Pastries and Play!

Pastries and Play!

This is Not a Test

After testing the waters for more than ten days ...

Joe Walsh: Trump Needs a Primary Challenge

Ex-GOP rep calls Trump an 'unfit con man,' says he's sorry for helping elect him

Walsh says he is 'strongly, strongly considering' challenging Trump in Republican primary

Why is Joe Walsh threatening to run against Trump in 2020?

'THIS WEEK' EXCLUSIVE: Joe Walsh announces Republican primary challenge against Trump

Ex-Lake County Congressman Joe Walsh declared there is no time for testing the waters, and that he is running for President of the United States. Of America:

Joe Walsh 2020: Be Brave

The last time banty rooster Joe Walsh appeared on this blog was 2009, where he was observed testing the waters in the Eighth Congressional District:

A Fresh Face in the 8th Congressional District

Note to Ops: 2009 must've been a dry run.

The Law of Remunerative Returns

Your Lake County Eye remembers the good old days when the air was safe to breathe and the only outfit to be stinkin' up the place was the Lake County Fielders.

Haha, the Fielders came to an end with owner Richard Ehrenreich suing the City of Zion and Mayor Lane Harrison for breach of contract:

Another odd connection in this case concerns a lawyer named Scott Puma. He is paid as Zion's city attorney. But he has also been hired to defend the city and the mayor in the lawsuit filed by Ehrenreich. And according to disclosures filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections, Puma is also treasurer for Mayor Harrison's campaign committee.
Abandoned Stadium Project Costs Taxpayers Millions

The Fielders may be gone but the attorney Scott Puma is not. Puma is legal counsel to the Crystal Lake Park District:

Crystal Lake Park District Board of Commissioners
Regular Meeting Minutes
July 18, 2019

Last month, the Crystal Lake Park District voted on an ordinance limiting access to the lake:

only members of the homeowners' associations who have lakefront property and residents who live on the 230-acre lake – with property that includes a portion of the lake bed owned by the park district – have permission to place piers, moorings, swim rafts and boat lifts into the lake.
Crystal Lake Park District approves new lakebed ordinance with 6-1 vote

The ordinance was approved in spite of the Park District's questionable legal authority to do so. At least according to some of the comments made at the board meeting:

• Crystal Lake is a private lake, as Shoreline Property Owners Association of Crystal Lake has been asserting all along. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources definitively confirmed that Crystal Lake is not a public lake.
  
  
• Crystal Lake Park District has no authority to control or regulate the use of the water. Crystal Lake Park District has acknowledged and admitted that, although the first draft of this ordinance contained provisions that tried to exert some control over the use of the water/lake.
  
  
• The Crystal Lake Park District ordinance does not pertain to the lakebed to which it does not have title. So it cannot be enforced on the entire lake.
  
  
• The shoreline property owners that own property up to the shoreline, even where the park district property owns the lakebed, still have riparian rights. The ordinance, while stating that it respects riparian rights of those people, is in direct contradiction to that statement by seeking to direct how the shoreline owners can use their water adjacent to their property. Crystal Lake Park District is not the governmental body to determine whether those property owners' use of the lake access to the lake is "reasonable."
  
  
• The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is not sure you have this authority, questions whether you really understand what you are trying to accomplish and more importantly it is outside their jurisdiction to decide that issue.
  
  
• Questionable enforcement powers.
  
  
• Likely lead to litigation. Suggested the Crystal Lake Park District keep all emails and correspondence.

Crystal Lake Park District Board of Commissioners
Regular Meeting Minutes
July 18, 2019

If a suit is filed against the ordinance, Scott Puma presumably will be hired to defend the Crystal Lake Park District.

Note to Ops: Passing legislation is like getting a divorce. No one wins except the attorneys.

It was a Dark and Secluded Area

Not to be outdone by the Lake County Gazette, your LakeCountyEye decided to take a stab at creative writing. Your LakeCountyEye can report that writing prize-winning prose is easier than it sounds, and there are plenty of prizes out there to be had:

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) is a tongue-in-cheek contest, held annually and sponsored by the English Department of San Jose State University in San Jose, California. Entrants are invited "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels" – that is, deliberately bad.
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

Here is your LakeCountyEye's submission to the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest:

On August 13, six defendants, most of whom have significant criminal histories, decided to come to Lake County with their sole intention to commit a series of residential and vehicle burglaries. In order to commit these crimes, they drove into the county in a stolen Lexus automobile, and armed themselves with a large 10-inch long hunting knife with a stainless-steel blade.

At 1:15 a.m. in the morning, they drove into a dark and secluded area on West Edwards Road, awakening a 75-year-old resident who saw headlights in the area of his driveway. When several people started to walk up his driveway towards a car parked near his home, the elderly resident armed himself with a gun and went outside. The elderly resident had a lawful Illinois Firearms Owner Identification card and was the lawful registered owner of the gun.

As the resident went outside of his own property, he saw multiple strangers approaching him. He ordered the strangers to get off his property and leave, but these strangers continued to advance on him. The resident saw that one of the strangers had something in his hand, and believing he was in danger of death or, at the very least, great bodily harm, he fired his gun several times to try and scare them away. One of the shots unfortunately struck one of the offenders, and the offenders all ran back to the stolen Lexus and drove away.
Lake County state's attorney statement on charges in Old Mill Creek shooting

According to the rules, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest has ...

several subcategories, such as detective fiction, romance novels, Western novels, and purple prose.
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

Which genre would you go with?

Detective Fiction
Romance Novel
Western Novel
Purple Prose

Operatives are asked to vote for one of the above!

Smoke and Minors

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim filed a lawsuit against a company deemed hazardous to children and which he likened to "dope dealers on a street corner". Nerheim filed the suit against the mosquito extermination company, Clarke. The suit seeks punitive damages against Clarke for spraying Lake County with chlorpyrifos, an insecticide that causes brain damage in children.

The suit alleges that those who are exposed to the chemical chlorpyrifos ...

have no idea they are ingesting "huge amounts of a highly addictive chemical and carcinogens," Nerheim said.
Lake County suing Juul over "predatory" marketing to teens

The suit calls the practice of spraying the chemical chlorpyrifos from pickup trucks and ...

other efforts a "smokescreen."
Lake County state’s attorney sues e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, accusing it of 'creating a public health crisis'

The suit exposes industry marketing and branding strategies that distract the public from the dangers of the indiscriminate use of outdoor insecticide foggers:

"You look at this new product, Mr Fog"
Lake County state’s attorney sues e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, accusing it of 'creating a public health crisis'

Regarding the true peril posed by insects, the suit says Clarke ...

"succeeded in creating a public health crisis in order to line their pockets with cash," Nerheim said a news conference Tuesday afternoon
Lake County state’s attorney sues e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, accusing it of 'creating a public health crisis'

Does a lawsuit against an extermination company with financial ties to Lake County expose the motives of a lone-wolf State's Attorney with ants in his pants to go to court in a big way? You decide:

Nerheim said he decided to move ahead without area counties because he didn't want to wait any longer.
Lake County state’s attorney sues e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, accusing it of 'creating a public health crisis'

Haha, j/k.

Michael Nerheim is not suing Clarke. The suit has been filed against e-cigarette manufacturer, Juul Labs.

2020 is an election year. 'Nuff Said!

My Last Brain Cell

Lake County will not have to wait for recreational marijuana to find out if it has brain damage:

In a move environmentalists denounced as yet another case of the Trump administration putting industry profits over public health, the Environmental Protection Agency announced on Thursday that it will not ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to brain damage in children.
'A Total Disgrace': Outrage as Trump EPA Says It Won't Ban Pesticide Linked to Brain Damage in Children

As you read this, Lake County is breathing chlorpyrifos:

Clarke Mosquitomist™ Adulticide

Clarke uses the insecticide to kill mosquitoes:

Mosquitomist Two U.L.V.

One industry honcho advised your LakeCountyEye to move along, there is nothing to see here: "If chlorpyrifos was toxic then the drivers would all have brain damage and they would be driving their trucks into trees. You don't see that happening, do you?"

Lake County Sheriff's Office said 75 gallons of a pesticide spilled onto the ground in North Barrington Tuesday after a mosquito abatement company vehicle hauling the liquid crashed into a tree.
Truck Crash Causes Pesticide Spill In North Barrington

Your LakeCountyEye will keep you apprised when further developments warrant.

The Flipping Senate

Note to David McSweeney: Ex-Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran is seeking the Republican nomination for US Senate:

"The consensus is I would be a Tier One candidate," he said, noting his suburban background could help Republicans in a region that is shifting Democratic.
Days after giving up on a recount for reelection, former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran to seek GOP nomination for U.S. Senate

Additionally, the consensus is Curran will be elected the next GOP Senator from Illinois. And he will switch to the Democratic Party after two years.

Your LakeCountyEye will keep you apprised when further developments warrant.

What's Your Poison?

The exploding Clarke mosquito truck failed to explode in Barrington this weekend. Instead, the village was exposed to a chlorine leak:

A "small" chlorine leak at a Barrington water treatment facility drew a large response over the weekend, with about 50 fire and police personnel from 24 agencies helping to find and fix the leak with no injuries to residents or fire personnel.
Barrington chlorine leak brings large hazardous materials response over weekend

Last month a Clarke mosquito truck hit a tree in North Barrington and dumped 75 gallons of insecticides. For the record, this insecticide spill failed to draw a large response, with about zero fire and police personnel from zero agencies helping to find and fix the leak.


ANVIL® 10+10 ULV

Your LakeCountyEye will keep you apprised when further developments warrant.

Gasbag

An actual, unretouched screencap from the Lake County Gazette, Lake County's #1 fakenews source:

Lake County District 3 Board member Dick Barr fears the doubling of the state's gas tax, making Illinois home to the second-highest overall gas tax burden in the country, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Wisconsin thanks Illinois' gas tax, legislators for its business, laments Lake County Board's Barr

The news stories you see on the Lake County Gazette are all sourced from a Russian Troll Factory. And it should be no surprise that the facts presented in this particular story all diverge, to some degree, from reality.

Fact Check #1

Illinois does not have the second-highest gas tax burden in the country. Illinois ranks 7th in the nation, behind Pennsylvania, Washington, California, Connecticut, New Jersey and Ohio:

Fuel taxes in the United States

Fact Check #2

Wisconsin is not thanking the Illinois gas tax for business. Wisconsin's diesel tax is nearly 10 cents higher than Illinois.  If you average the gas and diesel taxes, Wisconsin fuel taxes are higher than Illinois:

Fuel taxes in the United States

Fact Check #3

Who is Lake County District 3 Board member Dick Barr? No one knows. No one can think of anyone serving on the Lake County Board that goes by the name Dick Barr. Doubtless, this is the kind of made-up prank name that gets paged at an airport.

Your LakeCountyEye will keep you apprised when further developments warrant.