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POLICE EXPLORATION Program allows for youth to learn about law enforcement
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Rate study suggests raising water bills McHenry City Council won’t vote until at least December By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Cary Police Explorer Matt Wade, 17, of Cary directs traffic along Silver Lake Road before the Summer Celebration fireworks show July 3 at Lions Park. The explorers program allows youth ages 14 to 21 to learn about police operations and help police at local events. Biweekly meetings are held where the explorers learn about police operations, procedures and different scenarios police often encounter.
By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com There are times when 17-year-old Cary Police Explorer Brett Dalton helps with traffic control that motorists express their frustrations to him as if he were a paid officer. When Dalton helps with traffic control sometimes it does become a little intense, even when he’s trying to help things run smoothly. Being yelled at has helped Dalton gain a thick skin. “I’ve had people get out of their cars and get in my face,” Dalton said. Traffic control is just one of the things Dalton, and his fellow police explorers, have learned in the program. Communities such as Harvard, Lake in the Hills, Cary, Algonquin, McHenry and Woodstock have police explorer programs that allow young people ages 14 to 21 to learn about police work. The program is part of Boy Scouts of America. Explorers meet two or three times
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Learn more about explorers A handful of police departments have explorer programs: n Lake in the Hills: Call 847-658-5676 or go to www.lith.org n Cary: Call 847-639-2341 or go to www. caryillinois.com n Woodstock: Call 815-338-2131 or email ccipolla@woodstockil.gov n Harvard: Call 815-943-4431 or email schultz@ cityofharvard.org n Algonquin: Call 847-658-4531 or email mikes@algonquin.org a week and have classes about certain topics and then role play to see how procedures are applied. Explorers go on ride-alongs, learn about firearm safety and shoot guns, among other things. Dalton, a Cary-Grove High School senior, wants to study criminal justice in college and thought being an explorer would help him get a head start.
He’s learned about crime scenes, laws that officers need to be aware of and has visited jails. He’s even had a chance to fire weapons as part of the program. “It’s a great experience,” Dalton said. “They have [people] come in [to] teach you about hands-on safety ... I grew up around guns [and] I know the basics, but they were showing me a lot of techniques.” Glen Davis, 20, of McHenry is a member of the Woodstock Police Explorers. He eventually wants to become a police officer and has been hired as a community service officer for the Woodstock Police Department. “When I applied, they knew I knew all of the codes,” Davis said. “It made it a lot easier.” Stephanie Kroll, 20, of Woodstock is a senior at Western Illinois University, where she is studying law enforcement and justice administration.
See EXPLORERS, page A5
I’ll never have the same day twice. I also try to make a difference in my community. I want to help people, and I want to be the person little kids can look up to.”
McHENRY – Proposed increases to the city’s water and sewer rates would put a larger share of the burden on heavy users, the city’s engineers told the McHenry City Council on Monday evening. The engineers, Chad Pieper and Ed Coggin of HR Green, presented the council with the results of a rate study the city had hired them to conduct in light of revenues falling short of department costs and planned infrastructure improvements. Rates would need to rise for both sewer and water users, the study concluded. But the City Council has a choice on how it distributes the annual increases: a flat increase across the board or a series of increases depending on the user type’s strain on the system. The cost to provide a thousand gallons of water to a residential user is less than it is for an industrial user, Pieper said. An industrial user has a higher peak usage, which means the city has to have the infrastructure to handle that peak whether or not the user is running at that peak – and paying for it. The council was leaning toward the weighted increases during discussions Monday evening, but a final vote actually raising rates won’t happen until December or January. For water service, all users currently pay a minimum payment of $12.44 each twomonth billing cycle, which covers the first 4,000 gallons. Each subsequent 1,000 gallons costs $3.11. Under the proposed rate increase the council is leaning toward, the base fee would separate from the per gallon charge, meaning a residential user could pay $13.06 each
Options before council The City Council has a choice on how it distributes the annual increases: n a flat increase across the board or n a series of increases depending on the user type’s strain on the system.
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Stephanie Kroll, a Woodstock Police Explorer and law enforcement and justice administration student at Western Illinois University See WATER RATE, page A5
Illinois governor, opponent clash over Caribbean investments By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press CHICAGO – As one of the nation’s most competitive governor’s races picks up, voters in Illinois are hearing a whole lot about a British territory thousands of miles away in the Caribbean. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn hammered his wealthy Republican rival for days after reports that Bruce Rauner put some investments in the Cayman Islands, a place often criticized as a tax haven and that has caused political problems for U.S. candidates, including 2012 GOP presidential nominee
Mitt Romney. Rauner’s campaign fired back, saying Quinn’s own pension fund – and that of many Illinois teachers and other public employees – are tied to investments there. The fallout has included accusations that candidates are unpatriotic and waging a “war on teachers,” recruiting an economist to discuss the ills of offshore accounts and a news conference on a sweltering Chicago beach intended to conjure up images of the Caribbean paradise. Here’s a breakdown of the situation and what it could mean come November:
private equity investor who’s making his first bid for public office, says the investments didn’t affect his personal tax rate and that he fully disclosed the necessary information to the U.S. government. International companies Pat Quinn Bruce Rauner and wealthy investors have long taken advantage of offshore financial centers in the THE INVESTMENTS Rauner has at least five Caymans because regulations investments in the Caymans, and legal systems make it easy either of his personal funds or to move capital internationalset up by the partners of his ly. Rauner said his former firm former firm, the Chicago Sun- was simply doing “what many, many financial firms do.” Times reported. Quinn’s campaign says Rauner set up the accounts to THE CRITICISM Quinn and running mate avoid paying taxes. Rauner, a
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Paul Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO, called on Rauner to release his 2013 taxes and the full documentation for prior years’ tax returns he has already made public. Standing on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan last week, Vallas said voters shouldn’t have to take Rauner’s word that he’s met his full tax obligations. He said the only way for voters to know for sure is to see the full tax schedules. Quinn, who releases his full returns each year, said wealthy people and corporations that
Gubernatorial election For complete coverage of local, state and national elections, visit NWHerald. com.
Inside n Quinn calls on Rauner to confirm debates. PAGE B2
See ELECTION, page A5
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