Cadge & Release™ Recurrent Issues

Those old enough to have lived through the Great Lake County Derecho of 2011, will recall the global-warming fuelled monster storm that rendered the county powerless for a week. The situation got so bad that the County Board Chair was forced to declare a state of emergency to create an impression that something was getting done. Well, the Daily Herald thankfully now reports that ...

The final two customers left without electricity after last week's storm had power restored early Sunday morning.
Power restored to last of customers cut off by storm

And as readers of this blog are currently aware ...

The Lake County 2011 Power Vacuum

your LakeCountyEye was one of the storm's victims, and despite promises of free beer, the ComEd repair truck could not be enticed into the LakeCountyEye compound. Furthermore, your LakeCountyEye can provide eye-witness & first-hand confirmation that at least one of those final two customers indeed had their power restored early on Sunday.

No sooner were the lights back on, that the LakeCountyEye eMail-Server crashed from the volume of queued Viagra spam tips that came flooding into the the LakeCountyEye Inbox. It's been that kind of week.

Among those tips was this week's winning Cadge & Release™ entry, submitted by frequent contributor e.e.comed. (Fittingly the e.e. stands for Electrical Engineer.) e.e.comed notes that the e-mails reproduced below are responses to requests for assistance sent to government representatives.

The Cadge (1): Storm Update from Senator Suzi Schmidt July 17, 2011 Dear [Redacted], I have been in frequent contact with Emergency Management officials and the ComEd representative for our area. I have been receiving information from those of you still out of power and forwarding that information to ComEd via Emergency Management and our ComEd representative. If you are still out of power, please contact me by email with your address. If you have already contacted me, please let me know if they have been out to restore your power. ComEd is aware of most, if not all, of the pockets that are still without power and working with multiple extra crews to get those situations resolved, but we are happy to reiterate addresses without power. As always, thank you for the opportunity to serve you, and please don't hesitate to contact me if you need assistance. Suzi Schmidt State Senator 31st District

The Cadge (2): JOIN MY NEWSLETTER I have been in frequent contact with Lake County Emergency Management officials and now have contact information for the the Commonwealth Edison representative for our area. I have been receiving information from those of you still out of power and forwarding that information to ComEd via Emergency Management. If you are still out of power, please contact me by email with your address. If you have already contacted me, please let me know if they have been out to restore your power. ComEd is aware of most, if not all, of the pockets that are still without power and working with multiple extra crews to get those situations resolved, but we are happy to reiterate addresses without power. As always, please don't hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns at jnewton@lakecountyil.gov or call me at (847) 807-9767. Sincerely, JIM NEWTON Lake County Board - District 3

Sharpeyed Ops™ will notice that this week's winner is all Cadge and little Release. That is because neither iteration is believed to be an original. Your LakeCountyEye suspects that neither the State Senator nor the County Board Commissioner commands the resources necessary to produce an email form-letter that could just as easily have been downloaded from the office of a ComEd PR Flack. The first operative to find an original will be named grand prize winner. In the course of their investigations, operatives may encounter an opportunity to promise free beer. They can certainly fare no worse than your LakeCountyEye.