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Nuns look to expand operations Neighbors pushing back against Marengo area religious order’s plans By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Ten years after getting permission to build in rural Coral Township, an obscure Christian order is back before the county asking to expand. And the neighbors who opposed the order’s original request in 2005 to locate there are back again, in force.
Representatives of the Fraternite of Notre Dame testified Thursday afternoon before the McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals, asking for a conditional use permit to add a school with dormitory, a nursing home and a hospice, another commercial kitchen and a place to brew beer, make wine and hold tastings, plus a gift shop, on its 95 acres at 10002 Har-
Board debates reform agenda
mony Hill Road. The property, which now has a chapel, convent and bakery, is about 3 miles south of Marengo and Union. About 100 people – the black-clad men and women of the French-speaking order and their supporters, the opponents who made up the largest part of the audience, and several members of the County Board that will have
the final say – filled the room during the three-hour hearing. While the order and their supporters say they are doing God’s work, opponents said adding a school, a hospice and a brewery will make the property a worse fit for the rural area than they allege it already is. Neighbors Rob and Laurie Cisneros opposed the origi-
nal project in 2005, and allege their concerns about noise and traffic have been justified over the ensuing decade. Besides the noise of the bakery operations, which the sisters use to fund their religious works, Rob Cisneros said that it took them 2½ years just to build the chapel, and that approval of this expansion would result in years of future disruption.
“They are certainly cognizant of their goals, and that single-mindedness doesn’t take their neighbors into account,” he said. “I’m certain that a building 10, 12 times the size of that chapel could take 10, 12 times as long to build.” The hearing process, which has just started, will
See EXPANSION, page A4
McHENRY COUNTY SPARED Strong storms bring hail, spawn tornadoes in northern Illinois
Backs Rauner despite unions opposition By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – A standing room-only audience of union members opposed to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” could not dissuade the McHenry County Board from passing a resolution supporting it. Board members voted Thursday morning, 16-5, to adopt a symbolic, nonbinding resolution supporting the agenda, despite the pleas and threats of election-year consequences from a packed room of union members calling it a bad deal for ordinary residents. Speakers over the course of almost 90 minutes, both union members and former Democratic members of the County Board, blasted Rauner’s calls for local power to enact rightto-work laws by referendum and the elimination of prevailing wage laws and other unfunded mandates. McHenry resident Jeff Peters, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, was among many who called the proposed reforms an attack on the middle class. “The union has provided for me. It’s given me the opportunity to earn a decent wage and have decent benefits. ... This agenda you guys are
See COUNTY BOARD, page A4
Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Volunteers clear debris from in front of a tornado-damaged home at 1729 Wheeler Road in Kirkland in DeKalb County. The tornado passed through about 7 p.m. Thursday. Everyone in the house were huddled in the basement when the tornado passed. By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
Photo provided by Emily Mains
A tornado Thursday is seen west of a home near Pearl Street in a subdivision in Kirkland.
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Judge sentences former Crystal Lake man to 38 years for pornography, sex crimes / A3 SPORTS
Illinois VA hospitals Long waits for medical care persist for vets despite more doctors, more clinics, allowing some patients to seek private care / B3
While areas to the west and southwest are dealing with major damage after storms killed at least one and injured at least seven, McHenry County seems to have been largely spared by the dangerous weather that made its way through northern Illinois on Thursday night. At least one powerful tornado was confirmed in Ogle County, tearing through Rochelle, where the storm trapped 14 people inside Grubsteakers Restaurant, according to Shaw Media news reports. The storm took the building down, but the victims eventually were res-
‘Outstanding all-around hitter’ MCC sophomore Zach Marszal heading to Division I North Carolina Central / C1
cued with no injuries immediately reported. City of DeKalb Fire Chief Eric Hicks said crews from his department and the Sycamore Fire Department were dispatched to the small hamlet of Fairdale, west of Kirkland, where crews were working to free people from destroyed buildings and ensuring their safety. The tornado that tore through Fairdale was one of two tornadoes the National Weather Service was able to confirm as of Thursday night. At least one person was killed and at least seven were injured in
See SEVERE WEATHER, page A6
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