FRIDAY
August 1, 2014 • $1.00
Tyler Novak
BOMBED OUT Crystal Lake’s 15U squad couldn’t capitalize on an early three-run blast and fell, 13-5, to the Puerto Rico All-Stars / C1
HIGH
79 59 Complete forecast on page A10
*
NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
LOW
Facebook.com/NWHerald
@NWHerald
Man gets 15 months for fraud Ex-Riverside Plaza builder bilked bank out of $1.017M By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com ALGONQUIN – A for mer area homebuilder was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in federal prison for defrauding a bank of more than $1 million tied to the failed Riverside Plaza project in downtown Algonquin. Bruce Hawkins, 64, of Denver and formerly of Algonquin, also was ordered to pay $1.017 million in restitution as part of the sentence, accepted by U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr., according to the U.S. state’s attorney for the Northern Illinois District. Hawkins, who pleaded guilty in January, admitted he used false contractor statements and invoices to defraud the former Amcore Bank of more than $1 million from the proceeds of a $13.5
million line of credit used to finance the Riverside Plaza development. The village of Algonquin in 2006 selected Hawkins, the former owner of Aspen Homebuilders, to construct luxury condos at Routes 31 and 62. But Aspen Homebuilders went bankrupt in 2008, leaving the project and interior construction unfinished. The development sat unfinished for two years, earning the nickname “Tyvek Tower” because it was wrapped in Tyvek building material. Lakeland Asset Management eventually took ownership of the property, and the owners are converting the condos into apartments. Between January 2007 and June 2008, Hawkins fraudulently obtained more than
Photos by Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Ashley Kelley gets a kiss from her mother, Gail, in front of her father, Jim, as a song is played Thursday during a surprise vigil outside of her home in Crystal Lake. Ashley Kelley will be the first at Rush University Medical Center to receive a NeuroPace implant now that it’s been FDA approved after a 10-year trial. The implant is designed to stop epileptic seizures before they start.
Hope wears purple Surprise vigil organized for 22-year-old Crystal Lake woman fighting epilepsy
See FRAUD, page A7
Vote on power plant postponed until Oct. Zoning board grants request for continuance
“I have no choice in the matter. [The developers] requested a continuance, and it’s a procedure that we have to follow.”
By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO
Marty Gierut
sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com OAKWOOD HILLS – The developers behind a controversial $450 million power plant in Oakwood Hills will have more time to address their critics, after zoning board members Thursday postponed a vote on the project until October. Dressed in red, hundreds of residents returned to the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn to voice opposition to the proposed 430-megawatt natural gas facility a week after expressing concerns during a separate zoning meeting on the project. But members earlier in the week stripped public comment from the agenda, prohibiting residents from addressing the
Oakwood Hills zoning chairman
panel Thursday. Members, instead, finished the meeting within five minutes by granting the power plant developers a continuance until Oct. 9 on a 4-1 vote. The critics in attendance consequently erupted at the board, shouting at members to let them speak. “I have no choice in the matter,” zoning Chairman Marty Gierut said after the meeting. “[The developers] requested a continuance, and it’s a procedure that we have to follow.”
See MEETING, page A7
SPORTS
Hundreds of supporters gather outside Ashley Kelley’s home Thursday during a surprise vigil in Crystal Lake. By SHAWN SHINNEMAN // sshinneman@shawmedia.com
S
un falling on the parking lot of Woods Creek Elementary School, a growing purple mob awaits migra-
tion. It is Thursday night, July’s last hurrah, four X’s on the calender until 22-yearold Ashley Kelley goes in for her life’s second major surgery. This time, doctors will take out a piece of her skull and replace it with a newly FDA-certified device called a NeuroPace RNS System. The hope – a word Kelley’s Crystal Lake family uses often – is that the NeuroPace controls or reduces
or maybe even completely stops all these seizures. Kelley suffers between 15 and 20 of them a month, ranging in duration and intensity but sometimes teetering toward life-threatening. Her mother tracks them in a pink binder, and it is thick. Purple is the color given to epilepsy awareness, and this parking lot is acutely aware. A couple families came together to make shirts in the color of the cause. They adorn the majority of the crowd, which surely tops the 122 people who accepted the invitation on Facebook. “Look at all these people
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Mistrial in sexual assault case
Advice ..................................C8 Business ........................... E1-2 Buzz.................................... C10 Classified........................E3-12 Comics .................................C9 Community ......................... B1 Local News...................... A2-8 Lottery..................................A2 Movies................................. C7 Nation&World.................... B3 Obituaries ...........................A8 Opinions ............................. A9 Puzzles ................................. E9 Sports............................... C1-6 State .................................... B2 Weather .............................A10
Judge declares witness violated court order in trial of nursing home health care worker / A3 STATE
she’s touched,” said Gina Smak, Kelley’s boss at a Woods Creek-based before and after-school program. “Is it not amazing to be a part of this?” At 8:01 p.m., the group herds across the street, toward the house on the corner. They’re off to greet Kelley with a send-off and prayer vigil – a show of support for a young woman who’s been through a lot. But it’s a surprise. So shhhhh.
Risks rise as time goes by Kelley’s first seizure came at 16 months, presenting itself in a way now famil-
Celebrating
Years Congratulations to our friend and partner Herb Franks on his 50 year achievement.
Rauner supports agriculture GOP gubernatorial candidate said he would work to reduce tax burdens on farmers / B2
815.923.21077 • www.fgmlaw.com
adno=0288685
Former Marian Central assistant coach ready for fresh start with St. Viator as the team’s new offensive line coach / C1
See SURPRISE, page A7
Winning is no accident.
Herb Franks
Spoden to return to sidelines
iar but at the time foreign – and frightening. A second ago, she’d been giggling on the swings. Now she would give no reaction to the cues of her parents. Emergency responders told the Kelleys their daughter was having a seizure – and a serious one, at that. It was the beginning of what has become an unpredictable life. Kelley, to this day, rarely gets the more noticeable Grand mal seizures, which present as violent muscle contractions. But, as time ticks and Kelley doesn’t