Who Says You Can't Fight City Hall?

One tote over the Island Lake line resident Bob Wargaski didn't lie down and take it when people made that suggestion to him.

Be steamrolled by Mayor Tom Hyde and his majority?

No way.

And on December 23rd, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency agreed with arguments he had made to the Lake County Health Department that the well casing installed wasn't good enough for a permanent well.

OK for a test well, I was told by the EPA, but not good enough for a well to draw drinking water for the public.Want to see what a letter ending a fight that probably cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars looks like?

Here it is:

Even the Daily Herald recognized the significance of Wargaski's victory.
Entitled

“Lessons learned from pig farm dispute”

Daily Herald editorial writers characterize the disputed “a pretty good example of government hardheadedness.”

I must admit that I have not seen a pig farm used as an anti-development tool before.

POV, a commenter under the editorial lays out what happened:

“follow the money. The Village had plans to put is somewhere else, but a $developer$ petitioned them to move it so he could build $ a development without the eyesore of a water tower to detract from his bottom $ line.

“So because the village wanted to accommodate $ the developer $ and make more $ tax revenue from the new homes, they decided to aquiesse to the request from the $developer$ and move it to Mr Wargaski's back yard.

“But they did not figure on the $ power of Mr Wargaski or his creativity and gonads to fight them.

“It is always about $money and $power.

“I hope some lessons were learned.”

The editorial said,

“Wargaski emerges as a folk hero to any suburbanite ever bullied by a government agency in the name of the public good.

“Whether or not you agree with him, Wargaski's lesson is an individual thinking creatively can take on a heavy-handed government.”

All images can be enlarged by clicking on them. You can find links to other McHenry County Blog articles on this subject here.