Good laugh at United today

I enjoyed a good laugh on (at) United Air Lines today, when I read a promotional email for their MileagePlus Explorer VISA card. The promo read, "Get a free checked bag each time you fly".

Actually, what I'd really to get is my own bag back. Think that's possible? What if I fly and don't check any luggage? Does that new VISA card let me choose any bag I see on the carousel?

Thanks, United.

Woodstock's "Popular" Annual Financial Report

Did you pay attention to the insert this week with The Woodstock Independent (Aug. 17-23 issue)? Did you notice that it's Woodstock's report to residents on operations? And it's Woodstock's "Popular" Annual Financial Report (PAFR).

One almost has to be a CPA to understand financial statements, but the City does a pretty good job at presenting the number in a broadbrush fashion. But pay attention. Look at the words and the numbers, and don't get sidetracked by how "pretty" it is.

The first section that got my attention was "Allocating the Dollars". It's in the section "Where the Money Goes." Thanks for using plain English.

Of the $28,165,800 in expenditures of your money,

$10,236,800 goes for salaries; that's 36.3%
$  4,277,000 goes for benefits (for those getting salaries); that's 15.2%

Aye, and therein lies the first rub.

While the $4,277,000 is 15.2% of the total expenditures, look at it from the standpoint of its percent of salaries. When you look at it this way, the $4,277,000 is 41.8% of salaries.

Does anyone else think that a 41.8% benefit package is more than a little on the "rich" side?

And the total of salaries plus benefits? That's $14,513,800, which is 51.5% of the expenditures!

One would have to dig down into the 1,000 pages of financial information for this report and budget to find out what all is included in "benefits". For example, does that include the City's share of retirement and disability benefits, if employees are not covered under Social Security (where the employer's contribution would be 7.65%)?

Remember the day when government jobs and benefits weren't the best on the block? They weren't the highest paid with the sweetest benefits. Of course, this didn't change in just one year. But it changed. And the reason it changed, is that the public stopped paying attention.

So dig that PAFR out of the trash and get out your red marker. If the trash is already gone, drop by City Hall and pick up another copy. Then start showing up at City Hall on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 7:00PM. But only if you care about your wallets.

Woodstock Fatality - Work Zone or not?

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and police make a big deal of speeding in work zones and cell phone use in work zones, and with good reason. Neither is mentioned in reports of yesterday's fatal accident on U.S. 14, just west of Ill. Route 47 in Woodstock.

An IDOT worker was killed by a westbound car on Monday morning. That roadway was recently repaved, and there are no construction barrels or warning signs there.

According to press information provided to the Northwest Herald, but not posted on the police department's website, Woodstock Police said that the IDOT worker was not in a construction zone. He was measuring the width of the roadway.

That probably had to do with planned painting of new lane lines on the resurfaced roadway.

Later in this morning's article an IDOT spokesman is quoted as having said that the worker's "...death marked the first work zone fatality involving a worker this year."

Police have already cited the 67-year-old driver for failure to use due care with a pedestrian "and further charges are pending on the results of blood work." I note that the police did not say "may" be filed. The words were "are pending". That's rather ominous.

Merit Commission DID meet in June, but legally?

Recently, I wrote that the McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission did not meet in June.

I was wrong.

Thanks to "Frmr Commisioner" (sic) who wrote a Comment on Cal Skinner's McHenry County Blog's article about the Scott Milliman firing, I learned that the Merit Commission actually did meet in June.

When I looked at the online June calendar of board and commission meetings (co.mchenry.il.us), I had looked only on the date of the Regular Meeting of the Merit Commission. It meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:30AM. Those are the Regular Meetings. The June 8th meeting is marked Cancelled, and there is no notation that it was re-scheduled.

However, if you look in the June 15th calendar box, you see the Merit Commission listed and, if you click on Agenda, you can see the agenda for that meeting. This must have been a Special Meeting, but it is not so marked. The Executive Session on the agenda does not mean that there was an Executive Session; it serves as a placeholder, in case they decide to have an Executive Session. Personally, I don't like that way of doing business, but some organizations get away with it.

Can a public body just move meetings around willy-nilly? No, I don't think so. The public would have a hard time keeping up with changes of this type. When you see that a monthly meeting is canceled and there is no note that it is re-scheduled, then it's off the calendar for that month, like so many other Merit Commission meetings.

Did the Merit Commission violate the Open Meetings Act by this action? There's a good way to find out.

Let's see; where's that coin? Heads, a letter about an Open Meetings Act violation goes to the McHenry County State's Attorney (which upheld a previous complaint I made about an OMA violation by the Merit Commission). Or Tails, a letter goes to the Public Access Counselor at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General.

Who (what?) is the shooter?

Here's an unusual sign that I spotted today on McConnell Road at Oak Ridge Lane, right at the entrance to McConnell Hills community. This is just east of Route 47.

What do you suppose this sign means?

Beth Bentley - now gone 65 weeks

Beth Bentley - mother, wife, legal secretary, friend to many - vanished 65 weeks ago. Many think some people in Woodstock would know exactly where to look for her.

I wanted to do some looking around in McHenry County this past week, and I contacted the owner of a property that very likely could have a connection to Beth. Rather than just tramping around through that property, I thought the right way to handle it was to contact the property owner and request permission.

You've heard the phrase, "It's easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission"? Well, now I know where that phrase came from!

I started with the manager of the business that will be located on that property after the building renovations have been completed. From there I was referred to H.R. (which I knew was wrong). And then to the Property Management arm of that large organization. I got frequent and timely calls back, which was nice, as they kept me posted on their efforts to go up the chain-of-command for a decision.

Finally, somebody said "No." And they let their local police department know of the my unusual request to search on their property. What had I told them? Only that I had received a tip that their property might be a good place to look. It's wooded, weedy, off the beaten track.

First thing the next morning, that local police department contacted me. Professionally and courteously. I had no objection to the passing along of my name to the P.D. I stand behind everything I say and do. I wasn't looking for credit or reward. I'm trying to find out where Beth Bentley is.

Do you know? Do you have any hunches? Post them here as Comments and notify the appropriate police agency.

Earlier this summer I thought about setting up an office in a vacant storefront on the Woodstock Square. I envisioned  the walls filled with poster board and tips. Post all the leads, tips and lies. Put up the names of everyone who ought to be interviewed and questioned. Start putting the pieces of the puzzle together until a picture begins to form.

And then I got to thinking. What's that radio station that is a favorite of many? WII-FM are its call letters. They stand for What's In It For Me. I didn't know her. Why should I continue to expend energy and thought toward finding her?

Of course, anyone involved in Beth's disappearance is counting on the energy falling off. More people are needed to take action and keep the interest alive in finding her.

Think about it. What if your wife, mother, daughter, sister were missing and had disappeared under circumstances similar to Beth's disappearance? What would you want done? What would you be doing?

Does a person's signature change over the years?

How much does a person's signature change over the years? Now, I'm not talking about a lot of years, like from grade school to applying for Social Security retirement income. I'm talking, say, the last five years.

Take a look at Keith Nygren's signature on the termination letter he sent to Scott Milliman, dated August 17. You can see it on Cal Skinner's blog right here: http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2011/08/19/the-letter-firing-mchenry-county-sheriffs-deputy-scott-milliman/comment-page-1/#comment-110412

It resembles very closely the signature that sometimes appears on Media Releases on the sheriff's website (when he is in town to sign them, which isn't all that often).

Now, compare the 8/17/2011 signature with Nygren's signature on the Second Home Rider for his mortgage on his Florida home. Does that look like Nygren's signature to you? (To enlarge this image, click on it (you can click twice if you want to). Then, to come back here, click on the Back button on your browser.

Wouldn't be interesting to have a graphoanalyst examine both signatures and give an opinion? Not only could such an expert opine as to whether two different people signed those signatures, but s/he could tell us a lot about the person who signed each name. Open up a second window and pull up the McHenry County Blog article. Then toggle back and forth and look at both signatures.

Now the questions are: who signed Keith's name on the mortgage rider? If not Keith, what officer at Home State Bank watched someone sign that rider, knowing it wasn't Keith? Or was the Rider signed out of the presence of a bank officer, and then the reviewing officer just "assumed" that Keith had signed it.

No one can sign anyone else's name to anything without legal authority. That's why the Undersheriff now puts his "AZ" by Keith's name on the Media Releases. That little detail slipped by everyone (heh-heh), until I called them on it earlier this year. Picky, picky, picky. You bet! If someone happened to hold Keith's Power of Attorney for signing that Rider, then that person was required to sign it as the holder of the Power and so notate on the document.

So, what do you think? Did Keith sign both the Rider and Milliman's letter?