Sarto declares local disaster area

Today, August 24th — effective 9:30am this morning — due to the heavy rainfall and strong storms that passed through the area on Thursday afternoon/evening, President Bill Sarto declared a local disaster situation in Carpentersville [PDF].

The Governor of Illinois, also today, declared the counties of Kane, Cook, McHenry and Lake to be state disaster areas [Daily Herald report], allowing people to file for assistance and alerting local disaster management teams to the area.

From the Spam Filter …

Sometimes, there are spam comments that get caught in the filter that are just too humorous to simply delete.  I offer it here for your enjoyment.

My name is Elena. To me of 20 years.
I would like to get acquainted with you if you not against.
I Look forward to hear you soon with impatience.

I think she likes me … but I can’t be sure.  🙂

Restraining order stops Minuteman meeting

---

Ok … so technically this is not related to Carpentersville news or government, but it is probably of interest to many in Carpentersville …A McHenry County judge issued a restraining order today at the request of Holiday Inn’s owners to ensure that the meeting will not take place at the Crystal Lake hotel.

Were the Illinois Minutemen considering attempting to hold the meeting despite previous notice from Holiday Inn and Crystal Lake police? Or, is this simply a further reporting of events that began to unfold yesterday?

It doesn’t seem that way …

Citing concerns that guests and workers would get caught in the crossfire, the Holiday Inn’s owners went to court Thursday asking McIntyre to ban the Minuteman Project from the hotel.

That is unfortunate that the event was canceled so close to its scheduled date, which obviously probably does not allow the Illinois Minuteman Project the time to find a new venue for the meeting to go on. However, there is indication that, had Director Rosanna Polido notified the hotel that event was an Illinois Minuteman function, it may not have been approved and thus a new venue could have been found much earlier.

Pulido, Alliss Powers [Attorney for the hotel] said, never wrote Minuteman Project on the application for a conference room, instead labeling the applicant “Sheriff Dan Beck – Immigration Conference.”

In response to statements that this hindered them in determining there would be protests …

Minuteman attorney Suzanne Walters argued that the hotel, knowing the seminar dealt with the immigration issue, should not be surprised by the likelihood of protests.

While this might seem a reasonable argument, the way the event was labeled on the application, it may have been considered a police-sponsored event, or a law enforcement meeting. (Of course, not seeing the application in full, that cannot be said without absolute certainty.)

Still, on the matter of First Amendment rights, I absolutely agree that people need to have the right to speak and discuss issues — especially those that are controversial. I do not support the squashing of anyone’s rights, so long as they are exercised appropriately and at the proper time. One cannot say that they have the right to speak, but deny that of those who would oppose them.

At the same time, that must be tempered with business owners rights to protect themselves from situations where they may incur liability — not only for their patrons but also for their employees.

Given that they have already sold out this event, it would be good if they could simply find a new venue, without requiring the type of advertising of the event that could create concern over potential conflicts.

[Read the whole Daily Herald story]

---