Educating the Local and State Candidates

ST. CHARLES, Ill. -- Karen Belcher has a clear idea of what candidates seeking votes in the Nov. 6 election should do.Belcher, a special education advocate from Big Rock, had a teenage daughter who died. Joanna Belcher, 17, was mobile and verbal but had special needs like schizophrenia and autism.“Even though my daughter is no longer with us, the issues didn’t die with her,” Karen Belcher said. “… We need them to be able to represent us at the state and tell the governor and all of the representatives and senators that are still there to say — you cannot cut the children, adolescents and adults who already have the least services.”