Full text of Letter to the Editor

The following is the full text of the letter submitted to both the Daily Herald and Courier-News by Audit and Finance Commission member, Nate Spain.

The Courier-News notified Mr. Spain that they “decline publication” of his letter.

I am making the full text of the letter available because editing by the Daily Herald changed a portion of the context of Mr. Spain’s letter. (Portions edited/removed by the Daily Herald are in bold italics.)

Let me introduce myself. My name is Nathan “Nate” Spain. I am a member of the Audit & Finance Commission of the Village of Carpentersville.

In the local press I have become better known as one of the “truant” members of the Commission inasmuch as I elected not to attend any Commission meetings so long as the convicted wife beater Trustee chairs this committee. I made this decision as a matter of principle and conscience, attributes that seem to be sorely lacking by the gang of five Trustees.

As an example of the gang of five’s total deficiency of conscience, morals, and ethical principles; the following language was contained in one of the ordinances sponsored by Trustees Sigwalt and Ritter, to wit:

“that Humpfer’s March conviction on four counts of misdemenor domestic battery was not an offense that required him to give up his seat”.

Citizens of Carpentersville, WAKE UP! This quote, if correct, reflects such depravity of common morals by Trustees Sigwalt and Ritter, and their enablers of the gang of five, that it defies immagination! In the future I suspect this gang of ethically challenged Trustees will seek to enhance their control of the Board by urging the citizens of Carpentersville to vote out Trustees Sarto and Ramirez-Sliwinski in the next village election. I may be wrong, but don’t be surprised if this gang of five support a slate of candidates for these Trustee seats that are pedophiles and rapists. I put wife beating right up their with these acts of social deviancy!

Oh, by the way Trustee Sigwalt, I am not intimidated by your proposed ordinance to oust we absent and truant Commission members if we miss 3 consecutive meetings. I relish the thought of being ousted for following my conscience. I know this is an old fashioned concept to you and your fellow gang of trustees.

Further, as a substitute teacher in D300, I am concerned that two of your gang are employees of D300. What kind of signal does this send to the students and teachers of D300 that two employees of the District feel wife beating is a minor offense. Does the Superintendent of D300 follow the politics of Carpentersville? SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!

Village business more than roads, taxes

There are some in the community, and even on the Board, who believe that the Village of Carpentersville is defined merely by its roads, its storefronts and its taxes.

However, I would argue that the community and its image are shaped by much more. These are also shaped by integrity, morals, values and principles. I would go so far as to say that a community’s morals, values and principles are more important to its health than are the shape of its road, its storefronts or its taxes.

This is because those things significantly affect decision-making, and provide direction to properly address issues such as roads, storefronts, and taxes.

Earlier this week, five Trustees proclaimed that domestic abuse — violence against women — fits the standards of decency of all those in the Village of Carpentersville. They did this when they voted ‘NO’ to the following resolution:

It is hereby determined the nature of the offense for which Trustee Paul Humpfer has been found guilty precludes him from continuing to hold office as a Trustee.

The “nature of the offense for which Trustee Paul Humpfer has been found guilty” was striking his wife with a baseball bat during a domestic dispute. The requirement to retain one’s elected position is that one fits “common standards of honesty, decency and morals”. Therefore, by voting ‘No’ on this resolution, they said that “striking one’s wife with a baseball bat meets common standards for honesty, decency and morals.”

These 5 Trustees have claimed that they voted to keep Paul Humpfer in office, despite his crimes, in order to get on with conducting Village business, yet they do not consider the safeguarding of morals, values and principles of the community to be part of their responsibility as representatives.

As such they have exhibited such a lack of decision-making ability that they have put all other Village business in question. Their morals, ethics and principles are of the lowest common denominator, leaving them with an inability to provide any leadership in dealing with issues that threaten those characteristics.

In fact, they themselves are a threat to morals, ethics and principles of the People of Carpentersville, as are those who defend or ignore those threats, in favor of purely economic endeavors.

In light of that threat, they have created extreme obstacles to overcoming the financial and economic hardships that face the Village. They have ultimately dug the Village into a deeper hole, which will be increasingly difficult to climb out of.

Judy Sigwalt, Paul Humpfer, Kay Teeter, Ed Ritter and Keith Hinz have set Carpentersville on a collision course with a freight train. And it is a course which none of them, individually or collectively, will be able to steer the town away from.