McHenry County Blog

As Alice said in surprise in Alice in Wonderland said,

“This is getting curiouser and curiouser.”

And some may have thought that my comparison of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley’s comments against eminent domain and the city’s filing of three condemnation suits in the Vulcan Lakes to those of Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry’s on Iraq funding was off base.

Wait until you read this.

I asked to see the condemnation suits against Vulcan Materials and the minutes when the suits were approved by the city council.

The suits were filed on December 28, 2006.

The suits were approved on August 8, 2006. Councilman David Goss made the motion to file each of the suits. The three motions were seconded by Cathy Ferguson, Ellen Brady Mueller and Jeff Thorsen.

“On roll call, all voted yes,” is the way the minutes read on all three motions to condemn property.

Councilman Howie Christensen was absent from the meeting.

So, what was Shepley thinking two months later on October 10th, when he told (hear it here) the developers of choice, with Bill Cellini at the microphone:

"No, we already promised we would not use condemnation authority for this project, (chuckle) so, ah"

Remember those anti-Judy Baar Topinka television ads run by Governor Rod Blagojevich in his re-election campaign?

What was Aaron Shepley thinking when he repeated that promise on October 10th two months after the council had voted to condemn property in the Vulcan Lakes TIF district?