McHenry County Blog

I’m not sure what this elephant hanging in a net with a Christmas wreath on its butt means, but when I saw in at Disney World near the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” playground, I knew it had a place on McHenry County Blog.

What message does it convey to you?

It’s not quite

Mommas, lock up your babies

time, but you might want to button the back pocket where you keep your wallet , if you are a man.

The web site of District 300’s tax hike committee, Advance 300 is back on the web, according to an email sent to those who wish to be on its email list.

Want to get on the list?

Here’s the email address:

advance300yes@yahoo.com

And, here's the email (boldface emphasis is in the original email):

Hello again from Advance 300!

Have no fear, a referendum is NOT near!

Although Advance 300 became well known during our last school referendum, we are not simply a means to pass a referendum - or a group of tax supporters, as we were called last Spring.

We are, in fact, a group that is very interested in promoting high quality education in the District 300 area. We are getting ready to forge ahead and have established two goals for the coming year. These goals are:

1. To work for the passage of legislation which will make education funding in Illinois more equitable and take the burden of funding education off of property taxpayers.

2. To improve public education in general and more specifically within the District 300 area while encouraging the efficient use of the Districts limited financial resources.

We are independent of the school district, the various unions in the district, and other political groups. While we will work closely with those organizations on issues where we have similar goals, we feel it is very important that we remain an independent organization. We continue to represent the community!!!

We hope that you will support our efforts. We hope that you will read our emails, pass them to others within Illinois who are interested in promoting education in our state, and respond by contacting our elected officials when necessary.

If you know of anyone else who may be interested in this type of information, please forward our email to them, asking them to contact us if they are interested in being added to our email blast list.

Look for more blasts on important upcoming issues soon.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Advance 300

Tomorrow a commentary on the ability of the District 300 tax hikers to do a comparison of costs and benefits.

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Our kitten doesn't care that Advance 300 is back on the internet. And, it occurs to me that “We are District 300” is pretty much what the teachers’ spokesman said at the teacher-packed school board meeting. Only he said, “I am District 300.”

If you decide to sign up for the emails, please send us future ones.

On Tuesday, November 28th, I was driving east on East Crystal Lake Avenue and saw this Judy Topinka for Governor sign across Route 31.

It is illegally posted on the right-of-way like so many others were for candidates who could not find local supporters to give permission for legal posting.

Do you think this is the last sign of the fall?

Or have you seen others?

They’ve apparently hired Don Peasley to take the official photograph of the McHenry County Board that will serve for the next 2 years, but McHenry County Blog has been denied the opportunity to bring its camera to the place where new members will be sworn in.

When I called and asked if I could take pictures the last time the county cat tax was discussed, the pleasant woman that answered the phone told me that County Board Chairman Ken Koehler would have to grant that permission.

To no avail I pointed out that would be difficult since he was already chairing the meeting.

In any event I was told I would have to put the request in writing.

So, I missed that meeting when county Republicans changed the ordinance a bit, but still decided that farm cats would be exempt from the requirement to get rabies shots.

Tuesday I went to get the election results from the County Clerk’s office and discovered the new county board meeting room was upstairs.

So, I went up and asked for permission to take pictures at the swearing in ceremony on Monday. Again I was told that I would have to put my request.

I did.

Wednesday about three I got a call from Kathy at the McHenry County Board Office.

Chairman Koehler requested I call you back to let you know at this time he cannot grant permission to take pictures as the county board members he polled have stated they would feel uncomfortable and that it would be a distraction to them during their meetings.

He said he will let you know for future meetings.

If you have any questions, you can call us back…at 815-334-4221.

My guess is that the McHenry County Board is the only governing body in Illinois that does not allow the public to take its members' photographs while meeting.

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Keely Cat doesn't mind having his picture take, even when he is peacefully sleeping. This is just one of the house cats that the McHenry County Board wants to tax.

Anyone want to bet against their passing a cigarette tax, if the General Assembly gives them that power?

Labels: Freedom of the Press, McHenry County Board., McHenry County Republican Cat Tax

Crystal Lake Kiwanis Club members rang bells for the Salvation Army red kettle campaign at K-Mart today.

Here club President Mike Splitt, head of In-Sync Systems, mans the kettle as a young woman makes a donation.

My turn was from noon until 1.

It was such a lazy day, so moist and warm.

Splitt certainly selected a good day for us to stand outdoors.

I watched what I think was a hawk sit on one of the extremely high street lights on Route 14 in front of Panera’s for probably 45 minutes. Right before Splitt relieved me, it flew away or you would see a picture of it here.

If you would like to be a bell ringer, call the Salvation Army at 815-455-2769. The money raised is spent in McHenry County, according to a card I was given.

The Belleville News-Democrat has done a splendid job turning over the rock under which the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services hides its blunders.

Last Sunday reporters George Pawlaczyk and Beth Hundsdorfer unleashed stories about DCFS lapses that led to the deaths of children worthy of the Chicago Tribune or Sun-Times.

Whether related or not, Governor Rod Blagojevich’s DCFS Director Rich Samuels resigned the week before publication. Samuels refused to be interviewed for the articles.

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog wrote about a 1979 death that might have been prevented by DCFS in Crystal Lake.

Here’s the guts of this week's story:

The News-Democrat found that 53 children died between September 1998 and January 2005 after DCFS workers and employees of contracted private agencies committed serious errors, made questionable judgments, and failed to follow department regulations.

The editors know you won’t want to read their stories. Here’s what they say,

Reading our series about 53 children who died as the result of botched DCFS cases is a distasteful accompaniment to toast and orange juice at breakfast, we know. Many people probably put the series down and never picked it up again. It's human nature to want to avoid or ignore difficult topics like this.

And actually, that's exactly how some people at the Department of Children and Family Services hope you reacted. If they had their way, the details of child death cases would never be made public. They like it that most records are sealed. A number of the workers worry about "heater cases" -- cases that can result in negative press. No negative press, no problem.

You can read the details of the deaths here.

A mother tells of how DCFS failed to protect her son here.

An article debating whether it the police could do a better job than case workers is here. The comments below the article, especially the ones from those in the know about DCFS are fascinating. Astounding is the number of times there was absolutely no discipline.

12 dead children could not be identified. The reporters ask for assistance.

Of course, DCFS is doing a review.

What happened to the caseworkers?

… out of the 50 cases that had substantial errors, not one worker was fired. Just seven workers were suspended, and then for relatively short times.

Sounds like not much has changed since 1979.

As the editors say,

But it's not that DCFS can't get rid of bad employees, it's that its leaders don't have the will to do it. It's easier for DCFS to avoid and ignore difficult situations, also, than to fix things.

Does that sound like any other public institution?

Claudia from Iowa wrote in the comments to the editorial entitled, “Hold DCFS Accountable,

I am a licensed master level social worker who also has a BA in Psychology and Sociology. I agree the system has to change but as I am reading these cases it seems that most of them were investigated several times with the same sad result! Even after many cases were investigated the workers involved only received a slap on the hand even when THEIR mistakes resulted in death!! Making these cases public is a great step.

There are a lot more good comments.

My original thought was just to take a picture of the sign

SOFT SHOULDERS

that was above the freezer at Lori Berrettini’s surprise birthday party.

But, her home from college (SURPRISE!) student daughter Laura was standing there in her 50’s glasses and poodle blouse and I couldn’t resist putting the sign into context.

You can see the soft drinks, but I managed to find something harder in the basement.

When I read that former Governor George Ryan was granted his wish to stay out of jail pending completion of his appeal, I wondered who made the decision.

They are Frank Easterbrook, Terrence Evans and Diane Sykes.

Not having watched the appellate court, I have no grasp of the roles these folks play.

But, once the decision comes down, it if is not in his favor,

the grant of bail pending appeal will end automatically, without waiting for this court to issue its mandate.

Of interest is that “Volume II” of Ryan’s appeal is being kept secret from the public.

What can that be about?

Yesterday, I wrote about the disposition of the $3,200 left in former McHenry County Board member Rich Klasen’s campaign fund.

In 2000 he told the State Board of Elections he wanted anything left over to go to the Marengo Area Schools Foundation.

I left a message for his Republican Party running mate Mary McCann, who volunteered to clean up the loose ends after his untimely death, but it ended up on her business phone and wasn’t found until today.

“They will probably write the check at the end of this week or the end of next week,” McCann told me.

The amount: $3,242.24, unless the State Board of Elections levies a fine for not having filed a pre-election report.

A check will be written to the Marengo Schools Education Foundation.

McCann told me there would be some publicity at that point.

My fellow Crystal Lake Kiwanians probably did not understand why I was so intense in my questioning of McHenry County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) Executive Director Kelly Pokharel.

One of my emotional hot buttons got pushed.

It started in 1979, early in Jim Thompson's term as governor.

During that spring a teenage died in the Uteg apartments south of Route 14 where the Pizza Hut is located.

This child, a girl, I believe, was chained to her bed. She died because of a fire.

That was bad enough, but it got worse when Crystal Lake Police Chief Sam Johns told me

You don’t know the worst part, Cal.

We called DCFS 30 days before the fire.

Rules for Department of Children and Family Services caseworkers require a home inspection within 24 hours of a complaint

The last time I saw a compliance figure, DCFS met that goal 98-99% of the time.

So, I was dumbfounded that a caseworker would ignore a complaint from a police department. After all, this was not from some anonymous source, as many of its complaints are.

I was angry.

I called the Thompson-appointed DCFS Director Greg Coler (who served from 1979-83), demanding an investigation. He agreed.

Time passed and I eventually remembered that I had not heard back from Kolar.

I remember calling him from my office, an old auto dealership building on the southeast corner of Woodstock and Brink Streets across from Crystal Lake’s train station.

Yes, he had done an investigation.

I asked if the caseworker had been fired.

She hadn’t been.

“She’s the best caseworker we’ve got,” Coler told me.

It turns out that she had been given a promotion. She was supervising others.

I was incensed.

After that conversation whenever we would attend receptions in Springfield, he invariably gravitated to the other side of the room…even more than a decade later.

And, after that, I took the "good intentions" of DCFS with more than one grain of salt.

So, it really wasn’t a huge surprise when I saw the Belvidere News-Democrat series DCFS screw-ups that had horrendous consequences.

More on that tomorrow.

But, first another pitch to volunteer with CASA. While such volunteers are unlikely to be assigned children in life threatening circumstances, they do have the opportunity to be a citizen check and balance on DCFS. I think that is needed.

The CASA office is located at 110 S. Johnson, Suite 211, on the Woodstock square. The phone number is 815-206-4585. The web site is casamchenrycounty.org.

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Coler's photo comes from the DCFS web site.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

The Northwest Herald started its District 300 article off Tuesday with

A financial audit of District 300 released Tuesday showed no financial flimflams

Why is this misleading?

Because District 300's auditor wasn't hired to look for any "flimflams."

Typically the auditor of a school district, including D300's, makes no representations about the honesty of D-300 officials or about theft, fraud, or misappropriation of the District's assets.

Goodness knows Huntley School District 158's board has learned that lesson. Its regular audits did not discover the payroll thefts. District 158 has hired a forensic auditor to look into misappropriations of taxpayer money.

Why is the assertion that no “flimflams” were found misleading?

Because it is not within the scope of work for which District 300 hired the auditor. In fact school district auditors almost always includes big disclaimers that it takes no responsibility for the detection of such criminal activities.

So who is hired by District 300 to specifically detect any theft, fraud or misappropriation of money?

Well, the answer is no one.

Yes, no flimflams were found, because no auditor was looking for them.

If the Northwest Herald wanted to inform its readers about the quality of work that District 300's auditor has performed in the past, it could have looked to see if it is the same audit firm, under a "got purchased by" new name, who missed millions in errors in Huntley District 158.

So when was the last time District 300 paid someone to go over its books looking for theft, fraud and misappropriation of assets?

I doubt you will have this discussed at a public meeting.

Wasn't there a use of a District 300 credit card for personal use hubbub hushed up a while back?

Rest easy NW Herald readers, no flimflams were found because no one went looking for them.

I hope you have noticed that McHenry County Blog is the place where you can get the most details on what happened in the county board race in the district that runs from McHenry north to the state line and west to Wonder Lake.

Today, McHenry County Blog adds a new element of the nitty gritty—the endorsement letter of Mary Margaret Maule from fellow Democrat and former employer State Rep. Jack Franks.

Maule lost the 3-way race District 4 race by 631 votes, being bested by Republican incumbents Pete Merkel and Sandra Salgado.

Had she won, it would have buoyed Franks’ political reputation by showing that he had long enough coat tails to elect someone other than himself. That would have gained him the type of statewide respect that might propel him to a spot on the state Democratic Party ticket in 2008, say, for attorney general when Lisa Madigan runs for governor.

Not that losing by 631 votes is a bad showing for a McHenry County Democrat.

In any event, Franks’ “Dear Neighbor” letter, dated October 30th and delivered to a friend of the blog Nov. 2nd, reads like this

I am proud to endorse Mary Margaret Maule’s Candidacy for County Board and am writing to encourage you to vote for her on November 7th. I know Mary Margaret and her family well because Mary Margaret worked as my legislative liaison. She knows how government can and should work. She is efficient, hardworking and is dedicated to do what is best for McHenry County. She is a person that I admire for her high integrity. She resigned from her position with the state of Illinois to run for county board; that way there is no conflict of interest, no confusion as to which payroll she is on, and who she would answer to. She didn’t want to be a “double dipper” taking two taxpayer checks and creating a conflict of interest.

Mary Margaret has been walking door to door since the early summer to hear what is important to the citizens of McHenry County. She believes in representative government for everyone, not just the influential few. She will focus on finding solutions to our concerns of taxes, gridlock transportation, unbridled growth and unchecked spending.

On November 7th, we will have an opportunity to elect a knowledgeable, committed and dedicated public servant to represent us on the County Board. Please join me in supporting Mary Margaret who will be a strong voice for us all. Please vote for Mary Margaret Maule for County Board on November 7th. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Very truly yours,

Jack D. Franks
State Representative

Maule has appropriately pointed out that my previous story on her postcard, which contained a photograph of her and Franks, was not Franks' endorsement piece. This letter is.

I noticed a Chicago Tribune article on Monday by Susan Kuczka about more school districts fighting a Tax Increment Financing district.
Other school districts may have been ahead of Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 and High School District 155. If so, I wasn’t paying attention because my tax bill was not in jeopardy of being hiked by a mayor and city council whose fate I have no influence over.

If you are new to the subject of TIFs, it’s a method through which cities and villages can grab all increased tax revenue from property for 23 years (or even more, if they can get the General Assembly to pass an extension).

The taxes that school, park, junior college conservation and other tax districts, including county and township governments are frozen for that period of time.

All the extra revenue goes to city government to dispense pretty much as they wish within the TIF district. The city fathers and mothers talk about using it for “infrastructure,” but in Elgin developers have gotten massive direct subsidies to make their river front housing developments more profitable.

In any event, Monday’s Tribune headline read

Mall not worth tax loss, school officials say

That’s pretty much what District 155 said about the Main Street and Route 14/Vulcan Lakes projects. District 47’s board only authorized opposition to the Vulcan Lakes district.

Why?

Ironically, it was not because the two school districts would lose any tax dollars.

While they would not get the increased tax revenue from the TIF districts for the next 23 years, since both are below their maximum tax rates because of the ratcheting down effect of the Property Tax Cap, both would just raise their tax rates on everybody.

That means you and me and everyone else living in any tax district to which the TIF district properties pay taxes would have our tax rates and, therefore, bills hiked so the city fathers and mothers can play economic development games with the real estate tax dollars being diverted from the TIF.

In Lindenhurst, a town of 14,000, village officials was a town center. Quaintly, they will call it “Village Green.” It will be on 190 acres at the intersection of Route 45 and Grand Avenue.

Not exactly a shabby location.

Grayslake High School District 127, Woodland Grade School District 50 and Millburn Grade School District 24 are objecting. The schools estimate a tax loss of $141 million over the 23 years to local tax districts.

In Crystal Lake’s case the schools forced a 3/5-majority vote for approval on one of the TIF districts.

In neighboring Cary, the Village President Steve Lamal marshaled other tax districts having less at stake and managed to put down Grade School District 26’s and District 155’s revolt. Not that the village president had to worry about whether the vote were a simple or a 3/5-majority.

For more articles on TIFs, go to the search engine at the top of the page and type in "TIF."

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Photo is of the old Cary village hall on Route 14 that is now in Cary's new TIF district.

The clothes at the beginning of a vacation go into suitcases.

By the end of the trip most have been transferred to this laundry bag.

That means there is empty space in the suitcases…

which are then filled with purchases.

Ever wonder what happens to what’s in a politician’s campaign fund when he dies?

In the case of the recently deceased McHenry County Board member Rich Klasen, it will apparently go to the Marengo Area School Foundation.

At least that’s where he said he wanted it to go on March 7, 2000.

Section 10 of the State Board of Elections Form D-1 is headed

Disposition of residual funds in the event of dissolution or termination of the committee.

There are three options:

· Return to contributors in amounts not to exceed their individual contribution
· Transfer to another political committee
· Transfer to a charitable organization

The second and their alternatives have a line after them.

Klasen checked the charitable organization box and typed in

Marengo Area School Foundation

As of the end of July, Klasen’s fund contained $3,242.59.

I asked Dr. Ron Rood, Superintendent of Riley Grade School district if a $3,200 contribution would be a large one.

He looked at the foundation’s booklet and told me, “The top donation category is $1,000 up.”

When I asked Foundation President Penny Karsten if she had gotten a check yet, she replied,

I did not. No.

As of last Tuesday, we had not received any funds from his committee.

Foundation Secretary Jackie Loeffel also knew nothing of Klasen’s wishes.

The State Board of Elections was apparently concerned when it did not receive a timely pre-election report from Klasen's committee.

The problem resulted from Klasen’s death and his assumption of both the chairmanship and treasurer positions of his committee when his treasurer moved to Mooresville, North Carolina.

Although Klasen died on September 22nd and his treasurer had turned over the books to Klasen, he had not officially notified the State Board of Elections of his resignation

In a November 13th letter to the Board of Elections, the soon-to-be former treasurer Leonard T. Irlacher wrote this to the State Board:

Prior to moving, I turned over the checking account to Mr. Klasen and he was henceforth taking the responsibility of treasurer upon himself. I talked to Mr. Klasen several times during August and September concerning this report and he stated that he had received the forms in the mail at his home address. This indicated to me that the transfer had been received at your office and that all further correspondence would be sent directly to him.

Unfortunately, Mr. Klasen died unexpectedly on September 22, 2006. Mr. Klasen was not married and did not live with anyone. I am sure that after his death, official papers must have accumulated at his home until on member of his family finally got around to taking care of matters. It was only after I received a telephone call from a McHenry County Board Member and friend of Mr. Klasen, was I award that this report was not submitted. Within a day of that telephone call, I received your letter. Mrs. McCann expressed her concern about any reports that were not filed and wondered if she could file them or would we first have to notify you about the change in personnel making these reports. My phone call to you has shown us the way to proceed.

So I am making this official report to you that I am no longer the treasurer for this committee. Mary McCann (address given below) has the books and paperwork for this committee and she will submit to you the report and/or reports in question. She will also be sending you the final report concerning the distribution of the remaining available finances of this committee. At that time, we will consider this committee terminated.

So, Irlacher turned the committee over to Klasen’s GOP running mate Mary McCann.

On the same day, Irlacher wrote his letter, McCann also wrote the State Board stating that Klasen had died.

She wrote that

a treasurer would be appointed shortly…and funds from the Committee will be dispersed according to Mr. Klasen’s interests and a final filing will occur before the end of 2006.

She signed the letter as “Chairman Citizens for Rich Klasen.”

I called McCann and left a message about the Foundation, including,

I wonder when you are going to write them a check.

No reply had been received when I posted this Monday evening.

The money has been committed to massive pay hikes for teachers and administrators in Carpentersville’s School District 300, but the district tax hike committee web site has disappeared.

Advance 300 appears to have over $42,000 in the bank, but it cannot afford to keep its web site up.

Very interesting.

If this were in the early 1980’s, I would have finished my work on the right-of-way of Lake Avenue in Lakewood yesterday.

After all, I've raked all the leaves from the village's property to the edge of the road.

Back then, the Village of Lakewood hired Veugeler to bring a truck with a big vacuum tube to suck up everyone’s leaves.

Now everyone has to put them in containers.

While Governor Richard B. Ogilvie was in office, he got a law passed (or the EPA, which he initiated, promulgated a rule) forbidding open burning, including leaves. That was quite a relief for me because I am quite irritated by smoke of any kind.

The Lakewood Village Board came up with a quite satisfactory alternative.

A leaf sucker-upper service.

It is certainly superior to the current system for homeowners and, I would imagine, would be easier for those working for Marengo Disposal than lifting all the leaves.

If you are curious how hard I worked yesterday, here’s what happened to one of my rakes.

And, yes, I would put them in the containers you see in the background, if they were not already full of leaves that were on village property.

Maybe this doesn’t mean much, but it might.

I was in Wal-Mart thinking about buying the movie "Cars," when what did I hear coming out of the pre-Thanksgiving speaker system?

Oh, Come All Ye Faithful

Upon arriving at the Pop Century hotel complex at Disney World, I heard an old Methodist song:

Hark, the Herald Angels Come

I don’t know what Wal-Mart was playing last year and I’ve heard no complaints about Disney not being able to figure out that most of its family visitors are Christians, but it did pick up my cultural war spirits.

Our teenage kitten was staring at Sam, the beta fish, when I walked in the room.

I went to get my camera.

As I returned he was looking at me, not Sam.

Is that a sheepish look on his face?

"Can't I even look at the fish?"

This pile of mail’s message is that its home’s occupants were on vacation for a week.

We are in the oak-hickory forest part of Lakewood.

That means lots of leaves.

I mean lots of leaves.

Trying to rake up the ones along our busy road, I found forsythia blooms.

There aren’t many.

Here are two.

Contrast them with this stormy photo from October 12th.

The “hardest campaigner” award in McHenry County surely must go to Johnsburg Democrat Mary Margaret Maule.

When I talked to her Sunday, I asked her how many doors she had knocked on during her campaign for one of the two county board seats up for grabs in the district running from McHenry north to Richmond and Spring Grove and west to Wonder Lake.

“I had 10,000 walk pieces printed and I ran out of them 2 weeks before the election,” Maule told me. “I’d say about 7,000 households.

“There were (only) three precincts I never stepped into. The two precincts in Johnsburg that I did not work personally were the only two that I didn’t carry.”

Although it is way too early to announce that one is running in 2008 (filing is just over 1 year away), I got the feeling that Maule will figure out whatever mistakes she made this time and make fewer in any future run.

Consider this comment:

I’ll lay my credentials against anyone who is serving in the 4th district.

Why would Maule say that if running again in 2008 were not under consideration?

Incumbents up then are Republicans Sue Draffkorn and John Hammerand, both with Wonder Lake addresses.

Maule reflected on how she had spent less time knocking on doors during June that since then in order to spend more time with her daughter, who was entering the Navy.

“In June I spent more time with my daughter than I did on the campaign trial because she was leaving to join the Navy,” she said.

“I think if I had those four weeks back, this would have been a very different outcome.”

So, what did Maule accomplish in her run for the county board?

“I think what I did was at least give people a reason to consider a different choice,” she replied.

Some can remember when a Democratic Party candidate would not be taken seriously.

Maule’s candidacy shows that an energetic Democratic Party candidate with $10,000 can run a competitive campaign for county board.

Of course, finding energetic candidates and putting together than amount of money is not something easily replicated.

I’ve suggested that I think female candidates have a built-in 5-percentage point advantage, but only if the woman

Maule agrees that “women have a slight lift,” but thinks it is less and only if the woman “is a qualified candidate.”

As to why she lost, Maule made an observation that may have validity:

I don’t think people thought they could vote for two women. (Any reader thoughts on that?)

I think it was a three-way race. There were 18,000 some odd votes cast. From the top to the bottom there was about an 800-vote difference. There was as big a gap (in the unofficial vote totals) between Peter and Sandra as between Sandra and I.

I think people had a harder time voting for two women, which why I think the vote results turned out the way they were.

This is the first vote Peter turned out to be the lead candidate.

I asked Maule if she could turn her volunteers into Democratic Party precinct committeemen.

“Yeah. I think I can,” she replied.

If she does, she could end up the most powerful Democrat in McHenry Township.

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Photo is of Maule volunteers on a rainy day at the Johnsburg parade. Will any of them beccome Democratic precinct committeemen. At the top is the walk piece.

McHenry County Blog ran the first article on attempts to establish a new form of local government locally called a water authority.

Here’s what some of the Rockford Register-Star wrote about the proposed multi-county Kishwaukee Water Authority on Nov. 17th.

Saying he had signed the petition, Larry Anderson, president of the Boone County Farm Bureau, told the Register-Star:

I think it’s a good thing for everyone. For all the farmers out there that have their own well, there is always the hope that you have good, clean water and plenty of it. We have a Class A (Kishwaukee) river, and we want to make sure we protect that quality.

Kevin Craver wrote a story for the Northwest Herald Nov. 26th.

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler, an ally of those favoring rapid county growth, told the Northwest Herald that he feared the action would initiate a water war.

My biggest concern is that I don’t want to pit the rural community against the urban community in this regard. The water in McHenry County is everyone’s water.

The name of the group putting forth the referendum is A-LAW, short for Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water.

Here is the press release issued by A-LAW on Nov. 16th.

The proposed local government includes neither most of the Fox River Valley nor McHenry County's major municipalities.

I caught all sorts of grief for suggesting a statue of House Speaker Denny Hastert be commissioned.

It started with my being chided for spelling statue "statute."

I admit that I won my last spelling bee in my 8th grade class at Olympus Junior High School southwest of Salt Lake City. And, we all know that spell check cannot tell you when you use the wrong word.

My readers on McHenry County Blog were not sarcastic, however.

They were on Illinois Review. One, I remember, wondered if Denny's feet would be made of clay.

But, we do have a statue of the only other Republican Illinois Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

And Denny did serve longer than any other Republican House Speaker, didn't he?

Statues don't have to be serious.

The one of Everett McKinley Dirksen on the southeast corner of the State Capitol grounds proves that.

Look at the elephant and the donkey.

Dirksen was known for being able to put together Republicans and Democrats in significant coalitions.

That was before every member of the opposite party was the devil, of course.

Walk around to the back of the statue the next time you are in Springfield.

What are they doing with the fingers of the hands that are not around the shoulders of the other party symbol?

Yes, their fingers are crossed.

And, remember, Dirksen never served in Springfield. Hastert did.

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Thanks to Dave Joens, Director of the Illinois State Archives, for the photographs to illustrate my point. They were taken by Heather Bradley of the Secretary of State's Office.

My great-grandfather’s name was Mordecai, so I was a bet disoriented when I first read this tee shirt.

The front says,

Mordecai Security.
Never afraid to do what's right.

On the back is a more complex message:

The Best Equipped Security
Force in All of Persia!
- - -SINCE 479 BC- - -

· Eliminate those pesky soiver crashes
· Keep an eye on those tricky hair stylists
· Specializing in high- maintenance royalty

The phone number given is

(VT14) 930-2000

And, in a 13-pointed star is the following:

FREE
Peroni Inspection
just for mentioning
this ad!

And, where did I find this rare tee shirt?

At my son’s Cub Scout Pack 158 campout last month. Crystal Lake's Bob Petraglia was wearing it. He went to the cast party.

It was from a cast party given by Big Idea Productions upon the completion of the Veggie Tales video Esther.

I know that it has never crossed your mind what a Maryland winter feels like.

But that’s where I spent the first 11 years of my life and today brings back memories as I rake more leaves. The temperature reads 60 degrees.

The winters were mild in Maryland.

I liked them a lot more than the typical Illinois cold.

If it snowed 6-10 inches—a rare occurrence—the snow did not last more than a week before it melted.

When my Navy chaplain brother-in-law died near Annapolis in February, we were outside without shoes.

Here we build snow forts that last all winter.

My son loves them, but they are back breakers.

Without any significant newspaper coverage in McHenry County by the Northwest Herald or the Daily Herald, 16th district congressional candidate John Borling made hardly an impact on election day.

Borling tallied just 76 votes.

Another 93 don’t seem to be itemized. Perhaps the recipients did not register their candidacies, as has been required since Springfield politicians got tired of reading how many votes Mickey Mouse was receiving every election.

In percentage terms, Borling got 15/100ths of one percent of the vote, a far cry from what he achieved with his fall candidacy in the Rockford media market.

Although final results are not yet posted in Winnebago County and Rockford, 8.7% of the votes for congress were write-ins.

That certainly shows the power of the media, although remember that Rockford has three TV stations which covered Borling. Even good coverage by McHenry County's two daily newspapers would probably not have resulted in Borling's having reached an 8% level of support.

McHenry County Blog was the first in McHenry County to notice retired General Borling's candidacy. You can read my interview with him here. (It may have the only profanity that I have published, but it certainly made me smile.)

Incumbent Republican Don Manzullo won McHenry County with 2/3 of the votes.

I'm still wondering if Borling's write-in candidacy wasn't an first shot of an independent congressaional candidacy in 2008.

Look what popped into my email. It’s a letter to the editor about the Carpentersville District 300 teachers’ contract and what the board gave its top administrators;

Letter to the Editor:

I laughed myself silly after reading the Northwest Herald "Our View" from Saturday, November 25.

The editors it seem were shocked and appalled, perhaps even angry, that District 300 Administrators will receive 5% annual raises and many teachers will get 4.3% yearly.

These approved raises are made possible by a referenda that was passed by voters in March, 2006. The editors say that the only "losers" are taxpayers.

Let me remind the readers of this paper that it was these same editors who approved and encouraged us to vote YES/YES just before March.

The Northwest Herald was the only local newspaper that recommended we vote for both the Education Fund and the Building Fund increases.

These gullible editors didn't see these raises coming, knowing that contracts were due to expire in June.

Imagine.

Paula Caliendo
Algonquin

Just my luck the family was at Disney World when the contract was approved by the school board. I would have loved to have attended the meeting.

On the back of the trunk of a relatively small car is a decal.

“You just got passed by a girl,”

says the decal.

A drawing of a girl standing with her back facing out is next to the message. I think I see bare hips.

Remember this when you read Friday's Message of the Day.

The McHenry County Clerk’s canvass of the gubernatorial campaign is apparently completed and Randy Stufflebeam is the king of the write-ins.

Stufflebeam got 700 votes in McHenry County, which is 0.86% of the total cast for governor. Excluding the 602 votes that are listed but not broken out by candidate, Stuffbeam received 87% of the write-in votes cast for governor in McHenry County.

An early estimate of the percentage of the write-in votes that Stufflebeam would get led me to the 87% to 93% range.

Crystal Laker Mike Shorten came in second with 69 votes or 0.08%.

Libertarian write-in candidate Mark McCoy got 31 votes or 0,04%

McHenry County Clerk Katherine Schultz has posted these results on her McVote web site for the three who were on the ballot:

Topinka - 39,113 or 48%
Blagojevich - 30,317 or 37%
Whitney - 10,750 or 13%

In the battle of the write-in’s, the returns follow:

Randy Stufflebeam - 700
Mike Shorten - 69
Mark McCoy - 31
Angel Rivera - 2
Marvin Koch, Jr. - 1

Another 602 votes are listed as write-ins, but seemingly not itemized.

Reading a Chicago Tribune story on November 15th about a Kenosha fireworks factory explosion brought back some memories.

During my first year in the General Assembly (1973), two fireworks factories blew up in McHenry County.

One was on McCullom Lake Road just east of Route 31. Probably a big box store there now.

The other was just south of downtown Huntley.

The amazing thing was that the State Fire Marshall, which was supposed to regulate the two knew of neither.

I passed a resolution asking the Illinois Crime Investigation Commission, Charles Siragusa’s legislative commission, to investigate the situation.

Concurrently, I asked a congressman to request a General Accounting Office probe of the situation. After all, wasn’t ATF supposed to be regulating the same busineses?

Siragusa went off on an interesting tangent tracing M-80’s to the mo, but the most interesting finding was that the state investigators did not know the feds were involved and the GAO report did not mention that the State Fire Marshall had regulatory powers.

The story also stirred up the family memories of my grandmother Addie Watling Skinner having led fellow employees to safety when a fireworks factory where she was employed in Chestertown, Maryland, blew up.

She told me that if the chain link fence had not been loose at the bottom, she would have lived to tell the story.

= = = = =
The report was published in June of 1974.

Rarely do I poke fun at women.

We men are so vulnerable to payback.

So, I’m ready for criticism in the comment section.

But it’s not just this map of the mall, which purports to show what happens when a man and a woman go to a shopping center to buy a pair of pants:

· a woman taking 3 hours and 26 minutes on a shopping trip spending $876 and

· a man taking 6 minutes to spent $33

It’s the small headline I found on page three of the Chicago Tribune in mid-October:

Obsessive shopping may be disorder

But not everyone is buying into diagnosis

My theory is that women hunted for roots and berries in prehistoric times, while man went for the kill. It takes a lot more time to fill a container with small edibles than big ones.

8th congressional district Democratic Party United States Representative Melissa Beans provided a detailed comparison of her positions and those of Republican challenger David McSweeney.

McHenry County Blog got a copy of it and thought you might be interested at what probably hit virtually every voter household in her entire district the weekend before the election.

It is an inexpensive piece, compared to the 4-color mailings that inundated mailboxes prior to its delivery.

It looks black and blue to me, but, then again, I’m partially colorblind.

The message on the front says,

Congresswoman Melissa Bean promised to bring her two decades of business experience to Washington as a moderate, mainstream voice for Eighth District families. She has hosted over 50 public forums, personally met with thousands of constituents and is working hard to address their concerns. She strives to find commonsense solutions that protect our families, deliver for our communities and secure our country’s future, including:

· Fighting for fiscal discipline and opposing wasteful spending
· Leading the fight against online predators and identity thieves
· Supporting tax relief for average families
· Cracking down on illegal immigration
· Protecting air and water quality
· Meeting with our military in Iraq and providing stronger troop protection
· Securing $34 million to reduce local traffic congestion

It goes on to note that Bean and her husband have lived in Barrington for 19 years and her two daughters attend local public schools.

Then comes a list of endorsements:

· Daily Herald
· Chicago Tribune
· Northwest Herald
· Chicago Sun-Times
· Pioneer Press
· News-Sun
· U.S. Chamber of Commerce
· League of Conservation Voters
· Fraternal Order of Police
· Illinois Farm Bureau
· National Education Association
· Illinois Committee of Honest Government
· Northeastern Illinois Federation of Labor/AFL-CIO
· National Association of Women Business Owners
· Sierra Club
· Associated Firefighters of Illinois
· U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce
· Natioal Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

An extensive comparison answer to the question

Who’s Better on Your Issues?

is answered in pretty small type on the back of the piece.

The issues are

· Fiscal Responsibility
· Taxes
· Protecting Families
· Immigration
· Homeland Defense & National Security
· Stem Cell Research
· Choice
· Environment
· Guns
· Education

On “Fiscal Responsibilty” Bean says she

· Voted to cut over $200 billion dollars in waste for across-the-board spending cuts and
· Cosponsored legislation to require fiscal discipline, expose waste and improve accountability

Bean says McSweeney “Opposes budget rules that prevent deficit spending by requiring offsets for tax reductions or spending increases.”

On “Taxes” Bean says she

· Voted for lower taxes on average families
· Suggested tax relief for mortgage interest, college tuition, retirement savings and medical expenses.

Bean says McSweeney “Opposed over $95 billion in tax cuts targeted to families and small businesses, including tax credits for college tuition, IRA savings and health care costs.”

On “Protecting Families” Bean says she

· Introduced the first comprehensive internet safety bill to protect kids and teens
· Introduced legislation to protect against ID theft

Bean says McSweeney “Opposes legislation that requires companies to notify consumers if their financial data is compromised.”

On “Immigration” Bean says she

· Voted to oppose amnesty and increase penalties;
· Make it tougher to hire illegal workers and;
· Double patrol guards, add new barriers and use military technology at the border

Bean says her Republican (no, she never says McSweeney is a Republican) opponent “Opposed increase Border Patrol funding, opposed locating illegal aliens freed under ‘catch & release’ program and opposed ensuring deportation of illegal aliens now in prison.”

On “Homeland Defense & National Security” Bean says she

· Supports clearer benchmarks and stricter accountability for progress in Iraq
· Introduced legislation to protect passenger jets from shoulder-fired missiles

Bean says McSweeney “Supports ‘staying the course’ without question, and has stated he’d give the president an ‘A’ for execution of the Iraq war.”

On “Stem Cell Research” Bean says she

· Voted to support potentially life-saving stem cell research

She says McSweeney “Said he ‘will alwyas oppose embryonic stem cell research.’”

On “Choice” Bean says she

· Supports a woman’s right to choose, and reasonable parental notification

Bean says McSweeney “Has opposed choice even in cases in rape, incest and life of the mother.”

On the “Environment” Bean says she

· Protected air/water quality and helped ban Great Lakes oil drilling
· Passed her initiative to improve vehicle fuel efficiency incentives

Bean says McSweeney “Would weaken air and water protections, would have allowed oil drilling in Lake Michigan, and would give federal bureaucrats the power to force oil refineries into our communities.”

On “Guns” Bean says she

· Supports the assault weapons ban and existing guy safety laws

She says McSweeney “Opposes assault weapons ban and Brady Law mandating background checks for guy buyers.”

On “Education” Bean says she

· Supports sufficient Head Start funding and efforts to enhance math and science education
· Voted to protect college loan funding

Bean says McSweeney “Would support pubic schools teaching ‘intelligent design’ as an alternative to education and wants to abolish Dept. of Education and cut college loans, music classes and art programs.”

And each of these claims is footnoted in teeny-tiny print, which I shall try to enlarge and insert here.

Sitting right out our front door is this perfect message for the day:

Happy
Thanksgiving

Steve Newton, a volunteer at Crystal Lake's Food Pantry, stands next to the canned goods being sold at the First United Methodist Church, among other places, in the fund raising campaign for the organization's new location.

The group hopes to begin rennovation of the current Helping Paws building across from the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce building.

Today would be a good day to write a check.

Actually, I found this on a filing cabinet.

It says,

It may be…
that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Hmmm.

Haven't you always wanted to do that?

I actually did on this date in 1963.

By now, most newspapers and television shows have stopped remembering the day that President John F. Kennedy was shot.

That day I was in the office of the Oberlin Review.

It was the student newspaper of Oberlin College.

I was chairman of the Republican Mock Convention that year.

How could that happen in such a liberal school?

In 1962 in what was perhaps the first and only time in what is now a not-so-recent memory, Young Republicans elected half of the student council. We did it because the student council decided whether the model presidential nominating convention would be for the Democratic or Republican Party.

Now, all of us did not run under the SCOPE party label, but 2 1/2 years before the Mock Convention took place, we put enough people on the student council to make it a Republican Mock Convention.

I love Review reporter Anne Speakman's November 16, 1962, description of the campaign:

"Concluding a ruthless campaign, characterized by heated party politics and scandal-sheet tactics, voting officially closed at 2 P.M."

Having observed vote fraud on the part of the liberals the year before, this year we were prepared with adequate poll watchers in the proportional representation (like Illinois used to have for state representatives before Pat Quinn's Cut Back Constitutional Amendment) election.

By the time the first 10 members of the 12 member council had been announced the conservatives has 6 votes. The reporter describes "the paling faces of the liberals," in this 75.2% turnout election.

A member of the liberal Progressive Student League "lamented, 'We don't know how to behave in a minority.'"

Having spent over 2 years listening to anything but Republican speakers we were well motivated.

We had watched the liberals stuff the ballot boxes the year before and had a ballot protection program in place.

So, we won 6 out of 12. The winners (in order they placed) were Dennis Bathory (SCOPE), Mac Garber (PSL), Pete Anderson (SCOPE), Jon Eisen (PSL), Bob Peterson (Independent, but a Young Republican), Eric Seitz (Independent, a liberal), Bob Kuttner (PSL), Cal Skinner (SCOPE), Paul Keefe (SCOPE), Melinda Kuntz (SCOPE), Ed Schwartz (PSL) and Jon Polier (PSL).

In any event, I was in the student newspaper's office on the afternoon of November 23, 1963. The radio was playing.

When we heard the report of Kennedy's having been shot, I asked if the staff (of which I was not a member) wanted to put something on the front page.

They agreed they did and I asked if they wanted me to tell the pressmen in the next room to stop the press run.

Again, agreement.

So, I got to shout,

Stop the presses!

And I'm sure the Oberlin Review was the first paper on the newsstand, at least in Ohio, perhaps in the entire country.

The headline?

Kennedy Assasinated

My lack of ability to select type faces does not do the heavy block print justice.

As I was rooting around in the basement for a copy of the paper, I also found a second Oberlin Review dated Friday, November 22, 1963. It's headline was

Campu