You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2007.
After the thrill ride that 2007 was, some may approach 2008 with caution, others with hope.
I want to put my money on hope.
My first hope for 2008 is that infrastructure and retail/commercial development in the Village of Carpentersville can continue to improve. It has seemed that each year for the past few, the momentum has increased. Maintaining the level of this past year would be nice, although perhaps not practical. But, I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the past few years, so maybe 2008 will be no exception.
It would be nice to see some incentives put in place to motivate improvements to Meadowdale Shopping Center, to give it a nice face lift.
Many, particularly on the east side, are extremely anxious for the opening of the Village Fresh Market, which may open sometime in February. The Village and the developer/owner will hopefully work together to make that a reality as soon as possible.
Community Development has also seemed to be doing a good deal of work in improving the look around town, particularly of residential areas. With the structure of the newly approved Carpentersville Improvement Committee coming together relatively well, there seems a glimmer of hope that assistance and education will be available to more residents to make even greater strides in this area.
Next, in the last several months, I’ve seen a change in the reporting of Carpentersville news … a change for the better. I want to commend both the Daily Herald and the Courier-News for doing more in-depth investigation into the issues that are affecting the Village of Carpentersville and getting to some of the real story behind what is happening. I hope that trend continues.
Lastly, I have a hope for this blog going into the new year. While its focus in the past 6 months was on the shenanigans at Board meetings, and the politics that have created and maintained a contentious atmosphere that has harmed our Village, I have the intent to make it an information source for issues affecting the town. Readers of Carpentersville Action Network have seen the truth back up everything that I have put forth — it just needed a bit of time.
Carpentersville Action Network has relied upon resident information and will continue to in 2008. Let’s continue to work together for a stronger and more productive 2008!
Happy New Year!
After the “2007 – A Look Back” post, I thought that I’d have one final post this year that would simply look forward with some optimism toward 2008. However, there’s been such activity in the comments with accusations and threats leveled against this blog that there were a few things that needed to be addressed.
Now we are getting a better idea of why some were so riled up in the past few days since my “Burning down the Village” post came out…
Carpentersville Trustees Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt convene with members of the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration on Fridays before board meetings to go over the upcoming village board agendas.
The two trustees acknowledged the meetings, while attempting to downplay the significance (of course!). However, there appears to be admittance that they met with this group using their Board packets.
[Village President] Sarto and [Village Manager] Anderson said confidential material could land in the wrong hands since material regarding items discussed in executive session often are included in board packets.
They claim they didn’t plan out comments ahead of time. But … what about the following from September 5, 2006:
Michael Williams, 36 Elm Avenue; a resident who expressed concern over the manner in which this Board is addressing the issue of illegal immigration. President Sarto cautioned Mr. Williams that the Board has enacted Rules of Decorum and noted that only items relating to Village business are deemed to be appropriate to discuss under Public Comment. While Mr. Williams believes he has every right to discuss this at this time, President Sarto stated there are other channels for Mr. Williams to express his opinion. Discussion ensued regarding immigration laws and to what extent does federal, state and local governments have the ability to address this. Mr. Williams continued to state his right to express his opinion over this issue. Because Mr. Williams addressed Trustee Ramirez Sliwinski directly, President Sarto asked Mr. Williams to end his discussion. Many comments came forth from the audience and President Sarto subsequently requested certain people to leave the Board Room.
In video of the interaction, as Mr. Williams reads his statement before the Board and President Sarto explains why his comments do not meet the criteria for Village business, Trustees Humpfer and Sigwalt appear all too ready to jump in, in a scene that seems highly suspect:
They proceed to dismiss Sarto’s ruling … although without a vote. In later meetings however, on at least 3 occasions to my recollection, the ruling of the President is appealed, voted on and the person is allowed to continue comments that are outside the bounds of the Rules of Decorum and the express purpose of Village Board meetings, as set forth in the Municipal Code.
Here is one such incident from July 17, 2007, where the head of Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration (FVCFLI), Bob Sperlazzo, comes before the Board to talk about illegal immigration. When President Sarto attempts to stop his comments for indecorum and explains that the Board has voted to not discuss the issue, and after Mr. Sperlazzo is unsuccessful in arguing his point that his comments should be allowed, he appears to make a gesture and look in the direction of Trustees Humpfer and Sigwalt. Trustee Humpfer then immediately calls to “appeal the ruling of the President”, and Trustee Sigwalt immediately seconds it.
These two incidents alone are evidence of a much more serious issue which I am glad that the Village Manager and Village Attorney are intending to look into. Something to consider is that, while it takes 3 trustees to make a quorum, it only takes two to bring an actionable item to the whole Board — as we saw in the above videos.
Another recent example occurred earlier this month, at the December 4th meeting, when the ruling of the President was again appealed (twice!) to allow Bob Sperlazzo and another member, Jay Radke, to speak about a matter that the Village Attorney also concurred did not fall under the criteria of Village business.
I encourage everyone to email the Village Board expressing your outrage at the behavior of these trustees. Or, do it during public comments at Wednesday’s Village Board meeting. Folks, these aren’t “lies” and “innuendos” as some have tried to paint them. This is evidence of the kinds of behavior that this blog has been reporting on for several months — part of a calculated effort to undermine and impugn the credibility of President Sarto, as well as manipulate and interfere with the business of the Village of Carpentersville.
Are you going to accept that?
Ok … so after some final confirmations of information posted on this blog, its time to clear the air. Basically, I could care less about Frank Stoneham’s legal troubles, except as far as they extend to interference in the real business in the Village.
After seeing Frank Stoneham posting disparaging comments on this blog and elsewhere, some commenters felt it pertinent to point out that Mr. Stoneham had a court date for violating the conditions of his sentence.
Mr. Stoneham called those statements “lies” and used it to attack both resident Paul Calusinski and Village President Bill Sarto.
But, the facts are that Mr Stoneham missed two court dates … one on December 17th, and another (today) December 28th.
Mr. Stoneham can continue to plead ignorance of the court dates because he was never officially served notice of either of the two dates (which raises questions in itself).
One would think that Stoneham, being on probation for an earlier conviction of assault and disorderly conduct, would have at least taken the time to determine whether the statements of Calusinski and Sarto were true by calling the State’s Attorney’s office. After all, if it proved to be untrue, he would have some good ammunition to use against Calusinski and Sarto.
Stoneham didn’t do that.
Kinda makes you wonder at other things, doesn’t it?
A new court date has been set and apparently the State’s Attorney’s office is determined to see that Stoneham is officially served notice this.
It is my understanding that the condition of Mr. Stoneham’s sentence was that he must not have contact with anyone at Village Board meetings, especially Paul Calusinski; and he is to cease his harassment of President Sarto. It is obvious that he is still doing both these things … especially being disparaging of both Paul Calusinski and Bill Sarto.
At this point, my only purpose in saying all this is because of the comments that Mr. Stoneham has made against this blog. Unfortunately for Mr. Stoneham these things are true. And, now that that’s settled, I really have no more interest, other than to recommend that Mr. Stoneham begin to follow the direction of the Judge before his next court date.
Wow! What a year it’s been!
The last 6 months have been especially wild, as Carpentersville Action Network launched on June 19, 2007 with “A Little Intro”. Approximately a month after being hosted on another blogging site, I switched over to be hosted at WordPress.com, which has been the blog’s home ever since. Since then, stats have tracked over 27,600 views of 229 articles with 945 comments.
The article that has had the most views is “Stop Trustee’s tyranny”. First appearing on September 21st, people have clicked into this article over 300 times. Folks who stopped by were witness to a whole host of things that they may have had only an inkling about.
But, it was “Group session to cure ailing Board” that really kicked things up a notch in mid-November. There were 3 or 4 individuals who consistently worked to draw President Sarto into more trashy debate. Like on other previous articles, they mostly ignored the content of the article, and instead used it as a platform to direct incendiary comments at Sarto. In fact, they tried so hard, their agenda became quite clear.
It led to a series of articles published in the last week of November that laid out “The Trouble with Carpentersville”. The series detailed the antics of Trustees Sigwalt and Humpfer, along with some others who collaborated, which has kept Carpentersville in a funk for years. The group, dubbed Sigwalt and Co for ease of reference, appeared to be engaged in a smear campaign for the better part of the last 2 years in an effort to get President Sarto out of office and get their own candidates in.
They were at quite a loss to counter finally being called out for their dirty politics. It showed at each Board meeting since that series was published. They voted to have the Village go into business putting more guns on the streets for a price tag of $3,000, and suggested the Village pursue an Indian-owned casino that they would have to work hard to strike a deal with to get any revenue from (an idea which some other suburbs investigated then dropped). Then, they even voted against helping out the Boys and Girls Club with a $50,000 grant that was to be matched by an anonymous donor.
In fact, it seems they got so turned around that Trustee Sigwalt admitted that she and Trustee Paul Humpfer were basically holding their own Board meetings with a group of “constituents” a few days before each regular Board meeting. They would go over the meeting agenda and Board information packets and plan comments for the regular meetings.
We can look forward to 2008 for closer investigation and action on that information.
As all this has been brought to light, some have accused this site of being “the beginning of political campaigning for Sarto”. But, they know the information contained in the articles is true. That’s why they can’t refute it. So, they resort to name-calling and attempts to smear the website. They don’t like it because they can’t hide in the shadows any longer, manipulating the staff and residents of Carpentersville.
Residents Frank Stoneham, Dennis Carr and Richard Grass, who called for things on the blog to be more “positive” and to “move forward” (because they didn’t want this information to get out), then went on to put out information that is the lowest of low. Recently they published something with the seeming purpose of helping Paul Humpfer by smearing his wife and others who may testify against Humpfer (and Stoneham, when he comes back before the Judge for actions that do not appear to be following the conditions of his sentence on a conviction of assault and disorderly conduct).
All in all, I’d say its been a pretty productive year. This blog was started because things did not appear to be right in the Village and some of what has been reported. The “Trouble with Carpentersville” had to be exposed before it could be dealt with. Now, it has to be dealt with, so we can truly move forward together to become a stronger community and a leader in the area.
One final post for this year will look forward to 2008 with some hopes and thoughts for “Building a Better Tomorrow Today”, based on some of the positive foundation that has been created in the last few years. Watch for it in the next few days.
Apparently, Judy Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer have been meeting regularly, for at least most of the year, with a small group of supporters a few days before Village Board meetings.
Now, that might seem like good, solid community involvement, but this is Carpentersville and we’re talking about two trustees who have been at the center of the “Trouble with Carpentersville“. This group was supposedly put together to get them re-elected.
So, what was really going on at these meetings?
They would allegedly go over the agenda and through the Board information packets to formulate something of a script for public comments. Then, one or more of those present would be designated to bring the comments up during the public comment period at Village Board meetings.
Anyone see a conflict here?
Perhaps if we look at the several Board meetings where comments made were out-of-bounds or specifically not Village business, which resulted in President Sarto gaveling those persons and asking them to sit down, only to have Trustees Humpfer or Sigwalt object or even “appeal the ruling of the President”.
It would offer glaring evidence of the attempts to manipulate the meetings, interfere with Village business and, not least of all, criticize President Sarto. This seems all part of the strategy (of which readers of Carpentersville Action Network are now well aware) of Sigwalt and Co to disrupt Village Board meetings, slow progress and play political games at the expense of the community.
I would advise the Village Manager and the Village Attorney to investigate these issues. If that investigation turns up evidence of this, I believe it should result in the immediate censure, and perhaps removal from office, of these two trustees. Apparently, Trustee Sigwalt has admitted to this.
Furthermore, I would recommend that Trustees Teeter, Hinz and Ritter distance themselves significantly from these two trustees, both in their voting and any commendatory or congratulatory messages, if they want any chance at remaining in office at the next election. That they have seemed supportive of some of the past antics of these two trustees casts a shadow of suspicion over them as well. They need to show residents they are not a part of these unconscionable acts.
These two trustees appear responsible for doing a great deal of harm to the Village and something must be done.
Merry Christmas!
Blogging is going to be light over the next week or so, as I take time off for the Christmas holiday.
Be sure to check in next week for a year-end retrospective as well as some hopes and resolutions for next year.
Last night the Village of Carpentersville Board voted 4-2 to approve a $50,000 grant to the Boys and Girls Club.
Trustees Sigwalt and Teeter voted “No” because it didn’t happen to be a line item in this year’s budget.
Hmmm … neither was the work for Kimball Farms that they voted for earlier this year …
Maybe there was some hope that the group could attempt to win the funds at that Indian casino Sigwalt proposed last meeting.
It took three meetings, and a Carpentersville business owner’s cash, but finally …
Five members of the Board did the right thing Tuesday night.
One persisted in the opinion that the Village of Carpentersville should be in the business of putting more guns on the streets.
The majority of Police departments across the country, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, many officers here in our area and numerous residents in and around the Village do not want police guns to be re-sold. That didn’t appear to matter to Judy Sigwalt, who was the only one to still vote for selling the guns — politics apparently overriding all else. Perhaps she’s still not over her anger at the “Trouble with Carpentersville” series, which clearly seemed to contribute to some of the indignation at the last two meetings.
The main thing, however, is that the guns will now be destroyed. Thank you to Mr. Roeser for stepping up to the plate.
It would be nice if we wouldn’t have to go through all this in the future. It would be nice if the Village adopted a policy that all weapons — either turned in, confiscated or one’s no longer used by police officers — would automatically be disposed of.
About a month ago, when the issue of selling or destroying old police guns and others that had been confiscated first came before the Board, I didn’t necessarily have an opinion one way or the other. However, as I started reading more about what happens in most states and municipalities around the country, my opinion began to solidify. Selling surplus police weapons, those confiscated from criminals or turned in is wrong. That wrong is not righted by $3,000.
The issue is back on the agenda for tonight’s meeting. This time the question is for the disposal of these weapons. Despite that, Trustee Paul Humpfer says he doesn’t know how he’s going to vote, and Trustee Kay Teeter said she is skeptical of Otto Engineering President, Tom Roeser’s offer. [Daily Herald article] Sheesh … I don’t think that things could have been made much more clear to the Village by Roeser. Unfortunately, it seems politics as usual for these trustees. It would be nice to see them finally set that aside and do the right thing.
If the sale is followed through on and one of those guns is later used in the commission of a murder, could the Village of Carpentersville be named in a wrongful death lawsuit?
It could happen.
A 2003 suit against Glock, Inc. who resold turned-in police guns to a licensed dealer was named in a wrongful death suit when one of the guns used in a group of murders was traced back:
The suit said the gun, manufactured by Glock, had been originally purchased by a Washington state police department, but within a week was found unsuitable for police needs and resold to a local gun dealer.
Under terms that encouraged frequent trade-ins, the police were not required to pay for the new guns until the gun dealer had sold the former guns. That gun dealer would then resell these police guns to a gun collector who was unlicensed and therefore did not have to get background checks from buyers.
In 1998, it was reported that at least 1,100 former police guns were among the firearms used in crimes in America. A January 4, 2006 article in the New York Times (“Seeing Crime Guns Destroyed Gives Solace to Victims’ Families”), talking about guns used in the commission of crimes, stated:
[T]he requirement that crime guns be destroyed reflects a trend among police departments nationwide.
[T]he International Association of Chiefs of Police passed a resolution six years ago encouraging police destroy guns used in crimes.
‘It’s just a culmination of factors,” said Gene Voegtlin, the association’s legislative counsel, based in Alexandria, Va. ”Did police agencies really want to be in a situation where they were offering guns back to the public? A lot of the weapons that are confiscated aren’t necessarily the highest quality, so there are some safety issues involved, liability issues involved.” The association’s resolution urges police departments not to sell their old police guns or trade them in to a manufacturer for new ones, a practice that began to be common in the 1990’s.
The practice of selling old guns, or even trading them in to the manufacturer, is an outdated practice.
In September, the Vice Mayor of Phoenix, was on the opposite side of the issue from what our mayor is. That vice-mayor in Phoenix withdrew his proposal to sell the guns:
Siebert’s proposal drew immediate criticism, with opponents saying it would be bad policy and that police shouldn’t be in the business of putting guns on the streets.
So, why should the Carpentersville police be in the business of putting guns on the streets?
A 2004 report by Americans for Gun Safety found 54,694 guns used to commit crimes between 1996 and 2000 had been bought from licensed dealers. At the time, seven dealers in Arizona had sold 2,800 guns used in crimes as severe as murder. The report ranked Arizona sixth on the list of states with the greatest number of gun dealers linked to weapons used in crimes.
Illinois was #2!
The 2004 Report by Americans for Gun Safety also noted that a gun store in Riverdale, Illinois was, at the time, the largest supplier of crime gun in the entire country. Interestingly, Indiana and Illinois were #1 and #2, respectively, in gun stores that sold weapons traced to 200 or more crimes, between 1996 and 2000 — 14 and 13 stores, respectively. That gun store in Riverdale sold 2,370 guns that were traced to crimes in the Chicago area.
GAT Guns in Dundee sold 316 in that time. (That is not to say that the weapons were sold illegally.)
It doesn’t seem to be that there won’t be a problem, but when.
I’ve said elsewhere here that I’m not anti-gun. But, I am also not for municipalities and police departments putting guns on the streets … especially not guns that were specifically made to be police weapons.
The Board should re-vote according to those principles, and not based on whether they get a measly $3,000.
Elgin is now going through a similar push for local officials to do something about illegal immigrants in our communities. However, unlike in the Village of Carpentersville, Elgin City Council members are basically united in their position on what the city can and cannot do.
A few letters to the editor, as well as a response from the Association for Legal Americans (AFLA), have spoken about the failures of federal elected officials that has necessitated the need for local action. Similar argument were used by some trustees and residents (and non-residents) during Carpentersville’s illegal immigration debate.
Honestly, I fail to see the logic in this.
Are we really saying that we should hold our local elected officials responsible for the failures of our federal (and even state) officials? Are we really saying that our limited resources at the local (and state) levels should be appropriated to things that our federal tax dollars are to be used for?
I agree 100% that we need to take action with regard to the failures of our federal elected officials in doing their jobs — we need to vote their asses out of office!
In Carpentersville, there is argument about the need to obtain a measly $3,000 through a controversial sale of police and confiscated weapons. There is argument about spending money in the 2007-2008 budget for a site plan and design of a much needed, new public works building.
If we need the money so desperately (that we would even put public safety at risk), why are we so gung ho to allocate our tax dollars to creation and enforcement of laws and ordinances that could be resolved (and more thoroughly) at the federal level with tax dollars we’ve given them for such purpose?!
Why?
Why do we let our federal officials off the hook in doing their jobs, and then try to hold our local officials and resources accountable for things that those feds tell us only they can do?
People sit and they spin their wheels on finding loopholes in federal jurisdiction over immigration, rather that spend that energy on ensuring that enforcement comes at the correct level.
Dumb.
I came across an article in the New York Times that I thought was so interesting I had to share it.
Personal finance columnist, M. P. Dunleavey, lost $10,000 this year.
I ran through the numbers again with my husband, and he reached the same conclusion: approximately $10,000 was missing in action. That was the vacation we didn’t take, part of the new roof we might need, some terrific wine we didn’t drink. Now we really wanted to know where that money went.
It wasn’t long before it showed up. After sitting there for a while at the kitchen table, stunned, my husband said, “Thirty dollars.”
He explained his theory. One day, we were about to visit friends and had offered to pick up dessert and wine — which came to about $30 . The next day we had a birthday to attend and a prescription to pick up, and we spent about $30. We took out the calculator: $10,000 divided by 365 is about $27.
It wasn’t that we spent $30 mindlessly every day, but once we started digging for the “we’re not really spending any money” money — a trip to Lowe’s, new shoes for my son, iTunes downloads for my husband, a new work outfit for me — all the little things fell into place.
Basically, it shows how easy it is, even if you’re on a budget and track your income and expenses, to widdle away a significant amount of money … or, if you don’t spend that money, how much could your savings for a trip or retirement grow?
It was just kind of amazing to think about what spending/saving an average of $30/day could mean. And, the moral of the story seemed to be more about tracking where money goes.
The committee that will be determining the direction, guidelines and focus for what will become the Carpentersville Improvement Committee has come up with a mission statement:
The Carpentersville Improvement Committee pledges to assist residents to understand the importance of property maintenance as it pertains to the general welfare, safety and aesthetics of our community.
Our objective is to preserve existing housing through code enforcement activities and preventative maintenance programming. We are committed to research all avenues of county, state and federal financial resources and to assemble these along with local resources to educate and aid our residents in improving their neighborhoods.
It seems ok … although I would have put “preventative maintenance programming” before “code enforcement activities” as the it would show that education is valued (and preferred) over penalization.
Coinciding with this, the Village has posted information from the Community Development Department that answers “When is a Permit needed?”
The tattered flag at the Carpentersville Post Office has been replaced. The old flag will be turned over to the West Dundee VFW to be properly “retired.”
Some residents wondered for two weeks when it was going to be replaced.
Seems that this flag had been first put up about four weeks earlier. Apparently the recent ice storms contributed to the rapid deterioration of the flag.
Ok, folks, let’s end the week on a positive note …
With the holiday parties quickly approaching, it seems timely to provide a link to Making Perfect Holiday Party Drinks.
Or, FoodNetwork has a list of the Top 5 Holiday Drinks.
(Both sites have non-alcoholic options.)
What suggestions/traditions for food and/or drink do you and/or your family have?
Trustee Paul Humpfer was in court yesterday, having his trial date now reset to Feb 20, 2008.
Humpfer is accused of battering his wife, and will be tried in a bench trial after waiving his right to trial by jury.
A total of 12 or 13 witnesses are expected to testify, according to attorneys. Humpfer is charged with four misdemeanor counts of domestic battery. According to authorities, the trustee struck his wife in the legs with a baseball bat in May 2007 inside their home.
[Report from The Courier-News]
Humpfer’s wife, Jacqueline, filed for divorce and an order of protection on June 25, 2007, citing the alleged May 2007 incident. Paul Humpfer was officially charged with the 4 counts of misdemeanor battery on Aug 3, 2007. At that time, he opted not to waive his right to a jury trial.
Originally, yesterday’s proceedings were slated to be pre-trial motions, with the trial to begin December 17th.
Given the disturbing nature of these allegations, which Trustee Humpfer maintains his innocence, should he step down from his seat on the Board? What about if he should end up being convicted on one or more of the charges against him?
The most serious count, involving the baseball bat, is punishable by up to 364 days in jail.
Tom Roeser, president of Otto Engineering, floated his offer on a local blog site and in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper last week, after trustees rejected Village President Bill Sarto’s attempt to block the sale of 32 firearms to a federally licensed gun dealer.
This appeared as part of a story in today’s Daily Herald.
First, let me say … I am that blog to which the article refers and on which Mr. Roeser’s comments first appeared.
Mr Roeser’s comments can be found here and here. Further, I received a copy of a letter that was sent to President Sarto from a resident of a nearby community, which appears at the end of this article posted previously. That letter provided additional options for the Village to obtain funds while destroying the surplus weapons.
But, now let me get on to the more serious matters we have at hand …
After reading that story today, I sent Mr. Roeser the following email, CC’ing the entire Village Board:
Mr Roeser,
Thank you for your offer to donate $3,000 to the Village to ensure the destruction of surplus weapons that have been designated for resale. While it seems unfortunate that you should have to take further initiative to contact the Board about something which others in and around our community are already aware of and informed on, I hope that you will do so.
I recently came across an old news story that stated: In 1998, 1,100 crimes were committed with former police weapons. As a result the International Association of Police Chiefs adopted a resolution in 2000 which urges police departments not to sell their old weapons or trade them in to the manufacturer for new ones.
It is my sincere hope that the Board will consider your offer seriously and correct their earlier mistake. It is troubling that you should even have to make such an offer for the Board to do the right and prudent thing.
Thank you again for your time and efforts.
Mr Roeser responded by providing the text of a letter sent in reply to the Daily Herald’s story, specifically critical of comments by some of the trustees that they were unaware of his offer. He gave me permission to post it here.
Dear Editor,
The Carpentersville Trustees are obfuscating regarding my offer to pay to destroy rather than sell the used guns that they are planning to sell. The Trustees say they knew nothing of my offer. Or did they know?
I spoke to Village President, Bill Sarto, the day after 5 trustees voted to override his veto and sell the guns. Our conversation was about my offer to donate $3,000.00 in exchange for the Village destroying the guns. He spoke to and emailed my offer to the Village Manager and the Police Chief. The ordinance as passed apparently requires that they be sold to a licensed gun dealer and only a Trustee who voted to sell the guns can bring the issue up again to change that direction.
Some Trustees read about my offer in a Letter to the Editor. None were curious enough to pursue my offer. Some Trustees have said that they will only consider the offer if I explain my reason behind my offer. My offer seems obvious enough, destroy low cost guns rather than put them into circulation. Some trustees have said they will consider my offer only if it is writing. I have made many donations to the Village and no staff member has ever asked me to put it in writing. Maybe the Trustees experience with their own word has taught them to ask for everything in writing. My offer still stands.
Having read Roeser’s original comments and letter to the editor, his reasons should be obvious — maintaining public safety. That was also President Sarto’s reasoning for vetoing the original vote. The veto override appeared to reason that $3,000 was more important than any possible dangers to public safety — not only in the Village of Carpentersville, but any town where these guns may end up.
(The veto override occurred when Trustee Keith Hinz — who ran with Trustees Sigwalt and Humpfer on the “All-American Team” ticket in the April election — backed away from his original vote to not sell the weapons, and instead voted with Sigwalt and Co. Was this politically motivated? It has all appearances of such.)
As Mr Roeser commented previously, “it is time for the residents of Carpentersville to show their outrage.” Contact these trustees who voted to put your safety at greater risk by their vote. Tell them to reverse their decision, with or without Tom Roeser’s $3,000.
These are the addresses of those who voted for the sale of the weapons:
Also, you may wish to CC the other members who voted against the sale to let them know you support their position on this matter:
Eight Carpentersville churches have been working together, and will hold an interfaith service, in hopes that the peace of the Christmas season may bring healing to the Carpentersville community. All in and around the community are invited and encouraged to attend.
Community
Christmas Service
Saturday, December 15th, 2007, 5:00 PM
Carpentersville Middle School Auditorium
100 Cleveland Blvd.
Carpentersville, IL 60110
The Associated Press and WBBM 780 is reporting that “Operation Community Shield, a two-year-old nationwide initiative in which ICE agents partner with federal, state and local law enforcement to combat gangs”, netted arrests of 21 reputed gang members, 19 of which were in this country illegally.
Agents made most of the arrests in Carpentersville, which has been a focus on the immigration debate in the northwest suburbs. Additional arrests were made in Belvidere, Bensenville, Cary, Lake Zurich and West Dundee.
Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto, who has maintained that immigration enforcement is primarily a role of the federal government, said he is supportive of ICE doing periodic sweeps like this as a matter of public safety.
“This is the kind of action that I’ve been supportive of since my election.” Sarto said.
Answering some of his critics who he says have wrongly accused him of wanting to protect illegal immigrants in “safe havens”, Sarto responded, “I voted for 287(g) training for our officers. I signed a letter sent to Congress requesting federal action and reforms on immigration and border security.”
“These arrests actually show that the federal government is acting on our concerns. I’m happy that our officers could assist in this operation to crackdown on gangs in our community and protect our citizens.”
Since [Operation Community Shield] began, Immigration agents have arrested more than 7,500 street gang members representing more than 700 gangs.
And what about those who claim that Sarto has said there is no illegal immigration population in Carpentersville?
“I actually never said that. I said that we needed evidence of the problems some of our trustees were saying were caused by illegals. I didn’t want our citizens unfairly targeted. ICE knew who they were after. I think we need to be just as certain in the actions we take locally.”
A little bit of a grab bag of information today …
First, for those of you wondering about the opening of the Village Fresh Market which was originally looking at a November or December open: It looks like the opening has been delayed as extra work is being done than anticipated, according to Economic Development Director Janice Murphy:
The Village Fresh Market was scheduled to open in December but because more work is being done than originally planned, that opening has been delayed. The owner/developer has not released an opening date but will a month or so before its scheduled opening. It looks beautiful on the outside and inside. It will be a much anticipated event once it opens but well worth the wait!
I agree. The owner/developer has put a lot of time and effort into making this a great looking location that should be a standard that future efforts should seek to meet or exceed. Not to mention a much needed eastside grocery location.
Next … some of the comments this weekend that were also critical of the casino idea requested alternative ideas to be shared. A few ideas I put out there for the Randall Rd corridor that I believe would complement the destination type shopping that has been created up the road in Algonquin are:
How about a comedy club? Restaurants? Dinner-theater? How about a resort-like setting (no water parks, please)?
With all the shopping down the road in Algonquin and Lake in the Hills, perhaps folks would think about coming for a weekend … Friday or Saturday night comedy club or dinner-theater, an evening in a hotel suite followed by a day of shopping or even pampering at a day spa…?
President Sarto chimed in with a few ideas that he had …
I still would like to see an “International Village of Restaurants” located at this prime location. These would be “white tablecloth” style of restaurants and I’d like to see a hotel at this location with banquet rooms and a piano bar with live music, also located at this location could be a live dinner theater and comedy club. Something along the lines of Pheasant Run in St. Charles or Drury Lane in Oak Brook.
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Perhaps a new civic center with a performing arts building? Or perhaps a Cultural Center with an art museum.
Hmmm … obviously not all the ideas may fly, but they certainly seem worth considering; moreso than a casino that would bring no revenue to the Village.
And, finally, there was a comment or two that have tried to make the controversial gun veto/override issue into something it really isn’t: namely, a show of lack of trust in our Police Department. I don’t see this as the case at all.
First of all, this was a decision made by the Board, brought before it by the Police Department. There were two options the Board could have taken: 1) sell the weapons; or, 2) destroy the weapons. The Police Department seemed open to either option.
When all was said and done, 5 members of the Board — not the Police Dept — decided to put these weapons on the street. As was pointed out in editorials and letters to both the Daily Herald and the Courier-News this weekend, public safety was put at risk for the sake of politics.
There is still time for them to correct this mistake. Let’s hope they do it.
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