McHenry County Blog

This is a sign about to disappear forever.

It must be in a remote neighborhood that whoever is helping Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller couldn’t find.

My guess is the garbage man is more systematic in his collection efforts.

Labels: Crystal Lake City Council, Ellen Brady Mueller, Message of the Day, Political Sign

I was alerted to this story when I heard Congressman Don Manzullo's press man Rich Carter on WBEZ-FM when I was picking my son up at school.

I asked Carter if he had a press release on it. He does and here it is:

Manzullo, Inslee Introduce Legislation to Protect Music, Radio Access on the Internet
[WASHINGTON] U.S. Reps. Don Manzullo (R-IL) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) today introduced bipartisan legislation to protect Internet music Web casters from unfair government regulations that threaten to put them out of business and end the access to music over the Internet for more than 70 million Americans.

The Internet Radio Equality Act would reverse a recent decision of the federal Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to at least triple the amount of royalties Internet radio broadcasters pay to copyright holders for playing a song.

In March, the CRB drastically increased royalty rates for webcasters - starting retroactively at $0.0008 per song in 2006 and climbing to $0.0019 per song in 2010. Though it costs only fractions of a penny per song, the change amounts to a 300 percent cost increase for the largest webcasters and up to a 1200 percent increase for smaller operations. These increases would bankrupt many Internet music Web casters and force U.S. radio stations to stop streaming their programs on the Internet.

"The Internet has provided us with amazing opportunities to enjoy music, and this unfair action by the Copyright Royalty Board threatens to take it all away," Manzullo said. "Our legislation overturns the huge rate increases and sets up a system that is fair to Web casters, web users and the artists whose music we all enjoy. And most importantly, it will keep music playing on the Internet."

"This Titanic rate increase is simply untenable for many Internet radio broadcasters," said Inslee, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. "You can't put an economic chokehold on this emerging force of democracy," he added. "There has to be a business model that allows creative webcasters to thrive and the existing rule removes all the oxygen from this space."

The legislation would provide royalty parity for Internet radio providers.

It would vacate the CRB's March 2 decision and apply the same royalty rate-setting standard to commercial Internet radio, as well as satellite radio, cable radio and jukeboxes. A transition rate of 7.5 percent of revenue would be set through 2010.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 70 million Americans listen to online radio each month.

Labels: Don Manzullo, Internet Radio

Entitling it’s “Wait-a-Minute” editorial,

Missing the big picture,

the Northwest Herald says,

McHenry County officials need to quickly back away from a proposal that would put tight restrictions on photography at County Board meetings.

The Herald cites the Open Meetings Act’s clear language protecting photographing public meetings.

And, you know what, it doesn’t say anything about putting camera folks in the back corners of the room.

The NW Herald even lays down the not-so-subtle threat of a lawsuit and offers some ridicule:

… to completely ban flash photography and restrict photographers to one location is overly restrictive, violates the basic tenet of open government gives an illusion of self-importance (emphasis added).

And the NW Herald even refers to McHenry County Blog’s interpret photographer, although not by name:

The proposed ban stems from one person’s picture-taking at public meetings. Government does not infringe on established rights because one person may be annoying to certain board members.

And, heaven forbid, the editorial writer thinks I am being

punished because certain board members have a vendetta.

Whatever can that mean?

No one could be holding a grudge about the failure of the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax, could they?

Want to see how bad the lighting is in the McHenry County Board room?

I took this shot at the day the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax was scratched. I'm pretty sure I used a flash, which comes up automatically on my Canon Rebel whenever the light level is too low. This was taken before all the members had sat down for the meeting. (As usual, you can click on the picture to make it larger.)

Did you know that people who win Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act suits now can get legal fees for their attorneys?

And, guess who pays them?

Unfortunately, it is not the individual public officials who violate the law.

As usually, when public officials make mistakes, we all pay through our taxes.

In any event, thanks, Northwest Herald.

I know you are protecting your own self-interest, but, in doing so, you’re obviously protecting mine as well.

The editorial did not name the members of the Management Services Committee, at least online, so I shall. They all voted for the rules being trashed by the NW Herald:

Management Services Committee
Chairman: Tina Hill
Vice Chair: Pete Merkel

Members:

Yvonne M. Barnes,
Marie Chmiel,
Mary L. Donner,
Barbara Wheeler,
Mary Lou Zierer

I guess I should give the NW Herald editorial writer's reaction to Pete Merkel's comment about people needing to buy a better camera, if theirs would not work in the back corner:

"elitist and unwarranted."

That comment inspired a friend of the blog to create this fake Skinner.com ad for a camera big enough to work.

= = = = =
Wanted Poster credit to Al Showalter, author of the Crystal Lake blog "Heck of a Guy." If you have not read his piece about my travail with the Prairie Grove School Board and Police, you should.

Labels: Barb Wheeler, Flash Photography, Management Services Committee, Marie Chmiel, Mary Donner, Mary Lou Zierer, McHenry County Board, Northwest Herad, Open Meetings Act, Pete Merkel, Tina Hill

Maybe I’m missing something.

Maybe 18-year old Cary-Grove High School student Allen Lee is so important that his actions deserve to be foisted by the Chicago Tribune on the brains of readers all over the metropolitan area.

Again and again and again.

Allen Lee’s essay has been featured on the front page of the Chicago Tribune THREE days this past week.

Does that strike anyone but me as overkill?

Or is the Tribune’s attempt to attract a younger readership?

Not to be outdone, two Chicago Sun-Times columnists weighed in with ridicule Sunday.

Mark Brown might have discerned the motivation:

He’s got a 4.2 GPA and probably doesn’t think he’s going to get much benefit from these last few weeks of school. So, he got an assignment he didn’t lie, and he acted out.

Can you remember how irrelevant the last few weeks of high school were?

And were you going into the Marines or onto college?

Brown also hits on the racism angle (as does Neil Steinberg) that I touched on yesterday in "Walking Over Allen Lee":

Unless somebody is holding back some important fact, this young man is getting a raw deal. He doesn’t belong in the criminal justice system. And the main reason he was treated this way is that people are on edge because another young Asian-American student killed 32 people two weeks earlier in Virginia. (emphasis added)

Brown is not kind to McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi:

Maybe you are from the better safe than sorry school of thought.

If so, you have a champion in McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi, who told me Friday,

“If all of us hadn’t acted, we would be subject to criticism for not acting. We’ll never know if we saved lives in this situation.”

Oh, that’s cute. Well, then, Lou, maybe you should try to figure it out, because if lieves were truly in danger, then you haven’t really saved anybody yet with your disorderly conduct charge, which only served to muddy up the reputation of an 18-year old who was back out on the street a few hours later.

Neil Steinberg lists six reasons for Allen Lee’s arrest:

1. Lee’s essay contained disturbing, violent images.
2. There was a massacre at Virginia Tech two weeks ago.
3. Lee is Asian, like the Virginia Tech gunman.
4. Lee’s teacher is inexperienced.
5. Her superiors suffer from the advanced form of stupidity particular to school district administrators.
6. Bumbling “where’s-the-bullet-Andy?” police work by the suburban cops.

Nothing more need be said. Lee, the supposed culprit, is actually the only one who has a valid excuse, bring 18 and green in judgment. The charges against him of course will be dropped, as soon as anyone with a brain gets involved.

Labels: Allen Lee, Cary-Grove High School, Crystal Lake High School District 155, Lou Bianchi, Mark Brown, McHenry County State's Attorney, Neil Steinberg, Racism

Sunday I showed various stages of setting up the First United Methodist Church’s spring Rummage Sale.

Today, let’s take a look at the sale in progress.

I went to the wrong door and missed a picture of the line before the 9 AM door opening of the United Methodist Women's sale.

Look how crowded the main room above is.

Shoppers everywhere.

And the community room was packed, too.

Shoppers were crowded around the round tables looking for just the right knickknack or kitchen item.

They paid on the way out.

And, as throughout the church the prices set by the United Methodist Women were quite tempting.

The Linen Room was not as crowded, but there were serious shoppers.

Outside mothers and dads looked for that plastic yard toy that would be just right for their little tykes.

There was a jungle gym, slides, sand boxes, picnic tables, you name it.

I even saw an aircraft carrier that my son would have gone straight for about five years ago.

In fact, we bought a smaller one at a yard sale on the way home from kindergarten one day.

The book room was crowded early.

This must have been a bonanza of week for book lovers, with both the Congregational and the Methodist Churches having rummage sales.

I had stacked the few classics in one corner of the adult fiction table.

I was pretty amazed that all of them were sold.

And kids were playing with the toys in the toy room.

It was like one big playpen.

Ladies took payment for both the book room and the toy room out in the hall near the church's front door.

As I was leaving a little girl came out of the toy room carrying a stuffed pony almost as big as she was.

I didn’t get the perfect shot, but, if you look closely, you can see her new pony’s legs as she and her mother and baby sister or brother head downstairs.

She was delighted and Mom didn't spend an arm and a let like she would have at a department or toy store.

Wesley Hall was where most of the clothing was.

Serious shopping was occurring.

This year, copying Jewel, there was an express line for those purchasing just a few items.

= = = = =
All pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Top right is a photograph right after the Rummage Sale opened its doors at 9 AM on Friday morning. This is the main room, Wesley Hall, where most of the clothing had been arranged, folded or hung on racks.

Next, down a bit and to the left, are the shoppers who headed to the Community Room, where all sorts of goodies could be found. There even was a Christmas section.

You can see people checking out of the Community Room in the next picture, to the right.

Next is a picture of some of the stuff outside. A lot was plastic in various shapes meant for young children.

Down a bit to the left is the book room shortly after the Rummage Sale opened. I saw John Husmann, the principal for whom the elementary school across from the Crystal Lake Public Library is named. Husmann never wanted to be anything but a principal. When he retired, District 47 appropriately named the school after him.

He was on my Public Affairs Scholarship Advisory Committee when I served in the General Assembly in the 1970's and loved every minute of it. I don't think you can see him in the group shot, but you can here at the bottom looking at an anthology of short stories.

Below the book room shot is the place to pay for books and toys. These ladies were busy.

The little girl with her stuffed pony appears next.

Below that is the main checkout point for all the clothes displayed in Wesley Hall.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Labels: First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, John Husmann, Rummage Sale, UMW, United Methodist Women

See if any of the local daily newspapers have the story McHenry County Blog ran Sunday on Spring Grove Village President Tom Sanders’ resignation.

Labels: Spring Grove, Tom Sanders

Today’s message of the day is a truck license plate with the message

SAVIOR

Labels: License Plate, Message of the Day, Savior

Spring Grove Village President Tom Sanders has submitted his letter of resignation and is expected to be named police chief at Tuesday night's village board meeting.

Trustee Mark Eisenberg, a veteran trustee, seems to be the only one seeking to replace Sanders.

Police Chief Donald Regnier has been wanting to retire. Sanders, using his experience as a long time McHenry County deputy sheriff, recently has been assisting, but without official authority.

“I received President Sanders’ resignation letter yesterday,” long-time Village Clerk Sandi Rusher told McHenry County Blog on Saturday afternoon. She did not reveal any details.

Sanders ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for McHenry County Sheriff in 2000 (opps, 1998) against the man who is now sheriff, Keith Nygren.

Subsequently Sanders, a village trustee, ran concurrently for Burton Township Road Commissioner and Spring Grove Village President, gaining election to the latter.

An agenda has been posted on the village web site showing the following offices are up for appointment or, presumably, re-appointment:

• village president,
• village trustee,
• village engineer,
• police chief, and
• village attorney,

among lots of other business.

Eisenberg is supposed to have someone in mind to replace him who was not on the ballot this past spring.

In the race for three trustees, the unofficial results were

• Ron Kopke - 449
• Del Houghton - 434
• Jim Anhalt - 417
• Michael Lee - 416

= = = = =
The photograph is from Spring Grove's web site.

Labels: Del Houghton, Jim Anhalt, Keith Nygren, Michael Lee, Ron Kopke, Sandi Rusher, Spring Grove, Tom Sanders

The Allen Lee “Write whatever comes to your mind. Do not judge or censor what you are writing” Cary-Grove High School essay arrest story continues to walk over Allen Lee.

Yesterday, I pointed out the story had achieved metropolitan-wide legs.

Meaning it would not die quickly.

Those legs were made for walking, as Nancy Sinatra used to sing and that is most assuredly what they are doing.

Those media legs are walking all over Allen Lee.

It wasn’t bad enough that Lee ended up on the front page of his hometown paper, but, Thursday, the young man was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune and Friday, not to be outdone, graced the cover of the Chicago Sun-Times.

The lesson is probably that a high school boy should not scare one's teacher. Allen Lee obviously did scare Nora Capron by referring to her as a "control freak" in conjunction with what the Saturday Tribune quoted of his essay at the beginning of its editorial (see below).

Undoubtedly trying to please its new owner, the Tribune runs what I guess could be considered a rebuttal story all the way across its front page right under its masthead on Saturday.

Complete with photograph of Allen Lee.

It’s lead editorial is also about Allen Lee.

It quotes the end of the essay,

"As a teacher, don’t be surprised on inspiring the fist cg shooter."

A few weeks ago, before…Virginia Tech…those ominous passages might have been dismissed as teenage fantasy…officials…turned the paper over to Cary police, who arrested the 18-year-old senior the next morning as he walked to school…

Was the arrest a gross overreaction or a prudent preventive action?

The Tribune editorial writer points out,

It requires a delicate balancing of the values of freedom and safety, “How far is too far?” is a question that has to be asked about the behavior of students—and about the responses of educational and law enforcement professionals to that behavior.

It concludes,

Maybe he should have gotten off with a stern lecture and some time in detention. But after Blacksburg, he and other kids may find that the boundaries of acceptable behavior have changed for good.

Saturday, the Sun-Times drops the story from the front page, story on page 3, to page 5.

But, it’s a full-page story Saturday, more space than was give Allen Lee on Friday.

But that wasn’t bad enough for Allen Lee’s reputation.

An Associated Press story I linked to yesterday reports that this 4.2 average high school senior isn’t good enough for the Marines. The AP accommodatingly enough ran a full color photo that I notice ended up on the front page of Elgin’s Courier-News.

The photo and a cut line is to the right of an article on the Pentagon’s revealing that a senior al-Qaida operative had been shipped to Quantanamo after having been held by the CIA in secret for months.

This Allen Lee story must really be important. (The al-Qaida story is on page 12 of the Sun-Times and page 22 of the Chicago Tribune.)

Not only did potential trouble maker Allen Lee get more publicity that the capture of an actual terrorist, but he’s gotten more press that Barack Obama did when he supported the continuation of what pro-lifers call partial birth abortion. Of course, that Obama statement was not considered newsworthy, maybe because he had voted that way in Springfield.

Oh, yes.

Did I mention that Allen Lee is oriental, just as the Virginia Tech killer (whose name I refuse to mention) was?

This story will be on CNN and Fox News…worldwide.

As a write this at noon on Saturday, there are 149 news media stories about Allen Lee and one of them was on CNN.

= = = = =

I see this comment about halfway down in the Northwest Herald from a classmate who is taking the same creative writing course:

But, from the first day of class she has told us on every assignment that if she sees anything that is a danger to the students or the faculty of our school that she HAS to report it. I heard it and the other students heard it- including Allen.

Labels: Allen Lee, Cary-Grove High School, Crystal Lake High School District 155

For those of you into bizarre school stuff with time to read a long article on a slow Sunday, you might want to read how the Belvidere School Board managed to select the most expensive alternative after narrowly losing a tax rate hike.

I wonder how all the people who have moved from McHenry County to Boone County for lower housing costs and property taxes are reacting.

And, by the way, Don Schlomann, the school superintendent who came up with the plan, is off to St. Charles.

And also in the "Did you know? file is
///Ken Swanson, president of the Illinois Education Association, is a former teacher in Belvidere.

Labels: Belvidere School District, Boone County, Don Schlomann, IEA, Ken Swanson, St. Charles School District

This should be a three-part series, but I forgot to take pictures of the takedown of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake’s Rummage Sale.

The Methodist Men set up the bare bones.

They set up the tables, brought the racks down from the attic, put them together and put down the plastic to protect the car.

But even after their work, the place looked quite empty.

Then, people started bringing stuff in.

Troop 158 Boy Scouts were helping people unload their cars and vans.

It was not until the church ladies, under the direction of Diane Williams, finished their work that the six rooms dedicated to the Rummage Sale look worth visiting.

Most of the re-cycled clothing is put in Wesley Hall next to the kitchen.

The crème-d-la-crème is taken to the Boutique.

Also separated out in a separate room this year were the linens.

They used to be stacked in a corner of Wesley Hall.

I got assigned to adult books.

They were in the toy room like always with the children’s books.

The place looked like one giant playroom, as was proven correct the next day.

There seemed to be more toys this year than in previous years and one of the tables usually used to display books was filled with stuffed toys.

About lunch time I had managed to figure out how to put a sturdy folding table up and had finished up the book sorting when Diane Williams asked if it would be possible to move the books next door.


As the Suessical song goes, “Anything’s possible.”

But, first it was off to lunch.

Wow.

Talk about appreciating volunteers.


Candles were burning.

What a meal!

I loved the bean soup with ham.

There was even a desert table!

The tables were decorated with colorful decorations, including Hershey candy wrapped in white with different color cut out flowers on top.

I took some home to put on my wife's and son's pillows.

After that, with the help of some ladies, into the adjoining room the books went.

The toys fit their room quite well, but the book room looked a bit empty.

But there was a whole table of romance novels.

Not many were left when the sale ended Saturday at noon.

And, across the room there was about a half a table of blood and guts, legal novels, spy stuff--you know, the stuff that supposed to appeal more to guys than gals.

By the end of the day, it was show time for church members.

What happened after the shoppers came in will appear in a subsequent article.

= = = = =
The three photos on the top left are of the main room, Wesley Hall, in various stages of readiness for Rummage Sale shoppers.

On the right a Boy Scout helps unload items being brought to the sale.

The new Linen Room is beneath the hall shot.

Volunteers eat lunch in the picture below. There is a close-up of the attractive table decorations.

The Boutique, almost ready for opening hour is next on the left.

On the bottom right, you can see the table full of romance novels.

Finally, on the bottom left is a shot of the items displayed outside.

All of the pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Labels: First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Rummage Sale, United Methodist Women

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the successful television show “Gray’s Anatomy.”

Among the really good deals at Saturday 9-noon rummage sale being held at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, was this book.

I asked the head of the United Methodist Women project how much it would cost.

“Is it paper or hardback?” Diane Williams asked.

“Paper,” I replied.

“25 cents.”

“It’s a big book,” I stressed.

But 25 cents it was.

I just looked at prices on Amazon. The $3.49 shipping cost is more than the price of the cheapest copies of the paperback edition.

Labels: First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Gray's Anatomy, Rummage Sale, United Methodist Women

If people can run for president two years ahead of time, why not for Illinois governor three years before the election?

Look at this tid-bit in Sneed’s Friday Sun-Time column, obviously placed by a source friendly to Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross.

You can regale others with his liberal voting record in the comment section.

My soul is so aflutter I can’t.

Labels: Governor, Michael Sneed, Tom Cross

The McHenry County Conservation District board continued its practice of buying property about as far away from the population center as possible.

This time, using state grant money, according to a Northwest Herald article by Jenn Wiant, the Conservation District bought “119-acres near Boone Creek Marengo” and a “49-acre parcel about 2 miles south of the state line” in Alden Township.

The Boone Creek purchase is north of Route 20 and east of County Line Road. Presumably the county line is with Boone County.

Most reading McHenry County Blog, I imagine, know that our family lives in the Crystal Lake area.

From the $68.5 million 2001 bond issue, $90,000 was spent within the boundaries of Crystal Lake Grade School District 47, my proxy of the greater Crystal Lake area (which, I freely admit, does not include the Prairie Grove School District, where significant purchases have been made).

Here’s the land purchased with that $68.5 million.

That $90,000 represents 2/10ths of one percent of the tax money collected in District 47 by the Conservation District.

Do you think the District 47 area will get more out of the $73 million bond issue that just passed?

The story concludes, citing district spokeswoman Wendy Kummerer:
///At this point, the conservation district trustees have no plans to add recreational amenities…

Labels: $68.5 million bond issue, $73 million, $73 million bond issue, MCCD, McHenry County Conservation District

Was it the 1970’s when Crystal Lake High School District 155 got into a fight over the length of student hair?

I smell a similar fight coming—with similar attendant metropolitan-wide publicity—over the criminality of Honor Roll Cary-Grove High School student Allen Lee’s essay.

One would expect the Northwest Herald to have the story (by Nick Swedberg) about Allen Lee’s “write whatever you want” essay and subsequent arrest on its front page, but, then Thursday it showed up on the front page of the Chicago Tribune in a story by Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks. It was on top in the left hand column with the headline:

sub headlined,

Not to be outdone, Friday’s Chicago Sun-Times headline asked,

Should this high school
senior be arrested for his
School work?
PART OF THE ESSAY 18-YEAR-OLD ALLEN LEE TURNED IN:
“as a teacher, don’t be surprised on inspiring the first CG shooting…blood, sex, booze. Drugs, drugs, drugs are fun. Stab, stab, staf, stab, stab, s..t..a..b…puke. So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P 90s and started shooting everyone, then had sex with dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did.”

The Sun-Times story on page three by Dan Rozek, Rosalind Rossi and Aaron M. Pallasch had this headline:

Essay arrest baffles experts
CARY | Say student's creative writing violent, but suggest counseling, not arrest

The Northwest Herald posted most of the essay here. The comments below it don’t show an overwhelming amount of support for the arrest. The Chicago Tribune’s version is here. And, Tribune columnist Eric Zorn is running a poll in his blog article on the matter. The results you see were what I copied about 10:40 Friday night--almost 85% say Allen Lee should not have been arrested.

Neither Chicago paper thought a Crystal Lake Central High School’s message written on a boy’s bathroom about another Columbine and Virginia Tech to occur on Friday was worth a front page article, but Allen Lee’s essay rang bells all around.

I think the question will revolve around whether Allen Lee shouted, “Fire!” in a movie theater, to quote a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the limitations of the Freedom of Speech.

My guess is that it will be found that he did not.

Just as the boy with the long haircut won his case against District 155 several decades ago.

But, it was enough for the U.S. Marines to say, “No thank you.”

An early lesson that actions have consequences.

And, unfortunately, probably a defining moment in Allen Lee's life.

Labels: Allen Lee, Cary-Grove High School, Crystal Lake High School District 155, U.S. Marines

It’s rummage spring rummage sale time at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

People will be lining up at 9 AM today for the United Methodist Women's extravaganza. (Go to the side door, not the front door.)

And Saturday, things go on sale.

But only until the sale ends at noon.

Think a bag of clothing for $2, a bag of books for peanuts, too. (Might be a good idea to bring your own bag, though.)

The ladies have sorted all the clothing, pulled out the better donations and put them in a “Boutique” and even have a “Linen Room” this year.

You can get a good-looking purse for $1.

The toy room has so, so many stuffed toys.

And this is apparently the year that DVD's are driving out the bulkier videos. Lots of good ones on display.

There were so many that we had to move the books next door.

I spent the day sorting books. There’s a whole table of romance novels going for a quarter apiece. One contributor even rubber banded novels in various series.

And, the hardbacks are 50 cents each lined up against the wall in the new “Book Room” so you can see them easily.

Outside lots of little kids' stuff is on display.

As usual, there is furniture and I even saw a foosball game.

The church is at the corner of Crystal Lake and Dole Avenues.

And what are the proceeds spent on.

The sign in Wesley Hall says,

Turning Point,

PEACE4ALL,

the CL Food Pantry,

the Advent Dinner by Candle Light,

the church choir,

United Methodist Men (who help with the set-up and take down), and

More

Of course, any of the images may be enlarged by clicking on them.

Labels: First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Rummage Sale, United Methodist Women

Thanks to Family PAC's Paul Caprio for alerting me to the vote taken on the rollback attempt on parental notice prior to a girl's getting an abortion.

As I wrote earlier, I think the existing language is weak. In fact, I voted against it when it passed, outlining ten ways to avoid telling your parents before getting an abortion, if that House Bill 955 passed.

But this vote was a test between current pro- and anti-abortion forces in Illinois and pro-abortion Personal PAC and its allies lost.

State representatives having constituents in McHenry County split 3-2.

Republican Mark Beaubien of Barrington Hills and Democrat Jack Franks of Bull Valley voted in favor of the weaker notification standards. Republican Mike Tryon stood in support of current law by voting, "No."

Caprio said that Family-Pac had initiated 33,000 grassroots calls to parents in eleven districts where House members were undecided prior to the vote.

And McHenry County Right To Life leader Irene Napier was certainly involved in stimulating calls in several districts.

“I understand that the pro-abortion lobby is threatening to launch a $250,000 campaign against members who voted with parents against HB317" Caprio continued. "

"Such a campaign of intimidation and misinformation against members will be met by Family-Pac with a massive grassroots response by parents:

Bring it on.”

The bill was sponsored by Chicago Democrat John Fritchey.

You can enlarge the roll call by clicking on it.

Labels: Abortion, Jack Franks, Mark Beaubien, McHenry County, Mike Tryon, Parental Notice

When I read the headline, I couldn’t believe it.

Officials seek to make Bolz a toll bridge

Is this for real?

The Elgin Courier News article by Rebecca O’Halloran says that
West Dundee and Algonquin have drafted a joint resolution requesting that Kane County consider building a toll bridge extending the Bolz Road corridor.

Excuse me.

A toll road?

What would otherwise sane officials actually request a toll bridge?

Of course, they are not alone. Officials down the Fox have similar thoughts.

In other parts of Illinois local officials just hound their governor and legislators until they get needed roads and bridges and, in many instances, roads and bridges that cannot be justified by actual or projected traffic counts.

And, they get them.

(Of course, these local officials don’t have the top Republicans on the senate and house appropriations committees that handle road projects anymore.)

But, there is obviously a highway deal going down this year.

The asphalt roads built with Governor George Ryan’s Illinois FIRST money are turning into potholes.

No matter that my 9-year old son will be 29 years old before the bonds are paid off.

Some tax is going to be increased to pay for road repair and local legislators could bargain for a non-toll Bolz Road bridge across the Fox River.

When, they do, they should remember that Governor Rod Blagojevich has adamantly refused to consider a toll bridge over the Mississippi in the St. Louis area where non-residents would pay a big part of the freight.

If it’s not good enough for Missouri motorists, it’s not good enough for Kane County drivers.

And, hasn’t anyone figured out that a toll bridge will continue to push those who otherwise would use Bolz Road to use Route 62?

Time for a course in elemental economics, if Algonquin village officials don’t know that.

Labels: Algonquin, Bloz Road, East-West Tollway, Illinios FIRST, toll bridge, West Dundee

McHenry County Blog has some very imaginative readers.

More are beginning to make creative contributions.

This fake ad came yesterday and it was a good thing I was not in a school hallway in Prairie Grove, because I was laughing so hard. Note the small print: "flash not included."

It was inspired by the proposed, new "you can take pictures in our dark county board meeting room, but only from the back corners" rule.

First the wanted poster cracked me up, now this creation.

Labels: Camera, First Amendment, Friends of McHenry County College, McHenry County Board, Open Meetings Act

A note arrived mid-week with thoughts about Wonder Lake, which the writer seems to be comparing in some way to Kentucky. Even though my in-laws live in Wonder Lake, these are some thoughts that never crossed the table. The title I've used is the author's:

Cal, I’ve been thinking about your recent discovery that the people behind Thatcher Meadows apparently put up all $12,000 for the Village Board campaign fronted by Citizens For A Better Wonder Lake, (CFABWL).

The McHenry County Blog story notes that the CFABWL committee were not obliged to feature the name of Thatcher Meadows (or the associated Teegen family) in the committee name because the contributions had been equally given by 4 separate entities, avoiding the 33% rule. No matter that two of these entities were owned by the same person (Howard R Teegen).

Voters had a right to know that the two (losing) candidates were apparently entirely sponsored by the management company (NRB) seeking to build that huge development (Thatcher Meadows) south east of Wonder Lake.

There has been much national debate about campaign finance reform. Some assert that limiting contributions is unconstitutional and makes elected office less accessible to those without great personal wealth. However, the issue almost all agree on is that truthful disclosure is always good for democracy.

This lack of disclosure in the CFABWL campaign has undermined the credibility of the candidates and their committee members- what were they thinking? So much for this writer’s earlier assessment of William Arnos as a credible candidate. Not that he can’t recover.

But people need will need real information and explanation.

Everyone makes mistakes. A great way to gain respect is to admit to mistakes.

Silence doesn’t make mistakes go away. It makes people think there are more under the surface. We don’t know if everyone knew where the money came from, but wouldn’t they think to ask? What were they told?

Ed Peters, a reelected incumbent candidate, must be relieved that he had so publicly and clearly distanced himself from the campaign. A Northwest Herald news piece on April 13 tells how a letter was sent to Wonder Lake residents by CFABWL, claiming to come "from the desk of Ed Peters”.

Ed Peters had neither written nor authorized the letter. CFABWL said this misleading letter was the result of “a little mix up”. But, as far as this writer can tell, they did not spend any time or money advising voters of the mix up.

CFABWL were trying to unseat Mike Heger and Larry Reinhard, two incumbents who had pushed for modifications to the proposed Thatcher Meadows development, but who were not trying to block the development completely. This begs the question: what
were NRB hoping that their two guys, Stygar and Arnos, would wave through?

It seem like someone’s judgment needs to take a well-earned vacation.

Had their eye become so firmly fixed on the prize that they had lost track of their other senses and become ethically tone deaf? Voters deserve to know the truth. They can make up their own minds. Did CFABWL fear that the folk of Wonder Lake would not be able to appreciate their supreme objectivity?

That’s no excuse.

Most people know Wonder Lake suffers the unfortunate nickname of Wondertucky. The pro-growth boosters and most residents would love to leave that name behind.

They hope to do this by improving the Village’s rickety infrastructure and getting 24-hour local police service. Sounds like a great idea. Cleaning up the lake sounds good too. It would be nice if my grandkids could swim in it without wearing HazMat suits.

But Citizens For A Better Wonder Lake don’t seem to realize that their campaign, covertly financed by the one developer, is the electoral equivalent of having 6 dead cars parked on your lawn.

Electoral funny business is just so WONDERTUCKY.

People don’t want to move to a place run without regard for open process. Word gets around. And just because a campaign cost thousands doesn’t mean it’s credible. It speaks to the same misapprehension that holds that raising taxes/prices is going to cause the “undesirables” to leave.

They won’t leave. They feel comfortable around funny business. We’ll just lose the people who are key parts of the social fabric--working families, single parents, and seniors surviving on social security and little else.

What a great opportunity for the Village, for Village President Tony Topf, to ask everyone involved in Village government to voluntarily step up their game and start giving out a little more good faith information. Demand fairness and accountability from all involved.

This Wonder Lake government also includes the Master Property Owners Association (MPOA) and the homeowners’ associations that comprise the “ shadow government” of Wonder Lake and on which many of the CFABWL serve.

I know, I know, you’re rolling your eyes like you’re listening to Miss Kansas 1983 wishing for world peace. This is Illinois where anything goes. But, hear this. Had this happened in the city of Chicago, recent changes to that city’s law would have rendered such contributions illegal.

Times are changing. That’s real progress you can hear.

Anyone hoping to clean up 100% would be disappointed.

All towns and governments are going to be indirectly subject to someone’s’ backroom country club deals, but there are some things within a small town’s control.

It seems the developers at Thatcher Meadows came very close to buying two seats on our Village Board.

Now it’s time for Tony Topf to tell the crew to get the ‘Tucky out and for everyone to start acting like progress is already here.

Open House: The MPOA is holding an open house on May 5 and May 19.

It will be held at their new and bigger premises, the former Wright’s hardware store on the south east side of Wonder Lake. Residents can visit to find “accurate and current information about dredging Wonder Lake.”

It is to be expected that the Thatcher Meadows people may have offered some support. One wonders if there is just the one plan or if alternatives will be offered.

Finally, here’s a link of interest.

It leads to the minutes for a Village of Island Lake board meeting at which NRB’s Andrew Teegen made a presentation for a proposed new development in Island Lake. The discussion and exchanges have some interesting detail.

Labels: Citizens for a Better Wonder Lake, Ed Peters, Howard Teegen, Island Lake, Larry Reinhard, Mike Heger, Thacher Meadows, Tony Topf, William Arnos, Wonder Lake

Not only are leaves hanging on waiting for a new bud to push them off a branch, but neighbors are cleaning up leaves that fell since last fall in our oak-hickory forest.

This neighbor goes high tech.

I use a rake.

Labels: Leaf Raking, Leaves, Message of the Day

And the discounted price is now $15 a dozen.

Call Crystal Lake Kiwanis member Mike Splitt at 815-4581773, ext. 11, or 815-482-7906.

Not many available, so call soon, if you want to make your loved one smile.

All are red with what looks like white baby’s breath to provide a lovely contrast.

Labels: Crystal Lake Kiwanis, Roses

Don't miss last night's article about the long-in-the-works, privately financed minor league baseball stadium in Harvard, which would most likely die if McHenry County College approves its tax-subsidized baseball stadium at the MCC Board meeting tonight at 7.

Labels: Baseball Stadium, Frontier Baseball League, Harvard, MCC, McHenry County College, Minor League Baseball

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog laid out what is in the minutes of the Cary Village Board for February 7, 2006.

That seems to be the day village board members agreed to trade $250,000 a year for ten years (or more) of noise and dust for some of their Fox Trails constituents.

Today, let’s look that some more information mentioned in the January 16, 2007, minutes.

As the Cary Area Citizens for Responsible Government point out,

…the Village Administrator provided an update on the three "revenue initiatives" - "the Cimmaron Project, Meyer pit proposal and the investment policy initiative"…

The group asks if residents knew about this report and supply this reply:

Probably not, since all of these items were discussed after the executive session part of the meeting under "Any and All Other Business".

Is Meyer Material asking the Village of Cary for permission to expand the existing pit into incorporated Cary?

We don't know because all attempts at getting any information through the Freedom of Information Act, including documents that were presented to the board, has been blocked by the Village Staff and the Village Attorney.

Why can't the residents of Cary get information on what is happening in their own backyards?

Oh, according to the letter to neighboring property owners in Fox Trails, the Chally property will be reforested, and there will be a lake and walking trails on over 80 acres, plus 15 acres of future commercial development along Route 31.

Oh, yes.

There will be dust blowing from the west until the mining is completed.

There will be probably noise to awaken you and maybe to put you and your children to bed.

But, there’s nothing about those possibilities in the risk manager’s letter.

The neighborhood will have to pry that out at village board meetings where the deal has pretty much already been decided upon.

= = = = =
Thanks to Cary Area Citizens for Responsible Government for the zoning map and pointing McHenry County Blog to the minutes. Google deserves credit for the satellite map of the current pits and proposed one on the north.

Labels: Cary, Cary Area Citizens for Responsible Government, Challey Property, Fox Trails, Meyer Material

Reporters with a tape recorder or pen and paper can sit in the front of the McHenry County Board room and ply their craft, but those with a camera are about to be banished to the back two corners of the room.

Upon passage of the rules, I believe that no one without a really professional camera lens will be able to get a decent picture of a county board meeting, but I could be wrong.

The flashes and shutter sounds bother board members, Kevin Craver reported in his Northwest Herald story.

I haven’t written much lately about this little dispute with the McHenry County Board.

Maybe it's because I’ve only been to one county board meeting since starting to write McHenry County Blog. County government really hasn't been at the top of my list of governments to follow.

Maybe it should be higher on my priority list.

In any event, perhaps a few words are in order.

The original objector was County Board Chairman Ken Koehler. There were others whom he did not name, but who didn’t want their photographs taken while they were in session.

Maybe they remember this picture of Glen Stewart about to shake hands with Huntley School Board President Mike Skala right after his fellow PAC members gave him a $101,000 job without releasing the names or qualifications of any other applicants.

But, that photo was taken after the meeting adjourned.

I wanted to take pictures of the county board’s consideration of the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax.

Fortunately, consideration of the Republican Cat Tax was postponed that day, so I didn’t miss anything.

I actually wrote a note last year after that asked Koehler for permission. Here is the reply I received.

When the county board was sworn in, I got there too late for the ceremony, but just in time for the official photos by Don Peasley.

So, I took pictures.

I got a decent shot of most of the members, but not all of them.

When the time came for the county board meeting when the Republican Cat Tax was to be voted upon, I decided to attend. I spoke and took some photos of the members in their seats. The vote failed by a 12-10 roll call.

During the meeting, Koehler told me to stop taking photographs, so I did.

After the meeting we had a too heated discussion. He said he had an eye problem.

Far be it from me to try to cause pain to someone with an eye problem.

Afterwards we exchanged conciliatory emails.

At State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi’s re-election announcement party, Ken and I had a cordial discussion in which he explained his eye condition, one I know a bit about because my father had a similar condition that left him almost blind in one eye.

I told him Ken I had enough pictures of him, but one member in particular was hidden behind the person sitting to the front and I still had not been able to get a good shot.

Believe it or not, I almost always use the best picture I have of politician facing in the appropriation direction for the story into which it is inserted. During this last election, one candidate questioned me on that and sent me a better photo when I told him I was using the best picture I could get in the dark room in which I took the picture.

So, the question is whether the proposed rules are reasonable.

They don’t seem so to me.

And, by the way, if you have a picture taking cell phone, be sure to go to the back of the room before you get that candid shot that you might send to McHenry County Blog,

Hey, it’s not so bad. They not saying you have to wear a dunce cap.

And on the house cat front?

Keely can rest easy and get back to house cat things like looking alertly out an open window at those oh-so-tempting chipmunks scurrying through the leaves, instead of hiding from or keeping watch for the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax Collectors.

Labels: McHenry County Board., McHenry County Republican Cat Tax, Open Meetings Act

Ever heard the term “hanging by a thread?”

I suppose it has to do with a button about to fall off a piece of clothing.

But, that is what I thought of when I saw this red oak leaf on a relatively young tree near out mailbox.

Labels: Hanging by a Thread, Leaf, Red Oak

I thought there was something very wrong when I first found this clause in a $70,000 McHenry County College contract:

"At the completion of the feasibility study and independent review, if the College elects to proceed with the project, the College will contract with EquityOne or it’s (sic) assigns to develop the project on the College’s behalf."

The contract was signed September 27, 2006, by McHenry County College President Walt Packard and Mark Houser, President of Equity One.

It was for a “feasibility study for the development of baseball stadium -- indoor sports center complex on the McHenry County College campus.”

The clause, in boldface above, seems to preclude competition.

And college officials repeatedly have refused to share details.

MCC hasn't even released the report that was considered in open session on Monday night. That Board meeting was not even announced on the MCC web site until after I called the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office Tuesday.

Wednesday, I discovered that there is baseball stadium competition.

It’s led by Bill Larsen, originally from Chicago, and Chris Diserio, who grew up in Crystal Lake. His group is called “McHenry County Community Baseball and Family Entertainment.”

They want to build a privately financed baseball stadium in Harvard and have been working on it since 2003.

Larsen is a long-time minor league baseball executive with over 20 years of experience successfully operating minor league baseball teams around the country, including the Kane County Cougars. His formula consists of aggressive community-based marketing efforts leading to fan bases stretching as far as 75 miles from the stadium itself. This concept will lend itself well to the easy-access location of the complex.

Chris Diserio, the second in the group, is a 1986 graduate of Crystal Lake Central High School whose first job in baseball was in 1998. The stadium complex and the rookie league team will be owner-operated with the primary investors running the day-to-day operations of both the team and the facility.

Because of the lickty split rush to judgment by the McHenry County College Board--scheduled for 7 PM Thursday night--the investor group and the City of Harvard have gone pu