Snow on sidewalks - OK?

During a recent heavy snow in Woodstock (Ill.), I noticed a number of children, elderly and handicapped persons struggling past piles of snow on sidewalks, and I wondered again whether Woodstock ought to adopt a City ordinance that would require residents to clear their sidewalks.

The following question was asked of readers, "Should Woodstock require residents to shovel snow off sidewalks?"

Many thanks to the 64 readers who responded.

Yes - 26 (41%)
No - 38 (59%)

Will concealed carry taken another hit?

The anti-gunners will probably come out in full force because of last week's shooting at NIU. I can just hear it now. "Concealed carry" is dangerous. People shouldn't have "concealable" guns. "Glocks are bad."

Zachary Isaacman, 22, allegedly (there doesn't seem to be any "allegedly" about this one) shot Brian Mulder, 24, when Mulder tried to prevent Isaacson from entering a dorm where he did not live.

Isaacman will have to surrender his AK-47 and a second handgun. Nowhere in any article has it revealed whether Isaacman holds a FOID card. Commonly, a bond requirement for a crime involving a firearm will include surrender of a FOID card. Maybe he doesn't have one; if not, additional charges will likely include possession of firearms and ammunition without a valid FOID card.

Concealed carry shouldn't take a hit on this crime, since Illinois doesn't yet have a concealed carry law. Those who legally carry a concealed weapon have not been found to be any major problem in any state where it is lawful to carry.

Cicero's ex-mayor still gets health ins.

The Associated Press has reported the release of Cicero's ex-mayor, Betty Loren-Maltese. Remember her? Even if you don't remember her, you'll remember her hair.

She was headed for a Salvation Army halfway house in Chicago, where she'll spend the next four months. Guess that'll be a little different than her island golf course in Wisconsin or her horse farm or her California prison cell, where she spent the last 6 1/2 years.

So, are things cleaned up in Cicero?

Supposedly news surfaced only last Monday that Loren-Maltese, 60, and her mother were receiving health insurance benefits from Cicero "under a law she (Loren-Maltese) 'rammed through' while still in office that provides coverage to all Cicero elected officials for life..."

The next day her mother's benefits were cut off because she had never held elected office. Will someone explain, to me or to anyone else (like the taxpayers in Cicero), why it took until February 15, 2010, to figure out that Loren-Maltese and her mother were still being provided with health insurance benefits?

Are there any municipalties in McHenry County that provide such benefits to elected officials?

Sometimes good comes ...

... to those who don't wait.

Late yesterday afternoon I went to Kohl's in Crystal Lake to use a "Kohl's Cash" certificate. I didn't really need anything and it was a little out of the way, but I decided to use the certificate and not just "throw away" $10.00. You know, maybe a tie or something that wouldn't cost much more than the $10 worth of "cash".

As luck would have it, I didn't easily find a tie. Ties are getting wider again, and the ties for $24-28-32 just didn't "feel" right. Plus, whoever heard of blowing $30 on a cheap tie? But I finally found one, but only after noticing the disarray of clothing displays and quite a number of clothing items on the floor in the men's clothing area.

As I walked to the cashier, I noticed that the particular tie I had selected didn't have a price tag or barcode on it, so I returned to the rack to check the price. $28.00, less 40%.

When I got to the cashier, she had to call a department employee for a price check. That employee came to the register, then went to the tie department, then came back to the register. She opened a second register, so I wouldn't have to wait in the line that had formed; that was very nice.

But then she rang up the tie and the price was $32.00, less the 40%. I pointed out the different brand of the tie she had brought to scan, and she was going to have to return to the department at the back of the store for a tie of the correct brand with the right price for the barcode scanner. By that time, I was tired of waiting and told her I'd just pass on any purchase.

As I walked out, I noticed her disappointment and thought about going back. She really had tried to help me. Should I have been more patient?

So, what was the good that came out of this? At my car, my cell phone rang and a neighbor was calling with a last-minute invitation to the Woodstock Opera House to see Alan Kaye as Joe Cocker in the Woodstock Tribute series.

OK, don't laugh now, but I said, "Sure, I'd like to go. ....... Uhhhh, who's Joe Cocker?"

OK, you can laugh now.

Some say, if you remember the sixties, you weren't there. Well, I guess I wasn't. Does college in Iowa count as an excuse for missing the sixties? Oh, trying to make a living selling life insurance in Chicago from 1965-1970? Maybe I should have been in Haight-Ashbury.

Prairie Ridge groping team

Whatever happened to the "news" about the Prairie Ridge wrestling team's little mope-and-grope session?

News goes off the front page so quickly these days and is blasted into the past by hot new items. But some of these things shouldn't just slip into the shadows.

If 60 boys were involved and there was enough messing around for the Crystal Lake Police to get involved, then there was probably some fire along with the smoke.

Did I miss follow-up stories or any so-called final resolution to that? Has anybody heard any late news?

Lakewood sports deal ... watch it

Be sure to read the First Electric Newspaper's story about the proposed project on Route 47 that McHenry County Sportsplex LLC hopes to build.

Pete Gonigam writes about a messy deal in Wisconsin with the project's consultant and loss of his Wisconsin CPA designation. That consultant, Terry Gaouette, Vice President of Administration and Business Consulting Services for H&K Sports Fields, Egg Harbor, Wisc., pitched the McHenry County Finance and Audit Committee in late December for a fistful of stimulus dollars.

See www.firstelectricnewspaper.com for its February 15th story.

What is the strangest secret?

Check out this excerpt from Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret. It's only about three minutes. It was recorded in 1956 and it's worth watching. (Not to be confused (or necessarily compared) with The Secret.)

www.thestrangestsecretmovie.com/?cm_mmc=Responsys-_-WK-_-2.20.10-_-TSSCmovie

OK, here's the test. Who was Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)? No fair doing a search before answering.

This reminded me to dust off my album of Nightingale's The New Lead the Field and pull out cassette number 1.