PREPEXTRA EXTRA Satu rday, September 12, 2015 • $1.00
NORTHWEST
HERALD
Genoa-Kingston... 13 Marengo ................42
McHenry................ 14 DeKalb................... 30
Gary West ...............6 Huntley ..................47
Mooseheart .......... 14 A-Hebron .............. 50
Woodstock N........ 17 Woodstock............ 13
Grayslake N........... 12 Cary-Grove........... 68
Johnsburg............. 49 R. Christian .............0
Rock Island ........... 18 Jacobs ....................28
Marian Cen. ..........56 Marian Cath. ........ 16
Richmond-B.......... 21 Harvard ....................7
Pr. Ridge ................42 CL Central................7
Morris.................... 20 Dundee-Crown.......2
Grayslake C........... 17 Hampshire............ 40
HIGH
65 44 LOW
More in the Sports section and at NWHerald.com/preps.
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Water, sewer rates up for vote
DISTRICT 200’s DEBT CONCERNS SOME RESIDENTS
McHenry City Council weighs proposed hike By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
McHENRY – McHenry residents could see their water and sewer bills go up by as much as 56 percent next year under proposal rates to be voted on Monday evening. The changes to If you go the city’s water and sewer rates are deThe McHenry signed to increase City Council is revenue enough to cover existing oper- set to vote on ations, maintenance the proposed and future system water and sewimprovements ahead er rate changes of the city taking out and the new an Illinois Environ- debt service mental Protection fee at its meetAgency loan. ing Monday The loan, which evening. The would cover the $33.6 meeting starts million decommis- at 7 p.m. in sioning and consoli- the council dation of the Central chambers of Wastewater Treat- City Hall, 333 ment Plant with the Green St. city’s other treatment plant, would be paid back using a debt service fee applied to each user’s bimonthly bill. The debt service fee would start at $10.22 for each residential user and most commercial users within the city limits of McHenry and McCullom Lake – which uses the city’s sewer system – when the new rates kick in Feb. 1, and would increase each of the next two years to $20.44 starting Feb. 1, 2017, and $30.66 starting Feb. 1, 2018, according to council documents.
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
A view of Woodstock North High School is seen Monday.
Time to consolidate?
Under-enrollment at Woodstock high schools shifts issue to forefront By HANNAH PROKOP hprokop@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Students started attending Woodstock North High School in 2009 after the community showed “unbelievably overwhelming” support for a referendum to build the school, Woodstock School District 200 Board President Camille Goodwin said. Six years later, the high school is operating at about 58 percent of its capacity. Some Woodstock residents have spoken at school board meetings and cited District 200’s debt and Woodstock’s high property
taxes as reasons why there needs to be a discussion on how to lower the district’s debt and lower taxes. One possibility to save money that residents have said should be discussed is consolidating schools. For the 2015 school year, 930 students are enrolled at Woodstock North High School, which has a capacity of 1,600 students, according to District 200 Superintendent Mike Moan. Moan said 991 students are enrolled at Woodstock High School for the 2015 school year, and the school has a capacity of 1,800 students. “We always are looking at our numbers and what is the best uti-
lization of our space,” Goodwin said. She said the board has “not discussed closing schools, but we keep an eye on our enrollment versus our capacity.” Goodwin said Woodstock North High School wouldn’t have the space to hold all of the students if Woodstock High School closed. When the referendum passed in 2006 to build a new high school, Goodwin, who joined the school board in 2005, said Woodstock High School was overcrowded. People also projected an influx of people coming into Woodstock, Goodwin said, which did not happen after the housing market
crashed in about 2008. Several planned residential developments were halted or significantly reduced. Woodstock North High School is 307,000 square feet and Woodstock High School is 319,355 square feet, according to documents for the sale of District 200’s General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, which lists school size, capacity and enrollment from 2005 to 2014. Five classrooms are not in use at Woodstock High School, and all classrooms are used at Woodstock North High School, Moan said.
See CONSOLIDATION, page A4
See RATES, page A8
McHenry pit bulls who attacked puppy returned to owner By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Two pit bulls who attacked a puppy last year staved off euthanasia, were returned home and will live to see another day. And – as some neighbors in their McHenry subdivision said – live to terrorize the neighborhood. McHenry County Animal Control
asked a judge to declare the dogs vicious and to be put down. After an afternoon-long bench trial on Thursday, McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell denied the request. Although he said he did so grudgingly, he added there wasn’t sufficient evidence to make a viciousness determination. Caldwell called himself “a person who likes dogs,” but also lambasted the breed
LOCAL NEWS
saying: “I don’t see the sense of keeping pit bulls by anybody.” “I would love nothing more than to put these two animals down, but it simply cannot be done,” Caldwell said. The pit bulls, Molly and Sawyer, are owned by Lara Coler, who openly wept in court after the judge rendered his decision. Coler declined to comment as she left the courtroom.
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Sports columnist Hub Arkush asks what the rivals view as their top 3 priorities Sunday / C1 WORLD
Remembering Sept. 11 Crystal Lake South staff, students serve pancake breakfast for first responders on 14th anniversary of terrorist attacks / A3
The dogs have not been in Coler’s custody since the September 2014 attack on a neighbor’s dog. The judge ordered Coler to pay for the dogs while they were in custody – first at a local shelter and most recently at Animal Control. According to court records, it amounted to $6,990. A health department spokeswoman said Coler picked up the dogs Friday morning.
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Violent storm topples crane, killing dozens visiting the Grand Mosque in Mecca / A7
See PIT BULLS, page A5
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The day of the attack, Steve Cuda was walking his 6-month-old golden retriever puppy, Addie, on a leash in his Martin Woods neighborhood. Cuda, a local attorney, said the pit bulls ran across Coler’s yard at 1621 Tomlinson Drive, and began mauling Addie. Coler said she has an invisible fence, but believes the collar
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