McHenry County Blog

Maybe it was the $20,000 salary, plus full and generous health coverage, but whatever the motivation, all the incumbents but District 4 incumbents Sandy Salgado and Pete Merkel, both from McHenry, drew challengers.

Twenty-three people are vying for twelve spots on the fall ballot.

Thirteen are women; ten men.

In District 1, incumbents Anna May Miller and Yvonne Barnes are being challenged by Cary’s Bob Nowak.

In District 2, incumbents Ken Koehler and Lyn Orphal will face not only MCC Board member Donna Kurtz, but Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller, but also Sandra DePaul.

Mueller likes to be last on the ballot, but she didn’t wait long enough this afternoon. DePaul gets the coveted spot, worth an extra 5% in a six-person race, probably less in this five-person race.

In District 3, newly energized entrepreneur Craig Steagall, who lives just north of Crystal Lake will take on incumbent Barb Wheeler, former county board member Nick Provenzano and newcomers Veronica Armstrong and Karen Tynis.

Steagall is known for his full-page ads in the Northwest Herald in opposition to Metra’s purchase of 17 acres next to the old 84 Lumber (new Alexander’s Lumber) on Country Club Road.

Those ads have attacked McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler. Less well known is that he put together the people who built Prairie Ridge High School’s soccer field.

In District 5, Dave Frederick filed his nominating papers. The veterinarian will be running against incumbent Tina Hill and former county board member John Jung. The announced candidacy of John Vrett did not materialize.

In District 6, incumbent Mary McCann filed her petitions Monday. She joins incumbent Dan Ryan and challengers Richard Draper of Wonder Lake, Dianne Evertsen of Hartland Township and Victor Naursis of Woodstock.

All of the women on the Management Services Committee of the McHenry County Board–Yvonne Barnes, Marie Chmiel, Barb Wheeler and Mary Lou Zierer–made negative comments about putting Dick Tracy on the McHenry County Seal.

But, after her committee members had spoken, the discussion continued with chairwoman Tina Hill put in her two cents in favor or Dick Tracy.

At least my excitement got through to one committee member.

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler suggested that a tractor made “a stronger statement (for agriculture) than corn.”

He also said he like the artwork in submission number 4, a drawing of the top of the old courthouse with stalks of wheat around the sides.

Koehler commented favorably on the conservation-open space themed entrant with a heron in the foreground in a lake and a river or stream behind.

Marie Chmiel said she liked the one with a barn and silo.

Hill said nice things about the one which seemed to me to be the busiest. It had a multistory factory in the background, two story houses, waves indicating water and a barn and silo in the front.

“That’s a good idea, but you don’t seen any factories like that,” she said.

I had mentioned that the current flag gives homage to townships, which probably is not deserved since local newspaper don’t even assign a reporter to cover their meetings. I suggested that a diagonal line depicting the Chicago & Northwestern (now Union Pacific) Railroad line from Fox River Grove through Harvard could be used as a dividing line, if Dick Tracy were not selected.

“What would be great would be if you could follow Cal’s idea and work in the train,” Koehler added later.

“It would be a shame to abandon completely Dick Tracy. Cal is 100% right. It’s a huge marketing tool for the county.

“I think the tourism people should really jump on that.

Committee member Pete Merkel came in the committee room after the McHenry County Seal discussion.

So, it seems as if the county seal will end up looking like it was created by a committee.

I guess that’s appropriate because it will have been created by a committee.

Some previous McHenry County Seal Posts:

1. Sealed With A Dis
2. The Great Seal Of McHenry County Not Great Enough
3. McHenry County Eye Candy
4. McHenry County Seal Makeover Makes The News
5. Baseball, Hot Dogs, Community College, and County Seals
6. The Passive-Aggressive State of Illinois Seal
7. How To Create An Official Seal – Part 1: The Mechanics
8. How To Create An Official Seal – Part 2: Credentials
9. Another Great McHenry County Seal
10. Best Option Re Final Candidates For New McHenry County Seal
11. The McHenry County Seal Slaughter

All of the women on the Management Services Committee of the McHenry County Board–Yvonne Barnes, Marie Chmiel, Barb Wheeler and Mary Lou Zierer–made negative comments about putting Dick Tracy on the McHenry County Seal.

But, after her committee members had spoken, the discussion continued with chairwoman Tina Hill put in her two cents in favor or Dick Tracy.

At least my excitement got through to one committee member.

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler suggested that a tractor made “a stronger statement (for agriculture) than corn.”

He also said he like the artwork in submission number 4, a drawing of the top of the old courthouse with stalks of wheat around the sides.

Koehler commented favorably on the conservation-open space themed entrant with a heron in the foreground in a lake and a river or stream behind.

Marie Chmiel said she liked the one with a barn and silo.

Hill said nice things about the one which seemed to me to be the busiest. It had a multistory factory in the background, two story houses, waves indicating water and a barn and silo in the front.

“That’s a good idea, but you don’t seen any factories like that,” she said.

I had mentioned that the current flag gives homage to townships, which probably is not deserved since local newspaper don’t even assign a reporter to cover their meetings. I suggested that a diagonal line depicting the Chicago & Northwestern (now Union Pacific) Railroad line from Fox River Grove through Harvard could be used as a dividing line, if Dick Tracy were not selected.

“What would be great would be if you could follow Cal’s idea and work in the train,” Koehler added later.

“It would be a shame to abandon completely Dick Tracy. Cal is 100% right. It’s a huge marketing tool for the county.

“I think the tourism people should really jump on that.

Committee member Pete Merkel came in the committee room after the McHenry County Seal discussion.

So, it seems as if the county seal will end up looking like it was created by a committee.

I guess that’s appropriate because it will have been created by a committee.

Some previous McHenry County Seal Posts:

1. Sealed With A Dis
2. The Great Seal Of McHenry County Not Great Enough
3. McHenry County Eye Candy
4. McHenry County Seal Makeover Makes The News
5. Baseball, Hot Dogs, Community College, and County Seals
6. The Passive-Aggressive State of Illinois Seal
7. How To Create An Official Seal – Part 1: The Mechanics
8. How To Create An Official Seal – Part 2: Credentials
9. Another Great McHenry County Seal
10. Best Option Re Final Candidates For New McHenry County Seal
11. The McHenry County Seal Slaughter

Tina Hill was kind enough to remind me Sunday that her Management Services Committee would be considering candidates for McHenry County Seal yesterday morning.

I made it in time and was asked to sit in the empty press session, where visitors usually sit, Hill told me.

When public comment time came, I got up and made my pitch for Dick Tracy for County Seal.

Apparently, the contest didn’t make it on the General Election ballot. All that campaigning for nothing.

Being a fictional character, Dick Tracy couldn’t even sign up to be a write-in candidate.

Gone are the days of votes for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck that Mike Royko used to report after every election.

The Chicago and Springfield pols got tired of the ridicule and required people vote for real people who wanted to be voted for.

So, all those write-ins a week ago were wasted, folks.

As in, not counted.

Admitting that the current county seal, based on the state seal is “boring,” I plunged ahead.

I told the all-female attending committee members that I had been trying to think of something that would represent McHenry County for McHenry County Blog, but couldn’t come up with anything better that Dick Tracy. I pointed out that Crystal Lake blogger Alan Showalter of Heck of a Guy blog had come up with the idea.

I pointed out that the State of Illinois Tourism folks had paid $2,000.

I suggested that international publicity would result from putting Dick Tracy on the county seal. It could be the centerpiece of a tourism campaign.

The Illinois Department of Tourism paid $2,000 to get the rights to use Dick Tracy’s image in a poster saying,

I suggested that $2,000 a year might end up being a good tourism expenditure, considering I’d heard the county gives the McHenry County Convention and Visitors Bureau $150,000 a year.

And, by selling the county seal and related Dick Tracy merchandise, county government could probably recoup the cost of licensing.

Why the county could even open a web store.

But, the state tourism poster was advertising a now-closed museum in Woodstock and, as committee member Mary Lou Zierer put it,

“I connect Dick Tracy with Woodstock. If we’re going to have a county seal that designates a certain town in the county, I like the old courthouse. I think a combination of the new and old would be good to have.”

During my pitch, I pointed out that Chester Gould had told me (or maybe I didn’t mention my source) that his inspiration for Gravel Gertie and B.O. Plenty came when he was driving past the old Crystal Lake Dump on Virginia Street Road. It’s now covered with gravel trucks and a row of storage units.

And as soon as I saw former Supervisor of Assessments Stanley Cornue after I was elected county treasurer I thought he looked like Pruneface. (Don’t you wonder what kind of a fight led Gould to make him a villain in his cartoon strip?)

In any event, the committee was shown all the entries from the public.

Dick Tracy was shown first because Alan Showalter sent it in first.

Continued tomorrow.

Tina Hill was kind enough to remind me Sunday that her Management Services Committee would be considering candidates for McHenry County Seal yesterday morning.

I made it in time and was asked to sit in the empty press session, where visitors usually sit, Hill told me.

When public comment time came, I got up and made my pitch for Dick Tracy for County Seal.

Apparently, the contest didn’t make it on the General Election ballot. All that campaigning for nothing.

Being a fictional character, Dick Tracy couldn’t even sign up to be a write-in candidate.

Gone are the days of votes for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck that Mike Royko used to report after every election.

The Chicago and Springfield pols got tired of the ridicule and required people vote for real people who wanted to be voted for.

So, all those write-ins a week ago were wasted, folks.

As in, not counted.

Admitting that the current county seal, based on the state seal is “boring,” I plunged ahead.

I told the all-female attending committee members that I had been trying to think of something that would represent McHenry County for McHenry County Blog, but couldn’t come up with anything better that Dick Tracy. I pointed out that Crystal Lake blogger Alan Showalter of Heck of a Guy blog had come up with the idea.

I pointed out that the State of Illinois Tourism folks had paid $2,000.

I suggested that international publicity would result from putting Dick Tracy on the county seal. It could be the centerpiece of a tourism campaign.

The Illinois Department of Tourism paid $2,000 to get the rights to use Dick Tracy’s image in a poster saying,

I suggested that $2,000 a year might end up being a good tourism expenditure, considering I’d heard the county gives the McHenry County Convention and Visitors Bureau $150,000 a year.

And, by selling the county seal and related Dick Tracy merchandise, county government could probably recoup the cost of licensing.

Why the county could even open a web store.

But, the state tourism poster was advertising a now-closed museum in Woodstock and, as committee member Mary Lou Zierer put it,

“I connect Dick Tracy with Woodstock. If we’re going to have a county seal that designates a certain town in the county, I like the old courthouse. I think a combination of the new and old would be good to have.”

During my pitch, I pointed out that Chester Gould had told me (or maybe I didn’t mention my source) that his inspiration for Gravel Gertie and B.O. Plenty came when he was driving past the old Crystal Lake Dump on Virginia Street Road. It’s now covered with gravel trucks and a row of storage units.

And as soon as I saw former Supervisor of Assessments Stanley Cornue after I was elected county treasurer I thought he looked like Pruneface. (Don’t you wonder what kind of a fight led Gould to make him a villain in his cartoon strip?)

In any event, the committee was shown all the entries from the public.

Dick Tracy was shown first because Alan Showalter sent it in first.

Continued tomorrow.

Last year, Mary Margaret Maule put on a full-court press to win a seat on the McHenry County Board.

She, like Jim Kennedy in District 5, targeted the male Republican in the race, Pete Merkel.

The McHenry County Democratic Central Committee even gave her campaign $1,250—more than was given to any other candidate except winner Jim Kennedy, who got $1,912 in cash and $2,300 for printing. (How different from McHenry County Republicans, who want candidates to finance the committee.)

Maule lost, but with State Representative Jack Franks’ active door-to-door help, she gained a foothold that could have been built upon. He even gave her money before I figured out why.

Maule did not file for county board in District 4.

People move on to other things, I guess.

A Democrat named Jeff Thirtyacre filed instead. He is from Spring Grove, not exactly the population center of the district.

Incumbent Republicans John Hammerand and Sue Draffkorn, both of Wonder Lake are the Republican candidates.

Although Democrat Thirtyacre is not from District 2’s population center, neither are Hammerand and Draffkorn. Wonder Lake is on the western edge of District 4.

= = = = =
From the photographs, you can see how good the lighting is in the McHenry County Board room.

Candidates who wish to supply biographical information or press releases are welcome to do so. The email button is on the bottom far right of the page.

Last year, Mary Margaret Maule put on a full-court press to win a seat on the McHenry County Board.

She, like Jim Kennedy in District 5, targeted the male Republican in the race, Pete Merkel.

The McHenry County Democratic Central Committee even gave her campaign $1,250—more than was given to any other candidate except winner Jim Kennedy, who got $1,912 in cash and $2,300 for printing. (How different from McHenry County Republicans, who want candidates to finance the committee.)

Maule lost, but with State Representative Jack Franks’ active door-to-door help, she gained a foothold that could have been built upon. He even gave her money before I figured out why.

Maule did not file for county board in District 4.

People move on to other things, I guess.

A Democrat named Jeff Thirtyacre filed instead. He is from Spring Grove, not exactly the population center of the district.

Incumbent Republicans John Hammerand and Sue Draffkorn, both of Wonder Lake are the Republican candidates.

Although Democrat Thirtyacre is not from District 2’s population center, neither are Hammerand and Draffkorn. Wonder Lake is on the western edge of District 4.

= = = = =
From the photographs, you can see how good the lighting is in the McHenry County Board room.

Candidates who wish to supply biographical information or press releases are welcome to do so. The email button is on the bottom far right of the page.

In 2006 McHenry County Democrats took up the expensive relocation of the McHenry County Animal Shelter to Crystal Lake as a county board issue.

It is safe to predict that one 2008 issue will be incompetent management of Valley Hi, the county nursing home. Of course, the animal shelter may come back as a sequel.

Somehow looking at articles on the internet does not have the same impact as seeing them in the Northwest Herald. Placement and size on the printed page can make a big difference.

I know that reading Reagan Foster’s words,

”The audit stated that there was no sign that funding had been managed in any way, nor were there any indications that managers working to change the increasing reliance on taxpayer support,”

gave me a sense of the enormity of the management failure by the McHenry County Board.

Instead of tossing old NW Herald’s my in-laws save them for me. So, last Sunday, I looked through a pile.

The NW Herald put its

article on its front page last Friday.

You can expect to see that front page of July 27th edition of the NW Herald in Democratic Party literature next year, if county Democrats have good designers.

And, how incompetent was county management?

Not knowing the county was spending almost $184 a day caring for patients, while taking in about $131, shows about as few management controls as one could imagine.

To get an idea how significant blowing through $2 million can be, take a look at the Chicago Tribune’s main article last Sunday. It and others were on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s $2.6 million commitment to purchase flu vaccines which were never used.

That rated the front page on Sunday’s Tribune and all of the editorial page of the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday.

State government has over a $50 billion budget. So, $2 million is a very small proportion of the total. Yet it is important because Blagojevich was in his “Let’s create a national image, so I can run for President” mode when he got the flu vaccine.

$2 million to McHenry County is real money. The total 2006 county budget was $180 million. Valley Hi’s share was about $12.5 million. $2 million is 16% of 12.5 million, a bit over 1% of the total county budget.

Just as the governor was trying to get publicity with his vaccine ploy, the county board was in the process of completing a new county nursing home.

Big opportunity for brownie points, wouldn’t you agree?

Blown by mismanagement.

Two NW Herald articles, plus an editorial, to drive home the point:

July 26th – Valley Hi audit says home $2 million in red in ‘06

July 27th – Valley Hi ran in red in ’06

July 28th – Valley Hi’s budget woes

The Valley Hi Administrator did resign, but I’m thinking the Democrats may be looking for some county board member scalps.

Members of the Valley Hi Committee, according to the McHenry County web site, are

Chairman: Mary Lou Zierer
Vice Chair: Ed Dvorak
Members: James Heisler, James P. Kennedy, Mary McCann, Pete Merkel, Dan Shea

= = = = =

I wrote last year of Valley Hi Administrator Howard Nehlig’s having told me a story when I was McHenry County Treasurer in the late 1960’s about the pigs raised at the old county poor farm not having hams. He told me the story three times and I still didn’t get his point. He finally had to tell me that the hams went home in the county board committee members’ trunks.

In the same article, I wrote of a farmer who told me at the County Fair in 2000 of how a long ago poor farm committee chairman tried to shake down a farmer who lived, what was it, 8 miles west of Woodstock on Kishwaukee Valley Road. The farmer was hired to dig a well and did so. Afterwards, the county board member showed up, asking, “Where’s my cut?”

The farmer told him he had worked hard and he wasn’t going to pay him anything.

The county board member told the farmer that he would make sure he never got another county contract. The crooked county board member delivered on his pledge.

Maybe McHenry County taxpayers would be better off with the petty corruption of years past than the massive mismanagement of today.

My article on county home corruption also has a McHenry County syndicate section that might be of interest.

In 2006 McHenry County Democrats took up the expensive relocation of the McHenry County Animal Shelter to Crystal Lake as a county board issue.

It is safe to predict that one 2008 issue will be incompetent management of Valley Hi, the county nursing home. Of course, the animal shelter may come back as a sequel.

Somehow looking at articles on the internet does not have the same impact as seeing them in the Northwest Herald. Placement and size on the printed page can make a big difference.

I know that reading Reagan Foster’s words,

”The audit stated that there was no sign that funding had been managed in any way, nor were there any indications that managers working to change the increasing reliance on taxpayer support,”

gave me a sense of the enormity of the management failure by the McHenry County Board.

Instead of tossing old NW Herald’s my in-laws save them for me. So, last Sunday, I looked through a pile.

The NW Herald put its

article on its front page last Friday.

You can expect to see that front page of July 27th edition of the NW Herald in Democratic Party literature next year, if county Democrats have good designers.

And, how incompetent was county management?

Not knowing the county was spending almost $184 a day caring for patients, while taking in about $131, shows about as few management controls as one could imagine.

To get an idea how significant blowing through $2 million can be, take a look at the Chicago Tribune’s main article last Sunday. It and others were on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s $2.6 million commitment to purchase flu vaccines which were never used.

That rated the front page on Sunday’s Tribune and all of the editorial page of the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday.

State government has over a $50 billion budget. So, $2 million is a very small proportion of the total. Yet it is important because Blagojevich was in his “Let’s create a national image, so I can run for President” mode when he got the flu vaccine.

$2 million to McHenry County is real money. The total 2006 county budget was $180 million. Valley Hi’s share was about $12.5 million. $2 million is 16% of 12.5 million, a bit over 1% of the total county budget.

Just as the governor was trying to get publicity with his vaccine ploy, the county board was in the process of completing a new county nursing home.

Big opportunity for brownie points, wouldn’t you agree?

Blown by mismanagement.

Two NW Herald articles, plus an editorial, to drive home the point:

July 26th – Valley Hi audit says home $2 million in red in ‘06

July 27th – Valley Hi ran in red in ’06

July 28th – Valley Hi’s budget woes

The Valley Hi Administrator did resign, but I’m thinking the Democrats may be looking for some county board member scalps.

Members of the Valley Hi Committee, according to the McHenry County web site, are

Chairman: Mary Lou Zierer
Vice Chair: Ed Dvorak
Members: James Heisler, James P. Kennedy, Mary McCann, Pete Merkel, Dan Shea

= = = = =

I wrote last year of Valley Hi Administrator Howard Nehlig’s having told me a story when I was McHenry County Treasurer in the late 1960’s about the pigs raised at the old county poor farm not having hams. He told me the story three times and I still didn’t get his point. He finally had to tell me that the hams went home in the county board committee members’ trunks.

In the same article, I wrote of a farmer who told me at the County Fair in 2000 of how a long ago poor farm committee chairman tried to shake down a farmer who lived, what was it, 8 miles west of Woodstock on Kishwaukee Valley Road. The farmer was hired to dig a well and did so. Afterwards, the county board member showed up, asking, “Where’s my cut?”

The farmer told him he had worked hard and he wasn’t going to pay him anything.

The county board member told the farmer that he would make sure he never got another county contract. The crooked county board member delivered on his pledge.

Maybe McHenry County taxpayers would be better off with the petty corruption of years past than the massive mismanagement of today.

My article on county home corruption also has a McHenry County syndicate section that might be of interest.

In his Sunday front page story, Northwest Herald reporter Kevin Craver ran an opinion from a public access lawyer with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office about the McHenry County Board’s proposed camera restrictions.

Here’s a couple of paragraphs from Scott Sievers letter that I found interesting:

“…for the proposed McHenry County Board rule to be considered reasonable and therefore in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, the restriction prohibiting flash photography must have an obvious concomitant benefit to the public body, such as preventing interference with the overall decorum of the meeting. The restriction on the location of the photographers in the back corner of the meeting room, too, must have such an obvious concomitant benefit to the public body. Without knowing the benefit asserted by the McHenry County Board in proposing this rule, I am unable to determine whether it is reasonable.

“Factors that would likely be considered in determining the reasonableness of the flash restriction would be the size, power and frequency of the flash at issue; the physical layout of the meeting room; the nature of the interference caused by the flash; and the availability of sufficient light absent flash for citizens to record meetings by photography.

The opinion goes on to point out how undisruptive camera phones without flashes could be.”

Craver’s article starts,

“Inspired by the actions of one photographer at one meeting, the McHenry County Board is poised to pass rules banning flash photography during meetings and requiring photographers to shoot from the back of the room.”

That one photographer was I, of course.

I have no idea how long it took me to try to take a decent picture of each board member sitting in his or her seat, but Craver says,

“Skinner snapped about a minute’s worth of flash photographs at the Feb. 20 meeting in which members voted on cat registration fees, which Skinner vehemently oppose.”

Craver got my reaction,

“When one is elected as a public official, there are things that annoy you,” Skinner said. “That pretty much goes with the job.”

Craver found that McHenry County would be pioneering flash photography rules in the Chicago metropolitan area.

No other county has them.

Fox River Grove’s Dan Shea and McHenry’s Pete Merkel are quoting in the NW Herald story.

Management Services Committee Chairman Tina Hill told Craver that Chairman (Ken) Koehler would have the authority to suspend the flash prohibition,“ such as a picture taken during a recognition ceremony.”

That brought a pretty scathing criticism from Illinois Press Association First Amendment attorney Don Craven:

“ So if you agree with the government, we’ll allow you to come up and take a picture. That’s clearly a content-based decision, and it’s offensive to the First Amendment.”

Stay tuned.

This is sounding more and more like a soap opera.

= = = = =
You can see the adequacy of the lighting in the picture of the county board the night it considered the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax. This was taken from the front spectator row.

Wanted poster by Allan Showalter of Crystal Lake-based blog Heck of a Guy. It was inspired by my almost being arrested for laughing too loud and taking pictures through a glass library window while the Prairie Grove School Board was holding a secret meeting discussing how to redeem itself from a previous alleged violation of the Open Meetings Act.