Look at Johnsburg Trustee Ron Zanko’s take on Sunday’s Northwest Herald article about Maggie Haney, who is running for Village President against Ed Hettermann:

“Cal…….I saw your posting on the blog regarding Johnsburg.

“FYI What you’ve shown in the article is the Village home page for the website and not the newsletter as stated.

“The litigation was barely mentioned in the recently released spring news letter.

“Also, you misinterpreted the NWH Sunday headline like hundreds of other readers.

“The headline implies the Grand Jury found the deed legitimate.

“That is furthest from the truth. It is the Village saying: ‘Grand Jury: Deed Legitimate.’

“It’s the Village commenting on their own documents provided as the result of the subpoena.

“Once again, a poorly worded headline.

“The investigation is ongoing and the state police are still busy gathering evidence and interviewing individuals.

“Also, note in the NWH article that Michael Smoron commented on the litigation but, when it came to the investigation he was suddenly removed from the proceedings and replaced with Tony Sasson.

“Smoron is who was initially contacted by the state police in late November by phone.

“The police followed up with a letter to Zukowski, Rogers, Flood and McArdle to Michael Smoron’s attention.

“At that point, the stonewalling began with a response by letter from Tony Sasson instead of Smoron.”

Strange you would switch paddles in midstream as Smoron is the Village attorney who drafted all of the quick claim deeds to the parcel in question.

He was the one who would have had contact with all of the supposed heirs who signed over their rights to the parcel that was being litigated with the Haneys.

He would have been the one having firsthand knowledge as to how to contact those individuals on the deeds and that is what the state police wanted to know.

Instead, they had to issue a subpoena due to lack of cooperation from the Village and their attorney.

The entire process just stinks of impropriety.

Why not cooperate with the police to bring the investigation to a conclusion rather than drag out the investigation?

Only time will tell.

But meanwhile, they continue to stir the pot within the Village residents by painting Maggie Haney as the bad guy.

Fortunately, the feedback that I have received in walking the Village while campaigning is that the majority of the people I spoke with disapprove of the press release and found it inappropriate and distasteful.

Those wishing to contact Zanko can do so via the Johnsburg Village web site. His link goes directly to his personal email account.

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With regard to the Village Newsletter, I published a screen shot of what I saw when I clicked on the link provided by the Village in an email entitled, “Village Newsletter.”

I now see I should have clicked on the “Voice of Johnsburg” button on the left hand side.

I did so and found what you see below.  It appears to be a well-timed (for the upcoming April election) report from Village President Ed Hettermann.

It does have this information about litigation:

“Litigation concluded in a suit brought against the Village regarding the ownership of Maple Avenue with the judge finding in favor of the Village. The judge’s finding preserves the Village’s ownership of Maple Avenue, a public right of way.

“Litigation also concluded in a development related matter which the Village pursued to enforce obligations under an annexation agreement. The judge found in favor of the Village and directed the developer to fulfill its obligation under the annexation agreement.”