720 St. Andrews Ln. - who owns it?

Recently Cal Skinner wrote on McHenry County Blog (http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/) that Sheriff Keith Nygren is now registered to vote from 720 St. Andrews Lane - Unit 30, Crystal Lake, Ill. This is the Four Colonies condo community.

Did he buy it or is he renting it? If he did (or is), then he is surely eligible to vote from that address.

According to McHenry County land records, the property (the condo) is in a trust at Home State Bank N.A. Home State Bank is where Nygren has really good banking connections, because they loaned him about $698,000, if memory serves me correctly, on a Cape Coral, Fla. house with a selling price of $620,000 in September 2006. If that Florida house is now worth $325,000, Nygren could be underwater by about $350,000 on that one property alone.

On the 2009 property tax bill from the McHenry County Treasurer for the 720 St. Andrews Lane property is the name Mary Grewe, as an individual. She is the Grantor of the property into the trust at Home State Bank. Property tax bills often go to the owner-of-record, such as a trustee, so Ms. Grewe must have lived in the condo to receive her property tax bill in the mail there for the June and September 2010 payments. As of the 2009 tax bill Ms. Grewe must have still lived in the condo, because she was claiming the $6,000 homestead exemption, resulting in a decrease in her property taxes.

To claim the homestead exemption, the property must be owner-occupied, according to the office of the Algonquin Township Assessor. Some Township Assessors have a hard time keeping track of properties in trusts, in order to know whether they are still owner-occupied and, thus, eligible to keep a homestead exemption.

The last day for address changes with the McHenry County Clerk was March 8, so Nygren must have changed his voter-registration address by that date, or it wouldn't show up in the State Board of Elections' records until after April 7.

How many people will vote at Lundahl Junior High School tomorrow from 720 St. Andrews Lane -30?

As I was thinking about voting this afternoon, I thought also of that wonderful old movie, Arsenic & Old Lace. Ever see it. I loved the part where "Teddy Roosevelt" would head for the Panama Canal and yell, "Charge!" Panama Canal, Panama Canal ..... why would I think of that at this time?