FRIDAY
S ept emb er 12, 2014 • $1 .0 0
FEARLESS CL Central’s DeCoste a tough QB / C1 HIGH
Prep webcast: Visit
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McHenryCountySports.com to watch CL Central vs. Prairie
Complete forecast on page A12
Ridge live at 7:15 p.m.
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Prim aide has criminal background Sheriff’s race challenger questions GOP nominee’s judgment By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com The criminal record of the former campaign manager for McHenry County Sheriff candidate Bill Prim casts a pall on what he would do if elected, Prim’s challenger alleged Thursday. Independent candidate Jim Harrison released police, court and witness records from two fights at two Iowa bars in one night in 2001 involving one-time campaign man-
ager Matt McNamara. He grabbed one man by the throat in the first fight and punched two women in the second, dragging a third by the hair, according to documents Harrison mailed to Chicago-area media. While Harrison insists McNamara is still running the campaign, Prim said McNamara has not held the position of campaign manager in more than a year and a half, and called him just one of many unpaid volunteers. However, McNamara was part of the Prim cam-
Online To read copies of the police reports from the incidents involving Matt McNamara, visit this story on NWHerald.com.
paign’s negotiations with the Northwest Herald in February 2014 about setting up a public debate between Prim and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke before the Republican primary. Besides questioning Prim’s
judgment in choosing McNamara, a former police officer who served with Prim in the Des Plaines Police Department, Harrison alleged that Prim could end up selecting a “bar room bully” to the second-in-command job of undersheriff. The quote comes from a 2004 court order related to the case. “When deciding who to choose to represent his campaign, Bill Prim clearly made the ‘wrong choice’ at
See SHERIFF’S RACE, page A4
Dad in S.C. killings tied to area
Sarah Nader file photo – snader@shawmedia.com
Huntley resident Matt McNamara works as part of Newt Gingrich’s security team during a March 2012 campaign rally at the Lake in the Hills Airport.
Oakwood Hills has decisions to make Village Board must select new leader By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com
AP photo
Timothy Ray Jones Jr. is escorted Thursday out of the Smith County Jail in Raleigh, Miss., to a vehicle for transport to Lexington County, S.C., where he is expected to be charged with murder in the deaths of his five children.
Man charged in his kids’ deaths has McHenry County record By JEFFREY COLLINS The Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina man accused of killing his five children was an ex-convict whose homes were visited by social workers a dozen times in the past three years and had a record dating back to his teenage years in McHenry County. The children seemed happy and
well-adjusted despite occasional spankings, and the family took a summer trip to Disney World and the beach, according to documents released by the Department of Social Services on Thursday. Authorities never found anything serious enough to take the children away, but the documents show Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, as a single father and computer engineer struggling to raise his
children. In the social worker’s last visit – two weeks before the children’s disappearance – a social worker summed up Jones’ life: “Dad appears to be overwhelmed as he is unable to maintain the home, but the children appear to be clean, groomed and appropriately dressed,” wrote the case worker, whose name was blacked out, on an Aug. 13 report. On Aug. 28, Jones picked up his children, ages 8, 7, 6, 2 and 1, from school and day care. He killed his five children at home, “by violent means,” about a week before his ex-wife reported them missing,
Online Visit this story on NWHerald.com to read a 2001 article from our archives about a Cary vehicle theft in which Timothy Ray Jones Jr. was arrested.
Acting Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty said in news release issued late Thursday. Lexington County Coroner Earl Wells conducted autopsies and ruled each of the deaths a homicide. The cause of the children’s deaths is
OAKWOOD HILLS – The resignations of three Oakwood Hills leaders, including the village president, has left a plethora of political possibilities for the community’s future. Less than 24 hours after former Oakwood Hills Village President Melanie Funk announced her resignation along with village attorney John Cowlin and trustee Beth Gorr, remaining village leaders scrambled Thursday to fill the void, with trustee Paul Smith posting a website message to residents as acting village president. But before vacancies can be filled Melanie and Smith can take Funk the role of acting president, village trustees must convene in a special meeting to officially elect an acting president who would then have authority to appoint candidates for board members to vote on to fill positions. “To actually hold the title of acting president, you would have to be elected at a board meeting,” said Larry Frang, executive director of the Illinois Municipal League. If Smith were to be elected as acting president, he would then have a choice to maintain his trustee position or resign and serve solely as acting village president. Maintaining his trustee position while holding the acting president title would allow Smith to
See KILLINGS, page A4 See OAKWOOD HILLS, page A4
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Respiratory virus causes some Chicago-area health systems to restrict visitors / A3 SPORTS
CL Central rallies vs. Huntley
Algonquin police, fire officials get student thanks on Sept. 11 anniversary / A3
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