Replies

“Wonder who owned the lumberyard?”

(no link - sorry for the lack of formatting)

Death and taxes - one and the same?
SouthtownStar (Chicago, IL) - Sunday, December 7, 2008
By Becky Schlikerman staff writer

Farid “Fred” Ellian is considering moving his 8-year-old auto shop out of Country Club Hills and into Chicago. He said the property taxes in Country Club Hills are making it difficult for his auto-repair business to stay afloat. Taxes “kill you,” Ellian said. The property taxes for Ellian’s Lightning Auto Repair business totalled almost $45,000 for 2007, which are paid this year. That’s up from almost $39,000 for 2006. When he saw that increase, Ellian was taken aback. “It’s like somebody stabbed you,” he said. “It takes the wind out of you.” Residents of Country Club Hills have been rallying against the 44 percent increase in the portion of their tax bill that goes to the city of Country Club Hills. But small businesses are also feeling the pinch.

Forest Lumber Company isn’t seeing as much profit because the company has had to adjust to pay the taxes, said Sharon Reimer, one of the owners. It’s especially worse for the building material store because the cater to customers who have been hit hard by the sluggish industry, said Larry Reimer, another owner. “It’s a slow market and because we’re in Country Club Hills, we’re getting hit even worse,” Larry Reimer said. For Sharon Reimer, Larry’s mother, her business’ almost $49,000 tax bill isn’t as shocking as the cut the city is taking. This year, the city’s portion of her store’s tax bill was more than $18,000 that’s up from about $12,500 last year. Usually the school districts take the biggest cut, but not in Country Club Hills. “Why do they get more than schools?”

(snip)

nancially wrong to move right now,” Reimer said. But he hopes the city limits how much more it raises taxes. If not, businesses like his won’t be there, he said. “You can’t keep taxing people because there won’t be any,” Sharon Reimer said.

(snip)

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=320986

Mayor Dwight W. Welch of south suburban Country Club Hills provided most of the information available about the death Saturday night.

“He supposedly committed an overdose in our city at about 3 a.m. Saturday morning,” said Welch in a telephone interview.

At least some of the city’s facts came from Oak Forest Hospital, a south suburban county facility, where Kelly was taken before being transferred to Stroger, he said. Hospital staff called the city authorities and apparently relayed what they had been told by whoever brought him to the hospital.

The overdose reportedly occurred in the parking lot of a lumber yard in Country Club Hills, Welch said.

Interviewed on NBC Channel 5, Welch referred to a girlfriend of the married Kelly as supposedly the person who took him to the hospital. Asked about the reported girlfriend, the mayor told the Daily Herald authorities are interviewing and looking for a number of people who might be witnesses.

Political consultant John Ruff dies in auto accident
Comments

June 9, 2009

BY DAVE McKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief

SPRINGFIELD — A key figure in the perjury investigation of U.S. Sen. Roland Burris died in an automobile accident Monday, authorities in far west-suburban Kendall County confirmed Tuesday.

John Ruff, of Sandwich, Ill., was killed shortly before 3 p.m. when his 2001 BMW convertible crossed an oncoming lane of traffic and collided with a tree while he was driving eastbound on Rogers Road near Oak Brook Road in unincorporated Plano, said Kendall County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Pearson.

(snip)

Ruff, a health-care and political consultant, raised the prospect of a possible quid pro quo between Blagojevich and Burris, recounting a telephone conversation with Burris’ business partner Fred Lebed, who allegedly told Ruff on the date of Burris’ appointment, “We’ll have to do some things for the governor.”

(snip)