Sunday, August 30, 2009 Index

Behold Murawski Cottage!

There have been some real stinkers that slunk their way into the previous election cycle, but it wasn’t until August 21, 2009 that the sign crying out “Re-Elect Mayor Murawski” the “Independent Party” candidate came down and is one of the last known remnants of what once was the 2008 election cycle.

For those who missed this last election here, both candidates claimed membership to an “Independent Party,” but the real kicker is the rules and regulations that govern political signage during an election cycle and the penalties for leaving behind propaganda associated with a particular election cycle.

With a camera once again in my possession, not only did I capture the sign evolution, I took a few photos of the inside of the storefront.

Call me crazy, but I thought I’d be the temporary spokesperson for the two lonely signs being held captive.

“And I call out to thee with desperate hope…Let these two signs feel the light of day and yes, even the coldest of nights.  Do not fear these signs and their meaning, despite the threat of penalty!  It’s what they were made for.  They were built for the job assigned to them and they are ready and able to serve and protect one and all regardless of race, creed, color, sex and yes, even the disabled and handi-capped and they are aching to venture outward beyond their current boundaries to prove themselves worth of the task built into them.”

Think you know what the two signs say?  Then check out this entry and see for yourself if your guess was right…I’m thinking most will be momentarily surprised…but only for a moment.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Spring 2009 Building Department Suggestions

Pulled straight from the pages of the Spring 2009 Midlothian Tartan Tidings, its always good for homeowners and landlords to stay savvy on building department rules and regulations.  With the promise of at least a few more months of construction weather (fingers crossed!), here’s what the Midlothian building department wants you to know.

Spring 2009 Tartan Tidings “Chat With the Chief”

Having recently received reports of yet another round of software-driven automated messages causing phones to ring, I though this particular “Chat With the Chief” could help enhance the savvy factor of these types of communication attempts.  Just as Schavone points out about cold calls regarding debt consolidation in his article, this most recent wave came in the format of first stating the name of a person and then instructing the listener to hang up if they are not the person.  Well…I wasn’t the person they were asking for, but I also didn’t invite them to contact me, so I decided to at least listen to the rest of the message since they already had been rude enough not to validate and verify their database before calling. 

Although the recorded storyline runs similiar to what bill collectors have used in the past, there was no true identifier as to the source of the call and the command to call them back at an 800 number if you are the person the recording requested.

Unfortunately, these types of schemes are not used exclusively by bill collectors and there are a lot of other ways your personal information can be compromised when reversing the communication connection from them calling you to you calling into their equipment.

Do not hesitate to contact the Midlothian Police Department if you are being harassed, even with these types of phone calls.  Please use judgment when discerning if your reporting an incident demands reaching out via the 911 system or if a simple call to the non-emergency number can accomplish the desired results of at least reporting the event.

And now back to Schavone’s message from the Tartan Tidings!

Sunday, August 16, 2009 Index

Midlothian Issues

Paper Tigers can make for Pretty Paper Pledges of a Series of Promises…

The United States Department of Justice recently signed what appears to be a series of pledges to keep a pretty serious laundry list of now documented existing violations (complete with legal citations!) regarding the Americans With Disabilities Act.  It reads with a pleasant tonality…but Midlothian has a vault full of previously paid for paper tigers proposing step by step changes the Village should take in order to elevate its rankings across the board.

United States Department of Justice Settlement Documentation

Now a permanent part of the Midlothian Issues container, this page holds at least some of the existing documentation surrounding the settlement agreement.  Rather than paraphrasing the agreement and pursuant to fair use copyright conditions governing the duplication and distribution of such materials for educational purposes, I have copy/pasted the documents so its a one-stop reading place.

Community Policing Extension for Midlothian, Illinois

Irma Rodriguez information page

Although the discovery of Irma Rodriguez brutally murdered and stuffed into the trunk of her car is already a few months old, the case is still open and police are still looking for any information that can lead to an arrest and conviction against the perpetrator(s).  This page is a permanent feature in this blog.

Exoteric Political Opinion by Valerie —> Midlothian, Illinois

So what’s up with the Medium Volume of Digital Paper Tigers Suddenly Roaming Midlothian?

With the DOJ agreement being but one of many paper pledges floating around Midlothian, it is curious who will be picking up the tab with the clean-up and removal of a house that fell right in the middle of Cicero Avenue the other day in between a favorite castle and one of the many Fanny’s…let alone this apparent influx of interest in sustaining the non-uniform FOIA request/reporting system.  Will Mayor Stephens have the ability to spearhead some results from the still-existing loyalists of the former administration?  Will former Mayor Murawksi ever remove the sign telling everyone to re-elect him as Mayor of Midlothian?  Could all of this documented conversation really mean that the previous trends and political protocols are finally being properly dismantled and removed from the Midlothian scenery?  Could I come up with any more questions?  Should I come up with any more questions?  Will I come up with any more questions?  Not for this summary…

****Special Addition To the Index!

The House That Caera Built for Caera Kirsch Designs

Once upon a time, in a chair not so long ago, I wore the lenses of a web designer.  Okay, so they were just prescription glasses perched on my nose, but just the same, they were but only one of the many, many tools I needed in order to pull together a career as a free-lance web designer.

This site was retired back in 2007 as I came to the determination that no matter how determined I was to keep up with such a fast fluxing industry, I just couldn’t produce what I would classify as quality work and keep my pricing low and affordable for the small business owner.

It’s now 2009 and the Village is being asked to comply with an agreement to keep its website up to date with a variety of information and CSS style sheets is the first mandatory element that comes to mind when dream building anyone’s site.

Click here to learn more about why knowledge on how to design using a CSS format is (almost) mandatory for just about every site.

The Midlothian Murawski Mystery Series

There’s nothing Sterling, let alone Platinum, about the Sterling Codifiers, Inc. production number

The Municipal Code book versions that Sterling Codifiers, Inc. has produced for the Village of Midlothian since 1963 is no laughing matter, except to those who have been laughing all the way to their bank accounts to withdraw payment for “services rendered.”

Now its just a question of how long has Sterling known that its format translates quite poorly with a variety of OCR-based tools and software…and how many other municipalities have been already forced to pay clearly excessive fees to translate their Sterling code books into digital format since they are the ones who have been clearly engineering this slop since 1963.

Sunday June 7, 2009 Index

New Illinois Pay-To-Play Demonstration Using Evidence From The Mystery of the Missing Midlothian Municipal Code Pages

Taking a cold look at one of the many entrenched pay-to-play schemes designed to artificially inflate a community that thrives and survives on civil unrest and incivility…and paid for with tax dollars being directed by politicians into the pockets of the poorest of performers, at least when it comes to providing quality codifying services, and done under long-term contract so disconnection from a bad deal becomes yet another tab for a group of lawyers to tally up as to how much it would cost to at least hold a codifier accountable for their consistently poor delivery of codifying services, including the use of a sans-serif font as the typeset for the books of laws they produce using taxpayer dollars to such an extraordinarily powerful instrument able to be used to achieve and sustain a peaceful and open community relationship between civilians, law enforcement and government representatives.

Stage 1 Complete For More Evidence Of the “Mom For Murawski” Endorsement Fraud

With confirmation from the local newspaper the reprint was pulled from, questions still remain as to what the final list of line-item violations were performed once this particular piece of election materials hit the postal service and then subsequently carried forth upon the shoulders of our postal carriers into the mailboxes of many, let alone the distress factors forced upon those who were even temporarily influenced by such an intentionally deceitful publication.

2009 Memorial Day Special

Every keystroke and mouse click associated with converting Midlothian’s Village Code Book into a .pdf format are dedicated to all men and women past, present and future who believe the only way to earn the privilege to govern over a free society is by ensuring all laws are easily accessible by one and all…at all times.

There still is zero excuse for the Village of Midlothian to continue actively blockading any and all reviews of the 3 copies they are obligated by their own laws to have available for inspection at any time, including the decline of a FOIA request.

THANK YOU TO ONE AND ALL FOR YOUR LEGACIES!  I would not be who I am if those before me had not displayed the courage to sacrifice far greater than I ever could…

Preface and An Ordinance

Title I Administrative

Title I – Chapter 1 Village Code

Title I – Chapter 2 Saving Clause

Title I – Chapter 3 Definitions

Title I – Chapter 5 Board of Trustees

Title I – Chapter 6 Village Clerk

Title I – Chapter 8 Attorney

Title I – Chapter 12 Finance

Title I – Chapter 13 Director of Public Relations

Title I – Chapter 17 Code of Ethics

Title I – Chapter 19 Ethics

Title III Departments

Title III – Chapter 1 Police Department

Title III – Chapter 3 Water Department

Title IV Building Regulations

Title IV – Chapter 2

Title IV – Chapter 3 Permit Requirements

Title IV – Chapter 11A Fences

Title VI Police Regulations

Title VI – Chapter 1 General Offenses

Preface and An Ordinance

Title I – Chapter 1 Village Code

Title I – Chapter 2 Saving Clause

Title I – Chapter 3 Definitions

Title I – Chapter 5 Board of Trustees

Title I – Chapter 6 Village Clerk

Title I – Chapter 8 Attorney

Monday May 18, 2009 Index

***New Documents Container

In direct response to the overwhelming response to the Midlothian Codes being online (at least in a partial format) this container is dedicated to providing ordinances in a convenient, easy to read .pdf format for online viewing or downloading.

Title I, Chapter 5 Board of Trustees

Village of Midlothian Municipal Code Project Downloadable Documents

New to the project, Title I, Chapter 5 makes its debut in .pdf format, complete with hyperlinks helping you reference the line items you are interested in.

Village Code Project Update

Village of Midlothian Municipal Code Project

Sunday May 17, 2009 Index

Identifying who might need to be taken to court

Village of Midlothian Village Code Project

A look at the role of Village Lawyer J. Daniel McGrath in The Mystery of the Missing Midlothian Municipal Codes and how his individual actions continue to leave the Village wide open for even more legal challenges in its present and future while invoicing the Village for “services rendered.”  This post outlines evidence why if there is any lawsuit to be filed in connection with the Village Code Book, it is The Village of Midlothian as a municipality that needs to pursue such recourse and the suit should include a complete and total refund of all monies paid to McGrath for “services rendered,” along with the recommendation to use such a refund to fast track the corrective actions necessary to cure this current condition.