McHenry County Blog

A tee shirt today saying,

And your point is?

Labels: T-Shirt, Tee Shirt

In a decision that should make political bloggers happy, the Federal Elections Commission denied a request for action for “failure to register and report” from Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna against

· Tenth District Blog, www.illinois10.blogspot.com

· The Illinois – 10 General Election Fund, a project of ActBlue, Matthew DeBergalis, treasurer and

· The Committee to Elect Zane Smith, Barry J. Moltz, treasurer.

Here’s what the FEC press release said (more FEC information here):

The complainant alleged that the Tenth District Blog expressly advocated the defeat of Congressman Mark Kirk (IL/10), solicited contributions for the campaigns of potential Democratic opponents, and failed to include a proper disclaimer on these communications.

The Tenth District Blog was established by an anonymous person using Google’s E-blogger software, which is offered free of charge. Both ActBlue and the Smith Committee denied any knowledge or contact with the Blog and stated that they had not received contributions from the Blog or through ActBlue. Based on available information, the Blog did not appear to have made expenditures or received any contributions that would trigger political committee status. The Commission found no reason to believe any of the respondents violated the Act.

Labels: 10th Congressional District, Blog, FEC, Political blog

The grapevine has it that the Crystal Lake Elementary Teachers Association—CLETA, for short—is endorsing two people in School District 47’s school board elections.

Three seats are open, so, who knows, CLETA might have a third candidate.

They are Dave Hubbard, one of the two school board members who voted against changing the schedule, and Nancy Gonsiorek, who is reported to have been active in the campaign to save the now-rejected Encore schedule.

Here's what Hubbard said the night the decision was made:

“I see it both ways. I’m just not there.”

Later: “We all come from different constituencies.”

Hubbard also said,

"I don’t think we should be afraid to go to referendum. I, for one, would be in favor.

Lisa Knoeppel, an incumbent up for re-election who voted for the change said,

“We’re actually giving the children more choices. To me it’s not taking away anything. It’s re-configuring what we’re currently offering."

Besides Hubbard, Gonsiorek and Knoepple, the following have filed for the grade school board as of mid-Wednesday:· Jeff Larkin, an incumbent who voted for the change, and

· Bob Linning, a challenger= = = = =
The top head shot is of District 47 School Board member Dave Hubbard. District 47 Board member Lisa Knoeppel is seen below Hubbard. Incumbent District 47 Board member Jeff Larkin is the bottom picture.

Labels: Bob Linning, CLETA, Crystal Lake, Dave Hubbard, District 47, Jeff Larkin, Lisa Knoeppel, Nancy Gonsiorek

A Tuesday Northwest Herald story by Jenn Wiant about the huge 1,400-acre Thatcher Meadows’ potential impact on local schools quotes Harrison Grade School District 36 Board President Linda Armettis.

She says something that ought to send up warning flares that her Wonder Lake constituents are in big trouble.

"Land and buildings can be paid for with developer impact fees,” Armettis says.

Well, I guess they could be, but I wouldn’t count on it.

It certainly has never happened in McHenry County.

Developers are more likely to kick in tens of thousands of dollars for a local tax hike committee, which will try to convince Wonder Lake voters that “It’s for the kids.”

Developer impact fees pay for the cost of the land needed for the school, assuming the local municipality has an up-to-date ordinance.

Given that the Village of Wonder Lake has lower transition fees than the City of Woodstock and Greenwood, I wouldn’t count on its village trustees protecting local taxpayers from much higher school taxes because of new residents in Thatcher Meadows.

School Board President Wiant does show an understanding that higher taxes will be needed to pay for teachers’ salaries and other costs of operating the new school:

Paying the teachers and operating the schools would be most difficult.

Labels: developer impact fees, Greenwood, Harrison School, transition fees, Wonder Lake, Woodstock

The McHenry County Republican Central Committee raised $54,428 during the last half of 2006, but $3,903.39 is from its chairman’s personal political action committee.

Right before the November election.

And LeFew personally loaned his Citizens for LeFew $1,000 on October 3.

On October 28th the Central Committee paid Woodstock’s LRDS Systems and Forms $2,240.85 for “(McHenry) County Board Election Postcard,” $200 to Giola Yapelli for accounting services and $59.85 to McNet, its internet service provider, $21.27 for Cingular Wireless. Geri Davis was paid $600 and $203.18 for Federal taxes on October 26th.

Adding all of those up gets me $3,325.15. That’s within $578.24 of LeFew’s loan.

Just imagine.

McHenry County’s dominant party having cash flow problems right before the election.

Labels: Bill LeFew, Campaign Disclosure, McHenry County Board. McHenry County Republcian Central Committee

With the uproar about the Elgin School District 46’s prospective bonus being tax-free, I asked Carpentersville School District 300’s Communication Director Director Allison Smith the status of the bonus given after passage of last spring’s refernendums.

Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates replied,

I received an HRA and it can only be used to pay insurance premiums. Not sure about Ken.

>Superintendent Ken Arndt ‘s email reads,

My bonus was taxed.

Labels: Cheryl Crates, District 300, Ken Arndt

Today, there are four.

More Trees

Less Bush

COULD YOU DRIVE ANY BETTER

IF I SHOVED THAT THAT CELL PHONE

UP YOUR ASS?

“Normal People”
Worry Me

I don’t think I would hire this individual to be a baby sitter, considering the bumper sticker that says,

Don't
get
caught

= = = = =
Again Blogger will not let me post the photograph. (Or, maybe it will the second time around.)

Labels: Bumper Sticker

Elected Algonquin Republican precinct committeeman John Ryan has filed nominating petitions for the Carpentersville School District 300 Board.

If, as expected, appointed Algonquin Republican precinct committeeman Mary Fioretti, who is now School Board President, runs, too, it could be quite a contest.

Fioretti’s school board has been under attack both for having grossly overestimated enrollment projects and for meeting inappropriately behind closed doors.

Ryan already has a web site up. It notes both weakness--being attacked by local daily newspapers and calls for accountability.

Ryan also pledges to work for two ethics changes:

I will introduce and work to pass an amendment to the Board’s Conflict Of Interest Policy. Specifically, any individuals or firms doing $5,000 or more in business with the District within a fiscal year shall not contribute to any political campaign that directly affects the District while involved in a business relationship with the District or for a period of two years after completion of business with the District. The District will not enter into significant business (in excess of $5,000) with a company or individual that has contributed to a political campaign that directly affects the District within two years prior to commencing a business relationship. Political campaigns that directly affect the District shall be defined as:

1) School Board elections
2) Tax or bond referendums

I will introduce and work to pass an amendment prohibiting any individual who represents a firm presently engaged in a business relationship with the District from serving on any District committee as long as that business relationship exists. Also, any individual serving on a committee will be required to resign their position should they work towards establishing a business relationship with the District while serving on any District committee.

Additional issues can be found here, including the scare tactics used by the district’s tax hike committee, the widely errant enrollment projections, and bonuses after the successful referendums to top administrators.

The way unit school district board election laws are written, if only two people run from Algonquin Township, only one can win, even if they run one-two in the final election returns.

So, if Fioretti and Ryan are the only two candidates from Algonquin Township it could end up being a one-on-one race between the two.

In any event, only one can be elected.

This makes a large assumption and that is that Ryan can be competitive with Fioretti.

He is a local political figure, while she has been active district-wide for such a long time.

This probably explains why Ryan is asking people to cast a bullet vote for him, voting for no one else.

Volunteers are solicited and it appears that in the future there will be a place for people to comment.

And, finally, to my surprise I find a link link to McHenry County Blog, not to mention recent Northwest Herald articles about faulty enrollment projections and inappropriate secret meetings.

Labels: District 300, John Ryan, Mary Fioretti

It’s up a little from June 30th, but that’s probably because of refunds from AT&T and State Farm Insurance premiums.

The treasurer of Advance 300, the tax hike front group for the the Carpentersville-based school district, has reported this income as “individual contributions,” but I figure that’s just because of inexperience.

In the past, this committee’s predecessor committees have not spent money electing school board members.

But, there is no reason they couldn’t.

Labels: Advance 300, District 300, Tax Hike Committee

Most people probably don’t know that Rockford’s Republican State Senator Dave Syverson represents a large part of McHenry County.

Not in the General Assembly, but on the Illinois Republican State Central Committee.

Syverson represents the 16th congressional district, the one that Don Manzullo represents in Congress.<

My impression over the years is that he wants to run for Congress, if Manzullo ever decides to step down.

In a recent interview with blogger Jeff Berkowitz, however, Syverson was asked if he would “pledge not to raise the income or sales tax.”

“No,” was Syverson’s answer.>

…because as a conservative, it doesn’t mean that you’re—it means doing the right thing. Every generation in this country, the leaders have sacrificed so that the next generation could have a better life. This is the first generation we have elected officials who are saying: we don’t care about the next generation.

Syverson’s statement is so far from grassroots Republicans believe that I now think he no longer has congressional ambitions.

You can hear the Public Affairs interview here.

Labels: 16th Congressional District, Dave Syverson, Income Tax

For some reason the title reminds me of a song from my past, but it describes what the Charlotte Observer reporter Ted Mellnik has put together for every county in the United States from IRS data.

Here is an article using the data by LeighDyer.

But for McHenry County, a better title would be

“Rich People Moving In, Rich People Moving Out.”

That’s because in McHenry County the people doing both earn more than the average McHenry County family’s $50,121.

The families moving to McHenry County earn 65% more than those living here.

Maybe that explains the “Starter Mansions,” a term I first heard attributed to McHenry County Board member Virginia Peschke.

Those moving out earn “only” 29% more than average.

Looking at the first five years of this century, the data shows 86,636 folks moved in and 64,445 moved out.

That’s a net gain of 18,191, but “figures include only include people listed as exemptions on returns, so totals will be less than population,” the footnote says.

250,429 McHenry Countians did not migrate.

Of perhaps more interest is that the people moving out earn less money than the people moving in.

The people moving in earn $7,539 more than those moving out.

Are they going to better jobs elsewhere?

Or does that mean that McHenry County is getting too expensive for some residents?

Or is it a combination of both?

The figures are startlingly different for those moving to and from foreign countries.

True, there aren’t many who paid federal taxes who are in this category—only 332 moving in and 387 moving out—but the median household income is starkly different.

Those moving in from other countries had incomes of $19,642. Those moving out earned $3,417 less--$16,225.

Fifty-five more people moved out than moved in, according to these tax statistics.

I certainly have a sense that there is a lot more movement even between Mexico and McHenry County than those figures indicate.

If most are going to and from Mexico, it appears the families don’t earn much. In fact, they earn less after being in McHenry County than they did before.

While the median income of McHenry County families is $50,121, it is $82,636 for those moving into McHenry County and $64,445 for those moving out.

I was alerted to this information by Metro East blogger Respublica.

Click on the images to make them larger.

Labels: McHenry County, migration

The Northwest Herald has a question and answer article on Tax Increment Financing districts by Julian Compton Monday

One answer had Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley saying that the three properties the city is trying to condemn in the Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing District probably would have had to have been condemned even if they were not in the TIF district.

Here’s what was said about Shepley:

Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley said the city needed the property to allow access to Vulcan Lakes and probably would have condemned it regardless of whether a TIF district was created.

But the city doesn’t plan to condemn property in the district again, Shepley said.

Considering the deal cut between the City of Crystal Lake and Vulcan Materials did not include access from Route 14, maybe he is right.

But, when I brought up that lack of access at the Vulcan Lakes TIF hearing, Mayor Shepley and the rest of the city council said not one wourd about that possibility.

That’s the first time I heard Shepley say condemnation would not be used.

At the meeting with the prospective consultants this past fall, Shepley again repeated that condemnation would not be used in the Vulcan Lakes TIF project.

Earlier I posted on You-Tube a less than 30-second video of that promise and Shepley’s reference to the city council’s previous promise.

I got to thinking about it and concluded some might think I was taking Shepley’s words out of context, so McHenry County Blog posted more of the discussion, just in case anyone has questions.

The problem, besides the fact that Shepley promised at least twice not to use condemnation in the Vulcan Lakes TIF development, is that at the time of the promise you can hear above on You-Tube, the city council had already voted 6-0 (with Councilman Howie Christensen absent) in favor of filing the three condemnation suits against Vulcan—two months before!(And, yes, I think an exclamation point is justified.)

Maybe I am not the only one who sees a severe disconnect here. Over 40 people have viewed the original You-Tube posting and the new one—without any link from McHenry County Blog—has been seen by 14.

Labels: Aaron Shepley, Tax Increment Financing District, TIF, Vulcan Lakes

# posted by Cal Skinner : 6:24 AM  0 comments

There were so many bumper stickers on this little car parked near the west entrance of Jewell that I won’t put them all up on one day.

This bumper sticker on a window says,

IF IT’S TOO LOUD
YOU’RE TOO OLD

My comment:

If a policeman can hear it more than 75 from your car, you are subject to arrest.

Labels: Bumper Sticker

Folks have long known that they can find out where released sex offenders live.

But, did you know that there is a file of where some of them work?

According to the State Police, “local police agencies provide the information and we print it as submitted.”

Here’s a question for you.

How much restitution does a person arrested of a sex crime have to make?

Should he—and the almost 120 who show up as McHenry County employees are all men—have the right to support himself and not be hassled at work?

Fox News in Chicago found the data first.

Is working at a factory OK?

How about an auto dealership?

What about driving a limo?

Any problem with someone with such a conviction record working for a restaurant?

What about a retail establishment?

A printing company?

How about construction?

Landscaping?

Garbage collection?

A grocery store?

A moving company?

A carnival?

Physical therapy?

I know some of the employers and my guess is that some know the criminal background of the employee in question.

They are clearly giving a guy a second chance.

Labels: Illinois State Police, McHenry County, Sex Offender

The Tribune is in favor of First Amendment free speech rights…unless it is for conservatives.

Friday, it published an editorial entitled,

License to offend,

“oh, mying” the Federal Court decision ordering Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to issue “Choose Life” license plates, if 800 or so people pony up the cash.

Agreeing with its liberal columnist Eric Zorn, the editorial board pointed out,

the judge acknowledged, this could lead to a dustup over something even more controversial. We're imagining a plate honoring the KKK or Friends of the Aryan Nation. But Coar didn't make the law; he's just interpreting it.

Then, suggested,

The General Assembly can always take another look.

While they're at it, lawmakers should ask themselves if it's necessary to have these tags at all.

They used the “police can’t read them” argument and, by the way provided what I am sure is an unintentional chuckle by pointing out different types of specialty plates, including

six species of wildlife that sportsmen love to shoot.

I’m not aware of fishermen shooting fish.

Then, Saturday comes this editorial which starts,

For quite some time media critics and those on the left have argued that Fox News is an ideologically driven propaganda network.

If one replaced the word “left” with “right” and “Fox News” with “Chicago Tribune,” the shoe would fit.

Labels: Chicago Tribune, Consevative, Eric Zorn

That’s one way to express the sentiments of pro-life commentator Jill Stanek on State Rep. Jack Frank’s comments in Eric Zorn’s column about being proud of having prevented the “Choose Life” license plates from getting out his committee.

But it wasn’t the “Choose Life” plates he was trying to stop.

It was all special plates.

The reason?

It’s hard for the police to read them.

Hold on, she points out Jack voted for all sorts of special license plates, she points out in a biting commentary on Illinois Review, entitled,

CHOOSE HONESTY

Then, Stanek lists the special plates Franks let out of his committee in the previous two years:

Pan Hellenic (yes, that's right), Coal Mining, Union Member, West Point Bicentennial, Chicago and NE IL Dist. Council of Carpenters, Black Fraternity, Lewis & Clark Bicentennial, Hospice, Marine Corps, Army Combat Vet, Paratrooper, Park District Youth Program, Professional Sports Team, September 11, Korean War for Motorcycles, and Pet Friendly.

Franks would have us believe that with…78 different types of Illinois' own specialty plates that have been offered for 67 years (the first one being by the General Assembly for themselves), it was only coincidentally when Choose Life was introduced that he decided it was time to stop the specialty plate madness,” Stanek writes.

Labels: Choose Life, Jack Franks

Carpentersville School District 300 is beginning to look like the gang that can’t shoot straight.

What a change from a year ago when the administration coordinated its enrollment estimates and revenue projections with its tax hike committee.

Then, everyone stayed on message.

The sky would end if $185 million in bonds (really about twice that much when interest is included) and 55 cents more per year in tax rate were not approved.

We'll have 7,200 more students within 5 years.

Etc.

Now, enterprising Northwest Herald reporter David Fitzgerald, who replaced Allison Smith when she went to work for District 300 after covering the referendum quite well, I thought, has unearthed minutes of secret meetings.

Those minutes seem to show things were discussed in secret that should not have been discussed behind closed doors.

My suspicion is that lots of local governments and school districts do this all the time.

To stop it, each district needs one or two elected officials willing to offend their colleagues by walking out of such meetings when the illegal discussion start.

But, I can’t remember that happening. (I do know of one elected official who refuses to discuss illegal matters in private.)

The only one who revealed to a local paper what happened in a secret meeting--Elgin School District 46 Board member Daniel Rich--just resigned. But, since personnel matters can be discussed in secret, what the U46 board decided to do with Rich’s vote was just outrageous, not illegal. I sense that his resignation was because he felt he had made a really bad decision going along with the majority in giving school superintendent Connie Neale a bonus and raise that he estimates brings her up to $400,000 a year in compensation.

Thursday, reporter Fitzgerald reported that Kane County State’s Attorney Jon Barsanit expects a formal written complaint to be filed, based on what Fitzgerald uncovered.

And, it could not come at a worse time for School Board President Mary Fioretti.

She is up for re-election this spring.

Due the really bizarre election laws for school districts like 300, only so many people may be elected from each township. I think it is three.

District 300 has two heavily populated townships, Dundee and Algonquin.

Fioretti is from Algonquin Township, even being an appointed Republican precinct committeeman.

If someone else runs from Algonquin Township, it is likely to be a one-on-one race.

Until now, I would have bet Fioretti would have walked away with another term.

Now, I am not so sure.

She is taking really heavy press flack. This past week, it has almost been carpet bombing.

The lightning rod is Fioretti’s defense of meeting behind closed doors to discuss moving graduation to an indoor venue. Because lightning might strike during graduation.

No lie.

In an attempt at damage control, Fioretti told Fitzgerald,

We always keep the public in mind. We felt we were doing that, and we continue to feel that we are doing that, but we will double our efforts.

But, as Fitzgerald explains,

Even though there are specific matters that might be handled in a closed session based on exceptions to open meeting laws, the board members still have the right to discuss even those kinds of matters in open session if they choose to do so.

And, I would add, there is no legal reason for board members not to tell the public what has happened in executive session. I am thinking specifically about how teacher contracts are coming.

Then, taxpayers would not be blindsided by exorbitant pay raises, learning of them only on the day they are approved.

Yes, it is legal to reveal that, for any of you brave school board members out there who think taxpayers ought to know how much is to be transferred from their take home pay to that of school employees before the deed is done.

= = = = =
Both pictures are of Carpentersville School District Board President Mary Fioretti. At least they would have been if this new version of Blogger would take pictures like the old one did. (Retroposted 1-30-7.)

Labels: District 300, Executive session, Mary Fioretti

Last year, the Lake in the Hills Village Board endorsed Carpentersville School District 300’s tax hike and bond referendums.

When asked to do the same thing, the Village Board in Algonquin said, “No thanks,” that would be illegal.

Now the McHenry County Board has decided to keep its official mouth shut on the proposed Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority, according to Northwest Herald reporter Kevin Craver.

When individually polled, Craver found that 15 out of 22 members of the county board opposed (or are leaning against) creating a water authority.

Naturally, it would take power away from the county board.

After all, consolidation of power is what politics is all about.

In the comment section below the article, Huntley School Board member Larry Snow says,

It is interesting how Ed Plaza was passionate about supporting District 300's referendums. Is it coincidental that his wife worked for District 300 in its fiscal office at the time (and may still)? Does anyone recall Mr. Plaza being so passionate about District 158's two referendums?

Snow also criticizes Lake in the Hills for failure to collect so few lag fees for the Huntley School District.

Labels: Ed Plaza, Lake In the Hills, Larry Snow, McHenry County Board.

How desperate must Kane and McHenry Counties be for additional road capacity. McHenry County has enacted a 4-cent local Motor Fuel Tax.

Kane County levies 2-cents.

Although both counties have experienced incredible growth, state government has been unwilling to step up to plate, so to speak.

That hasn’t stopped state government from making little-used highways, such as Route 67, which runs from East Moline almost to East St. Louis four-lanes.

At some points, the last time I checked there were fewer than 5,000 cars per day.

Usually, 4-lanes are considered merited when the traffic count reaches 20,000 vehicles each day.

So, as with mental health services and schools, if McHenry County is willing to tax it citizens more than other counties, it surely is less deserving of state aid.

To put it bluntly, politicians figure we don’t need help.

So, I guess I should not be surprised that Kane County is considering doubling its county MFT so it matches McHenry County’s.

But, Elgin’s Daily Courier had this shocker Thursday:

Kane County is considering tolls on the bridges it clearly needs.

Do those of us who live in the Fox River counties just look like sheep waiting to be sheared?

Or have we grown so much tax wool for the rest of the state that it is taken for granted that we are stupid enough to build toll bridges across our little river.< href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/patgauen/story/BB50E1B070CEA4578625726E001564E5?OpenDocument">toll bridge over the Mississippi River in the St. Louis area, but Illinois politicians won’t stand for that.

A semi-rational argument is that would just keep the non-toll bridges overcrowded.

Anyone want to bet that toll bridges over the Fox won’t be used less than nearby non-toll bridges?

Or are we so desperate that we’ll pay them to get home faster?

= = = = =
The drawing of the proposed Stearns Road bridge comes from the Kane County Transportation Department web page. Or it would have if Blogger would take images.

Labels: Kane County, toll bridge, traffic congestion

You can tell it’s McHenry Marlins Swim Team time again when you start to see messages like this swimming cap.

It has a drawing of an alligator and says,

See
You
Later

It’s relatively hard to get decent photos at a swim meet.

Oh, you can get good pictures of splashing water, but of the swimmers, that’s another matter.

I got two fairly good ones of Coach John, who is still young enough to be on the team.

I'm pretty sure this is the breast stroke.

He won it, but he didn't have any opponents.

He was racing against his past times.

High schoolers who are on a swim team are not allowed to compete in the Marlins league.

John gets to take part because he is home schooled.

Labels: McHenry Marlins, Swim Cap

The Northwest Herald has a front page story today that is sure to bring lots of questions.

It seems that off-duty McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Anderson totaled his Sheriff’s Department’s car by driving it “into a tree on Buckingham Drive in Crystal Lake.”

“But Crystal Lake Officer Ken Ellinger (a 5-year veteran), whose department had jurisdiction over the crash, said he wouldn’t charge Anderson with DUI.”

What’s that all about?

Isn’t this taking professional courtesy too far?

To his credit, Ellinger’s superior, Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Dennis Harris, disagreed with his subordinate’s not issuing a ticket. Five days after the crash, Huntley resident Anderson got a ticket, the NW Herald Regan Foster reports.

McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren, a former Crystal Lake Police Chief, fired the errant deputy, who had worked for him less than a year.

“Nygren said deputies were allowed to drive their squad cars off-duty as long as they are alone, armed, have the police radio on and are available to respond in an emergency,” the article says.

The Northwest Herald had to file a Freedom of Information Request to obtain the police reports.

Three Republican County Board members are holding a meeting to discuss water.

It will be held at Woodstock High School from 7-9 on the night of February 8th.

The event is hosted by Woodstock county board member Tina Hill.

County Board Chairman Ken Koehler of Crystal Lake and Woodstock’s John Jung will also attend.

Both Hill and Jung have some of their 5th county board district in the area of the proposed Kishwaukee Water Authority, but few people who will be allowed to vote, if the issue gets on the ballot. All of Woodstock and Grafton Township are excluded from the Water Authority.

Koehler has none in his district that would be included in the proposed new tax district, but has expressed opposition to its formation.

Newly elected County Board member James Kennedy and Virginia Peschke also represent the 5th district.

Woodstock, IL – January 26, 2007 – In spite of the more than 1600 citizens signatures filed with the DeKalb County court, many municipal officials, purporting to represent municipal residents, are requesting that an area 1.5 miles around their municipal limits be excluded from the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority.

Pat Kennedy, President of the A-LAW, the not-for-profit corporation that organized the citizens initiative to form the water authority, has expressed grave concerns. The municipalities of Cortland, Genoa, Kingston, Lee, Malta, Shabbona, Sycamore, Union and Waterman have all made this request. The village of Maple Park has asked that its FPA boundary also be excluded.

Many of the more than 1600 citizens who signed the petition to form the water authority would be excluded if this request is granted. In effect, these municipalities are attempting to use a planning area outside their territorial boundaries to disenfranchise interested citizens and prevent them from voting on this ballot question. Municipal officials that these citizens did not even elect would be controlling the citizen’s vote.

The 1.5 mile planning area is the most likely location for a municipality to place a new high capacity well, making those citizens the most vulnerable to it’s effects and most in need of protection. There is no entity currently in place to help mitigate the negative impacts if their wells are drained dry.

The boundaries proposed by A-LAW are based on county, township, and municipal boundaries that are well established and easily discernable to election officials. A 1.5 mile additional boundary around municipalities would crate an administrative nightmare for election officials. There is nothing in the Water Authority Act or other State Statutes that mandates any type of exclusion for the municipal planning areas. An exclusion of these planning areas would weaken the authority and greatly diminish its effectiveness in groundwater management.

KVWA supporters include many rural residents along with the McHenry, Boone and DeKalb Farm Bureaus. The Soil and Water Districts of all three counties have also endorsed the effort.

The next hearing on the petition is Tuesday, January 30, at 1:30 before the Hon. Kurt Klein at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore, Illinois. Retired Judge, John W. Countryman of DeKalb, is representing the petitioners.

Further information can be obtained by visiting www.a-lawonline.org or calling A-LAW at 1-866-649-9049 or e-mailing at A-LAW@onebox.com. We encourage anyone wanting additional information and those willing to assist this effort to call the Alliance.

A water authority is authorized by Illinois law and created by referendum voted on by citizens of the proposed authority area. A water authority has the power to permit new wells for high capacity residential, municipal, industrial and commercial users.

The authority will monitor and manage the use of ground water within the authority’s boundaries. Agricultural uses along with existing wells at current usage levels are not affected. Water authorities currently exist throughout the State of Illinois, most in central Illinois. The Illinois Water Authority Association located in Havana, Illinois represents many of the current authorities. Water authorities work directly with other state and local governmental units and enter into intergovernmental agreements in carrying out its duties. The Alliance calls on all interested residents to contact them to help approve the water authority.

Projecting population trends among the 50 states redistricting consultant Clark Bensen of Polidata Incorporated predicts that Illinois will be among the state that lose representation in the United States Congress.

For all but one decade I have lived in Illinois, its relative share of the country’s population has declined enough for us to lose a congressman.

There were

· 25 during the 1950’s
· 24 during the 1960’s
· 24 during the 1970’s
· 22 during the 1980’s
· 20 during the 1990’s
· 19 during the 2000’s

Other projected losers:

Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York (-2), Ohio (-2) and Pennsylvania

If the Democrats will just raise our income taxes 67%, maybe we lose two seats.

Winners?

Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Texas (+2) and Utah.

Thanks to Paul Richardson at Capitol Fax Blog for the tip pointing me to The Thicket story by Tim Storey.

Labels: Re-apportioment

We don’t see tagging artwork much around Crystal Lake, so when I saw this railroad car on Main Street near Congress, I decided to take a picture.

I thought it might be the typical gang graffiti that we see on Union Pacific cars running through Crystal Lake, but, when I enlarged this shot taken out my car window, it was more.

It says,

LOUIE

in really large letters

Over at the left, however, is

For my Pops

and below

2006

To the right of “Louie” is something that I can’t make out.

Maybe someone reading this can.

That was the question that came to my mind when I saw in the Daily Herald that Feisty the Cat had escaped from its Lake County Cat Tax-ridden home.

Was Feisty trying to make it to McHenry County and live in the wild as a cat who will not be bothered by the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors, if the Republican county board members do pass a cat tax?

We’ll never know, will we?

Reporter Lee Litas didn’t interview Feisty.

Jan Fisher, Feisty’s owner mounted a search after Feisty’s New Year’s Eve escape and Feisty was found.

Now Fiesty will have to pay the Lake County Republican Cat Tax.

= = = = =
Feisty's picture appeared in the Daily Herald story.

Yesterday, I published an email from Cathy Peschke, who has moved from Harvard, Illinois, to New Hampshire.

(Their $375,000--asking price--home in Harvard is still for sale. See the details here.)

She and her husband Jim have already started a taxpayer web site.

But their old web site, CRAFT, is still being kept current and so is the blog for Citizens for Reasonable and Fair Taxes.

Both have come under attack, she reports.

A bunch of educational tax hikers called the Minnesota Association of School Administrators have put CRAFT on what I would call an enemies' list.

How proud the two must be.

They have worked hard for that recognition.

The Minnesota Association of School Administrators has published a

Rapid Referendum Response Booklet

What to do when your district
is blindsided
by anti-referendum attacks

I find the subtitle almost comical.

If McHenry County’s School Carpentersville District 300’s and Woodstock’s District 200’s campaigns are any indication, it is more likely that taxpayers will be blindsided.

There’s “a new breed of organized opposition,” the pamphlet warns.

And, you know what, these administrators seem to think that opposition to tax hikes starts late deliberately.

What a lack of understanding of how citizens slowly begin to understand that there is an serious attack on their pocketbooks.

The poor superintendents think that there are deliberate “attempts to overwhelm” them with information requests about

contracts with attorneys, financial advisors, construction managers, architects.

Could that be because these folks are a major source of funding to the tax hike committees?

I think so.

I guess getting that information together for taxpayers takes away from the superintendents’ main purpose—to get those taxes hiked.

I think I feel tears coming on.

Who else made the taxpayer protection honor list?

Paul Dorr, a.k.a., Copperhead Consulting Services. COPPERHEAD CONSULTING SERVICES

A blog about Paul Dorr, which does not bring up anything.

Here are more links posted by the Minnesota group:

http://pdsram.com, which supposedly links to

· CRAFT,

· an Indian Prairie, IL, anti-tax group (link does not work),

· The Family Taxpayers (Network) Champion, IL anti-tax group,

· Contra Costa, CA anti-tax group, whose real name is the Alliance of Contra Costa Taxpayers,

· Paul Dorr’s anti-tax group, and

· Alliance for Reform Education Funding, described on the school administrators’ web site as Ohio Christian anti-tax group. It has a home schooling connection.

= = = = =
The sign is from an Ohio referendum, found on the Alliance for Reform Education Funding web site.

The cartoon is from a California group Contra Costa's Alliance of Contra Costa Taxpayers.

It’s pile on time for Carpentersville School District 300.

Thursday, Northwest Herald News Editor Kevin Lyons starts his column like this:

The comment that her school board went into closed session to talk about things as arbitrary as where to hold graduation ceremonies because possible lightning strikes are safety concerns might go down in history as the worst publicly articulated argument to violate open meetings laws in Illinois history.

Lyons hints that Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti should get involved and suggests he deliver a trophy for that achievement.

I was thinking about entitling this “Blue State Blues.”

Tuesday, I ran a story about a Federal Judge’s having ruled that Secretary of State Jesse White had to issue “Choose Life” license plates, if 850 people wanted them.

I headlined my story,

Jack Franks Off the “CHOOSE LIFE” License Plate Hook

Thursday, Tribune columnist Eric Zorn writes that he is in favor of getting rid of all specialty plates.

Zorn doesn’t come right out and say, “Regiment them all,” but that would be the result.

No individuality at all.

And, why?

So pro-lifers in Illinois can’t demonstrate their commitment on their license plates.

I would suggest that we have a contest.

Let the pro-choicers pick any slogan they want for a license plate.

How about “Choice!”

Maybe they will give their money to adoption agencies, too.

Let’s see who can sell the most license plates.

But, before ending this article, let me quote Zorn’s the part about State Rep. Jack Franks:

"Law enforcement officials tell me over and over that they don't like [specialty plates]," said state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), who says he's proud to be the bottleneck denying applications as chairman of the House State Government Administration Committee. "They're confusing."

I have a related observation.

Have you ever noticed how many cars in Illinois don't have front license plates?

The logical suggestion was made to get rid of them. Lots of states have done that.

That would decrease the cost and increase the net tax take, since license fees surely would not be cut.

The law enforcement community made similar comments about front plates to me that they made to Franks about the specialty plates.

It would be harder to catch crooks.

I asked Algonquin Police Chief Russ Lane, who headed the police chiefs association at the time, I believe, to ask his board members, who favored front and back plates, to tell me how many citations they had issued for failure to have a front plate.

There were very, very few.

I reasoned that if the police thought front plates were important that they would surely write tickets to the large number who didn't have one.

The lack of enforcement led me to decide one back license plate was enough.

Since then, however, I've found a reason for two plates.

I saw a license plate reading device at work in a TV show about a Canadian police force testing it.

The device read the plates of cars on both the highway and in parking lots. While the news camera was on, the policeman found a stolen parked car. Since people park both ways in parking lots, for the device to work best, two plates would be needed.

But, back to the reason for this story--Jack Franks' commnents to Eric Zorn.

Ever since his first campaign in 1998, Franks has said he was “pro-choice.”

Franks has had an almost perfect pro-life voting record, however.

I figure he just wants to polish up his credentials with the pro-choice crowd.

That’s a must if one is ever going to run for statewide office.

Actually, it’s a sign on a window in a Gary Markstein editorial cartoon.

It’s a blustery winter day.

A man, with scarf blowing away from his neck is standing all bundled up in front of a building covered with snow.

There's a sign on the window.

What’s the sign say?

GLOBAL WARMING
MEETING CANCELED
DUE TO WEATHER

I had wondered if Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney had made any impact on his natural and well-organized McHenry County constituency—the McHenry County Defenders.

I have often characterized the McHenry County Defenders as the largest and best-organized political organization in McHenry County.

While they do not participate overtly in partisan elections besides running candidates’ forums once in a while, when a local group feels aggrieved, it’s often the Defenders they turn to.

And, the Defenders are capable of giving fits to local and county governmental entities.

Currently, they have taken up the cause of a Burton’s Bridge neighborhood threatened by a building as big as a Jewel store “to serve commercial building businesses and to develop a storage facility for commercial equipment and vehicles,” as an article by neighbor Lori McConville writes.

Nevertheless, I was surprised to see

A Call to Action

by Rich Whitney
2006 Green Party candidate for Governor

on the front page of “Nature Matters,” the quarterly newsletter of the McHenry County Defenders. It goes on for two and one-have pages.

And, I learned its writing was solicited by the Defenders.

I haven’t read it yet, but wonder if Whitney will attend the Saturday, February 10th annual pot luck dinner meeting at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in McHenry. (It’s “members only,” so, if you want to attend, get yours dues check in.)

If he came, he might be able to stimulate some members to run for county board in 2008 as Green Party members.

He might even be able to recruit enough precinct committeemen to form a real party in McHenry County.

Bill Baar at Illinoize points out that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an article about the opportunities by Adam Jadhay.

It starts,

Wanted: One candidate for the U.S. Senate, 19 for the U.S. House, 118 potential state representatives, dozens more wannabe state senators, hundreds of potential county officials.

And as many as 11,692 precinct committeemen, among other vacancies. Interested applicants should contact the Illinois Green Party.

Phil Huckelberry is the party's candidate recruitment guy.

Whitney received 10,750 votes for governor in McHenry County. In contrast, I got 3,903 in 2002 as the Libertarian Party candidate.

It’s hard to believe that Keely Cat wouldn’t have at least moral support from Conservative Cat.

Conservative Cat was found in cyberspace at a site named after him.

Conservative Cat quotes
“The Thoughts of Chairman Meow:"

Talk nice to your parents. A few kind words now means lots of free babysitting when you really need it.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

I think he would join Keely Cat in his opposition to the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax, don't you?

And, if I were a rabid cat, I wouldn't even get close to Conservative Cat.

Remember how Huntley School Board member Larry Snow blew the whistle on the 55-cent tax rate hike referendum could really bring in a lot more money

Remember when Snow said the same thing could happen with Carpentersville School District 300’s 55-cent tax hike referendum?

Well, yesterday, Daily Herald reporter Jeffrey Arndt wrote a column in which he wrote Superintendent Ken Arndt told him the following:

In saying costly capital appreciation bonds were now an option, Arndt also said the district could choose to exceed the 55-cent tax-rate increase voters approved to hire new teachers and pay down the deficit.

That’s the same issue that rocked Huntley District 158, where the superintendent resigned, the finance director retired and the board publicly apologized for misleading the public during their November 2004 tax campaign.

WHOA!

Gaunt does on to say that he doesn’t think Arndt meant it, that Arndt was either frustrated or angry or both.

And,

I asked him how the public was supposed to believe anything the district said during its referendum campaign.

His response, in effect, was that those promises meant nothing — provided the school board was acting within the law.

Obviously that’s a ridiculous thing to say. And I don’t think Arndt is a ridiculous man.

Gaunt then suggests,

because public schools are so poorly funded by the state, local school officials feel justified in making ends meet by almost any means possible.

WHOA, again.

I won’t go into a long lecture about how relatively well off District 300 is, but it is not mainly old Carpentersville anymore.

It is a high-income part of Illinois.

Anyone who thinks higher state income taxes is going to bring a net decrease in tax burden for this part of Illinois needs to do better cost-benefit analysis.

And, there is that nagging question of whether dividing the total amount of money spent on educating kids by the number of kids and, then, allowing their parents to decide how to spend that money on their own child’s education might not provide the competition that would improve education, the way competition does throughout the world’s economy.

Yesterday, I pointed out that the Crystal Lake Rowing Club is asking for $16,510 of its $17,810 budget from the city’s Hotel and Motel Tax. The group wants an astounding almost 93% of its entire budget for its May 5th Greater Chicago Juniors Rowing Championship.

But, there were other applicants for the $145,000.

The requests approach the half million-dollar amount over three times the amount available.

I make it $492,510 in grant requests.

The applicants are listed in descending order of the amount of subsidy requested.

The Raue Center for the Arts is planning to create new multi-day festivals:

· Film Festival
· McHenry Youth Arts Festival
· Cabaret Festival
· Jazz Festival and
· Raue Cultural Festival, 1 day this year, more in the future.

It states its goal is to brand the Raue Center as “a regional arts destination spot.” 12,000 additional visitors to the new festivals are projected.

The Raue is asking for $113,000 out of a $325,000 budget for program support ($45,200) and marketing ($67,800). Its total budget is $1.9 million. The percentage requested is 35% of the first year’s festivals’ budget; 6% of its total budget.

The McHenry County Youth Sports Association, better known as CABA, the Continental Amateur Baseball Association, is requesting $55,000 or 26% of its $210,000 budget. Its application states,

The CABA World Series has evolved similarly to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. It is a very prestigious internationally acclaimed World Series that enhances the quality of life, while providing generous economic benefits.

The Historic Downtown District of Crystal Lake asked for $33,000 of its $180,000 budget. So, it’s requesting 18% of its budget.

The Crystal Lake Gala Committee wants 11% of its budget to come from taxpayers. It is asking for $40,000 of the $350,000 it estimates to put on its festival.

The Crystal Lake Police Charity Organization wants to build a Police and Fire Memorial Plaza. It is seeking city funding for $40,000 of its $375,000 budget. That’s about 23% of the total.

The McHenry County Convention and Visitors Bureau didn’t list an amount. It just wants 25% of the local hotel tax receipts. Its total budget is $168,000 for 2007. Most of its money so far comes from McHenry County taxpayers ($87,000) and the City of McHenry ($12,000). It receives $12,676 from its private sector members. State taxpayers kicked in $22,248—last year, I think.) Cort Carlson told McHenry County Blog that 25% is about $36,000. If so, the Bureau is asking for about 21% of its budget from Crystal Lake.

The Lakeside Legacy Foundation put in an application for $25,000 to be used to print and distribute 20,000 programs and for promotion. (I thought that was paid by the advertising in the programs.) The group bills the two back-to-back festivals as the “largest event in McHenry County,” saying that 30,000 attend.

The Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce requested $5,000 to print 5,000 guides to distribute to those interested in the Crystal Lake area. No Chamber budget was mentioned.

The McHenry County Music Center asks for about 18% or $3,000 of $17,025 to help put on three concerts, February 25th, May 20th and a date to be announced in November at the Raue Center. Last year, the group received $2,000.

Big Brothers, Big Sisters of McHenry County also put in an application. If I read my notes correctly, the group is asking for $1,000 out of a $4,300 budget of its Fall Benefit Dinner and Auction, 23% of the project’s total.

Another applicant is the Crystal Lake Babe Ruth League. The group requests $1,000 of $9,000 for advertising and marketing. It received $1,000 last year. That’s 11% of the project, but only about half a percent of the League’s total budget.

= = = = =
The photograph is of the Raue Center for the Arts after the Buckinghams performed on December 16, 2006.

You have to hand it to Cathy Peschke.

She and her husband Jim started CRAFT, Citizens for Reasonable and Fair Taxes. Here's their old, but still current, blog. Here is their new one, Croydon Citizens for Reasonable And Fair Taxes.

She, Jim and the little one moved to New Hampshire three weeks ago and she has already made trouble for the same kind of people she took on in Illinois.

I hope you enjoy this email from her:

Today The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy had a meeting in Concord titled Education Funding and the Constitution.

The long and short of it is about 13 years ago I think I am right on the number. A school district sued the State of NH over the funding of education. Recently the Supreme Court said the legislators must define "adequate education" by July 1st or the Supreme Court will decide and impose a tax if need be. By the way I am sure you know that, that is not the job of the Supreme Court.

They had a Martire type dude there.

I was able to make a comment.

Essentially I said the legislators defining an adequate education takes away a parents right to define an adequate education for their child. I also said that the legislators should run with the idea that they must define education and take the bull by the horns and revamp the system and have the money follow the child and not the institution or system.

I directed my question to the Martire dude. I basically said the rhetoric he spewed is all too often what I hear from the teacher’s unions and administrator’s associations I asked how much funding he gets from these groups.

His response was I do not know but our group is made up of NEA members, school board associations, teachers, etc. ..........

After the meeting a Representative who has a school choice bill up asked if I would be willing to testify.

Another Representative came up to me too and asked the same thing. Someone thanked me for my question to the Martire dude.

Three weeks in New Hampshire and legislators actually want to here what I have to say. This is so unlike Illinois.

This is the first time arms have been the “Message of the Day.”

Look at them.

What do they tell you?

Since our family was on this stalled Disney World Great Movie Ride, I know we had been stopped for a pretty long time.

To me the arms show the boredom of waiting while people from cars further down the ride were evacuated.

It was the second time I have been on a stalled Disney World ride. The first was at pace Mountain, the only roller coaster the daredevils in my clan convinced me to ride.

Unfortunately, I did not have a camera for that because the inside was fascinating.

Labels: Broken Ride Ride Breakdown, GreatMovie Ride, Movie Ride, Space Mountain

Keely Cat sits on his perch keeping watch for the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

He can see no footprints in the back yard.

Still, it is wise to keep on the alert.

And, who knows?

He might even spy a rabid bat someday.

Keely would really rather go out and play.

It's in his genes to survive in the snow.

He even has leggings on his hind legs and a mane to keep him warm.

But, no such luck.

Keely is a house cat.

First let me concede that the Elgin School District 46 is the second largest in Illinois. In the 1970’s I represented its west side in the Illinois House.

But, surely there is a disconnect between the school superintendent, the school board and the taxpayers.

Today those who run the Elgin Schools displaced those in Carpentersville District 300 in the “Let’s Criticize the Schools” coverage in the upper Fox River Valley.

Yesterday, Elgin’s Courier News told of school board member Daniel Rich’s resignation in protest of pending school board action, which he said would bring School Superintendent Connie Neal’s compensation package to $400,000.

Today, the Courier’s headline is

Neale-Rich pay dispute heats up

I wonder why.

“I’ve been getting the same raise that the teachers have been getting,” reporter Erin Calandriello writes, noting that all U46 employees got a 5.95% pay raise last year.

Think people reading that second paragraph information will be a bit angry that the government employees got probably twice the raise they did, twice the increase in the cost of living?

Speaking of her critic, Neal observes,

“So, perhaps he didn’t understand the process,”

because the three-year school board member was attending his first superintendent’s salary negotiation meeting.

Supt. Neale also admitted giving 10 top assistants “$5,000 bonuses and that’s on top of the $30,000 to $50,000 increases in their salaries over the next few years,” Rich is quoted as saying.

Neale said that was “absolutely not true.”

Ex-school board member Rich retorted,

If she’s going to tell me she didn’t mean what she said and that none of what happened and that whatever perception I had was off, people are going to know she’s lying.

You can’t keep kicking things under the rug.

The public is crazy if they reseat any of those board members.

Also today, the hotly competitive Daily Herald’s Emily Krone got on the story.

Her lead is just superb

Six school board members called it an acknowledgment of a job well done.

Superintendent Connie Neale called it routine.

Former school board member Dan Rich, who resigned in protest Monday, called it a shakedown.

District teachers called it outrageous.

Krone reports the $43,000 pay raise would be retroactive to July 1st of last year.

So, what would you do with a $20,000 check?

And what about this “school superintendents-eyes only” information that was in Neale’s memo?

customary acknowledgment of performance success for superintendents is a tax-free, 10 percent to 20 percent bonus, when major accomplishments are made.

That’s sounds like something Diane Rado of the Chicago Tribune should do a statewide story about.

The memo also noted,

for the past two years her salary ranked 40th and 56th in the state.

How sad.

$242,000 just isn’t enough.

Since neither reporter talked to taxpayers, I expect a third round of stories soon about how the people who pay Neale's salary feel about her getting a raise that is a large part of their annual salary.

On December 29th, when I wrote about the 2004 Federal Elections Commission complaint that Sangamon County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Timoney filed against U.S. Senate candidate Jim Oberweis, the case had not been settled.

Now, according to Oberweis, it has been settled.

Under the settlement the senatorial campaign fund will pay a fine of $21,000.

I can confirm that we have the complaint, but it is still open, so I cannot comment on it. FEC’s Michelle Ryan told McHenry County Blog that the Commission is meeting in secret session today and on January 26th there will be open meeting. If the Oberweis campaign complaint is agreed upon by the FEC today, it could be expected to be ratified in open session on Friday.

In an interview with McHenry County Blog, Oberweis said,

It has been settled for less than expected legal fees would be, to say nothing of time.

We settled for $21,000. The legal fees were already more than that.

It’s an irritation.

Understand, we followed legal council’s advice on the original ads.

We had a letter opinion from legal counsel that we were within our rights when we ran them.

The FEC viewed it differently.

We do not agree that there was any violation.

In my opinion, the FEC position certainly threatens an individual’s right of free speech.

The ads that we ran had absolutely nothing what so ever to do with politics in any way.

They were ads about our home delivery service.

The issue was apparently about whether there was coordination of the ads for the dairy with his 2004 senatorial campaign. The ads ran first in Chicago and later in Champaign and Springfield.

FEC staff concluded that having the dairy’s ads on the air during the primary campaign was sufficient evidence of coordination.

Needless to say, Oberweis disagrees.

= = = = =
Photo of Jim Oberweis is on Paul Capiro's Family PAC cruise last summer. He is serving then state senate candidate Eric Wallace and Judge Don Weber's campaign manager Michael Galbreth.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

On January 2nd, McHenry County Blog filed a Freedom of Information request with the City of Crystal Lake asking for any report “on times when Crystal Lake would have had to seek (or received) assistance from MABAS (neighboring) fire departments in 2005 and 2006.

On January 22nd, the following was sent:

This letter serves as a formal response to you request for the aforementioned information.

Regarding your request, the City gave mutual aid 157 times and received mutual aid 288 times in 2006.

Regarding mutual aid in 2005, the City does not possess figures that would meet the criteria of your request at this time.

At the mutual aid meeting where Lakewood was given provisional acceptance, one chief asked for an analysis of how many times Lakewood asked for and gave mutual assistance.

The idea was not accepted, with Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Chief Lloyd Laufer saying,

"If they check me, I might be in trouble."

His fire protection district has a tax increase measure on the April ballot which would allow full-time staffing.

Labels: Crystal Lake Fire Department, Freedom of Information Act, Lakewood Fire Department, Lloyd Laufer, MABAS

Remember how the Crystal Lake Rowing Club’s got $7,000 from the Crystal Lake City Council last year?

Well, they’re back for more.

And, they’ve upped the ante.

This time the club has asked for $16,510.

A bit more than last year, right?

I have looked at the applications for this Crystal Lake subsidy and compared what various groups want, compared to what their budgets are.

Guess who is requesting the highest percentage of this tourism-generated money?

You guessed right.

It’s the Crystal Lake Rowing Club.

They want an almost 93% subsidy of the Greater Chicago Juniors Rowing Championships, which will be staged May 5th.

There is not a detailed budget, so decision makers will have a hard time figuring out how the money will be spent.

One thing asked on the application form is the organizations who are contributing to the project. Here’s the answer:

No other organization is contributing financial support.

So, the Crystal Lake Rowing Club thinks city taxpayers should provide the money to put on the regatta.

Tomorrow, what other groups are requesting.

I keep hoping that Johnny Hart, the Christian cartoonist who draws the comic strip B.C., will run another panel with the “Fat Broad” repeatedly hitting the snake with her club.

Nothing explains what local newspapers are doing to the Carpentersville School District 300 better.

First, the criticism was over wildly inaccurate enrollment projects that were used to convince a tiny majority of voters that they should issue $185 million in bonds and raise their tax rate by 55 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

The best defense district officials could come up with is that eventually the 7,200 students will show up.

It made me think of something I learned studying economics:

Eventually, we’re all dead.

This time, led by Northwest Herald reporter David Fitzgerald, the topic is illegal discussions behind closed doors.

He got copies of six months of minutes of the secret meetings, called executive sessions.

Catch this explanation from School Board President Mary Fioretti for going behind closed doors to rent the Sears Center for $19,000:

Their reason for doing it in private, School Board President Mary Fioretti said, was because of the “safety” issues involved.

Fitzgerald lets Fioretti dig her own hole, before letting her fall into it.

“This last time, they darn near did get hit by lightning [at the outdoor graduation ceremony],” Fioretti said. “We were going to break a culture of having [graduation] at Carpenter Park. But I think we did it the right way.”

The law allows groups to meet in closed session when “security procedures and the use of personnel and equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a reasonably potential danger”….”I think we did it the right way…”

“We’re never trying to hide anything from the community,” she said. “We would never intentionally go against the open meetings act.”

Lightning might strike the graduates, if the event were held outside.

Get real.

There’s no reason not to discuss that in public.

A Northwest Herald editorial about the avoidance of public scrutiny can be found here.

And on Tuesday the Daily Herald’s Jeff Gaunt flushed out the story.

The headline ran all the way across the front page.

Dist. 300 violated open meetings act, expert says

Quoting an employee of the trade association for newspapers, the article says,

“What you’re seeing is a systematic abuse of the act,” said Beth Bennett, director of governmental relations for the Illinois Press Association. “Those aren’t even gray areas. They’re just sitting in there talking about whatever they want to.”

“The act is very, very specific,” she said. “There is no ‘budget exemption.’ That’s one of the things that’s most blatantly in the public interest.”

= = = = =

The close-up photograph is of District 300 School Board President Mary Fioretti.

Labels: District 300, Fat Broad, Graduation, Johnny Hart, Mary Fioretti, Open Meetings Act

Today’s tee shirt says,

Old Guys Rule

If old guys really believed that this tee shirt wouldn’t be hanging on a hook at Rain Forest Café in Disney World.

Last night Carpentersville School District 300 watchdog Paula Caliendo, a resident of Algonquin, criticized the school board in its public comment section.

“Public participation was so great at Monday night’s District 300 school board meeting that the public comment section lasted nearly as long as the other parts of the meeting combined,” wrote Northwest Herald reporter David Fitzgerald.

I can’t tell you what others said, but here are Caliendo’s comments:

First, I'd like to comment on how unprofessional and disrespectful it was for administration and the Board of Education to move consent items up before public participation.

It speaks to the defensive mentality you folks seem to have for any public participation that may bring light your poor performance as both Board members and administration.

I imagine that even the media represented here recognize your obvious attempts at delaying a public voice.

With exception to Mr. Stephens who came to the Board after the referenda was passed in March, 2006, it seems you have dropped the ball.

For the rest of Caliendo's comments, click here.

I can hardly believe the lead story in Elgin’s Courier News today.

Elgin’s District 46 school superintendent, someone named Connie Neale, told the school board she wanted a hefty raise, plus a “10-20% tax-free bonus on top of her current $242,000 salary,” according to school board member Daniel Rich.

Reporter Erin Calandriello wrote of the board members being told that Neale had networked across the state and nation and thought she could easily be hired elsewhere for more.

Quoting Rich, reporter Calandriello wrote,

This means Neal will be making “around $400,000 next year.”

Rich pointed to her compensation package, which includes a car, disability insurance, health insurance, a cell phone and teachers retirement fund contributions, among other benefits.

Rich said the board was bargaining “with a gun to our heads.”

She must be really something else.

School board member Rich resigned as a result.

Of course, Neale didn’t have to resign. He could have just given the interview of what happened behind closed doors and watched what happened at the public meeting when Neale’s contract will presumably be approved by the remaining cowed school board members.

Besides her ability to get another job, Neale pointed to 40 grade schools having made their goals under the No Child Left Behind Act and the school’s stronger financial situation.

The story did not mention that the better financial condition was the result of selling non-referendum working cash bonds.

Labels: Connie Neale, Elgin School District, U46

As chairman of the committee to which the “Choose Life” license plate bill was assigned, Bull Valley’s State Representative Jack Franks has angered pro-lifers by refusing to allow it to reach the House floor for a vote.

He has been vulnerable to a political attack that he is against adoption, since that is where all of the money raised above the cost of the plates would go.

The proponents of the Choose Life license plates in Illinois went to court saying that they were being discriminated against.

And, in an opinion dated January 19th, Federal Judge David H. Coar, ruled in favor of the Choose Life folks and against Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.

By doing so, Judge Coar has eliminated the need for legislative action on the issue, thus letting legislator Franks off the hook.

You can read the opinion, which is provided by Capitol Fax Blog.

To qualify for the issuance of the Choose Life plates, organizers have to sell 850.

Think the pro-lifers won’t be able to do that?

35,000 have signed a petition saying they want them.

And the judge has a good sense of timing, doesn't he?

It was a busy weekend, so I am playing catch-up.

All three newspapers ran pieces critical of Carpentersville School District 300 this past weekend.

All the criticisms had to do with the gross overestimation of the student growth rate prior to last year’s referendums.

Saturday’s Daily Herald’s was short and sweet:

Believe what I say. Not.

First came word that Community Unit School District 300 is now considering using the same high-cost loans they vowed not to use in a pre-referendum promise last year. Then we learn the district has sharply revised possible enrollment numbers down from the referendum doom-and-gloom estimate of 29,000 students by 2012 to 20,000. What’s that about the joke’s being on you? We’re betting no taxpayers are laughing.

On the front page of Elgin’s Daily Courier was this headline:

Enrollment forecast falls short in D300

Critic cries foul: Officials say figures used in referendum right, but slower

As reporter Jeanne Hovanec explained,

The district primarily based its need for the $185 million building bond referendum approved last March on a study conducted by Lisle-based Ehlers and Associates in 2005 which offered two student enrollment projection scenarios for the district. The first was more conservative and based on student enrollment history; the second, projected enrollment increases due to normal growth in the area.

Now, it appears the same firm doesn’t think there will be 1,140 new students per year for the next five years. Instead it will only be 775 extra students per year.

Big difference, I’d say.

Or as Huntley District 158 school board member Larry Snow put it to the Daily Courier,

There was this huge crisis of extra students -- schools will be crowded if we don't immediately vote yes. It's referendum politics, and fear sells referendums.

Chuck Bumbales, District 300's superintendent of operations, replied,

If anything, it (the growth) is going to come in subsequent years. Did we overbuild? Absolutely not. Give us a year to grow into those spaces.

A two-sided story, to be sure, but sure to raise questions among taxpayers right before the school board election.

The Northwest Herald, the only one of the three papers that endorsed both the tax hike and the bond referendums, also weighed in.

Its editorial begins,

In the aftermath of District 300’s referendum victories in March, District 300 finance chief Cheryl Crates proclaimed, “The truth prevailed.”

Later, the editorial says,

Crates’ quote now is: “Why would we lie?” That’s a far cry from “The truth prevailed.” In retrospect, the truth did not prevail.

Of course, that does not mean District 300 officials lied,

the paper quickly continues, noting that the report was “just wrong.”

Next, the paper admits it supported the referendums adding,

If we knew then what we know now, perhaps that endorsement would have gone another way.

The Northwest Herald concludes with

Residents deserve to be angry with district officials, and they deserve an explanation.

It is to be hoped that the editorial boards of these newspapers remember that current board members might bear more than a little culpability as well.

Tomorrow, I’ll suggest why.

I spend a lot of time at Sam’s Club getting prints of photographs.

As I was waiting for them to load, I saw this cat looking out at me from plastic.

Its image had been embedded in the plastic by laser beams.

Under the cat’s head is the following:

BUNNY – OUR ATTACK CAT

Do you think Bunny could be enlisted in the campaign against the proposed McHenry County Republican Cat Tax?

Part of what will be posted on the web site of A-LAW, the Alliance of Land, Agriculture and Water web site will undoubtedly be the following questions and answers. By reading them, you can get some idea of what kind of a campaign the oppoents of this idea will conduct.

It is my belief that this might actually slow down growth in McHenry County. Certainly, nothing else has.

The "myths" (which I have put in boldface type) come first and are followed by A-LAW's answers:

1. The Trustees of the Water Authority would each be paid $100,000 annually.

False, the Illinois Water Authority Act limits annual payment to Trustees to $500.00 per year.

2. Farmers will need to seek a permit from the water authority to dig a well.

False, Agricultural uses are specifically exempted from regulation.

3. The Water Authority will regulate farmers’ use of fertilizers or pesticides.

False, the water authority does not regulate any agricultural operation.

4. The Water Authority will require permits from all who wish to dig a well.

False, The Water Authority only requires permits on high capacity wells. Most existing water authorities define high capacity as wells that draw over 100,000 gallons per day. The threshold will be determined by the Trustees of KVWA.
5. The Water Authority is being created to be anti-growth and stop development.

False, the Water Authority is responsible for managing groundwater use and insuring that the groundwater supplies are sustainable. Where there is water available, the water authority can not deny reasonable access. Nobody wants to develop in an area that will likely face groundwater shortages. Ultimately the region needs to deal with any groundwater shortages with the knowledge base that would be developed by the water authority.

6. Water Authority powers will supersede County and Municipal zoning authority

False, the Water Authority will have no impact on the zoning process. The Water Authority will only impact drilling of high capacity wells. A water authority can assist local governments if requested, by providing updated information on groundwater availability.


7. The Water Authority has unlimited taxing abilities

False, the water authority would be limited to a total of $675,000 in assessments. This amounts to about 2 to 3 cents per $100 assessed EAV or about $25 per home valued at $250,000. The authority would need to pass a separate referendum to increase beyond that amount and would not be able to exceed a total of 8 cents per $100 EAV by state statute. The funds will be utilized for the drilling of monitoring wells and contracting of an independent engineering firm who will be responsible for monitoring those wells within the Authority. It is from this information that intelligent decisions can be made regarding the placement of high capacity wells.

8. Being within the water authority will decrease my property values

False, forming a water authority has not had a negative effect on property values in the seventeen existing water authorities of Illinois. Land with adequate groundwater would be more valuable than land where the wells have gone dry. If anything, existing well users will now have some protection from the impact of new high capacity well.

8. The authority will not be effective where cities are excluded.

False, as growth continues, high capacity wells will be sited in rural areas. These wells can affect existing users, sometimes for many miles from the well location. Residential homeowners, farmers and businesses currently on wells need to have some protection against any negative impacts of these new wells. The water authority has holds public hearings on new high capacity wells and can require the new well owner to mitigate any negative impacts.

= = = = =

As with most of yesterday's illustrations, all of these come from the Illinois State Water Authority. The top one shows the major watersheds in Northern Illinois.

Next is shown where the water drawn from Lake Michigan is going. It's easy to see none comes to McHenry or Kane Counties.

Finally, the amounts of water being drawn from deep aquifers is shown in McHenry County. It is the companion to the shallow aquifer draw-down published yesterday.

So, Huntley School District 158 hires a forensic auditing firm.

It is charged with looking for hanky-panky in the payroll system and also to look at whether the site and construction expenditures were on the up and up.

We already know that a payroll supervisor has been fired.

And, ten million dollars in construction payments don’t seem to add up, according to what I heard at school board meetings.

At the board’s finance committee meeting the week before last, school board member Tony Quagliano, who seems to be overseeing the forensic auditor’s work, stated that it was 58-60% completed.

School board member Larry Snow asked if a former administrator’s hard drive had been looked at.

The answer from Quagliano was that it had not and examining it would cost an extra $10,000.

Fast forward to last Thursday’s board meeting.

A man was sitting where potential school board member Aileen Seedorf usually sits, so she sat in the second row behind him.

Before the meeting began, Seedorf had a hunch that he was one of the forensic auditors.

So, she asked him if she could have his business card, name or phone number.

“He said, ‘No,’” Seedorf remembered.

“I explained that I was not going to ask him anything inappropriate that he wasn’t allowed to tell me, but I might ask him to look into a transaction,” the inquiring citizen continued.

He said “No,” that I had to run it through the school board, that it was the client.

At the end of the meeting, during public comment time, Seedorf asked for a private meeting with school board members Quagliano and Larry Snow, Superintendent John Burkey after adjournment.

“Are you running an honest audit?“ Seedorf asked.

Then, she told the story about not being able to get the forensic auditor’s card.

Seedorf stated that Snow’s response was that the auditor’s response was wrong.

Seedorf emphasized that the forensic auditor should not be forcing her to provide her information through the very people being audited.

Seedorf’s impression of Quagliano’s response was that the scope of the audit was already determined, there was X amount of dollars and time available, and that the auditor was correct in answering the way he did.

Burkey was very quiet, Seedorf said.

Is it possible that the forensic auditor was instructed not to take input from those who might have discovered something that smells?

So, will more people than Seedorf now be wondering why a forensic auditing firm hired to uncover any handy-panky doesn’t want input from people who might have discovered something that might lead to something bigger?

= = = = =
Aileen Seedorf hands Freedom of Information request to Huntley School Board President Mike Skala, who is up for re-election this year.

The weak may inherit the earth
but only the strong can rule the water

is what the back of this Cary-Grove Trojan swim team tee shirt says.

I found it at a McHenry Marlins’ swim meet in early December.

From the press release internet distribution source PR Newswire is an effort by veteran conservative direct mail guru Richard Viguerie seeking help to stop Congress from refulating political blogs:

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, regarding legislation currently being considered by Congress to regulate grassroots communications:

"In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart's Daily Show, but isn't, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress.

"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever.

For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.

"The bill would require reporting of ‘paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying,' but defines 'paid' merely as communications to 500 or more members of the public, with no other qualifiers.

"On January 9, the Senate passed Amendment 7 to S. 1, to create criminal penalties, including up to one year in jail, if someone 'knowingly and willingly fails to file or report.'

"That amendment was introduced by Senator David Vitter (R-LA). Senator Vitter, however, is now a co-sponsor of Amendment 20 by Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) to remove Section 220 from the bill. Unless Amendment 20 succeeds, the Senate will have criminalized the exercise of First Amendment rights. We'd be living under totalitarianism, not democracy.

"I started GrassrootsFreedom.com to fight efforts to silence the grassroots. The website provides updates in the legislation and has a petition to sign opposing Section 220.

"Thousands of nonprofit leaders, bloggers, and other citizens have hammered the Senate with calls in opposition to Section 220, which seeks to silence the grassroots. The criminal provisions will scare citizens into silence.

"The legislation regulates small, legitimate nonprofits, bloggers, and individuals, but creates loopholes for corporations, unions, and large membership organizations that would be able to spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars, yet not report.

"Congress is trying to blame the grassroots, which are American citizens engaging in their First Amendment rights, for Washington's internal corruption problems."

CONTACT: Mark Fitzgibbons, +1-703-392-7676 or +1-703-408-3775, for
GrassrootsFreedom.com.

I didn't know McHenry County Blog was considered that dangerous.

I’ve been filing some (well, a lot of) Freedom of Information requests with the City of Crystal Lake.

To prove they are answering them, I get $6.64 certified letters (7 today) about everyone of them. (Really, 39 cents or a phone call is good enough to tell me information is ready to view.)

That's how I found out that Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley said property in the Vulcan Lakes’ Tax Increment Financing district would not be condemned two months after the city council vote to condemn three parcels. (And, if you haven’t heard the TIF condemnation denial from his own mouth, you really should.)

I asked for

Any report or other document estimating how much less money the fire department will have in 2007 as a result of not providing fire protection to the Village of Lakewood.

The reply,

The City of Crystal Lake is unable to locate any documents that meet the criteria of your request at this time.

Most probably don’t know that my master’s degree is in public administration.

But, you don’t need a degree in public administration to know that decision-makers need to know the money that will be lost because the Crystal Lake Fire Department will fighting fires or answering ambulance calls in Lakewood this year.

So, did I ask my question in an incorrect form? What should I have asked?

Or is the Crystal Lake city council flying blind?

My guess is that the council members have been informed of this information.

Labels: Aaron Shepley, Crystal Lake Fire Department, Freedom of Information Act, Tax Increment Financing District, TIF, Vulcan Lakes

I've told you previously that the toy table is a good place to hide from the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

But, you have to remember that your fluffy tail is a dead giveaway.

Pull it in behind you, if that is where you are going to hide.

The Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water has sent out a press release announcing its web site will be up and running this Wednesday. The press release follows, although I have put it into more paragraphs to make it easier to read:

Alliance for Land, Agriculture, and Water “A-LAW” and Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority “KVWA”

Woodstock, IL – January 21, 2007 – The Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water, “A-LAW”, a not-for-profit corporation, announces that its web site is scheduled to be operational on January 24th. The website can be accessed at www.a-lawonline.org.
A-LAW has been sponsoring the formation of the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority (KVWA), with the support of the Farm Bureaus and Soil & Water Conservation Districts in DeKalb, Boone and McHenry.
A-LAW and its alliance collected more than 1600 signatures from registered voters within the boundaries of the proposed authority. The signatures and formal petition to place the question of creating the authority on the April ballot was filed on November 17, 2006 at the DeKalb County Court House in Sycamore, Illinois. Retired Judge, John W. Countryman of DeKalb, represents the petitioners in having the question certified for the ballot.

Pat Kennedy, President of A-LAW, stated the website will be an important resource for those interested in learning about the proposed water authority. She said,

unfortunately, some misinformation has been spread concerning its authority, purpose and powers. We are hopeful that this website will help set the record straight and allow for an educated debate and dialogue concerning the merits of the water authority.

One part of the website will be dedicated to correcting some of the “myths” concerning the water authority that seem to be floating around in the public. Attached are some “myths” that will be corrected along with the KVWA’s FAQs. A-LAW has also launched its fundraising drive to help pay for the court and formation costs.

Ms. Kennedy also responded to an assertion by some that existing governmental entities could accomplish the same functions as a water authority.

“A water authority provides a comprehensive management system over our groundwater. While existing municipal and county governments can impact groundwater management, only with their full cooperation and mutual acceptance of each others needs can a program exist to address true management.

"We have not seen that cooperation. Further some of their interests conflict given the rapid growth in the area. A water authority is not driven by political issues. A water authority focusing only on groundwater and would have dedicated funding for scientifically based studies in cooperation with federal, state and local officials. We expect local governments will utilize the information produced by the water authority to better serve their residents.”

The proposed boundaries of the KVWA allow for regional planning for an area that shares similar water issues, rapid growth, large tracts of farmland and many similar groundwater attributes.

A water authority is created by referendum voted on by citizens of the proposed authority area.

The court must certify the ballot question and finalize the boundary which is still pending.

Once approved by the voters, the water authority would manage the use of ground water within the authority’s boundaries. Existing wells at current usage levels are not affected. Also, wells serving agricultural uses and smaller capacity wells are exempt from regulation.

Water authorities currently exist throughout the State, mostly in central Illinois.

The Illinois Water Authority Association located in Havana, Illinois represents many of the current authorities. Water authorities work directly with other state and local governmental units and enter into intergovernmental agreements in carrying out its duties.

The KVWA, like other water authorities, excludes many larger municipalities from its jurisdiction. The Alliance calls on all interested residents to contact them to help approve the water authority.

Besides the website, further information can be obtained by calling A-LAW at 1-866-649-9049 or e-mailing at A-LAW@onebox.com.

For my take on this proposal, here is where you can read the first McHenry County Blog article.

= = = = =
The top map is from the Illinois State Water Survey and shows the watersheds in Northeastern Illinois it cites as having a priority for watershed planning.

The next map shows the proposed water authority boundaries.

Below is a larger map of the Kishwaukee Vally watershed.

Next is a State Water Survey map of shallow well pumpage. Below it is the key to understanding what the various colors mean.

It is amply documented that the forces in McHenry County who are committed to rampant growth by their actions, if not their words, are opposing the creation of the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority.

As pointed out in the first article written on the water authority proposal, its establishment might just act as a brake on growth.

Certainly, the McHenry County Conservation District has done nothing anyone can notice to slow down development.

Oh, if they did an inventory of the land they have bought that could be built upon, they could probably come up with a figure of how many homes MCCD’s land purchases have saved us. Someone could even estimate from that how many schools local taxpayers haven’t had to build.

But, no one had done that yet and McHenry County’s growth rate gives no indication that it would have been slower had the Conservation District not been created. (Notice this is not a comment on whether our quality of life is better with the conservation district properties than it would have been without them.)

Now, here’s something else for those who are inclined to think politicians and developers are partners in bringing rampant growth to our area to chew on.

That is, if you have not already choked on the meals McHenry County Blog served up last spring of the relationships between developer campaign contributions and school district tax hike committees (especially in Carpentersville District 300 and Woodstock District 200),

Take a look at the McHenry County Conservation District agenda item. Click on the image, if the print is too small to read and it should get bigger.

Note below that one of the reasons for the bonds listed on the agenda this year is "Watershed Protection."

That is curiously close to the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority’s mission.

Then, look at what the MCCD’s ballot question was four year’s ago:

(to) acquire and improve open land in order to preserve groundwater recharge areas to protect clean water supply; preserve open space in order to limit sprawl; protect wooded areas, prairies, wetlands, and streams as natural areas and wildlife habitats; enhance flood control; and provide recreational opportunities such as trails, fishing, bird watching, and camping…

Of course, we don’t know what the MCCD’s ballot question will be this year, but we do know that the county board appoints all of the MCCD board members. (I remember the active opposition to my and Jack Frank’s bill to allow voters to elect MCCD members.)

It is pretty obvious that it will be more difficult for the Conservation District to pass its $73 million bond issue with the Nunda Township Open Space referendum and the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority referendums on the ballot.

So, why would MCCD put a referendum on the ballot when two other “open space-like” referendums are on the ballot?

Use your imagination in the comment section, if you wish.

But, before you do, here’s what MCCD Board President Joe Gottemoller told me Friday about the relationship between his referendum and that of the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority:

We’re trying to avoid it.

We don’t want someone to think we are the same entity because we are not.

Gottemoller told me this year's language had been modified to make MCCD's proposal sound as little as possible as the water authority's.

Regardless, having this tax hike proposal on the ballot will make it more difficult to pass the proposal to create the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority.

Labels: Growth, Jack Franks, Joe Gottemoller, Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority, MCCD, McHenry County Conservation District, Nunda Township, Population Growth, Rampant Growth, Watershed Protection

8th congressional district U.S. Representative Melissa Bean ranked in the top ten for independent expenditures during the last election cycle, according to the Swing State Project.

She came in 7th at $465,568 and, unlike all the other independent expenditures on behalf of Democratic Party candidates, this money from the National Association of Realtors Political Action Committee was positive.

I wonder how local Realtors feel about their money going to help elect a Democrat.

Look what I found on the front page on the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, the one my family attends.

It’s the blessing that Christian folk singer Alan Root convinced me to give my son every night:

May the Lord bless and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

May the Lord make his countenance to shire upon you and give you peace.

Keely Cat is trying his best to find a rabid bat to hunt.

You’ll remember that McHenry County’s veterinarian told McHenry County Blog that the reason for licensing cats was to make certain they were vaccinated against rabies.

And where would cats get rabies?

From hunting bats in barns.

Of course, the ordinance exempts farm cats, so the reasoning seems less than complete.

Especially since no one can ever remember seeing a rabid cat in McHenry County.

So, Catkins, we appreciate your keeping on the lookout for bats in order to make Republican county board members look better, but we really don’t have any inside.

You are in a good spot though, if any manage to penetrate our perimeter. It's better than your last one.

The upstairs banister is right where those rabid bats would fly if they wanted to go from one floor to the other.

But, one thing.

Why would you be trying to be helpful to the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors?

Attorney General Lisa Madigan had the hardest of images among pro-lifers when she first ran for statewide office in 2002.

The rumor was that she would try to shut down crisis pregnancy centers.

Not only didn’t she take any such step, which would have completely outraged the pro-life community, but now she has taken action that will please pro-lifers.

Lisa Madigan has agreed to do her job to enforce the soft parental notice law that was passed in the mid-1990’s. (Here's how an underage pregnant girl could avoid the law.)

Politics certainly makes strange bedfellows, as the cliché goes.

My friend Penny Pullen reports in her weekly Life Advocacy Briefing that Illinois State Troopers were the ones who pulled the frozen embryos. Since it has an Illinois angle, I thought you might be interested.

Is God Shouting?

PERHAPS AS A WAKE-UP CALL TO SENATORS and/or a rebuke to the majority of US Representatives, a baby boy was born into a Covington, Louisiana, family last week.

The birth of Noah Benton Markham made news because the eight-pound-plus babe was rescued from the New Orleans flood 16 months ago in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when little Noah was in the early stages of his life – an embryo awaiting development in a frozen state, housed, along with 1,400 other waiting embryonic human beings, in a tank of liquid nitrogen.

Noah and the other children were threatened with death when flood waters cut off the electricity in the hospital where they had been evacuated to the third floor; without continued power, their holding chambers would thaw, and they would die.

The heroic effort of volunteer State Troopers from Illinois, called in to save the tiny babies, delivered the first of its fruit in the birth of Noah to a 42-year-old New Orleans police officer and his 32-year-old wife. Both Noah and his two-year-old brother Witt were conceived by an in vitro fertilization procedure; Witt was implanted in his mother’s womb immediately.

Proof, for any dense enough to need it, that embryonic humans have intrinsic worth and that their rescue – by troopers in a flood or by lawmakers and citizens in an appeal to this dimming world – is worthy of the fight.

Subscriptions to Life Advocacy Briefing may be obtained via check ($48 for postal mail or fax, $32 for e-mail) to Life Advocacy, 2004 E. Sherwood Road, Arlington Hts., IL 60004; by Mastercard or Visa, giving full credit card #, expiration date and a signature, plus printed name and address; or by credit card through the website.

Some Cub Scout Pinewood Derbies have the track on the floor.

The one run by Crystal Lake Cub Scout Pack 158 in Wesley Hall of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake has the flat part of the track on tables so people can see the races.

Cub Master Brian Karr, who played the role of starter, explained that, while not everyone could come in first, everyone would go home with a trophy.

The track had an electronic finish line, connected to a TV set on which the first, second and third place finishers from each race could be seen as the announcer was informing the results to the audience of Cubs, siblings, parents and grandparents.

I don’t know whether the current finishing line device is the one built by a parent maybe twenty years ago or not, but it certainly was better than having adults try to figure out which place each vehicle finished.

There is a hilarious movie—Down and Derby (the biggest race of your (Dad’s) life--about two Cub Scout dads competing with each other to win a Pinewood Derby that Pack 158 showed at a meeting to introduce boys to the pack.

A Cub beats them with the help of the man who wrote the book on how to build a successful Pinewood Derby car. (Yes, there is one. It’s on sale at Hobby Lobby. After putting my weights on the front end of the car, I learned that they should have been put on the back end of the car instead. Putting them on the front end made them deadweight on the straightaway. Oh, well, there’s always next year.)

It’s a toss-up as to who enjoyed the movie more, the kids or the fathers who had “helped” their sons build a mina true race car.

And, race cars they are.

Toy expert Dave Rokusek—expert because he owns The Atomic Toy Store in Galena, Illinois—told me the cars are going 250 miles per hour on a 1/32nd scale.

If anyone knows what that means, please explain in the comment section.

All I know is that they were moving so fast that most of my photographs show the cars as blurs.

Rokusek also brought a vehicle with a mini-cam on it. Sometimes he placed it so the race could be seen on a television set and at other times it raced down the track, always slower than the Cubs’ racecars.

The McHenry County Blog Dad has a wound on his palm to show that he helped his 9-year old lower the weight to the under 5 ounces required.

While the car was not as speedy as others, I think my son did well with its design. He said he would paint it after the race.

= = = = =
The top picture is of the track and audience while trophies are being awarded.

Below is Cub Master Brian Karr standing on a ladder lining up three cars ready to race.

Next is the winner in the Bear Cub Scout age group. You can see his big first place trophy at the bottom left of the photo.

And to the left is what the track looked like from behind the finish line.

My camera was not fast enough to capture the speeding racecars.

The picture of the finish line shows The Atomic Toy Company's camera car.

At the bottom is my son's race car. It has a great profile, doesn't.

To the left is what a race looked like from behind the finish line.

This bumper sticker was on the back of a truck that appeared to be on the way to the junk yard.

The message,

www.gracebeliever.com

probably won’t keep it from going to hereafter.

You’ve got the right idea, Catkins!

It’s really hard to see you above the toy boxes in the closet.

The Republican Cat Tax Collector probably wouldn’t look up there when he searches the house.

That’s much better than under the quilt stand.

Or at the bottom of the closet right inside the front door.

Or on the couch.

Or on the window sill behind the drapes, whether they are on the left or the right side of the room.

But you still need to stay on the alert.

And, yes, you can still spend you spare time hunting the rabid bats that the McHenry County Board's Repbulicans apparently think live in our home.

But, since you did your exploring on Sunday, it was just like the day you were thinking a Republican Cat Tax Collector might come at 8:30 in the morning. Possible, but unlikely.


And if you weren't practicing hiding from the Cat Tax Collector, why were you up so high that I had to get a step ladder?

Oh, I see, you were interested in the rope used to hold this cardboard shield which my 9-year old made.
= = = = =

After my son saw that I was going to write (still) another article about the McHenry County Republican Tax Collectors and I told him the title, he came up with the first line.

He doesn’t like writing, so I told him that writing was just talking, but writing down the words.

Surely McHenry County Blog readers have figured out that's how I write.

When Nunda Township put its open space referendum on the ballot last fall, I predicted that would put the kibosh on any plans that the McHenry County Conservation District has to ask for scores of millions of dollars of new bonding authority this spring.

After the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority proposal popped up, my political instincts told me that would make it even more unlikely that MCCD would be coming to the voters for more bond money.

So, I'm wrong again.

If I kept up with the MCCD agenda, I would have been disabused of those notions earlier, but it took an email from “Taxpayer” to alert me.

Here’s what he (she?) wrote:

It seems you were wrong about the McHenry County Cons Dist and their referendum plans. They hired a bond lawyer and an investment bank to put together a 70+ million dollar tax plan at their meeting this week.

If you want your readers to fight this now is the time to organize.

I also saw today where the County Board is looking to do a massive tax increase for the roads.

People will have to move to Boone County to afford their homes.

I enjoy your blog.

Watch out, they will have to tax a lot of cats to pay for all this!!! I wonder if the cats to be housed in the new animal shelter will be taxed....if so, who pays!

They are using PMA, isn't that Linda Rafanello's firm from the recent school debacle?

See the attached agenda from their meeting.

So, I called MCCD Board President Joe Gottemoller to see what happened. He was working on a project, so I called the district and talked to Andy Dylak, MCCD’s Director of Finance.

He told me that the board voted unanimously to put the bond issue on the ballot.

His estimate of the cost per $100,000 of market value was $13.51 annually with a tax rate of slightly more than 4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Financial consultant PMA’s advice led him to think the interest rate on the bonds would be somewhere between 4.5% and 4.75%, assuming rates remain relatively stable.

I asked Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler whether his township would keep its open space referendum on the ballot.

You bet!

was the answer.

“I had filed my request for certification on the ballot in November, well before any decision was made about the conservation district,” Heisler told McHenry County Blog.

“I don’t think it’s going to help my referendum for residents to see both requests on the ballot.

“I think if you are talking about increasing taxes to buy open space, wouldn’t you rather that open space be purchased in your township, rather than somewhere else in the county?"

When I got through to Gottemoller and asked why his board had decided to run the referendum his answer was almost as short as Heiler’s:

We’re out of money.

“We know if you are going to preserve land you need to have money to buy land with,” he continued.

“We’ve got a large county, not just Nunda Township. We thought we should see if people continue to want to support the purchase of open space.”

= = = = =
The MCCD logo quilt is from the Ringwood barn meeting room. The color-coded map shows the precinct-by-precinct $68.5 million MCCD referendum results in 2001. The more black the more negative; the more yellow, the better was the vote.

If you missed the Lake in the Hills Rotary Ribfest last July, it was a blowout.

Now is the time to put July 6-8 on your calendar for what is sure to become an annual event at Sunset Park. (Yes, there are directions on the web site.)

It’s pretty obvious that some Rotarian involved with the event has a great sense of humor.

Look at this picture from the event’s web site.

The banner reads,

PIGFOOT

What’s that all about?

Labels: Lake in the Hills Rotary, Ribfest

If District 300 thought my article was tough on them, I surely wonder what they thought after they read Thursday’s articles in the Northwest and Daily Heralds.

Northwest Herald reporter David Fitzgerald gives this quote from Huntley School Board member Larry Snow, who warned that the student growth figures were way too high before the referendum:

They took the worst case secenario and used it as the projection District 300’s board and administrators wanted the media and public to believe that there was a student enrollment population explosion crisis of 7,200 students looming on the immediate horizon.

There wasn’t.

And, the Northwest Herald even acknowledges that Snow said that before last March’s vote.

Daily Herald report Jeffrey Gaunt talked to District 300 nemesis Jack Roeser. Here’s what Gaunt wrote:

“This thing was easily predictable,” said Jack Roeser, president of Family Taxpayers Network, which opposed the tax increases. “There’s been a huge falloff in housing. They had to know that.”

Without the new students, Roeser said, there was no immediate need for the $185 million bond issue to build four new schools.

“That means there’s no crying need to go rushing off and building the size they said,” Roeser said. “It’s atrociously bad management. At some point we’ll get to a tipping point where popular opinion will make this kind of management unacceptable.”

And the Northwest Herald’s Fitzgerald found an unnamed source who provided this:

they had 185 million reasons to bend the truth to pass the March referendums,

He balances the sentence with

while officials said the discrepancy was due to the unpredictability of the housing market.

The comments under the Northwest Herald story are withering.

Here are some exerpts:

· AT BEST, this is beginning to sound like a very bad dart board method of arriving at numbers.

· I voted yes to both referendums. Because I knew in my heart, it was what was best for the kids. Now I'm thinking, "Am I a sucker ?"

· Liar liar pants on fire...I bet none of this affects the bonuses they received.

· If you really feel you got suckered, tell the board that.

· D300 and its employees are laughing all the way to the bank knowing their plan to put our money in their pockets worked like a charm...and NOTHING we say or do will force them to give one penny back.

Labels: District 300, Family Taxpayers Network, Jack Roeser, Larry Snow

This tee shirt also was discovered on a youth at a McHenry Marlins home swim meet at McHenry West High School.

From a distance, it looks as if it is a piece of notepaper attached to a black shirt.

When one gets closer, one can see that it is stenciled on.

The message is

I Lost my Phone #
can I have yours

Not a back pick-up line, but on too young a boy.

It appears that potential Huntley School board candidate Aileen Seedorf’s persistence is going to result in the legitimacy of the board’s financial advisory committee being addressed in at least three board meetings.

At the last board meeting, she asked about the legitimacy of the appointments of its committee members, at least one of which is apparently planning to run for school board.

Then, Thursday night she asked again. Didn’t their terms run out last September?

Seedorf is quite persistent when she finds something that needs to be corrected.

District 158's board formed its Financial Advisory Committee in September prior to the November 2004 election. Each member was appointed to a 2-year term.

Kevin Gentry, rumored to be getting ready to run for the school board and head of the Financial Advisory Committee (or should I say former top guy, since his term apparently has expired), would probably base a candidacy on his qualifications as being the "finance committee guy."

If so, it will be interesting to see how he distances himself from the pro-tax increase political action committee B.E.S.T. that promoted what the newspapers have since characterized as a deception perpetrated upon the taxpayers.

Chairman Gentry and the other committee members dutifully kept their mouths shut during the tax hike referendum campaign, agreeing that there was a financial crisis in District 158.

Now, in order to make the political resumes of any financial advisory committee members current, the board is going to have to appoint them anew at the next meeting.

A saga in three chapters, just like a classic play.

But the author is an outsider pointing out that the insiders can’t play by their own rules.

= = = = =
The photo of Aileen Seedorf and Huntley School Board President Mike Skala was taken in late June as Seedorf was handing an appeal to a Freedom of Information request rejection for the extemely critical outside auditor's management letter.

You are getting the hang of what it will take to hide from the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

Under the toy train table is an excellent place to keep the Republican Cat Tax Collectors from finding you.

Now, I will admit it would be better if you would put your tail out of sight, but it's a good start.

And no Republican Cat Tax Collector would stoop to the floor where I took this second picture.

And if he did, he wouldn't be able to see you anyway.

Of course we can hope that the Republicans on the county board will come to their senses and realize that passing an ordinance to tax cats who never go outside in order to fight the spread of rabies from bats, while, at the same time, ignoring those farm cats who are most likely to catch rabies is utter nonsense.

Would you feel better, Catkins, if the tax hiking Republicans would just admit they are after our money, as I have been reliably told, rather than obfuscating their motivation by saying they are worried about the spread of rabies to cats?

Labels: Catkins, Hiding, Keely, McHenry County Republican Cat Tax, Rabid Bat

The Northwest Herald’s Julian Compton got to cover what had to be the hottest meeting in town Thursday night.
He reported a “standing ovation” for grade school board president Pam Anderson after her opposition to the proposed Tax Increment Financing district meeting

And the message that TIF districts raise taxes of those living outside the particular TIF seems to have gotten through to at least Bruce Young and Bryan Hepper.

Read the whole article, even though the space allocated probably allowed reporter Compton to barely cover the highlights.

The TIF runs along the south side of Rouite 173 from Nippersink Creek on the west side of town past the golf course, it appears. On Route 31/20, it runs south of Route 173 on both sides of the road to Prospect Street. Much more than the entire downtown is included. The original proposal include the properties on both sides of Route 31/20 north of Route 173.

The map shown is the original one and can be enlarged by clicking on each image. The text can be found on McHenry County Blog, if you have any difficulty here. It was proviced by a web site on the Richmond TIF.

I haven’t yet discovered why the Crystal Lake city council decided to sue Vulcan Materials for its land before the first of the year.

The Northwest Herald’s editorial last Friday hints at the reason, but doesn’t spell it out.

“One potential reason for the condemnation lawsuit being filed Dec. 28 was that a new state law took effect Jan. 1 that would have made it more difficult for the city to condemn the 13 acres,” the editorial writer states.

I do know that the city council voted without dissent (but with councilman Howie Christensen absent) last August 8th to file the three eminent domain suits against Vulcan.

I also know that I brought up at the 2005 Tax Increment Financing hearing the fact that the city lacked access to the property it owned.

No one said, “No problem,” but no one was willing to admit that inconvenient fact.

I do know that Mayor Aaron Shepley said at the same 2005 meeting that condemnation was not being considered.

I know that two months after the August 8th vote to authorize the condemnation suits that Shepley again promised not to use condemnation in the Vulcan TIF district.

You can hear his own words here.

Or read them here.

Obviously, there is a lot about these condemnation suits we don’t know about..

The time line hasn’t been flushed out yet and that time line may go back to before the official beginning of the Tax Increment Financing district process.

Labels: Aaron Shepley, condemnation, Crystal Lake, eminent domain, Howie Christensen, Tax Increment Financing District, TIF, Vulcan Lakes, Vulcan Materials

Republicans are claiming the state Democratic Party is saving local county board candidates 8.2 cents for every direct mail piece.

Using the state party’s bulk mail permit, mailings for local candidates cost 9.1 cents each, instead of 17.3 cents.

Now before you Democrats have a snit fit, this is about what the Michigan Democratic Party is doing to Republicans at the county board level across the big lake.

I don’t know if Illinois Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan has done this in Illinois, but if anyone reading this has information of his branching below the state legislative level, I’d surely appreciate an email to McHenry County Blog.

In any event, the Macomb Daily article is instructive of how a state party can save local candidates money.

The article says that the exchange of money to pay for the postage was less obvious this year than in 2004, when Republicans made their first complaint to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Instead of coming from individual candidates, as it did in 2004, in 2006 it came from the Macomb County Democratic Party, writes reporter Chad Selweski.

The Democrats’ effort in Macomb, located northeast of Detroit, was successful, giving them a pick-up of one seat. They now have 18 out of 24 on the county board.

Wednesday on the way into the Colonial Café for our Crystal Lake Kiwanis meeting, I saw a mother about to eat lunch with her daughter wearing this button.

It says,

Proud to Support
Illinois Spina
Bifida Assoc.

And women.

The latest example is Arenda Troutman.

“She just wanted to feel safe,” says the friend who gave it to her.

Now, if she had been smart enough to register it, she would have been legal.

That’s because Chicago aldermen have given themselves the right to carry guns.

If you an ordinary resident of Chicago, you cannot protect yourself.

But your alderman can.

So, don’t get too uppity.

I knew one alderman who got elected to the General Assembly who was armed in Springfield.

I don’t know if he took his gun with him to the chamber, but during the 1970’s another Chicago legislator most assuredly did.

Do you know which, if any, state representatives and senators are carrying guns today?

It’s a good thing that Alderwoman Troutman kept her gun at home. It’s difficult imagine where she would put it when she goes dancing. (Photo from her campaign web site.)

To provide a little balance, I’ll link to the story about the female Cook County Correctional Officer who left her gun—she had permission to have it because she had been sworn in as a deputy sheriff—in her unlocked glove box.

When I read the story yesterday, it was not clear that her 6-year old grandson had shot himself.

I thought of the bill I got to the House floor in the late 1990’s that would have allowed correctional officers and retired lawmen to carry guns. It failed after the NRA opposed it because it did not include everybody. The highlight of the after dinner debate was when one drunken Democrat spoke incoherently against it.

I introduced the bill because some prison guards at Stateville had been followed back to their Chicago and suburban home neighborhoods and attacked by gang members whose jailed friends apparently had not received enough "respect" in prison.

Labels: Arenda Troutman

Hat tip to Capitol Fax Blog for picking up this Daily Herald information about McHenry County’s State Senator Pam Althoff:

she’d consider voting for the Chicago Democrat

I can’t find the article or I’d provide a link to it.

= = = = =
Thankfully, a friend of the blog supplied me with this link.

Here's the full Daily Herald paragraph:

State Sen. Pamela Althoff, a McHenry Republican, offered similar sentiments, going so far as to say she’d consider voting for the Chicago Democrat, though stopping short of saying she’d do so in a primary.

Labels: Barack Obama, Pam Althoff

Tuesday night Crystal Lake had not yet completely frozen.

It was really cold, but open water was still visible.

It seemed like hundreds of geese were floating off Lakewood’s Gate 7 Beach as we were off for pizza.

There were so many, I asked my wife to drive home so I could get my camera.

Unfortunately, all I got was a hint of the majesty of so many floating geese.

When I went back Wednesday, Crystal Lake was again frozen over, as it did on December 9th.

But the geese were still there.

Sitting on top of the newly formed ice.

Hundreds of them.

And there were five swans trying to keep warm in their midst.

As I clicked away with my camera, some got nervous and stood up.

Some flew away.

Others landed when they saw no obvious threat.

And the ice was probably so thin that any preditor would crash through it.

Dear Keely.

Trying to hide from the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors behind something smaller than you will not work.

Please keep trying to find a good hiding place.

Remember almost a year ago when District 300 “Yes Yes” referendum opponents were question all sorts of things in the financial model used to justify increasing taxes and building more schools?

I first heard about them when Huntley School Board member Larry Snow spoke to the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Rotary Club at Port Edward.

Even before he had laid out other questions, including ones about the financial adviser PMA that both Huntley and Carpentersville Schools had hired before their referendums.

Now the criticism that Snow made about District 300’s excessive prediction of 7,200 new students over the next five years seems to be accurate.

It turns out that the number of new students projected (see above table) for the five years is 2,284, according to a PMA Financial Network’s financial planning program for “enrollment/staff projection,” released Tuesday night. (Click to enlarge the 2007-2011 detail in the chart.)

So, less than a year after the referendum hype, the five-year growth estimate turns out to be only 32% of the rhetoric.

That means the hype was 68% too high.

Significantly, the estimated annual projected percentage increase of students steadily decreases from 3.36% this school year down to 1.94% during the 2010-2011 school year. Over the six-year period starting this school year, the average percentage increase in students is estimated to be 2.41%.

Not exactly hyper-growth.

Now, what if that analysis is incorrect, as District 300's Allison Smith surely thinks is the case?

She called me about 20 minutes after I posted this story at 8:45 PM with the school district's take. Here it is:

The projected enrollment that the district used when citing its anticipated need for staff and space came out of an enrollment study that was developed in early 2005. That study was a comprehensive look at the current and upcoming development trends as they were then reported by municipalities and developers to the school district.

As you can imagine, the housing market continuously evolves, so by the time the district conducted another enrollment study in fall of last year, the figures were updated based on current development trends.

Just like any school district that is growing, we do these enrollment studies every year or year and a half.

They (the estimates) are slightly down.

The figures that were presented at the finance committee meeting were provided by PMA, our financial consultants. The starting point of those figures was the updated enrollment study from the fall of 2006. A formula was applied to pull out of the enrollment total certain groups or reduce the figures for certain groups, such as kindergarteners and preschoolers. And that’s because that number reflects the students for which the district is reimbursed by the state.

The biggest red flag in trying to look at those PMA figures as the district’s enrollment is the knowledge that the district already has an enrollment of more than 19,100 students.

Right there, it should beg the question of what are we missing from this PMA figure. And the answer partly lies in the state aid formula for student reimbursement—we are reimbursed for some and some we are not.

The houses are still coming to our knowledge, according to developers and municipalities. The pace of them is slightly slower than projected in early 2005.

Over the five-year period used in referendum promotion, this PMA estimate shows a need for 184 new teachers.

The referendum supporters said something over 400 would be needed would be needed, if memory serves me correctly.

So, if District 300 is going to have over 4,900 fewer students to house than the referendum promoters predicted, does that mean fewer classrooms have to be built?

Or does it mean classes can be made much smaller and more teachers hired?

Or what?

= = = = =
I called District 300 Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates mid-afternoon on Wednesday. I have yet to receive a reply. (When she called, Allison Smith said that Dr. Crates tried to call, but got no answer. Perhaps I was on the phone when Crates called because Smith says my phone was busy.)

The photo is of Crates conferring with Tom Hay, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.

Labels: Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Rotary, Cheryl Crates, District 300, Huntley School District 158, Larry Snow, School Referendum, Tom Hay

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?

Here’s a tee shirt I saw while waiting for my 9-year old to play with the moving images on the floor at Spring Hill Mall.

I could not have read it if the man wearing it had not walked right in front of the chair where I had just started reading a new book.

It says,

ARTISTOTLE WITH A BUST OF HOMER

Homer Simpson, that is.

Remember the B.C. comic strip’s cave lady and what she does to the serpent every time he shows up?

That’s right.

Whack, whack, whack. Whomp, whomp, whomp.

That seems to be what Daily Herald reporter Jeffrey Gaunt is doing today to District 300.

And I thought what he wrote yesterday was strong.

It starts,

Frankly I’m flabbergasted.

After pointing out that both District 300 Superintendent Ken Arndt and Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates told Gaunt and his editors that they “would never” used capital appreciation bonds (which lower costs to taxpayers in the early years, but increase those costs much more at the end of the loan’s life), he writes,

Turns out they were both full of baloney.

Now, that option is on the table.

Gaunt then quotes what the two said last year before the referendum. It’s pretty categorical.

His conclusion:

I don’t believe anyone in that room was acting maliciously. And frankly, I’m fairly certain they believed what they said, when they said it.

But the longer I am in this job, the more I see how difficult it is to trust anyone professionally — no matter their intentions.

And all I can say is I’m glad it wasn’t me signing off on a tax increase in a day where accountability is in such short demand.

And, since the school board will make the final decision, a hint at what might be on the Daily Herald’s school board candidate questionnaire:

Here’s to hoping the District 300 school board has a little more sense.

(Which stands to reason, what with the spring election coming up.)

And, if you think some of the editors don’t strongly agree with the sentiments expressed in the article, read the headline on the page to which Gaunt’s story jumps:

Gaunt: Professional Trust Difficult to Come By

= = = = =
I couldn't find a picture of the "Fat Broad" beating the serpent to a pulp, but I found the Johnny Hart drawing of the “Fat Broad” backing the snake off the cliff at comicsinfo.dk/bc.htm.

You can complete what should be in the voice balloon in the comments section.

1-17-7 I know that Moms was the one who stayed in the living room with you that first night when you were separated from your Wisconsin family.

You slept on the couch with her to comfort you.

And I know that you still treat her like a mother in the early morning hours.

You climb up on her, put your paws on her neck and start kneading.

With all of your fur, it’s a wonder she even needs a blanket.

You purr up a storm.

You’re so loud you wake me up sometimes.

But, Moms won’t be able to protect you from the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

Those sneaky Republican Cat Tax Collectors will come during the day.

You know that’s when she works.

You need to give this more thought, just in case the McHenry County Republican Board members are willing to have the Democrats make this a campaign issue in 2008.

Yes, you know that the Democrats didn’t pick up on the issue even though you saw me publish that story I’ve linked to above.

But, they have shown they can learn.

After all, they elected James Kennedy to the county board and he did campaign around the edges of the proposed Republican Cat Tax, although he never called it by its proper name.

Maybe someone else will do so next time.

For illegally prescribing 62 million controlled substance, Crystal Lake doctor Michael Millette has been sentenced to over 3 years in jail by Cedar Rapids Federal Chief Judge Linda R. Reade.

The $1.6 million he made was ordered forfeited.

Millette pled guilty July 14 last year and was sentenced Jan. 11th. His date to report to prison has not yet been set.

Acting Cedar Rapids U.S. Attorney Judith Whetstine office’s press release says,

Millette admitted he prescribed more than 62 million Schedule III and Schedule IV dosage units illegally over the Internet.

Such drugs include Vicodin, Tylenol with Codeine, Xanax and Valium.

“It is illegal for a doctor to prescribe controlled substances unless the prescription is based on a legitimate doctor/patient relationship,” as the press release says.

The 46-year old Millette was sentenced to 41 months in prison and was the 9th doctor sentenced in the nationwide Drug Enforcement Administration internet probe. He received the longest sentence of any of the physicians thus far sentenced and he is forfeiting—by far—the most money.

His Illinois license to practice medicine was suspended in November of 2004 for prescribing and selling cnotrolled substances over the internet while his DEA certificates were suspended. (Click to enlarge image.)

The web site Health Grades says,

An Emergency Medicine Doctor / Intensivist in Arlington Heights, Illinois (IL)

Dr. Millette practices Emergency Medicine in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Lake Zurich, McHenry, Schaumburg, and Woodstock, Illinois. Dr. Michael Millette, a male, graduated from the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine with a MD.

Presumably he worked in Centegra's emergency rooms in Woodstock and McHenry, but Centegra did not return my phone call.

Last year’s phone book lists Millette Marketing at 5709 Chris Lane in Crystal Lake. The number has been disconnected.

This web site connected to Indiana University provides the following information for what appears to be a “get rich quick” scheme:

PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR THESE REPORTS NOW.

REPORT #1 "The Insiders Guide to Sending Bulk E-mail on the
Internet"

ORDER REPORT #1 FROM:

Michael Millette
5709 Chris Lane
Crystal Lake, IL 60014

= = = = =

The satellite photo of the home on Chris Lane, which is east of Route 31 between Terra Cotta and East Crystal Lake Road is from Google.

Labels: Cedar Rapids, Centegra, DEA, Emergency Room, Judith Whetstine, Linda R. Reade, Michael Millette, Prescriptions, Schedule III, Schedule IV, Spam, U.S. Attorney, Valium, Vicodin. Xanax

Jeffrey Gaunt, the Daily Herald reporter has set the stage for documenting “a possibility (of) directly contradict(ing) statements Arndt, Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates and former school board President John Court made before last spring’s election.”

By now School District 300 and 158 officials must wish Gaunt would be transferred to another reporting beat, don’t you think?

In a Tuesday article, Gaunt calls the three school officials on considering using a high cost borrowing method called “capital appreciation bonds.”

I can’t improved on Gaunt’s definition, so I won’t try. They are

bonds (that) allow school districts and other taxing bodies to delay loan interest payments.

In the short term, the bonds allow the taxing body to hold down tax rates.

But in the long term, those delayed interest payments are compounded, and taxpayers end up footing even larger bills.

Gaunt and fellow reporter Emily Krone (who covers the Elgin School District) did a splendid analysis of high cost bonds, which was unfortunately published after the election at which all sorts of bond issues were on the ballot, if memory serves me correctly.

In any event, the three District 300 folks told the Daily Herald’s editorial board they would not use such high cost bonds.

But, now they’re considering it, supposedly, because the big, bad state government did not come through with a state subsidy.

Of course, anyone with a brain knew that the state was in financial trouble and was unlikely to be able to afford continuing the huge subsidies the Capital Development Board had previously paid.

The administrators said the District 300 Board of Education would make the decision.

Again, stating the obvious.

Now I’m beginning to wonder if this is where the money will come from to buy Summit School.

And, guess who was representing William Blair & Company at District 300?

It's that smiling blond who was at Crystal Lake School District 47's board meeting in December. I learned her name is Elizabeth Hennessy.

She is also the consultant for Grayslake School District 46, which is backing off on promises to abate property taxes, according to Daily Herald reporter Lee Filas' story today.

The headline on the Grayslake story:

Grayslake school board rejects earlier pledge of tax rebate

The result:

the district will keep the $6.9 million it collected over the state-imposed debt limit as part of the $23.2 million referendum that funded construction of Prairieview and Frederick schools.

= = = = =

The top photo is of District 300 Superintendent Kenneth Arndt. Second is one of Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates conferrering with Tom Hay, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.

The bottom head shot is of Wm. Blair & Company consultant Elizabeth Hennessy.

Blame the title of this little post on the snow at Veterans Acres. The kids are probably sliding and tubing down the hills as I type this.

Remember the Herculean back flip by Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley on using condemnation in the Tax Increment Financing districts?

I quoted his rhetoric two weeks ago.

Then, the Northwest Herald got this out the mayor:

I can say this. At no time has this city council considered…using our condemnation authority in any TIF we have contemplated. If property owners have that concern, they are false.

Well, now you don’t have to take my word for the most recent Shelpey assertion that Crystal Lake would not use condemnation on Vulcan Lakes TIF.

For those who want to hear Shepley’s words for themselves, here they are, spoken while Bill Cellini is making the pitch by the developers chosen by the city council, complete with the chuckles (maybe they would better be described as exhaling of air denoting humor).

For those who don’t want to watch the 30-second clip, here it is in black and white:

Cellini - I don’t believe that we can right out of the box say that’s something that could be acquired by our group, unless, of course, the city is interested in, in, in acquiring it.

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

Cellini - I don’t think you would have to use condemnation to probably (chuckle) buy it,

Shepley - Right.

Is McHenry County Blog justified in its coverage of this or not?

Here’s a teenage tee shirt if there ever were one.

Three teens and a dog are talking, one point to the ground where a posterior lays.

The text under the illustration?

It’s all fun and games until someone laughs their butt off

I sent what my father said about seeing a lynching in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, to the state archives and here is the email I received from the Legacy of Slavery Director:

Dear Mr. Skinner,

Thank you for contacting us. I have forwarded your reference to one of our Legacy of Slavery Department researchers for review.

Please note that even though there were doubtlessly a large number of acts of racially motivated violence toward Blacks from the end of the Civil War through the resurgences of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and 1950s, it is unlikely that every incident was reported to authorities or newspapers. The same fear and concern for one's life which caused your grandfather to ask your father to silently walk on, affected many others as well.

We will let you know if we find anything in our research which we haven't published as yet referring to Queen Anne's County.

Sincerely,

Chris Haley
Director, Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland

Labels: Cal Skinner Sr, Chris Haley, Legacy of Slavery, Lynching, Maryland, Queen Anne's County, Roy Skinner

An email from Crystal Lake resident Vicki Dow was included in super-liberal and Democratic Party promoter Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington’s column on Monday,

The Barack Obama fan wrote,

I am a “whitey” who “embraces” Obama. I have been surprised and confused about the number of black Americans who have written cautionary messages about “embracing” him on the blogs. Someone suggested he may not be “black” enough, having mostly escaped the civil rights struggle due to his unique background of growing up in Hawaii, attending elite private school there, etc.

Black enough? White enough? I don’t think these questions are relevant with Obama.

I guess she will be happy with today's announcement of an exploratory committee.

Labels: Barack Obama, Laura Washington

My high school classmate and former colleague Jack Schaffer always did have a way with words.

The latest to discover this trait of the former state senator from McHenry County is Chicago Tribune Regional Transportation reporter Richard Wronski.

His Monday article includes these quotes from Metra board member Schaffer:

The updated version of the video—was the film crew able to get outside the city limits?

He was referring to RTA’s new executive director Steve Schlickman’s showing a version of a pitch for more taxpayer money that did not mention suburban public bus company PACE.

On a personal note, the only times I have met the younger Schlickman (his father was a state representative who opposed creation of the RTA in 1974) was in Springfield when he was looking for state subsidies for some Chicago mass transit project. I think it was a north-south subway which died under its own weight.

= = = = =
The photo of Metra board member Jack Schaffer was taken at the Pop Century lobby at Disney World. He observed then that one would never have thought two guys our age would be at Disney World Thanksgiving week with 9-year olds in tow.

Monday’s Chicago Tribune business section shows a can of Coke being poured onto shredded wheat cubes.

Except for the cereal, the message is so similar to McHenry County Blog’s “Message of the Day” on July 19th that it is spooky.

The Tribune's picture is on the left, while McHenry County Blog's photo is, naturally, on the right. Oatmeal is in the bowl at the right and it's caffeine free Diet Coke, not sugar and caffeine loaded regular Coke.

There is an interesting comment from “respectful” yesterday under my McHenry County Blog posting on the Democrats wanting to raise taxes:

Tell us how to meet our obligations to the pensions, Medicaid, and other entitlements without raising taxes and without going deeper into debt?

Of course, I did this in 2002 when I ran for governor as a Libertarian.

Look at this chart.

It includes both general fund and the capital budget from Fiscal Year 1992 through FY 2002. Do you notice that Governor George Ryan had figured out he had to cut spending?

(Guess how many of the budgets I voted for my last four years in office.)

Maybe George was too late for the downturn in revenues, but he did figure it out.

That allowed Democratic Party candidate Ron Blagojevich to energize the state employees whose institutional jobs were threatened. Anyone want to figure out which institutions Ryan closed (or budgeted to close), plus built, but never opened, that Blagojevich promised to keep open, re-open or open for which Blagojevich’s promises went by the wayside?

Since then, general fund revenues have gone up, what, about a billion a year? (I haven’t kept track.)

But so has spending.

And that is a basic problem for taxoholic and spendaholic Democrats (and Republicans, if the shoe fits). They have spent even when the money was not there. Here’s a 12-step program I suggestion in 2002 for the taxoholics in Springfield.

So my solution then was basically to stop spending more money and let revenues catch up.

There were specific proposals for combining all of the health care purchased with state tax dollars, the beginning of which you can read on the Library of Congress archived front page and some of the rest of the campaign web site. It basically had to do with bulk buying of medical services and supplies.

I called for a hiring freeze and 10% pay cuts for state employees. I figured only those who weren’t overpaid would leave.

If you want to see how I answered the newspaper questionnaires that year, you can do that:

· Chicago Sun-Times

· Chicago Tribune

· Daily Herald

So, I’ve been there, done that. And moved on.

However, I couldn’t resist answering some of this year’s newspaper questionnaires. If you want to read my answers or act like a state candidates, be my guest.

Here are the 2006 questions on pensions:

Daily Herald

Chicago Sun-Times

AFSCME

Service Employees International Union here and here.

Illinois Federation of Teachers here and here.

What answers would you have given?

When the state employees had their poor pensions greatly improved, the Edgar budget folks briefed the Republican appropriations folks, of which I was one. While their math seems OK—they would pay for the increased benefits by freezing employee pay for one year—I had another suggestion.

It was to follow Missouri’s lead and turn have of the retirement benefits into a defined contribution plan, like the 401(k)’s of the private sector.

Surely the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors are not authorized to carry firearms?

Do you think this kitten is from the same home as yesterday’s?

Today’s bumper sticker was seen on Dole Avenue right before Route 14 in Crystal Lake.

It says,

YOU SEEM TO BE
A FEW FRIES SHORT
OF A HAPPY MEAL!

A Colonial restaurant bumper sticker was on the other side:

I ate a Colonial
KITCHEN SINK

complete with a picture of the serving implement.

It was a combination of things that brings this trip down memory lane.

My wife and I watched the movie Amistad a couple of weeks ago after Pastor David Seyller used a part of it to illustrate the basis story of Christianity at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

Yesterday, Pastor Darneather Murph-Heath spoke about Martin Luther King in her sermon. Later my former legislative assistant Pete Castillo used the word “ballast” when we were over to visit him and his mother.

And I thought of how the slave traders on the ship Amistad threw ballast rocks overboard attached to 50 live slaves whom they had concluded they did not have enough food to keep alive on the ocean voyage.

I woke up thinking about what my father had told me while we were on the way to visit my mother’s grave in Church Hill, Maryland, which he was undergoing treatment for lung cancer at Georgetown University. We were staying at my sister Jan's in Severn.

As I drove north past what I think may have been a store (it was a house with an unpainted porch) on the left where a road ran off to the right between Centreville and Church Hill, Dad told me he used to live up that road.

It was one of three places in Queen Anne’s County where he lived. The family was poor and moved around, one time farming west of the James Clayland Stevens’ land near Sudlersville and Barclay where his bride-to-be Eleanor lived.

Dad told me that he and his father were walking down the dirt road toward their home one day when they say a bunch of men making a lot of noise.

They were lynching a black man.

My grandfather told my father not to look and just keep on walking.

I wonder how old my father was and whether the victim lived on the road. Dad told me there were blacks who lived there.

And, I wonder if the historians of Queen Anne’s County know about the lynching. It would have been in the 1920’s, I believe, because Dad was born in 1916.

Interestingly, the Maryland State Archives do not report any lynchings in Queen Anne’s County during the 20th Century and no lynchings in the state during the 1029’s. I’ll send the Archives a link to my story and see what reply I get. The photo is from the Archives' web site on lynching.

Labels: Lynch, Lynching, Maryland, Queen Anne's County

Over the weekend, AP sent out an “analysis” by Christopher Wills entitiled,

Top Ill Dems offer 3 goals, 1 fix: Taxes

What a surprise.

Of course, there is a war going on in Springfield, a source at the nexus of the battle tells me.

So, maybe, the taxpayers will luck out.

But, if they don’t, the real question is whether Republicans will be stupid enough to provide the votes to pass tax increases.

Another question is how many people will decide to move out of the state.

Next the McHenry Count Board will want to license cat guns, too.

But Fluffy can defend herself.

Actually, a button on a piraty guy.

This “Make a Wish” button was found on the head of a father of a “Make a Wish” child in Disney World’s Rain Forest Café Thanksgiving week.

How special of him to express his appreciation this way.

He told me Disney is a big sponsor and has been for 25 years!

You think that would be bad, I’ll bet.

But Illinois legislators enacted a law striping state representatives and senators of their pensions if convicted of assorted nastinesses decades ago.

Washington is just getting around to it.

Well, that’s not quite true.

People like Dan Rostenkowski and Duke Cunningham lost (are losing) their congressional pensions while in prison.

But they now get reinstated when they get released.

Isn’t that special?

Now Associated Press reports the U.S. Senate voted 87-0 to take away post-release pensions, but only for future felons.

The National Taxpayers United “says there are roughly 20 former members convicted of serious crimes who qualify for pensions,” AP says.

The bill, however, would not take effect until 2009.

You’ll never guess what happened this week.

I talked to a McHenry County Republican precinct committeeman who actually works his precinct.

I didn’t know any of them were left. I surely did not see or have anything left at my door from my appointed precinct committeeman this past fall.

The man I talked to told me about asking constituents why they hadn’t voted.

“Because I’m disgusted with what they did?” was the reply, referring to the candidacy of Judy Baar Topinka.

The committeeman said,
People I talk to are tired of conservative candidates not standing up to liberal candidates.

We best these guys every single time with ideas. All they can do is mudsling

The committeeman also picked up continuing resentment on the part of Crystal Lakers in his part of town about Mayor Shepley’s and the city council’s having voted to allow the Gay Games Regatta on Crystal Lake.

Or provide Keely Cat with camouflage if the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors come calling.

You’ll have to find a less obvious place to sleep, Mitten.

On Route 59 one Saturday, I was following a truck which rode very high.

On the back bumper was a sticker which said,

LOST YOUR CAT

TRY LOOKING UNDER MY TIRES

This truck was so far off the pavement that it could have run over a puma.

Now, for those curious, it is my opinion that this does not belong to a McHenry County Cat Tax Collector.

A Cat Tax Collector cannot collect a tax from a dead cat.

I think I got a hint of the fervor to change men’s lives that sparked the rescue mission movement of the late 1800’s.

The Rockford Rescue Mission’s Senior Program Director Patrick Clinton and Men’s Life Recovery Program resident John “Doe” provided much insight when they spoke to the Methodist Men of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

For the last seven years Clinton has been on staff at the Mission which was started by a recovering alcoholic and new Christian who came to Rockford from Chicago’s Pacific Garden Mission in February 1964 with $9.61 in his pocket.

Now it provides free emergency shelter and food, as well as addiction recovery programs for men and women. Nearly 90 employees serve the men, women and children, all in the name of Jesus Christ.

“We absolutely have Jesus Christ at the center of everything we do,” Clinton stressed.

Financing for the Mission’s $2.5 million cash needs comes from contributions, except for a Winnebago County, “no strings attached” grant for one men’s counselor.


“For one person to be served for one year in the life recovery program, there’s a $25-30,000 cost,” Clinton explained. “That man or woman is getting everything free from someone’s who don’t even know him/her. That’s a gift of love.”

A Rockford television telethon on WTVO channel 17 is coming up on Tuesday, January 23, from 6:00-8:00 PM during which “the community hears about how Jesus Christ is changing lives through the Mission.” The event raises about 2 weeks of the Mission’s budget.

“We’re unashamed to talk about Jesus. I’ve been a satisfied customer since age 9,” he added.

Clinton noted that in serving five churches before coming to his present role, “I have found out there is more pain, fear, abuse, and addiction in the church than I had imagined.”

He pointed to childhood rejection, molestation, incest, physical and emotional abuse, abandonment, spousal abuse, sexual and gambling addictions, as well as religious activities without spiritual and relational health.

The program last Saturday morning featured a dynamic and moving dialogue between Clinton and recovering addict "John."

Clinton explained that addicts “have to hit bottom” before they seek help to really change. A person “usually has to end up on the street. We’re the last place people want to be except for jail or prison.”

In a question and answer format, Clinton led John, whose goal is to become a minister, through his life’s story.

At age 39, John’s goal is to spread the word of Jesus and to develop a relationship with his three teenage children who he has not seen in a long time.

“They’ve never had a relationship with me because I was totally selfish and when I was home, I was drunk.”

John’s story could easily be made into an episode in the Pacific Mission’s “Unshackled” radio series.

His parents abused each other and coped with life with alcohol and marijuana. Power and control, fear and bondage, anger and isolation, worthlessness and despair filled the home.

“I didn’t have much structure,” he said. “There was no security. Out of sight, out of mind,” was the way John described his relationship with his parents.

“It was chaotic.”

When he was 8 or 9, except for school, going to the bathroom and eating, his parents locked him in his room for a year “unless I snuck out,” John revealed.

His mother introduced him to marijuana.

And church?

“They sent me to church as day care,” John replied to Clinton’s question.

His parents divorced when he was 10, his mother remarrying a family friend and the family’s moving briefly from the Quad Cities to Iowa.

Asked how stable that home was, John said, “Nothing changed except the address.”

He once tried to stop the fighting between his mother and step dad.

“They were shoving each other. When I saw my step dad hitting my mom, I stepped between and shoved him. He hit his head on the window sill and broke his leg.

Clinton observed that John had become isolated and had no intimate connections.

John married after high school. He said life “wasn’t as chaotic,” but “the things I despised, I continued—alcohol, tobacco, some pot.”

“In 1994 I came to know Christ as my Savior.”

My wife and I were baptized together at a church where the pastor knew I desired to serve God.

“I began was raising my kids in a Christian home,” he continued.

“I felt called by God to the ministry, but my wife didn’t think I could afford to leave my job. Which I couldn’t. But her resistance disappointed and angered me.”

Sadly within a year marital problems led John to leave his wife, who had deep pain of her own.

Later John married twice more, but they also ended in divorce. A machinist, John never had trouble getting a job. Because of his addictions, he had trouble keeping them.

At some point, John concluded it was “either God or my addiction. I chose my addiction.”

“For 13-14 years,” Clinton added.

“Anything I could use and still function,” John continued.

“I thought I had a blank check.

“I thought I had suffered enough.

“I thought God owed me.

Clinton pointed out that John’s “family of origin was beyond your control but his response to its influence was totally his responsibility.”

So, where did John end up 3½ years ago?

“In a motel turned into apartments right on the Rock River in Loves Park, near Rockford.

“It was drug heaven. All through the building.

“We lived above a bar. Alcohol seemed to come through the floor.

Once when he was unemployed for 6 months, John used the checks to drink and drug everyday. Then he found a job when the unemployment ran out.

“I was making $15 an hour as a machinist. 3rd shift. I got paid on Thursday. I went home Friday morning. There was someone waiting at my door to get high with me.”

He spent the day partying.

“I was drunk all day and night.”

When he went to work, “They decided to do a drug test.”

Clinton: “And you decided to leave.”

It was Sunday, November 13, 2005, John had hit bottom. No money, no where to stay, no food, it was cold. He heard there was food downtown Rockford. He asked a guy by the bus depot where to find food. He was directed to the Red House of Isaiah 58 Ministries a few miles away.

When John arrived, he ate breakfast with the others gathered, attended the morning worship service and then talked to the director about staying there for a while.

He was told he needed an addiction recovery program first. “Try the Rockford Rescue Mission. After you’ve finished the program, you can come here.”

“In order to get in the Mission’s recovery program you had to commit,” John explained.

“You made a recommitment to Christ,” Clinton added. “That was November a year ago.”

“The process is a staged program,” John explained. “First is to realize alcohol is just a symptom of the problem.”

Next came what he described as “Christianity 101” and “the Genesis Process” in which “a person takes an in-depth look at yourself. It’s based on a 12-step process.”

Clinton asked how the participants differed.

“Just the names and addresses,” he answered. “Just about everybody has some addiction. It’s just that some are manageable or acceptable to society.”

“What about Jesus?” Clinton asked.

“He’s always been there, but (now) I’m allowing God to work through me…. I’m training and I’m being discipled. I have a fabulous congregation I’m a part of. 80% of our congregation has been in jail or prison at some point and has struggled with addictions”

Speaking of what the Mission provides, Clinton explained that the financial burden isn’t there for participants that it’s “provided by people like your group.”

Don Penn asked what John was currently doing.

John replied that he was working part-time at the Mission’s retail store and was in a student pastor program at his church.

“I sort of mentor some of the men at the Mission.”

Clinton explained that he was “a floater on the Mission men’s crisis shelter staff,” filling in when others were not available.

I asked how the Mission’s recovery program differed from Alcoholics Anonymous.

“Our program is more Jesus-oriented, God-oriented,” John replied. “They watered it down.” He does participate in an open AA meetings held at the Mission on Monday nights at 7:00..

“As we know, the background and principles of AA are Biblical,” Clinton said.

What has changed besides being sober for the past 13 months?

“It’s clearer when I am sinning now,” John observed.

Other changes?

“By the time I got to the Mission, I had been in isolation for so very long except to party. Now I love being with people, serving them even as I have been served, in life-changing ways. I so enjoyed coming here this morning to tell you my story of God’s grace.”

And, as Clinton put it, “It is so gratifying to me to call John ‘brother.’”

After the breakfast, John and Pat had a chance to mingle with the Crystal Lake Methodist Men.

= = = = =
One of the ways that the Rockford Rescue Mission connects with churches in the area is by having church members prepare 150 sack lunches for Sunday’s evening meal.

They come to the Mission about 4:45, set up to serve the meal and to provide the 30 minute chapel service, at about 5:10 they are given a short tour of the 80,000 sq. foot facility, lead the chapel service, and serve the meal.

Those churches interested in doing this ministry may contact Clinton at 815-965-5332, extension 106. His email address is patclinton@rockfordrescuemission.org.

= = = = =
Rockford Rescue Mission Executive Director Pat Clinton is seen talking about being awarded a medal after finishing life's race with John in the top picture.

Next is a head shot of Clinton on the left and of John on the right.

Below is a photo of Clinton talking with Greg Alexander after the talk.

That's followed by another head shot of John.

The Rockford Rescue Mission's logo is below, as is John talking to Bob Brewer after breakfast.

Labels: Addiction Recovery, Don Penn, First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Greg Alexander, Patrick Clinton, Red House, Rockford Rescue Mission, United Methodist Men

As the end of the old year approaches, this sign seems appropriate for Father Time:

Welcome
to
Over the Hillville

I found it at Lori Berrettini’s birthday party.

You had to be there to know how old she is.

Congressional Republicans made a big mistake, in my opinion, when they decided not to use the huge purchasing power of the federal government in the senior citizen drug program they enacted.

Democrats argued that would be logical.

The American Association of Retired Persons (open to membership to anyone 50 and over) ran a full page ad in Sunday’s edition of the Chicago Sun-Times

The headline is

"Medicare has 43 million members. And zero bargaining power when it some to prescription drug prices"

A credible argument can be made that AARP is pretty much an arm of the Democratic Party, but even the Democratic Party is right once in a while.

Illinois has long utilized the savings produced by bulk purchasing for state government and, if they desire to piggy-back, local governments.

"If they want to treat me like an outdoor cat, how about letting me go outdoors when the Republican Cat Tax Collectors come?" asks Keely Cat as he stands looking out the kitchen window.

"There's no screen.

"Just open the window.

"I can go join those barn cats that you keep talking about.

"Didn't you and that big, loud, dark-furred, two-legged monster that keeps getting down on all fours and pouncing on me build a bat house?

"Maybe it you put it up on the telephone pole out back it would attract some bats I could attack?

"And that horrible doctor down the street has already stuck that big sharp thing in me, I won't get rabies while I'm trying to catch those bats.

"I won't get lost either. I'm a thoroughly modern cat. I've already been micro chipped."

As the anniversary of Roe v. Wade approaches, McHenry's Church of Holy Apostles Right to Life Committee hosted a January 10th talk by Bonnie Quirke, past President and current Vice President of the Illinois Federation for Right to Life.

One of the friends of McHenry County Blog sent me a write-up, upon which this is based. We had previously discussed how what happens in churches of a public nature rarely is covered by the mainstream media. Actually, what happens in churches rarely appears in news stories of any kind.

Quirke, a Registered Nurse at Condell Hospital and a member of their Ethics Committee, has been involved in the Pro-Life movement since 1968.

“At that time,” she says, “members of the Democrat party were the driving force to keep abortion illegal in Illinois until they did a flip-flop.”

The evening’s stated topic was, simply, “Roe v. Wade.” Quirke drew some striking and disturbing similarities between the abortion debate of today and the slavery debate of the 19th century, which are outline in the chart below. It can be enlarged by clicking on it.

She discussed the dehumanization (a process by which members of a group of people assert the "inferiority" of another group through subtle or overt acts or statements – Wikipedia.com) of both the slave and the unborn, and did not shy away from the fact that the slavery debate of the 1850’s played a role in the start of the Civil War.

A companion to the Roe v. Wade case was Doe v. Bolton, also decided by the Supreme Court on the same day in 1973. Doe v. Bolton expanded on the Roe decision by defining the frequently used term “the health of the mother.”

Quirke explained that the “health” of the mother did not simply refer to the mother’s physical, mental, or emotional health. Doe included the mother’s age, her social health, and her financial health.

One in four pregnancies end in abortion.

Another way to put it is, “One in four babies are killed in their mother’s womb.” But, according to Quirke, this figure may well be much higher since abortion is the only medical procedure which is not regulated, reporting standards vary from state to state and many states do not define 2nd or 3rd trimester abortions as abortion.

As an unregulated industry, abortion is one of few medical procedures which do not require informed consent.

Sometimes confused with “parental consent,” informed consent is a generally accepted practice in which a physician consults with a patient, or patient’s parent in the case of a minor child, discussing the risks and benefits of a medical procedure before deciding whether to perform the procedure or not.

Parental consent is a principle in which at least one parent must agree to a procedure before it is performed on a patient under the age of 18.

Parental notification states that at least one parent must be notified of a medical procedure performed on a patient under the age of 18.

Neither parental consent nor parental notification are in effect in the state of Illinois, which is why a 13 year-old girl may be legally taken from school for an abortion by a counselor without her parent’s knowledge, while the same child may be suspended from school for taking or even being in possession of an over-the-counter medication such as a pain reliever or an anti-histamine.

Quirke pointed out that the number of reported abortions has declined in recent years.

Although this may appear to be good news to the Pro-Life movement, it may also be the result of FDA approval for the “Morning After” pill to be sold over-the-counter, although sales of the so-called “emergency contraception” are restricted to persons 18 years or older, she noted that the drug may be purchased by “sexual predators to give to their 14, 15, or 16 year-old girlfriends.” (See McHenry County Blog's article on former Crystal Lake middle school teacher William Saturday, who took his early teenage girl friend to the McHenry County Health Department for birth control impants being out of prison and living in the McHenry area.)

Abortion advocates cleverly framed their cause in the 1960s and 1970s as a matter of choice.

The focus was moved from the act of killing a human being in its mother’s womb to what was perceived as a matter of “choice” for a woman. Quirke spoke of the fact that having a choice is valued in America, the motto of many rugged-individualists in our society is, “my way or the highway.”

The pro-abortion movement adopted the term Pro-Choice and has succeeded in attaching a "smiley-faced" American value to abortion.

Choice was not on the minds of the early pioneers of the abortion movement.

Quirke mentioned that Margaret Sanger, who was the founder of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion advocate and provider, was more interested in helping to create a utilitarian society, a society in which the masses exist to serve the state.

One way she planned to accomplish this goal was through her program called, “The Negro Project.”

Sanger embraced eugenics, which espouses racial purity and supremacy, especially supremacy of the white race.

Her plan included establishing abortion parlors in predominately black neighborhoods, establishing them, “for the benefit of the colored people” as she put it in a letter to Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, a founder of the NAACP, whom she had enlisted as a chief propagandist in her attempts to eliminate the black race and other “Human weeds,” as she described immigrants and minorities who “bred carelessly and disastrously.”

Quirke provided some quotes attributed to Sanger;

1939 – “The minister's work is also important and he should be trained, perhaps by the Federation as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

1926 - “It now remains for the U.S. government to set a sensible example to the world by offering a bonus or yearly pension to all obviously unfit parents who allow themselves to be sterilized by harmless and scientific means. In this way the moron and the diseased would have no posterity to inherit their unhappy condition. The number of the feeble-minded would decrease and a heavy burden would be lifted from the shoulders of the fit.”

1922 – “Charity encourages the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead weight of human waste. Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant.”

Quirke concluded her talk with a question and answer session and information on the Right to Life events and activities planned for next weekend (January 20-21) culminating in the Right to Life March on Washington on Monday, January 22.

Edie Hemmeter, chair of Holy Apostles’ own Right to Life committee, arranged and led the opening prayer to the capacity crowd.

Illinois Federation for Right to Life’s website is www.ifrl.org

= = = = =
I would note that ABC had on its national news a story about sonograms of triplet boys which had been recorded and manipulated by National Geographic for an upcoming show on Sunday night opposite "24," I think. ABC, as most of the mainstream media called the babies, "fetuses." The story is well worth watching.

Has anyone ever seen a mother with a tee shirt with an arrow pointing down which read "Fetus?"

I would suggest the refusal to call a baby a baby is part of the dehumanization process that Quirke talked about.

The 5-month baby shown sucking his thumb is the same as in this Chicago Bear-Green Bay Packer onezie, tee shirt and bib one and bib two. He is our grandnephew.

The other picture is of him as a newborn.

These pajamas caught my eye at Kohl’s on the way to visit Santa Claus.

My son calls his kitten “Mitten” sometimes, instead of Keely, the name he gave him when we picked up him up in May.

When the now-almost-cat is naughty, he says, “Badmitten.”

These PJ’s come too close to “Badmitten” not to notice. They say,

Bad Kitty

Do you think people who bought these PJ's will have to worry about the McHenry County Repubican Cat Tax Collectors?

There has been so much publicity about Oprah Winfrey’s $40 million girls’ prep school in South Africa.

Now, the comparisons are starting.

The Chicago Sun-Times Tom McNamee had a column Monday about Chicago black children entitled,

What would you do with $40 million?

Another Chicagoan also tries to improve education for blacks.

The man interviewed, Tim King, is “president of a new public school on the South Side, Urban Prep Charter Academy,” according to McNamee.

He asks the

“If you ran a school in Chicago, what would you do with $40 million? "question.

King’s reply?

"First thing I'd do is probably not use it all on one school,” which I consider the logical answer, but the columnist forces him to do it “the Oprah way.”

This weekend Pam Reed, editor of “Stories from Katrinaland, God Responds to Disaster in New Orleans,” her sister Penny Pullen, my wife and I were discussing Oprah’s efforts and Pam told me of an Illinois-based effort to provide schools in Angola.

The contrast was so stark that I decided to look into it.

Started as the African Refugee Committee, the effort is now called RISE International. According to its August newsletter, $1.3 million has been raised.

Financing has been provided to build 105 schools. The buildings are suitable for use as a primary school on weekdays and as a church or community center at other times.

I wrote a first draft and then sent an email asking some questions.

Imagine my surprise when Lynn Cole, daughter-in-law of Moody Bible Institute’s Pastor Donald Cole, called me back.

Of course, I asked her what she could do with $40 million.

With $40 million we could do amazing things. I think we could change a country with $40 million.

But, what she said before I got to that question is instructive of the mission.

Let me put it in Lynn Cole's words:

The civil war continued in Angola for 27 years. The infrastructure lay in ruins, schools were destroyed or non-existent, and an entire generation has grown up unable to read and write. Our vision is to work together to rebuild lives and communities, reflecting Jesus’ charge to love others as we love ourselves.

Andrew, my husband was born and raised in Angola, the son of Don and Naomi Cole, missionaries there for 18 years.

After a 31 year absence, he returned with his Dad for a one time visit in 1997—they were moved by the people and the involvement could not end, but began anew.

This journey began for me in May of 1998, as Andrew and I traveled to Angola to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. I had never been out of the US, never to a third world war-torn country, never to a place that gripped me like Angola.

Amidst the devastation, Andrew dreamed of building a school at Chilonda, the place he had grown up.

But in 1999, the war escalated and unable to enter Angola, we found Angolan refugees with whom we could be involved in the Osire Refugee Camp in Namibia, and thought it would be great to bring a “few friends” to join us.

Those “friends” became the first Pilgrimage of Service team in May of 2000, a group of 19 that traveled to Osire to work and serve.

Their experience and the relationships that were built moved that group to form a non-profit organization just one year later.

Subsequent mission trips to refugee camps in Zambia inspired passion and action. And when the war ended in 2002, the journey led RISE back to Angola, with a commitment to bring encouragement and hope through education.

We couldn’t get in so we went to refugee camps. When the war ended in 2002, we decided that we wanted to focus our efforts on rebuilding Angola.

The most effective way to do that was through education.

In the spring of 2003 a group of us sat in our living room to think about how this might unfold. The first school was built just three and a half years ago and highlights what can happen when we take a small step. Our mission is to partner with Angolan churches, community leaders and government officials to build primary schools in rural Angola.

It is a very simple partnership where we raised the funds in the United States to provide building materials and books and local villages in Angola are chosen by local leadership teams we have established. This is based on a partnership agreement.


February is the start of their school year. There will be about 45,000 kids in 105 schools that would not have had schools yet.

The reason is that we are building schools in various rural areas where they have not schools or the schools were destroyed. They haven’t had schools for 25 or 30 years in some of these villages and in some villages there never was a school.

The places where we are working are where there was a lot of fighting during the war. So the entire infrastructure was destroyed.

We partner with a local village and a local church within the village and they provide labor and oversight.

The beauty of that is that the school belongs to them. They have ownership and investment.

The third part of the partnership is that the Angolan Ministry of Education provides and pays the teachers.

It’s really an effort to jumpstart the educational system.

The task of rebuilding is so enormous when a country is destroyed. The government is beginning to build schools in the cities and towns, but it will be years before they will be able to get to the rural areas as well.

We have begun in the rural areas and will meet in the middle.

That’s where this idea comes from that these kids would not have been in schools for years to come without outside assistance.

The schools we are building are about $12,500 apiece. They are in places where there is no electricity, no running water. The local village builds outhouses for the use of the schools.

And where does the money come from?

The financing to this point has been primarily relationally based.

By that I mean, people who have known us or people who have traveled with us to Angola are touched by the story and the need and want to make a difference. Individuals, small groups, schools, churches and businesses have joined together.

It’s been an amazing process as well.

Initially we are involved in a number of schools. And there are several more becoming involved, including Prosser Academy, a Chicago public school.

The ones who have been involved to date have been New Trier, Wheeling High School and West Chicago Community High School.

The kids have been involved to raise money to build schools and to send shipping containers filled with school supplies and clothing.

We have very committed people in these schools.

They are engaged because they see the money they raise actually makes a difference.

These are the entities listed as partnering with the organization on its web site:

-Christian Heritage Academy in Northfield, IL
-Grace Community Church in Tucson, AZ
-Moody Broadcasting
-New Trier High School
-Starbucks
-West Chicago Community High School
-Wheeling High School
-Willow Creek Community Church – North Shore in Northfield

In addition to raising money stateside, the group sends people to Angola, for one of the unique elements of RISE is its focus on relationships.

We take teams in the summer and those teams (including some teens) participate in both building schools and teacher training workshops.

So they are personally involved and take pictures and we get stories and we get input. They bring that back to the U.S. so that the kids in the schools see the schools they are actually building and the kids they are helping.

We have taken teams since May of 2000.

These teams, we call them a “Pilgrimage of Service.” The idea is that we go to work and serve along side Angolans, but it is often those who go that are most deeply impacted.

The cost?

Last summer’s cost was $4,700.

And the future?

Over the next five years RISE wants to impact 100,000 additional students, building 250 more schools, and work to help the schools provide the best learning environment in rural Angola.

Education empowers people—we will remain focused on rebuilding lives and communities through education.

The schools and churches offer a network to disperse knowledge.

Exciting partnerships continue to unfold, with a plan to provide training and materials to educate about life skills, literacy and the prevention of AIDS. Angola is unique, having the lowest rate of AIDS in southern Africa because of the isolation of war. We can and must make a difference--education can save lives.

Contributions to RISE International can be made via its web page.

= = = = =
The top photo is of excited students at school in village of Kambiambia, Benguela Province. Beneath to the left is a close-up of some of the waving children.

On the right is the 2006 Pilgrimage Team helping build school at village of Balambi. The funds to pay for the school were raised by New Trier High School students.

Below, Lynn Cole is seen with students at school in Lomako, Benguela Province.

The photo on the right is a close-up of the children standing in front of the school at Essoquela, Benguela Province.

Next appears a teacher with his students at school in village of Kunje, Bie Province. A closer look at the teacher and some of his students can been seen directly below. To that picture's upper right is another close-up of children in front of a school.

The three men are standing in the door of a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. Did they help build the school? Is that a hopeful mother in front of them?

Both the adults and the students below are from a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. In the column of kids from the school, the tallest, dressed in blue, has a somber look on her face.

The little boy with his hands on the big brick is from the village of Balambi. This close-up was taken from the third picture from the top of the story.

Below the boy is a shipping container being filled with school supplies and clothing by those in the New Trier High School area. Besides raising money to pay for the building of schools, RISE International also encourages groups to donate such goods and material.

Next are enlargements of those who went to Angola to help build the school in Balambi, along with some residents whom they assisted in turning New Trier's contributions into a school.

Finally, there is a map of Angola which shows the number of schools RISE expects to be ready for February classes.

The young folks you see pictured among the photo credits are from the village of Kahondo, province of Benguela. This is the site of the new school being built with funds raised by Wheeling High School.

And, here is an Angolan sunset.

Couldn't resist the beauty.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Labels: Andrew Cole, Angola, Lynn Cole, Rise International

I’ve been pointed to the original map of the proposed Richmond Tax Increment Financing district, as well as a handout from opponents that shows landmarks and offers a critique of the Tax Increment Financing district. (Click to enlarge the images.)

There were so many people at the meeting last Thursday that village attorney Dave McArdle started by stating, "This isn't going to work."

There were so many people that wanted to attend the meeting that the building was filled to fire capacity. They closed the doors, leaving people outside.

The village attorney advised the village board that the meeting should be rescheduled.

To do otherwise, apparently, would put the whole TIF process in legal jeopardy.

Naturally there were protests from those who had gotten into the meeting room.

Nevertheless, after conferring with school officials, it was decided that the Richmond- Burton High School auditorium would be available that evening of the 18th.

So, if you want to see the best show in McHenry County on the 18th, I’d suggest driving to Richmond.

If you click on the images, you will enlarge them.

The comments to the right of the map with the landmarks noted say,

Is your property in the yellow zone on this may?

It can soon be slated for demolition/or eminent domain seizure.

The village will declare it "blighted" so it can take it by eminent domain and then offer to give it or sell it at a reduced rate to developers who agree to put the kind of business the village board thinks we need here in Richmond on your property.

Then, there is a headline saying,

Don't own property in this so-called "redevelopment" area?

You should still be very concerned.

The village has been silently been working on a plan to sell the future of Richmond in the form of publicly offered Municipal Bonds that will have to be paid back by the "anticipated" future increases in property taxes of the properties in the TIF district.

The increases in all future taxes on these properties will be tied up repaying these bonds. This means that those gains that are distributed to schools and others listed on your tax bill go to the TIF.

Property owners outside the TIF will be the ones to make up the difference. and, if it fails, you help pay off the bonds.

Monday the Northwest Herald added some additional information to Aaron Shepley’s massive flip-flop on the use of condemnation in Tax Increment Financing districts.

As McHenry County Blog pointed out previously, November 2, 2005, the night of the TIF hearings for the Main Street and Vulcan Lakes projects, Shepley said:

"I can say this. At no time has this city council considered…using our condemnation authority in any TIF we have contemplated. If property owners have that concern, they are false."

Here are Shepley's words on October 10, 2006, at the City Council Vulcan Lakes TIF workshop meeting:

"We already promised we would not use condemnation in this project."

Seems pretty clear to me.

Monday, the NW Herald ran a Karen Long article on the subject in which Shepley says,

"I stand by what I said before.

"The answer then, and is now, no…. People on Route 14 should not be concerned. It was not our plan in creating the [tax increment financing] district necessarily to go on some sort of condemnation binge. Nothing about that has changed."

The cut line under Shepley's picture in the NW Herald says,

Aaron Shepley, Crystal Lake Mayor said the city would not condemn private property.

(A friend of the blog scanned Shepley's picture and it came out a bit crooked. I cannot figure out how to straighten it. Sorry about that.)

What did John Kerry say about voting for the Iraqi war?

“I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,” according to CBS.

Labels: Aaron Shepley, condemnation, Crystal Lake, Flip-flop, Tax Increment Financing District, TIF, Vulcan Lakes

When we last left Keely Cat, he was looking for a suitable place to hide from McHenry County’s Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

He thought the playroom drapes were a possibility, so he got Cat Daddy to open one set.

After taking a look out the window for the revenuers, he hopped up on a stack of Lego boxes.

As we re-join Catkins, he is peering behind the second set of drapes from far above the window sill.

If not there, how about in this box?

"Oh.

"Yeah.

"It’s too small for me now.

"Come to think of it, that box is in my way.

"What if I just want to sit up here and hope the Cat Tax Collectors won’t notice me?"

Suddenly a crash alerts Cat Daddy to a potential problem

The little box that was not big enough for Mitten--now being called “Badmitten” for his unacceptable behavior—has fallen and there is a mess that Cat Mommy will probably, make that, definitely, notice.


First the wooden semi-truck and now the box.

On the floor.

"Time to go," Keely decides.

Cat Mommy won’t like that mess.

Not one bit.

It looks like Thing One and Thing Two have been visiting.

Andy Martin ran for the Republican nomination for governor and came in last. He was the only one to take on Judy Baar Topinka in the WBEZ-public radio debate, however. Here’s the press release Andy Martin sent out last night announcing that he would again seek a statewide GOP nomination:

MIDDLE EAST EXPERT AND INTERNET EDITOR ANDY MARTIN WILL SEEK REPUBLICAN NOD TO RUN AGAINST SENATOR DURBIN

(CHICAGO)(January 11, 2007) Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and critic Andy Martin will hold a news conference Thursday, January 11th at 11:00 A.M. to announce he is seeking the Republican nomination for U. S. Senator to run against Sen. Dick Durbin. Martin will lead criticism and counterattacks on Durbin’s Iraq priorities.

Andy spent much of 2003 in Iraq and worked in Baghdad as an investigative analyst and bureau chief. He strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq. He is a respected Middle East expert who first went to the area in 1971.

Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. Andy holds a Juris Doctor degree (1969) from the University of Illinois College of Law. He has been fighting political corruption in Illinois for forty (40) years and helped lay the foundations for Operation Greylord that sent corrupt Chicago politicians and judges to jail.

“I will try to unify Republicans in Illinois,” says Martin. “It won’t be easy. My opposition to the war in Iraq is well-known. But I believe that only a Republican who has challenged our policies in the Middle East will have any chance of being taken seriously. 2008 will be a very difficult year for Republican candidates.

“Nevertheless, as a Middle East expert whose analysis and predictions have received international credibility and respect I am the only Republican with the cred and experience to run against Senator Durbin. It will be a David and Goliath contest, and I am practicing my slingshot techniques. My template will be Everett Dirksen’s upset victory over Scott Lucas in 1950.

Ironically, both Durbin and Martin worked for U. S. Senator Paul Douglas in 1966. “I think Senator Douglas would be deeply disappointed by the way Durbin has become an agent of betrayal and backstabbing in our foreign policy,” Martin states.

“Republicans in Washington fumbled the ball. They started in the 1990’s with sound proposals and programs and ended up as corrupt hacks. They paid the price. Now it is time to rebuild with good policy. But the Democrats are equally guilty and equally corrupt.

“My campaign will build on mainstream, Middle American values. It is time for the Land of Lincoln to be heard again. Mr. Durbin will be a formidable opponent but so will I.”

Despite the look from our teenage kitten at the new animated toy RoboReptile on Christmas Day, it was one sniff and, then, the toy was ignored.

Not a threat.

Not something that might be good to eat.

At least it's not a McHenry County Republican trying to impose a cat tax.

An email arrived today from Lori Phelps, who is challenging Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley in April's election.

McHenry County Blog welcomes the opportunity to provide information from candidates on the Crystal Lake city elections (or others, for that matter.)

Candidates can just send me an email and, assuming they within the bounds of decency, I'll be happy to publish them. (A photo would be appreciated as well, so folks who know you by face, but not by name, can recognize you.)

Phelps says she worked hard to get Shepley election, but that he has disappointed her.

But, instead of my re-writing what she has sent, read it for yourself:

Regarding the Mayor's statements on "not" condemning property within the Vulcan TIF district, his statements are conflicting and confusing.

Since I was not at any of the meetings where he made these statements, I cannot definitively say in what context his comments were made.

Reading the newspaper accounts, it is hard to determine what he was directly responding to. When the Mayor now states that he was referring only to Rt 14 businesses when originally making his "no condemnations" comment, this detail was not included in his original statement, which would lead one to believe he is reversing his original statement.

What this boils down to, and equally important, is the public's perception and trust of the Mayor.

For me personally, I lost faith in Aaron Shepley a long time ago.

In my opinion, he began his political career with an eagerness and ability to make sound, fair decisions for the betterment of our community. Again, in my opinion, he has allowed his many self-interests to cloud his judgment and responsibility to us.

The most blatant of these is his conflict of interest with Centegra Hospital.

I do not fault Mayor Shepley for accepting the position at Centegra during his first term as mayor (1999-2003) however, in my mind, he should not have run again for another term in 2003.

Knowing a proposal for a competing hospital was on the horizon, the credible fair thing to do would've been to either solidly commit to the people he first made the commitment to (us) or not seek another term, allowing someone else to step in that would champion our needs as residents first.

Since he was not able to make that determination on his own, I am now challenging him, giving the people of Crystal Lake a choice.

I was one of the key people who worked diligently to get him elected in 1999 and feel personally responsible that we still do not have a hospital in Crystal Lake.

I view the lack of a local hospital as a life and death situation, nothing to take lightly. Reading the pro-hospital letters submitted to the City in 2004, I realize that others have this belief as well.

I distinctly recall a conversation between myself and Aaron back in early 1999 regarding his willingness and understanding of the need to avoid all conflicting interests while representing Crystal Lake residents as their mayor. He was working outside of the city and county at that time. In my opinion, he has not honored that understanding.

Thank you again for your blog Cal, which is a service to residents.

Lori Phelps

The following arrived Monday and I thought some folks might be interested:

Dear Family, Friends and Fellow Constitutionalists,

I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I pray that 2007 brings you many blessings.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me in my campaign.

Whether you told a few friends about my candidacy, or spent hours talking to people at Fairs or going “door to door,” YOU were one of those responsible for breaking the “write-in” record here in Illinois. I truly appreciate your sacrifice and will do all that I can to ensure your efforts were not wasted.

The New Year is a time to reflect on the past and to set goals for the coming year. I am proud of what we accomplished in 2006 and I can’t tell you how excited I am about embarking on the adventures that 2007 holds.

If you had the opportunity to read the message “Future Plans” on my website, you know that I will be liquidating the “Stufflebeam for Governor” committee and organizing the “Run Randy Run” Committee.

There are three main purposes for the Run Randy Run committee:

1) To begin tackling issues and initiatives; to make a positive change and impact here in Illinois. With the committee’s help, we will decide which ones to take on. Then we will put feet and hands to taking back our state.
This will also have a much needed side effect of building credibility. Last year, my campaign was literally based upon lip service. It was only statements of my positions that I had to fall on. This year I will begin establishing a foundation of Character and Credibility.

2) To groom me for candidacy and for holding office. There is so much to learn and know. I will need people who have expertise in various areas. I need help in such areas as state finances to developing a budgetary plan. I need help in addressing education, healthcare, veterans, family and other issues that affect the people of Illinois.

3) To build a foundation and network in this state so that whatever office I decide to run for, (with the committee’s guidance) we will already have the groundwork laid to run a successful campaign.

Eunice Conn has agreed to stay on as committee/campaign manager; Chuck Broy has agreed to stay on as committee/campaign treasurer. Yes, I am expecting that this committee will guide me into the next campaign endeavor that we take on. Yes, it is most likely that our sights will be set on the governor’s race of 2010 (maybe something sooner.) However, the purpose of the committee is to help decide which roads we want to travel and what we can do to begin immediately doing things to save this state from the path of destruction we seem to be heading down.

Our main goal is to build upon the “grass roots” we currently have and to get people with leadership ability elected.

We want YOUR input. YOU and your family are the ones affected by what the elected officials do.

I will be holding three separate meetings in Illinois to begin the organization of the committee. All will begin promptly at 2 PM and end at 4 PM. Of course, you can stay around and chat after that if you like.

Central Illinois – January 20 – in Springfield. Place to be determined.

Southern Illinois – January 27 – in Mt Vernon, possibly in the public library.

Northern Illinois – February 3 - at Eunice Conn’s house. (Directions and a map will be provided.)

I hope you will attend one of these area meetings to help organize and become a vital part of the committee that plans to build our “grass roots” and help save this state from the bankruptcy we’re headed for.

Please let me know if you plan to attend one of these meetings so that we make sure to have a place big enough to accommodate every one. Invite a friend to attend with you.

Thank you once again and God Bless you and your family as we begin to embark on this New Year together.

Randall C. Stufflebeam

His email address is StufflebeamRC@RunRandyRun.com.
The web site is RunRandyRun.com.

Keely is curious.

Just what is behind the drapes next to the bookcase?

Is it a good hiding place?

The Cat Daddy gets up from his key board and opens the window drapes.

Keely Cat looks out the window for the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

Cat Daddy usually keep the drapes shut in winter to conserve heat, but since it’s spring, when Keely shows an interest in what was behind the drapes, he opens one set.

The teenage kitten probably was not big and brave enough to explore the window sill when Cat Daddy closed them after the October mini-blizzard.

Keely bravely steps onto the window sill, peering out to look for the Republican Revenuers.

He walks to the right.

He watches where he is walking.

Then, suddenly, the wooden semi-truck is in trouble.

Oh, no!

Keely has not been careful enough.

The toy semi goes crashing to the floor as Catkins continues his journey along the window sill.

So, the lesson for today is

Be careful where you hide from the Republican Cat Tax Collectors

If you decide to hide behind the drapes, make certain not to push anything off while the Revenuers are searching the house for you.

“WOW!” was my reaction when I learned about this internet site devoted to the Tax Increment Financing district proposed for Richmond.

Charles Castle, who both lives and has a business in the proposed TIF district, alerted me to Proposed Richmond, Illinois TIF.”

“We started it last spring when Richmond village officials began talking TIF,” Castle emailed me.

It looks like a marvelous resource and a model for others with questions about how a TIF will affect them.

It contains a treasurer trove of information, which I would commend to anyone interested in TIFs.

Consider this from RainMaker Marketing:

For commercial real estate development projects, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plans provide a definitive source of equity financing for today's savvy developer even though the intent of the legislation supporting most Tax Increment Financing programs specifically forbids the use of TIF plan bond fundings to support developer equity.

The TIF hearing I wished I could have attended in Richmond last Thursday postponed until Thursday, January 18th and moved to Richmond-Burton High School. It starts at 7:30.

One of the birthday presents to Lori Berrettini was this tee shirt.

It says,

LISTEN HONEY –
DON’T MIND ME
I’M JUST THE QUEEN

With temperature at 31 degrees when I pulled out of my driveway at 3:30 in the afternoon to pick up my son at school, I snapped this picture of a winter sky.

Close to 5 PM, I snapped these photographs over a pond in Crystal Lake on the way home from taking my 9-year old to a friend's house.

Geese were coming in for a landing at dusk.


The golden hues ruled.

The water in the pond, as well as in Crystal Lake, remains unfrozen.

Starting today, former popular radio hostess Sandy Rios will be hosting a program on WYLL at 1160 AM from 3-5 PM.

Rios left WYLL to become President of Concerned Women of America.

She returned to Illinois to become President of the Culture Campaign. She will continue in that role, as well as hosting WYLL's afternoon drive time call-in program.

“Well, the thing is, most alderman, most politicians are hos.”

That’s what’s on page 13 of FBI Special Agent Joan Marie Hyde’s affidavit used in the arrest of 20th Ward Alderwoman Arenda Troutman.

You know what a “ho” is, right?

= = = = =
The photo is from Alderman Troutman's campaign web site.

Labels: Alderman, Arenda Troutman, Chicago Corruption, Chicago Zoning

You don’t have to worry about the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors yet, Catkins.

It’s only about 8:30 AM and county employees don’t start work until 8.

Once they check into the office and get on the road it will take more than a half an hour to get here.

So, rest easy for while.

On the wish list of DuPage County Republicans is the authority to level a $2 per pack cigarette tax.

They want to be just like Cook County.

The way the bill is written, the McHenry County Board (of Cat Tax fame) would be able to levy the same tax.

When State Senator Pam Althoff was speaking to Crystal Lake Kiwanis last Wednesday the subject came up.

When asked by yours truly if she was going to vote against the cigarette tax increase, she empathically said,

"Yes. Absolutely. I can tell you right now."

She said that her smoking constituents were getting phone robo-phone calls from Phillip Morris.

The recorded voice would ask those who answered to press button 1, if they didn't like the idea of raising cigarette taxes. The smoker would be transferred to their legislator’s phone number.

Althoff said they were getting phone calls like, “Don’t do that tax thing,” followed by a hang-up.

She also had some interesting philosophical comments.

Althoff said she didn’t “know if this is another lottery situation where you take it for one purpose and use it for another purpose.”

Here’s how she described the relationship between governmental officials and those governed:

It’s a dialogue. That’s what referendums are all about. It’s transparency.

She said that authorizing the county board to levy a $2 cigarette tax “is not dialogue.”

Crystal Lake State Rep. Mike Tryon previously voted against the idea, his legislative assistant and Kiwanis member Tina Hill said.

Labels: Cigarette Tax, Cigarette Tax Hike, Crystal Lake Kiwanis, DuPage County Republicans, Mike Tryon, Pam Althoff, Phillip Morris, Robo-Calls, Tax Hike, Tina Hill

Since Mayor Richard Daley is so anxious to raise state income taxes, might I suggest that he lower his sights?

He doesn’t really need all of that money.

A portion will do.

Why not just have the aldermen impose an income tax?

To make the locals happier, throw in those who work in Chicago.

Or maybe he could just tax the income of those evil suburban commuters who make Chicago work.

Perhaps he should re-visit his days as a 1970 constitutional convention delegate.

Why settle for all the nuisance taxes, like the head tax and the $50 one ex-Chicago McDonald’s operator told me she had to pay for each of her driveways every year?

Why not tax the income of people working in Chicago?

Consider the following Section e of Article VII of the Illinois State Constitution, especially the second part:

A home rule unit shall have only the power that the General Assembly may provide by law (1) to punish by imprisonment for more than six months or (2) to license for revenue or impose taxes upon or measured by income or earnings or upon occupations.

The stars are aligned.

The Democrats control every branch of state government.

Why not ask the General Assembly and governor to give Chicago the power to levy an income tax?

A price could be found for the Downstaters, I’ll bet.

And, boy, would it be fun to see the suburban Democrats squirm when their votes are needed to pass the bill.

Of course, there is that war going on between the House and the Senate.

Guess there's no ideal time.

Although this photograph is from last May when our family visited the Old Capitol Art Fair, it seems appropriate for Republicans this Inauguration Day in Springfield.

ROAD
CLOSED

It’s located on East Capitol Street, just east of Sixth Street.

It’s right down the street from the Governor’s now usually unoccupied Mansion.

What a change this year is from 1994, when the Republican Party captured every statewide office, plus control of both chambers in the General Assembly.

I served in Springfield 16 years—8 in the 1970’s and 8 in the 1990’s. There was a GOP House Speaker only twice.

And I owe the Northwest Herald an apology.

I apologize.

I did not see its January 3rd article concerning the City of Crystal Lake’s having filed condemnation suits against Vulcan. I read the Daily Herald's before I wrote my story that day. I didn't read the Northwest Herald's online.

As some of you may know, I do not subscribe to the Northwest Herald. I read it when I see it, but I don't subscribe.

But, one of my goals is not to take cheap shots.

I have praised its reporters like Karen Long, who wrote the Vulcan condemnation story, for her coverage of Bill Cellini’s involvement in the Vulcan Lakes TIF project and Allison Smith, who wrote the District 300 referendum stories.

I applaud the Northwest Herald's coverage of Tax Increment Financing projects. These TIFs truly are going to raise all of our taxes for the benefit of the developers involved and the public needs to know that.

My article earlier today said the NW Herald had not covered Mayor Aaron Shepley’s Olympic-sized flip-flop on eminent domain. (Those are probably the words I should have used.)

It appears I was half right.

The Herald did report briefly on the condemnation suits, but did not put the suits into the context that seems appropriate to me.

The Herald did not put the condemnation suits in juxtaposition with Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley’s public statements (I found two) that Crystal Lake would not exercise its eminent domain power…unless I missed another story, for which I just searched.

(When I type “Shepley” into the NW Herald’s search engine, I see no article after Jan. 3rd pointing out that rather major change in the Shepley’s position.)

I thank the editor who pointed out my mistake. He was right to do so.

I still think the city’s promising not to use it TIF condemnation power and then doing so is newsworthy, however.

Why is the city's use of condemnation important?

It sends a not-too-subtle message to the smaller property owners along Route 14 that they "can't fight city hall." Might as well take what the developer offers as give a big portion of the proceeds to a condemnation attorney.

The Tribune is reporting that 20th Ward Chicago Alderman Arenda Troutman has been arrested. The Sun-Times' story.

Chicago Demcorats are the gift that keeps on giving.

Right before another one is about to give his Inaugural Address.

It's unfortunate that there is never a Republican who points out the continual unrolling of their corruption.

Labels: Arenda Troutman

Here is the press release just released by the Moderate Party:

The Moderate Party will hold its first meeting this Tuesday, January 9, at 7 PM, at the Fremont Public Library in Mundelein.

Items on the agenda include:

1) Lessons learned from 2006 -- What worked, and what did not? There are no "right" answers, only our unique observations.

2) Setting our course for 2008 -- What is our strategy for fielding candidates? How do we build our district party?

3) Voting on bylaws & officers -- We want to come out of this meeting on the move, with everything in place moving forward.

The meeting is open to the public, but only Party members will be allowed to vote on the bylaws and election of officers.We have 665 days left to the next election! Election day is November 4, 2008. Candidate petitions begin this September.

Bill Scheurer
847-245-1421

Besides the phone number, the press release links to three web sites:

Peace Majority

Honk4Peace and

Voters for Peace.

I asked for the qualifications for membership in the Moderate Party and, besides sending me the by-laws, here's the short answer:

"members must be registered voters in their district, and have made a significant donation of time or money as determined by the district committee."

The Moderate Party got enough votes to achieve established party status in the 8th congressional district, which means candidates for partisan office within the 8th district do no have to get as high a number of signatures to get on the ballot and, in fact, they don't even have to get petition signatures, if they don't want to. The party's officials can just put them on the ballot the way the power parties now can.

(I would suggest avoiding the petition process does eliminate a chance to make contact with voters, however, which new candidates really need to have a chance to win.)

A quick self-introduction from Crystal Lake City Council Candidate Carolyn Schofield:

I recently came upon your McHenry County Blog dated Dec. 18, 2006, which noted you were unable to find my phone number. I also spoke with Tom Hayden who mentioned you were looking for my number as well. I wanted to write to introduce myself and briefly mention why I decided to run for Crystal Lake City Council.

As a resident of Crystal Lake for more than 10 years, a member of the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission for 8 years, and an active volunteer in District 47, I am very excited to increase my level of commitment to the community.

I graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in General Engineering. I then worked as a consultant for 10 years in the areas of fire protection and liability before deciding to stay home with my 3 children.

My main reason for running for City Council is that I care greatly about Crystal Lake and its residents. The next several years have the potential for great change to our area with the development of Vulcan Lakes and the redevelopment of Downtown and the Virginia Street Corridor.

With my technical background, problem solving is one of my strengths. I will bring a consistent approach to issues by reviewing all the facts, listening to the public's thoughts and concerns, and making a logical decision based on what is best for Crystal Lake today and in the future.

Persistent Huntley School District 158 School District critic Aileen Seedorf was given credit for her idea for a confidential tip line “to report potentially dangerous situations in its schools,” Daily Herald reporter Jessica Hagendorn reported Friday.

Seedorf, thinking of running for the school board, had been promised that the adoption of her idea would receive recognition in the current school district newsletter.

But that was not to be.

The author of the idea was left out of the article.

The phone number is (847) 659-INFO (4636).

OK.

Not a bad place to hide from the Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

You’re at the top of the stairs on the floor underneath the quilt collection.

But, I must warn you, Catkins.

Don’t face the stairs.

Don’t look at any Republican Cat Tax Collectors who come knocking and climb the stairs. Hide your eyes.

Those Republican Cat Tax Collectors might sense that you are staring at them and grab you right th