MCCD’s Ed Collins Talks about Nippersink’s “Awakening from a 50-Year Coma”

A northern Illinois group called Openlands held its first water supply roundtable of 2011. Called “Letting It All Soak In: Nature’s Role in Protecting Water Resources,” it featured speakers on various topics, a summary of which can be found here. … Continue reading

TORA – Ticket to Re-Election

The petitions for re-election are being circulated for Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley and Council members Cathy Ferguson, Ellen Brady Mueller and Brett Hopkins. And, just in time for the campaign, there is an election kick-off party that required the … Continue reading

Local School & Tax Districts Not Bragging about Lower Tax Rates

Notice how you don’t see any local governmental or school district officials bragging about how much their tax rate had gone down? That’s because tax rates didn’t decrease this year. For almost the past two decades, the Property Tax Cap … Continue reading

Money That Should Have Been MCCD’s Used to Finance 2007 $73 Million, 27% Tax Hike Campaign

The McHenry County Conservation Foundation sounds all warm and fuzzy until you figure out that the Conservation Board set it up specifically to keep $1 million paid by Lakehead Pipeline out of MCCD’s coffers. Out of the control of public … Continue reading

The 2001 Newspaper Insert Against the McHenry County Conservation District’s $68.5 Million Referendum

I was more than fed up with the way the McHenry County Conservation District had borrowed $39 million without asking for permission at the ballot box after Lee Daniels and Pate Philip passed the tax hiking bill numbered Senate Bill … Continue reading

How Does Another Open Space Agency Deal with Cell Towers?

Some natural questions arise once one knows the McHenry County Conservation District has a cell tower by the Prairie Path in Algonquin. Are there more of them? How much does the district get? When were the deals cut with the … Continue reading

How Does Another Open Space Agency Deal with Cell Towers?

Some natural questions arise once one knows the McHenry County Conservation District has a cell tower by the Prairie Path in Algonquin. Are there more of them? How much does the district get? When were the deals cut with the … Continue reading

Algonquin Cell Tower Next to MCCD Prairie Path Has Warning Sign

Friends of McHenry County Blog are a constant source of stories. I just wish I had the time to write them all. A loyal reader from Algonquin noted my interest in the Crystal Lake Park District’s selling the skyline of … Continue reading

Algonquin Cell Tower Next to MCCD Prairie Path Has Warning Sign

Friends of McHenry County Blog are a constant source of stories. I just wish I had the time to write them all. A loyal reader from Algonquin noted my interest in the Crystal Lake Park District’s selling the skyline of … Continue reading

Warm Day and Night at the Hollows

A year ago, it was a cold weekend the Cub Scouts of Pack 158 camped out at the McHenry County Conservation District’s Hollows Conservation Area. Actually, since The Hollows is an old gravel pit and the first site acquired by … Continue reading

Warm Day and Night at the Hollows

A year ago, it was a cold weekend the Cub Scouts of Pack 158 camped out at the McHenry County Conservation District’s Hollows Conservation Area. Actually, since The Hollows is an old gravel pit and the first site acquired by … Continue reading

McHenry County Conservation District Buys More Land in Northern McHenry County

Long-time readers, if that’s a term that can be used with a publication that started in October of 2005, know my beef that the McHenry County Conservation has short-changed Crystal Lake. My definition of Crystal Lake is Crystal Lake Grade … Continue reading

McHenry County Conservation District Buys More Land in Northern McHenry County

Long-time readers, if that’s a term that can be used with a publication that started in October of 2005, know my beef that the McHenry County Conservation has short-changed Crystal Lake. My definition of Crystal Lake is Crystal Lake Grade … Continue reading

McHenry County Conservation District Gets Off Easy in Hebron Pot Bust

The McHenry County Conservation District got off easy in the headlines of stories about the marijuana cultivation Wednesday arrest on its land southeast of Hebron off Vandder Karr Road near Kemman Road, as well as the Friday discovery of a … Continue reading

McHenry County Conservation District Gets Off Easy in Hebron Pot Bust

The McHenry County Conservation District got off easy in the headlines of stories about the marijuana cultivation Wednesday arrest on its land southeast of Hebron off Vandder Karr Road near Kemman Road, as well as the Friday discovery of a … Continue reading

Under Two Mile MCCD Bike Trail to MCC Costing $762,000

A former McHenry County resident now causing trouble in Boone County pointed me to this Woodstock Advocate March 28th article by Gus Philpott about a $700,000 bike path from the railroad tracks at Oak Street to McHenry County College. Philpott … Continue reading