More McHenry County Blog

In last week’s 11 o’clock service at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Hannah continued her search for Jesus.

She will again on Sunday, but I didn't want to ruin my suspense, so I didn't ask where.

It started in the wilderness three years ago when she met a man whom she first saw on a cliff shouting to no one visible to her about not tempting the Lord. After coming down from the mountain, He told her about the meaning of life, but Hannah didn’t understand His words or that she had met Jesus.

Hannah next searched in Nazareth, His hometown, meeting His fun-loving half sister, among others, who called Him “a goody two shoes” for having changed the Temple wine the kids had replaced with water back to wine.

Then, it was onto Bethany, where Hannah tried to insinuate herself with Jesus’ friends at a party celebrating Lazarus’ return from the grave. (“He was really dead.”) She so wanted to be part of the “in crowd.”

Next, Hannah just misses Jesus turn over the tables of the moneychangers and vendors in the Temple, where it is clear that others are searching for the meaning of Jesus' ministry. (“He looked right through me.”)

Last Sunday, Hannah decided to draw Jesus to her with a deal he could not refuse for a boat.

You see, she had heard that he was coming to the Sea of Galilee to preach and that he had started using boats so that more people could see and hear him.

“I believe it started because He’s got those disciples that are fishermen. I don’t know if He couldn’t really get anyone else at first, so he asked this bunch of fishermen to be His disciples.”

Anyway, as the crowd grew, “Well, one of those fishermen disciples just told Him to get into a boat.”

So, Hannah decides to supply the next boat. She sets up a

“Hannah’s Boat for Rent”

stall.

And, there’s a

“Special if your name begins with J”:

“10 silver coins – 3 hours.”

“We’re going to call it ‘J-Day.’”

Hannah doesn’t want Jesus to think she isn’t busy, so she sets up a

“Take a number for service”

pad.

But, she’s willing to deal.

“And, of course I can negotiate. I was voted ‘Most Likely to Succeed by Negotiation’ by my Temple group,” she says.

“I’ll negotiate a trade…I’ll let Him use my boat for a few hours if we can maybe go to dinner or just sit down for a chat.

In search for Jesus, Hannah tells the congregation, “…every time, I’ve been, what is the phrase you use, ‘A Day Late and a Dollar Short.’

“Yes, I feel like I’m failing miserably, but I feel the need to meet and know Jesus SO badly.”

Hannah sees a crowd of people starting to gather along the shoreline.

She sits behind her booth and waits.

She reads a magazine. (You have to enlarge the photograph by clicking on it to read the titles of the articles in this first century "Enquirer.")

And waits.

As Jeremy Camp’s song,

“I Wait for the Lord,”

is sung.

She waits for business.

Not just any business, but a visit from Jesus.

She takes a lunch break.

And waits.

The day passes slowly.

She lowers the rental price from 10 to 8 silver coins.

The song,

“Get on the Boat”

plays.


She rips off a couple of numbers from the "Take a Number of Service" pad so Jesus will think she is busier than she is.

She is getting tired.

Really tired.

Exhausted.

The way waiting for something to happen exhausts one.

She yawns.

Hannah waits some more.

The afternoon doesn't fly by.

Hannah moves a chair in the direction where she sees the crowd and stands on it.

Hannah moves the chair closer to the crowd.

“I don’t believe it. He’s there.

“And, he’s on a boat.

“Where did he get the boat?

“I have the boat.

“I’d just give it to him if He’d just spend some time with me. All I want is to talk to him.

“I think he sees me. He looks shorter than I thought.

“He looks so tired. Really tired.

“I think he just waved at me.

“I can hear him.

“I think he’s talking to me.”

And the tableau ends as she leaves the stage.

Pastor Dave Seyller delivered a short message about how people cannot serve two masters.

He pointed out that we cannot entice Jesus with discounts.

We can’t bargain with Him.

“Too many people are searching for Jesus in all the wrong places, instead of searching within oneself.”

The service was shorter than usual, but I didn't find anyone who felt short-changed.

The Methodist Church in Crystal Lake is located at the intersection of Crystal Lake and Dole Avenues, both of which intersect with Route 14.

= = = = =
All the photographs can be enlarged by clicking on them.

The blond in all of the pictures is first year Cary-Grove High School teacher Logan Fraser. Author and director of today's skit, officially titled, "Trying to Buy Jesus - Boat for Rent," Jeannie Patterson can be send advancing the clock's hands. The woman with Logan Fraser in the top picture is Lori Morrow, who played Jesus' half-sister in the second playlet of the series. Directly below that picture is SueAnn Fraser, Logan's mother-in-law. Logan's father Dave Hill is seen singing.

“This is the fourth week that poor child has been searching,” explained Renee Schulz, author and director of last week’s sketch about Hannah’s quest for the meaning of life.

"In her first attempt, during a one and one-half day fast in which she got “really hungry,” she encountered Jesus in the wilderness at the end of his 40-day fast. Of course, she didn’t know whom she was talking to.

Next, she traveled to Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth to talk to his friends and neighbors.

Bethany was next. Hannah crashed a party celebrating Lazarus’ rising from the dead.

Last Sunday at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, she was in Jerusalem, having just missed in her fourth attempt to find Jesus.

He has just driven the money changer out of the Temple after becoming enraged at the desecration of His Father’s house.

The place was a mess.

Relatives of the stall keepers are cleaning up when Hannah arrives.

But first Pastor Heath set the stage.

“Sometimes God has to do something to shake our foundations…You know God has to knock us upside down…to get out attention.

“Maybe you need to get a little deeper to see who this Jesus really is.”

Hannah talks with some of the girls doing the clean-up.

“I think Jesus was just trying to tell us something,“ she says.

“Maybe he just has a bad fig,” a girl replies.

“I’ve been searching for Jesus for three years,” Hannah inserts.

Hannah is pleased with Jesus’s display of anger.

“So, what’s with the anger?” she asks. “Now he’s starting to look like a king. I like it...

"You two are probably too busy googling over some Peter, Paul or Andrew,” Hannah observes in typical anachronistic manner, using a modern broom to do some kung fu kingly moves before she is warned that they could get her kicked out of the Temple.

Deliverer of the serious message of the day, Rebekah, played magnificently by Suuann Fraser, asks,

Did you see him look at me?…He looked right through me.

While Rebekah is being reflective, her husband Benjamin, a stall keeper played by Brad Meador, is reflecting, too:

A day’s wages lost!

Conversing with Rebekah, Hannah says, “I’m very happy for you.”

“I feel like I could be a new woman,” Rebekah muses... “somehow I don’t feel trapped anymore.

“I feel like it opened a doorway for me to know God.

“Is it possible?

"Could God want to know someone like me?"

“I guess I’ve been tying to find a savior on my own terms,” Hannah realizes.

Then, Hannah sings a song from Nichole Nordema's album "Brave":

What if there’s more?

The first verse proposes that Jesus

was just another nice guy...What if He takes His place

In history with all the prophets

And the kings who taught us love

And came in peace,

But then the story ends?

The first part of the chorus delivers the message,

But what if you're wrong?

What if there's more?

Sunday, March 25, 2007, you can take the next step with Hannah as she tries to discover "if there is more."

The service will be held at 11 AM at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake. It is located at the intersection of Crystal Lake and Dole Avenues, both of which intersect Route 14 at traffic signals. Crystal Lake Avenue also crosses Route 31 east of town.

= = = = =

Renee Schulz is in the photo on the top right.

In the top picture of the play, you can see Courtney Wilnewic on the left and Gabby Sexson on the right.

Pastor Heath is next, on the right hand side of the page.

Hannah is again played by first year Cary-Grove High School teacher Logan Fraser. the first shot of her has her holding a broom above her head right after the stall keeper tells her if she didn't behave she might get kicked out of the Temple.

Fraser co-stars with her real life mother-in-law, Suanne Fraser, who plays Rebekah.

Rebecca's "husband" Benjamin, the stall keeper, is Brad Meador.

The three girls are played by Courtney Wilnewic, Gabby Sexson and Jenni Meador.

Jenni Meador, Rebekah's daughter is seen comforting her daughter below the credit line, as is Logan Fraser singing, "What if," in front of what was on the projection screens during the skit.

All photographs can be enlarged by clicking on them.

March 13, 2007

Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar
625 S. College Street
Springfield, IL 62704
via fax (217) 522-3728

with copies to:

Attorney Registration and
Disciplinary Commission
Suite 1100
130 E. Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60601
via fax (312) 565-1806

Clerk
Illinois Supreme Court
Supreme Court Building
Springfield, IL 62706

Re: Barack Hussein Obama (see attached)

COMPLAINT

Dear Board, Commission and Clerk’s Office:

I am addressing the following complaint to all three of your offices because I am not sure which of you has jurisdiction to review the matters submitted below.

Please deem this letter a formal complaint and request for investigation submitted to all three of your offices, although I understand that only one office will likely have authority to proceed with an actual investigation.

1. Background facts

a. Bar admission of Barack Hussein Obama

Mr. Obama was admitted to the Illinois Bar on December 17, 1991 (see attached ARDC page). He is currently inactive.

b. IBAB requirements

The IBAB requires that bar admission applicants disclose whether they have outstanding parking tickets (see attached excerpt from current application). Obviously, in so far as the admission of Mr. Obama is concerned, the form of the 1991 IBAB application would be controlling.

c. Outstanding parking tickets of Obama

Mr. Obama recently paid outstanding parking tickets that were unpaid at the time of his admission to the bar (see attached news stories).

2. Legal issues

If in 1991 Mr. Obama signed an application to IBAB and denied that he owed outstanding parking tickets, he falsified his application and gained admission to the bar by fraud.

3. Request for relief/investigation/action

I would respectfully submit that Mr. Obama’s 1991 application should be scrutinized to determine whether he falsified his answers and whether he gained admission to the bar on the basis of fraudulent representations.

If the investigating authority determines that Mr. Obama’s answers were deceptive, I believe an appropriate sanction should be imposed. It obviously should not be a major sanction but a public reprimand or other appropriate sanction should be imposed to protect the integrity of the admissions process.

Respectfully submitted,

ANDY MARTIN



W/attachments

Labels: Andy Martin, Barack Martin, Parking ticket

Our lead character Hannah first encountered Jesus in the desert at the end of his 40-day fast. He was on a mountain shouting, seemingly at nothing.

Hannah thought him mad as he yelled at no one she could see about not putting “God to the test.”

Then, she heard advice about her search for the meaning of life, but she didn’t understand that his references were to Himself.

A week later, at the 11 o’clock service of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake—billed as “the most contemporary" of the four weekend services—Hannah had journeyed to Nazareth.

There she met Jesus’ fun-loving half-sister, an older woman who had watched Jesus grow up, a carpentry customer blaming the now-left Jesus for his unfinished table and chairs, plus two priests, one reacting with sincere interest, the other with distain at Jesus’ synagogue claim.

Now, our anachronistic traveler is at a party in Bethany given to celebrate Lazarus’ return from the dead.

First seen wearing large sun glasses and a light trench coat over her more traditional robe, Hannah is trying her best to fit in without being noticed, but having trouble.

She really wants to be accepted and the party really moves when she stops talking to the audience and, later, between snatches of party conversation with those who have been invited.

You see, she doesn’t know anybody.

Everyone else seems to be good friends with everyone else.

There’s Mary and her sister Martha.

And, of course, their brother, Lazarus, the guest of honor.

Simon is present, too.

As is Simon.

And Elizabeth.

And two little girls are passing out flowers, when they are not taking grapes from the banquet table.

We sense all are talking about the miracle that Jesus has performed.

As Hannah points out to those in the congregation, after three days in the grave, everyone knew “he was really dead.”

Hannah brings us up to date and gives a clue as to her mission.

“This Jesus has got to be somebody amazing. These people know Jesus.”

And Hannah clearly wants to know people who know Jesus.

So much that when asked who she came with, she mentions someone whose name she has heard, but whom she has not met.

Hannah gets introduced to some of the revelers, even getting to shake the hand of Lazarus.

There are some raised eyebrows, but Hannah is not rejected.

Throughout the scene, when Hannah stops talking, there is rapid shuffling of everyone else around the stage to the refrain of

“What’s the buzz.

“Tell me what’s happening.”

I was told it was from “Jesus, Christ, Superstar.”

Finally, she meets Simon, a male latecomer about her age.

“I think this guy could be the Messiah,” he confides to Hannah.

After he has introduced Hannah around, the group parys before eating. Still Hannah is an outsider.

The tableau ends with the Mamas and Papas rock oldie lyrics,

“I’m in with the 'in' crowd.

“I go what the 'in' crowd goes.”

It occurs to me that snippets of "Lonely Girl" would might have worked through most of the party, because Hannah certainly was out-of-place at the party of family and friends.

Sunday, March 18th at 11, Hannah continues her search for Jesus on the stage of the Methodist Church at the intersection of Crystal Lake and Dole Avenues in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Both streets cross Route 14.

Will their next destination be Jerusalem?

= = = = =
All images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

The playlet was written and directed by Jeannie Patterson.

Hannah was played by Logan Fraser, a first year teacher from Cary-Grove High School.

In the top photo, Hannah is shown with her sunglasses and trench coat. Behind are girls A, B, and C.

Lazarus, played by Merle Patterson is seen talking with black haired woman X. Renee Schultz can be seen behind Lazarus. Schultz played Y.

In the next crowd scene, Hannah has gotten comfortable enough to take off her sunglasses.

Below left, black haired woman X hugs Linda Hill, playing Y. Hill is Logan's mother.

Logan's father, David Hill, portraying Z, can be seen introducing Hannah to Lazarus down to the right.

Right below, Hannah meets latecomer
Ryan Dunn, playing Simon.

As the group prays before eating, Hannah is still on the outside looking in.

Others in the cast are [fill in the blank, please]

Top photo in the credits below the line shows Tamera Heath talking to Merle Patterson.

In the bottom picture are four of the cast members waiting for the service to begin. From right to left, they are Pastor Health, her daughter Tamera, who led the blessing before the meal, Merle Patterson and Renee Schultz. Behind is a partially blocked Jeannie Patterson.

A most unusual way to present Lent, the time leading up to Easter.

For the weeks of Lent at the 11 AM Sunday service at First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, members will be following “Hannah” as she seeks Jesus.

Two weeks ago, Hannah was in the wilderness, having fasted all of one and one-half days. She was searching for the meaning of life and was really hungry. She meets Jesus, who had been in the wilderness for 40 days. Jesus doesn’t identify himself, however.

First she sees him on top of mountain talking loudly, but only we in the audience know to whom. Jesus is being tempted by the Devil.

Hannah thinks He is going to jump and urges Him not to.

When he comes down, she asks questions and he replies with what I am sure are direct quotes from elsewhere in the Bible.

Of course, she doesn’t understand what Jesus is saying and, while contemplating what He has said, He leaves the scene.

Hannah throughout the series is portrayed by Logan Fraser, a first-year teacher at Cary-Grove High School. Jesus is Tim Pontius. I didn’t have my camera at church for the first colloquy, but last week when Hannah goes looking for Jesus in his hometown, Nazareth, I did.

Can you imagine the Fugue for Tinhorns from “Guys and Dolls?”

Hannah meets five characters. Each has a refrain to sing after delivering a message about Jesus.

First is the mother in the village who has watched Jesus grow up.

“Shoulda of stayed home,” Wendy Miller sings, carrying her basket.

Next comes one of Jesus’ cousins, played by Lori Morrow. She relates how Jesus was “no fun” as a kid. He was 'a goody two shoes,'” the barefoot lass explains.
(You can tell I enjoyed the anachronisms.)

After the other kids replaced the synagogue’s wine jugs with water, she says, Jesus changed it into wine.

"No fun!"

A man who had engaged Joseph and his sons to build him a table and four chairs is the next person Hannah runs into to.

Portrayed by Brian Morrow, he has a contract that he says has not been fulfilled because Jesus left town.

His refrain is, “Paid cash.”

And, he’s an angry, unsatisfied customer.

Perhaps the funniest part of the tableau is his unrolling his scroll, which reaches the floor and then some.

Next, Hannah is off to the synagogue, where she meets two priests. One is played by her father, David Hill (the taller of the two), and the other by Terry Santos.

As the conversation develops, the taller of the two priests, Logan’s real life father is quite critical of Jesus.

Want to bet he turns out to be a Pharisee?

The shorter of the two, Santos, thinks Jesus is worth listening to.

It was quite something to hear.

The play ends with Hannah setting off the Jerusalem.

In the next episode, "Have You Seen Him at Lazarus' House?" Hanna is trying to find Jesus at Lazarus' house after he has been raised from the dead.

The Methodist Church, located at the intersection of West Crystal Lake and Dole Avenues, both of which cross Route 14, has four services—5 PM on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning at 8, 9:30 and 11.

The next episode of Hannah’s journey will be presented only at the 11 o'clock service.

Contemporary music director Jayson Hemphill wrote the first two vignettes.

This is the press release from Farm Sanctuary concerning State Senator Pam Althoff's and State Senator Robert Malaro's bill:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., March 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rep. Robert
Molaro (D-21st) and Sen. Pam Althoff (R-32nd) have introduced companion
bills, House Bill 867 and Senate Bill 312, to prohibit the production and sale of foie gras in Illinois. Today at 11 a.m., a group of leaders and experts in animal welfare, ethics, religion and law will hold a press conference at the Illinois State Capitol in support of the bills. A hearing is scheduled on Wednesday, March 7, to discuss the House bill.

Those participating in the press conference and/or hearing include Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center; Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Anshe Shalom Synagogue, member of the Rabbinical Council of America, the Chicago Board of Rabbis and the Chicago Rabbinical Council; Professor Cherie Travis of DePaul University College of Law; Dr. Holly Cheever, a practicing veterinarian; Dr. Jana Kohl, a psychologist whose family founded Kohl's Grocery and Department Stores; Gene Baur, president and co- founder of Farm Sanctuary; and Paul Shapiro, director of the Factory Farming Campaign of The Humane Society of the United States.

On April 26, 2006, the Chicago City Council voted 48 to 1 to ban the sale of foie gras in the city. The ordinance went into effect Aug. 23, 2006. More than a dozen countries have laws prohibiting foie gras production on ethical grounds, and in 2004, California passed the first U.S. law to end the production and sale of foie gras in the state. A September 2005 Zogby poll revealed 79 percent of likely voters in Illinois agree that foie gras production should be outlawed.

According to a statement released by Professor Martha Nussbaum, the
Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the
University of Chicago in support of H.B. 867, "This is the type of
regulation that cities and states are accustomed to enacting in reference to a wide variety of issues that impact the public good, including animal cruelty. It is comparable to bans on the sale of products produced from endangered species and the sale of dog or cat pelts, and is consistent with our state's civility and ethics."

Foie gras (French for "fatty liver") is produced by force-feeding ducks
and geese two or three times a day through a pipe shoved down their
throats. The force-feeding can cause painful bruising, lacerations, sores, and organ rupture. Due to this unhealthy and unnatural diet, the birds' livers become diseased and can swell to more than 10 times their normal size, making it difficult for the birds to walk or even breathe. Some suffer a slow death before slaughter. Experts assert the practice is abusive and cruel, and examinations of birds following slaughter reveal ruptured esophagi and livers, grossly swollen and discolored livers, and a host of infections.

"There is no excuse or justification for the practice of subjecting
animals to this extreme torture," stated Gene Baur, president and
co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. "No reasonable validation exists for foie
gras within the values of American society. It is just plain wrong."

"Foie gras production involves purposefully inducing a state of disease in birds for the mere sake of a so-called 'delicacy,'" said Paul Shapiro, director of The HSUS factory farming campaign. "The Humane Society of the United States encourages Illinois lawmakers to ban the cruel and inhumane practice of force-feeding birds to produce foie gras."

Dr. Holly Cheever, who has witnessed conditions at foie gras farms and
is scheduled to testify at Wednesday's hearing, added, "If those who
purchase and eat this product could only see the diseased organ inside the body of a filth- encrusted duck, the last place they would put this
'delicacy' is in their mouths."

Additional information about foie gras, legislation banning its sale or
production, as well as a list of restaurants and retail establishments --including more than 200 in Illinois -- that have pledged to not serve the product, can be found at http://www.NoFoieGras.org.

About The Humane Society of the United States: The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization-backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30.

For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs.

Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty-on the web at http://www.HumaneSociety.org.

About Farm Sanctuary: Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts.

Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, NY and Orland, CA provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at http://www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.


SOURCE Farm Sanctuary

Labels: Farm Sancturary, foie gras, Pam Althoff

Labels: Cost-Benefit, IDOT, Illinois F.I.R.S.T.

Here is the U.S. Attorney's press release released March 1, 2007:

Chicago-The United States and the owners of the Arlington Park Racecourse in Arlington Heights, Illinois, agreed today to resolve the lawsuit filed by the United States in September 2005 to enforce provisions of the Fair Housing Act that prohibit discrimination against families with children. Today’s settlement, which still must be approved by the federal court, resolves the government’s claims against Arlington Park, LLC and Churchill Downs, Inc., as well as those filed by the HOPE Fair Housing Center, a fair housing advocacy organization located in Wheaton, Illinois. The suit was brought to enforce provisions of the federal Fair Housing Act that prohibit discrimination on the basis of familial status.

“The Fair Housing Act promises equal treatment for families with children,” said Gary Shapiro, First Assistant United States Attorney, “and we are committed to the vigorous enforcement of this important law.”

Defendants, who operate the thoroughbred horse- racing facility, provide on-site housing for individuals who take care of the racehorses. In 2004, HOPE Fair Housing Center filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) alleging that Defendants' policy of restricting families from living in six residential buildings on the track's backstretch violated the Fair Housing Act. At the time HOPE filed its complaint, the six buildings from which families were excluded were the only residential housing on the backstretch that had private bathrooms and air conditioning. HUD conducted an investigation and administratively charged Defendants with discriminating on the basis of familial status. The United States filed suit on September 30, 2005. HOPE later intervened in that suit.

Under the terms of the settlement, the Defendants will construct 48 new units of housing with private bathrooms and air conditioning by the beginning of the 2007 racing season that will be made available to backstretch workers with families. Defendants will also install air conditioning in 127 units of housing that will continue to be available for backstretch workers with families. Since the HUD complaint was filed in 2004, Defendants have also constructed 96 new units of housing with air conditioning and private bathrooms that are available to backstretch workers with families. The settlement also requires the Defendants to adopt a non-discriminatory policy regarding the six existing buildings where they had previously excluded families with children. Under the new policy, Defendants will be allowed to restrict occupancy in these buildings to licensed workers only, provided they do so on a nondiscriminatory basis. Although denying any wrongdoing or liability, Defendants have also agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to the United States. Defendants will also pay $160,000 in damages and other relief to resolve HOPE’s claim.

Labels: Arlington Park Race Track, U.S. Attorney's Office