NWH-8-26-2015

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2015 PREP FOOTBALL PREVIEW

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McHENRY COUNTY TOWNSHIP CONSOLIDATION

Faces 4 to 15 years for possessing weapons By CHELSEA McDOUGALL |cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – In rendering guilty verdicts for a former Hebron police sergeant, a McHenry County judge called the small police department’s leadership “inept” when it came to managing the evidence locker from which Ryszard T. Kopacz illegally obtained weapons. “[Inept is] the state’s word, but I’m borrowing it,” Judge Michael Feetterer said. But Hebron’s ineptitude wasn’t on trial this week. It was Kopacz, 31, who after being fired from the police department in June 2014 was found Ryszard T. to be in possession of Kopacz three long guns from the department’s evidence locker – weapons Kopacz stole from the department, the judge said. Kopacz opted for a bench trial this week, rather than a jury. On Tuesday, Feetterer found him guilty of the more serious possession of stolen weapons charge, but acquitted him on three official misconduct charges because it was unclear exactly when the guns were removed from the department. Kopacz will remain free on bond until his sentencing dates Nov. 5 and 6. He faces between four and 15 years in prison on the most serious conviction. The weapons weren’t discovered missing until agents from Illinois State Police were called to investigate a separate incident. They executed a search warrant at Kopacz’s Wauconda home and recovered three long guns in his brother’s bedroom. “I’ve got a police chief that had no idea these three weapons went missing from the Hebron evidence locker,” Feetterer said, recalling all the evidence presented at trial. Shortly after being fired from Hebron for “budgetary reasons,” Kopacz was hired at the Richmond Police Department. While employed there, Kopacz is accused of going door-to-door asking residents for prescription drugs. Richmond called the lllinois State Police to investigate. Testimony at trial revealed that Kopacz told an investigator he believed he was fired in retaliation for

Photos by Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com

Hartland Township Trustee Gene Boppart speaks Tuesday to the McHenry County Township Consolidation Task Force before members made their final recommendation to advance to the County Board regarding what township consolidation option to put to the voters next year. A citizens’ group wants to consolidate the county’s 17 townships into eight.

Little consensus from consolidation task force

Panel to recommend proposals to merge 2 rural sets of townships By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – A task force convened to examine halving the number of McHenry County townships through consolidation could agree only on merging a few of them. After three meetings and hours of debate and examining numbers, the only consolidation proposals the McHenry County Township Consolidation Task Force could agree on recommending to the full County Board were proposals to combine two rural sets of townships. A majority of the five-member task force agreed Tuesday to recommend voter referendums to merge Richmond and Burton townships in the county’s northeast corner, and Chemung and Dunham townships in the northwest corner. But while the task force

It will be up to the 24-member County Board to decide whether to put referendums to township residents in the March primary asking voters if they want to consolidate their particular townships. And while the County Board could decide to run with more than just the two, the lack of consensus by the task force undoubtedly will play a significant role into what, if any, proposals advance. “I think we’ve created a lot more questions than answers,” task force Chairwoman and County Board member Carolyn Schofield, R-Crystal Lake, said before the meeting adjourned. A group called McHenry County Citizens for Township ConEileen Marhoefer, Algonquin Township GOP precinct committeewomen, speaks solidation, with the blessing of a number of high-ranking county Tuesday to the McHenry County Township Consolidation Task Force. Republican officials, asked the couldn’t reach consensus on any of consolidation, and for the most County Board earlier this year to the three proposed consolidation part pairs the more heavily popu- put consolidation referendums to maps it created, it will advance lated and urbanized ones off with See TOWNSHIPS, page A5 one that spares no township from each other.

See KOPACZ, page A2

Rauner, lawmakers focus on smaller projects in budget mess By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Illinois legislators and Gov. Bruce Rauner bickered over potholes, airplanes and other smaller-ticket items Tuesday as officials prepared to answer a contempt charge in federal court alleging the cash-strapped state missed a deadline to pay some service providers. A court hearing was scheduled Wednesday for the state to explain why it missed an Aug. 21 deadline for a court-ordered

payment for services to developmentally disabled residents living in community homes or larger facilities. The state comptroller reported that without a budget, the checking account has cash-flow problems. But the focus Tuesday was on much smaller budget matters. The House spent the day working to reverse the Republican governor’s cuts to child care programs and to release $146 million in fuel-tax money to help cities fill potholes – fourtenths of 1 percent of what the state usually spends annually,

and the governor lauded a $2.5 million sale of surplus aircraft. Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said the Legislature’s piecemeal spending approach represents Democrats’ attempt to “claw their way to a massive tax hike by Bruce h a m s t r i n g i n g Rauner the state with an unbalanced budget.” The state is ending its eighth week without a budget for the

fiscal year that began July 1. Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly have been unable to agree. Democrats favor raising taxes to fill a multibillion-dollar hole. Rauner insists on first approving basic changes to make it easLeslie ier for business Munger to flourish and obliterate corruption to restore faith in politics. Much of the money is al-

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Pending approval Prices to drop

Multiple swimmers with experience could qualify for state / C1

D-26, Montessori lease deal could fill vacant Oak Knoll property / A3

BP announces restart of part of repaired oil refinery in Ind. / B3

ready spoken for. School spending was approved. Federal court decrees and state court orders eat up much of the rest of the available revenue. But Comptroller Leslie Munger announced Tuesday that, even with tax money continuing to come in, the cash flow is crimped. The state faced an Aug. 21 payment deadline for services for more than 10,000 developmentally disabled residents who need help with daily tasks while living in community homes or larger state facilities.

Munger spokesman Rich Carter said the state paid $71 million Tuesday to the organizations that run the community homes. But a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the 2011 lawsuit settlement said the residence operators haven’t seen any money. “If they don’t receive timely payment, many of them will have to close,” said Barry Taylor, a lawyer for Equip for Equality. “Our clients are placed in jeopardy.”

See BUDGET, page A5

WHERE IT’S AT Advice ................................ D3 Buzz.....................................C6 Classified..................... D6-10 Comics ...............................D4 Community ........................B1 Local News.................... A2-6 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...................B5

Obituaries ......................... A7 Opinion...............................B2 Puzzles ...........................D3, 5 Sports..............................C1-5 State ................................... B3 Stocks................................. A7 TV listings .........................D5 Weather .............................A8


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