TUESDAY
July 29, 2014 • $1.00
IMMERSION FOOTBALL New Harvard coach starts new tradition with women’s football clinic / C1
Kim Hansler
NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
McHENRY COUNTY YOUTH SPORTS ASSOCIATION
TOURNAMENT AN ECONOMIC HOME RUN
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County developing first code of conduct Rules also would make it easier to remove violators By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Team PowerPipe fans celebrate a run scored in the first inning of the game Monday against Wisconsin Team Delmarini during the McHenry County Youth Sports Association 11-U division baseball tournament game at Lippold Park in Crystal Lake.
By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – When Jack Sebesta helped start a large, international youth baseball tournament, he thought it could help local hotels and restaurants. He didn’t realize it would become such a boon for the local Hostess sales. “I have a buddy who drives a Hostess route and he told me sales go up 35 percent during the tournament,” Sebesta said, noting gas stations in particular run out of the treats quickly when hundreds of young baseball players come to town. “You never really think about those things, but it affects so many places.” From causing increased sales of pain medications
at Walgreens to becoming the Crystal Lake Best Buy’s second busiest time of the year behind the holidays, the McHenry County Youth Sports Association’s Summer International Baseball Championships have become as much about the benefits off the field as on it. Hundreds of players from dozens of teams around the region and other parts of the world such as Puerto Rico and Japan have brought millions of dollars to the region over the years. Jaki Berggren, executive director of Visit McHenry County, said even the low-end estimates of what the weeklong tournament brings are impressive. She said if 4,000 people attended the tournament, they
would on average create $81 a day of economic impact if they were day travelers and $122 a day if they stayed overnight. If no one stayed overnight, the tournament would still create roughly $1.6 million for the area while it would create $2.4 million if everyone stayed overnight. Those numbers would be higher if the event drew more than 4,000 people, which she said it very well could. The biggest benefit, she said, might be the precedent the tournament has set as it shows other organizers that McHenry County can handle large events. The tournament has paved the way for events such as Tough Mudder, which drew 15,000 people to
“Having the longevity and history of [the tournament] is great because it shows we can handle these big events.” Jaki Berggren Executive director of Visit McHenry County
Inside McHenry County Youth Sports Association honors student/athlete achievement award winners and new Hall of Famers. Sports, C1
See TOURNAMENT, page A5
WOODSTOCK – The McHenry County Board is wasting no time developing a code of conduct for its appointees to boards and commissions. Its Management Services Committee on Monday directed county staff to develop a proposed set of guidelines that appointees must honor, one week after Gov. Pat Quinn signed a law allowing the collar counties to do so. The new law also gives county boards a mechanism to remove violators. While the law is based off a code of conduct the Lake County Board developed for its appointees – which inspired the state law – it will be tailor-made for McHenry County, said committee Chairwoman Paula Yensen, D-Lake in the Hills. “We’re going to be reviewing a template of the code of ethics that’s really related to McHenry County,” Yensen said. Senate Bill 3552 allows counties with more than 300,000 people, excluding Cook County, to adopt standards for accountability, fiscal responsibility, transparency, efficiency and ethics. An appointee can be removed for violating the standards, after getting a hearing, with a two-thirds vote of the County Board, which in McHenry County is 16 of 24 members. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, applies only to appointees to boards and commissions, and cannot be used to remove an elected County Board member. County boards currently have almost no recourse to remove an appointee except to wait until his or her term expires and appoint someone
“We’re going to be reviewing a template of the code of ethics that’s really related to McHenry County.” Paula Yensen Management Services Committee chairwoman
On the Net n You can read the text of Senate Bill 3552 at www. ilga.gov. n You can read a copy of Lake County’s standards of conduct for appointees at http://shawurl. com/1b8r.
See RULES, page A5
Bipartisan deal approves funds to fix VA $17B agreement to help hospitals hire medical staff, veterans get outside care By MATTHEW DALY The Associated Press WASHINGTON – A bipartisan deal announced Monday would authorize about $17 billion to help veterans avoid long waits for health care, hire more doctors and nurses to treat veterans and make it easier to fire executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs. An agreement announced by the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees is intended to fix a veterans’ health program
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Bears offense Arkush: Bears’ backup quarterback situation still worrisome / C2
scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records covering up delays. The bill includes $10 billion in emergency spending to make it easier for veterans who can’t get prompt appointments with VA doctors to obtain outside care; $5 billion to hire doctors, nurses and other medical staff; and about $1.5 billion to lease 27 new clinics across the country, lawmakers said. The bill also would expand a scholarship program for veterans, allow all veterans to
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qualify for in-state college tuition and grant the VA secretary authority to immediately fire senior executives, while providing employees with streamlined appeal rights. “This bill makes certain that we address the immediate crisis of veterans being forced onto long waiting lists for health care,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs panel. The measure also “strengthens the VA so that it will be able to hire the doctors, nurses and medical personnel it needs so we can permanently put an end to the long waiting lists,” Sanders said at a news conference with Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., his House
counterpart. Miller said the bill would “go a long way to resolve the crisis” that is gripping the VA. The agency has been rocked by reports of patients dying while awaiting treatment and mounting evidence that workers falsified or omitted appointment schedules to mask frequent, long delays. The resulting election-year firestorm forced VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign in late May. Sanders and Miller reached agreement on a plan to reform the VA over the weekend after more than six weeks of sometimes testy talks.
See DEAL, page A5
AP photo
Senate Veterans Affairs Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (left), I-Vt., joined by House Veterans Affairs Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., speaks during a news conference Monday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to outline their agreement on a compromise plan to fix the vast health care system responsible for treating the nation’s veterans. The bipartisan deal would authorize at least $17 billion to fix the health program.
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MCC trustees approve preliminary budget with frozen tax levy / A3
The battle for penny pinchers fuels Dollar Tree agreement / B5
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