This started with the end: Round Lake reversed an ordinance to regulate Wooster Lake. What was frustrating was the leadership of an elected official in the misguided effort to extend a municipalities authority beyond it’s boundary. The first part, along with the second part, showed that this should never have gone as far as it did. There were a select few who wanted to impose their will (enforcing no-wake rules for Wooster lake) on the rest, circumventing process, contracts and misinterpreting law.
While the law has been taken off the books at Round Lake, the repercussions of the effort continue to this day. The local leaders of this effort have convinced a few, even violent individuals, that rules are being broken, when in fact the rules never truly existed. Below, there are excerpts from communication which strongly indicate that these “leaders” knew all along that there were no such rules. Their behavior is a shame and should be an embarrassment to the people the represent.
This will be my final word on this, and probably not a satisfying one to many. This seems to be a problem where the cause is continued by inertia rather than rational thinking.
The Problem…
There is a non-associations call Wooster Lake Conservation and Control Association (WLCCA) (the “non” portion will be explained in a bit.) Ostensibly, the “association” represents the owners of the lake bottom property. The Board of a lake adjacent development, Tanneron Bay uses the covenants of WLCCA in it’s marketing material, linking to them from their own web sited (http://www.tanneronbay.com/government.html => “adheres to http://www.tanneronbay.com/WLCCAcov.pdf).
If you are looking for a no-wake lake, reading the Tanneron Bay site might make you believe that you have found what you are looking for.
Listed as leaders at Tanneron Bay are:
- President – Peter Dziadus
- Vice-President – Penny Cummings
- Secretary – Bonnie Collins
- Treasurer – Norm Brunner
- Director – Bob Koziol
- Director – Marty Klein
I have a pretty consistent theme in my posts about those who represent us in government, at any level. I expect integrity, leadership and honesty. This is, I have been told, naive, which may be the case. But, at whatever level of government, school board, hoa, village, county, state or federal, those who want to count themselves as leaders must be be held to some level of acceptably higher standard.
This is where there is a big problem at Tanneron Bay(TB). The residents of TB have been convinced by their board that the lake is a no-wake lake. The website points to the WLCCA covenants to support that claim.
This has lead to a level of tension that creates dangerous situations. Unreasonable people are compelled (wrongly) by the belief that the lake is being miss-used by those who ride jet skis and water ski. These misguided people reportedly ram boats on which there are children and drive recklessly while children are in the water. This is not the result real leaders should accept.
However, the leaders at TB seem to be willing to take actions which continues to fan the problem, while knowing full well that the lake is not a no wake lake.
The Communication…
The attached string of emails were between Thaddeus Kuchanny, then on the Board of the WLCAA and Penny Cummings on the TB Board.
First (full text):
From: “Thaddeus J. Kochanny”
To: “Bonnie Carter” ; “Joe Nakanishi” ; “Mayor Bill Gentes” ; “Rob & Sue Rosenlof” ; “TB-Brunner” ; “TB-Cogar” ; “TB-Cummings”; “TB-Dziadus” ; “TB-Wenzel” ; “Tim Triggs”
Cc: “Jill Mager” ; “Gale Pitasch” ; “Carol F. Brown”
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 2:27 PM
Subject: Richard J. Nakon, Esq.
Of special interest on this email are comments regarding WLCAA and the Covenants:
“ All the argument now, about its meanings, is worthless because the document has no legal standing. WLCCA doesn’t legally exits.”
“Furthermore, Mr. Nakon said that under present Illinois law every lake bottom owner must agree to adopt covenants/by-laws BEFORE they are recorded with the Secretary of State. We know this was never done.”
“…because the Wooster Lake Conservation and Control Association has no legal basis to exist, baring 100% agreement to adopt a new covenant and by-laws, nothing the association does has any legal effect.”
“ I hate to write this but Kirk Denz was correct all along.”
Most disturbing of all comments:
“ Without such agreement, keep the law enforcement phone numbers handy, get confirmation of liability insurance coverage and hope nobody shoots the wave runners! The survivors can sue each one of us.”
Thaddeus understood that violence could result. It is just unfortunate that rather than suggesting that they find ways to mitigate the violence, he was more concerned with financial liability in the aftermath.
What is even more telling is Penny’s response (full text).
From: “Patrick & Penny Cummings”
To: “Thaddeus J. Kochanny” ; “Bonnie Carter”; “Joe Nakanishi” ; “Rob & Sue Rosenlof” ;TB-Brunner” ;”TB-Cogar” ; “TB-Dziadus” ;”TB-Wenzel” ; “Tim Triggs”
Cc: “Jill Mager” ; “Gale Pitasch”; “Carol F. Brown”
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Richard J. Nakon, Esq.
“I think many of us knew that the covenants were never filed with any governing body.”
Regarding agreement to adhere to the WLCCA Covenents by surrounding HOAs,
“…some similar agreement can be worked out with Round Lake.That would then leave the remaining Wooster Lake residents to decide whether to adhere to them or not.”
While she states that there is a gentleman’s agreement to a no wake lake, that only Kirk Denz is breaking, she throws in this remark, acknowledging that even WLCCA board members are operating boats at faster speeds:
“The bottom line is that I have no idea why some members of the WLCCA board are so wrapped up in changing covenants that aren’t binding anyway. Is it just to ease their consciences as they go about operating full wake watercraft on the lake??? If so, going to confession weekly would be a better use of all of our energies.”
So, though the public claim has been that only one vocal person wants to operate faster boats, she knows that even the WLCCA board members are operating fast boats. Further, she opening acknowledges that the WLCCA and the covenants are worthless, though they continue to this day to use them on the TB web site to (falsely) promote Wooster as a no-wake lake.
When they talk about conservation, they are referring to (among other things) the conservation of their shore front. If there is erosion, TB does not want to have to pay the cost of maintaining it..
Again, it is about the money.
…Not property owners’ rights. Those who purchased property did so with no legal restrictions on their use of the lake.
…Not about safety. If safety were the concern, they would tell their residents that no one else on the lake has to adhere to TB rules, and openly admit that WLCCA has no standing.
Going forward…
Instead, they perpetuate this problem, creating a hostile environment, and ultimately lured Lake County and surrounding politicians into their fabrications.
For the safety of those who use the lake, the leaders of TB, the surrounding developments of Wooster Lake, and residents need to:
1) make it clear to the residents that the homeowners around the lake are not restricted to 5mph to prevent misunderstandings.
2) work together to develop a commonsense approach to safety – hour restrictions on water skiing or jets skis (10am – 6pm) is a common time frame.
3) Actively campaign against the violence.
4) Stop provoking each other with rhetoric and vitriol.
There are children on the lake. It is a shame that there are those who would resort to violence for any reason, but this affects the kids and it is time to stop.
You’ll note, that Bonnie Thomson Carter was on the email strings. Instead of looking for a peaceful resolution, she pursued ordinances to enforce what others on the lake did not want. As frustrating as it is to have an elected official involved in this kind of mess, I still come to my fifth point…
5) Leave the past in the past.
This episode should inform our (voters) decisions going forward. But, for now, the focus of Wooster Lake residents needs to be on making the lake safe again.
This has always been about the $. Crooks fleecing others who don’t know any better.
Attorneys opine a lake with special regulations is potentially worth more than one that isn’t. So what did some homeowners, developers, and “public servants” do? They artificially boosted the value of the off the lake properties which have lake access and began to tell everyone the owners of the lake were “Declarants” to the (phony) Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, & Restriction of the Wooster Lake Conservation & Control Assoc. claiming the lake has special regulations.
Fraud.
These liars knew the owners of the privately owned lake never conceded their titles and deeds to this document. But that didn’t stop those intent on boosting the values of lake access property with the false information fabricated in the Wooster Lake covenants document, a document that Thaddeus Kochanny of Tanneron Bay calls “paper machet fiction.”
It’s all about the $ and fleecing people to get it.
If the State’s Attorney was worth his weight in salt, he would investigate, charge, and prosecute anyone who sold their lake access property under false pretenses from September 1995 and forward.
An uncorrupted Prosecutor would be prosecuting the local officials who knowingly had a hand in the deception and did nothing to try to remove the lie.
Round Lake officials removed illegal ordinance 05-O-27 last summer. Why haven’t Fox Lake officials removed 2001-52, page 4, section F. 2) recorded at Lake County Oct 1, 2001 under document number 4770860?
“Paper machet fiction” is an accurate description of the Wooster Lake covenants and restrictions. So this makes you wonder why the Village of Fox Lake officials adopted ordinance 2001-52 which calls for the developer to include the “Wooster Lake Subdivision covenants and restrictions” in the development’s Declaration. That was back in 2001, and when lawyers in 2005 opined the covenants and restrictions to be invalid, records show Bonnie Carter went to work again on village officials near Wooster, convincing them in 2005 to adopt a known, unlawful extraterritorial ordinance. Wasting even more resources along the way.
Reasonable people like the article’s author realize the solution is and always has been compromise and co-existance. A wake-hours schedule facilitates that co-existance. Many owners of Wooster Lake in summer 2005 had agreed to such a schedule, but that voluntary agreement was trampled by the efforts of the illegal no-wake ordinance peddled and railroaded by Bonnie Carter in September 2005.
The radical myth of no-wake on Wooster Lake is just another one of those lies peddled by Bonnie Carter aimed at cheating her own constituents.
I agree with the author of this article – Tanneron Bay needs to advise its residents correctly about the lake being a wake lake, and that the residents can boat according to IL law and not some bird cage liner WLCAA papers and remove the WLCCA docs from any link or advertising – there has been a massive amount of time and money wasted on this issue, I am surprised that no lawsuits have resulted, especially after the clarification bill was passed. The sad part is Lake Co officials who do NOTHING to resolve this – hopefully the next elected Lake Co Attorney General will take notice.
I am the owner of the boat that was assaulted by TB resident Ed Kubicki on 2 seperate occasions. The first he actually rammed my boat and yelled foul language until we told him to stop. We exited the lake called police filed and assault charge and went to court. Kubicki pled guilty to assault and paid a $50.00 fine. As a resonsible citizens we thought that might be the end of harassment but we are dealiing with irresposible groups.
The second time Kubicki and 2 others actually came ashore as we were pulling the boat out of the water and were begging Kirk Denz to “throw the first punch I dare you”. We have this incident on film if anyone cares to watch.
There were 5 childen tubing the first time and 2 the second time. My son who was 8 at the time still refuses to go boating with me. What was going to be a fun summer activity for the family brings nothing but panic and anxiety to my son. I have the Rednecks of TB and a corupt politician Bonnie carter to blame for this.
If anyone wants to contact me I welcome all calls even from rednecks and hopefully, soon to be felons 614-359-8634
To summarize the resources spent on this issue:
1. time (2005 to 2011) and money for rescinding the illegal Round Lake Ordinance
2. time and money (IFOR, local, state legislators, lobbyists) for the State of IL Bill clarifying the state statute for legal zoning by municipalities
3. WLCCA board (1995 to present) promoting their bogus covenants
4. Round Lake Mayor / board time spent defending the illegal ordinance
5. Court time for vigilantes / Wooster lake bed owners in regards to violence on the lake
6. Police officers / IDNR officers – violence and ordinance enforcement
7. continued involvement of officials (local and state) to determine how to close this issue.
All of this due to politicians and residents who cannot understand the ownership of Wooster Lake / Municipal zoning / illegal ordinances. Also individuals at Tanneron Bay who just want this issue to be resolved “their way” no matter what the law states.
Don’t forget the other Lake County resources foolishly spent.
At the onset of the 2005 unlawful no wake ordinance:
1. drafting the ordinance. – A lawyer didn’t draft it. A Lake County biologist did on the taxpayers’ dime sent from a Lake County fax machine and on Lake County letterhead. – Lake County taxpayers paid for this biologist to do this!
2. the Lake County biologist put forth in his fax Illinois state statutes that did not legally provide municipal officials with the jurisdiction to do what the biologist and Bonnie Carter were purporting.
3. The Lake County biologist who put together the meaningless slidedeck on a Lake County letterhead-template filled it with all kinds of erroneous statements, not even providing a study to back up his erroneous and misleading statements assembled in the slidedeck, but still providing that slidedeck to the villages of Fox Lake and Round Lake to convince village officials to break the law.
Before the 2005 unlawful ordinance:
1. The Lake County Sheriff’s Department sworn officers which were inexplicably dispatched to Wooster Lake with WLCCA DCCR lake covenants and “Declarants” in hand, threatening ticket or arrest of people violating the lake covenants.
2. The efforts from the WLCCA and other lake area associations which convinced the Village of Fox Lake officials to adopt village ordinance 2005-52 page 4, 2) F. compelling the developer to insert the “Wooster Lake Subdivision covenants and restrictions” into the Holiday Park Declaration recorded at the Lake County Recorders Office.
3. The recording of that misleading ordinance at Lake County Recorders Office.
It seems local officials are perfectly willing to spend lots of taxpayer money and resources on the agenda, just as long as the spend is on the wrong side of the law and keeps perpetuating the problem rather than resolving the problem.
Don’t forget the other Lake County resources foolishly spent.
At the onset of the 2005 unlawful no wake ordinance:
1. drafting the ordinance. – A lawyer didn’t draft it. A Lake County biologist did on the taxpayers’ dime sent from a Lake County fax machine and on Lake County letterhead. – Lake County taxpayers paid for this biologist to do this!
2. the Lake County biologist put forth in his fax Illinois state statutes that did not legally provide municipal officials with the jurisdiction to do what the biologist and Bonnie Carter were purporting.
3. The Lake County biologist who put together the meaningless slidedeck on a Lake County letterhead-template filled it with all kinds of erroneous statements, not even providing a study to back up his erroneous and misleading statements assembled in the slidedeck, but still providing that slidedeck to the villages of Fox Lake and Round Lake to convince village officials to break the law.
Before the 2005 unlawful ordinance:
1. The Lake County Sheriff’s Department sworn officers which were inexplicably dispatched to Wooster Lake with WLCCA DCCR lake covenants and “Declarants” in hand, threatening ticket or arrest of people violating the lake covenants.
2. The efforts from the WLCCA and other lake area associations which convinced the Village of Fox Lake officials to adopt village ordinance 2001-52 page 4, 2) F. compelling the developer to insert the “Wooster Lake Subdivision covenants and restrictions” into the Holiday Park Declaration recorded at the Lake County Recorders Office.
3. The recording of that misleading ordinance at Lake County Recorders Office.
It seems local officials are perfectly willing to spend lots of taxpayer money and resources on the agenda, just as long as the spend is on the wrong side of the law and keeps perpetuating the problem rather than resolving the problem.
NOTICE:
Let the miscommunication stop.
Since several private attorneys’ opinions continue to be ignored, since an attorney’s calls for cease and desist go ignored, since an attorney’s “ON NOTICE” letter goes ignored, and since these senseless actions with the DCCRs inexplicably continue today…….my title company has run a current 30-year search against my private lake property 05-23-401-005 of Wooster Lake. The title company’s expert attorneys have confirmed neither the current owners (my wife and I) nor the previous owners ever declared this lake property as a “Declarant” to the DCCRs, like the Declaration recorded at the County Recorders’ Office falsely purports.
Title Company’s expert attorney: “…Although some of the DCCRs were apparently recorded in the Lake County Recorder’s office, none of them were indexed against the Property (05-23-401-005)…..the (Title) Company has obtained an updated (30-year) title search for the Property which confirms that none of the DCCRs are recorded against the Property. As such, the Company believes that any covenants and/or restrictions contained in the DCCRs do not constitute valid and enforceable covenants and restrictions against the Property…..”
To be clear, the DCCRs document recorded at the County is and has been falsely claiming owners of lake property 05-23-401-005 as Declarants, even prior to us purchasing the lake property.
In addition to the expert’s opinion, I also have a copy of the 30-year search to verify this expert attorney’s opinion from the Title Company.
Similarly, my neighbors owning lake property in John B. Converse Subdivision have signed a signature-petition calling for a cease and desist of their names and their lake properties being falsely claimed as Declarants on this DCCRs document recorded at the County, such as in document #5094179.
For those who are inexplicably still purporting and/or facilitating otherwise with the DCCRs, QUIT SLANDERING AND MISREPRESENTING MY AND MY WIFE’S PROPERTY 05-23-401-005.
Regarding safety on Wooster…..
The Fox Lake Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief today issued the following warning of “honeycombing” and unstable ice of inland lakes, particularly as some have fallen through the ice on other bodies of water in Lake and McHenry counties.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120208/news/702089935//
Owners of lake-access property (where hundreds of people have legal access to the lake) should post suitable warnings of this phenomenon occuring due to the odd weather conditions this year.
Though Bonnie Carter had once gloated she collected 400 signatures on her petition on behalf of her after-the-fact no wake ordinance, not a single post on these articles has been submitted defending the advertised and recorded special regulations, the DCCRs, and the claimed Declarants. Not a single post. Nor did a single no wake supporter bother to show up at the Village of Round Lake proceedings in the summer of 2011 when Bonnie’s quasi ordinance was being repealed. Where are all those 400 people now that the truth has been revealed?
Is there any doubt most of the 400 were prevented from knowing the whole truth when they were convinced to sign Bonnie’s misleading petition?
How many of the 400 were defrauded at the time they bought their lake access property to Wooster?
My children were present on Cua’s boat when this incident occurred, and all of them were present in court when the prosecutor advised that Kubicki would pay court costs and what amounted to a traffic ticket. It took all my strength not to verbally bash the man whose behavior endangered my children. I have taught them that the way to resolve such conflicts is through proper channels, not vigilantism. I could not contradict myself or my values in front of them or at all, for that matter.
Vigilantism, or getting even, doesn’t get anyone, anywhere. The problems that exist on Wooster Lake were long ago perpetrated by a homeowner turned political official, to drive up the value of her property. Along with her, she takes a prisoner (Ken Calvert, who tried to murder his wife), and a few others along the way. Peggy Trelford sits on the Tanneron Bay Condo Board. She is also an attorney and member of the Illinois Bar Association. By virtue of her sitting on the condo board, she is in breach of every ethics code she swore to uphold when admitted to the bar. Perhaps she thought her swearing in had something to do with ordering a drink from the bar(tender).
Tanneron Bay Association and Holiday Park Association today advertise and allege via its website http://www.tanneronbay.com/WLCCAcov.pdf and document #5094179 recorded at Lake County Recorder of Deeds, respectively,
the following people and entities as owner Declarants to the WLCCA DCCRs, yet the vast majority have never signed over their property deeds:
Harold Scully
Steve & Kathy Pearson
Ray & Carol Matt
Victor Ligenza
David & Ruth Bond
Jason Lee
Paul Altman & Kathy Stegen
Frank & Ann Wach
Scott & Betsy Wold
Robert & Julie Mitchell
East Shore Wooster Lake Association- President Gerry Stimpson and Kurt Stimpson
Ruth Konetshny
Jan Anderson
Rob & Susan Rosenlof
Steve & Julie Smith
Tanneron Bay Association
Peter and Jeanne Dziadus
Robert and Anna Faber
Wooster Lake Imprvment Association
Ken & Faith Calvert
Naomi Mitchell
Cambridge of Holiday Park
Genevieve Sowa
John & Karen Penland
Frank & Sue Urbina
Camp Henry Horner
Paul & Anne Ross
Richard Varner
The cover of the DCCRs alleging the document was prepared by attorney Richard Nakon of Wauconda.
[Editors Note: Attorney Richard Nakon did not prepare the final document. He assisted with the draft, but informed the organization that the document was not binding nor complete. It was publish with his name anyway. He asked that his name be removed from the DCCRs.]
Cutting through all the spin, the bottom line is all of the legal owners of the lake above -and their predecessors and successors- have never signed over their lake properties to the DCCRs, contrary to what some had falsified on the DCCRs and had recorded at the County Recorder of Deeds on #5094179. The truth is the vast majority of the owners above never signed on.
It’s been a giant scam.
The illegal ordinance schemed by Bonnie Carter in 2005 was not just illegal when it was done violating State law, it was also done – by Bonnie’s own words – to cover up or make moot the fact so many people had already “bought into” the advertised lake’s covenants: the DCCRs.
In essence, Bonnie Carter orchestrated the abuse of the powers of government to try to circumvent what was actually in individuals’ private property deeds.
This County Board Member has a history of not abiding by what’s in property deeds….and she’s also the Zoning Chair of Lake County who should know better.
Honestly, I think she does know better, but she just refuses to abide. Lake County deserves better.
The Secretary of State of Illinois officially dissolved the WLCCA association on March 13, 2011, and the State’s dissolution of the WLCCA is recorded at the Lake County Recorder of Deeds.
Still as of today at least 2 associations led by the Tanneron Bay board and Holiday Park board falsely advertise in their paperwork that Wooster Lake is governed by the WLCCA DCCRs: an always-phony organization that no longer exists with the State and its always-phony DCCR covenants that were always forged.