Boone County Board Meeting of June 20, 2012

I attended last night's county board meeting.  Here are a few things you may wish to know and perhaps they will not be picked up by the news media.

1. Approximately $40,000 of bids were accepted by the board to repair the bell tower at the court house. The $40k is well below what was first estimated.

2. A citizen who complained at the zoning commission regarding the "smell" from the special use, nursery in Garden Prairie also spoke at the county board. It appears that the nursery's mulching operations has several violations of IEPA etc. --county enforcement of some of the zoning was questioned by the citizen.

3. A change to the liquor license for Timber Point allowing serving alcohol before 11:00 on Sundays was defeated. Apparently Swan Lake in Poplar Grove has a 9:00 AM start and TP wanted the same or better.

4. A number of appointments were approved in mass, including Mr. Sisson of the Health Department, a very controversial reappointment three years ago because of the health departments payment of alcoholic drinks for interviewees/health board members.

5. Not disclosed at the meeting per se--Mr. Terrinoni told me that at the July 5, 6:30 meeting of the health subcommittee he will be presenting answers to the questions raised by the board members regarding the mulch fire in May, 2012.

Bill Pysson

Interesting McHenry County Blog

Perhaps our anti-Belvidere Township people could learn something from this site.

Click on the following:  http://www.mchenrycitizenstaxwatch.org/photos.html

Growing up in the Detroit area, Mitt Romney learned to pick himself up after falling down - Toledo Blade

Another Mitt Romney story on using a police uniform in Michigan.

DETROIT -- Long before Mitt Romney became a candidate for president, he was a lanky teenager in Bloomfield Hills with a penchant for practical jokes rather than for politics.

During one such elaborate prank, a young Romney dressed in a uniform, put a flashing light atop a borrowed car, and, impersonating a police officer, pulled up behind a car with two of his friends and their dates.

After a search of the trunk found alcohol bottles, the friends had planted, the girls were shocked. Mitt's two friends sped away, and he gave chase but couldn't keep up.

"It wasn't a very funny joke for them [the girls]," recalled Cranbrook classmate Graham McDonald. "But it was a funny joke

for us."

Read the rest of the story:  Growing up in the Detroit area, Mitt Romney learned to pick himself up after falling down - Toledo Blade

RR Star Guest Column: Belvidere Township leaders quash public input on budget

Source: rrstar.com

Belvidere Township trustees, under the leadership of Supervisor Pat Murphy, unanimously passed their two multimillion-dollar appropriations budgets in less than two minutes each with no discussion among members, and refused to let residents discuss the budgets before the vote.

Click on the following to read the entire story: Guest Column: Belvidere Township leaders quash public input on budget

Poplar Grove to bill three for water used to fight mulch fire | Belvidere Daily Republican

 

Written by Bob Balgemann

POPLAR GROVE – The village of Poplar Grove intends to bill two companies and North Boone Fire District 2 for the more than 1.2-million gallons of water that was used to fight the recent mulch fire at Illinois 76 and Woodstock Road.

Officials said Tuesday night that Schumacher Landscaping, Northwest Pallet and the fire district also would be charged for the time two village employees spent helping load trucks with water and a village pump that burned up during the emergency.

A letter specifying the charges, written by Village Attorney Roxanne Sosnowski, will be sent out sometime the week of June 3.

The total charge is expected about $200,000, with water accounting for most of it. That portion of the cost will be $1.97 for each 1,000 gallons used.

Click on the following for the entire story:  Poplar Grove to bill three for water used to fight mulch fire | Belvidere Daily Republican

NYT: Obama accelerated cyberattacks against Iran - World news - The New York Times - msnbc.com

 

Mr. Obama decided to accelerate the attacks — begun in the Bush administration and code-named Olympic Games — even after an element of the program accidentally became public in the summer of 2010 because of a programming error that allowed it to escape Iran’s Natanz plant and sent it around the world on the Internet. Computer security experts who began studying the worm, which had been developed by the United States and Israel, gave it a name: Stuxnet

Click on the following to read the entire story: NYT: Obama accelerated cyberattacks against Iran - World news - The New York Times - msnbc.com

Belvidere School District to discuss possible sales tax increase - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

 

Bonds were issued seven years ago to help construct Belvidere North High School. The board made lower payments early on with the idea that more individuals would eventually move into the area and property values would increase.

However, neither occurred as planned, sticking the board higher bond payments with less people to pay for them.

By implementing the proposed sales tax, the estimated $2.2 million generated yearly could help increase revenue flow without increasing property taxes.

Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  Belvidere School District to discuss possible sales tax increase - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star