Unclaimed bodies a problem in Kane County

By James Fuller

Kane County officials say a dramatic increase in the number of unclaimed bodies in their morgue may be due to tough economic times.

No one is claiming five or six bodies a week, Kane County Coroner Charles West said Thursday, speculating that a sluggish economy leaves next of kin without enough money to pay for funeral and burial services.

"People all of a sudden realize that the wake of their loved one is going to cost thousands and thousands of dollars, and so they walk away from it," West said.

The problem with unclaimed bodies is not a new phenomenon. West said even before the economy slowed his office would handle five or six unclaimed bodies in a month.

But both the increase in unclaimed bodies and the sheer number West is dealing with is unusual for the suburbs.

Lake County tallies about six unclaimed bodies a year. DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann said his office sees maybe four unclaimed bodies all year long.

"That number is a bit higher than it's been in recent years," Siekmann said. "We're recognizing we have a pending problem."

Siekmann said just this week he made contact with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to establish a relationship for when DuPage must handle the rare case of an unclaimed body with no financial resources.

Coroners in the area said what happens to unclaimed bodies depends on how much money can be located for a burial.

First they determine if the person was an honorably-discharged military veteran. If so, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs department pays for burial in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.

If the individual was not a military veteran, then the coroner's office tries to secure Public Aid funds to cover the burial. If no public aid or accepting funeral home, then some coroners have the body cremated. The coroner's office keeps the ashes until a relative picks them up.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office follows a similar process, said Executive Director David Foley. The main difference is Cook County stores intact bodies for about 90 days before turning them over to a funeral home for burial. Foley wouldn't speculate about how many unclaimed bodies the county currently has or handles in a year, but said there are quite a few.

"In any big city you're going to have unclaimed bodies," Foley said.

Kane County's population boom may help explain the increase in unclaimed bodies. Socioeconomics may also be a factor.

Siekmann said he suspected the rarity of unclaimed bodies in DuPage is because of the county's relative affluence.

"We're a good, family-oriented place to live," Siekmann said. "Most people who do live here have family of some sorts around."

In Kane, West said there are four new, but still unclaimed, bodies at his office right now. And the remains of 30 to 40 people are stored in urns across from his office. Some of those remains have been around for many years, West said.

Every now and then, an investigation into next of kin will yield a surprise.

Several years ago, West investigated the death of a man who died from natural causes in a two-bedroom flophouse with newspapers covering the windows. In a paper sack on a dresser, the man had two checkbooks and a Christmas card. The checkbooks showed one account with a balance of $40,000. The other account had about $70,000. For whatever reason, the man just chose to live in poverty.

West tracked the Christmas card back to a woman who lived in Michigan. She knew the man's family well enough to know both of his parents were dead, and he had no siblings. She'd actually never met the dead man in person, just had him included as part of her Christmas card list because she felt sorry for him. With her help, and as he sought access to funds to pay for the burial, West found another surprise.

"There were several investments this guy had made that were worth about $2.5 million," West said.

Needless to say, there was plenty of money for a full burial, but that was a rare instance. The norm is just the opposite. Cremation for unclaimed bodies actually costs the coroner's office between $600 and $1,600 for each body.

West told a committee of Kane County Board members Thursday there is more to the problem of providing a dignified end for the bodies, or even storing ashes. There is no actual line item in the coroner's budget that funds the handling of unclaimed bodies. West advised that may be an issue the Kane County Board will have to take a look at in the near future.

As Chicago prepares bid, hotels scramble

By James Fuller and Eric Peterson

As the Beijing Olympics unfold, the people working to bring the Games to Chicago in 2016 are nearing a vital goal - with the helps of the suburbs.

Chicago Olympic committee members say they have neared the two-thirds mark to seal hotel room commitments, one of the major competitive portions of the bidding process. In fact, it's so competitive, that they're not saying just how many rooms they're seeking.

Officials must prove they've got enough hotels for tens of thousands of visitors and athletes. And that's in addition to rooms for the media, security and Olympic staff, many of whom will be in town as long as six months before and after the games.

The suburbs will be the major staging point for those long-term guests. Chicago 2016 staff has toured the suburbs in recent weeks and met with convention and visitors bureau officials. The goal was to get local hotels, resorts and college housing groups to sign contracts that will dedicate 85 percent of their room space to those long-term guests.

The geographical range the committee is reaching out to shows the economic footprint the games would have if Chicago secures the bid. Chicago 2016 staff has stretched as far north as Gurnee, as far east as LaPorte County, Ind., as far south as Kankakee and as far west as St. Charles. Chicago's McCormick Place would be considered the epicenter of the Olympic activity.

Deadlines are now approaching for local hotels to return their commitment contracts.

St. Charles area hotels, for example, just passed their deadline to decide if they want to be a host site. Like most towns, the bulk of the major room-providers have signed contracts, including the Hotel Baker, Pheasant Run Resort & Spa, Best Western, Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn.

Hotel hurdles

Meanwhile, some smaller hotels, such as the Country Inn, are balking at the contract because it asks for a commitment that is too far in the future to be able to promise current hotel ownership will still be in place.

Potential turnover in ownership is a bigger concern for smaller hotels, which are more frequently bought and sold than larger chains. The Olympic contracts are legally binding through ownership changes, prompting some of the smaller outlets to shy away.

That's a potential problem as delegations from smaller countries may not be able to afford a long-term stay at a large hotel. In contrast, ownership security and the potential for big profits also makes the hotels with the largest allotment of rooms the most likely to sign the Olympic contracts.

For instance, in Lake County, the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort, Hyatt Deerfield and Keylime Cove Water Resort are among the biggest hospitality names in the area and all committed 85 percent of their rooms early in the process.

"The housing is such a critical component to Chicago securing this bid," said Maureen Riedy, president of the Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "So it's really incumbent for the convention and visitors bureaus to come together so that Chicago will be No. 1 in that category."

Lake County would not only house visitors, but also be the site of at least one competition: Tempel Farms in Wadsworth recently was designated as the host site for 2016 equestrian events, if the games come to Chicago.

Yet, when it comes to committing hotel rooms, some were initially hesitant.

"People were pretty alarmed about the games at first," said Nanette Traetow of the DuPage County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It actually started out being kind of a negative. Local hotels started to look at the Olympics as a glass half empty, but now it's been turned into a glass half full and then some."

The fear was they'd block out a third of their rooms with no guarantee they'd be filled, and end up with months of empty rooms. Yet Chicago 2016 officials assured the hotel owners they will know a year before the games if their rooms are needed. If not, they can release the rooms to the public.

On the plus side, the contract is designed to give the hotels a nice financial boost. The Chicago 2016 committee sets the hotel rates with a built-in special event rate escalator and inflation adjustment. In other words, hotels commit to what could be a larger than normal percentage of their rooms booked, for far longer stays and at a more profitable rate than usual.

"It's kind of a no-brainer at that point," Traetow said. "All our hotels were waiting for was to hear what's in it for us."

DuPage County's deadline to return contracts to the Olympic committee was July 31. Traetow declined to provide a full list of hotels that have signed on, but said there's been "an overwhelmingly positive response" for the DuPage hospitality community.

"The reality is they absolutely need us," Traetow said. "They need all the collar counties to be involved in this to get the games. And DuPage's location is the type that makes us especially critical. We're the closest to both airports. We are in the perfect position for people to get into and out of the games. We are it!"

Olympic options

Managers of hotels in suburban Cook County may beg to differ. The big hospitality names in Schaumburg and other communities are lining up to sign commitment contracts, and hope to prove they are worthy of some of the actual Olympic events.

Tom Robertson, general manager of the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, said he's definitely on board and thinks his convention center could be used for a related activity, such as a practice facility for a particular sport or country or as a media venue.

"Part of the issue is the Chicagoland area does need to make a commitment about inventory capacity," Robertson said. "We're extremely interested. And, in general terms, the big box hotels are on board. I'd be taxed to tell you what hotels are not on board at this point."

Some communities are eyeing additions to their hotel stock, potentially making them even more appealing to large Olympic delegations.

Hoffman Estates has more than 1,200 rooms in eight hotels. But now there are plans for additional hotels including the 240-room SplasH20 water park, which may open in 2010. That's good news as the Chicago 2016 staff is set to meet with both Hoffman Estates and Mount Prospect in the next few weeks.

Linda Scheck, Hoffman Estate' tourism and business coordinator, said the Sears Centre arena should be a lure. She hopes all athletes competing in a particular sport - say gymnastics - at the Sears Centre could then elect to stay in Hoffman Estates.

And she said the village is building a resume to host events, including the World League volleyball matches with Team USA versus Bulgaria, held in June. And a USA gymnastics event is slated to occur at the Sears Centre, presumably as a prelude to Chicago having the 2016 Summer Games.

The one-upsmanship is a sign of the pressure hotel owners and city managers may feel heading into the games to make their facilities and communities as attractive as possible, or risk losing out on the financial windfall of unprecedented international tourism in the suburbs.

"When they arrive, the Olympics are likely to be the only game in town," Robertson said.

• Daily Herald Staff Writer Ashok Selvam also contributed to this report.

New Kane County jail unveiled, but more space may be needed soon

By James Fuller

The new Kane County Adult Justice Center and Sheriff's Office opened Friday to applause for it being on time and below budget, but the question moving forward will be whether it's big enough.

Kane County officials gathered for the unveiling of the new $56 million facility. All the flash of high-tech units, cells with thick glass instead of bars and a kitchen five times larger than what the old jail has were on display.

However, if inmates actually moved in on Friday, the jail would've been short by about three dozen beds. The new jail has 640 beds. The county's inmate population as of Friday morning was 676.

The new jail already has space to accommodate up to 768 inmates, but that area is just a shell right now. It's unclear how much it would cost to convert that shell to inmate areas at this point. The facility came in about $2 million below budget. It cost $5.1 million to convert shell space into offices for sheriff department employees.

Sheriff's office Spokesman Lt. Pat Gengler said he expects the day inmates move into the jail there won't be a need to send any of them to other counties.

"The number of inmates is such a variable, but we're hoping to keep it around that 640 level," Gengler said. "It's quite possible we'll hit that goal. Just about a week ago we had less than 640 inmates."

Gengler said the jail population usually rises in the warm summer months and falls when it gets cold. That said, the idea that some of the shell space might need to be converted sooner rather than later is a real possibility.

"That's always something that's there depending on what the needs are," Gengler said. "If it looks like it's going to be a long-term issue and the need arises, then I think the need to convert some of that shell space will come a lot quicker. It's always in the back of everybody's mind that this going to be something that we're going to have to do some day."

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay praised the new facility as a much needed replacement for an outdated, deteriorating and unsafe jail that "was built for a different time.

"This is a well-built facility that will last for many, many decades to come," she added.

Indeed, the jail has some of the most modern technology available. It will be used to house inmates in a much different fashion than the old jail allowed for. Touch-screen computers control every exterior door in the jail and can take over any housing unit at any time. Housing units of 64 beds each provide for either 2-man cells or 8-person dormitories. The inmate-run laundry can handle up to 900 pounds of clothes each day.

Perhaps most notable of all is the end of the sound of a barred-door rolling shut for each cell. Cells now have thick glass doors so officers can have unobstructed views of every inmate at all times. The lights and doors are all controlled by hand-held PDA units. Key cards have replaced actual keys in just about every area of the jail.

Chief Judge Donald Hudson praised one of the other key aspects of the new facility, which is a hallway that links the jail directly to the courthouse. Currently, inmates have to be bused across town to make it to court dates, slowing down the system. Creating efficiencies in the whole justice process is one of the ways the county hopes to keep the jail population down and minimize the need for expansion.

Hudson reminded officials at the ribbon-cutting that jails themselves cannot deliver justice, but they are also more than just a place of punishment and broken dreams.

"Ultimately a jail exists for the protection of the public," Hudson said. "We must never lose sight of that."