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EASY AS PIE Chicago woman pens book about her journey to discover how to make the perfect pies / D1 NWHerald.com
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Speakers VACATIONERS: BEWARE focus on heroin SUMMER SCAMMING SEASON
Seventh-graders in CL told of soaring drug use By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Photo illustration by R. Scott Helmchen - shelmchen@shawmedia.com
Experts offer advice to travelers booking rental properties By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com When Cary Travel Express has a request to book a rental property for a vacation, owner Neelie Kruse said the agency will use reputable tour operators that check out the homes or condos ahead of time that meet certain requirements. She said many people book houses or condos for a family reunion or for a group of several couples staying in one unit. “Then they can cook for themselves and save money on going out to restaurants,” Kruse said. Although instances of fraud or fake listings of vacation rentals that don’t live up to what they advertise to be are rare, people need to be vigilant to protect themselves. Tour operators look at the cleanliness
If there is anything that feels wrong, trust your gut instinct.” Jon Gray, senior vice president of HomeAway, a website that lists vacation rental properties
and that pictures promoting the rental property are up-to-date, Kruse said. Kruse’s main tip was to book through a travel agent. “Then you book through a quality place,” Kruse said. Denise Lorman of Cary owns three condos in the panhandle of Florida. The units are part of a resort on the beach
and have an exercise room, pool and lazy river, among other amenities. Lorman, whose full-time job is in accounting and bookkeeping, also has a website to advertise her space. She recommended having travel insurance in case anything goes wrong. Lorman also said using a credit card can be helpful, instead of using cash. A person would be able to dispute or cancel the charges and not lose money if the renter turned out to be someone running a scam. When she rents a unit to someone who is at least 25 years old, she will ask for a deposit through a credit card, money order or cashier’s check to reserve the condo for a specific date. If a person finds a place they want to stay, he or she should talk to the property owner first before booking. Calling
See RENTALS, page A4
CRYSTAL LAKE – Ken Chiakas still struggles to talk about his daughter – and the day more than a year ago that she was found dead of a drug overdose. But Tuesday morning, Chiakas along with two recovering addicts, the McHenry County coroner, the director of a rehabilitation center and a Crystal Lake school resource officer spoke with seventh-graders at Lundahl Middle School about soaring heroin use in McHenry County. The students rotated among the speakers, hearing firsthand accounts of how normal kids ended up as heroin addicts, learning what drugs can do to the human body and being reminded of good Samaritan laws that offer limited immunity for people who call 911 to report an overdose. “If I can get through to one person, save one life, I feel like I’m doing something,” Chiakas said, adding that the first couple of presentations were really hard. Chiakas’s daughter, Stephanie, attended the Crystal Lake middle school before moving on to Crystal Lake South High School. She was a junior when she died March 10, 2013. Her death was one of 15 heroin-related over-
dose deaths in McHenry County that year. The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office saw its heroin cases jump from 30 in 2012 to 95 the next year. Many of the people using heroin are in their 20s, McHenry County Coroner Anne Majewski told the students, detailing a few of the cases that h a v e g o n e through her office and showing photos Stephanie from the Chiakas death investigations. Some of the bodies were found with needles still in their arms, she said. Eighty-four kids, ages 15 to 18, are at the Rosecrance Health Network’s adolescent recovery homes, said its clergy community relations coordinator and a former Lundahl Middle School social worker, the Rev. Jim Swarthout. Most of those kids started using around the ages of the seventh-graders at Lundahl. At least one student asked Chiakas if he could have one of the overdose prevention kits Chiakas showed during his presentation. “A lot of these kids are starting at 10, 11, 12,” Chiakas said. “We need to get to them before they start.”
Mokena man among 5 dead in friendly fire accident in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan – Five American troops with a special operations unit were killed by a U.S. airstrike called in to help them after they were ambushed by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, in one of the deadliest friendly fire incidents in nearly 14 years of war, officials said Tuesday.
The deaths were a fresh reminder that the conflict is nowhere near over for some U.S. troops, who will keep fighting for at least two more years. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said the five American troops, including Mokena, Illinois-native Aaron Toppen, were killed Monday “during a security operation in southern Afghanistan.” “Investigators are looking into the
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likelihood that friendly fire was the cause. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these fallen,” Kirby said in a statement. Relatives identified two of the five American troops killed Monday, including 19-year-old Toppen of Mokena, who had deployed to Afghanistan in March, a month after his father died, according to a family spokeswoman, Jennie Swartz. Toppen’s mother, Pam Toppen, stood
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Johnsburg board discusses possible move to 5-member Kishwaukee River Conference / C1 NATION
Pole vaulting to the top Woodstock North grad Jon Walsh vaults his way into a sports scholarship at NCAA Division I Southern Illinois University. / C1
VA scandal ‘national disgrace’ Amid national uproar, Congress moving to ensure speedier care for veterans / B5
just outside her Mokena, home with family and friends Tuesday to speak to the media about her only son, with an American flag hanging from the house in the rain and a “Military Mom” flag in the front yard. “He loved people. He loved being around people,” she said. “He was an allaround good kid.”
Aaron Toppen
See AFGHANISTAN, page A4
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The ASSOCIATED PRESS and SHAW MEDIA reports