NIU Police Chief - how much???

I was going to pass on the story out of DeKalb about the police chief of the Northern Illinois University Police Department. That is, until today's story in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle that reported his pay.

$205,988. Can you believe that? Over two hundred thousand dollars annually for a campus police chief.

Sure hope the police chief at MCC isn't reading the Northwest Herald. Guess who will be asking for a raise?!!!

Chief Donald Grady is in hot water, along with Lt. Kartik Ramakrishnan, for allegedly withholding information about one of their officers who was accused of raping a student. Apparently, the officer had an sexual relationship with the student. Read the Daily Chronicle story, which will probably show up in the Shaw Media sister paper, the Northwest Herald.
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Check out the photo of Grady, complete with his clip-on black tie. Does that look up a $205,000 cop? What could possibly make a university police chief worth $205,988? Is it any wonder the State of Illinois is broke?

Almost $4,000/week! And that's not counting vacation or benefits. Enough to make you sick, right?

Will SAO investigate Zinke?

It was a week ago that Judge Meyer ruled that he would not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the McHenry County Undersheriff for revealing a confidential DEA investigation.

Will the McHenry County State's Attorney investigate? Or bring in the Illinois Special Appellate Prosecutor?

Or will those involved hope that the whole issue just blows away with the strong fall winds.

The allegations put forth in the Petition addressed by the Court were strong. They were so strong that they deserve attention and action.

Why would there be any question about an investigation? The only question should be who will investigate!

And, while they are at it, maybe they ought to investigate who pulled the strings to get Steve Weber released before Deputy Smith could even get him to the jail.

And while they are at that, maybe they should investigate why Slick hasn't been investigated for his involvement with Trouble about 18 months ago.

Morgan Freeman is not dead?

Well, I, for one, thought so. After all, I saw his R.I.P. page on Facebook, so it had to be true; right? Wrong!

I watched his 2012 movie, The Magic of Belle Isle, the other night and had chosen it from a list of movies, after I looked up the names of movies in which he had acted. I had seen the message about his death and had even been one of the 1,000,000 or so who "Liked" the page.

Imagine my surprise today when I looked up his date of birth (June 1, 1937) and his date of dea - - . Wait a minute! He's not dead?

Seems that a hoax went viral, and it's not the first time.

Fix is in - in Lake County

While looking at the homepage of the Chicago Tribune just now for reports on the number of shootings and murders in Chicago, I read how Lake County handles allegations of stolen political signs.

A little differently than in McHenry County, where all it apparently takes for an arrested suspect to be cut loose (without being charged) is for his boss to call a prominent lawyer who calls the sheriff, who lets it roll downhill from there to a detective to give the suspect, freed of his handcuffs, a ride back to his car 15 miles away.

What happens in Lake County? Ms. Patricia Fix gets elected - she is the Fix who is "in" in Lake County.

Well, first, the person, a lawyer accused of stealing signs but who hasn't been charged, is an assistant state's attorney in the Lake County (Ill.) State's Attorney's Office. She had political signs of an opponent in her vehicle. She says she had them because an overzealous supporter had taken them. She was placed on unpaid administrative leave on November 1.

Obviously, what she should have done - immediately - when her supporter showed up and wanted to give her the signs, was to call her opponent and explain what happened. She should have ordered the supporter to take the signs directly to the opponent. Well, duh....  But to keep them in her car?

Compare how sign theft is handled in Lake County with how it's handled by the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

Lake County - attorney gets put on unpaid leave. Investigation underway.
McHenry County - sign company employee gets arrested, but then not charged and turned loose.

Lake County - newspaper reports
McHenry County - not a word in the newspaper

Lake County - matter proceeds through channels
McHenry County - MCSD acts as cop, judge, jury - all before suspect even gets to jail

I am reminded of the day in 2010 when I was driving down Route 47 toward Huntley and spotted a damaged political sign of opponent Mike Mahon, pulled out of the ground and left there to blow away. I guess I should have picked up the sign and put it in my car (and just waited until the next time I saw Mike somewhere (if ever)). Instead, I called Mike and told him about his sign. And Mike would have done the same for me.

Concealed carry in Illinois - bipartisan?

The caption under a photo on the front page of today's Northwest Herald reads, in part, "Democratics made huge gains in the Statehouse, obtaining a veto-proof majority in both houses."

Does this spell doom for concealed carry in Illinois?

What will it mean for the crime rate and the murder rate in Chicago and Cook County?

Concealed carry should not be a partisan issue. Every State Representative should be concerned about the safety and health, not only of his own constituents, but of the safety and health of all citizens and residents in the State of Illinois. While he (or she) is elected by District, the responsibility is for the whole State.

We're sheltered out here in McHenry County. Murders, shootings and assaults in Chicago don't cover the front page of the Northwest Herald or The Woodstock Independent. But the count is certainly important and publicized in Chicago.

Concealed carry almost passed in Illinois in May 2011. HB 0148 was brought for a vote, because the many sponsors must have thought it had a good chance of passing with the 71 votes needed to make it bullet-proof when it hit the Governor's desk.

But some arms must have gotten twisted at the last minute by the Governor and the Mayor of Chicago, and some Cook County Democrats reneged on their promises to vote Yes. The sponsors pulled the bill to avoid recording a losing vote. The Bill has languished in committee since then.

The NRA and the ISRA are failing law-abiding citizens by not doing what is necessary to secure enough votes to pass this bill. Advertising and direct campaigns aimed at constituents in certain Cook County districts are necessary to educate the public, which will then influence their legislators.

We, out here in the boonies in McHenry County, will never persuade a State Rep in Chicago's war zone to change his vote. But his residents, who must already be fed up with the killings and other shootings near their homes, can be educated.

Prof. John Lott, formerly connected with the University of Chicago, wrote More Guns, Less Crime. It's not your easiest-to-read book, but the 243 pages plus extensive footnotes fully support the title. When we law-abiding citizens have and carry concealed weapons, the crime rate will go down.

It makes sense. When the bad guy doesn't know if his potential victim or a bystander is armed, he just may not commit a crime. That's all it takes.

Chirikos stolen sign - was the "fix" in?

Photo: FirstElectricNewspaper.com

There is more to the story about the stolen campaign sign belonging to County Board District 1 candidate Nick Chirikos. If I had high blood pressure, I'd sure need the meds after reading the detective's report, which I received this week in response to a FOIA request.

I now have the report of the investigating detective, Deputy Travis McDonald.
Remember what happened? On October 17 Deputy Smith arrested Steve Weber for stealing a campaign sign. Weber works for a sign company that was advertising the Dist. 1 campaign of incumbent Bob Bless. While Deputy Smith was transporting Weber to the McHenry County Jail, Smith got a phone call and was told to take Weber to investigations, where he would give a statement and be released.

Hello? On TV they would call this "The fix is in." Who pulled what strings???

Weber was not processed and booked in the Jail. Although he was arrested, he was apparently not finger-printed or photographed. He never had to post a bond. No record appears in McHenry County Circuit Court records for that arrest.

Det. McDonald's report says that while he was in roll call, Sgt. Cisner notified him that Dep. Smith was bringing Weber in. Dep. Smith took Weber to an investigations interview room and, when ordered, he uncuffed him.

Smith (remember, now; he is the suspect in a theft) told Det. McDonald that he didn't do anything wrong. (Gee, that's probably the first time McDonald ever heard a suspect say he was innocent. Right?) Weber told Det. McDonald that he was just being a good guy and was trying to find the person who lost the sign that he had found on the previous day and had put in his car. (I'll have to remember that "reason".)

Det. McDonald says that Steve "voluntarily provided a written statement". WAIT. Don't go away! And don't forget that Deputy Smith was told - while transporting Weber to the Jail - that Weber was going to give a voluntary written statement and then be released. The decision to release him was made before McDonald ever laid eyes on Weber!

Det. McDonald's report continues that Weber told him during the ride back to his car that "he had contacted his employer, who was going to make a phone call to the sheriff in an attempt to explain 'what was really going on'. The entire car ride to his vehicle, he proclaimed his innocence and told me that his employer's attorney, Mark Gummerson, had explained to the sheriff what had happened."

It takes about 30 minutes to drive from the 15.7 miles from 1075 W. Algonquin Rd., Algonquin, to the Jail. Weber is really lucky that he got hold of his boss, who got hold of Gummerson, who got hold of Nygren, who got hold of Cisner, who got hold of McDonald. Was there anyone else in the loop? Did I miss anyone? Did Nygren tell Zinke to "handle" it? There is still a chain-of-command at MCSD, isn't there?

Does this smell like a dead skunk to anyone else?

Where IS the sheriff?

In the November 2010 General Election, voters re-elected Keith Nygren to the office of Sheriff of McHenry County.

Guess he had to be in the office on December 1, 2010, to be re-sworn as sheriff. How many days has he worked since then, for his $12,000/month pay? (and benefits)

One of the first things he did was enjoy about 30 days away on a cruise through the Panama Canal.

And he hasn't owned real estate in McHenry County since December 2010, when he sold his Hebron home to an employee (who quickly became a former employee, when Nygren refused to move out and give possession to the new owner).

When Kurt Milliman was murdered in May 2011, there was hardly a peep out of Nygren. Or was there any peep at all? The first murder in 2011 in McHenry County and no leadership from Nygren.

In early June when Jack and Audrey Feldkamp and Doran Bloom were killed, Nygren, according to crime-scene logs, and Zinke spent only a few minutes at the Feldkamp house, and then Nygren held a press conference less than 24 hours later to announce, conclusively, what had happened (or so he thought).

And since June 2011? How many trips? How many days never anywhere near 2200 N. Seminary Ave., Woodstock? How many personal miles on the Tahoe? Besides the 1,200-mile pleasure trip to his Minocqua, Wisconsin home in December 2011? That was 1,200 pleasure miles on a County-owned vehicle to his Wisconsin house 300 miles outside of Illinois! How many $12,000 monthly checks received but not earned?

Where does Nygren really live? He seems to be registered to vote from a condo on St. Andrews Lane in Crystal Lake? Is that where he lives? Really? Kind of a small place, owned by someone else. Does he like paying rent? No income tax deduction for rent payments.

Some think his Illinois driver's license bears that same St. Andrews Lane address. Does he really live there? If that's his address but he's not there, where is he living?

If he doesn't, where does he live? He is required to be a resident of McHenry County to hold the office of Sheriff. Is he? How can he prove it? To whom does he have to prove it?

And if he is not a resident of McHenry County? Then he should be removed from office and sued for the return of all pay illegally received. And prosecuted for failing to change his address on his driver's license. And for voting illegally, if he declared St. Andrews Lane as his address when he voted in yesterday's election.