What Nygren said, and ...

...what he didn't say last night at the candidates' program at MCC.

What he did say is that his No. 1 Priority is Traffic. (Oh, really?)

What he didn't say is that deputies have been writing fewer tickets because of the high court costs associated with relatively small fines. And fewer tickets translates to lower collected fines and lower collected court costs.

A $50.00 ticket might cost you $200.00 at the payment window. And maybe it's not "might" cost you that; more likely, it's "will" cost you $200.00.

Even the judges now are distancing themselves from the high court costs, informing "guests" in their courtrooms that they (the judges) don't set the court costs. Those costs are set by the County Board (yes, boys and girls, by your McHENRY COUNTY BOARD) and your State legislators. (Has anyone called Jack Franks or Pam Althoff lately to complain about the exorbitant court costs they have approved?) And the judges do tell defendants not to get mad at the cashiers!

So deputies recognize that these are hard times in McHenry County, what with all the lost jobs and foreclosures, and they are being sensitive to drivers' wallets. THANKS, DEPUTIES!

But what is happening to the deputies? I heard today that they are being threatened with disciplinary action if they cut back on ticket-writing. Why, imagine that! I had thought quotas were illegal. And calling them "performance standards" or "no-quota quotas" is just plain B.S.

Remember my story a while back on the "no-quota quota" at MCSD? Well, if deputies don't write 20 tickets a month, they may be reprimanded, counseled, re-trained, or punished with days off without pay or even termination.

Joe Walsh and Don Manzullo named their priorities, "Jobs. Jobs. Jobs."

Keith Nygren? Money, money, money. YOUR money.