How much is Sotos paid?

Did Judge Gordon Graham really allow County Board Chairman Ken Koehler to get away with a non-answer to a question the good judge asked yesterday?

When a judge asks a witness a question, then he should get an answer - the answer. Instead, it appears that Ken Koehler ducked the answer and the judge let it pass. Thumbs down on both actions.

According to this morning's Northwest Herald, Judge Graham asked Koehler "at which rate private attorney Jim Sotos, who represents the sheriff in some cases, is paid." (The quote is from the article, not necessarily Judge Graham's exact words."

Again, from the article, "County Board Chairman Ken Koehler said that Sotos is mostly paid through insurance."

Let's see; how do I restrain myself, remain professional, and not call that answer by what it really was.

Judge Graham should have cast one glance at Koehler and just waited. And waited. And waited. Until Koehler answered the question. Or he could have said, "Chairman Koehler, I'm going to give you ten seconds to answer the question that I asked. Your time starts now."

Eleven seconds later Judge Graham should have called his bailiff and directed Koehler taken to the lock-up.

Do you think people would stop messing with judges, if that happened.

So, how much per-hour does Sotos bill the County for work for he does for Sheriff Nygren, regardless of who pays it.

If Judge Graham agreed to pay special prosecutors Thomas McQueen and Henry Tonigan at the hourly rate of $250, then the County should have paid them a long time ago. All the whining and crying by the County Board is nothing but malingering and politicking. McQueen and Tonigan ought to sue McHenry County, and throw in damages, too.

Illinois Appellate Prosecutor Charles Colburn is quoted as having said, "Public service is not a pot of gold." Books could be written about that statement, but let's just apply it to a lawyer's cutting his hourly rate from $500 to $250. Just because that is higher than the statutory rate earned by the State's Attorney doesn't have a thing to do with anything. Nice words, but ...

Oh, can't pass this up. Public service is not a pot of gold? Toss that question at Sheriff Nygren. How many weeks of vacation does he take in a year? For example, last year - a month-long vacation to the Panama Canal plus how many other weeks?

And now? One of his in-crowd deputies gets nailed for Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault on a Child, and where is Nygren? Enjoying the snow in Minocqua.

Interested in autism? Open house, Sat.

Are you interested in autism, or do you have a family member or friend who would benefit from services in the autism community?

Spectrum Support, LLC, will hold an open house on Saturday, January 14, at its new center at 1575 West Lake Shore Drive, Woodstock. Turn off U.S. 14 at the traffic light where Culver's is. Instead of turning right into Culver's (you can do that later), turn left and head toward Towels & More.

Spectrum Support is in the building on your right. There is plenty of parking.

10:00AM Doors open. Meet & greet.
10:30AM Information about Spectrum Support center.
11:00AM Options & Advocacy
11:30AM Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)
12:00PM Open discussions with providers
1:00PM Nature's First Medical, Dr. Scott Morris
2:00PM MJ Thinks Social
3:00PM Open discussions with providers
4:00PM Center closes

For information, call 815.337.7570

Speech therapy services are available on-site from Talk Time Speech Academy (Tammy Basel).

Beth Bentley - what possibility?

Shortly after Beth Bentley went missing, somebody entered her personal Facebook account and began deleting comments, messages and photographs. Since Beth had been reported missing on May 24, 2010, to the Woodstock (Ill.) Police Department, it probably wasn't Beth who was purging her account.

So, just who was it who entered her account?

Could it be considered illegal for one person (or maybe more?) to enter a personal Facebook account of someone else, especially a missing person, and without authorization delete comments and photographs? Or would this person claim that Beth had told her (or him), "If anything happens to me, get into my Facebook account and get rid of a lot of stuff."

If the police didn't get a chance to make screen shots of every page in Beth's account before those deletions were made and to make a list of all the Friends, is there any possibility that the person doing the removing could be charged with Obstruction of Justice? Do you have to first know that a crime was committed, before an Obstruction charge will stick?

How extensively did the Woodstock Police Department search Beth's Facebook page for information and clues, before the details and names began to disappear?

Many of the "Friends" of Beth who were in her Friends list used their own names. And those "friends" now? Gone. Now, of course, some of them might have "unfriended" Beth. Why would they do that? Why would they run and hide, as the investigation lingered without any substantial progress?

Fortunately, screen shots of those pages do exist. It's just not know if the police have them.

How many badges are there at MCSD???

A sharp-eyed reader of McHenry County Blog has pointed out to me that now there appears to be a third offiicial badge at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

In this photo from Cal Skinner's blog, taken during a meeting with Congressman Randy Hultgren, notice Undersheriff Andrew Zinke's badge. It's round. Not like the famed 7-point star grown by Sheriff Nygren or the official 5-point star (official badge of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

Don't you just have to wonder who commissioned that round badge, who authorized it, who paid for it, and who is authorized to wear it? Is this the Undersheriff's own design or a badge specially generated for the Undersheriff's position?

Can any deputy just go out and get his own badge designed and begin wearing it? Or do you have to be one of the white-shirt guys?

What if a deputy decided to wear this badge?

OK for school buses to block traffic?

Should school buses be allowed to block a traffic lane, reducing traffic on a two-way street to one lane?

Each school-day afternoon at about 2:00PM buses line up on northbound Clay Street, next to the old Clay Street School (now called Clay Academy, but also known as the Clay Professional Development Center).

Clay Academy is a business being run by Woodstock District 200. It is a therapeutic day school that pulls in students from a wide area.

"Inclusion" is an important word in the world of Special Education. Special Ed students are supposed to be included. That concept hasn't quite reached District 200 yet, except on paper. Special Ed students are still shuffled off to their own wing in a school building or, worse, sent to a "special" school that is apart from the regular-education students.

There are times when certain students need, and benefit from, a therapeutic day school arrangement. Teachers, staff and professionals know that students are supposed to be included, not excluded, from regular education systems.

As recently as 3-4 years ago parents were not educated about Special Law laws and inclusion. Are they now? On paper, they are to be so educated. In practice, it didn't happen for years in District 200. Has anything changed?

When special education students are dismissed shortly after 2:00PM for their buses, are they getting the full day of instruction to which they are entitled?

Back to the buses... should school buses be allowed to stop and block traffic on Clay Street? An easy solution would be for them to stage nearby and then pull up and turn onto Grove Street, in order to stop and load in front of the school. Or, better yet, all buses could pull into the driveway of Clay Academy and load off the street entirely.

Pyle's house surrounded right now

Why would there be a very strong, as in VERY STRONG, police presence in front of the home of disgraced Sgt. Gregory Pyle of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department?

Who's there? Illinois State Police, FBI, Crystal Lake PD, McHenry County Sheriff's Department, including Det. James Popovits. A lot of unmarked cars. (You know how cleverly unmarked cars are disguised; they can be spotted miles away!)

Earlier there was a comment on a blog that two of Pyle's home computers had gone swimming in a pond. Were they recovered? Were they intended as anchors for a small model boat, maybe, and the rope (errr, line) broke? Recall the new law in Illinois that electronics can no longer just be put out at the curb? Is Pond Insertion the new method of disposal?

It is not known at this time (by me, anyway) who is in Pyle's house. Presumably any child would be in school, although the child would be on the way home soon. Has Mrs. Pyle been notified to pick up children at school and not go home? Can you imagine the unnecessary trauma to a child of getting off the bus and seeing his home surrounded?

Are guns drawn outside the Pyle abode? Choose the correct answer:

A. Yes
B. Yes
C. Yes

Best Western Inn, now in Woodstock

Imagine my surprise, when I drove by 3 Brothers Restaurant this morning about 10:00AM and saw that the motel sign atop the restaurant sign was gone. What will replace it? Best Western!

Finally, Woodstock has a quality motel! And is it ever nice!!! Rich Ciupka (pronounced Chup'-ka), Manager, invited me to stop in and check out the rooms. Later I did so, and Anna, the front-desk manager, showed me around the property.

The pool is beautiful - clean, sparking water. Clean pool deck. Clean restrooms near the pool. And an exercise room.

The lobby is first class! And they will serve a breakfast to Best Western guests during a three-hour period each morning.

The first room that Anna showed me was huge and had a hot tub. Other rooms also have hot tubs. Rooms for business guests are available, and a secure WiFi connection is available for government guests and others who require a higher level of security for their computer usage.

You can feel quite comfortable in recommending Woodstock's new Best Western Inn to family and other guests coming to Woodstock.

The Inn is located on the west side of Ill. Route 47 at Lake Ave., just south of the Metra railroad overpass. The phone number is 815.337.0065, and the blue wrapper will come off the sign next week. Stop in to say Hello and check it out.

Welcome to Woodstock, Best Western Inn!