WEDNESDAY
July 22, 2015 * • $1 .0 0
FAVA BEANS
NORTHWEST
HERALD
Tasty little fellows long overdue to go mainstream / D1
HIGH
LOW
82 60 Complete forecast on page A8
NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
Facebook.com/NWHerald
@NWHerald
Weather service confirms twisters
DEBATE CONTINUES OVER NUNS’ PROPOSED EXPANSION IN CORAL TOWNSHIP
2 briefly touched down during Saturday storms By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com Two brief tornadoes touched down in northern McHenry County during the weekend storms, National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed Tuesday. At 2:19 p.m. Saturday, a tornado touched down in a field about two miles northeast of Harvard, meteorologist Jamie Enderlen said. About 20 minutes later, a second tornado touched down three miles southwest of Hebron, she said. Officials said both tornadoes were about 50 yards wide and had peak wind speeds of 70 mph. The tornaVoice your does touched down for a minute or less. opinion “You get them Have you with the kind of storms that we saw ever seen a in McHenry Coun- tornado on ty,” Enderlen said. the ground? “We weren’t sur - Vote online at prised that a couple NWHerald. brief ones occurred.” com. Officials gave the twisters EF0, or “gale” designations, the lowest on the six-point Enhanced Fujita Scale used to measure a tornado’s severity. The tornadoes caused minimal damage in the fields they struck, Enderlen said. Enderlen said weather service officials used reports from spotters and McHenry County Emergency Management officials, as well as radar data, to confirm the tornadoes. McHenry County Emergen cy Management Agency Director David Christensen said agency officials visited the areas to take pictures of the tornadoes’ paths. Officials also talked to residents. “Since there weren’t homes or barns damaged, you get a whole different response,” Christensen said. “... We got responses like, ‘That was cool.’ “We’re fortunate to be able to say that this time around.” The same storm pelted the McHenry County area with rain and winds Saturday afternoon, Enderlen said. The agency received reports of tree damage and a halfinch of rain in a span of 10 minutes in McHenry.
H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Sister Mary Christine from the Fraternite de Notre Dame describes the plans Tuesday for the proposed nursing home, which would be built on part of the 95 acres on Harmony Hill Road about three miles south of Marengo and Union. The proposed expansion site is partially obscured by trees blocking the view from Harmony Hill Road. The McHenry County Zoning Board will vote Wednesday on the significant expansion the group has planned for its property.
Zoning board to vote on religious order’s project By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com MARENGO – As they approach a vote from the McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals about expanding their operations in rural Coral Township, nuns from the Fraternite de Notre Dame hope to receive a positive recommendation despite neighbors’ concerns. The McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals will convene at 1 p.m. Wednesday to vote on a recommendation regarding the obscure religious order’s request for a conditional use permit. The permit would allow the order to build a school with a dormitory, a nursing home with a hospice, a gift shop and another commercial kitchen to make wine and beer on its 95-acre site at 10002 Harmony Hill Road. McHenry County Board members in 2005 granted the order a conditional use permit to build a chapel, a convent and a bakery on the land south of Marengo and Union, but Mother Superior Marie Martha fears a vocal opposition group active since the original permit was issued will affect the outcome for the current request.
If you go WHAT: McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals vote on the expansion of the Fraternite de Notre Dame operations WHEN: 1 p.m. Wednesday WHERE: County Board conference room, County Administration Center, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock
“They make us look like monsters and we’re going to change the area,” Martha said. “They just hate us. No matter what you say, they come against you.” Martha said vandals have desecrated statues with “KKK” and “666” slogans, and she believes members of the order are being persecuted because some are “people of color.” The project’s opponents include about 800 residents who have signed a petition against the permit, as well as leaders from Coral Township. They contend the proposed plans constitute a large commercial enterprise in the rural community that’s not in line with the county’s 2030 Land Use Plan.
Opponents also allege the order has not been respectful about construction and work orders. The group’s supporters include state Rep. Barbara Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake. Wheeler, advocating for the nuns Monday, said she believes neighbors’ concerns are rooted in misunderstandings about the order. “If it’s a land use issue, vote ‘no’ because of that,” Wheeler said. “Don’t vote ‘no’ because you don’t like the Catholic Church or don’t understand the sisters.” Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Richard Kelly wouldn’t comment on how he intends to vote, but he said personal objections or pleas would not weigh into his decision. “We just try to look at it from the land use, as opposed to mediating any disputes,” Kelly said. The seven-member zoning board has held public hearings on the order’s request since April, postponing a vote on the recommendation July 10 because of a zoning board member’s emergency absence. The board did vote
See VOTE, page A4
Court overturns some Blagojevich Senate-seat convictions By MICHAEL TARM The Associated Press CHICAGO – A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned some of the most sensational convictions that sent former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich off to a lengthy stint in prison, ruling that the Democrat did not break the law when he sought to secure a Cabinet position in President Barack Obama’s administration in exchange for appointing an Obama adviser to the president’s former U.S. Senate seat. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago also ordered the resentencing of Blagojevich, offering the 58-year-old a ray of hope that he
could end up serving less than his original 14-year term. The three appellate judges dismissed five of 18 corruption counts against Blagojevich, while affirming 13 counts. In a blow to the defense, the panelists also suggested the original sentence wasn’t necessarily extreme, even when factoring in the newly tossed convictions. Speaking outside the Blagojevich family home in Chicago, his wife, Patti, told reporters her husband had expressed disappointment the court didn’t hand him a clear legal victory. “He’s disappointed, of course,” she said, the couple’s 18-year-old daughter at her side. She added more
optimistically, “Possibly this is a step in the right direction of getting Rod home to his family.” Several onlookers stood nearby, including a small child holding up a sign that read, “Free Blagojevich.” The court’s unanimous ruling addressed a key question: Where is the line between legal Rod and illegal political Blagojevich wheeling and dealing? The panel’s answer: When it came to Blagojevich’s attempt to land a Cabinet seat, he did not cross the line. His attempts to
trade the Senate seat for campaign cash, however, were illegal, the court concluded. Blagojevich floated the idea of a Cabinet job in exchange for appointing Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to Obama’s vacant Senate seat. After Blagojevich’s arrest, the seat went to Roland Burris, who served less than two years before a successor was elected. In its ruling, the appeals court pointed to allegations that President Dwight Eisenhower named Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court after Warren offered Eisenhower key political support during the 1952 campaign. The judges said that under the logic used to charge Blagoje-
SPORTS
SPORTS
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Golf tourney
Alden-Hebron
Contract OK’d
Hurst, Carstens’ playoff highlights final day of women’s invitational / C1
After nearly 10 years since idea, school breaks ground on permanent lights / C1
D-155 reaches deal with D-200 to use pool for swim teams / A3
Advice ................................ D3 Buzz.....................................C6 Classified..................... D6-10 Comics ...............................D4 Community ........................B1 Local News.................... A2-6 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...............B3-6
vich, Eisenhower and Warren might have been convicted. “If the prosecutor is right, and a swap of political favors involving a job for one of the politicians is a felony, then ... both the President of the United States and the Chief Justice of the United States should have gone to prison,” the ruling said. Still, the ruling was by no means a resounding win for Blagojevich. The appellate judges upheld allegations that he sought to sell the Senate seat, saying the evidence against him was strong. Blagojevich had argued he didn’t break the law because he never stated explicitly that
See BLAGOJEVICH, page A4
Obituaries ......................A5-7 Opinion...............................B2 Puzzles ...........................D3, 5 Sports..............................C1-5 State ................................... B3 Stocks................................. A7 TV listings .........................D5 Weather .............................A8