Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 2-3

3 NRWCHICAGO TRIBUNE METRO SECTION2 A Hinsdale trustee said Tuesday night that the Village Board may have violated the Open Meetings Act when it went into closed session Oct. 30 during a public hearing to consider firing Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Tom Nelson. Trustee Mike Smith said he would not reveal details of what the board discussed, but that a transcript of statements made public after the closed session indicates that trustees were polled behind closed doors. Smith said the transcript could be construed as evidence that a secret vote was taken in violation of the act. Rob Bush, the attorney who advised the Village Board during that hearing, told trustees Tuesday night that the board did not violate the act even if it did reach consensus behind closed doors.

Village President Michael Woerner announced after that closed session that trustees would not vote on removal that night if Nelson and the Zoning Board agreed to adopt procedures that do not conflict with state and local laws and to refrain from claiming jurisdiction in large land developments known as planned unit developments. Tuesday night, Smith moved to make minutes from that closed session available to the public, but the motion died for lack of a second. HINSDALE Questions raised over closed session The American Civil Liberties Union Wednesday urged officials at Morton West High School to reconsider suspensions and possible expulsions of students stemming from an Iraq war protest at the Berwyn school last week. More than two dozen students were suspended and some are facing expulsion after a sit-in last Thursday in the school cafeteria. The ACLU said the protest was non-violent and did not prevent students from getting an education.

It called the 10-day suspensions and possible expulsions imposed on some students disproportionate to the alleged BERWYN ACLU objects to school suspensions after sit-in Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said mortgage companies are resorting to in asking homeowners to send them their property tax bills or risk getting hit with late- payment penalties. Pappas issued a press release Wednesday and has drafted a letter for taxpayers who inquire with her office, letting them know that the lenders are required to make timely payments of taxes held in escrow accounts. The treasurer said the companies are trying to avoid paying a new $5 fee charged for obtaining duplicate copies of tax bills. Lenders need the duplicates when paying on behalf of homeowners. CitiMortgage, one of the companies that has sent out such letters, said in a statement that it would pay its tax bills on time regardless of whether it received a copy of their bills.

The company said it asked its customers to help because it had little time to comply with the new county fee. COOK COUNTY Lenders liable for fees on taxes held in escrow The family of a missing Plainfield woman said her children testified before a grand jury Wednesday afternoon, though they did not know what the interviews revealed. Mark Greenberg, Lisa cousin, said the Will County office notified his family weeks ago that they would be calling upon the and testify about their disappearance. Lisa Stebic was 37 when she disappeared from her Plainfield home on April 30. Her husband Craig Stebic has been named a person of interest.

He has repeatedly denied any involvement. WILL COUNTY Missing kids testify before grand jury The Cook County Forest Preserve District will beef up staffing and spend more money caring for its lands under its 2008 budget, approved by commissioners Wednesday. County Board President Todd $153 million spending plan increases property taxes by 2.8 percent and allocates more money to the Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. Commissioners signed off on the budget, which received favorable reviews from interest groups, by a 12-3 vote. Stroger and commissioners still are deliberating over the $3.2 billion county government budget, in which Stroger wants to increase the sales tax along with taxes on gasoline and parking.

COOK COUNTY Forest Preserve District 2008 budget adds staff METROPOLITAN DIGEST By Hal Dardick Tribune staff reporter From the day Riley Fox was found dead three years ago, Will County deputies set their sights on the 3-year- old father, Kevin, then misused their authority to bring false charges against him, attorney said Wednesday in federal court. case is about an extraordinary abuse of police Kathleen Zellner said in opening statements in the civil rights suit. Just before opening statements, U.S. District Judge John Darrah told jurors that former Will County Atty. Jeff Tomczak, a central figure in the case, was no longer a defendant.

Zellner later declined to comment, but de- fense attorneys said it was her decision. In her statement, Zellner said police ignored evidence that a sexual entered the Wilmington home to abduct Riley; unsuccessfully tried to get then-6-year-old Tyler, brother, to help his father; wrote key police reports long after the events they documented; and, in the end, coerced Kevin Fox into implicating himself during an interrogation that lasted more than 14 hours. Fox and his wife, Melissa, allege he was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned for the still-unsolved slaying. Their case is being heard by a six- man, six-woman jury. Zellner dismissed a jail guard as a defendant, saying during a break in the trial that the case just too unwieldy with With Tomczak out, that leaves as defendants in the civil case six sher- detectives, three of their supervisors, a polygraph examiner and the county itself.

The suit seeks unspecified damages. The Foxes had alleged Tomczak authorized charges for political purposes just six days before a tough election that he would lose to current Atty. James Glasgow, who later dropped the charges against Fox. In opening statements, Zellner said that detectives never tested the DNA samples of 21 known sex offenders from the Wilmington area obtained by Illinois State Police and that, after arrest, they ordered a halt to DNA testing of material taken from body. That material was later tested at a private lab on order, and in June 2005 it excluded Fox as the donor of DNA taken from body during her autopsy.

Glasgow then dropped charges. Zellner said that when Fox implicated himself before his arrest in October 2004, the interview was being watched by a coterie of deputies. But Mark Smith, one of the attorneys for the 11 remaining defendants in the case, cast a starkly different light on the series of events leading to arrest. When Melissa Fox arrived at the home after Kevin reported Riley missing on June 6, 2004, she said to her husband, better not be lying to Smith said, recounting a conversation reported by police. Kevin Fox had earlier reported her missing in a calm tone during a non-emergency call to police, he said.

Witnesses also indicated Fox was intoxicated the night before disappearance, Smith said. Tyler told detectives his father left for a while that night after bringing his children home, where he was watching them, Smith said. On the night he made the incriminating statement, saying he accidentally killed Riley and then tried to make it look like a murder carried out by a pedophile, a lie-detector test showed he was being deceptive, Smith said. Fox also asked detectives whether they had been able to identify him on the surveillance tape, he added. Fox then it was possible he might be responsible for the death of his Smith said.

Addressing the DNA testing issue, Smith said Sgt. Edward Hayes asked the FBI to stop testing on evidence deemed He never stopped testing the DNA on the sexual assault False-arrest suit trial begins Ex-prosecutor no longer a defendant Kevin Fox By Mary Owen Tribune staff reporter A recent interior design graduate, Madhoolica Dear was at McCormick Plaza on Wednesdaylearning about recycled carpets and cork flooring. Dear, whose future clients will want to be environmentally conscious, is one of 20,000 people registered to attend the three-day Green- buildInternational Conference andExpo, which started Wednesday. The conference features more than 850 exhibitors who provide products and services for building want to see the new products and stay ahead of the said Dearof Westmont. of the new technology is very interesting.

like science The sixth annual conference kicked off with an announcement by former President Bill Clinton and Mayor Richard Daley about three joint projects between the city and the Clinton Foundation to retrofit buildings and make them more energy-efficient. The buildings will include the Merchandise Mart, the Sears Tower and privately owned, multi-tenant housing. has always led by example when it comes to protecting the Daley said. Clinton Climate Initiative will play a ma- jor role in helping us reach our goal of making Chicago the most environmentally friendly city in the Clinton, who spoke to a crowd of more than 7,000 people, noted that 75 percent of carbon emissions come from urban areas, and most of that from buildings. not going to pretend this is going to be he said.

can do this. But to do this, we have to prove good Before the speech, Clinton and Daley praised the Metropolitan Pier andExposition Authority, the owner and operator of McCormick Place, for receiving special recognition by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit group that sets national standards for environmentally friendly structures. The council, which organized the conference, rates buildings on environmental performance based on several categories, including location, water efficiency, materials, energy use and indoor-air quality. McPier was cited for McCormick West Building, which opened in August.

The council said the annex was the largest new building in the country to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)Certification. Exhibitors, which included small and large businesses selling everything from paint to bathroom supplies, said their products would help buildings win LEED certification. Paul DeJuliis, co-owner of Pennsylvania-based Expan- off small squares of cork flooring that he said lasts as long as wooden floors, but require an entire tree to be cut down. The flooring is made of discarded bark that was already been holed out for wine corks. 100 percent post-industrial he said.

just strip the bark off the tree, and the tree can be The conference also features dozens of guest speakers talking about environmental trends in the building industry. Tribune photo by Chuck Berman Bill Clinton addresses the GreenbuildInternational Conference andExpo at McCormick Place on Wednesday. The former president is joined by Rick Fedrizzi (left), head of the U.S. Green Building Council, and Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan. Expo builds awareness By Megan Twohey Tribune staff reporter Cathy Dhamer has no trouble recalling the morning of Nov.

13, 2006, how she handed her husband his lunch bag in their Park Ridge home, kissed him goodbye and then watched him meet his death. After walking toward the driveway, where his Chevrolet Equinox was parked, Gerald Dhamer turned and began running back toward the house, said his wife, who watched from the front door. Behind him a masked figure dressed in black lifted what appeared to be a shotgun. Gerald Dhamer had time to yell two three shots were fired and he fell to the sidewalk. The images of the brutal, unsolved murder burn in Cathy memory, a constant reminder, she says, of how life can change drastically, without warning.

world collapsed within she said, offering her first public account of what authorities consider one of the most baffling crimes ever committed in thisnorth- west suburb. After an extensive investigation, including hundreds of interviews and visits to several states, police say they still do not know why the 48-year- old father of two who worked at a family plumbing business in Lisle was killed in a style some have likened to a mob hit. A man once convicted on racketeering charges owns a home across the street, which has prompted speculation that Dhamer was a mistaken target, family members say. But police, who continue to investigate, have not commented on possible theories or suspects. The only witness to the horrific crime, Cathy Dhamer, granted her first interview this week with the hope that someone with information would be moved to come forward.

She also increased a family-funded rewardto $50,000 from $25,000. Cathy Dhamer still lives in the same home, along with her son, 23, and 25daughter, 25. She wears around her neck a silver heart-shaped locket containing some of her ashes. She said she have the emotional strength to bury him. pray for answers every said Dhamer, who has turned to her Catholic church for strength.

need to know why this That morning last Novem- berbegan like any other, she said. She and her husband rose before dawn in their house, where they had lived with their daughter, Katie, and son, Jerry for 11 years. While her son sat at the kitchen table eating Dhamer packed her lunch in a canvas bag to take to work. Cathy Dhamer said she stood at the doorway after they exchanged goodbye kisses, watching as he walked down the sidewalk. When he suddenly headed back toward the house, she realize at first what was happening.

thought he had forgotten his she said. opened the door for him to come back But after the figure in black began shooting, she let the door slam and ran for the phone to call the police. By the time she and her son went outside, the shooter was gone and her husband lay on the sidewalk. The police told her he likely died before hitting the ground. The Dhamer (from left), Jerry Gerald and 2002.

Gerald Dhamer was gunned down in the driveway of his Park Ridge home in November 2006. Images of a slaying still haunt Shots shattered Park Ridge family Product: CTMETRO PubDate: 11-08-2007 Zone: NRW Edition: HD Page: METROP3-3 User: bohap Time: Color:.