McHenry County Blog

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

SKOKIE COMPANY FINED $150,000 FOR ILLEGALLY EXPORTING AFRICAN ELEPHANT IVORY AND OTHER PROTECTED WILDLIFE PARTS USED IN MAKING BILLIARD CUE STICKS

This Disney World elephant doesn't exacting deposit its poop in the side pocket as one of the Atlas cue sticks make from ivory might, but the point is made.

CHICAGO — A Skokie company pleaded guilty today and was fined $150,000 for illegally exporting African elephant ivory, as well as products made from other protected wildlife, to foreign customers, federal law enforcement officials announced.

The defendant, Atlas Fibre Company, pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of violating the federal Endangered Species Act by failing to obtain an export permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Atlas, which manufactures and distributes fiber, plastic and other materials for industrial applications, had a division called Atlas Billiard Supplies that sold parts involved in fabricating billiard cue sticks, including African elephant ivory, shell products and leathers made from the hides of elephants, monitor lizards, kangaroo, ostrich and shark.

Atlas, which was charged in a criminal information filed last month, pleaded guilty today at its arraignment before Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier in U.S. District Court.

Magistrate Schenkier immediately sentenced Atlas under the terms of a plea agreement, placing the company on probation for one year, in addition to imposing the $150,000 fine, which will be paid to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lacey Act Reward Fund. He also ordered Atlas to pay the Fish and Wildlife Service $12,273 in restitution and $1,428 in funds the agency used to purchase products that were illegally shipped by Atlas.

“Failing to obtain necessary export permits is not merely a technical violation of the law,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “It is a crime to intentionally export protected wildlife parts and products without a permit to ensure that we protect, not profiting from, threatened or endangered species.”

Atlas admitted that its billiard supplies division sold approximately 61 pieces of worked African elephant ivory valued at $3,057 to a customer in Japan in October 2006 without a U.S. export permit required under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Atlas intentionally removed from the shipping invoice any reference to “ivory” to help the shipment move through Japanese customs.

Atlas also admitted as relevant conduct that, without a CITES permit, it exported African elephant ivory products valued in excess of $93,000 on approximately 129 separate occasions to customers primarily in Japan and Germany between January 2002 and November 2006.

Also without a permit, Atlas exported monitor lizard and African elephant leather valued in excess of $11,700 on approximately 53 occasions between September 2005 and October 2009, as well as mother of pearl and abalone shell products and leathers made from various other protected wildlife species valued in excess of $3,799 on approximately 37 occasions between January 2005 and October 2009.

In total, Atlas’ failure to obtain export permits and to pay inspection fees deprived the Fish and Wildlife Service of $12,273 in revenue.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Chapman.

If you are a Democrat, you can become Precinct Committeeman in any precinct but Ringwood’s without opposition.

That’s because only Marti Swanson filed for Committeeman as a Democrat on the first day possible.

It takes only 10 valid signatures to get on the ballot. Less, if no one challenges a petition.

Are McHenry County Democrats dead or are they lying in the weeds and going to file Precinct Committeeman petitions when they file County Board petitions?

Although the office of Precinct Committeeman opens the door to the Republican Party, few are interesting in using it. So few are running that Tea Party adherents could take over the McHenry County GOP.

Not many Republicans have filed either.

My excuse for not having filed for Republican Precinct Committeeman in Algonquin’s Precinct 7 is procrastination.

Those who filed as Republicans the first day follow (an asterisk means they were filed at 8 AM):

CHEMUNG 1 – *Glenda L. Miller, Harvard
CHEMUNG 2 – *Joseph F. Hagenbruch
SENECA 1 – *R. Mark Gummerson, Woodstock
SENECA 2 – *Mary T McCann, Woodstock
CORAL 1 – *Pamela K. Palmer, Union
GRAFTON 6 – *Harriet Ford, Lakewood
GRAFTON 8 – *Carolyn Schofield, Crystal Lake
GRAFTON 19 – Samuel F Paglini, Lake in the Hills
DORR 7 – Tina R Hill, Woodstock
DORR 8 – *Katherine M. Keefe, Woodstock
DORR 11 – John Jung Jr., Woodstock
GREENWOOD 6 – *Brian Sager, Woodstock
RICHMOND 3 – Tamara A Valentine-Garza, Richmond
MCHENRY 1 – *Richard E Mack, Ringwood
MCHENRY 2 – *Geraldine “Geri” Davis, McHenry
MCHENRY 13 – Neal Schepler, McHenry
MCHENRY 16 – *Gregory L Foreman, McHenry
MCHENRY 26 – *Andrew “Andy” Glab, McHenry
MCHENRY 27 – *Robert “Bob” Koehl, Lakemoor
MCHENRY 32 – *Sandra Fay Salgado, McHenry
MCHENRY 33 – *John D. Hammerand, Wonder Lake

The elephants at Disney World showed more activity than the ones in McHenry County.

NUNDA 7 – *Kelvin Lee Jennings, McHenry
NUNDA 11 – Mark Daniel, Crystal Lake
NUNDA 12 – *Mary McClellan, Holiday Hills
NUNDA 14 – Patrick Collins, Crystal Lake
NUNDA 21 – *Brent Smith, Prairie Grove

How did Disney World's Pop Century maid know of our interest in elephants? Maybe towels like this can be used to clen up after the party is over.

ALGONQUIN 2 – Kenneth (Ken) D Koehler, Crystal Lake
ALGONQUIN 3 – *Michael E. Barnas, Cary
ALGONQUIN 5 – *Charles A. Lutzow, Jr, Crystal Lake
ALGONQUIN 8 – *Neils Kruse, Cary
ALGONQUIN 9 – *Dan Shea, Fox River Grove
ALGONQUIN 13 – *Rita M. Heuel, Crystal Lake
ALGONQUIN 16 – *Lou Anne Majewski, Algonquin
ALGONQUIN 17 – *David W Miller, Cary
ALGONQUIN 18 – *Mary Cardelli, Algonquin
ALGONQUIN 22 – *Lowell A. Cutsforth, Fox River Grove
ALGONQUIN 25 – *Thomas P. McDermott, Crystal Lake
ALGONQUIN 33 – *Sean Murphy, Algonquin
ALGONQUIN 40 – *Mallory A. Rosencrans, Cary
ALGONQUIN 46 – *Kathleen R. DeRaedt, Cary
ALGONQUIN 50 – *Linda (Lyn) Orphal, Crystal Lake

No Green Party candidates have filed.

I have no clue who Larry Higgins is, but he is a Metra Board member who has no grasp of reality.

Referring to Phil Pagano’s theft of about $50,000 a year for ten years, he commented, according to the Chicago Tribune,

“Other than the fact that we’ve had one little incident that came up … (abuse) is something that is not systemic in this operation.”

This is a major Republican Party scandal.

In case you haven’t noticed, Mr. Higgins, you are under that pile of poop your chief elephant just dropped.

Gerry McMahon is a colorful guy.

He is also passionate.

Last night at the Grafton Township meeting he made a what he characterized as an “emotional” argument that would be appropriate for a referendum campaign asking voters to approve borrowing $3.5 million (plus over $1.5 million interest) to build a new township hall.

But the Grafton Township trustees are dead set against holding a referendum.

The issue might lose, the same way township-hall-without-a-referendum supporter Supervisor John Rossi did to Linda Moore.

According to Daily Herald reporter Jameel Naqvi, he said taxpayers opposing that proposal were hunting the wrong animal.

It was so, so tiny in the scheme of African savannah.

Just a meerkat, my son’s favorite animal. The subject of the poster he just turned in.

“They want to hunt meerkats?” he asked after reading the article. “That’s not right.”

McMahon seemed to be saying taxpayers should be trying to kill an elephant instead of the meerkats.

Over my son’s head, maybe. (Could McMahon have been talking about Huntley School District 158?)

“This is nothing, absolutely nothing, and a waste of time,” McMahon said as he finished his savannah analogy.

The problem with McMahon’s argument are multifold.

Let’s start with the easy one.

He’s lost the kid vote.

And, McMahon was just elected as a Republican.

Why would he be suggesting taxpayers should be hunting elephants?

The elephant is the symbol of our party.

Maybe he should have compared the elephant to himself and the other GOP-labeled township trustees, all of whom want to build a township hall without asking for the voters permission.

Maybe the elected officials are the elephant herd and the meerkats are to them the insignificant taxpayers.

Maybe the little meerkats are just trying to keep out of the way of this elephant herd.

The little taxpayer meerkats don’t want to get stepped on.

Or worse.

The meerkats voted at a township meeting to keep the herd away from their borrows.

When the elephants ignored their vote—after all elephants are more important than little meerkats, aren’t they?—they went to court to keep the big beasts from robbing them without their permission or even telling them they were going to be thundering across their breeding ground.

The insignificant meerkats went to court to keep the tax hiking elephant herd from stealing food out of their babies’ even smaller mouths.

Or maybe the meerkats were afraid that one of the herd will take a dung dump on the entrance to their burrow.

Would you want to have to crawl through a pile of elephant poop to get in and out your home?

And, the little meerkats, with the help of their attorney, Jim Bishop, won.

Three times.

But the elephants were like Madeline in the zoo. To the judge, they said,

Judge William Caldwell did not like having elephants dump a load on his decision.

So he hung them up to dry, threatening them with direct criminal contempt.

Ever hear of any other McHenry County elephants, I mean elected officials, being so threatened?

So, why is there a skunk in the title of this article?

Tune in tomorrow.

= = = = =
The photo of Gerry McMahon was taken at the annual Grafton Town Meeting.

Here’s where you can find

The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 2

The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 3

This is the best tee shirt I have seen in support of soon-to-be sworn in President-Elect Barack Obama.

I found it at Disney World coming out of Animal Kingdom.

Look at it closely and you’ll see the image is made of studs.

When the man wearing it turned around, I noticed the second smaller image you see. I asked what it stood for.

He said it was his firm’s logo. The name of the firm?

A-Bone.

I looked for a web site, but couldn’t find one.

= = = = =
All images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

There are some happy people today. My nomination for “happiest” is the one with this bumper sticker.

This is the best tee shirt I have seen in support of soon-to-be sworn in President-Elect Barack Obama.

I found it at Disney World coming out of Animal Kingdom.

Look at it closely and you’ll see the image is made of studs.

When the man wearing it turned around, I noticed the second smaller image you see. I asked what it stood for.

He said it was his firm’s logo. The name of the firm?

A-Bone.

I looked for a web site, but couldn’t find one.

= = = = =
All images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

There are some happy people today. My nomination for “happiest” is the one with this bumper sticker.

Yesterday, I started a story about the Republican notables I saw at the Republican State Convention held in Decatur on Friday and Saturday.

My wife and I arrived later than expected on Friday–about 6:30. It turned out all the decision has been made in committee. None were changed by anything done on the convention floor on Saturday.

Friday night, after registering and eating a bit, we decided to take up State Senator Kirk Dillard’s invitation to those attending the convention to visit the mansion of Lincoln supporter Richard Oglesby in downtown Decatur.

As we were walking out the front door of the convention center, the sun was setting behind the elephant that House Minority Leader Tom Cross had parked outside.

I’ll leave whether that is symbolic of anything that happened at the convention up to others.

At the Oglesby Mansion, I met Terri Ann Wintermute, the Republican candidate for state senate in the 42nd district. Democrat Linda Holmes is the incumbent. Republican Judge Ed Petka held the seats for years.

Earlier I had met Bollingbrook Mayor Roger Claar. I got a picture of State Senator Dan Rutherford conferring with a smiling Claar at the mansion.

Next I ran into our host Kirk Dillard. He told me that Oglesby was the last person to have an appointment with Lincoln before he was shot.

After looking at the bedrooms, I found my friend former State Representative and Republican National Committeewoman Penny Pullen talking with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Sauerburg in the parlor.

More notables tomorrow.

Yesterday, I started a story about the Republican notables I saw at the Republican State Convention held in Decatur on Friday and Saturday.

My wife and I arrived later than expected on Friday–about 6:30. It turned out all the decision has been made in committee. None were changed by anything done on the convention floor on Saturday.

Friday night, after registering and eating a bit, we decided to take up State Senator Kirk Dillard’s invitation to those attending the convention to visit the mansion of Lincoln supporter Richard Oglesby in downtown Decatur.

As we were walking out the front door of the convention center, the sun was setting behind the elephant that House Minority Leader Tom Cross had parked outside.

I’ll leave whether that is symbolic of anything that happened at the convention up to others.

At the Oglesby Mansion, I met Terri Ann Wintermute, the Republican candidate for state senate in the 42nd district. Democrat Linda Holmes is the incumbent. Republican Judge Ed Petka held the seats for years.

Earlier I had met Bollingbrook Mayor Roger Claar. I got a picture of State Senator Dan Rutherford conferring with a smiling Claar at the mansion.

Next I ran into our host Kirk Dillard. He told me that Oglesby was the last person to have an appointment with Lincoln before he was shot.

After looking at the bedrooms, I found my friend former State Representative and Republican National Committeewoman Penny Pullen talking with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Sauerburg in the parlor.

More notables tomorrow.

One that was just one space from home in a game of Parcheesi tonight at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake-sponsored Pack 158 Webelos winter

The Cub Scout in second place at Camp Lakota put all of his water buffalo into their winning spots as I was trying to throw a one on the dice.

My son, who had a tiger that had been sent home, got a five to emerge on the playing board.

As I kept throwing numbers other than one, he progressed around the board.

He got to the final row of spaces.

I kept throwing higher numbers.

No ones.

He got the right number on a die and came in second.

Poor little elephant.

Left out in the cold on the very last space.

Dad was a good sport…

more or less.

Somehow this game was more satisfying than the ones us grandkids used to play in Churchill, Maryland, at the home my mother’s parents retired to when they left the family farm near Barkley.

There were no animals in that game box.

Just different colored plastic token.

And, yes, plastic had been invented in the 1940’s.

One that was just one space from home in a game of Parcheesi tonight at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake-sponsored Pack 158 Webelos winter

The Cub Scout in second place at Camp Lakota put all of his water buffalo into their winning spots as I was trying to throw a one on the dice.

My son, who had a tiger that had been sent home, got a five to emerge on the playing board.

As I kept throwing numbers other than one, he progressed around the board.

He got to the final row of spaces.

I kept throwing higher numbers.

No ones.

He got the right number on a die and came in second.

Poor little elephant.

Left out in the cold on the very last space.

Dad was a good sport…

more or less.

Somehow this game was more satisfying than the ones us grandkids used to play in Churchill, Maryland, at the home my mother’s parents retired to when they left the family farm near Barkley.

There were no animals in that game box.

Just different colored plastic token.

And, yes, plastic had been invented in the 1940’s.