McHenry County Blog

The firm that designed the “I Shop Crystal Lake” logo for City of Crystal Lake taxpayers and won a $43,000 six-month contract, now has won the $5,300 city taxpayer contract to work with McHenry’s “Heart of the Fox” slogan.

That’s what Crystal Lindell, reporter for the Northwest Herald writes.

She reports that Dobbe will “help the city refine its marketing techniques.”

Ironically, I found this “I Shop Crystal Lake” in the parking lot of Knox Pool in McHenry in late June.

So, will a little fox be saying,


And, after all the towns in McHenry County get a “Please Shop in Our Town Because We Really Need Your Sales Tax Dollars,” will any community with a sales tax rate lower than Crystal Lake’s now 1.75%--you remember, Mayor Aaron Shepley’s 75% city sales tax increase--dare to put up signs on the way out of Crystal Lake saying,




That might just increase sales in McHenry or Woodstock.

Just wondering if a chamber of commerce might have the guts to do something that might actually increase sales in their town, even if it offended the tax-hiking Crystal Lake City Council.

If McHenry wanted to go with its fox theme, I’m sure Dobbe's people could come up with a variation on a fox jumping over the Crystal Lake sales tax fence…like this one leaped on top of and over our fence on Lake Avenue during prime shopping time.

For any municipal officials out there, sales tax revenue is a zero sum game. There's only so much out there.

Maybe you can divert a tiny bit of it with a marketing campaign, but before you spend you tax dollars on it, you might want to make sure the contract is a performance-based one. In other words, if sales tax revenues do not increase more than they would have otherwise, you don't pay anything.

I'll bet no marketing firm would take the risk and sign such a contract.

If they won't, why should you take the chance and spend your taxpayers' dollars?
?

Labels: 75% Sales Tax Hike, Aaron Shepley, Crystal Lake, Dobbe Marketing, I Shop Crystal Lake, McHenry, Sue Dobbe, Woodstock

The following is a letter that Dr. Richard W. Gorski has sent concerning his son, Sergeat Steven R. Gorski and the treatment his son is receiving at the hands of Woodstock city government:

Over one year ago Robert "coffee with the chief" Lowen filed a complaint against Sergeant Steven R. Gorski with the Board of Fire & Police Commissioners asking the Sergeant be fired. Lowen's (tax payer) paid attorneys presented 4 1/2 months of supposed evidence ending prosecution of Sergeant Gorski on January 4, 2008...or did they?

The Sergeant's attorney asked the Board to consider Motion for Directed Decision.

This meaning that Lowen and his city, tax payer, paid attorneys didn't prove their complaint against the Sergeant in 4 1/2 months. The Board on February 14, 2008 granted the Motion of the Sergeant and also decided the complaint against him 3 to 0 in the Sergeant's favor.

They ordered that "the charges against (the Sergeant) be dismissed" and that the Sergeant "be reimbursed for any wages withheld"...now almost a year's worth of pay. The "Chief" and "appropriate corporate authorities are directed to implement this order forthwith."

To date only litigation has been implemented by Lowen and his tax payer paid lawyers against the city's own Board and also the Sergeant. I wonder if you still want to have "coffee with the chief"?

Very, very expensive coffee!

Richard W. Gorski

A longer explanation of the situation appears in

Woodstock Police Games

Gorski writes McHenry County Advocate.

While searching for the Woodstock Police Department, I happened upon the Woodstock, Georgia, web site. I found a place people can email complaints. What a splendid idea. McHenry County's Woodstock has email addresses available, but does not explicitly solicit complaints.

Labels: Richard W. Gorski, Robert Lowen, Steven R. Gorski, Woodstock, Woodstock Police

I found a new web site about things McHenry County.

It’s called “McHenry County Advocate.”

Dr. Richard W. Gorski is its author.

He has written a story about the Woodstock Police Department which, despite my title’s take off of Tom Clancey’s “Patriot Games” has nothing to do with patriotism.

But there do seem to be games afoot.

With Dr. Gorski's permission, I reprint his story below:

After almost twenty (20) years of serving and protecting the citizens of the City of Woodstock Illinois how does the Sergeant get a simple "thanks"?

.....he doesn't...he gets a complaint filed against him from the relatively new Chief of Police Robert W. Lowen Jr., who still lives in Carpentersville.

It used to be if you were the Chief of a Department you not only had to live in the county but also the city; after all you, as a responsible Chief, should want to be available within minutes when duty calls.

Maybe there is a different set of rules if you are this new "boss" that I don't know about...times do change.

I do know that when I was on emergency room call for the two local hospitals in McHenry County I had to be available within about 20 minutes at all times...I did not always like it but duty calls and you do it...it your responsibility to the people you serve.

In any event, this last summer on or about 29 August 2007 the Chief filed a complaint asking Woodstock's Board of Fire and Police Commissioners to fire the Sergeant [Steven R. Gorski, the author’s son] because the Chief accused him of abusing prescription pain medications.

No mention of the in-line of duty spinal injuries he had sustained was initially mentioned as the reason for the need for legitimate, physician prescribed pain medications.

The Commissioners consisted of Ronald Giordano, Lawrence Howell, and Thomas Schroeder all of Woodstock along with an attorney hired by the City of Woodstock to act as council for the Board.

The Chief through his City appointed and paid attorney Anne K.E. Brophy of the Law Firm of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood and McArdle of Crystal Lake prosecuted the Chief's complaint and took over four and one-half months(4 1/2)... that's correct, 4 1/2 months. The Chief and prosecution rested their case on Feb. 4, 2008.

I can only imagine what the legal fees amounted to for just this first part of the process and wonder if the Woodstock tax payers will ever find out the dollar cost to them.

We all have seen capital cases (murder trials - criminal cases)last a lot less than this civil process (non criminal) case which was still not completed.

Now you might think that it would take Sergeant Gorski's attorney Thomas Loizzo,of Woodstock, at least another four and one-half months (4 1/2) to present a defense for the Sergeant.

It took attorney Loizzo a few minutes and a few sentences.

Mr. Loizzo respectfully requested that the Board consider a Motion for a Directed Verdict (Decision).

What this means is that Sergeant Gorski and his attorney did not present a defense against what the prosecution had presented for over 4 & 1/2 months. The Sergeant and his attorney believed that the Chief and the prosecution did not meet the burden of proof to find the Sergeant guilty of the Chief's complaint and to warrant his being fired from the Woodstock Police Force.

On February 4, 2008 the Board granted the motion for a directed finding and met privately to discuss the complaint.

After several minutes they rendered there finding.

The Board found unanimously (3 to 0) that the Chief failed to meet his burden to establish the guilt of the Sergeant.

The Board ordered that the charges against Sergeant Gorski be dismissed and no disciplinary action was recommended whatsoever.

The Board also directed that all back pay with statutory interest be paid to the Sergeant and he be reinstated when he can resume his duties.

To date he has not received one penny of his back pay much less any interest.

Instead the costly legal saga continues with the filing of another Complaint by the Chief, this time For Administrative Review by the 22nd Judicial Circuit of McHenry County.

Named now by the Chief of Police as Defendants are all the Commissioners, Ronald Giordano, Lawrence Howell and Thomas Schroeder and now new co-defendant Sergeant Steven R. Gorski.

Politics and legal tactics and the alleged inability to accept no to your request for discharge from the Police Department sure make strange bed-fellows.

The hearing will be before Judge McIntyre on July 18, 2008 in her courtroom.

The Saga of Sergeant Gorski who was cleared of all charges along with his empty pocketbook and the continuing legal fees of Zukowski, Rogers,Flood and McArdle will continue in that courtroom like a never ending story.

Where are the tax payers of Woodstock in this equation...nowhere to be considered by City officials it seems.

I can only hope and pray and that in the end justice and truth and common sense will triumph and raw power, clout, ego and deep tax payer pockets do not prevail.

Also of possible interest is the McHenry County Advocate's story

Labels: Lawrence Howell, McHenry County Advocate, Richard W. Gorski, Ronald Giordano, Steven R. Gorski, Thomas Schroeder, Woodstock, Woodstock Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, Woodstock Police

Previously I mentioned that Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager looked like he was running for state representative.

And, as a Republican

Not this year.

But when and if Democratic Party State Representative Jack Franks decided to roll the dice and run for statewide office.

The Northwest Herald’s Danielle Guerra shot marvelous video of the Patriot Riders’ welcome home celebration for U.S. Army Spc-4 Keith Lee to Woodstock.

I particularly like her shot showing the Woodstock Square's cobble stones and the flags from below. (The latter reminded me of the flag picture I got at the Washington Monument.)

Doing the mayorally welcome home thing was Sager.

I wonder if it was the first time he spoke in public about the Iraq War.

Labels: Brian Sager, Danielle Guerra, Northwest Herald, Woodstock

No picture of the tree or the “D”-shaped exit hole, the McHenry County Blog has received a note that the ash killing insect has been spotted on Kishwaukee Valley Road west of Woodstock.

Labels: Emerald Ash Borer, Kishwaukee Valley Road, Woodstock

Can't you just hear minor league baseball stadium promoter Pete Heitman saying that?

Heitman is on a search for his Holy Grail—a minor league baseball stadium that he and his mysterious investors won't have to pay for.

This Black Knight has had one arm hacked off in his efforts to storm McHenry County College treasury.

The peasants got angry.

Pitchforks.

Torches.

You know the routine.

Still, it wasn't a total loss.

Heitman's buddy Mark Houser made off with checks for tens of thousands of dollars.

But the Black Knight has another arm left.

Plus two legs and a body.

Plenty of more profit motive fight left in his black heart of hearts.

“Just have to find the right public treasury,” the Black Knight thinks.

“One with feeble guardians.”

And, now the Northwest Herald's Tom Musik reports Heitman is approaching other castle treasure chests.

A half a dozen, most in McHenry County, but two in Lake, according to the article.

I wonder if one is near a prospective pig farm in Island Lake.

No.

The prospective pig farm has a vigorous defender. He has a finger gun, too.

Maybe it's Round Lake, I thought.

Mayor Bill Gentes, who is running for the 26th state senate district, has a site on which he wanted Advocate to construct a hospital. I thought it might work. Instead they looked seriously at one near downtown.

But it didn't work out.

When I asked, here is what Gentes said,

"We talked to those guys about 2-3 years ago and decided it made no sense for us."

He said he had written about it on his blog.

As reported before, Huntley, Woodstock and McHenry are interested and one whose leaders want to discuss disbursement of the coin of the realm with the Black Knight in the dark.

“The team would seek some financial help from its home community and county,” Musik quotes Heitman indirectly.

And in a direct quote, “... we’ve just got to find somebody who’s going to help out. We need a little bit of help, obviously, because we can’t do it all ourselves.”

Is it possible county board members could be so audacious as to support such a proposal with McHenry County Democrats preparing the ladders to storm the excellent paying Round Table's gates?

The Northwest Herald has already indicated it thinks county financial support is a good idea.

Could the Republican Party be ready to cede the role of fiscal conservative to that the party it has painted as the B-I-G SPENDERS?

McHenry Mayor Sue Low and Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager are quoted in the article, which says Heitman wants a four-lane highway.

Don't we all?

Maybe that puts Huntley in the lead. It already has a four-lane road.

But, then again, so does McHenry.

Tomorrow, the questions Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes asked of Heitman and the ones Heitman could not answer satisfactorily.

= = = = =
Holy Grail modification of Monty Python movie scene compliments of Heck of a Guy blogger Allan Showalter.

Labels: 26th District, Baseball Stadium, Bill Gentes, Black Knight, Brian Sager, Huntley, Mark Houser, MCC, McHenry, McHenry County Board, McHenry County College, Pete Heitman, Sue Low, Woodstock

Taxpayers are always pointing at government miscues by and complaining about how it should be run like a business.

I certainly do not have business experience, but I've read enough to know one should try not to buy high and sell low.

That appears to be exactly what the McHenry County Board is doing concerning its animal control facilities.

While the advice is usually given with regard to the stock market, it is equally applicable to the real estate market. I've even heard radio ads telling me of seminars that will tell me how to profit in this real estate downturn.

So, what did the county board do with its new animal control facility on Route 14 across from Woodstock Street?

What is the county board about to do with the old facility, which is sitting near the residential growth tip of Woodstock?

Sell low.

In case no one on the county board noticed, we are in a housing recession. No way to get top dollar selling surplus property under such conditions.

Selling it publicly is certainly better than the no-bid disposal of the old county highway building where the Woodstock Jewel shopping center is now located.

A lot better.

But selling low certainly is not a good business practice.

= = = = =
The photo, of course, is of the new animal control facility on Route 14 in Crystal Lake. The map showing the old facility on Banfield Road is from Google Maps.

Labels: Banford Road, McHenry County Animal Control, McHenry County Board, Woodstock

If you have ever tried to pull out on Route 176 from Briarwood across from Sunset Park in Crystal Lake, you know how dangerous the intersection is.

The last time I drove to Woodstock the back way—the way I'll get to Super Walmart after Crystal Lake, under Mayor Aaron Shepley's leadership, raises its sales tax 75% on July 1st—I noticed a safety improvement.

There was a blinking red light above the stop sign.

The intersection so needs a read traffic light, plus re-alignment so the cross road is angled at 90 degrees!

This is the intersection that McHenry County College did not even consider improving when it proposed its minor league baseball stadium.

As if no one would take Briarwood to Lucus Road to beat the traffic on Route 14.

Fortunately, Crystal Lake City Councilman Jeff Thorsen, who lives nearby, pointed out that omission.

The intersection still needs a traffic signal.

Labels: 75% Sales Tax Hike, Aaron Shepley, Briarwood, Crystal Lake, Flashing Red LIght, Jeff Thorsen, MCC, McHenry County College, Route 176, Stop Sign, Super Walmart, Woodstock

Yesterday, we showed you how high Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley thinks his 75% sales tax hike is.

“It's a just a little itty bitty tax increase,” Mayor Shepley is telling the neighbors. “And, anyway, you can go shop in Woodstock, if you think it is too high.”

Cat Dad went to Woodstock to check out the shopping last week.

Guess what he found?

A great big Super Walmart right on the way into town.

And, where the McHenry County Highway Department used to be before it was sold without public bidding, Cat Dad found a Jewel-Osco right across the road from a Walgrens.


Cat Dad was heard to say.

“Strange how those big people talk to themselves,” Keely thought.

“So,” thought Keely, “maybe Mayor Shepley's 75% sales tax hike is a bit bigger than he tried to convince me yesterday.”

“Maybe it's this big,” he said, as he lifted his head a bit.

Maybe it's bigger than I thought.

Labels: 75% Sales Tax Hike, Aaron Shepley, Crystal Lake, Keely, Super Walmart, Woodstock

I was on the Chicago Tribune web site looking at how bad the snow storm was going to be Saturday night and stumbled on these crime statistics.

If you click on them, you can see them better.

Come to find out, my little Village of Lakewood had the least crime per 1,000 residents.

The worst was Wonder Lake with 41 per 1,000.

Right below Wonder Lake was Woodstock at 36.5/1,000.

Crystal Lake was third worst at 30 per 1,000 people.

Of the bigger towns, Lake in the Hills showed the least crime on a per capita basis—9/1,000.

Right next door in Algonquin the rate was 19.7 per thousand, more than twice as high.

Click on the chart and check out where you live.

Labels: Algonquin, Crystal Lake, Lake In the Hills, Lakewood, Wonder Lake, Woodstock

This memorial to McHenry County’s veterans stands in front of the administrative building on the north side of Woodstock.

It was moved from its original location on the west side of the old government center.

Labels: McHenry County Veterans Memorial, Woodstock

It appears that Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley was correct.

Other communities like Huntley, Woodstock, McHenry and Algonquin, are interested in a minor league baseball stadium, just like Shepley predicted right before his zoning proposal went down the Crystal Lake watershed drain tile:

“I guarantee you there are other communities that will accommodate a baseball team.

“What if it goes a couple miles down the road and settles in Woodstock?” he asked, pointing out that Crystal Lake would have the same problems with none of the benefits.

The interest from other McHenry County towns was revealed to Northwest Herald reporter Tom Musick by baseball promoter Pete Heitman, who heads up an unknown group of investors called McHenry/Lake Professional Baseball Limited Liability Corporation.

That’s “Limited Liability,” as in “We can walk away from the deal and leave you to pay off the cost to build our stadium, if we don’t make enough money.”

Musick, who covers Huntley for the NW Herald found explicit support from Huntley village and park district officials.

“It has been in my mind for probably six or seven years that I-90 and [Route] 47 would really be an ideal place for a minor league baseball stadium,” (Thom)Palmer said.

A possible solace to McHenry County College taxpayers is that Huntley is not near enough the center of the college district to be selected as anything the trustees could sell as being a centrally located MCC taxpayer-supported site.

Not in the original college district, Huntley School District 158 joined when the state legislator mandated that all parts of Illinois be in one junior college or another.

So maybe there will be a bidding war among communities like those for a major tax generator like a regional shopping center. Or a housing developer playing one municipality off against another.

The only difference is that baseball stadiums are not major tax generators. (Now that I think about it, subdivisions don’t pay their own way either, but towns still fight over them.)

In its one and only article looking at the financial end of McHenry County College’s baseball stadium, its staff could not find one economist who had done a study that showed the benefits outweighed the costs for a baseball stadium.

Huntley Village Administrator Carl Tomaso expressed excitement on behalf of village government. He talked about the desire to have a large entertainment venue near the tollway or elsewhere, reporter Musick found.

At least Huntley has figured out how to pry significant road improvements out of developers, something Crystal Lake has not done yet.

All of the widening of Route 47 from the tollway north to park was financed by developers.

The only pathetic contribution from state government on Route 47 is the center turn lane thru the old part of town—built by the state, complete with curbs and gutters, which will have to be torn out when the road is widened to five lanes.

Built with only three lanes, even though every state IDOT official with a brain knew Route 47 needed five lanes.

One final thought—if you thought the Crystal Lake city council chambers were full for the baseball stadium zoning meeting, can you imagine how large the room will have to be if a Huntley location is proposed where fireworks could be heard from Sun City?

Labels: Algonquin, Carl Tomaso, Huntley, Huntley Park District, MCC, McHenry, McHenry County College, Sun City, Woodstock

This tee shirt was in line for food at Crystal Lake alcohol rehab organization Last Chance House’s pig roast.

It says,

It has a drawing of the front of the church with a crucified Christ in the center under the steeple.

Labels: Message of the Day, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Woodstock

A press release concerning a musical fund raiser on Sunday:

WOODSTOCK CONCERT TO BENEFIT SISTER CITY IN EL SALVADOR

WOODSTOCK--A Concert for Chilama will take place on Sunday, September 30 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Stage Left Café on the Woodstock Square. The concert is a benefit for the Salvadoran community of Chilama, a sister city of the McHenry County based group of Friends of Chilama. This small village is very remote and lacks an access road, school, health clinic, potable water, and employment.

The public is invited to attend the event which features outstanding local musicians including O’ Brothers, the Ricklepick Trio, Carl Viard, and the Wednesday Afternoon Jam Group. All performers have generously volunteered their talents in order to support the struggles of the rural poor in El Salvador.

A donation of $10 for adults and $5 for students is suggested. There will be a cash bar and complimentary snacks. For more information, e-mail lib4paz@comcast.net or call 815-455-3683.

Labels: Carl Viard, Chilama, El Salvador, O' Brothers, Rickepick Trio, Stage Left Cafe, Wednesday Afternoon Jam Group, Woodstock, Woodstock Square

Gus Philpot, who writes The Woodstock Advocate, came up with something to make you chuckle.

He gets a small stipend issued by McHenry County government from an agency associated with the Mental Health Board.

It came with his last name first and first name last.

He complained to his county board member.

The problem was fixed…for him.

But, apparently, not for anyone else.

Philpoy entitled his article,
Best (Worst?) Business Practices

He ends the article,

I am frequently reminded of the saying, "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you certainly don't have time to do it over."

In McHenry County, that saying should probably be amended to "... to do it over and over and over."

Well, “Groundhog Day” was shot in Woodstock.

Labels: Groundhog Day, McHenry County, The Woodstock Advocate, Woodstock

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

Haven't you always wanted to do that?

I actually did on this date in 1963.

By now, most newspapers and television shows have stopped remembering the day that President John F. Kennedy was shot.

That day I was in the office of the Oberlin Review.

It was the student newspaper of Oberlin College.

I was chairman of the Republican Mock Convention that year.

How could that happen in such a liberal school?

In 1962 in what was perhaps the first and only time in what is now a not-so-recent memory, Young Republicans elected half of the student council. We did it because the student council decided whether the model presidential nominating convention would be for the Democratic or Republican Party.

Now, all of us did not run under the SCOPE party label, but 2 1/2 years before the Mock Convention took place, we put enough people on the student council to make it a Republican Mock Convention.

I love Review reporter Anne Speakman's November 16, 1962, description of the campaign:

"Concluding a ruthless campaign, characterized by heated party politics and scandal-sheet tactics, voting officially closed at 2 P.M."

Having observed vote fraud on the part of the liberals the year before, this year we were prepared with adequate poll watchers in the proportional representation (like Illinois used to have for state representatives before Pat Quinn's Cut Back Constitutional Amendment) election.

By the time the first 10 members of the 12 member council had been announced the conservatives has 6 votes. The reporter describes "the paling faces of the liberals," in this 75.2% turnout election.

A member of the liberal Progressive Student League "lamented, 'We don't know how to behave in a minority.'"

Having spent over 2 years listening to anything but Republican speakers we were well motivated.

We had watched the liberals stuff the ballot boxes the year before and had a ballot protection program in place.

So, we won 6 out of 12. The winners (in order they placed) were Dennis Bathory (SCOPE), Mac Garber (PSL), Pete Anderson (SCOPE), Jon Eisen (PSL), Bob Peterson (Independent, but a Young Republican), Eric Seitz (Independent, a liberal), Bob Kuttner (PSL), Cal Skinner (SCOPE), Paul Keefe (SCOPE), Melinda Kuntz (SCOPE), Ed Schwartz (PSL) and Jon Polier (PSL).

In any event, I was in the student newspaper's office on the afternoon of November 23, 1963. The radio was playing.

When we heard the report of Kennedy's having been shot, I asked if the staff (of which I was not a member) wanted to put something on the front page.

They agreed they did and I asked if they wanted me to tell the pressmen in the next room to stop the press run.

Again, agreement.

So, I got to shout,

Stop the presses!

And I'm sure the Oberlin Review was the first paper on the newsstand, at least in Ohio, perhaps in the entire country.

The headline?

Kennedy Assasinated

My lack of ability to select type faces does not do the heavy block print justice.

As I was rooting around in the basement for a copy of the paper, I also found a second Oberlin Review dated Friday, November 22, 1963. It's headline was

Campus Mourns Kennedy's Death

This paper, however, seems to have the wrong date on the masthead, because inside the date reads, Tuesday, November 26, 1963.

Labels: McHenry, Mock Convention, Oberlin College, Oberlin College Young Republicans, Woodstock