New NWH comment policy - as in, No Comment

What's up with the new policy at the Northwest Herald regarding online comments?

Today's NWH article about the touchy-feely wrestlers at Prairie Ridge High School has probably got a lot of parents and students really steaming. They'd love to comment online and name some names and tell us "the rest of the story", but the Northwest has pre-empted those comments by a big, ol', heavy foot on the censure key.

If I could find a glove, I'd just drive over to 7717 South Route 31 and throw it down.

Be sure to read Supt. Jill Hawk's letter. How much do you think it cost the School District to get their lawyers up early to crank that one out? You'd better believe it went through the lawyers, and they looked at it every which way from Sunday.

The only problem is that the kids who were held down probably had towels or jock straps over their faces, so they couldn't see who was grabbing them between their legs. Crystal Lake Police Chief Dave Linder is quoted in the Northwest Herald as saying, "We are investigating allegations that some members of the wrestling team may have touched certain private areas of the restrained wrestlers' through their clothing during the course of these activities."

"Hey, wait, Billy. Don't touch my ankle. That's my private part." I don't think that's what is meant.

This is 2010. Dave, it's okay to say genitals.

NWH's great idea

An editorial in this morning's Northwest Herald takes Sheriff Keith Nygren and the City of Crystal Lake to task for the silly lawsuit over the intersection of Walkup Road and Dvorak Drive, in front of Prairie Ridge High School.

Unfortunately, it repeated the same misleading statement that appeared in yesterday's news article - that there have been more than 30 minor traffic accidents at the intersection "since 2000". What's misleading about it? Yesterday's paper reported that there hasn't been an accident there since September 2007, nearly two years ago.

Like, maybe the problem got solved? Kids are paying more attention now? Did Prairie Ridge High School officials undertake an education campaign to impress upon students that, when they leave the school, they need to drive their cars first and stay off their cell phones?

The great idea was: "The sheriff should withdraw the lawsuit, and all sides of this issue should lock themselves in a room until they work it out."

To that end, send in a little food and some bottles of water every couple of days, and call the Purple Potty People to put one of their best in the corner.

And don't forget spare batteries for the cell phone.

Just when did the so-called "improper" annexation take place, anyway?

Sheriff sues over intersection?

This morning's Northwest Herald reports that Sheriff Keith Nygren is suing over jurisdiction of an intersection in front of Crystal Lake's Prairie Ridge High School.

Now, what's the big deal over there? According to the newspaper, which probably got its information from the Complaint filed in the lawsuit (how about a link to the Complaint on the Northwest Herald's website???), there were 30 minor accidents "since 2000". Well, not quite - only between 2000 and 2007.

So, in eight years there were 30 accidents. That's less than 4 per year. And the last one was almost two years ago, in September 2007 and reportedly caused by a 16-year-old driver on a cell phone who pulled out in front of an approaching car. Duhhh.....

The article also says that most of the accidents were rear-enders, when a student started to pull out into Walkup Road and stopped (duhhh.... again! ... starts to pull out in front of oncoming traffic) and the kid behind isn't paying attention and hits the car in front. Whatever happened to maintaining safe following distance and paying attention?

Why is the Sheriff getting involved in a jurisdictional argument? The road and/or the intersection is either in the County or it's not. Look at the land survey. It is not the Sheriff's job, duty or obligation to question whether the City of Crystal Lake properly annexed anything.

It is not the Sheriff's job to "lead the charge" on this. He doesn't have the authority to "lead the charge." He is supposed to enforce the laws, not change them.

How much will this cost taxpayers???