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Will County's new drug-treatment house honors ex-addict

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:30:00 +0000

A Joliet man who went from decades of drug abuse to nearly a decade of helping other addicts complete Will County's drug-court program has received an unexpected honor -- his name on the county's new drug-treatment house.

By his reckoning, Miller Taylor, 67, began drinking alcohol at age 10 when he stole sips of moonshine from the distillery his family operated in the woods near a mining camp outside Flat Creek, Ala.

He came to Joliet in 1968, running from a drug charge in his home state. Like many addicts, Taylor was able to hold down a job for years at a now-closed Joliet steel mill, but he lost what control he had in the mid-1980s with the arrival of crack cocaine.

Married with a daughter, Taylor would disappear for days, stole from his wife and was homeless for a time. His wife, Vera, eventually split from Taylor for about eight years but never divorced him despite pleading from family and friends. She has been a key reason Taylor was able to turn his life around.

"I used to pray to God that I didn't want him to get hurt out there," she said. "It's hard when they think they don't have a problem."

Taylor credits the drug-court program, which substitutes counseling, weekly drug tests and work requirements in place of prison time for participants who complete it, with probably saving his life. He has gone from prowling the streets to rubbing shoulders with judges and prosecutors, some of whom now turn to him for advice.

"Something God had for me to do other than get high," said Taylor, who spends a chunk of each week at drug court as an unpaid, unofficial mentor. He gives hugs to each person accepted into the program, sometimes asking the judge's permission, sometimes not.

"It's like a big family, and Miller is a big part of that," said Frank Astrella, head of the Will County public defender's office.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said Taylor "couldn't stop crying" when he learned that the new drug-recovery house would be named the Miller Taylor House. Glasgow said putting Taylor's name on the building seemed obvious.

"He stands as an example for everyone who comes into drug court," he said.

Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes, who oversees the drug-court program, and other officials say it saves taxpayers money and has a high success rate. But she said it can be politically risky, noting the public rarely complains when someone gets sent to prison.

"What's more difficult is not sending someone who shouldn't go, giving someone the tools to be successful," Alessio Policandriotes said. "But then if they fail, you've got to send them (to prison)."

Things slowly began to change for Taylor after his arrest on Thanksgiving Eve of 1999 when he was pulled over around 2 a.m. with a small amount of cocaine, his third such charge in as many months. When Judge Stephen White, who oversaw drug court at the time, offered Taylor a spot, he rejected it, then wrote a letter the next day pleading to be let in.

White recalled, with a smile, Taylor shouting, "I hope you die," after the judge later refused to let him out of the program.

"This judge, I hated his guts because I thought he was treating me exceptionally mean," Taylor said. "But he did to me what had to be done or I'd have got high again."

From that unlikely start, the two have since become friends, White said. They even traveled together to a drug-court conference in Washington, D.C., a trip Taylor chronicled in a photo album.

For Taylor and his wife, their twilight years have been unexpectedly happy and stable. They live in a brick duplex with a tidy front yard and help raise their grandchildren.

"It seemed like God gave me back the husband that I married," Vera said. "He even opens the car door for me now."

Taylor also has seen his relationship change with Steve Hunter, the Joliet police officer responsible for his final three arrests. At a drug-court graduation last month, officials surprised Taylor by asking Hunter to be there.

"Oh my God," Taylor said as Hunter walked entered the room.

"Congratulations for turning your life around," Hunter said as he held out a hand.

Taylor hugged the officer instead and told him he loved him.

-- Steve Schmadeke

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FEMA: 57,000 Ill. flood victims apply for federal assistance

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:26:00 +0000

Nearly 57,000 Illinoisans have registered for federal assistance after flooding hit the state earlier this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced today.

FEMA said that so far it has approved nearly $105 million in aid for Illinois residents. Seven counties qualified for federal disaster help, including Carroll, Cook, DuPage, Jo Daviess, Ogle Stephenson and Winnebago.

Four federal disaster recovery centers are open in Illinois. FEMA says it has completed just more than 44,000 housing inspections in the state.

Federal officials say the deadline to apply for assistance is Oct. 18.

-- Associated Press

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Search continues for Chicago man who disappeared in lake

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:16:03 +0000

Police continued searching today for a Chicago man presumed to have drowned in Lake Michigan, but Timothy Horvath still has not been found.

Berrien County sheriff's police cruised the beach today near St. Joseph, Mich., on all-terrain vehicles, and a handful more of officers were aboard boats looking for Horvath, 26, said Lincoln Township police Officer Thad Chartrand. The search did not involve dive teams, he said.

"We'll continue (to search) daily," Chartrand said. "We're optimistic a body will be located here within the next couple of days."

On Sunday, police said they presumed Horvath had drowned and were in recovery mode. The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Saturday, a Coast Guard officer said.

Riptides and high winds are common in the area where Horvath presumably drowned, Chartrand said.

Horvath was vacationing in Michigan with two friends, brothers Sean and Robert Finnerman, who live in Lincolnwood, when on Friday afternoon they took a small rubber raft into choppy lake waters off Lincoln Charter Township, police said.

When emergency crews arrived on the scene, they could not find any sign of Horvath, and rescue efforts were limited because of very high winds and strong rip currents, police said.

--Kristen Schorsch and Cynthia Dizikes

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Schaumburg Septemberfest brings fans back for more

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:01:21 +0000

Hours before the Septemberfest parade in Schaumburg passed her front yard, Judy Norkus staked out a prime seating area along Summit Drive for her friends and family. It was a testament, she says, to the popularity of the annual parade.

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Bomb threats at hospital, eatery in Bolingbrook

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:50:00 +0000

Two bomb threats each were made today at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital and a fast food restaurant in the southwest suburb, police said.

No one was in custody and no explosives were found, but police were following up on leads in the incidents.

About 4:10 a.m., police responded to the White Castle, 120 S. Bolingbrook Dr., for a bomb threat, said Bolingbrook Police Lt. Michael Rompa. He said a man, possibly in his 20s, called it in and sounded intoxicated.

While officers were on the scene at the restaurant, another bomb threat was called in to the hospital, Rompa said. He added that the same man who made the threat to White Castle may have also done so to the hospital.

Meanwhile shortly before 2 p.m., officers responded to the White Castle for another bomb threat, Rompa said. While they were there, other officers responded to the hospital about 2:20 p.m. for yet another bomb threat.

--Jeremy Gorner

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Fire closes Grandma Sally's restaurant in Glen Ellyn

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:33:36 +0000

An early Monday fire at a Glen Ellyn restaurant has left the building significantly damaged and closed indefinitely, according to the Glen Ellyn Volunteer Fire Department.

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Fire damages Glen Ellyn pancake restaurant

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:01:53 +0000

An early-morning fire in Glen Ellyn left "extensive damage" to a pancake restaurant in the 300 Roosevelt Road, a fire official said.

No one was injured in the blaze and the restaurant, Grandma Sally's Waffle and Pancake House, was closed at the time.

Firefighters responded at about 1:40 a.m. to the restaurant and saw smoke coming from the building, according to a statement from the Glen Ellyn Volunteer Fire Company.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Glen Ellyn Police Department, the fire department and the DuPage County Fire Investigation Task Force.

-- Staff report

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Girl, 14, shot to death in North Chicago

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:53:00 +0000

Police are investigating the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl from Highwood in North Chicago early Sunday.

Adriana Avila, of the 0-99 block of Walker Avenue in Highwood, was shot in the chest once and pronounced dead at 12:30 a.m. Sunday at a home in the 1500 block of Victory Avenue, said Lake County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller.

The circumstances of the shooting weren't immediately known. Calls to North Chicago police and the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, which also is investigating the incident, were not returned.

North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham said he couldn't provide details of the incident, but said that no one was in custody, as far as he knew.

"I give mycondolences to the family for this most unfortunate incident," he said. "As the LakeCounty Major Crimes Task Force and our department work the case, I would justhope that someone steps up" as a witness in the case.

At her Highwood apartment Adriana's older sister Denisse Avila said she went to a party at the North Chicago house with friends without the knowledge of their mother.

"She just said she was going to her friend's. They must have invited her to the party," Denisse Avila said. "She pretty much told me what she was doing, even if she didn't tell my mom. We were really close."

Adriana was dropped off by a friend at a street corner near the family's Highwood apartment, then was picked up a group of older teens who likely took her to North Chicago. Adriana had been grounded "forever" earlier this summer for hanging out with older kids, and was "forbidden" from going to North Chicago specifically, her sister said.

"She was warned so many times about choosing friends that were older kids," Denisse Avila said. "She was just a kid. They should never have taken her over there."

Adriana was the second of four siblings and a popular student in the freshman class at Highland Park High School, which she started attending about two weeks ago.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Kelley & Spalding Funeral Home in Highland Park.

-- Andy Grimm and Andrew L. Wang

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Obama introduces jobs program in Milwaukee

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:35:00 +0000

Milwaukee, Wisc. -- A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.

GOP leaders instantly assailed Obama's proposal as an ineffective one that would simply raise already excessive federal spending. Many congressional Democrats are also likely to be reluctant to boost expenditures and increase federal deficits just weeks before elections that will determine control of Congress.

Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, cautioned, "If we are going to get anything done, Republican cooperation, which has been all but non-existent recently, will be necessary."

That left the plan with low, if not impossible, odds of becoming law this year. When Congress returns from summer recess in mid-September, it is likely to remain in session for only a few weeks before lawmakers return home to campaign for re-election.

Administration officials said that even if Congress quickly approved the program, it would not produce jobs until sometime next year. That means the proposal's only pre-election impact may be a political one as the White House tries to demonstrate to voters that it is working to boost the economy and create jobs.

At a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee, Obama said Republicans are betting that between now and the Nov. 2 elections, Americans will forget the Republican economic policies that led to the recession. He said Republicans have opposed virtually everything he has done to help the economy, and have proposed solutions that have only made the problem worse.

"That philosophy didn't work out so well for middle-class families all across America," Obama told a cheering crowd at a labor gathering. "It didn't work out so well for our country. All it did was rack up record deficits and result in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression."

He said Repubicans have consistently opposed his economic proposals and seem to be running on a slogan of "No, we can't," playing off his 2008 presidential campaign mantra of "Yes we can."

"If I said fish live in the sea, they'd say no," Obama said.

Republicans made clear that Obama should not expect any help from them.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the plan "should be met with justifiable skepticism." He said it would raise taxes while Americans are "still looking for the 'shovel-ready' jobs they were promised more than a year ago" in the $814 billion economic stimulus measure.

The House Republican leader, John Boehner of Ohio, added "We don't need more government 'stimulus' spending. We need to end Washington Democrats' out-of-control spending spree, stop their tax hikes, and create jobs by eliminating the job-killing uncertainty that is hampering our small businesses."

Administration officials are hunting broadly for ways to revive the economy. But they are likely to drop a separate proposal to renew a law exempting companies from paying Social Security taxes on any unemployed workers they hire, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision was not final.

Casual in brown slacks and open-collar white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, Obama took a populist tack in his speech, mixing attacks on Republicans with praise for working-class and middle-class Americans.

He said he'd "keep fighting, every single day, every single hour, every single minute to turn this economy around." He said interest groups he has battled "talk about me like a dog."

He also acknowledged that the past eight months of modest private-sector job growth hasn't been enough to bring down the unemployment rate. He said economic problems facing families today are "more serious than ever," and seemed to ask the audience in Milwaukee -- and voters nationwide -- for patience.

"Now here's the honest truth, the plain truth. There's no silver bullet, there's no quick fix to these problems," he said, adding that it will take time to "reverse the damage of a decade worth of policies" that caused the recession.

Administration officials said the transportation plan's initial $50 billion would be the beginning of a six-year program of transportation improvements, but they did not give an overall figure. The proposal has a longer-range focus than last year's economic stimulus bill, which was more targeted on immediate job creation.

The plan calls for rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads; building and maintaining 4,000 miles of rail lines and 150 miles of airport runways, and installing a new air navigation system to reduce travel times and delays.

Obama also called for a permanent funding mechanism, an infrastructure bank, to focus on paying for national and regional infrastructure projects. Officials provided few details of how the bank would work.

Obama said the proposal would be fully paid for. In an earlier briefing for reporters, administration officials said Obama would pay for the program by asking lawmakers to close tax breaks for oil and gas companies and multinational corporations.

The infrastructure spending is part of a package of economic proposals to be announced this week by Obama, who is feeling heat from fellow Democrats and a jittery public to show that he is focused on pumping life into the economic recovery and shrinking an unemployment rate long stuck near 10 percent.

-- Associated Press
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TCF Bank robbed on Northwest Side

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:21:00 +0000

A TCF Bank branch at a Jewel-Osco store on the Northwest Side was robbed this afternoon, according to Chicago police.

The bank -- located at 3570 N. Elston Ave. in the Avondale neighborhood -- was robbed about 1:45 p.m., said Officer Daniel O'Brien, a police spokesman.

The robber approached a teller, handed her a threatening note and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, O'Brien said. The only description police had was that the man was white and about 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-2.

No one was in custody.

--Staff report

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