NWH buys rope; looking for high branch?

The Northwest Herald can get high marks for its reporting of the indictment of McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi, IF you consider which camp it's in and what it is trying to accomplish.

Otherwise, it's scraping the bottom of the barrel.

The editorial staff has condemned Bianchi in editorials on September 12 and September 16, along with extensive other reporting.

The tried-and-true "innocent until found guilty" concept doesn't exist over on Route 31, south of Three Oaks Road in Crystal Lake. They've already bought the rope, and they are scouting now for tall trees with sturdy branches.

Why didn't the Northwest Herald go after Sheriff Keith Nygren if he violated banking laws by applying for a residential mortgage and signing a Second Home Rider, and then almost immediately declaring it as their primary residence and taking a homestead exemption on it (and conveniently forgetting about the small Illinois homestead exemption on their Hebron home), until the double-dipping came to light? Will the editors ask Nygren about this on Monday at the interviews with the three candidates for sheriff?

Nygren has to be a resident of McHenry County to run for Sheriff. But, if he claims Florida homestead exemption, isn't his true primary residence in Cape Coral, Florida, well outside the McHenry County boundaries?

And why didn't the Northwest Herald go after Nygren for not investigating why MCSD employee Michael Cooper "lost" the flash drive given to him by Amy Dalby, after she copied thousands of private legal records of the State's Attorney's Office? Cooper told a State Police investigator that the flash drive was in his safe deposit box and that he would turn it over to the State Police. Yet he didn't. But he was in possession of stolen property (the electronic files) and did not turn it into the Sheriff's Department. Did the NWH nail Nygren on that one?

Why hasn't the Northwest Herald investigated how many department vehicles are at Nygren's disposal and checked mileage and maintenance records (easily FOIA'ed) to determine monthly mileage? Which vehicles are driven to Minocqua, Wisconsin, where Nygren and wife own another home (worth over $400,000)? Do Nygrens own a personal vehicle that they use for week-end and vacation travels?