Crystal Lake traffic haul nets 48 citations

The following press release was received from the Crystal Lake (Ill.) Police Department:

During the late evening hours of Friday, September 3rd to the early morning hours of Saturday, September 4, 2010, a roadside safety check was conducted in the City of Crystal Lake. In this joint effort, officers from the Crystal Lake Police Department, Crystal Lake Park District Police, and the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department stopped predetermined groups of vehicles travelling north on Illinois Route 31 near Rakow Road, checking for impaired or dangerous drivers. A total of forty-eight (48) citations/complaints were generated during the five hour operation.
Of the citations/arrests made; four (4) subjects were arrested for Driving While under the Influence of Alcohol, three (3) for No Valid Driver’s License, one (1) for Driving While License Revoked, and Fifteen (15) for Operation of an Uninsured Motor Vehicle. In addition, four (4) complaints were drafted for Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and two (2) for Unlawful Possession of Cannabis.
Events such as these prove to highlight the overwhelming need to remain vigilant with regard to traffic enforcement, in an effort to ensure the safety of the motoring public. The Crystal Lake Police Department is committed to promoting safe driving habits, and the apprehension of impaired or dangerous drivers. Roadside safety checks, saturation patrols, and cooperative efforts such as this event further that endeavor, and will be repeated year-round.
This roadside safety check was paid for with a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Calling Richmond P.D.? Don't bother...

Calling the Richmond (Ill.) P.D. is a joke; only it's not funny.

After reading this morning's paper about the 11-year-old girl charged with a felony for a prank (say, a little over-reaction?), I called the P.D. for a copy of the press release. It shouldn't be a State secret, since it was published in the Northwest Herald.

I called the number I had previously called for them, and there was no answer. So I called the Village Hall and got a different number. Upon calling that number, I did reach the P.D., although the phone was answered electronically on the 5th-6th ring. Maybe you have to pay extra to have the phone answered faster, when no one is in the station.

Listening carefully to the menu, I wasn't calling with an emergency, so I didn't want to dial 9-1-1. I wasn't calling with an non-emergency (requiring an officer), so I didn't want to call the sheriff's department at the number given. The next choice was to leave a message in the general voice mailbox, and that sounded like the right option, so I dialed "2" as directed - and heard a message that no messages could be left.

Bummer. So I called the Village Manager and left a message about the operation of the P.D. voicemail system and also a request that the press release be faxed to me.

By 3:30PM the fax wasn't here, so I called back. Same mess with the P.D. phone number, and still no answer or availability of a voice mailbox for general messages.

But there is always my good friend, Mr. FOIA. So I called the Village Hall one more time for the PD's fax number. And the FOIA Request will be on the way in five minutes.

11 y/o nailed with felony for prank

Hey, here's one that makes a lot of sense to me right off the top... (yeah, sure....)

An 11-year-old allegedly wrote a note in a Richmond bank, indicating she had been kidnapped and was missing since 2009.

I've seen B.S. charges before, but this one takes the cake. Congratulations, Richmond P.D. (For you friends in Richmond, Va., who are reading this, it was the Richmond, Illinois P.D.!)

Now I don't think the police ought to disregard any note of this type. It could have been a real situation. But, when you look at the big picture (the girl was found safe with her father in Harvard (Ill.)), does it warrant a felony charge?

Geez, how lucky I was in about 1967, when I went into Northern Trust Co. (bank) in the Chicago Loop to make a withdrawal. I knew the teller, and she knew me. I filled out my slip for a withdrawal from my checking account and, when I put it on the counter by my lunch bag (I was brown-bagging it that day), I had also written on it, "Just put the money in the bag."

I didn't look at the teller when I walked up to the window. What I didn't know was that Wendy had stepped away from the window and a trainee had taken over. When I looked up and saw it wasn't my friend, Wendy, and saw the look of shock on the trainee's face, I quickly said, "Hey, Wendy, tell her it's Gus. I'm kidding; it's a joke."

Luckily, the trainee had temporarily frozen and hadn't hit the panic button. Lucky me!

Do I dare write this today? Will the McHenry County Sheriff's Department or the FBI swoop down on me and charge me with attempted bank robbery? Is there a statute of limitations on a joke? I hope it's 40 years or less. Will that help me with my election chances? Will all my antagonists finally realize I'm just a "regular" guy?

I can't imagine that this 11-year-old deserves a felony charge. It will, of course, be bargained down to a misdemeanor, but the Richmond PD and the State's Attorney's office will rattle their swords at the parents and probably bankrupt them with legal fees (or keep a Public Defender well compensated for yet another day in court).

Recycle those electronics

Don't know what to do with that old electronics junk in the garage, basement or back room?

OK, get it all into a pile and make tracks on Saturday, September 11, to the McHenry County Fairgrounds, on Country Club Road just east of Route 47, in Woodstock. Show up between 9:30AM and 3:00PM and say "Good-bye" to all those old TVs, CRT and LCD monitors, laptops and other computers, printers, fax machines, copiers, stereos, speakers, VCRs, keyboards, mice (or are they mouses), DVD players, handheld devices, cords.... whatever is left over.

This recycling event is a free disposal service offered by the McHenry County Council of Governments. For more information, call 815.477.2090

Would you bike 3,000 miles?

Recently I was at a meeting somewhere in McHenry County, and I heard that Bret Bjorkman had left his position with AmeriCorps here. I thought, "What a loss." No explanation was offered, and I figured he must have left for a better opportunity.

Imagine my surprise when I read in this morning's Northwest Herald that Bret and a buddy, Adam Sewell, were biking 3,000 miles from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.! Now that's what I'll call an opportunity!

According to the article, they started east on August 15, and they expect their ride to take 2 1/2 months. They have covered over 900 miles and their next stop is Boulder, Colo. Along the way they will come through McHenry, where Bret was graduated from McHenry High School East Campus in 2000.

You can follow them at www.adamandbret.com/

They are riding the 3,000 miles to raise money for the Cancer Research Institute (N.Y.) and for Families ETC, a McHenry family support organization associated with Family CARE and the McHenry County Mental Health Board.

To support their ride financially and the charities for which they are riding, go to their website and look for the "Links" on the right sidebar; if you wish to donate $10-15-25-100 to their cause, click on the respective "First Giving" page. They hope to raise $8,000, even though the bar graph on the website shows a more modest goal.

For information about Families ETC, visit www.mchenrycountyfamilycare.org/ or telephone 815.788.4360. The Youth Council meets this Wednesday at 6:00PM, and the Parent Empowerment Group meets concurrently at the same location. For more information and the location, call Families ETC.

Illegal raffles in Woodstock - important?

The City of Woodstock has a raffle ordinance. It requires an organization to obtain a permit before conducting a raffle in Woodstock.

Should it be enforced? Should the City take the initiative?

Yesterday a benefit was conducted at the Woodstock Harley-Davidson dealership for a young boy with a serious illness. The benefit was organized by the Blue Knights of Illinois, which is a motorcycle club for active and retired cops.

The newspaper promotional articles referred to "cash drawings". Key word, right? Raffle was not used in the newspaper articles.

But the flier produced for the event clearly read "Raffles" and "50/50". No mistake there.

And so a permit was required. As of mid-week, no permit had been applied for.

What action would be taken on an application, if one had been submitted? The only appropriate action would be a denial of the application - for the following reasons:

The benefit was for one individual - the 5-year-old boy.
The benefit was not for the general public good.
Permits are issued only to Not For Profit (NFP) organizations.
Is the Blue Knights club a 501(c)(3)? Could be.
Even if it is, no permit should be issued for this benefit, because the raffle was not for the "public good"; it was for one individual.

The fact that a motorcycle group of cops was conducting the raffle did not make it a "better" group than, say, the Salvation Army, United Way, P.E.A.C.E for All, or any other NFP group.

Whenever those in City white-collar offices see "fundraiser" or "benefit" in the newspaper, they should routinely check for any indication that a raffle will be conducted and then monitor the event for the required raffle application. They should send a letter to the organizer, alerting him/her/it of the raffle ordinance and outlining the types of groups that might qualify for a permit.

They should state clearly that the benefit must be for public good, if they expect to conduct a raffle, and that raffles for the benefit of one individual will not be permitted.

There are plenty of ways to conduct benefits and fundraisers without illegal raffles.

Pride in Dorr Township

Yesterday's Our View editorial in the Northwest Herald recognized Dorr Township for its leadership position in McHenry County. The category?

Highest number of paid holidays!!!

Coming in at 16 (at least, according to the Northwest Herald editorial board), Dorr Township outranks the federal government, who get a paltry 10 paid holidays each year.

I urge every reader in McHenry County to print copies of the two articles (9/5 and 9/6) from www.nwherald.com about the pay "scams" being jammed down the throats of taxpayers and to analyze them for your own territories.

Maybe governments should, when they hire workers, tell them, "You've got a job for up to ten years. Then you're out, and then we are going to hire someone else at a starting pay that is back down the scale."

Look carefully at the total compensation packages of some of the highly-paid people around the country, and then look at their time-off. So, not only do they get paid highly, they get to work less and less for it. What's wrong with this picture?

Maybe even MCC could follow suit. Instead of oiling the revolving wheel on the president's office and paying more and more each time the door goes around, it ought to take into consideration that, with lots of other highly-paid workers, maybe they don't have to pay the chief so much.