McHenry County Blog

Chris Lauzen

Elgin’s Daily Courier-News reports that newly-installed Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen is insisting on local voters approving a referendum in 2014 before giving his support to build a toll bridge south of Algonquin.

Pretty much every municipal board, plus McHenry County’s has passed resolutions in support of the toll bridge, but Lauzen wants what Courier-News reporter Matt Brennan characterizes as “hard evidence of public support.”

I guess he doesn’t think village board members’ votes are good enough to provide “hard evidence.”

I would agree.

As an indication that municipal don’t always speak for their constituents, the Crystal Lake City Council voted to endorse the 1974 Regional Transportation Authority referendum, but the voters in McHenry County voted over 90% against the proposal.

My guess is that most local residents don’t even know that local officials might be planning to indenture them with paying toll taxes twenty years (or more, if the tolls are continued after they are paid off–maintenance has to paid for, you know).

$1.50 each way during rush hour, $1 at other times.

If you live in central Kane County, you get to cross the Fox River on bridges that don’t charge tolls.

Two have been opened in recent years:

• Red Gate Road Bridge (2012)
• Stearns Road Bridge (2010)
• Prairie Street Bridge (1994)

But no new bridges across the Fox River in northern Kane County since the tollway was built 50-60 years ago.

You would think local and state officials would understand that the explosive growth (tenfold population increase west of the Fox River since the 1980′s, Kane County reports) up our way might justify another bridge, wouldn’t you?

Longmeadow Parkway Toll Bridge

So, to ease the pain at getting across the Fox River in southern Algonquin in northern Kane County over the proposed Longmeadow (Bolz Road) Parkway Bridge residents will have to pay tolls.  (Details on the project can be found here.)

No free bridge for us.

We’re apparently second- or third-class citizens.

Elgin’s Daily Courier-News is reporting the Kane County Board is continuing to move toward a toll tax solution (“user fees” for those who aren’t willing to call the new tax by its common name).

And, because of the tolls ($1.50 in rush hours, $1 at other times, the article says), such a new bridge won’t relieve congestion. Read the details of why here.

The toll bridge-road would run from Route 62 over Route s 25 and 31, plus Randall Road to Huntley Road.

But no toll booth.  The collection system would use the I-Pass system.

Area residents should have learned a lesson about tolls.

Even if the local officials at the municipal and Kane and McHenry County level haven’t.

Hey. Everyone’s on board.

The village boards of Algonquin, Barrington Hills, Carpentersville, East Dundee, Gilberts, Hampshire, Huntley, Lake in the Hills, Sleepy Hollow, and West Dundee all have voted for this new tollway.

As far as I can find, motorists have been asked.

“Toll free in 73″ was the slogan when the Illinois Tollway was proposed by Governor Bill Stratton.

Didn’t happen.

The Delaware Memorial Bridge between New Jersey and Delaware was supposed to be toll-free after the bonds were paid off.

Didn’t happen.

Anyone think that once tolls are imposed in Algonquin that they will disappear?

It’s not that it is impossible for a local government to build a bridge over a river and later eliminate tolls.

In Winnebago County, the Bauer Parkway Bridge was built in 1994. 50-cent toll. The bonds will be paid off this month.

The local County Board member Kay Mullins says it’s the only county-operated toll bridge in Illinois.

“’My constituents pay taxes like everybody else, so it’s unfair for them to pay additional funds for’ the bridge, said Mullins D-8,” the Rockford Resister-Star reports.

And, miracle of miracles, the County Board has decided to eliminate the tolls in April.

As I have told you before, when a new bridge across the Mississippi in the Metro-East area was being considered, Missouri wanted it to be a toll bridge.

Rod Blagojevich, pandering as usual to those not wanting to pay their own way, held out for a bridge that will be mainly paid for by Chicago-area Motor Fuel Taxes.

Bridges with spans similar to the one that will be needed to cross the Fox River get built across Downstate interstates. No tolls are charged local residents. And the population trends in the two counties featured in this I-57 overpass story are increasing hardly at all in Coles County and no where near the growth rate in Kane and McHenry Counties in Champaign County.

I would hope that northern Kane County Board members might also argue that their constituents pay local taxes the same way the people who use the three central Kane County bridges mentioned above do.

They have significant representation (4 out of 7) on the Kane County Transportation Committee:

• Maggie Auger (R-Algonquin)
• T.R. Smith (R, Burlington, with district including Huntley’s Sun City)
• freshmen Becky Gillam (R, West Dundee)
• Joseph Haimann (D, Carpentersville).

And, let’s not let the state legislators off the hook:

• State Senator-elect Karen McConnaughay
• State Rep. Tim Schmitz
• State Rep. Mike Tryon
• State Senator Michael Noland
• State Rep. Keith Farnham
• State Senator Dan Duffy
• State Rep.-elect Dave McSweeney

And our congressmen:

• Dick Durbin
• Mark Kirk
• Randy Hultgren (R-14th)
• Peter Roskam (R-6th)
• Tammy Duckworth

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Perhaps the Democrats gerrymandering of this part of Illinois may actually turn out to be a benefit.

When someone who has been out of office over ten years is the most outspoken person trying to pin the 88% toll tax tail on the Pat Quinn donkey, the Republican Party is lost in the suburban wilderness.

I’m prompted to write this after Algonquin Patch reporter Gloria Casas wrotethe following about my opposition to Pat Quinn’s 88% toll tax hike:

Cal Skinner, a former legislator from Crystal Lake, said anyone who uses the toll pays twice, in motor fuel taxes and tolls. The tollway should be thinking outside the box and tap into other revenue sources like the motor fuel tax and federal aid, he said.

Instead of seeking money from those sources, the tollway is asking motorists to pay an 88 percent toll increase on top of the increase in the state’s income tax passed earlier this year, he said.

“This is a Pat Quinn toll increase,” Skinner said. “You are representing him at this meeting.”

Here are the top hits for "toll, Republican, Quinn." Where are suburban state representatives and senators?

Don’t Republican Party leaders and officials know that they represent the suburbs and that suburbanites are the ones who will be paying most of this 88% toll tax increase?

Where are the state legislators screaming like Joe Walsh does against the Federal government’s not being able to finance 41% of Federal spending by borrowing (as it is this year)?

That this is a real issue was brought home to me by my wife, who commutes pretty much daily to her office in Rosemont.

“Why don’t we recall Quinn?” she asked at dinner Sunday night.

I told her that under State Rep. Jack Franks gubernatorial Recall Amendment no Illinois governor would ever be recalled. (See “The Jack Franks’ Recall Amendment Fraud.) At the bottom of this article, I shall reprint the piece of garbage Franks purports to call a “recall amendment.” Read it and tell me how likely its provisions are to be met with anyone but Rod Blagojevich.)

I then suggested she contact the Northwest Herald’s Chris Krug, who wrote vigorously about the need to recall Quinn after he raised the state income tax 67%.

She suggested an online petition and I told her that petition web sites existed.

The point of describing this conversation is that she is one commuter who is white hot mad.

It may be a “Network” experience for the toll tax slaves.

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" is the highlight of the movie "Network." I ask why suburban Republican legislators can't tap similar anger from Illinois Toll Tax Slaves.

And they don’t even know that it is part of a long-term Downstate plan to siphon money out of their toll tax paying pockets to build roads outside the six-county Chicago metropolitan area.

That’s because all of the Motor Fuel Tax and Federal highway assistance that comes to Illinois goes into a statewide highway pot from which over 55% of the money goes to build and repair roads outside of the Chicago metro area.

When the toll tax proposal first was made she said she would take Route 12 home, rather than the Tollway if the tolls almost doubled.

There are a lot of people like my wife out there who could be reached by radio as the go to and from work.

Radio ads would work, but, of course, they cost money and the Illinois Republican Party is so poor that it has just closed its Springfield office and moved in with Senate Republicans.

But, there are also newscasts.

They are free.

Tell me Republican legislators are not capable of getting on Chicago radio on an issue that takes their suburban constituents to the cleaners as much as this toll tax does and I’ll reply that if they can’t, it’s time to elect new ones.

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The worthless recall constitutional amendment sponsored by State Rep. Jack Franks:

INITIATIVE TO RECALL GOVERNOR (emphasis added)

(a) The recall of the Governor may be proposed by a petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least 15% of the total votes cast for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election, with at least 100 signatures from each of at least 25 separate counties. A petition shall have been signed by the petitioning electors not more than 150 days after an affidavit has been filed with the State Board of Elections providing notice of intent to circulate a petition to recall the Governor. The affidavit may be filed no sooner than 6 months after the beginning of the Governor’s term of office. The affidavit shall have been signed by the proponent of the recall petition, at least 20 members of the House of Representatives, and at least 10 members of the Senate, with no more than half of the signatures of members of each chamber from the same established political party.
[Like that will happen in the lifetime of anyone alive today.]

(b) The form of the petition, circulation, and procedure for determining the validity and sufficiency of a petition shall be as provided by law. If the petition is valid and sufficient, the State Board of Elections shall certify the petition not more than 100 days after the date the petition was filed, and the question “Shall (name) be recalled from the office of Governor?” must be submitted to the electors at a special election called by the State Board of Elections, to occur not more than 100 days after certification of the petition. A recall petition certified by the State Board of Elections may not be withdrawn and another recall petition may not be initiated against the Governor during the remainder of the current term of office. Any recall petition or recall election pending on the date of the next general election at which a candidate for Governor is elected is moot.

(c) If a petition to recall the Governor has been filed with the State Board of Elections, a person eligible to serve as Governor may propose his or her candidacy by a petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to the requirement for petitions for an established party candidate for the office of Governor, signed by petitioning electors not more than 50 days after a recall petition has been filed with the State Board of Elections. The form of a successor election petition, circulation, and procedure for determining the validity and sufficiency of a petition shall be as provided by law. If the successor election petition is valid and sufficient, the State Board of Elections shall certify the petition not more than 100 days after the date the petition to recall the Governor was filed. Names of candidates for nomination to serve as the candidate of an established political party must be submitted to the electors at a special primary election, if necessary, called by the State Board of Elections to be held at the same time as the special election on the question of recall established under subsection (b). Names of candidates for the successor election must be submitted to the electors at a special successor election called by the State Board of Elections, to occur not more than 60 days after the date of the special primary election or on a date established by law.

(d) The Governor is immediately removed upon certification of the recall election results if a majority of the electors voting on the question vote to recall the Governor. If the Governor is removed, then (i) an Acting Governor determined under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article V shall serve until the Governor elected at the special successor election is qualified and (ii) the candidate who receives the highest number of votes in the special successor election is elected Governor for the balance of the term.

(Source: Amendment adopted at general election November 2, 2010.)

I always get exercised when I see marginal highway projects in Downstate Illinois, while area residents are threatened (with the support of local officials) with a local toll bridge across the Fox River between Carpentersville and Algonquin.

In 2007, we were driving from McHenry County to Coles County via Interstate 57.

Right north of where we got off the highway in the Mattoon area, we saw a new overpass.

“What a waste!” I thought.

Coles County Population shows no growth since 1980.

It’s not as if the area is growing.

Then I thought of Eagle Creek Resort, a state-owned, but not flourishing resort on Lake Shelby we stayed at.

We enjoyed it.

I got a marvelous photo of a butterfly and a little girl and her father in the pool where my son spent most of his time.

I was told the overpass was to provide better access to it. Some were planning to put a casino there.

Overpass being build in 2007 north of Mattoon in Coles County.

So, I took a picture of it on the way home.

Another overpass was being constructed on the east side of Champaign in 2007.

When we got to the Champaign area, I spotted another new overpass.

“Another waste,” I thought.

At least Champaign County's population is growing a little bit.

Another photo opportunity.

Fast forward almost three years and what does the news say about the Champaign County overpass?

That Republican candidate Bill Brady had a subdivision he was trying to build east of town and the overpass would make that possible.

That he voted for the bill to build the overpass.

Charges of conflict of interest.

Just in case you think any candidate for governor is pure as the driven snow.

And, what about McHenry County’s population growth?

While Coles County population flatlined and Champign increase every so little, McHenry County's population soared.

And Kane County’s growth was none to shabby either.

Kane County has seen steady growth.

That sucking sound you hear is Northern Illinois Motor Fuel Tax money draining south for marginal road projects, while we sit in traffic jams.

The vote was 47-12.

I can’t say I am surprised that State Senator Pam Althoff voted in favor.

After all, talking about more casinos in Illinois, McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler said,

“…he sees gambling expansion as a ‘logical form’ of revenue enhancement, which he favors over tax increases.

“’Gambling is going to take place, whether it happens here or in Indiana. It’s ridiculous to see busloads of people heading out to spend money at casinos in other states.’”

Koehler was talking about more money for roads.

I wonder if Althoff managed to snag a new free bridge across the Fox River for her Algonquin and Huntley constituents. If not, get ready to pay tolls on that bridge for the rest of your life, while those driving over the proposed new Mississippi River bridge don’t.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told the Daily Herald,

“What a mistake,” Dart said this afternoon after hearing of the vote.

“This is a horrible idea because this is a form of gambling that by its very nature is very addictive… You are going to have guys dropping their whole paycheck at the bar.”

Other area state senators, Dan Duffy and Chris Lauzen, voted “No.”

From past voting history, I expect “Yes” votes from State Representatives Mike Tryon and Mark Beaubien and a “No” vote from Jack Franks.

I point out what the three have done in the past on the subject, plus a bit of the vibrant history of gambling in McHenry County here.

If you don’t want your state reps to vote in favor of expanding gambling to the tavern down the block, it wouldn’t hurt to call them. The main Springfield switchboard is 217-782-2000.

Almost forgot.

This bill will pay for $26 billion in construction projects.

Motorists won’t flock to a new Bolz Road toll bridge being pushed by area municipal, Kane and McHenry County officials.

That’s what a newly released study by Wilbur Smith Associates indicates, according to an Elgin Courier News article by Pete Gonigam (picked up from sister paper Algonquin Countryside) I read Friday.

Elgin’s Courier-News reports that a 50-cent toll would lure only 16,000 of the 110,000 crossing the Fox River. That’s less than 15% of the traffic.

At the highest toll examined–$2.50 a crossing—only 4,000 of our more affluent neighbors would be willing to pay to avoid the Route 62, Route 72 and Carpentersville crossings.

Traffic consultant Eugene Ryan advised that a $2 toll would yield the most money. That looks like it would between 4,000 and 9,500 vehicles a day. Funny that the consultant did not provide a number.

Of course, the Carpentersville to Algonquin toll bridge supporters don’t yet know how much it would cost to build the bridge.

The question citizens might want to ask is why the Democrats in control of Springfield refuse to build a toll bridge across the Mississippi, but are willing to allow one across the Fox River.

And, if a capital construction bill is every passed, why none of our northern Kane, southern McHenry County legislators have even put this bridge on the negotiating table.

Using an estimated cost of $80 million, Daily Herald reporter James Fuller wrote,

“…an $80 million toll bridge that moves 16,000 vehicles off other roads translates to a traffic congestion relief project that costs $5,000 for each car diverted daily from the existing bumper-to-bumper routes over the river.”

For you potential commuter users, by the way, the consultant recommended a $1.50 a trip toll in order to maximize revenue for the project.

Just as the folks who put together the Illinois Tollway, Longmeadow Parkway Toll Bridge Task Force Chairman Bill Wyatt promised that the tolls would go away after the bonds were paid off.

You believe that, don’t you?

I think I’ll take Route 62 or, if going to Chicago, take the tollway that costs me 40 cents from the Elgin toll plaza to O’Hare Airport.

= = = = =
The graphic is from Pete Gonigam’s original article in the Algonquin Countryside.

Motorists won’t flock to a new Bolz Road toll bridge being pushed by area municipal, Kane and McHenry County officials.

That’s what a newly released study by Wilbur Smith Associates indicates, according to an Elgin Courier News article by Pete Gonigam (picked up from sister paper Algonquin Countryside) I read Friday.

Elgin’s Courier-News reports that a 50-cent toll would lure only 16,000 of the 110,000 crossing the Fox River. That’s less than 15% of the traffic.

At the highest toll examined–$2.50 a crossing—only 4,000 of our more affluent neighbors would be willing to pay to avoid the Route 62, Route 72 and Carpentersville crossings.

Traffic consultant Eugene Ryan advised that a $2 toll would yield the most money. That looks like it would between 4,000 and 9,500 vehicles a day. Funny that the consultant did not provide a number.

Of course, the Carpentersville to Algonquin toll bridge supporters don’t yet know how much it would cost to build the bridge.

The question citizens might want to ask is why the Democrats in control of Springfield refuse to build a toll bridge across the Mississippi, but are willing to allow one across the Fox River.

And, if a capital construction bill is every passed, why none of our northern Kane, southern McHenry County legislators have even put this bridge on the negotiating table.

Using an estimated cost of $80 million, Daily Herald reporter James Fuller wrote,

“…an $80 million toll bridge that moves 16,000 vehicles off other roads translates to a traffic congestion relief project that costs $5,000 for each car diverted daily from the existing bumper-to-bumper routes over the river.”

For you potential commuter users, by the way, the consultant recommended a $1.50 a trip toll in order to maximize revenue for the project.

Just as the folks who put together the Illinois Tollway, Longmeadow Parkway Toll Bridge Task Force Chairman Bill Wyatt promised that the tolls would go away after the bonds were paid off.

You believe that, don’t you?

I think I’ll take Route 62 or, if going to Chicago, take the tollway that costs me 40 cents from the Elgin toll plaza to O’Hare Airport.

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The graphic is from Pete Gonigam’s original article in the Algonquin Countryside.

A McHenry County Board candidate has been kind enough to share the questions asked of him by the Daily Herald.

I though that folks might be interested in what this influential paper thinks important.

The paper has the advantage of having someone on the scene pretty much every day. His name is Chuck Keeshan.

Besides the “Why are you running and what do you want to do?” questions, the Daily Herald asks

• what highway projects candidates want to build with the $50 million in money recently borrowed against future Motor Fuel Tax receipts
• whether the prospective member would spend highway money helping build the bridge over the Fox River just south of the county line (local officials want to make it a toll bridge, so southern McHenry County residents can pay both county and state MFT, plus tolls.)
• whether the $100,000 a year federal lobbyist should be retained
• what buildings they would put on a new “county campus” in what I call the “Hebron” site, which I would point out is inconveniently located for most county residents
• how a board member would get more road money for McHenry County, which seems a bit more appropriate question for a legislative candidate
• how they will assure adequate water and
• what to do about the growing number of illegal immigrants in McHenry County (and the Daily Herald actually uses the term “illegal immigrants”)

Here are the specific questions in the candidate questionnaire:

1. Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is that? What will be your main priority in office?

2. For incumbents and non-incumbents:

If you are and incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of important initiatives you’ve led.

If you are not an incumbent, tell us what contributions you would make.

3. The county board this year sold about $50 million in bonds to fund road improvements with plans to repay the loan with future motor-fuel tax revenue, a reversal of a longstanding policy to wait until the money was in place before initiating a construction project. Do/did you agree with that policy shift and what are some of the specific projects upon which you believe the money should be spent?

4. 2008 is the last of the county’s three-year, roughly $300,000, contract with a federal lobbyist hired to represent McHenry County’s interests in Washington, D.C. Do you believe this is a wise use of taxpayer money and should the county renew the contract, retain another lobbyist or drop the idea entirely next year?

5. The board is exploring the creation of a multi-million dollar county campus near its courthouse and administrative building in Woodstock. Do you support the concept of a county campus and, if so, what new facilities should be built on it?

6. County Board Chairman Ken Koehler recently said the county will help fund a study for a Fox River crossing along Longmeadow Parkway in Kane County, but that’s where the county’s financial contribution to the project would end. Given the likelihood the bridge would serve thousands of McHenry County residents and ease traffic in downtown Algonquin, do you believe the county should contribute more to the project or do you believe, like Koehler, the county needs to spend its road dollars in the county. Explain your answer?

7. Transportation continues to be a major concern throughout McHenry County, primarily in the southeastern and northeastern corners. If elected, what, specifically, would you do to expedite improved transportation funding for the county? What would you do that’s different from what’s previously been done? Be specific?

8. Experts predict portions of McHenry County will not have adequate water supplies by 2030. If elected, how will you ensure the region has enough water? Be specific

9. What, if anything, should the McHenry County Board do to ease growing concerns about the immigration issues which have turned volatile in so many communities? If elected, what, specifically, would you do about the increasing number of illegal immigrants in McHenry County?

10. Please list the names of all relatives employed by or involved in contracts with McHenry County, their relationship to you and their position or area of business.

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I’ll be happy to publish any candidate’s reply to any newspaper questionnaire. Just email it to McHenry County Blog. And, if I don’t have your photo, please send me one.

A McHenry County Board candidate has been kind enough to share the questions asked of him by the Daily Herald.

I though that folks might be interested in what this influential paper thinks important.

The paper has the advantage of having someone on the scene pretty much every day. His name is Chuck Keeshan.

Besides the “Why are you running and what do you want to do?” questions, the Daily Herald asks

• what highway projects candidates want to build with the $50 million in money recently borrowed against future Motor Fuel Tax receipts
• whether the prospective member would spend highway money helping build the bridge over the Fox River just south of the county line (local officials want to make it a toll bridge, so southern McHenry County residents can pay both county and state MFT, plus tolls.)
• whether the $100,000 a year federal lobbyist should be retained
• what buildings they would put on a new “county campus” in what I call the “Hebron” site, which I would point out is inconveniently located for most county residents
• how a board member would get more road money for McHenry County, which seems a bit more appropriate question for a legislative candidate
• how they will assure adequate water and
• what to do about the growing number of illegal immigrants in McHenry County (and the Daily Herald actually uses the term “illegal immigrants”)

Here are the specific questions in the candidate questionnaire:

1. Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is that? What will be your main priority in office?

2. For incumbents and non-incumbents:

If you are and incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of important initiatives you’ve led.

If you are not an incumbent, tell us what contributions you would make.

3. The county board this year sold about $50 million in bonds to fund road improvements with plans to repay the loan with future motor-fuel tax revenue, a reversal of a longstanding policy to wait until the money was in place before initiating a construction project. Do/did you agree with that policy shift and what are some of the specific projects upon which you believe the money should be spent?

4. 2008 is the last of the county’s three-year, roughly $300,000, contract with a federal lobbyist hired to represent McHenry County’s interests in Washington, D.C. Do you believe this is a wise use of taxpayer money and should the county renew the contract, retain another lobbyist or drop the idea entirely next year?

5. The board is exploring the creation of a multi-million dollar county campus near its courthouse and administrative building in Woodstock. Do you support the concept of a county campus and, if so, what new facilities should be built on it?

6. County Board Chairman Ken Koehler recently said the county will help fund a study for a Fox River crossing along Longmeadow Parkway in Kane County, but that’s where the county’s financial contribution to the project would end. Given the likelihood the bridge would serve thousands of McHenry County residents and ease traffic in downtown Algonquin, do you believe the county should contribute more to the project or do you believe, like Koehler, the county needs to spend its road dollars in the county. Explain your answer?

7. Transportation continues to be a major concern throughout McHenry County, primarily in the southeastern and northeastern corners. If elected, what, specifically, would you do to expedite improved transportation funding for the county? What would you do that’s different from what’s previously been done? Be specific?

8. Experts predict portions of McHenry County will not have adequate water supplies by 2030. If elected, how will you ensure the region has enough water? Be specific

9. What, if anything, should the McHenry County Board do to ease growing concerns about the immigration issues which have turned volatile in so many communities? If elected, what, specifically, would you do about the increasing number of illegal immigrants in McHenry County?

10. Please list the names of all relatives employed by or involved in contracts with McHenry County, their relationship to you and their position or area of business.

= = = = =
I’ll be happy to publish any candidate’s reply to any newspaper questionnaire. Just email it to McHenry County Blog. And, if I don’t have your photo, please send me one.

I see that the Daily Herald’s Kerry Lester has written an article about leaders in McHenry County wanting more money for roads.

And that they don’t really care where it comes from.

Lester points out that U.S. News and World Report said that McHenry County has the worst traffic congestion in Illinois.

Build houses without building roads and that’ll happen to you.

Here’s what McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler told the Daily Herald:

“ …he sees gambling expansion as a ‘logical form’ of revenue enhancement, which he favors over tax increases.

“’Gambling is going to take place, whether it happens here or in Indiana. It’s ridiculous to see busloads of people heading out to spend money at casinos in other states.’”

Algonquin Village President John Schmidt agreed with Koehler, yet I haven’t seen any indication that the jackpot would include money to build the Bowles Road bridge as a free bridge, rather than a toll bridge.

The article says Lake in the Hills Village President Ed Plaza agrees that casinos are the way to go.

Their support certainly prepares the way for State Rep. Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) and State Senator Pam Althoff (R-McHenry) to vote for more casinos and slot machines at race tracks.

No doubt about that.

Maybe we should go back to the days when the mob has slot machines in most of the bars and fraternal clubs. Maybe the McHenry County Board could figure out how to tax it.

And, what about prostitution?

I vividly remember Mrs. Martinetti coming into the bar while we Crystal Lake Jaycees were having some drinks after a meeting.

She saw some young women. She ordered them back to the motel next door.

“I told you to stay over there,” she said quite forcefully.

When I was county treasurer during the last four years of the 1960’s, I was told how Sheriff Ed Dowd raided the bars in Algonquin and seized the slot machines.

They were full of coins when they were taken to Woodstock.

When they were destroyed, they were empty.

Anyone want to bet that the money didn’t end up in the county treasury?

After all this is the county sheriff who had his checks mailed to Texas during the latter part of his term.

House Speaker Mike Madigan takes a position I share.

It is that gambling destroys too many families.

I suspect Madigan will cave on the casino bill, because casino taxes sound like free money to weak-kneed legislators…until another McHenry County deputy sheriff steals from the evidence room to support his gambling habit.

Just an example that comes to mind, because it has happened.

Such thefts are just as likely to occur in any sort of establishments.

Tomorrow: a little “I told you so.”