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Page 1 - November 14, 2019 / McHenry County News
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VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 47
7124 WINDSOR LAKE PARKWAY, SUITE 5 • LOVES PARK, IL 61111
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2019
McHenry County Conservation District programs Big Teeth Beware! Saturday, Nov. 23, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Lost Valley Visitor Center in Glacial Park, Route 31 and Harts Road, Ringwood. Gather round to share in the discovery of the tools animals have that indicate if they are a predator or prey. Get your facts straight about who eats whom in the natural world. Participants will be both inside and outside during this program. Fee: county resident Free/NR $5. Just for kids ages 8–12, with chaperone. Registration required. Yoga with Gratitude Saturday, Nov. 23, from 2–3 p.m., Shelter #2 at Pleasant Valley Conservation Area, 13315 Pleasant Valley Road, Woodstock. As the holiday season begins, join the district to take these moments and immerse yourself in gratitude for all that the natural world has shared with us. Participants will be outside in a moving practice that can be shared by all. The leader from Cultivate Studio in McHenry has designed a class to include everyone at all levels. Dress to be outside. Fee: county resident free /NR $5. Just for adults, ages 14 years and older. Registration required. Natural Wreath Making Sunday, Nov. 24, from 3–4:30 p.m. at Prairieview Education Center, 2112 Behan Road, Crystal Lake. Impress your Thanksgiving guests with a handmade wreath created from natural materials found in our prairies and woodlands. Take a short guided hike to discover what the prairie looks like in the fall, and to collect materials to incorporate into your creation. Bring home the beauty of these natural areas through your hand-crafted product. Instruction and basic wreath making materials will be supplied. Note: Collecting of any materials on District sites is prohibited unless authorized by staff. Fee: county resident $5.00/NR $7. Adults and families ages 5 and up. Registration required by Nov. 21. Visit the district’s website at www. MCCDistrict.org to view all program and event offerings or sign up to receive the seasonal magazine Landscapes. Register online, by phone (free programs only) at 815-479-5779, by mail-in and drop-off at Prairieview Education Center, 2112 Behan Road in Crystal Lake, or drop-off only at Lost Valley Visitor Center, Route 31 and Harts Road in Ringwood.
MCCD PHOTO McHenry County News
The McHenry County Conservation District is offering a number of fall programs for kids and families, some of them outside at Glacial Park, Route 31 and Harts Road, Ringwood.
Lawmaker proposes penalty enhancements for elected officials convicted of crimes By Rebecca Anzel CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS
Amid a backdrop of federal investigative activity and bipartisan calls for ethics reform, a state legislator introduced a bill Oct. 31 that would increase the sentences of state lawmakers convicted of a crime related to their public duties. Barrington Hills Republican Rep. David McSweeney’s bill joins a handful of others that aim to institute a task force to study potential ethical safeguards, increase the fines associated with lying on government forms and bribery, and give the legislative investigator more autonomy in her inquiries. This “mandatory sentence increase” measure, McSweeney said,
“sends a very strong message that we cannot tolerate corruption.” “Illinois has become a national laughingstock. Citizens are sick and tired of the corruption in the General Assembly and throughout the state,” the representative said. “We need action now, not task forces.” McSweeney’s bill would tack an extra “five years of imprisonment” to the sentence of a lawmaker convicted of a felony “relating to or arising out of or in connection” to his or her public duties, according to the legislation. The past few months, federal law enforcement officials have filed charges against two sitting Illinois lawmakers—Democrats Tom Cullerton, a senator from Villa Park, and
Luis Arroyo, a representative from Chicago—and are investigating another sitting lawmaker, Chicago Democratic Sen. Martin Sandoval. The bribery charge against Arroyo, news of which broke Oct. 28, sparked House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, to begin the process of removing him from office. “We are going to root these people out,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “I’m glad, frankly, that people are being caught.” McSweeney said ethics reforms are not a partisan topic, and given the “environment has dramatically changed” after federal probes, he hopes the Democratic-controlled General Assembly will grant his legislation a committee hearing. “I have been very consistent in being critical of corruption in both parties, and I believe I can be successful in working across the aisle
on this,” he said. “I believe it’s time to get tough on corruption. Let’s put some teeth in the law.” Madigan’s spokesperson said in an email that it “seems like a wide range of proposals will be reviewed as legislators conduct the examination the speaker outlined on (Oct. 28).” And a spokesperson for the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said that although he had not seen the specific measure McSweeney introduced Oct. 31, penalty enhancements in general “have only exacerbated our state’s problems with over-incarceration— not resolved any underlying problems or issues.” “The General Assembly should turn its attention to fixing the system problems that lead to our incarcerating too many people, not proposals such as this,” the ACLU spokesperson added. The measure is House Bill 3951.
U of I Extension to offer Intro to Fruit Tree Pruning class
MCHENRY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PHOTO McHenry County News
Keeping history alive one stitch at a time
Join the Heritage Quilters each Wednesday morning throughout the year at the McHenry County Historical Society’s museum at 6422 Main St. in Union. Quilters of varying levels of experience meet from 9:30 a.m. to about noon to work on a raffle quilt that benefits the not-for-profit Historical Society. For more information, call 815-923-2267.
University of Illinois Extension Local Foods and Small Farms Educator Grant McCarty, will teach Intro to Fruit Tree Pruning on Thursday, Dec. 12. The class will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Boone County Extension Meeting Room, 205 Cadillac Ct. Suite 5, Belvidere. Registration cost for this program is $5 and pre-registration is required by Tuesday, Dec. 10. To register or for more information on this program, visit extension.illinois.edu/ bdo or call us at 815-544-3710. You may have inherited property that has a number of mature apple trees. You may also have ignored and neglected your apple trees for a number of years. Whichever category you fall into, it is not too late to get your trees on the path towards productive yields.
This course will go into the decisions you need to make when it comes to getting mature apple trees back in shape over the next couple of years. Topics to be covered include when to let go of the trees, basics of seasonal/ older pruning, disease/insect management, choices of tools, making the first cuts of a multi-year process, apple tree grafting options, and working through visual examples of trees that have been neglected. McCarty will also discuss pruning cherry, peach, and pear trees. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this program, contact the Boone County Extension office at 815-544-3710. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time meeting your access needs.