Demolition derby on the Edens

As I was northbound on I-94 from the Skokie area this afternoon, traffic was flying low. Most of the cars were moving fast (above the speed limit), and some were moving Fast. And then everyone stopped. South of the Dundee Road exit two cars had tangled.

One was on the right shoulder with a crunched right rear and the right rear wheel torn from its mountings. The second was in the ditch on the right, upright, but with the whole left front corner scraped and mashed.

A third car was on the shoulder and the passenger was moving fast to change the right rear tire. And a motorcyclist from Georgia was stopped. She had not been involved but saw it all from where she had stopped to put on her jacket.

The driver of the car with the flat had first stopped against the inside shoulder and then tried to cross at slow speed to the right shoulder. She should have stayed there!

I stopped to offer help and learned there were no injuries. A paramedic had stopped, too. Because of debris in the road the three lanes were merging into the two left lanes. Soon a trooper arrived and I gave her a brief summary and pointed out the culprit. She then approached the drivers of the two damaged cars.

The passenger in the third car got the tire changed, and it appeared the driver was going to leave. I had already written down its license plate, and I walked back to tell that driver that the trooper wanted her to wait. She wasn't happy about it, but she didn't try to drive away.

The driver of a big HELP truck arrived, kicked some of the larger pieces of debris out of the roadway, and then pulled the car from the ditch back up onto the shoulder. To do that, he put a big hook through a spoke of the rear wheel, damaging the hubcap, wheel and brake assembly, but at least he didn't damage the body of the car, which would have happened, had he tried to hook it underneath.

Having just read about the woman who was killed when she got out of her car to help at an accident, I stayed on high alert while helping. If you ever stop to help, stay alert; watch all oncoming traffic and be ready to move, if a car heads toward you.

Disparity in jail visiting hours

I was contacted this week by a person in Germany who was searching the internet for a friend with whom she had lost contact more than a year ago. Somehow, she came across the ICE Inmate Locator website and learned that he was in the McHenry County Jail.

She found my name in connection with jail, because of the number of articles I have written about the McHenry County Jail and the Sheriff's Department, and she emailed me. I was able to furnish her with information about contacting her friend. I also provided her with information about the Secure Inmate Email System, by which email can be sent to inmates and detainees at the McHenry County Jail.

That information could be on the Sheriff's website (http://www.mchenrysheriff.org/), but it's not.

This caused me to inspect the visiting hours of the jail. To my surprise, I found that male inmates can be visited during 38 hours of a week (excluding Thursdays), and female inmates can be visited during only 11.5 hours of the week. Women can have visitors on Saturday (2 hours), Sunday (2 hours) and during 7.5 hours on Thursday, although 4.5 of those hours are during the work day.

Because all visits are by video-conferencing (and not face-to-face, in-person), I wonder whether the women inmates could benefit from more visiting hours.

If you want to send email to an inmate or detainee, you must know their Inmate Number. You can get that by calling the Jail at 815.338.9396. Press "8" to reach a corrections officer to ask for the Inmate Number. Then go to http://www.icsletters.com/, set up an account, put a little money in it, and email for 50¢ per page.

Easiest way to feel good

Random acts of kindness? Pay it forward?
Positive thinking?

One of the great ways to change your day, to feel great, is to help or be nice to someone else. All you have to do is look around, and there is probably somebody nearby you could help. It won't take long, and it won't cost anything. Just a little effort. Maybe just a smile.

I was at Wendy's in Woodstock today and noticed a group of four leaving. One of the women was in a wheelchair. Three were posing for pictures, and the fourth was taking the pictures. One of the things I know is that it's doggone hard to be fast enough to click the shutter and jump in front to be in the photo, so I quickly finished my sandwich, grabbed the Jr. Frosty, and went outside. I offered to take a group picture and that was just what they wanted.

And the treat was a quick visit with the woman in the wheelchair, who by that time was seated in the car. She asked a few questions about my motorcycle and asked my age. Then she told me that her birthday will be Monday. Of course, I didn't dare ask which one, but she told me ... No. 96.

It was easy to calculate the year of her birth. Just add 4 to 2011, and then subtract 100. What was life like back in 1915? No computers; no cell phones; no air-conditioning. No Wendy's. No TV. And, for many, no indoor plumbing. She was very bright and happy, and she surely made a difference in my day.

We didn't exchange names, and they may have been just passing through. But I thank her for brightening my day.

Now, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to do something nice, something unexpected, for someone else.

Iran and U.S. - different?

"TEHRAN, Iran — Two American men arrested more than two years ago while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border have been sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage and illegally entering Iran, state TV reported Saturday." (Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 8/20/11)

OK, so that (above) is how Iran treats two who may have "illegally" entered Iran. Were they spying?

And here (below) is how the U.S. treats those who illegally enter the U.S.

Hear what Ray Stevens has to say... You'll love this one.

B.O. - anyone not like the smell?

A friend just posted this on his Facebook page:

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama campaign promise - October 27, 2007

One reader's comment: "Sad"

I love mail! Especially the mail that has no return address! Keep 'em coming, folks!

The mail today?

Keith Nygren's August 17, 2011 Memorandum to "All Personnel". And the reader's comment? "Sad" (Click on the letter to enlarge it; then click on the Back button on your browser to come back here.)

The Memo read, "Effective immediately, Scott Milliman is no longer an employee with the McHenry County Sheriff's Office Patrol Division. He is not allowed access to any part of this facility not accessible by the public and must be escorted to retrieve any personal items."

"Signed Keith Nygren, Sheriff"

And he must have been in town on Wednesday, because that signature sure looks like his.

Who got copies?

Andrew Zinke, Undersheriff
Commander John Miller
EEO Kathy Seith
Attorney John Kelly
Merit Commission
Deputy Cypher, Quartermaster

Has no one told him that "EEO" is not a title, likc Undersheriff or Deputy? Nobody is going to walk up to Kathy and address her as "EEO Seith". How stupid!

And why is the sheriff copying Attorney John Kelly? Is he going to throw more taxpayer dollars away on legal work at an outside law firm? It's an HR matter, Keith. For that you use your in-house attorney. In case you have forgotten, that's Lou Bianchi. Just call Donna Kelley. You must have the number.

And "Quartermaster"? What's that? Don't you have a secretary to do your filing?

Oh, and your Merit Commission? Since the August 10th Merit Commission meeting was canceled, Keith, when did you get the MC's approval to fire Scott? It couldn't have been at the July 13th meeting; that one was canceled, too. Maybe it was at the June 8th meeting. No, that one was canceled, too.

Have the Northern Lights been too bright in Minocqua this year?

Feldkamp inquest - outrageous

This morning three inquests were conducted into deaths that occurred at the home of Jack and Audrey Feldkamp in Marengo. They were conducted in Rockford Public Safety Building, which houses the Office of the Winnebago County Coroner. Why Winnebago County? Why not McHenry County?
The Notification of the inquests provided the date, Friday, August 19, 2011, and the time, 9:00AM. When I received my Notice, after having indicated to McHenry County Marlene Lantz that I wished to attend, I immediately questioned why the inquests of Jack Feldkamp and Doran Bloom were being held in Rockford (in Winnebago County).

The answer was that it was for convenience. Since Audrey Feldkamp died in the hospital in Rockford, her inquest would be held there, and the McHenry County Coroner decided to hold her two inquests there, too.

At about 9:15AM Mr. and Mrs. Bloom, Sara Sutschek from the Northwest Herald, and I were led to the conference room where people were already waiting. No relatives of the Feldkamps were present. It turned out that the coroner's jury had convened at 7:00AM and had read the documents associated with the deaths. Two detectives were there from McHenry County, and a deputy coroner from McHenry County was there. And a court reporter.

A coroner's inquest is to be public, and I was astonished that the jury had been empaneled and had started its business out of public view. The instructions to the jury were not given in public, the swearing in of the foreman and the jury was done out of public view, and the jury had access to documents out of the public view. The two detectives may have been present to answer questions from jurors. If any questions were asks, they won't e on the record, because the court reporter didn't arrive until just before 9:00AM.

When the inquest formally started, Winnebago County Coroner Elizabeth "Sue" Fiduccia conducted the inquest for Audrey Bloom, reading a summary of the case and asking the jurors if they had reached a verdict. Clearly, they had already decided, because they did not expect to retire for deliberations. The McHenry County detectives who were present were not introduced. Det. Ed Maldonado was asked a question, but he was not sworn in. Perhaps he was sworn in earlier, when the jurors were meeting in private.

Afterwards, I challenged the procedures of the inquests with both the Winnebago County Coroner and the McHenry County Deputy Coroner.

All the jurors were from Winnebago County, where only one of the deaths occurred. It appears to me that the Illinois Statutes require residents from the county in which the death occurred.

"In all counties, in cases of apparent suicide, homicide, or accidental death or in other cases, within the discretion of the coroner, the coroner may summon 8 persons of lawful age from those persons drawn for petit jurors in the county."

This clearly indicates that the jurors are to come from McHenry County for the inquest into the deaths of Jack Feldkamp and Doran Bloom. However, no jury panel from McHenry County was present!

"Sec. 3‑3025. Verdict of jury. It shall be the duty of the jurors, as sworn aforesaid, to inquire how, in what manner, and by whom or what, the said dead body came to its death, and of all other facts of and concerning the same, together with all material circumstances in anywise related to or connected with the said death, and make up and sign a verdict, and deliver the same to the coroner. As part of its verdict, the jury may make recommendations other than for criminal prosecutions."

I had wondered why eight McHenry County jurors were going to inconvenienced by going to the Government Center and with what transportation they would be furnished. Well, I got the answer to that. They weren't!

Coroner Fiduccia said I was one of only a few people to question their way of doing inquests over the last 30 years. Maybe Winnebago County residents don't know or don't care. The old "ignorance and apathy" routine. Well, they should care.

Likewise, McHenry County residents should care. Residents should demand that inquests be conducted entirely in the public view, except for the deliberations to reach a verdict. And that the State law be followed. The only people who would have been inconvenienced would have been the two detectives from McHenry County Sheriff's Department. And really only one of them needed to be there. He didn't need a "minder".

There was at least one erroneous statement that occurred in Coroner Fiduccia's summary of Audrey Feldkamp's death. That had to come from a deputy's report or a detective's report from the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

And that's enough to make me wonder about any other erroneous statements or conclusions.