Thursday, January 24, 2013

NWH Editor calls citizens "fools"

There are thousands of people in McHenry County who are called "fools" by Northwest Herald news editor Kevin Lyons this morning.

He wrote, "Now the only people who still might believe McHenry County Undersheriff Andrew Zinke tanked a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency operation by tipping his close friend and campaign contributor to an investigation into marijuana shipping are a handful of fools."

As the news editor for the Northwest Herald, the newspaper must bear some responsibility for his writing. After reading Lyons' first sentence, I was ready to call and cancel my newspaper that is delivered each morning. Perhaps I'll get in contact with some of the major advertisers, unless a public apology is quickly printed on the front page or the editorial page.

His editorial contains errors of fact. For example, he wrote, erroneously, "Strike 1: A judge wouldn’t appoint a special prosecutor because he couldn’t even find a crime alleged."

That is not the reason the judge did not appoint a special prosecutor. The judge said that it was the role of the McHenry County State's Attorney to investigate.

And, while Bianchi's office did investigate, it appears they believed that no Illinois statute had been violated.

Lyons was right that the whole, smelly deal was embarrassing for Zinke. When a high-ranking law enforcement officer does something as stupid as Zinke did, he ought to be embarrassed.

11 comments:

yagottabekidding said...

Thousands? Really? I can only think of one.

tommy said...

Gus, FYI. The editorial in question was written by Kevin Lyons, not Craver.

Unknown said...

So one part of his editorial is wrong-the judge saved us all a lot of money in having our ELECTED State's Attorney do his job; which he apparently did, and found nothing done wrong. The rest of the article seems to hit it on the head, as they, and quite a few of us other people,think. Probably smear tactics this early are basically useless. Has anyone sent one of those requests(FOA?) to the DEA and gotten an answer from them if a wrong was found? Kozil should be able to provide the name or department in the DEA he was working with; get the name and ask them.

Gus said...

Jim, the judge didn't "save" anybody any money. His decision was correct. It was not within his authority to approve a Special Prosecutor at that point.

The State's Attorney did not find "nothing wrong." He said he did not find a violation of state law.

There were no "smear tactics". Koziol's petition was not politically motivated, in my opinion. I don't know Koziol and have not asked. I do know deputies who are outraged at Zinke's disclosure to Goode about the confidential investigation.

They are understandably reluctant to speak out.

The DEA is not going to comment. Personally, I believe they might still be investigating Zinke's highly-unusual action. If Zinke is the target of a DEA investigation, the DEA is certainly not going to tell him until they arrest him!

Blagojevich got scooped up at 5AM. What will Zinke do if his doorbell rings at 5:00AM some morning?

Gus said...

abdicate, may I suggest that you get out more and talk with more people?

Gus said...

tommy, thanks. A reader commented on the NWH site and I corrected my error, before I read your polite message. I also apologized to Kevin Craver publicly and directly. Thanks for letting me know.

John Lovaas said...

Well! I must have accomplished something. While 2 of my 3 comments are intact, my 3rd comment- where I complained that the article was indistinguishable from a political ad- was deleted, and I am banned from the site.

Good job, Kevin the puppet! How does it feel to have Keith AND Andy's fists up your rear at the same time?

Gus said...

John Lovaas's comment is about his deleted comment on the Northwest Herald website.

John Lovaas said...

Gus- should have clarified that I was referring to the NWH- thanks!

Yes, Kevin can call me a fool- but characterizing his article as a political ad must be wrong. Or maybe I created an opening for a candidate..

I was also amused by the WBBM-AM news piece yesterday on MCSD apprehending one of their 'most wanted'- actually, Madison police apprehended him. Included an interview(!?!?!) with Andy Zinke.

Nice PR piece. Like I asked before- is someone about to be indicted?

Gus said...

The media release on the MCSD website reads, in part, "On January 23, 2013, members of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Apprehension Unit and the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force captured Hernandez-Gonzalez without incident in Madison, Wisconsin. Hernandez-Gonzalez was transported to the Dane County Jail in Madison, where he is awaiting extradition back to McHenry County."

Why would MCSD send its "Apprehension Unit" 100 miles to Madison, Wisc. Aren't the Marshals' Service and the Madison PD enough to apprehend one person?

Do Illinois cops, not in pursuit, have any authority out of state?

John Lovaas said...

Huh. The press release doesn't match what I heard yesterday- WBBM doesn't have the news item online yet, unfortunately.