The Daily Herald from Chicago, Illinois • Page 72

Another chance Robert Downey Jr. to spend a. year in drug treatment, avoids prison Big Picture, Tri-Cities Focus DailyHerald Sports No deal At least for now forget about FredMcGriff joining the Cubs dailyherald.com Tuesday, July 17, 2001 PADDOCK PUBLICATIONS 129m YEAR No. 276 SK SECTIONS Iblice group, city say enough's enough Both sides agree to set aside lawsuit filed by some police against officials BY ALICIA FABBRE Daily Herald Staff Writer After more than a year of haggling and one fatted settlement attempt, St. Charles city officials and some police employees have agreed to put a lawsuit behind them.

Kane County Judge Timothy Sheldon signed off on an agreement Mon- day dismissing the year-old lawsuit filed by a former deputy chief and four police department employees against the city and four high-ranking officials. In exchange for dropping the suit, the city has agreed to pay the employees' attorney's fees totaling $30,000. Those fees will be covered by the city's insurance. The $300,000 in legal Sue Klinkhamer Don Shaw fees racked up'by the city in defending the suit is under review by the city's insurance carrier, Alderman Don DeWitte said. The employees former deputy chief Don Thomas, records clerk Jeanne Abrams and officers Brad Griffin, Craig Bahe and Brad Ferguson filed the lawsuit last May.

They alleged that Mayor Sue Klinkhamer, her husband, police Cmdr. Dan Klinkharher, Chief Don Shaw and City Administrator Larry Maholland conspired to use the police department to their benefit and that police Don Thomas employees were unfairly, disciplined or denied promotions for raising questions about Klinkhamer or her husband. The defendants have denied the allegations throughout the lawsuit. Klinkhamer added that settling the lawsuit did not include any admissions of guilt. "The fact mat this is being dismissed with no cash payment to the plaintiffs confirms that," she said.

Attorney Stephen Cooper, who represented the employees, said he was pleased with the settlement and that the lawsuit has helped create a better working environment for tb employees. "I think that everyone is happy th we were able to get it resolved, Cooper said. "From our perspective, the dep; ment is far more independent i the officers are more comfortable their positions." He noted that employees did file the lawsuit for money, but rathe: to change their work environment Cooper said the employees do not ir tend to pursue their complaint unle: See Sim on PAGE 5 Open wide DAILY HERALD KNOX Athena Philips of Gibson, hoses down a giant sign advertising the "Maneater Python" Monday at the Kane County Fair. The 22-year-ojd, 250-pound, 20-foot python will be one of the attractions at the fair, which opens today at the county fairgrounds in St. Charles.

For a schedule, see Neighbor. Developer agrees to pay for sound barrier BY TONA KUNZ Daily HtmU Staff Writer Geneva will get an outdoor mall with up to 67 stores, and residents along Randall Road will get a sound barrier to defend against it. The city council approved both Monday, but not until after 60 residents of the Stone Bridge subdivision demanded a delay on the mall approval unless someone agreed to pick up the tab for the sound wall. Cincinnati-based developer Jeffery R. Anderson had already agreed to pay 25 percent of the wall.

Monday, he opted to take on the financial burden alone to get his project moving. Kane County Director of Transportation JeffDailey estimates a 10-to 12-foot-tall wood fence and metal guardrail between Williamsburg Avenue and Bricher Road wpuld cost SI 00,000. Anderson said. That still didn't sound perfect to homeowners on the east side of Randall Road whose back yards will overlook the mall across the street. Lori Loyal questioned whether the 10- to 12-foot fence would block die noise and headlights pointing from the parking lot.

The mall lot just north of Delnor-Community Hospital sits five feet higher than the homes already. Others said the fence would do little to stop cars from crashing into back yards. Homeowner James Brown wants a concrete wall to stop repeats of the three cars that already broke through the fence to the south. That would cost $500,000, much more than the $125,000 the developer already agreed to pay. Residents could continue to push the city and county to chip in as they did for the last two months.

Past action doesn't bode well for residents getting off the financial hook, though. When the neighborhood to the south sought a fence, the county refused to pay anything, leaving homeowners to foot the entire bill. The city has a policy of helping out more but still requires homeowners to pick up one-third of the cost. If that happened, likely the 27 homeowners adjacent to Randall Road would get a bill, Alderman Ron Singer has said. Mexican president wants more rights for illegal residents BY MIKE COMERFORD Daily Herald Business Writer Mexican President Vicente Fox was in Chicago on Monday touting investment in Mexico and more access for illegal immigrants to driver's licenses and publicly funded colleges.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said he is interested in die license and education proposals but did not definitively support either. "It is something to look at because this is a city of immigrants," Daley said Monday of the proposal to give illegal immigrants tuition breaks at city-funded colleges. "The thing about undocumented workers is the greed of American businesses. American business (and the need for cheap labor) is driving this." State law offers reduced tuition at state-funded community colleges Vicente Fox only for permanent residents an. citizens, said Boti Kerr, international education coordij nator at the Col' legeofLakeCourij ty in Grayslake.

"Personally, people are payin taxes in the area, have no problem with mem gettin; tuition," Kerr said. "But mat is not thi law." As for licenses, all driver's licensi applicants need a Social Securi number, said Dave Druker, spokesman for the Illinois secretary state. However, a bill mat's on hold i the state legislature would open tto door to undocumented workers See FOX on PAGE 1 Bush tries to rally support for a national energy plan Assocuited I 3 ress Bush warned against complacency in the face of falling gas prices Monday, as a hoarse Vice President Dick Cheney headlined a Republican roadshow promoting the national energy strategy he shaped. "I think anytime there's not an immediate problem that's apparent to people, it's tough to convince people to think long term," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office as he plugged the energy plan. "But it's clear there are warning signs" of a crisis, he said.

Closer to home, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham appeared at Argonne National Laboratory near Darien with Rep. Judy Biggert, a Hinsdale Republican, Monday night as part of the White House effort to get its energy message out. Cheney, suffering laryngitis, drafted his wife, Lynne, to deliver an energy speech in Philadelphia. She defended the administration's energy policy, with a heavy emphasis on environmental protection, conservation Links dailyherald.com/ez Bookmark our Web page for hyperlinks to more information Bush national energy policy proposal StetraWub and high-tech energy solutions. "President Bush and the vice pres ident do not accept the false choici between more energy and a safer en vironment," she said.

Her husband just weeks ago saic conservation, though a "persona virtue," was not the basis of a sounc energy policy. Mrs. Cheney declared "We must become much more effi cient in energy use." Mrs. Cheney also made clear th administration is not rethinking its rejection of a global-warming treat; known as the Kyoto Protocol. Bush'! scrapping of the treaty is one of thi greatest points of friction between the United States and European coun See ENERGY on PAGE 1 tt'sahottime around the city Heat, heat and more heat this week with highs in the mid-to upper 80s.

Storms might 7, rumble today. Stelliebmkof CflMDiSCCX Comdisco bankruptcy Comdisco still hurting from last year's technology-stock crash, said Monday it is selling it.s technology services business to Hewlett-Packard Co. for $610 million, cutting 200 more jobs many of those at its Rosc- rnont headquarters and a Schaumburg office and filing for federal bankruptcy protection. Section 4. NokJds? No problem The growing number of Americans going child-free don't want to hear about the proliferation of strollers in the suburbs.

Some even favor "child-free" zones, fewer tax benefits for parents and, while we're at it, to leave them alone about why they don't have kids. Section 3. Ex-prosecutor fights back Former Kane County State's Attorney David Akcmann on Monday criticized his successor's call for an audit of the office covering the past eight years. Meg Gorccki says financial records arc missing and that she is unsure how money was spent during Akcmann's eight years in office. He suggested the audit request is politically motivated.

Page 3. Constable Net names a dot-con What's in a name? Burt Constable doesn't think Martin Luther Kingjr. would appreciate those who are using his name as their Web site name. Many tilings on the Internet just aren't what they seem. Andje- sus.com? Forget about it Page 9.

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