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Details scarce on local shooting CL police won’t reveal name of officer who shot domestic violence suspect By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Officials with the Crystal Lake Police Department and Illinois State Police are withholding the name of the officer who shot a 29-year-old man who allegedly charged the officer with a knife.
Crystal Lake Deputy Chief Derek Hyrkas on Tuesday declined to release additional details on the shooting, which happened about 1:35 a.m. Monday at a single-family home at 846 Boxwood Drive. “I have nothing at this time,” Hyrkas said Tuesday, a day after the shooting.
The Illinois State Police are investigating the shooting, but they also refused to divulge more information. In an emailed statement, Illinois State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Clare Pfotenhauer referred inquiries to Crystal Lake police. Police said the events that led to the shooting started at 11:10
p.m. Sunday at a home in the 300 block of West Terra Cotta Avenue, or Route 176. Witnesses told police a man, who sources confirmed to be Joseph A. Laudicina, had battered an adult female family member and threatened her with a knife. The suspect fled before officers arrived, police said. The
woman had to be treated for injuries to her face. A little more than two hours later, officers responded to a call from the home at 846 Boxwood Drive, where the suspect had entered the home against the occupants’ wishes, officials said.
See SHOOTING, page A2
Joseph A. Laudicina was shot Monday by a police officer. Laudicina has not been charged.
Pair of homes may be seized
BUDGET SQUEEZE MEANS LESS FUNDING FOR McHENRY, LAKE COUNTY FAIRS
Prosecutors allege Huntley residents oversaw drug ring By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
Photos by Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Tara Parks gives fences a fresh coat of white paint as she and other workers tend to the McHenry County Fairgrounds in Woodstock on Friday in preparation for the upcoming August fair. State funding of county fairs has decreased in recent years, with McHenry County facing a possible cut of $45,000 next year.
Fairs press on in face of cuts If you go
By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Don’t let news of state budget cuts fool you – the 2015 McHenry County Fair is on as scheduled for the first week in August. But the loss of the state funding for prizes and rehabilitation projects is going to take a bite out of its budget, and those of other state fairs, if it becomes Voice your permanent. Fair Board Presopinion ident Ken Bauman and Office ManagWill you er Liz Woolridge attend the walked down the McHenry path along which the County Fair? pole barns for 4-H Vote online at show animals stand, NWHerald. pointing out what com. was built and when, and subsequently fixed for how much. While the people and businesses of McHenry County have stepped up through the years to help – generosity made obvious by large white signs listing donors – the $45,000 from the state that the fair stands to lose starting next year will sting, Bauman said. “You yank $45,000 out from under us, that changes things,” Bauman said. “Our goal is to not lose
The 2015 McHenry County Fair will take place from Wednesday, Aug. 5, to Sunday, Aug. 9.
On the Net You can learn more about the fair at www.mchenrycountyfair.com.
Juan Lopez uses a trimmer to cut the grass around objects too difficult to reach with a lawnmower as he and other workers tend to the fairgrounds Friday. the quality of the fair.” Gov. Bruce Rauner on June 12 listed funding to cover fair building rehabilitation and prizes, or “premiums” in county fair parlance, as part of his proposed cuts should the new Republican governor and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly fail to hash out a budget deal by the July 1 start of the state’s 2016 fiscal year. Democrats call the threats symbolic because the money would cease flowing anyway
without a budget. Lawmakers have not yet sent him the 2016 budget, which is out of balance by more than $3 billion, and Rauner has said he will not sign it. State funding of county fairs by the Illinois Department of Agriculture has decreased in recent years – McHenry County’s has dropped by about a third over the past five years – as Illinois continues to grapple with increasingly dire finances. State funding for this year
accounted for about 7.3 percent of the fair’s total $615,000 budget. The fair has no debt and is in the black, Bauman said. Both Bauman and Lake County Fair General Manager Matthew J. Robertson said they were optimistic but prudent when it came to Rauner’s calls for austerity, and both said they expected some sort of financial hit. Rauner had said he had agriculture’s interests in mind, and one of his first actions as governor was to nominate a fourth-generation farmer as head of the agriculture department, replacing former Gov. Pat Quinn’s pick of a former state lawmaker who critics allege got the job because he voted for Quinn’s 67-percent 2011 tax increase after he lost his 2010 re-election bid.
See COUNTY FAIRS, page A5
WOODSTOCK – Court documents revealed more details on an alleged drug ring as prosecutors made moves to seize several Huntley homes believed to be involved in the crimes. Authorities have called the drug ring believed to have been run by Nicholas A. Domino, 45, and Rocio Domino, 37, an “extensive” operation, and legal documents filed in McHenry County reveal authorities had been watching the family for some time before their arrest in May. A s s i s t a n t Nicholas A. State’s Attorney Domino Randi Freese initiated civil forfeiture proceedings last week involving two homes the Dominos once owned or lived Rocio in. Domino According to Freese’s petition, DEA agents had been intercepting Nicholas Domino’s cellphone calls since November 2014. There were 20,273 calls and about 6,575 pertained to narcotics. Additionally, surveillance officers witnessed 74 narcotics transactions, the prosecutor said. The couple was living at the home at 9672 Bennington Drive in Huntley in May when DEA agents raided it and arrested Nicholas and Rocio, along with Nicholas’ half-brother and two others. Nicholas and Rocio are facing more than 40 felony drug charges combined, including some that carry a minimum sentence of six years in prison. They are in the McHenry County Jail and have pleaded not guilty. Detectives found more than 11 pounds of marijuana, 43 MDMA pills and other controlled substances from the Bennington Drive home, authorities said.
See DRUG RING, page A5
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