Bullying - in my school?

Does your kid come home from school happy?

Does bullying exist in your kid's school? In the school district? On the school bus?

Let's join together and put a stop to it - now!

See today's article about bullying in schools at http://specialkids-specialparents.blogspot.com/2010/09/bullying-in-my-school-district.html

And vote in the survey on that blog about whether your child has been bullied.

Watch for information here about a locally-produced video on bullying.

NWH prohibits comments on Delelio exit

For the first time a reason other than a second fall down steps at the Cary P.D. has surfaced as a reason for the departure from duty of former Cary Police Department Chief Ron Delelio. The Northwest Herald carried an article this morning (www.nwherald.com/articles/2010/09/02/r_4vqph2z0rkuk2vqcfml4sa/index.xml) that there may have been a "gun incident".

And there certainly is a letter from the Village Manager, barring Delelio from his office.

I have wondered about his physical disability from the fall down steps at the police department. Delelio reportedly fell down the same steps twice. When I first read that, I wondered why he, as police chief, didn't have the steps repaired after his first fall.

It also seemed strange to me that he would be continued on the payroll, if he was disabled. Now it comes to light.

But why wouldn't a "gun incident" rumor surface long before now? Surely, lips can't be that tight within the Cary Police Department. Somebody would have talked.

Or maybe there isn't any "gun incident" and there is something else going on here.

Why would the Northwest Herald forbid comments to its current article?

SAO helps collect $200K in bad checks

Is it safe to write a bad check in McHenry County?

If the SAO has collected $200,000 in bad checks in 3 1/2 years, what was the cost to the taxpayers to do so? The following press release does not include the expenses of the program.


PRESS RELEASE

STATE’S ATTORNEY’S OFFICE REACHES NEW MILESTONE WITH CHECK ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM

"Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney is very pleased to announce that the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Check Enforcement Program has achieved a new milestone having collected over $200,000.00 for business owners in McHenry County.

"State’s Attorney Bianchi created the in-house Check Enforcement Program on
February 19, 2007 for two primary purposes. First, the program was designed to assist business owners in the collection of outstanding debt due to bad checks. In the past, these bad checks were especially damaging to small business owners who depended upon a steady stream of income to balance their books. Second, this program was designed to assist law enforcement in the detection and effective prosecution of this criminal activity.

"The Check Enforcement Program provides offenders with a one-time chance to make good on bad checks they have passed to merchants and requires that they complete a home course designed to both teach better fiscal responsibility and discourage further criminal violations. In the event restitution and compliance is not promptly received, the matter is turned over to the police for criminal investigation. As a result, the Check Enforcement Program serves as a deterrent to those who contemplate passing a bad check while helping businesses remain viable.

"The writing of bad checks is a significant problem for McHenry County merchants, as is evident by the fact that the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office has successfully collected over $200,000.00 for over 160 local businesses."

Hi-tech mobile gadgets - how dangerous?

I am amazed at all the hi-tech gadgets being constantly promoted, especially by the tantalizing ads from the cell phone carriers who want me to upgrade to a 4G "entertainment powerhouse" so I can watch movies and play games on my cell phone.

How many drivers will be watching the latest Fast & Furious or Crash as they hurtle down Route 47?

I recall going into a Sprint store a few years ago to discuss an upgrade of my phone.

The "kid" in the store asked what I'd use my phone for. When he saw from my expression that he had stumped me, he asked, "Games? Texting? Surfing the internet?" and more terms that today I don't recall.

I asked, "Can I make phone calls?"

Come on, everybody. Drag me kicking and screaming into the future...

Probation after "station adjustment"

Did I bash the Richmond (Ill.) P.D. a little too quickly or too hard yesterday?

I certainly don't expect any immediate turn-around of a request, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a phone system, especially at a police department, to work correctly. If you punch in an extension for a general mailbox, you ought to reach it and not be shuffled out of the system.

My thanks to Chief Fryksdale for his email this morning with the September 5th press release in the matter of the 11-year-old girl who tried a prank at a Richmond bank and ended up with a disorderly conduct charge.

But the press release of his department raises some questions, when set alongside the two articles this week in the Northwest Herald, where the reporter obviously got more information than appeared in the press release.

The hoax was on August 11; the arrest was on August 21. Why did it so long to reach the media? Did the Northwest Herald sit on it for over two weeks?

When was the hoax resolved? The date is not shown in the press release or the two newspaper articles. How quickly did Richmond PD determine it was a hoax?

Today's Northwest Herald reports that the still-unidentified girl got "6 months probation." OK, when was the trial?

There wasn't any trial. There was a "station adjustment."

What is a "station adjustment"? It's a police procedure where they scare the bejesus out of a kid but don't charge him (or her). Since the girl was apparently charged with a crime (aggravated disorderly conduct - a Class 4 Felony), how can a police department resolve this in the station?

Can this really be resolved by a juvenile officer without court involvement?

Is it the P.D. that set up the terms of the "probation", such as losing TV privileges and being grounded. Is that "home confinement" outside of school hours? And 20 hours of community service a week? For 6 months?

"Station adjustment" sounds like something that the public ought to know more about...

Richmond prank - not a felony?

Where in the world did the Northwest Herald get "felony" for the prank of the 11-year-old girl who left a note in a Richmond bank that she had been kidnapped in 2009???

The Richmond (Ill.) Police Department advises in a press release that the girl was charged with Disorderly Conduct. That's a far cry from a felony. Northwest Herald articles on September 7 and September 8 used the word "felony" for the charge against the unidentified girl, basing its reporting on a statement by a Richmond PD detective to the reporter that the girl was charged with "aggravated disorderly conduct, a Class 4 felony.

Following is the press release received from the Richmond Police Department this morning:

"McHenry Savings Bank located at 10520 Main St. Richmond, IL reported to the Richmond Police department that on 8/11/2010 one of their customers had found a note written on a money order slip, bearing a message of a questionable nature.

"The bank reported that the note was a handwritten request stating that the writer had been kidnapped and missing since 2009 and for someone to notify authorities. Following an in depth investigation by Detective Pamela Hewett of the Richmond Police Department it was determined that the note was written by an 11 year old juvenile female as a hoax. The juvenile was located living safely with her biological father in Harvard, IL.

"The juvenile was later taken into custody and charged with Disorderly Conduct. The juvenile was station adjusted by a juvenile officer and will perform community service reporting to the juvenile officer who will also work with the parents and any social services."

(See following article.)

C.L. traffic focus - how effective, really?

When the Crystal Lake P.D., the Crystal Lake Park District Police and the McHenry County Sheriff's Department combined forces last Friday night to suck up some grant dollars, how effective were they, really?

Due to a skillfully-worded press release, you can't really tell.

While the officers conducted a five-hour operation, according to the Crystal Lake PD's press release, the release did not indicate how many officers and patrol cars were involved. However many there were, they wrote 48 tickets.

But how many different drivers got tickets? It is a common practice to issue multiple citations to a single driver. One driver might get a ticket for DUI, no valid DL and no insurance. That's three citations of the 48.

Another missing key figure is how many vehicles, in total, were stopped and checked? There is no way to guess at that number.

A worrisome word in the press release (and one that probably won't be used in the future) is "predetermined", as in "...stopped predetermined groups of vehicles ..." How did they determine the "predetermined group"? Were they all red? All imports? All Corvettes? All drivers under age 25? All Hispanics? Horrors....

Of the violations identified were
4 for Driving While under the Influence of Alcohol;
3 for No Valid Driver’s License;
1 for Driving While License Revoked;
4 for Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia;
2 for Unlawful Possession of Cannabis;
15 for Operation of an Uninsured Motor Vehicle;
29

So that's 29 out of the 48. What were the other 19 tickets for? The sweep was to target impaired or dangerous drivers.

How'd they do?

Only four (4) tickets were issued for "impaired or dangerous drivers." Was the sweep a success, in the eyes of the public?

There is nothing dangerous about operating a motor vehicle if you don't have a driver's license in your pocket, for driving while revoked, for operating an uninsured vehicle, for having paraphernalia in your car or even having cannabis in your car. It's illegal, but it's not "dangerous." The "dangerous" part is the actual operation of the vehicle.

What really happened was three departments and several officers and squad cars spent five hours to nab four DUIs.

And what were those other 19 tickets for?