McHenry County Blog

TEA Party in Crystal Lake Across from Sam's Club at Noon Saturday & at Cary's Rt. 14 Cuckoo's Nest

2009-07-03T21:48:00.002-05:00

A press release from Patriots United:

Members of Patriots United and many others will be gathering in Crystal Lake on the 4th of July for a tea party. Please join us!

WHAT: A peaceful tax & government waste protest. (No blocking traffic.)

WHEN: Saturday, July 4th. Noon to 2 p.m.

WHERE: We will be in the grassy areas in front of Harris Bank and the Former Baker's Square. We will be located across the street from Sam's Club on Route 14 in Crystal Lake. Parking has been approved in those lots for Tea Party Participants.

Bring your Tea Party Sign Slogans, your American flags plus your cell phone and call Congress and the president while attending the TEA party rally. (Representative and Senators, 202-224-3121; President, 202-456-1414).

Tell every American about this effort.

And, here's an email from Cary's Cuckcoo's Nest across from the train station:

Tired of paying

high income tax,
sales tax,
property tax,
toll tax,
vehicle tax,
parking tax,
postal tax,
gas/electric tax,
cell phone tax,
gas tax,
tobacco/liquor/fat tax,
lottery tax,
inheritance (death) tax,
cow-fart tax,
etc.
ad nausum?

Think our government is bloated while your wallet is shrinking?

Do you believe that our politicians may have lost sight of the freedoms in our Constitution?

Please join our grass-roots movement to help get this great Country back on track.

Please help us show our local and federal officials that we are mad and we are not going to take it anymore!

Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, etc...Let's join TOGETHER.

It's Time.....

TEA Party

Saturday, July 4th
Noon-2pm
@ The Cuckoo's Nest Grill & Bar
100 Crystal St. (Rt. 14)...(very busy street) :)
Cary, IL 60013
(847)639-8594

Please bring your posters and signs!

Free water/soda.

CYA there!

Kelli Joseph

Here's what the last Crystal Lake TEA Party looked like.

Part 3 - The Highest Paid State Employees in McHenry County

2009-07-03T12:05:00.001-05:00

Here is the third group of the highest paid State of Illinois employees living in McHenry County.

Right on top is David Keahl, Governor Rod Blagojevich's Director of Ethics Training and Compliance. He works in the Office of Executive Inspector General and was not appointed by Blagojevich his boss tells me. Keahl lives in Crystal Lake.

Looking at the places that pay the most money, again the Illinois State Police is well represented.

Michael Coli, a Blagojevich appointed member of the Labor Relations Board, is also on the list. He's a retired Teamster's rep and gave $500 to Dick Gephart in 2004 and $750 to John McCain last year. He lives in Turnberry in Lakewood.

KEAHL, DAVID E – $97,854, Governor
MINNIEAR, MICHAEL J – $97,795, State Police
STUMPNER,JAMES A – $97,404, Transportation
TRAVIA, STEPHEN M – $97,268, Transportation
SZAFRANSKIBRIAN J – $96,985, Toll Highway Authority
WOJCIKRICHARD F – $96,417, Transportation
MYHRE, MICHAEL A – $95,941, State Police
FELD, JOHN J – $94,429, Toll Highway Authority
BUTZOW, ROBERT – $94,110, Human Services
HAGMANN, CHRISTIAN LA – $93,076, Transportation
SMITH, DANIEL P – $93,006, State Police
KINAST, CONSTANCE – $92,371, Human Services
COLI, MICHAEL G – $91,919, Labor Relations Board
O'BRIEN, RAYMOND M – $91,655, State Police
COOMBS, LESLIE B – $91,085, Employment Security
CONWAY, JAMES – $90,507, Human Services
BORO, ROBERT THOMAS – $89,916,Transportation
HANLEY, BRION J – $89,863, State Police
PELLETIER, AMY ELISE – $89,837, State Police
MUSINSKI, ARTHUR A – $89,724, Human Services

Of the Human Services employees, Conway and Musinski are stationary engineers. Kinast is a Clinical Psychologist and Butzow is a pharmacist.

The IDOT folks are all engineers.

Message of the Day – Decrepit

2009-07-03T01:00:00.002-05:00

There used to be a rundown house on west side of Route 47 near the intersection of Interstate 55 near Dwight.

My father used to see structures like this and observe that it was listed by Century 19, a play on Century 21.

When I was on my way to Bob Wargaski's Pigapalooza May 3, I saw this farm building that certainly could be listed by the same real estate firm.

It was southwest of the intersection of North Darrell and West Case Roads.

Mr. Bo Jangles, Jr.

2009-07-02T07:56:00.001-05:00

While I was searching for some old newspaper articles for a November 22nd article, I stumbled across two bits of memorabilia of no concern to anyone but myself.

I found this picture of me at age 6 in a multi-colored costume with saddle tap shoes. I’m even wearing a cap.

Goodness knows how my mother ever convinced me to take tap dancing lessons, but, come time for the recital, she had made an outfit in which I was to dance to “You Are My Sunshine” with other little boys in all probability.

My little sister Janet. age 4, was in the 1948 recital, too.

But she had a cuter outfit.

I was six.

First grade.

My classmate David Hill's father owned Hill’s Pharmacy in downtown Easton, Maryland. His father called their home, south of my own on South Aurora Street, "Hill’s Half Acre." It had a railroad spur running along the road to its north.

Catchy name for a home, I thought.

I even found a bit a cloth from what was left over from the original custume.

My wife will, of course, order a dumpster when I die.

There's no secret about that.

Message of the Day – A Political Sign and a Window Sticker

2009-07-02T04:13:00.001-05:00

We see a two-fer today.

On the back window of this car next to a garbage truck is a

Ron Paul
for President

window sticker.

On the back ledge is a

Ron Paul

yard sign long enough to almost cover the entire ledge.

The car was on Route 14 in Fox River Grove, I think. (Click to enlarge.)

Part 2 - The Highest Paid State Employees in McHenry County

2009-07-02T00:49:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, we showed you the twenty highest state employees living in McHenry County.

Today we look at the next twenty and we get under the $100,000 level.

The information originated in the Illinois State Comptroller's Office and was put online in this descending format by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Here's the next group of best paid people on the state payroll:

PELLETIER, MICHAEL – $123,530.00, Human Services
JENKNER, JAMES S – $120,688.62, State Toll Highway Authority
ANDREWS, DOUGLAS W – $118,903.09, Toll Highway Authority
PEREZ, JOSEPH M – $118,580.00, State Police
WOLFBERG, BRIAN L – $115,922.00, Revenue
O'CONNELL-DIAZ ERIN – $114,543.40, Commerce Commission
ANDRIAKOS, JAMES – $112,237.68, State Police
POWELL, LANCE J – $111,088.19, State Toll Highway Authority
LAMBBART, E – $110,277.00, State Police
ZIMMER, MARIANNE – $109,415.42, Children & Family Services
DAMASKY, TODD A – $107,891.48, State Police
WEAVER, MICHAEL ANTHONY – $107,876.88, Transportation
HOLT, CHRISTOPHER J – $107,608.22, Transportation
FANNING, MELINDA P – $106,470.70, State Police
BRZINSKI, LEONARD E – $105,857.83, State Police
SATKIEWICZ, ROBERT R – $105,726.52, State Police
WATTS, ROBERT A – $103,718.34, State Police
POWERS, DANIEL C – $100,665.50, Commerce Commission
GOEGLEIN, EUGENE T – $99,224.16, State Board Of Education
POLOVIN, ANDREW – a $98,372.79, Children & Family Services

It doesn't take too much examination to figure out that if you're not going to become a judge that the State Police side of law enforcement is next best. Most seem to be sergeants and many have “overtime” listed under the Post-Dispatch's “details” button.

Eugene Goeglein is McHenry County's Regional Superintendent of Education, an elected position.

Forbidden

2009-07-01T22:51:00.001-05:00

I seem to have posted something that someone in power in China doesn't want its citizens reading.

It seems to have something to do with the following picture of a Vet-Teks truck and two drivers supplied by John Blanchard's NASA Education.

Just two guys standing next to a truck in a story published May 1, 2008, entitled,

"Veterans Starting to Truck"

Forbidden

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Here's where the attempt to access the picture came from (click to enlarge):

Anybody have any idea what's going on?

Part 1 - The Highest Paid State Employees in McHenry County

2009-07-01T12:26:00.001-05:00

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a data base with those who get state paychecks.

The 2008 information is arrayed from highest to lowest. It comes straight from the State Comptroller's Office.

I remember when this information was only supplied to the county chairmen of each party. It was distributed in paper form once a month. It was right there in the state statutes.

The better to find contributors and works, it's my guess.

Let's take a look at the top earners. The top twenty are below.

You'll recognize a lot of judges in the list below. All of them will get a cost of living raise on July 1st.

HUTCHINSON, SUSAN F – $180,829.30, Judges Of Appellate Court
O'MALLEY, JOHN M – $180,829.30, Judges Of Appellate
CALDWELL, MICHAEL T – $165,434.17, Circuit Court Judges
CHMIEL, MICHAEL J – $165,434.172008Circuit Court Judges
CONDON, JOSEPH P – $165,434.17, Circuit Court Judges
MCINTYRE, MAUREEN P – $165,434.17, Circuit Court Judges
PRATHER, SHARON – $165,434.17, Circuit Court Judges
SULLIVAN, MICHAEL J – $165,434.17, Circuit Court Judges
WEECH, CHARLES P – $165,434.17, Circuit Court Judges
LUCHETTA, DONNA – $157,437.82, Department Of Human Services
BEADERSTADT, ROBERT – $157,137.61, Circuit Court Judges
BOLGER, JOHN D – $157,137.61, Circuit Court Judges
FEETTERER, MICHAEL W – $157,137.61, Circuit Court Judges
GRAHAM, GORDON E – $157,137.61, Circuit Court Judges
MANGIAMELE, SUZANNE – $157,137.61, Circuit Court Judges
MEYER, THOMAS A$157,137.612008Circuit Court JudgesMcHenryDetails WILBRANDT, ROBERT A$157,137.61, Circuit Court Judges
ZOPP, GERALD M – $157,137.61, Circuit Court Judges
COWLIN, JAMES S – $154,642.76, Circuit Court Judges
VEDAK, CHANDRAGUPTA – $137,002.70, Department Of Human Services

Message of the Day – A License Plate

2009-07-01T01:00:00.002-05:00

Somehow it seems appropriate that this license plate,

NO TAX 1

should be seen driving around Crystal Lake.

This is, of course, an appropriate day to post it, since it has been one year since Mayor Aaron Shepley's 75% city sales tax went into effect.

It was passed to benefit developers and to do the same thing that the Vulcan Lakes TIF project was supposed to do--turn Vulcan Lakes into a recreational area.

If the owner would like to pass a petition to abolish Home Rule government in Crystal Lake, which is what allowed the city council (with only Jeff Thorsen dissenting) to raise sales taxes 75%, email me. The address is way down at the bottom of the page on the right.

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. - Part 10 - Unsuccessful County Clerk Try, County Airport Fight, Wife's Death

2009-06-30T19:42:00.001-05:00

When Vernon Kays retired from being County Clerk, Dad ran for the office against Vernon's Chief Deputy Rosemary Azzaro. Rosemary won, even winning at least one Crystal Lake Coventry precinct in which she knocked on doors. Dad didn't do any door-to-door campaigning.

Two years later he was back on the county board.

In the 1980's, the county board was bold enough to announce potential sites for ten or so county airports. What a way to engender opposition.

Tom Smrt, the owner of Fox Valley Systems in Cary took offense. He raised English Shires sought of Marengo on Route 20 next to the Tollway. He created the McHenry County Chronicle, which was mailed to at least all who voted Republican regularly. Every month. Smrt's attacks on the county board led to Dad's allies winning all four seats that were up that year.

In the fall of 1987, his wife Eleanor was killed in a truck-car accident at Route 14 and Dean Street Road. It took over ten years after that for a traffic signal to be installed.

Dad and Mom had been scheduled to go up to Mayo the next April. Dad didn't go.

The night the summer drought was broken by a severe thunderstorm Dad had a county board meeting.

On Country Club Road almost to Crystal Springs Road, he ran into a tree branch. He hit his chest on the steering wheel. That might not have been so bad, but when he plowed into the big tree branch there was a young man trying to move it from the highway. Dad's bumper crushed the Good Samaritan's leg between his bumper and that of the young man.

About a year later he developed lung cancer where his chest was bruised. He had smoked cigarettes, then, a pipe, but had stopped maybe eight years before the cancer showed up.

It would have been caught early had Dad kept the appointment at Mayo, but, after Mother's death he skipped it.

He ended up being treated at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He and I lived with my sister Jan in a zip code in search of a town between Annapolis and Washington. The zip code was called Severn.

In December, Dr. Stevens would not release him when he had to leave in order to get back to McHenry County to vote for Ann Hughes for county board chairman. He didn't think her opponent would be independent enough.

He signed himself out.

You see the photo of my wheeling him in for the crucial vote. Somehow he managed to retain his position as vice chairman, even though a deal had been cut to elect another man.

After Dad died in the summer of 1989, I executed his estate.

To do that I had to get his birth certificate.

To my surprise, I found that his middle name of “LeRoy” read “Leroy” on the birth certificate. Apparently he decided to capitalize the “R” at some point in his life. So, I'm not really a “junior” because my birth certificate reads “LeRoy.” I guess being a regular “Leroy” wasn't fancy enough for him.

= = = = =
Earlier articles in this ten-part series can be found in the nine days previous to today.

Message of the Day – A License Plate

2009-06-30T16:19:00.001-05:00

SHY.

That's what this person's license plate says.

I found it in Downtown Algonquin on Mother's Day.

We ate at Port Edward. You see the baby bagels, lox and cream cheese, a delicacy I discover in the Wilder Hall basement Ratskeller at Oberlin College in 1960. Port Edward also had a whole salmon on the table seen above.

Biography of Cal L Skinner - Part 9 - Responsible Republicans' Slate, County Board Reapportionment

2009-06-29T13:59:00.005-05:00

Prior to the 1972 elections, the United States Supreme Court ruled that legislative bodies like the McHenry County Board and city councils had to be apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis.

The county board divided the county into three districts, Dad's consisting of Algonquin and Grafton Townships.

Dad didn't like the way the districts had been apportioned and challenged it acting as his owner lawyer in Federal Court.

Because the district lines Dad came up resulted in more closely matched populations and were at least as compact as the county's the judge told McHenry County State's Attorney to discuss a settlement with Dad.

State's Attorney Bill Cowlin did not do so before the next scheduled court date.

When both showed up before the judge, Dad told the judge that Cowlin hadn't gotten in touch with him.

The Federal judge then ordered him to do so before returning for the next hearing.

Dad didn't get exactly what he asked for, but the county board members came up with a much more acceptable map. Algonquin and Grafton Townships were put in District 1, one-third of the county's population.

Dad and his allies put together a slate, which they called “Responsible Republicans.” They made the ballot order so they could tell people to vote from “Bick to Burns.” (John Bick, an older conservative and 10-acre tree farmer from Barrington Hills; Brad Burns, my to-be brother-in-law, from Crystal Lake's Coventry.)

The regular Republicans won all eight seats up in 1972, but my father got more votes than any other county board member running in Districts Two and Three.

The next time Dad ran, he and his ally Lou Anne Majewski won. Lou Anne got more votes, helping validate my theory that women have an automatic advantage when they run for office.

I remember on serious disagreement we had. When an addition was being built on the new courthouse, he voted to let the Public Building Commission issue bonds without a referendum.

I reminded him that he had campaigned against similar action when the new courthouse had been constructed.

More tomorrow. You can read earlier articles by looking at early days of McHenry County Blog.

Where Is Today's Bernie Pedersen?

2009-06-29T06:02:00.001-05:00

When Governor Jim Thompson set about raising taxes 40%, State Rep. Bernie Pedersen (R-Palatine) was a leader in the fight to kill the effort.

Where is today's Bernie Pedersen?

Who is the back bencher putting pressure on on Tom Cross and Christine Radogno not to cave in?

Probably time to call your legislators.

The main switchboard in Springfield is 217-782-2000,

Message of the Day – A Bumper Sticker

2009-06-29T01:11:00.002-05:00

I had to check and see if I had posted this message before and, guess what, I found I had.

But it was on a tee shirt I saw at Disney World in 2006.

got Jesus?

Obviously a take off on

GOT MILK?

First I found it close-up.

When were driving home from the Old Capitol Art Fair, I saw it on a Wisconsin car headed toward Chicago on the Northwest Tollway.

The image of the bumper sticker is fuzzy, but that's probably appropriate since lots of us have some trouble understanding His message.

= = = = =
The picture of the Old Capitol Art Fair in mid-May was taken from the southeast side of the Old State Capitol. The metal palm trees are certainly fascinating.

Gambling Court

2009-06-29T00:09:00.001-05:00

This year, State Rep. Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) followed up on an idea that my former legislative assistant Pete Castillo originated while working for the Illinois Department of Employment Security getting jobs for homeless and other unemployed veterans:

Veterans Court

Pete's idea was a veterans court, similar to the mental health court instituted by McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi and Judge Charles Weech.

It's over two years old now.

And, here's an idea that is only slightly ahead of its time in Illinois:

Gambling Court

Illinois is going to have a lot of problems with people being addicted. Even with a casino down the Fox River in Elgin, I remember a story about a McHenry County Sheriff's deputy having been arrested for stealing from the department's evidence room.

Biography of Cal Skinner - Part 8 - The Star Reporter, Daughter Ellen Bored in High School, Prohibited from Attending MCC Classes

2009-06-28T13:54:00.004-05:00

Before we moved to Crystal Lake in 1958, the Government Improvement League of McHenry County had a newsletter. Dad belonged to the group and became responsible for publishing that newsletter. From 1963 to 1968 the publication became the Public Affairs Newsletter.

In 1969, Dad renamed the publication "The Star Reporter." It was a weekly newspaper. (Click to see the arguments by Herb Lutter against the proposed Ladd Site in McHenry for McHenry County College, published in 1970.)

Among other issues, he spoke out about the building of the new courthouse without a referendum. It was built with illegally accumulated surpluses.

That and other “rock turning over” stories must have irritated the Establishment as much and, perhaps more, than McHenry County Blog.

I remember McHenry County State's Attorney Bill Cowlin, who was first elected in 1968, interrupting a Finance Committee meeting held in the county board room.

He started berating me for an article my father had published saying it was inaccurate. I knew the article was accurate because I had written it. It was about a legal opinion that county treasurers could put up to the insured amount ($15,000 at the time) in savings and loans associations. Dad's headline was a bit off.

I told Cowlin that it wasn't the time or the place for such a discussion. He walked out in a huff. (That was the same meeting that the county board members decided to double the number of copies of the 1968 county history book. My father was working on selling them into the 1980's.)

In 1969, my father again took on District 155. My sister Ellen was bored in high school, so Dad asked fellow church member and Superintendent John Buckner if she could attend some classes at McHenry County College instead.

Buckner replied that would result in the school district losing State Aid to Education.

"John," my father replied. "It's $154 a year. I'll write you a check."

Buckner didn't accept the offer, but, starting the year after my sister graduated from CLCHS, its students were allowed to take MCC classes.

Ellen and Dad found a way around her boredom.

She entered the Diversified Occupations program and spent every afternoon working on the Star Reporter.

Typing, mainly.

And, she got paid for it.

In 1970, the McHenry County College Board put a referendum on the ballot to buy land from Ladd Enterprises in McHenry on which to construct a campus. Dad opposed the December 5th referendum, as you can see by clicking on The Star Reporter article above.

80% voted against the referendum.

The next time around, the board proposed the current Crystal Lake site and it was approved.

More of the biography tomorrow.

Message of the Day – Blood

2009-06-28T00:55:00.001-05:00

Right before I was scheduled to give a pint of blood at Heartland Blood Center, I saw the front page of the Elgin Courier-News.

Screaming in a blood-red headline was the word

BLOOD

It was a story about mosquitoes and West Nile disease.

The more benign use of blood gets stuck on donors' chests as their blood drips into a plastic bag.

There is undoubtedly a summer shortage as people go on vacation. Give Heartland a call at 1-800-7TO-GIVE and schedule an appointment. There an office near Hobby Lobby in Crystal Lake.

Legislature Rewards Chicago State University’s 16% Graduation Rate (after 6 Years!) with New $40 Million West Side Campus

2009-06-27T18:13:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you have to connect the dots.

This time it’s about what capital spending is being voted on in Illinois and what it is rewarding.

A USA Today story highlighted Chicago State University’s 16% graduation rate after six years.

Only 4% after four years, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Not exactly a model to be emulated.

But reward Chicago State the General Assembly did.

It got $40 million in the new capital bill to build a new campus on the West Side of Chicago.

Some might think that a university that manages to graduate only 16% of its students in six years might not be one deserving of cloning.

Why not clone Northeastern Illinois University? It's 19% graduation rate was slightly better.

How about much more successful Northern Illinois University, It came in at a 52% graduation rate after six years.

You have to wonder how prepared the students are who are being accepted to these schools.

Chicago State’s and Northeastern’s numbers really raise serious questions.

For reference, Northwestern’s graduation rate is 93%, while University of Chicago is 90%.

University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign has a 82% graduation rate after six years.

Your federal fiscal stimulus money has $1.1 million dollars going to Chicago State. It is part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.

Is this anyone’s idea of “building upon success?”

Or is it “throwing good money after bad?”

In 2007 then Chicago State University President Elnora Daniel had to reimburse the university more than $8,600. But only after a state audit criticized spending practices at the university.

President Elnora Daniel explained at a press conference how she mistakenly used the university-issued card instead of her personal card. The explanation was she forgot to change purses or was in a rush at a store.

Daniel’s salary was $241,000 and the Chicago Tribune reported,
“In August 2006, Daniel and her family spent nine days on a Caribbean cruise, as Daniel attended a leadership conference, at a cost of more than $15,000.”

The trustees allowed a provision in her contract for this cruise to be legally paid for by the taxpayers of Illinois.

The trustees just hired Wayne Watson, the retiring head of Chicago's junior college system, to be Chicago State's new president a $229,166.

When you hear Democrats say,

“We have to fund education”

at least you have some idea of what that means in Illinois.

Message of the Day – A Tee Shirt

2009-06-27T06:19:00.001-05:00

Today's the day of the cardboard boat race in Crystal Lake.

You see a tee shirt from someone who attended previously.

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. - Part 7 - Running for County Auditor, Precinct Committeeman, Calling the Meeting that Led to McHenry County College

2009-06-26T13:25:00.004-05:00

In 1963, my mother and I attended the Illinois Crime Commission's summer hearings held in the old county board room at what is now Woodstock City Hall. It was twice the size of the current Woodstock City Council Chambers.

Crime Commission Executive Director Charles Siragusa had investigated a bookmaking operation in Crystal Lake and presented diagrams of Crystal Lake businesses (like the magazine shop on Williams Street) from which bets were phoned to a room on the second floor the Pinemoor Hotel southwest of the First Congregational Church. At the time, we knew the Pinemoor as a great place for pizza. (It still it near the “V” in the Crystal Lake Plaza.)

The owner of the Pinemoor was Harry Snell, our Republican precinct committeeman. He told the commissioners he didn't know what was going on upstairs.

Algonquin Township Precinct 7 was huge. It went from Route 14 to the the McHenry-Kane County line east of McHenry Avenue. Most of the homes were in Crystal Lake and Lakewood. The current Lake in the Hills and Algonquin subdivisions west of Randall Road did not exist then. They were farms.

In 1964, my father ran for the office of McHenry County Auditor. It was the first year that the county had enough population to have one--over 80,000 people.

He ran against McHenry County Board Chairman Harley Mackeben, who was on the board by virtue of his position as Grafton Township Supervisor.

My father and mother ran a leisurely campaign in the then-90,000 person county, telling people who asked whether he would quit his Barley and Malt Institute job that he wouldn't, that the job only require part-time work, which was subsequently proven correct.

Mother and Dad campaigned in the little northern and western towns on weekends, going into the small bars and stores and introducing themselves.

Dad lost the two-way race by about 300 votes, preparing the way for me to become McHenry County Treasurer in 1966 in a 3-way race (33%+, 33%, 33%-) by 72 votes with about 13,000 cast.

Lots of people obviously thought they were voting for my father.

“I thought you were older,”

I heard again and again when they met me, the 20-something, in the Treasurer's Office.

The same year, Dad decided that he would make a more appropriate precinct committeeman than Harry, ran against him and won.

In 1967, Dad, who had opposed the formation of a junior college district in 1963, called a meeting in the cafeteria of Crystal Lake Community High School that led to the formation of a committee that successfully created McHenry County College with a ten-cent tax rate. The committee promoted a college that would be one-third funded by student tuition, one-third by local property taxpayers and one-third by the state. (Needless to say, state government did not come through with the promises made by state officials who spoke to McHenry County college proponents.)

The referendum passed on April 1, 1967, and Dad was elected to serve on its first board.

More tomorrow.

Land Mines Away-In the Name of Christ

2009-06-26T06:54:00.002-05:00

I was going to put Gary Christ’s first name in the title in parentheses in front of "Christ," but I concluded it would be sacrilegious.

You can see one reason I didn’t use the play on words in the following paragraph from an email that Gary sent me:

"As for me, I am full of faith that this creative mind God blessed me with will be focused on doing the Father's Will.

"This latest invention, a land mine destroyer, may provide a platform for ministry in Cambodia and other places, I will check out Angola.

"The Cambodians have become so good at de-mining they are hired to go to other countries to teach their skill."

My first big memory of Gary goes back to when he was promoting a way he had designed to use old tires and plastic to build cheap housing.

He even erected one on his family’s farm near the power lines in what is I think is now Sunset Park. (Well, it’s a park in name only. The Crystal Lake Park District is still growing crops.)

Then, I ran into him at the Illinois Libertarian Party convention in 2002.

He ran against me for the party nomination for governor.

Since we both shop in Crystal Lake, we see each other once in a while. The next time he was taking apart a barn to ship to Cambodia.

And, right before I wrote this article (over a year ago, maybe two years ago) while purchasing some movies at the old Wal-Mart, we found each other again.

This time he filled me in on an invention to dispose of land mines, which he had just finished field-testing in Cambodia.

It is a big steel box, several feet long and wide and about 2 feet high. It is open on the bottom.

This contains the explosion.

The box is attached to the front of a small tractor.

To detonate the bomb, there are 8 pound hammers attached to chains.

As the hammers drop, they activate any land mines.

The force of the explosion pushes the hammers and chains back up into the box.

And is Gary Christ finished?

What do you think?

"I also have plans to restore old water wells, as that is a huge problem in Cambodia and many other places."

Message of the Day – A Sweatshirt

2009-06-26T06:35:00.001-05:00

This sweatshirt was being worn at his son's birthday party on Gate 22 in Lakewood.

It says,

CHRISTE ACADEMY
OF HIGHER LEARNING

FOUNDED IN 1944

Ray Christie, the youngun' wearing it, is retired, but his inventive mind keeps stirring.

Pro-Lifers Set Pig Roast Campaign Fund Raiser for June 28th

2009-06-25T22:48:00.002-05:00

Another pig roast at Irene Napier's Valley View Road home will be held on Sunday June 28th. (Click to see the details on my invitation.)

Last year's was at Resurrection Center.

This is a political fund raiser, which is apparently by invitation only for some McHenry County Health Department reason I fail to comprehend. If you didn't get an invitation, call Irene at 815-459-3849.

Because next year all statewide officials are up, there probably will be a number of candidates courting pretty much the only source of reliable volunteers in McHenry County.

Last year DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett showed up.

My guess is that he will run for Attorney General again, if Attorney General Lisa Madigan runs for Governor against Pat Quinn.

Any serious candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor will be in attendance.

The cost is $50 per couple, $35 for individuals (pair up and save) and $10 per child.

Biography of Cal L Skinner - Part 6 - The Early Crystal Lake Days, Dipping Feet Slowly into Policial Arena

2009-06-25T13:18:00.003-05:00

The pre-Crystal Lake posts of my father's biography can be found by looking down on McHenry County Blog.

Dad rented a home at 100 W. Crystal Lake Avenue. We started school there (the junior class built its Homecoming float there) as Mother and Dad looked for something that would allow more access to the lake for the 50-horsepower Wolverine outboard boat we bought that summer. The boys of the previous tenants had used the attic as a BB gallery. The BB's were everywhere.

Soon my parents found a home to rent at 800 West Broadway in Lakewood, but, more importantly in the Country Club Addition Property Owners Association. That gave us the right to keep our boat in the lake.

Dad was the association's secretary, maintaining up-to-date Address-O-Graph plates for what was probably decades.

Since there was no Rotary Club in town, Dad joined the Crystal Lake Kiwanis, where he became the long-time secretary, doing the tedious record-keeping job of the first service club in Crystal Lake.

After the November election Dad received a "thank you" letter from the ward committeeman in Chicago where he lived.

My father, a ghost voter in 1958. Who would have believed it?

Having been active in politics in Easton, Maryland, Dad was determined not to become so in Crystal Lake.

It took two years for him to break his pledge.

The Crystal Lake High School District was holding a bond referendum during the spring of my senior year. He started writing letters to the weekly Crystal Lake Herald. The next week the school board's president would reply. My father would offer a rebuttal the next week. (None of the current Northwest Herald nonsense of only allowing one letter a month.) This went on until I knew the teachers were looking at me and pointing out I was the son of the guy trying to defeat the bond issue.

The bond referendum lost. Since it was my last semester and Oberlin College had already accepted me, my grades didn't matter as much, but I don't think any of the teachers retaliated. I still remember standing in the study hall while a couple of teachers looked my way from the westerly hall near Ken Tarpley's speech class room. I wondered if they were saying, "There's his son."

Later Dad ended up on some committee to solve whatever space problem was perceived and, when he discovered that the football field had to be moved, he asked if a sidewalk could be built. I suspect that was his major victory on the committee.

Now, too often, I tell my son as we drive on Wallace, “That's my Dad's sidewalk.”

”I know, Dad. You've already told me,” my son replies, sometimes in an irritated tone of voice.

When Richard Nixon ran for office in 1960, Dad became head of his local citizens committee. That put him in touch with the Republican precinct committeemen.

At some point in the 1960's, Dad took over the publication of the Government Improvement League Newsletter, GIL Newsletter, for short. He wrote about assessments and taxes.

Dad's office at the Barley and Malt Institute was in the Builder's Building on Wacker Drive when he started work.

After the lease ran out, he convinced his board to move the office to Des Plaines. ("If we ever meet in Chicago, it will be near O'Hare, not Downtown Chicago." They agreed. It was on the corner of Route 14 near the train station across from the movie theater in an old Masonic Hall.)

When that lease came up, he asked if he could move the office to Crystal Lake, arguing that if the board ever met in Chicago, it would be at a hotel near the airport, not in the Des Plaines office.

He ended up on Brink Street, later on the second floor on the west side of Williams Street, then the tip of "V" in the Crystal Lake Plaza and, finally, at Mike Janek's old auto dealership on the corner of Woodstock and Brink.

More tomorrow.

Message of the Day – Sadness

2009-06-25T08:41:00.001-05:00

How sad.

The crowning achievement of my former legislative colleague from both the 1970's and the 1990's, Wyvetter Younge, seems to be a Mississippi River front park that could have been riverfront housing.

Having not seen the site, maybe I'm overreacting.

Maybe housing could be built behind the park and still have a view of the river.

But when I saw the area in the late 1970's, she wasn't talking about a park.

I went to Wyvetter's home town of East St. Louis two or three times.

The first time was in the 1970's. She drove me around.

It brought to mind what I thought Berlin must have been like after the Allies bombed it.

There were bricks from demolished buildings everywhere.

She showed me the railroad yards that took up so much of the riverfront property. Lots of railroad lines crossed the river from there. Each had their separate set of spaghetti-like tracks.

We both remarked on the immense opportunity consolidation of the tracks would provide.

Fast forward to 1993.

I was the Republican Spokesman on the House Committee. Wyvetter wanted me to come down to East St. Louis to hold a hearing on the “rent-to-own” situation.

There were scores, maybe hundreds of homes where her constituents lived, in this arrangement. The arrangement in my part of the state would be a contract sale.

In her part of Illinois, the contracts allowed the landlords to make improvements and add their cost to the amount owed.

The result was that even people with good jobs could never get to the point of owning their home, an essential part of the American dream, I would say.

Wyvetter thought the owner they traced to Boston was using her constituents as a holding action until profitably development would come.

At her request, my wife and I toured a college campus nestled in her district. It wasn't being used and she thought it should be. I think it was called Park College. It was south of town, near the airport, I think.

She got a casino before I visited in the 1990's.

Where I had seen crumbling buildings, there were now empty lots.

The bricks were gone.

A light rail line had a station in town on the way to the hill towns.

I noticed no development.

Indeed, more downtown stores seemed to be closed.

The Lee newspaper of the 1970's was long gone.

Wyvetter was a sincere and gentle woman who had all sorts of ideas of how to help her area. Most were not of high practicality, but she did her best in that part of the economic cycle she was dealt.

Economic revival did not come in her lifetime.

But, when it does, she will have been the prophetess.

And, they may have named this park Malcolm Martin Memorial Park, but it is really Wyvetter Younge Memorial Park.