Tattered U.S. Flags

Surely I cannot be the only person in Woodstock who notices the tattered condition of the U.S. Flags on flag poles around town.

Today's attention is to the U.S. Flag at the Moose Lodge on Clay Street. Drive by and take a look at that flag. This flag has needed replacement for quite some time. Why doesn't it happen?

Don't any of the Mooses (Meese?) ever look at the flag when they enter or leave the building?

If you know someone who is a member of the Moose Lodge, how about asking him to have the old flag removed and a new one raised?

Tattered U.S. flags should be folded respectfully (not just bunched up and tossed in a plastic bag from a local store) and delivered to the V.F.W. Lodge on Throop Street. They have a box out front (like a mailbox) where flags can be placed. Periodically, the members will conduct a formal ceremonial burning of old flags. This is done with great respect for the flag of our country.

If your children or you are interested in the ceremony, contact the V.F.W. and inquire whether it is possible to observe the final honoring of flags after they are taken out of service.

I would like to express my appreciation to the Woodstock Post Office and American Community Bank for the prompt replacement of tattered flags at both locations. Thanks!

Bill LeFew - Nailed by the Mail

What’s the big flap about Bill LeFew’s mailing out 900 Daily Herald reprints about Lou Bianchi’s expenses? After all, this is Illinois; right? Surely, we are not expecting politics to be run in clean and honorable ways.

The big flap is about his anonymous mailing of them. According to this morning’s Northwest Herald, he purchased 900 reprints (or bought the use of the copyright for 900 copies or however he acquired them) and then mailed them out in plain envelopes without any return address. I’d say that’s pretty under-handed, whether it’s illegal or not. Did he stop to think, even for a minute, that someone would most likely uncover who sent them?

Why didn’t he just put his name and home address on the envelope and perhaps add a little note, such as “I don’t want to do anything that some might consider under-handed or slimy while I diss Lou Bianchi, so I want you to know that this is from Bill LeFew.”

No wonder the Republicans are taking such heat these days, starting with Republican #1, the top dog for the next 12 months, who sits in the White House.

Did LeFew peel and stick 900 stamps on envelopes himself? If not, who did? Did another member of the Let’s Get Rid of Bianchi team peel and stick the 900 stamps?

Was the postage metered? If so, through whose postage meter? Through LeFew’s insurance office? Is that a legitimate business expense of his insurance office and deductible for business purposes? I don’t think so. Did he already reimburse the $.41 postage for each envelope out of personal funds?

How much did the 900 copies cost him? Envelopes are only about a penny each. But now consider the time to fold, insert and seal in envelopes.

Did an employee in his insurance office fold and stuff the copies? On company time? What was the business purpose of such employee time, if that's how it happened? Or maybe family members got together for the mailing party.

The Republican Party should kick LeFew out now. I mean, n-o-w. There is no room for this kind of behavior.

When it comes time to elect a McHenry County Treasurer, let’s hope that all voters remember this sleazy mailing and elect a new treasurer.

Woodstock Code Enforcement – Part 2

In December the topic of Code Enforcement in Woodstock was opened here. To read it, click on December 2007 and scroll down to December 15.

What happens when a resident reports a City Code violation that is visible from the street? Examples of common violations are vehicles parked for long periods of time without being moved. You can tell which ones. They are covered with snow, and there are no tracks in the snow in front or, or behind, the vehicle.

Or a car or truck parked in the front yard on the grass. Or it’s a pick-up truck, full of trash and garbage. Or it’s a minivan full of boxes and newspapers, including boxes piled high in the driver’s seat.

Or it might be an accumulation of trash bags along the side of the house or on a deck of the house.

Or it might be a stack of tires or a pile of exercise equipment and lawnmowers stashed on the property.

Presumably, all a resident has to do is notify Code Enforcement of the problem, and the City takes over. A resident can telephone Code Enforcement at (815) 338-4300 or send an e-mail to CodeEnforcement@woodstockil.gov A file will be opened for the complaint, and the Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) will visit the property. A computerized tracking system is used to track code violations.

A complaint can be filed by any resident. The City maintains confidentiality about the name of the person who complained.

This confidentiality hasn’t always been the case. Until about two years ago the City’s policy was to reveal the name of the Complainant to the party about whose property a complaint was registered. Even when the violation was clear from the street, if the violator asked for the name, he was given the name, phone number and/or email address of the person who complained.

When I learned of this practice more than three years ago, I complained to the City that the policy was wrong and asked the City to get an opinion from the City Attorney. The City did, and the opinion of the City Attorney was that the Complainant had no right to privacy. And that opinion was wrong!

I myself can personally handle any telephone call or email I receive. But, was it fair to the 90-year-old neighbor of a trashy household, if her name was given to the tenant responsible for the trash and clutter next door? Would she fear retaliation or retribution for siccing the City on her neighbor? Would she refuse to contact the City, if she knew her name would be revealed? You bet!

After the new police chief came to town and mentioned at one of his early Coffees with the Chief that a complainant’s identity would not be revealed (by a police officer responding to a call; ex., a loud-music complaint), I asked the City to again seek a legal opinion from the City Attorney’s office. This time the opinion was that a resident DOES have the right to privacy, and now the policy is that a complainant’s name will not be revealed when the CEO makes the contact with a suspected violator of the City Code.

After the complaint is logged, the CEO will visit the property to determine whether a violation exists. If it does exist, then he will contact the party believed to be responsible for the violation. If the house is a single-family, owner-occupied dwelling, the CEO will contact the owner. If it is a rental property and if the CEO believes the tenant is responsible for the violation, he will first contact the tenant to try to resolve the violation and bring the property back into compliance with the City Code.

The City of Woodstock takes a “friendly” approach when addressing violations of the City Code by first making a personal call on the presumed violator. The purpose is to discuss the Code, explain the violation and to request action to remove the violation.

A Notice of Violation (NOV) is issued to establish the violation. In many cases, the violation is promptly corrected, and that’s the end of it. The NOV is then merely a record and no further action is needed.

What happens if the violation is not corrected? More information will follow soon.

Run for Your Health?

Yesterday at about 5:20PM there was a female jogger running south in Route 47 against traffic at Todd Street and interfering with northbound traffic. Although there was a clear sidewalk available to her immediate left, she ran in the street, where she was hard to see. Several northbound cars barely missed hitting her.

At McHenry Avenue she crossed Route 47 and then she ran between moving vehicles to cross McHenry Avenue. She ran behind cars stopped eastbound on McHenry Avenue and was outside the crosswalk.

From there she ran south in the middle of Seminary Street from McHenry Avenue toward Judd Street. I was curious whether she might be hit as she ran down the center of Seminary, and I telephoned Woodstock PD to request that an officer contact her as she approached Judd Street. She continued south on Judd Street in the middle of the street to Calhoun, and then she jogged west on Calhoun with traffic over the railroad tracks, south in Madison Street with traffic to South St., then west in South Street to Dean Street.

When she reached Dean Street, she turned south on Dean and ran in the street against traffic. I lost sight of her at Fremont St.

A short time after that I saw a male jogger running south in Dean Street, with traffic, at Kimball.

There was a recent fatality in Woodstock involving a pedestrian and a recent serious-injury accident in Woodstock, when a homeless man was struck in a hit-and-run accident.

It is time for the Woodstock Police Department to get serious about joggers, runners and pedestrians in the streets, when sidewalks are available. Yesterday sidewalks were generally clear of snow because of warming weather.

Is a Warning sufficient? No, it’s not. If WPD will issue tickets to those who choose to run in the streets and then publicize the violators in the Woodstock Independent and the Northwest Herald, as well as on Star 105.5 and Y103.5 news, safety will be increased for all – for pedestrians and runners, for drivers, and for innocent bystanders who might just happen to be in the way if a driver runs off the roadway trying at the last minute to avoid a runner.

Registered to Vote?

If you are planning to vote in the primary in Illinois and if you are not registered to vote at the address of your current residence, beat a path to the Voter Registration desk at the McHenry County Government Center Annex at 667 Ware Road this Monday or Tuesday. Or go to the DMV on Tuesday (they are closed on Mondays).

There is no excuse for not registering to vote. If you are not registered, you can't vote. If you are registered, then you can decide whether or not you want to vote. If you aren't registered, you don't have that choice.

The DMV is open until 7:00PM, if you can't get to the Government Center Annex during normal working hours.

Do you know someone who is not registered? Don't tell them to go to register. TAKE them to register. No car? In Woodstock call Dial-a-Ride at (815) 338-5240.

Where's the News?

Does anyone else wonder where the news in the Northwest Herald is about the October 26 accident involving four Marian Central students? or the hit-and-run involving Alexander Metschke in Woodstock? or the robbery at the Mobil station?

It is way past time for tickets to be issued to the driver in the Haligus Road accident that killed two and injured the driver and a third passenger. The McHenry County Sheriff's Department should be explaining the delay, and it's not just that the State Police Laboratory is three months behind on toxicology reports. Just exactly why are they dragging their heels on issuing the basic ticket(s) for the accident?

Where is the further information about the vehicle suspected in the hit-and-run right here in Woodstock? Are the Woodstock Police still looking for a green Ford Taurus? Has it been found? We're not such a big town that the police and contacts can't find this vehicle.

Perhaps there was further news and a description of the robber who hit the Mobil station on Seminary; I may have missed it while out of town for the holidays. Why isn't this information on the PD's website? Many departments have a website that is actually useful to citizens for identifying and locating suspects in crimes. When the crime was first reported, not even the race of the robber was identified - only that he was male. I'll bet there are web-savvy officers who would welcome an opportunity to spiff up the WPD webpages.

Kentucky Police Speeders

As I drove back from South Carolina yesterday, I noticed a particular thing about cops in Kentucky. The speed limits are not for them.

I was nearing London, Kentucky, on I-75, when a Laurel County deputy passed me at a good clip. The speed limit is 70MPH, and he was running about 85-90. It looked like there was a passenger (prisoner?) in the car; maybe he was late for court. I called the Laurel County Sheriff's Department and, when a supervisor called me back, he said they didn't have a Car #1118, which was the number stenciled on the back bumper of the squad car. Was there an imposter on the road? I doubt it.

He and I had a nice conversation, during which he asked me, did I ever speed when I was a deputy in Colorado? I told him that I hadn't and that I believed it to be unfair to write tickets to speeders, if I were guilty of speeding myself; especially knowing that a cop would not write me a ticket if he stopped me. I'm talking about on-duty here. In uniform, in the patrol car, just driving down the road.

A little farther north a Kentucky State Police car (2911) passed me, traveling well over the speed limit. And then Kentucky State Police car 2852 pulled off the inside shoulder to pace a UPS tractor-trailer and me. We were right on the 70MPH speed limit. He must have hit 90+ to catch up with us. Then he paced the truck, pulled ahead and exited at the next ramp. If he got called on his speeding, he'd just say that he suspected speeding by us and was doing his duty. State Police officers have the experience to know when vehicles are traveling at about the speed limit, so he was just having some fun.

And then, at Florence, Kentucky, a local police car (looked like Car 2506) passed me at about 85MPH in the 70MPH zone. Last summer when I was through that same stretch, a Florence PD car had passed me, hightailing it for the town. I called that one in, but not this one. After all, what's a small matter of 15MPH over the speed limit, just because you're driving a squad car?

I believe that the police should be the first to obey traffic laws, not the last. As a matter of principle, officers should drive the speed limit, unless they are using emergency equipment or following a speeder for the purpose to ascertaining his speed. Supervisors expect officers to "hurry along" to calls, in order to lower response times. However, speeding to a call is illegal.

In those rare instances where an officer wants to roll up to a bank robbery or domestic call "silently", then he needs to slow down after he turns off his emergency equipment. Many officers and even chiefs do not agree with me; yet they can find no justification in the traffic laws that allows them to speed. They do it and get away with it; after all, who is going to write a ticket to a cop?