Bill Gentes's Blog

Earthquake

2010-02-10T08:23:00.001-06:00

Did you feel it?

Great New Sport-- Arm Wrestling plus Ultimate Fighting!

2009-12-20T15:52:00.002-06:00

Well that did not go so well!

2009-04-07T21:53:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to those who won!

My endorsements for April 7th Elections in other Round Lake Races

2009-04-03T04:38:00.002-05:00

I get a lot of people asking me my opinion about who they should vote for in the area so I am going to make a few suggestions for races that are inside the boundaries of the Village of Round Lake. I am only going to comment on races that are contested and where I have an opinion.

Avon Township
Supervisor-- Sam Yingling
Clerk-- Linda Rusch
Assessor-- Bryce Carus
Highway Commissioner-- Tom Brust
Trustee-- Sherry Ridge, Chris Ditton, Marc Feldstein, Randy Evangelides

Grant Township
Assessor-- Jeri Barr

Round Lake District 116 School Board
Board Member-- Ann Welk, Douglas Raul Williams and Juan Ponce

Round Lake Area Park District
Commissioner (2 year term)-- Paul Hollingsworth

Big Hollow School Board
Board Member-- Joe Bridge and Julia Mazur

College of Lake County
Trustee-- Charlie Breit and Amanda Howland

Route 53 Advisory Referendum
YES!!!!

Yesterday's Press Conference in Support of the Route 53 Extension Referendum

2009-04-02T05:05:00.001-05:00

From the News Sun, GRAYSLAKE -- Pro-Route 53 groups are hoping Lake County's advisory referendum Tuesday will provide long-sought consensus on extending the highway north to Route 120.

The "Build 53 Yes Coalition" ramped up its campaign to bring out a favorable vote Wednesday afternoon with signs, banners and speakers in favor of the controversial project.

The group includes labor and business organizations, as well as some municipal representatives and officials of the Lake County Farm Bureau.

"I'm excited Lake County has taken steps to bring it to an advisory referendum," said Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes, who said he supports the extension because it will help alleviate congestion and bring people closer to jobs and, hopefully, jobs to Lake County.

"I'm talking about quality of life. Here in Round Lake, commuting is terrible," he said. "Route 53 would help people get off the roads sooner and home with their families."

Gentes said the extension would make it easier for central Lake County commuters to make it to job destinations along the Lake-Cook Road and Tri-State Tollway corridors, as well as attracting more business locally.

"It's bringing everything a little closer to the front burner, something we definitely need in order for this to happen," Dwight Houchins, president of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, said of the referendum.

Houchins said the extension would "certainly promote commerce and industry" in the county. "It's an improved way to get around the county," he said.

Greg Koeppen, manager of the Lake County Farm Bureau, said the bureau has supported the extension for more than a decade because traffic problems are the top problem in the county.

"It affects farmers trying to move from field to field, too," Koeppen said. "Picture a combine that's backed up along with your regular SUVs."

Koeppen said development is going to come to Lake County with or without the extension, and current roads are not keeping up.

Grayslake Mayor Tim Perry said his village has supported the extension and he hopes the advisory referendum demonstrates countywide support to state officials.

"Traffic congestion is the number one roadblock to economic development," Perry said. "At the very least, whether we ever build 53, the voters of Lake County need to send a message to Springfield that we need traffic relief and we need it now."

Happy April First

2009-04-01T04:14:00.002-05:00

As many of you know I always have a April's Fool day post for my readers (2008, 2007, and 2006) , and this year I have vowed to be different, so I am not doing one.

I have some ideas, but this close to an election I am guessing they would all be taken poorly (do ask me what they were when you see me) because they are quite funny in a pointed sort of way.

I was disappointed to see that the comments from the three other April's fool day stories have faded away, apparently Haloscan only saves the last 2,500 or so, which is about a 10 month supply. Those comments were great!

Next year I promise a great one, that will fool all of you though I promise!

Todays Mail Box-- Policing

2009-03-31T11:14:00.003-05:00

Today's mailbox will contain the Police Report. I am quite proud of my efforts to fix a badly broken police department. We are now CALEA certified and while the process ultimately took 3 years and cost around $30,000, the results have become apparent over the years and they are reflected in the declining crime rate statistics that the state police uses to track crime. I am proud to saying comparing the 2001 numbers when I took office to todays, we have a 55% drop in crime in the village.

I won't go into all the details here becuse I have blogged about them before. So here is an index:

Why the police department was broken (Here)
Crime Statistics (Here)
CALEA (Here)

Delayed Post Today

2009-03-30T18:09:00.001-05:00

Sorry about the delayed post today, I have been under the weather, because I knocked on doors most of Saturday and foolishly way to much on Sunday, the sun in the late afternoon was deceptive!

Back tomorrow ready to go!

Here is some press on the CALEA Certification

2009-03-26T03:00:00.001-05:00

Round Lake, Illinois – On March 21, 2009, the Round Lake Police Department received law enforcement accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), a prestigious recognition of law enforcement professional excellence. The Round Lake Police Department is one of only 46 municipal law enforcement agencies in the State of Illinois to be accredited.

The CALEA accreditation process is a proven modern management model; once implemented, it presents the Chief of Police, on a continuing basis, with a blueprint that promotes the efficient use of resources and improves service delivery – regardless of the size, geographic location, or functional responsibilities of the agency.

To receive law enforcement accreditation, the Round Lake Police Department had to comply with 381 internationally accepted standards for the operation of police organizations. In December 2008, a team of assessors from CALEA examined all aspects of the Department’s policies and procedures, management, operations, and support services to verify the agency met CALEA’s state-of-the-art standards.

In his report to the Commission, the assessment team leader, Chief Paul Verrecchia, commented, “…during the onsite process, it became obvious that under the leadership of Chief Cliff Metaxa, Deputy Chief Francis Foy and Director Michael Recupito, the department has made a positive transformation over the last three and one-half years. The Round Lake Police Department is an agency truly dedicated to serving the Village of Round Lake community. The assessment team found an agency comprised of men and women who are proud of their agency and the level of service offered to the community.”

According to Mayor Bill Gentes, “Four years ago our police department was fundamentally broken; today we are among the finest departments in the United States. All of Round Lake can be proud of the effort and commitment that we put into CALEA accreditation, and the results are already plain to see.”

The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. was created in 1979 as a credentialing authority through the joint efforts of law enforcement’s major executive associations: International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), National Sheriff’s Association (NSA), and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). CALEA’s purpose was to establish a body of professional standards and to develop an accreditation process to administer its credentialing program.

Chief Cliff Metaxa states, “I am very proud of the men and women of the Round Lake Police Department. Achieving CALEA law enforcement accreditation means that the Round Lake Police Department has met the requirements of a highly regarded and broadly recognized body of law enforcement standards. We meet the same standards as such renowned law enforcement agencies as the Broward Sheriff’s Office, United States Capital Police, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nashville Police Department, and Illinois State Police.

Our community can be proud of their police department and the fact that we are now an internationally accredited law enforcement agency.”

CALEA Certification Achieved

2009-03-24T02:07:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend at the CALEA (Commission on Law Enforcement Accreditation) annual conference our Police Department went through the final phase of our certification process. The good news is that we are now fully certified, one of less then 1,000 departments nationwide.

Four years ago when I made sweeping changes in the police department I promised improvement in this blog post on the day we swore our new Chief Cliff Metaxa in.

I am proud to say we delivered, the efforts of the Round Lake Police Department management team and rank and file in the process leading up to this certification has been superb. I am and every resident in this village should be incredibly proud of all the hard work they did for us.

Here is what certification mean to us:

Policies and procedures that are state of the art and proven to stand up in court which will allow our conviction rate to be even higher then it is now.
Our insurance rates will drop, since we can prove out our procedures are the safest and most acceptable out there.
Our officers will always be trained in the safest and most efficient ways to handle all situations you will be safer because of it and so will our officers.

I invite you to congratulate each and every officer of our police department when you see them, because without the buy in they had on professionalism we could never have done this.

Todays Mail Box-- The Mayor Gentes Balance Sheet

2009-03-21T08:17:00.001-05:00

Today we sent out a mailing talking about the balance sheet that I inherited back in 2001. Our opponents are talking about quite a few things, which sadly is easy to do, but I prefer to point to tangible things. Each number presented on the mailing is from an audited statement of the village, we have increased cash on hand, reserves, and reduced liabilities.

Yes the village has debt, every village does, our ratio of assets to debt is 4.9 to 1, which compares with Vernon Hills and Libertyville for example. The other Round Lake Area communities are 2 to 1 or worse.

The discussion on debt is interesting, because I think it exposes a the lack of appreciation for what we received in exchange for debt, we have a police and public facility that will serve us for decades and we have strategic land holdings in our downtown and on our borders.

The village is blessed with the ability to have a long view on things, such as land holdings. Mark Twain said it best I think with the quote went something like this "Buy land, they aren't making anymore of it."

I would also observe most wealthy families have huge long term land holdings as a way of consolidating their wealth, while we are not a family we do operate as a stewardship for the community which could be similar to a family.

Comcast Newsmakers

2009-03-20T01:06:00.003-05:00

Recently I taped Comcast Newsmakers which appeared last week on Comcast as a tie in to CNN Headline News, I have done this a few other times and always enjoyed myself. This time the topics I talked about were the 120 Bypass, Route 53 and finances. As always I had a great time. The video is about 5 minutes long.

Todays Mail Box-- Party Introduction

2009-03-19T01:55:00.001-05:00

Today you should be receiving the first of an aggressive series of mail pieces that are designed to highlight the skill and experience, as well as major issues of the United Party of Round Lake slate.

We have quite a few planned mail pieces that will be hitting between now and election day.You have seen our signs appearing on lawns throughout the village we have some distinctive yellow and black signs, which sadly have lots of words on them, but with a five person slate what can you do. The theme of yellow and black will be carried through on our mail pieces as well.

Today's mailing introduces the slate to the voter and talks about each one experience level and highlights our platform for future progress for Round Lake.

As each piece of mail gets sent out I will have a blog post with more details about what we propose and facts and figures that go into more detail, so please feel free to come and get, as the late Paul Harvey always said "...the rest of the story".

Meals on Wheels Today

2009-03-18T06:41:00.002-05:00

Every year the Meals on Wheels Association of America has Mayors across the United States deliver meals to people in need throughout the country. I have been doing this for years now and its one of the most rewarding programs I have been involved in.

The Mayors meet in Waukegan for some information on the program in the community and how then they go deliver meals with the regular drivers of each route.

21 Days to Election Day

2009-03-17T03:16:00.000-05:00

As a seasoned local election candidate I know that people start paying attention to local elections about 3 weeks before the election. So today is amazingly enough 3 weeks before election day! So the blog is going electoral!

My slate has already been out in force door knocking and we have gotten a great response at the doors, lots of good solid feedback, including one lady who let me watch her make chicken soup for 5 minutes while she bent my ear on her issue! Best part about that was we are able to help her!

We are putting out about 400-500 signs throughout this week, they will be yellow with black lettering. Unfortunately the names of all our candidates, the party, our website and all the other stuff make for a tough read. So if you see yellow and black you know its us!

We have a slate website www.rlunited.com you can go visit to learn more about the campaign and the slate.
If you want a yard sign you can email me here.
If you want to volunteer and talk to you neighbors about the positive things we are doing for Round Lake I would be happy to walk you block with you. To do that email me here.

Make sure you check the blog for information and updates. We are doing some mailings and when they hit I will have back up material here with more details on our positions and goals.

You can't escape the rush hour traffic in Lake County.

2009-03-16T04:32:00.000-05:00

You've tried leaving early. Going home late. Taking a bunch of different routes. Nothing works. You're losing sleep, time with your family and friends, time at work. Instead, you have lots of windshield time with your car. You're losing part of your life, wasting time in a congested mess on Lake County roads with no end in sight.

A simple "yes" vote April 7 can help change all that.

The Route 53 project has been planned for years. Now, you finally get to vote in favor of it. You can tell Lake County, state and federal leaders know you're sick and tired of traffic jams. You want to stop wasting dozens of hours behind the wheel every month, watching all the vehicles around you pollute the air while they inch along at a frustrating pace.

And, you can do more than vote. You can tell your family, neighbors and friends to vote "yes" for Route 53. Tell them how it will enrich their lives, help businesses and improve the economic future of the county. We can help you do that. Sign up for e-mail blasts, Twitter alerts, and a Facebook page that will provide the latest on our plan to bring some sanity to the crazy mess of traffic in Lake County.

Vote Yes on 53 this April 7th

2009-03-13T00:00:00.003-05:00

Here is a great site about 53.

Lake County Township Assessor candidates will participate in a moderated forum hosted by Citizens Action Project

2009-03-11T04:55:00.000-05:00

Lake County Township Assessor candidates will participate in a moderated forum hosted by Citizens Action Project on March 16th at 7PM at Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake.

CAP, the Lake County-based property assessment watchdog, will also announce its new white paper, "Are you Getting a Fair Hearing? Appealing Your Property Taxes in Lake County," revealing problems with the Board of Review appeals process and what can be done to fix it. The future of property assessments will be front and center on April 7th when every Lake County Township Assessor office will be up for a vote. Rarely has there been a forum for assessor candidates to express their vision, and even less of an opportunity for Lake County citizens to ask questions.

According to CAP President John Wasik, "Since we formed CAP, we have said that township assessors have the most power and influence in making the assessment process fair and transparent. We find it of the utmost importance to give the public a forum in which to decide where to cast=2 0their vote." Candidates from every township have been invited. CAP published its new white paper illuminating the inner workings of the Board of Review because they found the same lack of transparency, fairness, and accountability that prompted "Assessing the Assessments," their first white paper casting a light on the Chief County Assessor and Township Assessors.

CAP was formed in 2007 as a volunteer organization dedicated to fairness, accountability, and transparency in public agencies. Since then, CAP has exerted significant influence in creating change including:

Vastly improved Lake County website for property assessments with interactive features to assist the homeowner with preparing an appeal.
Helping hundreds appeal their property assessments suc cessfully.
The introduction of SB 2820, The Homestead Transparency Act, aimed at making blue cards easier to interpret for taxpayers. The bill has passed both the house and senate and is being considered by Governor Quinn.

However, CAP's mission will go unfulfilled until the fundamental flaws in the assessment process are resolved. According to Wasik, "there is no better time than April 6th to have your say in how Lake County citizens will be assessed for the next four years." The event is open to the public. Five dollar donation suggested. For more information, email info@citizensactionproject.org, go to http://www.citizensactionproject.org, or visit their blog at http://www.citizensactionprojectnews.blogspot.com.

911 Service Gets its Facelift

2009-03-10T08:30:00.004-05:00

A few months ago I wrote about the ongoing improvements to our area wide 911 service and showed a partial picture of the work that was done, well here is a picture of the finished product. Kudos to Director Lisa Berger and her team for improving our 911 services and of course making the center look very good.

I stopped by the center a few weeks ago, and was quite impressed with what I saw, the new cubicles are "state of the art" for the tele-communicators and the ones I talked to were very happy with the new stuff.

11 Minutes to a Lucid Understanding of the Credit Crisis

2009-03-09T05:49:00.000-05:00

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

A good friend sent me this and I watched and it is excellent, although a bit nauseating to watch. Very good clear explanation of how we got into the mess we are in nationally in the housing market.

I Had a Dream

2009-03-06T05:44:00.000-06:00

For those of you may or may not have seen me recently I have been on the Atkins Diet since January 1st and over the last 2 months I have lost 21 pounds. Needless to say I miss my old friends Mr. Pasta, his associate Mr Bread and the Red Lord (Sauce) as well as a few smaller characters in the food universe.

So imagine my surprise when yesterday morning I had a rich vivid dream about Cheez-It's. I rarely recall my dreams and the ones that I do recall are generally not complete. So this one came as quite the surprise.

I saw myself reading the nutrition label in my favorite 7-11 (the one in Hainesville) then buying the pack of Cheez-its (99 cents) as well as a Big Gulp, then driving home with the bag of Cheez-its, unopened, then getting home and going upstairs (I never eat upstairs) and locking myself in a spare bedroom and eating them. Then folding the finished bag up in squares and putting it in my pocket for later disposal.

Thats where the dream ended. The odd thing is that while I like Cheez-its I would prefer about 20 things that were on sale in the 7-11 before I got to Cheez-its. Cheese doodles would be first on that list or a bagel. The other thing is I am limiting myself to 40 carbs a day currently and the bag only has 16 carbs, so its not even like its an excessive amount of carbs.

So go ahead pyschoanalyze this one for me. The best answer gets to share a big of Cheez-its with me!

Latest Addtion to the United Party Team

2009-03-05T05:39:00.000-06:00

One of our trustee candidates Cynthia Pruim Haran just had a baby named Michael Joseph Haran who arrived, three weeks ahead of schedule, on Wednesday, February 25 at 6:59 am. He weighed 7lbs, 3 oz and was 19 inches long. He is healthy and his already walking precincts with his mom.

2008 Audit Report Highlights

2009-03-03T05:29:00.003-06:00

Last night the village board discuss and voted to accept the 2008 Audit report. Here are some of the highlights of the report. Its pretty dull, but its all mostly positive, which given today's economic climate is a good thing!

The Village’s Governmental net assets increased $11,978,849 from the prior year.
Business-type activities unrestricted net assets increased $489,032 from the prior year. The fund balance for the General Fund equaled $3,310,475, an increase of $758,219 from the prior year.
General Fund expenditures were 19.5% under the final appropriated amount of $8,736,188.
Village-wide assets exceeded liabilities by $69.8 million at April 30, 2008.
Program revenues for governmental activities increased $1,219,387 over the preceding year.
All funds operated within legal budgetary limitations during the year.
The Water and Sewer Fund reported total operating income before depreciation expense of $224,916.
As of April 30, 2008, the Village had seven debt issues outstanding totaling $17,752,174 and during the year the Village’s total outstanding debt decreased by $820,713.

Major capital asset events during the current fiscal year include the following:

The purchase of downtown land for $1,434,476 for future development.
The completion of the West Townline Road project capitalized at $599,629.
The capitalization of $2,136,661 for the trunk sewer / Dawn Marie pump station project. The capitalization of $889,292 of construction costs related to the 2006 CDBG Linden and Sycamore watermain improvements.

Our Drinking Water is first Class

2009-03-02T05:56:00.000-06:00

From the Waukegan News Sun

It's so good it won a taste test, and it's so cheap it's practically free.

The Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency has won a regional taste test for tap water, beating out 12 other Illinois water treatment facilities that are part of the West Shore Water Producers Association.

The next level of judging will be at the state competition in March in Springfield.

"This is just another example showing our member communities that we have access to some of the highest quality drinking water in Illinois," said Round Lake Beach Mayor Richard Hill, JAWA's chairman.

A plastic bottle of Aquafina water from a vending machine is $1 for just over a pint. Meanwhile, residents of JAWA are charged $2.15 per 1,000 gallons, or .215 cents per gallon. Aquafina by the pint is about $8 per gallon.

William "Burr" Koepsel, director of operations for JAWA, said the last time the building in Lake Bluff was retrofitted, they had bottled water in mind.

"Actually, during the last phase of construction we actually put in piping so maybe we could look at that in the future," he said.

Call it JAWA JUICE. Think of the profits if the starting costs are just .215 cents per gallon.

The reason the water taste so good is that Lake Michigan water is a "very high quality water to begin with," Koepsel said.

It goes through ozonization (many plants use chlorine first), then it is filtered through a granular activated carbon -- charcoal in layman's terms. Then a quagulent is added to make suspended particles clump together and settle out of the water. "Some particles tend not to settle," he said.

Next comes ultraviolet light, which does not kill bacteria but destroys DNA -- thwarting reproduction.

Last is a shot of chlorine -- "the smallest amount possible," Koepsel said.

"This was the first year we won (the taste test)," he said.

While taste is important, the professionals are more impressed with other awards like the Phase 4 Award given out by the Partnership for Safe Drinking Water and the American Water Works Association. JAWA received the reward for its personnel, physical plant and operations.

"The award recognizes the highest quality operations and drinking water we produce," Koepsel said.

Spam I am!

2009-02-27T01:57:00.001-06:00

In my never ending quest to give my Round Lake readers and those outside the boundaries of this fine village the best possible blogging experience possible. I have some thoughts and comments on spam.

1 in 10,000 Number of buyers from spam messages that spammers say they typically need in order to break even Source: The Wall Street Journal
My spam seems to come in waves, one month its watches, the next month cigars, then sex products, ebay alerts, paypal reminders, stuff in Chinese and stuff for diets
The Nigerian scams have there own bullet point I get so many of them. There is a hysterical website that details what is called a 419 scam (thats where the picture came from). This group actually responds to the scammers and counter scams them and they have a section called "The Trophy Room" that will give you hours of pleasant enjoyment.

Why may you ask are you writing about spam, well the reason is that I got one of the best spam's ever. I think I am a relatively sophisticated internet user but when I got this email I was like wow this is quite specific about Mayors I must read it. Plus I was reading this on my blackberry while waiting for something so it was quite entertaining to say the least.

It took me a few sconds before the incredulity meter kicked in, but it's a good one, it had me going for about 5-6 lines!

TO EMAIL INTAKE PERSON: This email relates to an emergency matter that is personal and confidential for the mayor. This email should be forwarded to only the mayor or the mayor’s attorney, and it should be forwarded immediately because of its urgent subject matter.

===============================================================

TO: MAYOR

===============================================================

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY NOTICE. PLEASE HANDLE IT ACCORDINGLY.

===============================================================

This emergency matter is personal and confidential. While personal and confidential, this matter is also mayoral and official, as you will later see. The issue of why we are notifying you by email rather than a more conventional means, will be referenced below.

This document and this emergency matter should be shared with no one except, optionally, your attorney.

===============================================================

DEADLINE: Please note that the deadline for replying to this emergency notice is two business days.

===============================================================

Now to the main point of why we have contacted you. Here goes…

Although this is a matter that an attorney can help you with, ultimately it will be you and your own sense of financial self-preservation that must make the call. You must commit to saving yourself.

You are about to become vulnerable to litigation for which you will be personally liable. This means you can lose your personal assets. Yes, government immunity normally protects you and other government officials from personal liability. However this immunity is not carte blanche. There are loopholes that will allow “non-immunity” litigation to target you personally as opposed to you as the mayor, and therefore render you liable to having damages awarded against your personal assets. These kind of cases are typically difficult to win (on in your case, lose)—in fact, the legal “stars and moon” have to be properly aligned for this to happen.

We hereby notify you that the legal “stars and moon” are now properly aligned against you, meaning that a very strong case can be developed against you now or in the future unless preventive steps are taken. Very strong urgency exists because it is critical that you seek to get a handle on this matter right now, while you’re still in office and our company’s assistance is available to you. Otherwise it is possible that the lawsuit won’t be filed against you until after you leave office (and possibly many years after you leave office), which is the worst case scenario of for you. Why? Because this is the precisely the type of matter you want to resolve while you’re still in office and you still have some power and influence. It’s the old saying: “Out of power, therefore out of luck.” The last thing in the world you will want to have to deal with as an ex-mayor is a personal liability case where your previous employer—the government—is trying to categorize the case as being a non-immunity case and is therefore taking the position that it (the government) is not responsible for representing you in your defense and that it is doesn’t have to pay your legal bills or any damages if you lose the case—that, in effect, this is “your baby” and you’re on your own.

Because of the details of this matter, the lawsuit will probably be before a jury, and the party suing you will likely be requesting (from the court) maximum compensatory and punitive damages; meaning that the party will be seeking to wipe you out and strip you of “all” your personal assets.

Remember that it is not essential that you “know about” this matter. All that it takes is for the jury to decide that this matter is something you “should have known about as mayor”—we believe that such a decision on the part of a jury is a foregone conclusion given the facts of this case. Thus it’s not likely the “I didn’t know about it” defense will work for you.

Unless you receive our assistance, this lawsuit is going to happen. Your best option and, indeed, your only reasonable option is to receive our assistance so that this matter can be averted. Without our assistance you will likely be hit and hit hard by this matter—and possibly at the most inopportune time (i.e., after you leave office and you’ve lost your official power and influence).

This is a civil, personal-liability matter that does not involve any criminality. Also note that we cannot at this time disclose the details of this legal matter due partly to the need for us to protect our company’s anonymity. The subject of our company’s anonymity is further discussed below. Additional general information about this legal matter will be provided to you later if you continue to pursue this matter with our company.

We consider this to be an emergency matter due to the need for you to act immediately, as will be further detailed below. We strongly advise you to affirmatively respond to this document—immediately—by following the instructions below. Upon our timely receipt of your affirmative response (your Reply-Proc email reply), we will email you follow-up literature containing instructions for further pursuing this matter. For example you will be instructed on how we will involve our certified public accountant (CPA) to serve as honest broker regarding your payment of the very modest fees, which are later fully and automatically refunded to you as will be described. You will be provided this automatic refund since this notification initiative is being performed by our company on a strictly non-profit basis in which our company receives absolutely zero compensation (directly or indirectly). Hence, our company is proceeding on a purely altruistic basis.

Our CPA is a trusted, respected and reputable professional who you will have no trouble dealing with.

The sole purpose of this document is to cut to the chase and give you the bottom line, which is that you are now in great financial jeopardy (despite your government immunity from personal liability) and that you must act immediately to avert this danger. For the reasons stated, this is a fight that is best engaged now instead of later.

You may optionally involve your attorney. No doubt your attorney will confirm the wisdom of dealing with this matter aggressively and proactively—right now—instead of delaying until it’s too late. This is not a case where no news is good news. In the short-term you may hear nothing about this matter. But when you do finally receive the court complaint for this matter (i.e., the official lawsuit), it will be too late for you. For then you will have lost any wiggle room since the other party will then have all the leverage. No, playing the waiting game is the worst hand to play. Act now. Find out what you’re dealing with right now. “All” your personal assets are at risk. Why have this cloud hanging over you? Why have this loose end hanging over you?

Our company is not affiliated with the party/parties that will be suing you. What we bring to the table is our ability to “intercept” news of impending litigation and then to notify all interested parties. Again, we’re doing this on a non-profit basis and we receive no compensation. The fees you pay, which of course will be very modest, will be automatically and fully refunded to you.

We hereby offer you our assistance in averting this matter. If we do not timely receive your affirmative reply, we will not email you our follow-up literature and you will never hear from us again. For this reason, if you are even mildly inclined toward not affirmatively responding to this document, you should immediately confer with your attorney since it is a foregone conclusion that he/she will emphatically advise you to vigorously pursue this matter. Attorneys are typically and rightfully cautious about such matters.

How do you affirmatively reply to this document? By simply sending us a reply email containing just the phrase “Proceed for __________” in which you replace the blank with the city/state that you are the mayor of (e.g., Proceed for Boston, MA). We refer to this “Proceed for __________” email reply as the Reply-Proc email reply.

We must receive the Reply-Proc email reply from you within two business days of your receipt of this document. Because of the urgency, we must move lightning fast. Within five business days (and often within just one business day) of our timely receipt of your Reply-Proc email reply, we will email you our follow-up literature free of charge.

Be prepared to reply quickly when you receive the follow-up literature since there might be a tight deadline(s).

It is critical that you do your part by moving quickly on this matter—meaning now!! Time is truly of the essence because as time passes, we lose more and more of our ability to manage this emergency matter.

If you want our assistance you must act now. It’s either now or never since we offer no second chances.

For the time being our company will remain anonymous and we will communicate with you strictly by email. One or both of these restrictions may be dropped as you pursue this matter. In the meantime, any attempt to determine our identity or make non-email contact with us will result in the immediate and permanent forfeiture of your opportunity to pursue this matter. In order for things to go without a hitch, for now we need you to just go with the flow. The reasons for our anonymity and email-only-for-now policies should become apparent to you as you receive additional information from us. Let us assure you now and upfront that we have built-in checks and balances that serve to protect your interests. These too should later become apparent to you.

Another reason you should maintain confidentiality is that we may later require that you sign a confidentiality agreement. You will not be able to sign this agreement in good faith if you or your attorney begin now to breach confidence.

Even though our company is the first party to approach you about this matter, do not assume that our company is the principal. Regardless of whether we are the principal or a broker, you are entitled to receive all the advantages of this opportunity if you proceed as instructed. Also note that regardless of whether we are the principal or a broker, we will forever be your sole means of dealing with this emergency matter on a preventive basis.

We are a private party and we are not associated with any government entity. Your interaction with our company and/or our agent(s) will be held in the strictest of confidence.

Our terms are not negotiable.

All Rights Reserved. Do not share this document with others unless otherwise indicated above.

The last two lines are the best, terms are not negotiable and all rights are reserved!