McHenry County Blog

I tried to get the backing of Barack Obama for Heck of a Guy blogster Alan Showalter's campaign to convince the McHenry County Board that Dick Tracy should be in the center of the county seal, but Obama must not be interesting in campaigning for the McHenry County's vote anymore.

So, because


supporters of the idea will have to conduct a campaign.

Yesterday, the campaign button was unveiled on McHenry County Blog.

Today, you can see the yard sign designed by Showalter. (You'll have to create you own. That's a problem, I admit, but this has been a county of individual responsibility.)

The problem with selecting something to represent McHenry County is there is no symbol that epitomizes the county.

If the Fox River is used, the fields of corn and soy beans are ignored.

Emphasizing Wonder Lake or Crystal Lake misses most of what the county is all about.

I guess the county board could use a picture of row upon row of new subdivision homes, but, somehow, I don't think that would be acceptable.

That could be a reason to ignore the farms, though...since there won't be any left in the lives of some of us.

The Woodstock Square Civil War statue is great for Woodstock, but what about the rest of the countyu.

Similarly, Harvard's plastic cow Harmilda works for Harvard, but dairy farms were going out of business at the rate of about one a week during the four years I was reading auction ads in Harvard's Shoppers Service during the late 1960's.

I think the main line of the Union Pacific running from Fox River Grove to Harvard comes closest to being a unifying symbol, but what about Marengo and Richmond-Spring Groved.

You see the almost insurmountable problem that the county board faces.

So, why not do what any number of businesses have done.

Re-brand an old enterprise with something striking.

Hard to find anything more striking than the sharp chin of Dick Tracy.

I predict its adoption would result in nationwide, if not worldwide publicity. As I have said previously, it might even shame some McHenry County deep pockets to re-open the Dick Tracy Museum.

Imaginative county board members might envision a county-sponsored web site that would see enough Dick Tracy merchandise to pay for any licensing fee. (State tourism folks spent $2,000 a year for permission to use images to promote the Dick Tracy Museum.)

One final thought about yard signs. You don't have to wait until your local municipality allows candidate signs to be posted. Since this is an issue sign, you can put it up right now, just like the pro-life supporters have. I'm remembering a U.S. Supreme Court decision out of Missouri that ruled that a woman could post her opposition to the first Iraq War after the local city fathers told her to take down the 8 1/2 by 11 inch sign she had in her front window.

Tomorrow the campaign continues.

Labels: Allan Showalter, Dick Tracy, Harmilda, Heck of a Guy, McHenry County Board, McHenry County Seal

Although this photograph of Harvard symbol, Harmilda, the cow, is almost two years old, it will have to do.

The annual Milk Day Parade is today at 1 PM.

Harmilda stands at the head of Ayer Street, which is whitewashed each year to make it the “Milky Way.”

When I was a Young Republican in the late 1960's, we were loaned a baby elephant named Tuffy. It was owned by Tuff-Coat, a Woodstock paint company and kept between two buildings in town.

The role I chose was walking behind the elephant with a snow shovel.

You can image why. We had a wagon for interim deposition.

I got the idea from something that happened at Oberlin College.

In my senior year, I was chairman of the Republican Mock Convention.

A circus came to Cleveland, which was about 30 miles away from the campus. It decided some publicity might result by bringing an elephant to Oberlin.

The elephant and media were standing out in front of the little house where the convention was headquartered.

The elephant took a dump.

Right on the sidewalk.

I rushed up to the porch, got the show shovel and cleared the way.

Labels: Harmilda, Harvard, Harvard Milk Day

The Chicago Sun-Times’ man on the advertising beat, Lewis Lazare, reported Tuesday that Oberweis Dairy is about to start another round of television ads.

This one features a cow being interviewed by former U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis.

The nameplate of the person sitting next to him behind a desk in the photo the Sun-Times reads is Joe Oberweis.

So, where did the cow come from?

As luck would have it, McHenry County Blog has tracked down a herd of Holsteins where it might have originated.

It was not Harmilda, the plastic cow in Harvard, which bills itself as the Milk Capital of the World. . (The name Harmilda comes from Harvard Milk Days, I learned on the event’s web page.)

And its picture is probably not on the painting on the side of the building behind Hermelda at the corner of Ayer Street--which becomes the “Milky Way” early each June.

When I took office as McHenry County Treasurer in 1966, Shoppers Service was sending its shopper from Harvard every week. And every week at least one dairy farmer was holding an auction because he was going out of business.

So, the odds of the cow being from McHenry County are not high, although dairy farms do still exist.

I followed this cheese truck north to Wisconsin.

Actually, I was on another errand to Williams Bay and got lost trying to follow a detour in Walworth to Lake Geneva.

But guess what I found?

Part of a herd of cows that supply Oberweis Dairy hormone-free milk.

They were resting or peacefully grazing about as far from the highway as seemed possible.

And, believe it or not, the farmer was a Republican.

Just look at the yard signs out in front of his home.

I know the farmer's candidate for governor, Mark Green, fared no better than the man who buys his cow's milk.

Paul Ryan, candidate for Congress, got 63% of the votes cast.

His candidate for state senate, Neal Kedzie, won 2-1.

The Republican candidate for the state assembly. Thomas Lothian, had a closer call, getting under 54% of the vote.

Labels: Cow, Dairy Farm, Harmilda, Harvard, Jim Oberweis, Oberweis Dairy, Political Sign, Shopper Service, Television Ad