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July 23 , 2015 • $ 1 .0 0
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Fraternite’s request hits setback County Zoning Board falls short of recommending Marengo nuns’ expansion project By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – A request by an obscure French Christian order to get a McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals recommendation to significantly expand its Coral Township operations fell one vote short. The zoning board voted Wednesday afternoon, 4-3, in favor of recommending approval for the Fraternite of No-
tre Dame’s conditional use per- What it means mit to add a boarding school, nursing home, winery, brewThe McHenry County Zoning ery and gift shop to its 95 acres Board of Appeals will give no recat 10003 Harmony Hill Road. A ommendation for or against the Frarecommendation for approval ternite of Notre Dame’s request for or denial requires five votes. The polarizing issue, which an expanded conditional use permit has galvanized neighbors and for its Coral Township property – township government op- the board’s 4-3 vote was one short posed to the order’s request, of the five needed. now goes to the County Board, which first granted the order monastery and bakery on the a conditional use permit in property about three miles 2005 to build a chapel, convent, south of Marengo and Union.
Zoning Board members David Stone, John Rosene and Linnea Kooistra voted against the permit, concluding after months of hearings and testimony that the expansion is not compatible with the rural area and county and township land use plans. “I believe this is the wrong location for this type of operation,” Kooistra said. Neighbors who were angry when the County Board approved the original 2005
permit are angrier over the proposed expansion, and have alleged the Fraternite has not been a good neighbor when it comes to construction and work hours. While the order maintains they are doing God’s work, opponents said adding a school, hospice and brewery will make the property a worse fit for the rural area than they allege it already is. Neighbor Rob Cisneros, who is among the public faces of the opposition, said the
issue has always been about the location and not the Fraternite or its mission – the order and its supporters have maintained during the process that opponents are motivated by bigotry. “It’s not about what they’re doing, it’s about where they’re located. That’s it. I hope that’s what the County Board weighs in their consideration,” Cisneros said after the vote.
See REQUEST, page A4
2 police officers resign in Lakemoor
MCHENRY COUNTY LEAGUE REACHES OUT TO VOTERS
Fraudulent reward for tip discovered By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Photos by Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
McHenry County Board member Carolyn Schofield meets with members of the League of Women Voters to discuss the consolidation of township government in the community room July 11 at Home State Bank in Crystal Lake.
League of Women Voters stresses education, participation in gov’t By HANNAH PROKOP hprokop@shawmedia.com When Sandra Bartholmey travels to parts of the world where people do not have the right to vote, she said she breathes a sigh of relief knowing that in the United States, everybody can vote for officials if they take the time to do it. Bartholmey, co-president of the League of Women Voters of McHenry County, said she joined the league eight years ago because she is “passionate about people getting out to vote and taking advantage of the rights we have in this country.” The League of Women Voters formed in the 1920s from the movement that gave women the right to vote. Today, they have more than 800 leagues and work at the national, state and local levels. The League of Women Voters of McHenry County formed in 2007 when the Woodstock and McHenry league joined
“It’s so important because as people walk up you need to be able to dedicate the time to each individual that comes up.” Mary McClellan McHenry County clerk with the Crystal Lake and Cary league, said McHenry County league co-President Paula Ekstrom. Ekstrom said the leagues combined because of a decline in membership, and today the league has about 35 members, which includes three men. The league has two separate roles, according to its website. One is for voters service and citizen education, and one is for action and advocacy. Funding for voter service and education activities come from the League of Women Voters Education fund, a 501(c)(3) corporation.
For Rosemary Kurtz, a league member since the 1970s, the most important mission of the league is “getting people out to vote who are educated on the issues,” she said. “There’s so many good things that happen to me in life and my family, and it’s all because of the way democracy works,” said Kurtz, who served as a state representative from 2001 to 2005 and currently sits on the Crystal Lake Community High School District 155 Board. McHenry County Clerk Mary McClellan said there are more than 300,000 people in McHenry County, and about 206,000 are registered to vote. McClellan said the McHenry County league has volunteered to help register people to vote at the McHenry County Fair, which takes place Aug. 5 to 9. “It’s so important because as people walk up you need to be able to dedicate the time to
See LEAGUE, page A4
League of Women Voters co-President Paula Ekstrom talks with attendees July 11 during a meeting in the community room at Home State Bank in Crystal Lake.
LOCAL NEWS
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Back to school
Budget woes
Top 10 finish
Salvation Army packs donated backpacks for those in need / A3
Senate president says it’s time to hit ‘reset’ on budget talks / B3
Jacobs grad Cahill seventh at Ill. Open Championship / C1
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LAKEMOOR – Two Lakemoor police officers have resigned after the discovery that one fraudulently applied for and received a $100 citizens reward, the police chief said. An investigation into the activity of patrol officers Walter Szarowicz and Henry Campos found that one of the officers had called in a drunken driver while off duty, which had led to the driver’s arrest, Chief David Godlewski said. The officer then filled out a form to receive an Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists drunkbuster award in his wife’s name, Godlewski said. Officers are not eligible to receive the award. AAIM has distributed $5,300 in McHenry County and $10,200 in Lake County since the program was started in 1994 in McHenry County and in 1995 in Lake County, according to the group’s website. When Godlewski came across the paperwork for the award, he immediately placed the officers on leave. An investigation was opened into the fraudulent application and the responding on-duty officer who knew the application was fraudulent, he said. Both officers resigned, however, before any discipline could be determined, one immediately upon being placed on leave, and the other after the investigation was complete, Godlewski said. The money also was returned. The two had no other previous disciplinary issues, he said. Szarowicz was hired in February 2013, and Campos was hired eight months later in October, according to village documents. The decision on whether to press charges would be up to the victim, which in this case is the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, and the group decided not to do so, Godlewski said. “We don’t tolerate it,” he said.
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