Out of all the places to eat in Marengo, this is by far my favorite. Not only because of the food, but for the cafe and coffee shop atmosphere. It's a great place to meet with someone, a good place to just sit and drink coffee and stare out the window. Altogether, a comforting place to be.
I am aware that Flatlanders opened sometime in 2004. At that time I was not too anxious to try it out, having been in other Marengo eateries and being busy with other matters on my agenda. However, last March, I needed a place to meet someone and was looking for a neutral type of cafe, one where I did not know anyone and no one knew me either. This place came to mind, as it was rather new and I was never in it before. Well, I didn't know it, but I was in for a real surprise. I picked a table and ordered a coffee, waiting patiently for the person I needed to meet to arrive. It is a very comfy place, the coffee is good, you can even choose a syrup to add into it. Or you can have a sandwich with homemade chips, something that even now I have strong craving for. Anyways, my surprise on that day was that it was NOT as nuetral as I had previously thought. As soon as the person I wanted to meet arrived, Mayor Hammortree took over the table at the front. It was right before elections and more officials soon poured in with scary regularity. In the end, the candidate for the next Mayor, Lockhart, was sitting practically at the table next to mine.
Well, this was indeed quite an experience and I obviously resolved never to go back there and to pick a different spot. However, something about the place always pulled me back in. The food was just too good. There were homemade pastries to enjoy with a fresh cup of coffee that I could always get a refill on. There were different syrups to try, the sandwiches were very good, especially the portobella mushroom one, and, usually, I greatly dislike vegetables. The best part about it, though, after that pre-election day, was the quiet. There are cooking magazines one could leaf through and watch people walk on the street. Usually, whoever was sitting there used hushed voices to talk. It is a very peaceful place to relax. I'd recommend it to whoever hasn't tried it to go early in the morning, when the cafe first opens. At lunch, it tends to get very busy.
MARENGO EXPO 2006
The Marengo Expo is usually a pretty interesting experience. There are new businesses no one has ever heard of to explore, the police dog for kids to question, cops to talk to, firefighters with all sorts of things to examine at their table, lots of coloring books to take home, and politicians whose manuels there are for everyone to read. Altogether, its usually a pretty adventurous event for those living 20 miles away from anything more exciting.
How was it this year?
Well, it was smaller. Not so many booths or politicians. Probably because the elections are not coming up. Not as many interesting freebies. Mostly just candy, coloring books for kids, and pens wrapped around cards. Though one vendor DID have interesting homemade horse treats that were apparently home made. And not as many interesting people either. Oh, there was the fire dept booth with its burned up object to ask questions about Marengo fire hats to take, and there was a Sheriffs department booth, and a Marengo Police Booth. But gone was the dog and handler. Of course. There were also an apparent absence of cops at the police booth. Instead it was manned by Mike Bighalke, who, from my understanding, had retired from doing volunteer work with the Marengo Police. I guess not enough so as not to man the booth. In any case, he was nowhere as interesting to talk to as a real Marengo cop would have been, since he clearly isn't one. The Veterans' booth, of course, did not have Jack Genot with his medals there this year. Also a loss, since he had regaled many a person in times of the past with his interesting, though false, stories.
What was left? Well...
Several boring businesses, such as real estate agencies, insurance agencies, and other such associations. They had cards, pens, and an ambitious sales person at their tables. Also, weird products to buy, such as phamplets on herbs and massages and such. The star attraction? Mayor Lockhart standing on the sidelines and conversing with people. Well, people he know, in any case.
THE NEW CRISES?
We have all heard that America uses too much oil. It's a sad fact of American life that we are absolutely dependent on gasoline. We drive large cars and SUVs and use more oil than any other country. We have also all heard that eventually this will cause some consequences for us. But many people refuse to believe it. Here are some statistics.
In the 1950's professor King Hubbert predicted that oil consumption would peak and then demand would outgrow supply. As we can see by the abundance of gas stations, as well as the vehicles we drive, he was not taken seriously. Professor Hubbard's predictions said that oil production would reach a peak in the 1970's and that world global oil production would peak around the year 2000. Then..something scary would happen. Demand for gasoline would outgrow the supply. There would not BE enough gasoline for people to buy. This is actually a lot scarier than meets the eye. Because oil, in other words petroleum, isn't only used for gasoline in cars, it is also a fertilizer for farms. Imagine what this could do to the price of food? Even to the availability of food?
If you don't believe it, and think this is some sort of scare tactic or fairy tale, take a look at these statistics:
http://www.geohive.com/charts/charts.php?xml=en_cons&xsl=en_cons
The US uses more oil than any other country. Not just a little more, but it greatly exceeds the use of other countries. No other country uses even half as much oil as the US.
Look at this website to see how much profit the oil companies pull off:
http://www.geohive.com/charts/charts.php?xml=ec_corp50p&xsl=ec2
It's pretty scary, isn't it? What is going to happen when the demand overcomes supply? To our economy? Our food supply? Our ability to get to work? According to these statistics, we are well on the way to this happening in the near future.
THE NEXT EPIDEMIC
I'm sure we have all heard on the news or read in the papers about the bird flu. A flu that is deadly is spread from infected poultry to their handlers, who then become very ill and die. It is a very scary disease that has now spread to Europe.
However, I believe most people do not take it as seriously as it should be taken. Sure, we read the articles and watch the news. Then we usually sigh and think "sure, one more disaster to worry about." and go on with our business. In other words, we lump it in our minds with just one more piece of disturbing news, but not something that has anything to do with us personally or that could potentially be something we would have to deal with in the near future.
Here are some scary truths that might change our minds: In 1918 the flu was deadly. It is not something many people think about now, but it is believed that in that one year the flu killed one out of seven to one out of four people, most of them children, teenagers, and young adults. Military bases had so many people sick and so many funerals, they did not know what to do with the bodies, schools were closed, people stayed off the streets for fear of getting the flu. Of course, to us the Flu of 1918 is just history. Something to forget. But it doesn't stop there. Frozen bodies dug up from Alaska of the flu of 1918 victims revealed, long before these bird flu epidemics even came about, more than 10 years before, that the flu of 1918 was caused by an Avian type of flu. In other words, bird flu that mutated to pass from person to person as easily as regular flu. The same bird flu that has spread to Europe and might, even this year or next year, cause the mutation of the virus that will cause an another flu of 1918.
This is more scary than meets the eye. Most people know nothing about 1918 or what the world went through. Most people simply go about their lives and don't care. That is until it hits THEM. Imagine, a widespread flu that kills people. In 1918 everyone knew someone who had died from the flu that year. It could be a child or a relative or a teacher or a neighbor. But almost every person knew someone who had died. That is how scary the bird flu could become.
DRUGS: "In Our Own Backyard"
There has been a lot of recent talk in our town about the drug situation. Just last year a couple and their baby were arrested in the parking lot of McDonald?s for selling drugs to an undercover cop. There has also been a lot of talk about the "drugs in town", and supposedly, this was what the police dog was acquired for in the first place, so that it could sniff for drugs. Of course, the dog was not very useful in this regard and is gone now, but that was the idea.
So, I have to ask, what are the police doing about the drug situation in our town? As badly as a lot of the officers have acted, I would have assumed at the very least they would be competent enough to deal with this situation. Now, I have found out that this is not the case at all. The police in our town have acted in a manner that can only lead us to conclude that they are either do not care about getting drugs off our street and putting the real criminals, not just innocent people, in jail, or they are getting kickbacks themselves from the drug dealers.
Certain persons, whose names I will not mention, have had experiences with drugs and drug dealers in our town. These persons have been aware of drug dealers in the Northside Tap selling drugs to various people, they have had drug dealers break into their house, break their windows and vandalize their property. They have been actually aware of drugs changing hands and have informed certain police officers of this. And each time they informed the police nothing was done. No one was arrested, the situation was ignored. The only thing the police did was take the complaint and leave. They had all the information at their disposal, even the names of the people involved in selling drugs and committing vandalism. Yet they did not arrest those people.
This leads us to ask several questions. For one, who were the officers involved in these incidents? The answer is rather surprising. Mostly Scott Crawford and Kelly Given. But also Officer Bass. I am not sure if the last one was actually involved in this as much as the former two, as these incidents were reported to them exclusively. This should lead us to a lot of thinking and wondering. Why? Well, we can?t assume anything, but somehow, we could think about what these officers were doing if they time and again did not report the incidents, did not go and arrest the drug dealers, did not deal with the vandalism. They may indeed have been very incompetent, but it is far more likely that they have been going around town and getting kickbacks from the drug dealers, making their own deals, maybe even using and selling the drugs themselves. Why else not report the drug dealers, not arrest them, but instead know that the situation is going on and yet do nothing? Of course, it can be argued that the first two officers are no longer working for the police department. But, think about the damage they have done during all the years that they let drugs be sold in our town and yet did nothing to deal with the situation other than the arrests made one time at the Northside Tap and a few other times in different town locations. How about all the drug dealers who are out there selling drugs to our children because these officers did not make the arrests they were supposed to make, going after innocent people instead? How about the people who were harassed by the drug dealers while this situation was allowed to go on?
And, I have to ask, last, about the Chief? Could he not see what was going on in his department? Why did he permit this situation to continue unabated and not do anything about the officers involved who were busy falsely arresting innocent people and letting those who they needed to go after get away with dealing drugs? As far as I see it, he is responsible for making the drug situation in our town worse by not disciplining and/or firing Crawford and Given while they were busy filing false reports and making deals with drug dealers in our town.
Trucks!
Now, I?ve heard truck horror stories again and again all the time that I?ve lived in Marengo. A long time back a ten year old boy was struck by a truck and severely brain damaged. Then a year or so ago, a woman opened her car door while parked on Rt.23 near the Marengo Café and had her door ripped off by a fast moving semi, which did not even so much as stop after the incident, but kept on going, apparently not having noticed or simply not caring. As for myself, there was many a times when I?ve tried to cross Rt.23 to get to the other side, only to be unable to do so due to the endless traffic. Also, the trucks driving past the street move at such a fast clip, they scare the bejesus out of anyone attempting to take a walk along main street.
Now, supposedly, there was Otis?s talk of a truck bypass before the elections. It was such a big deal that it even made it into the papers. There were supposed to be plans in the offing that Dorothy Otis was to try to put into effect that would involve the attainment of federal funds to build a truck bypass so that the semis and large trucks would no longer pass through Marengo. As far as I can see, none of this has been put into effect or even started. Of course, even I got to admit that it was an overly ambitious plan that would probably be very hard to put into reality. Also, Otis was not the one who was elected Mayor. But the situation is out of control, people say. Trucks are everywhere! They?re passing through the whole town!
This, of course, leads me to a question. So what? Is it really that big of a deal that Marengo is in the middle of truck traffic. Yeah, it is dangerous and a pain in the behind besides, to have all these big trucks passing nonstop. But, seriously, how many people have gotten injured or into accidents due to these trucks? Compared to the total number of people who are injured in other accidents around the Marengo area? My guess is, the numbers are just not that large. Its not that big of a deal. Yes, they are annoying. But look how many serious problems Marengo has? What?s truck traffic compared to that?
Corruption
There is something truly wrong with the judicial system in our county. I am sure all who read the Gazette also read the message board, so they can see some of the articles that are posted that indicate this. But it?s a lot more than that. It goes down to the very marrow of how the court system works in McHenry County. Here are some examples I personally know of, which illustrate some of it:
1. Someone, I?m not going to say who, drives five miles over the speed limit and gets a traffic ticket for doing so. A minor thing, but I guess they broke the law, so no complaint there. They go to court. What?s there? Why, tons and tons of people for traffic tickets. Most for really small, stupid offenses, like sitting too long at a traffic light or not making a left turn in the right place. Clearly, little towns here are looking to raise money.
Well, that?s still sort of alright. But then this person, who took a day off work to go to court, decides to plead not guilty. Well, you see, its not that easy. Your not supposed to do that. Because if you do, then they tell you that they?ll set up an another whole date for you to go to court, so then you?ll miss an another day of work. So, what do you see? Everyone, almost no exception, pleads guilty to their traffic ticket. Even those who don?t feel they did anything wrong.
2. Someone else has a teenager who was falsely accused of trespassing into someone?s yard. He decides to plead not guilty and, in fact, the owner of the yard drops all charges and will not go to court. So, he arrives in court with his parent. The prosecutor comes up to him and asks him how he?ll plead. Not guilty. Of course. The prosecutor then starts warning the young man that he?d better take a plea bargain and just get off with a small fine, otherwise if he is found guilty it will be much worse. The young man?s parent intervenes and says they will plead not guilty and explains that the owner didn?t even show up in court. The prosecutor practically insists the young man should still plead guilty. They plead not guilty, sure enough there?s no owner, and the charges are dropped. However, the parent stays a while to watch the system at work. Person after person goes up and pleads guilty after being told by the prosecutor that they HAVE TO do so or it will be much worse. Most of the other young people there do not have a parent with them and are not aware they even had a choice, which is what the parent finds out afterward after talking to a few of them. Many also had cases where they did nothing wrong, and no one showed up for the complaint, yet because the prosecutor insisted there would be dire consequences unless they plead guilty, they go and do so.
3. Finally, the police. There are many cases of police misconduct in McHenry County. Police falsely arrested and interrogated a teenage boy in Crystal Lake last year and forced a confession out of him for a crime he did not do. It didn?t get far from that point because as soon as the boy left the interrogation where he falsely confessed, he committed suicide. Later on the real culprit was found by the police. Then there?s police who stop people as a form of revenge in Marengo, and those related to them or visiting them. Which is clearly a form of police abuse. Add this in to the other factors, and they are a picture of corruption rivaled in few places
