Friday, May 27, 2016

Woodstock: you knew about this; right?

Woodstock residents have a year, now, to learn exactly where they live and how to explain to someone else where they live.

In a Northwest Herald article today, it comes to light that dispatchers for the Woodstock Police Department will no longer be at 656 Lake Avenue, right in Woodstock, where they ought to know the streets in their own town.

Of course, maybe residents already knew this, because they have been paying close attention to planning by the City Council and plenty of press releases and other information released to city residents. Or maybe the City Council has begun broadcasting City Council meetings on the cable TV service public access channel. You know, in the name of "transparency." Or maybe it has already been announced on the City's website. And maybe I'm the only one who didn't already know about it.

From the paper: "Woodstock City Manager Roscoe Stelford said separate contracts were made because when the city switches to the McHenry County Northeastern Regional Communications Center, or NERCOMM, by May 2017, dispatchers will be City of McHenry employees."

Imagine what will happen when you call for service from the Woodstock PD. Who knows how the phone will be answered?

Will you hear "McHenry County Northeastern Regional Communications Center"? Huh?

Or will you hear NERCOMM and wonder what that is? And hang up?

Or will you still hear "Woodstock Police Department"?

Then imagine asking for help at 500 Lake Avenue.

"You mean Lake Street?"

"No, Lake Avenue."

"Which side of the tracks is that on?"  North? South? East? West? "I dunno. Lake Avenue.

By the time they learn Woodstock streets, your emergency will be over.

There is a monthly report by the police chief to the City Manager, and it used to go into the packet for each City Council meeting. A brief inspection of the new online information for Minutes of City Council meetings did not reveal the full monthly report, but only an abbreviated Report without all the statistics, such as number of tickets issued, number of crimes reported, number of calls for service by the P.D.

Maybe it's there and I just couldn't find it easily. But in those statistics a reader can get an idea of the workload at the P.D. A call-for-service not only involves an officer, but it also involves a dispatcher and one or more other P.D. employees.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

NWH fails to report court decision against McClellan

So far, the Northwest Herald has not reported the court decision this week that blasted McHenry County Clerk Mary McClellan.

It appeared here and then on McHenry County Blog, where Cal Skinner was able to reproduce the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals (7th District) is its proper format.

But why would the Northwest Herald not deem that decision to be worth reporting? It would certainly seem that the major newspaper in the County would report on such an important decision.

There were harsh words about McClellan in that decision. Frankly, it makes me wonder how she got elected in 2014, since the matter was known at that time. Was she just lucky that the court action didn't make it into public view?

Read the decision here or on the McHenry County Blog and decide for yourself whether McClellan ought to be holding public office.

Monday, May 23, 2016

U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) decision in Mary McClellan case.

My apologies in advance for the formatting, which I am not going to try to construct. Below is the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) in the case involving (now-McHenry County Clerk) Mary McClellan. Wade through it. It's worth reading.


In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 ALBERTO MARTINEZ, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, et al., Defendants, and MARY E. MCCLELLAN, Respondent-Appellant. ____________________ IN RE: MARY E. MCCLELLAN, Petitioner. ____________________ Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 09 C 5938 — John F. Grady, Elaine E. Bucklo, Judges. ____________________ ARGUED MARCH 30, 2016 — DECIDED MAY 23, 2016 ____________________ Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 2 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 Before WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and ROVNER, Circuit Judges. POSNER, Circuit Judge. The principal question presented by this appeal is whether an order by a district court imposing a sanction on a lawyer for misconduct in a case before the court can ever be appealed if the sanction lacks a monetary component. As part of a lawsuit charging the City of Chicago and others with malicious prosecution and other torts, the plaintiffs sought by subpoena to discover documents lodged in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. The lawyers representing the Office, who included Mary McClellan, the appellant, told the plaintiffs’ lawyers that the files they were looking for no longer existed. A year later, however, when Judge Grady, the presiding judge, ordered the Office to allow the plaintiffs’ lawyers to inspect 181 boxes of documents stored in a warehouse, the lawyers quickly found the documents they’d asked for—and moved the district court to sanction McClellan and her colleagues for obstructing the plaintiffs’ discovery by insisting that the documents the plaintiffs needed no longer existed. Some months after the tort suit ended in the plaintiffs’ acceptance of an offer of judgment, the judge granted the motion for sanctions and ordered McClellan and the State’s Attorney’s Office to pay, as sanctions for what the judge concluded was indeed seriously obstructive conduct in discovery, the fees and costs that their misconduct had imposed on the plaintiffs. It fell to Judge Bucklo, who took over the case when Judge Grady retired in 2015, to calculate the dollar amount of the sanctions. She ordered McClellan and the Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 3 State’s Attorney’s Office to pay the plaintiffs a total of $35,522.94 in fees and costs. Judge Grady had based his finding of attorney misconduct on both 28 U.S.C. § 1927 and the inherent authority of a federal court to punish attorney misconduct in a case before it. In the baroque language beloved of legislatures and courts, the statute provides that “any attorney … in any court of the United States … who so multiplies the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously may be required by the court to satisfy personally the excess costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees reasonably incurred because of such conduct.” Federal judges can also sanction attorneys appearing before them for actions taken “in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons.” Chambers v. NASCO Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 45–46 (1991). Bad faith includes “recklessly making a frivolous claim.” Mach v. Will County Sheriff, 580 F.3d 495, 501 (7th Cir. 2009); see also Egan v. Pineda, 808 F.3d 1180 (7th Cir. 2015). The judge could also have invoked in support of his ruling Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(5)(A), which authorizes the award of attorneys’ fees incurred as a result of discovery abuse. The judge explained (record citations omitted) that ASA [assistant state’s attorney] McClellan recklessly adhered to the position that the documents the plaintiffs sought did not exist. … [T]he CCSAO [Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, McClellan’s employer] initially took the position that, except for a few “special” cases, it destroys all misdemeanor case files immediately after trial. ASA McClellan first introduced [a] distinction between “jury” and “non-jury” misdemeanors in February 2013. The fact that McClellan did not acknowledge that the CCSAO had changed its position created unnecessary conCase: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 4 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 fusion. On the other hand, at that point in the proceedings, it appears that both McClellan and Fallon [another assistant state’s attorney] were in the dark about the CCSAO’s actual policy. … In response to [a] subpoena, the CCSAO disclosed for the first time that there were 31 boxes of misdemeanor files from the relevant year (2009), and 180 boxes of misdemeanor files, total. McClellan confidently stated at the April 3, 2013 hearing on the CCSAO’s motion to quash that these boxes did not contain materials for misdemeanor offenses concluded by bench trials. The most generous inference that we can draw from McClellan’s statement is that she did not speak with the custodian of those boxes before making this statement. If she had, she would have learned that they contained materials from misdemeanor bench trials. This is reckless conduct. She also recklessly overstated the amount of time and resources it would take to inspect the files, leading the court to order an unnecessary intermediate step to determine whether the plaintiffs’ proposed inspection was feasible. [She said] “the amount of resources it’s going to take to pull 180 boxes and have them available to counsel is extraordinary.” [Told by Jared Kosoglad, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, that the inspection could be completed in an hour or two,] McClellan insisted that it could not be done in that amount of time and raised other argumentative objections. She continued to obstruct discovery at the inspection itself by refusing … requests for reasonable accommodations. The court overruled McClellan’s objections and, consistent with Mr. Kosoglad’s estimate, he and his colleagues found the documents within a matter of minutes. The CCSAO produced 1,000 responsive documents in April and May 2013, contrary to McClellan’s assurances that the documents the plaintiffs sought did not exist. McClellan asserted a questionable privilege claim with respect to a subset of the relevant documents, which she Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 5 withdrew after plaintiffs moved to compel their production. Given the history of the case to that point, the plaintiffs’ subpoena seeking to inspect the original file was eminently reasonable. Nevertheless, McClellan continued to raise bogus objections, which the court overruled. The plaintiffs finally received all the documents that they were seeking on July 26, 2013, mercifully ending the CCSAO’s participation in this case. In sum, we conclude that McClellan’s conduct was reckless and undertaken in bad faith [a wordy formula for sanctionable conduct]. McClellan appealed to us, but before the appeal was heard the entire $35,522.94 in money sanctions was paid by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, leaving McClellan owing nothing. She didn’t drop her appeal, however, doubtless because if Judge Grady’s sanctions order stands it will have a number of adverse consequences for her professionally, such as requiring her—should she ever move for admission to the bar of another court—to acknowledge having been censured in a judicial order and ordered to contribute to the monetary sanctions that the judge imposed. See, e.g., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Petition for Admission to the General Bar (Jan. 2016). Or, should she be asked by judges, potential clients, or potential employers whether her professional conduct had ever been the subject of an investigation, she would have to answer (unless she lied, which could get her into worse trouble) that she had indeed been investigated for professional misconduct— for Judge Grady’s order triggered an investigation of her by the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court, though as far as we know no disciplinary action has been taken against her by the ARDC. Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 6 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 In short, because a finding of attorney misconduct in a sanctions order can seriously impair an attorney’s professional standing, reputation, and earning possibilities, such an order can’t be brushed off as easily as a gnat. It is not just a slap on the wrist, or an angry remark by a judge in the course of a trial or other hearing. It is a judicial order, in this case issued by a respected and experienced federal judge (really two respected and experienced federal judges, as the money sanction imposed by Judge Bucklo, together with her critical comments supportive of Judge Grady’s, amplified the gravity of Judge Grady’s order. As a result of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office having paid the entire sanctions judgment, McClellan has no standing to challenge the monetary sanction. But the sanctions order contains detailed findings of professional misconduct by her, findings likely to inflict a significant reputational injury having adverse financial consequences for her. Such an injury, inflicted in a formal judicial order, can be serious enough to make the order appealable. Were the order false, it would be akin to a defamatory accusation. We are mindful of the holding in Bolte v. Home Ins. Co., 744 F.2d 572, 573 (7th Cir. 1984), that “critical comments by a district judge” are not appealable orders. But the district judge in that case had imposed no sanction. He had merely made a comment criticizing two lawyers en passant while ruling on another motion. The case settled before a hearing on sanctions was held, and no sanctions order was issued. That case is thus unlike this one, in which a sanctions order was issued that imposed not only a financial obligation on McClellan, one of the targets of the order though spared by Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 7 pure luck from having to pay anything, but also what is likely to prove a serious blot on her professional escutcheon. Subsequently, however, another panel of this court cited Bolte for the proposition that “an attorney may not appeal from an order that finds misconduct but does not result in monetary liability, despite the potential reputational effects.” Clark Equipment Co. v. Lift Parts Mfg. Co., 972 F.2d 817, 820 (7th Cir. 1992). Bolte had not said that, however; and the court in Clark, qualifying the passage we just quoted, went on to say that “someday [the lawyer in question] may be able to show concrete harm to his reputation from the bare existence of [the district judge’s] unpublished opinions; should that contingency occur, mandamus might be an appropriate remedy.” Id. Again Bolte is cited, and indeed it had suggested that mandamus might be an appropriate remedy if a judge made harshly critical comments about a lawyer in a case that the judge was presiding over. 744 F.2d at 573. But there was no sanctions order in Bolte—and in Clark the panel vacated the sanctions order entered by the district judge as moot because the attorney’s client agreed to pay the sanctions as part of a settlement, though the panel did not vacate the written opinion reprimanding the attorney. The opinion in Clark explains that a court’s interest in having the rules of procedure obeyed never disappears. But that interest is not sufficient to keep a compensatory award alive for appeal after the parties have settled. A district court may sanction abusive behavior directly by imposing a punitive fine made payable to the court or by imposing non-monetary sanctions. These sanctions cannot be settled by the parties. Alternatively, however, the court may sanction the offending party by forcing him to compensate his opponent for the trouble he has caused. Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 8 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 This second enforcement mechanism may be analogized to tort remedies, which also regulate behavior by compensating injured parties. Society at large has an interest in enforcing negligence rules, yet we allow tort plaintiffs to bargain away that interest by settling. So too the beneficiary of a compensatory sanction may bargain away the court's interest in seeing its rules enforced. Id. at 819 (emphases added, citation omitted). Consistent with this passage, the orders entered by Judges Grady and Bucklo in the present case contain both monetary and nonmonetary sanctions, the latter consisting of the findings of misconduct in Judge Grady’s order, findings endorsed by Judge Bucklo. If we are right in analogizing such an order (if unjustified) to a defamatory accusation, there can be no basis for relegating the target of the order to his (in this case her) remedy of mandamus, which has a higher bar to success than an appeal. As pointed out in Keach v. County of Schenectady, 593 F.3d 218, 224–26 (2d Cir. 2010), eight federal courts of appeals have held that significant nonmonetary sanctions imposed by a federal judge on a lawyer appearing before him are appealable, at least if imposed by formal order as in the present case. The suggestion in Clark that misconduct that doesn’t result in “monetary liability” can’t support an appeal is contrary to the decisions of those courts unless we say that McClellan (like Voorman, the counterpart to McClellan in the Clark case) was subjected to “monetary liability” in being ordered to pay part of the fine levied by Judge Bucklo, though a miraculous intervention (the agreement of McClellan’s codefendant, the Cook County State’s Attorney, to pay the entire fine) cancelled the liability (Voorman too was saved financially by a settlement that vacated the judgment against him). By virtue of that inCase: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 9 tervention McClellan paid no financial sanction, and therefore under Clark would have been remitted to mandamus. But that places Clark in considerable tension not only with Bolte but also with Insurance Benefit Administrators, Inc. v. Martin, 871 F.2d 1354, 1359 (7th Cir. 1989), where we said that “a finding that a sanction is warranted does not necessarily require a monetary assessment,” meaning that monetary liability is not a sine qua non of a sanction order, and we have seen that such an order can impose injury even if it does not impose a financial cost on the person sanctioned. This is a possibility to which the Clark decision does not avert. It’s true that although Judge Grady expressed strong criticism of lawyer McClellan, the only sanctions order that he had decided to issue (though it was not quantified until the order issued by his successor, Judge Bucklo) was an order to pay, which when he issued it would have been expected to impose at least part of the expense on McClellan. We can imagine an argument that as in Bolte all we have here is a critical comment by the judge, and that a mere comment can’t be the subject of an appeal. It would indeed be odd to think that any time a judge criticized a lawyer, whether in open court or in a written order, the lawyer could treat the criticism as an appealable ruling. But there is a difference between a critical comment unjoined to a sanctions order and a critical comment that appears in and offers justification for a formal such order. The accusation of misconduct by McClellan is not an add-on to the order issued by Judge Grady but the justification for it. One of the sanctions that this court occasionally imposes, usually after a rule to show cause has been issued, is a formal censure or reprimand of a lawyer. Such a sanction, if imposed on an Illinois lawyer, must be Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 10 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 reported to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (or its equivalent in other states), and can result in the suspension of the lawyer’s law license, or worse. The order in this case is best understood as a dual money-professional-ethics order, the two types of sanction being intertwined in it. Had it not been for McClellan’s professional misconduct, the monetary penalty imposed in the order would have been smaller than it was. It was the absence of a sanctions order in Bolte that made the criticism of the lawyer a mere critical comment rather than a disciplinary ruling. Only Clark seems to insist that without a monetary penalty a sanction order cannot be appealed no matter how heavy a weight it places on the sanctioned person, though the order may be reviewable if mandamus is sought. McClellan points out that a court may not impose sanctions based on conduct not specified in the parties’ motions unless it first “provides the attorney with notice regarding the sanctionable conduct and an opportunity to be heard.” The Jolly Group, Ltd. v. Medline Industries, Inc., 435 F.3d 717, 720 (7th Cir. 2006). “A general notice that the court is contemplating sanctions is insufficient; rather, the offending party must be on notice of the specific conduct for which she is potentially subject to sanctions.” Johnson v. Cherry, 422 F.3d 540, 551–52 (7th Cir. 2005). McClellan denies that the plaintiff’s motion provided her with sufficient notice. That is simply incorrect. There is a further complication, however. In contesting Judge Grady’s accusation of professional misconduct, McClellan has no adversary. She’s not trying to take anything away from anyone; she just wants her name cleared. It’s true that the plaintiffs have filed a brief opposing Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 11 McClellan and defending Judge Grady’s order (Judge Bucklo’s monetization of the order is not challenged). But what is the plaintiffs’ standing to participate in the appeal? They have nothing to gain from McClellan’s professional reputation taking a whack, nothing to lose should she be exonerated. Nor have they cross-appealed, seeking further sanctions against her. Maybe they have some ongoing or anticipated further struggles with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, but they do not say so and anyway McClellan is no longer employed there. The absence of an appellee with standing need not, however, and in this case does not, preclude an appeal. McClellan has suffered an injury that would be rectified were we to reverse. She therefore has standing to appeal. It might have been better had we, as in a case involving a contempt of the district court, designated the judge (Judge Bucklo now, because of Judge Grady’s retirement) as a respondent and therefore elicited a response to McClellan’s argument for reversal. But this omission was not fatal, or even consequential, given that Judge Grady had set forth the grounds of his harsh judgment of McClellan in lucid detail and that Judge Bucklo has signified her agreement with that judgment, thus leaving us well positioned to compare the reasons for the sanction with the arguments in McClellan’s briefs, and to decide as in any appeal whether to affirm or reverse. One possible final obstacle to the prompt resolution of this surprisingly complicated case remains to be considered. With Judge Grady out and Judge Bucklo in, one can imagine her deciding that her monetization of the sanctions order— the $35,000 plus—was punishment enough and maybe she should lighten the verbal sanctions on McClellan. Indeed Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 12 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 McClellan urged her to alter Judge Grady’s ruling. Judge Bucklo refused, however, noting her agreement with Judge Grady’s order. McClellan contends finally that Judge Grady lacked jurisdiction to impose any sanctions on her because the plaintiffs accepted the defendants’ offer of judgment after the filing of the motion for sanctions but before the judge ruled on it. Though a district court retains jurisdiction to impose sanctions after the proceeding in which the sanctionable conduct occurred has ended, Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U.S. 384, 395–96 (1990), McClellan contends that the plaintiffs bargained away their right to the monetary sanction because the litigants agreed that the defendants would pay reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. But that was separate from the sanctions motion filed against McClellan and her colleagues, who were not parties to the litigation. Moreover, the sanctions order serves not only as a means of collecting money from a malefactor to compensate the plaintiffs but also of punishing (and in turn deterring) wrongdoing by attaching a price tag to it. The significance of the order, as far as McClellan is concerned, is not the price tag but the sharp criticisms of her in the order, and those criticisms were apt and accurate. The plaintiffs had been strung along by McClellan and others at the State’s Attorney’s Office for more than a year, having been incorrectly informed that the Office had not retained the plaintiffs’ criminal case files. McClellan had repeatedly denied that the files existed, without knowing whether they did or did not exist and without conducting a reasonable inquiry into the matter. She had even threatened the plaintiffs’ counsel that she would seek sanctions against him if he conCase: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13 Nos. 15-2752, 15-3410 13 tinued to request the documents in the face of her denial of their existence. She also tried to prevent him from searching for the files himself. And when the files were finally located she delayed turning them over by advancing a meritless claim of privilege. It took multiple court orders and more than a year of effort for the plaintiffs to obtain all the documents to which they were entitled. The district court did not abuse its discretion in sanctioning her. In sum, we deny the plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, and likewise McClellan’s petition for a writ of mandamus, which seeks the same relief as her appeal, just under a different rubric; and we affirm the orders issued by the two judges. But because of the tension between, on the one hand, our analysis and the decisions on which it rests (decisions from eight circuits, as noted in the Second Circuit’s decision in Keach, cited earlier), and on the other hand our decision in the Clark case—which we hereby overrule to the extent that it deems a formal, but nonmonetary, sanction not appealable—we have circulated our opinion in advance of publication to all the judges of the court in regular active service, pursuant to Seventh Circuit Rule 40(e), for a determination of whether a majority of the judges want to rehear the case en banc. None of the judges voted to hear it en banc. The judgment is AFFIRMED. Case: 15-2752 Document: 42 Filed: 05/23/2016 Pages: 13


Mary McClellan - a Court decides against her today

I generally am quite cautious about opening attachments to emails from persons I don't know. Today is one of those days. But a quick search on ChicagoTribune.com identified the sender to me, and I took a chance and opened the attachment. And what to my wondering eyes should appear?

Today's court order by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in the matter of Alberto Martinez, et al. v. City of Chicago, et al. and Mary E. McClellan.

Today's decision won't be a good dinner table topic at the McClellan household.

Who is Mary McClellan?

Currently she is the McHenry County Clerk; i.e., the elected Clerk of McHenry County (and definitely not to be confused with the Clerk of McHenry County Circuit Court, who is Katherine M. Keefe).

Prior to McClellan's election, following the long tenure of Kathy Schultz, McClellan was an assistant state's attorney in Cook County. While there, and before her election to County Clerk, she earned the dubious distinction of not being able to find records of a case sought by a plaintiff's attorney for clients who had been wrongfully arrested and later found not guilty.

McClellan said she had searched the SAO's office for the records for the records and they no longer existed. She was certain they no longer existed. And she so told the judge.

But a year later the plaintiffs' attorneys got access to the storage, and they quickly found the files among the 181 boxes of documents.

McClellan was sanctioned, and then she tried to get her name cleared, since the SAO had paid the full monetary assessment and had covered her share. So, no monetary harm; therefore, no justification for the sanction.

Except the three-judge Court didn't see it her way and today issued, in my opinion, a harsh affirmation of the original ruling. The Order is fascinating reading. If I can figure out how to copy and publish it for your own reading enjoyment, I shall. After all, it's a public record.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Illinois was almost No. 1

Illinois was in the top three and so close to being No. 1.

A news article on AOL Finance reported that Illinois was No. 3 - in states that people are moving FROM.

No surprise there.

No. 1 was Hawaii with an outflow of 62.0%
No. 2 was New York, 61.8%
No. 3 was Illinois, at 61.7%

Are you thinking of moving out?

Why not?

Just what is it, exactly, that keeps you in Illinois? Think it through.

A day doesn't pass that I'm not glad about being gone from Illinois.

I recall my first morning in Woodstock, when I found the "Greetings" (Welcome to Woodstock. Pay $5 for parking on our street overnight) that I had committed the enormous sin of parking overnight on a Woodstock street. No matter that there were no signs at the city limit to warn me of that stupid law (which is still on the books and sometimes enforced, and sometimes not).

I've always thought that a warning notice would have been much more welcoming - something that informed me of the ordinance. Something that perhaps read, "We noticed your out-of-state plates. Welcome to Woodstock. Be aware that overnight street parking is prohibited. Please call the Woodstock Police Department for more information."

And I remember the day I got stopped for a traffic violation that actually was not a violation. The officer had to issue me a Warning because of Departmental racial-profiling rules (to prove that a white guy got stopped every once in a while (in my own words, not his)). I challenged the warning, and an Assistant City Attorney issued a dumb letter to the City Manager, writing in five paragraphs that my turn was not a violation, and then "therefore it is a violation". I ended up getting two State troopers, who had been trainers at the State Police Academy, to explain the law to the then-Chief of the Woodstock PD (not Robert Lowen).

And I'll long remember the January night I got stopped for a burned-out headlight. The officer was going to write me a warning. It had been out for 15 minutes and 10 miles, and I planned to have it repaired the following morning. The first officer started to issue a warning, and then a second officer showed up and reminded him of the standing order at the P.D. that "If Philpott gets stopped, he gets a ticket, not a warning."

And the best of all - the $100 Bounty on me at the Sheriff's Department. And I know who offered it. No one collected.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

National Police Week

This week, through May 21, is National Police Week.

Be appreciative of the job that police officers, deputy sheriffs, troopers and other law enforcement officers do in our country.

And be aware of the risks they face every day, on every shift.

The next time you are stopped, keep your cool. Don't smart off, like you see some people doing on video in their cars or on foot. Be respectful, and I strongly suspect that you will be treated respectfully.

If you cop (no pun intended; or maybe it is) an attitude with a cop, guess what? He'll find something to write you a ticket for. Being polite and respectful doesn't mean that you won't get a ticket. If you violated some law (for example, a traffic law), that's why you got stopped. You might or might not get a ticket.

When I made a traffic stop, my mind was made up before I ever got out of the car or off the motorcycle, whether the driver was going to get a warning or a ticket. I didn't leave it up to whether she had on a short skirt or was wearing a suit (or flashed his badge at me). If a driver ran a red light and I stopped him, he was going to get a ticket. Period. I was polite about it, but there was no discussion. If he wanted to discuss it, it would be in front of the judge.

Sometimes my intention to write a warning escalated to a ticket, if the driver "earned" it with attitude. I never wrote a warning, instead of a ticket. And what kind of vehicle it was did not make a difference.

Remind yourself to keep your hands in sight, preferably on top of the steering wheel with your hands open, so it's clear to the officer that you have nothing in your hands. Don't make any "furtive" moves. Don't suddenly reach for your wallet or reach for the glove compartment (or open the console).

Cops expect people to be armed, legally or not. If you are legally armed, consider informing the officer even before he asks. If he asks for your wallet, tell him which pocket it's in and ask him whether you should move your hand to get it. If you are armed, he will very likely ask you about your firearm and where it is.

Listen carefully to the officer's directions and follow them. If they aren't clear, ask questions. You don't want to get shot, and he doesn't want to shoot you.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Join WisconsinCarry...

Take a look at what WisconsinCarry is doing for its members. Visit www.wisconsincarry.org

WisconsinCarry is doing what a membership organization ought to do. It represents its members. Not only that, it defends its members.

Compare that (Wisconsin) statewide organization to the Illinois State Rifle Association (www.isra.org) and the NRA. The NRA with its 4,000,000 members does a good job on a national level and writes about what it does on a state level, but it's hard to know what it really does on a state level.

Perhaps I'm influenced by the Illinois lobbyist for the NRA. And maybe I should finally forget that he hawked his "Buck Flagojevich" bumper stickets at an NRA event in Lakemore years ago.

But I won't forget how the NRA and ISRA did not well represent me when the Illinois legislature passed a concealed carry law in 2013 that required me, if I applied for a concealed carry license, to forfeit my rights to privacy and confidentiality under all Federal and State laws. I moved out of Illinois in 2014!!!

Has the ISRA ever gone to court on behalf of a member who got in hot water with the law?

Go to WisconsinCarry's website and read about Mark Hoffman, In 2013 Mark was out for a stroll and open carrying, which is legal in Wisconsin. Team Barney Fife (no offense, Barney) in Village of Somerset, Wisc. was offended and arrested him for "being heavily armed" and for loitering. He was found not guilty of the weapons charge but was convicted of loitering.

WisconsinCarry funded an appeal of that conviction and lost in Circuit Court. But Mark appealed further, with WisconsinCarry's support (read, financial support), and won in the Appeals Court.

Look up the location of the Village of Somerset (Pop. 2300). It's a wide spot in the road northeast of Minneapolis.

I don't always agree with Nik Clark, and sometimes I let him know. I'd say we have sort of a love-hate relationship, because sometimes I pick away at him and he bites back. But I greatly admire what WisconsinCarry and Nik Clark do, and I am rejoining WisconsinCarry today, even though I am 1,000  miles away and will probably never set foot in Wisconsin again.

I urge you to join, too. Even if you are not in Wisconsin.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Hillary's Veep possibles and other rants

Just took a look at the possible Veep picks that Hillary might be considering.

Now I've got to get serious about dusting off my luggage and oiling the hinges. When I saw the photo of Chelsea, Hill and Bill, I wasn't sure which Hillary might tap.

The DOJ will never operate fast enough to cuff Hillary before November. And, even if they do, a trial would take years.

Now is the time to talk up Trump to everyone you encounter. This country is doomed if a Democrat wins in November.

And what did that stupid Loretta Lyuch just say about the trans bathroom issue? They deserve equality? The trans are, what, 0.3% of the population? I'll bet not that high. And so, somebody tell me why 99.7% of the population should roll over.

Pretty soon there will be a demand for equality for brown-eyed folks.

Some wag once said, "This world would be a great place, except for the people." Maybe he really did get it right.

Do Obama's children go to co-ed school? How does Michelle feel about having Malia and Natasha shower after soccer with 2-3 boys who "identify" themselves as girls? Why do I think some southside Chicago language might fill the air around the dinner table?

Friday, May 13, 2016

Obama is one dumb cluck, but a true Democrat

Election Day - a national holiday?

What kind of dumbass is Barack Obama? Has he lost all his (remaining) marbles?

Has any other president comes up with such stupid ideas in his lame-duck term?

This stupid nonsense coming out of Washington, D.C. is really starting to get to me.

How long does it take to vote? 5 minutes (or less) in the voting booth. Transportation time to and from. A wait, if there is a line. You can vote before work or after. Why should employers be saddled with a holiday, for which they no doubt would be expected to pay employees for an entire day.

Isn't there a law now that an employee gets up to a certain amount of time off work to vote? And, before you ask, employees shouldn't "milk" it. Come in an hour late or leave an hour early. That'll do it.

If you are going to have trouble voting, vote early or by absentee ballot ahead of time. I have written previously that I am wondering whether the USA will survive the Obama presidency.

Obama is pushing for higher minimum wage. McDonald's, Wendy's and other businesses are already figuring out how they are going to get along with fewer employees. Do you think maybe those unemployed minimum-wage employees will decide that voting Democratic isn't such a good idea, after all? No, they aren't smart enough for that.

Anyone who can do 4th Grade math can figure out that a fast-food business cannot afford $12/hour or $15/hour. There will be jobs lost. Will the losers be sitting on the curb and be happy for those fewer employees who still have jobs and are earning more? I doubt it.

Dearborn, Mich. - now Muslim territory?

Dearborn, Michigan?
Tell me I'm gullible and will believe anything emailed to me....

I don't know the original source of an email sent to me this morning that the entire city council of Dearborn, Michigan, is now Muslim.

Snopes.com guesses that some fool used church-sign software to create this image and says the email that is circulating is FALSE.

Of course, we did just read what the Mayor of London had to say. Did he miss all his history classes?

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Don't ever forget that! Who said that? If you think Thomas Jefferson, think again. John Philpot Curran (1750-1817), Irish politician and judge, gets the nod on this one.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Whaddaya think?

A Wisconsin school teacher got arrested on a felony charge, because he had his handgun in the console of his car that was parked on school grounds. Supposedly unloaded. Somebody must have ratted him out.

According to WisconsinCarry, the teacher "believed" he was following the law by storing his gun, unloaded, in the center console of his locked car. WisconsinCarry's position is that his gun was "encased" by being in the console.

According to WisconsinCarry, "Wisconsin law requires your gun be UN-loaded and encased when on School Grounds EVEN in your own vehicle. Here is the statutory definition of encased: "(b) "Encased" means enclosed in a case that is completely zipped, snapped, buckled, tied or otherwise fastened with no part of the firearm exposed." 

Remember how Illinois law read (reads?) about transporting a firearm - "... unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container..."  OK, so I always thought "other container" could be my backpack, fanny pack, briefcase, lunch box or McDonald's bag. But I wasn't brave enough to put it to the test, as was a gun owner several years ago in DuPage County. As I heard the story, he was arrested but fought it through the courts and was found Not Guilty. And then he sued and won $50,000, which probably about covered his legal fees.

My opinion is that it is a real stretch of the imagination to consider a center console as a 'case". My opinion (not a "legal" opinion, of course) is that a weapon is not "encased" when placed there.

Would the teacher have been okay, had he placed his firearm, unloaded, in a zipper pouch in the console?

Any thoughts?


Monday, May 9, 2016

Just to remove all doubt

Is it great how many busybodies are jumping out of the dirt to say that they don't want to be considered as Donald Trump's VP?

Well, just to remove all doubt, I hereby state that, if Donald Trump asks me to be his Vice-President, I shall not accept.

Now, don't get me wrong. I intend to vote for him. And I intend to wear my white "Make America Great Again" cap everywhere I go, and I intend to ask everyone I meet to vote for Donald Trump.

But I just don't want a Secret Service detail following me around, and I certainly don't want any terrorist targeting my daughter or my grandchildren or my stepson. So, Donald, I'm sorry but my hat is not going into the ring.

Please don't take it personally, Donald. If I see you coming, I definitely won't cross the street to avoid you.

If those idiots at the RNC don't get their act together, they are going to make it all the harder to keep Hillary out of the White House. The only House she belongs in is the Out House.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Did Maryland gun laws kill woman?

Today's news headlines are about shootings in Montgomery County, Maryland, where a Department of Homeland Security employee on leave killed his wife and others in a two-day rampage.

Eulalio Sevilla Tordil, 62, a Federal Protective Service police officer, killed his estranged wife yesterday, when she was picking up their daughters from school. She had obtained a protective order against him, which cost him his badge and duty gun.

Had he been served with that protective order? If so, was he asked if he had other guns? The judge certainly should have questioned her about how many guns Tordil, as a police office, had. And those serving the protective order should have known. But, had he been served?

We all know the great power of that piece of paper. Zip! Nada! Zilch! Nothing.

But Mrs. Tordil wouldn't have been able to get a concealed-carry permit quickly in Maryland, if at all. Maybe as a teacher, she didn't like guns, anyway. But, if she had had a loaded gun and knew how to use it when he walked up to her car, at least she would have had a fighting chance.

And so might the others or passersby, except for the Ostrich Syndrome in the State of Maryland.

I don't know what those clowns in State Government in Maryland think people are supposed to do when they are in danger. Oh, maybe that's it. They don't think.

Suzanna Gratia-Hupp would blame the legislators, as she did in From Luby's to the Legislature. I shall, too.

Obama goes cheap on Baghdad

"(CNN)Twenty-five additional heavily armed U.S. Marines arrived at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad within the last several hours, a U.S. official tells CNN."

Hey, we all know the Marines are good - damned good.

But why didn't Obama send 250, instead of just sending 25? When the demonstrators invaded the Green Zone last week, was that just a warm-up?

Here's what Obama and Hillary don't understand, and don't want to understand. When you have a strong military and show it, then you are quite likely not going to have to use it. But you are ready to. Donald Trump gets that.

When the protestors show up and think they are going to plunder and burn, they get a fast and rude awakening. If the protestors have no doubt that they will be overwhelmed by superior power, they'll crawl back in their holes.

Maybe Obama and Hillary are the way they are because they never put on a uniform...

Thursday, May 5, 2016

They earn HOW MUCH???

Read this message that McHenry County Board Member (District 1) and Algonquin Township Precinct 4 Committeeman Andrew Gasser emailed today.

Who is the Administrator Assistant who could be worth $92.000?
And one son-in-law worth $92,000?
And another son-in-law worth $91,000?

Maybe they don't have to be "worth" it, if they are just one part of a big family. Maybe that's just what they are getting paid. Who sets their pay? The Township Board? Want to know who is on the Township Board? Head on over to www.algonquintownship.com

The Supervisor (elected) is Dianne Klemm. What's her pay?
The Clerk (elected) is Chuck Lutzow, Jr. (Note, still looking for that highly-paid "administrative assistant", who is probably an employee. What's her name?)
The (elected) Assessor is Robert R. Kunz, Jr.
The (elected) Highway Commissioner is Robert J. Miller (ahhh, are we getting closer now?). They have their own funky little webpage at http://www.algtwsp.com/

Who was it who said, "It's a good thing we aren't getting all the government we are paying for"?

Here is Andrew's email...

Friends,
I know I rarely email you but I wanted to make you all aware of what we in the Algonquin Township Republican Central Committee will formally take up this next Tuesday, May 10th.
We do not need to tell you how riddled with corruption Illinois is and whether we like it or not - nepotism and patronage are a big part of this.
It is killing our party.  It is killing our state.  It is killing our country.  For too long so many "Republicans" have not brought attention to this problem because frankly, we were the ones doing it.  It was ok because it was "our side".  McHenry County and Algonquin Township are no different.
In Algonquin Township and McHenry County - Republicans own it.  It is our problem.  You cannot blame the democrats for this.  Election cycle after election cycle we tolerate this... and look where it gets us.
Our elections are the laughing stock of the state and I am pretty sure Algonquin Township has the highest paid "Administrative Assistant" clocking in at just over $96,000 a year while we hire the two son in laws at $92,000 and $91,000 respectively.
We need to take a stand and start to correct the problem.  It is always the hardest to be "the first" out of the chute - and that is ok - we will do it.
Tuesday night this will be debated and completed... one way or another.  You will hear the gnashing of teeth.
But we, as the Algonquin Township Republican Central Committee will denounce these practices and begin the process of healing the party.  We have no clue what Grafton Township, Dundee Township, or any other county will do - but this is what we will do.
We can only hope others pile on and begin to fix this problem.
We, the committeemen of Algonquin Township, will control what we can control and we just hope the word gets out on this which issue which is why I am emailing you all.  If you could pass this along to your networks we sure would appreciate it.
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2016/05/05/algonquin-township-republican-party-vote-nepotism-patronage/
GIDDY UP and Be Blessed,
Andrew
Andrew Gasser
McHenry County Board Member  - District 1
Algonquin Township Precinct 4 Committeeman
www.andrewgasser.com
(850)866-0155
-- 

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Remember "The Man in the Arena"

As the Republican primary moves along and continues to draw the attention of Americans and, no doubt, people around the world, let us keep in mind Theodore Roosevelt's words at the Sorbonne on April 23, 1910.

They are often quoted and sometimes memorized. They are good to know and to remember. 
                                          
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Hillary's comments - off, for sure

You can tell that Hillary Clinton is getting rattled by Donald Trump. It's showing up in her language and her speeches.

Trump said Hillary is playing the "woman's card". She is. And then she twists it to fit her stand and gets a round of applause from the women in her audience.

She tells Jake Tapper that "He {Trump) can say whatever he wants to say about me, I could really care less."

For a woman with some years in school far, far behind her, didn't she ever learn that the phrase is, "I couldn't care less..."?

Based on her exact words, she does care what Trump says about her and she could care less, but she doesn't.

And then she slams Native Americans (err, I mean Indians) when she claims Trump is "off the reservation" in his remarks.

What is it going to take for America to wake up and see who Hillary Clinton really is? If America ever does wake up, Hillary won't even be able to get elected as dog catcher in No Name, Colorado. Maybe in Hell, though.

New software needed

This was too good not to steal from a friend's Facebook page. Thanks, Jim. It is probably published somewhere, and I thank those who first wrote it.

A woman wrote to tech support, and their reply is a stroke of genius.
This young woman is no different from the rest of us, both family happiness and heartbreak are familiar to her. She is simply looking for an answer to her questions. How do you maintain a relationship? How do you bring back the excitement of the first date. She wrote a letter to the tech support to find her answers. She sent the letter as a joke and only remembered about it when she suddenly received an email notification with a response.
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as: Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as: NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1
Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate

Dear Desperate,
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: I thought you loved me.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)
In addition, please, do not attempt to re-install the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Say, "Thank you, Obama" or ...

You know? I think I'd better stop reading the news about refugee resettlement in the USA. All I do is get more and more upset.

Now I read that the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) is suing more employers for religious accommodations on the job. This is (figure out what eight-letter word I want to write here; starts with b- and ends with -t).

Muslim refugees come to the United States on re-settlement programs and are assisted in finding employment. Then they demand workplace accommodations so they can say their prayers at work, after washing their faces, hands (and feet). Now you tell me; where is that employee going to find a place to wash his smelly feet at work?

Oh, in the bathroom sink, you say? You mean the same place where you will be washing your hands before lunch?

Give me a break. Muslims can say their prayers away from the workplace, and I don't mean by taking over public streets or sidewalks or parks, either.

I'm thinking that maybe the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with all State and City chambers of commerce, ought to band together and start suing CAIR. Enough lawsuits would swamp their bank accounts and put them out of business. Where do I send my contribution for that?

Are you paying attention to the refugee re-settlement crisis?

Visit www.refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com  Sign up for Ann Corcoran's email newsletters. Take action. The USA is our country. If we don't protect the USA now, we'll lose it forever!


Rules may be relaxed in certain GFZs

There are plenty of cautionary tales about standing and shooting from one position. Most trainers teach that the shooter needs to learn to move his feet. A moving target is harder to hit than a stationary one.

Having said that, most rangemasters get upset when, at an indoor range with those narrow booths, you move too much within your tiny enclosure.

We have some good indoor ranges here in the Columbia, S.C. area, and they don't cost an arm and a leg, either. Also, there are outdoor ranges somewhat nearby and plenty of private ranges, if you know the right people.

Next I'll be looking for tactical training. I have shot from behind barricades and from the prone position, but it has been a while. Well, more than a while. And I imagine I can use more practice with weak-hand shooting.

Along many South Carolina state highways are signs that indicate "Shooting - Private Range", so that passing motorists won't think they are coming under attack.

South Carolina is a gun-friendly state, even though the anti-gunners are constantly nibbling away at the legislators. We don't have open carry here, as they do in North Carolina and like Virginia and Wisconsin (and many other states) do.

And I've learned that on some important properties that are signed as gun-free zones (GFZ), the policing authority there doesn't take a Zero-Tolerance stand. One friendly (imagine that!) police chief told me that if you "accidentally" (meaning, unintentionally) carry a firearm into a GFZ building, just identify yourself to a guard and proceed to the police station's room (on that property) where you can lock your firearm in a locker, take the key and pick up your firearm on your way out. And that one can overlook the "Firearms Prohibited" signs at the property entrances; just leave your firearm in your locked vehicle.

It's possible that these variations in enforcement could exist in Illinois. If you'd like to know where, email me at gus@woodstockadvocate.com