One confused chick

It did not come as a surprise.

With the Nov. 2 election just days away, I was not surprised at all when I got a call from Village Board candidate Chicken Little.

"Darn," he said, "folks are getting pumped for the election, aren't they?"  For a chicken, he's very astute. Yes, I told him, a lot has been written and posted about the election, election the big ballot item.  "You mean the retention of the judges," he said wryly.  Not quite, I told him.

While Kirk and Giannoulias and Quinn and Brady battle it out, much of Buffalo Grove, and the surrounding areas are watching the outcome of the effort to recall Village Board trustee Lisa Stone.


"I am amazed at what has been written," he noted.  I agree.  "I noticed that one paper ran an article saying she was defending her record," Little noted, and then asked, "what record."  He's an observant little clucker, isn't he?

The question is a good one, however -- what record?  Granted she raised the question about L & L and when she did not get the answer she want, she raised it again and again and again.  Stone seems to know more than the IEPA and EPA.  If she is interested in the impact landfills have on the area, why hasn't she gone after the village of Wheeling in regard to a shuttered landfill off of Milwaukee Avenue?  "That's easy," Little said, "there no votes there."

As for waving her independent banner, which is synonymous with annoying, Stone told the Countryside that she is "fighting against a machine."  For someone who grew up in the Chicago area, Stone should know a true machine when she sees one. Residents who volunteer their time to public service are not machine members.  "Yeah, I guess you're right," said Little.  "But is Buffalo Grove perfect," he asked?

Nope. But it's light years ahead of other communities.  I wonder if Stone read where the Police Chief in neighboring Prospect Heights quit because of potential cuts in the department.  "Wow, is Buffalo Grove heading that direction?"  Again, the answer is no.  Buffalo Grove has exemplary police and fire departments, so much so that a police officer in a nearby community is amazed at how hard  they work. "I bet Stone really has a lot to say about that."  Well, not exactly.  When our fire fighters gave up their time to call awareness to breast cancer, Stone did not say a word lauding their effort.  Nor, for that matter, did she wear pink.  "You're kidding, right?" Little asked.  I wish I was.  My guess is she's concerned that Deann Glover was getting too much of the limelight.  After all, Glover has worked tirelessly on breast cancer awareness.

How about when Fire Chief Terry Vavra reported to the Board about the village's ISO rating?  Nope. Nada. Zippo.

"I'm confused," Little said. "What does she support in the village?"  Good question.  I'm not sure what she does because she does not vocalize too many positive points.

Little shook his beak in disbelief. "She says there's a double standard.  Is that right."  I laughed.  Honestly laughed.  "What's so funny?" Little asked.

Well, I told him, at the Sept. 21, 2009 board meeting, she chided the board and then Village Manager Bill Brimm for delivering the Board information on the Thursday before Rosh Hashana.  She said that she did not have time review the packet, even the holiday was over the day before (or two days before depending on your degree of celebration) the meeting.  "You'd think she would have planned ahead and maybe contacted the village ahead of time."  True, but there's no media coverage for planning ahead.

"So where's the double standard?" Little asked.  Good question.  It seems that while Stone wants people to pay attention and respect the holiday she observes, she does not think twice about contacting non Jewish staff on their main holidays.  "How's that?" Little asked.  In an email acquired through the Freedom of Information, Stone did not think twice about emailing a staff member on Easter.  She indicated that she wanted to make sure the email got there by Monday.

"Wow," Little said, that is a double standard.   It's the same as whaling on the Board about how rude they are, or she thinks they are, toward residents who want to speak to the Board, but turns around and files a police report against a resident whom she does not like alleging that she thought he was going to harm her,

But yet, it's Stone who says Board members are desperate to get rid of her.  They don't, she told the Countryside, want someone as "independent"  as she.  As noted in previous posts, Stone seems to confuse independence with annoyance.  But soon the ball will be in the voters' hands.

"So if she recalled, will you still blog? Little asked.

Of course, I told him, there are plenty of things to write about besides the antics of Lisa Stone.

" Are you going to relax at all?" he asked?  Sure will.  Why, I told him, I may just make a nice batch of chicken soup.  "Not funny he said. I suppose you'll be drinking a vodka stone sour while you make it."

Not funny, I told him.

"I know," he said.  "Neither is the current situation with the village, which is why people need to vote on Tuesday.

Right again, I told him.