TribLocal Gurnee - 21 2 September 2010
TRIBLOCAL.COM
Frassati Catholic Academy opens in Lake County Allergy alert dog helps Lindenhurst child go to school
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Gurnee | Grayslake | Lake Villa | Antioch Fox Lake | Round Lake | Lindenhurst
VOICE OF THE TOWN
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SEPTEMBER 2-8, 2010 | SPONSORED BY THE
Bus policy unchanged after alleged incident
By Megan Craig
TRIBLOCAL REPORTER
Riding in circles for charity
Gurnee District 56 Superintendent John Hutton expressed sympathy this week for a 3-year-old girl who was allegedly molested on one of the district’s buses, but said his schools likely won’t change the policy that allows young children to ride with older students. “We think it’s OK for younger kids to be with older kids,” Hutton said. “Most of the time, this has been a great thing. I’d hate to think that just because we have an isolated incident, we take away great learning experiences.” The girl, a hearing-impaired pre-kindergarten student at a school in Vernon Hills, was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 12-year-old boy as they rode the bus home together Aug. 27. A 9-year-old Waukegan boy who was on the bus at the time may also have been involved, police said. Surveillance cameras caught some of the incident on tape, but the vehicle’s highbacked seats obscured other parts. “This is never pleasant,” Hutton said. “It’s terrible. I didn’t sleep much all weekend. I’m a dad too, and this stuff just bothers you.” The Department of Children and Family Services said Aug. 30 that it is investigating whether the district was lax in its role as caregiver for the girl, said DCFS spokesman Jimmy Whitlow. Although not suspected of any wrongdoing, the 71-year-old driver of the bus resigned Aug. 30, distraught over the incident. He had worked as a bus driver for the district for 11 years, and aside from a small fender-bender, had a perfect
record. Hutton said he hasn’t experienced an incident like this in his four-year tenure in Gurnee, but a similar situation occurred in a different district where he worked. It’s not uncommon for 3-year-old and 4-year old pre-kindergarten students in the district to ride the bus with older students, Hutton said. “It’s never been a problem before, because most of the time the older kids either don’t pay any attention to (the younger kids) … or they try to really be nice to them and help them,” Hutton said. “They’re older, so they try to take care of them.” When possible, the district’s youngest students are bused with kids in kindergarten, first and second grades — but Hutton said that isn’t always the case. Hutton said he wants parents in the district to know that “student safety is a top priority to us.” “That’s why we wrote the grant and why we received a federal grant to put cameras on the buses — so kids could be as safe as they could be while on the bus,” he said. “The cameras are supposed to act as a deterrent, and for those kids that it doesn’t deter, then the cameras become a source of evidence against them.” He said one of the great parts about District 56’s learning environment is that 5-year-old kindergartners learn alongside 14-year-old eighth-graders. “We’re going to look at every aspect of this (incident) to see if there are things we need to change, but we really like having older kids act as role models for the younger ones,” he said. mecraig@tribune.com
Round Lake Police Officer Eric Wang completed 160 turns on the Whizzer roller coaster Aug. 29 at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. His efforts helped raise more than \$5,000 for Special Olympics Illinois. To read more, go to Page 3.
TribLocal photo by Andrea L. Brown
Owner of gun used in attempted murder sought
By Megan Craig
TRIBLOCAL REPORTER
Gurnee police have recovered the gun they think was used in an attempted murder, and are now seeking the gun’s current or previous owner. Officials fished the .22-caliber handgun from a pond in the Heather Ridge apartment complex near Routes 120 and 21, where a resident was shot Aug. 17 as he chased a burglar in the neighborhood, according to Gurnee Police Cmdr. Jay Patrick. The 60-year-old resident had reported trying to stop a man running away from the scene of a vehicle burglary. He chased the man to the pond, pushed him in, and fell in the pond himself. The suspect shot
the man in the back of the head and fled the scene before emergency personnel arrived. The Lake and McHenry County Specialized Response Team/Water Rescue and Recovery found the gun — a Clerke Technicorp 22LR six-shot revolver — shortly after the shooting occurred, using sonar. The man suspected of using the gun in the incident is wanted for attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm. He’s described as a younger man, between 18 and 23 years old, about 5-foot10 with a thin build. On the morning of the incident, the man was wearing all black clothing,
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