Woodstock's Mass Notice System

Is your telephone number already in Woodstock's new Mass Notification System?

If you have a published telephone number, you're in. You don't have to do anything to "get" in. All you need is a "published" telephone number from the phone company.

While I didn't ask, I presume this means from "the" phone company. What's it called now? AT&T? Not sure what happens if you get your landline service from a different provider, or can you even do that?

If you change numbers or get a new number, it might take 30 days for the new number to get into the system. Remember, the Mass Notification System is operated by a vendor to the City.

A resident may enter additional contact data, such as for cell phones, text information, additional phone numbers (for adult children living out of Woodstock for example), e-mail addresses, and the primary phone number, if unlisted.

If you use a cell phone for a primary (or, perhaps, your only) telephone, it will not automatically be in the MNS, and you'll need to go to the homepage for the City of Woodstock and register your phone.

Multiple entries for the same individual will be combined. Only one call should go to the listed phone number. The individual may, however, receive multiple calls or messages, because a message may be sent to his listed phone, cell phone, e-mail, listed phone number, etc.

There are times when the City may notify all the contact numbers, rather than just the primary number. That is determined by the "level" of the message, not by whether a contact has already been made to one of the contact numbers/e-mail addresses. The City has the capability of sending the message only to the primary number or to all methods of contact. If the message is sent to all contact numbers/info, the system will attempt to do just that; i.e., to send to all provided numbers/e-mail addresses, whether the primary number has been reached or not.

If there is a fire on the north end of town, the MNS would not need to notify residents on the south end of town. However, if a train of tanker cars loaded with chlorine gas derails at the Calhoun Street railroad crossing, maybe everybody in town needs to be notified on all contact numbers.

Woodstock Crime - old news

The Northwest Herald did it again. It published (un)timely police reports from the Woodstock Police Department again this morning. Today is December 2.


Wouldn't you think that a few (and it is a "few"; only 18) police reports from the Woodstock Police Department for the period October 11 through November 1 could be published a little sooner than December 2?


Officers of the Woodstock Police Department have averaged 438 written reports per month in 2009. That's almost 15/day. Maybe the Northwest Herald would be willing to report how many items it received, so that residents of Woodstock would have a better idea of the work being done by its officers.

Man in yard injured by uninsured driver

Just last Friday I wrote an article about uninsured drivers in Illinois. I called a local agent to ask how many uninsured drivers there might be in Illinois or to ask for a contact at the home office of his Illinois-domiciled huge auto insurance company (you can guess which company), but he didn't call back. Today I called the home office in Bloomington and was referred to a trade association for the information.


In yesterday morning's paper was an article about an unemployed, uninsured (no health insurance, which happens when you are unemployed) Garden Prairie man who was struck by a car while in his own front yard on Saturday, November 21! He is in a Rockford hospital on a respirator with a severed spinal cord and two collapsed lungs. Care to guess what his hospital bill will be? And the cost of care for the rest of his life?


According to the article and the police report, the driver who hit him had no auto insurance. The driver, James L. Taylor, II, 22, of Marengo, told police that he was changing channels on his MP-3 player, blacked out and the next thing he knew, he was stopped and was taking off his seatbelt. Taylor told a deputy that he had had two drinks about two hours earlier and had had no food all day. The crash happened at 4:23PM. Taylor had been eastbound on Route 20 and crossed the oncoming lane of traffic and ran off the road on the left (north) side, seriously injuring the Garden Prairie man.

Care to guess whether he has any money to pay the injured man's medical bills or lifetime care?

The Boone County Court advises no charges are on file yet with them. A call is in to the deputy who handled the crash. When she calls back, further information about charges will be published.

The Illinois Insurance Association (www.illinoisinsurance.org) estimates that 12-15% of the drivers in Illinois are driving without insurance. My guess? It's a lot higher than that!

This might be a good time to review the limits on your own automobile insurance, including uninsured and underinsured (U/U) motorist coverage. Call your agent and ask what happens, if you get hit by someone who doesn't have insurance. Ask how U/U insurance might help cover your expenses, if at all.

Reichert - still Chevrolet, Buick...

The reporting of the demise of the Huntley Chevrolet dealership in the First Electric Newspaper (www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/) got me thinking about Reichert Chevrolet, and so I called today to find out if they are still in business.

YES, they are, and they are still a Chevrolet/Buick/Pontiac dealership! Do you know that you can still buy your new Chevrolet or Buick or Pontiac from Reichert, right here in Woodstock? And get it serviced right here in Woodstock, including warranty work?

When you read a while back that GM was pulling its line from Reichert, did you believe it, as I did? And while it still might, that's down the road (no pun intended).

According to Todd Farbiak, General Manager of Reichert's Woodstock dealership (its other dealership is in Crystal Lake), Reichert is still hopeful that it will retain the General Motors lines. Todd has been with Reichert since 1988 and in Woodstock since 2001.

Many loyal Reichert customers have contacted (or attempted to contact) General Motors to express support for continuation of GM's franchise for Reichert. Five pages of customer signatures on petitions were sent off to G.M. Reichert had an email address for a corporate contact to whom customers could write, but that person has been re-assigned.

What can you do? Go to www.chevrolet.com/ and scroll to the bottom for the "Contact Us" link. Send your message to G.M. Ask for a response, and I don't mean an auto-reply. You can call Chevrolet customer service at (800) 222-1020 and make your statement of support to a customer service representative. Ask for a response!

Email Todd at todd.farbiak@reichertchevrolet.com Tell him, in writing, how and why GM ought to keep its franchise at Reichert. Include your name, address and phone, so that he can forward your message to G.M.

Woodstock and Crystal Lake are certainly big enough to have their own G.M. franchised auto stores, where customers can deal with sales, parts and service personnel who have worked there for years and know their product well.

FEN carries photo of MHB building

Three cheers to Pete Gonigam, publisher of the First Electric Newspaper. While I was busy photographing the PowerPoint presentation at the Mental Health Board's presentation on Monday night at MCC, Pete remembered to get a photo of the engineering drawing at the back of the room.

You can see it at www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/

Good going, Pete!!!

By the way, check out FEN's article on the demise of the Chevrolet dealership in Huntley. Maybe this will give Reichert Sales a fighting chance of keeping the General Motors franchise for its Crystal Lake and Woodstock stores.

And see the separate article here on Reichert.

Gitmo poetry event - canceled

If you were planning to go to MCC at 7:00PM tomorrow night to hear NIU law professor Marc Falkoff discuss poetry written by detainees at Guantanamo, save yourself the trip. The conference center will be dark, except for the people in the parking lot who won't hear of the last-minute cancellation.

The Northwest Herald gave Joe Alger a lot of undeserved press about his statement that the called MCC intermin president Kathleen Plinske to "demand" that she cancel this event.
Alger thinks he's pretty important, doesn't he?

MCC's "explanation" that they needed more time to arrange for staff reminded me of Leigh Rubin's RUBES cartoon on November 30, in which one character says to another, "... and this is nothing but a big load of croc!" I guess you'd have to see the cartoon to really "get" it, but you can probably get my message without the cartoon.

What apparently happened is that MCC officers rolled over, when a few people, like Alger, called to whine about tomorrow's program. The Student Peace Action Network (SPAN) has been planning this event since about September and has been publicizing it for about a month. If the College needed to arrange more staff, it should take them about 30 minutes (probably less) to do so.

Alger is welcome at any future event. It will be open to the public. If he is disruptive, I will personally make a formal complaint to campus security and to the Crystal Lake Police Department and see that he is escorted from the conference center and arrested. There; how's that for being pretty straight forward?

There was a large group of unruly protestors at a prevous MCC event that should have been ejected. Instead, the panel and the moderator, and the audience, tolerated their disruptive tactics. They were a flag-waving "Support the Troops" gang that could not distinguish between supporting the troops and opposing the war. They should have been cautioned only once by the moderator, warned only once by campus security, and arrested by the Crystal Lake police officers present.

It's regrettable that MCC did not allow the event organizer to attend its meeting yesterday, as reported in this morning's paper. I'll bet that SPAN could have arranged its faculty advisor to be at the event, had it, in fact, not already arranged to do so.

What's the big deal about having a faculty adviser there to babysit, anyway?

HAHS Holiday Party - This Saturday

The following press release was received from HAHS. Sounds like fun!!!

[December 1, 2009. Woodstock, IL] The Hooved Animal Humane Society (HAHS) is inviting everyone to their second annual Holidays at HAHS on Saturday, December 5 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Woodstock.

The holiday gathering features indoor pony rides for the children as well as carriage rides for all ages to enjoy colorful light displays throughout the farm. Enjoy Christmas carols and pictures with Santa in the Education Center while sipping hot beverages and sampling our sweet table with homemade goodies. Last minute gift ideas abound in the Tack Shop and a gift membership to HAHS is the year-round gift that keeps giving both to the recipient and to HAHS.

“It has always been a popular event,” says Hillary Clark, program director of HAHS. “It is a fun way for families to spend the day together while helping our horses at the same time.”

McHenry County is estimated to have the largest horse population in the state of Illinois. HAHS’ 26-acre farm, located in the heart of McHenry County in Woodstock, has five barns and an Education Center.

Photos and stories of horses, donkeys, goats and pigs saved by HAHS line the walls of the Education Center, which is used year-round for meetings, fundraisers, training sessions with emergency personnel and first responders, and seminars through the University of Illinois Extension Office for new and experienced horse owners alike. The Education Center is also used to teach children about proper horse care.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to talk to volunteers and find out more about sponsoring of one of the farm’s residents through the Adopt-A-Hoof program, volunteering at the farm and becoming a member of HAHS.

Admission and parking are free. All proceeds from this event benefit HAHS’ efforts to prevent the abuse and neglect of hooved animals.

The HAHS farm is located at 10804 McConnell Road in Woodstock, 1.25 miles east of Route 47 and north of the intersection of Routes 14 and 47. Directions, maps and more information are all available at www.hahs.org or by calling (815) 337-5563.

About the Hooved Animal Humane Society -

The Hooved Animal Humane Society (HAHS) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, founded in 1971. It is HAHS’ mission to promote the humane treatment of hooved animals through education, legislation, investigation and if necessary, legal intervention (impoundment). In addition, HAHS provides physical rehabilitation to animals that have endured severe neglect and abuse and then adopt them out to compassionate forever homes.

HAHS was the first humane society established in the United States to focus specifically on large animals, primarily horses, which had little representation until the formation of the Hooved Animal Humane Society. In 1973, HAHS was the driving force behind the passage of “The Humane Care for Animals Act.” Through the Illinois Department of Agriculture, this Act gives HAHS the legal authority to investigate claims of abuse and neglect and intervene when owners do not comply with notice to remedy the situation. The Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act is recognized as the legislative model when other states consider passing similar laws. HAHS receives no federal or state support; the organization is totally dependent upon contributions from fund raising activities, membership donations, grants and endowment gifts.

Contact: Hillary Clark, Hooved Animal Humane Society
815-337-5563 or e-mail: hillary@hahs.org