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Archive for the ‘Sign’

Independent Grafton Assessor Candidate’s Signs Disappearing

March 20, 2013 By: Cal Skinner Category: Dan Ziller Jr., Grafton Township, Grafton Township Assessor, Jim Kearns, Joe Holtorf, Sign, Tammy Lueth, Terra Jensen, Tim Hoeft

Marc Munaretto's sign can be seen flapping in the wind after its two plastic straps broke.

Marc Munaretto’s sign can be seen flapping in the wind after its two plastic straps broke.

Sign stealing is a park of the dark side of local politics.

Though despicable, it happens every election.

I’m hoping that it was just the very strong winds that were at fault for the loss of the signs referred to below.

I know that two plastic straps holding a sign to posts in my front yard broke (on separate sides at different times), as did both straps holding a Lake in the Hills Algonquin Road four-by-four foot Marc Munaretto sign to a pole holding up one for the slate of four Algonquin Township Trustees .

Terra Jensen's sign can be seen here.

Terra Jensen’s sign can be seen here.  Seen, left to right, are Restore Grafton Township candidates Terra Jensen, Jim Kearns, Tim Hoeft, Joe Holtorf, Dan Zinner, Jr., and Tammy Lueth.

Here’s the email I just received from Terra Jensen that prompted this article.

“I just wanted to give you a heads up… My 4×4 signs are being stolen throughout town.

“The ones that I am aware of at this moment were located on the corner of Kreutzer and Huntley Black Top, one located on private property on Square Barn Road, and one on the corner of Kruetzer and Route 47 – there, Tim, Jim and I had 4×4′s in a row… Mine was in the middle.

“Mine was cut out and taken and Jim and Tim’s were left dangling on the one side.

“In addition – our 4×8 Restore sign located on private property on Huntley Blacktop where Ruth dead ends was taken…”

A more systematic look at the signs revealed the following:

  • 4×4 located on the corner of Kreutzer and Huntley (Dundee) – Gone
  • 4×4 located on Square Barn in a residential property – Gone
  • 4×4 located on 47, North side of town – Gone
  • 4×4 located on the corner of Kreutzer and Route 47 – This was the location where Jim, Tim and I had (3) 4×4 attached in a row. Mine sign was located in the middle. It snipped and gone, blown away and Tim found it located back in the field along the creek line
  • 4×4 located on Huntley Rd and Ackman – Detached from posts and found in ditch

Sign Locations that are ok:

  • 4×4 Haligus and Lakewood
  • 4×4 Haligus and Foster
  • 4×4 Haligus and Ackman
  • 4×4 Square Barn and Route 62
  • 4×4 Hemmer by High School

Tim Hoeft’s 4×4 sign located at Haligus and Foster is Gone

The large 4×8 RESTORE sign that was located on Dundee Rd (Huntley Black Top) where Ruth ends is Gone

It appears no one wants possession of the signs and is more or less going around town, snipping the zip ties to let the signs blow away…

Slate Makes Itself Know in Algonquin Township

February 11, 2013 By: Cal Skinner Category: Algonquin Township, Bill Bligh, Dan Shea, Larry Emery, Lowell Cutsforth, Melissa Sanchez, Pay Raise, Republican, Republican Primary Election, Russell Cardelli, Sign, Slate, Township Primary, Township Trustee

Alg Twp Slate Sign

Dan, Shea, Lowell Cutsforth, Neils Kruse and Bill Bligh share sign space in the Algonquin Township GOP primary election contest for four Trustee spots.

The long-rumored slate of

  • Dan Shea
  • Lowell Cutsforth
  • Neils Kruse
  • Bill Bligh

popped up on some lawns recently.

Shea and Cutsforth are currently on the Algonquin Township Board.

Both voted to raise township salaries and, with the help of a third Trustee, Linda Lance, carried the day.  (Lance is now running for Township Clerk against Chuck Lutzow.)

Township Supervisor Dianne Klemm and appointed Trustee Russ Cardelli voted against the higher salaries.

There are seven people running for the four Township Trustee slots.  The others are

  • Larry Emery
  • Melissa Sanchez
  • Russ Cardelli

Nunda Sign War

January 29, 2013 By: Cal Skinner Category: Don Kopsell, Mike Lesperance, Nunda Township, Nunda Township Road Commissioner, Rob Parrish, Sign, Signs

If you live in or near Nunda Township, you probably have noticed political signs for Road Commissioner popping up.

The first I saw was for Iron Mike Lesperance.

Iron Mike Lesperance's sign.

Iron Mike Lesperance’s sign.

A weekend or so later, a whole lot of signs for Rob Parrish showed up in the Crystal Lake area. Clearly in his home town Parrish was winning the sign war.

Parriah sign

This past weekend, incumbent Road Commissioner Don Kopsell’s signs started showing up. The one you see below was on McHenry Avenue in Algonquin Township near Husmann Elementary School. A Parrish sign was down the street.

Don Kopsell's sign.

Don Kopsell’s sign.

District 300 Picket Sign Suggestions

December 04, 2012 By: Cal Skinner Category: District 300, Joe Stevens, Picket, Sign, Strike, Teacher, Teacher Contract, Teacher Negotiations, Teacher Pension, Teacher Salaries, Teacher Strike, Teachers Retirement System, Teachers Union

A comment from a previous article included these emailed suggestions for picket signs:

Hi all:

Teachers on Randall Road near Jacobs High School seemed to have no custom-made signs.

Make signs at warming center on your breaks1. Students First, NOT ADM
2. $ 6 million WASTED on ADM per year
3. Teacher concessions $3.4 million per year
4. Dr. Bregy is a Quack
5. Bregy mismanages D300 $
6. Stevens/Bregy are the problem
7. Less teachers, less coaches, less clubs WHY?
8. Teachers = Strong Students
9. ADM NOT the answer, teachers are the SOLUTION

11. Fire Bregy
12. Teachers for students
13. Support students, NOT ADM
14. Don’t trust Stevens, an insurance salesman
15. Support classroom environment, NOT ADM
16. We are schools, not a corporation
17. ADM does not teach students
18. 29 more ADM, 30 less teachers WHAT?

20. More layers of mangement, WRONG
21. VOTE STEVENS OUT

Greg Fogarty

= = = = =

School Board Recruitment Ad

Note that suggestions 10 and 19 are missing. Are you as curious as I am as to what they were?

You will also note the evidence that the teachers union will be involved in next spring’s school board elections. Not that they have not been before…and not just in District 300.

The problem is that those representing the taxpayer side of the equation don’t have a large enough personal financial interest to run for school board.

But, just in case someone is interested in taking on the challenge, here is the link from the recruitment ad that is running on McHenry County Blog.

How Indiana Makes Money That Illinois Doesn’t

November 20, 2012 By: Cal Skinner Category: Highway, IDOT, Illinois, Indiana, INDOT, Sign, Sponsor, Sponsorship, Sports

Take a look at the sign below:

State Farm Insurance, based in Illinois, must be contributing to the Indiana Department of Transportation for its name to be on this “Hoosier Helper Patrol Zone” sign.

As we sped past, I wondered why Illinois is following suit.

Why doesn’t the Illinois Department of Transportation allow similar sponsorships?

If you see something on a trip that other states do that Illinois doesn’t drop McHenry County Blog a line and, even better, a line and a photo. The email address is on the left hand side of the screen.

Beaubien Signs Still Up

November 10, 2012 By: Cal Skinner Category: County Executive, Dee Beaubien, Donna Kurtrz, Jack Franks, Sign

The usual expectation is that campaign signs should be taken down by the Saturday after the election.

This Dee Beaubien sign is in front of the restaurant on Route 14 in Cary.

Driving around Crystal Lake and Cary, the candidate with the most signs still up is Dee Beaubien.

Here’s a Dee Beaubien sign near the factory on Route 14 that Cary intends to tear down.

Also saw signs for the two Democratic candidates for Congress,

  • Dennis Anderson and
  • Leslie Coolidge

The signs from a so-called “Republican Party” group to which no one admits belonging, but whose art work was used by State Rep. Jack Franks in his handouts in support of his County Executive referendum still are up.

Some for County Board member and candidate Donna Kurtz could be seen. (One man near Crystal Lake Central High School had placed two of hers on the curb.)

And, there were signs saying, “Vote Yes. County Executive + Lower Taxes.

The “Vote Yes” signs were allegedly paid for by a group no one is willing to own up to being a member of “McHenry County Republicans for Lower Taxes.”

Fat chance they will take them down, so if you want a Jack Franks political artifact for your rumpus room wall, feel free to stop and pick one up.

Election Day Sign Advice for Candidates in Future Elections

November 08, 2012 By: Cal Skinner Category: Mary McClellan, McHenry County Board., Sign, Signs

Mike Walkup

Observations from newly-elected McHenry County Board member Mike Walkup:

Sign Wars

Politicians consider signs to be very important in elections, especially on the local level where there are limited other means to reach voters.

One of the most effective methods is supposed to be signs in the vicinity of polling places on election day as that targets the people who will actually be voting.

In the case of down ballot races, some voters may arrive at the polls not having considered who to vote for beyond the top of the ticket so signs can be particularly important with these voters.

Therefore, you will see midnight sign brigades out the night before the election putting up signs as close as possible to all of the polling places.

In some locations this can be difficult as the signs have to be placed more than 100 feet from the door of the polling room, which may be off the property and on the public right of way.

This hand made sign against Jack Franks’ County Executive referendum was posted in the right-of-way in front of the Main Beach House in Crystal Lake.

People who live across from polling locations grow weary of being constantly approached by candidates and their supporters requesting sign placement and often reject any sign placement on their properties or may want money in exchange for the privilege.

What is a candidate to do?

An interesting thing happened in the District 3 election.

During the middle of the day, a multitude of signs were swept from in front of several poll locations.

Two of these sweeps were conducted by municipal work crews, in Cary and Crystal Lake.

Others were performed by churches who hosted polling locations.

After a conversation with Mary McClellan, an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County who was also a District 3 candidate, I looked up the law in the Election Code. Here is what it says:

“The area on polling place property beyond the campaign free zone {100 feet from the entrance to the room in which the polling occurs}, whether publicly or privately owned, is public forum for the time that the polls are open on an election day…. A person shall have the right to congregate and engage in electioneering on any polling place property while the polls are open beyond the campaign free zone, including but not limited to, the placement of temporary signs.

“This subsection shall be construed liberally in favor or persons engaging in electioneering on all polling place property beyond the campaign free zone for the time that the polls are open on an election day.” (Italics supplied). 10 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/17, Sec. 17-19 (b). (Illinois Election Code).

(As a caveat, I have not researched any case law that may have followed this enactment so it would have to be further researched before it can be conclusively relied upon).

What does this mean?

Except for the problem that Dennis Anderson was not running for Congress in precincts voting at the Crystal Lake Main Beach House, these signs were placed legally on park district property.

First of all, churches and private schools can designate their entire grounds as “campaign free zones” in accordance with the preceding paragraph not quoted here, forcing candidate signs to the public right of ways surrounding those properties.

However, to do so the signs marking the 100 foot distance must be placed at their property boundaries by the election judges.

They usually don’t do that.

In the case of the Evangelical Free Church in Crystal Lake, and the Church of the Holy Apostles in McHenry, this was not done, yet signs were removed that had been placed near the entrances on church property well outside of the 100 foot zone.

Second, polling places which are not either private schools nor churches cannot limit sign placement on their properties outside of the 100 foot mark, regardless of how large their properties are.

For example, Cary High School should not have been able to prohibit sign placement on the long approaches to the building, as they did, causing candidate signs to be removed by the Village of Cary from the right of way in mid day.

The same holds true for the VFW Hall in McHenry which did the same thing, although the City of McHenry did not remove the signs placed at the entrance on the right of way along Route 120.

The same holds true for the Salvation Army location in Crystal Lake.

All signs there were forced onto the right of way where they were removed by the City of Crystal Lake work crews.

Ditto for the Crystal Lake Park District, although no one attempted to put signs up on PD property as far as I am aware.  [There were signs at the Main Beach House polling place.]

This applies only to the actual properties of the polling locations and probably the adjacent right of ways.

It would not apply to right of ways across or down the street from the property of the polling place.

The Village of Cary was actually proper in removing signs from the right of way as they were placed across the street from the High School property.

However, signs could have been placed directly on the High School property itself, which for some reason was not attempted by any of the candidates.

This raises an interesting question about early voting.

All of the early voting locations are at government buildings which cannot prohibit sign placement on their properties beyond the 100 foot mark.

This exception applies only to the hours of operation of the polls, and only to “election day”.

Theoretically candidates could festoon the often large grounds of government buildings such as Crystal Lake City Hall, McHenry City Hall, the County Government Center, and the township office locations with their signs, so long as they put them up every morning and removed them every night when the polls at those locations closed.

Given that the law is to be “liberally construed” in favor of free expression, the term “election day” should probably extend to the entire early voting period, although the Election Code, which has not been amended since early voted was adopted, does not discuss that.

Awareness of this provision in the Election Code by candidates in future elections could transform the election day sign placement as currently practiced.

I would imagine that it could be beneficial for candidates and/or political parties to meet with the people in charge of the various poll locations in advance of election day to ensure they are aware of this provision so their signs are not trashed.

Once the election is underway, it is typically difficult to find someone with authority to order that the signs not be removed and to get that communicated to work crews or janitorial staff.

Perhaps ground rules could be worked out for early voting locations so candidates would not have to repeatedly install and remove signs in exchange for an agreement about placement, number and size of signs.

St. Thomas Catholic Church Urges Parishioners: “Vote for Life and Religious Liberty”

November 05, 2012 By: Cal Skinner Category: Catholic Church, Election, Obama Care, Pro-Life, Sign, St. Thomas Catholic Church

Here’s the sign next to crosses in front of St. Thomas Catholic Church on Route 176 in Crystal Lake.

The message in front of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Crystal Lake says, “Vote for Life and Religious Liberty.”

Notice all those “Vote Pro-Life” signs?

My guess is that most are front yards of Catholics.

And I understand that at at least one evangelical church, attendees were strong urged to vote.

Romney Signs Stolen for the Second Time from Skinner Frontage

November 05, 2012 By: Cal Skinner Category: County Executive, Mitt Romney, Peter Roskam, Sign, Sign Vandalism, Theft

I mentioned earlier that my neighbor kitty-cornered across the street had his Obama and Jim Roden signs stolen and I think I mentioned that my Romney sign had been knocked down five times before it disappeared.

This morning as I was driving my son to school I noticed that both my and my neighbor’s Romney signs had disappeared.

So, when I got back home, I replaced them.  I even put my Romney sign in a more prominent place.

The signs in front of Cal Skinner’s home.  The one at the corner is for Congressman Peter Roskam.  On the other side of the street people will have the opportunity to vote for another Republican, Randy Hultgren.

And added another sign saying “Vote No.”

That’s a follow up to the four by four sign against the “County Czar” on the other side of the mail box.

Not favoring concentration of power, I shall be voting against Jack Franks’ County Executive referendum.

Last McHenry County Romney Signs Coming in Today – Almost 5,000 Will Have Been Distributed Once These Gone

October 30, 2012 By: Cal Skinner Category: Crystal Lake, McHenry County, McHenry County Republican Central Committee, McHenry County Republican Headquarters, McHenry County Republican Party, McHenry County Republicans, Mitt Romney, Sign, Yard Sign

Republican Campaign Headquarters in Crystal Lake will get the last 300 Romney signs scheduled for deliver Tuesday afternoon between 4 and 5.

If you don’t make it to Crystal Lake Republican Headquarters to get one of the 300 Romney signs being delivered late Tuesday afternoon, perhaps this homeowner on Dole Avenue near Crystal Lake’s Main Beach would be willing to let you have one of his/hers.

The national Romney campaign is not supplying them.

The McHenry County Republican Party is buying them and, needless to say, contributions to help pay for them are welcomed.

Five hundred yard signs were delivered last Thursday afternoon.

They were gone by the end of the day Saturday.

Before today, 4,500 Romney signs had been distributed. When the new 300 are gone, 4,800 will be on the street in McHenry County.

GOP Headquarters in Crystal Lake is a few stores to the left of Joseph’s Market in the Crystal Lake Plaza.