The Huntley Farmside

              Commitee of the Whole Minutes — see inside Tax Assessment List— see inside
35 cents
The
Tlttirsday, October 29,1998
Farmside
A Press Publications newspaper ar serving the Huntley community
Volume 37 Issue 81
Referendum push is going down to the wire
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications With less than a week to go, referendum-backers are hopeful that voters will tum out in favor of two referendums to build ele¬ mentary scliools.
On Nov. 3, voters will be asked to approve two $9 million referendums to build new sciiools at Reed Road in Lake in tiie Hills and tiie Harmony Road campus in Huntley.
Since two past referendums to build new scliools were nar¬ rowly defeated, Donna Slagle, an organizer of Positive Referendum  in  District   158
Education, said proponents of the referendum aren't taking anything for granted.
Slagle said volunteers are encouraged.
"It looks good," Slagle said. "We have been doing phone calling and have gotten some positive comments."
Slagle said PRIDE is spend¬ ing a $1,500 donation from a developer on signs and fliers. The 25-30 volunteers who have come out for this referendum campaign are probably triple the number of people who helped out in the past campaigns.
School Superintendent J.R.
Del Webb waits to see village's plans
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
A Del Webb official said the work on one major infra¬ structure Del Webb-funded project is finished and the tar¬ get date for the completion of another is on schedule.
"We finished the west side of Route 47, and the east side is Prime's responsibility," said Bob Eck, vice president of land development, referring to the widening of Route 47 from Freeman Road to just north of Del Webb Boulevard.
Prime Inc. is footing the , bill for the construction of the northbound lanes of Route 47, with funding from the vil¬ lage through tax-increment
financing, he said.
Eck said contractors are moving ahead on the sewage treatment plant being built on Main Street. The village will assume ownership and main¬ tenance of the 650,000-gallon facility that will service Sun City and other new develop¬ ments in west Huntley.
In addition to these pro¬ jects, Eck said Del Webb is interested in the outcome of the proposed reconfiguration of the Harmony and Hemmer roads intersection. A proposed improvement at Marengo Road and Main Street is being deferred, he said.
Del Webb resisted change
see Plans—page 2
Hartley said that without the new schools the district will be faced with overcrowding in the future. This year's enrollment of 2,000 students in the four dis¬ trict schools topped the previous year by 300.
If voters approve the referen¬ dums. Hartley said the district is ahnost assured of getting $5.4 million from the state from a con¬ struction bond passed this year in the General Assembly. Hartley said the district would receive $2.7 million this year and the remainder in the following year.
School District 158 is llth on see Referendum—page 2
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Photo by Pat Kolle Students enter Huntley South Elementary School days before voters go to the polls to decide on two $9 million referendums for the construc¬ tion of two schools.
Ryan, Poshard at odds in battle for the state's top job
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
As George Ryan and Glenn Poshard get down to the wire in the race for govemor, Ryan would like voters to stay focused on his campaign promises.
The 64-year-old Republican secretary of state wants to spend upwards of $530 million on education, pass tough laws that will take a bite out of crime and spend millions to fix roads in Illinois.
While Poshard, 53, has a sim¬ ilar vision if elected govemor, the five-term U.S. representa¬ tive from downstate may be moving up in the polls because of an entirely different message.
Throughout much of the campaign, Ryan has held a big lead in many polls, and Poshard has stmggled.
But if one recent poll is accu¬ rate, which shows Ryan's lead down to two points, the elec¬ tion's outcome may depend less on the issues and more on Ryan's ability to withstand Poshard's charges of wrongdo¬ ing in the secretary of state's oflice.
Poshard has inched up in the polls ever since television ads posed questions about a Cicero tmck driver who was involved in an accident that left six chil¬ dren dead.
Ryan dismisses the attacks as inaccurate and shameful.
"If anybody can prove that
Ricardo Guzman (the tmck dri¬ ver) didn't get a license legally," Ryan said during an interview with Press Publications. "He took the test in English. The Wisconsin State Police never gave him a ticket. To blame me or Guzman is very unfair."
While denying these charges, Ryan offered a carrot to com¬ muters traveling on one of the nation's worst bottlenecks — the so-called "Hillside Strangler" on the Eisenhower Expressway.
"I called the Department of Transportation and said, 'Can you give me a plan?' They said it would take $90 million and probably five years to complete. So, we are off and mnning," Ryan said.
see Battle—^page 2