Rob
Sherman Advocacy
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Rob
Sherman Advocacy
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"Fighting injustice, one victory at a time."
Front page of
yesterday's edition of the News-Sun
Rob Sherman Advocacy has asked the Chairman of the Lake County (Illinois) Board to review the constitutionality of the sponsorship of Boy Scout Troop 19 by the its county court. Sherman Advocacy has also asked the Board Chairman to review the constitutionality of using taxpayer dollars advance a discriminatory purpose by funding the operation of the Boy Scout group. Here's the shocker: the County Board Chairman has indicated that she agrees with me.
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The state courts of Illinois are divided into twenty-two judicial circuits (21 plus the Circuit Court of Cook County). The 19th Judicial Circuit serves Lake and McHenry Counties in the northeast corner of Illinois. The 19th Circuit is funded primarily by tax dollars from the two counties. The rest of the money comes from grants, some state dollars and possibly some federal dollars.
Some Lake County boys who go through the 19th Circuit Court system end up at a residential detention facility known as the Depke Juvenile Justice Center in central Lake County, near Vernon Hills. Boys from McHenry County are sent to some place in Kane County.
Two years ago, the Administrative Office of the 19th Judicial Circuit Court applied to Boy Scouts of America for a charter to operate a Boy Scout troop in which only detainees of the Depke Center and their families could be members. The charter was granted by Boy Scouts. Number 19 was available for the troop, so that number was selected by the court to match the number of the judicial circuit.
On Monday, I spoke by telephone with Lake County Board Chairman Suzi Schmidt. I told her that I would attend next Tuesday's County Board Meeting to ask that the Board review the constitutionality and legality of using public funds to operate Troop 19. The constitution provides that public funds may only be used for public purposes and the nation's civil rights laws provide that public funds may not be used to advance a discriminatory purpose. Boy Scouts is a discriminatory private club in that it has a policy of no atheists or homosexuals allowed.
I also told Chairman Schmidt that I would ask the Board to review the propriety of having the county's court sponsor a discriminatory private club, since a court is supposed to be impartial and non-discriminatory in all of its affairs.
Chairman Schmidt replied that she felt that I had a point. She said that she would ask the State's Attorney of Lake County to review the matter and attend the Board Meeting. She also said that she would ask the Honorable Jane D. Waller, Chief Judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit, to attend the meeting.
If you'd like to attend and either observe the proceedings or speak about the issue, the meeting of the Lake County Board will take place on Tuesday, March 12, 2002, at 9:00 a.m., in the County Board Room, County Building, 18 North County Street, downtown Waukegan, Illinois. I welcome your participation.
This story also appeared on the front page of today's Daily Herald:
If you'd like to contact me about this matter, please use one of the methods described below.
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Rob Sherman P. O. Box
7410
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
A post office box is used
because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.
Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com