Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 2-3

3 NSCHICAGO TRIBUNE METRO SECTION2 Wilmette police are asking residents to lock their vehicles and garages after more than 20 burglaries were reported the last three weeks in the north suburb. Most of the burglaries were in the 200 and 300 blocks of Lawndale Avenue, the 300 to 500 blocks of Washington Avenue, the 600 to 1200 blocks of Gregory Avenue and the 1500 block of Highland Avenue, police said. They said the most recent burglaries were committed last weekend and involved global positioning system devices, power tools and other electronic equipment stolen from unlocked cars and garages. are taking pretty much whatever would be of Officer Jessica Black said. Police said they have arrested one person.

Police warn residents about burglary spree WILMETTE By Steve Schmadeke TRIBUNE REPORTER Steven Kazmierczak struggled mightily with mental illnesses, attempted suicide at least four times and was fascinated by the shooters of students at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School, a new magazine article says. But nothing in the investigative files laid bare in Esquire explains why he stormed into a Northern Illinois University lecture hall on Day, killing five students and wounding more than 15 before killing himself. Three of his suicide attempts came while he was a student at Elk Grove Village High School. He once told a school nurse after an overdose attempt that want to die. Life according to Esquire.

Kazmierczak, who was treated for bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders, had suffered psychotic episodes, reporting hearing voices and hallucinations, the article says. Before opening fire inside Cole Hall, the former graduate student at the school listened to Marilyn Last Day on in his white Honda Civic, according to the article. Then he stood emotionless on stage, opening fire while dressed in a black T- shirt with an image of a red AK-47 assault rifle and the word shirt Kazmierczak had joked with friends about wearing to an airport, Esquire reports. Campus Police Chief Donald Grady declined through an NIU spokesman to confirm or deny the details and said the department did not leak the files. Grady said the investigation into the shooting is ongoing and it could be some time before a report is issued.

Kazmierczak also struggled with his sexual identity, telling his former girlfriend of encounters with men, including a University of Illinois biochemistry professor, according to the magazine. He also had a number of encounters with women he met through Craigslist, Esquire reports. He was discharged from the Army five months after enlisting in September 2001 when his mental health history came to light, according to the article. New details on NIU killer emerge Kazmierczak reportedly was fascinated by shooters at Va. Tech, Columbine By Hal Dardick and Angela Rozas TRIBUNE REPORTERS A key Chicago alderman and ally of Mayor Richard Daley demanded Wednesday that the top cop answer questions and criticism at a public hearing after this spike in violent crime was highlighted by a fatal shooting at the Taste of Chicago.

But rising violence is not the sole reason Police Supt. Jody Weis is being called out. In his short tenure since Daley plucked him from the FBI, Weis has been singled out by aldermen as well as some veteran department insiders upset by his changes to the headquarters hierarchy and the command structure in many police outposts around the city. Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), chairman of the City Council Police and Fire Committee, set a Tuesday council hearing for Weis to discuss rising violence, alleged poor communication with aldermen and a perceived lack of new crime-fighting strategies.

Carothers, whose brother is a Chicago police officer, said department morale is an all-time The alderman seized on the July 3 shootings in the Loop that killed a 19-year-old and injured three others following the fireworks at the Taste festival, when a small section of the lakefront is crammed with more than 1 million people from all over the Chicago area. inexperienced, and his first Carothers said. want to see what his response is going to be to deal with this violence, not only at the Taste, but with this unprecedented violence in this percent upmurders, shootings are up, violence is up, every category is he has to respond to Some aldermen suggested Weis was coming under fire for the changes he was ordered to make. always in the hot seat, as the police superintendent, and his situation was overheated from Day One, because from the Ald. Tom Al- len (38th) said.

Although violence during the Taste always makes headlines, nothing new in recent years. A man was shot dead two blocks from the festival in 2005, and a shooting inside the Taste injured a 15-year-old North Carolina tourist in 2006. seasoned commanders who were in charge in past years, the past three years, are the same commanders and top brass who were responsible for the event this police spokeswoman Monique Bond said Wednesday. Weis, Bond added, has agreed to attend the next Police and Fire Committee meeting to hear concerns, and he plans to meet with some aldermen this week to brief them on crime issues. Daley said Wednesday that Weis still has his confidence.

Weis called to discuss violence Alderman demands answers from chief Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th, right) wants Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis (left) to discuss the shootings at the Taste and a general rise in gun violence throughout the city. By Ralph Zahorik SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE The Lake County Board voted Tuesday night to borrow up to $40 million to help pay for three major building projects. Proceeds from the bond issue, approved unanimously, will be used toward the $6.6 million Lake County Circuit East Branch Court, nearing completion in Park City; a $27 million county Health Department building planned for Waukegan; and a $23.2 million central permit facility and environmental laboratory in Libertyville.

The buildings are expected to cost a total of about $57 million. Portions of the cost for the Health Department and permit and laboratory buildings are being paid from cash on hand, said Gary Gordon, director of county finance and administrative services. Gordon said the bond issue would not require a property tax increase or any new taxes. The county is renting space for some functions to be consolidated in Libertyville, resulting in savings, and the Health Department is contributing non-tax revenues to its new facility. Other costs be absorbed in the existing Gordon said.

The new three-story Health Department complex will be built at its Grand Avenue campus on the west side of Waukegan and replace five structures, said Jerry Nordstrom, director of administration for the department. The new permit and environmental facility on Winchester Road in Libertyville will consolidate functions now scattered in offices around the county, Gordon said. Lake County approves big bond issue for 3 projects Up to $40 million could go toward construction costs On Wednesday, family, friends of missing teen Yasmin Acree, and- several ministers gathered in front of the Chicago Police Grand-Central headquarterson the West Side to urge officials to heighten their investigation into disappearance. a 15-year-old African-American honor student from the West Side, this case getting the attention it said Rev. Marshall Hatch of New Mt.

Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. family wonders why it took two days for police to gather what the family considers key lock that may have been cut from a wrought-iron gate outside the missing home. Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said evidence technicians were at the scene in January and collected what they thought was appropriate. She said police have no suspects. Grand-Central Cmdr.

Joseph Salemme said Wednesday that the criticism was little Hesaid police have spent more than 2,000 hours on the case. There is a $2,500 reward for information leading to abouts. Call 773-378-3300. Tribune photo by Alex Garcia Shaquana Holmes (left) and Krystal Wilson, friends of missing teen Yasmin Acree, hold fliers of the girl at a news conference Wednesday. More police attention is urged in case of missing girl attorneys Wednesday disputed Chicago claim that demolishing a large portion of the suburb for a new International Airport runway can be done safely.

On the third day of hearings in DuPage County Court, the attorneys presented two experts, Robin Adams and Frank Jones, who testified that environmental study was incomplete and not broad enough to determine if there is a hazard to remaining area residents. Their testimony before Judge Kenneth Popejoy was expected to conclude Thursday, the final day of hearings that began Monday. Last year, Popejoy halted demolition until an environmental study could be completed. Bensenville disputes safety of demolitions A registered sex offender was charged with fondling a 15-year- old relative while she slept in his Des Plaines home, police said Wednesday. Khieng Heng, 54, of the 2100 block of Fox Lanewas charged with three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

His bail was set at $1 million during a hearing Wednesday in the Skokie branch of Cook County Circuit Court. Heng was charged Tuesday after the teen and her family reported the alleged abuse, which occurred July 1, said Des Plaines Police Cmdr. Dan Niemann. Sex offender charged with fondling relative DES PLAINES Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez Pedestrians demand a break Sophia Darugar from Drive With Care joins in a pedestrian rally Wednesday at Milwaukee Avenue and Hutchinson Street in Irving Park. An Arlington Heights man charged with using a small camera to take photos under skirts during the northwest 4th of July festivities is the managing director of real estate for the Chicago-based John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, foundation officials said Wednesday. Timothy J. Hoeppner, 47, of the 800 block of North Highland Ave- nuehas worked at the foundation since 1993. Andrew Solomon, vice president of public affairs for the foundation, confirmed that Hoeppner was an employee but declined further comment, saying his status was a personnel matter.

Hoeppner was charged with misdemeanor unauthorized videotaping after a plainclothes officer at the Frontier Days festival noticed him pretend to adjust his shoes while taking a photo under a skirt, police said. MacArthur exec faces lewd video charge ARLINGTON HEIGHTS A north suburban man arrested in the slaying of his wife in Lincolnshire last weekend waived his right to extradition in an Indiana courtroom Wednesday morning, allowing Lincolnshire police to bring him back to Illinois to face murder charges, officials said. Clarence Weber, 58, drove to northwest Indiana, where he also abandoned his vehicle, after his wife, Adelina Weber, 31, was stabbed to death Saturday afternoon in the parking lot outside a pancake house where she was a server. She collapsed in the lobby of the adjacent SpringHill Suites hotel, 300 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. Weber, most recently of the 3400 block of Lewis Avenue in Waukegan, was arrested Tuesday morning by Lake County, department personnel outside Crown Point.

Slaying suspect can be returned to Illinois INDIANA Product: CTMETRO PubDate: 07-10-2008 Zone: NS Edition: SS3 Page: METROP3-3 User: dabrown Time: Color:.