Grand Jury - secret or not?

Thank goodness the mail service is so good in Woodstock. Next day delivery still happens.

I wish to extend my appreciation to all who fax messages to me at (815) 338-2666, who send email to me at gus@woodstockadvocate.com, and who send mail to me at 500 Lake Avenue - 1 or to P.O. Box 1222, Woodstock IL 60098. (Mail at the P.O. Box may be slow to reach me, because I go to the Post Office only once/week.)

It's nice to know that the Sheriff's Department is concerned about misconduct on the part of some deputies. But is it appropriate for Grand Jury matters to be discussed at roll call? Aren't Grand Jury proceedings supposed to be confidential - or more than confidential, secret? How could information reach command personnel at the Sheriff's Department that the current special Grand Jury might be investigating some members of the Department?

Are deputies required to report any summons to appear before a Grand Jury?

The Department isn't aware of possible misconduct? Give me a break!

EVERY case of arrest that involves injury to the person(s) arrested should be closely investigated by senior command personnel at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. When a 17-year-old requires reconstruction of his nose after an arrest, doesn't anyone connect the dots and try to figure out how such an extensive injury was caused? Don't they keep track of who is involved in arrests involving injuries and start to wonder, if they see the same names appearing repeatedly in injury-arrest reports?

A trial is scheduled for August for two senior citizens who were injured when deputies stormed their home east of Crystal Lake in March 2008, trying to serve an arrest warrant on their adult son. Any improper procedures followed by the deputies will be made clear at the trial, along with why this couple was charged with "resisting arrest." Did they "resist" and thereby incur injury? Or were they injured, and then the arrest had to be made to "explain" their injuries?

Fortunately, this couple has the means to afford the best of defense attorneys in McHenry County.

Maybe times have changed. The sheriff's department in Colorado that I was with never would have tolerated such actions by deputies!