Morrissey: Bubba Watson sheds slump, on top at Augusta
SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2014
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CL South dominates in 10-0 win over Johnsburg Crystal Lake South’s Taylor Doppke
Scandals Dash to prep diamond at Metra inspire bill House OKs measure that bans secret severance deals Sweetheart severance deals between governments and outgoing employees will be secret no more under a bill unanimously passed by House lawmakers. Inspired by corruption scandals at Metra, House Bill 3664 amends the Illinois Freedom of Information Act to forbid any public body from imposing confidentiality as a condition of receiving any severance agreement funded in any way by public money. Rep. Renee Kosel, R-New Lenox, filed the bill in response to Metra’s refusal last year to reveal details to angry state lawmakers about the generous severance package – projected up to $718,000 – it gave to former CEO Alex Clifford. Clifford left after only two years on the job and
NO MORE EXCUSES an ongoing Northwest Herald series about the public’s right to know in Illinois
with eight months left on his first contract. Clifford later revealed to lawmakers that he was forced out for refusing to comply with patronage requests, some of which he alleged led straight to House Speaker Michael
Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Scott Mackeben, director of fields and grounds for Crystal Lake Little League, rakes Spence Field on Tuesday in Lippold Park. Volunteers are working to have the field ready for opening day Saturday.
Madigan. The bill passed on a 106-0 vote Thursday. It is now in the Senate, where Sen. Pamela Althoff, R-McHenry, is the chief sponsor. It does not force disclosure of any severance agreements reached prior to the bill becoming law.
By SHAWN SHINNEMAN sshinneman@shawmedia.com
T
here’s a landscape crew sculpting the edges of a nearby ball field – defining the lines between dirt and deadened grass – when Scott Mackeben pops out of a Lippold Park concession stand. Mackeben, the man at the head of a mad dash to get the fields ready by this weekend’s tournament, knows as well as anyone what a long winter means for the people who prepare the county’s Little League baseball fields. This has been the longest in his eight or so years with Crystal Lake Little League Baseball. Usually, the league does things in phases – assemble rosters, prepare fields, match players with uniforms. This year, delayed field maintenance has added a major scramble to normal preseason happenings. “Everything had to be done at once,” said Mackeben, director of fields and grounds for the league of more than 400 players. Mackeben isn’t the county’s only head of maintenance working to get fields in good enough shape for their respective leagues’ opening days – which land, typically, in the last half of April. A surplus of late-winter and ear-
See SECRETS, page A6
Quinn, Rauner spar on education Hold little back in first meeting of 2014 campaign By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press CHICAGO – Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican businessman Bruce Rauner held little back in their first meeting of the 2014 campaign, with Rauner telling an influential teachers union that Quinn has broken his promises on issues from school funding to taxes, and the governor calling his opponent “the biggest threat to public education” in Illinois.
The swipes came during a sometimes rowdy meeting of the Illinois Education Association in Chicago – a crowd of more than 1,000 that clearly favored Quinn but was not unanimous in its support. Both candidates went into Friday’s event with some baggage. The union is suing Quinn and other lawmakers over legislation approved last year to cut public-employee pensions. And the group was among several unions that helped fund TV ads during the GOP
See DEBATE, page A6
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Crystal Lake Little League volunteer Beau Buhs attaches windscreens to one of the backstops Tuesday at Lippold Park.
“When the frost comes up out of the ground, it just makes everything muddy.” Scott Mackeben Director of fields and grounds for Crystal Lake Little League
ly-spring moisture combined with frozen grounds from prolonged cold temperatures have challenged area Little League field crews. For Mackeben and the Crystal Lake league, that has meant hiring a landscape company to help prepare
fields. The early date of their kickoff tournament – which starts Saturday at Lippold Park – has made things tougher. Crews typically start on Crystal Lake fields in March – sometimes toward the middle of the month, weather
permitting. This year, even after the snow had melted, the thawing ground caused issues. “When the frost comes up out of the ground, it just makes everything muddy,” Mackeben said. Plumbing issues have also caused headaches. The harsh winter burst a pipe and caused several faucets to malfunction and require replacement. In all, the maintenance will cost the league between $2,000 and $3,000 – considerably more than the few hundred dollars a year league officials expect to pay for preseason plumbing repairs, Mackeben said. Crystal Lake crews eventually started working in the beginning of April. Huntley Little League President John Spankroy said fields were too wet to start work until this week. “We’re starting in earnest now,” Spankroy said Monday. “And we should have them ready to go by the beginning of the season.” He added the fields – which are maintained by the village’s park district – are in pretty good condition, all things considered. “I’d have thought, especially with this past winter, that they’d have been in a lot worse shape,” he said.
See GROUNDSKEEPING, page A6
McHENRY COUNTY
PURPLE HEART FLAG TO HONOR VETS McHenry County is the first in the state to declare being a Purple Heart County. The proclamation adopted earlier this year by the McHenry County Board allows the county to fly a special commemorative flag authorized under the Illinois Military Order of the Purple Heart. For more, see page B1.
Sarah Schrempf, program coordinator at Families ETC
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By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com