Groundhog Day remembered

Remember the part in the movie Groundhog Day, when weatherman Phil (Bill Murray) kept stepping in the same water-filled pothole on what we Woodstockers recognize as Cass Street? What is it about the McHenry County Sheriff's Department that reminded me this morning of that movie?

It's the article on http://www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/ titled "Whistleblower Deputy Calls Supervisor 'Liar'." MCSD just keeps stepping in "it".

Why would Lt. Miller call Deputy Milliman into his office at 5:50AM on December 23, 2010, to demand that Milliman surrender his Department ID, badge and Department radio - but not his weapon? I guess it's not like on TV where the boss says, "Gimme your badge and gun."

Maybe it was Milliman's personal weapon that he carried on duty, and so Miller couldn't take it. Perhaps Milliman is lucky that Miller didn't then arrest him for being in a government building and carrying a concealed weapon (or any weapon). How was he expected to get out of the building with it? Did he take it off his belt and put it in a "container"?

Lt. Miller's "To/From" (Interoffice Correspondence) memorandum discloses that Milliman was placed on Paid Administrative Leave on December 23 and "was being required to undergo a fitness for duty evaluation on January 5, 2011." (That Paid Administrative Leave was later changed to Unpaid Administrative Leave by the Sheriff without any hearing.)

What is a fitness for duty evaluation? This is a psychological evaluation. If the Department had wanted a physical examination, they would have sent him to a Medical Doctor. The Department is apparently trying to claim that Milliman's statements in his deposition in Zane Seipler's civil rights lawsuit against the Department have something to do with his 2002 (successful) treatment for brain cancer; they don't. Did it take the wrong action by choosing a psychologist, instead of a medical doctor?

Or maybe the Department is trying to claim that Milliman is off his rocker to accuse our sometimes-in-the-County sheriff of plotting "... to kill two people, (being) involved in a ring bringing illegal aliens to McHenry County and (being) part of a bribery scheme to drop charges against criminals."

Crazy, huh? But no crazier than the deputy who said to a woman something like, "Are you crazy? Don't you realize I'm a deputy sheriff? You must be crazy to argue with a deputy" and then hauled her away for a mental health evaluation. The Sheriff's Department is being sued over that one, too.

Or should a mental health evaluation be required of the Sheriff and the Undersheriff for releasing a copy of Milliman's sworn deposition in the Seiper lawsuit? Wouldn't you have to be crazy to do something like that?

As I understand it, a copy of the deposition made its way to a Crystal Lake businessman (whose name will appear here early next week) and then to the Northwest Herald. Didn't Sheriff Nygren give an affidavit to that effect? So much for confidentiality. Was the Sheriff crazy to tell the Undersheriff to release it? Was the Undersheriff crazy to follow his orders?

It would, of course, not be a career-advancing move to face down the Sheriff and say, "Sorry, boss, but it would be illegal for me to do that, and I refuse to follow an illegal order."

According to MCSD documents, "Dep. Milliman went from Administrative Leave to a Family Medical Leave status." Isn't it the employee who requests Family Medical Leave? (Scott Milliman didn't.) Can the Department arbitrarily place an employee on Family Medical Leave?

I don't think so!