The lawsuit of former zoning Czarina Sue Ehardt seeking reinstatement in the job from which she was dismissed by the McHenry County Board has been dismissed by Circuit Judge Maureen McIntyre.

Ehardt came to my negative attention when she and her employees raided a trailer park in the Marengo area .

The owner called to tell me a zoning department contingent had descended upon his property to search the trailers for kids.

It seems kids were not allowed; might attend school, don’t you know?

The owner told me that two grandparents were caring for a child (maybe children), the grandfather got sick and couldn’t move the trailer south in time for school.

So the kids were in school.

This was a BIG deal.

From the owner’s reaction, I’d say mercy was not a large component of the Planning and Zoning Department at the time.

He told me their jackets worn reminded him of an FBI raid. Written on the back was

Then, I started getting phone calls from people seeing cellular phone towers going up in rural areas.

I asked that the county at least notify the surrounding property owners, even if the tower could not be stopped.

I knew from personal experience in Fox River Grove that it was possible to convince at least AT&T to be reasonable about their placement, if anyone local knew anything about the proposed erection before construction began and if there were an alternative location.

How obstinate Zoning Czarina Ehardt was when I asked that surrounding property owners be notified of future cell phone tower zoning applications in unincorporated areas.

My pitch was that such a notice to Fox River Grove in the instance that I mentioned above would have probably short-circuited the original contract and saved a lot of trouble.

State Rep. Jack Franks and I set up a meeting at the government center with Ehardt and the Zoning Committee chairwoman.

Ehardt came up with the loony alternative of sending notices to each legislator representing the area where a cellular tower was planned. If they wished, then the legislators could notify surrounding residents.

Let’s see.

County government has the lists of who lives where. They’re called voter registration lists and property tax records.

But the czarina wanted legislators to do the work that county government was better equipped to do.

It’s amazing she lasted as long as she did.