Signs in more places...

A friend sent me a photo of this sign, designed, arranged, printed and placed by one of my supporters. OK, OK, so I know that Sherriff is spelling in a unique way.

What I appreciate so much is that one particular family took the initiative and went to get signs made before I was even ready to have them made. And I thank them for their generosity and action.

There will be more signs out. It's still more than two months to election day. And the newer signs will be one -r- shorter than these! (The printer is repeating third grade now.)

I wish I had ...

How many times have you said, "I wish I had a camera"?

For me, I notice "milestones" on the odometer. You know; like 1,000, 10,000, 100,000. Just waiting for the one that reads 1,000,000.

Yesterday it was 66,666.6. Not on the car; on the motorcycle. As I left the garage in the morning, I thought, "I hope I can stop when it's all sixes." Then off to Cary to pick up a small part for a friend. As I approached Woodstock on the return trip, I glanced at the odometer and began thinking about where it might read all sixes.

Fortunately, I was not in the middle of 14 & 47. Just a little farther west, I was able to pull over (safely) onto the shoulder and record this "moment in history."

ISRA targets Chicago (again)

From a press release from the Illinois State Rifle Association.

"On Monday, August 16, 2010, the Illinois State Rifle Association, in partnership with the Second Amendment Foundation, Action Target Inc. and three individual plaintiffs, Rhonda Ezell, Joseph Brown and William Hespen, have once again joined with lawyers Alan Gura and David Sigale to demand that Mayor Daley and his gun banning cohorts recognize the Second Amendment as an individual right not subject to their whims.

"After losing in McDonald v Chicago, Mayor Daley responded by allowing city residents to obtain permits but put as many roadblocks in the way as he felt he could get away with including mandatory training but not allowing the training to take place within City limits, all the while walking around with an armed contingent of body guards supplied with taxpayer dollars and trained on their publicly funded private for police only ranges.

"Clearly Mayor Daley believes that firearm ownership is a privilege reserved for the wealthy and connected. The ISRA et al believe that this is not only a violation of the Second Amendment but also of the First Amendment as 'Hizzoner' restricts the education and free speech of the citizens.

"To continue this fight, ISRA needs your help. It does not have the taxes of over two million people to spend without regard.

"Please make a donation on-line at www.isra.org (click on Donate) or over the phone at 815-635-3198."

Is Dorr Township hiding something?

What is it that Dorr Township is trying to hide from its electors (voters) and residents?

The Township Trustees, Supervisor and Attorney are not open with the public.

Example: the response to a FOIA Request for the Town Clerk's application was heavily redacted to remove the name of his former employer, which was the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce. And the Township FOIA response withheld the name of the organization that awarded Quinn Keefe its 2009 Citizen of the Year Award. That was the Woodstock Moose Lodge, according to a FOIA response to a second resident.

The Township officials did not inform residents (voters and electors) of a bill ((S.B. 3010) in the State legislature that would allow them pretty much to do whatever they wanted with money on hand, which they have been soaking up over the past few years. Both houses passed it and Gov. Quinn signed it. Why didn't our legislators send out one of the newsy mailing pieces and give us that information? Guess they thought we wouldn't find out about it.

The Township is getting ready to expand the Town Garage and the Town Hall with the $2.7 million that managed to squirrel away over the past few years.

Where did they get that? Out of your pockets! You didn't miss it, did you?

Now they continue to withhold information about expansion plans, in spite of a decision by the Public Access Counselor at the Illinois Attorney General's office.

Are you starting to feel like a mushroom? You know, kept in the dark and covered up with ...?

After Dorr Township denied three requests for soil borings, solicitations for bids for environmental studies and the results of those studies, the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Counselor (PAC) granted one resident's appeal of the first denial.

The PAC said that keeping documents out of the hands of those who might be opposed to expansion is not a legitimate use of FOIA exemptions.

Since the same exemption was used as the excuse for all three denials, the resident suggested to the Board and to Township Attorney Mark Saladin that Township money and time could be saved if they would release the denied documents. She also put that into a written request.

They refused. "We will follow the decision of the AG/PAC when it is issued" was their written response.

They did have to hand over the March 2010 soil borings report for the "office building and parking lot" at the town garage. The consulting firm of Construction & Geotechnical Material Testing (CGMT) describes the project: a new single story office building will be constructed at the site, existing warehouse building will be removed, new parking area and salt dome are also planned. CGMT gives soil profiles, recommends against building a salt dome in the wet, low corner of the 2 acres, and would like to oversee the foundation wall construction.

The "light duty requirements" of the parking lot seem puzzling, because there is no mention of heavy trucks using the site. To me, "light duty" would mean passenger cars, motorcycles and light pick-up trucks. What about the heavy trucks used by the Township?

At the same time Legat is planning a 50,000 sq. ft. [new] garage. Trustee Evanoff left the Township meeting during the discussion of the Public Access Counselor's opinion. I wonder if the Minutes will reflect the time he left the meeting and the time he returned. My first thought was whether a quorum still existed in the meeting, but no decisions were required before he returned. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go...

Trustee Evanoff warned those assembled that there might be things at the garage site that will be very "costly" to the township and that "they" -- whoever they are -- may condemn the site. Trustee Lamb mentioned that there had been no objection when the Trustees approved paying for soil borings & environmental studies. But the residents had been prevented from seeing what those soil borings and studies were intended to do or what they showed -- how could residents object?

In the opinion of one resident, "Keeping all these consultants' work product & communications about them secret is just plain wrong."

What do you think? Should the elected officials be open and deal on top of the table?

Attempted Child Abduction - Woodstock

A Woodstock resident has sent me the following inquiry:

"Is it normal police procedure to NOT inform the general public of a child predator loose in our neighborhood?

"This week a 7 year old boy was almost snatched off his bike and a quick thinking neighbor intervened. This is the 2nd time in a month that I know for a fact that the police were informed of a possible threat to our children. The latest incident happened on the north end of Tappan. The perp is described as possibly hispanic, small stature, late 20's to 30's in age, wearing a black shirt. Vehicle description also was given to the officer.

"I am surprised and disappointed that not word of this has been made public. One would think that flyers would have been posted all over town with a warning and that the press would have been informed so they could help spread the word to keep an extra close eye on our children. Are they waiting until a child actually is abducted by a pedophile at large? I don't get that."


As of this date and time, no notice appears on the Woodstock PD Crime Alerts webpage. So far as I know, the City-wide alert system was not used. If there was an article in the Northwest Herald, I missed it.

Are Woodstock residents supposed to think that we have no crime in our town, because the paper publishes so little information and not on a timely basis?

WS shuts down Beth Bentley threads

The popular crime-fighting website, www.websleuths.com/, has shut down the last page devoted to finding Beth Bentley.

The first of six "threads" was opened on June 4, and it attracted many followers. Sleuthers generally posted under assumed names, and the website moderator and founder kept sharp eyes on messages that were posted. The Terms of Service (TOS) were to be followed, and violators got time-outs or were banished from the site.

Thread 6 was shut down on Saturday, August 7, after a catfight ensued between participants. The site owner debated over a week whether to re-open the thread and announced this morning that it will remain closed.

The founder's message can be viewed here: www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111981

If you wish to read the previous threads (1-5), they are still visible. Whether they will remain visible is not known. Go to any thread, and you can work your way back or forward from the beginning or end, respectively, where you will find a connecting link.

Thread 1 starts at www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106049

Sheriff Keith Nygren - Vintner???

You've got to check out the photographs of private-label bottles of red and white wine of McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren!!!

Go to www.mcsdexposed.blogspot.com/ and to www.mchenrycountyblog.com/

If Keith wanted to have a little side business, I suppose that would be okay, as long as he informed the Sheriff's Department (his own department) that he would be working a side job. Would he approve his own part-time endeavor? The Department must have rules for deputies who can't scrape by on $145,000/year, plus a $50,000/year pension.

But wait... check out the labels on the bottles...

"Compliments of... Sheriff Keith Nygren / McHenry County"

I wonder how he uses these. When a detainee is removed from the I.C.E. detention facility after 30-60-90 days (at $90.00/day), does Keith thank him for being a guest at the Nygren Palace and send him off with a bottle of wine?

Or is wine served to a high-profile prisoner with dinner at the Palace?

Or can an inmate or detainee purchase a bottle of the Sheriff's wine with his commissary privileges and thereby make a large donation to the Inmate Profit Account?

You can easily see the seven-star badge of office that Nygren uses on Department vehicles, such as MARV. Why is a symbol of office used on the label of a bottle of wine? The wording on the badge is hard to read but, if it is the same badge that is used in campaign literature, it includes the words "Sheriff" and "McHenry County Sheriff's Police".

More importantly, why is the Seal of the Great State of Illinois used on a label of a bottle of wine? The State of Illinois must have rules about the use of the Seal.

Are the bottles of wine purchased and paid for by the taxpayers of McHenry County? Cal Skinner wrote on his blog that "On April 25, 2005, Citizens to Elect Sheriff Nygren bought $992.58 worth. It for 'campaign gifts.'”

But nowhere visible on the label is any wording to the effect that the wine was purchased by any campaign committee.

Does Keith think he won't get caught at such shenanigans?