Bad Driver of the Day - a Tie

After a stop at my friendly Oberweis store on Randall Road, I was driving home, already licking my lips and anticipating some Rocky Road ice cream, when this driver (right photo) in a grey Dodge Charger (Illinois license X14 6901), in more of a hurry than I was, changed lanes without looking to his right. He was too busy yacking on his cell phone, handheld to his right ear with his right hand, and didn't look. Even after I honked the horn at him, he continued into my lane. Fortunately, no one was on the shoulder to my right and I could move over.

Grey and red might make a nice color combination, but not on the left side of my bug.

Then he accelerated, cut back into the left lane, passed a car, back into the right lane, back into the left lane and back again into the right lane and stopped at the red light at Algonquin Road. The cars between us turned off and I could stop right behind him. Sure wish I would have seen a friendly face in an Algonquin P.D. patrol car.

And then in the next block this next driver (left photo), in a grey Honda Accord (Illinois license 102 6176), almost rear-ended me in moving traffic, cut sharply into the left lane and then almost rear-ended the car in front of him, which was moving at about 25MPH in heavy traffic.

Maybe these two nuts were trying to get home before it snows...

Is Happiness Good?

The Associated Press reports today that a "paper being published today in a British medical journal concludes that happiness is contagious."

What does hanging around happy people mean to you? The researchers found that happy friends of the same gender helped more than happy spouses. Interesting, eh?

If you can't sleep some night, check out the article at www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/dec04_2/a2338http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/dec04_2/a2338

Ever have a friend who brightened up the room just by leaving? Get new friends!

Sooooo..... let a smile be your umbrella. Don't rain on someone's parade; smile at them. Give someone a hug today. Get a hug from someone today. Hum a few bars of "Don't worry; be happy."

Double Standard for Cops

Recently I was asked to comment on the disparity of treatment of deputies at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

Deputy Zane Seipler was terminated recently for what may ultimately revealed as insufficient or non-existent grounds. They is likely to be much more to the story about the background for this termination (the "real" reason for it).

Have deputies been terminated for extremely poor judgement or behavior reflecting adversely on the department? How many times have deputies been involved in at-fault accidents and not been ticketed? And nothing released to the newspapers about the accidents? Or in "scuffles" or other illegal acts?

At a drinking party at Coleman's Tavern in Woodstock this year, a jail deputy backed into another car, re-parked her vehicle and then left. When the Woodstock cops showed up, she was gone. Read the details below by searching on this site for "Webb". Did she lose her job? Nope.

This fall I heard about another drinking party where deputies would be gathering, and I notified the Illinois State Police, requesting that they set up a roadside sobriety checkpoint near the tavern, located just outside the Woodstock City Limits. What did they do?

Instead of enforcing the law and getting drunk or impaired drivers off the road, the District Captain of the State Police notified senior command personnel at the sheriff's department that I (by name) had requested the checkpoint. The following week my name was all over the sheriff's department.

Do cops drive drunk? You bet. And they count on the "brotherhood" to protect them, if they get stopped? Absent a bad wreck, how often do you read about a deputy or police officer being arrested for DUI?

Yet the sheriff's department will set up a blitz and arrest drivers leaving a public event near Richmond where alcohol was served all day illegally.

A double standard? You bet! This needs to stop, and it needs to stop right now. The public must know about it, in order to demand that these things stop.

Freedom of Speech - Call this lawyer

Can an employer order an employee not to have contact with another person away from the place of employment?

Let's say that you are acquainted with, even friends with, a person who used to work at your place of employment. Can your employer forbid you to talk with or spend time with that person?

We all know the answer to that one. Now, what should the penalties be for such an employer?

Oftentimes, those still in the employ of the organization are sympathetic toward that former employee, who quite likely is going to return to the workplace. They agree with some or all of the viewpoints held by that employee and would speak up themselves, except for the fact that they too might be disciplined and even terminated for speaking up.

If you have information that would help such a former employee, one choice might be to contact his lawyer. Call Blake Horwitz. Blake can be reached at (312) 676-2100. Check out his firm's website at www.policewatchers.com Blake is an attorney who represents police officers who need strong counsel. If you have information that you think he might like to hear, call him. You can count on the attorney-client privilege that keeps your contact confidential and safe.

Quota-Free Policing

Should there be quotas for tickets and arrests in police work? Should law enforcement officers be rewarded for the number of tickets they issue or arrests they make? Is there a Success board at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department, where deputies who are the "Leaders" in ticket-writing top the list and get promoted based on their numbers?

If a deputy writes three tickets to a driver during a traffic stop, including arresting him and transporting him to the McHenry County Jail, is he a top performer? But what happens when that driver goes to court and two of the tickets result in no conviction and the driver gets Supervision on the third ticket -- meaning, if he keeps his nose clean for a few months, then even that ticket goes away? - although the fine and court costs are not refunded!

So the bottom line is - even though that driver was arrested and taken to jail, incurring time and expense of numerous deputies (not just the arresting deputy) - nothing really happened. And what if that arrest was the result of racial profiling?

What if a driver with a brown face drives past a deputy, the deputy runs the license plate and finds that the owner of the vehicle doesn't possess a driver's license, and then the deputy makes a traffic stop? The deputy doesn't really know that a violation exists, because he doesn't know whether or not it is the owner who is driving the vehicle. Is that a valid arrest, barring any actual traffic violation that gives the deputy "probable cause" to stop the driver?

Now the sheriff's department will put deputies through a "Quota-Free Policing" program. Why would something like this be needed, if procedures were not otherwise to start with? Have we been living with "Quota Policing" system up until now?

In McHenry County we have the Law & Justice Committee of the McHenry County Board. What does it really do? The composition of that Committee is changing, due to the recent loss of elected positions by at least two of its members. What interest does this Committee take in the operation of the sheriff's department? Any?

The Committee may be limited in what it can demand of the Sheriff, since the Office of Sheriff is an elected post.

We should want deputies (and police officers) in this County who enforce the laws fair, evenly, equally and impartially. Regarding traffic violations, there are so many now that no quota would be necessary. A driver with sharp eyes can detect many violations along every mile of roadway in the County.

So maybe we need neither quota nor quota-free policing. Policing will be just fine. Deputies know the laws. Once they are properly trained and supervised, there should be no problems with even enforcement. Supervisors should keep a sharp eye on those deputies who produce inordinately high numbers to be certain they are doing their job properly and within legal boundaries.

School Employees Forgo (sic) 5% Raises

Well, that's one editor at The Washington Post who needs to go back to school! This is the headline for an article in today's paper (Page B1). It's "forego". It's also not Woodstock.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, teachers and other school employees gave up a 5% raise, saving the school system $89,000,000 and allowing it the school system to balance its budget for the school year starting in July 2009. The superintendent and other top administrators lost annual raises, too.

It's called Recession, the reality of what's happening in the U.S.A. Leaders of four employee "associations" (unions?), representing 22,000 school employees, agreed to giving up contractual raises.

Will this happen in Woodstock, where huge expansion of District 200 has occurred? Will the new schools have the enrollment that was the basis of all the new schools? They surely didn't have a crystal ball when the public input was sought and found to put the growth in place.

The question now is how to manage it. With the general population expecting tax revenues to decline over the next few years, adjustments need to be made now. What adjustments are to be made to serve the students in District 200 over the next 2-3-4 years?

Are schools and governments planning to increase tax rates, so that they still receive current levels of revenues? Will the public stand for that?

Winter Driving

I hear that it's too late to get your car ready for winter before the first good snowfall. in McHenry County. I'm sitting here in Raleigh, N.C. where, when they get snow, the world stops. They do get snow, and ice, and the drivers here handle it differently than in Illinois.

It's not too late to get your car checked over. So many drivers today just turn the key and away they go. Check your tires for tread depth and uneven wear; remember to check the tire pressure. If you need new tires, get them. This simple, but not cheap, step might save you thousands of dollars in bent metal and bent neck.

Check the anti-freeze level, test the battery, replace the windshield wipers. Keep your gas tank full. Find the windshield washer reservoir with winter-grade fluid that won't freeze as quickly as the summer fluid.

Call your insurance agent and ask what happens to your insurance rates if you make a claim or two under your road service benefit. I was told this year that any claim (road service, minor windshield repair, etc.) counts against the insured on his policy. Even a dead-battery service call or flat-tire change might make it worth investigating AAA or AARP Motor Club Service or one of the other service plans.

Think ahead about what you'll do if you are involved in an accident or slide off the road. Planning ahead might make the difference between serious injury or death after you survive the crash. Stay out of the road. Stay out from behind cars. Usually it's safest to stay in the car until emergency response personnel are on the scene.

If you have any tips to share with drivers, post your comments and I'll add them below.