It seems that Walmart doesn’t mind seeing its merchandise walk out the door, but the chain wants it be be paid for first.
Read what happened to an employee of the Harvard Walmart when he decided he didn’t have to pay:
THEFT
On 04-07-13 at 0001 hrs. Kenneth D. Richter (m-19 yoa) of 119 Bullard St. Poplar Grove was arrested for theft after he allegedly took multiple electronic items from Harvard Wal-Mart while working there.
Richter was charged with three counts of felony theft and transported to the County jail in lieu of bond.
Police discovered that twenty year old Austin Watts of 1969 Governor’s Lane, Hoffman Estates, IL had fallen from the roof area of a moving vehicle and struck his head on the pavement in the parking lot.
Watts had been riding on the rooftops of two vehicles before he fell from a vehicle driven by Stephen D. Gallagher (19), of 1806 Hemlock Place, Schaumburg, IL.
The Daily Herald reports that Gallagher plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving and got six months in the McHenry County Jail.
A press release from the Student Peace Action Network:
Occupy Movement in McHenry County Saturdays 1-2 PM. Woodstock Walmart
Weekly Vigils Bring the Occupy Movement to McHenry County
Woodstock—McHenry County residents now have a way to participate in and support Occupy Wall Street and the popular movement of protests that has spread around the country. Weekly road side vigils will be held every Saturday from 1-2 PM, including this Saturday December 10th, on the sidewalk along Lake Street outside of the Woodstock Wal-Mart.
Participants are asked to bring signs.
We want to let people tell their own stories about why they are there—unemployment, home foreclosure, lack of health care, small businesses squeezed by big banks, student loan indebtedness, etc.
(Where the State found the spare $50 million for park purposes is a legitimate question that won’t be explored here.)
The old Sears store is near a park.
It will be converted into a fieldhouse.
The Crystal Lake Park District is making sounds about running a referendum to build a community center.
One of the ideas I floated two years ago was buying the old Cub Food grocery store or abandoned Walmart in the dying shopping center behind the new Colonial Cafe.
Both buildings are next to a park–Vulcan Lakes.
Oops, I mean TORA, the Three Oaks Recreation Area.
Unfortunately the Crystal Lake-owned facility has a drainage ditch between the buildings and the old gravel pit, but it’s close.
Maybe a bridge could be built to link the two.
The underused shopping center next to the old Vulcan gravel pit.
Of course, the City of Crystal Lake might require a toll booth.
A press release from the Crystal Lake Police Department:
Car Surfing – Walmart
On June 30th, 2011 at 11:30 pm, Police responded to the Wal-Mart parking lot located at 1205 S. Rt. 31 for a subject who had reportedly fallen and struck his head.
Upon arrival police discovered that a twenty year old male, Austin Watts of 1969 Governor’s Lane, Hoffman Estates, IL had fallen from the roof area of a moving vehicle and struck his head on the pavement in the parking lot.
Further investigation revealed the Watts had been riding on the rooftops of two vehicles before he fell from a vehicle driven by Stephen D. Gallagher (19), of 1806 Hemlock Place, Schaumburg, IL.
Traffic Crash Investigators were called to the scene and determined that
a 2002 Chevrolet Impala, operated by Stephen D. Gallagher of Schaumburg,
a 2000 Dodge Neon, operated by Eva M. Carlock (18) of 1365 Gardina Lane, Crystal Lake and
2002 Dodge Caravan, operated by a (17) year old juvenile female of Crystal Lake,
were simultaneously operating their vehicles in a reckless manner while in the parking lot.
Austin C. Watts (20) of Hoffman Estates was riding on the exterior trunk and roof areas of the Dodge Neon, and then the Chevy Impala.
During the reckless maneuvers being conducted by the drivers, he fell off of the roof of the Chevy Impala, impacted the pavement and sustained trauma to the head.
Austin Watts was transported by ambulance to Centegra’s Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry where he was listed in critical condition.
No other injuries were reported by any of the other parties present at the scene.
Eva Carlock and Stephen Gallagher
Eva M. Carlock was charged with misdemeanor
Reckless Driving,
Reckless Conduct and
Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia;
she posted bond and was released with a court date of 07/19/11.
The seventeen year old, juvenile female was petitioned into juvenile court on the charges of
Reckless Driving and
Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia,
and subsequently released to her parents.
Stephen D. Gallagher was charged with misdemeanor
Reckless Driving and
Felony (Class 4) Reckless Conduct involving great bodily harm.
He was later transported to the McHenry County Jail to await a bond hearing.
This incident remains under investigation by Accident Investigators of the Crystal Lake Police Department’s Targeted Response Unit.
What follows is the first part of a long note from my sister, who lives in Joplin. Mercifully, her family lives in Leawood, about a quarter of a mile south of the Interstate on which I saw a photo of overturned trucks. I have written previously about my niece’s brother-in-law’s experience in the AT&T Store across the main shopping street (Rangeline). The store was demolished and one of his co-workers was killed by the tornado.
If you are interested in what the eyes of a child saw during the tornado, my sister tells of a four-year old who saw “butterfly people.” You’ll have to hang in until the final installment, though, because that’s where she put it.
Hi All,
I have been thinking a lot about what we have been going through lately and I know you have been concerned about us. You don’t know how much that means to us.
During the 1965 tornado in Crystal Lake, I was in the Methodist Church being confirmed.
A friend of mine did not show up, so we went to her house afterwards. Their garage had blown into the house across the street. Their house had shifted slightly, but enough that they had to totally rebuild. I think 12 people died that day.
On May 22, Denny & I had taken our 10 year old granddaughter, Keaton, golfing in preparation for junior golf at the country club.
Tornado damage to the strip mall where Orange Leaf Yogurt is located in Joplin.
On our way home, she wanted to try out the new yogurt place, so of course, we stopped there.
We knew a storm was on the way, but we were not overly concerned. We went across town on 20th street.
Little did we know that 45 minutes later that street would never look the same.
Also several stores in the same strip mall as the yogurt shop were demolished. The yogurt shop has reopened.
The tornado alarm sounded right after we got back into the car.
Daughter Lissa was meeting us at our house to help with our youngest daughter Kelly’s wedding invites.
Then son-in-law Brandon joined us with grandsons, Fielding & Hobbs and their cousins, Maggie and Carson. They had been at a ball field practicing.
We were all in our basement watching TV about the storm.
Maggie gets very nervous during storms and ended up throwing up on our carpet. (It’s old and not a big deal.)
Then our electricity went out, and we think that’s probably when the tornado hit Joplin.
At that point, I was running up and down the stairs, looking for radios and batteries. (I’m good to go now.)
When we started to hear about damage, I began occupying the kids with stories about how I sunk my dad’s motorboat when I was a kid.
Then Denny would walk by and whisper, “Home Depot is gone.”
On the Joplin High School sign, the "J" has been replaced by an a duct taped "H" and"IN" with an "E." Nearby tree trunks have been carved into eagles, the team mascot.
A few minutes later, he would whisper, “The high school is gone.”
After the rain stopped, Denny took the kids to a neighbor’s yard, where the water rushes through a ditch. The kids like to play there after storms and they came home all wet.
Lissa was able to post on Facebook that we had not been in the tornado’s path and we were safe.
[And I was snapping photos off the TV and emailing them to Lissa.]
The AT&T Store in Joplin.
Brandon became very concerned about his brother, David, who was working at an AT&T cell phone store across from Walmart, which was also destroyed.
He was about ready to go look for him, when he heard that David was OK. It had taken him an hour and a half to get out from the rubble. One co-worker died that day.
With my sister’s family living in Joplin, you can imagine our concern when the massive tornado hit.
I knew where she lived and I knew where St. John’s Hospital was and I heard the tornado was a mile wide.
She lives more than a mile south of the hospital.
But all I could get was an answering machine when I called.
I emailed, but got no reply.
What was left of the AT&T Storefront after the Joplin tornado.
When phone service was restored to the little suburb of Leawood south of the Interstate my sister called to tell me their immediate family was safe, but their son-in-law Brandon Campbell’s brother had been at work in the AT&T Store, across from the Walmart that was devastated. It had collapsed, she told me, and David Campbell had managed to crawl out with broken ribs and maybe a concussion.
I kept asking about his injuries and finally my sister asked me if I would like to talk to him.
Sean Meador's car is seen in front of Domino's Pizza and the AT%T Store.
That hadn’t occurred to me, but I said, “Sure,” taking his number.
Academy Sports is seen behind Sean Meador's car.
When I called he was helping out a friend. He was in a hole, pretty much all that was left of the home, “just digging through the rubble.
Walmart's shopping cart corral landed in the middle of the AT&T Store.
I asked about his injuries. Broken ribs, bruised diaphragm and a pulled knee ligament.
The Walmart shopping cart corral from another vantage point.
He said there were five employees in the AT&T Store on Rangeline Road, the major north-south shopping corridor in Joplin.
The demolished Walmart store across the street from the AT&T Store can be seen in front of the Wendy's.
When the warning sirens wailed, they closed the door and had had it locked for fifteen minutes when a truck pulled up. There was debris in the air.
“We ran out and got them to come inside. There were two adults and four kids in the truck,’ Campbell told me.
Walmart as seen from the air on television.
So, inside the store there were “eleven of us. We went in the men’s bathroom. We made sure everyone was inside. I came in last.”
Campbell “tried to lock the door as soon as he got in” but couldn’t.
“I heard the whole glass storefront blow out,” he continued. “Everyone started praying and screaming calling out to God..
“It was pitch black. I was trying to cover my head. There was a 21-year old named Kelly Newlan-Mishler and another woman, 34, named Sharyl.
The AT&T Store as seen on TV.
“I pulled them both down.
“I was across Sharyl’s legs. Kelly was in a pocket (or hole) close to Sharyl’s head. Kelly was able to get right out after the storm had passed.
Then he heard one wall crash. He felt it fall.
“Then another one.”
“The last thing I remember before waking up was feeling like I was flying, almost like Superman. That kind of motion.”
Logan Pickett ended up under the electric box.
Then, he remembers “being crushed, blackness with gold dots.”
“When I came to I was laying across (the two women) pinned down by a metal door within the door frame, perfectly encased.”
Sharyl and Logan Pickett were next to him.
“I was face down. Sharyl was to my right nearest the door we started at, Logan to my left and the family was all on the other side of him scattered.
“One person (the mother of the children) was paralyzed (from the waist down).”
“The family (with the kids) we let into the building we found out the children were all adopted—special needs kids.”
“Sean got thrown out from the A&T Store through two stores into the payday loan store on the end. He couldn’t get out with his shoes on. He had to wiggle out of his shoes.
“Kelly watched the sky. Everything blew. She saw everything.
“Kelly was able to get right out after the storm had passed.
AT&T employee cars after the tornado struck.
“We were thinking at the time that the AT&T Store was the only place that got destroyed,” so they sent Sean Meador and Kelly for help.
The brick wall in the foreground is from the AT&T store in Joplin.
“After forty-five minutes Kelly and Sean had (made it) to Neosho and found no one who could help.
“Sean was running down the street getting hit by hail.
“I was telling Sharyl she was doing quite a good job (of keeping calm). After twenty minutes I realized she wasn’t just being calm. She was dead.
“I couldn’t move at all. I just rolled over and tried to go to sleep for maybe twenty minutes.
“Logan finally got to a position where he had to move a toilet. The parents of the children thought the toilet was holding up the roof. It took fifteen minutes trying to calm them down.
“He was moving the toilet to get out. He knew there was space under the toilet (so it couldn’t be holding up the roof).
“I raised the door, pulling myself across the floor.
“At 5:35 I sent a text message to my wife.”
The message was garbled, asking her to call the police and that the building had collapsed.
But the word “collapsed” came out something like “calypso,” an amusement park.
“We were supposed to do team building for AT&T. She though the storm had passed and I had gone onto play.”
Discussing the experience, Campbell told of going through stages.
“At first, you’re pretty scared.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m alive. You’re excited.
“No one comes back. You get scared again.
Then, he “turned on music, the Bellamy Brothers’ ‘He’s an old hippie.”
After that, he listened to Hank Williams, Jr.’s “Forged by Fire.” He explained it is about the military, living through hell, praying to God that you’ll come out alive.
From the Joplin Globe.
Then the phone died.
The tornado was three blocks on both sides of Campbell’s store at Rangeline Road. It went twelve blocks from 15th to 26th.
“I’m standing down in a hold on 24th. I can see past 32nd. “
He said he could see both hospitals and that wasn’t possible before the tornado.
Campbell commented on the comradeship’s being “absolutely incredible. There’s free food all over town,” he observed as an example.
He wrote me later of the other injuries to the family he and his friend led to relative safety:
Father sprained right wrist and terrible black eye
Youngest daughter – staples in knee
Middle daughter shattered pelvis
Oldest internal bruising
Son some scrapes and bruises
= = = = =
Photos provided by David Campbell.
The woman who died in the store is Sharyl Anyssa San-Miguel-Nelson. Here is a tribute to her.
This article about the destroyed churches my sister and brother-in-law attend might also be of interest.
This is a journal of news and opinion designed to bring to light matters of public interest and to encourage public participation in the governmental process.
Emphasis will be on McHenry County, but Illinois state news will be covered. Articles and photos are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without explicit written permission.
