There Is A Mountain

Donovan sang "First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is."

It pretty well describes my race this year. I had no opponent for the November election. (smile) Then the local Democrats slated several people, including one for the District 5 Forest Preserve Commissioner. (frown) But hold on, it seems that the Democratic Party of DuPage County didn't file the proper paperwork, and presumably there was noone with the authority to slate people on the ballot. (smile) Chris Kachiroubas went to file the objection. When he got to the Board of Election, the office was open, but there was not an official to receive the complaint. Finally, someone came and stamped his complaint 10 minutes late. He received a note rejecting the complaint as it was not timely, that it, 10 minutes late. (frown) So the Republican Party filed suit saying Chris was timely, but that the Board of Election wasn't available. There is evidently case law saying that if he was in the office before it closed, they should service the objection. (smile)

The bottom line is a judge will have to decide if the Board of Election will have to hear the objection. If he says yes, then the Board of Election will make a ruling. I suppose that either way the Board decides, the decision will probably get tossed back into court. So stay tuned, as I will update the blog as things happen.

Meanwhile, I will be campaigning as if I have an opponent this fall. I would appreciate your help. To volunteer, contact me at horticarl@yahoo.com .

High And Low Tech Fun

A couple of activities that you can do at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County are Geocaching and Letterboxing. Essentially, these are both a type of treasure hunt.

Geocaching is high tech hide and seek. A person hides the treasure, referred to as a 'cache'. He then posts the coordinates on a website. Your job is to use GPS technology to find the cache. You follow the GPS unit to the coordinates and then look in the immediate area to find the container. When you find the treasure, you add your name to a logbook and when you found it. Sometimes people will write down their experience in finding the cache. Usually, there are little trinkets inside. You may take a trinket, but you must leave one if you do.

Letterboxing is similar, except you follow written clues. People use ink stamps to acknowledge when they find a box. Another interesting aspect to letterboxing, is that some people will include a hitchhiker in the box. The point of a hitchhiker is that the finder is to take the hitchhiker to the next letterbox and leave it for the next finder. This continues with the goal to have the hitchhiker go all over the country, or even the world.

The District places its own boxes and caches in the preserves. We post the coordinates and clues at www.geocaching.com and www.letterboxing.org under the name dupageforest and Senior Ranger. If you would like to place a box in the preserves you may obtain a special use permit (it is free, just call 630-933-7248. This helps us ensure proper placement so it doesn't damage critical habitat, etc.)

Geocaching and Letterboxing is fun for everyone. Come on and try it in your local Forest Preserve.

Got Me A New Pair Of Shoes

The other day I took my daughter to buy a new pair of shoes. I thought that since I was in there, I might as well buy a pair for myself, just for walking around. Turns out that I must have had a premonition, because it appears I will be wearing down some shoe leather from now until November. It seems that the Democrats have caucused and have a candidate to run in the 5th District for Forest Preserve Commissioner.

So I can file away Plan A (put up a few signs, walk a parade... stop for lunch... take out a thank you ad in the Sun and Daily Herald) and dust off Plan B (put up a lot of signs, go door to door, parades... hustle, hustle, hustle... and take out a thank you ad in the Sun and Daily Herald).

Check out 'The Forest's Edge' frequently for campaign updates. Or go to my campaign website for further information. If you would like to help out with my campaign, please contact me at horticarl@yahoo.com.