Every day for the last week, I have made a pitch for people to run for Precinct Committeeman. Naturally, I have concentrated on Republicans, but the process is the same for Democrats. Most people get interested in politics because of … Continue reading
John Kass had a column Friday in which he focused on Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson’s having used a mule to plow cotton fields in Louisiana. Wilson’s father did so, too. He was a share cropper. Kass pointed out that … Continue reading
When Vernon Kays retired from being County Clerk, Dad ran for the office against Vernon’s Chief Deputy Rosemary Azzaro. Rosemary won, even winning at least one Crystal Lake Coventry precinct in which she knocked on doors. Dad didn’t do any … Continue reading
In 1963, my mother and I attended the Illinois Crime Commission’s summer hearings held in the old county board room at what is now Woodstock City Hall. It was twice the size of the current Woodstock City Council Chambers. Crime … Continue reading
The pre-Crystal Lake posts of my father’s biography can be found by looking down on McHenry County Blog. After taking a job with the Barley and Malt Institute, based in the Bankers Building in Chicago, Dad and Mom went town … Continue reading
Earlier segments of this biography of my father can be found below on McHenry County Blog. In 1952, my youngest sister Ellen was born. That was also the year Dad switched his registration from the Democratic Party to the Republican … Continue reading
This is the fourth in a serialization of my father’s biography. Previous parts can be found below on McHenry County Blog. One of Dad’s inspirations for running for office involved an unresponsive city government. Plunk, plunk, plunk. I can hear … Continue reading
The first part of my father’s multi-part biography ran yesterday. Today, Father’s Day, we’ll Dad graduated debt free from college in three and a half years. Somehow I have gotten the impression that he was something of a lady’s man. … Continue reading
About five years ago I posted ten articles about my father, Cal Skinner, Sr. It’s time to let new readers learn a bit about my father. The story got out of hand, so I’ll cut it up and run some … Continue reading
Censorship. Tribune reporter Bob McCoppin has written a couple of articles (the latest is here) about high school kids painting a Caribou Coffee window for Homecoming. Apparently, business window decoration is a tradition for Glenbrook North High School students. One … Continue reading
This is my favorite flag photo. I took it about a half a dozen years ago when our family went East and spent a day in the nation’s Capital. We didn’t plan well enough to know that one needed to … Continue reading
Let’s go through the townships in alphabetical order to see how the Real Estate Tax cap affects how much money they can collect. This information, as with previous articles about the Tax Cap, comes from the McHenry County Clerk’s web … Continue reading
The Chicago Tribune reportedon the work produce of Lt. Gov. Shiela Simon’s tour of all the community colleges in the state. The story emphasized the low percentage of junior college students who complete two-year degrees or career certificates in three … Continue reading
I got into a conversation at the First United Methodist Church about Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad heroine from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, from when my family and I come. It bought back all sorts of memories of walking … Continue reading
When I worked at the United States Budget Bureau in 1965-66 right after grad school in public administration at the University of Michigan, there was a period just before the budget went to the printer that employees worked very long … Continue reading
I finally opened a Lowney’s Fruit & Nut Chocolates box that contained Valentines and Christmas Cards that I thought my grandmother Addie Watling-Skinner had saved. Upon closer inspection, I discovered my mother, Eleanor Stevens Skinner, had save the contents. I … Continue reading
Election petitions for school board junior college city and village park board fire protection district you name it are available for circulation. It doesn’t take many signatures. Two bits of advice from my father. He would ask people coming in … Continue reading
They’re back. The rabid bats, I mean. I first got interested with rabid bats when the McHenry County Health Department used them as an excuse to try to impose what I came to call the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax. … Continue reading
At the McHenry County Board’s Management Services Committee this morning, the members received a January 8th memo from the State’s Attorney’s Office on the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s proposal to require county officials to reveal Here’s what Assistant … Continue reading
It’s been a couple of weeks since the McHenry County Board bucked Chairman Ken Koehler, State Senator Pam Althoff, State Rep. Mike Tryon and those who stand to gain financially from placement of video poker machines in local taverns and … Continue reading
