Going back to college? Do it in Woodstock

Thinking about going back to college? Want to finish a degree?

The George Williams College of Aurora University Woodstock Center will be hosting an Adult Degree Completion Open House for adult learners who have interest in Business Administration, Criminal Justice and RN to BSN.  The open house will take place on Thursday, February 10, 2011 from 6-8pm at the Woodstock Center.

You can attend this information session and meet with faculty, learn more about the programs and get information to help you decide if completing your bachelor's degree is the right step for you.

RSVP to cpeters@aurora.edu or contact Carole Peters, Admissions Counselor, at (815) 337-6041. 

The Woodstock Center is located at 222 Church Street (between Jefferson and Madison Streets). For online information, visit www.aurora.edu/

NIXLE Grade: D

Take a look at the following NIXLE message. It's my position that government communications should be clear and grammatically correct.

"MCSO is asking you to not (Why the split infinitive?) travel out today. (What does "travel out" mean?) Many road r (the word is "are") still not cleared ("clear" would be correct) & we are helping many stranded motorists.

"The McHenry County Sheriff's Office is still asking for the communities (possessive case requires an apostrophe; the word should be "community's") cooperation by staying off the roads. (That sentence doesn't make sense.)  Many roads are still impassable and have high drifting around them.  (Roads have high drifting "around" them??? How about "Many roads are still impassable due to drifting snow.")

Snow plows are working to clear roads but the wind is making this difficult.  The Sheriff's Office (No, the office isn't; deputies are) is working to assist all motorists that ("who" are stuck; not "that") are stuck.  Please give everyone the space they ("everyone" is singular, not plural) need to work.  We appreciate all your cooperation and patient (the word is "patience", not "patient") during this storm.

"Those needing assistance please ("should", not please) call 911 for emergency assistance or your ("their", not "your) local police or sheriff's office."

Should stranded motorists really dial 911, if it's not an emergency? Shouldn't they call the non-emergency number?

Furthermore, the job of the sheriff's department is to provide information with which a driver might make a decision whether to venture out on the roads. I object to Big Daddy's telling me whether or not I ought to drive. Tell me the condition of roads; I'll decide whether to drive.

Why so secretive?

Why is Crime Stoppers for McHenry County so secretive about its work and its membership?

After finding it almost impossible to get in contact with that organization through the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department last summer, I finally pried a mailing address out of the deputy at the sheriff’s department who is the Coordinator (or Police Liaison). A September 10th letter to that P.O. Box resulted only in a reply that sounded more like a reprimand for asking questions and which did not provide any answers.

A second letter, on October 18, has gone unanswered.

Helen Torscher is the Secretary of the group, according to her October 10^th reply to my September 10^th letter. She expressed no interest in my comment that I myself had experienced “less than satisfactory” service when I called the tollfree tip line and that I knew of two other people who had voiced similar dissatisfaction.

The Crime Stoppers International database lists her as President (not Secretary), and it lists a Richard Heizer as Treasurer. The business name there is incorrect, too, unless it’s wrong on the stationery of Crime Stoppers for McHenry County.

Helen suggested I “peruse” the CrimeStoppers USA website but included an erroneous website address. On the correct website it informs viewers that members must be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations, and it lists the local group as “McHenry County Crime Stoppers”, rather than by its (correct) legal name.

Her letter also told me that Crime Stoppers for McHenry County is a “non-profit fund raising group.”

According to the Illinois Secretary of State’s website, Crime Stoppers for McHenry County is an Illinois not-for-profit group, but the Charitable Trust Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office does not know of it as a charity.

And the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not know of it as a tax-exempt organization. Aren’t most “fund raising groups” both non-profit and tax-exempt? It’s the tax-exempt status (not the non-profit status) that gives a donor a tax deduction for any donation.

And, if it’s not a 501(c)(3) organization, how can it be a member of CrimeStoppers USA?

Helen refused to identify the officers or board members for me, and a FOIA request to the sheriff’s department resulted in heavily-redacted photocopies of documentation they have. The sheriff’s department withheld the names of board members, asserting that their safety might be endangered by their association with paying tips for leads. I’d say their safety is more in danger by driving home from an annual meeting at the Woodstock Country Club after Crime Stoppers’-paid drinks, appetizers and dinner. Last year’s invitation did not mention “cash bar”, so the assumption is that there was an open bar, paid for by fund-raising or contributions from local governments.

If it is a non-profit, fund-raising group, then its financial records ought to be open. In other words, operations should be transparent. I have no interest in the identities of the 12 people who were paid a total of $3,400 in 2009; that’s confidential information. Everything else should be open. Why are they hiding?

Cancer survivor groups to start February 10

Two new eight-session cancer survivor's groups will start in Crystal Lake next week (not tomorrow). Sessions scheduled for tomorrow morning and evening have been re-scheduled to next week, thanks to the blizzard.

There are two groups; each will have its first session on Thursday, February 10. The morning session meets at 9:30AM for one hour; the evening group meets at 6:00PM for one hour. Groups are open to cancer survivors who have completed treatment or who are still in treatment. Plans are in the works for groups for family members.

Advance registration will be appreciated but, if you decide at the last minute to attend, just go to the first session (or even to the second (but not beyond the second)). There is no charge for either group. If you miss both the first and second sessions, call to express interest in a future group.

The groups will meet at 525 Congress Parkway in Crystal Lake.

For information, contact Diane Haber, LCPC, at The Renewal Center, A Wellness Oasis for Cancer Survivors, located at Advocate Good Shepherd. Diane can be reached at (815) 382-5645 or by email at therenewalcenter@sbcglobal.net

Let's play "Find the Beetle"

What did I say when I heard snow was in the forecast? "Yippee."

And now? "Where's my car???"

An interesting part of this blizzard is the lack of snow "on" my car, although it is snowed in from the drifting. Likewise, most of the cars parked near mine had little snow actually on them.

But nobody in my parking lot is going anywhere any time soon. Our plowing service is stuck in traffic on U.S. 14  And I'm not going out, new tires or not.

For years I had thought I could go in any kind of weather. In Colorado we didn't panic when it snowed. If our vehicles and we were fit, we went. Then I learned during a blizzard in 1976 or 1977, that there were, after all, times when you couldn't go. I spent 90 minutes getting out of the garage and 100' down the driveway and then an hour getting back in the garage.

The rest of the day was spent helping motorists who were stranded in deep snow. Several neighbors and I shepherded them through waist-deep snow into our homes and warmed them up with coffee and hot chocolate. I recall one elderly woman who told us that she would just walk home - "only a mile or so." Ha! There was no way we would let her do that. She wouldn't have made it 100 yards in deep, blowing snow.

We didn't travel in the mountains or on the plains without survival gear. The survival list in the Northwest Herald yesterday was a good one. Find it and stock your vehicle. I'll bet those folks stuck on Lake Shore Drive for 5-9 hours yesterday wished they had done so!

Does Nygren live in McHenry County?

On December 3, 2010, only two days after (re-) taking office as Sheriff of McHenry County, Keith Nygren and his wife sold their house in Hebron, Ill. One might guess that the sale was put together sometime prior to December 1 (and maybe even before November 2 (Election Day)), because house sales, even though between friends, and mortgage approvals for buyers don't happen overnight.

A requirement to be Sheriff of an Illinois county is that the officeholder must live in the county. So, does Keith Nygren live in McHenry County?

Unless an error was made on the P-TAX 203 form, Nygren still lives at his Hebron address of 10213 Meadow Lane. Why? Because he (or his attorney) put the old address down as the New Address. Let's assume he does live there, because the repercussions of entering false information, even accidentally, on a State return are not pleasant.

Keith is still registered to vote at 10213 Meadow Lane, Hebron. If he sold his house (which he did), did he move? Did he rent the house back? At a fair rental amount or at the "friendly" price? Is he leasing it?

If Nygren really doesn't still live at 10213 Meadow Lane, does he intend to vote in McHenry County in the future? Municipal elections are coming up. Won't he want to vote in those elections? Of course, you don't have to re-register to vote but, if you have moved and don't, then you can't vote.

Oh, he's a renter? You mean, he doesn't pay property taxes in McHenry County now? (OK, all you Nygrenites.... come on out of your corners now. Let's see how you defend that renter...) OK, OK, so the purchaser of that house now enjoys the property tax liability and obligation.

Will there be some "creative" tax planning put into play that allows Nygren to deduct his rent? Where does Nygren now claim his primary residence for income tax purposes? Florida? Then he's no longer a McHenry County resident. Oh, he "intends" to move back? is this from the Emanuel Book of Residency? Could Nygren's tax advisers figure out a way for him to claim Florida for his home and then take a business deduction for a rent that would qualify him to hold McHenry County office? The ol' home-away-from-home method of tax accounting?

Will all his plane tickets between Cape Coral and ORD become "employee travel"? Or will MCSD pick up the tab for those?

County stop-smoking class

On January 5th the McHenry County Department of Health (DOH) started a seven-week, stop-smoking class in partnership with Centegra Health System. Is any reader in it, or do you know someone who is in it?

The class was scheduled to meet from 6:00-7:30PM on Wednesdays and included a free three-day pass to HealthBridge in Crystal Lake.

The price was right - $25.00, and even that was to be refundable, if the person attends all seven classes.

Did you miss the class but still have questions about how to stop smoking? Call the Illinois Tobacco Quitline at 866-QUIT-YES.

I was reminded by the McHenry County DOH flier of a stop-smoking workshop in Denver that I helped a small training firm present. It was a three-week class (one day/week) after work at a large company. At the third session a woman approached me and asked if I had ever smoked. When I told her that I had, she asked me some questions.

"How much did you smoke?" Well, not that much.

"When did you quit?" It was a while back.

"Was it hard to quit?" Not that hard.

She grabbed my coat lapels and asked, "Listen, buster, how old were you, when you quit?"

I replied, "Seven. My mom said I was never going to live to see 8, if I didn't quit."

To which she responded, "I knew you had never smoked!"