Northwest Herald from Woodstock, Illinois • 3

NORTHWEST HERALD Sunday. April 11, 1993 Page 3 STATE Police sift for clues in Palatine slayings Hi Public has right to more open meetings You better start looking, public. Pay attention or pay the price. In a way I'm glad most people are too lazy, too busy, too disinterested or too something to attend meetings. Newspapers fill that void, and I am a newspaperman, But despite long hours and our attention to impartiality, facts and clarity, the media are not gospel.

For some things, you simply have to be there. If.you're not, you could miss out on more than you dream. In fact, you probably already have, especially when behind closed doors. The ASSOCIATED PRESS PALATINE Three months after the slayings of seven people at a fast-food restaurant, investigators continue their search for suspects, while the victims' families prepare for a somber Easter. On Jan.

9, seven people including restaurant owners Richard and Lynn Ehlenfeldt were found slain. the Brown's Chicken Pasta in Palatine. "I think (Easter Sunday) will be a hard day," said Joyce Ehlenfeldt, 19, the youngest of the Ehlenfeldts' three daughters. "We'd always get together and laugh and remember all the good times. "This year, we'll spend it remembering them." Evelyn Urgena, the mother of 17-year-old Rico Solis, another victim, plans a trip to tier son's grave amid the family's Easter tradition of attending Mass and joining for a family dinner.

"I often ask why. But then I realize he's still here with us. I know Rico would have wanted us to go on with our lives," she said. While the families seek solace investigators look for answers. Police Chief Jerry Bratcher said the task force working on get a great lead, something that looks very promising, and suddenly it vanishes." The roller coaster ride began shortly after seven bodies were fwind in two walk-in coolers at the restaurant.

Police received a call suggesting they question an Elgin resident, who had been fired by one of the victim's a week before the killings. Within hours, police took him into custody at gunpoint. As a horde of reporters and television crews clamored for information, the man was interrogated for nearly 48 hours before being set free. the case is sorting through thousands of bits of information. "We understand that when this is solved, it is going to be because of patience, tenacity and persistence," Bratcher said.

The Paiatine murder task force includes officers from area departments, the Illinois -State Police and the FBI. Buffalo Grove Police Cmdr. Gary Del Re, who heads the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, said cases like Palatine's can be a "roller coaster ride." "In any complex, high-profile case, there are going to be peaks and valleys," Del Re said. "You The minutes of closed session meetings typically bear only the sketchiest resemblance to what actually happened. Three hours of discussion merits two paragraphs.

Residents sometimes can read these minutes. Boards regularly review them and after they have decided the public interest is no longer served by keeping the minutes confidential, they release them. Illinois Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, would like to change that by re Aurora pilot survives out-of-state crash Kurt Begalka STAFF WRITER him calm down," Farren said. "He did a great job, as far as I'm concerned." The plane crashed at about 3:30 several miles from the airport after clipping some trees, which tore off the wings and probably eased the impact, Farren said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Chris Baehr, one of the first rescuers on the scene, said -they spotted the wreckage of Miller's plane from a patrol boat at about 8 a.m. with the help of an emergency locator signal. Beverly, then at, Lawrence, before heading to Pease International Tra-deport, the former Pease Air Force Base, officials said. Miller made several passes, but Pease officials lost contact with his plane and began a search. It was not immediately known where Miller had begun his flight or where he was headed.

Pease Aviation Director Michael Farren said Miller had been low on fuel, unable to see in the fog and. unable to talk by radio to The ASSOCIATED PRESS AURORA An Illinois pilot with radio trouble and dwindling fuel was injured Saturday when he crashed in dense fog in Durham, N.H. Larry Miller, of-Aurora, lay on the damp ground next to his crumpled Cessna 172 single-engine airplane for four hours with a broken hip until searchers spotted his craft as fog began to lift. "He' said, 'God, I'm glad to see rescuer Richard Crosman said of Miller, who was reported in fair condition. Miller first tried to land in the fog at He had been laying there for four hours worried the plane was going to roll over on the ground.

But another pilot overheard his distress calls and tried to help. "He tried to ease his communications burden, ease his cockpit burden and help him, Baehr said. Miller was admitted to Portsmouth Regional Hospital. Advisory panel: Blacks get less police protection CHICAGO (AP) Blacks get-less protection from police, even though they are more likely" than whites to be victims of serious crimes, a federal advisory group says. The committee's report, called "Police Protection of the African-American Community," found that "police districts that are predominantly African- ing a period of significant -change for the police department.

The department redistributed its staff this year for the first time in seven years, something Davis said should be done more often. "The department is open to constructive criticism, if it is based on sound research," he said. found. But half of all violent crime in Chicago occurs in the seven police districts that are more than 90 percent black, even though they account for only 20 percent of the city's population, the committee found. Police spokesman Billy "Davis said Friday's report comes dur American have significantly fewer police patrols per violent crime than other police districts." The Chicago Police Department staffs the wealthy East Chicago district on the near North Side with almost double the average number of police, despite fewer incidents of violent crime there, the quiring all public bodies to keep verba-.

tim records of meetings closed to the public. House Bill 1728 allows them the option of audio or video tapes, or minutes by a certified court reporter. Currie also is sponsoring legislation that retools the Open Meetings Act, which she spearheaded in 1983. Its amendments include requiring the posting of agendas 48 hours in advance of regular meetings, more detailed minutes, accessible meeting locations and a clearer explanation of what topics qualify for closed-door discussions. For jnstance, a closed session during a Harvard city council meeting March 18, 1991, was supposed to cover personnel and litigation.

Minutes released by the council last month show that alderman received an update on a prospective trailer court. Minutes from another Harvard closed session, called last June to discuss litigation, state that the council also talked about submitting a grant application for acquiring city park land." Public bodies may only go into closed session to consider personnel matters, litigation and land purchases, but shouldn't the public know which? Of course, Harvard doesn't have the only board that does this kind of thing. But it was the Harvard City Council that backed a resolution from the Illinois Municipal League last week condemning Currie's and other legislation designed to open up meetings. The vote was 6-2, with Aldermen William LeFew and David Robertson opposed. "I don't have any problem with the any of the things in there.

It just opens it up," Robertson said. "And I don't think the increased cost will be all that much. So you've got to spend $1.09 for all the tapes. We do it now anyway." Robertson said he is concerned over a provision assessing civil penalties against each person participating in an illegal meeting. What about those duped into participating? he asked.

But he doesn't believe one concern should condemn four pieces of legislation. "They want to ensure (those) elected act with integrity," Robertson said. "We do too many things in closed session or we seem to be hiding behind a rather general authority to go into closed session." LeFew is equally puzzled over the opposition, which basically falls into two categories: expense and time. I can understand how retrieving information, under a Freedom of Information Act request, could be tough in just five days. The response time now is seven days.

It also means buying and storing tapes. Now, Harvard and others simply reuse tapes. I firmly believe the public's right to know outweighs most arguments save one by Roger Huebner, Illinois Mu- nicipal League's director of legislation. Would elected officials speak their minds, even in closed session, if their words were on tape? "How much value it will be to anybody is kind of questionable," Huebner said. "I dare say if a tape recorder js running during the course of those meetings, it will haveTa significant affect on the conversation." We're A BIG pf to Mattress Savirii Run-down buildings have cash-strapped state in bind Wnly offers FREE local delivery and set-tip, FREE removal and disposal of your old mattress and tox spring.

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And about a dozen other buildings need, to be demolished at the facility. The state's overcrowded prison system has similar problems. The Department of Corrections has 54 buildings on the list of structures waiting to be dismantled, more than twice as many as any other agency. But prison officials are struggling to find places to put inmates and will run out of room to house new inmates unless more prison space is found, Director Howard Peters recently warned state officials. The need for prison space is so pressing that corrections officials have had to house some inmates in buildings that it wants razed.

One is at the Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois. "The thing is so old, and there are holes in the roof," corrections spokesman Nic Howell said. "It really is uninhabitable. But we- need the space." It would cost the state $500,000 to dismantle it, Howell said. The ASSOCIATED PRESS The state built or bought them, but it can't afford to tear them all down.

At least 86 buildings on Illinois state property from former hospitals to farm shacks are so run-down or unnecessary that the state wants to demolish them, but dollars are scarce, a Chicago newspaper inquiry found. "In a perfect there would be money to do everything we want to do. But in the real world, the agencies have to decide where their priorities lie," said Mia Jazo, spokeswoman for the Illinois Capital Development Board, which oversees state properties. With so many agencies needing new buildings; she said, "the priority to tear them down is not that high." Demolishing a building can be expensive. The costs for a large building can exceed $1 million and can mushroom if asbestos or hazardous wastes are found.

State officials have nq estimate for how much it would cost to demolish all the. buildings that agency leaders want torn down, nor do they know if the backlog of such buildings is increasing or decreasing, the newspaper reported. Sleepwell 252CoiI'Firm Twin Each Pc Full Each Queen King $288 Embassy 336 Coll 'Super Firm Twin Each' Pc. Full Each Pc Queen Royalty 630 Coll-Luxury Firm Twin Each Pc $119 FullEach'Pc Queen Excellence 630 CoU Plush Super Firm Twin Each Full Each Pc $179 Queen Magic Nite 336 Coll 'Extra Firm Twin Each Pc $69 Full Each $99 Queen Set King Princess 33.6 Coll 'Luxury Firm Twin Each Full Each Queen Set KlngSet $438 Princess II Premium Plush Firm Twin Each Pc Full Each Queen Set King $498 Excellence II 630 Premium Ultra Plush 'twin Each Full Each Queen King OnHwy. 120 12 mile E.

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