McHenry County Blog

Vince Gaddis

The McHenry County College Student Peace Action Network continues to bring provocative programs to Crystal Lake.

The next one will be bout privatized prisons, to be held on March 4th.

I wonder if the local version of this phenomenon will be discussed.

What’s that?

The Sheriff’s Department’s making money by housing illegal immigrants on the top floor of the county jail.

The press release is below:

MCC’S STUDENT PEACE GROUP TO HOST EVENT

ON PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

[Feb. 23, 2010.Crystal Lake, IL]  The McHenry County College Student Peace Action Network (SPAN) will host an informational seminar featuring Dr. Vincent Gaddis on March 4th, 2010 at 7:00pm in the College’s Conference Center.  The event is titled

“The United States: Leading Jailer of the World.”

According to Human Rights Watch, the United States incarcerates more people than any country in the world, including the far more populous nation of China.  In 2008, the American penal system held more than 2.3 million adults, China was second with 1.5 million and Russia a distant third.

The United States leads not only by the sheer number of inmates but in the rate at which it incarcerates its citizenry, outpacing nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia.  In Germany, 93 people are in prison for every 100,000 adults and children whereas in the United States, the rate is eight times higher or 750 per 100,000.

As incredible as it sounds, 1 in 100 adults are now locked up in America and for Hispanic and black men, imprisonment is far more prevalent.  Dr. Gaddis will analyze the structural flaws within our system that lead to these astounding statistics.

Imprisonment has become the answer to many of the social problems rooted in poverty.

The practice of locking up the poor from racially marginalized communities has become big business.

What once was considered government work has increasingly been turned over to private contractors, creating a monstrous “prison industrial complex” whose profit depends on people to punish.

Dr Gaddis calls for a revolution – “a revolution in values.”  He persuasively argues that what we need is not new prisons, but a powerful movement for social transformation in health care, housing, education, drug programs, jobs, and education.

The event is part of SPAN’s Current American Issues Information Seminar Series. SPAN is made up of students promoting peace nationally and locally through action and education. The event is co-sponsored by Pax Christi and the McHenry County Peace Coalition. The event is free and open to the public.

The college is located at 8900 U.S. Hwy. 14, Crystal Lake.  For more information, contact the MCC Student Activities Office at (815) 455-8772.

Zane Seipler

Probably all campaigns have rumors against the opposing candidate or candidates.

One Zane Seipler has been getting feedback about is that he favors illegal immigration.

So, he has issued the following press release to make his position clear.

“Recently a question has been raised with regards to my views on illegal immigration.

“I am a staunch supporter of an immigration policy which must include total security along our borders and ports of entry.

“I believe that American businesses and contractors should be severely penalized if they knowingly employ people who are in violation of immigration law.

“I do not believe that government benefits should be extended to people who enter our country illegally. I also believe that law enforcement should vigorously track down and arrest dangerous criminal elements within the illegal population.

“I do not support an immigration policy that includes amnesty to people who are currently in this country illegally.”

I guess that’s what happens when one is married to a Latina emergency room nurse born in San Fernando, California.

Seip[er says he can be reached for discussion on this or any other issue at
ZaneforSheriff@gmail.com
or (847) 561-1180

Sunday’s Chicago Tribune had a front page story that seems to have been inspired by two Catholic nuns not being able to talked to illegal aliens detained there.

It seems Sheriff Keith Nygren thought that the services of his award-winning chaplain, Michael Love, were sufficient, but Sisters Pat Murphy and JoAnn Persch didn’t.

Rebuffed, the two champions of immigrant rights went to Springfield and got state law changed so they could provide conversation and counseling to those detained.

The story, by Margaret Ramirez, relates how Sister Pat Murphy buttonholed former Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) and laid a guilt trip on him.

The bill passed both houses of the Illinois General Assembly without a negative vote.

Interspersed in the story are the type of separation stories that played out in my legislative office during the 1990’s, especially after INS raided the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn. Fortunately, I had Pete Castillo as my legislative assistant to handle such cases. The one I remember best is a man’s coming in with a young child and a baby after his wife had been shipped to some regional detention center before the McHenry County Jail started accepting detainees.

In one of the two photos in the story, you can clearly see “McHenry County Jail” is written on the back of the orange jump suits.

= = = = =
I thought that I and the young Chinese politicians I took to the McHenry County Jail two years ago as part of an exchange trip arranged by the American Council of Young Political Leaders were being show the immigration detention floor until I read the comments under this story.

Now I’m not sure.

The last Democrat to serve in the Illinois House before Jack Franks died in Arizona April 3rd. This is the second installment of some of my memories of Tom, who died of cancer in Prescott, Arizona, on April 3, 2009.

The Chicago Tribune obituary yesterday concentrated on Hanahan’s “braless, brainless broads” comment during the ERA debate.

Part 1 of this one concentrated on other aspects of his life.

It also mentions a Federal trial against him for trying to get a $5,000 bribe on some legislation, a rap he beat. I commend the story to you, but Tom was so much more than that.

I rode home with him one time. As we entered the Tri-State Tollway from I-55, he flashed some card or badge that indicated he was a member of the tollway advisory board, which apparently let him skip the toll.

He told me of having to go west of DeKalb for a meeting while that tollway was being built.

Taking the new tollway, he got to a point west of DeKalb where there were barriers.

That didn’t stop him. He kept driving west until he ran into fresh concrete.

He told me that totaled the car.

Hanahan wasn’t all that good at figuring out what was good for McHenry County, but he was good at picking up clues. I can’t remember any local bill that I asked him to co-sponsor where he refused.

We worked together on an illegal alien bill.

One of us came up with the idea of fining employers who hired illegal aliens. This was way back in the 1970’s remember. A logical idea then, as it is now, if one wants to prevent illegal aliens from working in the United States.

Hanahan jumped on the idea and brought all the union guys on board. The business Republicans were opposed to it, but we passed it anyway.

It obviously died in the Senate. I can’t remember the year, but it wouldn’t matter, because the Illinois Senate is always controlled by the Establishment.

Then there was RTA. Tom and all the other suburban Democrats but one (Harold Katz) aligned with suburban Republicans to fight the Regional Transportation Authority referendum held at the 1974 primary election.

We had numerous debates. Hanahan, State Senator Jack Schaffer, I and, sometimes, Waddell on one side and members of the League of Women Voters, Hanahan’s “running mate” Ron Stroupe (D-Huntley) and, in McHenry County, Jeff Ladd on the other side.

I got such a delight in suggesting we would not live to see train service in Huntley. It’s 35 years later and I’ll grant that discussion are being held about a train station in Huntley, but it’s certainly not there yet. Well, two of the legislators on the kNOw RTA side of the debate are not around and neither is Stroupe. Two to go.

With all McHenry County legislators opposed to creating the RTA, the only support was from local municipal officials and women in the League of Women Voters.

McHenry County has never been so united on an issue. I think it was 93% of the votes that were cast against the referendum.

One precinct in Cary is recorded in favor, but when I asked an election judge if it really passed, she said, “No,” and got really flustered when I told her that’s what the election canvass said. Someone is going to look at those results sometime and think a bunch of commuters voted “Yes.”)

The state rep. raced turned out like this:

• Cal Skinner – 34,210 1/2
• Bruce Waddell – 26,932 1/2
• Tom Hanahan – 16,783 1/2
• Ron Stroupe – 8,821 1/2

The half votes are a result of proportional representation. Each voter had three votes. They could vote for one candidate, in which case he got 3 votes, two giving each 1 1/2 votes or three, which meant each would be 1 vote apiece.

There are so many more stories about Tom Hanahan. I’ve asked some to send me their favorites. If you have any, I’d like to hear from you, too.

A major article stuffed with information about McHenry County law enforcement officials’ treatment of Latinos stopped for traffic offenses appears on The Chicago Reporter’s web site.

Written by Fernando Diaz, the article starts with the Crystal Lake arrest of 2003 Honduran immigrant Osman Maldonado by a McHenry County Sheriff’s deputy.

The cigarette run resulted in the deputy’s finding a fake green card after examining Diaz’ wallet.

That led to a felony arrest for possession of fraudulent documents for 25-year old employed father of two.

After thirty days in jail Diaz plead guilty to a misdemeanor. On that same day the sheriff’s department took him to immigration court. With an electronic ankle device, he now faces deportation.

The next mention of McHenry County is way down in the article and the Zane Seipler suite against Sheriff Keith Nygren is the focus. See

“Driving While Black” or “Profiling Caucasians?”

What Ex-Deputy Sheriff Zane Seipler Says the Department is Doing Wrong

Discrimination Suit against McHenry County Sheriff’s Department Makes Fox TV

According to the article, in his suit, Seipler, whose wife is Mexican, Seipler

“alleged that the office is targeting Latinos—proxy for undocumented immigrants, he said—for traffic stops.

“Seipler said things changed soon after the county began cooperating with the immigration agency in 2006 and started providing space for immigrant detainees at the McHenry County Jail—for $85 per detainee a day. Seipler said he began noticing the pattern that more Latinos drivers were being arrested. ‘The goal was to keep the immigration wing packed,’ he said.”

Seipler asked for an investigation and was eventually fired, the article says, for “violating rules and regulations.”

Seipler sued last November.

Nygren told the reporter that Seipler’s allegations, which were investigated multiple times, are completely false and offered these direct quotes:

“I’ve been sued a lot [during] 42 years, [but] this is the worst that I have ever seen leveled at anybody with no basis in fact.

“I’m not going to tell you we don’t have people with prejudices and bias, but if we had someone enforcing the law based upon their bias, we would take action. We would not tolerate it.”

What do the statistics show?

The Chicago Reporter dug out this information:

“Since 1996, law enforcement agencies in McHenry County have filed charges against about 3,000 individuals for driving without a license and, since 1999, filed more than 500 charges for those who were in possession of fraudulent documents, according to the Reporter’s analysis.

“But many of these charges have come from only a handful of communities. Five communities, including Harvard, Woodstock and Crystal Lake, racked up 70 percent of all charges.”

How big is the problem?

State Rep. Edward Acevedo estimated that there are 250,000 “undocumented” driving without licenses or insurance.

The article also tells of suburban communities seeking 287(g) authority to enforce immigration law.

McHenry County Blog wrote extensively of how Ohio’s Allen County Sheriff Daniel Beck enforces immigration laws with 287(g) authority. The articles can be found below:

Fighting Republican Courthouse Corruption,

Motivation for Getting Involved with the Fight Against Illegal Aliens

The Rule of Law

Enforcement Techniques, specifically, how 287(g) training is not necessary to get started,

Idendtity Theft Enforcement,

Other Crimes by Illegal Aliens,

Terrorism and Bondage, and

The Critics

What Daniel Beck Told the Minutemen at MCC – Part 9 – What Wouldn’t Fit Elsewhere, Including Retirement Plans

Other articles about the Minuteman meeting include

“Minutemen Are Back with Sheriff Dan Beck Seminar”

“Minuteman Meeting at MCC Peaceful; Protestors Missing in Action”

“Dissatisfaction Expressed with Sheriff Keith Nygren at MCC Minuteman Meeting”

“The Goals of Mexico”

“So Many Illegals, I Could Not Get a Job”

= = = = =
The top sheriff is McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren.

The picture next to the Sheriff Dan Beck articles is of Beck. The section of the McHenry County Jail shown is the floor rented by the U.S. Immigration Service.

I found this bumper sticker on the back of a van with several others.

It says,

NO ANCHOR BABIES
ANCHORS AWAY!!

It has a stork carrying a baby in its beak.

Undoubtedly, it refers to an illegal immigrant having a baby in the United States and, then, expecting to become an American citizen as a result of the birth.

I found this bumper sticker on the back of a van with several others.

It says,

NO ANCHOR BABIES
ANCHORS AWAY!!

It has a stork carrying a baby in its beak.

Undoubtedly, it refers to an illegal immigrant having a baby in the United States and, then, expecting to become an American citizen as a result of the birth.

Remember the meeting with Ohio Sheriff Dan Beck who spoke to the Illinois Minuteman Project?

That’s the one that the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn banished when the McHenry County Peace Group said its members would demonstrate on Route 31 and the Crystal Lake Police Department demanded the Minutemen pay for protection.

Eventually, the meeting was held at McHenry County College. The police were there in force, but the Minuteman didn’t have to fork over money to exercise their Freedom of Speech.

In a follow-up article last December, I noted that Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran, a Democrat, was seeking training for his deputies so those who were found to be illegal aliens could be deported. (This is not necessary, according to Sheriff Beck.)

Friday, Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran popped back in the news on the illegal alien front.

Pointing out that 20% of those in his jail were illegals, he complained that he did not yet have the power to send them to ICE for deportation. He applied for such authority 14 months ago, the first Illinois sheriff to do so.

He said shipping them out would save over $4 million a year, according the the Chicago Tribune.

Here’s a twist I hadn’t hear of before:

“Once Immigration and Customs has a detainer on an inmate, it pays $65 to $75 daily to house the inmate in the jail.”

Along the way, he blasted Mayor Richard Daley and Springfield and Washington politicians for not doing more:

“How many public school kids did we have to bury last year because of Mayor Daley’s inability to keep a lid on crime?”

Now, Democrats are wondering if he is a “born-again Republican.”
You see, he also endorsed the Republican State’s Attorney.

Curran was also the guy who spent a week in his own jail to scope it out, coming out calling for prison reform.

= = = = =
Sunday night at 8, Sheriff Mark Curran will be on Tom Roeser’s WLS Radio show.

Remember the meeting with Ohio Sheriff Dan Beck who spoke to the Illinois Minuteman Project?

That’s the one that the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn banished when the McHenry County Peace Group said its members would demonstrate on Route 31 and the Crystal Lake Police Department demanded the Minutemen pay for protection.

Eventually, the meeting was held at McHenry County College. The police were there in force, but the Minuteman didn’t have to fork over money to exercise their Freedom of Speech.

In a follow-up article last December, I noted that Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran, a Democrat, was seeking training for his deputies so those who were found to be illegal aliens could be deported. (This is not necessary, according to Sheriff Beck.)

Friday, Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran popped back in the news on the illegal alien front.

Pointing out that 20% of those in his jail were illegals, he complained that he did not yet have the power to send them to ICE for deportation. He applied for such authority 14 months ago, the first Illinois sheriff to do so.

He said shipping them out would save over $4 million a year, according the the Chicago Tribune.

Here’s a twist I hadn’t hear of before:

“Once Immigration and Customs has a detainer on an inmate, it pays $65 to $75 daily to house the inmate in the jail.”

Along the way, he blasted Mayor Richard Daley and Springfield and Washington politicians for not doing more:

“How many public school kids did we have to bury last year because of Mayor Daley’s inability to keep a lid on crime?”

Now, Democrats are wondering if he is a “born-again Republican.”
You see, he also endorsed the Republican State’s Attorney.

Curran was also the guy who spent a week in his own jail to scope it out, coming out calling for prison reform.

= = = = =
Sunday night at 8, Sheriff Mark Curran will be on Tom Roeser’s WLS Radio show.

Crystal Lake’s Tom Roti informs McHenry County Blog:

“Our meeting will be held on September 9, 2008 (Tuesday) at the Comfort Inn in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
 
“We will be giving an update on some of the events which have taken place since our last meeting.
 
“We will also discuss a ‘new strategy’ which we intend to employ over the coming months.
 
“We will also discuss our participation in local events,  which offer an opportunity to present our case to the public.”