FRIDAY
Au gus t 22 , 2014 • $1 .0 0
BEARS PRESEASON
Bears’ Chris Conte
5 things to look for when Chicago takes on defending champion Seattle / C1
NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
WORK NEARS COMPLETION
HIGH
LOW
90 73 Complete forecast on page A12
Facebook.com/NWHerald
@NWHerald
Green Party fails in court bid to get on Nov. ballot Party reviewing options, says Harvard candidate By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
The Algonquin Western Bypass, seen here Wednesday, is set to open next week. The 2.11-mile, four-lane road will allow motorists to bypass traffic at Routes 31 and 62.
Algonquin Western Bypass scheduled to open next week By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com ALGONQUIN – Workers tested traffic signals Wednesday to make sure they function properly. Others checked that lane markers were set, road joints sealed and that water would run off properly. Some workers cleared off the deck of a bridge and cut grooves to prevent hydroplaning. Workers are putting the final touches on the $33.3 million Algonquin Western Bypass project that is more than 90 percent complete. The road is scheduled to open next week. When including all of the necessary land acquisition and other prep work, the project is estimated to have cost $88 million. Engineers hope to open the road mid morning after
rush hour. There won’t be any ceremony, just workers moving barricades, said Mark Mikrut, an engineer for EXP, a consultant for the Illinois Department of Transportation. “It will be a matter of minutes,” Mikrut said. Even after the road opens, work will continue on landscaping, which has to take place in the fall, and decorative lattice work on the bridges, said Troy Wanket, resident engineer for IDOT. About 30,000 vehicles a day travel on Route 31 through Algonquin, Mikrut said. The 2.11-mile road is lined with street lights to illuminate the road around downtown Algonquin. There is a diamond interchange where the bypass intersects with Route 62, which
See BYPASS, page A4
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
A select group of state representatives, village and county officials and community members take a drive over the newly constructed John C. Schmitt Bridge after the dedication ceremony July 27 in Algonquin.
Western bypass history: To view archived stories, editorials and letters about local efforts to get the western bypass funded and built, visit http://shawurl.com/bypass.
On the Web: To view video of a drive down the Route 31 western bypass in Algonquin, visit NWHerald.com.
Illinois Green Party candidates for statewide office – including Harvard attorney Scott Summers – likely will not appear on the Nov. 4 ballot after a federal judge on Thursday rejected a lawsuit aimed at forcing their inclusion. While U.S. District Judge John Tharp Jr. in his 20-page opinion appeared to sympathize with some of the party’s arguments that the extra requirements imposed on third parties are unconstitutional, he concluded that he is bound to uphold the state’s constitutionally valid requirement when it comes to the number of signatures, which under Illinois State Board of Elections rules it did not meet. Tharp called the Green Party’s predicament “a situation of the plaintiffs’ own making,” concluding that it had plenty of time before the election process started challenging the requirements, rather than filing a July lawsuit after the filing period ended. Candidates for the Nov. 4 ballot must be certified by Friday. “What the plaintiffs have effectively created is a situation in which the only preliminary remedy that can be fashioned is to strike the ballot access provision that has been held to be constitutionally valid while allowing the allegedly unconstitutional provisions to remain. A cure that removes healthy tissue
Scott Summers
On the Web For full coverage of local, state and national elections, visit NWHerald. com.
Voice your opinion Have you ever voted for a third-party candidate? Vote online at NWHerald. com.
See BALLOT, page A4
State wants to release mentally ill woman who killed mom By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – It’s been 13 years since Alice Bair was civilly committed but criminally acquitted for killing her mother, and prosecutors are fighting the state’s attempts to release her. Alice Bair, 73, was found guilty by reason of insanity for the 2001 murder of her elderly mother, Margaret Bair, during a psychotic episode and an argument over dogs. Alice Bair
sat on the 88-year-old woman in her Crystal Lake home, crushing her chest and ribs. She’s been at a secure mental health facility in Elgin since 2002. The Illinois Department of Human Services recently determined that Alice Bair has progressed far enough in her mental health treatment to be released into the community for outpatient treatment. Alice Bair believed that her mother had broken into her Crystal Lake home to steal her dogs. She told a neighbor, “that
SPORTS
woman I hate came into my house and let my dogs out.” Alice Bair, it was reported, suffers from chronic paranoid schizophrenia, a disease that causes people to become delusional and Alice Bair imagine hearing things. If McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather supports the
DHS recommendation for her release, Alice Bair would live with a roommate in a supervised apartment setting. The group home, Stepping Stone, is in Rockford. A similar request was denied by Prather in 2011. A decision is expected Sept. 26. Alice Bair’s defense attorney, assistant public defender Rick Behof said the group home setting is the next step in her recovery. He noted that Prather had previously granted Bair permission to travel,
STATE
WHERE IT’S AT
Last-minute appeal
Advice ..................................C7 Business ........................... E1-2 Buzz...................................... C8 Classified........................E3-10 Comics .................................C9 Community ......................... B1 Local News...................... A2-9 Lottery..................................A2 Movies................................. C6 Nation&World.................B3-5 Obituaries ...........................A9 Opinions ............................ A11 Puzzles ................................. E9 Sports............................... C1-5 State .................................... B2 Weather ............................. A12
Term-limit backers urge state Supreme Court to jump into debate on referendum / B2 LOCAL
Girls tennis preview
monitored 24 hours a day by mental health professionals, there are no safeguards – such as armed guards or alarms on all doors – that would prevent Bair from simply walking off. “The concern we have is this is not a secure facility,” Combs said. “She could leave at any time, there’s nothing preventing her from walking away.” Alice Bair appeared in McHenry County Court on
See BAIR, page A4
Proven lawyers who are there when the water is rough.
Winning is no accident. Ready for takeoff Vietnam War vet James Pudlas one of 24 area vets on Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. / A3
815.923.21077 • www.fgmlaw.com
adno=0288760
PR moves to the Fox Division this season in girls tennis but continues to be the team to beat in the Fox Valley Conference / C1
with supervision, outside Elgin Mental Health Center to connect with outpatient treatment providers and resources. “This is a natural progression for Alice,” Behof said, adding it would be “a huge step” in her overall recovery. But Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Combs said Stepping Stone provides no guarantee that Alice Bair will take her medications. When she doesn’t, she’s known to engage in violent episodes, he said. While Stepping Stone is