Expulsion? NWH meant Deportation

The Associated Press reported a rally by "young illegal immigrants" in downtown Chicago, and the Northwest Herald carried a photo of their march on a sidewalk that appeared to completely block the sidewalk. So, where were the cops?

The Northwest Herald's headline to the AP article read, "Dozens risk expulsion to protest in Chicago." No, folks, it's not "expulsion." They don't risk getting kicked out of high school.

The word is "deported." That is their risk. Except, isn't Chicago an amnesty city? I recall reading something a year or two ago that illegal immigrants are not arrested in Chicago (or in many other major cities).

Tania Unzueta is described in the AP article in the print edition of the Northwest Herald's AP article as "ready to come clean." Well, she ought to be packing her bags - f-a-s-t. The caption under the photo read that she is a graduate of the University of Illinois. Somebody ought to go back and read her application and determine whether she truthfully answers questions about residency and citizenship, if those questions are on the application, and whether she applied for any loans, grants or scholarships that required U.S. residency. Does she have a Social Security card? How did she get it?

Does any other country in the world tolerate the level of border violations that the U.S. does?

Why donate dirty money to charity?

An Associated Press (AP) article this week reports that the doorstep of Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois State Treasurer and Dem candidate for what many seem to be calling Barack Obama's former Senate seat (Hello? Isn't it Roland Burris' seat?), has been darkened by the arrest of a political campaign contributor.

Nick Giannis, of Boston Blackie's fame in Chicago, was arrested trying to cross into Canada. The article says that Giannis had allegedly been involved in a check-kiting scheme that defrauded two banks of about $2,000,000.

The AP article reported that Giannis had "donated $110,000 to Giannoulias' state campaign fund and $4,800 to his Senate bid."

According to the article, Giannoulias has said he will donate the money to charity. So, why doesn't he give the $114,800 to the courts to distribute to the banks that lost the $2 Mill?

Kalkirtz departure details

Read today's extensive article in the Daily Herald about Cheryl Kalkirtz's sudden departure from Huntley District 158 on February 1st.

The article is at www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=365353

It certainly fills in the blanks and confirms my own suspicions. I think I wrote a comment on Cal Skinner's blog that her February 1 one-line resignation letter looked like a "Here! Sign this and get out!" letter.

Also, read www.mchenrycountyblog.com/, which posts a copy of Cheryl's original letter of resignation, dated January 11. This letter has apparently disappeared from D-158 files. It's a good letter. It's better than that; it's an excellent letter. The Daily Herald article indicated that it might be found at the bottom of a bag of shredded paper.

Read carefully this sentence from the March 11th Daily Herald article: "The Feb. 2 letter from Kalkirtz's attorney claims Burkey had Associate Superintendent Terry Awrey shred Kalkirtz's original, Jan. 11 letter and assured Kalkirtz her concerns would be addressed."

True? If true, we ought to be seeing Burkey's signature on a one-sentence letter of resignation sometime soon, AND the Board of Education ought to be checking their files for their copies of Kalkirtz's letter that was addressed to them. Did they receive it? Along with that, somebody ought to be grilling Awrey as to why he shredded Kalkirtz' January 11th letter of resignation and why he didn't stand tall against his boss and tell him it was illegal to do that. Does HR have a copy of the January 11th letter?

Read also Awrey's strong letter of recommendation of Kalkirtz, dated January 7, as published on www.mchenrycountyblog.com

A visit to Grafton Township

Tonight I visited the Grafton Township meeting in Huntley. B-o-r-i-n-g. Boring, except for resident comments during the public comment period. The first speaker tore into the Board for exorbitant legal expenses in the month of January.

Legal fees for January were $7,200. One trustee didn't call the Township attorney. Two trustees called twice. The fourth trustee called the Township attorney 22 times and ran up the attorney's meter to the tune of $2,265. The resident stated that he believed the trustees should not be individually calling the attorney; he thought proper protocol would be to inform the Supervisor of an interest or need for a legal opinion, and then the Supervisor would call the attorney.

That would be a good way to handle it, only it will not work in Grafton Township because of the almost-impossible working relationship between the Trustees and the Supervisor.

Tonight's meeting was recorded by a court reporter and her stenotype machine (or whatever they are called these days). They used her only for the open portion of the meeting, not for the Executive Session.

There was a relatively minor procedural error by the Board when it returned from open session. Although they did not take action on any topic of discussion from the Executive Session, they did fail to take a roll call when returning to open session. No one asked the attorney for an opinion, and he didn't offer one.

I did hear a comment tonight that the Board may try to close the Annual Meeting and allow only residents of the Township to attend. Surely, they wouldn't try that. As I drove away tonight, I did not see a sign that read, "Now re-entering the land of law in Illinois."

At 9:00PM they were about halfway through the Agenda, and I'd had enough. Cal Skinner and Pete Gonigam were there. If you'd like to read more about this meeting, go to www.mchenrycountyblog.com and www.firstelectricnewspaper.com

Woodstock Court - busy, busy, busy

Woodstock's Administrative Adjudication Court was bursting at its seams this morning, with a docket that was four full pages long.

There was quite a mix of cases this month, as Woodstock officers began to feed a larger variety of cases into this court, instead of sending them over to the McHenry County Circuit Court. Keeping the cases at home means all the money from fines and court costs stays here - a good deal for Woodstock.

Not everyone was found liable ("liable" is the word for "guilty" in this Court). Judge Eterno explains the difference at the beginning of each court session.

What usually happens is that the City's prosecuting attorney, Kevin Chrzanowski, plays Let's Make A Deal with each defendant, which substantially shortens the length of the court session. When the defendant's case is called, Kevin tells the judge what the city's "druthers" are, and that's it. We in the court don't get to hear all the dirty details.

For example, Judge Eterno called one case involving a Woodstock High School student on a Disorderly Conduct charge. Judge Eterno was about the read the officer's notes aloud and asked the student if he wanted the judge to read the charges in the courtroom. The kid shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't care. Then the judge asked the kid's mother, and she said that she preferred the dirty details not be read aloud. It apparently had something to do with an online message on a school computer. I was sitting on the edge of the bench, waiting for the juicy details, when the City's attorney told the judge that the City wanted to dismiss the charge.

Three teen-age girls were in court today on drug paraphernalia charges, and the judge gave the first one a real break. The City's attorney worked out a "negotiated plea" for the girl to plead "liable" on the cannabis charge and for two other charges to be dropped. The judge called all the parties up to the bench for a quiet conversation that could not be heard in the courtroom. When the case resumed for the public, the girl pled "liable" on the paraphernalia charge, and the cannabis charge and one vehicle equipment ticket were dropped. A very good deal for the girl and it probably took just a little of the sting out of the $200 fine (plus court costs).

Dan Regna was there to represent two clients. One client was a Crystal Lake police officer who lives in Woodstock. His neighbor has been bothered by loud music through the townhouse walls for several months. The City attorney scored a few good points (in my book), especially when he inquired about the size of the speakers for the music system. "About this high," responded the cop, holding his hand about three feet above the floor. But Regna talked on and on and on, even after the judge slowed him down a couple of time. The judge called it 50-50 and so the cop was found "not liable."

Cases are decided by a preponderance of the evidence; i.e., 51% is good enough for a guilty (liable). It seemed to me that Dan piled on so many words and arguments that the preponderance weighed enough to balance the scales of justice at 50-50. Loud music is a tough one to prove in a quiet courtroom.

A ten-minute recess dragged out to 30+ minutes this morning, wasting the time of many people in the courtroom while Chrzanowski worked out deals with defendants. In my opinion, court should have resumed after ten minutes. Let the late arrivals wait to work out their deals next time.

No defendant fought his tobacco-sale ticket, when he got caught in the sting by the Woodstock PD last month. And so the four minors used by the cops to set up the merchant did not have to appear in court. My guess is that none of the minors looked too young to buy. While it's the obligation of the clerk not to sell to minors, when the cops send in minors at a busy time like 4:30PM, a harried clerk might overlook asking for ID from a person who clearly looks older than 18. It was an expensive decision for each of the three: $150 plus court courts.

A minimum-wage clerk has to work one-half of a work week just to pay the fine and court costs. I've written elsewhere about my opinion of cops breaking laws to enforce laws.

Do some good - vote today

Vote today in the Crate & Barrel $100,000 Ultimate Wedding Registry.

Go to www.crateandbarrel.com/
On the right side, under Create My Registry, look for "See who's already entered..." and "Vote Now". Click on Vote Now.

Open the dropdown menu for "Random" and choose Most Votes.

Vote for Densey and Mary Cole. Densey is a Chicago police officer on the disabled list, after being seriously injured in a 3-vehicle accident while responding to a call.

They are way ahead in the contest. Help assure their success and win. Vote today. You'll need to 'register' on the Crate & Barrel website, but it's easy and quick.

Gun-rights march in Springfield

You'll have to go to the (Springfield, Ill.) State-Journal Register to read about yesterday's IGOLD rally in Springfield. IGOLD is Illinois Gun Owner Lobbying Day. Gun owners from all over the State of Illinois rode charter buses or drove to Springfield for mid-day speeches and a march to the offices of their legislators.

Organizers, which included the Illinois State Rifle Association (which is not only a "rifle" association) and IllinoisCarry.com, had estimated that as many as 10,000 supporters might rally in Springfield. The newspaper article did not carry a number of those who showed up. You can view a photo of the marchers at http://www.sj-r.com/ Search for keywords "organizers" or "McDonald". To go directly to the article, click here: http://sj-r.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge_remote.asp?source=jsapi&remoteimageid=1886898

Chicago resident Otis McDonald, who is the lead plaintiff in a current U.S. Supreme Court case against the City of Chicago, was given four standing ovations by the crowd at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

McHenry resident Kurt Kieffer was quoted in the article,

For more information on yesterday's rally, monitor http://www.isra.org/ and http://www.illinoiscarry.com/