents, but his dad became the sole occupant when his mother died shortly after the move. Maronde questioned his caregiving capabilities after his dad was hospitalized from
‘‘
Why did I take this on? I just stepped up to the plate. It was my parents, and I took it on. I was at that point where I didn’t have enough support. I needed more help. Bob Maronde
’’
Caregiver for his 90-year-old father Bob Maronde
complications with Parkinson’s disease, and the full-time nature of being a family caregiver became increasingly apparent. “Why did I take this on?” Maronde asked
rhetorically. “I just stepped up to the plate. It was my parents, and I took it on. I was at that point where I didn’t have enough support. I needed more help.” As the U.S. population ages and more elderly people elect to stay at home longer, Maronde finds himself a part of a growing group of family caregivers thrust into a complex health care role, seeking more resources than ever before. AARP estimates that 42 million family caregivers across the country each year provide unpaid care – valued at $450 billion – for aging parents, spouses, relatives and friends. Caregivers, meanwhile, juggle their personal finances, work and social schedules to provide the care, both local and state senior
See CARE, page A8 See SHERIFF, page A8
GOP Gov. Rauner, gay rights advocates find common ground By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press CHICAGO – Putting election-year hostilities behind them, gay rights advocates said they emerged from a meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner with a pledge the Republican will strictly enforce anti-discrimination laws and hope that he’ll also support their top legislative priority: a ban on gay conversion therapy for minors. Representatives of Equality Illi-
nois and other advocacy groups met Friday with Rauner for the first time since he took office in January. Rauner said he’ll issue a directive that state agencies strictly enforce anti-discrimination laws. He has directed the Department of Human Rights to conduct a survey of Illinois residents to identify patterns of discrimination and provide recommendations to his office by Jan. 31. Rauner also said he’ll appoint a liaison from his office to the gay and lesbian community.
BUSINESS
Equality Illinois CEO Bernard Cherkasov said Saturday the roughly 30-minute meeting was a positive first step. A spokesman for Rauner confirmed details of the meeting but declined to comment further. Gay rights activBruce Rauner ists supported Rauner’s rival, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, during the campaign. They cam-
STATE
Will they have enough money? Special election for Schock’s seat has county clerks worried about being ready / B4 PLANIT STYLE
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Phil Denofrio aims to use his passion for poetry to bring it back into the community / Planit 6
paigned actively against the GOP businessman, calling him “an enemy of equality” and hanging a huge anti-Rauner banner along the route where thousands of people attended Chicago’s gay pride parade. A major issue was Rauner’s position on gay marriage. Quinn signed legislation making samesex marriage legal in Illinois, and called it one of his proudest accomplishments. Rauner declined to say whether he personally supported it. And while he said he had no plans to
overturn the law if elected, he also said that if the same-sex legislation had landed on his desk as governor he would have vetoed it because voters should have decided the issue. Cherkasov said the campaign was not a focus of Friday’s meeting. “I think on both sides we understand political campaigns can be difficult,” he said. “It wasn’t about looking back. This meeting was about moving forward.”
See ADVOCATES, page A8
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