Roundabout Lake?

In another victory against job-killing federal regulations, the village of Round Lake lifted its no-wake ordinance on Wooster Lake. Considered a win for libertarians, the village board there voted to rescind any speed restrictions imposed on Wooster Lake boaters. According to the Daily Herald ...

property owners along Wooster Lake are now responsible for settling their differences and deciding whether to have no-wake restrictions for the roughly 100-acre body of water.
Round Lake ends boating speed limit for private lake

Of course as every operative knows, inland boats + warm weather are like firecrackers + lit cigars. Perhaps recognizing they may be sitting on a powderkeg -- or perhaps on the advice of legal counsel -- Round Lake Mayor James Dietz issued a legally indemnifying caveat:

"We wish people would behave," Dietz said.
Round Lake ends boating speed limit for private lake

A tall order for a community where the wheels of justice sometimes turn old-Dodge-City-style: an aggrieved gets behind the wheel of an old Dodge Ram-150 and an aggriever ends up beneath the wheels of an old Dodge Ram-150.

Luckily for all concerned, the Ram-150 was not engineered to be driven atop inland lakes during summer months. However, with lifted speed restrictions, basic physics necessitates an increased probability of untoward mishaps among Wooster Lake boaters.

Your LakeCountyEye has learned that the Lake County Division of Transportation is ready and waiting with one proven remedy. As readers of this blog are roundly aware ...

Roundabout Trips

roundabouts are not only being promoted as the superior solution for traffic safety, be it on land or be it on sea -- but ground is already broken and they are being dug, probably at an intersection near you. There is money waiting to be spent. And there are politically connected contractors ready to build. An explosive combination as your LakeCountyEye has ever known!

Are there aqua-roundabouts waiting, just around the corner, for Wooster Lake? It could happen.

Bill Gentes running for third term.

Got a press release from Mayor Bill Gentes today announcing his run for his third term. Gentes ran for State Senator Bill Peterson's open senate seat last fall and got beat quite handily by republican newcomer and now State Senator Dan Duffy.

Scuttlebutt has it that Gentes is toast in this election, but looking at the County Clerks website from the November election you can see Gentes won the Round Lake precincts pretty consistently (looks like he lost 1 of 10). There is a slate already announced (posted here on December 27) so its a two way race for the Round Lake Mayor's seat (for now). My guess is that Gentes wins. Plus I have been hearing from Republican sources that there is a third slate gearing up to run as well.

Two term Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes announced his intention today to seek a third term as Mayor of Round Lake. Mayor Gentes is running on his record of improving management of the village, professionalizing the police department, and building a surplus in reserves from $5 million dollars to well over $16 million today. In addition Mayor Gentes serves on numerous boards and committee’s including Chairman of the 120 Corridor Planning Council, which hopes to build the 11 mile road across the county to solve many of our transportation problems.

Running with Bill on the United Round Lake Party is current Village Clerk Jeanne Kristan, Village Trustee Brian Brubaker, current Round Lake Police Commissioner Al Villasenor and Cynthia Purim Haran. “I am pleased to say this slate balances and represent all the areas of the village from the older sections of towns, to some of our larger less represented developments. I am very excited to be running with this fine group,” says Bill. “The village has become a much more complex entity in the last years, as the vast amount of development approved by my predecessor was built during my first term. We had to manage explosive growth and increased service demands with little in the way of management structure in place. I am proud to say that we have done quite a bit of this, but more needs to be done, which is why I am seeking a third term as Mayor,” says Gentes.

“My running mates are professionals who have either helped the village progress over the last 8 years, or will help going forward. The two newcomers to elected office are Al Villasenor a small business owner who runs a Financial Services Company and Cynthia Purim-Haran an Attorney with senior management experience as well. I think the village will be well served by this slate of candidates,” says Gentes.

Round Lake has grown from 5,400 people in the 2000 census to just fewer than 17,000 according to recent projections.

Macgillis files to run for Round Lake Mayor

The Waukegan News Sun has this announcement today about a former Mayors of Round Lake's son running for Mayor. The current Mayor is Bill Gentes who lost a nasty state senate race to Dan Duffy last November. Round Lake politics is known for Gentes fighting with the old guard of Round Lake with his firing of the old Police Chief, and throwing some light on the shady dealing of the past.

What is it with family members running for office in this state?

NOTE: I tried to find pictures of anyone in this newly formed group, but was unable to find much that did not include the current Mayor which seemed inappropriate, send a pic here if you read this.

ROUND LAKE -- Dan MacGills, the son of a former mayor, has announced he will seek to unseat incumbent Bill Gentes in the April 7 election.

"People have had enough of the present administration under our current mayor," said MacGillis, who will lead a slate of candidates in the newly formed Community Connection Party.

MacGillis, a 50-year Round Lake resident, is a member of a pioneer Round Lake family and previous owner and director of the MacGillis Funeral Home. His father, Douglas MacGillis, was elected mayor of Round Lake in 1961.

"My father's vision was to see the population of Round Lake grow along with business opportunities," he said. "We now have enough roof tops -- growing Round Lake as an economy is next."

Besides MacGillis, other slate candidates include Nancy Piscitello for village clerk, and trustee hopefuls Don Newby, Laura Frye and Susan Triphahn.

Newby is an incumbent and has a long record of community involvement; Frye is an attorney who resides in the Parkview area; Susan Triphahn is the current president of the Lakewood Grove Homeowners Association; Piscitello is a 10-year resident living in Bright Meadows.