Monday, April 26, 2010

Height of Government Stupidity

Today I have been making several telephone calls to confirm the identity of the young man who died last week in a Crystal Lake Park.

When I spoke with the Crystal Lake Park District Police Chief this morning, he would not confirm the identity and referred me to the Coroner's office, providing me with the name and telephone number of the person to contact (which I appreciated).

Curt Bradshaw answered his phone on the first ring at the Coroner's office. I presume he is a deputy coroner, although I didn't ask. He too would not confirm the identity of the young man and took a message for the Coroner, Marlene Lantz.

Within a few minutes Deb called me from Marlene's office and told me I'd have to file a Freedom of Information Act request. When I objected, she said she had already spoken with the State's Attorney's Office and they told her that she could ask for a FOIA Request.

Certainly, she "could" ask for one. Does the Coroner's Office need such a request? Absolutely not.

It creates a roadblock, an interference, a waste of time, a stupid delay, and the unnecessary expenditure of government time and money to provide a one-word answer to my question. I had the name. I was seeking official confirmation. As I told somebody this morning, I may be the only person in the country unwilling to write the name without official confirmation.

Government has gone crazy with the new FOIA law. A inquiry such as mine does not "require" a FOIA request. The FOIA Request is the way to pry information out of a government body that it doesn't want to release.

But if they want to make a stupid game out of it, okay. It's on the way.

Dumb. Just plain dumb.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dumb. Just plain dumb.
That is you in a nutshell.
Why is this important to you?
Leave the boy alone.

What'sIt 2U said...

YOU HAVE A CAMPAIGN TO RUN!! FOIA Nygren documents. Talk about the issues. What the hell are you doing? For 5 months Seipler banged away at the guy and got people thinking. He's still banging away at the guy and your wasting time with this. You're up to bat buddy boy. Yet you turn off perspective voters by continuing to pursue this tragedy. What are you, a Sheriff's candidate, blogger or just a spoiler? Nygren has an ego problem, maybe you do too. Ask yourself "Why are you in this race?" Is it for the people of McHenry County or is it for you? Being on a ballot isn't an accomplishment. If you're only in this to say "I was on a ballot.", you're in it for the wrong reason. Getting 40 signatures wasn't a difficult thing to do. You're in for the fight of a lifetime and you're pissing away time with this. 6 months and counting. God help us if you get 200 votes and Mahon loses by 199. How will it feel to know you were on the ballot then? Maybe you've made a deal with Nygren to do just that?

Notawannabee said...

Do you feel better now? You were able to publish the kid’s name. No matter that there is a grieving family and likely some people wondering what they missed.

Gus, you are narrow minded and just mean spirited. For no other reason that you were out to prove a point that YOU COULD publish the name, you feel vindicated.

Don't bother me with the IT MAY HELP SOMEONE ELSE...El Toro PoPoo. No amount of justification can forgive your insulting intrusions.

You're a piece of work!

Anonymous said...

You are ridiculous. Change the name of your blog to "The Frank Philpott Advocate".

Gus said...

So, Kat, you think it's okay for government to stonewall a request that they know they are going to have to fulfill, all the while creating wasteful time expenditure by employees "just because they can"?

The Crystal Lake Park District Chief or the Deputy Coroner should have felt he had the authority to confirm a name that had been known to them since the morning of April 21. And for another employee to call the SAO to ask if they can withhold the identity until they get a FOIA Request.

That's okay with you?

Anonymous said...

I don't believe in government wasting time and/or money. I just wonder why YOU keep running up against such stone-walling. If you already knew the young man's name, and I assume you knew because you wanted to send condolences to his family, then be done with it. You can bring awareness to the suicide issue without being such a "nudge". You've made a name for yourself in McHenry County and now you have to live with it. Fair or not. I stand by my ridiculous statement.

Gus said...

Kat, I'm glad that you acknowledge that your statement was ridiculous. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

And easily lead into "sassy" comments. Very amusing, indeed. :D
Sir Pumpkin has the right idea.