Election Day - one week away

For the first time in recent voting history in McHenry County, voters are going to have a real chance to have a say-so in the race for Sheriff.

The incumbent is out. His hand-picked successor is out.

The past 17 years have shown voters and residents of McHenry County what happens when you have a "cop" in charge of the Sheriff's Department. It is virtually impossible to remove a sheriff from this elected office. Nygren had the dubious title of Cell Phone Sheriff, because of the amount of time he spent away from his office.

If you don't know by now whether you are going to vote for Jim Harrison or Bill Prim, now is the time to decide. Do not decide by default. Do not decide that the choice is too complicated.

Spend time on the websites of each. Read what has been printed in the Northwest Herald and in The Woodstock Independent (Oct. 22-28 edition, Page 15). Go and meet each. Call them.

Why wouldn't Bill Prim debate Jim Harrison? Voters would have benefited from being able to sit in front of them and hear their own words. And it would have been even better to have a debate, not a watered-down, milk-toast "forum".

Wouldn't it have been great to hear them go after each other in public in a no-holds-barred debate? Had there been a real debate, who would have come out on top?

What if McHenry County had a sheriff like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio or Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr.?

Here's a great quote from Sheriff Clarke's official website: "There is nothing so foolish as to do more efficiently something that should no longer be done."

Which candidate in the race for McHenry County Sheriff will do that?