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A group of storm chasers based in Carpentersville, Weather Gods, Inc, shot video of the deadly tornado that hit Picher, OK over the weekend… [follow the link for the story and video from WLS-TV, Channel 7]
The following clip was forwarded to me so that I might have the latest research that 5 members of the Village Board apparently used in making their declaration that it was ok for Paul Humpfer to remain Trustee, despite a March 5, 2008 conviction of domestic battery. Had I only had this important scientific research earlier. Now, I can see what they likely based their determination on.
The following is a Press Release issued by Dundee Neighbors.
WEST DUNDEE RESIDENTS: SUPERCENTER IS WRONG FOR WEST DUNDEE
A group of concerned residents in West Dundee have come together to form Dundee Neighbors, a coalition of residents and interested parties who want to send a message: development is an issue of deep public concern, and high-impact developments cannot be planned behind closed doors and then submitted to the public only as a formality. A 186,000 square foot, 24-hour Supercenter is wrong for West Dundee. Residents and neighbors are currently working to more comprehensively evaluate the plan, which includes requests for Special Uses and Variances and necessitates a road-widening.
What is clear is that West Dundee’s small-town, Main Street character could suffer irreparable harm by the opening of a 24-hour, mega-giant retailer in a residential neighborhood. The small retailers who typically prop up Main Street shopping could be discouraged, young families looking for a safe, quiet town will look elsewhere, and the quaint nature of our historic river town will be sacrificed for a quick fix to a budget gap caused by temporary economic conditions.
Dundee Neighbors has heard from dozens of residents in every part of the Village-from the river to Sleepy Hollow, from Huntley Road to the highway-that a high-impact development like a Wal-Mart Supercenter is wrong for West Dundee. Despite intimation and implications that the plan is a “done deal”, residents are eager to have their say and contribute to the public planning progress.
Besides its poor record for parking lot and customer safety [see: http://video.nbc5.com/player/?id=247256 ], a Supercenter is a less-than-optimal neighbor. The sheer size of the planned store-some 3.5x the size of a standard Wal-Mart discount store-is unacceptable with no transitional uses between itself and single family homes, both by common sense and by most planning standards. The abutting park and wetlands will also surely suffer. Wal-Mart is also planning taller lights-greater than the height of four basketball poles-and removing internal landscaping islands in favor of a vast parking desert with end-caps.
Tartans Drive, a residential road with homes that face the street, many of them with young children who cross the street to play in the park, will become a cut-through street for the heavy traffic intended for the huge retailer.
Dundee Neighbors are reaching out to residents across the village to encourage them to get all the facts and participate in the public process that is supposed to weigh ALL the evidence-not just the evidence provided by the developer. They can be reached at dundeeneighbors@gmail.com.
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A public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Randall Oaks Golf Club, 4101 Binnie Road, West Dundee.
Good morning, Carpentersville!
It’ll be another chilly start to the morning, with temps in the low 40s; expected to rise into the low 60s by afternoon with sunny skies.
Tonight there is a meeting of the the Park Committee at 7pm in the Conference Room across from the Board Room at Village Hall. They are still looking to fill an open position, so attend the meeting, submit your application to Village President Bill Sarto and work with the Parks Committee to help beautify Carpentersville, plan festivals and parades, etc…
Some who read my posting over the weekend that the Courier-News declined to publish a letter to editor of Audit & Finance Commission member, Nate Spain, (noting that the Daily Herald did publish an edited version of the letter) reported that their own calls to the Speak Out line that were critical of the handling of the domestic battery conviction of Paul Humpfer also were not published.
In the past I had heard that the Courier-News had a history of furthering their editorial agenda by not publishing Speak-Outs and Letters that might contradict that agenda. In this case, it seems that there is an attempt to keep the criticism at a minimum level to make it appear as though there isn’t more public opinion against Humpfer.
In fact, from the looks of some of the Speak-Out comments in the Courier, and comments elsewhere, both the Courier and the Daily Herald have done a good job of keeping the real story from the people … so that they aren’t really sure what the issue is here — that a Carpentersville Village Trustee, Paul Humpfer, was found guilty of attacking his wife with a baseball bat.
Those who have read either of these papers for any length of time, however, know that both often inject a healthy dose of bias into the reporting of most news. Their editorials don’t appear only in the editorial page.
Carpentersville Action Network 
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