NWH-5-13-2014

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TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2014

WWW.NWHERALD.COM

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Keep golf swing in shape and improve your game with this fitness regimen

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Jurors selected in arson retrial Ziegler accused in 2012 house fire By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com

Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com

Northern Illinois University police officer Maria Christiansen explains where she was hit with shotgun pellets during the Feb. 14, 2008, shooting at NIU in which the shooter killed five students and injured 21 before turning the gun on himself.

Protect and remember NIU police officer survived campus shooting as a student By DANIELLE GUERRA

More online

dguerra@shawmedia.com

and ANDREA AZZO

See video of a ride-along with Northern Illinois University police officer Maria Christiansen online at NWHerald.com.

aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Maria Christiansen always considers the worst-case scenario as a police officer at Northern Illinois University. A victim-turned -first-responder, she’s made it her mission to make sure that what happened to her Feb. 14, 2008, will never happen to another student at her alma mater. Christiansen, then known as Maria Ruiz-Santana, was a 20-year-old Northern Illinois University junior with lofty goals of joining the FBI when it happened. With 10 minutes left in her oceanography class, a shooter wielding three guns barged onto the stage of the lecture hall and opened fire. Christiansen was severely wounded by a shotgun blast. “I’ve always wondered why is it that this happened to me, to my family, to my friends,” Christiansen, now 26, said. “But at the same time, things happen for a reason, that’s how I see it. Like my mom or my family tells me, ‘There’s a reason why you’re still here.’ “Maybe you have something that you’re going to do in this world that’s going to make a difference,

Christiansen checks on senior Juan Martinez during a floor hockey game on campus last month before calling paramedics for assistance. they still want you here. I definitely want to get the positive out of this.” Positives have followed for Christiansen. Now an NIU police officer, she patrols the campus where she was wounded. She served under her rescuer, former NIU police Chief Donald Grady. Although Grady was later removed as police chief, the two still have a special relationship. On Sunday, she celebrated her first Mother’s Day as a mom to 10-monthold Alexis. More than six years

ago, when the shooter killed five students and injured several others, Christiansen didn’t know much about weapons; she didn’t recognize the weapon in the shooter’s hand as a sawed-off shotgun. “To me, it looked like a bazooka kind of thing,” Christiansen said, discussing the shooting while on patrol at NIU. “All of a sudden, I just felt pressure on my left shoulder, and after that, I went down to the floor. “I remember hearing some screaming and noise in the background and

heard the shots – ‘bang, bang, bang’ – and after that there was just silence.” Christiansen’s blood was pooling around her when Grady found her. He dragged her to the end of the lecture hall aisle and elevated her feet to slow her blood loss. Grady asked her questions to keep her alert and distract her from her injuries; Grady remembered that the shotgun pellets had sprayed along her throat and from her nose to her upper chest. As she lay there bleed-

ing, Christiansen told Grady she was interested in law enforcement. “I always believed she would make it,” Grady said. “That proved to be true. I never allowed myself to believe she was never going to make it.” Grady stayed with her until paramedics arrived. A helicopter would later fly her to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. There, Christiansen and her family learned that shotgun pellets had destroyed her trachea, esophagus and vocal chords. She underwent five hours of surgery that night; doctors gave her a 50 percent chance of surviving the neck reconstruction. They told her family to say their goodbyes before they began. Christiansen would be hospitalized for about two weeks. Once she was out, she wanted to be back on campus and she wanted the campus to be what it was before the shooting. Within two months of the shooting, she was

See NIU, page A4

“I’ve always wondered why is it that this happened to me, to my family, to my friends. But at the same time, things happen for a reason, that’s how I see it.” Maria Christiansen, NIU police officer

WOODSTOCK – The retrial for an Elmhurst man accused of torching a house outside of Johnsburg over a drug debt, began Monday as attorneys waded through potential jurors. Prosecutors have said 24-year-old Joseph O. Ziegler on Aug. 9, 2012, set fire to a home in Pistakee Highlands because the person he believed lived there stole drugs from him. But Ziegler missed his target, they said, instead setting fire to the house two doors away. No one was injured in the fire, but the home was left uninhabitable and two vehi- Joseph O. Ziegler cles were destroyed. He’s charged with various arson-related felonies, for which he already was once tried. After nine hours of deliberations, a jury in November deadlocked and McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather declared a mistrial. Jurors did, however, convict Ziegler of burglary. Previous testimony revealed that a GPS navigation device belonging to the torched home’s owner was found in Ziegler’s pocket the morning of his arrest.

See RETRIAL, page A4

IDOT hires had political clout The ASSOCIATED PRESS SPRINGFIELD – Dozens of state jobs involved in a dispute over whether they should be free of politics were filled by Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration with candidates who were politically connected or gave campaign money to the governor’s party, an Associated Press review of state documents shows. In a review of government emails provided by Quinn’s office, the AP found that more than half of 45 hires at the Department of Transportation had connections. For instance, four held jobs in Quinn’s office or worked for another Democrat before moving to IDOT; nine are relatives of officeholders, party officials, union representatives or others who are politically connected; seven are politically active, either as officeholders or party officials; three have donated to campaign committees; and two have served on campaign payrolls, including for legislators. They were hired for posts in a process closed to the public, and it’s not clear whether they all adhered to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lays out strict rules against improperly giving taxpayer-funded jobs to people based on political connections. The Quinn administration says the jobs should

See IDOT, page A4

LOCALLY SPEAKING

Rachel Ford Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com

MCHENRY COUNTY

MCHENRY COUNTY

TWO VACANCIES ON THE HEALTH BOARD

COMMUNITIES SET ELECTRIC RATES

The McHenry County Mental Health Board is losing two of the members who were brought in to bring that stability. Board Vice President Carrie Smith, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake, is moving to Jerusalem to preach; and member Heather Murgatroyd is stepping down as well, citing her frequent business travel. For more, see page B1.

A new electricity supply rate for Algonquin, Huntley, Lakewood, Ringwood and Woodstock that will be go into effect in August has been set. Residents in those municipalities that do not opt out of the aggregation programs will pay 7.2 cents per kilowatt - hour for electricity, compared to the ComEd rate of 7.59 cents per kWh. For more, see page B1.

CRYSTAL LAKE: McHenry hits two long balls, closes in on Valley title with win against Huntley. Sports, C1

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