"Serviced" at Viking Dodge? No, thank you.

On June 11th the Northwest Herald reported "(James) Samaras said Wednesday (June 10) that his Crystal Lake dealership remained opened for business as it winds down." Of course, that wasn't quite correct, since it was no longer a "dealership".

To me this sounded like a retraction by the paper of its previous day's Associated Press article and headline, "Viking Dodge closes door for good." Should the Northwest Herald now retract its retraction?

On Sunday a sign was displayed on the front door of Viking Dodge, now known as Viking Motors. I dropped by this morning to see if it looked like Viking Motors was really open for for business; i.e., were the service and parts departments open as usual and the sales department open to sell used cars? From the appearance of the interior and the lot, my guess is they are not.

While I was there to take this picture (click on the photo to enlarge it, then click on the Back button on your browser to come back here), a man in a minivan approached me and told me that he had bought the van there three weeks ago. He was promised $500 worth of window detailing and also told that he would save big bucks on his auto insurance premium because of the anti-theft package he bought.

He had called his insurance agent after making the deal and was told there would be no premium reduction. If you hear this from any other dealer, call your insurance agent right from the salesman's phone. Then walk out.

And his window detailing? He told me he figured he was out the $500 for that. But he bought his minivan for $12,000, so maybe his "good deal" was just $500 less than he thought it would be.

Oh, about the "servicing" part of the notice on the front door... Did you get "serviced" there? Some would say they did. What they were probably hoping was that they would get "served" there.

Viking Dodge misses court date

Viking Dodge, now known as Viking Motors, missed a 9:00AM court date this morning by refusing to accept delivery of Certified Mail last week. A Notice of Motion and Motion were mailed to Viking Dodge last Monday. Viking changed its name on June 12, according to Illinois Secretary of State records at www.ilsos.net/

The mail carrier, known for persistence in delivering through rain and snow, sleet and hail, wasn't successful in getting a piece of Certified Mail signed for on at least two attempts last week, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The Post office in Crystal Lake attempted delivery but the carrier wrote REFUSED on the envelope

Wayne Beto is trying to collect $131.00 from Samaras and Viking Dodge that Judge Caldwell ordered be paid to him last January 14. Unfortunately, Wayne's lawyer neglected to write in that the payment was to be made by a certain date. Why didn't he write into the Order that Viking was to pay within seven days?

Wayne was in court at 9:00AM for Judge Caldwell to hear his motion for payment. Wayne learned that he will have to have a deputy sheriff deliver the Notice of Motion. The estimated cost of $60.00 for service by a deputy and mileage can be recovered by Beto.

Horses of a Different Color

Have you seen the splash being made by the colorful horses around town?

And on the Community Calendar on the City's homepage? The "Horses of a Different Color" fund-raiser for Main Stay Therapeutic Riding Program dominates the City's calendar. The question in my mind is why does it appear on every day of the calendar?

It is not an event. The program appears to be a massive fund-raiser for a not-for-profit business located 20 miles from Woodstock near Richmond, Ill. The horses are nice. About 26 of the painted horses are located around town. They will be auctioned on Labor Day. Where will the proceeds go? To Main Stay.

You can buy a horse for a $7,500 donation, or you can just buy a plaque for a horse for $2,500 donation. To Main Stay, of course. And the City is donating space and even a little money out of the motel/hotel tax kitty.

I guess this gets my attention because for months I have been suggesting to the City that official meetings of the City Council, Boards and Commissions not be removed from the calendar about three seconds after a meeting is over. But they are. However, the Horses, which are not even a City meeting, remain on the calendar for weeks (months).

The only part of the Horses that should be on the calendar is the Labor Day auction. That's an "event." And the other meetings of the City Council, Boards and Commissions? They should stay on the calendar as a historical record of meetings in Woodstock.

Why are meetings immediately removed? Because the computer is programmed to remove them. All that needs to happen is for someone to remove the "x" from the box that asks "__ Delete meeting after it is held?"

On trial? Listen carefully!

When you are on trial, you have to listen carefully to the questions asked of you. And you have to answer carefully. In addition to answering truthfully, you have to choose "how" you are going to answer. It's probably not a good idea to accuse the prosecution of asking you questions that are manufactured and twisted to cause you to say that a crime was committed, when it was not.

During the past few weeks some questions have continued to nag me after the trial and conviction of a police sergeant from the Algonquin P.D. The sergeant was found not guilty on two of the three charges, but the judge found him guilty on one charge of domestic battery.

Even though the alleged victim had testified extensively that her husband had not hit her, the prosecutor kept drilling away on her red left ear. She had testified that she had been crying and that both ears and her face were red. The prosecutor was trying to get her to say that her husband had hit her left ear with his right hand from his position behind her.

Now, picture this. A person is walking away from you. You are right-handed. How do you hit the person's left ear with your right palm?

First, I never heard the prosecutor present any evidence from the sergeant that he was right-handed.

But here is the source of my concern. The prosecutor tried to create a scenario in which it would have been possible for her left ear to be hit hard enough with his right hand to redden it. As I recall, he said something like, "So, if you had turned around toward him, then he could have hit your left ear, is that right?"

Now, how do you answer that question? Should you answer it? She had stated that she was walking away from him. She had not stated that she had turned around.

I immediately thought of Gary Gauger's "confession." "Well, if you had blacked out, you wouldn't remember; right?" Well, duhhhh......

And the victim was supposedly the witness of the prosecution, and she was getting badgered pretty well by the prosecuting attorney. At times it was hard to remember that she was his witness, not a defendant. And I guess a defense attorney doesn't object to a prosecution's badgering his own witness.

Was it that testimony that gave the judge his basis for convicting the sergeant of battery?

Frankly, I hope the sergeant appeals his conviction and that he wins. Based on the sworn testimony in the courtroom that I heard, no crime of domestic battery occurred.

City to dole out $64,000

At Tuesday's City Council meeting last year's collection of the hotel/motel tax will be doled out to various entities, in the hopes of attracting more tourism to Woodstock. The City collected $64,400 and plans to distribute 100% of it, rather than holding back 10% as was the original plan. The "rainy day" has arrived.

If the City Council approves the recommendation in the Council's packet for Tuesday, this is how the checks will be written:

$15,000 Woodstock Downtown Business Assn.
$12,000 McHenry County Visitor & Convention Bureau
$12,000 Woodstock Chamber of Commerce
$6,000 Challenger Learning Center
$5,000 Woodstock Groundhog Day Committee
$4,320 Farmers' Market
$3,000 McHenry County Heatwave
$3,000 Mozart Folk Festival
$2,000 Jazz on the Square
$1,000 Horses of a Different Color
$500 Off-Square Music
$500 Woodstock Folk Festival

There were 13 requests submitted to the City, totalling $97,520.

Distributions from the City cannot be used for operating expenses, such as salaries. But isn't this an unenforceable restriction and perhaps not even a wise one? All an organization need do is state it will not use monies received for "operating expenses" and then shift funds which had been used for covered expenses over to pay for operating expenses.

I tried to understand the reference to an allocation to the Opera House, which last year got $30,000 and again this year might get the same, but out of a different line item in the budget.

What really brings "tourism" to Woodstock? What is going to cause the downtown area to come back to life and to stay alive? And what, really, is "tourism"?

Even though it's a relative pittance of $3,000, why should there be any distribution of a girls' (age 10-18) softball league? Or to the Farmers' Market? Or even the Groundhog Days Committee, which stands to get $5,000? Or to Chamber of Commerce, which ought to be supported solely from membership dues and member activities?

Should a school "upserp" ....?

Should a school ever "upserp" the role of a parent in a student's life?

"Upserp", you say? That's not a word!

Well, yes, of course it is. It must be. It showed up in a high school student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) a year ago and has survived several editions of that IEP. And it was even read by a teacher during the May 2009 IEP Annual Review meeting. She stumbled a little over it, but she pronounced it as written and got past it without cracking up.

Now, obviously, it is not a word. The correct word is "usurp." But perhaps someone will tell me why this word survived for a year in an official document. Why did not one teacher question that word?

Hint: it's called chain-of-command. You don't question your superior. Even if you see something that's wrong, you'd better keep your mouth shut.

Is that the way it should be? Absolutely not! The word should have been corrected as soon as someone spotted it. I keep silent for a year to see who would catch it.

I guess there is always the possibility that I am the only one who read the document, even though every teacher is obligated by school law to become familiar with a student's IEP.

See the current article on www.specialkids-specialparents.info

Long delays at school bus stop

A major traffic problem occurs on school days on Route 47 near Grove Street, where a Woodstock District 200 bus stops to pick up a student in a wheelchair.

Traffic must stop in both directions on Route 47, while the bus displays its flashing red lights. The bus turns from eastbound Grove onto southbound 47 and then stops at the first house to pick up the student. The bus remains stopped for 3-4 minutes while the driver or attendant lowers the ramp, assists the student into the bus and secures the wheelchair, so that the passenger can be transported safely.

I support the safety of the student and the safety of the driver and any assistant. However, I also believe that it is not necessary to impede traffic for so long at the time of the morning pick-up or the afternoon return.

I believe a solution could be developed so that traffic is not blocked in both directions for as long as it is. There is no danger that the student will enter the street, where s/he could be struck by a car. The wheelchair is rolled onto the ramp from the curb or driveway. Once the student is in the bus, the flashing red lamps could be extinguished.

For safety, the yellow lamps could remain flashing. This would allow traffic to pass in both directions.

An alternative is that the bus could load on Grove Street, about 50 feet away and completely out of the Seminary Avenue traffic.

It seems to me that Woodstock D200 Transportation, the Woodstock Police Department, IDOT, ISBE and whoever else has to have their hands in this could put on their thinking caps and figure it out.

The safety risk is greater than just to the student and the bus personnel. Police, fire and rescue vehicles often use Route 47. Would they be required to come to a stop and wait, like everyone else? If traffic is stopped for blocks in both directions, what added and unnecessary risk is there to drivers of emergency vehicles who might try to use the two-way, left turn lane as a driving lane between rows of stopped vehicles?

Might an impatient driver try to turn around just as an emergency vehicle passed? We already know that, around here, drivers are not over-cautious during the approach of a vehicle using emergency lights and/or siren. (At other times they are overly-cautious and stop when they need not to.)

There is no doubt that the bus driver is following the law by displaying the red lights while a student is boarding or exiting the bus. However, once the student is no longer "boarding or exiting", why not turn off the flashing red lights?