McHenry County Blog

Here’s the latest results of the gauge at the Algonquin Dam of the Fox River:

The river is now up over 2 and a half feet.

I hit the refresh button on the flood gauge web page at the Algonquin Dam on the Fox River and found the following message from the U.S. Corps of Engineers:

“USGS to Discontinue Streamgages Due to Sequestration: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will discontinue operation of up to 375 streamgages nationwide due to budget cuts as a result of sequestration. Additional streamgages may be affected if partners reduce their funding to support USGS streamgages.

“The USGS is working to identify which streamgages will be impacted and will post this information as it becomes available.

“Streamgages are used nationwide to predict and address drought and flood conditions by monitoring water availability.

“The USGS and over 850 Federal, State, and local agencies cooperatively fund the USGS streamgaging network, which consists of over 8,000 streamgages.

“When budget fluctuations occur, the network is impacted.”

The flood gauge at the Algonquin Dam Saturday night, April 13, 2013, was 1.92 feet.

A lot of rain is expected next week.

A press release from the McHenry County Defenders:

5th Annual “It’s Our River Day” September 15

The Environmental Defenders of McHenry County and The Village of Algonquin are sponsoring the 5th annual “It’s Our River Day” celebration and clean-up.

The Fox River was low the day the Algonquin Founders Day Parade took place.

The event will be held on Saturday, September 15, 2012 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Cornish Park in Downtown Algonquin at the intersection of S. Harrison and Route 62 (at the dam).

It’s Our River Day, a statewide celebration, kicks off in Algonquin with speakers at 1:00 p.m., including a welcome by a Village representative. Brief presentations will be given by Gary Swick, Friends of the Fox River, Cindy Skrukrud, Sierra Club, Jodie Auliff, The Illinois Water Trailkeepers from the Illinois Paddling Council and Prairie State Canoeists, and Bill Silva, Prairie Coast Paddlers.

The Prairie Coast Paddlers will give kayak demonstrations after the talks conclude and at 2:00 p.m. the clean up begins. The Illinois Water Trailkeepers from the Illinois Paddling Council and members from the Prairie State Canoeists will conduct an in-river clean up between Cornish Park and Buffalo Park. The Sierra Club will provide bags and gloves for the shoreline clean up. At 3:00 p.m., Friends of the Fox River will do water quality monitoring for those interested in learning. And, Gary Kanner of the Cub Scouts will hold geocaching for the kids.

Come celebrate the beautiful Fox River and help keep her clean while learning more about local environmental and conservation groups. The event is free and open to the public. Groups are welcome.

Crystal Lake resident Joel Arnier was fishing on a day off from his job at the Addison Fire Department when he saw a riverfront mother in distress over her one-year old, whom she had pulled out of the Fox River. The day will undoubtedly be the highlight of the fireman's on the Fox River.

In typical fireman tradition, Crystal Lake resident Joel Arnier, fishing on a day off from his Addison Fire Department job, rushed to the rescue when he saw a mother holding her oxygen-starved daughter on the Fox River’s bank.

Click to enlarge.

Joel Arnier got public credit the modest public servant deserved on television last night.

And on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times.

The article inside was as big that Michael Sneed’s column and ran right next to it.

It says the 20-month old was taken first to Centengra Hospital in McHenry, then to Rockford Memorial Hospital.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office call DCFS, the Department of Children and Family Services, but said there would be no criminal investigation.

The Fox River’s level is not as high as it was after the snow melt, but it rose sharply after Sunday’s rain.

You can see the level of the Fox River rose sharply Sunday. Here's how high it was at 9 PM Sunday.

You can follow the level here.

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Here’s Monday morning’s level:

Here’s the message from the campaign:

Fox River's Broken Oar on a sunny summer afternoon.

Saturday, our next Governor Bill Brady will be at the Broken Oar Marina Bar & Grill (614 Rawson Bridge Road, Port Barrington, 60010) starting around 11:30AM.

He will be getting escorted to the event by the Sons of Liberty Motorcycle Club.

There Senator Brady will  be talking about the importance of the Fox River and the Chain of Lakes and their importance to the economy of McHenry County.

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The front page of the Chicago Tribune touts Pat Quinn's having 39% of the vote to Bill Brady's 38%.

With the Chicago Tribune poll showing Quinn has closed the gap and taken the lead, Brady undoubtedly could use some spirit lifting from local supporters.

I always get exercised when I see marginal highway projects in Downstate Illinois, while area residents are threatened (with the support of local officials) with a local toll bridge across the Fox River between Carpentersville and Algonquin.

In 2007, we were driving from McHenry County to Coles County via Interstate 57.

Right north of where we got off the highway in the Mattoon area, we saw a new overpass.

“What a waste!” I thought.

Coles County Population shows no growth since 1980.

It’s not as if the area is growing.

Then I thought of Eagle Creek Resort, a state-owned, but not flourishing resort on Lake Shelby we stayed at.

We enjoyed it.

I got a marvelous photo of a butterfly and a little girl and her father in the pool where my son spent most of his time.

I was told the overpass was to provide better access to it. Some were planning to put a casino there.

Overpass being build in 2007 north of Mattoon in Coles County.

So, I took a picture of it on the way home.

Another overpass was being constructed on the east side of Champaign in 2007.

When we got to the Champaign area, I spotted another new overpass.

“Another waste,” I thought.

At least Champaign County's population is growing a little bit.

Another photo opportunity.

Fast forward almost three years and what does the news say about the Champaign County overpass?

That Republican candidate Bill Brady had a subdivision he was trying to build east of town and the overpass would make that possible.

That he voted for the bill to build the overpass.

Charges of conflict of interest.

Just in case you think any candidate for governor is pure as the driven snow.

And, what about McHenry County’s population growth?

While Coles County population flatlined and Champign increase every so little, McHenry County's population soared.

And Kane County’s growth was none to shabby either.

Kane County has seen steady growth.

That sucking sound you hear is Northern Illinois Motor Fuel Tax money draining south for marginal road projects, while we sit in traffic jams.

I always thought the Village of Algonquin should leave the northeast intersection of Route 31 and Alqonquin Road empty.

Make it a park so people coming down the hill from the west could enjoy a view of the Fox River.

Now all they see is a derelict building covered with Tyvek, which builders have told me degrades in sunlight.  It’s been uncovered for what, two years?

When I was driving through town, I saw this roofer nailing down shingles.

After eating Mother’s Day brunch at a very crowded Port Edward in Algonquin, we went across Route 62 to Cornish Park along the Fox River.

The river was high, as you can see, but certainly not as high as it has been.

Even so, the dam was wide open.

There were more kids than I have ever seen playing at the park.

A couple were playing in the sandbox.

They had picked some of the plentiful dandelions and arranged the stems in arcs around the hole they had dug.

They placed the flowers in a circular fashion farther away.

When the Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced that the McHenry Locks connecting the lower Fox River to the Chain of Lakes would be closed Mondays and Tuesdays, along with fewer hours the rest of the week, Crystal Lake attorney Jim Bishop got activated.

He produced a petition aimed at the McHenry County Board that said,

We, the undersigned, hereby petition the McHenry County Board and the Fox Waterway Agency to join with us to protest the recent actions of the STATE OF ILLINOIS, DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES whereby the locks maintained on the Fox River, at the William G. Stratton/Thomas A. Bolger Lock & Dam will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, commencing May 1, 2009 and other operating hours reduced during the 2009 summer boating season.

The closure of the locks will have a substantial negative effect on many businesses adjacent to the Fox River which depend upon summer boat traffic for a substantial part of their annual income.

The reduction in gross income of those businesses will result in a substantial loss of general sales tax revenues to McHenry County, the municipalities affected and the State of Illinois.

The closure of the locks will greatly affect the recreational activities offered by the Fox River to thousands of boating enthusiasts.

Bishop told me that the county board members he has contacted are receptive to his message and that McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler is going to propose a resolution to the McHenry County Council of Governments.

If you would like to print a copy of the petition, you can find it here.