Showdown at O.K. Corral

The shoot-out at the O.K. Corral at 2200 N. Seminary Ave. was put off for yet another month, after a hearing in Judge Thomas Meyer's courtroom in the Special Prosecution request of Zane Seipler.

At 11:00AM the only matter attracting Judge Meyer's attention was this case. I'd like to report what happened but I'll have to direct you to McHenry County Blog and First Electric Newspaper. I hope that Cal and Pete could hear better than I could.

At one point Attorney Bill Caldwell could hardly hear the soft, low voice of Judge Meyer, and Caldwell was standing at the bench almost in front of the judge. At another point Mark Gummerson, who was sitting at one of the lawyers' tables, spoke out that he couldn't hear, and Judge Meyer motioned him forward.

I wonder if that would work for me. Judge Meyer apparently didn't notice that I was sitting in the front pew with my hands cupped to my ears. I noticed that Cal and Pete were comparing notes and trying to get straight what had been said at the bench.

Attorney Caldwell did the best job of speaking up, and Rebecca Lee was right behind him. I'm sure Blake Horwitz spoke loudly enough for the other attorneys and the judge to hear him, but I couldn't hear him in the courtroom.

Donna Kelly was there monitoring the proceedings and may have been there to carry news back to State's Attorney Lou Bianchi, who was deposed last week. Horwitz is asking for an answer to his question to Mr. Bianchi as to whether the State's Attorney's Office had ever investigated Nygren.

Since my complaints in the past about low voices of judges and attorneys in the courtrooms have fallen on deaf ears, today I made a note to consider filing an ADA complaint. Do I have a disability? Am I hearing-impaired? Is it only in McHenry County courtrooms that I cannot hear? Will that count, as far as the ADA is concerned. Should I tell them that Caldwell and Gummerson couldn't hear? Will that help my case or hurt it?

I gathered in a hallway conversation after the hearing was concluded that Keith Nygren has been tossed out of this Special Prosecutor case. This, of course, doesn't mean that he won't be investigated, if Judge Meyer ever gets around to ruling in this case. It's just that Nygren has no standing in this case, which is about whether a Special Prosecutor should be appointed to investigate him.

Nygren and his newly-appointed Equal Employment Opportunity officer, Don Leist, were in court today. Now, why would Nygren be there and bring Leist along? Isn't Leist on the County payroll as the EEO officer - and not as Nygren's attorney in this case? Why did the taxpayers get stuck with an hour's payroll (and who knows how much other County time) in a case that, according to Blake Horwitz, seeks a Special Prosecutor to investigate Nygren for official misconduct, misappropriation of funds, and felony theft over $300 of County funds to promote his private enterprise (his political career)?

Leist didn't look like he was an employee today . He looked like he was there as the Sheriff's partner in ..., well, I mean, as the Sheriff's attorney. The hat he wears now is employee. Is there a class for that? As an employee, he'll do what he is told. The big question will be, what if he is told to do something that he knows is wrong?

The fun and games continue on January 13, 2012.