McHenry County Blog

We are apparently back to the days when word of mouth was the way you figured out that something interesting might be going on at a city council meeting in Crystal Lake.

I went to the Crystal Lake city web site this morning to see what was on the agenda Tuesday night.

As you can see below, the agenda was unavailable.

This is so, so like McHenry County College in times past.

Wait until the last minute to put up the agenda.

But, it is really worse, because MCC posts not only the agenda, but the board packet. That way people can take a look and see if there is anything interesting.

Crystal Lake has a newly-designed web site about which the council members waxed enthusiastically.

Perhaps because they get a hard copy of the council packet, none of the council folks seem to have noticed that the public could be better served by the new web site.  The board packet could be posted, as not only MCC has proven, but so have School District 158 and 300.

In any event, after Crystal Lake Kiwanis last Wednesday noon at Colonial Cafe, I ran into Mary Ann and Jack Schaffer. Mary Ann had to go, but Jack had time to talk.

After I finished what I wanted to talk about, he wanted to talk about the Ridgefield station.

He didn’t give me the early “party line” that the station had to be on the east side of the tracks so morning commuters wouldn’t get killed so that’s why the property half-owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler had to be selected.  (Schaffer was appointed to the Metra Board by Koehler.  He did not vote to purchase the land.)

He told me that a map with dots of current commuters addresses in the area had been shown at Metra’s presentation to the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission. He said the same presentation would be made to the city council on Tuesday.

The map was so interesting I filed a Freedom of Information request after I got home for the slides.

Thursday morning I got a reply to my request saying they needed to take another two weeks to send the data because ot the undue burden of the request.

I rolled my eyes when I read that and called Jack. He got the slides to me the next day…except for the map showing where current Metra commuters live in Bull Valley and north of Hillside Road.

The statistics below were included, but they consisted only of percentages. No numbers.

So, I’ll be off to city council to see if the map I think might be relevant to the decision shows up there.

I just checked back on the Crystal Lake city web site. The agenda for the November 3rd city council meeting is still not posted as I post this article.

But the agenda for the November 4th Planning and Zoning Commission is available for the public to view.

Maybe the city council agenda is posted on the front door of city hall the way it used to be when the station was on Main Street and the councilin second floor chambers.

We’re sitting at Colonial Cafe at a Crystal Lake Kiwanis meeting discussing last week’s Little Miss Peanut contest and the meal was served.

All of a sudden I see Mike Split, President of In-Sync Systems, grab the women next to him and put her in a Heimlich hug.

He squeezed twice and the choking woman started talking. It was obvious that whatever was blocking her windpipe had been expelled.

So, let’s hear it for Mike Splitt!

The right man at the right time.

He’s the guy ringing the bell for the Salvation Army while he was club president.

This is what the winter sun looked like yesterday after our noon Crystal Lake Kiwanis meeting at Colonial Cafe.

I thought I was going to capture the orb itself, but the clouds moved in the way.

This is what the winter sun looked like yesterday after our noon Crystal Lake Kiwanis meeting at Colonial Cafe.

I thought I was going to capture the orb itself, but the clouds moved in the way.

This cake was at Colonial Cafe when I walked in for last Wednesday’s Crystal Lake Kiwanis Club meeting.

It was the meeting at which new officers were being sworn in.

Today and Saturday Kiwanis members will be handing out peanuts at their annual fund raiser various places in Crystal Lake.

The money collected goes to programs for kids.

Baker and decorator of the cake was the Salvation Army’s Linda Hunter.

This cake was at Colonial Cafe when I walked in for last Wednesday’s Crystal Lake Kiwanis Club meeting.

It was the meeting at which new officers were being sworn in.

Today and Saturday Kiwanis members will be handing out peanuts at their annual fund raiser various places in Crystal Lake.

The money collected goes to programs for kids.

Baker and decorator of the cake was the Salvation Army’s Linda Hunter.

I was a little late for Kiwanis Wednesday.

There I was driving along minding my own business on the way to the Colonial Café, where Kiwanis meets the first and third Wednesdays for lunch, and there was these lights flashing behind me.

It turns out that I forgot to mail in my license plate renewal.

Careful readers of McHenry County Blog will spot (and some, thankfully, actually tell me of) mistakes.

Like when I said I was elected county treasurer in 1996—only 30 years off.

At any rate, when I arrived, McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz was speaking.

I went out to get me camera and a yellow pad.

By the time I returned, she has almost finished, but I got a few notes.

Asked what her most interesting case had been, she point to the 1982 Charles Albanese arsenic murders.

“When we arrested him, they let me put the handcuffs on him,” Lantz said. She also said she witness his execution in 1995.

Asked the biggest health hazard, the coroner answered, “ Hepatitis and AIDS.”

She stressed the personal touch in her dealings with relatives of those deaths handled by her office. She kept in touch with one woman after her husband died and “got invited to the wedding” when she remarried “years later.”

Lantz also explained the necessity of keeping in good mental health “in order to help others.”

She said she had gone to counseling after, I believe, the Fox River Grove bus-train accident.

She was also negatively affected after she saw a man in her official line of work who looked like her stepfather ten years after he had died. It didn’t help matters that the wife resembled her mother.

Her sense of humor shown through when she remarked,

”A lot of people think I’m tall, bald headed and pale.”

As luck would have it, as I was picking up pictures at Sam’s Club last night, this beautiful sun was setting over the Colonial Cafe.

I was a little late for Kiwanis Wednesday.

There I was driving along minding my own business on the way to the Colonial Café, where Kiwanis meets the first and third Wednesdays for lunch, and there was these lights flashing behind me.

It turns out that I forgot to mail in my license plate renewal.

Careful readers of McHenry County Blog will spot (and some, thankfully, actually tell me of) mistakes.

Like when I said I was elected county treasurer in 1996—only 30 years off.

At any rate, when I arrived, McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz was speaking.

I went out to get me camera and a yellow pad.

By the time I returned, she has almost finished, but I got a few notes.

Asked what her most interesting case had been, she point to the 1982 Charles Albanese arsenic murders.

“When we arrested him, they let me put the handcuffs on him,” Lantz said. She also said she witness his execution in 1995.

Asked the biggest health hazard, the coroner answered, “ Hepatitis and AIDS.”

She stressed the personal touch in her dealings with relatives of those deaths handled by her office. She kept in touch with one woman after her husband died and “got invited to the wedding” when she remarried “years later.”

Lantz also explained the necessity of keeping in good mental health “in order to help others.”

She said she had gone to counseling after, I believe, the Fox River Grove bus-train accident.

She was also negatively affected after she saw a man in her official line of work who looked like her stepfather ten years after he had died. It didn’t help matters that the wife resembled her mother.

Her sense of humor shown through when she remarked,

”A lot of people think I’m tall, bald headed and pale.”

As luck would have it, as I was picking up pictures at Sam’s Club last night, this beautiful sun was setting over the Colonial Cafe.

It’s not too late for your 5-7 year old daughter to enter the Crystal Lake Kiwanis Club’s Little Miss Peanut contest on September 27th. (Details below.)

Do you have a vivacious daughter or granddaughter?

I don’t know all the judges, but State Rep. Mike Tryon is scheduled to ask the little girls questions, and other judges include and Miss Illinois for 2007, Ashley Hatsfield.

Hatsfield spoke to Wednesday’s Kiwanis luncheon at the Colonial Café.

This 24-year old is articulate, educated and good looking.

Did I mention vivacious?

She has her master’s degree in communication disorders from the University of Mississippi and is 9 months of supervised practice away from becoming a licensed language pathologist. Her undergraduate college years probably explain why her southern accent is more pronounced than it would be had she attended Southern Illinois University for her schooling.

Winning the Miss Illinois contest brought her a four-year scholarship to SIU, where she wants to earn a Ph.D. in her field. The scholarship envisioned an undergrad, but the university has allowed her to use it for grad school.

If she wins the Miss America contest in Las Vegas next January, she’ll get $40,000 more. Hatsfield is thinking about following in the footsteps of the former Miss Illinois who just graduated from Harvard Law School.

Miss Illinois is from Anna, Illinois, in far southeastern Illinois.

“Do they have flights out of Southern Illinois?” Kiwanis President Mike Torchalski jokingly asked her.

She made the sound of a propeller plane and replied,

”Just a little bitty plane.

“I’m just getting oriented to the Chicago area.”

Contestants have to select a platform and hers is breast cancer awareness. It’s in memory of her grandmother who died in her 70’s of the disease when Hatfield was “a little girl.”

“She hadn’t done early detection,” she added.

Miss Illinois also goes to schools to speak on character education. She rattled off the “six pillars” faster than I could write them down…or maybe I was taking pictures.

Fortunately, they are on a handout:

• Trustworthiness
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Fairness
• Caring
• Citizenship

“Don’t follow the crowd,” is her basic message to students.

“If you give 110% of what you’re passionate about, someone will recognize you for it.”

A third emphasis is Miss America’s new “partnership” with the Children’s Miracle Network, which has affiliates in Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital and facilities in Peoria and Springfield.

She visits hospitals to “meet with patients to see if we can raise their spirits.”

Helping her and her driver is a GPS navigation system.

“When I first heard it, I thought it sounded like someone who smoked forever,” she said.

Leaving the meeting, she was on her way to a school in DuPage County.

Anyone wanting to enter a young lady in the Little Miss Peanut contest should contact Tina Hill at 815-347-4222 or email her at tinarenee78@hotmail.com.

The 6:30 event will be held at the Home State Bank located at the intersection of Route 14 and South Main Street in Crystal Lake. The public is invited.

One Kiwanian’s bank offered a $50 United States Savings Bond as one of the prizes.

= = = = =
Ashley Hatsfield, the 2007 Miss Illinois, appears along in the first and third photographs. She is to the right of Crystal Lake Kiwanis President Mike Torchalski in the bottom picture. Little Miss Peanut 2006, Erika Dacanay, appears in the 4th of July Parade car being driven by Kathy Gosset.

It’s not too late for your 5-7 year old daughter to enter the Crystal Lake Kiwanis Club’s Little Miss Peanut contest on September 27th. (Details below.)

Do you have a vivacious daughter or granddaughter?

I don’t know all the judges, but State Rep. Mike Tryon is scheduled to ask the little girls questions, and other judges include and Miss Illinois for 2007, Ashley Hatsfield.

Hatsfield spoke to Wednesday’s Kiwanis luncheon at the Colonial Café.

This 24-year old is articulate, educated and good looking.

Did I mention vivacious?

She has her master’s degree in communication disorders from the University of Mississippi and is 9 months of supervised practice away from becoming a licensed language pathologist. Her undergraduate college years probably explain why her southern accent is more pronounced than it would be had she attended Southern Illinois University for her schooling.

Winning the Miss Illinois contest brought her a four-year scholarship to SIU, where she wants to earn a Ph.D. in her field. The scholarship envisioned an undergrad, but the university has allowed her to use it for grad school.

If she wins the Miss America contest in Las Vegas next January, she’ll get $40,000 more. Hatsfield is thinking about following in the footsteps of the former Miss Illinois who just graduated from Harvard Law School.

Miss Illinois is from Anna, Illinois, in far southeastern Illinois.

“Do they have flights out of Southern Illinois?” Kiwanis President Mike Torchalski jokingly asked her.

She made the sound of a propeller plane and replied,

”Just a little bitty plane.

“I’m just getting oriented to the Chicago area.”

Contestants have to select a platform and hers is breast cancer awareness. It’s in memory of her grandmother who died in her 70’s of the disease when Hatfield was “a little girl.”

“She hadn’t done early detection,” she added.

Miss Illinois also goes to schools to speak on character education. She rattled off the “six pillars” faster than I could write them down…or maybe I was taking pictures.

Fortunately, they are on a handout:

• Trustworthiness
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Fairness
• Caring
• Citizenship

“Don’t follow the crowd,” is her basic message to students.

“If you give 110% of what you’re passionate about, someone will recognize you for it.”

A third emphasis is Miss America’s new “partnership” with the Children’s Miracle Network, which has affiliates in Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital and facilities in Peoria and Springfield.

She visits hospitals to “meet with patients to see if we can raise their spirits.”

Helping her and her driver is a GPS navigation system.

“When I first heard it, I thought it sounded like someone who smoked forever,” she said.

Leaving the meeting, she was on her way to a school in DuPage County.

Anyone wanting to enter a young lady in the Little Miss Peanut contest should contact Tina Hill at 815-347-4222 or email her at tinarenee78@hotmail.com.

The 6:30 event will be held at the Home State Bank located at the intersection of Route 14 and South Main Street in Crystal Lake. The public is invited.

One Kiwanian’s bank offered a $50 United States Savings Bond as one of the prizes.

= = = = =
Ashley Hatsfield, the 2007 Miss Illinois, appears along in the first and third photographs. She is to the right of Crystal Lake Kiwanis President Mike Torchalski in the bottom picture. Little Miss Peanut 2006, Erika Dacanay, appears in the 4th of July Parade car being driven by Kathy Gosset.