NWH reports jail breach, removes comments

The Northwest Herald finally reported the security breach at the McHenry County Jail, and the original story contained many errors. How do so many errors appear in a story? The reporter wrote what she was told.

Where did she get the information? The reporter did not reveal the source for her story, but you can bet it was a person at the Sheriff's Department, since "the Sheriff's Office said" leaves it wide open. The reporter certainly did not get her story from any Media Release by the Sheriff's Department. There were no Media Releases from December 24-January 2. On January 3 there is one about the cold weather (as if the public needs to be told that) and there is one about a DUI in Spring Grove.

And this sentence? "Neither inmates were identified by the Sheriff's Office, citing the ongoing investigation." What "ongoing investigation"? This is the best that the Sheriff's Office can come up with? This is classic MCSD "swerve and deflect" (vs. serve and protect). They know 1. who the male inmate was; 2. who the female was, whose cell he entered; and 3. who the guards (corrections officers), security monitor guard and supervising sergeant are.

The first online story was posted at 5:28PM yesterday (Jan. 3). When it was updated at 11:43PM, comments to the first story were not carried forward AND no comment box was included with the update.

Let me guess why. Is this the Northwest Herald's attempt to shield MCSD from criticism? 

The Northwest Herald story, as published and updated yesterday, mis-reports the date of the security breach. In other words, the Northwest Herald fails to report the correct date of the breach, causing the reading public to be misled. The public would believe the breach occurred on December 28, according to the story. When a story is published on a Friday and reads, "About 6 p.m. Saturday...", the reader will think the breach occurred on the previous Saturday (December 28). It didn't.

The breach occurred on December 21. I posted a story about this jail security breach on Saturday, December 28. I knew about it before that date.

Nygren and Zinke have trouble telling the truth. The public is sick of the lack of transparency and honesty from those two. (Continued)