Ed Petka
When Will County’s Ed Petka was in the Illinois House of Representatives, he sponsored a bill which created a new tort.
Petka, a future State Senator and Judge, wanted to allow creators of movies, books, etc., to be sued if their contents stimulated a crime.
So far, to the best of my knowledge, no one has brought a suit in Illinois under that statute.
The recent stabbing by two 12-year old girls of another 12-year old girl in Wisconsin, however, seems to me to fit the intent of Petka’s law.
Slender Man, an internet-based horror character, was the inspiration for the crime.
According to the Chicago Tribune, “the stabbing, law enforcement said, appeared to be a bizarre attempt to please a fictional, Internet-based horror character who the girls thought was real.”
Perhaps some legislator will pick up the idea in Wisconsin.
I do not support the creation of laws that divert attention from the real problem.
Townships have become targets for elimination because Springfield has over time severely watered down the government closest to the people.
Springfield removed the need for board approval of the sale surplus equipment under the control of the Highway Commissioner.
Springfield removed the process of direct citizen involvement in the annual meeting by legislating how the agenda gets set.
Springfield and D.C. have changed the process for assistance to the poor by centralizing that assistance at the County level where it will NOT receive the same scrutiny it does in Townships.
Why do I mention this?
There is a parallel between how Townships have been managed by the current socialist control of governments in the U.S.A. and how the government has insinuated itself into the bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms of the family unit.
Parents are no longer permitted to discipline their children due to the threat of “I’ll call child protective services.”
Our society is paying the price for the socialist policies created in federal, state and local governments.
People in Russia have more freedom!
Wake up people!
Vote for conservative candidates who honestly favor smaller government and the removal of government from child rearing.
” A judge sentenced a Hawaii man to one year of probation and a $200 fine for making his son walk a mile home from school as a form of discipline.
Judge Kathleen Watanabe called the punishment “old-school” and no longer appropriate, the Garden Island newspaper reported Thursday (http://bit.ly/1mLT0lx)”
Here, Here! [clap, clap] Applause for Cautious.
What is that old saying about how you cannot legislate stupidity?
I share Cautious Voter’s dismay at the taking away of power from the electors at the annual town meeting.
The problem is that township officials themselves initiated the centralization.
Back in the late 1960’s uppity electors got angry in both Nunda and Algonquin Townships.
In Nunda Township, the Road Commissioner would not provide services on the unincorporated undedicated roads. One subdivision near the Fox River marshaled its residents and took over the meeting.
They voted $1 for every line item in the Road Commissioner’s budget.
Their attempt to punish the Road Commissioner (Geske, I think) misfired, because the salary of the Road Commissioner comes from the Town Fund.
That same year, I think, allies of newly-elected Assessor Forrest Hare inserted $500 in the budget to go after the McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments, who had been overassessing the southeastern most and fastest growing township in the county. (I can hear the old times talking among themselves: “They’re causing all the problems. We’ll fix them.)
The $500 was spent, but no suit was ever filed.
The next year the Illinois General Assembly took the budgetary power from the voters and gave it to townships’ boards.