McHenry County Blog

First, she says she will.

Then, she says she won't.

It's so hard to keep up with this story, I won't even try.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roper weighed in on the issuance of a $75 ticket by Carpentersville Village Police to Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski for calling two neighbor African-American boys climbing in a tree “monkeys.”

And, instead of relinquishing her primary election earned privilege to cast a Democratic Party National Convention vote for Barack Obama, as Obama operatives desired, the Mexican-American village official is now saying it's on to Denver to cast that vote.

Obama operative Bedn Labolt now tells the Chicago Sun-Times:

“Ms. Ramirez-Slawinski is an elected delegate, and we respect her decision to represent the campaign at the convention. It is clear that the incident was a mis- understanding.”

“Misunderstanding” is certainly not a word I heard from her neighbor Damatta Stewart Tuesday night on TV.

= = = = =
The article on the top right about Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski's agreeing to resign her Barack Obama delegate spot came from Tuesday's Chicago Sun-Times. The story on the upper left came from Wednesday's Chicago Sun-Times web site. Both can be enlarged by clicking on their images.

Labels: Barack Obama, Carpentersville, Damatta Stewart, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, Racism

Don't call your African-American kids “monkeys” when they are climbing in trees near your home, if you want to be a delegate to the Democratic Party National Convention pledged to Barack Obama.

A simmering neighborhood fight in Carpentersville between an African American family and Hispanic Village Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski resulted in her resignation as an elected delegate pledged to Obama.

Yesterday, I thought it had the potential for more than the $75 ticket for disorderly conduct.

When approached by the Chicago Sun-Times, an Obama operative convinced the village official to relinquish her summer spot of honor. Most of Hispanic delegates will be pledged to Hillary Clinton.

Because of the flap, the Hispanic leader has announced she will not run for re-election to the village board. She has been a defender of the Latino community in the contentious fight in town.

This is the second trustee to get in trouble with the law. Illegal alien opponent Paul Humpfer was found guilty of domestic battery. His resignation as village trustee was sought at the last board meeting.

Labels: 14th Congressional District, Barack Obama, Carpentersville, Democratic Party National Convention, Domestic Violence, Hispanic, Kane County, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, Paul Humpfer, Racism

This is too weird.

Daily Herald reporter Lenore Adkins writes about Carpentersville village trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski calling her neighbors African-American kids “monkeys” for climbing trees on Saturday, the year's first great spring day.

The neighbor complained that it was a racist remark.

The Hispanic village trustee got a $75 citation for disorderly conduct, the story says. It also reports “bad blood” between the neighbors for years.

The village board member says she will not run for re-election next spring. The article says she has been “a strong advocate for the village's illegal immigrant population.”

At the most recent village board meeting, Ramierez-Sliwinski backed a move to oust illegal alien opponent Paul Humpfer because he had been found guilty of domestic battery.

Ramirez-Sliwinski is a Barack Obama delegate to the Democratic Party National Convention.

Photo compliments of The Inside Dope.

Labels: Barack Obama, Carpentersville, Democratic Party National Convention, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, Paul Humpfer, Racism

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