McHenry County Blog

After reading the Chicago Tribune’s op-ed piece by Clarence Page on banned books, I wondered what the situation is in McHenry County.

The image for the column is a man reading something called “Gender Queer.”

So, I sent out a Freedom of Information request to school Districts. I lot bounced back because of being tied to individuals’ email addresses.

I picked these three books:

• “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe
•  “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez
• “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

and asked if the district had them and, if so, when were they purchased, plus whether had been withdrawn from circulation.

Marengo High School District 156 Superintendent David Engelbrecht sent the following information:

On September 20, 2022, McHenry County Blog revealed that top officials of McHenry County College had undergone training for

• expanding diversity,
• equity,
• belongingness, and
• inclusion

and found it desirable for all faculty and every other employee to be subjected to the same 8-hour indoctrination.

Petitions to run for MCC Trustee can be picked up at the college.

On March 14, 2023, the final class for faculty members will be held by Systemic Education Equity, LLC.

Dimensions of -isms – Part 2

• Delve into the phenenomena of dominant culture
• Determine ways to produce cultural humility
• Name performance equityas smokescreens to systemic in action

The presentations for faculty, also being required of all other employees, is costing taxpayers $16,400.

From the U.S. Attorney:

Chinese National Convicted of Acting within the United States as an Unregistered Agent of the People’s Republic of China 

CHICAGO — A federal jury in Chicago today convicted a Chinese national of acting illegally within the United States as an agent of the People’s Republic of China.

JI CHAOQUN, 31, was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, specifically the People’s Republic of China, without first notifying the Attorney General; one count of acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China without first notifying the Attorney General; and one count of making a material false statement to the U.S. Army. 

The jury acquitted Ji on two counts of wire fraud.

The conviction for acting as an unregistered Chinese agent is punishable by up to ten years in federal prison, while the conspiracy and false statement convictions are each punishable by up to five years.  U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman did not immediately set a sentencing date.

The verdicts were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice; and Ashley T. Johnson, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  The U.S. Army 902nd Military Intelligence Group provided valuable assistance.  

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vikas Didwania and Barry Jonas of the Northern District of Illinois, and Senior Trial Attorney Heather Schmidt of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Evidence presented at the two-week trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago revealed that Ji worked at the direction of high-level intelligence officers in the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security, a provincial department of the Ministry of State Security for the People’s Republic of China. 

Ji, a Chinese citizen residing in Chicago, was tasked by Xu Yanjun, a Deputy Division Director within the Ministry of State Security, with providing an intelligence officer with biographical information on certain individuals for possible recruitment by the JSSD. 

The individuals included Chinese nationals who were working as engineers and scientists in the United States, some of whom worked for U.S. defense contractors. 

This tasking was part of an effort by the Jiangsu provincial department to obtain access to advanced aerospace and satellite technologies being developed by companies within the U.S. 

Xu was convicted last year in the Southern District of Ohio of conspiracy and attempting to commit economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.

In 2016, Ji enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, which authorized the U.S. Armed Forces to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills are considered vital to the national interest. 

In his application to participate in the MAVNI program, Ji falsely stated that he had not had contact with a foreign government within the past seven years. 

In a subsequent interview with a U.S. Army officer, Ji again failed to disclose his relationship and contacts with a foreign intelligence officer.

From the McHenry County State’s Attorney:

JERRY GUZMAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS FOR THE OFFENSE OF UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF A WEAPON BY A FELON

Patrick D. Kenneally, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that Jerry Guzman, 35, of Chicago, Illinois was sentenced to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, for the offense of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon by Honorable Judge James Cowlin at a sentencing hearing on September 22, 2022.

Prior to the hearing, Guzman pled guilty to unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, a Class 3 Felony, and violating an order of protection, a Class A Misdemeanor, without an agreement as to his sentence.

On March 3, 2021, Guzman went to a home in Woodstock, Illinois, in violation of an order of protection.

When the protected party would not let Guzman enter, Guzman fired multiple gunshots at a vehicle parked in the home’s driveway.

Guzman was convicted of attempted robbery in 2004 and possession of a stolen vehicle in 2011.

This case was investigated by the Woodstock Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Miller of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

It was two Friday’s ago that the following post card was put in my mailbox. (My scanner has been giving problems, hence the delay in sharing it with you.)

As her opponent Suzanne Ness did, Republican Connie Cain has a negative message on one side and a positive one on the other.

Most first mailings contain biographical information. This one does not.

Here is something you probably don’t know about Cain:

She served eight years in U.S. Army Reserves out of Arlington Heights, Illinois, ending with the rank of E6 Staff Sergeant.

First, it was McHenry County College Board President Chris Jenner who resigned from the Board of Trustees to move to the west coast of Florida (where a hurricane is predicted to hit the middle of next week).

Now former eight-year McHenry County Board member and Republican Party Chairman Diane Evertsen has resigned to move out of state.

In addition, Linda Liddell and Mary Beth Siddens have left Illinois. Liddell moved to South Dakota to care for her mother. I have no further information on Siddens.

Below is her letter of resignation:

Mr. Tom Allen, Chairman, McHenry County Community College

Dear Tom:

Over the course of the past four years, I’ve watched as fellow Trustees on the MCC Board made the decision to resign their posts and leave the state of Illinois for better economic/political situations.

Please consider this my immediate resignation as I follow suit.

In all positions to which I have been elected, my main focus has been representation of the voters who fund the ‘organization’. 

I feel my efforts in that regard have been futile at MCC and a replacement Trustee will be readily available through your recruitment from the MCC Foundation membership. 

Best of luck to you and the taxpayers of McHenry County.

Diane Evertsen

Evertsen’s six-year term was due to expire next spring.

There are three seats up for election, Evertsen’s six-year term.

The rest of the term for Suzanne Hoban is four years.

Carlos Arevalo has the last two years of a four-year term.

So, if one is interested in running, there is

• a six-year term
• a four-year term
• a two-year term

Petitions may be obtained at the Presidential complex of the college.

Although one will probably be asked to provide one’s name, there is no requirement that one do so.

After reading the Chicago Tribune’s op-ed piece by Clarence Page on banned books, I wondered what the situation is in McHenry County.

The image for the column is a man reading something called “Gender Queer.”

So, I sent out a Freedom of Information request to school Districts. I lot bounced back because of being tied to individuals’ email addresses.

I picked these three books:

• “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe
•  “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez
• “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

and asked if the district had them and, if so, when were they purchased, plus whether had been withdrawn from circulation.

McHenry High School District 156 sent the following information:

Gender Queer: A Memoir

Upper Campus:
* Copy 1–purchased 4/14/22
* Copy 2–purchased 4/14/22

Freshman Campus
* Copy 1–purchased 4/19/22
* Copy 2–purchased 1/27/20–out for repairs right now so not on the shelf
* Copy 3–purchased 4/19/22

Out of Darkness

Upper Campus:
* Copy 1–purchased 9/24/15
* Copy 2–purchased 9/8/17

Freshman Campus
* Copy 1–purchased 10/14/15
* Copy 2–purchased 9/7/17–marked as lost so not on the shelf

The Hate U Give

Upper Campus:
* Copy 1–purchased 3/22/18–missing so not on the shelf
* Copy 2–purchased 3/15/18
* Copy 3–purchased 9/28/18
* Copy 4–Spanish version–purchased 1/30/20–missing so not on the shelf

Freshman Campus
* Copy 1–purchased 3/15/17

= = = = =

School Board petitions can be obtained at the McHenry County Clerk’s Office or at this web site.

After reading the Chicago Tribune’s op-ed piece by Clarence Page on banned books, I wondered what the situation is in McHenry County.

The image for the column is a man reading something called “Gender Queer.”

So, I sent out a Freedom of Information request to school Districts. I lot bounced back because of being tied to individuals’ email addresses.

I picked these three books:

• “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe
•  “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez
• “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

and asked if the district had them and, if so, when were they purchased, plus whether had been withdrawn from circulation.

Fox River Grove Elementary School District 3 Superintendent Sandy Ozimek replied,

“District 3 has in their library ‘The Hate U Give’.

“This was acquired on October 25, 2019 and remains in the library.”

Found at a Walk to Emmaus event:

The last Saturday of spring, summer and fall, the Algonquin Township Road District allows people to drop off old TVs, computer monitors and other electronic defices for free.

On Saturday, I noticed a new feature, an electronic sign telling of the event.

And, this is the first time that I have seen the sign asking for identification.

I was amused that Derek Lee, checking my address, had to call up information on his cell phone to make sure I lived in Algonquin Township. Since the Road District provides no services to the Village of Lakewood, that probably stimulated the internet search.

The electronics are loaded into big cardboard boxes and rolled to a trailer for loading.