36° F. tomorrow?

You've got to be kidding!

So, when weather.com says the "Low" will be 36, does that mean Wednesday morning? I hope not! I've still got some places I want to go on the motorcycle! Not even Wednesday night, please!

Four guitars stolen after concert

Naperviller Police are investigating the theft of four electric guitars from a van of the Tyler Farr band on Sunday night or Monday morning.

Geez, didn't the band realize they were in the Chicago area??? Why would they leave their guitars in the van? The thief (or thieves) shattered the rear window of the van to get in and steal the guitars.

So, if you hear "Psst, buddy, wanna buy a guitar?", watch for a Paul Reed Smith Custom 22, a Fender Telecaster custom, a Goldfish guitar, and an electric-acoustic Martin Dreadnought. The total estimated value of the guitars was $5,100.

Learn about autism on Sept. 18

One mother's journey through the world of Autism
 
Susie Mickle will share her story of what she has learned about Autism through her son's diagnosis. 1 in 91 children in the United States today are diagnosed with 
an Autism spectrum disorder. This is quite a contrast from 1 in 10,000 children in the early 1990s. Is this a reflection of better diagnosis or a more toxic world?
 
She will discuss the diagnostic criteria for Autism and what it means medically. Susie believes that Autism is a neurobiological disease and not a mental 
illness. (Metals and toxins play a significant role in the regression into Autism. This means that Autism is not only treatable, but can be preventable!) 
She will share her family's journey back to health through diet, supplements and other treatments. There will be time for questions, as well. 
 
ABOUT SUSIE MICKLE: Susie is a mother of four children. She was thrown into the Autism world when her oldest son, Ben, was diagnosed in 2006. Ben has Asperger's 
Syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism. In addition, two of her other children suffer from medical issues that are often found in families with 
Autism. (Ben is on his way to recovery!) Susie is an active member of several Autism groups. She spends much of her time researching and treating her children. Autism is treatable and preventable!

Where and when?

Sunday, Sept. 18th, 1-2 pm
Northwest Healthcare Center, 800 East South St., Woodstock (right near McDonald's)

Dorr Township - Agenda? Minutes?

Over the week-end I looked on the Dorr Township website for the Agenda for tomorrow night's meeting, and it wasn't posted. As of this morning, it has been posted. The Agenda for the August meeting is still missing.

And Minutes of past meetings? Where are they? The Minutes for April, May and July are missing. Those Minutes are crucial, because they are to reflect the Township business and expenditures around a new headquarters. The August Minutes are to be approved at the September 13th meeting, and you can preview them through the tab for Clerk.

Be sure to examine the Public Comment portion of the Minutes. Any idea what was asked and answered? The purpose of the Minutes is to provide a clear record into the future of the content and context of a meeting. You sure can't tell that from the August Minutes!

Whose job is it to post the Agenda and the Minutes? Is it the Clerk? Or is it the Supervisor?  Or the Trustees? The Clerk, an elected office, doesn't report to the Supervisor or the Trustees, although the current Clerk was appointed by the Trustees to fill a vacant position.

The job doesn't pay much (in the grand scheme of things), but it doesn't require much. A simple matter of publishing an informative Agenda (which most of the Agendas are not) and producing the Minutes in a clear, standard, informative and grammatically correct manner shouldn't be a big deal. It's definitely not a full-time job.

So, how about it, elected officials? You do get your pay on time; right?

Dorr Township is still on the hunt for a new home. Apparently, now it's looking at 1039 Lake Avenue. They ought to have the due diligence down pat by now, after spending $30,000 to determine that they shouldn't buy the property on South Eastwood Drive.Hint: Look for mold the first time through the property on Lake Avenue.

Was there a quorum at the August meeting? Do two elected trustees (out of four) constitute a quorum? Or does the presence of the elected Supervisor and the elected Clerk make the meeting of Trustees valid? One trustee, Mr. Swanson, has been unable to serve for months, and the trustees are still holding his chair open. With all due respect to Mr. Swanson, he holds an elected office and should perform his duties - or resign. A deadline should be set for his return, say, at the October meeting; however, the trustees cannot add that to the September agenda at this late date.

Residents shouldn't have to hunt around for the Agenda. A user-friendly website would link the Agenda to the meeting date on the homepage. Instead, when you click on the meeting on the homepage, you go to a calendar page (duhhh!!!) that contains the meeting. How about a link to the Agenda, instead?!

Model RR open house - Sept. 18

The Kishwaukee Valley and Eakin Creek Model Railroad Club of Sun City will be sponsoring its Fall Open House on Sunday, September 18, 2011. The event will be held in the basement and the adjoining rear yard of the Millgrove Woodshop at 13400 W. Sun City Blvd in Huntley IL.


This traditional fall event will feature continued expansions to all four of its layouts. They've added some farm buildings to their G-scale layout as well as some new scenery to their HO setup since their spring Open House. 

Sun City residents as well as family, friends, model railroaders and garden enthusiasts from across the area are invited. The Club requests that all children be accompanied by adults. The hours of operation are 11 AM until 4 PM. 

There is no charge for the open house, but donations are welcome. 

Upcoming events of the Club can be found on the Sun City website.

Motorcycle event at Randy's

Cross Country Tour

Randy's Cycles, formerly in Huntley and now located outside Marengo, will host an unusual motorcycle sales event this week. A factory trailer is due to arrive at Randy's, loaded with two Harley-Davidson motorcycles and two Victory motorcycles.

Customers and prospective customers (holding valid motorcycle endorsements on their driver's licenses) will be invited to test-ride a Harley and then test-ride a Victory. (Then you can buy your Victory from Randy's Cycles!)

The busiest days are expected to be Friday and Saturday, so why not go out on Wednesday or Thursday?

Randy's is located across U.S. 20 from Donley's Old West Steakhouse and Wild West Town, southwest of Union, Ill. The address for Randy's is 18307 Beck Road, Marengo. Beck Road runs west from U.S. 20. Go slowly; Randy's comes up fast on your left. You'll probably see the motorhomes parked in storage first.

Check out the Victory motorcycle line here. Be sure to see the new 2012 Victory Cross Country Tour model. It has everything but the kitchen sink!

Visit Randy's Cycles here. Now is the perfect time to buy a new motorcycle. Get in some beautiful Fall weather riding, store it for the winter, and get it out in April for a full season of riding. Call Randy's at (847) 923-0500 before you go out on Wednesday to confirm that they are ready to roll out the red carpet for you. Tell Randy and Rod that you read about it on the Woodstock Advocate.

One Harley rider there today test-rode a Victory and exclaimed about the calm air flow behind the windshield at 60MPH. He said a bug was caught in the airflow between the windshield and his face and was just blown around in circles. The weather should be great this week. See you there.

Beth Bentley - Week 68

Sixty-eight weeks ago Beth Bentley vanished.

If you had disappeared without a trace 68 weeks ago, would you want a lot of people looking hard for you? Would you expect your party buddies to be looking for you? Your co-workers? Your family?

What would you want them to do? Pester the local media frequently for constant reminders to the public that you are still gone? Employ the philosophy that it's the squeaking wheel that gets the oil? Talk to everyone, all the time, about the fact that you are still missing?

But what if you weren't "missing"? What if some (that's plural) knew exactly where you are. Would you want them to break down? To give up the information?

After 68 weeks, I suspect that few still think that Beth Bentley is "missing".

Which of the close friends knows what happened to Beth? How many know? What if the most concerned of the immediately family members made a list of the top 50 people who might know what happened to her and then sat down with each one? Stare them in the eye. Hold your questions. And, when they start to squirm, then ask them, "What do you really know about what happened to Beth?"