ACTIVIST QUITS AFTER SPOUSE'S POT ARREST

The wife of a man charged with running one of Chicago's most sophisticated
marijuana-growing operations resigned Thursday as president of a Brighton
Park community organization that has crusaded against gangs and drugs.

Jennifer McQueary stepped down as president of the Brighton Park
Neighborhood Council as the state attorney general's office launched a
preliminary investigation into whether $89,000 in state and federal grant
money may have been used for illegal activities.

The attorney general's office will also try to determine why two volunteers
were listed as directors without their knowledge on the annual report that
tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations are required to file with the secretary
of state.

"It may or may not result in a full-blown investigation," attorney general
spokesman Dan Curry said.

Alex Poeter, executive director of the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council,
said he welcomed the preliminary investigation into what he called
"witch-hunt allegations" by Ald. Ray Frias (12th).

"We don't have anything to hide. If anyone wants to look at our books, they
can do it," Poeter said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that Frias was demanding that the
attorney general follow the money trail after Michael McQueary, Jennifer
McQueary's 36-year-old husband, was arrested last week.

About 350 marijuana plants were allegedly found growing hydroponically in
pods in the McQueary home in the 4400 block of South Washtenaw. Special
growing lights were installed in the basement, on the second floor and in
the attic. Logs were kept to detail the growth of each plant, police said.

Jennifer McQueary announced her resignation Thursday even as she
emphatically denied Frias' allegations that she had misused government money.

"She did it to protect the organization. . . . She doesn't want to be the
reason for him to keep running a smear campaign to divide the community and
she hopes her resignation will make him stop," Poeter said.

That's not likely to happen soon, if a City Hall news conference Thursday
was any indication.

Frias, acquitted on federal corruption charges stemming from Operation
Silver Shovel, said "If those plants were found in my basement, rest
assured that, right now, Scotty [Lassar, the U.S. attorney] would be in my
basement taking every bit of evidence and making sure that the 12th Ward
[Democratic] Organization was as clean as a whistle. I'm just saying the
same should happen with this organization."