Woodstock Advocate

An old Denver Post story

2012-02-10T13:06:00.000-06:00

This week a reader submitted a couple of comments that are not going to make it to this blog. And that same reader caused me a hearty laugh, because I remembered a conversation from about 1984 with an employee of The Denver Post. I was at a networking event and had introduced myself in a group.

One woman said, "Oh, I know your name. You send us a lot of letters." She was the employee who screened Letters to the Editor and decided which ones got published. She told me they were a little light on letters and said she'd publish one, if I'd send it in.

A few days later one of my favorite topics hit the front page, and I mailed in my letter. Colorado was about to lose $6-8 million in Federal highway funds because too many drivers were speeders.

In my letter I suggested that law-abiding drivers just fill up all lanes on I-25 and drive at the speed limit. That would slow down the speeders and avoid the loss of the money from the Feds.

About a month later I ran into this woman again. When I told her that some of the responses to my letter had been rather bitter, she said, "Oh, you should have seen the ones I couldn't print!" She invited me to stop by the paper and read them, but I never did.

Mayor Emanuel - more dangerous than Daley?

2012-02-09T12:41:00.000-06:00

A reader sent this along today. Is Rahm Emanuel more dangerous than Daley ever was? Look at these crackpot ideas. I knew when I looked at Emanuel that I couldn't trust him. Ego. Power. Danger.

"Chicago Mayor Emanuel to push for state-wide handgun registry

"Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants lawmakers to require that all handguns in Illinois be registered with the state, or gun owners could face felony charges.

"A statewide gun registry is key in helping solve Chicago crimes that involve handguns from outside the city, and would also help crack down on gun trafficking, Emanuel is expected to argue Thursday.

"Under Emanuel's proposal, handgun owners would have to pay $65 for a registration certificate from the state, which would function much like the title to a car. Illinois law currently requires that gun owners and shooters have a firearm owners identification card, which works like a drivers license. But the guns themselves are not registered at the state level.

"Emanuel is set to lay out his plan Thursday at a center for at-risk youth on Chicago's South Side, according to administration sources.

"The handgun registration certificate would include information about the owner, the make and model of the gun, as well as where and when the firearm was bought. Registratin[sic] applicants would also need a valid firearm owners identification card ..."

You can read the whole story here

Emanuel has got it bass-akwards. Instead, arm everyone. No registration. No FOID cards. Turn the law-abiding citizen loose to defend themselves. Obviously, Emanuel's Chicago Police Department isn't doing it.

Does McHenry County have a sheriff?

2012-02-09T11:29:00.001-06:00

In November 2010 voters of McHenry County re-elected Keith Nygren as sheriff, and on December 1, 2010, he officially assumed the office for the current term, which ends November 30, 2014.

What should voters and residents of McHenry County expect from the elected sheriff, in exchange for the $140,000/year salary, plus benefits?

Where was he when Kurt Milliman was murdered in McHenry County, just outside Woodstock, last May? He certainly didn't hop into any spotlight or take the lead in a murder investigation.

Where was he when Audrey and Jack Feldkamp and Doran Bloom were killed in McHenry County, near Marengo, last June? Rumor has it that he flew back to McHenry County for a little face time and to declare, almost immediately, a version of the events of that evening that few now believe.

And where has he been since?

If a calendar of "Days Worked in 2011" was created for Keith Nygren, how many (or how few) days would be checked? And in a calendar of "Days Worked in 2012"?

Has Keith Nygren abandoned the office of Sheriff? Should the office be declared vacant? Who has the authority to do that? The County Clerk? The County Board?

Why should the office be declared vacant now? So that the voters get to choose a sheriff in November 2012 who will actually show up for work and earn his pay! If those with the authority malinger, the deadline will pass, and then the County Board will get to appoint the person to take over until November 2014.

Funny business at the Sheriff's Department

2012-02-08T15:17:00.000-06:00

What a joke!

The Northwest Herald reported that a MCSD deputy saw a suspicious vehicle last Thursday and the driver and passenger bailed out in a shopping center near Randall Road and County Line Road in Algonquin. The newspaper relied on a press release issued by "Sheriff Nygren".

You can actually examine that press release now at www.mchenrysheriff.org Look under Press Release and click on Feb. 07, 2012.

Notice the wording, "Sheriff Keith Nygren announced today ..." So, if Sheriff Nygren had been in his Woodstock office (not his Minocqua, Wisc. "office" or in his Cape Coral, Fla. "office"), wouldn't he have signed the press release going out over his name? From where did he announce it? Was he in his Woodstock office on Feb. 7?

None of the three February press releases bears his signature or even the rubber stamp with the likeness of his signature. I guess "AZ" (that would be the Undersheriff, Andy Zinke) doesn't want (or isn't allowed) to hang his initials over Keith's rubberized signature, and no one else (as in, farther down the pecking order) would dare put his or her name on a press release.

But shouldn't a press release bear the name of the person responsible for wording and issuing it? Oh, there's that nasty 11-letter word: r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-l-e.

Now, no one can be blamed for putting out misleading or erroneous information. "I didn't do it. My name wasn't on it."

Was the vehicle abandoned north or south of County Line Road? This is important, because County Line Road divides McHenry County from Kane County? Why isn't the shopping center named?

How about a description of the two cats who fled the vehicle? Race? Gender? Height? Weight? Clothing? Coats? Carrying anything? How many other cars pulled in with the K-9 deputy? Did the K-9 deputy know them and had he been following them for miles?

Are there warrants out now for those two? Any reason to keep the public in the dark? If their identities are known, why not publicize the names and get the public's help to collar them?

Can't wait to read the report, but this will be an "active investigation" and the report won't be available. For how long? Months? Until they think we've forgotten about it?

What's the real story behind the meth "bust"?

2012-02-08T09:18:00.003-06:00

Yesterday morning (Tuesday, Feb. 7) the Northwest Herald carried a story about seizure of $25,000 worth of methamphetamine in Algonquin.

A press release (not available on the Sheriff's website) stated, according to the newspaper article, "A McHenry County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit observed a suspicious vehicle driving near the area of County Line and Randall roads," Nygren said in the release. "The K-9 unit followed the vehicle into a shopping center parking lot, and two unidentified male subjects quickly abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot."

So, here are some questions.

Who was the deputy with the police dog? It's no secret who the K-9 officers are in the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

What vehicle was the deputy driving? Was he driving his MCSD marked K-9 unit with all the cop equipment on it? And the cage to hold his dog? Or was he driving another department vehicle? Maybe one without all the police marking (and maybe not even any manufacturer's emblems)? Was it a vehicle without a cage to protect his dog? Was it the vehicle assigned to a key official in the sheriff's department who has been on vacation for more than a few weeks? (Let's see; who could that be?)

Where did this deputy first encounter the suspicious vehicle? Could it possibly have been far, far out of McHenry County jurisdiction? Maybe well in toward Chicago? Even in Chicago?

How many miles had this deputy followed that vehicle?

Was the shopping center even in McHenry County, or was the deputy northbound on Randall Road (say, from I-90), when the occupants of the "suspicious vehicle" bailed and ran?

Being a K-9 officer with a highly-trained dog, why didn't he pursue the two who ran?

How close were other law-enforcement officers? Were, in fact, other law-enforcement officers quite close, perhaps even also following the "suspicious vehicle"?

What took so long for the Sheriff's Department to issue a press release for this incident, which occurred last Thursday?

Where's that quote from Ken Rossignol, out of his The Story of the RAG!? Here it is: "If a press release doesn't exist, the cops are trying to protect one of their own, one of their buddies, or, well, just about anyone. If the press release is short, most likely it's not because the story is short; they just don't want to talk about it."

The Sheriff's Department is a 24-hour operation. If something happens on a Thursday, the press release should be that day or the next day, meaning that the media should have had it on Friday. But the press release wasn't released until Tuesday.

Did Nygren sign that press release? Is he even in town? Was he in town last Thursday? Will he find big paw prints all over the back seat of his Tahoe?

Mental Health Court graduates four

2012-02-08T08:18:00.000-06:00

The McHenry County Mental Health Court graduated four participants from its program at last night's ceremony. The four completed programs that were tailored for each of them, and Judge Weech congratulated each and presented a certificate of completion and a specially-engraved coin.

The courtroom on the second floor was nearly full with family and visitors. Attending also was the Mental Health Court Team from the specialty court, which included the clinician, the nurse, the probation officer for the court, an Assistant State's Attorney who handles cases in this court, the Assistant Public Defender assigned to defendants in this court, and the Administrator for the Court's program.

State's Attorney Lou Bianchi addressed the group, and Judge Weech praised not only the participants for completing their programs, but he also thanked the Team for their work with all the participants.

A guest speaker, Monte Staton, from Loyola University and Ph.D.-candidate, presented information about a study done of the several mental health courts in Illinois.

Charges resulting from a total of 22 arrests of the four graduates were dismissed earlier in the day. This is one of the rewards of completing the program.

The Mental Health Court program is a voluntary program that may be open to persons charged with a wide range of misdemeanor crimes and some felonies. Traffic cases and most DUIs are not eligible for the Mental Health Court. Since the Court started in 2007, there have been 35 graduates, and only three have re-offended.

Congratulations to the graduates (last night's and earlier) and thanks to the Team for their many hours of hard work.

What "evidence" was found on the pond ice?

2012-02-07T15:46:00.000-06:00

On January 8, 2012 - the day after a day in infamy in McHenry County - a reader contacted me about a Woodstock Fire Rescue District call on January 7 to a pond east of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department, and he wondered "aloud" (in writing) whether that WFRD call had anything to do with the arrest of MCSD Sgt. Greg Pyle.

Since then rumors have surfaced about one or more computers that might have taken a polar plunge, or at least parts of them.

The connection isn't clear yet, but WFRD did respond to a call from the Illinois State Police to a pond along Haydn Street in Woodstock, which is east and north of the Sheriff's Department. A WFRD firefighter went out on the ice and recovered unidentified "evidence", which he placed in a white garbage bag (while still out on the pond (ice)) and turned over to - - well, this is interesting. The report doesn't state what happened to the "evidence."

The report says the evidence was collected for police, but it neglects to state not only what the "evidence" was (for which I'm going out "on thin ice" to assume that the omission was deliberate and intentional, and possibly at the direction of law enforcement personnel) or to whom it was given. W.ill this open a door for Pyle's legal defense team to claim a break in the chain-of-evidence? Should a supplementary report be prepared and filed immediately, to forestall any chance for success of such a claim in court?

The State Police were apparently all over the place on Saturday, January 7, investigating and searching for Pyle, who was wanted on an arrest warrant on ten counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault (child under age 13), allegedly having been committed by Sgt. Pyle, formerly of Crystal Lake.

Pyle was arrested later that night (January 7) and quickly bonded out, giving a non-existent address of 2722 Haydn Lane, Woodstock, on his Bail Bond form. The same Haydn as the location of the pond.

The Illinois State Police, the State's Attorney's office or the Sheriff's Department should have picked him up for a bond violation before his January 27 court date, but they were in slow motion for the week they knew about it, and Pyle provided a correct address to the Circuit Court on the morning of January 27, before his 9:00AM scheduled appearance, escaping the wrath of the judge over the non-existent address..

Everybody should get such breaks and generous consideration. Right?

Prison phone call pricing - a rip-off

2012-02-07T12:04:00.000-06:00

Let's say that you happen to be an inmate in an Illinois prison. Well, if you are reading this, you're not. But you might know someone who is. Or you might know someone who knows someone who is.

Prisoners are a captive audience; right? They can't use cell phones and they can't shop for fairly-priced phone calls. They are stuck with what is "approved". Take a look at what is approved...

Phone call prices "... can be as high as 26 cents per minute plus a surcharge (commonly referred to as a connection fee) of up to $2.50 per call. Out-of-state rates are 89 cents per minute with a $3.95 surcharge (connection fee)."

So how much might a 10-minute in-state call cost? $5.10 (10 x $0.26 = $2.60 + $2.50)

And a 10-minute out-of-state call? $12.85!!! (10 x $0.89 = $8.90 + $3.95)

And the cost of an international call? More, of course!

If you believe, as many families of prisoners do, that this prices are exorbitant, take a minute to read and sign an online petition

These families are asking only for fair pricing of telephone calls.

By the way, the McHenry County Jail has a similar "deal", but with a different telecommunications company. The rates are grossly over-priced and unfair, plus there is an outrageous fee imposed on family and friends of inmates who wish to deposit funds into an inmate's commissary account, so that he can purchase a Phone Card and then pay outrageous rates to make a phone call.

Your County Sheriff, Keith Nygren, and his pals have made that deal. Remember to "thank" his friends and him at the next election.

Enjoy this Beetle commercial.

2012-02-06T11:38:00.001-06:00

VW's Game Day commercial.

Get a load of townships

2012-02-05T16:23:00.001-06:00

Are townships still relevant today?

Is Evanston too far to go on Tuesday, Feb. 15, for a program that starts at 7:00PM?

Do a lot of people in Cook County even know what townships are?

Beth Bentley - 89 weeks missing

2012-02-05T15:00:00.000-06:00

What more is there to say? Beth Bentley has been missing since May 2010; that's 89 weeks since she was reported missing on May 24, 2010.

Has anyone seen credible reports of activity in her case within the past year? Has every investigation (any investigation?) just ground to a halt?

Is any police agency doing anything? The Woodstock Police Department? The Mt. Vernon Police Department? The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department? The Illinois State Police?

Did all the people with first-hand knowledge of Beth's activities that last week-end give honest, accurate, complete statements? Were the statements taken separately? Were those people questioned carefully about what they knew? Were the statements compared and analyzed?

Even now, if there were a thorough new investigation, holes should show up in their statements. And then those holes could be widened and the discrepancies used to find out what really happened to Beth.

Cold cases can be solved, but they won't solve themselves. Somebody is going to have to do something!

Stop this gun grab in its tracks

2012-02-05T14:45:00.001-06:00

Read Kevin Craver's blog in the Northwest Herald about the gun grab by the Chicago Dem mob.

Go to www.nwherald.com/blogs/opening-doors/ and then look for "Is Illinois gun grab timed with fiscal ruin a coincidence?" There are links to the three gun bills, HR 1294, 1599 and 1855.

Read the bills, too. And get into Chicago's (and maybe the Illinois) "definition" of "assault" weapon. I define an assault weapon as one that can be fired continuously with one trigger pull; in other words, fully automatic. And I don't define semi-automatic weapons that "look like" assault weapons as such.

So does this mean that the gun-grabbers will be after my .32 automatic?

Oh, and that part about registration with the Illinois State Police. Fat chance! They already know I have a FOID card, but they don't know what kind of weapons I have, nor should they.. And I'm not telling them, either.

Casciaro - 2nd trial warranted?

2012-02-05T12:51:00.000-06:00

The Northwest Herald editorial board weighed in today on Page 9A with its "Our View" that a second trial of Mario Casciaro is warranted. Is it?

Should anyone ever want a jury trial in McHenry County? Apparently, the jury of 12 was just one vote short of convicting Casciaro on murder charges. Few were probably in the courtroom, compared to all those who are following this case in the media. I wasn't, and so my information comes from the Northwest Herald reporter's version of the trial.

That a jury would come so close to convicting on such flimsy evidence is indeed scary. They heard evidence from a convicted, imprisoned felon who got a "deal". His "deal"? Immunity on a murder charge if he'd rat out someone else.

Why should a jury believe anyone who gets cut such a deal? But did it? Did all but one believe the prosecution?

The jury is supposed to ignore all the arm-flapping and hot air from both the prosecution and defense attorneys. Their words are not "testimony". The jury is supposed to rely only on "testimony" on reaching its verdict. As far as the jury is concerned, the attorneys tell them what they are going to hear, and then what they heard.

Is a jury so stupid that it can't figure out on its own what it heard? Before moving to McHenry County, I thought so. After living here a while, I'm not so sure. I've been in a courtroom when a jury heard testimony, ignored it, and was influenced by the arm-flapping and emotional words (not "testimony") of an Assistant State's Attorney. Would that jury have made the same decision, absence the emotional arguments?

At the time I remember thinking that the defendant would be found guilty, because his own attorney wasn't in the game. His attorney was unemotional, logical, rational, slow-speaking; the prosecution was all over the field and was even warned by the judge about a certain reference. And the Assistant State's Attorney got away with it a second time, without penalty flag from the judge. And the defendant was found guilty.

If I were Casciaro and if the case goes to court again, I'd go for a bench trial. His attorney will be even better prepared; he has heard all the prosecution's arguments. And the prosecution has heard none of Casciaro's.

Should there be a second trial? If the prosecution has evidence of a crime, yes. If they have the same weak case? No.

How confusing!

2012-02-04T16:54:00.000-06:00

For several years I have wondered how a traveler or foreign would ever figure out which train to take on the Metra Northwest Line.

Riding back to Woodstock from Palatine today, I saw this sign in Fox River Grove.

What does it mean? With the arrow pointing to the right, does that mean that "from Chicago" is to the right? It's not.

Why doesn't Metra just make it simple and place "To Harvard" on the sign?

Like the picture? The window was dirty and the sun was from the left (in case you were wondering).

Blake Horwitz wins Chicago case

2012-02-03T18:22:00.000-06:00

ABC-TV/7 (WLS) is reporting that Chicago attorney Blake Horwitz has won a $700,000 case against the Chicago Police Department. Click here for the story.

Horwitz was the attorney for the plaintiffs in the case.

You probably recognize Horwitz' name. He is Zane Seipler's attorney in Zane's civil rights lawsuit against Sheriff Keith Nygren, the Sheriff's Department and several deputies on the department. The case is in Federal Court in Rockford.

Horwitz is also Zane's attorney in the petition to get a Special Prosecutor appointed to investigate Nygren.

Recently, you have probably read that Nygren lost the fight against Zane in the Illinois Supreme Court, when that court decided not to hear Nygren's appeal. Did Nygren even believe he had a snowball's chance in - - - - in the Supreme Court? Wouldn't you like to know how Nygren's lawyer honestly felt about even filing the appeal there? Was he enthusiastic about it? Did he possibly tell Nygren up front to just forget it and take Seipler back?

What will Nygren's stalling tactics be now?

What action will Seipler take? If I were Zane, I'd file a huge defamation of character lawsuit against Nygren and then offer to withdraw it if he took me back and paid me in full within two weeks. In other words, give Nygren a really short leash. No doubt the County knows exactly how much it already owes Zane. And the County knows how much it is costing it every day not to pay Seipler.

Will Nygren cut his losses now and man up? Serve him a big slice of Humble Pie with a little glass of Skim Milk. Time's up, Keith.

How safe are you in court?

2012-02-03T17:42:00.001-06:00

Do you feel pretty safe in the McHenry County court rooms and the Government Center? Why would that be?

Next time you are in one of the courtrooms, look around. Who has a gun in the courtroom?

You can be sure that one person in the courtroom is armed. That would be the bailiff, now called a court security officer. OK, now that you've got your eyes on him (or her) ...

Watch the officer. Notice the erect posture. Notice the keen powers of observation. (Pardon the sarcasm.) Notice the level of awareness of his surroundings. Notice the position of his hands and arms - like, in relation to his weapon.

Then watch what happens when an inmate comes into the courtroom for his case. The judge calls the case; and the bailiff heads over to that "special" door. When the door is opened, he calls out an inmate's name. Then a corrections officer, who won't be armed (no guns allowed in the jail), follows the inmate into the courtroom.

Often (most often) the inmate is not handcuffed. Watch the position of the armed bailiff carefully. In court on January 27th I watched that process several times, and any one of several inmates could have snatched the bailiff's gun and taken over the courtroom. Why?

The bailiff stood with his back to the inmate who was entering (or leaving) the courtroom and held the door open behind him. An inmate planning on a different route out of the courtroom could have snatched the bailiff's gun, and suddenly there would be one nasty situation in the courtroom.

It could be that a dozen men would shout "Let's roll" and swarm in on the inmate. Would the gun have a round already in the chamber and be ready to shoot without jacking the slide? Would the inmate, intent on escape, give up one round and pull the slide "to be sure one was in the chamber"? That would still leave him 8-9-10 rounds.

Would many in the courtroom be injured or dead before the rest could overwhelm the prisoner? Or would the crowd cower in fear and submit to the gunman?

A great deal more training and supervision is needed for and of the bailiffs.

Now, I mentioned in the courthouse. Everyone entering gets screened. Supposedly, no weapons are to be sneaked into the courthouse. So how about just grabbing one after you are in? As the court security officers move the courthouse, they are often not aware of their surroundings. Just today, one was on her powerwalk exercise with three other women on the third floor.

Distracted by her surroundings and intent on her conversation with her walking partners, she would have been easy prey for a person intent on disarming her.

When I go into the courthouse, I want to be safe. Since I am not permitted to carry a gun with which I can defend myself, I must rely on the armed employees to be ready at all times. They aren't.

What goes on in Mental Health Court

2012-02-03T16:53:00.000-06:00

Judge Charles Weech runs a great court in McHenry County for those who have a mental health diagnosis and get caught up in a crime. The Court convenes several times each month, and Judge Weech takes a very personal interest in each case.

The Court is conducted differently than the criminal courts. Judge Weech actually has a conversation with each defendant. When the defendants are complying with their treatment plans and court-ordered appointments, everything goes smoothly. Judge Weech will praise the defendant, and from time to time the Court even awards a small gift of encouragement to the defendant. That happened today.

And today something else happened. One defendant had missed four court-ordered meetings this week. Worse, he apparently had lied to the Mental Health Court team. Judge Weech revoked the man's bond and had him taken into custody during today's Court session. The bailiff stepped up and handcuffed the man, who will spend the week-end in jail and have lots of time to think about how much better it would have been to go to those four meetings. And not to lie to the team. He'll have until Monday at 10:00AM to wear orange and think about it.

The requirements of the Court are reasonable, and they are designed to help defendants get their lives back on track. Some see the light early and get on the train. Others push back a little. And some leave the program before graduation and go back to the regular criminal court system.

Tuesday night, February 7, at 6:30PM, the Mental Health Court will hold a graduation ceremony for those who have completed their programs. It takes a lot of hard work, and defendants are given tremendous support. The ceremony is truly a "graduation". One of the rewards of graduation is that the criminal charges are dismissed.

Congratulations to all those who will graduate on Tuesday!

Sheriff bails on Merit Commission February meeting

2012-02-03T16:40:00.000-06:00

The McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission canceled its February 8th meeting today. Why should it not have done so?

First, what is the Merit Commission? It is a "public body" of hand-picked people liked a whole lot by Sheriff Keith Nygren. The members are Janelle Crowley, Patrick Andrews, Gloria Urch, William Mack and Brian Goode.

One of the duties of the Commission is to be involved in disciplinary decisions that could result in termination or being taken off duty for more than 30 days or off pay status. Note the key words, "more than 30 days."

Nygren can discipline deputies for 30 days or less without going to the Merit Commission for what is too often a rubber stamp of approval. By doling out a 30-day suspension to a deputy, Nygren can avoid the Merit
Commission. Why is this important? Because decisions by the Merit Commission are a public record, and the public, if it is nosy enough, can find out about the bad apples.

By keeping discipline to "30 days or less" the bad apples can continue to float around in the brine, causing rot among other apples. I think the public would be shocked at the offenses and even criminal acts of deputies and corrections officers that get handled administratively; i.e., out of the public eye.

Now, why would a meeting on February 8 have been important? This would have been the first Regular Meeting date after the January 7th arrest of MCSD Sgt. Greg Pyle on ten counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault (Child (victim) under 13). Pyle is on paid administrative leave right now. Nygren continues to pay Pyle around $9,000/month, while he is out on a $200,000 bond.

If Nygren can't make it back to town (has anyone even seen him in the past 30 days?), couldn't Undersheriff Andy Zinke conduct the Merit Commission meeting? After all, he's in charge of the Sheriff's Department when the cat's away. Right?

Can the Commissioners call a Special Meeting or void the cancellation of a Regular Meeting? Do they have the guts to do that, if they do have the authority? If you know some of them, why don't you ask them?

Superior service from ICE agents

2012-02-02T07:40:00.000-06:00

Over the past several months I have attempted to assist a Nigerian detainee who was being held in the McHenry County Jail for the Immigration Service. He had been arrested in Chicago in April 2010, and he made a deal and then served a four-month sentence in the Cook County boot camp. When he was released, ICE was there and waiting and sent him to the Nygren Hotel, 3rd floor, at 2200 N. Seminary Avenue, Woodstock. That was in June 2011.

His family sent the $5,000 bond money to his brother in Philadelphia but, in this case, it was not quite the City of Brotherly Love. His brother finally delivered the bond money to the ICE office there, and the man here in McHenry County was released yesterday. He had spent 7 1/2 months as a registered "guest" at the Nygren Hotel, at $90.00/day. The cost to the Feds? $20,250.

When it appeared late last week that the brother in Philadelphia was finally going to pay the bond, I called the Philadelphia ICE office. I had expected the same treatment as I had experienced from the Chicago office about 1 1/2 years ago in another matter. At that time, no one in the Chicago ICE office answered phones or returned calls.

But the agent in Philadelphia answered the phone promptly and was friendly, helpful, polite and courteous. And I thanked her for being so.

And then I called the Chicago office. I recognized that I had reached the desk of a different agent and his voicemail message was unhurried and complete, including the name and telephone number of his supervisor. Imagine that! Within 15 minutes the agent returned my call and explained the release procedure. He said he would have the detainee transported downtown on Wednesday and, if the brother did post the bond, then the man would be released. I asked about furnishing a jacket, and he said they provided coats to those who needed them, so that they would not be turned out on the Chicago streets in cold weather without a coat.

After the man was released, the ICE agent even called me back to inform me of the release. He too was courteous, polite, thorough and unhurried.

My thanks to Officer Pepple at the Chicago ICE office. You are a credit to the Immigration Service. The detainee called me and also complimented your performance of your duties. Thank you!

No press release could mean ...

2012-02-02T07:23:00.000-06:00

In his Kindle e-book titled The Story of the RAG!, author Ken Rossignol writes: "The next thing a police beat reporter learns is this, "If a press release doesn't exist, the cops are trying to protect one of their own, one of their buddies, or, well, just about anyone. If the press release is short, most likely it's not because the story is short; they just don't want to talk about it."

Ken's book is a fascinating read about the 20 years that he published St. Mary's Today, before he sold it in 2010. It was a hard-hitting exposé that blasted crooked politicians, shady dealings, DUIs, etc. Ken now publishes www.DWIHitParade.com You'll find the link to the right on this blog.

Where should press releases appear? A police agency that is supposed to serve the People should post press releases on its website, not just hand them out to its favorite reporters. And it should post them promptly, so that all media have access to them. It shouldn't be necessary to have to file a FOIA request to get a press release.

In the recent case of the Pyle arrest, it was necessary to file that FOIA request to get a copy of the press release issued over Sheriff Nygren's name on January 7. And if Nygren didn't sign it or someone used the rubber stamp of his signature, then that person affixing a likeness of Nygren's signature needed to initial his doing so; otherwise, didn't he forge Nygren's signature? And isn't Forgery a crime?

And when a criminal matter involves one of its own, the agency should immediately inform all employees, so that they can decide whether they want to keep their distance from the accused. I believe that MCSD has never issued an internal memorandum regarding Pyle's arrest. This forces employees to rely on news accounts and rumors and statements by other employees, which may or may not be accurate.

Smoke & Mirrors - not just on a County level

2012-01-30T08:03:00.001-06:00

You've got to read Cal Skinner's McHenry County Blog today! Read his article entitled "How to Cut a Budget, Plus How to Provide Political Camouflage for Incumbent McHenry County Board Members". You can find it quickly by clicking here.

Within the article Cal wrote, "If the County Board didn’t want to raise our taxes, it could have have asked for (levied) less than the maximum allowed by the Property Tax Cap (PTELL to those who don’t use the common name)."

Now, substitute "Woodstock" for "County Board" and then read the recent article by Mike Neumann in The Woodstock Independent. You can find that article right here

This sentence from that article ought to be an eye-opener for many residents: "Shaughnessy Muldowney, tax extension supervisor for the McHenry County Clerk’s Office, said that until recent years, she had never seen any taxing body levy less money than the previous year during her nearly 20 years on the job. Even as home prices have decreased, most taxing bodies continue to request more than the previous year. Unless a taxing district requests to levy less money, the county clerk is effectively forced to set a higher tax rate." (Emphasis added.)

And I think it was the editorial board of TWI that last week praised the approach of the Woodstock City Council in its approaching decision to "abate" the property tax increase that is headed our way.

Perhaps all City Council members will read, and re-read, Cal Skinner's sentence above. If the City Council is really sensitive to the financial hardships facing too many Woodstock residents and property owners, why doesn't it ask for less than the max? Why is it poised to approve higher taxes and then "camouflage" the increase with an abatement?

An abatement is too much like a payday loan. It's not free. Let's get rid of the smoke and mirrors and require complete transparency in government and in terms that the common folk can understand.

What would it be like if 1,000 people in Woodstock packed the City Council chambers on the night they are to vote on the increase taxes?

Voters in Woodstock, and voters everywhere, should read Scott Alexander's book, Rhinoceros Success. Stop being a cow on the side of the road, chewing its cud, and watching life go by. Be a rhino; just be careful not to step on the flowers.

ACT! for America ...

2012-01-29T17:09:00.000-06:00

Check out the founder of ACT! for America, Brigitte Gabriel, at an anti-Shariah conference.in Nashville.

Pay attention. Is there a 3-week course on Islam taught in your seventh grade? Must your kids take an Islamic name and study jihad to get a good grade? Are there any schools in McHenry County following this format?

Click here and sit forward for 14 minutes. Stick with her to the end. No more Italian-Americans. No more African-Americans. We are all Americans. And, she says, English is the language of the United States!

As Joyce Shaffer says, "If you don't like it here, let us help you pack."

WANTED: $1,000,000

2012-01-29T15:18:00.000-06:00

No, of course it's not for me.

A veterans' support organization in South Carolina is looking for the end of the rainbow - in the form of a corporate or personal donor of $1,000,000 to fund four years of operations. Do you know any organization that might consider such a donation? Do you have a connection with a CEO or Chairman of the Board?

Hidden Wounds is located in Columbia, S.C., home for the Army's Fort Jackson. Many of the troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have "invisible" wounds, in addition to the very visible wounds they have.

For more information, visit the Hidden Wounds website or call them directly.

Driver error kills three

2012-01-29T11:10:00.000-06:00

See the article yet about the driver in Sacramento who drove around a RR crossing gate and into the path of a light-rail train? The story says that two freight trains had passed and the RR gates had remained down.

So, what does the dummy do? Drove around the gate and got nailed by a third train. Two adults and a baby died. A third adult is hospitalized.

The train was thought to be clipping along at 55MPH - its normal speed on that stretch. The crossing contained four sets of tracks.

Moral of the story? When the gates are down and the lights are flashing? Stay off the tracks.

I remember watching a worker in an AT&T Cable truck lift a crossing gate on U.S. 30 in Lynnwood (Ill.) one day about nine years ago. The gates were stuck down, and I guess the AT&T guys were behind schedule. The gates are counter-balanced, and it took little effort on his part to raise the gate. The AT&T worker (passenger) held the crossing gate arm up while several cars and a tractor-trailer unit passed under the gate.

Lynnwood PD wouldn't respond (they said the gates got stuck "all the time"), nor would the State Police. So we faithful, kind, reverent, law-abiding drivers just sat there until the RR service truck finally showed up. Many drivers, probably familiar with the area and the problem, went around the gates.

88 weeks now - Beth Bentley missing

2012-01-29T10:01:00.003-06:00

Last week this message appeared in a Facebook posting on the "Missing Beth Bentley" page: "Yet EVERY SINGLE TIME remains are found Beth's brother Ron, her sons, her father and her friends hold our collective breath...because it might be her. What a way to live : ("

I submit that that is not a proper way to live. Plus, I wonder how the author happened to think that was true for all those people.

Beth Bentley has been missing 88 weeks now. The last reliable sighting of her seems to have been at the Dairy Queen in Woodstock on Thursday evening, May 20, 2010. As more and more time passes and no person, other than one, speaks out about where Beth was after that, the more likely it is foul play is involved. Did she ever really leave Woodstock?

For people to jump to conclusions and to make assumptions that every bone (or, recently, skull) found has anything at all to do with Beth Bentley is a waste of their emotions, feelings, time, energy, life-force. Rather, these same people should be pressing law-enforcement officials to increase the pressure on Beth's entire circle of intimate friends. And not just the "intimate" ones. All of them.

Go back and re-trace her activities for the 60 days prior to her disappearance. Trace every telephone call and text message. Track down every rumor. Explore every relationship. Every single one of them. Track down her former co-workers at the law office. No need to re-hash the rumors here. The "friends" have heard them all. Hopefully, the police have, too..

There is a new officer in charge of the detective division at the Woodstock Police Department. Is the Woodstock PD even still the lead investigatory agency? Remember the talk about the State Police being involved? Are they?

Can't call you back

2012-01-28T06:52:00.001-06:00

A week or so ago I listened to a cheery message on my voicemail, "Hi, it's me. Call me back." The call-back number was blocked and read "PRIVATE MESSAGE."

I didn't recognize the voice in the short message, and I couldn't dial back. I wondered if all her calls are blocked or if the call had been placed from a Sprint cell phone, using the one-number, instant return of a message I had left for her. I had used my Sprint service for eight years before someone asked me why I had blocked my number when calling back; I hadn't. Only then did I realize that my number wasn't displayed to the person I called, if I used the one-number return-call function.

So now, I'm wondering who is waiting for me to call her back. Or is someone?

The moral of the story? Leave your name and number, even if you know the person will know who called.

Maybe it was just a random act of kindness. You know - leave a friendly message for someone. Maybe...

Preckwinkle - naive? or worse?

2012-01-27T20:57:00.000-06:00

In a statement about a whistleblower at the office of the Cook County Medical Examiner, where bodies were stacked in body bags one on top of another, Cook County Board President Preckwinkle said, "I can't understand why a staff member who had a concern about operations would go to the media rather than try to deal with it internally."

Now, there's a typical Cook County response. Blame the whistleblower and sic the Cook County Inspector General on that person.

Surely, Preckwinkle can't be that stupid. Can she? Employees had to be complaining, and they saw that nothing was being done! So, finally one brave employee took pictures and gave them to ABC-TV in Chicago.

Three cheers for that employee!

Remember Groundhog Day 2011?

2012-01-27T20:35:00.001-06:00

2/2/2011

OK, folks. What do you remember about Groundhog Day 2011? Were you in Woodstock that day?

Last year may have been the only year when Groundhog Days festivities were canceled on the Woodstock Square.

Be sure to drop by the Woodstock Public Library and see the new Groundhog Days display there.

Plan Commission denies 120-apt. project

2012-01-27T20:25:00.000-06:00

The Woodstock Plan Commission decided 5-2 to give a thumbs-down to the 120-apartment project proposed on the former Woodstock Station grounds, which was previously the Die-Cast property. The Commission considered a proposal on January 26 for two six-story buildings, and that riled up the natives who live nearby.

Now, figure this out. The attorney for the Woodstock Land Development Company (WLDC) apparently thinks a 120-apartment development is the same as a 70-unit condominium project. I think not! The City of Woodstock would have hoped for 70 owner-occupied units, which would have been a pipe-dream, but 120 one- and two-bedroom rental apartments is a far cry from that.

Commissioner Bill Clow thought parking would be a problem. Of course, it will be a problem. A huge one.
If WLDC really rented to 55-and-old active adults, every one of them will have a car; so that's 120 vehicles right there. Some apartments might have couples living in them; thus, two cars. How would 76 parking spaces ever accommodate residents and guests, plus employees of the project.? They wouldn't.

I didn't understand Commission Steve Gavers' comment, reported in the Northwest Herald, that the site is a "sacred site." What in the world is sacred about empty ground next to the railroad tracks and near a city public works building? Perhaps he'll add a comment here and enlighten us.

More disturbing is the developer's rush to the City Council for a reversal. Our City Council doesn't have the greatest track record in supporting its Boards and Commissions. What are the developer's odds for success, in spite of a turn-down by the Plan Commission? Guesses, anyone?

Finally, a smart car ...

2012-01-27T13:22:00.001-06:00

MIT CitiCar

Check out this electric car. Well, it's just a prototype (at this time). The future looks pretty exciting, doesn't it?

Looks like a smart idea to me.

Would you drive one of these? Feel safe? Imagine what driving alongside a semi would feel like. Or just stopping alongside a Hummer.

Where do you put the groceries?

European shopping bags - I want one!

2012-01-27T12:34:00.000-06:00

I want one of these...

Last time I saw the email containing the pictures of the shopping bags in Europe, I tried to find a seller.

Think I could carry my notebook into the courthouse in one of those?

Our County dollars at work ...

2012-01-27T12:31:00.000-06:00

Oh, I just feel all warm and fuzzy - all over. I feel so special. What happened today?

I got a message from NIXLE, wishing me a happy and healthy new year and thanking me "for helping make Nixle such a success."

I thank the McHenry County Sheriff's Department for spending money with Eric Liu and NIXLE, so we can all feel safer.

Yeah, sure I do...

Pyle corrects Bail Bond violation

2012-01-27T11:40:00.000-06:00

It was SRO in Judge Condon's courtroom, 302, this morning at 9:00AM. Because of a trial in Judge Prather's courtroom (304), her cases were moved to Judge Condon's desk. Because he was to hear cases on two calls, he asked attorneys to inform him for which call they would approach him.

A few attorneys approached him and gave him the information in the most logical order - that by which he could quickly find the case. Example: "On the call for 304, page 1, line 7 .." and then announce their client's name in a voice loud enough to bring their client to the bench. Others didn't, such as "Line 7, page 1, on the 304 call..." Maybe they were just trying to make it interesting for the judge...

The judge heard matters rapidly, and the courtroom began to clear out. Finally, Greg Pyle's case (12CF000020) was called. His two attorneys and he gathered in front of Judge Condon, along with the Assistant State's Attorney who was filling in for the attorney handling the State's case, who was up the hall in Judge Prather's courtroom.

Today's appearance was quickly disposed of, with a continuance to a February date I couldn't hear.

I expected the State to make an issue of Pyle's Bail Bond violation, but I learned after court that his correct address had been filed with the Court this morning.

There is apparently no requirement that a Defendant to be released on a bond (Pyle's bond is $200,000) provide his true or correct address. A Defendant does not attest or swear that the information on the Bail Bond form is correct. However, there is a condition on the Bail Bond form that the Defendant must inform the Circuit Court of a change of address within 24 hours.

So, suppose you put down the Magic Kingdom for your address or maybe you put down a non-existent address in Woodstock. If you don't (or can't) live there (how can you live at a non-existent address?), are you in violation not to report the correct address? You haven't "moved"; right? Complicated, eh?

Had the State Police wished to file additional charges of any type and had they gone to the non-existent address, might the Police have then gone to the nearest house and scared the daylights out of the residents there, attempting to re-arrest Pyle?

Because of Judge Condon's soft voice this morning, I could not hear the date of Pyle's next court date, but it will be in February. No doubt it will be beyond the February 8th date of the next Sheriff's Department Merit Commission meeting.

Will Sheriff Nygren address the problem with Pyle on February 8th, or will he cancel that meeting? How long will Nygren continue to pay Pyle before putting him on unpaid administrative leave?

And if the sheriff cuts off Pyle's pay, could that loosen Pyle's lips on any issues of interest to others in the County?

Phone No. for Woodstock Soc. Sec. office?

2012-01-26T14:18:00.000-06:00

Does anyone have the new local telephone number for the Woodstock Social Security office?

They have disconnected 815.338.3751 and may be trying to force all callers to the tollfree 800/ number (800.772.1213), where you must plow through menu after menu after menu to try to figure out the right extension and then deal with a "customer service" person in a call center.

I get 3-4 calls/week for Social Security and would like to be able to provide the correct number to callers.

Thanks!

How important is spelling?

2012-01-26T07:42:00.000-06:00

The Associated Press reports that, after 18 months, the spelling of "SHCOOL" has been corrected in front of a New York City school building. The AP said that the Consolidated Edison utility used heavy equipment to grind away the H and C from the street surface, so that drivers would know they were in front of a "school" after the word repainted and spelled correctly.

ConEd could have saved a lot of money by just offering a $5.00 reward to the first 50 people who called to report the misspelling and congratulating them on their astute observation.

That was on Page 2 of this morning's Northwest Herald, under State Briefs.

Right across the fold, on Page 3, was this headline, "Number of abortions roprted (sic) in state drops." The word "reported" was spelled correctly in the copy from the wire service.

Compliments to BN-D reporter

2012-01-26T06:41:00.000-06:00

Reporter Brian Brueggemann and the Belleville News-Democrat understand about providing complete information to their readers.

In an article on www.BND.com Brueggemann wrote about interest there in Illinois State Representative Paul Evans' bill to dissolve the East St. Louis election authority. You can read the article here

Only seven cities in Illinois have their own election authorities. They are East St. Louis, Peoria, Chicago, Aurora, Rockford, Danville and Bloomington. The voters in Chicago will never have a chance, but those in the other six cities might have at least a slim chance of abolishing their election authorities, if they made up their minds to.

ead more here: http://www.bnd.com/2012/01/25/2031219/bill-would-let-all-of-st-clair.html#storylink=cpy

What is remarkable about Brueggemann's article? He included the House Bill number, so that readers could easily find it (at www.ilga.gov) and read it for themselves. The bill is H.B. 4035.

A big thank-you to Brian Brueggemann!

MCSD - still no Merit Commission meeting

2012-01-25T19:54:00.001-06:00

And still Sheriff Nygren is failing to call a Special Meeting of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission over the arrest of Sgt.Greg Pyle. Is it really true that the Sheriff's Department has never officially recognized Pyle's arrest within the Department by communicating it to all employees in writing?

The next Regular Meeting of the Merit Commission is Wednesday, February 8, at 10:30AM, on the second floor at 667 Ware Road. Why not announce a Special Meeting at 9AM tomorrow and hold it on Saturday, January 28, at 10:00AM?

Every day he waits costs the County over $300. How long is he going to pay Pyle before putting him on unpaid administrative leave???

Can you think of any reasons for Nygren to delay?

See the AZ Gov. pointing finger at Obama?

2012-01-25T19:42:00.000-06:00

Did you see the Associated Press photo of Gov. Jan Brewer making her point to Pres. Obama? She was pointing her finger at him, and right in his face.

Good thing that meeting wasn't in Island Lake. Gov. Brewer would have found herself under arrest and hauled away in handcuffs for pointing her ".38 cal. finger" at a government official.

Island Lake is still enforcing its laws, isn't it? (Will they ever live that one down?)

Reed gets 55 years

2012-01-25T17:24:00.001-06:00

From the office of the McHenry County State's Attorney:

55 YEAR SENTENCE GIVEN TO CARY MAN GUILTY OF CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULT AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces today that John “Jack” Reed, 35, of Cary, was found guilty Wednesday, November 16, 2011, of multiple counts of Criminal Sexual Assault and Child Pornography.

The defendant was charged with having sexual contact with a female relative over several months. The victim was a minor at the time of the offenses. During the trial, the jury was shown four separate videotaped encounters that contained multiple acts of sexual penetration. Those videotaped images were recovered from the defendant’s laptop computer and were later analyzed by a forensic computer laboratory. Additionally, the jury heard testimony from two other eye-witnesses to sexual acts between the defendant and the victim.

After approximately three hours of deliberations, the jury found the defendant guilty of ten counts of Criminal Sexual Assault and four counts of Child Pornography. The Honorable Judge Joseph Condon sentenced Reed to 55 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. This case was investigated by Sergeant Parsons of the Woodstock Police Department and forensic analysis was conducted by Amy Maskiewicz of the Chicago Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorneys Sharyl Eisenstein and Michael Combs.

CBS-TV tells more about Bull Valley skulls

2012-01-25T16:49:00.002-06:00

I guess we can rest easily, since "there is no danger to the community at this time." Well, tell that to the people whose skulls were found in Bull Valley.

CBS-TV says the (McHenry County) Sheriff's Department says the skulls are human. Trying to piece this story together from media reports? You might want to give up now.

Were the skulls found alongside the road? Was one found yesterday morning and moved? Who would find a skull and move it, and not call the police immediately?

Not connected with any open missing-person case? How can they say that so quickly?

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/01/25/2-skeletons-found-in-mchenry-county-town-of-bull-valley/

Now read the Northwest Herald story at http://www.nwherald.com/2012/01/25/bull-valley-boy-found-first-skull-on-way-to-school/a4jg827/

According to the Northwest Herald article, a boy on his way to school found the first skull on Tuesday morning by his family's mailbox. That's m-o-r-n-i-n-g. His mom called the Bull Valley P.D. and left a message. Yet it seems to have been afternoon, say, after 4:00PM, when MCSD responded to Bull Valley PD's call for assistance.

Let's see the timeline on this one. Did hours really pass before police responded? The Daily Herald says that Bull Valley Police showed up about 3:00PM. Where do we live? In the Twilight Zone?

Feldkamp court date - no show

2012-01-25T09:58:00.000-06:00

Judge Chmiel was ready for business in Courtroom 202 this morning, and Scott Feldkamp wasn't the only no-show. But at 9:20AM, when Judge Chmiel called his case, he definitely was not there.

Or maybe he was. Maybe his hearing is as good as mine (or as poor, as some might say), and he just did not hear the case called.

I saw lips moving at the bench in what was likely conversation between the judge and lawyers, and there was only one lawyer who spoke up during his case. And I thanked him for that outside the courtroom. He wasn't shouting, but he clearly respected the court, the judge and others in the courtroom by speaking up.

Judge Chmiel has a soft voice and used it even when calling cases.

Why do judges tolerate such a high rate of no-shows? Should they just dismiss cases, if no one shows up?

And what good is yesterday's Illinois Supreme Court view on cameras in courtrooms, if voices are loud enough to be recorded?

What's happening in Bull Valley?

2012-01-24T16:42:00.003-06:00

Bull Valley Police have requested assistance from the McHenry County Sheriff's Department for an event on Cherry Valley Road. Numerous MCSD squad cars are responding, and the Coroner and a K-9 unit have been requested.

Monitor media for more details.

What happens when you call the McHenry County Jail?

2012-01-24T12:22:00.000-06:00

And leave a message for the Shift Sergeant? Nothing.

Apparently, they haven't been trained how to retrieve messages and that a caller expects to be called back. Or perhaps the sergeants have been directed to return calls, unless I call.

The number is 815.338.9396, press 8, then 2 for the shift sergeant.

Maybe they should re-record the message to play: "This is the voice mailbox of the shift sergeant. Leave your name and phone number; we'll call back. If this is Gus Philpott calling, please hang up now."

Then I'd know not to expect a return call.

There should be a log of all calls left on voicemail. Then, when the jail accreditation folks come in, they could check it. That would be the American Correctional Association, of Alexandria, Va. (www.aca.org); not CALEA. I have my doubts about what they do with complaints about jails they have accredited, because they'll tell you to call the sheriff, if you have a problem. Like that will do you any good around here.

Or a log for the Men from ICE who come in to check records. Maybe they could look up to inspect which calls about ICE detainees got ignored.

Let's make a deal...

2012-01-24T09:56:00.000-06:00

The game show goes on. A lot of game shows are free. You might have to order tickets in advance, but many are free. Or you might be willing to cough up $5-10 for a seat, if you thought that the TV cameras might swing by so you could wave at your friends back home.

I had a great laugh this morning, when I read, "Attorney Ekl: Legal bills for state to pay." He was referring to the defense costs that the special Prosecutors Henry Tonigan and Thomas McQueen will incur, when they defend themselves against his $15,000,000 lawsuit.

It wasn't even a "slow news" day for the Northwest Herald, but they gave Ekl premium space on Page 1. First of all, Ekl doesn't have anything to do with who pays for the Special Prosecutors' defense bills. He filed his $15,000,000 lawsuit on behalf of his clients Bianchi, Synek, Salgado and McCleary and is looking for a big payday. What's his hand in the game? Is he in for 30% of $15,000,000? Is he looking for a $5,000,000 payday? Or will he settle for $91.50/hour for his actual time on the case, not counting press interviews?

Trying to toss the feed dish to the State is an attempt to deflect the anger that taxpayers will display, when McHenry County gets clobbered with the defense bills. Bianchi, Synek, Salgado and McCleary were found not guilty in a directed verdict. That case is over. It's done. If nothing was ever said about it again, no lasting harm was done.

Their egos got bruised a little. They spent time in court and got paid for working. Their attorney got paid by the taxpayers. So it's done. Fini...

Except now someone (more than one?) wants a big payday. And so a $15,000,000 lawsuit gets filed.

McHenry County has a nasty hand in the deal. According to this morning's article in the Northwest Herald, "... the McHenry County Board agreed to pay $275,000 toward Bianchi and his secretary Joyce Synek's legal fees. As part of the settlement, the county was to be left out of any civil lawsuits filed against Tonigan and McQueen." And, if Ekl is successful, the County gets its $275,000 back.

County Board Chairman Ken Koehler was attributed with a remark that the county "has no intention of defending the special prosecutors." Let's see, the County paid them to sink their teeth into Bianchi, Synek, Salgado and McCleary. Now the Board is trying to distance itself (and hang onto their seats).

That deal smells. Voters should turn out every County Board member at the next election and start with a clean slate in November 2012.

Will McHenry County Courthouse open to cameras?

2012-01-24T09:31:00.000-06:00

Current rule? You can't take a camera into the McHenry County Government Center. Is that because the courtrooms are located there? Or maybe because of another reason? I could name several...

In an article from the Illinois Statehouse News Illinois courts may be about to become more transparent.

Illinois State Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride told the News that that time is now. Too bad it wasn't a decision in a court case.

He was quoted as saying, "By having the public keeping an eye on what is going on in the courtroom, it can act as a check in the balance of power."

Cameras in McHenry County courtrooms aren't the only help that is needed. In many of the courtrooms spectators and others waiting for their time for justice can't even hear what is being said. The judges are aware of complaints, yet they do nothing to remedy the failure to conduct court matters in normal tones.

The problem is not hearing impairment of those in the seating area. I've been in court when a judge had to lean forward toward an attorney and tell him to speak up. I was in court one day when an attorney seated at the attorney's table spoke up and said, "Can't hear." Even though he was no longer a party to the case, the judge invited him to the bench.

Somehow, I think that if I said out loud, "Can't hear", the judge would also invite me up to the bench. It would be for a different reason, though. He'd introduce me to his bailiff and have me escorted through that locked door, where I might get to cool my heels for a few hours or days as a Guest of the Court.

McHenry County court security officers turn away people with cameras in their pockets or purses almost every day. At the same time, they let people in with cameras every day! What cell phone today does not have a camera?

It is wrong to prohibit cameras in a government building. If a judge wants to prohibit photography in his courtroom, then he can post a sign at the door to the courtroom. But to prohibit cameras in a public building, just because it happens to contain courtrooms, is wrong.

Will part of Nygren Palace go dark?

2012-01-24T09:14:00.000-06:00

The Associated Press reports that an immigration detention center is being considered for Crete, Ill., which is located approximately 35 miles due south of the Chicago Loop. What's the plan? Seven hundred "beds" in a new facility, to be built and managed by a private company.

The natives are already restless in Crete and have begun opposing it. "NIMBY" is alive and well there. Where were the activists when the pitch was made in McHenry County to enlarge the jail here for a detention facility?

If ICE moves the 300-400 detainees out of McHenry County, where will Sheriff Nygren get the $90/day to keep the lights on? How many corrections officers will be "downsized"?

The stupidity of ICE can be illustrated easily when it houses a detainee at $90/day for seven months ($19,000), because he cannot raise $5,000 for his bond. I have in mind a detainee from Nigeria who satisfied the criminal charges against him by successfully completing a boot camp in Cook County. Upon his release there last June, ICE was waiting for him and brought him to McHenry County. Ka-ching, ka-ching... Every day, day after day, $90 + $90 + $90...

Why not use electronic monitoring at $15.00/day for these types of immigration violators.

The AP article also said that about 400,000 persons are being deported a year. Oh, really?

Murder charges - just a game?

2012-01-24T08:50:00.000-06:00

What trial strategy do you suppose exists when a person is charged with five counts of murder and one count of concealment of a body and then, on the opening day of jury selection, the State's Attorney's office drops three murder counts and the concealment charge?

Mario Casciaro has been out of jail on a $5,000,000 bond. He was bailed out when 10% was posted; that's $500,000. (And, of that, 10% ($50,000) was instantly scarfed up by the Circuit Clerk's office on behalf of the court system, as a non-refundable fee; that ought to keep some lights on for a while.)

Would his bond have been less, if only two counts of murder had been filed in the first place?

And I've always wondered how you charge someone with five counts of murder, when only one death is involved.

So, is it a game that prosecutors play to load up a defendant with serious charges and then drop some of the charges before a trial ever starts?

Jury selection wasn't even completed yesterday, and already the State has dropped four charges. Does this bode ill for their entire prosecution?

Frankly, I've always wondered about the charge, since the indictment alleged that Casciaro "or someone for whose conduct he was legally accountable" killed Brian Carrick in 2002.

Casciaro's attorneys are Brian Telander and William Gibbs.

Unauthorized GPS tracking of vehicle

2012-01-23T13:17:00.001-06:00

A reader sent me this comment today. Seems like I expressed an opinion about this a couple of years ago.

"The United States Supreme Court has ruled that Law Enforcement must have a signed search warrant from a judge to attach any type of GPS tracking device to a vehicle, or it would be a clear violation of the amendment rights of a person."

The reader asks if anyone at MCSD has any knowledge of a tracking device ever being attached by any deputy to a vehicle of a deputy or corrections officer.

PNC N.A. takes aim on Feldkamp property

2012-01-23T12:26:00.000-06:00

It doesn't show up (yet) in the probate records for the Feldkamp estates, but PNC Bank National Association filed a mortgage foreclosure action. Without trotting over to the courthouse, I can't tell in what property their financial interest is, but I can guess.

The residence at 7580 Somerset Drive, in unincorporated McHenry County near Marengo, was owned by Audrey Feldkamp, according to McHenry County property tax records. Mrs. Feldkamp, her husband (John G. (Jack) Feldkamp), and neighbor Doran Bloom died as a result of injuries suffered at the house on June 7, 2011.

On November 2, 2011, PNC Bank N.A. filed a mortgage foreclosure action in McHenry County Circuit Court, Case No. 11CH002563. PNC Bank N.A. is represented by the law firm of Heavner Scott Beyers & Mihlar, LLC. The firm seems to be headquartered in Decatur, Ill., although no address can be found easily on its website (www.hsbattys.com).

The Defendants are

Scott A. Feldkamp, as Independent Executor
Scott A. Feldkamp, individually
Jaclynn Feldkamp
Resource Bank N.A.
Somerset Community Association
Caring Transitions
Transition of Illinois, Inc.
Unknown claimants & lienholders against Audrey Feldkamp
Unknown heirs & devisees of Audrey J. FeldkampUnknown claimants & lienholders against unknown heirs & devisees

It's interesting to me that PNC Bank N.A. has not filed a claim against the estate in the probate matter open in the Circuit Court. Does naming Scott Feldkamp as Executor cover that?

Sure seems like Scott Feldkamp, as Executor, ought to have a good (good=expensive) lawyer representing him. Going head-to-head pro se against a law firm that "...has over 30 years of experience working with lenders to protect their delinquent mortgage assets. Our experienced staff has assisted lenders in the default management department, providing unique insight and being responsive to our clients needs" might require more than a little legal "assistance".

Beth Bentley - gone 87 weeks

2012-01-22T13:54:00.002-06:00

Beth Bentley vanished on May 23, 2010, from Centralia, Ill. Or was it on May 22? Or maybe May 21? Or possibly on May 20? Or maybe from Mount Vernon, Ill.? Or even from Woodstock, Ill.?

Every month the Woodstock Police Department reports its progress in the case to the City Manager, and the City Manager forwards that report to the City Council.

The monthly report for November 2011 was delivered to the City Council at its January 17, 2012 meeting. What was that report in the case of Beth Bentley?

"The Investigations Division continues to aggressively follow-up (sic) on all leads in the investigation of the Endangered Missing Person Benedetta "Beth" Bentley. The Investigations Division maintains contact with the Illinois State Police and all other police agencies involved in this case for updates and the sharing of intelligence information."

Does this two-sentence "report" sound familiar? It should, at least to the members of the City Council who wade through their electronic packets. Do they even see those two lines? Does City Manager Tim Clifton even see them?

If they do, why aren't they questioning the police chief about what his department is really doing in this case?

What's cooking in the Feldkamp probates?

2012-01-22T13:02:00.000-06:00

A funny thing happened on the way to the Circuit Clerk's counter last summer. Or did it?

On August 30, 2011, a hearing in the probate of Audrey Feldkamp was held. That was when the lawyers for the Executor, Scott Feldkamp, wanted out of the case. Thomas Schmitt, of Filler & Schmitt, of Marengo, had filed a request to get out of the case and to collect fees owed to them. Judge Sullivan let them out, and the lawyers withdrew their petition for fees.

What was their reason for wanting out? The reason given to the Court was "lack of communication and cooperation on the part of Scott A. Feldkamp making it impossible for the Law Office of Thomas W. Schmitt and Jay K. Filler, Jr. to properly represent him."

Since that time Scott Feldkamp has filed to represent the estates of his father and mother pro se; that is, himself - without an attorney-of-record.

But something else happened on August 30. Woodstock Attorney Mark Gummerson stood with Tom Schmitt in front of Judge Sullivan, and Judge Sullivan asked Gummerson if he was involved.

Gummerson told Judge Sullivan that he represented Jackie Feldkamp (Scott's sister) and that he "believed" he previously filed his appearance.

When Judge Sullivan told him that the Appearance was not in the court record, Gummerson said, "If I haven't, I will."

It seems to me that Gummerson would have checked his files right after court to learn whether he had already filed his Appearance.

He hadn't.

It seems to me that, since he told Judge Sullivan that he would (if he hadn't), then pretty quickly he should have done so.

He hasn't.

As of last Friday there was nothing in the electronic record online to reflect that Gummerson ever filed an Appearance that he represents Jackie Feldkamp. And the last time I asked a court clerk to pull the file and tell me whether the Appearance was in the court file, I was told that it wasn't.

Why is this important?

When the attorneys for the Executor bailed out because of "lack of communication and cooperation on the part of ..." the Executor, then who is telling the Executor what he legally can and cannot do as Executor? Apparently, no one is.

Why is Scott Feldkamp driving his late father's Cadillac on an almost-daily basis? Back in June he owned a car; Sheriff's Department photographers snapped pictures of it in the driveway of the Feldkamp home. Can an Executor use a vehicle that is an estate asset, or should that vehicle be in a garage, preserving its value, until it can be sold in an arm's length transaction at fair market value?

What's the rule about distribution of estate assets before the estate is closed? Can assets of the estate be liquidated and distributed to heirs before the creditors are satisfield? What happened to Mrs. Feldkamp's car? Who is paying for the insurance on Mr. Feldkamp's car? Who is paying the expenses of the Feldkamp home? If Scott is living in the house, must he pay rent to the Estate?

What do you suppose the fair rental value is on a $413,000 home in McHenry County outside Marengo? It's $2,850/month, according to a listing on www.realtor.com by Harmony Real Estate. Would a prospective renter or buyer have to be informed that the house is stigmatized?

Does any distribution require court approval, especially before the settlement date of the probates?

The probates have been transferred from Judge Sullivan to Judge Chmiel, and the next hearing in the John Feldkamp Estate is set for Wednesday, January 25, 9:00AM, in Courtroom 202. The next hearing in the Audrey Feldkamp Estate is not until August 22.

Nygren keeping low profile in Pyle case

2012-01-22T10:35:00.000-06:00

Where is McHenry County's top cop when it comes to keeping the public informed regarding the case of one of his deputies, who was arrested this month on ten counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault (child under 13)?

A lot of people thought that Nygren was enjoying snow country in Minocqua.

However, the January-February 2012 issue of the McHenry County Sheriff's Office Newsletter places Nygren in his office on January 9th, when he swore in former Woodstock PD Det.Sgt. Kurt Rosenquist as the newest court security officer.

On Page 5 there are two photographs of Nygren and Rosenquist in Nygren's office. In one of them they are reading the scripts for the swearing-in ceremony. Whatever happened to "Repeat after me. I, (state your name), do solemnly swear ... "

Content in the newsletter near the photographs reads, "The Sheriff's Department conducted swearing-in ceremonies for two new deputies and one new Court Security Officer.
"Our new Deputies, Cody Smith and Ed Zerman, were sworn in on Dec. 19, 2011.
"Kurt Rosenquist, (sic) became our newest member in Court Security on Jan. 9, 2011 (sic)."

I suspect that the writer meant that Kurt became a Court Security Officer on Jan. 9, 2012.

Actually, the wording does not state that Kurt was sworn in on Jan. 9. He could have been sworn in on another date, with his effective date of hiring as Jan. 9.

So, why isn't Sheriff Keith Nygren out in front on behalf of the public on the Pyle matter? It's not good enough to say that "It's a State Police matter." Pyle was in the in-crowd at the sheriff's department. Everything that Pyle touched should go under the microscope.

And why hasn't Nygren called a Special Meeting of the Merit Commission? Isn't he obligated to do so, when a suspension is very likely to last longer than 30 days? What's he waiting for? Not talking about it is not going to make it go away!

Beth Bentley - 87 weeks and counting

2012-01-22T10:18:00.000-06:00

More than a year and a half ago Beth Bentley disappeared. Sometime over the days of May 20-24, 2010, Beth vanished.

How much of her time and location has actually been absolutely accounted for? Say, from the time she left the Dairy Queen in Woodstock on Thursday evening, May 20, until late on the evening of Monday, May 24, when she was reported as missing to the Woodstock (Ill.) Police Department?

One person has offered information about a portion of her whereabouts on that week-end. Co-worker, friend, traveling companion and sometime-alibi Jennifer Wyatt has said that she dropped Beth off near the Amtrak station in Centralia, Ill. on Sunday, May 23, shortly before a northbound train to Chicago was scheduled to pass through the station at about 6:00PM. Jenn told me that Beth never intended to take the train, but she didn't say what Beth's plans were.

Yet there are reports that Beth's cell phone was used to order a pizza from Pogue's Pizza in Mount Vernon about 5:30PM on that Sunday. It shouldn't have been all that hard to trace that phone call. Apparently, the number showed up on Pogue's telephone system. From where was the call placed? Mount Vernon? Centralia? Wouldn't phone records and "pings" come up with a location for the phone when the call was placed?

And what about the rumor that Beth's cell phone pinged in McHenry County late on Sunday night, May 23?

And that Scott Bentley's law office in McHenry was broken into that night? Who knows about that? The McHenry Police Department doesn't. If his office was broken into and computers were tampered with, wouldn't he report that to police? Wouldn't he be concerned about loss of confidential client records? Were files removed from a computer in his office? What files?

And who tampered with Beth's Facebook account and removed many comments and photos? Who had access to her account? Didn't the police attempt to freeze her Facebook account to prevent tampering?

With the retirement of Det. Sgt. Kurt Rosenquist from the Woodstock Police Department, who will now lead the Woodstock PD Detective Division? Will this officer take a fresh look at this Endangered Missing Person case? Will the "Endangered" classification be continued? Removed? Was it ever justified in the first place?

Some people have commented to me that they think it's strange that Det. Rosenquist would have had Friends on his own Facebook page that included persons closely connected to Beth Bentley. Since no one can be ruled out in this case, why would he have included Jennifer Wyatt, Jeremy Velmont, Albert Bafford and Angela Montgomery as Facebook friends?

Of course, FB Friends aren't necessarily "friends". I probably have FB Friends I don't even know on my FB page. Sun-Tzu, Chinese general and military strategist, reportedly said in about 400 B.C., "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." Any correlation here?

Kurt joined the McHenry County Sheriff's Department courthouse security staff on January 9, when he was sworn in by Sheriff Keith Nygren. Two photos of the swearing-in ceremony appear in the January-February 2012 issue of the MCSO Newsletter. So much for hoping that he'd hang out his own shingle as a P.I. and solve the missing-person case of Beth Bentley.

Down with Lay's chips

2012-01-21T15:44:00.000-06:00

I gave up on Lay's regular potato chips years ago, because I got tired of all the broken chips in every bag. I mean, do the workers have to walk on every bag?

So, when I buy chips, I buy Lay's Wavy Chips. At least, up until this week. Now the Wavy chips are all broken, too. And I noticed that Lay's took their satisfaction guarantee and phone number off the back of the bag. I can guess why!

So, are you disappointed (angry sometimes?) when you open a bag of chips and find very few whole chips? It's really hard to enjoy chips and dip when you end up with more dip on your finger than you do on the chip!

Just in case you are looking for the number at which you can call Customer Service at Frito-Lay, here it is: 800-352-4477. If you too think you ought to get more than 6-8-10 whole chips in a 10-oz. bag of Lay's chips, give 'em a call and a piece of your mind.

Don't mess with Texas

2012-01-21T15:33:00.000-06:00

Texas AE7 1123

Those bumper stickers ("Don't mess with Texas") always got my attention. When I lived in Corpus Christi in 1990, they were all over the place. I was always looking for a store that would make a bumper sticker for me that read "Don't mess with Gus". Couldn't find one.

At the Woodstock Public Library this afternoon, some driver in this big pick-up from Texas decided that he was more important than Illinois handicap parking laws. And he got away with it, too. He (I assumed the driver was male) parked in a manner to attract attention, which he got. There were no handicap plates on the truck and no placard hanging from the inside mirror, so he risked a $250 ticket to run into the library.

Do the police ever patrol the library parking lot? Or handicap parking spots anywhere in Woodstock?

I took my "nice" pill this morning and did not sic the Woodstock Police on him. Maybe someone else did, but this is one time when I can say, "I didn't do it."

Where does Pyle live?

2012-01-20T14:43:00.001-06:00

What's wrong with this picture? I wanted a picture this morning of 2722 Haydn Lane, Woodstock.

The house on the left is at 2730 Haydn Street, Woodstock. The house on the right is at 2720 Haydn Street, Woodstock.

Where's the picture of 2722 Haydn Lane?

First of all, there is no Haydn Lane. Assuming the person who gave that address as his own address, it's slightly possible that he might not distinguish between a Lane and a Street. But there is no house between 2720 and 2730 Haydn Street. What's the importance of this?

When you post a Bail Bond at the McHenry County Jail, I presume the defendant wanting to leave custody must provide his true address. Is that too little to ask or to expect? In fact, is it required?

How do corrections officers about to release a person from custody verify his address? Do they look at any document, such as a driver's license or vehicle title or other official identification? Or do they just take his word for whatever to write down on the form? And who writes the information on the form? Presumably, a corrections officer or a deputy sheriff or other law enforcement officer records the information on the form, after asking questions of the person in custody. Then the defendant signs the form.

What's significant about "2722 Haydn Lane", aside from the fact that there is no such address? This was the address listed by Gregory M. Pyle as his "Address." Is it?

A warrant for Pyle's arrest was issued by McHenry County Circuit Court Associate Judge Mark R. Gerhardt. (Judge Gerhardt missed his calling. His illegible signature might have also qualified him to be a doctor or a deputy sheriff.) A pet peeve of mine is illegible signatures, especially by police officers, deputy sheriffs and, now, judges.

When was the warrant issued? Until today I was under the assumption that the warrant had been issued on Friday, January 6. Police started looking for Pyle, and he turned him in on Saturday evening, January 7 and was released on Sunday, January 8, just after midnight.

BUT the Warrant of Arrest for Pyle, as on file in the McHenry County Circuit Court's office, Criminal Division, is dated "this 7th day of January 2012."

On the Bail Bond form, dated January 8, 2012, Pyle listed his "Address" as 2722 Haydn Ln., Woodstock. Why did Pyle list that non-existent address on his Bail Bond form? If police wanted to pick him up for further questioning or should a bond violation occur, will they have mud on their faces, when they try to find him?

Will they be standing in front of 2720 or 2730 Haydn Street, scratching their heads? Worse, will they show up with MARV and the SWAT team in combat gear with automatic weapons and surround these two houses with weapons drawn and cocked? And scare the living daylights out of the residents?

Or even worse, will they push in the glass on a front door, "assist" the residents down to the floor with "arm bars", and toss the house? And then find out they are in the wrong house?

On January 11 the Northwest Herald reported that Pyle's house on Autumncrest Drive in Crystal Lake was searched and certain possessions were removed. Didn't the police know that Pyle lived at 2722 Haydn Lane in Woodstock? What were they doing on Autumncrest Drive in Crystal Lake?

Is a crime committed when a defendant lists the wrong address on his Bail Bond form?

It may not be crime to provide untrue information on the Bail Bond form, because the form does not seem to contain any language that the information is truthful or accurate.

Why are the Defendants after Mrs. Seipler?

2012-01-19T20:14:00.001-06:00

What's up in the case of Seipler v. Cundiff, et al. (the "et al." includes Sheriff Keith Nygren and others at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department)?

On January 12 U.S. District Court Judge Frederick J. Kapala denied a motion by Mrs. Zane (Rosalinda) Seipler for leave to file an appearance of counsel and a motion to file under seal. The Defendants' motion to strike was denied as moot. The case remained on the call for January 13.

On January 17 Judge Kapala granted the Defendants' emergency motion to compel the deposition of Mrs. Seipler and directed the parties to confer and arrange for her deposition to take place no later than January 20. Defense counsel (that would be the James Sotos law firm) was directed to provide electronic notice to Mrs. Seipler and to her attorney, Dennis A. Giovannini,.as soon as possible and before the end of the day.

After how many months (years?) is something now an emergency?

This case was on Judge Kapala's call for today, January 19. I wonder what happened in court today...

USPS Customer Service dropping

2012-01-19T20:01:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I stopped at the Woodstock Post Office to mail a small package to Texas. I had already wrapped and addressed it, and it was just the size for the Post Office to handle, not UPS.

I guess I picked a good time to make that stop, because only one customer was being waited on by a window clerk. Another window/counter seemed to be open for service, and two employees were standing back from the counter, engaged in a conversation.

I stepped up to counter, expecting that the employee who was working that counter slot would end the conversation and return to the counter.

Wrong expectation.

After a few moments, I greeted them, and one turned to notice that I was waiting. Did she end her conversation and come to wait on me?

No.

And then, when she did return to the counter, she faced away from me and continued her conversation with the other employee.

This is the U.S. Postal Service concept of Service. They are already worried about huge financial losses and shrinking business, as more and more people use email and UPS and FedEx. Right now we don't have another choice for First Class Mail. I'm a captive customer. But that doesn't mean I'm willing to be ignored.

Now for the good part. When I bought my 20 stamps to use after the postage increase on Sunday, I saved 20¢, because she sold me "Forever" stamps.Whoopee! Frankly, I'd rather have paid the extra 20¢ and gotten faster service.

Who really pays for lawsuits?

2012-01-19T09:45:00.000-06:00

As I glanced over the front-page article in the Northwest Herald this morning for the second or third time, it finally struck me. [And, yes, I do still get a paper at my door every morning, thanks to a faithful carrier who probably hopes he won't have to wait until his next life to get the reward he so richly deserves. (OK, Michael L.; watch your mail for an envelope in the next few days.)

Who will really pay for the lawsuit that Terry Ekl has filed against Special Prosecutors Henry Tonigan and Thomas McQueen?

Taxpayers, go to the head of the line.

Since Attorneys Tonigan and McQueen were hired as Special Prosecutors to work on behalf of the people of McHenry County in their investigation of now-exonerated State's Attorney Lou Bianchi, will they ask for McHenry County to defend them? And will that be right after they sue McHenry County for unpaid legal fees?

Next time you retain a lawyer and direct, instruct or even just allow him (or her) to do work for you, watch carefully what happens. Even if you have told your lawyer to allow only one of its high-priced attorneys to work on your case. What if later you realize your billing includes fees for a lawyers' conference (two lawyers in the same office, drinking coffee, discussing your case while the meter runs at both rates!)> You're going to get a bill. And what will happen if you don't pay that bill? You are going to get sued by your own attorney.

Lawyers sue their clients for fees all the time in McHenry County. (They could, of course, avoid that by ceasing work when the retainer runs dry; instead, they just keep right on "working" and billing.

So McHenry County hired Tonigan and McQueen and is now trying to skip out on a big chunk of the bill. To the County Board, I say, "Shame on you." You failed to put a cap on bills that the good judge could allow the lawyers to run up. The County Board deserves all the blame, and voters should remember this at the next election.

#1 McHenry County owes Tonigan and McQueen. How much? $380,000? Pay them. Now!

#2 Will McHenry County end up footing the bill for defense in the lawsuit filed by Terry Ekl on behalf of Lou Bianchi, his exective administrative assistant and two investigators at the State's Attorney's office?

Obviously, the State's Attorney's office will not be available to defend the County. Oh, there's that word "available". Maybe the Office is "available", but its employees are parties to the suit, so that means a Special State's Attorney, and you are not going to find one of those for $91.50/hour. More like $250/hour. Maybe, more like $400-500/hour.

You just "gotta" love the comment from County Board member Ersel Schuster (District 6). Said she, "I don't like to see lawsuits, but if there's wrongdoing, it needs to be looked into, and seriously, and it looks like that's the case."

Did she mean the case against Lou Bianchi and staff?
Does she mean the new case by Lou Bianchi and staff?

I wonder if she'll vote for funds to pay for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Sheriff Keith Nygren.

Lastly, the County Board should have stayed away from the "deal" with Terry Ekl to recover its defense fees in the Bianchi case. That deal smells to high heaven. Ekl apparently agreed to slice his $640,000 in billings (to defend Bianchi and staff) to $275,000 and offered to pay the County $275,000 out of any winnings against the Special Prosecutors.

Which shell is the pea under? First guess?

Buy new stamps now

2012-01-18T18:34:00.000-06:00

Remember that the USPS will raise rates on Sunday, Jan. 22.

What do you suppose it costs USPS to raise the cost of the first ounce of first-class postage by 1¢?

I'll bet it costs more than a penny to raise rates by a penny? So, if it does, then it's a pretty stupid move to raise rates, isn't it? You can't make up that loss by increasing volume!

Now I'm like you. If there has to be an increase, I'd prefer a one-penny increase to one of two or three or five cents. But maybe no increase is even better?

Should the postal workers' unions be busted? What do you think a window clerk earns? You'd probably have a heart attack if you found out. And a mail carrier? What should a mail carrier earn? What do they earn?

An acting postmistress in Santa Fe told me in 1989 that the window-clerk position paid $33,000/year. I was shocked! For selling stamps and making change? It was a good $7.00/hour then. But it paid $16.50/hour. Outrageous! What does it pay now? $55,000? $65,000?

There is a young woman at the Circle K convenience store who would put any USPS counter person to shame. And I'll bet she earns minimum wage.

Buy the stamps before Sunday.

Double-dipping - good? bad? ugly?

2012-01-18T18:00:00.000-06:00

Should double-dipping be allowed? tolerated? accepted by the taxpayers? Do the taxpayers even know when it is going on?

Double-dipping, as I am using it here, means the employment by government of a person who is receiving retirement pay from another government entity.

The most outrageous example in McHenry County is probably the deal worked in Lake in the Hills, Ill. The chief of police retired and claimed his retirement income. All good and well. But then the Village of Lake in the Hills created a new position of Director of Public Safety and whom did they hire? The retired chief of police!

So here is a guy getting his retirement pay for the job he did, and doing virtually the same job anew but for another large paycheck.

Other outrageous examples exist at the McHenry County Government Center, where "security" is provided by retired police officers.

Across Ware Road in the McHenry County Administration Building security is provided by a private security business, and guards are probably paid $12-14/hour.

But the pay-rate south of Ware Road is probably considerably higher.

A position became available last month, after being filled only two months earlier. How are court security officers hired? Is it by competitive application? Must officers meet physical standards and qualify at the range? And must they maintain the physical standards? What screening is there? Is there drug-testing before hiring? Is there random drug-testing after hiring?

In the case of that October hire, he had resigned as a deputy sheriff on October 3, and he went to work as a court security officer on October 4. How does something like that happen? Only if you have "pull".

One thing that I've noticed is that the entrances to the courthouse are usually over-staffed. How does it happen that so little management supervision is given to proper scheduling? Are these officers hourly or salaried? If hourly, how come stations aren't manned (no disrespect meant to the female members of the staff) only as needed? Why are officers allowed to loaf on duty, when "business" is slow? Proper supervision would dictate that they be put to work elsewhere in the building or sent home.

Back to the double-dipping. Does the Sheriff try to hire the best person for the job at the lowest possible pay, or is the plum of a courthouse security job given to the "faithful" who have retired of one of the many departments around the county? Why doesn't the sheriff help solve the unemployment problem in McHenry County by hiring and training capable men and women at a much lower pay rate than current levels?

Let the retirees live on their retirement income, and give a job to an unemployed person!

Pay grades are probably public record. Maybe it's time for the public to know what "security" at 2200 N. Seminary Ave. is costing them.

Bianchi and Ekl sink teeth into Special Prosectors

2012-01-18T13:01:00.001-06:00

In today's email was a copy of the Federal lawsuit filed by Terry Ekl on behalf of Lou Bianchi, Joyce Synek, Ron Salgado and Mike McCleary, Plaintiffs, against Henry Tonigan, Thomas McQueen, Daniel Jerger, Robert Scigalski, James Reilly, Patrick Hanretty, Richard Stilling, Quest Consultants International Limited, Kelleher & Buckley, LLC, and unknown co-conspirators.

Well, there go all the fees earned by the Special Prosecutors and the expenses paid to Quest.

What does it cost to file a Federal lawsuit?

And what does it cost to defend yourself in a Federal lawsuit?

I don't have the capability to reproduce the 48-page filing, which is Case No. 1:12-cv-00364, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division. Perhaps Cal Skinner will be good enough to publish it on McHenry County Blog.

Too bad that courthouse isn't in Woodstock.

When you think of GE, ...

2012-01-18T12:36:00.001-06:00

From a reader this morning...

"If only our media would report on news like this!! !Unbelievable!

"General Electric is planning to move its 115-year-old X-ray division from Waukesha , Wis., to Beijing. In addition to moving the headquarters, the company will invest $2 billion in China and train more than 65engineers and create six research centers. This is the same GE that made $5.1 billion in the United States last year. but paid no taxes-the same company that employs more people overseas than it does in the united States .

"So let me get this straight. President Obama appointed GE Chairman Jeff Immelt to head his commission on job creation (job czar). Immelt is supposed to help create jobs. I guess the President forgot to tell him in which country he was supposed to be creating those jobs.

"If this doesn't show you the total lack of leadership of this President, I don't know what does. Please pass this information to others and think about it before you buy a GE product.

"This has been verified on Snopes.

"See:http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/ge.asp"

(Sometimes, authors of pieces like this throw in that it is Snopes-verified, and it really is not, if you bother to go directly to www.snopes.com. In this case, Snopes says it's True.)

Want to carry a concealed gun?

2012-01-18T09:19:00.000-06:00

A reader sent me this video yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QjZY3WiO9s&sns=fb

Watch it. If you think you want to carry a gun, watch it and listen to the advice.

Train, train, train.

Training is not sitting in your chair, watching this video. Get to a class. Go to the range. Get someone who knows what he is talking about to coach and mentor you.

Many thanks to the reader who sent this.

Driver gets warning, no ticket

2012-01-17T16:50:00.000-06:00

Received the following from a motorist in the St. Louis area who had an encounter with a Missouri State Trooper yesterday. Sure is nice to read about how police treat some drivers:

"I got pulled over by a state troopoer for having a tail light out and driving on the shoulder of the road. I didn't know it was burnt out, the brake light was ok per the trooper. Trooper asked why I was driving on the shoulder. I said I must have weaved over when I picked up my diet coke. I got a warning, no ticket. Got the tailight fixed on my way home this morning. Trooper that they had lots of drunk drivers in that area. Well I guess I didn't smell drunk (I think that's possible with diet sodas.) and our large sodas were clearly visable in the cup holders. He was very polite about the whole matter."

Some drivers have the misfortune of being stopped by a polite officer who offers a warning for a burned-out headlight (and right in front of the driver's home), until a second cop shows up and reminds the first of a standing order at the Department to ticket that driver for anything! No warnings.

It's called "payback". But maybe it really puts karma in motion.

WPD Det. Sgt. retiring

2012-01-17T13:54:00.000-06:00

The Woodstock City Council is poised to issue a proclamation tonight, recognizing Det. Sgt. Kurt Rosenquist for his 27 years of employment with the Woodstock Police Department.

In 27 years you get to see a lot of people come and go within a department, and you get to see many events and incidents and cases, some of which, I am sure, Kurt would have preferred not to see. I suspect there were a lot of times Kurt wanted to "walk", but he didn't.

Sometimes officers and detectives keep "working" a case after they separate from a department. Maybe Kurt will keep working the Beth Bentley mysterious disappearance. As a retired officer, he may not be constrained by the limitations imposed on him by his oath of office, his duties and the law. He'll no longer have to give a suspect any Miranda Warning.

I imagine that Kurt has a good idea what happened to Beth Bentley and just who, even right here in Woodstock, knows more than she or he has said. Maybe the Bentley family will hire him to pursue those who could lead to finding Beth.

Maybe he'll write a book about his career and a chapter about the Bentley case. Or maybe he'll start a blog.

Thanks for your 27 years of work, Kurt. Sorry that you weren't able to solve the Bentley case before retirement.

And still we are losing troops

2012-01-17T10:35:00.000-06:00

U.S. troops are out of Iraq, right?

Now, what about Afghanistan?

U.S. and Illinois flags will be lowered to half-staff on Thursday through Saturday to honor the service and memory of U.S.Army Spc. Christopher A. Patterson, 20, of Aurora. Spc. Patterson died January 6th in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when the vehicle he was in was blown up by in IED. Three others were also killed.

Spc. Patterson was serving with the 81st Troop Command, Indiana National Guard.

When you see the lowered flags this week, pause and think of Spc. Patterson. Think also of the others who died in Afghanistan and Iraq. And those who have been wounded.

That first press release about Pyle

2012-01-17T10:14:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, January 7, McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren issued a statement about Greg Pyle, without naming him. In fact, it's curious whether Nygren really issued the statement, since the "statement" bears a rubber-stamp signature with no initials to indicate who stamped Keith's name on the statement.

That ground was covered previously - when you sign someone else's name, you identify yourself by your name or initials. In this case, "Someone" didn't.

You can read the statement here for yourself. Just click on the image to enlarge it; then click on the Back button on your browser to come back here.

In view of what is known now (and what must have been known when the folks at the sheriff's department learned about it on Friday night), to call it a "domestic issue" fails every test of reasonability.

What do you think of when you think of "domestic" issue? Loud voices? Maybe a pot thrown at someone? Maybe someone got pushed a little?

Now we know that MCSD Sgt. Greg Pyle has been charged with ten (count 'em: 10) counts of "Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault (Child under 13)".

Don't worry, folks. It was "just" a little domestic issue.

Did Sheriff Nygren authorize and word that "statement"? Did he approve it? Was it faxed or emailed back and forth between Woodstock and Minocqua until they got all the words in just the right order?

Who put Pyle on administrative leave? Who has that authority at MCSD? Did Undersheriff Zinke assume full responsibility on Friday evening and take action? Or was that call made from Minocqua, the official Wisconsin headquarters of the McHenry County (Ill.) Sheriff's Department?

And, since Pyle's "administrative leave" can reasonably be expected to last more than 30 days, when will the Sheriff's Department Merit Commission meet? As a "public body" its meeting must be announced 48 hours in advance, and it is open to the public. You can bet your britches that they'll run for Executive Session (they don't have to, but they will), and then they'll return to Open Session and vote to suspend Pyle without pay.

As of this morning, no Special Meeting of the Merit Commission is scheduled. Can only Sheriff Nygren call a special meeting? Can the deputy in charge of the Sheriff's Department in Nygren's absence call a special meeting? Can two of the members of the Commission call a Special Meeting?

Will Nygren immediately fire Pyle for bringing discredit to the Department? Pyle's alleged activities are certainly a lot more serious than writing a warning to a driver, which got Zane Seipler fired.

Will the sheriff use the State's Attorney's Office to defend any lawsuit by Pyle to get his job back, with back pay? Tricky, eh? - since the State's Attorney's Office will be prosecuting Pyle. Is there an outside law firm already licking its chops over more legal fees from the Sheriff's Department?

MCSD - special handling of Pyle

2012-01-17T09:45:00.000-06:00

Why is the McHenry County Sheriff's Department pussy-footing around the Pyle case within its walls?

When an employee is suspended or comes under a cloud of some type, MCSD alerts its employees. News and information alerts are sent by internal email to employees.

For example, MCSD sent the following email:

"To All Personnel;

"As of 01/13/2012, Philip Gualdoni is no longer employed by the McHenry County Sheriff's Office. He should be afforded no access not normally granted to the general public."

The strange thing is, I can't find anyone who has a clue who "Philip Gualdoni" is (or was).

When the warrant was issued for Pyle and his arrest was anticipated, every Department employee should have been alerted, just in case he used his keycard to come in the back door. Did MCSD send out an email to employees? No

Were personnel who would be involved in processing him, should he be taken into custody, informed fully? No

Have there been any information alerts to employees that Pyle is on "administrative leave" and is not permitted unescorted within the Sheriff's Department (or maybe not at all)? No

Did MCSD command personnel urge the State Police to search Pyle's home immediately, in order to preserve all possible evidence? Did they immediately secure his work area and freeze everything he was working on? Was his work area secured as soon as the "domestic" matter was reported? Why did it take so many days for investigators to show up and search his home in Crystal Lake?

Undoubtedly, someone at the Crystal Lake Police Department would have alerted "someone" at the Sheriff's Department. It would seem appropriate for the Chief at the Crystal Lake Police Department to contact Sheriff Keith Nygren. Is there documentation of such an alert?

More charges in Pyle case?

2012-01-16T11:34:00.000-06:00

Will there be more charges in the Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault (Child under 13) case against McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy Greg Pyle?

Why are the only charges filed (so far) for the period 2006-2010? What caused the "domestic" matter on January 6? The first press release, which was the source of the first article in the Northwest Herald, said that there was a "domestic" matter. Yeah, sure. I guess there would be if there was an eye-witness who happened to walk in on (well, you know...).

Right now, other family members need a lot of support. And Pyle? What does he need? A darned sharp attorney and a big balance in his checkbook.

Should there be charges for a current time period, if a crime were alleged on January 6? Will it take a Grand Jury or only a complaining witness?

In response to a FOIA request for that Friday night "first" press release, which may have gone directly to (or was obtained by) the Northwest Herald, all I received was this photo of Pyle. No copy of a press release accompanied the photo. No explanation of a reason for not providing it. This is a first from the FOIA Officer at MCSD. Did somebody order her not to respond? Perhaps there was just a "slip-up" in the FOIA response. I'll follow up tomorrow, when government offices re-open.

At rollcall a week ago Undersheriff Zinke reportedly said Pyle's case was a "family matter" and "doesn't affect the (sheriff's) department operationally." Was this just an isolated incident? "Only" involving one of Pyle's kids?

Let's see... does that compute, folks? Pyle was trained at MCSD expense and was in charge of the Evidence Room. Of course, his arrest affects MCSD operationally! He is off-duty now (on paid administrative leave) and somebody else has to be put in charge of the Evidence Room. So we are paying double for one cop. No operational effect? If the department isn't looking hard to ascertain whether any evidence in the Room has been compromised, then the Keystone Cops are running our sheriff's department

The next regularly-scheduled meeting of the Sheriff's Department Merit Commission is February 8. Doesn't Sheriff Nygren think it's important to call a Special Meeting immediately to suspend Pyle without pay? Why is Nygren MIA on this?

There are five community members on the Merit Commission. They are Janelle Crowley (HR Director, City of Woodstock); Patrick J. McAndrews, an attorney in McHenry; Gloria Urch, businesswoman; Brian Goode, president (?) of RITA Corporation, Crystal Lake; and William Mack. (No biographical sketches appear for Goode and Mack, who have been on the Merit Commission for TEN years!) If you know any of these five, call them and demand that the Merit Commission meet and take action. It probably takes only two of the members to call a Special Meeting.

Is there some reason that Zinke hasn't called a Special Meeting? Isn't he in charge when Nygren is away? Or is he really NOT in charge when Nygren is away?

What was Lt. Popovits doing at Pyle's residence, when the State Police was there with a search warrant last week? Should any MCSD officer have been there, when the State Police was looking for evidence to be used in Pyle's case? Maybe, cases... Are Pyle and Popovits friends, outside the Department? Is Popovits under a gag order from the Sheriff or Undersheriff not to have any contact with Pyle and to engage in no communication with him?

As to Zinke's comment about a "family matter"... how do I remain polite and respectful toward readers and not call that one the way it is.

And did a Lieutenant tell any deputy "You stick with your friends." What??? A law-enforcement officer is to set aaide his sworn duty "to serve and protect" and let a friendship supersede his sworn duty? These criminal charges are against someone accused of being a sexual predator, and against his own kid!!!

Sure, Pyle is presumed to be innocent. Let's see who shows up in court as the complaining witness. Pyle has a court date on Friday, January 27, 9:00AM, in Room 304 before Judge Sharon Prather. The Case Number is 12CF000020, if you want to follow upcoming court dates in the Circuit Court online records at www.mchenrycircuitclerk.org

The legal games have already started with a Motion for Re-Assignment. Pyle's lawyer is Pat Walsh, of Donahue & Walsh, McHenry. Does somebody want Judge Prather dumped? And replaced by whom? Will there be a request to move this case out of McHenry County?

Beth Bentley - Week 86

2012-01-15T17:28:00.000-06:00

Beth Bentley has been missing from Woodstock now for 86 weeks. She disappeared on the week-end of May 22-23, 2010. Some say she disappeared from Centralia, Ill. Others wonder whether she was ever in the Mount Vernon, Ill. area that week-end.

If a Private Investigator got involved now, 86 weeks after she disappeared, where would he start?

He'd probably start at her old office. He'd look carefully at her activities for the two-three months before her disappearance. He'd talk to her husband, her family (her sons, her father, her brother in Phoenix, the never-mentioned brother in Woodstock), to her "best friend", to her "best friends", her co-workers, her acquaintances, her Facebook "Friends", her drinking buddies from the old Gus's Roadhouse.

He would want to examine the Facebook postings and comments that have since disappeared. Are they still available from Facebook records?

He'd dissect the last week-end, starting with her youngest son's baseball game on Thursday, May 20, 2010, and the stop at Dairy Queen. He'd find out who was at the baseball game and who was at the Dairy Queen.

He'd track down the rental car and check the mileage records and I-Pass. He'd look for any tickets to either Beth or Jenn that week-end or parking tickets for the rental car.

He'd get access to the house at 749 Tara Drive that Beth had rented for Jenn. Even now there could still be evidence to be found in the house.

Then he'd take apart the itinerary for the week-end and re-trace the route to Mt. Vernon and back, and the supposed trip to Centralia on Sunday afternoon. What route? What time? Who drove? How far? Tolls? Gas? Who called whom on the phone - all incoming and outgoing phone calls? Any calls to Mt. Vernon while Beth and Jenn were enroute? Any calls from Mt. Vernon to either of them? Why or why not? What time did they get to Mt. Vernon? What did they do then? Who slept where? Text messages in or out on the week-end?

What did the group do on Friday? What time did each person in the house arise? Where did they go? Together? Separately? Where did they eat dinner? What did each have? What does each say that the others had?

The stories are likely, by now, to mesh like gears on a fine Swiss clock> Will they "mesh" too well?

When did the Sunday night birthday dinner with her father get canceled?

Did Beth just walk away? Not likely.

And, if she didn't, then very likely there may be numerous people in Woodstock who know what happened to her? These are people you are bumping into every day. Keep asking them questions about Beth.

And tell the Woodstock Police Department what you are learning. The stories, if that's what they are, will start falling apart..

Is the Woodstock Police Department still investigating this "Endangered Missing Person" case? Why was Beth classified as "Endangered"? Do they know something they have never reported? There don't seem to be any reports of health or emotional problems. Had she been threatened?

Every month the Woodstock Police Department "updates" the City Manager and the City Council on this case. Unfortunately, it's with a "boilerplate" summary that doesn't change from month-to-month. Just what is the Woodstock Police Department really doing to find Beth Bentley?

What does a Safety Director do?

2012-01-15T17:04:00.000-06:00

What does a Safety Director do? Well, there are different types of safety directors.

One is a nice guy that I encountered after being tailgated on a Virginia interstate by the driver of a big rig out of Minnesota. I was able to get the name of the company, city of its home office, and the tractor and trailer unit numbers and later emailed the Safety Director. That got me a polite and prompt response and a promise of action to investigate the driver's operation of their truck.

There are other types of safety directors. Sometimes people are hired to conduct background checks. Sometimes law enforcement officers are hired. Now it might be because they have a nose for action and things out of place; they might have higher than normal sensitivity for "red flags" in an application for one position or another.

Let's say that a particular law enforcement officer lined up some part-time work as a Safety Director for an organization; let's say, perhaps a sports league for youth that needed a lot of coaches and other volunteers for league games. I would suppose that the league would provide the applicants' identity to the Safety Director and that he would start running backgrounds checks and develop files on men and women who had applied to be coaches or other volunteers.

To whom would the files and background checks belong? Wouldn't you think the League would maintain a list of work it asked the Safety Director to do and would require the return of all materials, if the business relationship ended?

And let's say that the Safety Director just happened to be with a major law enforcement agency in the County; say, for example, the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. Where would such an employee get the tools and equipment to access information with which to complete any background checks?

You can find out a lot about a person today using internet tools that are not too difficult or expensive. But what if such a Safety Director used Department equipment or access to more secure services to pry a little deeper? Would there be anything wrong with that?

It's important for organizations dealing with youth to have very careful background checks made on anyone who will come in contact with their under-age team members. Often a first-level search won't find the "dirt", if it's there. The investigator (or Safety Director) must dig deeper. If he happened to be specially trained in internet investigations, how would the marketplace respond?

Why would a Safety Director keep a large number of unprocessed background checks in his home, assuming that he used his home for his part-time business? That's a lot of personal information to be kept in an unsecure location.

And, if that law-enforcement officer is running a part-time business from his home, even if he is a volunteer or doesn't otherwise charge the association, would he have to get written permission from his employer? Would he have to disclose whether or not he intends to use taxpayer-supported equipment (computers, internet access, secure databases) when he runs the background checks?

Most departments do not allow unreported part-time work. Do they also control volunteer work that utilizes law-enforcement training or skills?

A bicycle bridge? Over Rakow Road?

2012-01-14T17:00:00.000-06:00

Did you see this morning's paper? And the short article about temporary closing of Rakow Road for erection of a bicycle bridge?

Don't you just have to wonder how that decision got made and how much of the $26,600,000 road-widening project is going for the "bridge"?

The Northwest Herald was kind enough to omit whose traffic project this is. Is a McHenry County project? Crystal Lake? IDOT? The consulting firm TRANS/LAND had its hand in the pork barrel, but they didn't make the decision. Who did?

A bicycle bridge? Give me a break! Whatever happened to bicyclists following the rules of the road, crossing at corners, watching for traffic? What is that "bridge" going to cost per bicyclist?

This is what happens when "real people" abscond in their personal responsibilities and stop attending public meetings, whether they are municipal, county, state or at what level. And when the press fails to inform the public adequately in advance of agendas, whether Agendas for meetings or agendas of public departments.

A bicycle bridge? What a waste!

Nygren & Seipler - nose-to-nose on Jan. 27

2012-01-14T16:49:00.000-06:00

Friday, January 27th. This is the next date for Zane Seipler's civil rights lawsuit against McHenry County's ought-to-be top cop Keith Nygren. I say, "ought-to-be" because Nygren is hardly ever seen in McHenry County. When does the man earn his $145,000/year? Or does he think he earns it by enjoying a wood-burning fires in Minocqua?

Nygren has only been sheriff since 1997, but he seems to believe he can take vacation time as if he worked for McHenry County for 40 years. It's 14 years, Keith, not 40!

Wouldn't it be nice to see a true schedule of the actual hours in his office at 2200 N. Seminary Ave.?

The Motions are flying back and forth, and Judge Kapala or Judge Mahoney ought to have a great time on Friday the 27th. Somehow, I think those judges in Rockford are not likely to horse around. When I watched Judge Mahoney "close up and personal" on April 6, 2011, he knew Zane's case cold. He knew that the lawyer from Jim Sotos' law office, counsel for the sheriff, was on a fishing expedition, and that was exactly what he called it. He didn't mince any words. He knew that Sotos' law firm was asking for documents that didn't even apply to the case before him, and he said so in exactly those words. He didn't have to look up anything; he didn't delay or hesitate. He knew that case cold!

See the good article today in First Electric Newspaper about the Federal case. Keep in mind that article is about Zane's Federal case, not about the case that was scheduled in McHenry County Circuit Court yesterday on Zane's request for a Special Prosecutor. Circuit Court records have not yet been updated in that case (10MR000011) to reflect the next court date.

I'm wondering ... how did Zane and Blake Horwitz, Zane's lawyer, appear in two courts at the same time? Or was the Federal case scheduled in the afternoon?

And don't forget Zane's third case. That's the one where Sheriff' Nygren refuses to accept the decisions of the arbitrator, the Circuit Court judge, or the Appellate Court. Nygren is wasting even more taxpayer dollars by stalling and appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court.

If you remember, the arbitrator decided that Zane should have just gotten three days' off without pay. Zane should not have been fired. So what Nygren is doing is arguing ad nauseum at the taxpayers' expense about taking Zane back (and paying him three years' back pay!). When he loses at the Illinois Supreme Court level, he ought to have to reimburse the County for all the legal fees he has wasted, plus the unnecessary run-up in back pay for Zane.

Let's hope that the Illinois Supreme Court will waste no more time before issuing a statement that it will not accept that case. Does it have a deadline?

Heartfelt thanks remembered

2012-01-13T07:48:00.000-06:00

In this morning's Northwest Herald was an AP photo of a coffee shop manager shoveling snow from the sidewalk in front of his coffee shop in Dubuque, Iowa. Bill Henson was shown, clearing snow from the front of Jitterz Coffee & Cafe.

The photo reminded me of a snowy morning in 1986 Kansas City, Kans., when I was VP of Membership Services for the local chamber of commerce. We were an 1,100-member chamber, and my job was serving the membership, as well as building the numbers.

On that morning of the first snow of the season, I asked where the snow shovel was. I grabbed it and went outside to clear the sidewalk. Never thought twice about it. It needed to be done. I had thought of it, and so I took care of it.

When I returned to my desk, the VP of Administration came by. She had been there 18 years, and she told me I was the first man in all that time to shovel the snow.

One of the books I ought to write is about my experiences with that chamber. And later with the Phoenix, Corpus Christi and Richmond (Virginia) Chambers of Commerce.

I have since told friends that, if they ever find out I am thinking of working for another chamber of commerce, they should drag me out to the "back 40" and shoot me.

Sheriff's Dept. press releases - any guidelines?

2012-01-13T07:39:00.000-06:00

Are there any standards at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department for press releases? Apparently not.

What type of criminal (or other) activity would merit a press release?

Suspicion that a lit (sic) candle might have caused a house fire?
Potential juror/identity theft scam?
A deputy staying awake at an FBI academy long enough to graduate?
A snowmobile safety course?
Arrest of three druggies?

How about a person wanted for Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault on a Child?
A child under age 13.
Over a four-year period.
A family member.
A deputy of the sheriff's department.
A person in charge of an important area of the department (evidence and computer forensics)
The arrest of that deputy?

Think about this. Think the sheriff's department is trying to keep this out of sight? A Friday night's press release to the Northwest Herald called it "just" a domestic issue involving the deputy's family.

What internal procedures were not followed at the time of MCSD Sgt. Greg Pyle was arrested, booked and bailed out?

Command personnel must have made a decision not to publish such news in a press release on the department website. They didn't even inform people within the department who had a need to know.

The way to clean up the manure at the sheriff department - the only way - is to kick the current sheriff out of office and bring in someone from the outside who will clean up the mess.

And Illinois Election Law is going to make it really hard to do that, because of the one-year residency requirement for the Office of Sheriff.

How much is Sotos paid?

2012-01-13T07:23:00.000-06:00

Did Judge Gordon Graham really allow County Board Chairman Ken Koehler to get away with a non-answer to a question the good judge asked yesterday?

When a judge asks a witness a question, then he should get an answer - the answer. Instead, it appears that Ken Koehler ducked the answer and the judge let it pass. Thumbs down on both actions.

According to this morning's Northwest Herald, Judge Graham asked Koehler "at which rate private attorney Jim Sotos, who represents the sheriff in some cases, is paid." (The quote is from the article, not necessarily Judge Graham's exact words."

Again, from the article, "County Board Chairman Ken Koehler said that Sotos is mostly paid through insurance."

Let's see; how do I restrain myself, remain professional, and not call that answer by what it really was.

Judge Graham should have cast one glance at Koehler and just waited. And waited. And waited. Until Koehler answered the question. Or he could have said, "Chairman Koehler, I'm going to give you ten seconds to answer the question that I asked. Your time starts now."

Eleven seconds later Judge Graham should have called his bailiff and directed Koehler taken to the lock-up.

Do you think people would stop messing with judges, if that happened.

So, how much per-hour does Sotos bill the County for work for he does for Sheriff Nygren, regardless of who pays it.

If Judge Graham agreed to pay special prosecutors Thomas McQueen and Henry Tonigan at the hourly rate of $250, then the County should have paid them a long time ago. All the whining and crying by the County Board is nothing but malingering and politicking. McQueen and Tonigan ought to sue McHenry County, and throw in damages, too.

Illinois Appellate Prosecutor Charles Colburn is quoted as having said, "Public service is not a pot of gold." Books could be written about that statement, but let's just apply it to a lawyer's cutting his hourly rate from $500 to $250. Just because that is higher than the statutory rate earned by the State's Attorney doesn't have a thing to do with anything. Nice words, but ...

Oh, can't pass this up. Public service is not a pot of gold? Toss that question at Sheriff Nygren. How many weeks of vacation does he take in a year? For example, last year - a month-long vacation to the Panama Canal plus how many other weeks?

And now? One of his in-crowd deputies gets nailed for Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault on a Child, and where is Nygren? Enjoying the snow in Minocqua.

Interested in autism? Open house, Sat.

2012-01-11T17:02:00.000-06:00

Are you interested in autism, or do you have a family member or friend who would benefit from services in the autism community?

Spectrum Support, LLC, will hold an open house on Saturday, January 14, at its new center at 1575 West Lake Shore Drive, Woodstock. Turn off U.S. 14 at the traffic light where Culver's is. Instead of turning right into Culver's (you can do that later), turn left and head toward Towels & More.

Spectrum Support is in the building on your right. There is plenty of parking.

10:00AM Doors open. Meet & greet.
10:30AM Information about Spectrum Support center.
11:00AM Options & Advocacy
11:30AM Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)
12:00PM Open discussions with providers
1:00PM Nature's First Medical, Dr. Scott Morris
2:00PM MJ Thinks Social
3:00PM Open discussions with providers
4:00PM Center closes

For information, call 815.337.7570

Speech therapy services are available on-site from Talk Time Speech Academy (Tammy Basel).

Beth Bentley - what possibility?

2012-01-11T15:17:00.000-06:00

Shortly after Beth Bentley went missing, somebody entered her personal Facebook account and began deleting comments, messages and photographs. Since Beth had been reported missing on May 24, 2010, to the Woodstock (Ill.) Police Department, it probably wasn't Beth who was purging her account.

So, just who was it who entered her account?

Could it be considered illegal for one person (or maybe more?) to enter a personal Facebook account of someone else, especially a missing person, and without authorization delete comments and photographs? Or would this person claim that Beth had told her (or him), "If anything happens to me, get into my Facebook account and get rid of a lot of stuff."

If the police didn't get a chance to make screen shots of every page in Beth's account before those deletions were made and to make a list of all the Friends, is there any possibility that the person doing the removing could be charged with Obstruction of Justice? Do you have to first know that a crime was committed, before an Obstruction charge will stick?

How extensively did the Woodstock Police Department search Beth's Facebook page for information and clues, before the details and names began to disappear?

Many of the "Friends" of Beth who were in her Friends list used their own names. And those "friends" now? Gone. Now, of course, some of them might have "unfriended" Beth. Why would they do that? Why would they run and hide, as the investigation lingered without any substantial progress?

Fortunately, screen shots of those pages do exist. It's just not know if the police have them.

How many badges are there at MCSD???

2012-01-11T14:43:00.001-06:00

A sharp-eyed reader of McHenry County Blog has pointed out to me that now there appears to be a third offiicial badge at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

In this photo from Cal Skinner's blog, taken during a meeting with Congressman Randy Hultgren, notice Undersheriff Andrew Zinke's badge. It's round. Not like the famed 7-point star grown by Sheriff Nygren or the official 5-point star (official badge of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

Don't you just have to wonder who commissioned that round badge, who authorized it, who paid for it, and who is authorized to wear it? Is this the Undersheriff's own design or a badge specially generated for the Undersheriff's position?

Can any deputy just go out and get his own badge designed and begin wearing it? Or do you have to be one of the white-shirt guys?

What if a deputy decided to wear this badge?

OK for school buses to block traffic?

2012-01-10T15:19:00.000-06:00

Should school buses be allowed to block a traffic lane, reducing traffic on a two-way street to one lane?

Each school-day afternoon at about 2:00PM buses line up on northbound Clay Street, next to the old Clay Street School (now called Clay Academy, but also known as the Clay Professional Development Center).

Clay Academy is a business being run by Woodstock District 200. It is a therapeutic day school that pulls in students from a wide area.

"Inclusion" is an important word in the world of Special Education. Special Ed students are supposed to be included. That concept hasn't quite reached District 200 yet, except on paper. Special Ed students are still shuffled off to their own wing in a school building or, worse, sent to a "special" school that is apart from the regular-education students.

There are times when certain students need, and benefit from, a therapeutic day school arrangement. Teachers, staff and professionals know that students are supposed to be included, not excluded, from regular education systems.

As recently as 3-4 years ago parents were not educated about Special Law laws and inclusion. Are they now? On paper, they are to be so educated. In practice, it didn't happen for years in District 200. Has anything changed?

When special education students are dismissed shortly after 2:00PM for their buses, are they getting the full day of instruction to which they are entitled?

Back to the buses... should school buses be allowed to stop and block traffic on Clay Street? An easy solution would be for them to stage nearby and then pull up and turn onto Grove Street, in order to stop and load in front of the school. Or, better yet, all buses could pull into the driveway of Clay Academy and load off the street entirely.

Pyle's house surrounded right now

2012-01-10T14:02:00.001-06:00

Why would there be a very strong, as in VERY STRONG, police presence in front of the home of disgraced Sgt. Gregory Pyle of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department?

Who's there? Illinois State Police, FBI, Crystal Lake PD, McHenry County Sheriff's Department, including Det. James Popovits. A lot of unmarked cars. (You know how cleverly unmarked cars are disguised; they can be spotted miles away!)

Earlier there was a comment on a blog that two of Pyle's home computers had gone swimming in a pond. Were they recovered? Were they intended as anchors for a small model boat, maybe, and the rope (errr, line) broke? Recall the new law in Illinois that electronics can no longer just be put out at the curb? Is Pond Insertion the new method of disposal?

It is not known at this time (by me, anyway) who is in Pyle's house. Presumably any child would be in school, although the child would be on the way home soon. Has Mrs. Pyle been notified to pick up children at school and not go home? Can you imagine the unnecessary trauma to a child of getting off the bus and seeing his home surrounded?

Are guns drawn outside the Pyle abode? Choose the correct answer:

A. Yes
B. Yes
C. Yes

Best Western Inn, now in Woodstock

2012-01-10T12:55:00.000-06:00

Imagine my surprise, when I drove by 3 Brothers Restaurant this morning about 10:00AM and saw that the motel sign atop the restaurant sign was gone. What will replace it? Best Western!

Finally, Woodstock has a quality motel! And is it ever nice!!! Rich Ciupka (pronounced Chup'-ka), Manager, invited me to stop in and check out the rooms. Later I did so, and Anna, the front-desk manager, showed me around the property.

The pool is beautiful - clean, sparking water. Clean pool deck. Clean restrooms near the pool. And an exercise room.

The lobby is first class! And they will serve a breakfast to Best Western guests during a three-hour period each morning.

The first room that Anna showed me was huge and had a hot tub. Other rooms also have hot tubs. Rooms for business guests are available, and a secure WiFi connection is available for government guests and others who require a higher level of security for their computer usage.

You can feel quite comfortable in recommending Woodstock's new Best Western Inn to family and other guests coming to Woodstock.

The Inn is located on the west side of Ill. Route 47 at Lake Ave., just south of the Metra railroad overpass. The phone number is 815.337.0065, and the blue wrapper will come off the sign next week. Stop in to say Hello and check it out.

Welcome to Woodstock, Best Western Inn!

Drain-O law irks many

2012-01-10T09:39:00.000-06:00

In a Letter to the Editor of the Northwest Herald today, author Steve Stanek of McHenry comments on Cyndi Wyss' January 6th column about the new Drain-O law, in which Cyndi apparently wrote that Rep. Jack Franks told her that "he wished he had heard from constituents before the law passed."

Give me a break!

How are we supposed to hear about it? Who has time to monitor the hundreds, if not thousands, of bills introduced by legislators each year?

Jack abandoned his website (www.jackfranks.org) a few years ago, after his controversial support to violate Federal law regarding the illegal importation of prescription drugs from Canada drew attention to it.

Why is it that Jack doesn't maintain a website other than his political candidacy-supported one, where you have to scroll all the way to the bottom and read the fine print to learn that that one is his election website, not his official website as a legislator.

How simple it would be to maintain an official website and tell us what he has up his sleeve. For example, he could have written, "I, Jack Franks, don't trust the people of Illinois to buy Drain-O and so I am supporting a bill that will require you to furnish a Photo ID card every time your toilet is stopped up. Should this bill pass and become law?"

Or he could have sent an email to his constituents, asking the same question.

So, now, will he support repeal of this stupid law?

Thanks, Mr. Stanek, for your letter.

New blog a-coming?

2012-01-09T21:47:00.000-06:00

Is there a new blog about to hit McHenry County?

The first two pages of "The Walrus" look pretty interesting. I'd like to receive them in a different format, so that I can publish them here.

Case 12CF000020 still not online at Circuit Clerk website

2012-01-09T20:11:00.000-06:00

It seems to me that a high-profile case involving a McHenry County Sheriff's Department (Greg Pyle) could make it through the red tape at the courthouse and be entered into the database of the McHenry County Circuit Clerk on a Monday. But a search tonight for Pyle's name or the Case Number comes up empty.

Cal Skinner even already had a copy of the warrant filed today in Pyle's arrest. Man, oh man; what connections does Cal have? Good going, Cal.

So, let's check the time-line. Pyle was busted Friday night for crimes that occurred between September 11, 2006, and September 10, 2010. On McHenry County Blog you can read eight of the counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child. (What are the other two counts?) A warrant was issued by Judge Mark R. Gerhardt (this will make his first year as a judge memorable) with a $200,000 bond, and everybody in this end of the state started looking for Pyle.

Well, not everybody, because the McHenry County Sheriff's Department failed to notify the public through its magnificent NIXLE system. It's my understanding that police-band radio broadcasts identified Pyle as "heavily armed", as he would have been in possession, perhaps, of all of his SWAT Team weapons. Well, at least he didn't go off the deep end and decide to take a bunch of his critics with him, before he surrendered Saturday night.

His bond form should reveal whether he has to turn in his weapons and FOID card and also whether there is an Order of Protection against him.

Will Mrs. Pyle quickly file for divorce?

Don't you have to wonder, though, how the Complaint (see McHenry County Blog) could be specific enough with the dates of the offenses? A two-year timespan? That's a four-year time period, starting over five years ago. Were the crimes known before last Friday?

Will that end up being shown as a set-up for failure by the prosecution? The first defense argument will probably be that the charges are too vague (as to time), to broad (time-wise). How was it determined that ten offenses took place in the four-year timespan? And how was it known that was the time period? That's a lot to accept. But accept it, the judge did.

Pyle must have had his AmEx Gold Card with him, so that $20,000 could be added to his credit card balance. What do you suppose the monthly payment is on that? And the interest rate?

Hey, isn't there a Sheriff's Department Merit Commission meeting this week? January 11th? Nah, it was previously canceled, like so many others. Maybe there were a little hasty this time in canceling it? Let's keep a sharp eye on the Calendar of Meetings on the McHenry County Government website, found at co.mchenry.il.us

If anyone spots scheduling of a Special Meeting of the Sheriff's Dept. Merit Commission before its next regularly-scheduled meeting on February 8th, please let me know.

Has anyone seen Sheriff Nygren yet? Isn't something like Pyle's capers important enough for Keith to leave Minocqua and get back here to Woodstock?

There was a little (sick) humor in this morning's Northwest Herald article, when the reporter wrote "McHenry County Undersheriff Andrew Zinke, who typically speaks as the Sheriff's Office spokesman ..." Ha-ha. He is? He does? Since when? Don't they pay the big bucks to Aimee' Knop to be the Public Information Officer? Is the NWH just doing its part to set up Zinke as the next sheriff?

Zinke does not "typically speak" as the mouthpiece for the Sheriff's Department. The Sheriff hogs the spotlight, when he is in town. The problem is that Nygren is up in Minocqua, Wisc. If you don't believe it, just dial his number. You can speak directly with Mrs. Nygren, too, when she answers the phone. Say "Hi" from Woodstock. Remind Keith where Woodstock is. Now, be nice to Mrs. Nygren, everybody.

If Pyle is convicted, he'll have to register as a sex offender. Won't he lose his FOID card? And won't that eliminate him from work in law enforcement? Are there any children in the household when he is crashing now? What about that K-9? Is it trained to nail predators?

Note to the State's Attorney's Office: No deals. NO deals. Go for the max on this one. The taxpayers will gladly support your expenditures to prosecute this one.

Tonight - Guns for Protection

2012-01-09T13:09:00.001-06:00

A new group for women called Guns for Protection in Illinois has formed and will hold its second monthly meeting tonight, Monday, January 9, at 7:00PM at Panera Bread, 6000 Northwest Highway, Crystal Lake, Ill.

Check out details on Facebook at Guns for Protection.

For information about that group in advance next time, go to that Facebook page and "Like" it.

Congratulations, ladies!

There's a lot of buzz about the woman who asked a 9-1-1 operator if she could shot an intruder. A dispatcher is not the right source for legal information. Before you shoot anyone, you'd better know what your legal grounds and rights are. And you'd better decide in advance to keep your mouth shut until your lawyer arrives. And you'd better make sure that your lawyer is really smart about gun laws and self-defense.

Remember: "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

So, if anything can and WILL be used against you, why would you NOT remain silent???

If you think you might have to shoot somebody sometime (why else do you have a gun?), talk to your lawyer now. Getting 30 minutes worth of advice for $150 could be the best $150 you'll ever spend.

Put down that remote!!!

2012-01-08T23:34:00.000-06:00

You can forget that remote, if you are looking for what TV station said what about the arrest of McHenry County Sheriff's Dept. Sgt. Greg Pyle. Just go to Cal Skinner's McHenry County Blog

I don't know how Cal captures all those headlines, but he does a good job of it.

The sheriff ought to be really proud of Pyle for bringing all the attention to the Sheriff's Department.

I hear there is still some other news coming that will mention the name of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department

I can't wait to see that written press release given to the Northwest Herald that called the Pyle mess "domestic issues".

Where is Pyle living now? In addition to the criminal charges, will a divorce action quickly follow? And maybe a civil lawsuit.

Will the Department be looking closely at Pyle's police computer and laptop and also digging into any computers at home? The Chicago Tribune said Pyle was the Sheriff's Department's "Internet sex crimes computer specialist".

Good choice, Sheriff Nygren. Think Nygren will return to his office for damage control? How long is the drive from Minocqua?

It's Nygren ... Live from Minocqua!!!

2012-01-08T17:04:00.002-06:00

Greg Pyle

The Daily Herald has published a statement from McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren in the Greg Pyle criminal charges and arrest. At 4:15PM today the DH carried a short story (gives new meaning to "short story", doesn't it?) that included this statement. The article said they got a written statement from Nygren. Email? Fax?

The Chicago Tribune had this to say at 6:25PM: "A McHenry County sheriff’s sergeant has been charged with forcing a juvenile to perform a sexual act on him on several occasions from 2006 to 2010, Michael Combs, chief of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s criminal division, said today." See the Chicago Tribune for a close-up photo of Pyle.

From Minocqua, Wisc., winter home of Keith Nygren, the statement read to the Daily Herald read, "We are deeply concerned any time a department member has violated the honor of this organization.”

So much for sympathy for the victim!
So much for sympathy for the mother of the child!
So much for the community that suffers whenever any child is the victim of a crime, any crime; especially a sex crime!

Hey, Keith. From me to you, the hell with the "honor of this organization."

The honor of that "organization" has been in the trash for years. The honor of MCSD can be traced through the landfill by the documents filed in Federal lawsuits against the Department and you.

The actions of your rotten officers is a reflection of the leadership of your department.

So, since you don't apologize to the victim or your employees for your failure, I'll offer my sympathy to the child and the child's family. And to the honest and honorable employees of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. Some of them have been complaining for years about the bad apples in your barrel..

Maybe you ought to fire whoever put out Friday night's statement about a "domestic issue". Tell us who dreamed up that cockamamie story. Did you think that people were going to forget it, when the truth came out? This time, it only took a day.

Keith, why don't you stay in Minocqua and just mail back your badge, department ID card, keycard for the doors, car keys and resignation letter?

Guess who's back? It's the Dirty Harry show

2012-01-08T16:46:00.000-06:00

After months of absence, guess what has come back with a roaring vengeance. You're right! It's the Dirty Keith Dirty Harry blog.

After silence for too long it took Greg Pyle to resurrect the Dirty Keith blog. Where do you find it? Right here or - - - >>> www.dirtykeithvsdirtyharry.blogspot.com/

At the top of the pile is Pyle. Check out the photo in full combat gear; errr, SWAT gear ... and with credit to the First Electric Newspaper article about Pyle's arrest and $200,000 bond, which you can read right here.

Be sure to read it all.

Welcome back. You've been away too long.

Deceased couple identified

2012-01-08T15:43:00.000-06:00

The couple found deceased in their home west of Island Lake on Saturday one week ago were identified to me this afternoon by a caller from Chicago. On December 31 Walter and Lydia Dillendorf were found in their home. The initial report raises no question about the deaths being other than from natural causes.

The McHenry County Sheriff's Department and the McHenry County Coroner have withheld the identities. The sheriff's department has not responded to requests, and the Coroner's Office has refused information, citing ongoing investigation.

Today's caller, who identified the couple as Mr. and Mrs. Dillendorf, said he had been a long-time friend and that he was shocked at the delay in learning of their deaths. No obituaries have appeared in the Northwest Herald, and no funeral or memorial services have been announced.

Friends wishing to extend condolences might do so by contacting Holy Trinity Cathedral, 1121 N. Leavitt St., Chicago, IL 60622. Telephone: 773.486.6064

Beth Bentley - now gone 85 weeks!!!

2012-01-08T14:40:00.000-06:00

Nothing has happened in the past week to find Beth? Well, not exactly.

A little turnover in the Detective Division at the Woodstock Police Department is taking place. It may be the routine re-organization and rotation that take place periodically, although I'm not sure myself about the wisdom of transferring officers from the Detective Division back to the street, just to give someone else a crack at detective work. Thousands of dollars have probably been invested in specialized courses for detectives. To send them back to the street may upset their networks of contacts and informants and interrupt activity on any live cases.

On the other hand, it may be that fresh faces above detective badges may bring renewed attention and fresh skills to Beth's case. Perhaps the Woodstock Police Department will be able to discard its monthly boilerplate report to the City Manager and inform city leaders of some actual activity on this case.

On another note, I came across this posting from back in August 2011. I wonder if Angela Montgomery really wrote it, Or did some impostor create it and post it to Jennifer Madera Sarracino?

"Dear Jennifer:

"I need to ask your consideration of something. You are a member of a page called "Mystery of Beth Bentley Missing".

"This page is run by unknown administrators, none of which are from the Bentley/Velmont family.

"The administrators of this page have made unfounded accusations about Beth's sons, family and friends, including the most recent one that 'they haven't done enough to find Beth'.

"When Beth's son, Jeremy, tried to respond to this accusation by posting what the family has done and what they have gone through the administrators blocked him. Yes, they blocked Beth's own son.

"I ask that you consider leaving this page and not supporting their continued lies, rumors, accusations and bullying.

"I appreciate your time,

"Angela Montgomery (please report this page asap as it has nothing to do with the family's efforts in finding Beth they even blocked Beth's own son)"

If Beth's being missing for 85 weeks weren't so serious, I'd be sitting here enjoying a good laugh. Who could be so presumptuous as to write to a stranger and ask them to "leave" any certain Facebook page. Facebook is social media - open to all.

What do you suppose Angela's "need" is all about? Wouldn't it be nice if all of Beth's friends, acquaintances, drinking buddies, the "posse" and her family starting making a serious, new effort to find out what happened to Beth?

My guess is that there are at least six people in Woodstock who know exactly what happened to her. The danger for them, of course, is that, if they speak up now, the police are going to want to know why they kept quiet so long. And saying "I was afraid" isn't going to cut it.

They are all hunkering down, hoping questions will dry up and the world will just forget about Beth Bentley. Well, sorry, folks; that just is not going to happen. A woman has been missing since May 23, 2010.

If she were your wife, mother, sister or daughter, what would you be doing? I doubt you'd be sitting around, wishing people would stop asking questions.

Sorry, Ken; ROE candidate isn't fully qualified

2012-01-08T11:14:00.002-06:00

Last week the McHenry County Board Chairman, Ken Koehler, was bemoaning the "glitch" that has surfaced in appointing a person to fill the role of Superintendent of the McHenry County Regional Office of Education.

According to the Northwest Herald, Koehler said a fully qualified candidate couldn't be appointed. No, Ken, that's not right. A fully-qualified candidate can be appointed. The problem is, you have apparently chosen someone who isn't fully qualified.

There is a qualification that candidate doesn't meet, so it is not fully qualified.

That candidate, who might be otherwise qualified - even highly qualified - cannot serve. Period. Surely, you are familiar with the Illinois Election Law. Aren't you?

You will run into a similar problem, should Sheriff Keith Nygren bail out before November 2014. If you want to appoint a fully-qualified person as the next sheriff, that person must be a McHenry County resident. That's just the way it is.

The sheriff's hand-picked successor lives in the County. But is he the right person to lead the 400+-employee McHenry County Sheriff's Department? Will you appoint the best person to this most-important position?

The right successor doesn't have to be the winner in a popularity contest, but he does need to be squeaky clean.

What if Nygren had lost in 2010?

2012-01-08T11:03:00.000-06:00

What would the McHenry County Sheriff's Department be like today, had Keith Nygren lost his bid for re-election in November 2010?

Fifty-three percent of the lemmings voted for him. What did we get? More of the same. And what have we got right now? The same.

Had I been elected Sheriff of Nottingham, I intended to hire as Undersheriff an Illinois State Police trooper with considerable command experience. That trooper would have supported a no-nonsense approach to running the department with integrity and respect for the public.

Being a deputy is often a hard job. There is no need to make it more unpleasant from the top.

All of the pending lawsuits would have been carefully re-evaluated and discussed with the State's Attorney. Jim Sotos would have had to look for another sugar plum fairy. The Sheriff's office would have used the State's Attorney's Office. I would have listened to the legal advice of Lou Bianchi, and we would have worked well together, saving the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in outside legal fees.

But, more importantly, my Undersheriff and I would have started cleaning house. Cliques would have been broken up. Favoritism would have stopped. There would be no hiring of unqualified applicants. The unfair and partial meting out of discipline would have stopped. Crimes by deputies would not be handled "administratively" and out of sight of the public.

Seipler would be back at work and Milliman would be working. Schlenkert would have been back at work and paid promptly for the money owed him.

Shoddy investigations of crime scenes would not be tolerated. Detectives would actually have to do their jobs. There would be no "orchestrated" report-writing. In complicated cases deputies would be required to write complete, coherent reports independently. They would not be allowed to get their heads together, so that all the reports fit together like a well-oiled Swiss clock. Discrepancies would be resolved.

Voters are going to get a chance to elect a new sheriff in November 2014. Hopefully, a fully-qualified, competent, experienced candidate will move into the County and live here for the required year.

Open Letter to Nygren and Zinke

2012-01-08T10:32:00.000-06:00

The following email message has been sent to Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke:

Dear Sheriff Nygren and Undersheriff Zinke,

Will you please arrange for press releases to be distributed to me at the same time they are distributed to the Northwest Herald and the Daily Herald?

At the same time that any press releases are issued to the daily newspapers, they should be simultaneously posted on the Sheriff's website at www.mchenrysheriff.org

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott
The Woodstock Advocate
www.woodstockadvocate.com
Ph. 847.971.7083

Greg Pyle - 10 counts, Criminal Sexual Assault

2012-01-08T09:43:00.001-06:00

A deputy of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department, Greg Pyle, has been charged with ten counts of Criminal Sexual Assault, at least some involving a child under Age 13. Pyle, a sergeant with the MCSD, bonded out of McHenry County Jail early this morning, just after midnight.

The name of the judge handling the bond was not available. This immediately brought to mind the case involving Judge Chmiel, who handled a bond on a Saturday afternoon for a politically-connected person so that that person would not have to sit in jail over the week-end and wait for a regularly-scheduled bond court on Monday morning.

How did Pyle get such favorable treatment at midnight on a Saturday?

Pyle's bond was set at $200,000 and he posted $20,000. Why'd they let him go so fast? Why didn't they keep him around for a while in an orange jumpsuit while they interrograted him?

Crystal Lake Police may be the agency that took the original report. The Northwest Herald reporter got sandbagged, when he wrote his story from a "statement release Saturday evening" which, just conveniently, is not posted on the Sheriff's Dept. website. Supposedly, Pyle was placed on administrative leave on Friday night, after MCSD supervisors "were notified of a 'domestic issue involving the officer and his family'."

I'd say that ten counts of criminal sexual assault, at least some involving a child under age 13, would qualify as an "issue".

Quick, everybody. Look outside. Did it snow 18-20 inches last night? Do we need to dig out the snow shovels? And how nice that the Illinois State Police mouthpiece said that Pyle will be paid while on leave. BALONEY! Undersheriff Zinke, unpaid leave!!!

What McHenry County needs is a senior law enforcement official who understands to whom he is responsible and accountable. If the sheriff is taking an extended vacation up in Minocqua, Wisconsin, call him on his cell phone and wake him up. (By the way, did he drive up there in his personal vehicle? Is his Department-issued vehicle parked in the MCSD lot or in the garage at the Department?)

Zinke needs to be out front on this, on behalf of The People. There was much he could have said that would not have interfered with any investigation by the Illinois State Police. It's not like the cops were getting ready to spring a surprise arrest on someone after a lengthy investigation and are afraid that he might flee.

Zinke may have just shot himself in the foot over the handling of this and begun to spoil his chances for election in 2014 (or sooner appointment).

Bonds on charges like these normally include an Order of Protection and an Order to turn in Firearms and the FOID card. When a deputy is so charged, he, of course, cannot work without a FOID card and weapon, so why wouldn't he be put on unpaid administrative leave?

Why is MCSD keeping mum?

2012-01-08T08:07:00.001-06:00

There is a search on for a McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy, who is wanted on a State Police warrant for a crime in Crystal Lake.

Doesn't the public deserve to know more?

Like the name? A vehicle description? The basis for the warrant? Any danger to the public?

Reportedly the deputy is one who would be in possession of heavy firepower because of his membership in MCSD's elite group - the SWAT Team, trained and equipped with heavy firepower. Even possibly fully-automatic weapons?

Is the guy mentally stable? Any chance he might go after anyone locally? At least one reader thought so and issued a comment last night to an earlier article.

Rumors were flying a while back that he was the author of the anti-Woodstock Advocate blog that existed for a short time, until some brain cells got lined back up and he deleted it.

Undersheriff Andy Zinke flinched and refused to name the deputy, passing the buck to the Illinois State Police. Remember, that's who wants to be the next sheriff and has already announced his intentions 2014 election cycle. Will that be enough time to learn what "Protect & Serve" means? It means "protect & serve the public"!

ISP District 2 (these are our protectors) passed the buck to ISP Information Officer Monique Bond, who at 8:40PM said she'd call me back.My calendar has seven days on it. Hers might have an eighth day, "Someday". She didn't call.

At 7:37AM the Crystal Lake P.D. said they don't have anyone in custody. Where is that silver pick-up? How much longer will it take Crystal Lake PD, the State Police, or Undersheriff Zinke to decide that they really need to release the wanted deputy's name?

How about a vehicle description and license plate? How about posting it on the electronic information boards on the Tollway on the way to Joliet? Twelve hours ago would have been better, but maybe now is not too late.

Will Zinke hold a press conference this morning? Where is Sheriff Keith Nygren? MIA? Will he be needed to give that deputy a three-day suspension for attracting so much bad publicity to MCSD?

"Hey, GP. Give it up."

2012-01-07T21:49:00.000-06:00

Well, that's what they'd say if I were wanted. Wouldn't the McHenry County Sheriff's Department or the Woodstock Police Department want to save on gas and wear-and-tear on a vehicle and just call me and tell me to hotfoot over to the Department with my lawyer and turn myself in?

GP - that's my name, you know; Gus Philpott.

Has SWAT been activated tonight? Have all the K-9 units been dispatched? Are MCSD and all the municipal departments looking for GP tonight? Well, if there is a knock on my door, I'm going to bed.

10-20, Gomer? Car 59, where are you?

Widespread search underway

2012-01-07T20:57:00.001-06:00

I've started getting calls about a widespread search underway for a McHenry County Sheriff's deputy, who is wanted on a felony warrant issued by the Illinois State Police. From what I am hearing, Crystal Lake, Algonquin and Woodstock, and perhaps many other departments, are looking for the deputy, a sergeant in the Sheriff's Department with SWAT Team training and who may have Department weapons in his vehicle.

Still trying to get the Illinois State Police to confirm the name, before I publish it, but I have it.

Where is NIXLE when you need it? You'd think that NIXLE would be used to warn residents and to alert them to the vehicle of the wanted person. Police radio traffic is reportedly including "heavily armed" in its broadcasts about this wanted person.

Keep an eye on this one ...

2012-01-07T19:18:00.000-06:00

Let's see ... a "domestic matter" ... Oh, there was just a little shouting. No shoving, no hitting, no throwing, no weapons, nothing broken...

Oh, yeah?

Internal matters (using too many paperclips, smoking in a patrol car, taking too long a meal break) are handled "administratively". Sometimes, even battery and drunk driving are handled "administratively", in order to keep the "dirt" out of the public's eyes. And the "internal" investigation is handled "internally" - by MCSD deputies.

But when the Illinois State Police get called it, it's probably because a crime was committed. Like, somebody was hurt; somebody was threatened; somebody did display a weapon. Crimes. You know, violations of the criminal code?

It's a wonder that the news was even leaked to anyone. Of course, it would have gone to the Northwest Herald. Nobody is going to call Cal Skinner of Pete Gonigam or me. Or Patch.com.

But why did they even bother to give it to the Northwest Herald, unless they are looking for a little damage control? The article didn't even say whether the deputy was the victim or the aggressor. If he (or she) ended up on administrative leave, probably not the victim.

Hey, wait a minute. Friday night. That was the night of the big bash at the Red Mill Tavern in Woodstock. Was it after that?

Two people can be found dead in a house in McHenry County and you'd never know it by any word from our Sheriff's Department.That's because there hasn't been any word from the Sheriff's Department.

See the Northwest Herald article online right here.