Sgt. Gorski's Case - Delayed Once More

At 9:00AM Judge McIntyre was to issue her written opinion in the case of Woodstock Police Chief Robert Lowen against the City's own 3-man Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. Yesterday I learned that the decision will not be rendered today; the case has been continued.

I call this the "Gorski Case" - not because Chief Lowen's case is against Sgt. Gorski, a 19-year veteran of the Woodstock Police Department who suffered two on-the-job disabling back injuries, but because he is the one being harmed by this case and the continual delays. His pay stopped a year ago. Although the BOFPC directed the Chief and the City to pay him all his back pay on February 14, 2009 (the Findings and Decision are public record, although not published anywhere by the City), the City has not done so. Can't they find the checkbook?

Now, there could be many reasons for the delay. Perhaps Gorski told his attorneys to delay it because he didn't want any taxable income this year.

Maybe he told his attorneys to delay it because he didn't want to spoil his childrens' holiday celebration. He may have already told them there won't be any gifts and, if the City pays him now, his kids will say he lied to them.

Maybe he'd have to settle up with any creditors who have been waiting patiently for the City to pay him the money so ordered ten (that's TEN) months ago.

Maybe his attorney took pity on the financial plight of the City of Woodstock, which might be running short on paper to print his check and asked the judge to hold off on the decision to give the City time to restock its paper supply.

Psst. He'll take cash and he'll even pick it up to save the City the $.42 to mail it to him.

Did the Grinch visit the McHenry County Courthouse?

Wrong Date - Too Late

When the Woodstock City Council set May 1, 2014, for the date by which the baseball stadium is to be built on the Merryman mining project land, it picked the wrong date.

This project was rushed through the Plan Commission and the City Council to accommodate Tom Merryman's position that he wouldn't do the deal if the City Council didn't approve it on December 16. When that statement was made, had I been mayor, I'd have said, "Too bad; so sad. Let's go home."

The pitch was that the site for the baseball stadium needed to be "pad-ready" in the Spring of 2009 to allow time for building the stadium in time for opening day of the 2010 baseball season.

So why the 2014 date? Does anyone doubt that mining activity will commence right away? Could Merryman mine gravel for five years and walk away, just saying, "Well, the stadium guys didn't do their part; not my fault."

This is not likely, if the baseball guys are to be believed. It appears that they are anxious to bring the Frontier League (who???) to Woodstock.

Let's hope they do. For me, the question remains. Why 2014? Why five years down the road? Why did the Council not, instead, create a progress schedule for construction and condition the mining on that?

Theater buys 215 Main St.

At the December 16 City Council meeting the sole bid for 215 Main Street was opened, and the purchase of 215 Main Street was awarded to the operating group of Classic Cinemas for its bid of $178,400. This will allow its desired expansion of the Woodstock movie theater.

During the open comment period one resident voiced concern about the sale of the property to the theater group, saying that acceptance of the bid was "tacit approval" of the theater’s expansion plans. He commented further that three-quarters of the block would be owned by one business entity and, if they went out of business in ten years, Woodstock would have a large white elephant right downtown.

This man, and others who spoke last night, are to be commended for their interest and concerns about the security and future of our City and for their willingness to approach the City Council and speak up.

City Council member RB Thompson asked about the assessed valuation of the property that was to be sold and whether staff had compared the bid with amount of the bid.

The one-word answer, “Yes”, was totally inadequate for the audience but apparently satisfied RB, because he did not ask the further and obvious question as to just what the assessed valuation was. So we were left wondering whether the bid was somewhat close to Fair Market Value (which might not be anywhere close to the appraised value) or above or below Fair Market Value and by what amount.

The property is not found on the McHenry County Treasurer’s rolls, probably because it is owned by the City of Woodstock and not taxable. As soon as the assessed valuation (and any other valuation) is found, I’ll report it below.

Watch for a Comment below or a future article about the value of the property.

Police Discretion - Abused?

Back on September 26, 2008, the Northwest Herald reported an accident the previous day on Route 47 involving a van and a motorcycle. An Illinois State Police trooper was northbound on Route 47 on his police motorcycle and failed to slow before hitting a vehicle near Route 176.


There was no mention of citations in the article. Knowing that often citations are not issued to law enforcement officers who are involved in accidents and who are at fault in the accident, I called the press officer at the State Police district in Elgin for information. I had to call twice to reach her, only to find that she had no information about the accident.


On October 20 I contacted the trooper in charge of the motorcycle enforcement bureau, and he hadn't seen the accident report yet. He had requested the report a few earlier after receiving a message from me, and he told me he'd call me back after receiving it.


When he didn't call me back, I filed a Freedom of Information request with the State Police on November 11. On December 13 I received the response - a two-page, standard crash report.


The cause? "Failing to reduce speed to avoid crash."


The report does not indicate that any ticket was issued. Had a civilian run into the rear of a vehicle stopped in the highway and waiting to turn left, would he have been ticketed? Of course!


Should the trooper have been ticketed? Yes.


A ticket to a driver, even a trooper, is not a life-changing event. You just pay it and go on with your life. Many drivers, including troopers, drive a lot of miles in a year or in a career. For a trooper (or other law enforcement officer) not to be ticketed in an at-fault accident is a glaring error that indicates, to me, favoritism and abuse of the discretion granted to officers as to whether or not they should issue a ticket.


How does a trooper explain ticketing a civilian driver but not a fellow trooper? Would any defense attorney make hay on that one in court, if he were defending a driver cited by the investigating trooper?


When operating a motorcycle or driving a patrol car on patrol (not in pursuit), the driver is just like anyone else who is driving a motor vehicle as part of his employment. He is expected to obey all traffic rules. And he ought to experience same consequences as any other driver.

I'm once again reminded of the story of a rookie, black police officer in the South who got into an accident while enroute to a call. It was his fault, so he wrote himself a ticket. Where did he end up in police work? Chief of the Charleston (S.C.) Police Department!

Mining/Stadium Plan - only one No

Councilman Dick Ahrens was the lone wolf last night. After asking questions that revealed his consideration of and sensitivity to the pleas by residents and other interested parties for the City Council to delay its decision on the Merryman mining project, Dick voted "No", standing alone while the mayor and the other five Council members voted in favor of the special use permit with 50 (I think that was the final number) Conditions.

Dick's vote was the right vote. Most present last night were not against the project. What many were against was the rush to approve it without full consideration.

Click on the image to enlarge it. Look at the size of the project. See that "little" area at the bottom that is the Memorial Medical Center campus? Then click on the Back button on your browser to return to The Woodstock Advocate.

It was 1:00AM, and I didn't stick around to ask Dick his reason(s) for voting against approval.

Thanks, Dick. Whatever your reasons were, your decision is noted.

Gravel Truck Traffic

Woodstock City Council member RB Thompson raised important issues at last night's marathon City Council meeting about the gravel-hauling truck traffic to be generated by the Merryman mining project.

Tom Merryman expects to mine 1,000,000 tons over a seven-year period. Someone's calculator worked, and that came out to 142,000 tons/year - on the average. How many trucks loaded with gravel will pull out on U.S. Highway 14 in a year? 6,500 trucks per year. On the average.

OK, so 6,500 trucks/year = "only" 22 trucks a day, assuming 300 working days with mining hours of 7AM-9PM Monday-Saturday, as approved. On the average.

Of course, averages don't really mean anything. They are just numbers.

RB was on the right track with his questions, but he didn't push hard enough. Any driver who has ever pulled up to the stop sign on Lily Pond Road at Route 14 (by the closed LaTejanita Restaurant (which is becoming a used vehicle lot (it's in the County, not the City))) knows it is almost impossible to turn left to go to Crystal Lake. And most of the trucks will be turning left, according to statements last night. Turning right (toward Woodstock) is hard enough; turning left - safely - is next to impossible.

Now imagine that you are the driver of a gravel truck hauling 22 tons of aggravate just loaded. You wait and wait, and then you wait some more. Finally, you see a little opening and you start across the westbound lane, hoping eastbound drivers will slow (probably sharply). Gravel trucks are not known for rapid acceleration; right?

What the heck! If they hit you, there will be far greater damage to their shiny SUVs than to your gravel truck.

Will Woodstock have to annex the LaTejanita property and buy the restaurant for a police sub-station to handle all the accidents? Will Woodstock Fire & Rescue partner with the P.D.? Fire trucks and paramedics will certainly be needed at the accident scenes.

Can Lily Pond Road handle 6,500 trucks at 22 tons each?

Thanks, RB, for raising your important questions. Too bad the full answers didn't show up.

Wha' Happened?

What really happened at last night's Woodstock City Council meeting?

The bottom line - on the table was a request for special use permit to begin mining gravel in Woodstock on the north side of U.S. Route 14, west of Lily Pond Road.

I suspect a lot of people in Woodstock thought the City Council was voting on a multi-purpose event venue, including a minor league baseball stadium and a new home for the McHenry County Fairgrounds.

One speaker asked if the City Council would rush through the permit process if the request were ONLY for a mining project. If the Council had an answer for that one, I didn't hear it.

The Petitioner claimed, through his attorney, that he would abandon the entire project if the City Council didn't approve it last night.

Whoa! Did Woodstock slide on the ice into Chicago last night?

No one (no City Council member, including the Mayor) asked just what the rush was to get the permit approved last night. Words slid around about timing, urgency, intimations that the seller wasn't going to sell the land (at the same price?) if the Council didn't approve it at that meeting.

Another speaker asked the Council to delay its decision and take time to study an important environment report that was delivered to the City only the day before. He referred to "transparency" in dealings and said, "If the proposal can't stand a one-month delay, then there is something wrong with the proposal."

The Council and the Petitioner continued to skate around on the ice on one final sticking point. Everybody was tired by 12:30AM, and confusion was mounting over word-smithing of a final condition at the last minute. Had sufficient time been taken to work out details before the Council meeting, the meeting would have been 2-3 hours, not 6 hours. That's SIX hours. (Maybe I'll re-think my position on Council pay. At least, they don't get paid by the hour.)

The deal started out with 48 Conditions attached to the Plan Commission's recommendation for approval. Will we ever know why the Plan Commission voted (unanimously, which is unexplainable) to clear the request with a record-setting 48 Conditions?

The last condition? (unless I closed my eyes (and ears) too many times between midnight and 1:00AM) If the stadium doesn't get started by May 2014, then no further mining can occur. If anyone thought Woodstock was voting on a baseball stadium and not a mining project, he should have stayed to the end of the meeting.

Merryman's claim is that the construction of the stadium must start in the Spring of 2009 in order to be ready for the first game in 2010. Can a ballpark be built in a year? Stadiums, buildings, parking. Wetlands protected. Environment studies. Stormwater management studies.

One thing is for sure. The mining will start.