STEPPING DOWN Jack Sebesta gives an emotional farewell at start of MCYSA Summer International championships / C1
July 27, 2014 • $1.50
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80 56 Complete forecast on page A12
NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
Road salt pinch hits home
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Officials turn out for bypass dedication Praise bipartisan effort to fund Algonquin project By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Maintenance Superintendent Ed Markison stands in the salt dome Thursday at the McHenry County Division of Transportation in Woodstock. Area road departments have been told by the state that they haven’t received bids for their winter road salt needs, leaving some municipalities in a bind.
Some local entities without bid to replenish supply on hand By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com Highway and public works departments statewide are scrambling to secure supplies of road salt after learning that a number of them were dropped from Illinois’ annual bid. Summer is typically when local governments buy salt by the ton through the Department of Central Management Services, the state agency in charge of procuring supplies in bulk to lower the cost. But CMS told a number of governments statewide about a week and a half ago that no salt companies submitted bids to re-
supply them. If they can’t find vendors, next winter could be a slippery one for drivers in McHenry County and elsewhere. A likely reason for the shortage is the demand part of the law of supply and demand – it’s way up, given that the brutal winter we just survived stretched salt supplies not just in the Midwest, but in much of the country, as well. The McHenry County Division of Transportation is in a good position to keep its 550 lane miles clear for the start of winter, Maintenance Superintendent Ed Markison said. It has 5,500 tons
on hand at its rural Woodstock headquarters, and a typical winter can range between 8,000 and 10,000 tons. But it was one of the governments that did not get a bid. “It’s definitely a worry. I’ve been doing this for 23 years and we can never predict what Mother Nature is going to bring us from year to year. The best we can do is try to be as prepared as possible,” Markison said. Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong will go wrong – can be as potent a force as the law of supply and demand. Local governments in McHenry and Lake counties
were told by CMS in summer 2008 that it could not find bidders for their road salt needs, forcing them to scramble to find alternatives. The winter that followed was one of the snowiest since the National Weather Service started keeping records. Increased demand, of course, not only makes salt or any product harder to get, but also increases the cost, Crystal Lake Public Works Director Victor Ramirez said. The city, like the county, did not get a bid. “Those locations that did get
See ROAD SALT, page A4
“Those locations that did get [bid] offers were told that the per-ton price went up to between $70 and $140 a ton. Last year we paid $59.” Victor Ramirez, Crystal Lake Public Works director
ALGONQUIN – Lawmakers across party lines emphasized Saturday the long bipartisan effort seldom seen in today’s politics that created the Algonquin Western Bypass, as they dedicated the new two-mile highway weeks before it opens to motorists. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., state representatives, village and county officials all gathered atop the newly-constructed John C. Schmitt Bridge to commemorate a project meant to ease traffic congestion at Routes 31 and 62, and spur economic growth in downtown Algonquin. The $88 million project decades in the making could not have happened without the work of Republicans and Democrats at all levels coming together to find the resources to construct the bypass, Durbin told a crowd of about 100 area dignitaries and business owners. “Standing here today is a reaffirmation of the basics,” Durbin said. “When we get together as Illinoisans and Americans, there’s nothing we can’t do, even a 60-yearold dream like the Algonquin bypass.” Durbin thanked former U.S. Rep. Dan Manzullo, a longtime area Republican who
See BYPASS, page A10
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Algonquin Village President John Schmitt asks a crowd of about 100 state representatives and village and county officials to give themselves a round of applause during the Algonquin Western Bypass dedication ceremony Saturday in Algonquin.
Fast-food workers gathered in Chicago vow civil disobedience By TAMMY WEBBER The Associated Press VILLA PARK – Comparing their campaign to the civil rights movement, fast-food workers from across the country voted Saturday to escalate their efforts for $15-an-hour pay and union membership to include nonviolent civil disobedience. More than 1,300 workers gathered in a convention in center in suburban Chicago
to discuss the future of a campaign that has spread to dozens of cities in less than two years. Wearing T-shirts that said “Fight for $15” and “We Are Worth More,” the workers cheered loudly and said they would win if they stuck together. “People are just fed up,” said Cindy Enriquez, 20, of Phoenix. The $8.25 an hour she makes working for McDonald’s is not enough to go to
SPORTS
college and become a police officer and barely enough to pay her rent, Enriquez said. “We need to ... get [restaurant owners’] attention,” perhaps with more strikes or blocking stores, she said. “We’re going to keep on going.” The Service Employees International Union has been providing financial and organizational support to the fastfood protests. They began in late 2012 in New York City and
have included daylong strikes and a loud but peaceful demonstration outside this year’s McDonald’s Corp. shareholder meeting, where more than 130 protesters were arrested after stepping onto company property. Saturday’s convention in Villa Park included sessions on civil disobedience and leadership training. Kendall Fells, an organizing director for the campaign and a representative of SEIU, said when and
LOCAL
WHERE IT’S AT
McHenry OK’s zoning variance
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Apartments could be added in addition to proposed commercial development / A3 PLANIT STYLE
what actions happen next will be up to workers in each city. The Rev. William Barber II, head of the North Carolina NAACP, said the movement is young but as important as when civil disobedience efforts began during the early years of the civil rights movement. “People should not work and be willing to work and then be denied living wages and be denied health care because of greed,” Barber said.
“This movement is saying that America is less than she promises to be, morally and constitutionally, by denying living wages,” Barber said. “If you raise wages for workers, you buoy the whole economy.” The campaign comes as President Barack Obama and many other Democrats across the country have attempted to make a campaign issue out of
See WORKERS, page A4
Is the grass really greener?
The Other Guys
Reaching the Hall of Fame
In a pickle
Former Braves, Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux inducted to Baseball Hall of Fame / C9
Pickleball, America’s fastest growing sport, finds home in McHenry County / Planit 8-9
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