McHenry County Blog

I think it was in a special election in 1969 when I met Fred Doederlein.

Doederlein was the owner of Doederlein Lumber in East Dundee and a Township Trustee.

He was contesting with fellow Dundee Township resident R. Bruce Waddell, McHenry’s Tom Davis (whom I supported) and several others for the seat made vacant by a motor cycle accident that killed incumbent Jack Hill of the nursery named after him.

It was a very low turnout election with nothing else on the ballot which Waddell won.

When State Rep. Jill Zwick, one of the two people who won State Rep. seats the year I decided to run unsuccessfully for Congress (the other was Dick Klemm), suddenly announced her retirement with her husband Mort quickly picking up the mantel, DeLoris Doederlein was the one immediately ready to seek the same office.

She won with Jack Schaffer and I writing a joint letter in her support.

DeLoris’ bold campaign resulted in victory.

After the primary Jill saw me in Springfield and said something to the effect, “You guys (in McHenry County) really can put a a full press when you want to.”

“I never got the feeling you really wanted Mort to win,” I replied.  I believe the two were divorced by that time. (Mort is now a Chicago judge elected as a Democrat. Jill works for Jesse White and last ran for office, Kane County Board as a Democrat.)

Fred showed me his gun collection during the campaign.  It included a Thompson Machine Gun for which he had to get a special permit from the Federal government.

In any event, Fred accompanied his State Rep. wife everywhere.

While he was in office and after she retired.

They vacationed all over the world, but kept local ties as the photo above at Camp Algonquin Veterans Stand Down shows.

Visitation will be held Friday, Sept. 30, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in East Dundee on Route 72 from 4 to 8 PM.

The funeral is this coming Saturday after a visitation starting at 10 AM.

The obituary follows:

Frederic E. “Fred” Doederlein of East Dundee Frederic E. “Fred” Doederlein, 84, passed away on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, at his home surrounded by family.

Fred was born on April 3, 1927, in Elgin. He was the son of the late Walter and Charlotte (nee Sylvester) Doederlein.

Fred was a lifelong resident of East Dundee.

He was a 1945 graduate of Dundee Community High School and a 1951 graduate of Valparaiso University, having earned a bachelor’s degree in business law.

He proudly served in the U.S. Navy during World War II aboard the U.S.S. DeHaven.

Fred was a life member and past commander of Tri-Cities Evergreen VFW Post #2298 and a member of the Carpentersville American Legion.

He was a lifelong and active member of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in West Dundee.

Fred was owner and operator of Fred Doederlein Lumber and Fred Doederlein Enterprises.

Survivors include his wife of 58 years, DeLoris, whom he married July 17, 1953, and their children, Mark (Karen) Cole, Dr. Stephen (Bobbi Jo) Rittmann, Robert (Susie) Rittmann, Martha (Scott) Lehman and Carol Hardt.

Fred is also survived by nine grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; his sister, Kate (Jim Bernhardt) Counsell; sister-in-law, Gloria Doederlein; as well as many nieces, nephews, and countless good and faithful friends. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Ted.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, Oct. 1, at 11 a.m. in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 401 W. Main St., West Dundee, with Frank Hewitt officiating. Burial will follow with military honors in the Dundee Township East Cemetery, East Dundee.

Visitation will be held Friday, Sept. 30, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church from 4 to 8 p.m., and again on Saturday morning from 10 a.m. until the service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Bethlehem Lutheran Church, The USS DeHaven Scholarship Fund or the Valparaiso University Guild. The Miller Funeral Home, West Dundee is assisting the family with all arrangements.

In 1989, I was standing next to State Rep. Delores Doederlein on the House floor the night that the Hoffman Estates Tax Increment Financing District for Sears was passed.

As the debate neared its end, she asked me if I though that her Dundee and Algonquin Township (and points west) constituents would want her to vote for the TIF bill.

Having represented the same area for eight years in the 19770′s, I told her I doubted it.

“That’s what I thought,” she said before voting against the bill.

The Daily Herald reports the benefit to Sears and its purchaser, the owners of K-Mart, got a $240 million subsidy.

That came out of the pockets of local taxpayers not in the TIF district. .

What a TIF district does is force everyone else located in tax districts covering the TIP district to subsidize the development of the enterprise or enterprises within the area.

Think the Vulcan Lakes TIF district.

Everyone is McHenry County is subsidizing it, because all tax districts, including McHenry County, the McHenry County Conservation District and McHenry County College raise their taxes on us to make up for the loss along Route 14.

The biggest loser in the Sears TIF district is Carpentersville School District 300.

District 300′s Cheryl Crates discovered House Bill 3435, introduced by State Rep. Fred Crespo, who used to be on the Hoffman Estates Village Board.

The legislation would pull property tax dollars out of the pockets of taxpayers in Algonquin, Dundee, Hampshire and other townships into which District 300 and Elgin Community College snake for 15 more years.

The contemplated deal would allow the failing firm to cut its local workforce by one-third.

Hoffman Estates will also be on the hook for about $60 of the $180 million which it borrowed.

Needless to say, Hoffman Estates politicians would rather have District 300 taxpayers share the pain of its faulty projections 20 years ago.

Already Crates estimates that District 300 has lost $195 million in tax revenue.  District 300 received $30 million during that time period.

This is not the only local example of Sears wanting a public subsidy.

Spring Hill Mall was built by a subsidiary of Sears called Homart.

Instead of building in Downtown Elgin, the Hill Nursery property was selected.  It was at the intersection of two two-lane state highways.

Homart would not even pay for adding the needed extra lanes next to its property.

Oh, it fronted the money, but cut a deal with at least Carpentersville to give the firm the extra sales taxes for ten years to repay Homart for the extra lane.

And, did Sears pay for doubling the size of Route 31 from Elgin to the shopping center?