UConn, Kentucky: One of the unlikeliest title games ever
Sports, B1
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014
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Officials: Audit a waste of tax dollars
REVOLUTIONARY
HONOR
Found no misuse of funds by Grafton Township’s Moore By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
Michelle LaVigne for Shaw Media
Franz Herder, vice president of the northern region of the Illinois Society of Sons of the American Revolution, speaks about the importance of preserving history Sunday during a dedication at the Linn-Hebron Cemetery. Behind him is a plaque honoring Revolutionary War soldier Major Watson. Sons of the American Revolution are seeing that graveyards across the state are marked with a plaque showing they have a revolutionary patriot buried there. TOP: Bob Collins, state president of the Children of the American Revolution, salutes at the grave of Major Watson.
Sons of the American Revolution honor vet buried at Hebron cemetery By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com HEBRON – Men dressed in tri-corner hats, blue overcoats, vests and white-collared shirts stood with American flags at the entrance of the Linn-Hebron Cemetery. The men in replica uniforms were part of a contingent of about 35 people
For information
who gathered Sunday to honor the only known American Revolution veteran buried in McHenry County. Major Watson was a soldier who served under Gen. George Washington and Gen. Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War. Members of the Illinois Society of
The Illinois Society of Sons of the American Revolution expects the cemetery marking program to be a long-term project. Each marker costs about $2,000, which is collected from contributions, from the society and the Daughters of the American Revolution. For information about the project, visit www.illinois-sar.org.
See HONOR, page A5
HUNTLEY – A recently released special audit that found former Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore often exceeded her authority while in office wasted taxpayers’ dollars, current township officials said. The 11-page forensic audit from Northbrook-based ECS Financial Services concludes that Moore prevented her four rival trustees on the Grafton Board from performing their elected duties by not paying board-approved bills and poorly maintaining the township’s accounts. But the findings – and the $26,000 officials spent to search for them – are a waste since the audit didn’t reveal any misappropriated dollars, current Supervisor Jim Kearns said. “The report confirms what we knew all along,” Kearns said. “That we spent a whole bunch of money on lawyers.” Grafton residents long knew that the issues conveyed in the audit caused the infighting between Moore and the former trustees and the costly lawsuits that nearly bankrupted the township last year, he said. The board released the special audit during its most recent meeting and forwarded it to the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, although the board doesn’t expect any legal action to follow. The review also was cut
Jim Kearns Grafton Township supervisor
Linda Moore former Grafton Township supervisor
See AUDIT, page A5
Police, fire pensions a challenge for Illinois’ 10 biggest cities By CHACOUR KOOP The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – After addressing Illinois’ own employee pension crisis, lawmakers now face an equally challenging task with the state’s cities, as mayors demand help with underfunded police and firefighter pensions before the growing cost “chokes” budgets and forces local tax increases. The nine largest cities in
Illinois after Chicago have a combined $1.5 billion in unfunded debt to public safety workers’ pension systems. Police and fire retirement funds for cities statewide have an average of just 55 percent of the money needed to meet current obligations to workers and retirees. A bi-partisan legislative report in 2013 showed that funding levels for police and fire pensions outside Chicago dropped 20 percent between
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1990 and 2010, although many are improving since the worst of the recent economic downturn. The problems – a history of underf u n d i n g , t h e Rahm expansion of Emanuel job benefits and Chicago the prospect of mayor crushing future payments – mirror those that
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel warned about when he asked the Legislature for relief last week. In 2016, state law requires cities to Tom make required Weisner contribution Aurora increases – in mayor some cases, more than an additional $1 million annu-
ally – so they’ll reach 90 percent funding by 2040. If they don’t, the state will begin doing it for them, diverting grant money now used by cities elsewhere directly into the pension funds. “No community, no matter how much they love and respect their public safety officers, can pay that going forward,” Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said. The arguments over blame also echo the state and Chica-
go cases. While some officials question levels of worker benefits, union officials cite recent compromises and blame cities for bad choices in shirking payments. “Our view is that we’ve already done our part in terms of pension benefit reductions,” said Sean Smoot, director of the Police Benevolent and Protective Association. “While employees pay
See PENSION, page A5
DOES SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAVE
BOYS TENNIS
JACOBS LOADED AT TOP OF LINEUP
Crooked Teeth?
Jacobs is loaded at the top of its lineup but will need to replace the top four doubles players from last year’s team. Sophomore Kendrick Chong, at No. 2 singles, last year qualified for state, where he won two matches. Another sophomore, Riley Rowan, moves from No. 3 singles to No. 1 doubles this season and will partner with junior Matt Toomire. For more, see page B1.
Abby Mann Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
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CRYSTAL LAKE: Prairie Ridge High School senior ships out this summer to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Local, A3 Vol. 29, Issue 97
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