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Cyclists pushing for new projects McHenry County Bicycle Advocates works on filling trail gaps, raising awareness By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Eberhard Veit caught up to Todd Nelson as he was riding his bike from his home in Cary to his job in Barrington one summer six years ago. He had a petition he wanted Nelson to sign. Veit, the president of McHenry
2nd N.Y. prison escapee caught
County Bicycle Advocates, had been campaigning to get Rakow Road restriped with bike lanes. The advocacy group tries to get involved whenever road projects get planned and pushes for the project to meet Complete Streets guidelines, a movement started by the National Complete Streets Coalition in 2004 that pushes for streets to be designed with all its users in mind.
That means pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transit users. “We’re advocating for a bicycle-friendly network throughout the county,” Veit said. “We’d like to see more people using bicycles for transportation as well as recreation. We want a functioning network of solutions that provide a functioning network for non-motorized transporta-
tion.” Right now his focus is targeting gaps in the network and trying to get different government agencies to split the cost. Veit was the guy that pushed to close the gap connecting the new bike paths along Route 14 with the city of Woodstock’s network. The city of Woodstock ultimately agreed to do the engineering with
the McHenry County and Illinois departments of transportation covering the construction, and the McHenry County Conservation District maintaining it. He also helped spur the ongoing negotiations between the city of Crystal Lake and the conservation district to connect the Ridgefield Trace trail
See BIKES, page A3
McHENRY COUNTY HISPANICS ADD TO RECORD POPULATION SPEAKING ENGLISH
By MICHAEL BALSAMO The Associated Press MALONE, N.Y. – A threeweek manhunt that began when two convicted murderers staged a brazen prison break involving stolen power tools and hacksaw blades hidden in frozen hamburger meat ended Sunday when a single state police sergeant spotted a suspicious man walking down on a rural road near the Canadian border. David Sweat’s capture came two days after his fellow escapee, Richard Matt, was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement while holding a shotgun. Sweat was unarmed when he was shot twice by Sgt. Jay Cook as the fugitive ran for a tree line. “If you were writing a movie plot, they would say that this was overdone,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Cook, a 21-year veteran, was alone and on routine patrol when he stumbled upon Sweat in the northern New York town of Constable, about 30 miles northwest of the prison, and recognized him. He gave chase when Sweat fled and decided to fire upon fearing he would lose him in the trees, state police said. “I can only assume he was going for the border,” Superintendent Joseph D’Amico said. The arrest ended an ordeal that sent 1,300 law enforcement officers into the thickly forested northern reaches of New York and forced residents to tolerate nerve-wracking armed checkpoints and property searches. “The nightmare is finally over,” Cuomo declared at a news conference. Authorities said Sweat was struck in the torso and taken to a hospital in Malone before being transported to Albany Medical Center, which has a trauma center. Sweat, who was listed in critical condition, was being evaluated by a team of doctors including emergency medical physicians, trauma specialists and others who would determine whether surgery was necessary, Dr. Dennis McKenna said. Sweat had not been formally interviewed by investigators as of late Sunday, but any information he provides could be critical to the investigation, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said. Sweat will be charged with escape, burglary and other charges, Wylie said.
Photos by Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Julio Capeles of Crystal Lake, coordinator of adult education instruction, helps Antonio Tapio (left) and Aidez Moreno access their computers during a GED class June 17 at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake.
Learning the language “We know when they finish our program, they’re probably not ready for college, and they might not be ready for a job that can provide them a family-providing wage.”
By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Leticia Castanon concentrated on the difference between the words “must” and “should” scribbled on a white board in a McHenry County College classroom. If she wants to master the English language, she should study, the 45-year-old wife and mother thought. And if she wants to get a job that pays better than her current gig in fast food, Castanon, a Mexican immigrant, told herself she must learn English. “I need it to better understand people,” Castanon said. “I started five or six years ago learning English.” There are four people in Castanon’s English as a Second Language course at McHenry County College, and more then 540 in all ESL classes collegewide, school enrollment data shows. Just shy of 87 percent of students enrolled in ESL classes are Hispanic. These students are among a growing group of Hispanics trudging through the nuances of the English language. A recent study from the Pew Research Center shows a record
Tom Pierce Executive director of adult education at McHenry County College
Leticia Castanon of Woodstock speaks during a class June 17 at McHenry County College. 32 million Hispanics living in the United States speak English proficiently. English-speaking Hispanics accounted for 68 percent of the Hispanic population in 2013, the study showed, up from 59 percent in 2000. The study attributes the increase to the number of U.S.-born Hispanics, a growing segment of the Hispanic population. In 2013, there were nearly twice
as many U.S.-born Hispanics as there were foreign-born, 35 million to 19 million, respectively. U.S.born Hispanics also have a median age of half that of foreign-born Hispanics. Castanon is a living example of that statistic. Immigrating from Mexico in 2002, she lives in Woodstock with her husband and her son, Alan, 12. They speak Spanish at home,
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but Castanon said she also sometimes gets informal English lessons from her son. “He’s up there,” she said. “He is my teacher.” The reasons for non-native English speakers to learn the language include finding a job or earning their high school equivalence, said Tom Pierce, executive director of adult education at McHenry County College. Learning English often is the first or second step, he said. “If they’re interested at all, we try to find them a pathway,” Pierce said. “We know when they finish
See ENGLISH, page A3
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