A Correction to my Article on Former Crystal Lake Reporter Sandra Brewer

The first of June I wrote an article about former Crystal Lake reporter Sandra Brewer and her new mission in life, which was stimulated by a question asked by a woman at the McHenry County Jail.

She has written a book entitled, “Released Into God’s Hands,” based on her experience of working with a transitional living program sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Belleview, Florida.

In my article, I forgot that there was more than one newspaper in Crystal Lake at the time Brewer was writing. I incorrectly assumed Brewer worked for the Northwest Herald. Instead, she worked for the Crystal Lake and Cary Times.

Brewer set me straight in an email sent July 20thsent. It has some additional information that I thought you might find of interest:

“I just read your blog concerning Saundra Brewer who worked as a reporter for the Northwest Herald.   I am Saundra and I never worked for the NW Herald.  I don’t believe the Herald was given to the reporter Matt Dixon of the Daily Sun in The Villages, Fl. as the name of the newspaper I worked for.  In fact, the Daily Sun gives no name to the newspaper I worked for. 

“The newspapers I did work for from 1991-1993 were the Crystal Lake Times and the Cary Grove Times.  William Brennan was the editor/owner.  I think he eventually worked for the Herald when the Times was sold in 1993.

“I wrote a story in the Wednesday February 19, 1992 edition of the Crystal Lake Times (Volume 3 Issue 63)  titled “People Helping People In Need Is Drive Behind County Program.”  This was about an organization called C.U.P. (Community Upholding Persons)   They allowed me to go into McHenry Co. Jail with them when I did a story on their behalf.  This is where I met a young woman (not told about in the article) who discovered I was a Christian and asked me if I would teach her about the Bible when she got out.   This encounter motivated me years later to become a volunteer chaplain and teacher for women inmates at Lake Co. Jail in Tavares, Fl.

“If you want more information…I’ll be happy to send you an autographed copy of Released Into God’s Hands.  All profits from the book go to rehab programs in Fl.

“Best wishes,

“Saundra Brewer”

So, why did it take so long to write this correction?

I’ve had a loaner computer while ieonovo, the Chinese company that bought IBM’s personal computer business, tried to get a motherboard that would work. They couldn’t, deciding to replace my bottom-of-the-line one with one slightly better.

The loaner was not set up to receive emails to McHenryCountyBlog@comcast.net, so it was not until I got the replacement that I had access to some six weeks of email sent there.

If you had a story tip for me that is still newsworthy, you might want to send it to me again. There are a lot of emails still unread.


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