Just call me "Mr. 411"

As a result of all the articles I have written on many subjects, my name shows up in many Google searches. And, as a result of that, I get many telephone calls and many e-mails.

Just this morning, a man called, thinking he was calling the Tollway. He was calling about a missed toll yesterday. He does not have a transponder and had found himself without change at an unattended toll booth on an exit. The only thing you can do is to go on through. Well, I suppose you could sit there for an hour or two until a trooper came along... I gave him the phone number for the Tollway and also told him how he could pay a missed toll online.

I am happy to help, when people call me.

I've gotten calls for Turning Point, DCFS, YSB, CAMHCO, and I don't know how many other organizations. And I've gotten emails regarding immigration detainees at the McHenry County Jail. My knowledge about immigration issues has gone way up in the past 18 months.

Sometimes I get more deeply involved and might go to court hearings month and month with someone who is being worked over by the legal system. I have seen cases dismissed as a result of my involvement. I'm not a lawyer, but I can certainly "educate" a person about the system. I can advocate for them, and I can teach them how to advocate for themselves.

Recently I was contacted by a German woman searching for a Nigerian friend with whom she had lost contact over a year ago.He has been a "guest" in Hotel Nygren at $90.00/day for the past three months. I helped her establish commissary funds for him, telephone contact and email communications. I even went over to the jail to visit him. He hadn't had any visitor since coming to Hotel Nygren in May. His criminal charges in Chicago have been resolved and his short sentence completed.

I won't go on a long rant right here about the huge waste of money by our Federal Government on housing Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees who are awaiting court appearances and decisions and who are not flight risks. (Or, even if they are, so what, if there are no serious Federal criminal charges against them? If they flee the U.S., they are gone, and we don't have to spend $90/day to house and feed them.)

Got sense? Tell the Tollway

Remember that Tollway board member last week who said something about cents? Well, you can tell him that you've got sense! Tell him (and the rest of the Board) what you think about the $12 Billion capital plan.

Thanks to a nudge from Cal Skinner, I'll tell you how to do it.

Go to the Illinois Tollway website by clicking right here and then scroll down a little to the box for "Capital Plan Comments". Put in your 2¢ worth and send it to them. But hurry; the decision will be made tomorrow morning at the 10:00AM board meeting.

Read Cal Skinner's articles on McHenry County Blog.

Warrants at MCSD

How many warrants are awaiting service at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department? How old is the oldest?
There are (well, I'm really not sure of the exact number) 3,042. Read below why I'm unsure of the number.

The oldest unserved warrant is a Failure to Appear with a 1977 date.

These got my attention, when Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart recently began posting online the names of all the unserved warrants in his department. Remember when MCSD and a warrants team served a 13-year-old warrant on a woman hiding in plain sight in Bourbonnais, Ill.? A judge threw that one out, but only after she sat in jail.

Information in response to my FOIA request included these details:

"Felony warrants are processed within 24 hours of receiving – at which time they are turned over to the Apprehension Unit for service.

"All Misdemeanor warrants are also processed within 24 hours and the in county ones are turned over to the Patrol Division for service."

So the paperwork for incoming warrants gets taken care of right away. 

Now, here's why I question the number of outstanding warrants. Help me with the math here. From the August 1 MCSD report to Corrections Chief Sedlock:

Active Warrants as of: 07-05-2011                3141

Served: -250

 Active: +329

                                                       Quashed: -308

Difference:+130

Active Warrants as of: 08-01-2011                  3042

I get a different total (actually, one more favorable to the Department).

3141 on 7/5/2011

-250 served in July

2891

-308 quashed

2583

+329 new warrants (if "Active" means new)

2912 outstanding as of 8/1/11 (corrected 8/25/11 Ed.)

What do you suppose the "Difference: +130" means in the report? Do you think anyone reads the monthly report?

Many burglaries in Marengo and area

The following message came from a friend in the Marengo area. If you are interested in contacting this person for more information, let me know your name and phone number, and I'll pass it along. Email it to gus@woodstockadvocate.com

"To all my friends in Marengo:

"WATCH OUT! BURGLARS...ARMED!!! PLEASE READ:

"I wanted you to know to keep your doors locked even during the day when you're home. Preferably, load your guns and keep them near you. There have been a rash of burglaries ALL OVER Marengo. Apparently, the Northwest Herald doesn't deem this as newsworthy. These guys are armed. It's happening everywhere in Marengo: Locust Street, State Street (near the Avenues), Ridgeview Ln, River Road  in 2 places, (one successful even getting guns out, and one unsuccessful), Kishwaukee Valley Road, Tomlin Street, and according to the McHenry County Sheriff, they also hit really good up on Hawthorne and Koda Ridge, and these are the ones I KNOW of...I can only imagine how many I haven't heard of.

"Yep, Ridgeview, 5 doors down from my house. They're after guns and electronic equipment/computers.

"One of the people on Kish rd. was out mowing his lawn on his rider with his kids and dog in the backyard, he saw a Com Ed truck pulling out of his drive, went in his house and it was cleaned out. It's not a real Com Ed truck. It was a small white S-10 pickup with a sticker on the tailgate that said "Com Ed". Com Ed doesn't have stickers on their tailgates. Also, a friend of mine works with a guy who had a man in a Com Ed white outfit knock on his door and when he answered, the guy looked stunned and asked if "Bruce" was home. When he told him he wasn't, the guy left. He didn't know this was going on or he would have reported it. A day later, a house on his block (on Tomlin) was robbed. HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS IF THE FRIGGIN' NORTHWEST HERALD would have reported it. But of course, not ONE of these burglaries are in the Northwest Herald. Go figure.

"One of my personal friends had her garage door lifted. She's on River Rd just west of Rt. 23. When the police came for the police report they told her she should keep her cell phone on her at all times, even in her pocket when she goes to the bathroom. They also told her that these 3 men will cut phone lines and break in through glass in the back of the locations or come in the front if the door is unlocked. They're opening garage doors with a frequency clicker so lock the doors of your houses between your garage and your house. She also said that they are not afraid of dogs. Dogs are NOT deterring them. The Sheriff was not specific as to how he knew that, but I can only imagine. YIKES.

"My other friend's mom had her house cleaned out and guns stolen out of her house. It was (name deleted)'s mom's house on Route 23 by the Avenues. (Identity deleted)

"I'm passing this on to you in hopes that you will pass this on to your Marengo friends. Call your neighbors and tell them to LOCK their doors!!

"I have heard of 9 robberies so far but I'm sure there were more we are not hearing about, all in the town of Marengo.

"I have contacted the Northwest Herald but they said the news would not come out until two days from now because if the info isn't in by 5:30 p.m., it won't go in until the next day. I  have also faxed ABC and NBC because I think the story inside the story is that the local paper isn't alerting their citizens. They say the police have to confirm the info. Since the police don't want this reported cause it would ruin their "Norman Rockwell town" reputation, this is like the fox guarding the hen house. It's up to us to spread the word. Please do so."

Huntley I-90 interchange - $64,000,000!

You're kidding; right? $64,000,000 to improve the Huntley interchange of I-90 and Route 47? This is part of the Illinois Tollway's $12 Billiion (that's BILLION - $12,000,000,000) fantasy that will probably get a green light on Thursday morning.

If construction workers and Tollway employees were taken out of the mix of people showing up at the series of hearings held by the Tollway folks, how many people want $12 Billion spent and how many were against it? We'll never hear those numbers. A handful of people, those on the Tollway Board, will decide on this huge capital program on Thursday. The last public hearings were held last night in Kane and Lake Counties.

If you want one final scream, go to Downers Grove.The Tollway Board meets ...  well, let's see; just how hard should it be to find the date, time and location of Thursday's Board meeting on the Illinois Tollway website  Go there and see if you can find it in less than five minutes!

Found it by going to the Site Map (top of homepage). Thursday's meeting will be August 25, 10:00AM, in the Tollway headquarters boardroom, 2700 Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove, Ill. The agenda indicates that "live feed Webcasting", but there is no information about where or how to access that.

Oh, back to Huntley. Of the $64,000,000 the Tollway, out of your $12,000,000,000 won't even be paying for 100% of the Huntley interchange. Where is the money coming from?

50% from the Tollway
25% from IDOT
10% from the Village of Huntley
8.5% from Kane County
6.5% from McHenry County

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler got his 2¢'s worth in at Friday's night's hearing in Huntley. He said this interchange will create a "great economic engine for McHenry County now and when the economy picks up." That what McHenry County gets for its share of $4,160,000.

The Tollway's capital plan is like an avalanche sliding down a mountain. There is no way to stop it and no way to get out of the way.

When you drive on the Tollway, think of the Denver-Boulder (Colo.) Turnpike. Originally, it was a toll road. The promise there was that, when the bonds were paid, the tolls would go away. In 1952 the toll was $0.10. When the Turnpike was paid for, the toll booths were removed. Imagine that!

No further charges in Monday's fatality

Today's Northwest Herald reports that Woodstock Police now say that no further charges will be filed in Monday morning's fatal accident on U.S. 14 west of Route 47.

Looking back to yesterday's articles, perhaps different wording could have been used. Yesterday it was reported that further charges "are pending" on the results of blood work. That statement might reasonably have led readers to believe that it was just a matter of determining "what" charges. Better wording might have been "Investigation continues into the accident."

And today's article still doesn't carry any detail of the accident, not that exact details are needed. But surely the police could reveal whether the IDOT worker was in the roadway, whether traffic was light, moderate or heavy, whether traffic was start and stop. Other drivers learn by details and can possibly avoid becoming involved in accidents of their own by reading and understanding how other accidents have happened.

Drugs destroy two lives

From the Crystal Lake Police Department:

"On January 30, 2011, at approximately 1:00 am, Crystal Lake Police were summoned to 1353 Boxwood Drive for an unresponsive 24 year old male who was believed to be the victim of a drug overdose. Responding officers initiated lifesaving efforts by starting CPR until Fire/Rescue personnel arrived on scene.  The victim, Sean P. Hopman (M/W D.O.B. 3/17/1986), was transported to Woodstock Memorial Hospital where he expired later that day.

 "An investigation into the death of Mr. Hopman revealed a person of interest who allegedly supplied Mr. Hopman with heroin immediately prior to his death.  The subsequent investigation indicated that Philip D. Neumann (M/W D.O.B. 5/26/1988 of 106 Deer Path, Lake in the Hills), contributed to the death of Sean Hopman by facilitating a drug deal (heroin) on January 29, 2011, that ultimately led to Sean Hopman’s death.  

"The Neumann subject was paroled from the Illinois Department of Corrections on June 9, 2010 in regard to a burglary conviction. On August 23, 2011, police served Philp D. Neumann with a criminal complaint and warrant for one count of Drug Induced Homicide, Class X Felony at the Kane County Jail where he was already in custody on an unrelated Delivery of Controlled Substance (cocaine) charge.  Philip D. Neumann remains in custody at the Kane County Jail with bond set at $500,000.00. If convicted, Neumann could be sentenced to between 6 and 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections."

How bad is the drug problem in McHenry County? BAD

Know someone involved in drugs in McHenry County? Heroin? Cocaine? Mazrijuana? Dealing? Using? Turn 'em in.

There is only one way to stop this scourge. Don't just say "No". Say "NO MORE!"