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Former Marian Central coach Ed Brucker now Woodstock’s defensive coordinator / C1
NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
County youth donate blood, time in summer drive By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
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‘You’re saving a life’ yler Birkhoff leaned back onto a vinyl cot Friday and closed his eyes as a needle glided into his arm. After a quick pinch, the 17-yearold McHenry resident looked around the Church of Holy Apostles in McHenry to see handfuls of other people lying down, blood pumping from their arms. Birkhoff’s moment of discomfort was offset knowing that dozens of people were giving blood to help save lives and make up for the summer slump in blood donations. “Everyone will at some time in their life probably know someone that needs blood,” Birkhoff said. “Knowing that Voice your person could be you or a family member, opinion it really does, like, help you go through Have you it. Even if it’s a total donated blood stranger, you’re savthis year? ing a life.” Vote online at The event was NWHerald. the culmination of com. weeks of work from students throughout McHenry County. Partnering with Heartland Blood Centers, McHenry County-area high school and McHenry County College students hosted the blood drive. Their goal was to collect 111 units of blood, said Birkhoff, a future MCC student who coordinated the event. High school and college students account for about 25 percent of blood donations, said Heartland Blood Center’s blood program consultant Carrie Futchko. So during summer when those students are out of school or on vacation, it limits the agency’s ability to meet its goal to collect 600 units to supply the 63 hospitals in Chicago and Northern Illinois, she said. Heartland gets one unit of blood for every person who donates. Futchko said for comparison, a person getting a liver transplant needs 100 units of blood, a cancer patient could
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Racket Club tackles deficit Looks to increase memberships and nonmember users By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Phlebotomist Lauren McCormick (right) feels for a vein in the arm of Jack Ramsland, 18, of Richmond as he and Sue Kapraun of Spring Grove (top right) donate blood during a blood drive Friday at Church of Holy Apostles in McHenry. The event in McHenry was organized by Heartland Blood Centers of Aurora in partnership with students from 17 high schools in McHenry and Lake counties. This site collected one pint of blood from each of the more than 36 donors.
ALGONQUIN – After six years of running in the red, the Racket Club is looking to expand its base – and its income. The Racket Club has outlined a new business plan designed to address the deficits that have dogged the Crystal Lake Park District facility since the economy began chipping away at its membership. The problem has been compounded by an aging membership base that is not being replaced by adults in their 20s and 30s, and while junior memberships are growing, the dues are only half those paid by adults, the plan said. The Racket Club had 1,100 memberships at the end of last month, up from the low point of 1,054 memberships in July 2011 but still lower than the 1,269 memberships it had in December 2008, club manager Rob Laue said. “We’ve been basically stable for the last year,” he said. The goal is to increase the number of memberships by 2 percent each year while also growing the number of nonmembers who pay the daily-use fee to use the club, a shift in thinking for the club, Laue said. But it’s one thing to lay out the goals and plans and another to implement them, Crystal Lake Park District Executive Director Jason
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La. theater gunman has history of mental illness, right-wing extremism The ASSOCIATED PRESS LAFAYETTE, La. – A man who lost his family, home and businesses as he spent years angrily espousing right-wing extremism on TV, the Internet and to anyone else who would listen did not say a word as he opened fire on strangers in a darkened movie theater, authorities said Friday. John Russell Houser, 59, stood up about 20 minutes into Thursday night’s showing of “Trainwreck” and fired on the audience, killing
two people and wounding nine with a semi-automatic handgun. “That was a horrific scene in there – the blood on the floor, sticks in the seats [showing the trajectory of the bullets], the smell,” state police Col. Michael Edmonson said John Russell after top officials got Houser an inside look at the theater. “He took his time, methodically
LOCAL NEWS
choosing his victims,” Gov. Bobby Jindal added. “One of the surviving wounded victims actually played dead to stay alive.” Houser then tried to escape by blending into the fleeing crowd after one of his victims pulled a fire alarm and hundreds poured out of the theater complex. But he turned back as police officers approached, reloading and firing into the crowd before killing himself with a single shot inside the theater, police said.
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Mitsubishi Motors shifts focus to Asia, to close only U.S. plant located in central Illinois / A9 SPORTS
Cost of repairs crippling Monks raising funds to fix 109-year-old stained glass windows in dire need of repairs at Woodstock Buddhist temple / A3
AP photo
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal kneels Friday as he places a bouquet of flowers near the entrance to the Grand 16 Theatre in Lafayette, La. Police on Friday said John Russell Houser bought the handgun legally in Phenix City, Ala., last year.
‘Just play to par’ Huntley grad Jake Bowser claims the boys senior title in MCJGA tourney in Cary / C1
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