Rockford passes new legislation to combat already-illegal activity

Reckless driving, disobeying traffic laws, property damage, drinking and driving, drugs, nuisance noise, uninsured and unlicensed drivers. Yep, there were already laws against these, but in a highly-publicized dog-and-pony show/witch hunt orchestrated by out-of-touch aldermen, the Rockford City Council added one more law to the books in short order Monday.
When hundreds of these spiffed-up cars gather late at night for mobile soirees, police could break up the party for any number of reasons. Apparently, only seizure of participants' vehicles is enough of an incentive for officers to uphold the law, however.

Yes, you read that correctly. Not "impound," but SEIZE. So far, local media haven't made this distinction, and it's an important one that gives police just a little more power to ruin your day. If you don't think it could possibly apply to you, you're a fool and a dullard.

When I visited the special hearing on the subject at City Hall last week, Ald. Wasco wondered whether the proposed ordinance, which deals specifically with fines and impounding, could allow police to seize these ne'er-do-wells' rides as well. The short answer is, the new law doesn't provide for this, but there's more to the story.

Because the "hood ryders" naturally speed off in every direction when cops arrive, the state's attorney can authorize seizure of the vehicles under an aggravated fleeing statute, assuming that cops manage to accurately scribble down their tag numbers.

Lesson learned by hood ryders: Remove or obscure your license plates while breaking the law.

Why the need for the impound ordinance? Mini-chief Michael Booker said that once a vehicle is impounded for involvement in hood ryder activity, the registered owner (not necessarily the driver) would be made to sign a form acknowledging the car has been used for illegal activity, agreeing that any subsequent violation of a similar nature would result in full seizure. If the owner doesn't agree, the police will not relinquish the car from impound. Raises some interesting constitutional questions, doesn't it?

How this affects you: If you have kids who drive your vehicles, you're at risk of having your wheels permanently commandeered by the RPD should your offspring get caught up in this. And let's face it - if you happen to be a minority, it's just one more way the cops are gonna fuck with you.

So, because police, for whatever reason, have not nipped this shit in the bud before now, the city has basically legislated a new form of racism. Instead, how 'bout we cut money from the PD's budget for every time they failed to enforce existing laws? And just to keep them honest, any proceeds derived from the hood ryder vehicle seizures, fines and impound fees should amount to that much less money the city has to give to the department's budget.

Law enforcement is supposed to be about serving and protecting, but cops have decided it makes more sense to turn a profit, and that ought to piss off every taxpayer. Demand that these gumshoes do the jobs they're paid very well to perform, and without the need for new laws.

On a completely unrelated note, Ald. Mark was not at the council meeting Monday night. That makes me wonder if he wasn't taking Harris Bank executives out to titty bars instead.

The recent failure of Amcore Bank, which has since been bought by Harris, is undoubtedly viewed as a huge opportunity for Mark and his Metrocentre keepers.

As you'll recall, Mark was given a cushy, sweetheart job selling corporate suites for the big, orange problem child as a way to convince him not to run against Larry Morrissey in the last mayoral election. Meanwhile, however, he hasn't been delivering sales particularly well.

Harris, owned by hockey-loving Canucks, is a major sponsor of the Chicago Blackhawks, whose farm team is none other than the Rockford Icehogs. See where this is headed?

If Mark can't sell "Harris Center" naming rights to take some of the weight of the Icehogs pork off the taxpayers' backs, he needs to be fired. Doug, in this case, we actually wish ye well.

Slumlord: Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours

LandWhite Developers, a New York firm specializing in "low-income housing" and opportunism, wants to help Rockford. No, really. Rockford attorney Ian Linnabary said so. It must be true.

LandWhite is dead-set on rejuvenating the city by welcoming 158 poor individuals and families to the Village at Southgate, which would be sited at 11th Street and Sandy Hollow. Unfortunately for the developers, neither city staff nor the ZBA think it's a good idea, and it's in direct conflict with Rockford's long-range plan. The city feels the area is better suited for commercial and industrial tenants, but the plot thickens as a pair of aldermen who've comfortably been in office too long are holding the wooden spoon and tending the spice rack.

After a poor diagnosis for the project was corroborated by city staff and the ZBA, the request made its way to a city council committee, but no vote was taken because Ann Thompson-Kelly and Lenny Jacobson were curiously absent from City Hall Monday night.

The apartment complex, destined to become a rapidly-depreciating slum, happens to be in Lenny Jacobson's ward. Regardless of what his constituents, who'd be neighbors of the complex, have to say about it, Lenny always puts unions first. I mean, how else do you think the guy remains in office? If that's not enough incentive for Lenny to back the plan, maybe LeonardWhite could propose putting a bar in the complex to seal the deal. Time to retire from politics, Lenny. I'm getting a hard-on for your bullshit. This is your opportunity to bow out gracefully before I release the Rottweilers with orders to go for the balls.

Ann Thompson-Kelly seems to have an interest as well. LandWhite has been chomping at the bit for months to "redevelop" the former Church School in her ward. They want to turn it into a 44-unit home for old folks. I wonder if Thompson still dips her toes in the concrete business, as was the case with her company being awarded a sweetheart sub-contract for the new justice center (courtesy of Sjostrom & Sons).

The other option for Church School is demolition of a building that holds many fond memories for lifelong residents in the area, despite falling into disrepair. Last year, the city wrestled away the dilapidated building from a minority group that dreamed of turning the building into a community center. Annie turned on them and backed the foreclosure when LandWHITE offered an alternative which would allow the company to acquire the property for next to nothing. Black voters in the 7th Ward should remember this when she's running for re-election. Despite all her lip service to remain in the good graces of the African-American community, let's just call her Aunt Thom-pson.

The 7th Ward needs the kind of representation the 5th Ward is getting from the likes of council freshman Venita Hervey, who truly has her finger on the pulse of the best interest of the black community in Rockford. Hervey impresses me, and local government needs more folks like her, even if she is a lawyer.
Back to the Village at Southgate. LandWhite is only offering $800,000 of its own money, while trying to cash in on $16,800,000 of taxpayer risk. Take a look at those two figures again to make sure you read them correctly.

The Register Star reported:

"The city should deviate from its land-use plan for a number of reasons, Linnabary said, including the project’s merit and the developer’s potential involvement in another project of great importance to the city.

“This developer is willing to work with the city on the redevelopment of Church School," Linnabary said. 'The developer will be making no money on it, but they can make a profit in the residential project. They’re willing to do Church School if they can get Southgate.”

Hmmm. So, LandWhite is only willing to be a do-gooder if the city breaks the rules for them to build an apartment complex that nobody wants or needs? Meanwhile, they say they won't turn a profit on the Church School project, which they say they'll only redevelop if Southgate is approved. In other words, they're gonna make such a huge profit on Southgate that they'll buy votes in other wards in order to get the 10 votes they need for approval.

Fuck these out-of-towners in both ears and any other readily-apparent orifices. They only want to collect state-guaranteed rent on projects that would shrivel their dick like a stack of dimes without taxpayer subsidization.

Lenny must go. Annie must go. And LandWhite, most assuredly, needs to take a hike. If a better offer doesn't come along, demolition would still be an improvement.

Watch closely May 10. Prepare your scorecards. I suspect the vote will be very much along party lines. That's why Democrats held it out May 3 in absence of Lenny and Annie. It needs their votes to have a chance at passing. The question is, which Republicans can be bought behind the scenes before then?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day

Ald. Pat Curran complained Monday night about the design of a bridge for Mayor Morrissey's river-walk project. He's a buffoon, but he was right this time. People are going to look at it, not only a hundred years from now, but 5 years from now, and wonder, "What were they thinking?"

Seriously, take a look at the conceptual drawing and tell me this suspension bridge looks like it even remotely belongs with the arched bridges it's attached to. As my daughter would say, "WTF?" A half-baked plan by a completely-baked council.

Never mind. It's not their money they're pissing away. The state is going to pay for most of it, or so our city fathers want to believe, so that makes it OK to do it half-assed. We in Rockford are used to that. We are the champions and patron saints of mediocrity.

Tim Dimke, head of the Rockford Park District, likened the project to Rockford's version of Disneyland. The paper didn't specify, but I suspect he said it with a straight face that needs to be sullied by a drunken, angry Irishman.

Has anyone pulling the strings in town actually lived outside of Rockford? I doubt it, and they certainly don't care to listen to anyone who has. No one, I mean no one, is going to be impressed by this floating turd. Certainly not anyone from out of town. It'll be just one more place for Rockfordians to end their Forbes-confirmed miserable lives.

Then there's Ann Thompson Kelly. She spent several minutes telling everyone how she's completely against the project. Then, she voted for it. Thanks, Ann. Your lip service proves how good of a friend you are to taxpayers.

She based her support on the $3,400,000 the state is pitching in. Guess what, Ann. Those dollars come from us taxpayers, too.

The underlying theme during discussion Monday night was the support of "stakeholders," namely the Burpee Museum. Supposedly, they like the bridge design because it fits in with their own expansion project.

Jesus, let them pay for it then. They're obviously the only ones the city is trying to please with this thing. Despite being a seat of culture, it's clear the museum folks have poor taste.

The taxpayers of Rockford have roundly rejected the whole river-walk idea from its inception, and no one is listening (unless you support it). Despite the state paying for much of the cost, we could use those dollars for other things. Members of the public during the council meeting aptly noted our roads are a much more deserving cause.

Downtown is a good cause, too, but we've spent more than enough money in that ghost town lately. Let's spread it around a bit for the rest of us who travel in other parts of the city. Before any "tourists" ever reach the river, all they're going to notice is the shit quality of our roads.

Isn't it ironic that the company who builds the roads is the same company that destroys them with their huge trucks?

My derelict friends began filing in hours ago for the mayor's 5th state of the city address later today. We will be ruthlessly drunk and sleep-deprived by the time the speech hits the airwaves at 6:00. We'd considered going down to the Coronado to witness the horrors in person, but they'd never let us near the place in the condition we'll be in. Instead, we'll be huddled around the radio like it's the 1940's.

The wife was displeased with me even before our "guests" arrived, but the kitchen is her happy place away from me. The less we see of each other, the better we get along. She'll leave me any day now, and probably take the kids, but that's the way it goes for true Patriots. Sometimes, we have to sacrifice our personal lives for the greater good. I have to believe that.

Take crooked aldermen down a notch; legalize drugs and prostitution

"I don't understand why prostitution is illegal. Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. So, why isn't it legal to sell fucking?" - George Carlin

Spring is in the air. I can tell because my allergies are awakening as my hibernation comes to an end.

It seems love is in the air, too, especially in the Broadway district where, apparently at the behest of Ald. Elyea, police have turned their attention from rounding up crack-whores to singling out the johns instead. They're the ones who can afford to throw money into the local corrupt justice system after all. Makes perfect sense for those who stand to make a buck, I suppose.

The Rockford Register Star, this town's version of Pravda for city government, has clearly signed on to the embarrass-the-johns initiative. Much to the Register Star's chagrin, one of its own reporters, Chris Green, was the subject of one such arrest for solicitation of a sexual act during the second of several recent prostitution details to take place in midtown.

As part of the police department's priority of arresting lonely men, the daily has seemingly also agreed to publish photos of the johns. If I was Linda Grist Cunningham, I'd make the department pay for that ink and space if they insist the photos be published, considering the police should have bigger fish to fry. Instead, those of us who subscribe to the paper are paying for it. The Star didn't implement this photo-publishing practice until the third wave of arrests, however, saving Green a smidgen of embarrassment. Poor bastard nonetheless.

So, who stands to benefit from the crackdown on street-level prostitution in the Broadway area? Glad you asked. Just a few blocks away, there are known establishments which cater to lonely men under the guise of "lingerie modeling" or "massage" parlors. These places never seem to get busted, do they? But we all know what goes on there. I wonder who the owners, and more importantly the silent partners, could be that police protection seems guaranteed. One former 11th Ward alderman was very closely tied to such an establishment. I hear that's even where he met his bride. Big surprise.

Also, by turning the focus away from arresting the drug-addicted prostitutes, who stands to benefit? Glad you asked that, too. Well, those who sell drugs would certainly benefit by keeping their customers out of jail.

Starting to connect the dots?

Considering the very serious and violent crimes we face in Rockford, is this what our police should be focusing their resources on? As they say, it's the world's oldest profession. You're never gonna put a dent in it as long as the human animal has instinctual desires. And, as for the ladies, let's not forget the need to survive.

Let's take a closer look as the long-standing tradition of prostitution in the 11th Ward. These ladies deserve to make a living, too. Most, if not all, are drug addicts, unfortunately. Still, they have no skills (or teeth) with which to get a "real" job. And let's get real. They have no opportunities to turn their lives around. Unless you'd like to shell out more taxes for social programs that won't work, just leave them and their customers the fuck alone. We've got bigger issues to solve.

Hell, I don't even have a problem with the drug trade in most respects. Let adults do what they will as long as no one else is getting hurt. On the other hand, those who peddle their poison to children, and use children to do so - well, they're a different story. That's about as low as you can get. Since police don't want to do anything about it, they need to step aside and look the other way while us parents take it into our own hands.

On that note, one of my daughters goes to Keith Country Day School and has VERY interesting things to say about what one local alderman is involved in. I'd encourage other parents who know what I'm talking about to contact me.

Taking chances with contempt to avoid perjury?

Our power went out this past week, and the absence of white noise emanating from my CPAP machine caused me to jettison an otherwise long, comfortable slumber in time for the Christmas holiday. Draping myself in a bathrobe and my wife's fuzzy pink slippers (I'm not particular about attire until after I've had my breakfast and morning scotch), I lumbered down the stairs to face my estranged family.

I peered out the kitchen window, temporarily blinded by the brilliance of fresh snowfall in the morning sun, and grabbed a pair of my wife's Sam "Ace" Rothstein sunglasses to hide my eyes from the nightmare I could have eluded by staying asleep.

Again, little has changed since we last spoke, Patriots, and I take little comfort in having been correct with my predictions more than a month ago.

Of course, I'm referring to the Mark Anthony Barmore fiasco.

As you read here first in November, powder burns on Barmore's hand was crucial evidence to exonerate officers North and Poole in the grand jury's eyes.

So, what about the statement to police from a 17-year-old girl (Marissa, Pastor "Apostle" Melvin Brown's daughter) that Barmore surrendered peacefully with his hands up and head down? As it turns out, according to the testimony of at least one other witness, Marissa probably couldn't see what actually transpired in the seconds before shots rang out.

I suppose it's possible he may have head his hands up at one point, but the officers say Barmore went for Poole's gun. During that struggle, State's Attorney Joe Bruscato said, Poole's gun discharged, accounting for the powder burns and the bullet superficially striking Barmore's neck.

When Jesse Jackson led marches here in Rockford recently (how far he's fallen since marching with King in Memphis), Barmore's family felt it was appropriate (probably at Jesse's urging) to picture their fallen kin's dead body on picket signs. Their point was that he'd been shot in the back, which he was. But that's not to say the officers were not justified.

Now, believe me, I have no love of the police apparatus in general, because I've been the target of many fascist tactics by law enforcement in my life. But I'll say again that I think the black community has chosen the wrong battle in this instance, and so has Rev. Jackson in trusting the word of the Browns.

That brings me now to Pastor Brown, who has consistently called officers North and Poole murderers. Really, Melvin? Why don't you tell us what you did prison time for before conveniently finding the Lord in time to be paroled?

Has the African-American community at large been historically fucked over in American society? Absolutely. But that doesn't make it right to vilify two men who, by most accounts, acted appropriately under the circumstances. That will not make things right, and nothing otherwise is "owed" to anyone. That's an unjust victory you're not gonna be proud of when you stand before Jesus, Allah, Odin, or whomever one prays to.

Yes, North and Poole have pulled their triggers before in the line of duty (which I guarantee will be the cornerstone of the civil suit against them), but even if they have itchy trigger fingers, you're gonna have a hard time convincing me that the officers marched into a day care center full of witnesses with the intention of shooting Barmore to death. If they were going to kill a man in cold blood, they wouldn't have done it in front of witnesses, I guaran-damn-tee.

Would things have gone down the same way if the incident had unfolded somewhere on the "white" east side? I think so.

Yes, it's true that cops often cover for other cops, but my gut tells me that's not the case here. Could it have been handled in a way that no one would have died? Perhaps. The civil case will be the major news story throughout 2010, so if you're sick of hearing about it, move. Or, if you're like me, nod off and wake occasionally to see if the landscape has changed. However, it seldom does around here.

As I wrote in November, Pastor Brown is sure to see dollar signs and keep the controversy alive. Religion is a very lucrative business. If you don't believe that, just look at the clothes, cars, jewelry, etc. he and his family are "blessed" with in doing the Lord's work. They seem to be doing awfully well as humble servants of low-income parishioners.

However, there remains one question the Browns are hoping no one will ask: Who allowed Barmore into the day care, thus endangering the children entrusted to the House of Grace? Again I ask, where is the class action suit against the day care from the parents of these children put in harm's way?

Perhaps it is one thing if Barmore sought sanctuary in the church itself, but it's quite another to barricade oneself in the midst of children. Then, factor in that North and Poole were advised he may have been armed, and you've got a real situation on your hands-one that needed to be diffused decisively under the circumstances.

As the lone voices alleging wrongdoing on the part of North and Poole, it is very telling that the apostle's wife and daughter, Sheila and Marissa, decided not to show up to provide testimony under oath to the grand jury last week. They have legal representation, so they knew what they were getting into by keeping their holiday vacation plans instead.

It is obvious they were advised it's better to face contempt-of-court than to lie under oath and face perjury charges. They'll use whatever penalties they face to their own advantage. Then, they'll be on the offensive in the civil case, without having to be called liars by the grand jury. They might even win some money, but I'm sure it'll be used for the Lord's work to bring healing to the divided Rockford community.

I'm going back to bed, but stay tuned.

Where to begin?

A few of you precocious little Patriots just won't leave me alone. It seems I have no choice but to emerge from my hibernation early as another election season looms on the horizon of the new year. I'm cranky, ruthlessly drunk and likely to maul any poor bastard who dares speak a word to me before before I've had my breakfast.

Brunch is served.

I see not much has changed since I nodded off after my last post in September. Main Street is still closed downtown, the city is still spending money it doesn't have, Ted Biondo is still on the county board and Apostle Brown is still trying to stretch his 15 minutes into a miniseries.

The vaults under the downtown pedestrian mall must have been a problem, indeed. This project was supposed to be finished by around Labor Day. I suspect we'll be seeing some more quietly-presented, vaguely-described change orders in days to come, for overruns the mayor isn't gonna be proud of. Don't expect aldermen to call him on it, though. Like the Metrocentre, it's a commitment they'll all have to bear like a colostomy bag.

Aldermen have other ways of getting even, but the net effect will be a tax increase. This week, they commandeered a $600,000 debt payment, because they're banking on the federal or state government swooping in to pay the city's bills.

Instead of being responsible stewards of tax dollars, William Charles will probably get the $600,000 to resurface streets the city's most influential constituents live on, and the bond payment will still have to be made somehow. If I had to guess, either a bunch more non-union employees are going to lose their jobs, or your taxes will pick up the slack.

Being a holiday week, I'm using some vacation days before the end of the year. I plan on being up all night. After all, someone has to make the Bloody Mary's at 6AM when the zombies start filing in for political tailgating. Later this morning, Ted Biondo will probably be ordered off the county board by a judge. We want to be there when it happens, but metal detectors and armed deputies in the lobby could be difficult to get by with straight faces stuffed with Lion's Club mints to hide the unmistakable stench of drunkenness.
We're not celebrating because we dislike Ted, but because we finally might catch a glimpse of the elusive Carolynus Gardnerus soon . This bottom-feeding Democratic specimen is finally gonna have to come out from behind Dan Lewandowski's apron. No newspaper or TV station has been able to find her in the many months this scumbaggery has dragged on. What's she gonna do when she actually has to show up for a board meeting? Shit, she might even have to move back into her district. Being a county board member is hard.

Ted, we'll see you back on the board next year after you've spanked Gardner back into the subservient obscurity she's earned.

For at least a month now, reports have been leaking out alleging that Mark Anthony Barmore had powder burns on his hand, which would tend to support the officers' account that the member of Pastor Melvin Brown's flock had his hand on a gun in the scuffle that left him shot to death by police. Brown still calls the shooting a murder, but an investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, I'm sure the Apostle is scheming to keep the gravy train flowing. For a related story on RRStar.com recently, a reader suggested in a comment that Brown keeps yelling "murder" to deflect attention away from the fact this his wife allegedly let Barmore into the building/day care. The reader went on to wonder why none of the parents of the children in the day care were questioning why Barmore was welcomed into the building. Why, indeed.

It's even been suggested that Brown allegedly paid Jesse Jackson to bring his fish and goose soiree to Rockford. By the way, I wasn't the only one who thought Jesse was drunk when he spoke during city council. A source tells me Jackson allegedly smelled of booze in the hours before his comments.

That aside, the black community has some good points, even if they might have picked the wrong battle in this instance. When you have cops investigating cops, it's pretty safe to assume any use of force will be deemed justified. But even Ann Thompson-Kelly (the alderman with perma-surprise, apparently courtesy of cosmetic surgery) backed down from the NAACP's idea of a police review board made up of citizens. Instead, she decided it's enough to just talk with police, and the best chance the the community has ever had for a civilian review in use-of-force cases has been frittered away.

I don't look forward to the announcement of justifiable homicide in the Barmore case, even if it's true. It's not likely to ease perceived racial tension, and I suspect Brown is salivating. This is just getting started, unfortunately.

Cripes. If you don't pay attention to national news, you might have missed that Congressman Don Manzullo called Islam a "savage religion." Wow.

WREX managed to catch Don saying this. Naturally, because Ch. 13 had the scoop, it went almost ignored by the other local media, but it made big news nationally. The congressman who once ran on term limits has since backpedaled, saying the comment only applied to the Guantanamo detainees.

Unless I'm mistaken, Manzullo has a law degree laying around somewhere. In his strictly anti-Obama stance on the prospect of detainees being moved to Thomson, IL, Don appears to be forgetting the inconvenient matter of due process in his assumptions, while apparently doubting the local labor force is capable of keeping potentially dangerous terrorists from escaping from locked metal boxes.

Manzullo's archaic arguments imply housing the detainees in his district will somehow turn the rural town into a target for terrorists--LOL

What the Thomson deal really tells me is that Manzullo has gained absolutely no respect from colleagues during his years in Congress. Obama is basically shitting in Manzullo's back yard, Don thinks, and I suspect that's indicative of a need for stronger leadership in the 16th District.

We'll get into some of the election stuff later, once I've coughed all the bong resin from my lungs and wiped the cobwebs from my eyes.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
-Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

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