Tinted License Plate Covers

Do you have covers (tinted or clear) over your front and/or rear license plate? You do?

You'll want to know about a change in state law, making any cover over a license plate unlawful. I'm unsure of the effective date; it may be July 1, 2008.

The drivers I see whose cars have tinted license plates that obscure the letters or numbers of the plates are often speeding, tailgating, passing unlawfully and committing other traffic violations. It's hard for the PhotoRadar of the Illinois State Police to photograph clearly the plates when speeders are in highway work zones, and the Illinois Tollway has the same problem with toll cheaters.

The legislature has passed a good law. After the law becomes effective, the police officer won't have to decide the degree to which a cover obscures a plate, as he must under the current law. If there is a cover over the plate, it's a violation.

If you are interested in avoiding a traffic stop and a ticket, you might just want to remove the covers now.

Flag Holiday

Did you know that today was a Flag holiday - a day when U.S. Flags and State Flags in Illinois were to be lowered to half-staff?

If you didn't, you had a lot of company!

This morning I noticed the U.S. Flag at Verda Dierzen Early Learning Center was flying at half-staff. When I called District 200 to ask the reason, I learned that the Flag had been lowered upon order of Gov. Blagojevich to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , who died 40 years ago today.

I continued on to the McHenry County Government Administration Building at 667 Ware Road, where I saw that the U.S. Flag had not been lowered. Upon entering, I asked the security officers if they would check with Operations to determine why the Flag had not been lowered. As I left about 20 minutes later, I asked what they had learned and was told that no one knew that the Flag was supposed to be lowered. Peter Austin, County Administrator, quickly rectified the situation.

I had a few extra minutes this morning, and I drove by City Hall, where the Flag was flying proudly at the top of the flagpole. Then by Woodstock High School (above), where the Flag was flying at full mast. And then by Dean Street School, where the Flag was at half-staff. Apparently, some in D200 got the message; others did not.

Later in the day I noticed U.S. flags flying at full-staff in Crystal Lake, Barrington Hills and South Barrington and at many businesses.

At www.illinois.gov was the governor's message that U.S. and Illinois flags should be flown at half-staff until sunset today. Businesses can sign up for notification of official flag-lowering days by going to www.illinois.gov/news/flaghonors.cfm

Crosswalk Sign - It's Baaaaack

Woodstock's solitary, lonely crosswalk warning sign is back. A little worse for wear, but it's back. Remember this sign, which was installed last year on Throop Street at Judd Street, just off the Square? It bit the dust (well, err.... snow) after a snowplow and it went head-to-head during the winter.

The sign is back. It's a great sign and in a good location. Drivers see it and, for the most part, respect it. A pedestrian, crossing at an intersection, has the right-of-way, whether or not there is a crosswalk. This may not be the busiest pedestrian crossing in Woodstock, but it's a good location for starters. The sign is visible in both directions on Throop, and drivers actually are stopping for pedestrians.

Could there, or should there, be more of these signs around town? If you have a location in mind where you would like to see a crosswalk sign like like this one, post the location here and email it to pwdept@woodstockil.gov

Is pedestrian safety still taught in elementary schools? A good place for one of these signs would be on Dean Street by Dean Street School. It wouldn't hurt for the cops to sit on Dean Street and ticket the teachers, staff and parents who jaywalk from the parking lot on the east side of Dean Street.

It's no wonder that kids jaywalk and won't walk to a corner. When a mom grabs the kid's hand and drags her across Dean Street while the kid cries, "But, Mom... they teach us to cross at the corner!", Mom needs a ticket.

Find Your Keepers

I received this from a Colorado friend and want to share it. If you know someone who is a "keeper", don't wait; contact them today.

"Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now - Dad in trousers, t-shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep. It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, eating, renewing. I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

"But then my mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more. Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return. So... while we have it... it's best we love it... And care for it.... And fix it when it's broken..... And heal it when it's sick.

"This is true... For marriage.... And old cars.... And children with bad report cards..... Dogs and cats with bad hips.... And aging parents.... And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with. There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special.... And so, we keep them close!"

Author unknown. (If someone knows that this is copyrighted, please provide the source and I'll remove it immediately.)

If you know someone who is a keeper for you, let them know how you feel about them.

Anti-Virus Warning

There is an email circulating now that warns about an email with the subject line, “Mail Server Report.” It also reads that Snopes.com says it is real. It includes an attachment.

The best route is to go to www.snopes.com and search for “Mail Server Report.” You’ll find that this one, unlike many other similar warnings, is True. Many of the other email warnings claim that Snopes reports them as true but, when you do go to Snopes, you find out otherwise.

Do not open the attachment in the email with that subject line. Read the report at Snopes.com to learn why you should not.

County's Open-Burning Law

Is the County's open-burning law working? What really changed?

I had been under the impression that, before all the hoop-de-lah about changing the law, open burning was allowed in the County only on week-ends and only during certain months of the year. Then the County Board toughened up the laws, presumably with respect to the health of County residents, and made the law effective County-wide. At the same time the County Board transferred the responsibility for enforcement from the Planning Department to the Health Department.

Makes sense to me. Health concerns? Have the Health Department handle it.

Wednesday afternoon, driving west on Country Club Road, I came upon a small sign on the shoulder that there was smoke ahead. And sure enough, at The Sanctuary a crew was burning tall grass and weeds in a field on the south side of Country Club Road.

I phoned the County Health Department. I'll tell you - by the time you navigate the voice tree and punch this number and that, the fire could have been out! But I finally reached a woman in the Health Department who inquired whether the burning was more than 500 feet from a house and told me the burning was legal.

I recalled an email I had sent to the County Board before they voted on the changes. It's not the burning that is the problem. It is the SMOKE that is the problem.

Returning to the fire, I also spoke with the foreman of the professional burn crew. She explained they had a permit for the burn and also that they had waited for a day when the wind was blowing north, so the smoke would not blow back to the south (and invade the expensive homes on the south side of Country Club Road).

When I mentioned the smoke problem for any passing motorist with respiratory problems, she mentioned the signs that had been put out. A driver on Country Club Road, though, is committed to proceeding. Just where do you safely turn around, if you don't wish to drive through the smoke???

Did the County Board really act to protect County residents? How many people have respiratory problems? I believe that I do not, yet my throat was raspy from just one pass through the smoke, and I had had the windows in my car closed. As the County continues to develop, residents must insist that the Board work harder for clean air.

21 Days = 4 Months?

How long does a Grand Opening last? When a business celebrates its opening, that's a Grand opening; right? And the City recognizes that... Every city is happy to have new businesses opening.

The Woodstock City Code allows a business to announce its Grand Opening with a temporary sign. For the paltry sum of $30.00, a business can post a temporary sign for 21 days. That's a pretty good deal. Hang out your sign. Let passersby know that you are open and ready for business.

What kind of calendar do we have here in Woodstock? Sometimes time passes slowly. Sometimes a day seems like a week. Sometimes, a day repeats itself over and over. Well, pretty soon it will be 21 WEEKS that this sign has greeted motorists on Route 47 in front of Xpert Insurance, near the Shell station. This is clearly a Grand Opening sign and it's clearly a temporary sign. Notice the wooden frame and the sandbags keeping it from blowing away.

From time-to-time I'll make an inquiry at the Code Enforcement office about this sign, and there has been no reply when I have asked to be informed of the Issue Date of the Permit for this sign or when the Permit expires. Could it be that no Permit has been issued?

This sign has been there since at least mid-November, when I first contacted Code Enforcement about it. That's 4 1/2 months. If there is no Permit, then the City should have been acting since November to have the sign removed. Are there any teeth in the Sign Ordinance?