McHenry County Blog

For the three McHenry County high school students who won cars when their key started the ignition at Crystal Lake’s Advocate Good Shepherd-sponsored awards ceremony Thursday, ownership of their own car was the highlight of the day.

For the mission of Operation Click, however, the big deal was the announcement by volunteer President Sean McGrath of the American Automobile Association’s decision to become a sponsor of the teen driving safety program.

AAA, which wishes to expand its automobile insurance business, apparently has concluded that the demonstrable success of Operation Click in getting teens to buckle up would be helpful in that effort.

Locally, Operation Click has been impeded in its expansion goals, for example, in Carpentersville District 300, because of Allstate Insurance’s Operation Teen Safe Driving.

Operation Click has cost each participating school $750, while Allstate pays schools $2,000 a year to participate in its program.

Triple-A has decided to match Allstate’s gift.

$2,000 to each school that joins the Operation Click program.

And Operation Click has decided to find a way to replace the $750 a school buy-in price. Next year, no such payment will be needed for a school to participate.

Another potential sponsor is AT&T.

Former Northwest Herald Assistant Publisher David Strahl, External Affairs Director for the company, presented a tear-provoking 11-minute video of teens who had been killed while texting.

The take-away message was the question:

“Would you close you eyes five seconds while driving a car?”

Here’s the crash scene of a Missouri girl who did:

Cary Police Chief Steve Casstevens was so impressed with the video that he wondered if AT&T would like to show it at the International Conference of Chiefs of Police this summer in the upper Intermountain West. AT&T’s Strahl gave the Illinois Police Chiefs Association Traffic Safety Chairman a copy on the spot.

Other articles on the 2011 Operation Click awards:

• Peyton Freund, McHenry East Student, Wins Operation Click Car
• Cary-Grove’s Roxanne Neubaum Wins Operation Click Car
• Harvard High School’s Abby Heck Wins Operation

Having just finished my favorite lunch at Colonial Cafe (citrus tango salad), I was on my way to the Tri-County Pregnancy and Parenting Center to drop off a check.

The steering felt sluggish as I went across Route 14 past McDonald’s and Chase Bank.

As I pulled up the steep incline to the parking lot, my bumper dragged on the pavement.

Then, I knew something was wrong.

It hadn’t started snowing yet as I got out of the car and went to the Tri-County office to call for help.

I got AAA and was told Anchor Towing would come within 45 minutes. I was told there would be no cost, that tire changing was fully covered by the AAA membership.

It was 1:30.

I cleaned out the trunk (only one campaign sign, but lots of other junk) so the little spare tire could be found.

But I had to pick up my son at Bernotas Middle School at 2:15.  At two, I got three offers of a car to get him from the kind ladies in the office.  The Mustang won.

So, I left my 1996 Cadillac, my keys and AAA card and went to pick up my son.

When we returned the tire was off.  The snow had started.

It didn’t take long to finish the job and there wasn’t even any paperwork to sign.

We got our flat tire fixed at Goodyear at the intersection of Route 14 and Virginia Street Road.  The technician said that rust on the tire rim had allowed the seal to be compromised causing a slow leak.  Something to look forward to on the other three rims, I guess.

While we were waiting, my son an watched the motorcycle building show on the Discover Channel.

“There’s more violence there than there is in my video games,” he observed as Paul, Jr., punched his fist through his father’s door after Paul, Sr. said so many expletives that the sound track sounded like a filled answering machine.