It certainly appears that the race director changed the course for the 2005 event but made no serious attempt to have the new course certified.
Additionally I have no record of him EVER having had the half marathon course certified.
He charged the participants $80 to enter this event. Eric Zorn in the Chicago Tribune is treating this like an honest mistake. I think an act of pure and simple negligence is a better description of what happened. He needs to have his backside handed to him.