City Barbs

In response to community need, Voluntary Action Center (VAC) will be serving meals three evenings per week at the Senior Services Center, 330 Grove Street. Dinner is served Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m. This is not just for seniors. Anyone who needs a meal is welcome.

Federal stimulus money will keep the program going for the next three months. After that it’s up to the community to support it. VAC needs volunteer servers and cleaner-uppers as well as donations of disposable tableware, juice mixes, peanut butter and jelly, bread and non-perishable food items.

Those wishing to contribute financially please make checks out to Voluntary Action Center. All types of donations can be dropped off at VAC headquarters, 1606 Bethany Road, Sycamore. Volunteers can call 815-758-3932 for more information and to sign up.

Please help spread the word about this effort.

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Whew! Is that all. I was afraid I’d missed Talk Like a Pirate Day again, mateys. Aarrrgh!

During the whole water authority referendum hoo-ha I visited the McHenry County Blog a few times for its coverage of the issue. Now the publisher, Cal Skinner, is being sued by the same people who own DeKalb’s Daily Chronicle. According to the Northwest Herald:

The civil lawsuit challenges Cal Skinner Jr.’s June 3 post on his political blog alleging that the [Herald] received a multimillion dollar-loan from McHenry County government at submarket rates to prevent it from moving outside the county. It also challenges a comment that the loan was made “to put the paper in the back pocket of the Republican Party.”

Read the rest of this entry »

I think this video says it all:

Living Room Fire on YouTube

I raised my concerns last year about Cortland’s ability to povide sanitary service to the new school. Here’s an update from attending DeKalb Sanitary Board Meetings.

Cortland’s sewage treatment lagoons are nearly topping over. They haven’t been able to spray irrigate yet because of wet conditions. You might be able to see it on google earth satellite. They don’t have enough irrigation acres. They are seeking a new agreement with DeK San to have them treat 62% of their wastewater from the existing Pine St. lift station.

With more rain in June they are getting desperate. They can only irrigate when the water table is at least 4 ft down & not when the ground is frozen. They tried to discharge into a drainage ditch but the IEPA refered them to DSD. No agreement has been signed. Read the rest of this entry »

Somewhere in the pile of creative thinking known as “the blogs” it was suggested that, if three firefighters should really be laid off, perhaps the fire station closest to campus (#3) could be closed during the summer session when most of NIU is gone.

Though I don’t think I wrote this down anywhere, it’s been clear to me from the start — and confirmed today — that if a station were to close due to layoffs, it would be Station 2 on South 7th Street. Read the rest of this entry »

The Chicago Tribune continues to follow the admissions scandal at the University of Illinois. Columnist John Kass wrote a piece and in the comments section was this gem:

“Voice of reason
Hammond, IN
7 hrs ago

John, I have read your articles comparing the corrupt “pols” to the Outfit. I googled Mafia and found an interesting article that printed the Mafia’s 10 Commandments.
“In November 2007 Sicilian police reported to have found a list of “Ten Commandments” in the hideout of mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo. They are thought to be guidelines on how to be a good, respectful and honorable mafioso.
1. No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
2. Never look at the wives of friends.
3. Never be seen with cops.
4. Don’t go to pubs and clubs.
5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife is about to give birth.
6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.
7. Wives must be treated with respect.
8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth/
9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
10. People who can’t be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn’t hold to moral values.

After reading this I don’t believe the “pols” have enough character to be in the Mafia.”

I wish I knew what this meant:

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 813 met Wednesday evening, and members voted unanimously to uphold their contract, Local President Mike Taylor said. That means the union has rejected cost reductions – and now three members face layoffs.

“The membership felt that without a guarantee of no layoffs, then we would honor the contract,” Taylor said.

I thought that was the whole point: wage freeze for one year equals no layoffs for one year? Read the rest of this entry »

Last night I once again spent four hours in Bizzaro World. It was very hot inside and about the same hot outside, yet the exit from the city council meeting felt like a breath of fresh air.

Well, it did until a certain city official tracked me down as we stood outside in little groups to process what had happened. He wanted to take me to task for “not providing context” to my gym membership figures when I spoke at the last council meeting. Seems he felt I should have gone into detail about which portion comes from payroll deduction vs. how much from the city, etc.

[rant on] Read the rest of this entry »

The DeKalb firefighters’ union, IAFF Local #1236, is putting out the word to their brethren in Aurora and Bolingbrook to join them in a rally preceding the Council meeting tomorrow evening.

The members of DeKalb L-1236 need your help!! The city council is planning a vote at their meeting on June 22 concerning citywide layoffs, including Fire Fighters. These layoffs are not justified and are meant to build the “reserve fund” for the city, and are based on “doomsday” type projections.

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