Robert –

Like Marilyn before you, you mistake a short absence for “hiding”. In short, some of us have jobs.

I’m not sure what you think I have written which you consider nonsense. I posted to the old thread for Debbie regarding the same types of comments. I haven’t heard back from her. Is she “hiding” from me?

Well, here’s my post from the old thread in reply to Debbie’s rant and insults thrown at me. Feel free to answer for her if you wish.

Debbie –

OK, I’m back as I didn’t want to leave you Napergatians to yourselves on this note. Not yet.

1) Was it a CLASS 3 FELONY (capitalization is yours) for the NPD to run Mr Esmail’s plates? That depends on intent. Were they running everyone’s plates on that entire block, or did they select only Mr Esmail’s plates?

“Unless they can prove that some police officer was randomly checking plates and running them on a busy Friday night which is highly unlikely, the Napergate Man just fried the city for the 3rd time in 20 years.”

First of all, what is your basis for saying this is “highly unlikely”? How long have you worked in law enforcement? Where I used to work, the Des Plaines PD would come through the parking lot running plates all the time looking for stolen cars or cars without city stickers or cars with other violations. A co-worker lived in an Aurora condo complex where the Aurora PD would run all the plates weekly.

Also, our difference in opinion is that I give the NPD the benefit of the doubt while you want me or someone else to somehow prove they were acting lawfully. We’re just starting from a different point of view.

Moreover, if the NPD was running the plates of all the cars on a block, for instance, and they purposely skipped Mr Esmail’s car wouldn’t that be preferential treatment akin to what the Wehrli’s and Moser’s of the world would get?

2) Thanks for knowingly driving on a suspended license. I think we all appreciate that. What if you had caused an accident? Would your insurance company have still covered you? But I digress.
I think the consensus here has been that the NPD had discretion on how to treat people such as your self and Mr Esmail. You were treated well and Mr Esmail was not treated as well. We don’t know all that happened that night, and all I did was give some plausible reasons why Mr Esmail was taken into custody. Ted agreed with me so I couldn’t have been nonsensical. It is easy to say that you did nothing wrong in any situation, but you have to look at it from the officer’s perspective and see if there was something he may have thought disrespectful and/or resistant (even passively resistant).

Just because they HAVE discretion in these situations doesn’t mean they always have to USE it. Obviously they use it at times and at other times they do not. I would bet that some officers use this discretion more than others so it may be the luck of the draw.

By the way, since you were knowingly driving on a suspended license, you drove very carefully, right? So what did you do to get pulled over? Or were your plates run "at random"? Could it be the cop ran your plates for no reason other than he was behind you?

3) Perhaps it is specifically because Mr Esmail had a friend with him, so the cops decided to leave the dog in his care? Either way, Mr Esmail’s friend chose not to call anyone for a ride because it was apparently late at night? This doesn’t make it the NPD’s problem. The NPD is nobody’s taxi service nor is the police station a kennel.

Moreover, the NPD should not be transporting people around town without a valid law enforcement reason. First of all, that takes a patrolman off the street. Secondly, it opens the city up to liability claims if there were an accident and the passenger (or dog) was injured.

I’ve heard that the cops took the Hummer keys, but I haven’t seen anything to the effect that Mr Esmail requested they be given to his friend. Maybe these additional facts would help shed some light on this. Again, Debbie, you’re assuming the worst while I want to know more of what happened.

4) Chief Dial: If you actually read my past posts, you will see that it was Police Officer (someone apparently respected on this thread) who wanted to give Chief Dial a complete pass on the Napergate issue and it was me who stood up and said something is wrong with this situation because either he knew what was happening or he SHOULD have know. Get your facts straight.

5) “And T.B.'s arguments border on nonsense.” It is easy to speak in generalities and not address anything in specific. Bring it on, Debbie. Exactly what’s not making sense for you? Maybe I could explain it better if there’s something you don’t understand. Or are you just upset and emotional that I happen to disagree on some issues?

I dare you. I dog dare you. I double dog dare you. But I don’t dare you to be a WOMAN. Point out what I have written which is either factually incorrect or nonsensical in nature.
Oh, but keep it clean. I’m dealing in facts, so save the attacks about how sad or foolish you think I am. I deserve the same courtesy I am extending to you.

6) Ameena’s research at the library is nice and useful, but that’s not to say she’s the authority on everything on this thread. I guess we should all just sit back and read what she has to say and not type one more letter, right? Everyone brings a different perspective to these issues and I don’t think any one person (including me) is right about everything.

7) Conspiracy Theories: I guess I have to man-up, huh? First of all, if you actually read what I have already posted, you would see that I do not disagree with the original Napergate conspiracy (or conspiracies if you see them as two separate ones and not one big one). So you have your facts wrong.

However, that being said, I do not buy the fact that every traffic stop of Mr Esmail is somehow a continuation of those conspiracies. Is that clear enough for you? I think this relates to my point #1. You see everything against him as being done on purpose. I see a guy who put this in his past but got pulled over for a suspended license. I don’t necessarily equate the two events as being related.

I believe that most people on this thread have rightly blamed Mr Esmail’s past problems on two former mayors and have also stated that Mayor Pradel is honorable and gets along well with Mr Esmail. So then where’s the current conspiracy? If you think this is just a NPD conspiracy, then I suggest you revisit my point #4.

8) “It is disgusting some of the things you speculate and try to prove with nonsensical arguments.” On the contrary, I think it is you and some of your cohorts making huge assumptions and I am the one asking for proof, verifiable proof.

9) Now Chief Dial needs to Man up? Please see #4.

10) The “puck” stops at Chief Dial? First of people, how did this get started? Harry S. Truman’s famous sign on his desk was “the buck stops here”.

So for the Napergate era conspiracy the buck stopped at the mayor’s office, but for this “conspiracy” it stops at the NPD Chief’s desk? Please explain the inconsistencies. Also with regard to the NPD, see point #4.

The ball’s in your court, Debbie. You think I babble and talk nonsense—prove it.

T.B.
Posted by: T.B. | February 5, 2008 08:22 AM

So you see, Robert, I am trying to answer insults with logic and getting no response.

You’re all welcome to wallow in your own self-righteousness, but I’m not drinking the Coolaide. I appreciate the research and work Ameena has done, but I believe that being a good researcher and then being able to correctly interpret that work are two different things. Ameena’s long post here uses the words (or derivatives) “assuming” and “probably” far too often to be accepted as the facts surrounding what happened in this case. Ameena is better when she gives her opinion and does not present them as facts. What she believes happened may not be the case.

Most of all, in all of this, where is Mr Esmail? The Sun has had no luck contacting him; however, there seems to be no shortage of those willing to speak on his behalf. He definitely showed a willingness to speak out in the past and I believe he has the means to do so now (based solely on the fact he has a Hummer and a Rolls, but he could speak out without buying a full-page ad). If he has a real issue with what happened and how he was treated, I’d like to hear it from him and not from some self-appointed mouthpiece.

So now I get to look forward to your insults and scorn. Yippee (that’s sarcasm, folks, so nobody insinuate that I post here just to get a “RISE” as someone so juvenilely suggested of some of us). Anyone recall how Joe used to drive people off these pages?

Generally, I think these threads contain a great exchange of ideas, but when it comes to the Napergate topic there is no discussion allowed. The one accepted version of events is shoved down your throats, and don’t let something like hard facts get in your way.

Enjoy yourselves. But I would hope someone would harness some of this energy for something. So far, I see an intellectual exercise with no clear purpose but to complain and expand the vast conspiracy. I think it was Kevin who asked a while back – where to go from here? An answer anyone???

T.B.

Debbie & Marshall,
To make it easy for you creeps I have listed below the dates and times of the only 4 comments I have posted on this thread to date. What are you talking about? You will notice my last post was on January 29, you jerks. You must be completely ignorant of the facts if to believe I have been babbling and mouthing off as you state, you blatant liars. You will also notice my posts were responses to, and about others almost as brain dead as you. Speaking of credibility, where is yours? What planet are you on? Why don't you go to the library and learn for yourselves, instead of waiting for Ameena to spoon feed it to you day by day, so you can just regurgitate it a little at a time, you lazy bums? Why do you think Ted used all that blog space to publish the dates of the Napergate ads for those who are interested in seeing them for themselves? What's your excuse?

(Sorry Kevin, you will notice I have peppering my comments with personal attacks in order to maintain the recent spirit of this thread... I should say the mean spirit of this thread. At least I didn't call them retarded, idiots, morons, or sick puppies like many of them like to do. And they think they're intellectuals? I'll bet they wouldn't get through Journalism 101. Sorry, Ameena won't get my vote...too emotional and judgemental for the job. I promise I will get back to my consistently credible, intellegent, humorous, and respectful blogging on my next post).

Here are the times and dates of the ONLY posts I have made to this thread until now:

Posted by: Southwest Naperville Taxpayer | January 25, 2008 08:40 AM

Posted by: Southwest Naperville Taxpayer | January 25, 2008 10:00 AM

Posted by: Southwest Naperville Taxpayer | January 26, 2008 01:35 AM

Posted by: Southwest Naperville Taxpayer | January 29, 2008 08:25 PM

Debbie –

OK, I’m back as I didn’t want to leave you Napergatians to yourselves on this note. Not yet.

1) Was it a CLASS 3 FELONY (capitalization is yours) for the NPD to run Mr Esmail’s plates? That depends on intent. Were they running everyone’s plates on that entire block, or did they select only Mr Esmail’s plates?

“Unless they can prove that some police officer was randomly checking plates and running them on a busy Friday night which is highly unlikely, the Napergate Man just fried the city for the 3rd time in 20 years.”

First of all, what is your basis for saying this is “highly unlikely”? How long have you worked in law enforcement? Where I used to work, the Des Plaines PD would come through the parking lot running plates all the time looking for stolen cars or cars without city stickers or cars with other violations. A co-worker lived in an Aurora condo complex where the Aurora PD would run all the plates weekly.

Also, our difference in opinion is that I give the NPD the benefit of the doubt while you want me or someone else to somehow prove they were acting lawfully. We’re just starting from a different point of view.

Moreover, if the NPD was running the plates of all the cars on a block, for instance, and they purposely skipped Mr Esmail’s car wouldn’t that be preferential treatment akin to what the Wehrli’s and Moser’s of the world would get?

2) Thanks for knowingly driving on a suspended license. I think we all appreciate that. What if you had caused an accident? Would your insurance company have still covered you? But I digress.

I think the consensus here has been that the NPD had discretion on how to treat people such as your self and Mr Esmail. You were treated well and Mr Esmail was not treated as well. We don’t know all that happened that night, and all I did was give some plausible reasons why Mr Esmail was taken into custody. Ted agreed with me so I couldn’t have been nonsensical. It is easy to say that you did nothing wrong in any situation, but you have to look at it from the officer’s perspective and see if there was something he may have thought disrespectful and/or resistant (even passively resistant).

Just because they HAVE discretion in these situations doesn’t mean they always have to USE it. Obviously they use it at times and at other times they do not. I would bet that some officers use this discretion more than others so it may be the luck of the draw.

By the way, since you were knowingly driving on a suspended license, you drove very carefully, right? So what did you do to get pulled over? Or were your plates run "at random"? Could it be the cop ran your plates for no reason other than he was behind you?

3) Perhaps it is specifically because Mr Esmail had a friend with him, so the cops decided to leave the dog in his care? Either way, Mr Esmail’s friend chose not to call anyone for a ride because it was apparently late at night? This doesn’t make it the NPD’s problem. The NPD is nobody’s taxi service nor is the police station a kennel.

Moreover, the NPD should not be transporting people around town without a valid law enforcement reason. First of all, that takes a patrolman off the street. Secondly, it opens the city up to liability claims if there were an accident and the passenger (or dog) was injured.

I’ve heard that the cops took the Hummer keys, but I haven’t seen anything to the effect that Mr Esmail requested they be given to his friend. Maybe these additional facts would help shed some light on this. Again, Debbie, you’re assuming the worst while I want to know more of what happened.

4) Chief Dial: If you actually read my past posts, you will see that it was Police Officer (someone apparently respected on this thread) who wanted to give Chief Dial a complete pass on the Napergate issue and it was me who stood up and said something is wrong with this situation because either he knew what was happening or he SHOULD have know. Get your facts straight.

5) “And T.B.'s arguments border on nonsense.” It is easy to speak in generalities and not address anything in specific. Bring it on, Debbie. Exactly what’s not making sense for you? Maybe I could explain it better if there’s something you don’t understand. Or are you just upset and emotional that I happen to disagree on some issues?

I dare you. I dog dare you. I double dog dare you. But I don’t dare you to be a WOMAN. Point out what I have written which is either factually incorrect or nonsensical in nature.

Oh, but keep it clean. I’m dealing in facts, so save the attacks about how sad or foolish you think I am. I deserve the same courtesy I am extending to you.

6) Ameena’s research at the library is nice and useful, but that’s not to say she’s the authority on everything on this thread. I guess we should all just sit back and read what she has to say and not type one more letter, right? Everyone brings a different perspective to these issues and I don’t think any one person (including me) is right about everything.

7) Conspiracy Theories: I guess I have to man-up, huh? First of all, if you actually read what I have already posted, you would see that I do not disagree with the original Napergate conspiracy (or conspiracies if you see them as two separate ones and not one big one). So you have your facts wrong.

However, that being said, I do not buy the fact that every traffic stop of Mr Esmail is somehow a continuation of those conspiracies. Is that clear enough for you? I think this relates to my point #1. You see everything against him as being done on purpose. I see a guy who put this in his past but got pulled over for a suspended license. I don’t necessarily equate the two events as being related.

I believe that most people on this thread have rightly blamed Mr Esmail’s past problems on two former mayors and have also stated that Mayor Pradel is honorable and gets along well with Mr Esmail. So then where’s the current conspiracy? If you think this is just a NPD conspiracy, then I suggest you revisit my point #4.

8) “It is disgusting some of the things you speculate and try to prove with nonsensical arguments.” On the contrary, I think it is you and some of your cohorts making huge assumptions and I am the one asking for proof, verifiable proof.

9) Now Chief Dial needs to Man up? Please see #4.

10) The “puck” stops at Chief Dial? First of people, how did this get started? Harry S. Truman’s famous sign on his desk was “the buck stops here”.

So for the Napergate era conspiracy the buck stopped at the mayor’s office, but for this “conspiracy” it stops at the NPD Chief’s desk? Please explain the inconsistencies. Also with regard to the NPD, see point #4.

The ball’s in your court, Debbie. You think I babble and talk nonsense—prove it.

T.B.

Ted,
I have been reading all the posts and I did not get the same impression you got. I have to run to the health club so I will express my opinion quickly without reviewing.

I do not believe Basim made this statement until the Sergeant had already decided he was arresting him. He made that statement to try to persuade the Sergeant not to arrest him after the Sergeant had already made his decision. I believe he made that statement as a final effort to prevent Abby the agony that he knew she would encounter. And she did encounter a lot of agony. Most dogs would but it seems like Abby was very close to Basim and went thru much more agony. All the neighbors always report Basim walking her and not another member of the family. To me that indicates extreme closeness.

Of course, I am making a call or request to ask Bob for some clarification. He would know the answer as he stood silently by listening and never saying a word. He would know for sure. Could you e-mail him Ted since you have his e-mail and ask him for us. I recall him saying it is OK for you to e-mail him. He just doesn't want his name in the newspapers from what I recall.

Basim does not seem like a trouble maker. He told his friend Bob not to say a SINGLE WORD. Bob never said a single word. He wanted to resolve this quietly. It is very very unlikely that he would have asked for discretion and invoked the chief's name, unless he exhausted all his avenues. I would have done the same thing after exhausting all my avenues especially if I knew as Basim correctly knew they have this discretion policy. Basim had every right to ask for discretion. I disagree with you Ted, that is it a NO NO to ask for what you are entitled to.

If you think a little further and logically, Basim would have no reason to make this statement unless he was already being told he was being arrested. If he was not told he was being arrested, there would be no reason for him to make this statement. It was an after the fact statement after he realized he was not getting Debbie's appropriate treatment.

The Sergeant based on your statement showed that he is a fascist by acting in this way, because somebody made a legitimate request to try to help his dog and friend out. Police should not have these powers and when they do, and abuse them as this Sergeant did, they are called fascists. Thus the reason this huge liquor organization(can't remember symbols) accused our police dept. of practicing fascism. How right they were?

I suppose Basim insulted the police dept when he offered them a 1500 dollars when he was innocent regarding that sting operation. How dare he make such an offer? So they hold a Kangaroo Court for him that lasts a year. Roselle just gave him a $125 fine. That should tell you something about fascism.

The bottom line Ted, is it would be nice to see a guy like you go on record and state, I condemn the Naperville Police Dept. for what they did to Basim in the case of the bottle of Korbel. If you can not say that after liquor commission reports and two Appellant Court rulings your bloggers will think you are spineless. Show us you can condemn our police dept. after they were already convicted. That should be an easy task. Let us see if you can do it, Ted. You need to take a few small steps to show us you are willing to put your words in action and really test this police dept. as opposed to coming up with lame and illogical defenses on their behalf.

I hope we hear from Bob soon!

Thanks!
Sorry I am a little angry writing this post. I am sure it is obvious.

Response from Ted:

Sorry, McFarland. Too soon for me to blanketly condemn the NPD. Guess I'll have to live with you thinking I'm spineless.

I looked again at Bob's post, though, and you're right--it would appear they made the decision to arrest him AND to deny him the chance to take his dog home a split second BEFORE the Chief Dial remark. I maintain, however, that in Bob's own words the Dial remark infuriated the arresting sergeant and preceded his being placed in handcuffs and hauled off to the Naperville lockup where he spent the night.

Still don't know if Basim was profiled. Maybe cops thought his overcautious behavior at stop signs before being pulled over was suspicious. Maybe they had randomly run his plate, and the suspended license turned up. Once the officers knew of the suspended license I speculate they had legitimate reason to question the driver and then the traffic stop became a matter of maintaining CONTROL.

So I'll say this much. Assuming the account is true, then I would condemn the bullyish behavior of the individual arresting sergeant in this one particular incident PROVIDED the arresting sergeant could offer no reasonable explanation for his behavior if given the chance to tell his version of events.

Maybe by saying this I'll call out the sergeant, or another one of the officers who was there the night of the arrest, and we'll get to hear from them.

Somehow this thread has taken a turn for the worse with a lot of personal attacks being thrown around. I think it is ok for people to have different views on topics and there is no reason for anyone to get that upset to the point where you would call complete strangers names. If everything we read about the Napergate Man is true...he would not be too happy with the people on this thread who are loosing their temper and getting very emotional...the one consistent message I hear about the Napergate Man is that he keeps his cool in all situations...which is what makes him so unique. As shown here on this thread, most people can't do that.

So let's start focusing less on attacking each other and start focusing more on what we should do with all of this knowledge we are collecting here about the Napergate Man. I have learned that there is strength numbers when it comes to dealing with the city of Naperville. So with that being said, we should get a candidate or two to run in the next city council election from this blog. It seems to me that Ameena is the most respected person on this blog...she does her research, she is thorough with her answers, she listens to everyone and finally the most important trait of all...she seems like a genuine person. Those qualities would make her a good representative of her peers...so what do you say Ameena...will you run for city council in the next election? Now is the time to move from words to action.

Ted,

When you read T.B., SWT, D. Bone, and Anonymous posts you do realize that they are a bunch of babblers as Debbie or someone said. You have a little doubt in your mind that they may not be babblers. Then suddenly Ameena pops up after being missing in action and the doubt disappears that these guys are clueless as to what is happening in our city. Ameena just does circles around them. She does not even bother to mention them. She must know they are not credible and just does her reporting and completely ignores them.

The difference between Debbie and d. bone is Debbie is a normal human being while d. bone is a self centered human being. D.bone assumes since the cops treat him good, they must treat all people good. Debbie knows better. She was treated very well when stopped by the police for her suspended license. But she is not self centered and is upset that others are not treated as well as she was by the Naperville police regardless of the reason.

It is obvious from checking court records this Napergate Man incident was simply a suspension...nothing more nothing less. There were no other charges. He was treated very very differently than Debbie. He did not hit any cops or he would have been charged. He did not resist arrest. He just stated that he knows Police Chief Dial allows discretion in these kinds of incidents and he would like to take Abby home first. And the Sergeant flipped out! Of course there is discretion in these incidents. And if anyone would know, it would be the Napergate Man who left no stone unturned in digging mud on the city for 20 long years.

This Napergate Story is very thrilling. Even if Ameena feeds us one section a day and since each Napergate ad has 4 sections I assume, it will take 400 days to tell his story as he told it thru his 100 ads. And I have to admit it is a story I really want to hear. It is truly a story of a remarkably brave human being.

Just read his little section today and you begin to understand how his popularity developed gradually. It seemed at the time he wrote this section no one believed him. But he knew he was telling the truth and insisted on telling his story no matter how much time it took or how much it cost him. He just stayed with it and he must have known he could eventually turn the residents against City Hall by maintaining his credibility and trying to get commissions and courts to authenticate his credibility. Apparently they did and it seems at that point his popularity grew by leaps and bounds.

With the Naperville Sun not really covering him, he became the subject of folklore enhancing his popularity even further.

I just feel this thread is so popular because something that has been hidden from us for so many years is suddenly surfacing. And we find out a true American hero was living in our own town amongst us.

I suspect as Ameena tells us more and more about him, we will admire him even more. I had to read her post 3 times today. The lady is a true investigative citizen journalist. She digs it all up and reports it as it is. She does her reporting separate from her commentary by drawing a line to separate sections. Admirable! And I should add her commentary and opinion are well done, easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to agree with.

My great fear of losing this Napergate thread is losing Ameena. I have to agree with everyone who states that threads do die off the Main Page. Ameena works really hard for us 200 bloggers and possibly 1000 readers on this site. I have to ask Ted, if he thinks Ameena is going to do all this hard work that no one will see if Napergate is put in the archives. I don't think she will do all this work if no one will be there to read her great works. People need an audience to want to research and write. I hope you keep this Napergate thread open so Ameena can feel her effort is justified and appreciated.

I doubt the Napergate Man would have done all that research and investigation if he did not have that huge audience of 22,000 subscribers and possibly 50,000 or more readers. It appears his ads were the most read single item in the paper. With the ads being halted for 2 weeks, I suspect they even became more popular when they resumed. Readers must have yearned for them.

I also noticed that the Ponds of Hobson West only had one post in an entire week after it left the Main Page as Maryann stated. Yes, I believe our Host posted and no one saw it. His timing I guess was a little off on that one. Ted procrastinated too long before finally giving us an answer that all demanded but yet everyone missed.

Anyway, I am hoping we can keep this thread alive for a long time. I want to see more sections of the Napergate Man's ads. I was very impressed with his section today. He showed bravery and did not hold back. He just called them all out and attacked them for framing him. Truly amazing! They convict him and he knows they are not confident and running scared. If they were confident they would not need to call in a second outside law firm. They knew they railroaded him but at some point they realized his unusual brilliance and started running scared. They were trying to destroy his credibility with all these lawyers. They thought 7 lawyers could get him to bite or swallow on a contradiction. They failed! This guy is not going to get caught lying. He is not going to perjure himself. He is not going to contradict himself. It is obvious why he does not like to talk to the media.

He wanted control and the only way he could have full control of what he said was in his full page ads that he paid for and made sure his attorneys reviewed for accuracy and libel before he published.

Anyway I want to add my support to the Napergate Man, Ameena, Vicki and all the others who don't want that ugly parking garage by the library. Yes, after driving by upon hearing about the Napergate Man's hint, I see his point. That setting is spectacular. I can see why he is very upset. I am too after visiting the site. I guess this guy just notices things quicker than the rest of us. I can not understand how the council passed that dumb decision and I can not understand how none of us are capable of operating without the Napergate ads and the Napergate Man.

We have a serious problem. He made a promise to his family he will stop Napergate after they got him that white puppy to distract him. We know he loves his white dog. So he is not coming out and we have to find a way to follow his example and do what he did.

We just need a few more postings from Ameena and hopefully we can learn how he got his grass movements organized over and over again.

In summary Ted, I hope you find a way to keep this thread as one of the 10 you have on your Main Page for a long time. It is obviously popular. It is educational. It is thrilling. And I think in some ways it is the duty of the Naperville Sun to revisit the Napergate Man since he was never visited the first time around.

Your most popular blogger who was voted by her peers has chosen this thread to be her residence. That says a lot. She was not a Napergatian. She was a girl fighting city hall over a towing charge and could not beat them. They would not listen to her. So it appears she decided to learn from a man who beat City Hall consistently and repeatedly and learn how it is done. I think the next time she gets towed illegally by police she will now how to beat City Hall. She has a reason to be so motivated. She feels she was wronged.

And this is what happens when the city wrongs people. More Napergatians are created!

Response from Ted:

Marshall, just started a new post about Napergate. Let's continue the discussion there. After a few hundred comments it's hard to scroll through and find things. And yes, I admire Ameena. Note I thought Debbie revealed something important that helped me form my opinion about why I think Basim was mistreated that night. So it goes to show, everyone who contributes adds something.

Bloggers,

I've been re-reading Bob's incredible post from Friday and I've had a breakthrough. I believe the reason Basim was mistreated that night can be found here in Bob's own words:

13. Basim then made a comment. His exact words were, "I believe that Chief David Dial would allow discretion in this kind of case."

My theory is that these words enraged the sergeant, who probably thought Basim was threatening him in a way, by invoking the name of the chief. Even if that wasn't Basim's intention, I believe that's probably how the sergeant interpreted the remark. And the sergeant figured something like, "I'll show this guy who's in charge of this situation."

And because police officers are within their rights to exercise discretion in such situations, that's probably why Basim was mistreated the way he was. And why Debbie, in her post from 3:36 p.m. today, was treated in an entirely different fashion even though she was in a nearly identical situation. She didn't invoke the name of the chief during a traffic stop, a big no-no, in my opinion.

That's what I think is the reason Basim was treated the way he was that fateful night. The sergeant thought he was mouthing off to him.

Debbie -

OK, I'm breaking my own personal rule to not post on this thread again. I guess Ted has been busy and one of my posts hasn't shown up, but does not appear to have been rejected as I said nothing insulting. That's OK, it was more a message for him (and Jim) than for you all.

Anyways, Debbie, I see we have a difference of opinion. However, I believe you are entitled to believe what you would like without calling you sad or stupid or saying what you think is utter nonsense. I guess that's where we differ.

Though d.bone says some strange things, I guess he's right when he said that you seemed to have taken this far too personally. This is especially odd since I never intentionally directed anything at anyone in particular, let alone you. Your raw emotion drips off every word, while I think I have just offered my views of the events as described in a rational way.

Basically, all I said was that there are other plausible explanations for some of this and Ted even agreed with me so I guess I can't be as out of touch as you describe.

Well, you can only beat a dead horse so much and it's obvious that the Napergatians have their minds made up about what happened. Of course, I think there are some far less sinister explanations for some aspects of what's being discussed. You all don't want to hear it. Fine.

I'm tired of the personal attacks. If you want to dissagree then do it, but challenging someone to be a "MAN"? Please. How about at least making it a good "double dog dare"? That would at least make me laugh.

Have fun with your group hug and commentary without dissent in the future.

T.B.

P.S. Speaking of personal attacks - Ameena, I'm still waiting for you to apologize regarding your Cmdr Shanower comments. Don't worry, I won't hold my breathe. I guess you were too busy at the library.

Response from Ted:

What was your post about? I've published every one of your's that's been posted in the last couple days.

Debbie is the reason that cops just arrest everyone

(1)She drove while suspended, (and knew it, wow your kool) which means when she gets in an accident you and I pay the bill as her insurance will drop her.

(2) Then, she gets a break by not getting arrested and still is complaining about it? It is the descretion of the officer, and there are other factors involved, (are there people working in the jail or will the arrest take the officer of the street for several hours ect.)

(3)There is so much bull$@#@ in that story you make me sick, and I call for your resignation (oh wait you probably dont work since you have a suspended license). The cops would not have told you to come in later to be fingerprinted and any cop or attorney knows that to be a lie.

(4)You do not sound very smart either and you have yet to show case law on this Class 3 felony. If you are driving a vehicle, (which is a privilege not a right) the police can run your plate, to ensure the driver is not wanted, suspended like yourself, or to ensure the car is not stolen.

(5)This is why the police just arrest everyone, they give a break to you and you thank them by complaining you were not handcuffed or taken to jail. Then one person does not get the same break as you and wow huge conspiracy, lawsuits, and so on.

(6)So, the next time you are driving on a suspended or probably revoked license by now, make sure you ask to be arrested, your car towed, and to be given as many tickets as possible because that is what will make you happy I guess.

(7) In conclusion, you probably have been arrested for a lot more than the suspended license and have an obvious problem with authority. Your the problem, not the cops trying to do a good job and keep safe from people like yourself.

oh come now debbie, you have already broken my cardinal rule of blogging. you are taking this far to personally. you have become emotional. i will have to beg to differ with you regarding t.b.'s posting he or she, is very logical and eloquent. do we really know if the police targeted his now famous yellow hummer and committed a class three felony ? i do not believe any one person has proven that yet. we all know the napergate man, esmail dali yoda is a special man with esp and and lovely white dog that does not need a leash and he has 5 foot 11 inch tall, red haired friend who wears $250 dollar designer shoes, that is already been established. it is almost enough for me to join his cult. but, i am still suspicious and i still believe that the police are good people who do a good and admiral job. if esmail dali yoda is a target and has done nothing wrong, it is a shame and a crime. but nothing, i repeat nothing has been proven.

Just wanted to add my voice and thank you for keeping this Napergate thread on a little longer.

Ameena is just unbelievable!

The Maryann girl seems to be right about good blogs and bad blogs.

I would have to say it is common sense that you should delete that pothole thread before you delete Napergate.

This pothole thread turned out worse than road warrior, much worse.

So I hope you can delete that one before you take this one down.

This Napergate thread is a real thriller. It is your best thread ever by far and away! Delightful to read daily! I cheat and check it twice a day while at work because I simply can not wait to get home to read about the next piece of suspense coming from who knows which character or blogger. This thread makes my favorite Desperate Housewife show look very lame tame in comparison!

A lot of us have fallen in love with this Napergate Man. He symbolizes what we shold be doing and are not!

If we don't particpate soon our city will be destroyed.

Who can not agree with the Napergate Man and now Ameena that the parking deck by the library is an INSANE decision. Why do we need the Napergate Man to point out such obvious things? Why were we all asleep when they passed this ordinance to build a parking lot?

It really does show how unintelligent our council is. I say give the credit to the Napergate Man for making Naperville the second prettiest town in America.

We know who put the brakes on that money hungry Brestal attorney who only cares about his wallet? The Napergate Man!

T.B., SWT, D. Bone, and last but not least Anonymous,

While you guys were running your mouths, Ameena was quietly doing her research before finally posting.

You guys remind me of those who were in denial during Napergate World War II. The bottom line he fried everyone who did not believe him. He left no one in his path. It is all documented in commission findings and high court rulings. Check Ameena's recent posting.

This guy is not an ordinary guy. He could fry the city for this stop very easily. They had no right to stop him. They committed a CLASS 3 FELONY because they targeted his H2 Yellow Hummer that they knew was his. He is a 5 day a week regular in downtown Naperville. They don't like him and check his plates frequently, most likely.

They followed him because they had already run his plates in a targeted manner and not randomly. That is why they followed him. Unless they can prove that some police officer was randomly checking plates and running them on a busy Friday night which is highly unlikely, the Napergate Man just fried the city for the 3rd time in 20 years. It is that simple!

The Napergate Man is way to smart for the cops and nailed them again.

Besides all this, I suspect when everyone is done e-mailing Mike he will have accumulated substantial and damning evidence that in most similar cases people are not arrested and handcuffed.

I already sent Mike an e-mail. I was stopped because my license was suspended for failing my emission test 3 times. I was allowed to park my car in the McDonald's parking lot just north of Naper and Ogden. And truthfully, I knew I was driving on a suspended license and admitted it to the officer. The sad thing here is the Napergate Man did not even know!

The police man was very nice and just told me to try to get to the police station sometime before his shift was over so he could book and fingerprint me.

He did not handcuff me, arrest me or put me in a jail cell. I am not a Wehrli or a Moser. I am a NO ONE.

I was fingerprinted, released on personal recognizance and given a court date.

So it is obvious that this gang of 5 resurfaced and is hassling the Napergate Man.

I am sure I am not the only one to write to Mike. I have heard of other people being treated like me in similar circumstances.

I have never heard of anyone treated like the Napergate Man. I did not have a friend or a dog with me. The dog should have been given consideration. My stop happened in day light where it was easy to find someone awake for a ride. His stop happened late and I am suspecting that is why his friend could not get a ride and had to drag Abby 3 or 4 miles. That was inhumane what the cops did that day. Just wait for those animal right activists to find this site. They will not he happy campers.

I was not allowed to drive. So I had to arrange for transportation. The Napergate Man was not given the rights or courtesy I was given to find transportation. We were both suspended albeit for different but similar reasons.

The bottom line is this Chief David Dial you love was most probably involved in this real proven conspiracy that Ameena is documenting blow by blow from court records and authentic Napergate ads.

His police officers testified in an attempt to frame the Napergate Man. What irony! The Napergate Man is a man and took responsibility for both of his daughters. He pled guily on their behalf, took the rap, and paid the fine. That is why people admire him. He lets the puck stop at him. He is a great and true man as people are saying. I respect and admire him the more I learn about him from Ameena and other bloggers.

Chief David Dial does not even take responsibility for proven conspirators that worked for him in the past and most probably still do.

I add my vote to all those who are calling for Chief Dial to resign. He is despicable!

And T.B.'s arguments border on nonsense. He is making a complete fool out of himself. He is a mutt of sorts. Combination of Joe and d. bone. You are really sad T.B.!

You act like you know what you are talking about. Ameena knows what she is talking about. She researches and reports.

All you do T. B. is babble and post. I am really astounded at the stupidity of your posts.

Since you don't like talking about conspiracies that have yet to be proven, than focus your attention on the 2 Napergate conspiracies that have already been proven and be a MAN and comment on those.

Were all the courts and commissions wrong in those cases? Did the City not surrender to the Napergate Man finally and even passed up a chance to go to 2 Supreme Courts because they knew they were fried beyond hope?

All 4 of you guys needs to stop smoking whatever you are high on. It is disgusting some of the things you speculate and try to prove with nonsensical arguments.

The bottom line is there already were 2 conspiracies Chief Dial has to take responsibility for. They were proven! He needs to be a MAN and resign like so many bloggers are calling for.

The puck stops at him. The puck can not be buried with former Mayor Macrane. He has already been buried, the coffin sealed, and dirt put on it. Let that guy rest in peace. He already paid a heavy price. The Napergate Man did "KILL" that man as people are stating with his sharp PEN and powerful INK. He paid the ultimate price. Let his soul rest in peace.

Time to make Chief Dial pay for his part in the conspiracy and not blame it on a dead man. What a cop out that so many establishment people love blaming everything on a dead man that can no longer be held accountable!!!! That is so low to constantly be picking on a dead man even though he was guilty. But what happened to the saying of "let us stop beating a dead horse." How about if we also "stop beating a dead man," too!

And Ted, just because the Napergate Man never fingered Chief Dial, it does not make him innocent. You want us to assume the Napergate Man is PERFECT.....he is not! He is undoubtedly a great man and a Naperville Hero, but he did miss one person...Chief David Dial..

All Bloggers,
I have been reading the last 2 days since I have no information about this new development: HIS ARREST!

I agree with all the bloggers that said he should have never been handcuffed, jailed and separated from Abby. That is so improper for such a petty violation that he did not even commit since we know his daughter's were responsible while being between a rock and a hard place. I will say from studying the Napergate Man he would never knowingly drive on a suspended license. Not that guy! That I can say for sure!

Anyway, I wanted to make this post before this latest controversy started but I did not want to distract from it. So I delayed a little..

Here is a section called TAXPAYER ALERT from NAPERGATE V e-mailed to me by Randy the only known person to have saved this ad for 15 years.

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

NAPERGATE V

TAXPAYER ALERT(one of 4 sections in ad)

What would be considered the "crime of the century" in Naperville was settled for $125 fine in Roselle. The meter in Naperville continues to run out of control at a frantic pace as the 3rd year of litigation begins.

During the on and off hearings that lasted 1 year in Naperville, the city used 2 in-house attorneys, one out-house attorney, one hearing officer, an assistant city clerk, the secretary to the liquor commission, and an out house court reporter(up to $8.20 per page) all at the expense of the Naperville Taxpayer. A 4th attorney, the gentleman who heads the Napergate Cover-Up Committee is believed to play a major role behind the scenes.( He later identified this 4th attorney as City Attorney Michael Roth....Ameena here).

As we were writing this ad our attorney just received official notice in writing that the Mayor has just retained the prestigious Chicago law firm of Ancel, Glink, Diamond, Cope, & Bush P.C to assist the above in-house and out-house attorneys in presenting a defense to the appeal filed by Extra Value Liquors before the Illinois Liquor Commission. Of course, at additional taxpayer expense! Is the Mayor losing confidence in his attorneys despite the fact that they won the Naperville Hearings by a "landslide?" Prosecutor Cuneo argued the Extra Value Liquor 1984 revocation for the city all the way to the Supreme Court until it was finally overturned on 01/27/88.(that was his first War with City Hall....Ameena here). Why do us taxpayers have to subsidize him if he is useless and unable to get the city out of the mess he brought upon it?

Rather than continue to abuse and misuse the taxpayer's hard earned dollars, Mayor Macrane could better serve his constituents by spending more dollars on education, health care, recreational parks, and city infrastructure.(Did you all read about the RUSTED TRAFFIC LIGHT THAT SNAPPED LIKE A TWIG and almost killed Ms. Kullick in last Friday's Sun)

We appeal to the Naperville taxpayers to join us in registering their protest and demand that the city council block the mayor's request for additional funds to finance the Chicago law firm of Ancel, Glink, Diamond, Cope, & Bush P.C. Does anyone have a clue what they charge per hour?

The owner of Extra Value Liquors is hereby requesting that not a single red cent of his $153,343.32 paid in state, sales and county taxes for the fiscal year ending on 05/31/93) be used to retain the Chicago Law Firm for litigation regarding the bottle of Korbel Champagne.(well known at the time it was the bottle used in "sting operation" for his National Competition, so he did not have to mention that...Ameena here) We have reason to believe that most taxpayers agree with us. It is our understanding that the Mayor can only obtain the funds needed thru the approval of the city council members. Please deny him the funds needed. PLUG LOOPHOLES AND KEEP YOUR EYE ON CIRCUMVENTION. NAPERGATE AND GOLFGATE have been too much. The residents of this town do not need or desire COUNCILGATE. You the council members are the front line soldiers and it is your duty to prevent the waste of the hard earned dollar of the NAPERVILLE TAXPAYER.

(20,000 distributed hand to hand to residents in Naperville)
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

SOME POINTS BY ME AMEENA.

1. The Sun declined to publish this Napergate V ad. This is the second section I have published. First section I published was titled "CITY OFFICIALS FAILING." The ad does not attack the Naperville Sun. It attacks City Officials all over the place and calls them out. So one has to believe the Naperville Sun did not publish this ad because if found it distasteful, but because it was pressured big time by City Officials. I think this is reasonable speculation that bloggers may agree with. This ad reveals how much taxpayer money was spent on the Kangaroo Trial and officials did not want the taxpayers knowing that!

2. The Napergate Man was just convicted in the Kangaroo Trial but he was taunting all those who convicted him, laughing at them and pretty much accusing them of framing him. At the time no one knew he was FRAMED except for himself but he was a ONE MAN SHOW and let them have it. He undoubtedly was/is one of a kind!

3.Many bloggers today mentioned Taxpayer Money. He tried to bring the taxpayers out early on but they believed the city at this point over him. So the taxpayers lost huge money at the time by not responding to his call early.. they responded in strong numbers later after their pocket books were already cleaned out pretty badly by City Officials.

4. This first Kangaroo Proceeding was 3000 pages. A court reporter was at the trial writing the proceedings in short hand and later transcribing them at $8.20 per page. Guess what! This cost the city 3000 X 8.20 per page = $24,600 alone. I am making this point because our city manager lied to us about the cost of this trial being $5,000 to $10,000 for outside help. This one OUTSIDE court reporter charged the city alone $24,600. I will try to go soon to Dupage to verify the 3000 pages. It is reported to later have doubled in size as it was appealed 3 times. So if it became 6000 pages, we are nearly taking about $50,000 dollars just for a court reporter. Remember we had at least 7 attorneys involved plus the numerous officials mentioned above in the section of the ad I posted. I think the Naperville Sun should call City Manager Marshall on his comment and hold him accountable. If he is called he is likely not to lie to residents in the future. If he is not called expect him to continue to lie. It is rare that we have proof from someone unique like the Napergate Man that proves city officials are lying. We may never get another Napergate Man for a 100 years so we really should call them out now and straighten them out while they are still lying to us and we are paying their outrageous salaries, pension, and parahcutes to boot when they resign.

5. The Napergate Man was pleading with residents and City Officials to not waste this money on the trial but to spend it on education and infrastructure. No one was listening. Egos must have been involved in an enormous way!

6. The Napergate Man paid over 150,000 in taxes not including Federal Taxes and he did not want his own money to be used against him. No one was listening. His money was used against him to persecute him.

7. No one can blame the Napergate Man for not trying to stop this onslaught early. He did but failed!

8. It appears he milked the city for some substantial money in the end. He tried to stop it! They did not listen.

9. While checking records in Dupage, it appears his shopping center does not have any kind of loan and also his home has no loan. So it appears either he was a cash buyer with the money he received for his settlement from the City of Naperville or used the money to pay off his loans on his home and shopping center. Not sure!

10. I agree with the blogger who's Uncle owns a liquor store who said that you can not make the kind of money he apparently had from one or two small liquor stores.
I am only speculating but I do believe he must have gotten a rather large settlement because of that Kangaroo Trial described in his ad above in which maybe 10 City Officials conspired to frame him. It appears Naperville Police Officers were "crucial witnesses" in his framing and in addition to all the other who were playing various roles in this UNBELIEVABLY LARGE CONSPIRACY. This is not a theory! It was proven to be a conspiracy by the IABTF first, and then by state and federal Appellant Courts.

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

So don't blame the Napergate Man for taking all our taxpayer money. He tried to stop the onslaught early. City Officials would not listen! And let us not forget he offered them $1500 dollar as a fine for the Sting Operation, apologized and promised never to do one again even though he did nothing wrong before the Kangaroo Trial started the massive railroading. He really tried his best to avoid taking our taxpayer money. But the city insisted he separate us from our money and he did just that!

In the most ironic twist imaginable we now learn from Liquor Man Rick, that the sting that they were prosecuting him for, was the most important and determining factor in his winning the KYLIX AWARD and giving him a National Championship that only he has in the whole nation past and present. No one else! He beat out 5000 contestants that were narrowed to 500 by the time it reached the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

The Man is truly a remarkable human being. I can't wait for the snow to subside and go back to the library to do more research.

And finally I agree with the Napergate Man that putting a parking deck by that library would be such a shame and disgrace. The bottom line is our dumber than dumb City Officials already passed the resolution. If the Napergate Man was active he would have 500 people in city chambers screaming at our officials for such a Magnificently Stupid Decision. Check that library out and see that beautiful setting the Napergate Man is talking about.. Check that huge tree and the smaller trees the Napergate Man is talking about.

The Napergate Man obviously has good judgment. It has been proven over and over again from his past history. Our officials have impaired judgment! Seriously impaired judgment. The Napergate Man gave us a hint for the first time in 6 or 7 years of something that is awfully wrong. I hope we act on it before it is too late.

This just in: Police Chief Dial is in fact off duty all week, the NPD's public information office has just confirmed. I'll have to wait until next Monday to talk to him.

Terri -

Not pulling Mr Esmail over for some period of time is proof of nothing.

There are many reasons the NPD would wait to pull someone over such as lighting and traffic. The foremost issue in any traffic stop would be safety--both for the officers and for Mr Esmail.

The officers could have also been double-checking the suspended license. If they "had" to know who they were pulling over, they would have wanted to make sure they were doing it for a valid reason so as to not add fuel to the fire we see written about here.

Just a thought.

T.B.

Some points and facts, June.

1.It was initially reported in this thread as a warrant for Mr. Esmail’s arrest, then later it was a suspended license. I didn’t know which to believe but it is irrelevant to my post. Driving on a suspended license and/or having a warrant for your arrest are both valid reasons to pull someone over, no matter how carefully you were driving.

So are you saying that some of the “facts” presented on this thread were initially wrong? Say it ain’t so!

Contrary to what Rod Randall states later in his post, the cops will make a reasonable assumption you are driving your own car and pull you over if they run the plates and find out the registered owner has a suspended license. This check is done before the vehicle stop, not after. It is simply good police work, not fodder for harassment gossip.

2.One violation or four? One notice or more? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that the reason for the stop A) was valid, and B) was not caused by the NPD but was caused by another agency.

3. Good for you. Congrats on paying your fine.

4. Does it really matter how the violation happened. Yes, you could have ended up in the wrong lane. Does this really matter? I don’t believe Mr Esmail was disputing the validity of the violations.

5. “Anyway there is nothing plausible about the story being told.” Which story? Yours or mine? There are many plausible possibilities; you’re just blind to anything different. Your mind is already made up and anything that runs counter to your accepted version of events is “not plausible”.

6. “Our governments [are] incompetent from the Tollway to the NPD.” OK, be useful and tell us how to solve the situation.

7. Maybe Mr Esmail pleaded guilty because he was, in fact, guilty?

8. Again, June, whether he knew about the license suspension or not is IRRELEVANT. What matters is that the NPD pulled him over because of the suspended license. Your conspiracy theory only works if the license was suspended by the NPD—not someone else.

9. Millionaires and billionaires play games with the law all the time. Ever heard of Enron? That’s not to say I think Mr Esmail played games with the law, just pointing out how wrong blanket statements like this really are.

10. June, nobody said he was trying to avoid any fine. I certainly didn’t so I don’t know where you’re getting this from. Now you’re making up “facts”.

“All [you] said T. B. defies logic.” June, I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I’m at least open to different possibilities.

“And most importantly you miss everyone's point of he was not treated like a Wehrli or Moser.” So is the problem here that he was treated like everyone else? Or that he wasn’t treated like someone “special”?

I agree that a Wehrli or Moser would be treated differently (you were wrong about that, too, June) and that’s one reason why I dislike “The Establishment”; however, I think Mr Esmail was treated the same way you or I would be treated. Now is how he was treated fair? I think one could argue either way, but you’re not willing to even consider the fact that what the NPD did was their job. All we have is one side of the story.

Don’t compare me to d. bone, but nice try to marginalize what I have to say by lumping me in with him in the eyes of bloggers who may not know any better.

Common sense? Are you serious? Common sense means that you objectively judge the facts presented, consider the possibilities, and then form a new hypothesis and test the theory. Common sense is not accepting wild conspiracy theories as gospel and refusing to listen to dissent.

T.B.

Ted –

You caved and kept this on the front page when you’ve consistently refused to do so for other threads, most notably those involving Furstenau. Why the change? Shall I engage in some wild conspiracy theory that the Napergatians pressured your advertisers? Wouldn’t that be fun?

Response from Ted:

Yes, I caved. It's a P.T. Barnum trick. Give the people what they want! BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! I tired of the requests. Besides, it WAS getting interesting with the Friends of Basim Esmail offering accounts of that fateful day in '06.

hey rod, i agree IF the police are in fact discriminating against innocent people it is a big deal. the only problem is this is JUST a blog, where anyone can make most any sort of comment. not everything we write and read here may be exactly the gospel truth, which in fact may not be the truth either. most of us remain anonymous even if we put some form of our real names out there. i find it is silly to call the anonymous posters names. i think we should all refrain from name calling. also, remember the cardinal rule of blogs is, never take things personally. anyway, i have never had a any problems with the police, and or government. so i look at all this with a bit of suspicion. i find some of the comments from the 5'11'' redhead friend of esmail almost comical. you might be outraged and ready to storm the police station ? why didn't that 5'11" redhead just drive esmails yellow hummer home ? i am quite serious about a tax revolt. if mr. esmail would like to start the ball rolling, i will be the first to back him.

Terri, your taxes are high because of the schools? Look at your bill big guy, it should help you figure that out...

Caroline (or whatever your real name is) you should be running the police department since you are so well versed in policies and procedures. Maybe the police should call you when they are on calls and need key decisions like when they should or should not make arrest. The police need you more than you need them so take the test, make a difference and clean up the mess that is going around here.

Rod,

You make very good points and ask great questions.

I think it is undisputed that they ran his plates before they pulled him over. If you read Mike's and Bob's posts carefully, they could not get him for a stop sign or signal traffic violation and finally gave up and stopped him anyway.

I also went to Dupage County records and it shows no other traffic violations this specific day besides this suspended license which was already had been put on by the TOLL Authority.

If they were not afraid of anything they should have stopped him on Chicago Ave. They let him go thru 4 stops signs. That is the telling tale. They wanted him to have a traffic violation so they could say we found out when we stopped you and checked your driver' license.

The idiotic cops wanted him so bad they screwed up. By stopping him without a traffic violation he uncovered their cover-up! Something the Napergate Man specializes in. They simply keep miscalculating and underestimating the Napergate Man. If you ask me they are fools costing us taxpayers money.

He probably bought that $300,000 Rolls Royce and $75,000 Hummer H2 from all the money he collected from the city for those Civil Rights violations of the police dept. We all know they made a settlement with him. We don't know how big it was but it must have been big. Police Officer reports he owns a shopping center to. Chalk up another 5-10 million of taxpayer money going to the Napergate Man because us citizens won't work harder to stop our police dept. from hassling "undesirable" citizens they don't like for political or whatever reasons.

My Uncle owns a liquor store and he can barely pay his bills. So that liquor store did not pay for his Rolls Royce. We the taxpayers did! And it is our fault because we are not monitoring our city officials.

And the Naperville Sun has to take some responsibility to for letting our taxpayer money flow freely to the Napergate Man because they won't stand up to our city officials.

I just hope DF does not take us to the cleaners too and buys a Bentley courtesy of Police Chief Dial who only wants his golden parachute and retirement pension. That is all he cares about.

He does not care we are losing all this money because of the abuse of his police officers on the street. We don't even know what happened to that gang of 5 or 10 that was singled out by the IABTF and Police Officer..

Who knows? That gang may still be in operation and is the gang that arrested the Napergate Man last summer. If they would have let him bring his dog, Abby, to jail with him to spend the night, I do not think we would be having this major problem. As many bloggers have noted, it is as much about poor Abby as the Napergate Man.

I also want to add my voice to those who are calling for the resignation of Chief David Dial.
He is a disgrace to our community and he seems to be in hiding. He should be confronting the heat instead of being out of town. I am disgusted by our city council due to that fact they do not put brakes on anything. As long as they are in power they don't care Peter Buchard walked off with a 100k and the Napergate Man $5,375,000 that we know about so far. I wonder what else he owns. I guess we just have to wait for Policer Officer to report again! Come in Police Officer! This whole mess is so sickening and know we know why are TAXES are so HIGH!

Wow Caroline your brave for putting your first name in the anonymous blog. You sound like you have been arrested. You should also take the police test, we need more good women in the force and you will be another great cop I can tell.

Thanks Ted for putting in that call.

That means a lot to me and all Napervillians that abhor discrimination of any sort against anyone in town and especially someone with the impeccable reputation and remarkable accomplishments of the Napergate Man.

When I read about how this Napergate Man spent 2 years preparing to win than National Award in Las Vegas for combating minors while at almost the same time the City of Naperville is railroading him in a Kangaroo Trial, it just defies all logic and common sense.

If you think about it he was competing against 499 other contestants who could focus on the contest. He had to divide his energy between the infamous Kangaroo Trial and the National Contest....and somehow he pulls it off. If that is not truly amazing, I really don't know what is!!!

Sorry I have been missing in action. Been concentrating on Superbowl XIIL. Back to Napergate XVL since I guess we finished number XIVL or is it XXXXIV....not sure!

But on a serious note after reading what Mike, Randy and now Bob have said as a Naperville Citizen I am really outraged with my Naperville Police Dept. Even Police Officer cleverly tracked back a few steps to save his credibility once all these new facts began surfacing.

I would just like to say, Ted, this is a continuing and current story. If you read Bob's account carefully, the Napergate Man was stopped as recently as a month ago for apparently no reason and not given a ticket. It is laughable that someone would call on him because he went from KFC to Dunkin Donuts and back to KFC. Stores that are familiar with you don't call the police on you. I am sure a guy with a Rolls stiffed them on some breast of chicken he just bought...yeah sure!!!

Nothing that are police do or say makes any sense!

I think it would be wise for the Sun to investigate and stop this harassment before we are sued again by the Napergate Man and taken to the cleaners a third time.

If he sues us, it is our fault. How long can he run Napergate ads and political ads. He ran them 20 years and it sounds like his family told him enough is enough. We want a life? Here's a pretty white dog and go enjoy the outdoors but stop this Napergate! Do they have to buy him peace doves too!

He listened to his family and friends. I am sure it was no easy task to stop a guy who was on a roll like this man. I remember him just taking them apart ad by ad. Just ripping into all their hidden closets. Sometimes just bulldozing everything in his way. He was really mighty with that pen and brain of his.

So, as d. bone says, we should care about our taxpayer funds. One way to care is to prevent future litigation. On way to stop that is to stop our police department from screwing up each and every time we read about them..

I finally want to add my voice to the many that have said Chief David Dial needs to resign.

He is either incompetent or has no control. It almost seems like he is in his lame duck years and does not care. If I were him I would step out and confront theses allegations of discrimination being made against him and his department.

This thread appears to have thousands of readers and hundreds of bloggers as we best know. And as many said it has been growing exponentially. All one has to see is the 8 times growth from Napergate I to Napergate II on Ted's threads. Not even the Napergate Man could increase his readership 8 fold from one ad to another. But Ted has done it!

This indicates to me that in a year threads like this will have more power than any single page or article in the newsprint version of the Naperville Sun.

Thus the police have to wake up and smell the coffee before it is too late.

Also we are suddenly learning you can build a case on these threads. We just built a case on the Napergate Man jointly and constructively and it is time to present it to the Police Dept. today with our Host driving the Bus there with all of us behind him. It is that simple! I am in your bus Ted. Please be the leader and do the driving. Thanks both for dinner and the bus ride to the police station. You are awfully kind. I love your parties

Good Morning Ted,
I hope you don't forget us and put in a call to the Chief today.

The facts seem simple:

1. He did have a suspended license he did not know about.

2. No one disputes he needed to be booked because of the suspension thrown on police computers by the Tollway Authority.

3.No one disputes he should not be allowed to drive any further. It would be illegal to drive on a suspended license.

What is in dispute is this:

1.Was his suspension detected because of a random check or a targeted check for political, socio-economic, public, harassment, hassle or any other reason? Random being legal! Anythng else clearly illegal!

2.Why was he not allowed to call for a ride to get his friend and dog home before turning himself to be booked?

3.Was it necessary to handcuff and jail him for this petty offense of which he knew nothing about and was traced to a van that his daughters were driving and not him. ( I can not see him driving the white van since he had a summer and winter vehicles of his own...unlikely he ever drove it)

4.And the big question is do you treat Wehrli's and Moser's like Esmail's? That one is where they will have to lie or exercise their right to remain silent. Based on their stupidity in the past I expect them to lie and say we treat all our citizens EQUALLY all the TIME. Yeah sure!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ted,
Remember I am one of your citizen journalists at your disposal! Feel free to send my letter to the Chief and tell him this Citizen Journalists has a few questions for you Chief that she would like answered.

The reason most Napervillians do not communicate with the NPD is they are known to do nothing. As others have said repeatedly, they have an Internal Affairs Dept. that is for Citizen Consumption. It has never made a ruling that anyone knows about favoring a citizen over a police officer. That is clearly defined as fascism.

Response from Ted:

I did already call this morning and leave a message for the NPD's public information officer. Again, I believe the chief is out this week, but I'll find out.

Since when is having a suspended license the same as having an arrest warrant issued against you? If you do not drive while your license is suspended, there would never be an arrest warrant issued.

Just when would an outstanding arrest warrant be issued related to a suspended license?

Until Mr. Esmail was actually stopped in the vehicle and his driver's license examined (to determine who in fact the driver actually was), the police officer under normal circumstances would not have the slightest idea of the identity of the driver.

Did the police officer after stopping him ever ask for his driver's license and then run a check on it? Otherwise, how did they know who he was (unless the police officer already recognized him and was already looking to stop him).

Aother question, is it common practice to stop a vehicle because the "owner" has a suspended license? Or, it it more likely that a police officer would arrest someone for driving on a suspended license only after checking a driver's license number?

A question that I do not know the answer to is whether, without knowing the driver's license number, can the police determine that the driver's license had been suspended? Is it possible that there is some other report available to police departments when driver's licenses are suspended. If so, did the police officer already know the license was suspended and was waiting for an opportunity if it arose to "catch" him actually driving?

Is there any link between the vehicle registration (license plate number) database and the driver's license database? I would however assume it would be easy to determine whether there was any arrest warrants outstanding as that information would not be tied to a drivers license number.

Perhaps Police Officer and Bob could comment on these questions and circumstances?

d.bone, if there are police officers in Naperville harrassing citizens, then that is a big issue. It has happened in the past in Naperville; the question is whether it is still happening now.

Mike, are you looking for information that related to only recent events?

Anonymous,

You are a sick puppy!

You criticize Mike for a spelling error and you spell enough as "enought." That really makes you a Naperville Hero!

The last time we had an Anonymous guy bloggin with us Ted courageously called him a "COWARD."

I want to follow suit and call you, our second anonymous guy, a "COWARD." You are a shameless coward! That is all you are!

You are probably a city official or police officer who does not get hand cuffed and jailed like the Napergate Man does for what amounts to nothing and you are enjoying the privilege of being in power. Power does not last long! The Napergate Man was one seat in the council away from ending the power you are enjoying. Don't forget that!!!

D. Bone!

Good comment! The Napergate Man told his friends Dor and Bob that building a third library parking deck is a waste of taxpayer money.

He does not question one or two! But he question 3 garages..

Especially the library one since it does destroy a beautiful part of town and is absolutely not needed.

I also have not had trouble finding a parking spot either in downtown ever. This Eli blogger feels someone stuffed someone's pocket to make such a stupid move with unnecessary pocket.

So I think the Napergate Man threw a hint or bone and we need to captialize on it. History shows he has almost always been right.

I hope Ted can look into this parking issue since it is coming from a person who has a history of being right on such things.

Plus I believe it will save 30 million for d. bone or something huge I read in the Naperville Sun. I can't recall numbers like Ameena...sorry! But let us look into it Ted for the sake of both d.bone and the Napergate Man.

Response from Ted:

This is just my guess, speculation based on no first-hand info, but I think the reason city officials have scheduled the library parking deck LAST is they are waiting to see if it will still be needed--I sense city officials are reluctant to actually pull the trigger on that one.

T.B,

Some points and facts T.B.

1.It was a suspended license and not a warrant for his arrest.
Many people checked Dupage Court records while you were watching the Super Bowl or hiding from Marilyn and confirmed that.

2.The Tollway issued a suspension for 4 violations and not one as you are incorrectly stating. I once got one of these letters. It looked like Bulk Mail and it said exactly what Bob and Mike have been saying. We "MAY." It also looks like it was sent bulk mail and not first class mail.

3. Fortunately I got mine before I was stopped by police and went to the Secretary of State and paid 20 dollar plus .40 cents for each one. Once I was there I was told that my license was already suspended and they insisted I had to pay an additional 12 dollars to have it reinstated. I did! I recall telling them that it seems odd you charge 12 dollars extra for this when a new driver's license only cost 5 dollars. Plus I felt I was already being socked 80 dollars besides my 1.60.

4. A few years ago before transponders were popular, it was easy for an experienced driver let alone inexperienced teenage drivers to end up in the wrong lanes. Once you are in the wrong lanes and you don't have any coin you are between a rock and a hard place. Those coins machines don't accept paper money. One time I put a dollarbill in, but the light never changed to green and I just took off.

5. Anyway there is nothing plausible about the story being told.

6. Our governments is incompetent from the Tollway to the NPD. They have impaired judgment and they use that impaired judgment in unimaginable ways.

7. If you review the Napergate Man's record, he attends all his court dates. With his minor tickets he handled them all at the first opportunity by pleading guilty and paying the fine whether he was guilty or not guilty.

8. It is very unlikely a man like the Napergate Man would drive downtown, a place loaded with police, on a suspended driver license. Not possible! Not even probable! If he knew he had a suspended license, obviously he would have asked his friend Bob to drive. Odds are better than 99% chance that Bob is not a "shady character" and owns a car! The Napergate Man seems to have intelligent friends in high ranks who all are sharp with their pens.

9. This Napergate Man ran a multi-billion dollar pension/fund for a large corporation and owns a shopping center in Naperville we now learn here. People like that just don't play games with the law.

10. If he knew he was suspended, he would have his wife or daughters drive him to the Secretary of States office 2 miles from Pembroke Common and pay his daughter's 60 or 80 dollar fine. If he is willing to pay a thousand dollars per Napergate ad for his subdivision and even ATT employees, I highly doubt he would avoid a small fine if he knew about it.(Ted, we are still waiting on you for the cost of a full page ad...you gave us circulation but not price so we are just throwing erroneous numbers until you straighten us out.)

All your said T. B. defies logic.

And most importantly you miss everyone's point of he was not treated like a Wehrli or Moser. We all seem to know that but you and d. bone. Even police officers know that. Police Woman admitted police officers give each other preferential treatment. Do you not believe they also give preferential treatment to those who are in power and indirectly control their paychecks?

Common T.B.! You are way too smart to be acting like d. bone! Stop talking nonsense like he does. Your logic defies common sense! Seriously!

Ted,
You have proven you can bring anyone out except the Napergate Man so far.

Why don't you try to bring out someone in the Police Dept? As one blogger said there are 3 Deputy Chiefs? You don't need to go straight to the top if you feel uncomfortable talking to Chief Dial since he is a powerful man and on the very top.

T. B. and everyone else want to hear the other side, so let us hear it.

If you recall the Napergate Man eventually got them all out by blasting them until they had to come out or have their reputations smeared. Of course they did come out but they still got egg on their faces as they were guilty as HELL!

Another approach would to present the Napergate Man's story in your newspapers as you know it. It has been checked out and corroborated by court records. If they don't want to respond, than the Napergate Man's story stands as is. They will be deemed guilty. This is a closed case about little to nothing except mistreatment of a suspect. So why can't they comment. It is not pending as Ted correctly pointed out in one post. They have no excuses not to respond. We are trying to learn about this massive discretion they have and use, to discriminate, harass, hassle, and abuse citizens that are not in favor with the establishment. They should want to clean their name after that devastating report by the IABTF backed by Federal and State Verdicts. Let us not be soft on them. Maybe they will shape up if we give them "tough love." Is that not want Mayor Pradel said he wants to do to DF. So lets give them that "special love" that our Mayor coined.

If you go to court and the other party never shows up to the "party" (coining you here, Ted) well, the judge rules for the party that shows up.

So basically the city speaks or the city loses! Simple as that!

PS. Ted, I also want to thank you for keeping this Napergate thread on the front page. I reviewed Maryanns frequent comments to you and checked. Almost every single thread taken off the Main Page was killed slowly or quickely except District 203. It seems like one of the bloggers there is playing host and keep it rolling...but that is the only exception. Hope you can keep this one on for a full month like all the others before it...Thanks much!!!

i am really not a fascist, i would say more of a libertarian. but beside that, so many people love to speak for this napergate man. i imagine him to be sitting in a smoky incense filled room full lotus position with all of you around him, heads bowed waiting for him to utter his wisdom. sort of a cross between yoda and the dali lama. i think we need the napergate man to move on to bigger issues that affect us all, mostly property taxes ! he seems like just the right man to lead us all in a huge tax revolt ! if we can get beyond the police issues and the ruined designer shoes, i would ask the yoda lama to consider a movement to lower taxes. let's start with the property tax first and then move on to a federal flat tax. anyone with me ?

You know your dealing with a sharp fella when he isnt smart enought to get his own email address down, great post MIKE. Mike will be leading this investigation so make sure you dont confuse him with the facts, (suspended license, warrant) whats the big deal just make it up as you go along.

Mike, Im not sure if you have a job or are very good at anything but you still have time to make a difference in Naperville. I believe the police are testing soon and you should be the first in line so we can all rest well and be safe in our homes late at night when your on patrol making these great decisions. Dont worry Mike, when you dont handle any situation right, we will second guess the hell out of you and cry about it to whoever will listen. I dont know about the rest of you, but I sure would feel better knowing Mike is out there making us difference.

Bob,
Great post! I agree I was wrong and there may have been 3-4 toll violations and not 2. I just simply could not remember the detail.

And I made a mistake in my e-mail address.

50. Mike's email address who is responsible for accumulating evidence is mikelockwies@yahoo.com and not mikelockweis@yahoo.com The "i" is before the "e".

You had my e-mail address right. And I had my own address wrong.

Thanks for pointing that out. Once again I urge bloggers to contact me on stops similar to Mr. Esmail's. I would like to find out if you were offered discretion or jailed for 5 hours.

Thanks,
Mike.

Police Officer –

Since the Super Bowl is over, I feel free to end my hiding (just kidding, Marilyn) and respond.

While I appreciate the response, I want to state first of all that I do not have any kind of axe to grind against anyone. You may think I do because I am not firmly in Chief Dial’s camp, but I just want to know the truth and hold no allegiance to anyone—Dial, Furstenau, the Naperville Man, or anyone else.

You say that the cops can run random license plate checks as long as they aren’t done for political reasons. I agree. Some writing on this thread seem to think that all “random” checks are somehow Class 3 felonies no matter what the reason for the check. Maybe you could explain the random checks you make in order to educate them regarding police work.

Do your research, but I think it’s clear that the NPD did not pull Mr. Esmail over for some minor traffic violation, but did so because they already knew there was a warrant for his arrest (or a suspended license, depending on which story you are to believe).

Also, while I agree that it is possible Mr. Esmail did not yet know his license was suspended, I also question whether his license would have been suspended for a first offense. I would assume he had at least one prior notice of the violation(s). For instance, you get at least two notices before your license is suspended for failure to get an emissions check. Just a hunch, but I doubt a license suspension for a $0.40 violation is even in the State’s best interest. I also doubt our State is that efficient!

While I agree that the PO did not necessarily have to cuff Mr Esmail, I think you can understand how someone trying to “explain” himself and not listening to the PO’s directions may be seen from the officer’s perspective as being non-compliant. I don’t know what happened that night, I’m just giving another PLAUSIBLE explanation besides the conclusion everyone else has jumped to that he was somehow abused by the NPD. There are a myriad of things that could have happened that night. It all depends on the perspective of the arresting officer, right?

When you arrest someone in your city, do you later drive them home after they make bail? Do you drive their friends and dogs home, too? Does the city you work for know you run this taxi service while on duty which not only opens your employer (city) up to liability claims if there is an accident but also takes you off the street during your patrol? Or do you tell people you’re sorry but they’re on their own? Yes, there is sarcasm here, but you get my point. You do what you can, I’m sure, but people are for the most part on their own, right?

On this night, Mr Esmail was not treated the same as Mr Furstenau because there was already a warrant for Esmail’s arrest. In the Furstenau case, there was apparently a lot of discussion and investigation before a warrant was issued. The NPD officers were doing exactly what we pay them to do--follow the law.

While I agree that there is very little chance that Mr. Esmail would flee for such an apparently small fine, is that the job of the police officer to decide or is that a decision for a judge to make? Who sets bail?

Once again Police Officer, I don’t have an axe to grind but feel that the NPD did the right thing here--or at least did nothing wrong. Following a legally issued arrest warrant is their job. After all, if word got out that they failed to follow up on legally issued warrants, I doubt the NPD would be allowed to post any of their own warrants to the system, right?

T.B.

Note from host:

T.B. is saying what I've been trying to say, that maybe there's a plausible explanation for the NPD's actions. We're only hearing one side of the story so far.

d. bone,

Some people are consdiderate. By the time the police took the Napergate Man away it was at least 115am. Why would he want to wake anyone up that late if he can walk a few miles and wait. He may have not realized Abby would be this difficult or maybe he thought she would calm down after a while. Maybe no one answered the phone that late in the evening after he made some attempts!

When he stated his journey to the Dunkin Donuts after the cabs rejected him, he did not know it would be that difficult. He may have not realized how far it was.

Bob may not live in Naperville.

He also may have expected the Napergate Man to show up shortly. Not 5 hours later.

Bob was just trying to tell us the Napergate Man is a nice man and paid for his shoes. In these cases you have to provide detail for people to believe you.

The point of the mention of the Rolls Royce and yellow Hummer H2 was to show how easy it would have been to associate those cars with him as they are unique. How many people own a Rolls Royce and go downtown? Maybe just the Napergate Man. Thus they could run it immediately knowing it is his to check on him each time.

If he was driving one of 100 Toyota Camrys in the downtown that random check would carry more weight than checking on a Rolls Roycer or H2. The NPD could say we could not tell one from the other and we have no way of knowing which one is his to target him. It would be much more difficult to say that with a Rolls Royce!

Why weren't the police kind enough to offer him a ride? They know they left him without transportation and they know cabs are not allowed to take dog passengers! The police have dogs so they are allowed to put dogs in their cars. They took the H2 keys so he could not even drive his friends vehicle. It seems like harassment to me.

You should look at Bob's report as a whole and try not to nitpick a point or two that he was using to provide detail.

Why are you not asking why the police felt it was necessary to to hand cuff and jail a man who did nothing wrong? They knew when they ran their computers that it was a van that ran the tolls. They knew he did not drive a white van. How would you like to spend a night in jail for a $1.20? That is fascism! If you are not an alien d.bone, are you a self centered fascist!

At least you came back somewhat civil today and that is a step forward in your rehabilitation from alien back to human.

PS. Considering how self centered you are I am surprised you are worried about Bob's shoes. Self centered people only worry about their own shoes..

the 52 point account from" bob" is amazing. i think someone should look into this more. but why in the world did you not get on a cell phone and call someone to pick you up with that dog ? i assume you have one ? hummers, rolls royce's ,$ 250 dollar designer shoes. i understand it was 1 am, and you have every right to be out at 1 am walking a dog, driving here and there. i usually like to sleep then. but instead you drag the dog home ? and you ruined your designer shoes. did you ever get that present ?

Anonymous,
Unfortunately you do not care to read the long and short blogs before you post. I have been reading these posts and no one has said running random registration are illegal. I believe you are the only one I can recall saying that. They are most probably legal!

What bloggers are saying is that targeted registration checks with no basis are illegal. Selecting someone you don't like and running his license plate is illegal!

I checked with 2 States Attorneys in Dupage and they both told me random is legal and targeted or selective is illegal and a Class 3 felony. Also a former States Attorney who rose high in the ranks there and is now a defense attorney told me the same.

I think POLICE OFFICER knows the laws very well and was right on target with his interpretation of the law and even his analysis.

In summary if the Napergate Man can prove his license plate was targeted because they knew it was him, the Sergeant will be charged with a Class 3 Felony. That is a very serious criminal charge and almost everyone gets some jail time for that especially if he is convicted by a Judge or Jury. During a plea agreement he may possibly avoid jail but still get a felony. I suspect he would lose his job for sure unless the NPD chooses to cover him which is always possible.

If the police can prove it was a random check they are off scott free. But all these checks have a trail in the Police Department. If the Napergate Man's license was the only plate that was ran for a parked vehicle in downtown on that evening, the NPD could be in some very serious trouble.

If you read everything carefully, Mr. Anonymous, you will see that the police officers were desperate to get the Napergate Man to run a stop sign or not initiate a signal. He frustrated them as he knew they were behind him and was not going to commit a traffic violation. They gave up on trying to get him to commit a traffic violation and stopped him anyway. I am sure they were thinking it would not come to this. But they should have known the Napergate Man knows his rights and has 4 attorneys who would advise him.

This incident was to heavily documented as all incidents relating to the Napergate Man. I would not be surprised if he had a recorder in his car and taped them. He has always taped everything in the past with video. Even if he just had a voice recording device or used his cell phone to record the Sergeant flipping out it would help put some nails in the coffin as they say. I suspect there is always a possibility they may have recorded the Sergeant and the statement the Napergate Man made, "I believe Chief David Dial allows discretion in these types of cases." And the Napergate Man knew of course that the policy of the department is give their officers discretion.
The fact that the Sergeant and his officers went as far as they did knowing it was petty toll violation by his daughter, really shows they are still harassing him after all these years.

I agree with all who stated they would never do this to a Wehrli or a Moser. Of course they would not! They did not even do it to Mr. Furstenau who they claim punched them so hard that it was heard a block away. The Napergate Man already has his proof in some ironic way thru the Furstenau Case. He can claim that he is discriminated against because Furstenau was not hand cuffed while he was for a lesser offense. That DF was allowed to go home. And I am pretty sure when DF was charged he was allowed to walk into the police department to be booked without being handcuffed or jailed for 5 hours. This case screams DISCRIMINATION. The Napergate Man has always alleged discrimination. I recall one of his Napergate Ads showed 12 or 18 incidents that proved discrimination. I am sure Ameena will uncover that for us one day and publish it.

They can not say we were being careful because DF is a council member or a public personality. The Napergate Man is more of a political and public figure. As POLICE OFFICER noted he put DF and 6 other on the city council with those extremely influential Napergate Ads in the Naperville Sun.

This one really smells terrible. They could not have picked a worse person to pick on. The man is just so credible. His witnesses are so credible. Apparently, they still have it in for him because he beat them twice in court. Maybe they are seeking revenge. I feel he can get them a third time very easily. This guy is a man with extraordinary intelligence. Today we find out he was in charge of a multi-billion dollar portfolio, I suspect while he was under 30 years old. We also find out from Police Officer he owns a shopping center in Naperville besides his Extra Value Liquor store on Rt. 59.

The police are messing with someone who is not ordinary. They are no match for this guy. It looks like they tried to frame him and I am willing to guess he has better than a 95% chance of winning this one. As an attorney I would love to have this case and a client like the Napergate Man. Of course I am not a civil rights attorney so I am basically not qualified to do such a case and would do him injustice.

One reason we fail so often in court is our clients never document anything and run their mouths incriminating themselves before they ever make it to our offices. This guy documents everything and does not run his mouth. Perfect client! Makes your job very easy.

I am willing to bet Ted can bring anyone out but not the Napergate Man. This guy will never come out to talk. He will never take a chance of someone misquoting him. He would rather pay a 1000 dollars for a full page ad than be misquoted. History shows he would. He also was successful with that strategy. Why stop it!

Anytime you talk to the press your words can be used against you in a courtroom. I believe since this incident is a year and a half old and that he is not planning on doing anything unless more incidents come up. We know from Bob there was another illegal stop on him in the last 2 months. Which shopping center is going to call the police on you at 11pm or midnight? None of these shopping centers have anyone on the premises at those times. The 2 shopping centers in question only have 2 stores open late at night that the Napergate Man frequents often. So basically she apparently tried to fabricate that a call came to her and she could not identify who called her. He basically "called her out" when she stopped him and she had no answers. The Napergate Man has this one documented too. He probably has others. If he will make a move, it will be the day before the statute of limitations expires.

Bob was wrong on one major count. Unlike the bottle of Korbel where he was defending himself against numerous false allegations, this case will not cost the Napergate Man 200,000 dollars like that one. This one is a civil rights case that attorneys take on a contingency basis with no cost to the client. It won't cost him a penny especially if he has been documenting and gets one more big blunder on the NPD to show a nice pattern.

Bob apparently does not know about the contingency arrangements attorneys makes for cases of this nature.

The Napergate has filed a civil rights violation lawsuit before against the city so he knows this case won't cost him a penny if he decides to go for it.

His daughter will be able to continue her path thru medical school as this case is a freebie for the Napergate Man if all we are hearing pans out. This case is much stronger than the DF case. He not only has an eyewitness but he was clearly discriminated against in the nature of how he was treated for a petty petty violation.

If I don't seem 100% coherent it is because I am multi-tasking. Yes, I am watching the Super Bowl and tying between plays. (Ted NY Giants just scored. I am sure Ted is a happy camper at this moment.)

And really not allowing him to get the dog home really shows this Sergeant is not your smartest cookie on the NPD! 10 seconds left in the game...Congratualtions TED. Your team looked almost as good as your Napergate thread. Thanks for putting it back on the Main Page or I would have missed that very detailed and informed by Bob, Basim's friend! 2 seconds left..

Note from Ted:

Whew--thank goodness Pats didn't win.
This is what Mike said in his initial post on Feb. 1 about running plates:

5.They had apparently "SELECTIVELY" run the license plate of his vehicle, which is a CLASS 3 FELONY, while he and his friend were walking his dog Abby downtown and on the Riverwalk!

Can you do us a favor and provide the name of the incompetent attorney(s) who think running random registration checks are illegal, so I never use them when I am in trouble as they clearly dont practice law. Alot of great advice from the gallery on what they would or wouldnt do if they were cops. So go get your applications ready and start soon, sorry you need a 4 year degree so this may eliminated several of you (Rachel)We need more good citizens on the streets making these key decisions as you have months after the fact(s) which keep changing rapidly. So, go get those pens ready and start the process so we can all be safe soon.

Just wanted to point out that Randy had a pretty good post that got lost in Bob's unusually long but revealing post!

I believe it just preceded it and is worth reading..

Bob's post was awesome. It must have taken him all day to write..

Thanks Bob, for helping us solve the puzzle!

And Ted thanks for putting Napergate on the Main Page. You should keep it there until it pretty much dies on its own like that Furstenau thread eventually died.

But why kill it when it is being heavily read.

I think the way people measure your success is thru not only number of posts but number of quality posts. Napergate has both!

But no one could be accusing anyone of trying to pad posts on Napergate becasue of the extreme length of most of them and the energy people put in them.

10 Napergate Posts equal 100 posts on any other thread..maybe more since Bob's equals 100 alone.

So the 231 posts are equal to at least 2310 posts if you want to try to equate threads and truly evaluate them against each other.

PS. Did you notice all the men dropped off as soon as the Super Bowl started, Ted. You got all ladies bloggin now. How come you are not watching the game like all your male bloggers?? When are you going to have one of your dinner parties just for us ladies. We will never complain about the food like the men you invited to your last dinner party..lol...j/k..with you!

And seriously thanks for getting this on the Main Page again. It is true no one pays attention when they fall off the Main Page. I did see the District 203 thread. Maybe that Tom Higgins keeps it going himself when it falls off the main page. He seems to post and keep posting to himself. That is one man show over there. That is no fun! I like the variety of Napergate. The only person missing I would like to hear more from is Mrs. of the Police Officer. Can you put in a call for her to come blog with us? She is so awesome! Tell her it does not matter if she does not have first hand knowldge. We want her opinion and we respect it. I don't know why she thought anyone was pickin on her. Everyone loved her and respected her. She was second favorite to Ameena according to the voters. Please come back Mrs. of the Police Officer. We truly miss you and respect you!
How could that be disrespectful. Maybe she has thin skin like we all did in the d.bone contorversy. Are you guys blockin d.bone. We have not heard from him thankfully. Or maybe he got tired of being called everything imaginable..

I also seen Napergate mentioned on Zorn. Zorn did do some stories on the Napergate Man when the Napergate Man was between a rock and a hard place. I think the Napergate Man got him information on the Nicarico Case and he paid him back when he needed him when the city of Naperville was fighting him. Who is this Tom Higgins guy anyway? Just curious!

I have a feeling if Eric Zorn catches wind of this story which he probably will, he may do a column to blast Naperville officials.
I don't know if you follow Zorn. But that guy does not hold back.
He must have a green light from the Tribune to be as aggressive as he wants.

Note from Ted:

I multitask. Watch game, read comments, watch commercials. Pepsi is best so far. Go Giants!

Ted.

I am very happy and you showed a lot of courage in putting the Napergate thread back on. You showed that you are willing to listen.

Police Officer is just too credible. He is awesome and truthful. He tells it as it is! Never embelishes like most cops! He is an asset to your site. I love Naperville Lawyer but where is he?

I am disappointed that we lost Mrs. Police Officer. I just think this thread was too hot for her. But I really miss her and I wish I knew how to call her back as Ted called reluctant Bob into the picture. You get lots of points for how you called him in. You upset him with your remarks in a tactful way and got him to write on behalf of his friend. When someone provides new information on this thread that has never been seen before you know they are credible. For example if he did not know the Napergate Man how could he have known where he worked between 1977-1981...and the job he held. When people know that kind of information and give you such tiny details like he bought him a pair of new shoes to replace the ones destroyed yanking Abby 3 miles, you know it is not fabrication.. Plus he desrcibed what he looked like so the police will remember him if you talk to them assuming they did not run his ID too.

I think he also did a good job describing the appearance of the officers to let us know he was there.

I was not planning on posting. I was just enjoying the reading..

But I had to come in and complement you, Ted, since we have really been on your case. You showed flexibility. I am really proud of you and you did make me HAPPY!

Note from Ted:

At your service :)

Mr. Rod Randall,

You just make too much sense. Your logic is right on.

I think the Naperville Police have another battle on their hands with this Napergate Man if he feels like fighting them.

A police officer appears to have committed a Class 3 Felony.

We can not have police officers on our force that commit felonies and fabricate evidence.

This police officer needs to be charged immediately. And Police Chief Dial needs to be held accountable by the City Council.

Ted, you have all you need. Your evidence is corroborated by county records.

All you need to do is issue a Freedom of Information Request on the NPD to tie any loose ends.

If the NPD won't talk to you the police report of the incident will talk to you. By law they have to give it to you.'

Just like Ameena has the Napergate Man talking thru his ads, you can have the police dept. talking thru its police reports..

==================================================================

Ted,

The timing of the deletion of the Napergate thread looks very suspect. If nothing else you should have left it on in hopes Police Chief Dial would come out as Bob came out. Police Chief Dial and thousand of residents will never see the story now.

It almost looks like you were trying to protect city officials from embarrassment.

It reminds us way too much how you wanted to protect City Officials from Napergate V that we now know apparently slammed city official pretty badly. We have only seen one section. I can not imagine what the other sections say. But we just have to wait on Ameena.

I hope you can get this thread on the Main Page so it does not look like you are covering up the embarrassment it brings to City Officials. Having it deleted in this way really shoots your credibility and makes you look very pro-establishment while pretending to be neutral. It makes you look scared of the city!

Maryann is right about that pothole post. It appears you put some nonsense posts on right when Napergate was getting flaming hot to make sure it got booted off the Main Page so it will lose the steam it was pretty on city officials. You neither want to investigate city officials or put heat on them with your ever powerful and growing blog site. Keep showing your softness and you will shortly lose all your bloggers. I came from the Eric Zorn blog site because Napergatians were raving on that site about your site. I was excited and now I feel disappointed and ready to go back to Eric even though he covers all of Chicagoland and not just Naperville. I came here because you are all Naperville and thought you were ready to be hard hitting. You are really letting me down.

Who are you trying to kid Ted? It is really so easy to see thru you as we get to know you. If you continue with this approach, you will chase all your bloggers away. It just seems like you are chickening out. I only used that word because you used it first about yourself! Sorry...but it seems that way and you told us you respect our opinions.
No offense intended.

Response from Ted:

Really? They were raving about us on Eric Zorn's blog? Woo-hoo!

Though it does not appear that the Napergate Man was actively resisting (such as pulling away from the officer or running), he could very well have been passively resistive by not responding to the officer’s directions while he attempted to negotiate his surrender. I’m sure Police Officer could expound on this further.

------------------------------------------------------------------
T.B.,

Since you brought me into this, I thought I would respond.
First I agree with Host Ted, that Bob's account is anything but truthful. You jumped the gun too soon and people will easily dig holes in your speculations and opinions.

Here is my opinion:

1. If the policeman had stopped Mr. Esmail because he ran a stop sign and found out he had a suspended license at that point, everything would be legal. Mr. Esmail by law would not be allowed to drive any further.

2. Everyone knows police officers have discretion. This is a perfect example where a Sergeant abused his discretion. He did not need to hand cuff Mr. Esmail and jail him for something so petty once he found out it was a Tollway violation. I would have just told Mr. Esmail to meet me at the station after he took his dog home so I could book him which is required by law.

3. I would not allow Mr.Esmail to continue driving his Hummer as that would be illegal since we now know he was suspended. But I would have allowed him to call his wife or another friend to get Bob and Abby home and Mr. Esmail to the police station for booking and immediate release after his booking. There was no reason to throw him in a jail cell for 5 hours unless he was violent and pushed or punched a police officer. I doubt this man would do this based on his long history.

4. I checked Mr. Esmail's records in Dupage again and he has never been involved with anything illegal or ever charged with a violent act. He has 3 speeding tickets, this suspension, and one of those minor sale charges that he probably never got around to expunging after being found innocent. That is it! The police know this when they stop him. He did plead guilty to the suspension as Bob correctly stated.

5. I have been stating there are a few cops that have had it in for Mr. Esmail. But I thought it was pastence. I am shocked as most of you that this is still happening. Apparently Chief Dial has not known in the past and I suspect still does not know what his low level officers "may" be doing. I have to agree with the bloggers that the Naperville Sun should have an interview with him and clear all this up. There is simply too much speculation from everyone including myself. I do not work for the NPD so I do not have FIRST HAND information. I want to be clear and I know I have said this repeatedly. I only live in Naperville but work for another police department.

6. A Wehrli or Moser would not be treated like an Esmail. That I am very sure of. So Ted is wrong here! Even Mr. Furstenau was not treated like Mr. Esmail. Much better! As you recall his arrest was delayed even though they alleged he punched a police officer. Imagine that! A police officer is punched and the man is not arrested for a week or two. Mr. Esmail did not punch a cop. He found out that his daughter ran a toll he did not know about. So something is wrong here if all Mr. Esmail's friends are telling the truth. I say "if" but I also really believe them very much. If you have to he careful when you arrest Mr. Furstenau, why not be careful when you arrest Mr. Esmail. Mr. Esmail put Mr. Furstenau in office along with 6 others with his Napergate ads. That is undisputed. Mr. Furstenau did very poorly in the State Election. Notice in that election he did not have powerful Napergate ads pumping him up. Those ads would have helped him do much better in the State Election if they continued especially with Naperville having a population of 150,000 and many voters compared to smaller adjoining towns.

7. Police can do random checks. If they do selective checks for political reasons or harassment reasons it is a Class 3 Felony.

8.If this goes to court the NPD will claim they did a random check and did not know it was Mr. Esmail's Hummer. Mr. Esmail will say it was a selective enforcement check which is illegal and they knew it was his Hummer since he drives downtown 5 times a week and a yellow Hummer is obvious! And they have known he has owned it for years. It is a 2003 Hummer that he has owned since then! He is the only owner of that vehicle since he bought it brand new!

9.A jury or a judge would have to decide who is more credible. But the appearance of this arrest has a very bad look for the City of Naperville! It already has a bad smell and taste no matter what we learn next!

10. Having a dog involved here will activate animal rights groups against the City. Not good! The dog should have been the deciding factor in letting Mr. Esmail turn himself in voluntarily.

11. There was no chance Mr. Esmail would flee from a 100 dollar fine. He owns a home in Naperville, a business, cars and has a family. While researching him yesterday, I found out he even owns a shopping center in Naperville. I suspect the police know all this so it is shocking they would not let him go home and come back a half an hour later to be booked, pay his bail and be released.(releasing on personal recognizance is also usually an option if one has no cash). As a police officer, I would have never hand cuffed him and jailed. I would have used my discretion that I am authorized to use to do what I have mentioned.

12. There would be nothing wrong with taking his driver's license away from him since he was legally suspended. They could have taken the keys to his Hummer away from him if they felt he would drive knowing he was suspended, something I highly doubt he would do.

Those are my quick thoughts. I will try to do so more research and post in a day or two. I just wanted to on record immediately in saying I don't agree with T.B. I feel credibility is very important and one has to watch it just like Mr. Esmail always watches his.

I was holding back till I got more information. I believe Bob provided it. Once again I believe his story is very truthful. He does not seem to have an ax to grind here. Sometimes I feel T.B. has an ax to grind against someone. Plus I feel Bob would actually be a more credible first hand witness than Basim as he is not the subject here but a witness. So I think Ted may have gotten lucky and actually gotten more than he bargained for with an eyewitness on the scene who saw the whole incident. Mr. Esmail was emotional. Bob was not! Usually a non-emotional witness is better than an emotional witness. I really see no need to talk to Mr. Esmail. There were really 2 eyewitnesses that covered the story. One the first part. The second the second part. The only time not included is when Mr. Esmail was incarcerated in the jail cell for 5 hours. The only eye witnesses than would be the police. But Mr. Esmail is not claiming to have been abused in the jail cell. He is just claiming thru his friends he should not have been there and separated from his dog.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Ted,
I believe it was purely coincidental that the thread was taken off at the same exact time Bob's post was made. Even though it was coincidental, it has all the appearance that it was deliberate.

I think you should have never deleted it at the same exact moment as Bob's very long, detail, documented and what appears truthful post. If he had given you his real name and e-mail as he states that makes him even more credible. Only you know that! I noticed as Maryann it was the exact same minute almost that the post and deletion of the thread took place!

So you are going to get a lot of heat for taking it off the Main Page at that exact time. No matter what you say, no one will believe you unfortunately! If I were you I would find a way to get it back on the Main Page and find a time when there is no breaking news to take it off.

It is like having a very important breaking news story, put on page 36 instead of the front page. It just looks bad even though I believe it was nothing more than a timing coincidence on your part.

Response from Ted:

Hey, P.O., good post. OK, the game's on. To silence the conspiracy theorists I unpublished an entry about water bills to get Napergate back on home page a little longer. Happy, everyone?

"Ted,
It looks very suspicious that you kocked Naperate right off your Main Page the minute you got the FIRST HAND ACOUNT you wanted. The information Bob provided seemed very damning to the police dept.

By knocking it off the Main Page the minute it was posted, it really appears you are covering up for the City. Like you don't want them to be embarrassed."
===========================================
Maryann, you might want to check the time lines before you start making accusations. Seems that the D203 post was about 5 and 1/2 hours before Bob's story.

A word on D203's referendum:
Posted by Naperville Sun editors on February 3, 2008 07:47 AM
_________________________________________________________________
Bob's story:
Posted by: Bob.....I was with Basim that night. | February 3, 2008 01:25 PM

Let me see whether I understand the "facts." Mr. Esmail received a letter the following day (after his arrest) saying he "may" be suspended if the 3 or 4 tolls (and penalty fines on top of that) were not paid. So, apparently, his license was suspended even before he had an opportunity to become aware of the fines and actually pay them. (Thus, his license was suspended without his knowledge.)

In itself, there is nothing illegal about having a suspended license. So, what was the probable cause for the police to have scanned his license plate? How did they know beforehand that he even was the driver of the vehicle that evening (that is, while the vehicle was parked)? Unless of course, the police knew who he was and were waiting for him?

I would think that a person who is cited for driving while having a suspended license would be stopped first for some other infraction of the law and then when checking his driver's license the police officer would become aware at that point that the license had been suspended. So, the police must have known who the driver was when Mr. Esmail entered the car and they decided to follow him. And, from the accounting as presented, the police were already aware that Mr. Esmail's license was suspended before his vehicle was pulled over by them. Otherwise, why did the police stop him at that point in time when he had not incurred any other infraction of the law.

Certainly sounds like Selective Enforcement to me.

It does not matter whether Mr. Esmail decided to fight the charge or not or whether he decided to sue or not. The point is that a police office probably abused his role as a police officer and an investigation should be done and ,if appropriate, disciplinary action taken. Also, it would seem that a number of police officers were involved with this incident. So, a logical question needing to be answered is: How far up the food-chain does this apparent harassment of Mr. Esmail go?

Response from Ted, host:

A very good post, Rod. I like the way you ask questions.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I would love to report in print Basim's story about his arrest in 2006 and anything else he would want to talk about. Here is an open invitation to Mr. Esmail to call me at 630-416-5255 or e-mail me at tslowik@scn1.com. If he would talk to us directly and tell us about how he feels he has been treated by city of Naperville representatives, we would publish that story in an instant, guarantee it

#################################################################

Ted,

You wanted a first hand account. You got more than you asked for. You also got a source that would be less biased than the Napergate Man. You have a second hand account that came from the Napergate Man to Mike and was verified by Bob. You have Marshall and someone else checking court records and corroborating the story.

Now it looks or appears like you raised the obstacle one notch higher by demanding to talk to the Napergate Man. Ameena had speculated but Randy and Bob confirmed that Napergate Man is not allowed to talk to the media based on attorney advice. That really does not surprise me based on 20 years of long legal battles.

It just looks bad you don't want to cover a story like this one. And maybe it was a coincidence this Napergate was booted off the second Bob's first hand account came, but it has the APPEARANCE of looking very very bad and people are just going to wonder.

I also noticed as soon as Jim and you were arguing with Dor and others about the d. bone controversy, you threatened it would be removed.

You came to your senses as removing it suddenly would look like censorship. So you went to PLAN B and removed it in a way you thought we would not notice.

You yourself had said District 203 was hot off the Main Page.
So why bring it on the Main Page when it did not need the Main Page. But I noticed as Maryann that most threads get killed after they are taken off the Main Page.

It appears you attemtped to kill this thread.

And Bob did make some comments that disputed your opinion.
He was kind but he did really show that there is unequal treatment between the Wehrli's and Moser's as compared to the Esmail's, something you disagree with. You thought holes would be put thru Mike's account. Only a tiny insignifant hole was put thru by someone who was trying to be credible. But no major holes.

It also appears obvious that Mike is up to something and he will soon prove you wrong regarding this equal treatment you are talking about.

I would suggest you be careful, Ted. These Napergatians can fry anyone's credibility. It appears the Napergate Man has preached to all his supporters what credibility means and they learned a great lesson in life.

People are made and broken with credibility. I would watch some of your comments, Ted, because holes are being put in them. Holes big enough to sink them soon.

Just my advice. I would like you to remain credible. But backing off after getting your first hand account from doing a story, really looks like bias to me. Sorry!

I do commend you for your bravery on the blogs for printing everything. Your bravery does not transfer to the print newspaper which is so much more powerfu.

But your blogs are apparently much more powerful than we initially thought. They apparently have readship that is 100 times those of us who are writing.

Notice Mike and Bob admitted reading your blogs for a long time before they broke down and had to write.

You do get credit for bringing Bob out. Your comments did bring him out. So kudos to you on that one! You may have used the right words to egg him on and you succesfully got your first hand account that you wanted. It is like you did some investigative journalism by putting up challenges. But you and I now challeges will work for most people but not the Napergate Man. He is too brilliant to fall for a challenge like Bob did!

Please do something with it!

Response from Ted:

Sigh. How to explain. OK, let's try the criminal justice analogy. It's kinda like journalism. Who watches cop shows, like Law & Order? You know how sometimes the police have a case and they know who did it but they don't have sufficient evidence to prosecute? They'll be an eyewitness who's reluctant to testify, or something like that. It's kinda like that. What we have so far with Napergate man today are a few tips, some good leads, some very credible-sounding first-hand accounts, but nothing yet that meets the criteria for making it a news story. Getting those sources to talk on the record to a reporter is like getting those reluctant witnesses on the stand in court. You need those to get a conviction. Now I'm not saying we're giving up, or that we won't try. I just don't know at this point.

Host Ted,
Bob's account is shocking and sounds so truthful. I think T.B. misses the point.

Unlike Chief Dial who will not take responsiblity for his police officers and now in addition we have a Sergeant, Basim takes responsibility for his daughters. He does not deny the suspension according t his friend Bob. He takes responsibility for it even though he did not know about it. He even pleads guilty to it.

He just wanted to be treated like a Wehrli or Moser so he can get his lovely dog home and get his friend a cab ride before he turned himself in voluntarily.

The action of our police officers that night was worse than fascism as they not only abused humans but indefensible animals.

I call on Chief Dial to resign because he does not know what his cops are doing and should know. That is a good enough reason for me. Let him have his pension and a parachute to boot with it. But fascism must end in Naperville!

Response from Ted:

I'm not an apologist for Chief Dial. I have no reason to think Bob's account is anything but absolutely truthful. I think sometimes people in positions of authority do mistreat people. But I wonder, unless he's reading this blog, does the chief even know of the incident? Was a complaint about the incident ever filed, if not a lawsuit, so there would be some document on public record indicating mistreatment? I'm not hearing anything that suggests Basim wanted to pursue such a complaint.

I just read Bob's account of that night. It was not only riveting but believable. I did not believe we would ever get a first hand account as I felt the Napergate Man would never give one based on what Ameena was saying.

But this account comes from nowhere and unexpectedly. Kind of like a curve ball. It is almost frightening how this Napergate guy is always able to document everything. It is become apparent why he can take on City Hall and beat them and the rest of us can't. He and his friends know how to document events and of course history!

Ted,
It looks very suspicious that you kocked Naperate right off your Main Page the minute you got the FIRST HAND ACOUNT you wanted. The information Bob provided seemed very damning to the police dept.

By knocking it off the Main Page the minute it was posted, it really appears you are covering up for the City. Like you don't want them to be embarrassed.

It also looks like Bob made you look bad on a few of your points and you wanted to save your credibility by disposing of Napergate. As Bob said, you appear to be underestimating the intelligence of your bloggers. When the kitchen gets hot, you seem to run or hide. Opposite of the Napergate Man who confronts and fights when the kitchen gets hot.

I think the evidence is becoming overwhelming something went wrong that night. It seems like his plates were run illegally in a selective manner. Otherwise they would have stopped him immediatley instead of hoping he would run a stop sign so they could cover the Class 3 Felony running of his plates.

I will let the bloggers read Bob's account. I believe they will be much more furious than before because now you have a First Hand Witness giving you his name and corroborating the Second Hand witness you were not satified with.

My wish is that you get this thread back on the front page so the full story is told and not covered up.

It looks very suspicious how you added so many threads so quickly to knock Napergate off the main page.

You could have at least let the bloggers read Bob's account before knocking it off.

Well, at least your wish was granted and you got your first hand account. There are 3 deputy chiefs in the Police Dept., so it is really not necessary you speak to Chief Dail, if he is out of town. The Deputy Chiefs hopefully wil provide answers.

Note from Ted:

Maryann,

Napergate hasn't gone anywhere. It's right here in the archives. We've said for days it would be passing off the main page when it's time came. Go ahead an engage in all the conspiracy theories you want. It seems to be a popular past time here. But no, Napergate passing off the front page had nothing to do with Bob's post. And again, I didn't see a thing in Bob's post that was critical of me. In fact, I'm delighted that I cajoled Bob out of hiding. Maybe if I keep at it I'll get Basim to break with tradition and talk to me himself. Far as I know, there's no litigation pending regarding the incident in 2006. Anyone, did he file a civil lawsuit alleging police harassment? No pending litigation, so can't use that as an excuse to not talk to the media.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I would love to report in print Basim's story about his arrest in 2006 and anything else he would want to talk about. Here is an open invitation to Mr. Esmail to call me at 630-416-5255 or e-mail me at tslowik@scn1.com. If he would talk to us directly and tell us about how he feels he has been treated by city of Naperville representatives, we would publish that story in an instant, guarantee it.

Regarding: Posted by: Rod Randall | February 1, 2008 09:50 PM

Mr. Rod Randall,
I feel you asked all the right questions and made the right points in your indicated post. I do not know why Host Ted was upset at you. It made no sense to me! You were absolutely right and were only asking QUESTIONS?

Terri

"Here's Naperville persecuting Basim Esmail because of who he is," and I still don't think that. Go ahead and call me pro-establishment for feeling that way--I don't think I am. I think Naperville cops are liable to treat anyone that way. Not to sound too pro-establishment or anything, more like devil's advocate, but I think the NDP is doing what the majority of Naperville residents want: a diligent police force out there on the streets protecting us from criminals. I'm not defending the department, just trying to see it from their perspective.

First of all, before we would approach Dial with any such questions, we would need to hear the account first-hand from Basim Esmail himself, not some second-hand hearsay account.

Hey, Rod, great hearing from you, again. By the time this is published you'll see several other bloggers pointing out problems with mike's post, such as how running plates is not a felony

THE ABOVE ARE HOST TED'S COMMENTS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO RESPOND TO IN A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT THAT HE IS DEMANDING

==========================================================================================================================

Dear Host Ted,
I was trying not to come out. But your above statement pretty much forced me to come out. I had to come out because I know Basim Esmail will never come out and talk to the media, blog or even talk to the police. As Ameena said he will talk to the media or take on a policeman on the street. In court, yes, but not on the street. Because of his prior numerous battles he only talks in court or paid ads that his attorneys review and approve in advance. Yes, his attorneys advised him never to talk to the media, never to blog and never to talk to the police. And he obviously listens to them. He does not like trouble.

I wanted to come out and say Mike's blog is 99% accurate. I think his only mistake was he said his daughters only had 1 or 2 toll violations. I believe it was 3 or 4. I recall seeing pictures of the white van that stopped at the coin slots but did not pay. The Tollway Authority provided these pictures in the letter he received the next day(following his arrest) saying he "may" be suspended if these tolls were not paid. We could not identify from these pictures if it was his 16 year old daughter or his 19 year old daughter that caused the mess. But they both stated that they pay 99% of their tolls but were caught in the coin lane due to heavy traffic a few times and could not get into the live cashier lane. When they realized they did not have the coins they preceded as there were dozens of cars behind them beeping their horns loudly, they panicked and took off. They both felt if they were to get out of the car and pay the toll to the cashier 3 or 4 lanes over, the drivers behind would have been outraged. I guess you could say they made a mistake, did not time how early they should have maneuvered to get in the cashier lanes, and ended in the coin lanes where you had to have exact change in coin. They did not have the 40 cents in coin. I believe all the incidents were traced to the Oak Brook Toll Plaza.

And to clarify for Anonymous, Basim was driving on a suspended license but did not know that. He would never go to downtown Naperville knowingly driving on a suspended license. He goes there frequently and knows the downtown is loaded with police officers. I think we all know Basim is not stupid or even a risk taker of that nature.

==========================================================================================================================

I AM GOING TO FOLLOW SUIT AND EXPLAIN MY FIRST HAND ACCOUNT IN NUMBERED POINTS AS EVERYONE ELSE SEEMS TO BE DOING ON THIS BLOG.
IT DOES SEEM EASIER TO FOLLOW BASED ON MY DAILY READING OF THESE BLOGS.

1. I have known Basim for over 30 years. I met him at the Westmont Train Station in September of 1977. We both had corporate jobs in downtown Chicago and took the train together. We both lived in Westmont from 1977 to 1981. Basim at the time was the Securities Lending Manager for Blue Cross/Blue Shield's multi billion dollar portfolio. He worked his way up until he became head of the dept. and in charge of the billions of dollars in their portfolio. His job was very complicated but it involved dealing with banks and brokers on Wall Street in New York. I recall the address of Blue Cross as being 233 N. Michigan Ave. I worked at a hotel one block away.

2. I have been Basim's friend for the entire 30 years I have known him and never lost contact with him.

3. I was with him that night walking his white dog Abby on the Riverwalk and throughout downtown Naperville. Basim loves downtown Naperville and suggested we take a walk there and talk. We did not drink anything that night. Neither of us even smoke cigarettes. We were enjoying the beautiful atmosphere of downtown Naperville.

4. At around 1am we decided to go back home. Basim had picked me up earlier and he told me he was bringing his dog, Abby. We had no interest in going into any bars and drinking so we decided to bring Abby along for a walk. He felt Abby was getting bored of chasing rabbits and squirrels in Pembroke Commons and needed a change of atmosphere. Plus he wanted a change of atmosphere. Abby was on a leash the whole time.

5. After we got in the car and left 2 or 3 police cars began following us immediately. We went from Chicago Ave, made a right turn onto Main Street after stopping, stopped at Jackson, stopped at Jefferson, each time making sure he put his turn signal on when necessary. We also counted 1001, 1002, and 1003 to make sure we made full stops since we suspected the cops were on to something.

6.Basim committed no traffic violations. They finally got fed up with him not committing traffic violations and stopped him in the parking lot behind Potters and Ted's Steakhouse.

7. I believe they followed him thru 4 stops signs to try to get him to commit a violation. They did not want it to be known they selectively ran his licenses plate while he was parked in downtown. They were really trying to get him for rolling thru a stop sign or not putting his signal on within 100 ft. of an intersection. This would have been the perfect cover for the Class 3 Felony the police committed that night. We both checked with our attorneys and it is a Class 3 Felony for a police officer to selectively run your license plate for no reason. There was no reason to run his license plate. If what they did was legal they would have stopped him immediately. But they knew what they did was illegal and criminal so they let him go thru 4 stops signs hoping he would roll thru one. If I was not with him, they probably would have framed him for going thru a stop sign as it would have been his word against 2 or 3 police vehicles in pursuit.

8. The police know Basim very well and know what cars he drives. He drives a yellow H2 Hummer and a black Rolls Royce. Very easily identifiable cars. So there is only one in a million chance that his license place was ran randomly and for no reason. He was targeted and selected which is clearly illegal.

9.Upon the lights of the police cars going on, Basim advised me not to say one single word. I never said one word but I observed the entire incident FIRST HAND. I emphasize FIRST HAND because Ted is requiring FIRST HAND information to do an investigative story. Again I had no interest in coming out but Ted's comments forced me to come out.

10. In no time, I recall one Sergeant and 3 police officers asking Basim to step out of his Hummer. Of course he complied and I also exited with Abby. I held Abby's leash while Basim dealt with these cops.

11. Apparently his license was suspended. He did not know that it was suspended or why it was suspended. The cops knew it was suspended but they did not know why. It seemed like it took them 15 minutes looking thru manuals and on their computers to finally conclude that he was suspended because a white van that is in his name had some Tollway violations. The were able to determine the cause of the suspension before deciding to arrest him.

12. They told him they needed to arrest him. He asked if he could arrange to get Abby and I home before he could turn himself in. The Sergeant said a loud NO !

13. Basim then made a comment. His exact words were, "I believe that Chief David Dial would allow discretion in this kind of case." Basically he was pleading politely with the Sergeant to allow him to arrange to get Abby home. He told him that I(Bob) would be no problem as we both had plenty of money on us for a cab ride for me. But Abby would be a major problem if we could not get her home. We both knew cabs don't allow dogs in them.

14.The Sergeant seemed to have become "OUTRAGED" because of Basim's comment that he "believes Chief David Dial would allow discretion in this kind of case." He was loud and began yelling at Basim for making such a comment. The comment infuriated the Sergeant. The other police officers were saying little to nothing.

15.At that point he signaled to his police officers and in a swift move they turned Basim around and had him hand cuffed in less then 2-3 seconds. He never objected or offered any resistance. Maybe they "thought" he would so they did it very suddenly.

16. I obviously did nothing. Basim has asked me not to speak or say a word before we were stopped. I am sure he wanted me to do nothing upon his arrest and say nothing. So I did nothing and said nothing. Just watched!

17. Even after he was handcuffed he made a final plea to the Sergeant and police officers to allow him to take Abby home. They all refused with the Sergeant doing most of the talking.

18. They took Basim with his belongings to the police station handcuffed. I believe they either allowed him to lock the Hummer or they locked it. But they took the keys! I guess they must have locked it for him since he was already handcuffed. The car was in a private parking lot so I believe they had no right to tow it and they did not.

19. After he was taken away in hand cuffs, all my first hand information is over.

20. They did not offer me a ride and I did not ask for one.

21. I tried to get many cab drivers to give Abby a ride but all declined because I had a dog with me.

22. Abby was very upset! Basim had asked me to take her to Dunkin Donuts because the employees knew her well and she knew them. He knew she would be comfortable with them if I could get her there with a cab. Abby and Basim go there daily. He gets a Café Latté and Abby has been getting 2 free munchkins each trip for nearly 4 years. So she loves that place.

23. Since I had to walk 3 or 4 miles to get there I had a very hard time with Abby. She did not want to walk with me. She wanted to go back and be with Basim. They are very close. She was really upset, angry and crying the whole time. I had to drag her and carry her to get her to Dunkin Donuts while she was resisting the whole time. She did not bite me but she growled at me the whole time like "how dare you steal me from my owner." She was more outraged than the Sergeant. Way more outraged!

24.After 2 hours of walking and struggling I finally got her to Dunkin Donuts on the corner of Hobson and Naper. Blvd. She calmed down very quickly. A husband and wife team who work that place knew her very well and she calmed down instantly as soon as she saw them and they petted her. Of course they gave her munchkins. I told them what happened to Basim. He sees them daily and knows them very well and they love Abby. They made an exception and allowed me to come inside with Abby, gave me free coffee, and gave Abby all the munchkins she wanted on the house. They were very nice and Abby did finally calm down as she was with people she knew well and in an atmosphere she was familiar with.

25. It just seemed to Basim and I that this was a very inhumane treatment of an animal. Very inhumane treatment!

26. I was wearing brand new designer shoes. They were completely destroyed in the struggle to get Abby to Dunkin Donuts thru streets and fields. Basim saw how bad they were destroyed and reimbursed me $250 dollars for them. I told him not to worry about it, but he gave me the money 2 days later. He insisted he reimburse me. They were in pretty bad shape and not meant for walking in fields and dragging a dog against her will.

27.Mike was nice enough to drive me home first and then Abby and Basim. Basim could not drive me home despite having other vehicles because he now knew his license was suspended. He would never drive me home on a suspended license and thus asked Mike for the favor. I had never met Mike before that day but he was a breath of fresh air since he allowed Abby to ride in his car while no cab drivers would even consider it.

28. Basim got his license back Monday morning. All he had to do was go to the secretary of state and pay $20.00 and .40 cents for each violation of his daughters. So it was either $61.20 cents or $81.60 cents. I can not recall but it was multiple violations that had occurred over a 2 year period. So I guess his daughters paid 400 tolls and missed 4 because they could not get in the proper lane on time. They do not own transponders. Only Basim does! They never told their Dad. If they knew this would be a criminal matter that would lead to his arrest, handcuffing and overnight staying at an NPD jailhouse, I am sure they would have told him of this "horrendous crime" they each committed at least once!

29. I checked the court records as Marshall did. Basim did go to court on 08/02/06, plead guilty and paid I believe a 100 or 150 dollar fine. I forgot but it was something of that nature. He did not have to pay for the .40 cent violations plus 20 dollar tickets as he took care of that on the Monday following his arrest on Friday night. That was taken care of at the Secretary of State's office on 75th St. and Naperville/Plainfield Rd.

30.I really don't know what more we can do to verify for you, Ted. It is very well documented. It is the internet age and anyone could verify what Mike or I said. I had no memory of the exact dates but tracked them down using web sites on the internet which are public information to anyone. His arrest as Marshall correctly stated was on 07/13/2006.

31.I provided you with my e-mail address that includes my full name with last name first, and you can contact me if there is anything I can help you answer. But I believe I told you everything and have nothing to add. I would like you to keep my e-mail address and my full name confidential. But you have it as it was required for me to make this post.

32. The police can verify I was there. I have red hair and I am 5'11" inches tall with a muscular build. It was actually my 51st birthday before the clock hit midnight that night and Basim wanted to give me a birthday present he got for me. That was the main reason we got together that night.

33. I recall that the Sergeant doing all the screaming and yelling was African American. I recall that the other police officers were white Caucasian. It was hard to tell ages since the lights were all shining in my eyes. But one officer looked like he was in the upper 40s or lower 50s. It was hard to tell the Sergeant's age but I guess he was in his 30s or 40s. Just so hard to be exact because there must have been 3 police cars with light activated and so many flashlights of police officers plus it was very dark. You would think some major crime was committed. Many people saw the incident as the bars were just letting out. Police kept asking people politely to move along while the Sergeant yelled at Basim before and after being handcuffed.

34. No police officer physically abused Basim. They just grabbed his arms and turned him around to hand cuff him quickly which I assume is proper police procedure. He was only verbally abused by the Sergeant. The other officers did not say much and were taken orders from the Sergeant.

35. I am not an expert in police ranks so if he was not a Sergeant, he could have been a Lieutenant or Captain. I can not be 100% sure but it appears he was the man in charge at the scene and giving orders and yelling. The other officers did not yell or ever raise their voices. They were pretty much his back-up and only helped in the actual hand cuffing process.

36. My real first name is Bob as posted. I am not interested in having my name published in newspapers so I am not giving my last name out. I did give it to Ted in what I consider "off the record" in hopes he would not agree to publish it in the media or give it to police or anyone else.

37. Basim was very angry and initially thought about suing but he cooled off a week later and decided he was not suing. He forgot about this whole incident. I am a little surprised Mike would bring it up but I can see how T.B.'s comment inspired him after he wrongfully alleged there was "selective un-enforcement" going on against Basim.

38. I believe there is Selective Enforcement against Basim in Naperville. The police stop him often for no reason.

39. This following is second hand information from Basim: A month or two ago a female white Caucasian police officer stopped him for no reason while driving his Hummer. He stopped immediately. He asked her politely why she stopped him. She told him she got a call from some shopping center that he was acting "suspicious." He challenged her repeatedly to name the shopping center that called the NPD on him to state he was acting "suspicious." She refused! Finally she told him you know what shopping centers you were at and you tell me where you were and what you were doing. He told her he was at KFC in Fox River ordering chicken. He then went to Dunkin Donuts in Market Meadows to get his Café Latte before returning to KFC to pick up his chicken order. It was late at night and those are the only stores open late at night in those 2 plazas. Both those stores know Basim very well as he lives across the street and frequents them very often. So it is very unlikely they called the police on him. It is more likely the police officer probably fabricated the story in order to stop him to get him for something. Maybe she was hoping he did not have his Driver License or Insurance Card so she can nail him. He had both! He did not run any stop signs or fail to put on any signals. So why stop him! She did allow him to proceed after 20 minutes. She did not yell at him or mouth off at him! A second male police officer gave her back up but never interfered or said a word.

40. In the winter Basim drives his yellow H2 Hummer in downtown Naperville 5 times a week. He loves downtown. He loves the great job the city is doing there except as Dor stated he is OUTRAGED about the parking lot to be built in the library. He is completely OUTRAGED about that. But myself and many of his friends are not going to let him start another Napergate Series to save that beautiful library. We feel Basim did his duty to Naperville and it is time for someone else to step up and save this gorgeous library. All of Basim's friends that I know are also against this library parking structure. It is not needed and makes no sense. And it destroys a very beautiful part of Naperville. Hopefully the city council can reconsider this disastrous decision. Basim feels someone mislead them.

41. He and I have driven to Naperville many times to downtown Naperville to have dinner and walk around. Mostly on Friday and Saturday. We have never had a hard time finding a parking spot. Not one time. Most of the times if you drive for a few minutes you get street parking. Basim has always managed to get street parking and so have I. Neither of us have never needed to use any of the garages once in the last 10 years.

42. He does not understand the need for all this extra parking. But he can see them building one or two of the other garages possibly for future purposes and potential.
But that library parking garage seems crazy to him and also me. That area is so beautiful. He can not understand why they want to destroy that serene area. The trees in the parking lot are so beautiful. He showed me a huge tree in the parking lot that was enormous and felt bad that the City was going to have to "KILL" this very large and pretty tree. The setting of that library building between the trees in the parking lot and the river is so spectacular. It is what makes Naperville the second most beautiful city in America. Personally, I hope city officials don't destroy our town because Basim stopped checking up on them.

43. So as Dor stated, this is one issue that drives him nuts. I think one reason he drives downtown so much is to enjoy that setting before it disappears.

44. Not only is there pressure from his friends not to start Napergate again but there is pressure from his wife and 3 kids not to get going again. They want his attention after not getting it for 20 years. They deserve it. So we are hoping Napergate can stay retired and in the mothballs as was noted in his ad on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Naperville Sun two weeks ago.

45. He got Abby as a present from his wife and 3 kids after he finally PROMISED to stop Napergate and give them more attention. He is always trying to keep his promise to his family even though it has not been easy as he loves to write. Before Abby his passion was squirrels. He fed them peanuts daily. They trusted him and he hand fed them. Some even sat in his lap. He showed me the pictures of wild squirrels in his lap and on his shoulders. So Basim has a way with animals. He also use to have a rabbit named Thumper. He would let the rabbit roam in the backyard for a few hours a day. The rabbit would always come back before dark. Basim is an animal lover and unless you understand that it would be difficult to understand why he was so upset at the police that night.

46. Basim is hoping that the Naperville Sun can stop that parking structure at the library. He would rather the Naperville Sun look into that garage that is absolutely not needed than in his old case of a year and a half ago. Looking into his case can not reverse the injustice that happened to him and Abby. But looking into the library can save an injustice to our beautiful town from occurring.

47. Having said that, it seems like the bloggers want Ted to look into that case because they want to be treated fairly in case they get stopped for something so silly and have a dog with them.

48.Regarding your comment Ted , "Go ahead and call me pro-establishment for feeling that way--I don't think I am. I think Naperville cops are liable to treat anyone that way."

I think you are DEAD WRONG! I think it is well known in Naperville if the police stop a Wehrli or a Moser for something petty like a toll violation they would never handcuff them and throw them in jail for the entire night. When you make such statements, your bloggers either think you are naive or protecting the establishment. I believe that statement of yours is "UTTERLY WRONG." Sometimes I feel you are underestimating the intelligence of your bloggers and that is why they jump on you. This particular Napergate thread appears to be loaded with intellectuals as many people have observed. You can not handle this thread in the same way you handle your other threads or you will continue to "called out." I think some guy named Joe coined that phrase so I will give him credit for fear of being accused of plagiarism.

49.You and I know Basim could unravel county and police records in a nanosecond and prove that he is not treated equally to the Wehrli's and Moser's. I do not think you would be wise to challenge Basim or your bloggers with such comments. They could easily be proven to be false and your credibility would be at stake. I believe Mike has been accumulating information that he will come out with at the appropriate time. His goal is to come out when he has irrefutable evidence of significant portions. Not five or 10 cases but 50 cases or more. I only met him once but do communicate with him thru e-mail. He actually gave his wrong e-mail address accidentally I believe.

50. Mike's email address who is responsible for accumulating evidence is mikelockwies@yahoo.com and not mikelockweis@yahoo.com The "i" is before the "e".
I will notify him of his error in case he is not bloggin for a few days. If you have information of how the Wehrli's and Moser's are treated compared to the Esmail's please contact him immediately. He would love to hear from you and will keep your name confidential if you request.

51.In case "Anonymous" wants to know why Basim chose not to sue, I would like to remind him that one "bottle of Korbel Champaign" cost him $200,000 in legal expenses. He can not afford to spend this kind of money again. His kids were little then.

52. His oldest daughter is a first year medical student. It is costing him $50,000 to get her thru medical school each year. He is paying for it in full. He needs this $200,000 to get her thru medical school. He is not going to use that money to fight "one day" in jail. He has a another daughter going to college in 6 months. And a son in a few years. He has his priorities and is a logical man. And besides, even if he had the money to burn to win this case, he does not think the taxpayers should be constantly paying for City Officials' constant blunders.

==========================================================================================================================

I think I said way too much. Again I did not intend to come out but since I am the only one with First Hand information willing to come out, I had to come out. Basim has 4 attorneys who have all ordered him never to come out and blog or talk to the media. He respects his lawyers. They won some huge legal battles against City Hall for him. They saved his liquor licenses. They have kept him out of jail. So he is not going to disobey them. He knows that one of the major contributing factors in his wins was keeping his mouth shut.

I think due to Basim's 20+ years of struggle with City Hall, there is a fear that something he could say could be misinterpreted by City Hall and ignite another War. Basim is a peaceful man who does not enjoy battles and wars. I have been reading these blogs like every one else but choosing not to write as I would rather be quiet. Anyone who has been reading these blogs should know that Basim prefers walking his dog, Abby, and being with his friends than starting another War with City Hall!

If the Naperville Police Department mistreats Abby in the way she was mistreated one more time, I do believe Basim will file a lawsuit against them. He gave Mayor Macrane a chance to resign and he did not take it. I believe he is giving the Naperville Police Dept. a chance to stop harassing him and especially Abby who he loves dearly.

If the NPD ever hassles Abby again, I believe he would run a series of 44 ABBYGATES. He loves that white dog so much. If he ran 44 NAPERGATE Ads over one bottle of Korbel he could care less about, one needs to understand he would run ABBYGATES for a dog he dearly loves. That dog was tortured that night because of brutal police action. I am glad she did not die of a heart attack or something that night as I was dragging her 3-4 miles against her will. The NPD showed they have no concern for animal rights. It was really not about Basim. It was about Abby! He probably could have gotten a good nap in that jail cell if it were not for Abby. But he was to worried about her to sleep that night he spent in a Naperville Jailhouse.

Thanks for allowing me to give my FIRST HAND account on your thread. I enjoyed reading about Napergate and love this thread. However, I do not plan on writing anything else as I provided every detail I know. If you have a question feel free to e-mail me. I have provided my e-mail to you privately but do not wish to provide it publicly as Mike has. Please keep my e-mail confidential and only for your personal use to contact me in case I forgot something or you have another question.

I am also not Basim's spokesman and he and his attorneys would never allow me to speak on his behalf. I am only provided FIRST HAND information on an incident that I witnessed since it became very controversial. Everything else such as ABBYGATES is my personal opinion of what he may do. He is not a fun person when he is angry. As everyone noted he has a way with his PEN and INK like no one else I know. Ameena can verify that to all the newcomers who were not around in the Napergate Era. I was around and read all 44 Napergate ads. Unfortunately, I did not save Napergate VI but I read it and it was a vicious attack on the Naperville Sun. I hope it is not found because it will not help heal relations. If it is found I hope Ameena does not publish its contents as it will not help us move forward with Host Ted and Moderator Jim. Basim was very very angry when he wrote that ad. He does not like his PEN and INK taken away from him. It is like taking a police officer's gun away from him. Maybe a little worse!

I feel my account of events is 100% accurate. Mike's is 99% accurate. He just did not recall that there was more than 2 toll way violations by Basim's 2 daughters. Other than that he has a very good recollection of what happened that evening. Since he picked Basim up at the police station he does have first hand evidence he was at the NPD. I never saw Basim in a jail cell. I only saw him taken somewhere in hand cuffs in a Naperville Police Car. I am assuming he was taken to jail and came to Dunkin Donuts immediately upon his release at 6am as he probably suspected Abby had suffered enough and he had an urgent need to get back!

Finally, I had asked Basim to file a complaint with Internal Affairs of the Naperville Police Department. He told me he does not believe one exists and if it exists it is for public consumption and would never punish an officer for what he did to a civilian. He feels its only function is "white washing" all the wrongs of the police department!
That is it!

Thanks for letting me use your blog for the first time. Sorry about the length but your bloggers need extreme proof especially "Anonymous" so I tried to provide it in a FIRST HAND manner so we can keep Basim retired! As one blogger noted he probably "killed" former Mayor Macrane with his sharp pen. I did see Mayor Macrane before and after the Napergate Series and he did look like he was hit by a runaway train and not just a truck. I would not be surprised if Mayor Macrane was the one who tried to stop the Napergate ads by pressuring the Naperville Sun. After all they were "killing" him and he was just trying to save his life.

Note from Ted:

Wow. Thanks for the amazing account, Bob.

Ted,

I have been reading these blogs when not posting and I think your bloggers are right. This is a story that should be covered.

It is not that old. Statute of limitations have not expired on it. Meaning a suit could still be filed. If something happens you really want to be ahead of the game and not behind the 8 ball.

I do believe it is illegal to selectively target license plates to check for no reason. Random checks may be a questionable area. But the NPD will be hard pressed to explain why the Napergate Man's car was picked randomly out of thousands of cars in downtown Naperville. Knowing what I know of the NPD, they probably targeted him. Back in the Olive Tree days it seemed like they had a blanket surveillance on him at least half the time. After he moved to Olive Trees we noticed a tripling of police car visits to our complex. They were always driving back and forth on the Eastern side of the complex where he lived. I rarely saw a police car on the Western side of the complex.

The fact that the police don't want to ever speak about him makes me wonder.

I will say Ameena is correct about one thing. The Napergate Man told me his lawyers advised him never to speak to the media. And he told me he will obey them forever. The man is known to keep his word. I would not waste any time trying to contact him.

He has written letters to the editor even to your paper that were published. But to the best of my knowledge he never spoke to a reporter after his attorneys advised him not to.

I recall he stated to me in the late 80s that his attorney felt any kind of editing by a reporter could take something he said out of context. Or he could be misquoted! Or some salt and pepper could be thrown on to his words. He always felt it is very dangerous to talk to a reporter especially if there was pending litigation.

With the ads even though they were costly he felt his message would never be vague or misinterpreted. It seems like it was neither. And as Ameena said he always watched his credibility. With his ads he had full control of his credibility. Speaking to a reporter is too risky if you want to maintain that 100% credibility that the Napergate Man strives for. He was a perfectionist from how I recall him. Very meticulous!

His goal in life was to never lie. Always to tell the truth. He knew liars could never remember what they said. So he always spoke the truth. If he could not tell the truth, he would just not talk. But he would never lie!

I guess instead of putting a reporter to try to track the Napergate Man down which would be a waste of money and fruitless, I would recommend reassigning that reporter to Chief Dial. At least she won't have to look for him. Either he will talk to her or he won't! She will know where to find him!

I also have a feeling the Napergate Man said all he wanted to say in his ads. He stopped them when I believe he finished saying what he had to say. He had nothing left to say. So I guess if you want to learn about him or get quotes, the only way to do it is thru his ads which are larger than most huge books when combined. His court record is pretty large to and is on file with Dupage County and I believe he has a second large Federal Court record which is on file at 219 N. Dearborn in Chicago.

Just wanted to come in and try to save you some money on reporter time chasing the Napergate Man. Even if he is home, he would never answer the door unless someone called first.

I do hope you decide to call Chief Dial about that one incident in the summer of 2006. I had 0 knowledge of that incident as everyone else except for Mike. I don't know Mike, but he seems very credible. It is not normal to have the extreme details he had if he was not there. I don't believe all his information is second hand as he actually picked him up at the police station. He knows first hand the Napergate Man was arrested as he had to pick him up. He know first hand the dog was separated from him as he probably went to Dunkin Donuts to get the dog. He knows about the friend as he saw him. He probably had to also take the Napergate Man to retrieve his car. He just was not there for the actual arrest which would be second hand information for him. But first hand information, for his friend who was with him. If that person would come out he could shed some light.

I would be very surprised if anybody with any credibility could shatter his story. It really seems solid. I know the Napergate Man would not lie to him. I do not know him. But as long as he is saying exactly what the Napergate Man told him his story would be 100% accurate.

Chief Dial knows the Napergate Man very well and would know or be notified if he was arrested.

But for all I know NPD does not treat everyone this way. My experience is they treat establishment folks one way and anti-establishment folks another way. I believe if what Mike is saying is true, I believe Basim, his friend and his dog were all mistreated!

Mike –
The “selective un-enforcement” comment regarding the dog-walking was sarcasm and not in need of a reply, but thanks for making such a big deal out of it (and others, too, no slight intended). 
That NPD ran someone’s plates is not “selective” if there is a valid law enforcement purpose for it.  Police officers run a number of plates on any given day to search for arrest warrants and also to check to make sure cars are not stolen.  This is just good police work and keeps us all safe.  I think a number of people have made a good representation that no Class 3 felony took place in this situation.
In this case, it did not matter how well the Napergate Man drove.  The police checked for, and found, a valid arrest warrant.  They then had probable cause to do the vehicle stop.  The time they spent following him was probably to verify the warrant (I would run it twice if I knew who he was) and also to make sure the car stop was made in a safe area (for both the Napergate Man and the officers involved).
I find no fault at all for the NPD stop of the Napergate Man since they didn’t issue the warrant.  The fact that he had no prior knowledge of the warrant is unfortunate, but not the NPD’s fault.  Again they did not issue the warrant so they are not responsible for the validity of the warrant, the issuing agency is.
Now, as to the handcuffing.  Though you state that he did not resist, there are two kinds of resistance—passive and active.  Though it does not appear that the Napergate Man was actively resisting (such as pulling away from the officer or running), he could very well have been passively resistive by not responding to the officer’s directions while he attempted to negotiate his surrender.  I’m sure Police Officer could expound on this further. 
Also, to win any suit against the police officers involved, you would have to prove that their actions were not just unreasonable to the average citizen, but unreasonable to a police officer’s perspective.  If they can articulate a reason for they’re actions, they are not in the wrong.  Sorry, but that’s the case law.Marilyn – Sorry, but you’re wrong.  Please see my comments to start this post regarding the dog walking. 
I also don’t understand your remark that I will be in “hiding” for a month.  I recently took a one-week break from the Sun’s blog because of my job.  I was traveling and working long hours.  My free time was spent speaking to my children and not writing here.  But I did return and made it abundantly clear I wasn’t hiding from anyone and silence is just sometimes silence—not hiding.

Huntington estates Lady –
What you seem to consider a petty violation, the NPD saw as a warrant for his arrest.  A warrant they had nothing to do with, but cannot ignore.
Would you prefer to give the NPD the power to selectively ignore warrants?  How do you think they would choose which ones they enforce and which ones they ignore?  It would be chaos.

Jenny –
Sober up and realize that the police can have a law enforcement reason for running your plates.  As long as they have a law enforcement reason, no felony is committed.

Ameena –
I’m still waiting to hear from you regarding your unjustified attack.  A simple “I’m sorry. I misunderstood what you meant” will due.

There.  I think I’m caught up.  Marilyn, just so you don’t think I’m in hiding, I will not be checking back here until after the Super Bow.  I wouldn’t want you to get any (more) wrong ideas.
T.B.

Oh, so now its a suspended license and not a warrant??? Can we get the facts of our fearlous leader straight please. Driving on a suspended license is against the law just like not paying the tolls and it takes alot more than one toll violation to get a suspended license. I would be interested to know what was the outcome of this case in court.

Hey, Rod, great hearing from you, again. By the time this is published you'll see several other bloggers pointing out problems with mike's post, such as how running plates is not a felony. But you seem to like to find any reason to criticize The Sun. Go ahead, we're big boys with thick skin, we can take it. We'll continue providing this forum so you can tell us how you think we should do our jobs. Because that's what we do--we created this forum to do exactly that--find out what we should be covering and what people care about. How 'bout that, the system works!

******************************************************************
Ted,
I read Rod;s post. It made sense. You were a little harsh on him. The following 25 bloggers agreed with him. I also agree with him. Something is very seriously wrong and the Naperville Sun is not willing to find out.

You say in your remarks you want to find out what we want covered and you will cover it.

Well, I wil tell you my entire famaily was outraged when we read Mike's account about the abusive of the Napergate Man who we began to love many years ago.

My family suspects he ran all those Napergate Ads because you guys never gave him any support. He had to do it himself.

Here is another issue! You should be looking into it for him. He was abused. Why does he have to do the investigative reporting on himself all over again?

We all know when he asked Mayor Macrane to resign in Napergate II, that he told him if he does not he will let him have it. He let him have it with 42 more Napergate Ads. Did you ever see what Mayor Mcrane looked before that series of ads and after it. He looked like 2 different people. He looked beaten. Like he was hit by a truck after that series of ads against him. I have to say this but I think the Napergate "killed" him with those ads. He was relentless. You can "kill" somebody with the power of a PEN and INK if you know how to use it. The Napergate Man was a master of both. He did not want to "kill" Mayor Macrance. He just wanted him to retire. Macrane thought he could take the heat of the Napergate Man..but he could not. He succumbed to the pressure the Napergate Man put on him. Who knows if this pressure may have caused the cancer Macrane could have finally gotten. I feel bad for Macrane. On the other hand he started up with the Napergate Man and the Napergate Man just did not stop until he "finsished" him off. He did not mean to "finish" him off in that sense but he did.

We miss the Napergate Man very much...more so because you guys talk about investigative reporting and do nothing..just talk.
Why are you pickin on Rod? He fights for our town just like the Napergate Man. He does not have the resources or brilliance of the Napergate Man but nobody does. But give him credit for doing his best. He tries everyday.

Anyway Ted, please call Chief Dial and ask him why the Napergate Man got so badly mistreated. At some point if we can't get the local paper to do it, we will have to call the Chicago Tribune.

Their is a lot of folklore around town that the Napergate Man could not get the Sun to investigate the Nicarico Case. So he used his ads in your paper to push for their vindication. And used them to go to Eric Zorn because he could not get the Sun interested.

It is well known what he was able to push Eric to investigate the Nicarico case. It should have done by you guys. Chief Jim Teal and the Napergate Man knew they were innocent. How come you guys did not care to know and support the innocent in that case! You always join the parade after it is over. Never willing to take the slightest chance you may be wrong. Always the easy safe approach which is to leave city hall alone. Just for the record my dad remembers Eric Zorn doing 2 columns supporting the Napergate Man during his struggle regarding his liquor licenses. The Sun never came out until it was all over..until the City was defeated and my Dad tells me all you guys could do after it was all over is run an editorial that said "Let us bury the Hatchet." You guys wanted it over with only when the city was defeated. But not once did you care to investigate or come to the aid of the Napergate Man despite the whole country rooting for him.

Here we are 15 years later and you guys are not willing to go batting for him in an issue he was clearly abused in. These Napergatians never lie. They follow their leader who taught them the meaning of credibility.

Marshall checked on Mike and he turned credible. What is important is we want to know what to expect in the future if we are in a similar situation? Rod asked a great question. Has anyone else in the city ever been arrested for a toll violation and how were they treated.

Tolls are civil matters. I find it odd that someone would be arrested for a civil matter such as a few pennies in a toll booth...and it was not even him...it was his daughter. I am sure the police could see his transponder since it sounds like they confiscated his car since his friend could not even drive the poor dog home..

OK, Ted! Please get with it. Stop making excuses. We all want you to cover this story or at least make a phone call. This is not an ordinary typical misdemeanor charge. The Napergate Man is probably more important and well known than any council member outside the Mayor. He even got a number of them elected with is grass root support. Nationally he is much better known than the Mayor for his national rewards for his efforts against minors.

I am looking forward to your call to the police chief Monday morning. Please show some guts for once. In the end one full page Napergate ad had all the city officials shaking in their boots. Did you forget when they came and pressured you guys. Now can you imagine what you guys can do to them with a few pages of investigative reporting. You will have them rocking until they straighten out.

And by the way 30-40 bloggers later not one blogger has posted a hole in Mike's post....

Response from Ted:

Jessica,

We all love the blog. No one more than me. I created this blog, you know. I came up with the name, went to my bosses, got permission, got IT to set it up, knew it would be a hit in Naperville. Knew to expect exactly the kind of dialogue going on. Knew to expect occasional criticism about how the paper covers issues. So I will type until my fingers bleed to help people try and understand the difference between and an Internet blog and running a print newspaper. Because I do both, simultaneously.

Now you're calling me a chicken because somehow you've got the impression from a response I made to a comment posted on a weekend that I'm not interested in it as a story, that I don't care. Actually, I was riveted when I read it, just like everyone else. My reaction is different though. I said to myself, "I can't believe the hassle that someone in that situation went through. That's outrageous. I would love to find someone who's been through that and is willing to tell their story so we could put it on the front page of The Sun." Periodically our reporters check for civil lawsuits that name the city as defendants. We'll check again like we routinely do and see if someone has sued the city for such a case. What I didn't think was, "Here's Naperville persecuting Basim Esmail because of who he is," and I still don't think that. Go ahead and call me pro-establishment for feeling that way--I don't think I am. I think Naperville cops are liable to treat anyone that way. Not to sound too pro-establishment or anything, more like devil's advocate, but I think the NDP is doing what the majority of Naperville residents want: a diligent police force out there on the streets protecting us from criminals. I'm not defending the department, just trying to see it from their perspective. How many times have we heard about fugitives and wanted criminals getting caught because an officer ran a plate or detected suspicious activity? Those cops are praised for "good old-fashioned police work." Anyway, we're back to this: incident happened 18 months ago, subject not willing to talk to media, worth pursuing as a story? Still not convinced.

Ted,
Ameena makes the most sense. He has been in the court system for over 20 years and I doubt we know all his legal battles as he had multiple business locations in 3 towns according to Police Officer.

I sense the Napergate Man and the police still have a very bad relationship. Personally I think it is the police who have it in for him. I think he avoids them as much as possible. Notice what liquor man said. The Napergate Man now directly takes his IDs straight to the Mayor. To me that indicates he has felt it is useless to work with the NPD as they have never reciprocated for his good deeds.

I do disagree with you Ted. This case is actually outrageous. It has nothing to do with a minor violation. It has a lot to do with continued persecution. That is obvious and that is the story. They just don't like this hero because he bought them National Shame. But really they brought it on to themselves. They had the Kangaroo Trial for him. It was so bad they got exposed nationwide. That Award he won was covered nationwide so the media had to find out what happened in our city.

I don't think you need a reporter. I think it is a simple case. Bloggers are saying Jim or Ted, please call the police chief and ask him why it is necessary to arrest a guy in those circumstances. It is a very important story and you are still looking for the importance in it.

It concerns all of us who are anti-establishment. We want to know if we were in the Napergate Man's predicament for such a minor violation could we take our dog home first. We want to be treated just like the establishment.

I will be honest with you Ted. The more I read you comments the more I feel you are pro-establishment and afraid to take on anyone in the establishment especially the police chief. I sense your bloggers feel you are weak. You think they don't get it. But I honestly feel, they feel you don't get it.

You let us blog day and night. You enjoy blogging with us. The Napergate Man is an important man in Naperville history. If they are allowed to hassle him, he may just feel he is not coming out unless there is a major issue because he does not need the aggravation. If we can support him and stop his harassment, I suspect he will come out much easier and more frequent on issues like the library.

Obviously he cares about our town. Did you read Dor's comments about how he is upset about that library being destroyed with a parking lot put literally on top of it. So he does care! But my instincts tell me he ain't comin out unless it is an important issue. If they screw with his liquor license again, common sense indicates he will come out swinging big time and win. I doubt they will screw around with his liquor license again and revoke it for a 3rd time. But who knows what this town is capable of doing!

This really is not about a misdemeanor violation. It is about a pattern of harassment that won't stop. The police would love him to move to Arizona. So would the establishment. It is obvious. He remains a big threat to them. All he has to do is get in the mood again and begin his Napergate Series all over..And if it includes endorsed candidates that becomes very threating to our village founders! Now we find out in the last few days he owns another store in town. We did not know this for 2 months. If you followed Ameena's Napergate V post, this guy can run ads where they don't even cost him. It is reciprocated many times over. Not only does he know how to get people to flock to the city council meetings, rallies, and the voting polls but he can get people to flock to his store when he wants to turn it up a notch which indirectly pays for these expensive full page Napergate ads.

This guy is just a little too brilliant for the establishment. As long as he is within the city limits of Naperville they fear him. In some crazy way, I feel even in silence he is becoming more iconic. Maybe he is just taking a break waiting for the right time to jump back in. Do you have any clue how old he is Ted. No one has ever reported that. Everything about this guy is so mysterious. It took us 2 months to find out his name. Hundreds bogged about him on many threads before you gave him a thread. Not one person even knew his name. You were the first person to identify him on that thread that listed those Napergate ads that really got this thing going in a higher gear.

Anyway Ted, here is my feeling. You and Jim have a few free minutes a day. No one is asking you to assign a reporter.

1.We just want you to ask Chief Dial why was it necessary to handcuff this guy and jail him for 5 hours over a petty charge?

2.Why was his license plate run while he was walking his dog?

3. Is that illegal as some bloggers are calling it a Class 3 felony from reading about the Peterson Case, or it totally legal to run plates of a car for no reason?

4. Can police legally run plates randomly? If so did the Napergate Man just hit the lottery as his car was selected from several thousand in downtown Naperville on a busy Friday night? This Napergate Man seems to be a very unlucky or lucky guy! Seems no in between for him!

5. I think his story was told by his friend and if he was lying Marshall would have caught him with those court records he checked.

6, This really is not about a misdemeanor case Ted, as you are trying to play it down. It is about a pattern of discrimination.
Sometimes when police hassle people they keep a low profile because they don't want additional hassle from the police.

7. We really have no check on our police dept. That is why they do things like they do to the Napergate Man and get away with it.

8. I really feel Ted, you are missing the point of the seriousness of this case.

9. Your bloggers want you to be a leader and take charge. All you do is give excuses as to why you should not call the police dept. You cover thousands of stories per year and suddenly you are worried about the cost of a reporter or the time of a reporter.(Remember I will settle for a short phone call from you to him....maybe he is a friendly chief and this is one big misunderstanding) That is why we need to communicate with him!

10. You mention other stories that are more important. Yet your bloggers based on the number bloggin say this is a very important story and want it covered. More so now than before because they found their hero was abused 5 years after Napergate was suppose to be over in the later half of 2006. Not that long ago since 2007 just ended. Statute of limitations don't run out that quick. Usually they give you 3 years to sue or fight something!

11. This guy wants to move forward but the police don't. As everyone has reported he mothballed his ads and his Napergate Web Site. He is trying to have a peaceful walk downtown and the police have him under surveillance and then he suddenly wins the lottery for a random check.

12. Anyway sometimes, I feel like Dor and this case upsets me. I think it upsets a lot of people. And as many people have noticed this thread may not have the most posts but it has 10 times the amount written as the next busiest thread. So people are obviously not trying to get numbers on this post. They are trying to make points and get solutions. They seem over emotional about the abuse of the Napergate Man both past and present by our Police Dept. Maybe if you talk to the Chief he can make sure those 5-10 police man on the loose from the Napergate day are finally reigned in.

Anyway, I better quit. I just came on to say a word or two and this is what happens on this thread. You can't stop writing.

I can't believe some of those real long letters by Maryann, Police Officer, Randy, Ameena, Liquor Salesman(forgot his name), Mike, Melissa, Friend of Dan Shanwoer, Naperville Lawyer, McFarland, Bielen and it just never quits. You hardly see a one or two liners common on so many other threads.

So you have a group thirsty for knowledge....thirsty for human rights...thirsty to hear anything about this iconic mysterious Napergate Man.

My suspicion is your bloggin is getting so powerful that the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald probably monitor it. And one day they are going to steal a story from right underneath you guys because you show so much hesitancy towards questioning officials.

It just comes out you are both a tee bit scared more so you, than Jim. You are always looking for excuses to get out of a difficult story rather than cover it. Eric Zorn got some icon status. You don't have to be a Napergate Man to get icon status or become a hero.

I would like to see a Naperville Reporter one day achieve the status of the Napergate Man and Eric Zorn. All they did to achieve their status is hard hitting reporting. People love that!

The funny thing is you and Jim have so much more power than Eric Zorn and the Napergate Man but you refuse to capitalize on your power...your INK as Ameena I believer refers to it.

Why would you want to cover someone seeking to be covered? Those guys are looking for recognition. The guys that are not seeking it usually are the one you want to cover.

As Ameena stated or noted if the Napergate Man was looking for personal recognition he would have had his name in his ads to make himself a household name like those car dealer guys doing all the commercials live on TV to show their faces and get recognized.

I bet the Napergate Man never put his picture in one of his ads if he never put his name in them. I wonder if Ameena can verify that.
The Napergate Man appears to have only been concerned about fighting for his rights and the rights of others. Fighting to help the simple folk in ATT building and subdivisions being attacked by Brestal. Fighting for his employees who would lose their jobs if his license was revoked. Probably fighting for his customers that he liked and wanted the store to stay open. Of course if you do all the right things like he did, you don't have to worry about your sales. They come because Napervillians are good people and know how to reciprocate to help those who help them.

I did enjoy reading how despite everything his sales skyrocketed. That one made me happy. While they were trying to defeat him and finish him off with massive legal expenses he was getting stronger by the day. Thanks to all those Napervillians and Napergatians that supported him in those days in his crucial battles.

OK, Ted, no one understands why your reluctant to make it a story. I take that back! We all understand why you are reluctant to make it a story. You seem worried about challenging the police dept and Police Chief Dial. You can deny it. But if one dissects your words it is obvious that you are very HESITANT . Sorry to call you a HESITANT but I want to motivate you to get with it and stop looking for nonsense excuses as to why you should not cover the number one story on your blogs.

It really is high time you stepped up to the plate and showed some courage, TED. I am being blunt you come on so weak with your responses. I hope you still print my letter even though I called you a touch weak.. That will show you are half way brave and maybe ready one day to call the Police Chief with some hard hitting questions.

And even if you don't post my letter, I am hoping one day it somehow will have an effect of making you much stronger one day.

We want TIGERS working for the Naperville Sun...not EDITORS that are always HESITATING!

You got a great story Ted. Go with it. Find out why they treated the Napergate Man different than other citizens in similar circumstances..

You have harassment, discrimination, unequal treatment and selective enforcement here.. Remember that IABTF report that called the City out 15 years ago. Well a year ago they were still practicing all the things they were accused of. They learned nothing. This is a story Ted. If you don't want it please pass it on to Jim. Maybe he will consider it. You never know! I hope one of you guys takes it rather than letting it go to the Tribune..

Response from Ted:

I'm not even sure Dial is around next week. I know he won't be doing a column for us when his turn is due a week from Monday.

I'm not afraid to take on anyone, Elizabeth. You know so little about me. Napergate was talked about for a month on the blogs before we finally got it in print--it was at my insistence. It took that long to report the story. You and others need to understand that. The blog, the Internet--it's instantaneous. I've updated our Web site several times today with new details about the tragic shooting in Tinley Park. A print investigation isn't like that. You don't snap your fingers and it happens the next day. I'm lucky to work with Dave Savini from CBS2--did you read his piece about receiving the duPont award? Do you get a sense that he could spend months on a single investigation? We do that, too, and we have projects in the works right now that I'm excited about and I know our readers will appreciate. But we have limited resources and staff. When I say it may take time you think I'm saying I don't care, and that's not the case. That said, I maintain that the account of Basim's arrest in '06 sounds truthful, sounds like unreasonable detention to me, but for all I know NPD treats everyone this way. I haven't read or heard anything that connects the dots that everyone seems so quick to do, and says that this arrest in '06 was part of an orchestrated campaign of harassment. That's my opinion. Sounds like an isolated incident to me, that's all I'm saying.

Ted,
Regarding my earlier post on the wrong thread about the importance of being on the Main Page when a thread is hot.

1.The district 204 thread was busier than the Napergate thread.
Since it has been off the Main page it got no hits the last 2 days.

2.The Napergate thread which was a little less busy has gotten about 25 hits just yesterday and today with much of today yet to go. Plus 2 of us posted accidentally on the wrong threads today about Napergate. Me deliberately since I do not like to clutter my favorite Napergate Thread. So that makes 27 rather long ones in less than 36 hours.

3.Once again I urge you to keep this very hot thread on the Main Page a little longer so we don't kill it while we have a good debate going.

4.Even the thread before District 204 did not get a single hit after being taken off the Main Page..

5.And I did point out to you the Ponds of Hobson West only got one hit the first week off...your hit..

6.So if as you say District 203 is hot and I don't doubt you, it is the exception.

Finally, I urge you to find a way to keep this thread on. Again their is a good chance potluck will be a fluke as was road warriors. Remember don't count my posts there. I just go there to talk to you guys so I don't clutter threads like this one but since you disagree with me, I thought I would see if I can get some help from the Napergatians and others on this thread.

I hope you and Moderator Jim find a way to keep this on the Main Page as there is overwhelming evidence that a thread dies a slow or sudden death when it leaves the Main Page.

My suggestion is put this Napergate thread on the top of the page and bring the pothole thread on the bottom of the page giving people a day or two to blog about potholes. Potholes are potholes! They are always fixed as soon as possible weather permitting. How does that topic justify replacing an educational and thrilling Napergate thread with so much suspense. It is your blog site though. I am just trying to help you guys make your blog and newspaper successful. I would like to see the Naperville Sun return to the glory days of Napergate where an ad could bring 1000 coupons or 1000 petitioners.. You had a choice. That old Naperville Sun may have been a little pro-establishment but Napergate neutralized it and made it a very very powerful newspaper that everyone died to read and READ. I guess I thought I better blog here for fear you would give Pothole credit for my post and wrongfully think it was hot...lol...!!!

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For the record. I agree with majority here and find Mike very credible. Chief David Dial needs to RESIGN! He has lost control of his officers that have been harassing the Napergate Man since he took office and to this day. To me this is an indication of either complicity or lack of control.

The Napergate Man was not perfect. Maybe he got all the alleged gators(close as you can get to alligators) in the conspiracy but one! Chief David Dial's silence is disturbing!

He has a column in your newspaper. He should be using it to explain why he feels the need to handcuff, humiliate, and jail an outstanding citizen who many of us think is a hero over something so petty as his daughter running a 40 cent toll. The Napergate Man has no history of violence. None..zilch! I checked his record on Dupage County's website. The police have computers that tell them the Napergate Man is not a violent man. I wonder if these police computers state his pen is so sharp you may as well consider it a knife and arrest him! Our constitution allows us to sharpen our pens as much as we want. I guess Chief Dial does not like the Napergate Man's sharp pen. Maybe he is afraid he is going to change his mind and come out of retirement. I heard he was still pretty young so this retirement talk seems a bit exaggerated and premature....eh!!!

I believe Mike's story and don't even feel we need to check it out. Nobody fabricates like that and gives all that detail.

He obviously picked up the Napergate Man and his friend plus Abby, his dog, from Dunkin Donut and got them all to their respective destinations. 2 innocent men and an innocent white dog who we are all beginning to fall in love with, were all abused over a lousy toll that a 16 year older did not have on her. It does sound like FASCISM!

Response from host:

Maryann, I can't keep this thread from moving off the home page. Period. We will consider creating a new Napergate post, because frankly it gets a little cumbersome keeping track once a thread gets over 100 comments. It's easier to manage.

Response from Ted Slowik host:

First of all, before we would approach Dial with any such questions, we would need to hear the account first-hand from Basim Esmail himself, not some second-hand hearsay account. We sent a reporter to his store and home, left messages saying we wanted to talk to him. We again say on this blog to anyone who knows or has contact with Basim, we would love to talk to you! Call me at 630-416-5255 or e-mail me at tslowik@scn1.com.

******************************************************************

Ted,
I just woke up and saw this very unusual story posted by Mike! I have to agree with all your bloggers that arresting him was unnecessary and just makes the NPD look very bad. There seems to be a double standard for establishment as opposed to non-establishment folks..

What I wanted to tell you based on my research about the Napergate Man is he never spoke to any media. His attorneys spoke in some articles written about the Napergate Case. But he never spoke to the media once in those hundreds of newspapers I sifted thru.

He only spoke thru his Napergate Ads or other political ads. In his 43 Napergate Ads he never used his name one time or identified himself. I found his last name once in his ad because he was quoting the Illinois Appellant Court ruling using his name. He wanted to be verbatim so he was forced to use his last name once in over a 100 ads.

My speculation as to why he operates they way he operates.

1. He obviously has a family and he kept them distanced from 20 years of legal wars and battles with the City of Naperville by pretty much successfully keeping his name out of the newspapers and ads but being able to fight almost anonymously in some sense. Thus the residents know of the Napergate Man but don't really know him as a person.

2. On occasions he referred to himself as the owner of Extra Value Liquors. Sometimes he signed off as the owner of Extra Value Liquors.

3. He never used his real name once in his ads or signed off with his name.(except when quoting the verdict of IAC). He also never called himself the Napergate Man in any of those ads. Not once! I think that came down thru folklore history and intensified on the blogs. Since he never mentioned his name, people got to know him as the writer of those Napergate ads, thus the Napergate Man.

4. I think he kept his almost 100% credibility by never speaking to the media. Thus he never had an accidental slip of the tongue as I did when I used the word "retarded" inappropriately.

5. He spoke thru his Napergate Ads where he had time to think before he wrote. While I believe he always told the truth, his attorneys and Sun attorneys scrutinized everything he said so even if he slipped up it would be corrected before published. Maintaining his credibilty was something that apparently was very important to this Napergate Man.

6. Since he was involved in many legal cases for over 20 years, his attorneys probably told him never to talk to the media. It is well known by brilliant people if you run your mouth to the media, it will and can be used against you in court to destroy your credibility or impeach you with your own words.

7.For example Drew Peterson runs his mouth a lot with the media. He thinks he can outsmart the media. But how many times did he put his foot in his mouth. He says his wife ran away with another guy but slips up and calls her "it" and "something." So obviously the Illinois Police made him a suspect because of his mouth. And they probably knew he killed her when he referred to her as "it" and "something."

8.I don't think the Napergate Man does anything wrong. But if you say something to the media and you have a trial 5 years later, they use your words to destroy your credibility even if you innocently forgot something or had a lapse of memory or a slip of tongue!

9.If you never say anything, your credibility can never be tarnished in court by what you said at a prior time to the media or say an opposing attorney during a deposition!

10. Assuming the Napergate Man plans on suing the Naperville Police for what happened that Friday summer night, it would be wise for him to keep his mouth shut.

11. I believe Mike's story is very credible. But even though he said the Napergate Man is not interested in suing, and I believe him, if a few more incidents were to come up of this nature, my instincts tell me he would sue. We all know how he records every last detail.

12. In the end if you add and subtract and study the history of the Napergate Man and the history of the Naperville Police Department, the story adds up pretty good.

Actually, I think this is a simple case. I am sure court records will show if the Napergate Man was ever arrested. Police records will show if he was handcuffed and jailed.

Plus the Napergate man had 2 eyewitnesses. One can testify and the other one saw the whole ordeal but can't talk....maybe she will remember the officer who arrested her best friend and start barking at him. That puts us at a witness and a half!

But on a serious note the NPD should have let him turn himself in. He is not going to leave his family, his home, his businesses and flee the country for a petty violation. That is a no brainer. Why they enjoy harrassing him is an unanswered question? But look at how quickly the bloggers side with him. I think it is because of his past history of credibility that they side with him and it is because of the questionable credibility of the NPD that they don't side with them. Plus no one seems to know what happened to these 5-10 cops that harrassed him according to POLICE OFFICER and the IABTF force. Most of them still probably work for the dept. So I have to conclude or at least speculate the NPD acted very inappropriately especially if what Mike said is true and I do not doubt him. He seems credible like Randy, Mrs. Police Officer, Rick the Liquor Salesman, and many others I can not begin to name.

These police officers know who the Napergate Man is. They have been fighting him for over 20 years. He's called them over the years to collect 500-1000 fake IDs he confiscated. So for them to treat him like this despite that he works and cooperates with them is really another travesty of justice in the saga of the Napergate Man's life. Another mystery of sorts!

I really think we know the Napergate Man's story. We just never heard the police version. I am not surprised they are always quiet. I am sure they are embarrassed for revoking his licenses only to have judges overrule them. And than being crowned National Champion while the City of Naperville is convicting him for a sale of a minor that never took place in a Kangaroo Court. This story defies logic.

Hopefully soon, I will post a section of his Napergate V that deals with the Kangaroo Verdict. I believe 8 City Officials and outside attorneys were involved in this Kangaroo Trial. This did not include all the phoney witnesses the city brought to bear to testify he had a bad record of carding. The Kangaroo Proceeding were almost laughable so it does not surprise me a decade and a half later the City of Naperville still has no credibility.

But I will use his words verbatim when I get a chance directly form Napergate V....

Response from Ted:

Well said, Ameena. I understand why Basim wouldn't want to talk to us. Now I ask this of everyone: Why should I assign a reporter to check out a misdemeanor violation from 18 months ago when we've got elections Tuesday, a trial for a man accused of killing four members of a Naperville family, school districts we have to watch like hawks, a dysfunctional park district, plus everything else going on--when the guy arrested isn't even asking for coverage? I agree it sounds like the police treatment of anyone for such a minor infraction was overboard, and if someone came to us directly with such an account and wanted to tell his story we would seriously consider it. But that's not the case here. Does everyone understand why I'm reluctant to say it's a story? Is the difference clear? Maybe I'm not explaining myself well enough.

This latest arrest of the Napergate Man is Confusing.

I would agree normally people don't get handcuffed and jailed all night for such petty violations.

Paris Hilton initially got one night in jail after being convicted for her second DUI in a courtroom by a Judge. I know later under public pressure she had to put in a few more days.

Suddenly the Napergate Man gets a night in jail because his daughter blows off a 40 cent toll.

I don't think he is in the category of Paris Hilton.

So I would like to know from our Police Chief why he is letting his officers pick on the Napergate Man after all these years.

It is not so easy, Ted, to keep blaming it on the dead Mayor and retired attorneys when it is still happening.

Just because the Napergate Man did not accuse him it did not mean it did not happen.

We all know the Napergate Man uncovered more corruption than anyone in the history of Naperville. Is it far fetched he missed one bad apple?

Knowing his credibility he was not going to point a finger on Chief Dial without being 100% sure. He could have never pointed a finger at him because he was only 99% sure!

Does that make any sense, Ted!

Response from host:

See my response to Marshall's post above. I'm clearning a bunch of comments and I have a feeling a lot of similar points are going to be raised.

Ted,
I just checked the Dupage Case on the internet.

He in fact was arrested on 07/13/2006 by the Naperville Police for a suspended license. I can't read the codes but I would guess it is for that 40 cents his daughter blew off at the Tollway. I think the point here Ted, is the police did not need to physically arrest him using hand cuffs and jailing him.

I have been around long enough to know almost anyone with such a petty violation would go the police dept, post his bond or get personal recognizance and be on his way. If you look at that story by Mike it just has to many details. Obviously the Napergate Man told him what happened when he picked him up.

It sounds like he was going overboard to be credible. We all know from studying his history for 25 years he is not a violent guy. I think Randy told us when they asked him to leave City Hall he just left. And Ameena told us he always avoided confrontation with the cops on the street as he felt it was useless.

He was not trying to avoid arrest. He wanted to turn himself in voluntarily. That is what makes the story outrageous.

Leaving his dog with a near stranger is always rough on a dog.

Because of this high handed NPD behavior his friend and dog were also punished. They had to stay up all night at a Dunkin Donut. Of course you can not call a guy in a jail cell. They usually take all your possessions away. I think the NPD showed how callous they are or can be.

To me it just shows they do have a hard on for him and still want him out of town. At least the police department does!

Maybe you guys should ask the Mayor look into this case. Both sides seem to like the Mayor so I believe he would be a fair man to investigate and I don't think our Mayor will tarnish his reputation for the Police Chief or the Napergate Man.

Plus knowing the Napergate Man's history of recording events he probably had his tape recorder in his car. Just like he had his video running when he performed that sting. And that 3 lens camera documenting everything. My guess is the Napergate knows they still want him and is always prepared. In the past he always nailed them with some recording device that popped up.

And in this case unlike the DF case he had an eyewitness with him. A human being, his friend, besides his dog friend.
So I don't think it is inappropriate to ask the Chief a simple question. If it did not happen all the Chief has to do is deny it. If it happened let us hear his version.
If we hear the Chief tell the story does it make it second hand since he was not the Sergeant performing the arrest of the Napergate Man? I don't think so!

Especially since I did verify he was arrested on 07/13/2006 for a suspended license by the Naperville Police. It is on the Dupage County Website. Anyone can check it out and it is free.

This checks out with Mike's version of last summer.

I feel that is the only corroboration you need to verify that the Napergate Man was in fact arrested for a suspended license by the NPD.

We do need to hear the Chief's story. I believe Mike's story. It was told to him by the Napergate Man. You can tell when someone is embellishing and when someone is being factual. He was very low key trying to be very factual and detailed. HE GAVE HIS E-MAIL ADDRESS IN ORDER TO OBTAIN MORE DETAILS AND GET SOME ACTION going to help the Napergate Man! Does not sound like a d. bone kind of guy to me? I believe him!

He was working on the case quietly.

He only came out because of the T. B. comment that must have really upset him since he knew it was far from the truth..

Anyway that is my 2 cents worth!

A call to Dupage County and someone could probably interpret the codes in his arrest and I suspect it will be for a few cent toll violation. Ridiculous if you ask me!

People just don't make up stories like this one. If Mike was an embellisher he would have said they beat the Napergate Man up or something of that nature. He just told it as it is!

And like someone said we need to find out if Wehrli would be arrested in similar fashion. I will bet you my home, Ted, he would never be arrested for a toll violation, hand cuffed and jailed for 5 hours and more so if it was because of his daughter or son.

Another thing you can do is ask for the record of the arrest thru a Freedom of Information Request from the NPD. I gave you the exact date!

It is really a simple process. That would give you all the verification you need before you approach Chief David Dial.

It is nice to get to the bottom of these issues. A Police Chief is a public servant and should not mind being asked a simple question. A question is not an accusation.
It is simply a question. Too many people are suspicious so I think it is fair for you or Moderator Jim to approach him for the NPD version of events.

Response from host:

You say court records verify he was arrested--good work. There's still nothing to indicate the police chief ordered the arrest. I don't know what standard procedure is when a routine check of a license plate turns up a suspended license, for whatever reason.

We can ask NPD about it on Monday--why someone arrested 18 months ago on a suspended license violation had to be handcuffed and hauled off to jail. Understand it may take time to get answers on a relatively minor case from a substantial period of time ago.

I have no reason to dispute the account of the arrest.

Anyway I just woke up and thought I would check the latest on this blog before having my coffee.

Yet, another shocking revelation in the saga of this Napergate Man.

What Mike posted reveals discrimination, harassment, and Selective Enforcement in what amounts to a few lousy cents.

I think the IABTF tried to open our eyes to our fascist police dept but unfortunately we could not. Maybe we were not ready!
Maybe we are in denial! Maybe we are afraid!

But think something is wrong when no simple discretion is allowed in order for a non-violent man to take his puppy home.

Personally, I think the Big Boys are trying to send a message to the Napergate Man not to speak or more of this will come. Maybe that is why he has been quiet for a while. But then that's not him...you could never quiet that guy even if you wanted to.

I think blogger Police Officer is full of hot air after I reed Mike's post. I think he knows the Chief is most probably part of this conspiracy against the Napergate Man and wants us to think it is just 5-10 lowly officers. Now we see Sergeants involved! Next we will see lieutenants, captains and then we will find out our Chief was always involved but hiding behind the Mayor and City Attorneys!

I think Chief Dial needs to be held accountable for knowing or not knowing. The pucks stops at him either way. The city council needs to show some spine before we have more lawsuits on our hands because of his apparent incompetence over and over again. This incident is rather recent and not from the Napergate Age.

I don't care if you give the Chief his full pension. I don't want him homeless as Police Officer does not want him homeless. Just retire him so can end the very last connection from our history to Napergate. As long as Chief Dial remains, Napergate will be a stain that is just to visible on our beautiful City of Naperville.

Note from host:

Again, don't think Dial's hands are dirty. Did Basim ever directly call out Dial in a Napergate ad? Wasn't it the former mayors and city attorney he said were after him?

Mike,
Thanks for all that detail. You just joined Ameena, Randy and Liquor Man with your breaking news story.

I feel the treatment of the Napergate in this incident was abhorrent. It just shows you the massive power of the police and how they abuse them in regards to those who oppose "establishment" government policy.

I know many people over the years in similar circumstances that were never arrested. They always tell them to come to the police dept and release them immediately on their own personal recognizance after booking them.

Here we have money needed for bail, handcuffing, and jailing. How ridiculous? Our officials don't know how to move forward....they appear to be reactionary and facsists just like that IABTF report called them.

THE HOUSE WAS NEVER CLEANED.

ONE CANCER IS LEFT FROM NAPERGATE...CHIEF DIAL.

UNLESS HE IS REMOVED THERE WILL ALWAYS BE NAPERGATE AND IT WILL GET WORSE..

HE JUST APPEARS TO BE THE SECRET COMMON DENOMINATOR BEHIND ALL THIS THAT IS HAPPENING TO THE NAPERGATE MAN.

I THINK HE SENT "POLICE OFFICER" TO BE A SORT OF TRIAL BALLOON TO TEST THE WINDS BEFORE HE COMES OUT TO COME CLEAN OR TO LEAVE US FOR ANOTHER STATE.

THIS TREATMENT OF THE NAPERGATE MAN OVER SOMETHING SO INSIGNIFICANT IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION.

Done yelling! I hope the Naperville Sun can help us to get to the bottom of this story.

Throwing people in jail overnight for such petty violations when they have the money on them for bail is ridiculous..

I just don't understand why it took Mike so long to tell us.

Nevertheless Mike, good job! Late is better then never...

AN INJUST ARREST AGAINST THE NAPERGATE MAN IS REVEALED BY HIS NEIGHBOR.

I became interested in Napergate since that cover feature 2 weeks ago. It caught my eye and I was curious...really curious

I have been reading all the essays on this thread every morning.
But I chose not to write because it seemed like an old history lesson on how to get a grass movements organization going. But I was really enjoying reading about this great man that seemed as one blogger stated able to move mountains whenever he set his mind. I could not believe how many city council votes he reversed... Or court rulings! All that was so impressive. And who would not be impressed with these 200 minors who waged a war against him. And later we find out he had one of the greatest Commanders in US Navy History right along his side. How could the irony of the City of Naperville trying to revoke his liquor licenses while every National Organization from coast to coast is leveling accolades for this Napergate Guy escape anyone!

I also knew from reading(no first hand knowledge) there was much abuse against this poor Napergate Man but I felt it was in the past and it was over.

But after I read Mike's post this morning I must admit I became outraged. Because we finally find out one of our Naperville Heroes is still being harassed and discriminated against despite trying to live a peaceful life and enjoy what appears his lovely white dog.

I was touched by the Huntington Estates Lady when she wrote there is a letter to each law and a spirit to each law. It seems all Napervillians are dealt with based on the spirit of the law. But it seems like the Napergate Man is obviously held to the letter of the law each and every time. With no exceptions! He is treated so harshly but is so brave. He never even complained about his latest incident to the media. Nobody would have known if the neighbor was not called to pick him up. We finally have to hear from Mike who picked him up that morning to find out about what happened the previous night. The Napergate Man never told us even though he knows how to buy ads and write. I just wonder why he did not tell us!

Just look at his liquor court cases. A sale to a minor of any kind and revocation proceedings begin. Anyone else nothing happens, slap on the wrist or worse scenario a fine..

Here we have his daughter running a toll both something that happens with all 16 year kids these days. Next we hear her Dad is in handcuffs, orange jump suit and all, being transported and spending the night in a 6 by 4 cell caged like an animal. Is this democracy? Is this how the second best town in America behaves?

I had ENOUGH! I did not want to speak. I just wanted to read. Now I feel I have to speak for the first time!

But this case of PURE DISCRIMINATION and SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT needs to finally force our Chief of Police to resign. He has been hiding in the closet and needs to come out. Not to come clean as he can't. But to come out and leave us alone by leaving the country. He would fit so much better in Communist China or the old Soviet Union. He does not fit well in a progressive, intelligent and free society like Naperville. Good bye Chief!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PS. And I did read that it is a Class 3 felony for any policeman to run a plate without cause. Here the plate was just run to see what the Napergate Man was up to or if they can get him for something.. It appears they had no probable cause to stop him and yet they still stop him without

I guess I see what first blogger Cindy was talking about.
Every time I came on this site her letter pops up first with those now infamous words of hers-------SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT.

Now after 2 weeks of this thread we get hard core evidence to back Cindy's allegations.

This is like a court case unraveling on this blog site with all this overwhelming evidence supporting the Napergate Man...just like in his real court battles.

The only difference is in the old days the City was mouthing off and now they seem like they have been in hibernation for quite some time. Like they are afraid to "come out when we call them out." Sorry to parphrase Joe but we got to give him credit once in a while. Plus he is not around anymore! Must have gone to Arizona looking for the Napergate Man so at least he can't get a rise this weekend...lol!!

Great details Mike! If I find any residents who were treated differently than the Napergate Man I will e-mail you their names.
I will be asking and searching. This seems like yet another injustice against the Napergate Man.

Good Night...exhausted must sleep but felt a need to write before crashing out as this story trully upsets me. Especially since it involves an innocent dog which went thru 5 hours of anxiety and unnecessary worry for his owner and friend. I am not worried about the Napergate Man. He was probably thinking about his next Napergate ad in that jail cell! That is probably how they got him to boil over the first time around! Quite a few of our police are just a bunch of idiots!

The bottom line here is if they had to arrest him over a civil violation of 40 cents or even $4.00, they could have done it without hand cuffing him and incarcerating him all night long. It sounds like the old Soviet Union and not the second best down in America. If they only knew about the skeletons in our closet we would be lucky to have been ranked last!

I suppose they are going to tell us the Napergate Man punched all 3 officers before they could bring him down. They had to arrest him! He was acting like Rodney King on some kind of drugs and in some kind of hysteria. Yeah sure! As this case unfolds, I am really beginning to believe they pulled one on DF. I will put nothing past our police anymore. After reading this post by Mike, I am now on DF's side 100% and without any doubt. No doubt anymore in this tired lady's mind! No doubt!

I just got home from downtown Naperville and read this story by Mike.

I have been drinking a little so I will only say a few words.

If the police ran my license plate while I was downtown for no reason I would be outraged. I am glad that is a class 3 felony.
I hope the Napergate Man nails them for running his plate illegally. It sounds like they are acting like that Drew Peterson guy in the Bolingbrook police dept. running license plates of all his enemies and foes. How low does the NPD want to sink! Pretty soon every civil rights organization will be at our city doors. I am sure Councilman Werhli would be arrested for a tollway violation his daughter committed. Let alone handcuffed and jailed. There is no doubt anymore in my mind the NPD discriminates and harasses the Napergate Man as all those agencies and courts have ruled in the recent past.

I am beginning to think this liquor organizion was right when they called our department a bunch of fascists. I say they are worse!

Need to get to sleep!

Talk to you all tomorrow. Good night!

Moderator Jim,

I have not been ignoring you. I was born in China and English is my second language. While I can write a little, my daughter in college who is an English Major helps me write my letters. Sometimes she is not available.

She is home tonight and helped me with this letter. First, I want to tell you I have not seen the Napergate Man lately. Abby is only about 15-20 kilograms and can not walk in all this snow. The last time I saw her she was recently groomed so I don't think she can tolerate this weather without her sheep wool coat.

But I wanted to write you because I became upset when I read Mike's letter. So did my daughter so she helped me immediately this time to write my letter. I have walked with the Napergate Man around our famous Kenilworth Circle a few times like most residents with or without dogs. He likes to walk many miles a day and talks to residents about current affairs such as the parking lot deck that is going to be built on top of the beautiful library in our lovely downtown. I can tell you that issue upsets him very much and he mentioned it to me every time I walked with him. I agree with him and so does my daughter.

I can tell you the Napergate Man loves downtown Naperville since he hates to go to Chicago. He told me he hates Chicago. Only goes there once or twice a year to see attorneys or because of some court issues! That is it!

If no one is walking with him he is on his cell phone.

I just want to say it is sad that our City treats the Napergate Man like this. And it apparently is not just low level policemen bothering him. I think it is much higher poliecmen than low level policemen as everyone keeps saying. I do not feel they have a right to bother him like this because he stands up for himself and others. It is obvious to me they don't like residents who stand up to them. Even good residents who are just trying to make this town better.

I am not surprised the Napergate Man did not file a complait with this Internal Affairs Unit. I never heard anyone file a complaint with these people. I just think they do nothing. In China that is how things work. Government investigates itself and always tells us they do nothing wrong. I have never heard our police dept say they did anything wrong. I am sure they are going to make a statement that we take delight in and enjoy bothering the Napergate Man...they will never make such a statement!

I just think we need a newspaper like yours or another government agency like the FBI to look at our police officers. I am upset but I am letting my daughter edit my letters so you will not see much emotion from now on. She will control me. But please look into this for us residents and citizens of Naperville.

Thank you, Jim! I promise to keep looking for the Napergate Man from my window and when I see him I will ask him to call you. No one has his phone number. It is unlisted! Only Leader Donna Rogers from our subdivision had his phone numbers and she left us a few years ago. She was our contact with him if we had problems that we thought he could help us with. He always helped. But I understand with more than 3500 people in his group it is not wise to give his number out or his phone would never stop ringing.

Thanks for letting me use your blogs again and I am sorry about the delay in responding to your request. I will always try to be helpful to you. Thank you for understanding my intial emotional outburst! I am learning to be calm when writing and I have my dear daughter to edit for me and take emotional words out!

Dor

I JUST WANT TO SAY I AM UPSET ABOUT THIS LATEST REVELATION OF THE NAPERGATE MAN BEING ARRESTED FOR 40 OR 80 CENTS. I THINK ALL OUR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND NOT JUST THE NPD ARE LOSING IT...THROW IN THE TOLLWAY AUHTORITY!!!

IT IS LIKE THEY HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO ANYMORE.

JUST KIND OF ODD THAT THE NPD DOES NOT ARREST EACH OTHER FOR SPEEDING OR DUI'S BUT THEY ARREST THE NAPERGATE MAN FOR A 40 CENT VIOLATION THAT THEY KNEW WAS NOT HIS BUT HIS DAUGHTER'S.

JUST SO PETTY, RIDICULOUS AND A WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY!

I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WASTED OUR MONEY HOUSING HIM FOR A WHOLE NIGHT OVER 40 CENTS WHICH COST US TAXPAYERS AT LEAST 40 DOLLARS OR 100 TIMES THAT MUCH! THAT IS NOT COUNTING POLICE OVERTIME SALARY AND CLERICAL TIME FOR BOOKING! IT JUST SEEMS CRAZY TO HEAR ALL THESE STORIES ABOUT THE NAPERGATE MAN.

IT SEEMS LIKE OUR CITY OFFICIALS AND POLICE HAVE A HARD ON FOR HIM! PLAIN AND SIMPLE! JUST A BIT OBVIOUS IT SEEMS..A LITTLE TOO OBVIOUS!

Note from host:

Hey, Bob, please don't type in all caps. It feels like you're shouting.

Mike,
I was shoveling snow out of my driveway all night. Just got done and read your post.

I just want to say if what you are saying is true, it is unconsionable that NPD would act that way towards the peaceful Napergate Man. It is like I said yesterday. It should be about the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law.

It is becoming ever so appaerent that when it comes to the Napergate Man it is always the letter of the law. Anyone else it is the spirit of the law!

So if you became an icon because you beat and exposed City Hall and your police deptartment you will pay a heavy price for the rest of your life. They will teach you a lesson for beating them fair and square. They will put you in the slammer at the slightest opportunity.

I will try to get some names for you Mike and e-mail them to you. I have heard by many people in the past that courtesy was extended allowing people to turn themselves in for petty violations. I guess the laws of Naperville do not protect the Napergate Man. Pretty soon they will passing laws specifically directed at him and saying as POLICE OFFICERS keeps repeating himself like a broken record. "All we do is ENFORCE THE LAWS!"
How ludicrous?

I think since that Naperville Sun did mention in the thread introduction something about the Napergate Man being targeted unfairly in the past and now we find out it is also the present, they should put in a call to Chief Dial to ask him some questions. Even if he does not answer his phone or respond, they will know the new Naperville Sun is not the old Naperville Sun and is now a WATHDOG NEWSPAPER!

Response from Ted Slowik host:

First of all, before we would approach Dial with any such questions, we would need to hear the account first-hand from Basim Esmail himself, not some second-hand hearsay account. We sent a reporter to his store and home, left messages saying we wanted to talk to him. We again say on this blog to anyone who knows or has contact with Basim, we would love to talk to you! Call me at 630-416-5255 or e-mail me at tslowik@scn1.com.

Mike, T.B. and Huntington Estates Lady,

This is yet another unusual story that pops up unexpectedly when someone makes a comment like T.B. did that selective un-enforcement is taking place.

I guess the truth always comes out quickly on these threads when misstatements are made. It is ironic how TB is trying to censure Ameena who made accurate statements not directed at TB specifially but more in general. But TB makes inaccurate statements about selective un-enforcement a term I have never heard used before.

I guess TB will be in hiding for a month now that Mike has revealed the truth about an arrest of the Napergate Man that seems so unfair and based on SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT. To handcuff and jail him for a 40 cent toll his daughter did not pay just seems outrageous! They should have let him take his dog home and turn himself in. Is that asking for preferential treatment by an "ICON." It sounds like he was more concerned about his dog and his friend than about spending a night in the NPD FOUR SEASON HOTEL!

Ya ok Mike, it sounds like you have it all figured out except running random registrations is not a Class 3 Felony (The Supreme Court has held that an individual does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in an automobile's vehicle identification number. See New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106 (1986).) Cops run plates all the time whether the cars are moving or parked. That is there job, to look for criminal activity (stolen cars, wanted people, revoked drivers ect)

If there is an arrest warrant the cops are not going to let you call the shots for their safety reasons and they are mandated by the Judge issuing the warrant to take that person into custody (not go to Starbucks first, or in this case place leave and then come back when its convenient for you to take care of the little warrant that the judge found important enough to sign.)

Im sure there is way more to your 3rd hand story that you left out and you probably complain about everything the police do. To bad someone cant come to your job, watch you all day, and complain about you for being a moron.

If there is any truth to to Mike's post about the summertime arrest and jailing, then the Naperville Sun needs to do some investigative reporting. How could Chief Dial not know of this incident? Have the officers been disciplined? Is this behavior by certain police officers being tolerated? Or even encouraged? The public has a right to know.

Has anyone other than the Napergate Man in this community ever been arrested and jailed for several outstanding tolls? I strongly feel we need to know.

Will the Naperville Sun determine what if anything is happening or will the bloggers be the ones to uncover any wrongdoing going on in our community?

Response from host,

Hey, Rod, great hearing from you, again. By the time this is published you'll see several other bloggers pointing out problems with mike's post, such as how running plates is not a felony. But you seem to like to find any reason to criticize The Sun. Go ahead, we're big boys with thick skin, we can take it. We'll continue providing this forum so you can tell us how you think we should do our jobs. Because that's what we do--we created this forum to do exactly that--find out what we should be covering and what people care about. How 'bout that, the system works!

Huntington Estates Lady –

The reason for leash laws is because when I’m walking with my small children I cannot tell the good dogs from the bad. The reason for leash laws is not everyone who violates them has a well-mannered dog, so we must all obey them—even “Icons”.

If the Napergate Man has not been ticketed in four years, good for him. I guess now he's on the positive end of selective un-enforcement.

Posted by: T.B. | February 1, 2008 10:40 AM

******************************************************************
T.B.,

Just for the record, the Napergate Man walks his white dog without a leash around the subdivision circular drive which is surrounded by a large park. When he takes his dog downtown Naperville or by the Jewel Plaza he leashes her of course. And while walking her without a leash he always has the leash with him in case it becomes necessary to use it.

I don't think the police have arrested anyone for walking a small dog without a leash that I ever heard of. I think your selective un-enforcement is a bit of a stretch and will not redeem the NPD for its past Selective Enforcement.

Actually I believe there is still Selective Enforcement ongoing against him. Let me give you an example:

He called me one morning at 6am from an NPD jail cell. He asked me for a ride home. I was called because I am a friend and he knew I was an early riser. He had been arrested at 1am one Friday summer morning.

Here are the details:

1. The Napergate Man and an old friend were walking his dog Abby in downtown Naperville last summer.

2. Upon getting in his car with his friend and dog to go home, police officers began following him for no apparent reason he knew of.

3. He knew they were after him so he made full stops and put his turn signal on as anyone who is followed by police and knows he is followed by police does in similar circumstances.

4.The police eventually stopped him knowing he was not going to run a stop sign or fail to activate a turn signal especially since he knew they were on his tail. And of course they knew he knew they were on his tail.

5.They had apparently "SELECTIVELY" run the license plate of his vehicle, which is a CLASS 3 FELONY, while he and his friend were walking his dog Abby downtown and on the Riverwalk!

6.The police know the Napergate Man very well and also his cars.

7. Apparently they discovered that one of his 2 teenage daughters had run one or two tolls booths without paying her 40 cents. As inexperienced teenage drivers one has to assume they did not change lanes in time, did not have the 40 cents, or whatever.

8. Anyway the toll authority had issued an arrest warrant for the Napergate Man for this minor violation which he was not aware of. His daughter's vehicles are obviously in his name.

9. The notice in the mail from the Tollway Authority actually came to him the next day in the mail.. He showed it to me, it was dated, and it stated we "MAY" suspend your drivers license for these 40 cent violations if corrective action is not taken. Of course he got the notice after his ARREST.

10. Anyway even though the NPD police officers including at least one SERGEANT knew this was the case, they told the Napergate Man they had to arrest him.

11. He asked them if he could take his dog and friend home and than turn himself into the police dept. a half hour later.

12.The Sergeant said NO!

13.He told the Sergeant and 2 Police Officers that he believes Chief David Dial allows discretion in these cases and he would like a little courtesy to take his dog and friend home before he voluntarily turns himself in.

14.The Sergeant suddenly flipped out, became vocal, turned the Napergate Man around with the help of his police officers, and hand cuffed him. The Napergate Man offered no resistance.

15.His dog was left with his friend and no transportation as the key to his car was taken. No cab driver would give his friend a ride because he had a dog. So his friend walked 3 to 4 miles with a dog who was "shocked" to the Dunkin Donuts by our subdivision. The dog according to his friend has to be dragged as it was extremely upset for being separated from his best friend and owner as any dog would be.

16. The Napergate Man had required 100 dollars needed to bail out in his possession.

17. The Naperville Police left him in a jail cell until early morning when he was allowed to call me to pick him up. He did not need any bail money just a ride to find his friend, dog and get home. His friend and dog spent the entire night at Dunkin Donuts at the infamous Spring Green intersection. Dunkin Donut employees were very kind, made an exception, and allowed the dog who is well known there to spend the night inside instead of outside.

18. The Napergate Man spent 5 hours in a jail cell waiting for them to release him.

19. I personally have had a lot of problems with his arrest because since his arrest nearly a year and a half ago, I have found dozens of people just in our Subdivision of Pembroke Commons and neighboring Huntington Estates that were granted discretion to turn themselves in without being hand cuffed and jailed for 5 hours for similar offenses and sometimes worse offenses.

20. The Napergate Man did not commit a serious crime. His daughter ran a toll booth without his knowledge, causing his suspension. He had no way of knowing and did not know. The police knew what they were arresting him for. He did not know why he was being arrested but the police read some fine print in some code book and told him why....the 40 cent toll his daughter blew off!

21. So far my research on this case since I picked him up that morning indicates that it is very rare that someone would be arrested for something so petty and jailed the entire night despite having the cash on him. Most people would be allowed to drive to the NPD, post bail and be released without being handcuffed and jailed. In essence being treated like a criminal for what amounts to a 40 cent tollway violation by his teenage daughter which he had no knowledge of. The Napergate Man does own a transponder. His daughters do not!

22. Since you wrote what you wrote T.B., I felt an obligation to give another side of this Selective Enforcement that Cindy mentioned in her first post. I do not believe this is an isolated incident against the Napergate Man. I have reason to believe he is treated by police this way all the time and on a continuous basis.

23.The Napergate Man does not care much about these insignificant events in his life. He has done nothing. Not even complained to Internal Affairs of NPD about this incident where he was not granted the courtesy of taking his dog home without having her go thru 5 hours of anxiety thinking she lost her best friend and owner.

24.But as a neighbor and friend I find this behavior by the NPD very objectionable. I believe he should have been granted discretion to take his dog and friend home. He was not drinking or causing any trouble. He was just walking his dog in downtown Naperville enjoying the atmosphere with a friend. The NPD in my opinion committed a Class 3 Felony by running his license plate in a SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT manner while his car was parked. Why else would his vehicle be selected out of the thousands parked downtown on a Friday. As you probably read on these threads there are so many cars downtown on a Friday we are building 3 new huge parking garages to accomodate them! Does anyone believe his license plate would have been run RANDOMLY?

24. I would like anyone who had a similar experience where he was given discretion to please e-mail me.

My e-mail is

Mikelockweis@yahoo.com

The Napergate Man would never sue for such a petty matter or even waste any emotion, energy or time on it.

But I would like to file a complaint with Internal Affairs of the NPD on his behalf because I believe he was mistreated and this occurrence in my opinion was as a result of Selective Enforcement.

I would also like to hear from anyone who ever had his license plate ran/run for no apparent reason while he/she was walking a dog or with a friend in downtown Naperville or for that matter anywhere in Naperville by Naperville Police!

As many know the Napergate Man has done a lot for our subdivisions of Pembroke Commons especially by preventing Brestal from putting a shopping center in our midst. He paid for every ad out of his own pocket despite this being a subdivision problem and not his personal problem. His home was a good half mile away from the development and would not have been affected in the least. Never asked for reimbursement from anyone! Wanted to pay for it!

So I and many others in our subdivisions who are aware of this arrest would like to help him and see if we can stop this targeted Selective Enforcement against him which continues to this date. We disagree that only lowly police officers have been involved in harassing him as blogger POLICE OFFICER would like us to believe. We know the names of at least one Sergeant and possibly 2 who are involved in harassing him.

Again if you have any evidence or knowledge you can shed regarding this incident or a similar incident you or a neighbor might have incurred, please contact me at:

mikelockweis@yahoo.com

Thanks for all who choose to cooperate in advance!

Ameena, Ameena, Ameena –

Don’t let all that praise go to your head because you got this one SO wrong.

I never said or even implied that Commander Shanower was a great man BECAUSE he died on 9/11. What I said was exactly what you dismissed—we didn’t KNOW he was a great man until AFTER 9/11.

Exactly what I said was "most of Naperville did not know about the Commander until after one fateful day in 2001." Read what I wrote, Ameena, don't read INTO what I wrote.

You cannot possibly know the respect and admiration I have for Commander Shanower and all our men and women in uniform. For you to say otherwise is incredibly insulting. I can only assume you are not taking your own advice and wrote that post from emotion and not your usual logic. I am just dumbfounded that you could or would insult me in such a way I don’t think Joe or d. bone ever has.

The Napergate Man never mentioned the Commander in his ads but he could have. That’s technically correct, but the Commander hadn’t worked for the Napergate Man in years at the time of the ads. “A Friend of Commander Dan F. Shanower” said the Commander worked at the store for 2-3 years in the early to mid 80’s which fits because he graduated from college in 1983 and joined the Navy in 1985. The thread’s heading said the Napergate Man was selectively targeted by the city in the early 90’s and I believe that’s the time period of the ads. I doubt the ads would have had more of an impact if they included the fact that a former employee is now doing great things in the Navy.

You’re also assuming that the Napergate Man was interviewed by the FBI and CIA while the Napergate Man was running his ads. It is possible that the Napergate Man was interviewed later as a character reference or former employer as part of the Commander’s background check. I don’t know when the interviews took place (and neither do you), but the Commander did not start working for Naval Intelligence until 1999.

So, Ameena, save your insults and indignation for someone else. They’re certainly misplaced here.

T.B.

Ted or Jim:

In view of the fact that Ameena’s February 1, 2008 11:41 AM post is completely false and insulting, I ask…no, I DEMAND..that you un-publish that post immediately.

(That’s sarcasm, folks, so save your angry replies.)

Kevin: There's an oft-quoted saying about a newspaper's role: "To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

I found this interesting quote in the Chicago Sun Times today by their Editors that I think applies to what bloggers are saying here about the Naperville Sun and what their role and responsibility should be..."It is the job of a newspaper -- especially this newspaper -- to stand with the powerless against the powerful." This was in their editorial column today which was about their paper endorsing Barack Obama for President on the Democratic ticket. I would be curious to see what Ted or Jim thinks about the Chicago Sun Times Editors view on the role of their newspaper...I know there has been great debate on this thread about what the Naperville Sun's role should be in this town. Also, I believe they are both owned by the same company...is that correct?

I don't think what d.bone says he did 20 years ago detracts from the enormous body of evidence that Extra Value Liquors was extraordinarily diligent in trying to catch underage people trying to buy alcohol.

No one is disputing the fact that the Naperville Man did a great job denying booze to minors and backed up his thoughts with action.

Moderator Statements.

******************************************************************

Good Afternoon Moderator/Host,

If you guys feels this way as we do, why is no one brave enough to ask Chief Dial why the Napergate Man was so viciously persecuted while the whole nation thought he did a great job.

Assuming for a split second he made a mistake and sold to a minor instead of this "sting operation" why were they revoking the license of this gentleman not once but twice.

I believe we have over a 150 licensees in town and to the best of my knowledge I have never heard of another licensee being suspended let alone revoked. At least I have not seen it reported in the Naperville Sun or Daily Herald.

I think people see weakness in action but toughness in words coming from the Naperville Sun.

If the Naperville Sun is afraid to pick up the phone and ask Chief Dial a question or two, I do not see how it can perform a watchdog function that begins to near what is expected of the residents.

I feel by continuing your very soft journalism, you are one day inviting a competitor to come to town and eventually replace you.

This is the "death warrant" that Ted should be worried about.

The "death warrant" will be signed if we continue to see lip action instead of real action.

Let us try to be brave like the Napergate Man was! He did not have one hundredth of the ink you guys have. You should be able to do a much better job than one Single Man Writing Napergate Ads with no degree in Journalism! Think about that!

Response from Host:

We've agreed The Sun was soft on the city in the old days. Most agree The Sun today isn't so establishment-friendly. Go back and read posts about Dial--no one paints him as part of the conspiracy against Basim Esmail--it was more the mayor and the city attorney at the time who were the instigators of the crusade against him and his store.

Moderator/Host

I noticed you added many new threads so quickly to the Main Page.
The next thread you add will delete this Napergate thread off the Main Page despite the fact tha the Story of the Napergate Man is still being told daily with new twists, turns and developments it seems by the hour.

Once it is off the MAIN page it dies like all other threads.

Could you shorten some of the introduction to these threads so we can have more choices on the Main Page.

Thanks for running a GREAT BLOG SITE!

I was the first blogger on this site so I feel a little attached to it.

I know the Napergate Man retired and mothballed his ads but can you give Ameena a little more time to post excerpts from his Napergate Series which really seems like nothing anyone has ever done before not only in Naperville but anywhere I have been. I have lived in 8 different states and I have never seen anything like this Napergate Man or this Napergate Series of Gates. It is really fascinating! Exhilarating! I honestly can't wait for the next blogger to post.

The Furstenau threads got boring because nobody could add anything new after a while. It was as everyone said a "he said she said case" that Mayor Pradel should have settled in his office by scolding both the Police Chief and Mr. Furstenau.

It is fun to read about the Mayor of Roselle who use to scold the Napergate Man. I am sure he contributed to the Napergate Man developing in the way he developed.

Why can't our Mayor do some scolding and put an end to the DF case so we can concentrate on learning about the Napergate Man and possibly start a Napergate Group to honor the Napergate Man by being productive and active as Kevin suggested. That was a great suggestion by Kevin.

Please give us more time on the Main page to see if we can implement Kevin's suggestions. I know it will not be easy as this Napergate Man seems to be bigger than life. But please give us a chance to try!

Cindy
PS. I feel the Friend of Dan Shanower had every right to introduce him in this Napergate thread. Was he not part of this massive war against minors? Did he not do a great job in combating minors? Did he not work in this store during false allegations that booze was flowing freely at this place? I respectfully disagree with the Moderator on this one.

But as liquor man said I can't wait to go to Ted's next dinner party. It has been delicious except for one or two bad appetizers.
The most notorious one being that T Bone Steak that tasted awful. I am sorry I meant to say that D Bone Steak that tasted AWFUL!!!

Response from Host:

The 203 thread has been off the main page for weeks and continues to be the 2nd-most actively viewed thread on this blog (behind District 204 Eola--No. 1) Napergate is No. 6, behind a couple of Furstenau posts and behind Ponds of Hobson West.

Again, it's easy to follow the threads using the categories or archives on right-hand side of this page. I've created a new Napergate category to make it more convenient, plus the threads dealing with Napergate remain in the previous categories, mostly city council.

Ameena –

I believe the reason the Napergate Man never mentioned Commander Shanower is because his ads were about ten years ago and most of Naperville did not know about the Commander until after one fateful day in 2001.

******************************************************************
T.B.

We did not know of the greatness of Commander Shanower until 911.
The Napergate Man knew of his greatness very early on. He gave him 3 promotions. He knew where he was going. The FBI and CIA interviewed the Napergate Man about where he was going.

The FBI and CIA just don't interview people unless they are going into something special like a high ranking Navy Intelligence position!

So he could have said in any of his ads while he was under so much pressure---- Hey listen folks, I had a commander running my store when I was not there. He is now running a top division at the Pentagon. Don't tell me I had incompetents running my store!
He had a chance to do that in many ads in the 80s and 90s. He did not! So I give him credit!

He never said that before or after Commander passed away.

What you are implying is the Commander Shanower became great because he died. I beleive he was great before he died. You just may have not known about it. But the Napergate Man knew about it and I suspect thousands of Napervillians.

This was NOT about a MAN who died on 911 and became GREAT. This is about a GREAT MAN who died on 911. Big differnce, T.B.!

Kevin,
I love your comments. It sounds like we have to learn something and put this history lesson in action.

However the more Ameena uncovers about this Napergate Man I think his shoes are simply to large to be filled by one person.

I just sense there is so much about this guy that is yet to surface on this thread. So much to be told about him that is being hidden from us. I just don't know why I have this funny feeling.

But having said that I love your idea of a Napergate Group. We need a large group to replace this Napergate Man. And one thing he did teach us both from those ATT and development battles there is strength in numbers.

I BELIEVE IT IS ABOUT NUMBERS. HE FOUND OUT LONG AGO CITY HALL DOES NOT LISTEN UNLESS YOU HAVE NUMBERS. HE NEVER BOTHERED TO GO THERE UNLESS HE HAD THE NUMBERS. HE JUST KNEW NOT TO WASTE TIME!
WE MUST ALSO KNOW NOT TO WASTE TIME AND DEVELOP GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS BEFORE WE GO. I LOVE YOUR CHOICE OF NAPERGATE GROUP.
I THINK THAT NAPERGATE NAME HAS SO MUCH MEANING SINCE WE ARE STILL DEALING WITH THE SAME COVER-UP ISSUES OF THE 80s and 90s!

Great Post Kevin!

And Ameena you need no complements! You are simply awesome around the clock day in and day out! Keep those posts coming! I am dying to hear more about the Napergate Man!

I am a liquor wholesale salesman. One of 2 who live in Pembroke Commons. I have to service Mr. Esmail's Rt. 59 Extra Value Liquor store once a week and give him our latest sales sheets. A cigarette rep who worked for Lorillard and lived in Pembroke Commons also serviced Mr. Esmail's store but retired 6 months ago. The cig rep was actually his next door neighbor literally and still is. So some of us in Pembroke Commons have a retail and neighbor connection to Mr. Esmail in addition to that famous Spring Green connection that is only too well known.

Sometimes when it is extremely cold or we are behind we either do our weekly meetings in my home or his home instead of his store.

The last time we met in early January in his home we not only discussed liquor but we also discussed the minor problem. He always opens that subject. It is his favorite subject. He stated "those minors never quit" and he caught 8 of them during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays during late 2007. He was very proud and he likes to brag about this issue. We also take pride in all the efforts of our strict retailers as we have a reputation to upkeep and a duty to perform to society which includes keeping it safe!

Mr. Esmail is special to my company because he still remains by far the strictest retailer of any retailer we deal with in the entire Chicagoland area.

Of course he showed me the fake IDS. But let me correct myself. None of them were fake IDs! They were all REAL IDs obtained from the Secretary of State. Friends using friends credentials. A cousin using a cousin. A brother getting a duplicate copy for his brother.

These are much more difficult to detect than those well-crafted ID cards the moderator referred to. And yes, as many bloggers noted Mr. Esmail obtains them thru interrogating the customer who usually breaks down quickly due to nervousness and suddenly has no memory of the birth date on the fraudulent ID obtained from the Secretary of States office. It does seem ironic that so much pressure is put on retailers by the government and yet these minors are now defrauding the government for fraudulent IDs and imposing unfortunately more pressure on the retailers like Mr. Esmail.

So it is my belief that if Mr. Esmail can confiscate real IDs, confiscating a well crafted ID made by what appears to be a guy named d. bone high on something(our booze would never do anything like that to a human being, I assure you), would be no challenge for Mr. Esmail.

I should be more specific and state these 8 "REAL "ID's cards were confiscated equally by 2 employees of his store that he trained.
He pays each employee 20 dollars for each ID confiscated. These 2 employees according to Mr. Esmail each received a check for $80 dollars for their heroic efforts during the holidays. This of course is a special bonus above and beyond their normal bonuses that Mr. Esmail has for his employees.

One thing you can't miss in Mr. Esmail's home is that huge trophy he won for being the Nation's Top Retailer against minors. He wipes it off before he shows it off. It is like his Heisman Trophy. I asked him once why he does not put it in his store. He told me he fears it will be stolen. Both Mr. Esmail's stores(his former and current) in Naperville have been burglarized more than once.

Unfortunately, I was not at that convention in the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas when Mr. Esmail beat out 500 finalists from 50 states for that award. I was still in college but 2 of my older bosses were. They remember it vividly!

There were over 5000 in attendance at the Mirage Hotel for this award and Mr. Esmail did not know he had won until it was suddenly announced. According to my bosses he got a 5 minute standing ovation. He was suppose to make a speech upon winning but he was so choked up he could not. All he could do is say. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, a few times and walked off the stage. He was completely stunned and overwhelmed that he won it. He worked hard over 2 years to get ready for this one time contest.

For most who may not know, this is not an annual contest. It was a one time contest done in combination by the newspaper industry and liquor industry to promote responsibility in drinking that was lacking in that era of the 80's nationwide. It was announced years in advance so contestants can develop their programs.

Again according to my bosses who go to the annual convention annually, this contest was never held again. Reasons given is it was too expensive and time consuming to sort thru a 100,000 liquor retailers in the nation to find a winner. Plus they felt they got the message across thru all the national publicity the newspapers provided who were co-sponsoring the event to enhance alcohol responsibility awareness.

So Mr. Esmail is the only retailer to have ever one this prestigious award. It has been reported on these blogs and in newspapers that it was the 1992 or 1993 Kylix Award. That is wrong. I have seen this award many times in his home and it was the 1991 Kylix Award. It was awarded in late 1992 because it took over a year to sort thru the numerous contestants and arrive at a conclusive winner. You could say this contest was a little more difficult than a national beauty pageant contest that can be held in a few weeks.

In some very ironic way according to my bosses, the "sting operation" that Mr. Esmail ran that got him in some much trouble with the City of Naperville was the most important and deciding factor in his winning of this special National Award. Not one person in the entire country, from all the original contestants from every state who numbered in the tens of thousands, thought of such a thing as a sting but Mr. Esmail did. Not one other single retailer! Only Mr. Esmail thought of that which was part of his program presented to the 12 Judge Panel reviewing the competition.

Many others in the National Competition had confiscated numerous fake IDs. This was what most did to hope to win the cherished award. But again according to my bosses when the Judges announced him as the winner, they also mentioned he had more fake IDs than any other store in the nation that competed in this competition.

Also his unique 3 way camera and his interrogation skills were contributing factors. I do not know all the other contributing factors but I suspect there were many more for him to have won this ONCE IN A LIFETIME AWARD.

Yes, he is the only one in the nation to ever win this award past or present.

I wanted to step out earlier and add my remarks on this thread that I read daily since I am Mr. Esmail's salesman and consider him a friend and neighbor. I needed a snow day to finally write my thoughts. I am thankful for this snow day and my bosses said I do not have to check on any retailers today. So I thought I would write this letter.

Finally, in case any one is wondering what happens with these confiscated IDs. Mr. Esmail changed his system. He photographs them and gives them directly to Mayor George Pradel. And yes, he told me directly he likes this current Mayor very much. After what the former 3 Mayor put him thru, it is very easy to understand why he would like Mayor Pradel who he acknowledges has always treated him fairly. Except, of course the day he voted against our Pembroke Subdivision in Spring Green. Of course, Mr. Esmail respected his vote even though he disagreed with it. But he also developed a unique admiration for Mayor Pradel because in some ironic way he refused to flip flop or reverse during that massive battle we had against the city. Mr. Esmail has no respect for flip floppers as we all know by now!

And as has been widely reported, Mr. Esmail, also known as the Napergate Man on these blogs, was the undisputed leader in joining together 12 subdivisions in this battle against City Hall. The second in command for the entire 12 subdivisions who combined to fight City Hall was also from Pembroke Commons. Her name was Donna Rogers. She was a very phenomenal woman. A very unique woman just like the Napergate Man was a very unique man. Unfortunately, Ms. Donna Rogers left us and does not live in the Chicagoland area. She was a great loss to our subdivision. A very great loss. But fortunately, we still have the Napergate Man in our subdivision and he does not plan on retiring to Arizona any time soon.

As a matter of fact, he told me he loves Naperville and he plans on retiring in Naperville. So all rumors of sightings in Arizona or plans to going to Arizona are just rumors posted on these blogs.

Sorry, I could not set the record straight earlier but I have been busy and needed a snow day. I finally got one!

Anyway thank to the Moderator and Host for allowing me to express my thoughts on their thread. This is really a unique way to express your opinion. I hate to write letters to the editors that are not published so I don't. That to me is a waste of time. So I respect this new method of communication and cherish it. It is my first time ever bloggin but I am glad to finally have joined.

While I have been reading these blogs for many months, I also want to add my voice that I enjoyed this particular Napergate thread in a very unusual way. It is very insightful and reads more like a book with chapters as many have said before me. It does not feel at all like instant messaging or blog sites I have seen before.

I congratulate both the Host and Moderator for a job very well done. I am truly impressed with what they have done in 6 short months. Their exponential growth of bloggers is a sign of their success. And I want to add my voice to Ameena by saying let us not bite the hand that feeds us. Thanks for having a dinner party for us, Ted, and I am one guest who wants to tell you the food was very delicious. Thanks for inviting me and I hope you invite me again some time soon to another one of your great dinner parties. And of course thank you to all the bloggers who make this thread so exciting, thrilling and educational both in a historical and current sense.

Kevin –

Good post.

Where do we go from here? A community watchdog group for what purpose? To oppose development? All development? To defend Furstenau? To buy the Hobson Ponds property? To fight the schools boards’ or Park District’s misguided expenditures?

We can revisit history forever and bask in the light of times past, but what good does it do us now?

T.B.

Jim Lynch –

Congrats on taking an unpopular, but correct, position regarding the original post by “A Friend of Commander Dan F. Shanower”. I, too, felt that bringing Commander Shanower into this debate was not only a stretch, but by invoking his name it made the blogger’s point of view unassailable lest you look like an unpatriotic…well, d. bone.

Huntington Estates Lady –

The reason for leash laws is because when I’m walking with my small children I cannot tell the good dogs from the bad. The reason for leash laws is not everyone who violates them has a well-mannered dog, so we must all obey them—even “Icons”.

If the Napergate Man has not been ticketed in four years, good for him. I guess now he's on the positive end of selective un-enforcement.

Ameena –

I believe the reason the Napergate Man never mentioned Commander Shanower is because his ads were about ten years ago and most of Naperville did not know about the Commander until after one fateful day in 2001.

In an effort to try to get this back on topic which is remembering the Napergate Man and all he did for this city. I would like to take it a step further...where do we go from here? What should we do with all of this knowledge of what he has taught us about standing up for yourself and looking after the "little guy"? I like action plans...is the purpose of this thread to just learn about this part of our city's history or is the actual purpose to learn and then put into action a plan that the Napergate Man could be proud of? This city needs a community watch dog group...maybe that is the action plan from this history lesson? Who is the next Napergate Man or is it more feasible to have a Napergate Group as there are strength in numbers. I am just curious what the next step is...

Bloggers,
Back to subject at hand. I would not worry about d. bones attack on the Napergate Man. When reading those posts it reminds me of someone doping and boozing it up while writing. The man, woman, alien or "it" seems high on something.

Here is why we should not worry. On May 5, 1993, former Mayor Macrane and now deceased, launched a "character assasination" attack on the Napergate Man using the INK of the Naperville Sun that he did not PAY for. This is the effect it had on the Napergate Man and his business in the Napergate Man's own words from Napergate V that Randy provided to me and which is the only known copy to exist.

The section was titled:

******************************************************************

CITY OFFICICIALS "FAILING"

In light of the above(Napergate Man is referring to a very long section that preceded this one...Ameena speaking) and when you take into consideration in 1992 we were awarded the Kylix Trophy for having the most "Responsible Drinking Sales Campaign" in the nation, it is not hard to understand why city officals failed miserably in persuading the good citizens of Naperville that EXTRA VALUE LIQUORS is unqualified to hold a liquor license. If that is not enough we would like to point out that in 1992 the Beverage Alcohol Market Report praised EXTRA VALUE LIQUORS for having the most outstanding program against minors in the country.

The residents of Naperville responded to the mayors "character assassination" attack on 5/5/93 by bringing us their business. Our May 1993 average weekly sales were up $5,399.03 over our May 1992 average weekly sales.(On file with the Illinois Dept. of Revenue). The additional business from the residents of Naperville which we are very thankful for WILL be used to continue to purchase NAPERGATE Extra Value "EXTRA EDITION" ADS in the Naperville Sun.

In addition as of July 9, 1993, 1804 NAPERVILLE RESIDENTS have signed our petition against the Mayor for not renewing our existing license and granting our 2nd license on Route 59.(The Napergate Man currently owns that Extra Value Liquors on Rt. 59...Ameena speaking) If you believe our well documented and factual version of events as opposed to the city officials innuenda and heresay, please come and sign our petition.

******************************************************************

Ameena comments now:

Putting this in a time frame, this is shortly after that infamous Naperville Kangaroo Ruling came out and before any courts had reviewed the Kangaroo Verdict. It seems right after Naperville Kangaroo Verdict against the Napergate Man, then Mayor Macrane began bashing him. So here a Mayor(not an alien d. bone) is bashing him and his business is up roughly $5500 dollars a week. In today's value it would be more like $11,000 dollars a week. I guess the former Mayor was being a "d. bone idiot of sorts" and trying to hurt the Napergate Man. All he did was increase his business which already was thriving, by an extra $1,571 dollars a day in today's money. Now we suddenly find out why he seemed to have such unlimited funds to advertise. No matter how much he paid for those Napergate ads, it came back 20 fold in retail sales business and and 4 or 5 fold in profit.

And I can assure you the Napergate Man would not have published such a number in the highly read Naperville Sun at the time if it were not true. It could easily be verified by the Illinois Dept. of Revenue and they would be at his door in a split second if it were not accurate. Plus he was known to and remains to have a reputation of impeccable credibility.

So my point is don't worry about alien d.bone. He is doing this to get a RISE. He knows what he is saying is not true. If he was telling the truth he would simply be one of us nearly 200 bloggers supporting the Napergate Man. That would not give him a RISE. He needs to take the opposing view, get attacked so he can get his RISE. I think this proves we should get back on topic and let the alien keep his attacks up. Let us see who else comes out. If the alien did not make his vicious attack we would have never heard from the Friend of Commander Dan F. Shanower. A few days later I am grateful he made that vicious and treacherously false attack as the Friend refers to it. Let us move on! D.bone is a wasted emotion!

If a former Mayor elected "wrongfully" by the people did not bother the Napergate Man, do you guys really think the Napergate Man would have been bothered by this "scum bag" as so many bloggers have called him after Maryann correctly coined that phrase in her long Chapeter on the Napergate Man. Kudos to Maryann for coining this idiot just perfectly!

Why should it concern anyone that Moderator Jim and Host Ted can't see his lie? They are entitled to their opinion. They are interpreting it as not a lie. In the opinion of nearly 200 bloggers it was a blatant and treacherous lie! Why don't we just agree to disagree and move on? They let us express our opinion. Why can't we let them express their opinion on their own thread that they own? What is the big deal? They never said we have to accept their opinion.
And obviously it appears no one but d.bone respects their opinion of reposting his post! So I say, let it be!

The Friend of Commander Dan F. Shanower says it best and I would like to end this post with a quote from him.

"But as long as you are posting everything which you are, and I am thankful for that, and commend you for that, I will let the bloggers be the final judge as to who is wrong here and who is right."

I think that is an incredible quote and we should leave it right there and move on.

Thanks,
Ameena...

All Bloggers,
I understand you are all still angry about that d. bone's post. In my opinion, d. bone actually had the opposite effect and actually enhanced the Napergate Man's reputation. The Napergate Man never mentioned Commander Dan F. Shanower once in his ads. At least the 43 out of 44 I have reviewed from that famous Napergate Series. One obviously remains missing, Napergate VI. I am pretty sure the Napergate Man "mothballed" it so I hope one person in Naperville saved it so we can have the complete and unique set. I would hate to write a book about this unique man and be missing this crucial ad. It would be like an incomplete book. If anyone finds it please contact me at:

ameeenaa@yahoo.com

I am sure the Napergate Man could of used this fact to enhance his reputation but maybe for reasons Mr. Jim Lynch mentioned(or hinted to) he chose not to. I guess a true hero enhances his own reputation and does not ride that of others to enhance his own.

But I will admit, before this latest story, at times it entered my mind that maybe he had a leak from a bad manager that no one knows about. So knowing he had a Manager of this caliber and brilliance really does shed more light to the fact that it is very unlikely "herds of minors" WITHOUT IDS were coming in when he was napping at home or doing something not related to his store such as the numerous political issues he was involved with including reversing that council vote regarding ATT/MCI from 7-0 to 0-7. How ironic it turned out MCI was a corrupt organization run by an embezzler, Bernie Ebbers, now serving a 25 year jail sentence. Yes, he was always a step ahead of everyone else and I believe had extra sensory perception as someone noted. Mr. Ebbers ended up defrauding everyone and the City of Naperville voted to have him take over our phone system by a 7-0 vote. The Napergate Man fought one of his historic battles and forced them to reverse unanimously. If he did not we would have been part of Mr. Ebbers mulit billion dollar embezzlement scheme. Thank you, Mr. Napergate Man, for guiding us in the right path and saving us untold millions of dollars. This issue was discussed in several of his ads while he was developing his grassroots support from the 7600 ATT employees working in Naperville. Just for the record no Napergatians were on that City Council that made that fateful decision the Napergate Man forced them to reverse. He first began endorsing Council Members in 1995!

He obviously left his store probably in the hands of the most qualified Napervillian at the time to run it. It was in a Commander's hands and I am sure he was very adept at taking over the "war against minors" when the Napergate Man needed to get some rest. Based on what his friend said, it seemed like he was just as good as the Napergate Man as far as confiscating so many Fake IDs. Unlike d. bone who has no evidence, this friend challenges us to call the NPD, CIA, FBI or Pentagon. I am making no such calls! I believe him with absolute certainty just as I believe Randy.

While it may not be relevant, it is hard to write at this point without acknowledging that Commander Dan F. Shanower was a great American Hero. I have seen his Memorial numerous times and shed some tears like everyone else...many tears! His memorial is so beautiful in case you have not seen it. It does him justice! But I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams that this man worked for the Napergate Man for 2-3 years and rose thru his ranks at such a lightning speed before blasting thru the ranks of the Navy like a missile! Fortunately, unlike the Napergate Man, his true story of heroism was TOLD!

I would agree with the Friend of Dan Shanower that the Napergate Man probably had something to do with molding Mr. Shanower for his future career which was indisputably successful before he fell a hero's fall on that fateful 911 day at the Pentagon.

I was going to publish a section of Napergate V that does not exist in the library but I guess I got sidetracked.

Let me close this post and start another one since this ended to be about another Great American Hero. It is nice to know that Naperville has many great heroes. I am proud to be a Napervillian more so today then yesterday and to be living in this beautiful town. If nothing else, thanks to his friend, it is nice to remember the fallen instead of forgetting about them.

Thanks much for that post, Friend of Commander Dan F. Shanower. You did his name some justice by your post. It is nice to know someone who is so multi-talented and multi-dimensional such as Commander Shanower. May his soul rest in peace!

His dog stays right next to him. She is a lovely dog that kisses everyone. She is well behaved. She has an invisible leash.

The Napergate Man is an exceptional man who obviously trained a dog to walk without a leash.

All his dog does is kiss and love everyone. She does not bite and never bit anyone. She is a lovely white dog just like Dor said.

Why should he leash her? She never bothers anyone.

The police have seen him walking her without a leash numerous times. They have had no problem with him apparently walking his dog without a leash! If there was a crime committed, the police should be arrested him for letting him walk his dog without a leash for 4 years. There was no crime committed. We don't need to arrest the police for looking the other way on such a a petty matter. He is not walking a big dog that bites or is out of control. That is what the leash law was for. There is the letter of the law and the spirit to each law! There has to be reason in enforcing laws. Should the NPD arrest you each time you drive 26 miles in a 25 mile speed limit zone? You are breaking the law, are you not! You are insance d.bone. Very insane!

What is your problem d. bone?

You sound like you are jealous of the Napergate Man!

You sound like you need recognition.

Recognition does not come to those who seek it.

It goes to those who don't seek it like the Napergate Man and Commander Dan Shanower.

I am shocked that the Napergate Man had such high quality people working for him. Yes, apparently he knew how to mold people at his liquor store, too.

We already knew he knew how to mold people in subdivisons.

Check out that Activist Donna Rogers lady that the Napergate Man molded.

She is another Naperville Hero!! Yes, molded by the Napergate Man! The Man is awesome! His reputation can not be tarnished by an idiot like d. bone.

And you did say that place is "an easy place to buy liquor" without mentioning IDs. in your first post. Only after getting a barage of bloggers who "called" you out did you finally fabricated that pretty good ID story. And if you showed it, I doubt you would have succeeded. Hundreds of others have been documented to have failed. He had a unique interrogation method.
You would have had to have memorized someone else's social security # and be able to recite it under pressure. Plus his birthday and his address! You are lying d. bone!

You are a despicable sick and self centered person. You admitted you are self centered. Thanks for pointing out that postm, Farmsteadman!

wow, you people all seem to have too much time on your hands, so much conjecture, patting each other on the back, congratulating this or that . did anyone actually live in this town when this all happened ? i did. i was just a youth of about 17-18 years old. i remember this man and his liquor store. my recollection is this was a place where it was very easy to walk in underage and buy liquor, i did it, friends of mine did it. there was nothing remarkable about this man or his store in fact, i remember him as very strange and maybe a bit too friendly to the young ladies. the police and others should have gone after him. they should have gone after me too ! everyone here seems to forgive the crimes, and focus on the the means. when does the end justify the means ? i guess this town has been overrun by liberals moving here from new york, california, etc... i am guessing most of you would do away with guantanamo, waterboarding ? you are all probably firmly behind the smoking ban, universal health care, higher taxes, barak osama obama, even HILLARY CLINTON ! i understand that you are a very vocal minority, but there is a very strong silent majority that is ready to be heard. we just have real lives to lead.

Posted by: d.bone | January 28, 2008 09:04 AM

*****************************************************************

With all due respect Moderator, I believe the confusion is that we are all not talking about his second post which we have no problem with. We are talking about his FIRST POST which you apparently missed somehow. I reposted it for you above!

This specific post mentions nothing about a well crafted ID that you and Host Ted continue to refer to. I read it umpteen times and I think your bloggers have read it multiple times. This is the post that is outraging everyone..

This is the sentence in particular...

"my recollection is this was a place where it was very easy to walk in underage and buy liquor, i did it, friends of mine did it."

This post libels both the Napergate Man and the memory of Dan F. Shanower. At this point with all due respect, I believe egos have become involved.

When egos got invovled we saw how the Dupage Authorities convicted the wrong people in the Nicarico Case?

When egos got involved we saw how the City of Naperville thought they could beat the Napergate Man in court knowing he had such hard evidence against them?

I believe your egos are now involved over a petty matter of deleting a false post that we all now know is blatantly false.

You guys are the ones making a big deal. You yourselves made the right decision in deleting it. Yes, you deleted it! You would never have deleted it in the first place if you did not see the problem in it. You correctly saw the problem! Why reverse your intitial great decison! It makes no sense!

And then you allow a "scum bag" to convince you to repost it. You allowed a "scum bag" to pressure you. I am not surprised the City could pressure you guys if you allow a "scum bag" to pressure you guys.

You are in a completely indefensible position.

You are tarnishing the names of two American Heros!

You can say all you want but the bloggers have seen both sides and they can figure out the truth..

Say what you will!

But as long as you are posting everything which you are and I am thankful for that, and commend you for that, I will let the bloggers be the final judge as to who is wrong here and who is right.

Just don't complain if another barage of letters comes.

People have a right to complain. But they have no right to attack you personally as Ameena perfectly made clear.

I am not attacking you. But I am attacking that filthy post and again and wish you will delete it.

It is very obvious moderator that your mistake has been you have been looking at the 2nd post and not that 1st post. It is simply a mistake on your part. Even the Napergate Man made a few mistakes. What is the big deal! You are making a mountain out of a moehill!

I think you have made an innocent mistake and I urge you to correct it.

Friend of the late Cmdr. Dan Shanower: Request denied. We will not delete d bone's post. If you remember correctly his recollection was that on occasion he and some of his friends were able to buy liquor as minors at the Napergate Man's store. Here's the reality: No one is disputing the fact that the Naperville Man did a great job denying booze to minors and backed up his thoughts with action. Having said that, is it too much to believe that in a couple of instances someone may have slipped through the cracks because they had a well-crafted fake ID. After all, isn't that what underage kids do. Furthermore, to link the late Cmdr. Shanower into this almost beggars belief and is crass to say the least. It obviously defies logic and is such a quantum leap I don't even know how you could have written it. So, the post stays - and I hope you don't need another 48 hours to calm down before blogging again.

i think the axe will have to fall very soon. if the moderators will allow, i will unleash a torrent that cause great pain and consternation. first may i ask, have i now besmirched the name of lt. dan shanower ? have i accused anyone of anything ? I STATED, "my recollection is this was a place where it was very easy to walk in underage and buy liquor, i did it, friends of mine did it too." I may have found it easy, other people may have NOT found it easy. i never said there was a "free for all." i did not include in my first post, that i had a fake I.D. of course i had a fake I.D. how else could i buy ? i admitted the cops should have gone after me. i was doing something illegal. now, i know who dan shanower is or was, and how dare you try and use his good name to hurl insults at me. you are not fighting for freedom, you are asking for selective censorship. you want totalitarianism. i admire the dedication and fervor some of you have for the napergate man, but what i find so pathetic about these blogs is the illogical thinking and childish piling on. and by the way, if as DOR states mr. napergate is walking his dog without a leash, he better watch out. i believe we do have a leash law.

Just a short comment about City Manager's comment that it only cost $5,000 to $10,000 in outside legal expenses to defend this massive Napergate Case.

He forgot to add two 00's behind those numbers..

Try $500,000-$1,000,000 dollars and I think we have the number we have been searching for petaining to the outside high powered attorneys who could not do a thing against the skillful Napergate Man. The Napergate Man has already told us the inside number was $500,000. He showed us a graph in your own newspaper. I recall it! So the case cost between $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 as the truth slowly has a way of leaking out.

__________________________________________________________________

Great post by Commander Shanower's Friend.

Now we have 2 Great American Heros coming out of one tiny liquor store. As Marybeth said. "Wow!"

This story just won't quit! Please keep it on the Main Page, Mr. Moderator until we get the full story of this phenomenal Napergate Man. What a Man!

Wow! What a post by the Friend of Commander Dan F. Shanower.

So revealing!

Time to have another front cover Sunday Print Edition with this headline:

"Naperville Residents Outraged a Decade Later by the Conspiracy against the Napergate Man."

You no longer needed investigative reporters. Save your money and lay them off! If you have any!

You got a new breed of Citizen Journalists that are better than anything you can possibly come up with from any College of Journalism. This should really help your budget. Spend it to promote your paper and penetrate deeper into Naperville like it was in those old days when the Napergate Man got a 1000 coupons from his ads each week. Yes, I saw those bags filled with coupons scotch taped to the counter right by that infamous 3-way camera of his! And he not only carded everyone but he took pictures and interrogated them. Chalk me up as another eyewitness.

200 Citizen Journalist on this site alone uncovering the cover-up day by day. And what is the Naperville Sun waiting for to reveal this story to its Print Readers! Show some courage and let those City Officials have it. It is not you who are saying all this...it is your 200 bloggers on this site. Are they all liars?

If the Napergate Man had a site like this, only God knows what else he would have uncovered on our City Officials!

Response from host:

That's why you gotta love America. Where else can you express your opinions so freely, even criticize those who provide the forum? Sometimes I feel like I'm having a dinner party and all the guests are telling me, "The food sucks!"

Moderator Jim/Host Ted,

I took Ameena's advice and decided to wait a few more days before posting about d.bones remark so I can cool off but unfortunately I have not been able to cool off.

I did not know Mr. Esmail, the Napergate Man, very well but I met him a few times and he seemed like a very nice young man and extremely polite.

But I knew someone who worked for him in the early 80s very well. He was a very good friend of mine. His name is Commander Dan Frederic Shanower, 40, Naperville, Illinois. He was a high ranking Navy Intelligence Commander at the Pentagon. I am sure every police officer in town, the Police Chief and all the former and current Mayors know who this other great American Hero is. Yes, he died on 911 at the Pentagon and if you don't know him go see his memorial behind City Hall.

Now what is the connection between Basim Esmail and Commander Daniel F. Shanower. He worked for Basim Esmail for 2-3 years in those early 80's to mid 80's. Mr. Esmail was impressed with him. He quickly got promoted from stock boy, to clerk, to assistant manager to finally be Mr. Esmail's first manager at his store.

Yes, Mr. Shanower was very talented and Mr. Esmail trained him very well and instilled some unique discipline in this young man who rose to the very highest ranks in intelligence in the USA Navy. He was investigated by the CIA and FBI while working at Extra Value Liquors to make sure he had an impeccable clean record. No other than Basim Esmail gave him his great reference to help him move on to the great ranks he achieved at our Pentagon.

D. bones untruthful comment is an insult to a great America Hero who worked at that store during these 80s. He was very strict and personally confiscated dozens and dozens of fake IDs for Mr. Esmail. He would have never passed the rigorous tests of both the CIA and FBI if he was a low life selling alcohol to minors as sicko d. bone indicates. If you don't believe me call Mr. Esmail. He was interviewed by both the CIA and FBI regarding Commander Shanower. He told them the truth about how great Mr. Shanower was and his expense for telling the truth, was to lose his Great Manager that allowed him to sleep in for the first time after working those 15 hour days.

Need I really say anymore! Need I really elaborate! All Managers of Liquor Stores need to be registered with the Naperville Police Dept. The NPD can verify that Commander Dan Shanower worked for Mr. Esmail prior to proceeding to the United States Navy and achieving his very high ranks before his unfortunate death.

I want to join all the chorus of people who have asked for that d. bone insult to Mr. Shanower's Memory to be removed. I urge you to remove it. I beg you to remove it. Dan Shanower is not alive to defend himself. So as his friend I feel it is necessary to defend Commander Shanower's memory for what he did for his country.

Neither Commander Shanower or Mr. Esmail would ever sell liquor to minors let alone have minors flocking in there. Never! Commander Shanower knew in order to get his position in the Pentagon he needed to be perfect. And he was near perfect!

We all know undisputedly that Commander Shanower was a Great American Hero that died for us residents in Naperville and the entire USA.

In lieu of my comment, and in addition to all the other comments I urge you, Mr. Host and Mr. Moderator, to reconsider your decision regarding that libelous post that not only insulted Mr. Esmail but his Manager at the time who just happens to be Commander Dan F. Shanower who passed away at the ripe young age of 40 serving his city, his state and his country!

If you have not seen his beautiful memorial behind City Hall check this link:

http://www.treemendous.com/projects_september11th.html

So not only is Randy who has an MBA, a shady character, but I assume Commander Dan F. Shanower is also a shady character. How laughable and ridiculous? It should be obvious that Mr. Esmail surrounded himself with top notch members of our society. He probably had very much to do with Commander Shanower achieving the heights he did. He probably had much to do with Commander Shanower becoming the Great American Hero he became. He was probably molded by Mr. Esmail's strict discipline at that store. He had a great mentor, in Mr. Esmail, before launching his career. That liquor store taught him much including how to manage people. How to be on your toes at any time since "enemy minors" could show up at any moment. Yes, he looked at the minors as the "enemy" and took all their fake ID's away. I did not see Mr. Esmail in action but I saw Commander Shanower in action and he confiscated many fake ID's in my presence while I visited him at the store. And he told me about dozens more I did not witness. I do not doubt a word Commander Shanower told me. He was an impeccably honest individual!

This is also just further evidence that there was a conspiracy against Mr. Esmail and his store by the Naperville Police Dept. and the former Mayors.

I felt a need to post anonymous due to the sensitivity of this matter especially to Commander Shanower's family. But all this information I am providing is documented at the Naperville Police Dept. the CIA, the FBI, and of course the Pentagon who did an extensive background search on Commander Shanower. Feel free to verify my story. You have many different government agencies you may call. My information is FIRST HAND INFORMATION!!

And thanks for considering my request to depost an insult to Commander Shanower who just happens to be running this store with all the minors flocking in for booze in some kind of "free for all" and while these "shady characters" were visiting Mr. Esmail and Commander Shanower. Simply not believable! Sorry Host/Moderator but you were very wrong this time! You made the right decision to depost it based on very respectable Citizen Journalist Ameena. And then you reverse yourselves because trashy d. bone says he is sticking to his treacherously false story. Makes no sense to me! Your bloggers showed a lot of class by apologizing to you. You need to show reciprocal class by undoing your error. Their apology was not necessary! They had a right to be outraged! The overwhelming evidence that has now surfaced from so many sources proves that comment was a falsehood beyond any reasonable doubt. As all the bloggers said in his next post after the libelous post, he admits he LIED! What more proof do you want!

Any Judge or Jury would have convicted d.bone based on this "beyond any doubt proof" all of us numerous bloggers have provided. My story is just another tiny piece of the overwhelming proof that post was a FALSEHOOD! Pure and simple!

Yes, I waited 48 hours to post in order to cool down. That is how outrageous that comment was. PLEASE DELETE IT! For the sake of the Memory of Commander Dan F. Shanower who can not defend himself anymore. Freedom is not Free! Lies should also not be Free! It is so unfair! Thank you!

Response from host:

Not even d.bone is saying he used his fake ID to deceive Dan Shanower, and again, I don't think what d.bone says he did 20 years ago detracts from the enormous body of evidence that Extra Value Liquors was extraordinarily diligent in trying to catch underage people trying to be alcohol. I didn't know Dan Shanower, but I think heroes like him would be proud that in this country people who possess minority opinions still have a right to express them.

Hey Lucas -

Good thought, bad example. Just FYI, but Administrative Court Judge Roy L. Pearson Jr lost that dry cleaning lawsuit and also lost his job.

T.B.

Host,
I had been hearing about this thread on an Aol chat room. I stayed up all night reading this entire blog.

I have never seen a story quite like this one. Of course I saw and read the Napergate ads but I had no clue who was behind them. Finally we have an unmasking of this mysterious but wonderful man!

I don't recall this gentlman ever publishing his name in a single ad. On these blogs I finally learned the name behind Napergate 10 years later.

But really this is a remarkable story of a man that was never explained in Napergate ads. We learned of his platforms in the ads but we never knew this guy has so much talent. I knew of some of his victories but I never new they were so many. I guess I must have missed a few Napergate ads and not put it altogether like this thread puts it togther. I must admit I did what another blogger did. I copied and pasted it to my e-mail and saved it.

I would love to read this book again. Some of the posts are so long they are like chapters in a book. But every writer really had his heart into this man and just could not stop writing as I could not stop reading.

Your first press article ever on Napergate led me to this site. I am a long term subscriber to the Naperville Sun. I have never seen a better cover to a front page in your paper ever.

Just putting that Napergate across your front page immediately brought back so many memories. I was utterly shocked as so many bloggers said in the old days the Naperville Sun did not like to cover him.

Finally, I find out why. Pressure from City Hall!

On that note I am going to bed after reading this Napergate Book as it has been very inspiring.

I guess if I would summarize what I READ it would be that if you set your mind to do something and really want to do it you can do it.

He must have believed in that Nike slogan about, "Just do it" and he just did it. Really truly amazing!

Since he never told us about himself in his ads but only about the issues he was fighting for to make life better in Naperville,
I hope you find a way to tell us something about this man's life since there is so much we can learn from his strengths and determination.

He is just one of those rare and unique individuals that pops up once in a lifetime. I have to say because of this man's fight with Brestal we have such a beautiful city that came in second in the nation. I agree witht that blogger who said if the Napergate Man did not stop Brestal in his tracks we would have a concrete city like Detroit. I am glad he stopped Brestal who seems obsessed with his wallet and not the beautifying of Naperville!

The Napergate Man is sort of an idol of sorts. I am not sure if I should call him a Napervillian or Napergation but either way I am glad he is a resident of Naperville and part of our great history!

,Do you really believe NO underaged people EVER purchased alcohol from the Napergate Man? I find that hard to believe, but who knows for sure?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I agree with Police Officer that your question, Mr. SNT is a very clever way to accuse gently. And then you tone down your mild accusation just a touch by saying who really knows!

I think one thing we know for sure is that the Napergate Man would never ever sell to a minor intentionally.

It appears he did not even unintentially!

You really need to direct questions at the other 104 liquor licenesees and Chief Dial who is suppose to be the law and order man in town.

I believe these licensees had 500 sales each to minors as the Police Officer is stating. Mulitply that and we have 52,000 sales to minors in a year(many repeats I am assuming) of course while the NPD is busy trying to oust the Napergate Man out of town as he was a thorn in their butt as I think the Sun stated somewhere.

It is shameful that we have to be investigated by a National Liquor Organization(maybe state I don't know) instead of our City Council.

How could that organization have figured this mess out so quickly before it even hit the court system? Why can't our council have figured out the mess and saved us from this national embarrassment of being called a fascist govenrment under Mayor Macrance which now appears so obvious and clear.

I am just glad I was not a target in that kind of conspiracy.

Of course, I agree with those who are calling the Napergate Man a hero and icon. He was fighting all the corruption horizontally, vertically and which ever which way.

I always thought his power came from his 3500 Napergatian supporters. Now we find out he was fighting by himself for so long before people started joining his movement.

This is really an unbelievable story. No one can beat City Hall according to all the folklore. But this guy had some unbelievable determination to beat them not once but time after time. Whichever way they hit him, he hit back 10 times as hard!
If he would have continued his Napergate Series we would have 9 good council members instead of just 4 or 5. I just have to believe they finally wore him out after 20 long years of fighting. Eveyone gets worn out after that long. I get worn out after a week in court.

Yes, those ads must have finally shaken the establishment off its foundation. While the old Naperville Sun has been criticised justifiably for not printing those 2 Napergate ads not one person gave them credit for printing 42 of his 44 hard hitting Napergate ads.

Think of really how bold that was considering the pressure the Sun was under from the establishment. Common Ted, of course there was massive pressure coming from the "Big Boys." No "little girl" sitting in the advertising dept. laying out a Napergate ad would have any influence in these huge developments. She would do what she was told. When would a boss listen to a "gripe" by a lowly employee trying to put an ad together that could make his newspaper at least enough money to pay for the weekly wage of that "griping" employee.

Did you all forgert where Ameena found that IABTF report that accused the city of discrimination and fascism? Yes you guessed it in one of those non-Napergatge ads of the Napergate Man. So the old Sun could not be that bad. We should be questioning the new Sun and not the old Sun. I think everyone has it all wrong! Until we see the new Sun call Chief Dial and City Manager with some hard hitting questions, I want a return to that bold old Sun that printed 42 of those powerful Napergate ads.

Tell me how many local papers would dare print such a letter as the IABTF one. That shows the old Naperville Sun had some conviction and was not all pro-establishment. Yes, they were paid for in ads and they should not have been paid for as it is devasting news that concerned residents but the bottom line is we learned the news because the Napergate Man felt truth is more important than materialistic items. He could have bought a computer for the price of each one of those ads. A big screen TV! He could have bought so many cars for all that money he spent on those 100 political ads including the 44 Napergate Series.

Instead he decides it is more important to spend his money to tell us the truth. While I think the Naperville Sun should not have charged him for those ads since it was investigative reporting that they should have done by a Sun reporter, I still want to commend them for the courage of printing those Napergate Series of Ads. It took a lot of courage to deal with that "Establishment" power!

I am sure they were worried. They did not know with certainty that they were so truthful until the Appellant Courts finally ruled. It would be hard to tell early on that the IABTF report could be so truthful since it was a billion dollar organization supporting one of its own. But in hindsight we should have known they were being truthful. They were putting their money behind their mouths.

Anyone knows their remarks were so ferocious that if they had lied the City of Naperville would have taken them to the cleaners.
If a judge can take a dry cleaner to court for a pair of pants that were lost, a City should be able to take a mammoth liquor organization loaded with green to the cleaners, if that fascism remark was libelous. Apparently it was not! I am glad former Mayor Macrane took his facism rule with him to the grave.

It is obvious the Napergate Man gave the IABTF the evidence he gave to the High Courts in advance of giving it to the High Courts. Once they saw that sting on video and copies of the marked money, I am sure they decided to fry the city. And they did with total confidence! The rest is history as the saying goes!

Doesn't Mayor George Pradel know anything about this Napergate Fisaco..

He has to know something!

I bet he would be the only one that would tell the truth and nothing but the truth. That man is the only politician I have ever met that does not lie.

I am not surprised that the Napergate Man would like Mayor Pradel since he has the same credibility as the Napergate Man. Obvioulsy they have something in common.

I don't know about our Chief of Police! The silence coming from him and his dept. smells like they would rather see the cover-up of Napergate stay in the mothballs where the Napergate Man sent it.

He had a right to mothball it. He was vinidcated!

Does the Chief of Police have a right to mothball it after that allegation by the IABTF Committee and its backing by these Appellant Courts in the State and Federal Systems?

I think Ms. Kuci needs to have a chat with him and I hope we can get a better answer than that infamous one from Mr. Marshall about 5000 dollars to handle the Napergate Case over half a decade. That was as laughable as the d. bone comment except it was from a top ranking official who we pay tons of money to for honest answers and instead we get baloney. Mayor Pradel needs to use his majority vote to fire Marshall for that comment that we all know was a BIG LIE! I will say it again. A BIG LIE! HUGE LIE! Not believable! Impossible!

I suddenly feel attorneys are affordable and should retain a whole bunch of them since they work for bus boy wages. Never knew legal advice could be so cheap!

Jim Lynch, Moderator,

This Napergate thread has become more interesting than I would have expected. I think we were just not as familiar during the first Napergate thread about him. I thought I would check to see if the Napergate Man(Basim Esmail) had a phone number. I guess from what I could gather is he does, but it is unlisted! I was not surprised that it was unlisted but I thought I would take a stab at it.

It seems like the only way to track him down is for someone in those 2 subdivisions to find him while he is walking this lovely white dog of his! Well, at least we finally know the name of his dog Abby. It only took a few days to find out. I thought it was ironic how it took nearly 2 months of talkin' about him before someone came up with his real name. Kind unusual that a man would be so well known as the Napergate Man as opposed to his real name. I have been wondering why that became so!

Anyway, I think someone else said this before I did! Until we can find the Napergate Man walking his white dog, I think it would be a good idea to have a chat with Chief Dial.

It really seems the Napergate Man said everything in his over 100 full page ads. He must have said a ton more on his Napergate Site in those days. He told us his side of the story! Ameena I believe will eventually tell us the rest of his story with time. I believe that girl really has her work cut out for her trying to research a 1000 Naperville Suns from the pre-Internet Age especially for those ads that were not in Roman Numerals.

Anyway, I am glad people calmed down. It is really much nicer when we are thinking instead of yelling at each other. I have to admit I had some tears in my eyes when I read Dor's story. I think the Napergate Story touched her more than the rest of us because of some bad experiences she may have had in China. It is like it triggered something in her.

Chinese people are so nice and mellow so for one of them to explode like Dor did is highly unusal. But this Napergate Case has now taken on an emotional aspect besides all the other apects.

I hope you guys continue covering it from all sides. The Chief really needs to explain this huge, very huge, monstrous discrepany between confiscated IDs from diffferent retailers. It defies logic that the Napergate Man alone can have 6 times what the 100 other retailer have.

The evidence seems to be documented in court records, Napergate ads, other Sun ads, eyewitnesses in the store and above all right in our own Napervile Police Dept.

This is really the time for the Naperville Sun to shine and do an investigative report on this ID issue. The Police Chief needs to explain. We hear from Police Officer that he should not be responsible for his low level cops. I question that comment! Is he also not be RESPONSIBLE for the incompetence of probably 100 liquor establishments that can't tell a fake ID from a real one or maybe can but would rather make the money? This all occurred under his watch! I find so ironic that Police Officer says the Napergate Man can be charged for the actions of his employees while sleeping in one morning, but yet the CHIEF can not be charged for anything while sitting behind his desk in Police Headquarters while a 100 liquor retailers are having a field day selling to minors with fake IDs and pretending in their mind they are REAL! Now way would they only flock to Napergate Man's store. As all are saying this defies logic and common sense. I think Chief Dial needs to be held accountable both for the 5-10 rouge officers plus this ridiculous fake ID controversy that is just erupted in the last few days. I just wonder what else we don't know!

I see something that smells terrible. Like others I feel Napergate is currently occurring and not in the past, because we have not yet got the answers...we have yet to open the barrel let alone get to the bottom of it.

I believe the answers are more likely to be found in the files of our Naperville Police Dept. than with the Napergate Man and his white dog. Napergate Ma has no more records. He told the us in the front page of the Sunday Edition he was going to mothball it all. Knowing this guy's record of credibility he burned it after he mothballed it. No doubt in my mind the puck and answers are with Chief Dial! I think we should leave the Napergate Man and his white dog alone enjoying the peace and quiet after his 20 year ordeal. I would not want to resurface after having been thru all that assuming I could have made it as Dor hinted, it may not be possible for an ordinary human being to tolerate all he had been thru. I can not imagine what his family went thru reading all these false allegations about him in the 80s and 90s.

Make the call, Moderator Jim to Chief Dail while Dor finds the Napergate Man and sees if he wants to resurface! Highly unlikely though! I also doubt he will be walking his white dog in this sub zero cold weather any time soon! It is simply way too cold! He is more likely to be cuddling with his best friend in his warm home!

Moderator Jim,
It is amazing how this d.bone sidetracked us from our discussion that we were having about Napergate V and VI not being published in the old Naperville Sun.

It seems host Ted knew the answer but was being just a little vague.

Could you possibly give us a point blank answer since you may have a little more knowldge than Host Ted as it appears you are the top Man at the Sun based on the Print Editions I began purchasing recently.

If you can shed a little more light than Ted did on this subject, I would appreciate it very much. D. bone was nothing but a distraction. I am glad you did not make his last posting. It appeared to have sickened you. I can not imagine what it would have done to the bloggers on this site if it sickened you. You made a great move not posting and keeping us focused. There is nothing I want to hear from a guy who admits he is self centered and claims he is a better Journalistic Reporter than Ameena...the guy really makes me laugh....bloggers should have been laughing but I guess they did not know the full story behind him when he made that horrific allegation which I will not repeat.

Thanks for keeping this thread open and not letting the justified emotions of bloggers close it down. Someone needed to tell them to calm down. You and Ameena told them to quiet down and they did immediately. It just shows they had temporarily lost control of their emotions becasue they thought this d.bone was some kind of real person. I am sorry, but I do not consider someone who plays with people's emotions like that a human being. He reminded me of the guy who yells fire in the movies to cause panic or get a rise as Host Ted calls it.

He did just that and caused panic. If it was not for Ameena I believe the attacks on you and Ted would have continued all night. He just lit everyone up, unfortunately!

Moderator/Host

I have a question!

If I understand correctly Mr. Napergate mothballed both his print ads and even this Napergate.com site that contained all his ads!

Why would somebody do that? Don't most people like to save what they write?

Was this whole thing upsetting him so much he just wanted to be over with it completely? Now we hear he sold his store that was tied to Napergate as it was to intertwingled or intertwined. Forgot who said that or the exact word.

I understand wanting to put such a fiacso behind you. But I would have at least not mothballed all those Napergate ads. They seem to be a classic series of sorts. I think when people are making history sometimes they don't realize it. It seems you can not make history...it just happens when it feel like happening.

Do you think he does not want to resurface so he could keep the peace with the current Mayor that he could not get from the prior 3 Mayors? I mean like why risk a good relationship with a good Mayor that took 20 years to finally come. Obviously Mayor Pradel is special. We all knew that but to hear that even the Napergate Man likes him, make him in my mind even more special. I am so glad we finally got a Mayor that straightened the police dept. out.

I guess being a former police man he knew where to look for all the problems and fixed them.

And I am very confused by Chief Dial's utter quietness. He is always quiet. It seems like he does not care to defend himself Just wants to get his 25 years in, get his 75% pension and retire.

I guess if he was fired he would get no pension and like Police Officer said he would have to join that homeless man downtown. I undertood form following the Drew Peterson case, you don't get a pension if you are fired while employed. So he quit before they could fire him so he could get his pension.

I am not for firing him. But he needs to come clean like they did in South Africa so we can trust him again. If comes clean, tell us what happened, asks for forgivenss, I am willing to forgive him. Maybe he should just resign and the council can agree to give him his pension. I just see him to weak after losing so much control in the Napergate Days. He could have called the FBI on Mayor Macrane and they would have nailed him before he could fire Chief Dial. But it seems like the Chief is not a risk taker. I wonder if he would risk his life to save a hostage baby. It just does not seem like he would. He appears to be riding his last few years just for his pension.

I really believe he was not corrupt. He was just not strong enough to stand up to all those corrupt people around him. Not everyone is a Napergate Man willing to stand up against anything and everybody in his way. I guess we can see the Napergate Man was principled at the expense of his licenses and livelihood. Chief Dial is apparently not principled if it involves losing his job or pension. That differentiates a great man from an ordinary man!

So many questions and yet no answers....

You would protect Ted. Now be a man and protect the Napergate Man.

I am totally infuriated with you Mr. Moderater for your latest statement.

First by the city and now by the Sun. What is going on?

******************************************************************Mr Moderator,
I also wanted to cool down before writing again. I looked at my post and except for the above 3 sentences I don't think I was that out of line. I knew I was emotional and even said I was sorry while writing. So I apologized even before you asked me!

Most of what I said except for the above 3 sentences was really strong opinion that should be tolerated. My tone was not right and I already said I was sorry and do not mind apologizing again.

I think if you go ahead and delete the above 3 sentences from my post, it will be better both for me, you and Ted. My letter will sound much better. I feel I made some great point while emphasizing I knew I was upset and even saying SORRY while I was writing. I hope you noticed that.

If I was just trying to stir touble I would not have said sorry while writing.

But I still feel that post by d. bone was really bad. Like someone who wrote "it is like accusing the Napergate Man with second degree murder." Anyone who has a liquor store and allows minors to flock in and buy booze is committing second degree murder. It is just a matter of time and date.

I do see your point. I noticed you rejected a d. bone post today. So you are obviously seeing what we all saw. He is a trouble maker. I am honestly still upset about that post.

But I am not going to yell or scream anymore.

But please Moderator, in lieu of all this new evidence especially from Police Officer could you please remove that post.

I would like to reiterate I have been in that store during all the times of the 80s and 90s. I saw a classy operation. An establshment that was very anti-minor.

It is ludicrous to think a successful highly educated man with an MBA would sell a 6-pack to a minor for a 50 cent profit like Randy said. He knew they were after him from day 1. That would be like cutting his throat. Why would he risk everying for .50 cents. We obviously learned from everyone that this man cared about his credibility and reputation.

I noticed as Ted did, that he used the word perceived or real pressure from city officials when you did not publish his ads. I suspect he felt the Sun employee who told him that may have not been 100% credible. He was taking no chances with his credibility if he was not 100% sure.

Can you guys really imagine this guy just opening his doors to minors and letting them flock in like herds to get what they want.

While, you say we should have not believed it, it affected us.
Sometimes people come on these blogs like Maryann did and read the whole thing. More people will come on like Maryann. Do we want them to see that and poison their minds?

Anyway, I have no pride or ego. I will say I am sorry again.

But I will also ask you politely one more time to consider deleting that since more information is now available such as:

1. Police Officer's very credible report. I don't have all his knowledge but I heard many bits and pieces that jive perfectly with his story.

2. The fact that Farmstead posted a blog from d. bone indicated he may not be all there.

3. And the fact you today noticed he was publishing unique craziness that is not fit for print. Plus he provided a phony e-mail address.

4. And finally Ted admitted this guy gets a RISE out of stirring trouble and Ted is so right and he succeeded not with one but dozens.

5. My wife was about ready to get on and blast away but she saw Ameena's post and she stopped! We both feel Ameena knows what she is talking about. She reminds us of the Napergate Man so we are not going against her wishes. We really do respect her and her level headedness.

6. My wife and I also fell in love with this specfic thread.

We knew bits and pieces about this Napergate but not even a tenth of the story. We are surprised to be learning it 10 years later.
We are disappointed that such a unique story happening right in our town was hidden from us. We all love heroes! But I would rather hear about a real one in Naperville than a phoney one in Hollywood!

Again please give furher thought to "reconsideration." And please try to extend the life of this thread on the Main Page so we can learn the complete story. Everyday something new is learned just from a pool of a few hundred. I wonder what we can learn from the 16,200 subcriber that know something about the Napergate Man and are not bloggin yet.

But I do thank you for giving this story a plug on your front page. I noticed it may only be the second busiet thread in post numbers but if you look at it carefully it is by far the busiest thread as far as number of words.

I did not count words. But it looks like people wrote 10 times as much as District 204. And everything was so serious except for 2 posts! Everything was so mentally stimulating. Everything was so enjoyable. It read like a non-fiction novel as everyone seems to respond at the appropriate time.

I was honestly afraid you were going to delete this thread. So I read the whole thing again and pasted the whole things onto my e-mail in case you delete it. This thread is full of history. It reads like a book. It took me over 3 hours to read it. I could not stop reading until I got to number 164 and it was over.

And like Dor I want to thank you for the priviledge. She is right!
It is not a "right" but it is a privelege and we should always remember that.

T.B,

You make some very good points. I must say the X factor in this whole mess is Chief Dial. It is very confusing!

I mean they keep statistics in that dept. How could they not know something was wrong when the average licensee gets 1 ID every 3 years and this Napergate Man gets 200 per year, turns them over to the police, gets police reports numbers and publicizes them in his Pre-Napergate ads.

And we find out this man who is battling all these minors is having his license revoked not once but twice. And under massive scruting and as Cindy did say in the very first blog obviously selective enforcement. Selective enforcemnt was clearly practiced! Did our police dept think it would never be uncovered?

Why were they persecuting the Napergate Man? I think it does show incompetence if Chief Diad did not know these statistics.
And I bet all these statistics were gotten right from his dept. by the Napergate's Man's attorney thru Freedom of Information or subponena. I am not sure what they call that but something like that.

The only way he would known how the other 104 only got 38 IDs is thru the police dept. I don't think he is rich enough to hire 104 private investigators to watch all these establishments around the clock.

I think we need some answers from the City Council and Chief Dial. It is too easy to blame this entire mess on one dead man as Police Officer wants to do. Police Officer is obviously a friend of Chief Dial and he is also using the Napergate Man's reputation or legacy in some funny way. Like if I show people that I respect the Napergate Man they will respect me when I talk about Chief Dial and believe me. Just a hunch!

Police Officer is very intelligent and has connections. He also has an agenda. I wonder what his agenda is?

If I were Moderator I would be looking for Chief Dial instead of the Napergate Man for a 2 hour interview. It makes more sense to me. We know what the Napergate Man said. He wrote over a 100 huge pages and said everything. What is left for him to say. He documented everything.
His court record is thousands and thousands of pages. He does not need to speak or be interviewed. People like Ameena are interviewing him in essence daily by researching his work and quoting him. We know exactly where he stands and what he thinks.

I suggest Mr. Moderator, you put in a call to Chief Dial. You know where he can be found. He can be found way easier than the Napergate Man and we have never heard from him about this story!
That would be a great interview since we have no clue what Chief Dial thinks or where he stands. We know exaclty how the Napergate Man's mind works from many sources.

I want answers how some one could confiscate 550 times or more, can't remember the exact number(sorry I am not Ameena), compared to each licensee and he's the one in big time trouble all the time.

We also now know from people like Bielen and Randy he started strict from day one. How could they make up a story about that very unique camera that takes 3 pics at once. It sounds so credible their stories and their stories tie in with everyone else and even Police Officer when it comes to confiscations at least.

Police Officer –

First of all, what I wrote was “I think SW Naperville Taxpayer made some good points” so to say I agree with him is a little bit of an exaggeration. I was just saying I agree with some of what he was saying, but not necessarily all.

I’ll address all 12 of your points with the simple statement that I never said or implied that the Napergate Man ever intentionally sold alcohol to a minor. I was agreeing with the statement that he probably did sell to a minor at some point and time—nobody is perfect. I’ve re-read SWNT’s post and I don’t think he’s implying an intentional sale, or at least that’s how I interpreted what he wrote. I also don’t believe what SWNT wrote was inflammatory, just common sense.

I have never denied there was selective enforcement and never denied that the former mayors were the driving force for the selective enforcement used against the Napergate Man. I don’t know why you’re implying that I would like to see more selective enforcement in Naperville. I also re-read both mine and SWNT’s posts and don’t understand what question you are answering. Maybe you could enlighten me.

While I do believe that the former mayors were the driving force behind what happened to the Napergate Man, I am still wondering if Chief Dial was involved or not. And if not, how did he not know?

Nobody wants to see anyone homeless and we all have families to support, but I also don’t want to live in a town with a potentially corrupt police chief. That is why this is an important issue and shouldn’t be overlooked. If he knew and participated in what happened, he doesn’t need to worry about who would hire him because no department should hire someone who allowed that to happen.

If he had no idea what was going on, I don’t think he needs to be fired but I think the city needs to make sure that the hierarchy of the police department knows what its officer are doing. A reprimand and some changes in procedures would probably suffice (if they haven’t already been made over the years). The key is to make sure that police officers are never used for a political purpose again--with or without the Chief's knowledge.

Chief Dial, and police officers in general, are sworn to uphold the law. Not sworn to uphold the law unless it costs them a job or some money. If police officers and the police chief aren’t going to stand up to corruption, who will? There are only so many Napergate Men in this world who are willing and able to make that stand.

As to why the Napergate case is coming up again, I think you’re reading too much into the anti-Chief Dial aspect of this. If you haven't already, my suggestion would be to go back and read the archived threads about the Furstenau case. I don’t think the Napergatians brought up the topic again to “get” Chief Dial, but to show that the city had abused their authority in the past so they probably did it again with Furstenau. Many of the earlier bloggers (some now dropped off) were ardent supporters of Furstenau and they clung on to the Napergate case as an example of what they feel happened to Furstenau. The fact that the Napergate Man had at one time endorsed Furstenau added fuel to the fire. Since then, it’s sort of taken on a life of its own.

For the record, Police Officer, I am not against Chief Dial but question what happened in the past and what his involvement was with this issue. I think the Chief does a fairly good job in Naperville and I am appreciative of most (if not all) the NPD officers I have come into contact with. I am also not an Establishment or Furstenau supporter, choosing to remain somewhere in the middle and see what comes of the court case (as unfortunate as that is to begin with, but that’s an entirely different topic).

T.B.

You got it d bone - chose not to post your last comment. It was filled with inflammatory invective and in our judgment not suitable for the blog. I also suspect you're just trying to wind people up...and then sit back and watch what happens. If you want to post, clean it up. If not, we'll not be posting.

Update: d.bone, please send us a real, working e-mail address. Tried contacting you via the one you put in your message and it was kicked back to us.

Dor: You seem to have pretty first-hand knowledge as to the whereabouts of the Napergate Man. We would, obviously, like to speak to him and possibly do an interview but have been unable to find him. Do you personally know him? Could you help us track him down. It would be real interesting to get his opinions on the current state of affairs in Naperville. Thanks in advance for anything you might be able to do.

Dor: Apology accepted. We all can get carried away. Please feel free to blog on and, Ameena, thanks for those kind comments.

Mr. Moderator,
I want to start this morning by issuing you, my sincere and heartfelt apology. Ameena makes so much sense. We all got carried away. Obviously we are not use to this kind of exchange that feels so real and live!

After thinking about it all night I realized it was about having thick skin instead of thin skin. But I finally realized how strong this Napergate Man was to withstand all this. It is too much! I would have committed suicide if I had the pressure he was subjected to. It just seems so unfair!

But he survived and I have also seen him walking his lovely white dog in my subdivision of Pembroke Commons and he seems very happy. His doggie's name is Abby and he never walks her with a leash. All the other dogs need a leash but never his. Even his dog is very special! She must love him and always stays near him. The last time I saw him I had tears in my eyes and started crying. I could not stop crying. I just can not believe what was done this to this man.

I want you to understand, Mr. Moderator, when he was helping me fight the Brestal Law Firm and save my house, I did not know any of this stuff. This is all new to me. That is why I am so emotional because this is all like something live happening in real life today and not a decade ago. I can't explain why it feels this way to me!

Many of my friends called me after they saw my blog from both Pembroke Commons and Huntington Estates. They were very nice but told me I said all the wrong things. They understood I was emotional. They also asked me to apologize since I used the subdivison name and I am not a spokesperson or president for Pembroke Commons so I had no right to say what I said. And I should have never said it.

I hope you accept my sincere apologies and understand what happened. I learned my lesson when I am upset to wait a day or two before I write. I know Ameena apologized on my behalf and everyone else but I want to apologize also on my own behalf.

One day later, it does seem so silly that we let this one guy do this to all of us. We should have laughed at his story instead of thinking it could be believable and wasting all this energy on him. Now we find out from Farmsteadman he is self centered and sees things differently than the rest of us.

I hope you continue to allow me to be on your blogs. I enjoy them very much especially this Napergate blog. And I am sorry I took everything for granted and stopped appreciating what was a priveledge and not a right. I learned a new lesson about life!

Sincerely,
Dor

PS. I am also so very sorry I made comparisons to China. Just so many bad memories all came back at once. I love Naperville and my new country, the USA. China would never allow us to blog so freely. We would be arrested immediately if we said a bad thing about a Mayor or City Official. That was a very bad comparison and I apologize one more time.

I have sat back and read these posts many times over the last day and I can't believe how many people have let one person get under their skin like d.bone has done. I believe people are focusing way too much time and energy to try to disprove someone who really doesn't have a lot of credibility in the eye's of many bloggers to begin with. I saw d.bone's post for what it was...a way to get under the skin of many people and get an emotional reaction...he accomplished his goal.

None of us really know if he walked into the liquor store with a "really good fake ID" and bought alcohol as he said...if he did, it doesn't change the fact in my mind that the Napergate Man did his best to prevent these types of things from happening and judging from his record he did a pretty good job. I am sure one or two minors slipped through the cracks over the years, but it was not for a lack of effort by the Napergate Man. I believe his record speaks for itself and that he made it very difficult for minors to buy alcohol at his store. That is a fact that is tough to disprove based on what I have read.

Finally, I agree with Ameena and others on not taking this out on Jim or Ted. These two gentlemen have a done nothing more than give us a forum to discuss topics and the recent happenings in this town we all enjoy living in. It is not up to them to censor bloggers...I would rather see a potentially false blog by d.bone go through than give them the power to pick and choose what they believe is true and false and then censor the ones who they believe are false. There is no way around what is being asked of them...people are asking them to "censor" a blogger!! Be careful what your wish for...you might be the next person that has a post called into question...would you want your post censored if you believe what you wrote was true?? Keep up the good work Jim and Ted, you are providing a great forum!

D.Bone's account of the incident might or might not have occurred, as pointed out by many bloggers. Only D.Bone knows for sure. Do you really believe NO underage people EVER purchased alcohol from the Napergate Man? I find that hard to believe, but who knows for sure?
Posted by: Southwest Naperville Taxpayer | January 29, 2008 08:25 PM

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

SOUTHWEST NAPERVILLE TAXPAYER AND T.B. WHO AGREED WITH HIM,

I want to address your question above because it is an inflammatory question, that also seems accusatory, and could create the kind or RISE we have seen on this thread way to often. I made several phone calls to police friends in Naperville and Roselle. I do not know any police in Stone Park but my police friend in Roselle knows a Stone Park policeman who lives in that suburb and called him for me. Those are the only 3 suburbs Basim Esmail ever had liquor licenses in. He had 4 at one time with 2 in Naperville.

HERE ARE MY 12 POINTS TO ANSWER SOUTHWEST NAPERVILE TAXPAYER AND T. B. WHO AGREED WITH HIM

1. Here is what I found out from police in 3 depts. directly and indirectly. It was all based on memory as it is illegal for a police officer to check on a civilian outside of the course of an investigation on the police computers. It is a Class 3 felony! None of this information is from police computers. No one including myself is going to risk their job and go to jail. Just for the record, if any police officer tells you he has computer information either he is lying or committed a Class 3 felony!

2.All police indicate that the Napergate Man actually never sold liquor to a minor in nearly 30 years. Never been personally charged once. Except for that infamous "sting operation" which we all know with 100% certainty now that it was not a sale to a minor. It was a false charge. So, yes SWT, I actually do believe he never sold alcohol to a minor. I also do believe no minor was ever able to con him due to his unique ability to interrogate and break down minors.

3.Now if we change your question to "Did his employees ever UNINTENTIONALLY sell liquor to a minor or fail to detect a fake I.D.?" The answer is certainly YES !

4. According to the memories of many police officers in the NPD, his Extra Value Liquor store employees were charged with approximately 3 sales to a minor and he, the infamous "sting operation." This was in a 20 year period from 1981 to 2001. He apparently sold this store at almost the same exact time he mothballed Napergate. I think it was his way of closing the chapter completely as this store was very synonymous to Napergate. They were just to intertwined.

Most policemen know about the charges but do not understand the end result of these charges as they headed to very high courts. Ameena probably has better information than the cops as regarding disposition of the charges.

5.What seems to be unknown by the hundreds of bloggers bloggin away daily is that Mr. Esmail owns another liquor store in Naperville with the same exact name of Extra Value Liquors on Rt. 59. I verified with numerous police sources that he is currently the sole owner of this store. So he appears to be retired from Napergate but not the liquor business.

6.Regarding this second store which he has owned since 1994, police friends indicate his employees only had one sale to a minor of alcohol or cigarettes. One or the other for sure! It happened roughly between his 9th and 11th years. No police officer heard anything on the news about it after he was charged. But he was definitely charged for the action of his employee. The speculation is he met with Mayor George Pradel quietly and settled it for a fine. No one knows for sure. But that seems the most likely scenario based on the overwhelming evidence from bloggers including myself that he has a very good relationship with Mayor George Pradel.

Just for the record this is the second license the City of Naperville refused to give him for nealry 5 years. The City of Naperville was ordered 3 times by a Dupage Judge and once by the 3 Judge Panel of the Appellant Court to grant his license, before they finally complied. It seems like City Officials were having a hard time understanding that you have to obey a Judge and Jury verdict. You could say it finally sunk in at some point!

7. Roselle police tell me his employees passed monthly sting operations run against all establishments equally before finally being stung in his 12th year. Most establishment there fail an average of 3 stings per year and pass about 9 stings. The Napergate Man seemed to have set a record in that town of passing over 144 stings in a row before finally failing. The police officer I spoke to remembers vividly that all establishments in Roselle failed that specific sting.(Ameena has previously posted the exact date and time of that historic failure of Mr.Esmail. I do not know how she gets her information but at least 2 Roselle Police Officers confirmed her finding is precise and on target.)

They had found a 20 year older male with a very thick beard that looked at least 30 years old to perform that monthly sting. The bottom line his 12 year record was finally shattered and his employee should have still carded the guy even though he looked 30. That is why retailers are asked to card people who look under 40. Mr. Esmail met with the Mayor who "chewed him" out as is the procedure in that town, told him his employees must do better and fined him either $100 or $150 dollars. Some police remember it being $100 dollars and others remember it being $150. But it was only a fine! No suspension or revocation like was common at his Bailey Rd location in Naperville.

This case was highly publicized in the Roselle and North Suburban media for 2 reasons.

a. He had a streak kind of like John Wooden's UCLA basketball teams and people were wondering when this store would finally cave in to a sting. As we know no one is perfect. The store finally bit the dust as they say!

b. He had received a lot of publicity in Roselle and Schamburg,(his store was right on the border) for that Kylix Award he won in Las Vegas for strictest retailer in the nation..

The Roselle Police liked Mr. Esmail very much but he was making them look bad because they never got any results out of his store. If a police officer never writes a speeding tickets or gets a DUI he looks bad. If he never nails a minor buying from a liquor store he looks bad. So they were just doing their job and Mr. Esmail respected them even though they ended his streak which it appears he was very proud of and I am sure hated to have ended.

The Mayor who "chewed him" out also wrote him 3 commendations that are part of the very lengthy Napergate Court Record. I first learned of these commendations from Ameena but some RPD officers were aware of them also as they had been published in the Roselle Press.

8. He also owned a nightclub in a town called Stone Park. My Roselle Police officer source who has a friend in the SPPD verified he was charged with liquor to a sale of a minor in that town once during his 10 year ownership of a nightclub there.

Apparently a 20 year old girl was able to get in despite 2 bouncers at the door carding. She initially ordered a Red Bull. The bartender served her the Red Bull. She later tried ordering a drink but the bartender was suspicious and asked her for an ID despite being inside the place already. She did not have an I.D. and was not served alcohol. Police somehow got involved. In that town the police dept. was across the street and 50 yards from the nightclub door. They were in and out of his place frequently.

Anyway the incident was reported to the Mayor who decided to charge him with a sale of alcohol to a minor even though she only had a RED BULL. Apparently the standard in Stone Park is if a minor enters your premises, you are guilty of selling to a minor whether the minor got the drink or not. Too make a long story short he pled guilty to a stipulated charge and the Mayor charged him it is believed 100 to 150 dollars which seems to be the standard charge for first time offender in most suburban towns at the time. The fines get much worse for repeat offenders just like 2nd DUIs are worse for civilians...much worse!

9. That is pretty much his record of nearly 3 decades. Yes, all these towns held him responsible for his employee's actions. He was fined and not his employees. It did not matter if he had multiple businesses, if he was out of town, present, if they were accident or deliberate, he was RESPONSIBLE. Obviously this is a vicious business to be in and highly regulated. I hope next time someone goes to a liquor store they offer their ID without even being asked.

10. Do these violations make Basim Esmail a terrible person. I don't think so. I believe from all the good police officers I talked to, he was trying his best. He was not perfect. If you have never owned a business, try to control your employees and see how difficult it is. How can you prevent an employee from coming to work with a hangover one day and not doing his duty? I believe that was a situations with one of the cases at Bailey Rd. in Naperville. But that is the law! Police have to enforce the law. So even if Mr. Esmail may have been sleeping while his manager woke up with a hang over the next morning and sold to a minor, Mr. Esmail is deemed responsible and accountable under the Liquor Control Act of the State of Illinois.. Please note, the police don't make the law. We only enforce the law. If you think Mr.Esmail should not be charged for sale to a minor while he is sleeping, than this is an issue you have to take up with City Hall or Springfield. But please don't blame us Police Officers for performing our duties.

11. Basim Esmail was treated fairly in Roselle, Stone Park and at his second location in Naperville. I believe he would agree with me. He did his best and the Mayors gave him reasonable fines understanding the difficulty of running a liquor store. So in these 3 locations, I want everyone to understand their was no corruptions or conspiracies. Everything was on the up and up from all sides. Every thing took place as should. For the record Mayor Pradel most probably handled his violation at Rt. 59 privately. It was never printed in any newspaper. This is the sign of a classy Mayor who does not want to tarnish the Napergate Man's name any further. I suspect he knows Mr. Esmail does an excellent job and treats him accordingly.

12. So where did this Napergate Mess take place. Only at his one Bailey Rd. location before he acquired his second liquor license from the Appellant Court.

BACK TO NAPERGATE THEORIES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT.....

I believe as the very first blogger on this thread named Cindy said, there was "Selective Enforcement" at his Bailey Rd store. This is where the 5-10 cops came in to try to nail him to further the political agendas of former Mayors Chester Rybikci, Margaret Price, Samuel Macrane, City Prosecutor Francis Cuneo, and City Attorney Michael Roth. You simply can not get rid of the Napergate Man or nail his stores without police involvement. A Mayor is not authorized to stop minors coming out of a store and nailing them. They had to use these 5-10 police officers to accomplish their goal.

If Mr. Esmail was simply selling to hundreds of minors as d. bone wants us to believe, why would they need 5-10 police officers focused on this one store in a selective enforcement manner. If it was like d. bone said, all they would have to do is station one policeman outside his store to write a dozen tickets in one day and no Illinois Appellant Court or even Supreme Court could help him. Obviously that was not the case. It was so hard to nail him because he was really that good. But nonetheless the former Mayors and City Attorneys did not like his political agenda and wanted him nailed and out of town. They knew he was a threat to the political establishment. That he was a threat to stability of the council where the "old boys network" wants to remain in control. Were they right? Yes, they were right! He was a big threat! A huge threat! They never seen a guy who can take a full page ad and endorse 4 candidates and have them all elected. He did it! They became more threatened!

But Mr. Esmail according to our constitution has a right to be politically involved. He has a right to endorse opposing candidates which he did. He has a right to run for city council which he did not. He has a right to run for Mayor which he did not. The establishment had no right to target his liquor licenses for his well known political activities.

To answer your question SNT and TB who agrees, if you want to apply the selective enforcement applied to only Mr. Esmail on all establishments we would have a DRY TOWN. No other establishment in Naperville could have survived the selective enforcement Mr. Esmail was under.
Not one of these other 104 establishments would have lasted a week.

If you want me to give you my very honest opinion about those other 104 establishments... Since they were averaging approximately one third of an ID per year per establishment, each one of them was probably selling to an average of 500 minors each multiple times per year using fake IDs. We know Esmail was nailing roughly 200 per year. Minors had to know he was very strict and the grapevine was very strong every time a minor got arrested by Mr. Esmail. So there had to be more minors going to these other stores if you try to reason it out with some kind of logic. Why would you got to the toughest place that is notorious for separating you from your ID. Why would you prefer to go to an establishment where police were constantly visible picking up fake IDs and arresting minors? It makes no sense to me or Ameena. The only thing that makes sense is there were thousands and thousands of minors but most were attempting their acts of bravery at other places and basically not only not getting caught but being able to repeat their actions over and over again. Only when they made the mistake of going to Extra Value Liquors did they lose their precious license to drink. Keep in mind in those days obtaining a fake ID was much easier than in these days. Today's IDs have features that are much more difficult to duplicate!

But truthfully the former 3 Mayors who doubled as liquor commissioners did not care one bit about these 104 other licensees and their sales to minors. The wink and the nod to them was do as you please but just don't embarrass us. If you don't embarrass us we will do nothing to you. Their average of one ID every 3 years is despicable and embarrassing. I can only imagine the 3 Judge panels of the 2 Appellant Courts nodding their heads in disbelief and disgust before vinidicating Mr. Esmail.

All the Mayors cared about was staying in power. They did not want to rub the other licensees the wrong way and possibly lose their votes and their employees votes. These establishments had 2-3000 employees mostly Naperville residents. How could they risk losing their support with the Napergate Man on the political horizon with a following that exceeded 3500 Napervillians or Napergatians as some bloggers refer to them?

As you can see this is a long historical story that never ends. Mayor Pradel fixed everything by being professional and not interfering with Chief David Dials employees. Napergate is over as far as Mr. Esmail's remaining liquor license in Naperville.

And finally I stand by Police Chief Dial 100%. I hope it is obvious to you it was not Chief Dial causing all the trouble. It was the former Mayors...all of them and that former Prosecutor and City Attorney. All these character are gone! They no longer work for the city! I am sure there was "secret" pressure to get rid of them after those humiliating IABTF Rulings and Appellant Court Rulings.

Why did Chief Dial survive this explosive Napergate Mess? I believe because he was innocent. I still believe the puck stops at the Mayors. Does anyone on these blogs understand that Chief Dial is a family man and needs to make a living like the rest of us. You all wanted him to stand up to the former Mayors and get fired. Who is going to hire him after he is fired? I believe he is much older these days. Who is suppose to support him?

Do you guys want him living like that poor homeless guy who lives in downtown Naperville outside even in the winter? Even if he made a mistake, can we forgive and forget. This was a massive conspiracy involving way to many people. There are people who may have supported the Famous 5 who will never be uncovered. They may be dead. Chief Dial really had no choice but to look the other way or be fired. He never participated or ordered anyone to do anything. He is guilty of nothing.

The biggest culprit by far in Napergate is Mayor Macrane. By far! In case you don't know he is dead. Let us let Napergate die with Macrane and move on to bigger and better things.

Mr. Esmail told us in Napergate XXXV published on the front page of the Naperville Sun a week ago Sunday, that he wanted to mothball Napergate! Those are his own words. Thanks for pointing that out, Randy. I have been watching and interested in this case from the beginning and yet I somehow missed that mothballing remark. He destroyed his Napergate.com site. It is no longer in existence. With it he destroyed all those 44 Napergate ads that were posted on it. He wanted this whole thing to blow over and be done with. He wanted to move on with his life and be able to walk his dog and talk to his neighbors.

WHY THE SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED REINCARNATION OF NAPERGATE AFTER IT WAS MOTHBALLED....

He made peace with Mayor Pradel. He made peace with the town. So I am completely puzzled by this sudden reincarnation of Napergate...extremely puzzled. I do not understand it. I do not know how it got out of proportion while Mr. Esmail is simply walking his white dog in his subdivision.

Someone has an ulterior motive. It worries me immensely.

I have no proof but I believe the Furstenau supporters reincarnated Napergate to get back at Police Chief David Dial. It is becoming so obvious to me. They want to make Chief Dial pay for what he did or did not do to Fursteau. They are using the Napegate Case because it is a very powerful and an already proven case. It has been won in the courts over and over again.

Suddenly just by some rare coincidence, DF files a civil right suit and decade old Napergate far and away becomes the hottest topic in Naperville. Who is behind all this "The Puck Stops at Chief Dial." I believe it is the Furtenau supporters...hundreds if not thousands of them on these blogs and on the streets. This is called revenge! This is called vengeance! This is called retaliation! This should not be tolerated! We have to be able to see right thru it.....

My question is this? If Mr. Furstenau and his supporters feel Mr. Esmail was wronged so badly, why did you not come out for him stronger in the late 90s when he was winning all those court battles. Why did you not ask for Chief Dial to resign then? Why now a decade later? The answer is obvious!

Now I am not attacking all bloggers. Some bloggers have an agenda here which is to get Chief Dial fired. Many bloggers seemed to have been dragged in this resurgence of Napergate solely because it is the fascinating case of ONE MAN taking on City Hall repeatedly and defeating them each and every time. A very unique and rare story! Something very unusal anywhere in the USA. Some like Randy, are just trying to defend an old friend who is having his reputation tarnished all over again by bloggers like d.bone. Some like Ameena and Maryann never heard of this case before and have been swept up by the numerous accomplishments and accolades of the Napergate Man, his character, his integrity, his morals, his ethics and his story of steadfast struggle until City Hall was beaten over and over again until they got the message that he would not be thrown out of the Naperville City limits. That is fine! That happened! I don't blame anyone for being fascinated by this case. Every police officer I spoke to was fascinated with this case then and more so now.

My problem is strictly with the Dick Furstenau agents and suppporters that are using this case and this blog site to get back at Chief Dial. I was holding back like Ameena was before making my accusation or if you prefer my allegation. I feel this is the beginning of a soon to be vicious conspiracy against Chief Dial and I intend to defend him with every fiber of my being!

Thanks for allowing me to use your forum to express my views and opinions, Mr. Moderator and Mr.Host!

Adam --

The Sun doesn’t know d. bone from Randy or Ameena or me. Siding with the majority against d.bone would be nothing more than mob mentality. The Sun doesn’t have the time or manpower to check all the facts and recollections being thrown out here. They have to let the bloggers put out their opinions and make their own judgments regarding truth and credibility.

I think SW Naperville Taxpayer made some good points. I also don’t believe d. bone’s post was quite as slanderous as it was made out to be. Wrong, but nothing to cause the commotion that it did. Simply prove the post wrong and move on. No hysterics necessary.

Banishment and censorship demands are counterproductive and fruitless.

T.B.

We should all be thankful the Naperville Sun, and the moderators have allowed us a forum to vent, discuss, inform, criticize, theorize, speculate, engage, question, reminisce, and express our opinions openly. Everyone is not always 100% correct 100% of the time. Some incorrect statements, misunderstandings, misstatements, or invalid points are bound to be posted. Among the garbage, I feel some of us do a pretty good job bringing important facts and viewpoints to the forum.

I find it ironic that one of the important revelations on this blog was that the Sun would not publish one of the Napergate Man's ads back in the day, due to alleged pressure from the city. Now we have bloggers pressuring the Sun to unpublish the blog of a man giving an account of his own experiences.

D.Bone's account of the incident might or might not have occurred, as pointed out by many bloggers. Only D.Bone knows for sure. Do you really believe NO underaged people EVER purchased alcohol from the Napergate Man? I find that hard to believe, but who knows for sure?

Thankfully, this forum allows us to express ourselves openly in our quest to understand the truth. Despite the fact that many bloggers are misinformed, twist the truth, misrepersent facts, and outright lie, I don't feel the Sun should be held responsible for the contents. If the moderators have to investigate the validity of every word written by every blogger before posting them, they will never get posted! I think it is more important for us to tell it like we see it from our hearts and mind. Then our writings can be read, and interpreted as each reader sees fit.

Please don't keep demanding more involvement and censorship by the moderators! Other than obscenities, of course, and the old "fire" in a theater situation, I prefer this blog to continue as an open forum. Please don't go crying to the Sun to intervene because you don't believe something you read on a post! These posts are the free expression of views and experiences of the people who post them, NOT the Sun, or Jim, or Ted, or any other scapegoats you wish to blame. Personally, I like it best when the moderators interject interesting facts periodically, but otherwise stay above the fray.

Note from Ted, host:
Hey, SNT: Thanks, I couldn't agree more.

I am going to have to go with myself, d.bone. as my favorite blogger. the rest of you are self centered, egotistical, and mostly wrong in your opinions and stances. i have witnessed some of the dumbest, illogical, and most ill conceived thinking ever. there is a phrase called, "beating a dead horse." anyone ever hear of it ?

Posted by: d.bone | January 10, 2008 08:30 AM

__________________________________________________________________

I did verify that in fact the man who voted for himself was in fact d. bone. I think if you read what he said about himself, we will no longer take him seriously as we did this one time.

I guess he is accusing us all of being self-centered but yet he is the only one that voted for himself. What hypocrisy!!!

I think the Napergate would have ignored a guy like d.bone. Why didn't we? I am sure the Napergate Man developed thick skin over the years. He probably laughs at comments from a guy like d. bone.

Why didn't we just laugh it off???

Note from Ted, host:

Well said, Farmsteadman. d.bone reminds me a little of the guy Joe on this blog, who seems to say things sometimes just to get a rise out of people. I think that's exactly what's going on with d.bone.

All Bloggers,
I would like to ask you all to calm down. I think we are forgetting that Jim and Ted have other duties besides watching bloggers like us bloggin all day.

I also was upset about that d. bone blog but got over it. I believe I was the first one to ask for it to be removed so obviously I feel your pain. However, a very positive thing happened. You all provided excellent information that d. bone was lying. That is all we needed to know. Let us leave Jim and Ted alone.

I would like to ask you all to PLEASE stop your attacks on Ted and Jim. They provide us with this free service. There are not even ads that we have to go thru to read the blogs like other sites. Just ask Maryann what it is like to blog on Gretawire.com. We have one d.bone! They have a 100 d. bones per day! I checked it out for one day and came right back here. One d.bone is much better than a 100 d.bones! We should be grateful for that and think positive.

Jim and Ted don't censor or edit. I have never had a post denied or edited. Let us look at the positive. I was also upset all day but I just tried to control myself and not write or post.

But thinking about all that has gone on, most of the approach of the bloggers has been wrong...especially Dor. I am sure she did not mean what she said and was just very emotional as I have been. I urge Jim and Ted not to cut her off. She has always been an honest and good blogger. I can understand her extreme emotion because she almost had a dumpster in her back yard if it wasn't for the Napergate Man. I would like to see her apologize and I believe she will when she cools down.

Here is what our approach should be. Praising Randy for his awesome post. Really, his post was awesome! It blows my mind that I have to spend weeks in the library researching when Randy is a walking encyclopedia. Randy has been kind enough to give me his e-mail address and has assured me he will help us all with any first hand information he has. But he also told me in an e-mail he only has first hand eye witness information before the Napergate Man transformed his platform from liquor to development. As you all know he has so much information because he was the Napergate Man's neighbor, friend and just happened to be living across the street from the store in question

I admire Randy. He has been much more calm than any of us and it is apparent he has a lot of first hand knowledge to share.

Ironically, one thing d.bone and Randy agree on is that minors were flocking to that store in huge numbers.....by the hundreds...undisputed!!! That puzzles me that so many minors would be flocking to such a strict store. It is hard to explain. One has to wonder if hundreds were flockin to this one store, how many thousands most have been flockin to all the other stores who only captured one ID every 3 years. At least we learned of another battle in the Napergate Man's life. A battle with hundreds of minors that he eventually won. Chalk another victory for the Napergate Man that was uncovered while we were arguing. So let us think positive since d. bone did tell us the truth at least about hundreds of minors that were flockin there. It does appear though assuming he is being truthful that he is the only known minor to have escaped the Spider Web!

At this point nothing makes sense to me. Why so many minors would flock to this store while he was swatting them down like flies? One thing for sure about this massive flocking is that it is not because he sold liquor to minors. We heard about this ad with 200 confiscated IDs from many people in the library. The librarian and I have been looking for it for quite a while. It is just a matter of time before we find it since all the Naperville Suns exist in the library and we know for sure that ad, Randy spoke of, was in the Naperville Sun and not the Daily Herald. It takes time to go thru a 1000 newspapers. As Ted reminds us often the Napergate Era was not the Internet Era. It was just beginning. Everything is much harder to research in that ERA. And again Ted reminds us how hard it must been for the Napergate Man to accumulate all that information for his 44 Napergate Series of Ads and many other political and fake ID ads! The Napergate Man did have a Napergate.com site. It appears he mothballed it just like he mothballed all his ads. He did not want to go on forever! He knew when to quit! We need to know when to quit too, especially with our attacks on Jim and Ted. The time to quit those attacks is RIGHT NOW!

Why don't we all read Randy's post one more time and stop writing for the rest of the day and let things cool off. Yesterday, we stopped writing and things seemed to cool off. Of course I do not mean stop writing completely but stop writing against Jim and Ted.

I think ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I personally will be upset if anyone attacks Jim or Ted in the next week. And really we should not be attacking them ever but trying to communicate with them in a civil manner. Let us have a cease-fire. Please!!! You guys have all been great until the last 2 days.

I don't understand how we all let d. bone get under our skin like this. But he somehow did! I recall one night McFarland wrote a nice long letter to Ted and told him to have thick skin about that now "very old incident" of not publishing 2 Napergate ads 15 years ago. Ted agreed with him that he probably should have thicker skin.

We at this point all need to have thicker skin. We were all doing a good job and the slippery slope took us down the gutter. We now have to climb out of the gutter!

I am urging you all to stop your attacks immediately. We have been told what the consequences will be. We all love bloggin and love this thread. Do you guys want to see it removed? So please take a deep breath, walk the dog, or cool down before you write.

I waited all day to cool down because I did not want to be angry when writing..

This has been reported to have been the best site by many bloggers. I believe it still is! And I intend to work to keeping it the best site until it leaves the Main page and we can retire it to the archives. The Napergate Man retired on a very high note. Let us honor him and retire this thread on a high note. I never met him but from reading so much about him, I believe he would want us to be on the up and up.

I recall when the police told him to leave City Hall while distributing Napergate V, he just left. He knew you don't battle police on the street. You do what they say and take it to court if they are out of line. He listened to them whether they were right or wrong. I still don't know if he had a right to be there, but he knew better than to argue with the police. You can never win arguing with a policeman on the street...so why try!

We should also know better than attacking Ted and Jim on their own thread while providing us a free service and honestly being extremely fair to all of us. Let us respect them as the Napergate Man respected the police. Do you think the Napergate Man would have won his numerous cases in court if he had touched or punched a policeman when they tried to evict him out of City Hall? He let them evict him and in the end we all know who WON! He always knew the smart move to make in all his difficult battles and circumstances!

Respect will always win in the final analysis. Let us show Ted and Jim some respect. I want to apologize to them on behalf of all the bloggers who attacked them the last 2 days including myself.(if I did) I hope I did not but it is hard to recall what you do when you are emotional! I admit I was emotional but I am hoping I did not attack them. I thought it is more important to write this letter and try to cool things down before rereading what I wrote that can't be changed anyway!

I wish you all a very nice evening. I will not write anymore today. I will be taking a walk and cooling down some more! I will be thinking of McFarland's advice to Ted about thick skin and seeing if I can develop it soon!

Thanks to everyone and especially Ted and Jim for giving us complete freedom of expression. Let us not abuse it! My apologies on behalf of all bloggers are extended to them once again.

Ameena...

T. B.
You points are well taken but you are misunderstanding what happened.

I agree that Jim and Ted can't always know what is true or not true.

But once their citizen journalists like Randy, Ameena, Maryann, and Beilen provide the proof something is false it all becomes a completely different story. We are in a different ball park.. Not the one you are in!

At this point they lose their credibilty if the don't unpost.

Randy's post was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

I am a subcriber to the Sun if they do not remove slander knowing it is slander, I plan on seriously considering discontinuing my subscription after 15 years of loyalty to my local paper.

I would also add my voice to all those and plead with the Moderator or Host to unpublish that first very libelous post by D. Bone. If the host would have been reading carefully as we do, he would have seen as everyone else saw that his lie came out from within his own words. This is not rocket science. The man admitted he lied a few minutes later by saying he used a pretty damn good fake ID card. In his earlier post he said minors were simply flocking to get their liquor there like the Napergate Man had a "free for all" going. Just so ridiculous knowing that man. That is really defaming a man's character who spent all his life building it. That is a real travesty of justice bording on that Kangaroo verdict given to the Napergate Man that everyone in Naperville knows about except reporters for the Naperville Sun.

Enough is enough!

To Dor, Robert, others but not all Napergate bloggers: I've had it up to here with a lot of you people and am about ready to shut down this thread. Dor, who do you think you are besmirching the newspaper that gives you the very forum to vent your views? And, why are you so outraged about one post that - to our minds - was fair game. Keep up your threats and not only will the thread be shut down but you, Dor, will be banned from blogging. And Robert, why don't you just chill out a little. No one was trying to libel or slander anyone. All of a sudden you guys have turned into armchair lawyers? Give me a break. This is the last warning. Talk about ungrateful. I will suffer no more personal attacks on myself, Ted or this newspaper and web site.

Moderator,

Excuse me regard your statement "to our minds we disproved d.bone."

No sir that first post was blatantly false.

Check your archives...check police records...look for that ad your own newspaper published with those 199 Fake IDs confiscated.

I don't have memory like Randy's but he moved my memory and I remember that ad like it was yesterday all of a sudden.

Randy makes sense on the second post. It is remotely possible that crazy guy fooled the Napergate Man with a fake ID.. Leave that one in if you must. People understand the Napergate Man ain't perfect..

But that first post was totally slanderous and libelous.

It attacks a man's reputation who tried to run a clean business and won national award for his efforts.

I am utterly ashamed you would leave that slanderous remark on your post and suggest "it is in our minds."

You have lost your sense of judgment, Mr. Moderator. I am sorry!

You guys took it off the first time. You knew it was a wrong and terrible post.

It looks like someone from the City pressured you guys to return that libelous comment..

The Napergate Man lives in my subdivision of Pembroke Commons. We all know him way to well here in Pembroke Commons. You are attacking our entire subdivisin when you attack this gentleman....our leader in this subdivision. Our hero!

I have special feeling for this man. I have written before only to tell you he saved my home from Brestal. I was not emotional.
We were talking only about a house.

Now we are talking about a man's reputation and dignity.

If that d. bone slander is not removed, I promise you I will launch a campaign in both Pembroke Commons and Huntington Estates to have everyone cancel their subscribtion to the Sun.

And because it is the Napergate Man and everyone knows him and respects him in a way you can not imagine, this campaign of cancelling our newspaper will be very successful.

If I don't hear soon, I will start banging on doors.. I hope if you don't respond my campaign will spread to all the subdivisions like the Napergate Man's Campaign spread.

Thank you for your reconsideration...Yes, I am very angry and outraged at the Naperville Sun today more than yesterday.. I controlled myself and did not write yesterday!

PS. I am originally from China. I left China because this kind of thing happened there. I can not believe it is happening in my new country. The city persecuted the Napergate Man. It is very well documented.

Please don't allow the Naperville Sun to persecute him again..

Please don't act like the arm of the government.

Please be the watch dog of City Hall like all my American friends have been saying to you.

Thank you!

Moderator,
With all due respect we are not throwing bricks at you.

You guys permitted bricks to be thrown at the Napergate Man.

As Newspaper publishers and editors you should know better than to publish something so blatantly false.

It is well known you made sure those Napergate ads were not only non-libelous but accurate and credible.

Now keep your standards of the past up. We like them.

You guys(or specifically Host Ted) said he would not publish a falsehood knowing it is a falsehood. He needs to keep his word to us bloggers if he expects us to respect him and believe him in the future.

He knows that first remark by d.bone is an incredible pure lie. And he refuses to unpublish it.

That is indefensible!

Randy suggested you call Police Chief Dial to verify his story. You are reporters! You should have called him to verifiy Randy's story if you doubted it.

I don't doubt it one bit. My experiences at that store were they were strict as hell no matter what era we are talking about.

And please don't think we don't follow these blogs just because some of us only write once a month.

That Maryann lady was sharp when she said "would you publish a comment that she also was raped by Ted in addition to Marilyn."
Her comment blew my mind! I doubt you would publish that comment and say blame the messenger...not me. That is where your latest post falls apart, Mr. Moderator.

You would protect Ted. Now be a man and protect the Napergate Man.

I am totally infuriated with you Mr. Moderater for your latest statement. It defies logic..It defies reason.

You are responsible for the messengers on your blog.

If not I challenge you to post that "Marilyn and Maryann were raped by Ted."

Don't you guys see this nonsense going on!

When people make mistakes and don't apologize things get worse..

Your number one Citizen Journalist Ameena made a mistake by calling someone retarded..

She apologized immediately! She lost no respect or credibility.
No wonder she is so popular. She is a class act!

Can't you guys follow suit and try to be like your Top Citizen Jouranlist. You set up the polls for the vote. Not us!

Learn from your best! Thanks! I am sorry I am writing with such emotion but I can not tolerate an innocent man who has been railroaded for 20 years to be continuously railroaded..

First by the city and now by the Sun. What is going on?

Can't you guys ever respect a man who gained the respect of Judges in both Federal and County Courts. The respect of so many national organizations. The respect of so many Napervillians with that award winning 44 Napergate series.

I can't take it anymore. I have to stop writing..

I think people have been a bit harsh on Ted and Jim for the d. bone posting. I think they are in a precarious position and are rightly staying out of the realm of being the arbiter of truth.

What one person may see as slander, another may regard as opinion--and I think we’re all entitled to our opinions on this thread.

Be careful what you ask for because this is a slippery slope. If the moderator is supposed to catch anything potentially libelous or untrue, how long would it take for every post to reach the thread while being fact-checked? And what happens when your post is denied because Ted or Jim can’t figure out if it’s true or false?

For the most part, I say let the posts fly and we can decide for ourselves, research on-line or in the library, or even dig deep into our memories to do a better job of policing the thread than Ted or Jim could ever do.

I don’t think issues like a boneheaded post affect the credibility of the Sun as a whole. I think we can all tell the difference between a factual newspaper article and someone’s opinion on-line.

T.B.

I think it's a little disingenuous of you guys to be hurling bricks at Ted and myself all because of d.bone's post. So, to your minds, you disproved him. We're just offering you the venue to do so if you wish. We're not taking sides here, just keeping the forum open to all. Sounds like the classic case of blaming the messenger,

Maryann and Randy,

I honestly don't know which one of you guys did a better job to disprove Bonehead. You both were so eloquent.

All I can say if you two guys can't convince the Moderator/Host to change their minds, no one can.

It reminds me when we could not convince Mayor Pradel and former Mayor Price to support us in Spring Green. They were stuck in the sand like no one could believe!

I am hopeful that Moderatore/Host will not be stuck in the sand as they have been so awesome for the last 6 months and suddenly sold all their credibility they built with the bloggers right down the river. They should have dumped D. Bone down the river...not their credibility. I am shocked they would take such a wrong stand against the Napergate Man! I hope they learned a lesson about not posting blatant lies that can easily be disassembled. I know I borrowed that last word from bonehead but I would like to use his words against him.

I am beginning to think this d. bone character is a friend of someone in the Naperville Sun for him to be able to post such slanderous remarks.

Any other reputable newspaper would have banned him by now.

As that Naperville Lawyer stated if bloggin wasn't such a new field and had the standards of print newspapers, the Naperville Sun would have been sued for posting that remark by d. bone.
The first remark! The second as Randy said is remotely possible but unlikey.

The first remark is not remotely possible.

I would settle for the first post being removed if the Host feels we need a compromise here..

Randy, Maryann, and Beilen have all shown the lie in the first post from d.bones own second post. What more proof does the Host need? The Host is on record as saying he does not tolerate lies!
What happened? He is becoming like City Officials.. He can no longer respond indicating he is guilty of something!!!

The host made the right decision when he obliged Ameena. He should know what Ammena is about. She was ranked top blogger! She has established some much credibility since her car got towed and Joe was trying to call her dishonest! But she is so truthful!
Who voted for bonehead...maybe himself but I forget to check?
I remember actually one idiot voting for himself. As soon as I fire this post, I have to see if it was bonehead. If it was, I guess this all makes sense!

IS TWO AMEENAS POSSIBLE...?????????????????????????????????????

MY GOD THIS RANDY GUY SOUNDS LIKE ANOTHER AMEENA WHO DOES NOT EVEN NEED TO GO TO THE LIBRARY.

WHERE HAS HE BEEN THE LAST 2 MONTHS WHEN THIS THING WAS GETTNG OUT OF CONTROL TO SHED SOME LIGHT.

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT A GUY LIKE D.BONE COULD LIE LIKE THAT AND THINK HE COULD GET AWAY WITH IT. NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!

I GUESS WHEN YOU HAVE SO MANY CITIZENS JOURNALISTS AS HOST TED CALLS THEM THE TRUTH EVENTUALLY COMES OUT.

I HOPE HOST TED AND MODERATOR JIM DECIDE TO LISTEN TO THEIR CITIZEN JOURNALISTS. THIS D.BONE GUYS SOUNDS LIKE A TROUBLE MAKER.

DOES FORMER MAYOR MACRANE HAVE ANY CHILDREN THAT ANYON KNOWS OF?

I AM JUST THINKING HE MAY POSSIBLY BE TRYING TO CONTINUE THE AGENDA OF HIS DAD.

WHAT OTHER AGENDA DOES HE HAVE! WHAT POSSESSED THIS GUY TO ACCUSE AN INNOCENT MAN???

AS ONE BLOGGER STATED IT FEELS LIKE THE NAPERGATE MAN IS BEING FALSELY CHARGED AGAIN. IT HURTS BUT I HAVE TO PINCH MYSELF AND REMIND MYSELF THIS BLOGGIN IS NOT THE REAL WORLD. THANK GOD!!!

wait a minute. did you say he had ESP ? could he bend a spoon with his mind ? did you also see all the flying saucers and aliens milling about ? i guess, he should have used his spidy sense's to know i was underage. well anyway, i am going to throw my computer out the window now. so to all of my dear friends i will bid you adieu. vaya con RON PAUL.

OK, now we know why the Napergate Man wins all his battles.

He documents everything...

Furstenau needs to learn to document from the Napergate Man.

It is becoming apparent the differences in strengths between the DF case and the Napergate Man case.

So much we never new about the Napergate Man until this bloggin started. Yes, he was the best kept secret in town.

I also thought the moderator and host were out of line but did not want to say anything.

I feel confident in now stating they were both sleeping behind the wheel when reversing themselves on the d. bone post and reposting that "scumbag post" as that sharp Maryann lady correctly labeled him.

People that double reverse usually don't know what they are doing.

I am saddened that our host and moderator could be so wrong in their conclusions.

This is not opinion this idiot d. bone was posting. He was posting fairy tales.

If Jim and Ted want to regain their credibility this BONEHEAD OF BONEHEADS needs to be banned permanently....

The only reason I can see for him not being banned is because there is some kind of conspiracy to continue to tarnish the Napergate Man's name that has passed from the so called old Naperville Sun to the so called new Naperville Sun. Who ever came up with those terms? There is only one Naperville Sun and it is not capable of changing and wants to remain stuck in the caves of the Stone Age.

By the way Randy, great post again! Keep them coming!

T.B.
I am very impressed with your advice to d. bone.

You probably wrote it before Randy's post. I was floored after reading what Randy wrote. This guy is incredible!

We are lucky to have him right in the liquor store at the same time d.bone claims minors were flocking there to buy liquor because it was so easly.

Well the flocking to buy liquor there is apparently and ironically true. But the part that it was easy to succeed is a DESPICABLE LIE. It was an easy way to a Naperville Jail Cell. That is the only EASY I see in the EASY he is describing.

I personally think the Host and Moderator have some serious explaining to do to the bloggers after that latest Randy post.

There has so much been documented by this Napergate Man and it is no wonder that no one has been successfully been able to frame his in 20 years. I hope he comes out of retirement and runs for Mayor one day. We need a Mayor like him. He would have City Hall cleaned in about 24 hours!

Kind of scary! But this guy would run City Hall singlehandedly until he found the right people to run our city in a way it should be run.

Randy,

I have never seen anyone with a memory like yours. You almost have a photographic memory.

You would never know those details unless you were in that store spending time.

To bad you have to leave us for a full day hanging until you can clear the air as to what really happened.

I feel confident in saying after reading your blog that d. bone lied, just like everyone else is saying.

Why the Sun does not want to verify the lie by making a call to Chief Dial just shows they have something against the Napergate Man just like the City of Naperville does. I am really disgusted after the proof you presented. It is shocking they would print that filth by d.bone. I can see how the people with the first hand knowledge were outraged yesterday.

I suspect all the newcomers with second hand knowledge will be outraged after they hopefully see your post later today.

The more I read these blogs the more desperate I feel we have no one wathing our government since the Napergate Man retired.

I am not surprised that suddenly residents are yearning for him to come back.

d. bone –

What you obviously fail to realize is that while not on your side, I am also not against you. I am about the only person writing on this thread not calling you an idiot or calling for you to be banned. I don’t agree with you, but the forum is supposed to be a give and take and if opposing viewpoints are beaten into submission or banned then there’s not much point to the blog, is there?

As much as you claim to have written about what YOU experienced, I believe Beilen did so, also, and probably in a more convincing fashion (to ME at least). He also did it without becoming overly emotional as Marilyn, Marshall, and Naperville Lawyer seemed to be when they wrote their initial posts.

Unfortunately, as we see in your latest post, your first instinct is to lash out even at those who are trying to assist you in some small way.

I have no idea what you perceived as my “liberal leanings”. People who know me would get a very big laugh at the thought of me having “liberal leanings”. Your unfettered support of Ron Paul does nothing to disuade my theory that the guy is nuts.

Good luck. You’re on your own.

T.B.

T. B.
This Chief Dial/Macrane controvery as to where the puck stops is unusual. I kind of agree with you.

I think the Police Officer is a nice guy who likes Chief Dial.
But he is trying way to hard to defend him. This to me indicates something is very wrong somehwere.

I wish the Naperville Sun could talk to our officials and find out where the puck stops. I wonder if they have answers.

It would be easier to hold our officials accountable if one knew where the puck stops.

I think our officials like things to be vague and love exercising silence and non response.

The city officials just adore the Naperville Sun as they never question them.

In any other town there would be a Napergate of sorts going on caused by the press and not one MAN.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Maryann,

Where did you get the energy to write such a long post. It would take me all night to write something like that.

I hope Jim and Ted listen to you. They are really nice guys but on this one they really screwed up. It just does not seem possible they would back a Bonehead Man over the Napergate Man.

But they chose to believe the lies of Bonehead. As you point out and another blogger did who I can't remember the name of, Bonehead Man contradicts himself in his 2 blogs.

I am still hopeful Jim only saw the second blog. As you said Ted was tired. He is excused! But we need to hear from Jim. I am almost positive Jim could not have seen the first blog to make his ruling. He is the top man there as someone pointed out recently. Forgot who noticed that when they bought the Sunday edition of the Napergate Man!

Maryann,

That was a very insightful post. I can't believe we have yet another articulate writer. You are in the class of Ameena and Eli.

Great Job! I hope somebody listens to what you said.

It just makes too much sense!

Hello Friends,
I was not planning on returning so quickly after my last long post. But after reading d. bone's comments I feel an obligation to return since I have additional 1st hand information.

Let me start by saying I lived in Olives Trees throughout the 80s and just happen to live one building over from the Napergate Man. His store was only across the street from my residence. I moved there one year before the Napergate Man did in 1980. His reason for moving to Olives Trees was to be close to his first retail business and being able to control it. I also recalled he moved to Olive Trees and took over the store in the same exact day. Had many friends helping him accomplish both. I did not know him until he became my neighbor. He lived at 228 E. Bailey Rd. I lived one building south of him. I do not recall his apartment number.

The Napergate Man had just quit a job with a Fortune 500 company to take over this liquor store. He had an MBA. I have one too. So we had something in common. He hated traveling to Chicago daily and so chose a new life. That store was going out of business and the Napergate Man picked it up for pennies on the dollar. As we all know he likes challenges! He obviously turned it around from near bankruptcy to very successful. It remains vibrant nearly 30 years later. Let me see if I can give some numbered points again.

TRYING TO DISASSEMBLE D. BONE'S STORY IS NOT AMUSING...IT IS EASY!!!

1. I use to go there to talk to the Napergate Man. I also worked for a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Naperville. I am a little offended that d.bone would possibly think 2 MBA gentlemen talking outside his store may look a little "strange" while standing in a "shady environment!" I went there frequently to chat with him. Nothing strange or shady about him! He was simply brilliant and had extra sensory perception!

2.From 1981 and for about 5 years, the Napergate Man did not run full page political or "minor" ads. He did however run full page liquor ads every single week for those 5 years only in the Naperville Sun. He ran full page ads of only coupons. He had a huge bag to collect the coupons each week. He told me the Naperville Sun was very powerful and within 2 short years he increased his business 5 fold. Mostly from good management, good hours, strict policies against minors, stacking it high and buying it cheap, and the extreme power of advertising in the Naperville Sun in the early 80s that brought him nearly a 1000 coupons per week.

3.The Napergate Man was highly educated and knew the consequences of selling to a minor. He knew he could lose his liquor license if he would ever sell to a minor. He would never intentionally sell to a minor and risk his liquor license. He was way to smart! Based on his ability to triple the inventory of his store within months of buying it combined with his ability to pay for full page ads on a weekly basis and never skipping, one has to assume he was not hurting for money. It defies logic that he would risk his license for a 50 cent profit on a 6-pack of beer to a minor. He would never do that in a million years.

4. As one blogger already noted, before he opened up his store, he purchased a unique camera system that took 3 pictures at once. One of the customer, one of the ID and one of the date. As we all have been reading he was a meticulous documenter of events. Every transaction by anyone under 40 was recorded from day one. When I was there to visit or shop, the click of that camera was loud and it never stopped. Everyone was told to smile while their pictures were snapped. No one had this system in Naperville but him. People thought he was going overboard with his carding and documentation but they got use to him and some even looked forward to having their pictures taken!

5.The Napergate Man ran this store himself the first 10 years while living across the street in Olive Trees. He worked 15 hour days the first 2 years as part of the turnaround process or "REVERSALS" as Ameena call these events. Later he cut down to 10 hour days!

6.He developed these pictures frequently and he showed them to me and others. While videotape saved him in his second Napergate Trial, I believe these thousands and thousands of pics that showed 3 pics in one, is what convinced the Supreme Court to overturn the 1st verdict of the Kangaroo Trial in Naperville and restore his license.

7.Before the Napergate Era he published a very famous ad challenging the next person to come in the store and be his 200th victim. He had taken a full page ad in the Naperville Sun with 199 fake IDs documented by Naperville Police Reports and published it in the Sun hoping his 200th offender would not come in. His 200th offender literally came in the next day and we could not stop laughing about it. We concluded that nobody under the age of 21 must read the Naperville Sun. His coupon shoppers were all over 30 it seemed.

8.These confiscations are not the same ones that were given to the Illinois Appellant Court in the mid 90s. They were ones that were taken from minors during the exact time d. bone states minors aged 17 and 18 were running rampant in his store.

9.Besides taking a picture of every ID, he required his employees to interrogate his customers. They would be asked their birthday, their address, their social security number, their zip code, etc. If they failed their IDs were confiscated and the Naperville Police were called immediately to arrest them. Employees were instructed to copy the license plate of the car to help police arrest any minors who attempted to flee.( I am not revealing anything new or secretive that is not very well known in the NPD and by Chief David Dial....the Sun if they choose can verify by making a one minute phone call to Chief Dial)

10.His system was so strong that only a twin could fool him. But a twin using a twin's ID would really be of no help since they would be the same age.

11.So minors did come flocking to the store but they were nailed there and were separated from their fake IDs. There were always police officers at his store picking up the fake IDs. Almost daily! Minors flocked to all stores but the only one nailing them was the Napergate Man. If anything, less minors would have flocked to his store since he arrested 200 of them and there is a srong grapevine amongst minors even though they do not read the Naperville Sun. This ad with 199 fake I.D.s is well known and exists in Sun archives. It preceded Napergate. I am sure even Chief David Dial would have to remember that ad. Those are unusual things that no one did in those days or these days. Is anyone really surprised he was selected top retailer not in the state but in the entire USA from the final 500 retailers competing for the Kylix Award? (Hopefully Ameena will stumble on that ad...it is simply UNFORGETTABLE!!! I was young at the time and did not save it. Never thought it may have some historical significance 20 years later)

12. I personally saw his Kylix Trophy. He was so proud of it he published a picture of it at least twice in the Naperville Sun. Of course the old Naperville Sun, knew he won this AWARD for top retailer against minors in the USA and chose not to cover the story. Why! Ask the Naperville Sun or the City Officials who may have been pressuring the Naperville Sun not to give the Napergate Man any good press so they could complete their agenda of silencing him! Mayor Samuel Macrane made it clear he wanted the Napergate Man out of Naperville after he felt Mayor Margaret Price failed in her mission to rid Naperville of him. That was well known. Mayor Macrane's strong actions against him, that were all without exception REVERSED, indicate that strongly. Everyone knows about that famous IABTF commission report so I am not going to bore you and post it again. But it was on the money!

13. The Napergate Man was getting National Recognition for his Award. He had many pictures he showed me of that Las Vegas Night. Over 5000 people attended the banquet at the Mirage Hotel for his award and it was covered by the National Media from New York to LA. The Miller Brewing Company paid for his round trip ticket and all his expenses. They were very proud of his work against minors. He elevated the reputation of the industry and they wanted to support him. I recall them also writing a letter that was published in the Naperville Sun blasting the City of Naperville and supporting him. I have confidence Ameena will find that one as she found that now famous IABTF letter.

14. As reported by Ameena, he received many other awards over the years that are to numerous to name or recall.

15. Yes as Ameena calculated accurately, he was confiscating IDs at the rate of 564 times his competitors in the mid 90s period. No statistics exist for the late 80s period for other licensees but I assume his rate was even better then as no one knew of his unique system of carding until it was revealed publically in Las Vegas to all liquor retailers in the country.

16. Yes, d. bone did lie. Undoubtedly! The Naperville Sun has all the evidence in old ads that document he lied. They should know he is lying. Is there no one in the Naperville Sun left from the late 1980s. I recognize at least one name. Tim West! Hopefully, Jim or Ted checked to see what Tim West remembers. He seems like he is a distinguished opinion writer and must have a decent memory. And he has always been well known amongst Napervillians(especially Napergatians) since he called the City of Naperville out for the legal costs of Napergate and "they told him we don't have any and if we had them we would not give them to you." How could anyone forget that historic moment? I was shocked when I read that. I bet Tim West remembers that famous ad with the 200 confiscated IDs. How could anyone not! That completely proves d. bone lied in his first post and indicates strongly he lied in his second post or he must have had the Mother of all IDs and had it memorized back and worth and had his real picture inserted in it to fool the Napergate Man. Very highly unlikely but remotely possible!

Anyway, I said enough! I would also like to politely add my voice to all who want those d. bones blogs removed and have this site restored to what it was before we were subjected to such lies that defy common sense and logic.

PS. For the record I did not come forward before because most of the discussion was about Spring Green and South West Gate. I do not have first hand knowledge on those battles and only read about them in the Naperville Sun and Napergate. I only have first hand information on Napergate as it pertains to his liquor license(s).

yes , tb. calling someone a liar, coward and a scumbag is not a personal attack. if you go back and read my posts i state only what happened to me and or my perception of it. i don't personally attack this hero of yours, napergate man. he is of no consequence to me. i would add, that trying to disassemble my story is very amusing. if i state it was easy to walk in and buy beer, then it was easy FOR ME. other people may have had different results. you cannot possibly win this argument. all you fine people claim to be on a higher level than me, with your pithy, sometimes crass remarks. but i contend the good moderator should remove the lot of you, and leave me here to expound on the fine qualities of our next president, RON PAUL. the fact that i have exposed your liberal leanings and hatred for all things RON has left me no choice, but to continue to blog.

Regarding d. bone –

I think Beilen did an excellent job attacking the credibility of d. bone’s story without attacking d. bone personally. Despite what you may think of d.bone, this forum is not well served by personal attacks and banishment. Use what you have available to you—facts and common sense—and not immature insults.

Police Officer –

I had some issues with your latest post. You start out by stating that Chief Dial was not the top of the food chain, the mayor was, so Dial is not responsible because he would have been fired if he interfered. You also said that it was possible some of Dial’s officers were pulled into this conspiracy against the Napergate Man without Dial’s knowledge.

So either Dial knew what was happening but had no power to stop it; or he didn’t know what his officers were doing at all?

Dial is responsible for the conduct of his officers. Period. Even if he can be fired by the mayor. Are sergeants and lieutenants any less culpable for misconduct because they can be fired by the Chief?

You said that you believed Dial to be “a man of conscience”, “a very good man”, and a “great and ethical leader”. I’m sorry, but a great and ethical leader does not let his department get pulled into politics no matter what the consequences. A great and ethical leader stands up for what is right even if doing so may get him fired by the mayor.

As a police officer, I’m sure you understand the ethical standards expected by the public. We hope and pray that you would also stand up to serious misconduct even if you believed that you would be fired for doing so.

If Dial knew what was happening, he should have been fired. If he didn’t know, then I have serious questions regarding his grasp of what his department is doing and how he handles his officers. We’re not talking about thousands of officers in a large metropolitan department. I would venture a guess that the NPD was rather small at the time of the Napergate era.

T.B.

Host Ted and Moderator Jim,
It's me! Maryann, yet again peeking at you guys! I am the one that likes to go to dead posts and liven them up a bit. You probably remember me as the Road Warrior Girl who at the time had never ever heard of Napergate. I was having fun there chatting with you guys and succeeded in livening up the debate until Joe came along. I turned it over to Joe and the thread died again. I thought Joe was bad, but he really looks like a saint compared to this d. bone character. I noticed this thread went from extremely active to DEAD as soon as d.bone was allowed to utter his words! That is why I am here. I like the challenge of livening up a quiet thread something you guys already know!

Let me give my analysis after spending over an hour reading all these unique intellectual posts from both sides of the opposition on this Napergate thread! Police Officer and Mrs. Police Officer always seem to present an opposing view but they are highly respected. They are calm and articulate. Police Officer went against EVERYONE that has been bloggin regarding the issue of the "Puck Stops at Chief Dial." After reading his blog, I began to feel the puck does not stop at Chief Dial but at the former Mayor. I have no clue where it stops but he lays down a very strong analysis that one has to respect whether he is wrong or not. He seems only to attack people if they have been convicted in court or condemned by some reputable organization. He does not upset anyone, just like Mrs. Police Officer never upsets anyone. Great people, representing our Police Family. I must say, I look forward and enjoy reading their posts. I wish they both would write more as they have so much knowledge and can articulate. I do respect the police much more after reading their posts. They need to keep writing to build a bridge between civilians and police and help improve relations.

Police Officer is not afraid to tell it as it is. Mrs. of the Police Officer seems to hold back just a bit. She seems a little shocked from stories like Napergate and seems to not want to comment. She needs to remember most of us don't have first hand knowledge but we depend on credible sources like Police Officer, Ameena and Randy to make our comments.

Now as far as this d.bone guy, unlike everyone else I have no direct or indirect evidence to support or refute his 2nd claim in his second post. Of course he refutes his first post with his second post. I spent a lot of time discussing with you why I left Greta.wire and never returned. It is because of bloggers like d.bone. And I do not think I am the only one who left Greta.wire to come here because of d.bone types. He single-handedly killed this thread the last 11 hours. Not one post in 11 hours after being ever so busy! I should take that back of who killed the thread. I think your tolerance of him killed the thread. Hopefully only temporarily!

I think Marilyn said it best and it seems everyone missed her point. Now let me elaborate on Marilyn's point to see if I can resolve this controversy. If Marilyn had said "Host Ted raped me" and I am sticking by my story. And repeated that a few times, would Moderator Jim allow this allegation to be published? I think you both know with certainty, Jim would never allow such a comment to be published. Do we agree, Mr. Host and Mr. Moderator!

The bloggers are anonymous so their attacking of each other is not the same as them attacking a real person like Host Ted or the Napergate Man. Those are real guys! People know how to find them! Someone may want to find Host Ted and do some harm to him for "raping Marilyn." Someone may want to find the Napergate Man and do harm to him because his "daughter was killed in a DUI accident 20 years ago" and he suddenly heard the booze was flowing freely out of Extra Value Liquors at the time his daughter was killed. In the case of Ted, we have a false allegation of "rape." In the case of the Napergate Man, we have a false allegation of "2nd degree murder."

I understand the outrage of the supporters of the Napergate Man. And I believe you guys acted in haste and made the wrong decision because his supporters were ranting as Jim correctly stated instead of writing calmly. Obviously they lost their cool and were writing from workplaces instead of their homes as they indicated. They were obviously under some kind of stress or pressure as none of them sounded like themselves except of course that Ameena girl who is always armed with facts. It seems like all her weapons are stored in her Blackberry that she carries with her in case something like this erupts! Marvelous young lady!

I am certain d. bone's first post was a false allegation. Everyone can see he changed his story in his second post after he initially lied in his first post. The great Fake ID he used never came into play until his SECOND post after he knew no would buy his first falsehood. I think both of you are ignoring this important revealing fact while backing him by allowing his "obviously false post" to remain on the thread.

Basically, you both backed a "deceiver" instead of a ton of bloggers who have been trying to be overboard with their comments and research. In my opinion you both lost so much credibility that quickly by backing a guy who admitted lying. His 2 stories in his 1st and 2nd post are extremely contradictory.

I really believe this has become a very serious issue regarding both of your credibility's. Why you would want to risk your credibility's over someone I perceive as a "scumbag" is beyond me. Yes, I don't use words like that but I feel confident calling d.bone a "scumbag." If he was a real person as opposed to anonymous, I would not make such a comment. But he is anonymous and hiding, while making false allegations. Ted called another anonymous blogger a "coward." I agreed with Ted.
But this guy is also an anonymous "coward." D. bone is not his real name. So he is both anonymous and a coward. Yes, must of us don't like giving our last names out, but we use our real first names. My real name is Maryann! Obviously Ameena has been using her lovely and unique first name. In some ways she is revealing her identity because she has a very rare name that I do not believe anyone else in Naperville has.

I agree with Naperville Lawyer. If someone is going to print such horrendous allegations, his real name, address and phone number should be printed in the blog so he can be held accountable.

Ameena seems to have known for 3-4 weeks that the Naperville Sun chose not to print the Napergate Man's ads for whatever reason. She apparently knew this was a sensitive issue. She wanted to say it but could not say it even though I believe she was 99% certain. She kept delaying day by day until someone gave her an assist. She did not want to print second hand information. She wanted first hand information. She held herself to an extremely high journalistic standard. Yes, it does not surprise me she is loved, admired and respected on these blogs. And she has taken the unusual step of posting her real e-mail address for us to know she is real and can be contacted.

Why should she be going thru all the effort she goes thru to be accurate while d.bone can ramble unsubstantiated falsehoods. Who cares that he stands by his "story"? That is ludicrous! Let me make it a little worse, Ted. I want to add that "you not only raped Marilyn, but you also raped me, Maryann." You are really a strange guy and it always seems a little shady right outside that Naperville Sun building where you work! I stand by my story! So Moderator Jim will print this story because I stand by my "lie." You guys were both so out of line. Honestly! I just could not believe how you attacked bloggers defending an innocent man while supporting a low life.

I hope tomorrow morning you can do something a little better than what amounts to a "broken record defense" of that "d. bone stands by his story." Incredible! His story needs to be deleted as you first did, Ted. You did the RIGHT THING! Why in the world would you REVERSE yourself and shatter your credibility. That is why our city council has no credibility. They just kept reversing themselves depending on pressure imposed during Spring Green and other battles. I think McFarland noticed you had stayed up way too late and were upset about the Naperville Sun issue of not publishing Napergate V and VI. It seems to me you may have been in a knee jerk mode because you were upset from the previous day discussions combined with being very tired. You wanted to sign your "death warrant" over nothing. Why would you want to do that when it seems like you have the ability to be a major factor in turning the Naperville Sun around?

"Assuming" Ted has some slight leaning towards City Hall, d.bone is not the person you want to use to further your support for City Hall. Again I am just making an "assumption" for arguments sake. You want to use people like Police Officer and Mrs. Police Officer to support the city. Promote and encourage them! They both have impeccable credibility on these blogs. They both speak from the heart. They both have incredible consciences.

More "assumptions" Ted. If you are attempting to tarnish the Napergate Man's reputation with that post, you actually ended up enhancing it. You showed everyone like myself who does not have first hand information, how this whole mess took place and escalated. The same thing can repeat on blog life as in real life. I can almost see it. I think many bloggers saw that this defamation against the Napergate Man was so similar to the real case. You really struck a cord with that unnecessary blog with your participants! If you were trying to increase the bloggin with controversy, it backfired. Don't count my blog because I specialize in these dormant blogs. (I believe this one will only be dormant for a short while until people have time to forgive both of you guys for the injustice you allowed by printing that d. bone nonsense.) Maybe I can give it a little adrenalin!

I am beginning to ramble and need to get ready to go to work. But finally, I want to conclude that the Naperville Sun hurt itself immensely in the 90s(both in number of papers sold and credibility) by not covering a unique story like that of the Napergate Man's story. That is the kind of unique story that doubles and triples readership since it was a 10 year ordeal that moved like a soap opera of sorts. I have to believe from the "obvious" the soft pro-establishment Sun at the time deliberately ignored him and his legacy as he was anti-establishment.

The more you read about the Napergate Man, the more you feel he is a HERO of sorts. The more you feel he has got a strong LEGACY. The more you feel he achieved some ICONIC status with his accomplishments that are being revealed day by day. Yes, I am curious about what is next! I can't wait till Ameena digs up that part about the Nicarico Case. Now we find out this Napergate Man was working behind the scenes with a former Naperville Police Chief to help wrongfully convicted Hispanics kids, 25 years ago, and in some ironic twist of fate, he suddenly finds himself wrongfully convicted. An unbelievable sudden twist and turn in the Napergate Man's saga! Really an unbelievable story that beats any fiction book you can find anywhere! Writers just can not create a story this good! But we also suddenly learn why he may have been so legally savvy and was able to deal with our complex legal system which at times is obviously not fair. He was involved in another major legal battle helping others. No wonder he had at least 3500 supporters who signed his petition when he was falsely accused. It seems like Napervillians are good people and they reciprocated 10 fold to help a man who helped others in the past. Even while the Sun was trying to ignore him he got this humongous support as evidenced by his petition which is part of his court record.(per our credible librarian Ameena)

I sure don't want to go find another blogging site. I like this one and especially this Napergate thread. This is why I wrote this very early morning and I hope you guys give reconsideration to your decision. It was a very serious flaw of judgment. The man's WORD was proved to be dishonest by his next WORD! Think about that one as your ponder your decision again! Let us get this thread back on track. It was the best thread since this bloggin started without a doubt. It had momentum! It had intellectuals!
It had articulate writers! It had it all! Just look at the d. bone post. It simply does not fit on this thread. Imagine a gang banger coming to speak before the Board of Trustees at Exxon. He just would not fit or be accepted. D. Bone does not fit and should not be accepted! He should be banned at least from this thread for his BLATANT LIE. His own words proved he LIED and DECEIVED! I am giving JIM the benefit of the doubt and assuming he was under extreme pressure trying to meet deadlines and MISSED the first post of d.bone that started the controversy but caught the SECOND one. The only thing I can say in the defense of TED is that he did not sleep well the night before last and was overly concerned about signing his "death warrant."

Thanks,
Maryann

PS. Also when you have so much overwhelming evidence to the contrary regarding a specific issue like the Napergate Man's EXCELLENT CARDING practices of the past, this should have been given some consideration before posting that d. bone first blog. For him to say it was 20 years ago so it must have happened is beyond comprehension! It has already been documented with a Supreme Court ruling almost at that exact time(of d. bone's wild allegations) that the City of Naperville had abused its discretion and power in revoking his license. The Supreme Court overturned his revoked license which had been on appeal and reinstated it. Ameena provided the exact date. I only recall with certainty from reading Ameena's blogs, it was either in 1987 or 1988. The Naperville Sun had an opportunity to verify the truth and chose not to. For the first time since I began bloggin I honestly felt that the new Naperville Sun is the exact same newspaper as the old Naperville Sun as it had behaved accordingly. Sorry about my harsh remarks but what happened yesterday needs to be addressed!

d.bone is done with this blog. over and out.

Below are d. bones 2 posts. The first very offensive and untrue.
The second not as offensive as the first but contradicting the first, indicating d. bone may have been caught lying and tried to repair his lie. My comments are below his 2 posts:

******************************************************************

i did. i was just a youth of about 17-18 years old. i remember this man and his liquor store. my recollection is this was a place where it was very easy to walk in underage and buy liquor, i did it, friends of mine did it. there was nothing remarkable about this man or his store in fact, i remember him as very strange and maybe a bit too friendly to the young ladies. the police and others should have gone after him.

******************************************************************

thanks ted. also police officer. my story dates back over 20 years ago. now if you want to call me a liar as well, then what shall i call you ? there are a few good names i could think of... anyhoo, this is what happened to me, and my recollection of this store and this man. i admit to buying beer underage, i had a pretty darn good i.d. AMEENA. i can only say if were a cop at the time, i would have been checking this guy out, it always seemed a bit shady over there.

******************************************************************

Some comments.
1. It is not good to write when you are emotional as Marilyn, Marshall and the Naperville Lawyer were. Ameena appeared to do a better job of keeing her emotions intact and presenting facts. I was emotional but decided to wait till I cooled off!

2.D. Bone's first post was a blatant attmept to slander the Napergate Man. I am not sure Jim the moderator saw the first post as he did not refer to it. He just made it sound like you can just walk in there and buy booze at age 17 and no one would even care to blink an eye. Just ridiculous!

3.I was a customer of that Bailey Rd store and ran into the owner several times about 20 years ago the time D. Bone is now alleging.
At that time, they were using a still camera to take pictures of not only the customer, but also his ID and the date...3 pics with one shot. That is how intense their carding was 20 years ago. At that time their license was revoked and they were awaiting a Supreme Court decision that came I believe in 1988. It was a do or die situation for them. They were under so much pressure not to make a mistake due to the predicament they were in, that it defies logic that they would just be selling to minors.

4.They not only had a still camera that they used on every person looking under 40, but a back up video survellance system.

5. The situation that d. bone described in his first post could never have happened at that store. That is what outraged people including myself but I chose to wait till I got home and cooled down.

6.Everyone had a gut instinct that d. bone was not being truthful.
He in fact was not as he admitted in his next blog that suddenly he had a "pretty darn good ID." Suddenly only when he realized that no one would buy his first story he said he had a "pretty darn good ID." Basically he admitted he lied in the first post. I hope Moderator Jim read both the first and second post and caught the lie.

7. I think there has to be some sensitiviy here. This is not an ordinary store. This is a unique store that had its license revoked twice over an innocent/sting or sale to a minor. Something no other retailer would get more than a slap on the wrist for or a small fine.

8. Accusing this specific retailer of a false sale is much worse than accusing any other retailer of a false sale due to the hell he has been thru in the past. The hell he has been thru was never related to his carding but to his political views.

9.D. bone makes ridiculous remarks like the man is very strange, maybe a bit too friendly, police have gone after him and it seems a bit shady out there. All made up and untrue remarks from my numerous observations. I don't think he is talking about the store on Bailey Rd because it was nothing but a class act when the Napergate Man owned it and ran it.

10. I am assuming in the haste Jim, the moderator, overlooked the first post and would at least consider deleting it which is not laughable like the second post. The first post is also contradicted by his second posting which indicates he was not being truthful.

Since D. Bone picked a time frame of 20 years back, I can assure you that nothing was as he said 20 he years back. Everyone was very tight at that establishment. If he said 30 years back, I could not dispute his story as it was owned by Southland Corporation and I have no direct evidence either way as I lived in North Carolina.

But 18-22 yeas ago I lived in Naperville and I can dispute D. Bones allegations. The store was taking still photographs from 3 angles. They were interrogating customers. They were confiscating IDs.

Yes someone with a great fake ID can fool the best retailer. But going in there as he desribed in his first blog was a blatant lie. I urge the moderator and host to delete both of his posts but at least the first one since it is not only a lie but contradicted by the second one in essence exposing his lie.

Note from host:

d.bone continues to stand by his story.

i find it amazing that some of you learned people out there are calling for my head. are you really a lawyer ? naperville lawyer. please point out my libel or slander to me as i am just a naive hayseed. i have related MY incident that not one of you can either confirm or deny it. how can you ? i also bought beer at other liquor stores in town, but i do have a good recollection of this one. if i still had my fake i.d. i would be happy to share with you folks, but it was confiscated down in champaign-urbana. just MY story. now, i already admitted the cops should have gone after me, and i did have a good fake i.d. but i was 17. so, remember on february 5. VOTE FOR RON PAUL ! and marshall. you should take it down a notch or two.

Naperville lawyer and Marshall: Marshall, Ted's already answered your rant so I'll leave it there. Naperville Lawyer, I think you need to chill out a little. If d bone wants to post a boneheaded comment like that, theat' his problem. So he got over on someone at the store - according to him. It certainly wasn't the fault of the owner. If d bone wants to enlighten us with his HS antics, so be it.

Host,

d. bone is a complete fraud.

Just notice in the first blog he could buy booze so easily.

After being attacked and called out, he suddenly says he had a "pretty darn good i.d."

So if in fact he bought liquor he defrauded the Napergate Man by using a very "pretty darn good i.d." Who is the criminal here?
d. bone who is defrauding or the Napergate Man's empoyee who may have been taken with a very "pretty darn good i.d."

That is a completely different story than his first story. He is lying. It is obvious!

That is pure filth not fit for publication even in a toilet.

The Napergate Man has a record of confiscating more IDs than almost any retailer in the country if not the most. No one ever said he could not miss a fake ID. He caught more fake IDs than any other establishment.

d. bones intent was to slander the Napergate Man annonymously.

I can not believe you reversed yourself. I think you need to have someone else look at this wrongfully serious decision you just made!

You did say you were up very late last night. Maybe you are not thinking straight today. I am not sure but very disappointed.
Must get back to work! Don't like using company time but could not control myself this one time!

Note from host:

One claim perceived as critical of Napergate man, and look at the response it triggers. Like you said, the claim doesn't even indicate the seller did anything wrong, it was the buyer who admits engaging in illegal and deceptive practice.

Host,
I just want to express an opinion that you may be bordering on libel with that d. bone post.

Where is his proof? Where is the time and date? Where is the proof of who owned that place at the time?

His statement was not an opinion! It was not fact! It was not documented. It is pure libel especially in the context of the overwhelming evidence we have about the Napergate Man and his polices. His performance is documented for 20 years at that location.

I can assure you if that was in print media you would have a lawsuit at your door tomorrow morning. Yes, blogs are untested but why are you testing the waters with something you know is so risky and most probably false.

I find it ironic that Napergate ads were so well scrutinized for libel and slander and now you suddenly have a double standard.
You made the right decision the first time. Why are you reversing yourself? Your gut instinct to remove it the first time was absolutely right.

Ask d. bone to provide his real name and publish it. I dare him to do that. The Napergate Man would take him to the laudromat and leave him with not even the clothes on his back with that remark.

Yes, if someone is going to make a remark like that, he should provide his name, address and phone number. If the Sun tolerates that without a name, I suspect the Sun will be testing a defamation lawsuit in the near future by playing with such a red hot flaming fire.

I know the Napergate Man had to take responsibility for all his ads and what he said. He took full responsibilty that he was not libeling anyone. He published his responsibility by pubslishing his name. He was ready for a lawsuit. No one ever sued him because he had his facts straight and backed them up.

I urge you to remove that post.

Sorry this is messy and quick. I am at work and could only afford a minute here. But I was really disappointed with the Sun for allowing such a post.

Response from Ted, host:

Duly noted, but I disagree with you. He makes a claim about one incident that he alleges occurred 20 years ago. Perhaps the crackdown on underage buying of alcohol started shortly after incidents like this. Surely it's possible that of the thousands of transactions that would have occurred at such an establishment each year, one or more might have been to an underage person who deceived the seller. I don't see how this person who claims to have illegally deceived the seller libels the seller--it's not like he claims to have walked in, appeared obviously underage, and obtained alcohol with no ID. And in the context of the overwhelming number of posts on this site explaining the store owner's diligence in enforcing legal alcohol sales, I don't see how this one claim detracts from the obvious overwhelming practice of the store over the years.

Kevin,
Of course I retract that! I slipped up in the speed of responding to a false allegation that infuriated me.

My apologies to you and all others I may have offended.

I will try to choose my words carefully and review my letters before posting.

I was at work and did that one hastily without reviewing.

Sorry,
Ameena

PS. I should have said idiots or something like that. I will be more careful. Thanks for pointing it out Kevin!

thanks ted. also police officer. my story dates back over 20 years ago. now if you want to call me a liar as well, then what shall i call you ? there are a few good names i could think of... anyhoo, this is what happened to me, and my recollection of this store and this man. i admit to buying beer underage, i had a pretty darn good i.d. AMEENA. i can only say if were a cop at the time, i would have been checking this guy out, it always seemed a bit shady over there. you have to remember there wasn't a whole lot happening in naperville at the time, not alot of bars, restaurants, night life. i doubt we were even in the top 10 city for dui's back then. i will let you all get back to your arguing and conjecture.

Host,
I just want to thank you for deleting that libelous blog by d. bone. That was a false allegation. It was sickening. But Thank God that false allegation was from a loser and not someone in authority.

That is exactly how Napergate started. From false allegations or charges coming from people in authority. I can only be thankful that d. bone is a big time loser with no authority. If he felt like picking on liquor licensees he should have mentioned them all and left Extra Value Liquors as last since it is by far the strictest in town.

If he was in fact able to get booze so easily across town, why specifically name Extra Value Liquors. Why not name some of the other places? Because he has a political agenda of sorts. When I was of AGE I could never get cigs or liquor at that place when I simply forgot my I.D. I have to wonder how he got liquor there when I could not even though they knew I was of AGE and had seen my ID on many prior occassions.

And does d.bone even know what years the Napergate Man owned that store? If he does not know than he should have not publish that filth. In case he does not know it was owned by someone before the Napergate Man and it has been owned by someone after him. So if someone can't pin a time and date and show some proof that is libelous.

That is like me saying d. bone raped me. You have to believe me host. Would you publish that garbage? So I hope next time, Mr. Host, that we never see a post like that for the 5 minutes I saw it. Thanks for getting rid of it so quickly!

And one thing that has never been mentioned anywhere but I know from my experiences there from his employees and wathcing TV, is that his employess are given 20 dollars for each fake ID confiscated and it doubles for each ID after that in the same week. Employees took pride in getting fake IDs in that place. This was also mentioned on a CBS documentary and an NBC documentary. I am surprised the Napergate Man forgot to mention it in his Napergate Ads or maybe I just overlooked it when reading them.

I thank Ameena for immediately providing the evidence to prove his allegations are false.

And I thank Mr. Police Officer who must have noticed that libelous post and pointed it out before he even started his letter.

I just hope in the future the host can catch these lies before they are posted as they are so blatantly false. As Police Officer said someone must have an ax to grind or an agenda to implement to publish such filth.

I also agree with Ameena that someone who publishes information knowing it is false, should be thrown off these threads. This thread has been exceptional. It has been based on fact, proof and opinion! Not lies!!!

One just has to look at all the effort Mr. Police Officer puts in his post to make sure he is accurate, honest and credible. He commends good cops and condemns bad cops. He thinks before he writes. He is so analytical and insightful!

He does not deny there was a conspiracy but he tries to pin it at the right parties while trying to protect the innocent.

Most impressive was his statement that he would not even bother charging a guy like the Napergate Man for an innocent mistake because he has that long and proven record.

Police Officer wrote a great letter. I should end here and let the bloggers read it. If I can steal a quote from Ted, "I don't want to detract from your post by elaborating on it, just wanted to say well done."

Note from Ted:

Well, Marilyn, you may not be happy now, because d.bone is sticking by his story, saying it happened before the crackdown on underage buyers of alcohol.

Ameena,

First, I want to say I think your blogs are always insightful and factual. You do a great job writing your entries and you have a lot of credibility with the readers of this blog...that is why I was surprised that you would make fun of mentally disabled individuals by saying..."Not that anyone would believe such blatant falsehoods unless they were retarded!" Posted by: Ameena | January 28, 2008 10:50 AM. I assume you were just trying to make a point and did not mean any harm by your comment, but I am sure there are other ways to make that point without insulting a portion of our population that do contribute to our community in many ways. I have a different perspective as I have worked with people who are both mentally and physically disabled and I had a cousin who had Down Syndrome. He passed away years ago. I know you are admired on this blog by many, that is why I wanted to point this out as I want to give you a chance to retract that portion of your last entry. At least I hope you will consider doing that.

Take care,

Kevin

Good Afternoon Bloggers,

I would like to start off by stating that blog by d. bone that Extra Value liquors sells to minors is a complete and utter fabrication. I have been to his stores many times the last 20 years and never seen him sell to a minor. I have seen him and his employees always carding even people up to 50. So I don't know what ax d. bone has to grind with this man but his post is false...very utterly false. Not good for the reputation of the thread!

I read that last few days that everyone disagrees with me, and that the puck stops at the top. For argument's sake let me agree with the numerous bloggers who came to that conclusion.

But if the puck stops at the top who is really at the top. Is Chief David Dial really the top man here? No, he is not! I believe he reports to both the City Manager and the Mayor. OK, I expect you to correct me and say not the Mayor but the City Council. The reason I said Mayor is because if the Mayor is in the majority he pretty much controls the Chief.

All a Mayor has to do is rally the 4 other council members he is aligned with, call a vote and the Chief is fired. It is that simple! So who is really on top! The Mayor not the Chief of Police as long as he has the majority which has always been the case in at least the last 30 years in Naperville! Mr. Basim Esmail came closest to ever upsetting the situation in the City Council but he never got more than 4 endorsees elected at one time. Maybe 7 or 8 over 3 elections but never more than 4 in one election or sitting on one council. I am sure of that! Actually positive!

But let us be clear again for fear of accusing the innocent. Mayor George Pradel was not involved when this Napergate Mess started. He was not involved when 5-10 police officers were following orders of the Prosecutor and most likely the former Mayor. Mayor Samuel Macrane was the one fingered by Basim Esmail, the IABTF and even some courts. I think Basim Esmail asked him to resign in his second or third ads. He did not call for Chief Dial to resign. He knew who the culprit was. He also asked Prosecutor Cuneo to resign several times. Again he never called on Chief Dial to resign. These 2 guys appear to have been interfering with police officers. As I said before in my first blog, I strongly believe there were some winks and nods going on.

The IABTF accused Mayor Samuel Macrane of running a fascist government in town. Chief Dial had no power against Mayor Macrane. Macrane had the 5 necessary votes to fire him. So Macrane was the top gun and not Chief Dial. The puck had to stop at Macrane. Macrane was probably working with Cuneo and those 5-10 police officers behind Chief Dial's back.

The IABTF report did not accuse any Captains or even Sergeants of the fine Naperville Police Dept.. Lowly police officers that were in my opinion hoodwinked by Cuneo and Macrane.

So the bottom line if I am wrong and you are all right that the puck stops at the top, we have to understand the top was Mayor Samuel Macrane and not Chief David Dial. Chief Dial had no power to fire Mayor Samuel Macrane or stop his fascist rule as is described in the now famous IABTF report that is being discussed constantly on this blog. Prosecutor Cuneo was probably a co-conspirator to Mayor Macrane. He led the prosecution of Basim Esmail from beginning to end. He directed all these outside attorneys from 2 firms numbering at least 5 and possibly more. Prosecutor Cuneo wanted to make a case out of a sting operator being in possession of a bottle of Korbel Champagne for less than one minute while in the performance of the furtherance of the Liquor Control Act as the Appellant Court ruled.

How did Chief Dial get involved on this one? It was Cuneo who charged Mr. Esmail. Not Chief Dial! I doubt Chief Dial knew Mr. Esmail was charged but of course I am not sure on this fact.

Who wanted to try this Korbel Bottle Case(which is only one of the numerous charges in this case) in Dupage County Court? Of course it was Prosecutor Cuneo with Mayor Samuel Macrane who doubled as the Liquor Commissioner pushing him all the way. How did Chief Dial suddenly get involved? He wasn't! How can he be held accountable? He can't! It was Prosecutor Cuneo who got those 9 continuances in court and let it drag on for nearly 3 years before he surrendered without an attempt and the Judge dismissed the case. ( I do not know if the Judge ended up drinking that bottle as one blogger noted...I think he deserved to after what Cuneo put him thru. But if police procedure was followed which I believe was, it was returned to Mr. Esmail or his store from "evidence.")

You may ask why did Cuneo not try this case! Most likely because he found out after he charged Mr. Esmail, that he had the whole incident on video tape showing it was nothing but a "sting." He not only tagged the bottle of Korbel for recovery but the marked money he gave the minor and retrieved from him/her. He had the goods on Cuneo in such a way if Cuneo would have proceeded Esmail would have fried him like the Duke Lacrosse players fried their prosecutor. Maybe even worse! So from a legal strategy Cuneo did the only thing he could possibly do. Drag this thing and hope Esmail would run out of money, become exhausted or settle the case for a plea of "anything." Esmail and his attorney(Mr. Brian Telander for this portion of the case) were steadfast and challenged him to a jury trial. Cuneo did not take the offer or more appropriately the bait. He was much smarter than that Duke Lacrosse prosecutor. I don't want anyone to think I support Cuneo. I am just saying from a legal standpoint he knew how to get out of the mess he got himself into and avoid going to jail. He got out of the mess by dismissing the case! Simple as that!

So in some ironic twist in this specific part of the case the big winner was Cuneo...not Esmail. Cuneo was risking everything with this prosecution. He was risking his reputation, credibility, taxpayer money and above all his personal liberty due to potential malicious and conspiratorial prosecution. Esmail was risking nothing but a guaranteed victory. Getting off the subject just for a moment, that is why there is absolutely no comparison with the Dick Furstenau Case. Mr. Fursteanau really has nothing. Eyewitnesses these days carry very little weight in court after all the exonerations due to DNA evidence in the last decade of over 100 convicted murderers nationwide. In the Napergate Case, Mr. Esmail had the Korbel bottle he tagged and RETRIEVED, the money he marked, the videotape of the sting, the minor he used, a manager in the store who was observing the sting being performed, and of course himself. He had everything! Cuneo had NOTHING! Not one witness and not one iota of evidence and he brings malicious and fabricated charges.(something we now know but did not know then). Is anyone still wondering why the IABTF made this now famous and often repeated statement:

"The penalties invoked by Naperville against this retailer have been ridiculously harsh and designed to put him out of business even for the first offense. The evidence seems to indicate harassment, discrimination, and trumped up charges and testimony. The conduct exhibited by the government of the City on Naperville, the City Attorney and some members of its police department is conspiratorial and is reminiscent of fascism."

Yes, in fascist countries you try to silence your political opponents by bringing false charges and imprisoning them. It is difficult to argue with the IABTF just looking at this one charge involving the infamous bottle of Korbel. There were a total of a dozen charges in this conspiracy. Again those are not my words but those of the IABTF.
I feel confident in using them since it is a multi billion dollar organization that was never sued in 15 long years for that apparently accurate statement.

So in a nutshell people really need to back off of trying to implicate Chief David Dial. That is so ridiculous! This was a political conspiracy from beginning to end. Chief Dial is not a political person. He is a top cop doing his job of protecting the citizens of Naperville. When his boss former Mayor Samuel Macrane yanks some of his officers away from him and gets them involved with conspiratorial activities what could he do. If he interfered, he would be fired by Mayor Macrane who was the real boss in this conspiracy. All the blame falls on his shoulders...all of it. Again he was also the Liquor Commissioner who appointed the Judge(hearing officer he may have been called) who kangarooed Mr. Esmail. Of course it was a Kangaroo Trial as everyone is saying on these blogs including the Naperville Lawyer. But what did Chief Dial have to do with this trial. Not one iota of anything!

The judge for this so called Kangaroo Trial was an employee of the Park District. I don't recall his name but I am almost positive he was from the Park District. Chief Dial has no authority over the Park District. If you want to hold someone responsible for that Park District employee presiding over a Kangaroo Trial, look for his boss in the Park District. Not Chief Dial!

I was very disappointed when I saw long time bloggers I deemed pro city for many months turn on Chief Dial. That was what I was afraid of when that gal guessed Chief Dial. I knew it would escalate in such an unfair way.

This is a very complicated case that lasted 2 decades. People are clueless as to what went on. Yes, former Mayors Margaret Price and Chester Ribicki have a lot to also do with the discrimination and harassment of Mr. Esmail. And yes they lost a big battle against Mr. Esmail in the Supreme Court in the late 80s. And yes they were accused of abusing their power and discretion. But again Chief Dial was not involved. And this may surprise you, neither was former Police Chief James Teal involved in any way. Chief Teal was a friend to Mr. Esmail and even had some kind of working relationship with Mr. Esmail thru a company the former Chief owned called Odd Jobbers. Mr. Esmail used Chief Teal's company frequently. They had an excellent relationship. I knew Chief Teal personally and he once told me he was working with Mr.Esmail to try to exonerate the 3 innocent Hispanics convicted of killing 11 year old Jenine Nicarico of Naperville in 1983. Most of the sections in Esmail's political ads regarding the Nicarico case were directly dictated from former Chief Teal. Chief Jim Teal felt these guys were innocent from Day 1. He could not find anyone to agree with him in the early stages except Mr. Esmail and one state trooper, if I recall correctly with a first name of Sam. These 3 guys hounded Tribune Columnist Eric Zorn until he took the case and the rest is history. Their convictions were overturned for those who may not know and they are free men after being incarcerated up to a dozen years each! The real alleged killer Brian Dugan has yet to be tried a quarter century later! Shows you what a top rate legal system we have in Dupage!

So to summarize those in command of the fine Naperville Police Dept. including both Chiefs had nothing to do with the persecution of Mr. Esmail. All the 3 former Mayors did but not the current Mayor Pradel. I have reason to believe the current Mayor and Mr. Esmail have a very good relationship.

Mayor Pradel is a very fair Mayor. Many of the Napergate Ads that took place after the liquor proceedings were against positions Mayor Pradel stood for. Especially the Spring Green and SW Gate ads. The big difference between the current Mayor and the former Mayors is the current Mayor can accept defeat. Yes, Mr. Esmail led a large contingent of supporters to City Hall and defeated Mayor Pradel and former Mayor Price by a 7-2 vote in that Final Spring Green vote.

This current Mayor is a phenomenal Mayor. He is the first Mayor not to retaliate against Mr. Esmail liquor license(s) because of his politics in almost 30 years. All the other former Mayors retaliated against Mr. Esmail's liquor license.

After that famous ATT battle that took place in which Mr. Esmail reversed the vote from 7-0 to 0-7, I suddenly read in the newspaper he had a sale to a minor. I was thinking what a coincidence! Any cop can get any liquor establishment for a sale to a minor. It is just too easy! So many minors use fake IDs and when a cop stops them the fake ID gets buried behind their car seat sometimes never to be found. So a bad cop will charge a retailer by saying he did not card the minor sometimes knowing the minor used a fake ID or sometimes not wanting to make the effort to find the ID buried in the seat of the car somewhere. A good cop will not charge when a fake ID is used and the only crime is the retailer was unable to detect the ID was fraudulent. Some fraudulent IDs look more authentic than real IDs made by governmental agencies.

As a police officer, I would never charge a retailer who confiscates 6 times as many IDs as all other establishment combined for not being able to detect one fake ID after detecting 206 or so. Not my numbers but the Illinois Appellant's numbers.(provided to us by Ameena but which I am positive are accurate) So if police officers are focusing their energy to nail the toughest retailer in town if not the nation, instead of the 104 other establishments who only got 38 IDs, that tells anyone there is a conspiracy going on. The IABTF was 100% correct. Now why would any police officer be targeting this man. Yes, it was a conspiracy! A big time conspiracy that sickens me as a police officer. It brings a bad name to the so many decent police officers in all of Chicagoland and specifically those in Naperville Police Dept.

Since I don't work for the dept., I just have to believe that Chief Dial punished these 5-10 police officers. He is a man of conscience. He is a very good man.He is a great and ethical leader. As a police officer I am against Internal Affairs matters being secret and confidential. But all the police departments in the Chicagoland area, to the best of my knowledge do not publicize their Internal Affairs investigations and in particular their findings. Let us not single the Naperville Police Dept. for any wrong doing for operating in the same way as all other departments in the State of Illinois.

If people want these Internal Investigations to be public they are either going to have to march to City Hall or the State Capitol and have the laws changed. I am not an attorney so I don't know where one has to go to change laws but I think one of those 2 places would be the right place or at least a good start.

Anyway, I just want to conclude regardless of what anyone is saying on these blogs, that Chief David Dial, was never involved in any wrong doing as pertaining to Napergate. He has been around a very long time and he has nothing to do with this mess or fiasco as some call it. The culprits have been identified repeatedly as the 3 former Mayors of Naperville, Prosecutor Francis Cuneo, City Attorney Michael Roth and approximately 5- 10 low level Naperville Police Officers. I am not naming the police officers because I sincerely believe they were innocent victims of a conspiracy that they had no real knowledge of was occurring, and were being used as pawns without the knowledge of either Police Chief current or former. It is totally nonsensical to believe that Police Chief Jim Teal who was a good friend of Basim Esmail would turn his cops loose on him. Not possible! Bloggers need to drink some more coffee in the mornin before bloggin! Sorry it took me so long to respond but I do have a job and family!

Host Ted -

Since you unpublished d. bone's post, I have no frame of reference for what Ameena is obviously concerned with in her most recent post (Jan. 28th at 10:50 AM).

While I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that the post wasn’t unpublished for a simple math error, I also believe Ameena's call to ban d.bone is rather draconian.

I think he should continue to be allowed to post and Ameena and everyone else can make their own determinations regarding his credibility.

And Ameena –

“So now we have a man who lies and breaks the law by trying to buy booze when he was 17 and we are suppose to believe him...very hilarious!”

Everyone’s broken some law whether it’s been speeding, stealing, taxes, or even attempting to buy booze while underage. This is especially true at such a young age. The phrase that comes to mind is “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

T.B.

Note from Ted, host.

OK, upon further review d.bone's comment is being re-published. He's expressing a view that's obviously in the minority, but he's standing by his claim that it's not a lie.

what exactly was false ? that i really didn't walk in there and buy from this man ? were you there ? i am disappointed that my own TRUE personal account is chastised as though it is a falsehood with no proof other than an over zealous zealot. could he have confiscated more i.d.s because in the past more underage kids found it easy to buy from him ? and now that the gig was up, and he had to crack down ? how absurd your reasoning, if i kill a man, and then perform good deeds, does it admonish me from the murder ? i can only comment on my own TRUE personal account of this story, and to have you, AMEENA find it offensive just confirms my earlier post, that this town, or blog has gone to the dogs. and TED, can you please tell me why you would remove my post ?

d.bone,

OK, d.bone, it's re-published, and no doubt we'll have plenty of spirited debate about the veracity of your post.

Host or Moderator,

You just posted a blatantly false blog by a man who most probably knew he was lying.

Let me present the proof that D. Bone is fabricating evidence.

Directly from the unanimous decision of the Illinois Appellant Court.

"Other evidence presented in mitigation, such as the large number of confiscated IDs turned over to the Naperville Police(206) as compared to the other 104 Naperville liquor licenses(38) and also the testimony of a Naperville Police officer which would have stated that Esmail's enforcement efforts were exemplary as compared with other licenses, was erroneously excluded at the local hearing."

Basically the 104 licensees confiscated .365 IDs per establishment or about one third of an ID during this period.

Esmail averaged 206 IDs during this period.

Thus Esmail was averaging 564 times the average rate of IDs compared to the other liquor licensees in town during this period. So D.Bone would have a 564 greater times of being arrested if he went to Extra Value Liquors than any other store in town. And we are to believe he chose to go to the stongest link of the chain to get his booze. Plus he admitted he was a law breaker when he was a minor. So now we have a man who lies and breaks the law by trying to buy booze when he was 17 and we are suppose to believe him...very hilarious!

If it was so easy to walk in Extra Value Liquors and buy booze if you were a minor, other liquor establishment must have been selling to children and babies...d. bones remark is a blatant unbelievable lie!

And we know the Napergate Man also won the National Kylix Award for having the most outstanding "Responsible Drinking Sales Campaign" in the nation against minors, like d. bone, on March 24, 1992 at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

Furthermore, the Beverage Alcohol Market Report of NY praised Extra Value Liquors for having the most outstanding program against minors in the country.( I have the details but will not publish them in order to keep this post brief and focused)

I believe that post by d.bone is absolute slander and libel and I am shocked the Host or Moderator would allow it to be published.

I personally believe a blogger who publishes such falsehoods should be banned permanently from blogging to send a message loud and clear that such lies will not be permitted or tolerated on these blogs.

Not that anyone would believe such blatant falsehoods unless they were retarded!

I hope the Host/Moderator take immediate and appropriate action. This is not opinion that d.bone is expressing. It is a pure factual lie!

It is nice to know he could be a bit friendly to the young ladies knowing the kind of hectic life he had which included owning 6 businesses, living in courtrooms, attending City Hall meetings, being involved in numerous rallies, amongst numerous other good deeds he had done for society and in particular Naperville! Many men on this blog including Randy have described him as friendly also. When was being a bit friendly declared a crime? I thought it was nice to be a bit friendly.

Note from Ted, host:

The commenter is standing by his claims and says it's not a lie.

wow, you people all seem to have too much time on your hands, so much conjecture, patting each other on the back, congratulating this or that . did anyone actually live in this town when this all happened ? i did. i was just a youth of about 17-18 years old. i remember this man and his liquor store. my recollection is this was a place where it was very easy to walk in underage and buy liquor, i did it, friends of mine did it. there was nothing remarkable about this man or his store in fact, i remember him as very strange and maybe a bit too friendly to the young ladies. the police and others should have gone after him. they should have gone after me too ! everyone here seems to forgive the crimes, and focus on the the means. when does the end justify the means ? i guess this town has been overrun by liberals moving here from new york, california, etc... i am guessing most of you would do away with guantanamo, waterboarding ? you are all probably firmly behind the smoking ban, universal health care, higher taxes, barak osama obama, even HILLARY CLINTON ! i understand that you are a very vocal minority, but there is a very strong silent majority that is ready to be heard. we just have real lives to lead.

Host,

For the record, I am not a civil rights lawyer or either a libel and slander lawyer.

But what puzzles me in this case is why his Napergate ads had to go though so much review before being published.

My understanding is it was simply a tough political ad. He was paying for it. It stated that it was his ad. My gut feeling is he would be liable for any misinformation, slander or libel and not the Naperville Sun. I am sure there was a disclaimer somewhere in the ad that it was not Sun opinion or the contents were the sole and full responsibility of the advertiser. In a rare incidence where there was a blatant lie or a defamation of character that the Naperville Sun knew about with 100% certainty while allowing it to be published, I would predicate that the Sun may/would have some exposure. But it would have to be blatant and deliberate on the part of the Sun.

So the question is, why would the Naperville Sun require these ads to go through such rigorous hoops and tests including sending to corporate headquarters in California after already being reviewed locally by editors and attorneys for the Sun, in addition to having been previously reviewed by attorneys for the Napergate Man? It seems to me like it was a complete overkill of sorts!

I am just thinking out loud this overkill was probably because City Officials had already began complaining to the Sun weeks before Napergate V became their "FINAL STAND OF TOLERANCE." Most probably the complaints started from the moment Napergate I popped up as they knew with little doubt what was on the horizon. I recall the Napergate Man issuing a threat to those who charged him wrongfully to resign or "the next ad was on the way." I guess we know he was just not threatening. He delivered week after week until officials felt it had become unbearable. And Sun officials wanted to take the extra step of being careful. Normally no political ad is subjected to such a microscopic level of review.

Keep in mind all he was pretty much saying is "He did not do it." Every defendant in court appears before a judge initially and says "He did not do it" whether he did it or did not do it by pleading "not guilty." It is hard to be sued just because you said, "You ain't done it." Yes, the Napergate Man took it a step further and accused the Mayor, Prosecutor and certain police of fabricating evidence against him. But this is technically the same as saying, "I did not do it" but in a more precise or mean spirited way. But of course we now all know why he had such unusual confidence. "He knew he ain't never done it." He knew city officials were lying but unfortunately the rest of us did not know for sure until the IABTF ruling which was followed by numerous court rulings including those of the Appellant Courts.

In summary I feel from reading all the blogs and especially Ameena's wonderful late night post, as the host already noted by calling it amazing, that the pressure was REAL and not "just" PERCEIVED. There was simply too much at stake here for a retailer to have his right to advertise revoked based on just PERCEPTION....IT HAD TO BE REALITY! No doubt in my mind!!! My two cents worth this early morning before I head to work!

Note from Ted, host:

Just to clairify, I recall the editors had nothing to do with the Napergate ads. Paid advertising, handled by the ad department. There were no local attorneys, the company's attorneys were in California.

I think because it was the first time ad people had to run copy by legal on a regular basis, that was part of it. The hassle, that is.

Note from Ted, host:

Another amazing post, Ameena. Napergate man said it himself when he chose the words, "perceived or real pressure from city of Naperville officials." That statement supports both our theories. I guess I'd like to believe it was more perceived than real. Thanks for correcting my earlier mistake. I don't want to detract from your post by elaborating on it, just wanted to say well done.

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Host,
In reading the numerous posts on Napergate including yours, Ameena's and Randy's, I disagree with your belief that it was perceived pressure. I feel strongly it was real pressure for the Naperville Sun to take a drastic move against its NO. 1 advertiser in both retail liquor and political ads. I recall him running full page ads filled with coupons throughout the 90s besides his 44 Napergate ads and umpteen other political ads.

I can't see such a drastic decision being made because a lowly employee complained about her work load or meeting a deadline for a Napergate ad when it could easily be postponed to the next edition as Ameena so eloquently pointed out.

My feeling is there was an enormous about of pressure applied on the Naperville Sun by City Officials to take this draconian action against a retailer trying to clear his name from ridiculous and fabricated charges. City officials obviously had the motive! He was smearing their reputation with facts, graphs, documents, cancelled checks, you name it, ad after ad! Whatever he could find! He was embarrassing them! Of course they would have the motive.

No one in the Naperville Sun would have a motive to cut the hand off that feeds it. That is utter nonsense! Even a lonely or middle level employee acting in cahoots with City Officials would have been stopped by higher level Sun Executives and brought to his/her senses!

I am going to guess the call came straight from Mayor Samuel Macrane to the Editor/Publisher at the time demanding these ads be halted immediately. He was the guy that destroyed all the financial records that contained the cost of the Napergate Case. So we already know he was very bold and dictatorial.(In addition that IABTF Liquor Organization ruled he was a fascist or something of that nature...can't remember all this bloggin info). Other top ranking City Officials like Prosecutor Cuneo or maybe even Chief Dial could have made a call or two to another Sun employee or top executive.

The Napergate Man was systematically and methodolically exposing a conspiracy ad by ad. Of course City Officials wanted to stop his surgical approach. And they thought they succeeded.

Until.......

Once he published his own ad and began distributing it hand to hand with a focus on City Hall, apparently City Officials realized their demands on the Naperville Sun backfired. The situation got much worse and the Naperville Sun was losing at least a 1000 dollars a week in revenue since he usually ran 2 ads a week. Sometimes he repeated his Napergate ad. Other times he complemented his political ad with a retail ad.

My guess is there was an incredible amount of pressure put from many City Officials on all executives of the Naperville Sun to crush these Napergate Series of ads. In the end the City Officials failed and the Napergate ads crushed them! Sometimes as history has shown, even getting them elected out of office.

In conclusion I don't buy that theory that it was perceived pressure. The Napergate Man chose his words very clearly because he did not want to burn bridges with the Sun. He just wanted to find a way to put more pressure on the Sun than city officials could in hopes one day he would be able to advertise again instead of being engaged in hand to hand warfare(distribution). Apparently he succeeded with that Napergate VI which is being searched for. I kind of remember it faintly but would love to see it again as I don't think I was comprehending this case as it was ongoing as I am now. I think this bloggin with each other is what helps one to get to the bottom of this very complicated and difficult to understand political case. It had nothing to do with a bottle of Korbel Champagne that never even came to a trial after being continued for 9 times before a Judge finally threw it out...I mean drank it...lol!!!

Note from Ted, host:

I could say I believe a second gunman had to be involved in the assassination of JFK. That doesn't make it true, either.

Ameena,
I just woke up out of my sleep and decided to read your latest (Posted by: Ameena | January 27, 2008 11:51 PM.) I agree with Host Ted that it was truly amazing. Not only do you have investigative skills but you also have amazing analytical skills.

And you seem like you always watch your credibility like the Napergate Man did by only posting facts and letting us know when you are being theoretical.

It seems like we don't know for sure what happened as you and Ted seem to be indicating, but it just seems that there was a lot of pressure coming from those City Officials who were being blasted in those ads.

I don't buy the theory that a lowly Sun advertising staff person could just make a complaint that these ads are a nuisance to her and she wants them stopped and they would suddenly be halted. Dah...! That is why the Sun is paying her. That theory is simply not believable. And you shattered the theory of the difficulty the Sun was having of meeting deadlines by noticing some of the Napergate ads were published on Friday instead of Wednesday. It is logical to assume this was to avoid the entire paper from being delayed until the ad could be reviewed. I would also think that the Sun could have moved up the deadline by one day on the Napergate Man to give themselves the extra time they needed to review it without having to delay the presses or move it to a future date.

In those days I recall the Wednesday and Friday editions as being both extremely powerful with the Sunday Edition being very weak.
So I do not see why it would make a difference to the Napergate Man if his ad appeared Wednesday or Friday. He just wanted the ad to eventually reach his readers!

This Napegate 10 year saga was a long war so I think he could care less about which day his ad popped in the Naperville Sun.
A one day delay is nothing compared to 5 year delays in his court battles. Anyway thanks Ameena for your post that gave us the Napergate Man's exact words again so we don't keep speculating. I hope you find that Napergate VI ad. I am sure it will pop up soon as everything else seemed to have popped up..

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Host,

You seem to be a little oversensitive and overzealous about nothing. You were a lowly "powerless reporter" as you describe yourself. I am sure you rose thru the ranks to nearly the top because someone in the Naperville Sun wanted some fresh blood to replace the old blood. I am assuming from the Sunday Naperville Edition about Napergate that I bought you are second in command at the Sun. Until I bought that edition which was the first one I bought in 2 years I thought you were a lowly employee playing host to a bunch of bloggers babbling away. I am very impressed that you are the Managing Editor. I assumed after reveiwing page 2, that you were second in command to Jim Lynch since he was the only one listed above you. I also thought Jim was a lowly employee bloggin with us trying to get this site going. I was shocked to find out he was actually the Editor/Publisher of the Sun who I am assuming in layman's language is the Big Boss!

For the last 10 years, I honestly thought Tim West was everything at the Naperville Sun except the owner. So buying that newspaper because of Napergate taught me who is who. You guys never bothered to introduce yourselves. So I guess I can take credit for introducing you to the rest of the bloggers.

I have a question for you. Was Tim West ever that head honcho at the Naperville Sun or is that just a perception on the street since he has been around for a long time? What is the highest position he ever held? Was he ever Editor/Publisher?

I think it is exciting to get into history once in a while and learn about both the Naperville Sun and Napergate. I suddenly found myself interested in learning about the personalities that run the Naperville Sun. I know that is not news but it is nevertheless interesting. Who wants to hear about crimes everyday? It seems like it is the same old story repeated by another idiot committing the identical crime. And who wants to hear the individual stories of all 800 residents getting DUIs? What is there to know? They all had one to many to drink!

The Napergate Story is so different and I think that is why readers are so interested to learn more about Napergate and the Napergate Man. I find it fascinating that he is almost always called the Napergate Man and never by his name. I still don't know his name even though I recall seeing it once on these blogs. I think the host is the only one to seem to know his name and possibly the only one who mentioned him by name. I think that is another remarkable part of this story. How his nickname stuck so strongly! Maybe Ameena can tell us why people chose to call him the Napergate Man instead of by his name which I can not remember suddenly! I am sure she either has the answer or will find it.

Let us face it the Napergate Man was doing so much for this town the last 20 years and he was almost the best kept secret by the Old Naperville Sun. I think the New Naperville Sun has a duty to tell us about him since the old Naperville Sun ignored him.

As many said he was literally able to move mountain after mountain. We are lucky to have such a person amongst us who we can learn so much from.

It is apparent there currently is not one single person in Naperville who knows how to start a grassroots movement. No one seems able to drive the bus as the host/moderator once indicated. Maybe if we study the history of the Napergate Man we will learn how to drive buses filled with grassroots supporters and make an impact on our Council Members as the Napergate Man once did. I agree with many bloggers that he left a huge legacy that needs to be told if not studied. I am glad Ameena is telling it to us day by day. I honestly woke up in the middle of the night to see if Ameena had reported yet. The minute I saw her post my eyes woke up too. And I felt like writing before returning to bed. It is just a story that motivates me to write. I suddenly find myself enjoying the art of writing! I hated writing before this Napergate Story began surfacing a month or so ago on these blogs. I have never written a letter to the editor of any newspaper including the Naperville Sun. So this is new to me and I am having fun.

I really hope you and Jim can help Ameena with her coverage of the Napergate Man. Just look at all these new bloggers joining us to blog about him. You invited them to come on your front page and they came. Let us not disappoint them and show them why we love bloggin and how much there is to learn on these open threads. The success of the threads is their openness. I hope you never close them because of any skeleton in any closet be it in my closet or your closet. If you do, they will become as boring as that old community Naperville Sun that declined in readership from 22,000 to 15,000 despite a 50% increase in population as one blogger corretly pointed out. Sorry, I don't remember him/her so I can't give credit where credit is due.(It may be Marshall though who was computing some penetration numbers.)

I hope by the end of the year you can report an increase of 5000 subscribers instead of only the 1000 we had for 2007. I still have not subscribed but at some point I would be interested if stories like Napergate are given more print coverage. And like many others I do not think this is an old story. As long as there are any improprieties in City Hall, Napergate will always be current. The name to me symbolizes "cover-up" at City Hall....plain and simple!!! I think it symbolizes that to most bloggers. We all saw in the last month or two on these blogs, how Napergate was transformed from a liquor case to a creeping commercial development case focused on improprieties at City Hall. Your 75th St. thread indicates we are still in the Napergate Era but only taking a long pause until Mr. Brestal decides to resurface.

I just have this funny feeling that when Brestal tries to put his high rise office building on SW Gate those 3500 Napergatians will reincarnate very quickly. That is just a feeling I have ! Only time will tell! I am going back to sleep.

Thanks Ameena and thanks Mr. Host for the use of your gigabytes to write! It is fun to revisit writing since the old days of my college years.

Note from Ted, host:

No, Tim West was never editor/publisher. In fact that title has only been around a short while. Jim's predecessor was just "publisher."

Ted,
I think you are overreacting! It seems people have been discussing the numerous reversals of the Napergate Man. One happened to be related to the Naperville Sun. No big deal in my opinion!

This is an unusual case and it is probably the first time and only time the Naperville Sun succumbed to possible pressure from City Officials and then later to reverse pressure from the Napergate Man. It is an interesting story that we can all learn from. It is an exciting and thrilling story!

No one is perfect in this world. The Naperville Sun is not, the City Council Members are not, the Police Dept. is not, the Napergate Man is not and most Churches are not either. So I don't think you should be sensitive to minor "perceived" criticism about something that took place 15 years ago. It is just part of history we can all learn from including the Naperville Sun.

I think the lesson to be learned and I am sure it has already been learned, is that a newspaper has to remain neutral and factual. It should not succumb to pressure from either side of a heated controversy! Another thing we can learn from those Napergate ads is how far credibility can take you in this world. As you and Ameena noted the Napergate Man always chose his words carefully to cover his credibility when not sure. Note the word "perceived" which you noted before me! It seems like he was 99% sure but not 100% sure so I believe he chose that word to be extremely cautious as he was watching his credibility it seems at all times.

If politicians know a newspaper will reveal and report their misdeeds, they are much less likely to perform them in the first place. There would be no need to be pressuring a newspaper not to write about their misdeeds if they simply avoided performing them in the first place. Just like a criminal may not commit his crime if he feels there is a strong likelihood of being caught and jailed by the police.

After Randy's initial posting, it seems like the Naperville Sun was getting raving reviews for having come along way in the last 15 years. A very long way! I think at some point one blogger used the word censorship, you vehemently defended and postings started getting out of control. You probably should have ignored that one blogger. Prior to that post my observation was the Sun was obtaining excellent reviews due to Randy's post. Even Randy himself praised the Naperville Sun and defended it in its most current article about Napergate before posting his memories of past. He was obviously a Napergatian who had issues with the old Naperville Sun and suddenly speaking so highly of the new Naperville Sun. That should really tell you how far the paper has come in 15 short years....a very long way!!!

We all at times need to have thick skin. You are probably not used to being criticized as most of the rest of the population. It is not a big deal to be criticized if the criticism is constructive with the intent of improving the future. I believe that was the intent of most of the bloggers on this Napergate thread!

This part of the Napergate Story will blow over very quickly just like all the other parts have blown over and gone into different chapters rather quickly. The only reason it would not blow over quickly is if the Naperville Sun decides to make an issue of one specific item that concerns itself which is so historical. I think we all need to learn from this historical case including the Naperville Sun. What is wrong with learning from past mistakes? Who on this earth has not made a mistake in the past...no one! And usually one can only truly learn by making mistakes! People who never take risks and make mistakes never learn anything...if we did not take risks and make mistakes we would all still be cavemen instead of living in a highly civilized and technical society.

Your statement of "I can't and won't sign my own death warrant" is a complete overreaction. For the most part you have been complemented by better than 90% of the bloggers. You should be thinking of signing your own promotion instead of your own death warrant!

I would also like to commend you for your great work and openness as the majority of bloggers have. Please don't reverse it all by trying to avoid a minor subject that includes negative criticism of the Sun. It seems like you could reverse everything you have done so far to obtain your numerous accolades by making one mistake. Continue on the path you started with complete openness and do not deviate from that path that got you where you are now. Your success on these threads has been remarkable! A few months ago one or two people would blog. Now you are getting hundreds per each good thread. As the Naperville Lawyer noticed your last Napergate Thread got about 30 in a month. You new one got about 120 in a week. If you extrapolate this thread to a month you will have 480 posts before the month is up and it is off the Main Page. That speaks volumes to your success and that of the Moderator. That would be a 16 fold increase in bloggers on a similar thread in less than a month. That to me measures your success and speaks volumes. Pretty soon you can put ads on these threads to help defray their cost due to your huge success.

Your success is truly amazing on these threads. Why would you want to stop it by avoiding discussion of such a hot and controversial topic as Napergate?. It seems like every intellectual in Naperville wants to come out and join the discussion. It seems you found a very unique and unusual topic that not only generates extreme interest but sells newspapers that helps pay your bills. I sincerely believe if the old Sun capitalized on the Napergate Story instead of ignoring it, the Naperville Sun would have had a circulation of 33,000 instead of 22,000 in those Napergate Days. I suspect you need to sell lots of newspapers in order to pay for additional investigative reporters. Good investigative reporters who dig deep like the Napergate Man did, will sell even more newspapers. I think a town with highly educated residents like Naperville, loves a hard hitting investigative type of newspaper. The old community paper was dying a slow death and signing its own "death warrant" until you and Jim came along and began turning things around. I say stay on your path and don't deviate....have thick skin and move forward!

Note from Ted, host:

Yeah, you're probably right. It was late when I wrote that. It was honest, though. I can't help how I feel.

At the risk of indulging in a bit of "shop talk," I just want to take a moment to address some comments about The Naperville Sun and whether it was more "pro-establishment" in the past than today. I started at the paper 10 years ago, when it was 3 days a week and still featured a lot of the community events and club news common to small-town newspapers. "Hard" news wasn't as prevalent back then, in Naperville or in the pages of The Sun. We all know how Naperville has grown, and over the years The Sun's tone and approach has matured as well.

As for editorial integrity and "pro-establishment" thoughts, I want to offer an analogy to a TV show I've been getting into lately, HBO's "The Wire." (I've been renting the DVDs.) A newspaper can be like any bureaucracy -- a city government, a school district, a police department. A bureacracy is populated by all types of personalities. You're going to have people of great character and integrity, and you're going to people who are much more willing to make compromises. In "The Wire," the lead character McNulty is a cop who acts on his principals, and in his organization (the Baltimore Police Department) his bosses are always making deals. Sure, it's fiction, but it's realistic. Even the criminal organizations in the show are depicted as bureacracies! My point is this: some of the talk about the old days of The Sun makes me uncomfortable because the deeper we get into Napergate I suspect we'll hear more about events, decisions and compromises that will be, how shall I put this, unflattering about the newspaper. I can't and won't sign my own death warrant. I'm not saying I know where any skeletons are hidden--I don't. I just sense that if this thread starts to delve too far into its examination of The Sun's role in Napergate, a point is going to be reached where we the moderators are going to have to face tough decisions about how much dirty laundry are we going to allow to be aired about our own organization, however long ago it might have been.

I was running errands all day so I missed the action but at least I was able to review the blogs. Below are the comments that the Napergate Man wrote in the introduction to his ad between the heading of Napergate V and his 4 subheadings after his ad was rejected. I believe this is the only change he made after his friend Ray Kinney quickly ran off the 20,000 copies. The only significant difference between this ad and the Napergate Ads in the Sun was it was in color instead of black and white. Otherwise it looked identical from layout, to size to subheadings. This is the ad that was rejected by the Naperville Sun. Just to correct a minor error by Ted, it was Napergate V and VI that were not printed in the Sun and not Napergate IV and V. I feel if we don't keep even the minor details straight we will end up confusing ourselves.

Below are his words verbatim in Napergate V that were right under the title and before the first subheading:

NAPERGATE V

DUE TO PERCEIVED OR REAL PRESSURE FORM CITY OF NAPERVILLE OFFICIALS

THE NAPERVILLE SUN WOULD NOT PRINT THIS AD.

WHAT ARE CITY OFFICIALS AFRAID OF?

Of course those words were in big letters and bolded right after the heading. He made sure they stuck out so that even if one chose not to read the ad, he would catch that part.

As far as the ad delaying the production of the paper that may have occurred. Many of his ads did not make the Wednesday deadline but were printed in the Friday edition. So basically I would assume that the theory of delaying the paper is not plausible since the ad could be printed one edition later if the libel attorneys in California say were behind schedule.

The Napergate Man seemed like a real stickler about watching his credibility. You can see above how he chose his words very carefully.

It seems if one were solving a crime or mystery you have to look at the motive. One hypothetical scenario is someone in the Sun was very pro city and was under pressure from his friends in city hall to find a way to stop the ads. So he could have given other Sun staffers or colleagues the excuse that this ad was suddenly becoming a hassle to cover the real reason he/she wanted it stopped along with City Officials. I am of course speculating as Ted was!

My theory would be that since these ads were numerous and money generating for the Sun the hassle factor would be insignificant. It is always a hassle to make money in the real world. No one just gives it to you! Plus in between these Napergate ads he published numerous full page ads that only advertised liquor. He appears to be far and away the leading advertiser in the Naperville Sun in the 90s.

It does not seem logical that the Sun would cut off his advertising which is basically like one cutting their own throat and not being able to eat anymore. It seems much more plausible that city officials were pressuring the Sun directly and indirectly and the Sun fell for the pressure. Since the Naperville Sun at the time was much more pro-establishment than it is today, it does not surprise me the slightest of pressure may have caused them to cave in. I believe that a paying advertiser would suddenly become a hassle causing delays, is just an excuse that a pro-City Sun staffer may have come up with to protect City Officials and him or herself from the real reason especially since the ad could simply appear in the next edition.

That is my theory. Just like Ted's theory. The theories can't be proved! But all the facts really sway heavily that there was direct and indirect pressure to stop these ads by city officials who were being BLASTED weekly by these ads. It just makes too much sense. Even one of Ted's earlier comments that were vague seem to hint this is a possible scenario.

I very strongly believe Randy's version is very credible and my numerous second hand eyewitness who talked to Napergatians bringing ads to their homes, pretty much relay the same story but in pieces and bits and not in Randy's detail.

I hope that helps a little bit with the debate! Again I don't think the Napergate Man would have made that statement above if he could not back it up. By making it kind of vague, he may have been covering for the one staffer that he believed told him the TRUTH. I am assuming a retailer that did both retail and political ads for so long had many friends and contacts in the Sun that fed him information privately just as he had friends in City Hall who went as far as disclosing proceedings in Executive Sessions during Council Meetings. Based on his very long and established credibility in his ads that were later upheld by so many court rulings, the Napergate Man's word to Randy combined with his own words in his own Napergate V ad, have to carry the most weight and be believed. That is my opinion for whatever it is worth!

Sorry about the delayed response but sometimes it is nice to rest on Sunday....

Ameena...

Note from Ted, host:

Another amazing post, Ameena. Napergate man said it himself when he chose the words, "perceived or real pressure from city of Naperville officials." That statement supports both our theories. I guess I'd like to believe it was more perceived than real. Thanks for correcting my earlier mistake. I don't want to detract from your post by elaborating on it, just wanted to say well done.

I am hoping we will hear from Ameena and Randy some time soon as I suspect they both have additional information. My understanding from her blogs,is Ameena has been talking to people at the library who knew of the Napergate Fiasco and have some first hand information. I am sure some will be able to shed some light. But Ameena being the investigative citizen reporter she is seems very reluctant to publish anything without proof....kind of like the Napergate Man was. Obviously after reading all his ads, he must have made an impact on her and she understands the strong meaning of credibility. She understands how easy she can lose her credibility. Having said that she is probably diggin much deeper if she had time to check on this thread the last 24 hours and knows about this latest controversy regarding political influence or censorship or whatever one wants to call it. She is most likely not going to come on to chat. That woman only comes on if she has hard facts!

I read Ted's post. It makes a little sense but his rationale falls apart when you factor in the Napergate Man was making comments in a paid advertisement...not to a Sun Reporter! I don't believe you should be able to censure or prevent a paid ad from being published as long as it is not obscene.

The Napergate Man and the Naperville Sun took 2 additional steps.
1. To check the facts for accurary.
2 To review the wording for possible libel and slander.

They passed the rigorous test of no obscenity, no libel, no slander and accuracy. What more could they have done? Nothing!

The Napergate Man told the truth that he was framed, that he was railroaded, that he was kangarooed, that he was abused, that he was discriminated against and that he was not treated equally under the law. All was true and the TRUTH BROKE CITY OFFICIALS. They had a massive nervous breakdown for their lies and tried to blame it on the Naperville Sun for publishing truthful and accurate ads...reviewed over and over again by many attorneys from both sides. They needed to look in the nearest mirror to find out who should take the blame here...those who brought false charges against the toughest retailer against minors in the country. Something documented so heavily and they wanted us to believe he was irresponsible and incompetent...wow!!!

Obviously this Napergate Fiasco is a case that has never been vetted out properly. I think the only way it will be vetted out and put to rest is if those responsible are held accountable for the mess they created.

I just find it so hard to believe the Napergate Man offered City Officials 1500 dollars and an apology and they refused to accept such a generous offer. They start up with him by bringing a dozen false charges but he hits them 100 times as hard and they have to go to the Naperville Sun like cry babies for help in preventing the truth from being published, that is exposing them for whom they really are for the first time in their lives.

Wow...this case is unbelievable! I did not know it even involved cry babies who start fires and complain about the heat.

Ted,
I tracked Randy's post on this matter. These are his exact words.

3. When he(Napergate Man) pressed the Naperville Sun staff for a reason of the termination of his advertising rights in the newspaper of which he had advertised in for over a dozen years, they finally admitted to him that City Officials had pressured them to no longer publish his Napergate ads. "Liquor ads are welcome, but no more Napergate ads" he was told by Sun Staff. He tried to convince them to reverse their decision but they adamantly refused after very long negotiations.

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As you can see Randy said nothing about censorship. His credibilty should not be damaged because people are twisting his words. I believe he said it as it was. If I read what you are saying, Ted, you almost seem to be saying the same thing Randy said but being a little vague...don't know why you are being vague.

One has to ask!
1. Is it possible that the Napergate Man suddenly decided for no reason to go a primitive hand to hand delivery and distribution system after 12 year in the Sun. Unlikely! And if he did decide to go that way, why would he come back 2 ads later???

2. Is it possible that the Naperville Sun would ditch probably their number one advertisor at the time for no reason? He allowed the Naperville Sun to review his ads for accuracy and remove any libel or slander out of them which was beneficial to both parties.

3. It seems the only logical thing that could have happened is City Officials pressured the Naperville Sun. They were the ones being attacked. They had reason to try to stop the attacks. They had a motive here. The Sun did not have a motive to stop his ads! Neither did the Napergate Man have a motive to stop his own ads...ludicrous to think he would!

The irony of this whole fiasco is they brought these vicious attacks on themselves by bringing false charges. Every person who is charged wrongfully would be smart to react like the Napergate Man. He apparently cared about his reputation and if someone was going to damage his reputation, he was going to damage theirs 10 fold. It appears that what happened! When City Officials could not take the heat they came to the Sun hollering "Uncle" please help us put the fire out.

They should have put the fire out by dropping the false charges and not pressuring the Sun to stop the ads. It was not till Napergate XXIV that the high court vindicated him(Posted by: Ameena | January 21, 2008 09:18 AM).

So he apparently felt a need to vindicate his name for an addional 20 more Napergates ads until the courts finally ruled.

It does not seem like the Napergate Man had an ax to grind or any agenda but one of keeping his name clean and his reputation intact. We all know that as soon as he vindicated himself from all those false charges, he dropped the subject and immediately went to helping residents fight creeping commercial development.

I like many others am very outraged that the City would pressure the Sun to stop those Napergate Ads. I reiterate that I believe every word Randy said. He has no reason to lie 12 years later. He was simply answering a question asked by Ameena. What reason or motive would he have to lie to us? He rarely blogs and does not seem like he needs attention like the "old Joe." He was just trying to help poor Ameena who was going out in the cold to the library day after day because she smelled something really bad and could not figure it with much certainty. She needed help, asked for it, and Randy gave it to her with hard facts including one of 2 missing ads she may have spent a month looking for with a librarian.

He had all this information and chose not to write about it in his first blog on this thread. He was not looking to open old wounds and probably chose to avoid the subject. He was doing nothing more than answering a question. And again he never said a word about censorship. It appears some bloggers and possibly the host picked up on this subject wrongfully. But there probably is a very thin line between extreme pressure not to print and censorhip. Since those 2 ads were never printed, I can see how some bloggers are calling it censorhip. But Randy never used the word as you can see from his quote above. Or if you like refer to his original post again and you will see he never used the word once in his very long post(Posted by: Randy | January 25, 2008 08:21 AM)

Response from Ted, host:

Cindy,

I wasn't trying to be vague. I'm just saying, I don't know exactly what happened or how it did. Randy offers one version. I was responding to another commenter who said The Sun caved in to censorship pressure from city officials. I'm saying, I don't think it happened like that, there's probably more to it than that. When someone directly criticizes The Sun or accuses it of something I've got to respond. As for Randy's contention that Basim said someone from sun staff "admitted" to there being pressure from city officials, I don't take that as gospel. I can't say how it did happen because I don't know. Someone would have to identify this staffer who allegedly used those words 15 years ago, track that person down and ask him or her why those words were said, if they were at all. Maybe it was just an excuse made up on the spot because that person had nothing better to tell Basim. Maybe some editor or ad rep was just sick of the hassle of having those ads reviewed by attorneys and holding up production of the newspaper and wanted to make his or her job easier so he or she blamed the city. There are a lot of other plausible explanations as to why the Napergate IV and V ads weren't printed.

James -

I hope you're right and the campaign money gives the Napergatians somehting to think about regarding DF. However, even after the $2K payments came to light some of them were trying to defend DF while others went silent so we don't know what they think.

Victoria -

Good idea, though it would still be a manpower issue for the Sun as they would never go to print unless they were able to verify what they learned from the posts. The liability is just too big.

T.B.

Note from Ted, host:

While Randy certainly seemed to has a voice of authority in regards to Napergate, I'm not sure that's exactly how it went down with the Napergate IV and V ads. It likely wasn't censorship or an attempt to censor like you think. The reality is, in all media, from the smallest hometown newspaper to the biggest TV network, people of influence who are subject of news reports often try to persuade editors, publishers, broadcasters, etc. to spin a report a certain way or leave out information. It's commonplace. That's where integrity comes in.

******************************************************************

Host,
I don't think Randy said one word about censorship. I think things are getting twisted. I believe Randy told it exactly as it happened without putting any salt and pepper on the matter.

I think the speculation is going to turn rampant if the Naperville Sun does not give its official version as to what occurred. Your post was very vague...just way to vague as if you want us to be confused and not have the real answer. It brings more questions than answers.

Maybe it was not censorship, but it sure seems there was pressure from the city to stop those ads. Now what you are forgetting is those ads were PAID ADS and should never have been subjected to pressure from outsiders. There has to be a different standard for a PAID AD as opposed to a news article.

Maybe you should be able to influence an article in your newspaper, but should you be able to influence a PAID AD expressing an opinon. That is much different. The standard for influencing should be different. If city officials did not like his ADS and I emphasize ADS, why did they not take their own ADS and fight back. Most City Officials make over a 100k a year. Could not 2 or 3 of them have bought an ad and gave their story in an ad instead of pressuring the Sun to discontinue his ads. Maybe they felt they were in an indefensible position and the only way to win is to silence the Napergate Man. It seems that is what they attempted.

Wasn't it enough that the Naperville Sun was pressured not to cover him, and now we find out City Officials pressured you guys not to publish his ads. Yes, I did notice what that blogger stated about all the articles about Spring Green failing to mention the Napergate Man by title or name. As if he was the INVISIBLE MAN instead of the NAPERGATE MAN. Thank God for his ads the story got out. Between the Naperville Sun and the City of Naperville his remarkable story almost was never told.

I think it is becoming obvious why Ameena decided to dig into this story. She felt something did not add up. And surely something did not add up. She delayed publishing her findings for 3 days because she wanted to be sure as this story was not adding up. Thanks to Randy, this story finally adds up.

It does not matter if there was an official censorship by city officials or pressure to stop the ads. Really what is the difference! The result was the same!

All the Napergate Man in hindsight was doing was defending his name from false allegations. The city was trying to railroad him by charging him falsely and now we find out also denying him his right to speak and defend himself publically!

I am suddenly feeling outraged about this whole mess. I just wish the Sun will give us their version. Until I hear the Naperville's Sun version in plain English that I can understand Randy and Ameena will be my authority on this subject.

Herbert,
This is not a case of fear! It is a case of censorship by the City of Naperville against the Naperville Sun. Censorhip by governement against the media. Something very common in 3rd world dictatorships!

It seems obvious that something went awfully wrong for Napergate V and Napergate VI not to be published. Not only did the City deprive the Sun of its right to free expression but denied its only source of revenue....advertising!

I just don't think anyone can make up a story like this. It is just too real. The Napergate Man had published 49 ads before those 2 ads and 49 after those 2 ads. He is simply not going to stop on his own and suddenly decide to deliver hand to hand to a 100,000 residents in Naperville for 2 of his 100 Editions including the famous Napergate Series. Plus the Sun is not going to voluntarily cut off its source of revenue. That makes no sense either!

So its seem the Big Boys from the Establishment told the Naperville Sun, enough is enough! It could have been done with nods and winks like that prosecutor did with those police. But it was probably done bluntly and in plain English!

But whatever was done to stop the free expression of thought in our town thru our local newspaper is simply intolerable.

As citizens we need to defend the Naperville Sun and protect it form any other attacks by our City Officials. Enough is enough!
I would have never imagined such a thing could take place under our noses and for us not even to know about it for over a decade. It seems so surreal!

Did you notice that Joe guy is missing lately? He seemed to be the official or unofficial spokesperson of the city. He loves to blog! But the city has a strict policy against discussing Napergate and I am sure Joe was told he is no exception. This has just been way to sensitive a topic with the city for way too long. So the mystery of censorship and other craziness finally all pops out 12 years later. And it sure leaves a BLACK EYE on our beautiful town!

I am shocked to learn that City Officials would ever attempt to impose a form of censorship on our local newspaper. It just seems like communism or fascism!

Why did Sun Officials not call the State Police or FBI when the city threatened them for printing the Napergate Ads?

I thought we live in America where free speech and thought were tolerated. How could a story like this be kept from the readers of the Sun for over a dozen years? It is no wonder this Napergate story has many legs and refuses to die!

My many thanks to Ameena for digging this case out of the mothballs and to Randy for remembering all those details.

Somebody has to be held accountable for daring to censor the Naperville Sun and control its content be it editorial, news, or advertising. I don't care that it is 12 years later. This is a really serious issue and we need to know that it will never happen again in our town! It needs to be addressed publically!

City Officials need to stick to running the town! They should not be trying to control the Naperville Sun in order to protect whatever they may be doing behind our backs from being exposed!

Note from Ted, host:

While Randy certainly seemed to has a voice of authority in regards to Napergate, I'm not sure that's exactly how it went down with the Napergate IV and V ads. It likely wasn't censorship or an attempt to censor like you think. The reality is, in all media, from the smallest hometown newspaper to the biggest TV network, people of influence who are subject of news reports often try to persuade editors, publishers, broadcasters, etc. to spin a report a certain way or leave out information. It's commonplace. That's where integrity comes in.

Host,
Is this site a blogging site or a "Letter to the Editor"
site. I am confused!

It just looks like no other blog site I have ever seen. People have strong feelings about this Napergate Issue and the Napergate Man.

It is very unusual but I admit extremely informative.

I just started bloggin and I am curious how this old Napergate Story could suddenly resurface in such a manner. Of course, I remember it from vividly from all those Napergate Ads. Who could ever forget those ads in the Naperville Sun?

I guess I have to say I am glad for the REVISIT!

Note from Ted, host:

Mickie,

I like to call it an online community forum. People are free to express opinions, and while the moderators choose topics and screen posts for inappropriate comment, it is a lot more about reading others' opinions than those of the moderators.

Ted and Jim,
From reading all these blogs and even your comments, I just sense there is a fear of taking on City Hall. Is it because your building is in the City of Naperville city limits?

I remember many years ago when White Eagle declared themselves in Naperville, they upset Aurora. Aurora retaliated by cutting off the water or electricity or both.

Are you guys afraid if you stand up to the City of Naperville they will cut off your electicity or water? Possibly pull some electrical black out on your building and blame a mouse or raccoon for disrupting electricity.

If that is not the case, seriously why are you guys afraid of them. Or are you really not afraid of them and just want to keep a good relation with them? Which is it?

I guess an alternative is publish numerous "letters to the editor" that call them out until they come out. You can blame it on your readers and remind them that they have to print these letters. They should know what happened the last time they tried to censure you guys. The Napergate ad was delivered right to City Hall with even more penetration. So what good would it be to censure you again, cut off your water, or tamper with electrical black-outs. Sometimes I feel like the City of Naperville was acting like Moscow or Shanghai by attempting to censure you for allowing Napergate ads. That was ridiculous that they would pull such a stunt. Yes, you succumbed to their pressure but who wouldn't. They control the police, the water, the electricity, the streets, the snowplowing, the jails and who knows what else. So I understand your predicament of being between a hard place and a rock.

I guess if they harrassed the Sun, you could sell your building and buy the identical piece of land with a similar building for 60 cents on the dollar if you are willing to move to Aurora. Just think how much INK you would have to blast city officials for forcing you to move due to that 40% savings. My only hope is you would use that INK with the ferociousness used by the Napergate Man to get back at them. And they could never ever again cut your water or electricity to retaliate for a good investigative report on them.

T.B.,
Looking at this Napergate thread compared to that last Furstenau thread, I do not see the support for Furstenau by Napergatians as you state. It almost stopped with just "pockets of denial" here and there. So I think your comments are more related to the past then present.

I think once Joe, SWT, yourself, or someone pointed out that 2000 dollars from Brestal to Furstenau, I saw almost all the Napergatians stop talking about Furstenau. They dumped Rosanova so why would they not dump DF. DF's silence is killing him. When the Napergate Man was accused falsely he did not remain silent. He spoke every day during his court proceedings. He wrote those Napergate ads and attacked all those who accused him wrongfully. He did not hold back or worry about an attorney sitting next to him. I guess he knew he was innocent and just told his story at any opportunity he could.

DF had to have his attorney sitting next to him. Drew Peterson had his attorney sitting next to him. The Napergate Man did not need any attorneys sitting next to him. He just blasted away and his attorneys and the Sun attorneys just had to make sure he did not cross the line of libel and slander. I guess he was quite emotional at times so they had to put some kind of brakes on him.

He even attacked the proseutor who was prosecuting him publicly and repeatedly. All the prosecutor could do is drag this bottle of liquor that was in the sting operator's hand for a mintue into a court case that lasted for nearly 3 years until the Judge decided he was tired of giving the prosecutor continuances. I recall reading somewhere the prosecutor was granted a record 9 continuances by the Judge. Try getting 2 if you are a civilian. The Judge will probably throw you in jail if you ask for a 3rd continuance. I think this one component of the case was dismissed when the Judge finally told the prosecutor to put up or shut up.He shut up!

Unless DF comes out and explains that 2000 dollars, he will lose all his support from the Napergatians. The Napergatians are not pro DF. They are more anti-Brestal and anti-corrupiton. You will see them gradually separate from DF completley unless he can explain that huge campaign contribution.

As far as the police officer... He seemed to know way to much. I am willing to bet he works for the NPD to know about those winks and nods from the Prosecutor. I believe Naperville traffic and DUI cases have their own court room as there are so many of them. Remember Naperville leads the state with 800 DUIs. So they have their own room for that too I suspect. For speeding tickets they not only have their own room but it is overflowing. So he has to be a Naperville Cop disguising as a non-Naperville Cop trying to help the Police Chief. I never see non-Naperville cops in Naperville courtrooms.

I guess I am admitting I speed frequently by my statement. I have been trying to slow down but it is so easy to go 36 in a 25 speed limit residential street without even trying. And I never get a break from a cop! So I am in court a lot!

Finally, I agree with your anaylsis whether the Police Chief knew or did not know, he has to take responsibiltiy for all those cops that were hassling the Napergate Man. Despite all the verdicts against the NPD, nothing happpens to them. It is as if they are immune. No one dares hold them accoutable. The City Council won't, the Naperville Sun won't and the citizens won't or can't. So it is business as usual like nothing happened. Whenever they abuse someone, I assume they settle secretly, and go back to their own ways.

I was really shocked when that Ameena chick posted that letter by that huge IABTF Liquor Organization accusing the city prosecutor, some city officials and certain police with all those charges. I guess their investigation panned out with those Appellant Courts affirming them. But if those AC courts did not affirm them, I think the City of Naperville would have separated that organization from at least a billion dollars of their money for making that horrendous accussation. That verdict would have been so large for the City of Naperville everyone would have been exempt form real estate tax for a decade. Unfortuately or fortunately, it turned out accurate for us taxpayers or residents respectively! Since the City of Naperville took no action, one has to assume the IABTF had some solid evidence to support the Napergate Man...such as videotapes and those hundreds of fake IDs which he had and were also introduced in trial.

In summary I just wanted to point out that you need to notice the difference between Napergatians before the 2000 contribution was disclosed and after the contribution was disclosed. It is a world of difference. At this point the Napergatians seem to be missing their leader, remembering him and honoring him. Probably feeling bad for him that his endorcees trampled on his legacy by taking that dirty money from the Brestal Law Firm. They have no interest in anyone that takes money from Brestal. Trust me on that one point! They probably realized for the first time Furstenau could never replace their retired leader and I sense a lot of depression in their hidden words...a lot of frustration. They just feel DF sold them like Rosanova sold them. If you could see their faces you would see the Agony of Defeat!

T.B.: From what I can dig up, CONPA is an organization of ONE formed by a disgruntled subject who was arrested by the Naperville Police Department on a very serious charge!! For more, do a little research thru the Freedom of Information Act at the NPD records section. Not real hard to figure out this guy's agenda!!!

Note from Ted, host:

Kathleen,

"You're right--Jim and I differ a little in terms of where to take Napergate in print from here. It's not that I wouldn't like to do more, it's more a question of staffing and what we're able to do with the resources we have. The more I learn about Napergate the more questions I have, and then I'm back to balancing whether it's really worth investing a staff reporter's time and effort investigating events more than a decade old when we've got so much going on today that we have to cover."

Ted,
I understand you have a budget and limited resources. Have you ever thought of using your own blogs to get answers to your many questions regarding Napergate basically for free. Citizen journalist/investigator Ameena asked a question and look at the answer she got from Randy....for free! I think you should try capitalizing on information your citizen journalists may possess before you spend your limited resources. I think Ameena seemed to have learned if you ask a question, someone may just have an answer and you could save yourself untold hours reseaching at the library.

It just seems you have a lot of unanswered questions and some guilt feelings for not doing a better job when you were a "powerless reporter." I think you would feel so much better if you would seek the answers to your questions and finally do the job that you could not do, now that you are not only a "powerful reporter" but also a Publisher/Editor/Host and in much control of the direction a newspaper takes.

I remember when I was a young girl, I wanted a train set so badly. My dad could not afford it. I never got over it until I bought one as an adult, put it together and enjoyed it. Now I can move on to bigger and better things. It seems like you will not be able to move on until your questions are answered...please seek the answers for your sake and our sake!

It just seems to me you can ask any question about Napergate and someone either has the answer or can find the answer. Perfect example was Randy finding a 15 year old Napergate V ad and attaching it in an e-mail to Ameena. And Ammena revealing its contents almost instantly. It cost neither of them anything. A few minutes of time since time is money but that is about it. And we all get instant investigative journalism free of charge. Why is the Sun not taking advantage of all its resources including its own threads for information?

In that first Napergate ad you posted, I noticed the Napergate Man gave an e-mail address and even a phone number and asked people to call or e-mail him with information. He was smart! He had 22,000 Citizen Journalists working for him. Did it ever occur to anyone that just may be the reason the Napergate Man had the news that no one else had or no one else dared to print. As another blogger said the Napergate Man was light years ahead of his times in anything he did including investigative journalism. I guess if there is a will there is a way. He had the will and always found the way.

I should not be just critiqueing the Naperville Sun. But I should critique all of us residents who no longer can find the will to give us the way to stop the Brestal Law Firm. It seems something happened in this internet age that has distracted us from focusing on significant improprieties taking place in our city and right under our noses. The Napergate Man and his supporters were always able to focus and stay with it. Why can't we? Perfect example was how only 5-10 residents showed up to challenge Brestal on Ponds Gate. I guarantee you the Napergate Man would have had chambers overflowing. We have to figure out what happened to cause us residents to lose interest in our town and just surrender it back to Brestal after the Napergate Man spent 20 years wrestling it away from Brestal and handing it to the residents before he retired! Soldiers that fought the Vietnam War are still not fighting in Iraq. The Napergate Man fought a 20 year war against City Hall and won it for us. How is it that we are not able to fight a war without him and even surrendering all the gains he achieved for us by fighting so hard. It is so dissappointing to read all I read on these blogs combined with the lack of any action including by my own self!

And I am shocked by the lack of interest on the "All Eyes on 75th Street" Thread. No one has even cared to making a posting in 6 days. What a differnce from the Napergate Days? In those days 300 people would march with the Napergate Man to protest on the SW Gate intersection! As Randy said that was the Napergate Man's last major battle in the war. It seems like us residents are ready to hand that parcel back to Brestal to build his high rise office buildings right next to our subdivisions. It is like we lost interest in our town and our now surrendering, after all the battles the Napergate Man won for us. I just don't know what went wrong and how it went so wrong. Maybe he was a motivator and we don't have a motivator! I did not think we needed a motivator, but maybe I was wrong.

Back to the subject at hand: Ted, I have yet to see you utilize your bloggers to help in investigative journalism. I don't see the benefits of these blogs to the Sun since there is no advertising on them contributing to the cost of running and maintaining them. Since the Sun owns them, they should be used by Sun Reporters to try to get answers before they jump in their cars on a wild goose chases that could be very costly and waste resources including precious gasoline.

I can tell you I have 0 answers for you on Napergate. But Randy, Ameena and many others seem to have plenty of answers. Everyone caught Randy's second post. But it seems like everyone missed Randy's first post in which he told of the Napergate Man having a first legal battle that went to the Supreme Court. Ameena verified that somewhere and even provided the date of the ruling of the Supreme Court verdict. How much easier can research get for a Sun Reporter when the date is provided for her if she wants to look up the ruling?

As you noted it seems journalism has gotten much easier as you have pointed out a few times how difficult the Napergate Man had it 15 years ago without everything available on the internet. I bet the Napergate Man would have been picking our brains out for answers if he had been fortunate enough to have this blogging mechanism that we now have.

OK, Ted start asking all your questions that are unanswered and I bet you over half will be answered by the bloggers.

And one last question! Since the Napergate Man was driving the bus you described and we lost him, are you or Moderator Jim willing to be
the new bus driver. You 2 are in possession of one of the most powerful tools the Napergate Man had--the Print Media and tons of Ink! No one else seems to have this tool so I hope you guys can drive the bus for us. Forget about being passengers...it is just not working! We are in desperate need of a driver!

Thanks!

Nikki, you're right about challenging the statement about the costs of defending Napergate. It seems incredulous, doesn't it? The reporter--an intern who has returned to college--talked to other city officials not quoted in the story and all were reluctant to talk about the topic.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Ted,
I wish it was dislcosed earlier that an intern did that Napergate Story. I am sure myself and many others feel bad for criticising an intern handling such a tough assignment. Most probably not ever having heard of the case. I guess I would have thought a seasoned reporter would be assinged to such a unique and challenging case with many twists and turns.

The fact that other city officials would not talk about the legal expensses of Napergate indicates the City Manager must have slipped up when he talked about the case. Since he is new, he must have not known about the long standing taboo not to discuss the Napergate Case so it could be forgotten.

But since we taxpayers are possibly out a million or two million dollars that has never been acounted for, I say Napergate is alive and well and is not a dead or historical case. The Napergate Man did his best to uncover these legal expenses but let us admit this is one departmnet he failed in.

Yes, he did show publish graphs showing the budget of the in house legal dept rose from roughly 300,000 to 800,000(Ameena published the exact numbers, I am just going from memory), but he never could figure out where the million or two to the oustside legal firms went to.

Here is my pure specualtion! Former City Manager Peter Burchard who controls all the budgets of all the departments probably deliberately misallocated this outside legal expense and buried in a dept. with a bigger budget such as electricity or transportation so it would not be so noticeable.

Who would know the difference between 53 million or 51 million budgeted or expensed in the transportation dept. No one but an insider.

If the 2 million was added to the legal dept. like it should have, the Napergate Man would have had a graph showing the legal dept. budget increased from 300,000 in 1990 to 2.8 million in 1995 when the Napergate Case was running on all gears.

Why would they throw this 2 million in the legal dept when they knew the Napergate Man had that dept under the microscope.
I believe this is one time they outsmarted the Napergate Man and buried the money where he could never find it.

10 years later we have not found this money. No one has been held accountable. City Officials have said they don't have the cost and if they had it they would not give it to us. Now they changed their mind and said that high powered attorneys worked for cafetaria wages for 5 years. Not one but 5 outside attorneys were willing to work per year for what a cafetaria worker makes in a week.

Yes Ted, you are right on to the money trail....that statement as you stated is incredulous!

I hope you lean a little towards Moderator Jim's side and try to stay on this case until we uncover the money trail in Napergate. How could it be an "old case" with possiblly 2 million of money still unaccounted for? It is still an open case until we get some answers as where are hard earned tax dollars were hidden or lost!

Napergate has put City Officials on their toes. They do not want to deal with a second cover-up since they got caught but not nailed in the Napergate Case. In the DF case which is based on a simple stipulated short trial of "he said, she said," as everyone is saying, they have at least started by admitting to $400,000 for intial costs.

The early honest admittance is a result of the lessons of Napergate. Without Napergate establishing precedent, I suspect City Officials would be telling us this case should not cost anymore than 5-10k. I guess you can't fool the taxpayers twice that easily.

How does that saying go...fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice shame on me! At least the City of Naperville thanks to the Napergate Case can't fool us twice.

And finally did anyone ever think that $50,000 loan cancellation and $32,000 bonus to Burchard on the way out was HUSH MONEY to keep him quiet for the rest of his life. It was not severance money for leaving. No one gets severance money when they quit. That is also incredulous! But city officials do get hush money to remain silent forever.

Just imagince Burchard not getting the "Hush Money" he wanted and one day calling the Naperville Sun and telling them I did bury the Napergate legal expenses of the early 90s. You can find half in the electric dept and the other half in the transportation dept. Just look on line 8 and 17 in the respective budgets and you will find all the unaccounted money.

By in essence by paying him off, we may probably never uncover the last mystery in the Napergate Saga as the Napergate Man never did. But shouldn't we at least try as he tried for so many years! I think we should!

Note from Ted, host:

Nikki,

It's fantastic to speculate, but I think it highly unlikely that the legal costs would have been paid for in the way you describe. Knowing Napergate man, he'd discover the impropriety and nail them to the wall for it. THAT would be ironic.

I just want to add my thank you to all those who thanked Randy for that excellent blow by blow documentary he published yesterday. Thrilling to say the least!

I did not know so much action was taken place right here in Naperville. I thought we lived in a bedroom community till I read that documentary. It is an absolute must read!

Posted by: Dor | January 26, 2008 10:14 AM

PS. Like many others before me including Mrs. of the Police Officer I read all the sites and published my remarks on the wrong site because I did not switch back. Will try to make an effort to publish on the right site next time. Sorry, Host for
making your work harder than it already is.(Mentioned Mrs. of Police Officer so I could be in good company...she is such a unique and sincere lady. I absolutely love reading her blogs. I wish she would write lots and lots more.)

I starting reading the District 204 thread tonight since I did not feel like going to the bookstore in the cold to purhcase another book.

After reading about 15 posts on that thread, I gave up. No one explained what they were talking about. It seems like a bunch of kids arguing in an aol chat room. As a newcomer to the thread I could not understand the dispute about boundaries within the same district. Everyone seemed to be talking in circles with a hidden agenda that they were not willing to reveal.

Anyway, I switched to this Napergate thread and was pleasantly surprised. This thread was more like serious letters to the editor with everyone taking the time to explain themselves. Almost everyone was articulate in explaining their respective positions on the Napergate issues. You walked away understanding Napergate and both opposing views.

I just wanted to thank Police Officer, Mrs. of the Police Officer, Randy, Ameena, Naperville Lawyer and everyone else who shined the light on this story in a way to make it very easy to understand. While all the stories were great, Randy's story was a very unique and different kind of story. It was rather spectacular! I guess I have never heard of anyone being able to reverse a newspaper position by rallying his cause with in essence his own newspaper he put together on the spur of the moment.

Randy's post got my attention and I will admit I had to read it twice as it almost did not seem believable but he seems to have the facts, places, missing ad, and names to back his story. Furthermore, I believe if it was not true, the moderator or host would not have published his post.

But like others I would like to commend those with authority in the Sun who had the courage to post a story like that on the blog site of the same newspaper in question. This is a sign of a newspaper that wants to enter a new age for itself. My complements to the host and moderator for showing such unique courage. I would suspect that 99% of newspapers would never print anything like that about themselves. I guess we are in the 21st century and at least one newspaper seemed to have opened up to its readers.

Just another observation: When people use their first names or postions to identify themselves it just seems more real than using using cartoon character sort of names for identity as on District 204 and other threads. I think this Napergate thread symbolizes what a professional thread should look like. I am very impressed with all the bloggers here, the host and moderator. You are all doing a good job and I can't wait to return in a few days to read any additional postings that may occur!

Hi Melissa (and Caroline, too). I’m baaaack.

The fact that someone hasn’t posted in a while is in no way indicative of their capitulation on the topic under discussion. It just so happens that work and family have a higher priority than answering misguided notions posted on the Potluck blogs. I was not waiting on the sidelines until this topic dropped off the main page--I was busy.

I do not always defend city hall as you stated. I am fairly insulted that you would pigeon-hole me as part of the Establishment just because I don’t fall in step with the Napergatians. I am actually fairly anti-Establishment, but I don’t think DF is the answer. I like to think of myself as being in the middle somewhere. Just because I’m not for you doesn’t mean I’m against you.

So exactly what propaganda were you referring to?

I’ve read the posts and have to say that I agree with most of what Naperville Lawyer and SW Naperville Taxpayer have already stated. This is a new era and we have new people at city hall. While I find it interesting to read what happened to the Napergate Man, it is not necessarily what happened to DF. It will not be admitted during his trial unless DF’s attorney’s can prove a direct link to what is happening now and I haven’t seen any basis for that.

I also mostly agree with police officer who wrote in defense of Chief Dial. However, while I agree that Dial may not have known what was happening at the time, the buck stops at the top (as they say) and he should have paid the price for his lack of control.

T.B.

P.S. Why is the number for CONPA located in Rockford (fonefinder.net)? Is this a real group or an “ambulance chasing” attorney looking to make a buck?

Moderator Jim and Host Ted,
I just got done reading this thread. It reads like a nice book. Very interesting, intriguing and insightful is how I would describe it!

From recollection, I recall Jim saying he would like to do a few more articles on this Napergate story and we have not seen the end of it yet.

However, I am getting the impression from reading Ted's comments that he would rather not do any more stories on Napergate.

To me it seems like this story has a lot of relevance to our current politics. Also, Napergate being in focus, seems like a good reminder that someone else like the Napergate Man can come at anytime and they can be exposed again. The thought of Napergate provides a deterrent of sorts to our government officials. I am sure they took that huge heading on your Sunday front page as a WARNING or at least a REMINDER!

Anyway I would love to see more on this Napergate Story in print. If Jim is right and we will be seeing more, I would like to become a subscriber to the Sun.

Everyone loves a newspaper that is hard hitting and keeps City Hall in check. We all know what happens when City Officials suddenly feel like they are no longer accountable to the taxpayers.

The most shocking example I have yet seen on the blogs is when they told Sun reporter Tim West that they did not keep records on the cost of Napergate Case and if they did they would not provide them.

That ranks as one of the most arrogant statements I have ever heard a city official make to a news reporter.

I do hope reporters dig deeper as Ted suggested. I moved from a medium size town in North Carolina where reporters always dug deeper and they seemed to always have uncovered something like the Napergate Man did.

From reading many of the blogs lately, I seem to think there are serious conflicts of interest between city council members and the Brestal Law Firm. I would love to see an investigative reporter look into these. I was reading somewhere that the City Attorney ruled these relationships were not conflicts of interest. It seems like since they pay her, she rules as they please. You just are not going to get checks and balances from City Officials onto City Officials. You also are not going to get checks and balances from the police dept. investigating itself. Why would a police dept. ever investigate itself and admit to wrong doing which would subject the dept. to a lawsuit? Just makes no sense. As many have stated in their blogs an Internal Affairs investigation will always be biased and not reveal anything.

Having said all that, I would like to emphasize that the only serious check on government has to come from outside of goverenment. The best check is one by the newspaper and citizens.

It is apparent from what I have read that the Naperville Sun failed in the past. The Napergate Man took on the role of checking on government but really what can one guy do, even though it seems like he did an enormous amount. I bet he only hit the tip of the iceberg.

Finally, I would like to see some serious action from the Naperville Sun to back the words being given to us that they will no longer be soft on government officials. The admittance of softeness in the past is usually the beginning of something good to happen on the horizon. I am looking forward for that to happen and more articels on Napergate as I believe Napergate is still continuing at the moment. The only difference is the Napergate Man retired and there is simply no one in town with his abilities to uncover or stop the improprieties.....or I should say no one who has stepped forward yet as I believe there must be some residents or reporters in town with the awesome investigative skills of the Napergate Man.

PS. Almost forget to thank Randy for that very insightful look into the past. I have never heard of anyone taking on City Hall and the local newspaper at one time like the Napergate Man did and still beating them both in what appears to be very difficult circumstances. That is one for the history books to record. I guess he had the willpower to go with his brilliance! Must say he was one of a kind!

Note from Ted, host:

Kathleen,

You're right--Jim and I differ a little in terms of where to take Napergate in print from here. It's not that I wouldn't like to do more, it's more a question of staffing and what we're able to do with the resources we have. The more I learn about Napergate the more questions I have, and then I'm back to balancing whether it's really worth investing a staff reporter's time and effort investigating events more than a decade old when we've got so much going on today that we have to cover: elections, the 203 referendum, 204's new high school, park district nearing decisions on new executive director and Ponds of Hobson West, the Hanson trial getting underway, and much more. Putting out a newspaper is a collaborative process, and no one individual has total say in any decision. So, everything's possible, including more Napergate stories in print, but nothing's definite.

Randy,
I loved you post like everyone else. I thought it was incredible. But regarding your comment on the Napergate story about the Napergate man being fair, don't you think if the reporter would have mentioned this legal battle was really about a "sting operation" the Napergate Man performed to further the liquor control acts instead of a sale to a minor, it would have been much more balanced and accurate.

I think it is these little mistakes by reporters that bring the perception that the Naperville Sun is slanted towards the city. Maybe it is just a matter of a reporter not knowing the full story.

I do not know if reporters read blogs like many of the rest of us, but if they do it that would really help them get a grasp of the facts and publish a more accurate story. This would possibly eliminate all the talk of slanting or tilting one way or the other.

It sure seemed the Naperville Sun had a high standard of review for those Napergate Ads. If they would have a similar standard of review for their reporters, it would make the Naperville Sun a much more credible and respected newspaper that more of us would subscribe to instead of just using its site for free blogging!

As editors now I can tell you Jim and I constantly push our young reporters to dig deeper and to think creatively about what's going on around town. It's a rewarding job and it's a challenge getting information sometimes but that's no excuse, it was a lot harder for Basim Esmail in the days before the Internet and he managed OK.
__________________________________________________________________

Host Ted,
I enjoyed reading your comments. You seem to always say the right words. Regarding the above comment I was just curious if you asked the reporter who did the feature on the Napergat Man if she could dig a little deeper regarding the statement acting City Manager made that the entire cost of the Napergate Case was only 5-10 thousand for outside attorneys.

Many bloggers mentioned that point so it occurred to me while reading your comments. Even if the reporter may be a little timid in confronting high ranking city officials, does it not become the duty of the Editorial Staff of a newspaper to challenge such comments made by a high ranking official that are very likely false based on what we have heard from many bloggers on this post and read over the years.

I would really like to see this digging deeper put into action as opposed to words. I think what makes Basim Esmail special is he seemed to always convert his words into action! He always dug a little deeper! I disagree with your comment that he just managed OK. For not being a journalist, I felt he excelled in his investigative reporting during the Napergate Era.

Note from Ted, host:

Nikki, you're right about challenging the statement about the costs of defending Napergate. It seems incredulous, doesn't it? The reporter--an intern who has returned to college--talked to other city officials not quoted in the story and all were reluctant to talk about the topic.

Randy,
You floored with me with your story! That is truly remarkable!
Next time I sit to read another one of your stories I will fasten my seat belt. You are a very articulate writer with obviously a photographic memory and enormous insight. Thanks for shedding additional light on a subject it seems so many bloggers have developed a very deep thirst for!

Bloggers,
I did get my Napergate V copy e-mailed to me by Randy this cold morning. Many thanks to Randy for getting me a copy and of course for his detailed story which I would have never expected in a million years. I promise to share part of Napergate V with you in the future. But let me give you the subheadings of that ad I received less than an hour ago...yes, it is the internet age! We can move very fast!

NAPERGATE V

A TALE OF TWO CITIES-PART II

CITY OFFICIALS "FAILING"

QUICKSAND "SYNDROME"

TAXPAYER ALERT

Imagine that ad being distributed right inside of City Hall with the sub-heading of CITY OFFICIALS "FAILING" being given to each city employee. It is not a surprise that Naperville Police were called to throw the Napergate Man and his followers out of City Hall.

Of course, I feel there is no need to reiterate with my own detailed story which would be more speculative and less factual than Randy's documentary. But briefly what got me interested is the 2 Napergate ads out of the 44 that were missing and could not be found by the librarian or me. The clue to me was the words, "We're Back" in Napergate VII. I am sure the old Naperville Sun would have never let him tell his readers what had happened but apparently he snuck in a hint! It must not have been a great hint since only Randy and I caught it. I guess I can't honestly say I caught it because the librarian tipped me off! So only Randy and the librarian to be precise!

I did run into quite a few older folks at the library who remember vividly receiving 2 Napergate ads between their screen and doors. No one had the hard core evidence Randy had, but all had suspicions that fit like a puzzle with Randy's detailed documentary. Everyone remembers those ads especially Napergate VI because it had attacked the old Naperville Sun in a horrific manner. But not one person could find the ad for me from 15 years ago. I guess people just don't save old newspapers or ads. No one liked to save INK like we save articles on our hard drive gigabytes these days! But they really read that INK and remember it. It must have left a mark on them!

Anyway if anyone did save Napergate VI, I will have uncovered all 44 Napergate ads. One to go!

Again my e-mail address is:

Ameeenaa@yahoo.com

and I would be greatly indebted to anyone who allows me to complete my research by finding this one missing ad or providing any other information on Napergate and the Napergate Man. It is an extremely fascinating story about how one man found ways to beat City Hall over and over again with utter determination and steadfastness. I have covered 10 Major Reversals and I have not even researched 25% of the case so far.

Just to give you a little tidbit that I will discuss more in the future. He felt the 3 gentlemen convicted in the murder of 11 year old Jenine Nicarico(Naperville Case) were innocent from very early on. He used his ads to help them. He even contacted Eric Zorn from the Chicago Tribune and got him interested in the case. At some point he was able to convince Mr. Zorn they were innocent and Mr. Zorn put on the massive pressure that eventually exonerated all 3 of them. The source for most of his information was former Naperville Police Chief James Teal who was the first to believe they were innocent and tipped the Napergate Man since the establishment media was convinced they were guilty beyond a reasonable doubt as they had repeated their stories so often they began to believe them. Twenty five years later the "establishment" has still not tried the real alleged killer, Brian Dugan. If they would have listened to the Police Chief and the Napergate Man 25 years ago a travesty of justice could have been avoided. It is remarkable how the Napergate Man was everywhere and light years ahead of everyone else. The story is documented in his ads and I will try to publish a section one day on these blogs.

Randy has provided Napergate V and continues to look for Napergate VI and hopefully will find it one day. At least he does not recall throwing it away as he was part of the Napergatian movement and considered those ads souvenirs of sorts.

Thanks for all who attempted to help and solve the mystery. I guess Randy won and I owe him the 10 dollar reward I put up...lol!

I wonder what kind of scoop I can dig up if I ever offered a 100 dollar reward! Maybe that final and missing Napergate VI Ad.......you never know!

Ameena...

Naperville Lawyer,
Thanks for keeping us lay people on top of the legal matters.
As a lay person I would also think it would be very prejudicial to admit the Napergate Case as some kind of foundational evidence in the Furstenau Case.

Any jury that would have any knowledge of the Napergate Case would come back with a verdict against the City and Police in less than one can blink of an eye!

I am sure Furstenau's lawyers know that and they would love to have a few Napergatians or even simply Napervillians on the jury.

I also want to mention that Randy's long essay was the best one I have read since the Sun established blogging. I guess it shows you the awesome power of an eyewitness when you can find one which is usually very rare!!! His memory, facts and details seem impeccable and very believable.

Do you know Mr. Naperville Lawyer or Moderator/Host if the City Police had a right to stop the Napergate Man and his supporters from distributing their Napergate ads at City Hall, which is taxpayer and resident owned? Would like to hear from both if possible? Sometimes residents really don't know their rights unless newspapers inform them of their rights. Not everyone has a lawyer or can afford to call a lawyer these days!

Randy,
Your essay was so enlightening. I did not work with the Napergate Man during the liquor proceedings as you did but I worked closely with him during Spring Green.

He was the undisputed leader, organizer, rallier, ad provider, you name it and he was it.

But for some odd reason when the old Naperville Sun did articles they shied away from giving him credit. They would give the credit to his assisstants and totally ignore him.

It just seems the reporters at the time were not digging deep enough or simply told to ignore the Napergate Man. It seemed kind of silly since his Napergate ads stuck out in the Naperville Sun like a sore thumb. That was one AD you simply could not miss in those days. It was an AD like no other AD! Like many residents I loved walking down my driveway Wednesday morning to see what the latest scoop he dug up was. I honestly could not wait and wanted to read the latest Napergate ad first, then have my coffee, and finally read the rest of the newspaper in that sequence. His ads were more addicting than the best soap opera imaginable! Much more than Desperate Housewives is these days to many of us housewives..lol.!!!

Every ad had new scoops and it seems he had so much news he just could not print it all. He never ran out of news that you could not find anywhere else!

******************************************************************

Host Ted,
I believe your comments are very sincere! If you were not the boss than no one can blame you. I am sure you were misguided a bit by your superiors at the time.

I was very impresseed with your comment that you are asking your young reporters to dig deeper and think creatively as to what is going on in town. I think if you push them a little harder they will and can get the job done. Give Ms. Koci another shot at the Napergate story. I bet she will surprise you the second time around. She deserves time to get more familiar with a very complicated and decades long story!

To the best of my knowledge, the Napergate Man was not a trained reporter or ever taken one class in journalism. I think it was simply determination to get the facts and to get to the bottom of a story.

If he can do it, all your reporters can do it. It is just a matter of having the will power and desire to do it...to dig a little deeper....

Most importantly, thanks for providing this forum as it allows us all to vent about the past. Your admittance that you should have done more to investigate City Hall speaks volumes to me about your character and sincerity. You seem like a very humble and down to earth person and a great Editor to lead the Sun into modern times.

In fairness to you, as you said you were a powerless reporter at the time. Now that you are in charge, you are making a big difference that all of us Naperville residents really appreciate. Keep up the great work and continue bloggin with us! Would love to hear more from you on these blogs.

Thank you so much host!

I must say I was completely lost.........

Ameena sure knows how to dig and ask the right questions...

I guess only one person had the right answer but boy did he have the answer. You could say even the best investigative reporter needs a break once in a while like the one Randy provided. I am sure many others in town knew the answer but they must be old timers not use to bloggin yet.

Never thought anyone could have a memory like Randy's 15 years later. I can barely remember what I had for dinner the last time I went out.

I just want to thank Randy for answering Ameena's Napergate riddle in such an informative and no nonsense way! Thank you so much, Randy!!!

I just had my morning coffee and read that phenomenal Randy documentary!

This Napergate Man really was a unique individual to be able to devise a plan to get his Napergate V published that quickly and distributed so widely in such a short time.

The old Naperville Sun deliberately avoided covering him for some reason. Probably due to establishment pressure! I saw a few old articles posted recently by the host or moderator on Spring Green and took note that his name or title of Napergate Man was conveniently left out of all the articles. It just seemed they did not want to give him credit.

However, when you study all these battles that he won, be it ATT, his liquor proceedings, city council reversals, Spring Green, SW GATE, the Naperville Sun battle, or endorsees he got elected repeatedly, etc. the only common denominator in all these battles was the Napergate Man! Just an observation indicating he was the real force behind all this but yet deliberately ignored by the old Sun!

Just further testament to the fact that City Officials were pressuring the Naperville Sun in the Napergate Age(as Randy showed) and the Sun simply could not shake loose of their grip. It appears they finally have shaken loose and I am so thankful for that!

PS. Just an after thought....Could the reason the old Naperville Sun put itself up for sale was to shake loose from the tight grip of the Establishment?

Host here, just want to say thanks to Randy and others for the kind words recently. Just doing our jobs. Napergate leaves me with mixed emotions. I was a powerless reporter 10 years ago when Napergate was winding down, but part of that "old" Sun culture nonetheless--I should have done more to investigate city hall etc. back then. The criticism of the old Sun being soft is well-deserved. I'm learning stuff now about Napergate that I didn't even know back then, and like a lot of others I really enjoy this forum and appreciate everyone who brings something to the table. As editors now I can tell you Jim and I constantly push our young reporters to dig deeper and to think creatively about what's going on around town. It's a rewarding job and it's a challenge getting information sometimes but that's no excuse, it was a lot harder for Basim Esmail in the days before the Internet and he managed OK. Just want to add there's an endless amount of space to talk about Napergate here on the Internet but our print edition has got to be more concerned with the here and now. It would take many pages in print to do justice to a story like Napergate.

"By introducing this case in the media and court system, they would be able to shatter the city's credibility and in particular the NPD's credibility."

Martha,
"If" the Napergate Case was introduced in court proceedings related to the Furstenau Case, it would most likely shatter the city's credibility. But I believe, it is for that reason, a Federal Judge would never allow the introduction of the Napergate Case or even mention of it. In addition, the 400,000 dollars designated by the city for outside attorneys is partially related to keeping a handle on such issues. I also can further assure you the City Attorneys will ask each prospective juror if they ever heard of the Napergate Man. If the jurist says yes, there will be an attempt to disqualify him or her immediately.

Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune had written some favorable columns about the Napergate Man. Plus he is known nationally for his responsible drinking campaign. So the pool of jurors could easily contain jurists from outside Naperville, who know the Napergate Man and I believe all those who simply know about him, will be eliminated as prospective jurors. Otherwise the case will be highly prejudicial against the City of Naperville and the city would not get a fair trial. The purpose of the judicial system is to give both parties a fair trial without any prejudice from previous cases.

As far as the Furstenau supporters, using the Napergate Case to shatter the city and police's credibility in the media, that is obviously permissible and I see it occurring right on these blogs daily by the new breed of citizen's journalists as the host refers to them.

However the strength of these blogs is tied to the print edition of the Naperville Sun. One should note the exponential increase in blogging on the Napergate Man from the first thread a month ago to the second thread of last week. I believe it is related to the article and the comment on the front page regarding, "join us in the discussion on napersun.com." As blogging grows exponentially, bloggers may one day have the effect to influence events as the Napergate Man did mostly thru the print edition of the Sun. That day may be 10 or 20 years away! It also may never happen and we could suddenly see a resurgence in print media. As noted by the host, there has been a resurgence in the last year of 1000 new subcribers to the Sun and I expect that resurgence to continue with powerful editions like the Sunday Sun about "Revisiting the Napergate Man." The topic of Napergate was notorious for selling newspapers in the past and I believe will sell newspapers in the future. Napergate encompasses much more than the Napergate Man and the movement he started. It is about current problems we still have in this town, as well as past problems that appear to have been resolved but not completley.

PS. I also enjoyed reading Randy's post about the battle between the "old" Naperville Sun and the Napergate Man.
That story could also be another sell out of the Sunday edition as may have occurred with the first article on the Napergate Man. It is really a fascinating story that was never told before and should be told to the 16,200 subscribers of the "new" Naperville Sun and not be limited to the few hundred bloggers. This topic has been ciruculating in the grapevine for over a decade and should be vetted out and put to rest!

After reading Randy's dynamic remembrance of history, I see no parrallel between the Napergate Man and Furstenau.

In the case of the Napergate Man he was abused by city officials and Naperville Police. In the case of Furstenau he was abusing city officials and the Naperville Police.

I commend the new Naperville Sun for allowing us to revisit this remarkable underdog battling on many fronts. It is unfortunate that the old Naperville Sun did not record history as it was occurring. But thanks to people like Randy with long memories, it appears history can still be recorded.

marybreth,

My comments were not to criticize a technicality by a new blogger. I just didn't agree with the blogger's comments based on the known facts of the matter. Unfortunately, some readers might be viewing the Napergate Man's trials and tribulations as current events, especially when the blogger implies that members of our current city government were responsible for the fiasco, and will be voted out of office because of it.

You are right, as we all know, the Napergate guy ran ads in 2000, 2001. To correct another "technicality" on MY previous post, I meant to write that we now have three new city councilmen who have been elected to City Council "within" the past few years. I think we can agree these councilmen were NOT directly or indirectly responsible for the Napergate Man's problems with the city in the 80's and 90's, or even 2000 and 2001. Any evidence to the contrary?

I read Randy's blog, as usual, and found it very informative. Many posts by other bloggers are informative too, including many of Joe's and T.B's posts in the past! Ameena is doing great at the library, but I guess she still hasn't figured out how to bring up the "Street View" of Chicago Avenue on Googlemaps.com yet. You can almost look right in the Lantern window! OK, let the space aliens figure it out. That little "Steet View" man on Googlemaps actually looks like a space alien, doesn't he? Or I should say "it" looks like a space alien. Seriously, I enjoy reading the results of all the research, and the opinions of others... agree or disagree.

By the way, my gender is of no consequence to your ability to address me. You can always call me Century Person, Southwest, SW Taxpayer, SNT, SWT, or SWNT. Or possibly "it", as you suggest. Doesn't this story seem to parallel the story of the Googlemaps "Street View" alien? All right, maybe not.

Randy,

That was a remarkable in depth report. You have an awesome memory. Now we finally know what was wrong with the old Naperville Sun. I am just so glad they have new leaderhship. They seem to have much better talent under the new ownership. I always thought something was wrong with the "old" Naperville Sun!

Moderator Jim and Host Ted are fabulous guys! They have courage and let the bloggers tell it as it is. It probably took a little courage to post that documentary by Randy, but it shows how brave and unbiased they are. I salute them!

I think we are well on our way to having a great newspaper in our town. We deserve one after all the censorhip the old Sun was performing. It is sad how they hid so many city improprieties from the residents in those older days. No wonder our city officials were converting so much residential property to commercial for their buddies and enriching each other. No one was watching their actions! The local newspaper ignored its watchdog duty causing our city officials to go rampant for decades until the Napergate Man finally uncovered the conspiracy and hopefully stopped it permanently.

Finally anyone who claims this Napergate thread does not have relevance to current times is just trying to maintain the cover-ups of the old times. Napergate reminds us what are city officials are capable of doing and the importance of keeping them under our watchful eyes at all times with no exceptions!

Thanks for your very detailed post,Randy! I was aware that this took place as I had those Napergate ads left inside my screen door.

However, I did not know all the details you provided.

I am a little shocked that the old ownership of the Naperville Sun would be in cohoots with City Officials to that level to silence the opposition.

It does not surprise me, though! I am glad we have new ownership of the Naperville Sun that gives us freedom of expression. The old Naperville Sun would have never given us an avenue like blogging to express our opinions. If they did, they would only publish pro city blogs as they did in their newsprint with only pro city letters to the editor published during the Napergate Era.

I think a lot of hostility from bloggers towards the Sun is due to old actions of the Naperville Sun. Since many residents cancelled their subscriptions they are probably not aware that there has been a change of ownership and think the Naperville Sun is still controlled by the "establishment" in town.

I don't recall the Sun informing its readers of new ownership. When a new retailer take over an old store he always puts a sign on the window stating, "New Ownership." The Naperville Sun should do something similar and I believe it subscribers will return back to the peak level of the Napergate days and probably much higher due to the significant increase in population.

Southwest Naperville Taxpayer,

If you want to be technical and criticise a new blogger who made a mistake and corrected himself, I can also be technical.

Many of the Napergate ads were written in 2000 and 2001. That is the 21st century! So his ads were written in 2 centuries and not so old as you would like one to believe.

You would have been wiser to read Randy's post and learn something new instead of blog about technicalites. As you know that is what destroyed Joe's credibiity and that is why he remains in hiding.

I guess you can say he retired just like the Napergate Man. But he retired on the bottom while the Napergate Man retired on top!
That is a little bit of a difference, Mr. Century Man or Ms. Century Woman before you hit me on a gender technicality. It is difficult to address people who do not reveal their gender identity. They may as well be anonymous and we can address them as "it."

Randy,
Thanks for filling in all the blanks for me! I only had 80% of the facts so I was reluctant to publish.

Yes, you are the only one with the right answer! I thought the hint of "We're Back" was very obvious but I guess not as obvious as I assumed if you are not familiar with the unusual and unique story of the Napergate Man.

I would love a copy of Napergate V as the librarian confirmed that and Napergate VI do not exist in her archives. I hope you find Napergate VI and also send me a copy. That would give us a complete record of at least all 44 Napergate ads. His non-Napergate Ads are all over the place and much more difficult to track unless one is willing to go thru 3650 Naperville Suns covering an entire decade!

My e-mail address is Ameeenaa@yahoo.com and I look forward to receiving the ad you saved. Don't forget the extra e and extra a in my e-mail address or I will not get it. Thanks for all your help with your first hand account. It confirms all my research and interviews the last month! I wish you would have spoken up earlier...you could have saved me a lot of time but late is better than never!
Thanks again!

Ameena...

PS. Will write more later about my findings!

Randy,
Thanks for publishing that long post. It was truly informative!
I think you not only solved the pending mystery but pretty much saved Ameena from having to publish her findings. I think she will be pleasantly delighted when she sees your post. First hand knowledge will always win out over investigative reporting. Good job!

To Barry Quigley: Where is CONPA located at? Rt59 & Montgomery Rd in Naperville?

In my last post I referred to a quote incorrectly as James post. The quote was actually from Scott. Sorry James.
Posted by: Scott | January 24, 2008 09:52 AM:
"If they have the courage to continue as they so indicated when this story is done and told, I believe the citizens will vote everyone in office out except for Mayor Pradel. Dick Furstenau and Darlene Senger who were not part of the conspiracy against the Napergate Man. Some establishment council members were involved either directly or indirectly or culpable for looking the other way."

Melissa,

I have been reading the postings on this blog and, as expected, the review of the facts confirm to me that there are no real parallels between the Napergate Man's story and the Furstenau case. I knew that all along. It seems many bloggers, like James, don't know how to put the Napergate details in perspective. As we know, four of our current City Council members were endorsed by the Napergate Man, and three others have only been members of the City Council for a few years (Wehrli, Miller, and Fieseler). How does he come up with claiming everybody except Furstenau and Senger will be voted out of office because of the Napergate facts? His wife made him post a correction. The Napergate story took place in the 80's and 90's in the last CENTURY. This is the 21st century.

I was very aware of this case. I have lived in Naperville for 11 years, and I have lived and worked in the area since the early 1980s. I SAW the ads in the Sun as they actually appeared.

I am realistic about it. I am well aware there are some bad cops in the world, and there are some bad politicians who hold elected office in respected communities like ours.

Sorry bloggers but I was out of town for a few days or I could have shed some light on Ameena's search of yet another "REVERSAL." I think the clue was in the sub-heading "WE"RE BACK." One need only ask "WHY WAS HE GONE IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

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The hint that tipped me off to yet another REVERSAL by the Napergate Man is contained in this section of his Napergate VII ad. I did much research to verify this REVERSAL in the last few weeks including speaking to some old time residents of the town. If anyone can shed some more light or has some additional knowledge please feel free to share it before I publish my findings!
Posted by: Ameena | January 24, 2008 12:16 PM

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Here is what I know from being one of the Napergatians who actually worked with the Napergate Man when Napergate was still a liquor battle before it transformed into a development battle. But before I make my comments, I want to emphasize the ownership of the Naperville Sun today is not the same ownership of the Naperville Sun in the Napergate Era. The current ownership is liberal, progressive and unbiased. The former ownership was very conservative, reactionary, and biased. Just as the current Mayor was not involved in Napergate, the new ownership of the Naperville Sun was not involved in Napergate. I also disagree with all the bloggers who have said the Sunday article was titled against the Napergate Man. It was a very fair and unbiased story. I think the unjustifed allegations against the new Naperville Sun are coming from the fact that so much was left out. But how can a newspaper cover 100 full page ads with no pics that are one and a half times the size of the current page size, with a one page article that had a large picture. My perception is because it did not tell the full story of the Napergate Man, bloggers have wrongfully accused the Naperville Sun of being biased. The word Napergate was slashed on the front page of the Naperville Sun for all to see. My opinion is that the Napergate Sun was actually biased towards the Napergate Man and did an excellent job with the spectacular front page and wrote a very nice article

Let me get back to the answering Ameena's question. Unlike the new generation of, I assume, young bloggers, I don't have to guess. I know the answer! I believe Ameena has no first hand knowledge of Napergate but her investigative reporting which has been superb has brought her to a point where she is 90% sure but not 100% of this "REVERSAL" and thus is looking for some final clues or hints from the readers before she publishes her findings. Let me see if I can help her.

HERE ARE THE ACTUAL FACTS AS THEY OCCURRED BASED ON MY FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE:

1. The Napergate Man published many non-Napergate political ads and 4 Napergate ads before city officials reached a point of INTOLERANCE! You could say they had enough of the TRUTH being told about them!

2. When the Napergate Man took his Napergate V to be published, the Naperville Sun rejected it and told him his Napergate ads are no longer welcome! His ads were always verified for accuracy both by his attorneys and Sun Editors and attorneys as has been reported by Ameena and others. They were always checked for libel and even sent for an additional check to Copley Headquarters in California(old owner of the Sun) for yet another review for libel, slander and verification of substance and facts.

3. When he pressed the Naperville Sun staff for a reason of the termination of his advertising rights in the newspaper of which he had advertised in for over a dozen years, they finally admitted to him that City Officials had pressured them to no longer publish his Napergate ads. "Liquor ads are welcome, but no more Napergate ads" he was told by Sun Staff. He tried to convince them to reverse their decision but they adamantly refused after very long negotiations.

4. The Napergate Man has a good friend and customer named Ray Kinney who owned a large printing press on the North side of town somewhere. Ray Kinney was sympathetic to the plight of the Napergate Man and agreed to quickly print 20,000 copies for him that would be the same size of his Sun ads, have the same layout and be on nice thick paper. Since he had already laid out and written Napergate V to be published in the Sun, this was a quick production. I believe Mr. Kinney gave him an excellent price of 1 cent a page. At most 2 cents! It is difficult to recall but it was no more than a penny or two per copy due the huge production. His ads always came out on Wednesday! Ray Kinney was able to have the 20,000 copies ready in time and Napergate Man and his numerous friends distributed the ad city wide hand to hand that Wednesday instead of thru the Sun. At the time I believe his base of supporters was only 1000 and had not reached the 3500 it later reached.

5. The biggest focus point for distribution was at City Hall. I joined him with about 20 other Napergatians and we distributed about 500-1000 copies to City Hall employees and residents who came to pay bills such as electric and water or attend other matters. It did not take long for the police to kick the Napergate Man and his supporters out of City Hall. The Napergate Man politely told the police, City Hall was a public building owned by the taxpayers and he had a right to distribute his ad. The police disagreed with him and asked him and his supporters to leave and we left. There was no pushing or shoving. The Napergate Man simply complied and took his supporters to other areas of town for hand to hand distribution. I believe we distributed all the copies but a 1000 of the 20,000 production. Those were given out at his store to his customers!

6. I did find my copy of Napergate V. If Ameena would like a copy of it I can scan it and e-mail it to her. All she needs to do is provide her e-mail address in a post. It will never be found in the library as it was never published in the Naperville Sun!

7. I have not found my copy of Napergate VI yet. However I recall, that one strictly blasted the old Naperville Sun for succumbing to the pressure of City Officials.
Also 20,000 copies were made and also distributed all over Naperville but not City Hall because the Napergate Man was told he would be arrested if he attempted to distribute his ad at City Hall again.

8. The Napergate Man with this tactic was really able to embarrass the old Naperville Sun. He accused them of censorship! He accused them of bias! He accused them of catering to city officials. He accused them of being afraid of city officials. He accused them of violating his 1st Amendment Right of Free Speech! This was all in that Napergate VI ad that came after the prior Napergate V ad that Sun Officials refused to publish due to extreme pressure from City Hall.

9. I guess you all know what happened by now. Mr. Napergate got yet another REVERSAL. The Naperville Sun REVERSED itself as he was able to apply much more pressure than city officials and he was of course on higher ground especially with the residents supporting him in masses. While I am not sure and have no direct evidence, I believe some civil rights organizations and attorneys also came to his defense.!

10. In summary the Napergate Man was a uniquely creative and talented individual, highly motivated and could come up with a plan to overcome each or any obstacle in his path.

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It does not surprise me to read all the nice comments about the Napergate Man. I was a regular customer at his store and even lived in the same apartment complex at Olives Trees for about a decade. Besides being very politically and legally savvy, he was a very nice man. He did not own a white dog when I knew him. At those times, he would have had no time to be walking a white dog. I believe in retirement he has found some time as reported by the Huntington Estates Lady.

He definitely left a legacy in Naperville. As you can see he fought for free speech and free press. Now we have both! While the old Naperville Sun did not change its conservative ways, apparently after that historic Napergate VI hands to hands ad, they decided that the Napergate Man was not someone you want to mess with and they published all his ads until he decided to retire on his own terms while on top.

I have not seen or talked to the Napergate Man in over 10 years. I do not know why he retired. But if you look closely at the front page of the Naperville Sun on Sunday, Jan. 20th, 2008 and read the first sentence of his picture ad in Napergate XXXV(35), you can see he was aching to retire Napergate at that moment. However, he proceeded into 9 overtime sessions reaching Napergate XLIV(44), before he finally defeated the Brestal Law Firm. That first sentence reads:

"EVERYTIME AN ATTEMPT IS MADE TO RETIRE NAPERGATE TO THE MOTHBALLS, CERTAIN CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS NEVER FAIL TO PULL A STUNT ON THEIR CONSTITUENTS."

When he felt he had exposed all the stunts of City Officials and the Brestal Law Firm, and stopped them in their tracks, he published his final ad, Napergate XLIV, and I presume retired. Brestal did finally back off! Everytime I pass by South West Gate on 75th and Naper Blvd., I remember the Napergate Man. That was his final Major Battle in his 20 year WAR. Brestal was attempting to obtain zoning to build a high density office building on that parcel combined with retail commercial and he somehow stopped him. Nine years later, Brestal has not yet returned! The land remains vacant! That should tell you something about the influence the Napergate Man had on this town before he finally retired.

Ameena,
I guess McFarland and I touched on another REVERSAL you had not thought about. Glad we could help!

However, I am very interested in hearing about this mysterious 10th REVERSAL. I just can't figure it out for the life of me. I will admit the suspense and curiosity is killing me.

You promised you would tell us in 24 hours. I think it has been over 48 hours. Please don't forget us! Thanks and keep up your great investigative reporting!

Rachael stated,

"I think the hint is in this quote,

"We were specifically referring to the mayor and those in his administration who have harassed and discriminated against Extra Value Liquors."

He must have reversed the harassment of his store due to the disclosures in his Napergate 7 ad of alleged discrmination by the Naperville Police Dept. at the time."

This is the only thing I can think Ameena may be talking about regarding this other suspense reversal.

__________________________________________________________________

Police Officer and Mrs. of the Police Officer,

I would like to hear more from both of you regarding your feelings of what you are reading. It seems like most bloggers are young and do not have 1st hand information.

I would like to hear more especially from Mrs. of the Police Officer becasue I would still like to hear your opinion based on what you are reading and learning despite having no first hand knowledge.

Your opinion has always put a better perspective on situations. In particular I would like to hear your opinion on what Police Officer wrote as it was interesting but not very logical as far as where responsibilty should fall.

It seems like since many bloggers and the host verified these Napergate ads were vetted pretty good for accuracy by attorneys from both sides and editors from the Sun, it would seem you would be commenting on something factual even if you do not have 1st hand knowledge like most of the rest of us. Your opinion is valued and it seems without it, we have no balance on this thread and really almost no debate.

I know you will be outnumbered but I have every confidence you can handle it and I really like many others would like to hear your level headed and opposing opinions!

Melissa,
I did notice Joe, T.B., Southwest Taxpayer and other city supporters missing. Slicing and dicing does not work with these Napergatians. They are too well educated for Joe to attempt to do a semantics job on them. He would fail....so I have to assume he feels more comfortable staying away and hibernating to less intellectually stimulating and demanding threads.

I suspect the Napergate Man taught them the meaning of credibility and I notice they strive to maintain it by being very cautious in what they say and only saying it if they can back it up.

I second your motion Cindy.....

The puck has to stop at the Chief of Police.....it just can not continue sliding to nowhere!

I believe that the correlation between the Napergate Case and the Fustenau Case is a positive one for Furstenau.

The Fustenau case is one of "he said she said." The reason I say that is the Judge never ruled whether Furstenau touched or did not touch. He simply said there was no evidence he touched or hit the officer. Being ruled not guilty is not the same as being innocent!

In the end since the DF case is a "he said she said case," the credibility of the parties becomes the determining criteria for who is to be beleived by the Judge and Jury!

By introducing this case in the media and court system, they would be able to shatter the city's credibility and in particular the NPD's credibility.

I am surprised Taxpayer isn't jumping on this case to enhance the credibility of his best friend, DF, by pointing out the lack of credibilty the city and police acquired from the Napergate Case.

It is unfortunate that Taxpayer was stuck in such a rut defending DF and could not come up with an alterior defense of any sorts? I see another strong defense of the Furstenau case right on this thread.

Posted by: Martha | January 24, 2008 09:36 PM

I AM SORRY BUT I DON'T BUY THE POLICE OFFICER'S DEFENSE OF CHIEF DIAL DUE TO LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE NAPERGATE CONSPIRACY!

IN HIS POSITION ONE TAKES RESPONSIBLITY AND DOES NOT CLAIM IGNORANCE. THAT IS JUST A PURE EXCUSE FOR POSSIBLE INCOMPETENCE!

Has anyone noticed that Joe, T.B., Southwest Taxpayer and the many others who are always defending City Hall with their bow and arrows have not appeared on this thread.

It just seems obvious they want to remain on the sidelines until this case disappears off the Main Page!

I think they were not aware of this case and felt the City and its Police Dept. could do no wrong.

The formula for the "establishment" has always been if we keep quiet on disatrous issues, they will boil over.

I think they thought the Napergate Case boiled over a decade ago.
I am sure City Officials are shocked the Naperville Sun decided to suddenly revisit the case.

It seems their propoganda does not work when you have so many court rulings such as in the Napergate Case that provide unanimous and crystal clear decisions. Their propaganda only works in the Furstenau Case where the decisons are pending and they can say what they want and get away with it!

Ameena,
Thanks for clarifying your question! I do understand your question finally but I don't see any hints in that sub-section of the Napergate VII ad.

How about one more tip! I am sure you are at the library so we will probably have to wait till tomorrow to hear from you!

Thanks!
Jenny

Scott and James,
You both make very much sense to me. I just got home from the corporate world. A top executive was terminated last week at our company because he lost control of his department.

It just seems to me like police departments are the only organiziations in the world that don't believe in disciplining their own for trangressions towards others(civilians).

It is hard to fathom that no civilian in Naperivlle has ever been abused by a police officer. The NPD could regain some credibility by issuing its Internal Affairs Reports or Conclusions. Has the Naperville Sun ever made a request for such reports and been denied?

Kind of unusual that a guy like the Napergate Man can establish so much credibility while the Chief loses his due to non-response or inaction! Usually non-response by a Police Chief is a tell tale sign something is awfully wrong in that department.

I do think there is some connection between these 2 cases. Before the Napergate Case was revisited, I completley doubted Furstenau's story. Now that I have seen what the NPD is capable of, from Ameena's posting of Appellant Court Rulings and former Napergate ads, I am suddenly wondering if the NPD tried to frame Furtenau for his political views. It seems rather factual certain city officials did try to muzzle the Napergate Man for his political views and activities but it apparently backfired in that case in a unique way.

Unfortunatley, we learned from the Napergate Case, that these types of cases take an average of 5 years to go thru our snail pace judicial system before they unravel. I think that is a travesty of justice in itself. Our judicial system should be able to proceed much faster and at much less cost! How many people have 200k like the Napergate Man to actually defend themselves? So I guess it is not uncommon to plead guilty even though you are innocent in our soceity.

I find it ironic that the Napergate Man agreed to plead guilty in this case and pay a $1500 fine but the city officials refused the plea, cost the taxpayers millions of dollars fighting the Napergate Man, and got eggs on their faces in the process when he was found "just not guilty" but actually INNOCENT of all charges! I think that is outrageous! I hope others caught that blog or the section of his ad where he agrees to plead guilty!

It is obvious in this case he was willing to plead guilty not because he was guilty, but to save $200,000 and probably have a life instead of no life for the 5 year period these cases take to unravel.

And finally I have to agree with the many bloggers, who stated that Naperville Sun article on Napergate was very weak. It quoted the uncredible instead of the credible! Makes no sense to me that the Sun reporter did not know who was credible after all these court rulings! I am assuming she is a relatively young reporter with little experience in seeking the hard truth!

Ameena,

I think the hint is in this quote,

"We were specifically referring to the mayor and those in his administration who have harassed and discriminated against Extra Value Liquors."

He must have reversed the harassment of his store due to the disclosures in his Napergate 7 ad of alleged discrmination by the Naperville Police Dept. at the time.

Posted by: Scott | January 24, 2008 09:52 AM

I agree with your above post.

Another example would be if a college football coach had so many undisciplined players causing havoc in town, he would be terminated let alone censured or reprimanded.

In the Duke Lacrosse Case, I recall the coach was terminated and the entire team wrongfully suspended for a year despite the fact it turned out all the players were innocent.

Here we have organizational and court rulings claiming the Napergate Man received unequal treatment and no repercussions to the Chief or a single officer after a ruling. In the Duke case there was a suspension and determination with much less proof...albeit they were wrong in that case as they jumped the gun way to early and should have waited for the legal matters to conclude!

I agree with the blogger that said Internal Affairs of the NPD should stand for Internal Cover-Up!

Does the Naperville Sun know of any Internal Affairs Investigations of rogue cops in Naperville? Probably not since cover-ups are top secret and it takes unique individuals like the Napergate Man to puncture a leak in them. Don't know how he seemed to be everywhere at the same time figuring everything out all the time!?!?!?

I don't see any hint in your latest blog, Ameena!

I just can't imagine that the Napergate Man would reverse the "The Affirmative Action Advisory Council of AT@T Bell Laboratories in Naperville, that states police were ranked #1 as the worst violators of civil rights.

I understood he was pro civil rights! There was nothing else there I noticed!

Can you provide any more tips!

Host Ted, Moderator Jim and Ameena,
I have always been curious about the difference in libel standards between print and on-line blogging.

When I was on Greta wire bloggin about the Peterson Case, your message was posted within literally a second or two. It seems like a computer only checked the post for inappropriate obscence language. But people told so many lies and no one cared. In my opinion, the threads there had no credibility. They were sickening! It was like a huge chat room with kids talking.

On the Sun threads everyone seems more credible but strongly opinionated. People can actually write coherently. I always thought the delaying by the Sun of posting was to eliminate both blatant lies that the host knew of and of course obscene language.

Just out of curiosity, Host or Moderator, if you know someone is telling a blatant lie with 100% certainty, do you still publish the post. It is obvious you don't publish obscene language and I commend you for that.

It seems the Napergate ad information does not have to be checked for accuracy or libel since it already went thru a very rigorous test before publication at the time. I like having high standards like that before publication!

By the way, I like your method of bloggin better than Greta's.
Her site got so bad, people were discussing what they had for breakfast and how many loads of laudry they did. Kid you not! I have never been back to check that site.
This Napergate thread is the most intellectual thread I have ever seen. It speaks highly of Napervillians and their newspaper!

I think Ted, Jim and I had a discussion on bloggin on a thread titled "Road Warriors." The thread was so dead we ended up discussing bloggin and Gretawire compared to Sun.

Anyway, I can see you guys finally started pickin some very interesting and hot topics like Napergate that seem to be instant winners. You guys have come a long way since November with your picks of dud topics such as Road Warriors! Of course, you may recall, I saved that thread from disaster by changing the topic on my own...lol..

Keep up the good work!

Note from Ted, host:

Maryann--Thanks, it's great having you join in. Actually we've rejected or unpublished several comments because of content (not profanity) but the vast majority are published. We've said in several places we don't vouch for the accuracy of statements made, but when we see something is blatantly false or it's brought to our attention we unpublish it. It's usually not an issue because like you said most people are expressing opinions most of the time, not making statements of fact.

Made a mistake with this statement of mine:

"If they have the courage to continue as they so indicated when this story is done and told, I believe the citizens will vote everyone in office out except for Mayor Pradel. Dick Furstenau and Darlene Senger who were not part of the conspiracy against the Napergate Man."

My wife informs me that Council Member Douglas Krause has always been a supporter to the Napergate Man and treated him fairly. And also not part of any conspiracy! In fact he was one of the only 2 council members to vote to stop the funds before it reached the Appellant levels. In addition, some new council members may have nothing to do with Napergate so my reference was to council members of the times. It seems though many of the council members from the Napergate Era are still on the council.

Bloggers,
No one had the right answer and I can tell you guys gave up since you are no longer guessing. So I am going to give you the hint that I believe led me to yet another REVERSAL by the Napergate Man!.

Here is the section in Napergate VII that tipped me off..

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NAPERGATE VII......(dated August 20, 1993 in the Naperville Sun * Page 20A)

WE'RE BACK...........(sub-title)

If you missed Napergate V & VI, you can obtain your FREE copies at Extra Value Liquors. As a point of clarification we would like to note that in our ads that blasted the city of Naperville, we were not referring to residents, council members, or city employees who had nothing to do with our "railroading." We were specifically referring to the mayor and those in his administration who have harassed and discriminated against Extra Value Liquors. Wanting a change in government does not mean you don't like your city. In fact, Extra Value Liquors and our 2000 plus supporters love and care about the city of Naperville very much.

In a recent survey conducted by The Affirmative Action Advisory Council of AT@T Bell Laboratories in Naperville, the police were ranked #1 as the worst violators of civil rights. In summary, this report stated "THE POLICE WERE REPORTED TO BE THE SINGLE GREATEST SOURCE OF HARASSMENT FROM THE PEOPLE RESPONDING TO THE SURVEY." In recent weeks a McDonalds manager has come forward and stated that the Naperville police continually harass and discriminate against him. Let's not forget about the lady who wrote to the SUN and stated that after she complained to the police about police harassment she was told "young lady, you are messing with the big boys."

If the city officials love Naperville and are concerned about its reputation, why have they not taken the appropriate corrective measures to end these violations of civil rights? Isn't it interesting that councilman J. Glenn Schneider is introducing an ordinance that violates civil rights rather than one that protects civil rights?

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The hint that tipped me off to yet another REVERSAL by the Napergate Man is contained in this section of his Napergate VII ad. I did much research to verify this REVERSAL in the last few weeks including speaking to some old time residents of the town. If anyone can shed some more light or has some additional knowledge please feel free to share it before I publish my findings!

In the meantime let me see if anyone can guess with this HINT!!!

Ameena...

PS. Regarding the contents of these Napergate ads, everything had to be verified by the Naperville Sun for accuracy and checked for libel and slander before publication. Publishing in a print newspaper apparently has a much higher standard or threshold than blogging on a thread! I do not know why that is the case or was the case in the past! Maybe the host or moderator know why the standard for accuracy and libel is much higher in a PRINT EDITION OF A NEWSPAPER as opposed to BLOGGING ON A THREAD OF A NEWSPAPER. It seems like that standard should be the same to me!

Note from Ted, host:

Ameena,

You're very sharp. Yes, indeed, all those Napergate ads had to be vetted by company attorneys. It caused havoc with deadlines back in the day. I wish I had time to answer your question in depth about the differences between print and online, because there's a great deal of debate about that among journalists, media company executives, attorneys and anyone else with an interest in the ever-changing field of new media and online content. There are many good resources out there to research, such as the Poynter Institute or the Columbia Journalism Review. Basically, it's a hot topic of debate, Internet blogs are unchartered waters largely untested as yet in the courts, whereas there are many libel cases that serve as precedents when determining print content. That's about all I can say for now.

JR,

I believe both Jenny and the Napervillian both misinterpreted that quote of "let sleeping dogs lie" as stated. It is an idiom as you correctly noted. I believe they erroneously both thought he was referring to the Napergate Man as a dog.

But it just seems like there is some irony here that you may have missed. The "sleeping dog he wanted to lie down" to me was not the Napergate Court Case! It was the "cover-up" of the Napergate Fiasco that Councilman Siddall really wanted to remain "lying like a sleeping dog."

I just think that there was hidden meaning in that phrase that all 3 of you missed. That is my take on the situation and I know I could also be wrong!

Police Officer,
I read your lengthy defense of Chief David Dial. I decided to read it twice just as you read the Napergate ads twice. I wanted to be sure I understood you.

You are basically saying 5-10 Naperville Police Officers were hassling the Napergate Man and Chief Dial had no culpability. I don't buy that!

Here is why!

Say 5-10 waitresses or bartenders at Lou Malnati's or Bar Louie decided to invite their minor friends one day and let them buy liquor or have a party while the owner was absent. I deliberately chose large chains since owners are not usually able to be there all the time due to multiple locations.

My question is if this happened would the Naperville Police go only after the bartenders and waitresses who violated Liquor Control Acts or also pursue the owner and his liquor license.

I think everyone knows the answer to that question. The owner would be charged and his liquor license would be REVOKED.

Follow my logic here. So if the NPD can hold a liquor licensee responsible for his employees, how is it that the citizens or city council can not hold a Chief of Police responsible for his employees.

It seems again we have nothing but hypocrisy in our town! It seems like we have a double standard! It also seems our city officials believe silence will exonerate them.

If the Sun continues with this story and publishes the truth, they will continue the legacy of the Napergate Man.

If they have the courage to continue as they so indicated when this story is done and told, I believe the citizens will vote everyone in office out except for Mayor Pradel. Dick Furstenau and Darlene Senger who were not part of the conspiracy against the Napergate Man. Some establishment council members were involved either directly or indirectly or culpable for looking the other way.

How could the citizens keep a bunch of council members who do not even reprimand a Police Chief, let alone censure him, for at least a minimum of "ONLY" losing control of his police force as this one Police Officer wants us to believe???

And since we are also talking about Furstenau on this thread.....

Is it fair that Fursteanu be censured for scolding a few employees loudly while Chief Dial gets a complete pass after his department was accused by the IABTF Liquor Lobby first of a conspiracy which was later affirmed by numerous court decisions including the second highest courts in our land!

Something just does not smell right! It smells terrible...very terrible!

Note from Ted, host:

Just go to the home page, www.napersun.com, and click on NEWS. You'll see headlines for all the day's stories for the past couple weeks, including the Napergate story listed under Sunday, January 20. It's under the headline, "Battle for Rights Not Foreign to Naperville."
__________________________________________________________________

Host, thanks for helping me track the article. I reposted your directions in case anyone else needs to find it. However I think the article was biased toward the city.

Let me give you one example from the article,

"The city claimed Esmail had given alcohol to a minor, in addition to other accusations, including the employment of one unregistered manager for an hour and a half."

The article describes the city's claim. But thru all those Napergate ad's he claimed he did not give alcohol to a minor.
He claimed he was running a "sting operation." After 5 years of legal battles it was determined rather strongly he was in fact running a "sting operation" in furtherance of some liquor control act. He was commended by both Appellant Courts for this "sting."

I read the article twice and your reporter, Ms. Koci, failed to mention one time what the crux of this case was about. It was not about a sale to a minor. It was about a "sting operation" to prevent sales to a minor. Something that my understanding is suppose to be commendable...not a sale to a minor!

I feel this slanted reporting continues to bash the Napergate Man's name a decade after he spent $200,000 defending himself in court and I am guessing another $100,000 paying for ads in your newspaper because you were not defending him at the time or maybe giving his side of the story is a better way to say it, since you do not have an obligation to defend him!

What does it take to clear one's name these days? If anything you should run an article slanted to his favor for a change. You have never run an article slanted to his favor in the 20 years I was a subscriber to the Sun before I finally cancelled my subscription due to your softness towards city officials and lack of any kind of investigative reporting. I did not cancel because of the internet as I enjoying reading my paper on the porch or sun room...plus I am obviously not internet savvy! I was looking for hours before I asked you for help. Thanks again!

As other old timers in my neighborhood think and feel, you have always been afraid of those in power in Naperville....the "establishment" as your new generation citizen reporters have identified them!

If you guys only did half as good a job as you citizen reporters do in reporting the news, your newspapers would not only sell 22,000 as in the Napergate days but 30,000. And it should even sell more due to the significant increase of the population from the Napergate Days.

The Naperville Sun has never really had a serious competitor in Naperville. If you have 15,000 subscribers, it is because you are not doing your job. If you have 30,000 subscribers it is because you are doing your job.

I asked you how to find this article on the net because my attempts to buy the paper on Sunday failed as it must have been sold out due to the Napergate Cover as word got out. Something unusual(a Sunday sell-out for the Sun) I understand from my neighbors who buy it once in a while at a newsstand instead of subscribe.

You can not blame your decline on the internet. Other papers like the Tribune and Sun-Times have declined 5-10% but they were dealing not only with internet but a stable Chicago population.

The Naperville Sun was dealing with a 50% growth in population!
Yet, had a decline from 22,000 in the Napergate Era to 15,200 before rebounding a touch according to either the host or moderator of this blog. I can't remember who it was! Sorry!

My opinion is your decline is due to your soft journalism and constantly catering to the establishment.

This article on the Napergate Man if reviewed carefully tries to give the city a "pretty look" for the massive injustice they committed against the Napergate Man.

I dare you to print that letter from the IABTF LIQUOR ORGANIZATION that told it as it was a decade ago. Their determination was backed by many high courts years later. The only reason you won't print a letter like that is you are continuing to hide the truth in the Napergate Story and do not want to expose the improprieties of City Officials some who are still in office, elected or otherwise!

It is pointless to hide the truth since everyone knows it from the grapevine in town. Why not really come out of the closet as one blogger said and tell the readers the truth for once and stop worrying about what city officials will think or which one of them will call you to complain!

I hope you can do a second article to re-balance that first article! The real story can be found in your archives and court records. It is just a matter of whether you have the courage to tell it!

Note from Ted Slowik, host:

I disagree with you, but I respect your opinion. I don't think The Sun is soft these days, and I can't change what it was like 15 years ago. We're not afraid to tell any story, but we're not a history book, either. There are a lot of important issues going on today that demand our attention, and I'm not sure I see the value in additional print stories about the past. Plus, it's more than a little ironic, you calling us cowards when you don't even bother to make up a name.

Mrs. of the Police Officer,
First, I want to welcome you back! Second, I want you to know I said a prayer for the family of Batavia Police Officer Carl Ensign. You did not mention the reason but I suspect it was stress of being an officer combined with all the other stresses of the world. My condolences go out to his family.

I do recall Melissa and I had a very heated debate with you. But I want you to know in no way were we attacking you. We were just picking your brain to learn from you since you had so much to offer from a different perspective.

Obviously I asked about you, because I missed you and your informative blogs.

I do not think people attacked you. I feel people respected you. Last time I checked the voting on best blogger, you were second favorite blogger behind Ameena. That says a lot since Ameena is almost like a full time investigative reporter working for the Sun, for I assume no pay. They got themselves a real bargain from that young lady!

I will say I regret not voting for you. I was not thinking clearly that day.

If I could reverse my vote as the Napergate Man seems famous for doing to other peoples votes, here is what my vote would have been.

1. Ameena
2. Mrs. of the Police Officer
3. Host/Moderator tied for 3rd.

My original vote was.

1. Ameena
2. The Moderator
3. The Host

I just was not thinking straight early that morning and I will admit I felt very guilty when you gave me a personal mention in your post for favorite blogger. You showed me respect despite our heated exchange, but I failed to reciprocate and show you the respect you deserve.

If the Host/Moderator would allow me to change my vote, I would!
Not that they not great, but I think we should have been voting for bloggers and not Hosts/Moderators. That was what the thread was about! My mistake and I apologize for not being fair to you!

The dog is the court case in the Sun quote. Siddall is agreeing the case should be dropped. I don't know if Jenny and Napervillian are the same person, but before you attack the articles author, the editors and a former council person you should try and understand the meaning of the quote.

Let sleeping dogs lie. It's an idiom.

To "let sleeping dogs lie" is to avoid restarting old conflicts. Revisiting an old conflict is like waking a sleeping dog; we are better not to do it. Example: "I wanted to ask her what she thought of her ex-husband, but I figured it was better to let sleeping dogs lie."

"My inclination is to say 'Let's leave this dog lie." Siddall said.

I cannot believe that a "respected" Naperville Council Person would have used such words.

It is more shocking that a reporter would use this quote without any comment at all.

Does the reporter agree with this defamation of character?

And then maybe the quote speaks for itself.

Anyone interested in joining CONPA [citizens observing naperville police activities] is invited ,the more the merrier. By reading the past year blogs it is obvious,1) something is wrong inside NPD. the number for u.s. att'y 312-353-5300. NAPERVILLIANS you better get ready cause MORE federal civil rights violation claims are coming to your city.You can be part of the solutions or stick your head back in the ground. In otherwords $$$$$$$$$. To join C.O.N.P.A. call 815.242.0019,yes,you can make THE difference!

Posted by: mr q | January 23, 2008 10:29 AM

******************************************************************

I reposted this recent post from an inactive post on a Furstenau thread. I thought this was a more appropriate place for it since the issue is being dicussed here...hopefully there will not be an objection from the host or moderator.

Jenny,
Sorry my question was buried in a long post I made. Let me try again.

"I promise you ALL will be shocked when you hear which powerful entity the Napergate Man took on next and forced to reverse its decision. (It seems like if he was not coined Mr. Napergate he could have easily been coined Mr. Reversal)"

The question was which other powerful entity did the Napegate Man reverse a decision of?

On these blogs it has been reported by others and I, the many decisions that the Napergate Man reversed!

HERE ARE SOME REVERSALS I KNOW OF:

1. He forced the City Council to reverse a vote of 7-0 to switch from ATT to MCI. He lobbied 7600 ATT(Lucent) employees thru a few Napergate ads and they marched to city chambers. The vote was reversed from 7-0 for to 7-0 against. Apparently the city council members forgot that 7600 ATT employees worked in Naperville while no MCI employees worked in Naperville. It was a terrible move by the council to save each resident a penny and a half annually on their tax bill. It ignored the benefits 7600 Naperville employees provide to our city.

2. The Napergate Man forced the City Council to reverse twice on Spring Green. I initially thought it was once but Host Ted proved me wrong and provided an article showing a second 7-2 reversal in 1998 before the final 7-2 reversal in 1999. Originally they voted 9-0 for this project! Between these votes they stabbed the Napergatians and Spring Green folks twice in the back when they were not present in chambers.(Those votes were 6-3 and 5-3 for the commercial development.)

3. In S. W. Gate(75th and Naper) either the Napergate Man reversed a vote or stopped Brestal's project of a combination high rise office/commercial shopping center from proceeding. He blasted the project in 2 or 3 Napergate ads which caused Brestal to at least back off. He has not returned in 9 years and corn continues to grow on that parcel to this day!(He was not against developing single family homes as zoning provided for in the Master Plan, but against rezoning to commercial to benefit "favorite sons" of the city who would reap immediate windfall profits such as a doubling or tripling of their money from a "single council vote" loaded with conflicts of interest due to heavy campaign contributions of those voting)!

Residents must understand if no controls are imposed on Brestal he would proceed to convert nearly every parcel of single family zoning to commercial zoning in Naperville. This usually doubles or triples the price of land immediately. It benefits the developers and Brestal's wallets. Many have given credit to city officials for being ranked second best town in the USA. The credit should go to the Napergate Man, his 3500 supporters and his elected endorsees for council, for preventing the town from being an asphalt and concrete town and keeping it balanced with the proper ratio of residential to commercial. He lobbied against at least a dozen projects and succeeded. And the warning was there when he did not lobby!

4. He did work on numerous projects around Naperville, but I do not know the outcome. He may have only been involved with giving the residents plugs in his Napergate ads and not involved in all City Council Meetings. But his ads specifically attack 8 other Brestal projects across Naperville besides Spring Gate and South West Gate!

5.He reversed the decision of the Kangaroo Proceedings that took place in Naperville.

6.He reversed the Village of Roselle after they yanked his license after reading the verdict of the Kangaroo Court in Naperville.

7.He reversed the Illinois Liquor Control Commission twice. Once in the 80s and once in the 90s. They ruled against him twice despite his attorney being the former Chief Legal Council for State Illinois Liquor Control Commission and top liquor attorney in the State of Illinois. She could not help him because the commission was limited to the biased record provided by the Kangaroo Court and did not have the authority to question its fairness. He did go to higher courts to overturn the commission and succeeded both times.

8.It appears Federal and Dupage Court rulings were overturned by a Federal Appellant Court and a State Appellant Court respectively.

9.I did not realize that the Napergate Man may have directly or indirectly been involved in overturning a decision by the council to continue funding his trial as Marshall and McFarland are stating. I believe they are right and I just missed that one! As the host/moderator indicated there are many citizen journalists on this site doing a great job including Marshall and McFarland!

10.HOWEVER I BELIEVE THERE IS ANOTHER REVERSAL OF A VERY SIGNIFICANT ENTITY THAT HAS NOT BEEN TOUCHED ON BY ANY BLOGGER. NO ONE HAS GOTTEN CLOSE! I MAY HAVE TO POST A HINT FROM ONE OF THE NAPERGATE ADS IN ANOTHER POST SHORTLY!

I BELIEVE WITH THIS HINT, SOME BLOGGERS WILL FINALLY GET THE RIGHT ANSWER!

IN THE MEANTIME KEEP THE GUESSES COMING WHILE I GO TO THE LIBRARY TO LOOK UP THE NAPERGATE AD THAT I BELIEVE CONTAINS THE HINT NEEDED TO SOLVE THIS MYSTERY!

Moderator,
I missed the Sunday article on the Napergate Man! How does one go back and find the Sunday Edition on the Internet Site!

I would really love to read it.

Note from Ted, host:

Just go to the home page, www.napersun.com, and click on NEWS. You'll see headlines for all the day's stories for the past couple weeks, including the Napergate story listed under Sunday, January 20. It's under the headline, "Battle for Rights Not Foreign to Naperville."

D. Bone,
If you would read this thread in its entirety you will see little to no rooting for DF.

Most bloggers seem to think he has an insignifant case and should drop it. I get the feeling they like DF but that he should not be suing. That is the message I am grasping from having read this entire thread.

You ought to take an hour or two and read it. You may learn something and actually be pleased!

I was teasing your about your writing. You write fine! But I just want you to try READING!

Have a nice evening D. Bone and enjoy your READING session!

Marshall,
You make so much sense in your 911am post. You went out to disprove McFarland but you ended up agreeing with him while doing your anaylsis. And you were bold enough to change your mind while it appears in the process of writing your thoughts!

I have to agree that the Napergate Man finally cut off the funds to his own persecution and used a leak in Executive Session to pressure the other 5 council members by in essence exposing the bad guys who were using taxpayer money to pursue an innocent man.

I can't imagine a city as large and wealthy as Naperville would be meeting in Executive Session to authorize another petty 1000 dollars out of the 5000-1000 dollars that the pro-tem City Manager claims was used to fight the Napergage Man. That bordered on the most laughable thing I have heard in my life especially after what they told Sun Editor Tim West at the time "that they failed to keep records on the cost of the trial." The city must think that comments they make are not recorded by newspapers and quickly forgotten. Apparently achives of the Naperville Sun exist both at the newspaper and Naperville Public libraries.

So I guess you can say as blogger Joe constantly states, the city manager was "called out." The city manager has no defense or evidence to support his outrageous statement so he decided to go into hiding and will not come out until this mess about his comment will boil over. My suspician is he will be remembered solely for his infamous comment "that a 5 year trial that travelled in 3 different court systems and reached the second highest court twice, only cost us taxpayers 5-10k."

A DUI case costs 5-10k in legal costs and fines, if it is settled in a month or two with a "plea of guilty with court supervision." Has the pro-tem City Manager never retained an attorney in his life? Does he not know police officers make a 100,000 a year with over time in his own dept? So how does he expect 5 outside lawyers to work for 5 years for 5-10k. I guess they were donating their services to the wealthiest large town in the USA!

My point is, the city council was having these secret Executive Sessions to authorize the millions needed(not thousands) to fight this monstrous case that THEY created....no one else but THEM!

It is like they charged him falsely 12 times and suddenly found themselves being attacked not by one tiger but 3500 tigers supporting the leading tiger.

That final vote in executive session was the final surrender in the case of Napergate, and it was a reversal from 5-2 for to "something" against. I don't think we will know the figure of the "against vote" because I suspect Tenison and Krause were both chewed out for the prior leak. It had to be one or the other or both working in tandem to let out that Watergate Style Leak.

But if I were to guess, that Executive Session vote was reversed from 5-2 to 0-7 due to the exposure it was given in the Napergate ads and the resulting pressure. Plus Editor Tim West also called them out publicly. He had never called any City Official out ever before or after in his entire career that I can recall, so that had to carry some heavy weight at the time!

The city was very sensitive to media exposure that had the far reaching effects of Napergate ads in the Naperville Sun at its peak distibution in the Napergate Era.

City officials had made a calcualted determination that the Napergate Man could affect the next city council elections and reacted accordingly.

In the latest Ponds of Hobson West case they made a calcualted determination that the 5-10 residents present in the city council would have no effect on the next election and ignored them.

How this city really works has began unravelling with the revisting of the Napergate Man and Ameena's summarizing and even publishing some sections and quotes from those famous ads.

This has really been a very informative revisiting of significant history in Naperville! My thanks to the moderator and host for getting us off the petty Furstenau Case of "he touched and he did not touch!" The Napergate Case put the Furstenau Case in perspective. The Furstenau Case is an insignifanat case in which we will learn little to nothing! Studying the Napergate case allows us to learn how politics in the city works. It teaches us the importance of a grassroots movement, voting, media pressure, freedom of speech, credibility and many other issues including the intricacies of our judicial system and how it malfuncions often! Enough said!

By the way for Everyone,

Please say a prayer for the family of Batavia Police Officer Carl Ensign, who apparently committed suicide. He was only 43 years old.

Thank you.

Marilyn,
I am still here. I have been reading many of the threads trying to learn more about my city. I guess I stopped writing mainly because I felt like I said what I had to say. I did not originally write because I wanted to be a cheerleader for the NPD, but because I felt like I had a different perspective.

Unfortunately, I began to feel like my perspective was not being met with receptive minds, because there sure were a lot of venomous responses (while not in all cases, enough to make me stop for a deep breath). I don't mind a good debate, but I don't like feeling attacked - and knowing my limitations, I did not think I could continue to reiterate my responses without being on the attack myself.

I wish I could add more to this thread, but I don't know much about Napergate Man. I'm learning here. I missed the Sunday edition of the Sun and have not had a chance to find the article, but when I have a moment to do so, I might have something to say. I did ask my husband about this a while back and he only seemed to remember the basics which I have learned here.

I hope to have something valuable to contribute in the near future. And so far, no one has asked me to - or ordered me to stop writing. That would probably only light my fire anyway. :)

oh my dear walter, an intellectual debate, how exciting. first off, i believe they are RUN ON sentences, not run IN. and perhaps i actually might know they are run on sentences and really don't care. now, back to our intellectual discussion. i believe the topic of this thread IS a correlation between mr. napergate guy and our beloved DICK. and what do you mean i don't capitalize ? now, what is this US against THEM notion you seem to be hinting at ? are you us or are you them ? it is my observation, and you all must know i am not an intellectual so take it for what it is. that there are 3 maybe upwards to 7 people who will defend DICK until the day THEY DIE, the sooner the better. nothing will sway their opinion. they will fight on and on. now, i ask you is this logical thinking? i simply want to point out there will always be a fringe element that believes the wrong truth. finally, when you are all just remembering and revisiting this historic case, are you really not comparing it to this new and historic case ? are you not rooting for another victory for one of your own ? and walter, i am having a very good day, thanks.

D. Bone,
You write very poorly compared to the other bloggers on this thread. You don't capitalize, you have run in sentences, terrible punctuation, and no logic to your thoughts.

Above all you don't read! I did not find anyone comparing DF to the Napergate Man in the last 15-20 blogs. Mostly, the bloggers are remembering and revisiting the Napergate Man and discussing this historic case.

I think many of us simply got tired of discussing whether DF touched a cop or did not touch a cop. Once we saw this case with its many twists and turns, the DF case just became way to dull and boring. That is why we are all here discussing a new subject the Moderator and Host put up for us.

The discussion on this thread is intellectual...by both sides of the debate. We have a Police Officer and a Mrs. of the Police Officer who are siding with the city but present very worthy and intellectual arguments. We enjoy debating them! They enjoy debating us! It is all civil and polite. You seem to wanting to stir some trouble like Joe in the old days. Apparently, he retired and we no longer have to nitpick sentences to understand their meanings.

Take your hogwash and go blog with those District 204 people who yell and scream all day. That is where you belong!

This is a thread for intellectuals of which you are not one...sorry! With your writing and reading skills, I am not the least bit surprised that you are overwhelmed by this thread and can not handle the flow of information.

Have a good day!

I have no clue who else the Napergate Man took on.

I suspect Mrs. Police Officer has all the answers but was ordered to stop blogging by the Police Chief!

Something does not make sense, since she was so helpful providing us with all the answers from the opposite side of the aisle!

I wish Mrs. Police Officer would come back and shed some light as she did in the past.

PS. Sorry, Host this is a re-post. I posted on another thread while I was there reading and forgot to switch back when writing on my post of most interest...to much going on these threads but it is definetly a fun world.

I am going against McFarland's answer and the few who are agreeing with him on the Ameena question of "Who else did the Napergate Man reverse?"

The Napergate Man could not have flipped this vote(reversed it) on funding of his trial.

Here is why:
Since this was a legal matter, the voting on continuing to fund or not to fund this lenghty ordeal, was taking place in Executive Session!

No one is allowed in Executive Session to the best of my knowledge except the council members. Maybe a court reporter...not sure! It is suppose to be secret....very secret! So the Napergate Man could have never done what McFarland stated since Executive Session is off limits to nearly everyone!

What may be the cause of confusion is that the Napergate Man reported a vote of 5-2 from within executive session to continue funding his trial from District Courts to the Appellants Courts. There is no way he could have been there! It was most likely a leak to him by one of the 2 council members who voted to stop the charade.

I believe they were Jack Tenison and Douglas Krause. One has to assume one of these 2 council members leaked the secret executive vote to the Napergate Man. Since it was 2 and they were probably in cohoots on the leak, they knew they could never be identified singularly as long as they did not break their pact of silence as to who tipped off the Napergate Man for his Napergate Weekly Edition!

I am sure the tip was deliberate to get the Napergate Man to publish it and see if more pressure can be imposed on the other 5 to change their vote once the Napergate Man told them the city intended to continue to spend their money on a hopeless and worthless trial.( I believe the City Council only had 7 members at the time and not 9...hopefully this will avoid confusion.)

Yes, the Napergate Man published the tip! And yes, they did reverse. So I guess I just realized I proved myself wrong while trying to prove myself right...lol... But I will save face by stating it was an indirect reversal by the Napergate Man and not a direct reversal. I think Ameena's question implied DIRECT REVERSALS and not indirect ones as this appears to have been!

That is my analysis! I am pretty sure I am right that civilians can not enter EXECUTIVE SESSIONS!

Maybe the Moderator or Host can help us out about who is allowed to enter executive sessions of the council?

Thanks!
PS. In summary I will go with the fact that he did get a reversal but it was indirect due to a leak and then pressure from his Napergate Ad. If I don't make sense it is because I wrote before I thought this one time! Sorry!

Ameena,
I have to agree with McFarland. The Napergate Man must have flip flopped the council who were funding this craziness for 5 years.

Once the Council Stopped the Funding, the City Attorneys and City Prosecutors had to surrender.

They had 2 choices:

1. Put up their own money.

2. Shut up!

It seems like they could not put their money where their mouths were....only the taxpayers money went down their mouths, out of their wazoos and down the toilet!

I would never ever vote for a tax increase. When city officials have excess money they apparently persecute political opponents like the Napergate Man! This is really a Sad Saga! It is hard to believe this kind of thing could happen in modern times and in our town.

I am assuming when they voted us second best town they did not know of our Watergate! If they would have, we would have been in big trouble....our ranking would have went down the toilets right with our hard earned taxes.

==================================================================

Police Officer,

You speak a good line! Internal affairs..huh!!!
Show me one officer who was disciplined by Internal Affairs for the wrongdoing to the Napergate Man! All I am asking for is one!
You state correctly the Napergate Man backs himself with facts and we should all be like him....good talk!

But where are your facts to show Interal Affairs did anything on this case or any case where a civilian was abused by police?

It is well known that Internal Affairs at the NPD is purely for public consumption and has never ruled for a civilian in the last 50 years.

Show me one article in the Naperville Sun or Daily Herald where Interal Affairs suspended a cop for one day as a result of an encounter with a civilian.

The only Internal Affairs investigation I ever heard of is a police officer arresting another police officer for driving drunk on the roads and endangering civilians. Guess who was punished!
The arresting officer for violating the Code of Blue. Not the intoxicated officer who was endangering civilians. Go figure!
Internal Affairs should stand for Internal Cover-up!

Do you think we were born last night, Police Officer?

You defense of Chief Dial is nonsense! Those are his police officers. He needed to have control over them. The fact he did not indicates he may have lost control of his department! Some may even say he was incompetant for not knowing a band of his cops were harrassing an innocent man to further political agendas of their buddy...THE PROSECUTOR!

I wonder if this prosecutor ever tried one single cop in his life before he retired for a DUI. My guess is he never tried a Naperville Cop for a DUI!

c'mon naperville sun. what is all this conjecture between the napergate man and sad old, forlorn DICK ? it is an embarrassment to bring all the DICK supporters, DICK hanger-on-er's dare i say, DICK lovers, back into this fray. i find NO proof of any link, correlation, any leap of faith to even suggest this. it is a lame attempt to start up this silly argument with a few nancy drew wanna-be's and too much time on their hands, pseudo legal assistants rushing to their computers to find tiny tid-bit's of misinformation to try and justify their distaste and in some cases hatred for the police dept. and the city of naperville employee's. NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER ! is it any wonder that drew peterson, scott peterson, o.j. simpson even charles manson, have supporters, admirer's, women and men who propose marriage and blindly believe in the obvious lie ? you people need to take your DICK for senate posters off your walls now, unplug your computers, and return that al gore's "inconvenient truth " movie back to the library. it is four months over due now!

Marybeth,

I would like to state that your guess that the Police Chief had anything to do with the perseuction of Basim Esmail is wrong and without foundation.

I live in Naperville and read every Napergate Ad not once but twice. I read all his other ads too. Not once did Mr. Esmail accuse Police Chief Dial of any improprieties. Not once that I can recall! In fact I believe if my memory serves me right, he praised him once or twice.

It seems all bloggers, anti-establishment or establishment, Napergatians or anti-Napergatian, pro-Furstena or anti-Furstenau seem to understand current Mayor Pradel has nothing to do with Napergate. I think everyone is correct here. It seems like all the bloggers did their homework and realized Mayor Pradel was not even Mayor when this fiasco was ongoing.

Unfortunately or fortunately, Chief Dial was Chief during the Napergate Court Proceedings. It is only logical that he would be under unjustifed suspician by the bloggers. Starting to point you finger at him by guessing can easly escalate.

Let me point you to the determination by Illinois Alcohol Beverage Task Force which issued a rebuke to the City of Naperville. Here is part of the determination:

"The penalties invoked by Naperville against this retailer have been ridiculously harsh and designed to put him out of business even for the first offense. The evidence seems to indicate harassment, discrimination, and trumped up charges and testimony. The conduct exhibited by the government of the City on Naperville, the City Attorney and some members of its police department is conspiratorial and is reminiscent of fascism."

This organization did a thorough job of investigation and put themselves on the line with such a statement. It is a multi-billion organization so it would not have made this finding without being 100% certain for fear of subjecting itself to a libel suit and risking its portfolio of wealth. It did not take this case lightly because one of their own who was crowned National Champion for his outstanding efforts against minors, was being wronged and they needed to get to the bottom of it or they would have had their reputation sullied and credibility shattered for in essence having selected a "criminal" as the City Prosecutor was alleging publically.

But if you read this IABTF report carefully, it says nothing about Chief Dial being involved.It pins it down to the City Attorney, unnamed City Officials and some members of the police department but not the Chief. Naperville police officers have daily contact with City Attorneys especially in courtrooms. They have respect for City Attorneys and try to meet their requests whenever they can.

I believe in this case it was the City Attorney who was stirring the police in the wrong direction. He obviously was trying to implement a political agenda given to him by the prior Mayors and possibly some council members. It is my belief that City Attorney planted the seeds that made many police officers do what they did against Mr. Esmail without any knowledge or consent whatsoever of Chief Dial.

Prosecutor Francis Cuneo would probably tell certain police officers with a wink and a nod, this Esmail guy is a bad guy and I need some help on him. They believed him and proceeded to collect whatever "evidence" they could. I am sure some were just trying to please or impress Cuneo. I do not believe these police officers knew what Proseuctor Francis Cuneo's agenda was on behalf of former Mayors Price and Macrance. But police officers are trained to have a sixth sense and it is apparent all their 6th senses failed miserably in this case!

Police officers don't usually question prosecutors. If he told them he was a bad guy, go get some goods on him for me, they probably obeyed. I doubt they went to Chief Dial for permission or consent. Highly improbable!

I believe as the IABTF Organization there was a conspiracy of sorts against Esamil. Two Appellant Courts ruled likewise 2 years later but used softer language but their message was clear that there was a conpiracy against Mr. Esmail.

Personally, I believe there was a conspiracty too, but I am very confident that Chief David Dial would never participate in such a thing knowingly or unknowingly! As a Police Chief with 200 officers he could not have possibly known he had some rogue cops on the loose especailly in the early stages. There are many levels of command between him, the patrol officer and detectives who were responsible for the discrimination, harrassment, trumped up charges and testimony as indicated by the IABTF report.

Most blogges have given Mayor Pradel all the credit for stopping this conspiracy. He deserves all the credit he has been given, but I also believe Chief Dial was instrumental in stopping it once he learned how extensive it was. I would be surprised if Internal Affairs did not dicipline all officers involved under the guidance of Chief Dial.

Ameena is doing a great job digging this case up! It is a huge and complex case but it was well documented in both court records and Napergate Ads. I believe shortly Ameena will find the Napergate Ad or Ads in which Mr. Esmail actually praised Chief Dial as being a good man. Mr. Esmail seemed to know exactly who was targeting him. And he blasted those who targeted him by name. He did target quite a few police officers by name but Chief Dial I am rather certain was not one of these police officials.

If Chief Dial was involved in the conspiracty, Mr. Esmail would have targeted him. The man called it as it was and never held back. He targeted specifically the 2 Mayors preceding Mr. Pradel, Prosecutor Francis Cuneo, City Attorney Mike Roth and several police officers by name.

For the record I am a police officer who resides in Naperville. I do not belong to the fine Naperville Police Dept. I do not know Mrs. Police Officer but I have read her blogs and agree with everything she has said so far!

I only stepped in because I fear an innocent man like Chief Dial could easily have his reputation tarnished on these blogs based on rumor, heresay and innuenda. I do not think this is fair!

I do not believe Marybeth had any deliberate hostile intentions.
However in this blogging world it seems like the smallest thing could be blown out of proportion if it is not nipped in the butt very early. That was my only intention behind coming on for the first time!

I think like many bloggers that Mr. Esmail is an honorable man.
But I also know that Chief David Dial is an honorable man who would never be directly or knowingly involved in the travesty of justcie and unequal treatment committed against Mr. Esmail.

There were city officials, city attorneys and police involved but Chief David Dial was not involvled. I suspect when he learned the extent of the conspiracy he worked very closely with current Mayor Pradel to stop it. I beleive it was stopped! Kudos to both of them!

I commend both Mayor Pradel and Chief Dial for stepping up to the plate and stopping this occurence that went on way too long.

One also needs to realize most of the culprits in this case have either retired or passed away. There may be some low level police officers that were involved still on the force, but in essence they were taking orders from the wrong authority.

The lesson to be learned here is every police officer has a duty to remain non-political during the performance of his duties. He has a duty to take guidance only from the Police Chief and his direct superiors. He is not to take orders from a City Attorney or Mayor who are usually very politically motivated individuals.

A mistake was made here by many policemen! A settlement was made for the improprieties committed. Several courts ruled in favor of Mr. Esmail! We need to learn from the lessons of the past and move forward.

One thing Marybeth and others need to learn from Mr. Esmail, is you never point your finger until you have the facts. He always had the facts to back him up and in the final outcome he won all his cases. But if he would have accused one person wrongfully, his credibility would have been shattered and his case would have collapsed.

So I hope the bloggers maintain their credibilty as Mr. Esmail did and not point fingers at the wrong individuals. Finally, I want to remind all the Mr. Esmail never pointed his finger at Chief David Dial! Not once to the best of my recollection and I read each and every one of his Naperage and non-Napergate ads more than once. I admit I did doubt the authenticity of his ads initially as his story seemed so far fetched, but as the overwhelming evidence and facts surfaced day by day, I began to believe what I was reading.

What I or anyone else believes or does not believe at this point has become irrelavant....mute may be a better word. The Appellant Courts made their findings and their rulings are final! We must live with them and accept them. The city chose not to appeal so in essence they also accepted them as the FINAl WORD in this saga!

Naperville lawyer: Your point about the "court believed" is well taken. Consider it a slip on my part, and I stand corrected. I look forward to your take on the matter after you read the story in Sunday's Sun. Thanks for setting the record straight.

Posted by: Jim Lynch, moderator | January 19, 2008 10:02 AM

******************************************************************
Jim,
I assumed after your above blog you would correct the introduction. I suppose you were busy and just forgot. So I thought I would mention it again in hopes we can get a correction.

Thanks!

I think McFarland nailed the answer!

Ameena,
While I believe you mentioned South West Gate(SW corner of Naper. Blvd and 75th St.), I don't recall you ever mentioning that the Napergate Man stopped Brestal from building a huge mulit-story office complex/retail shopping center at that location.

He definetly stopped the Brestal locomotive on that one. We have not seen any action in nearly a decade on that plot. It remains farmland with corn grown each year!

This battle which concerned my subdivision seems to get lost because it was overshadowed by the Spring Green battle taking place almost at the same time.

So my guess is the Napergate Man REVERSED the Brestal Law Firm. I am not even sure he took it to council because the Napergate Man showed him what we becoming if he did from the Spring Gate fiasco. But I am not sure and my memory has faded as to whether it went to council or Brestal simply withdrew due to massive pressure from the Naperate Man and his ads on behalf of our subdivison!

Ameena,
I am sorry but I am utterly confused. I am not sure what is going on and I can't find your question.

Could you be kind enough to explain the question and possibly reposting it as I must be overlooking it. Or at least give me the time of the blog that it is in!

Thanks!

I have to agree with McFarland. Somewhere it was mentioned the city council voted to appeal the District Court decision. I believe they appealed to the Appellant Court and lost.

So the city council must have voted not to appeal to the Supreme Court since we know none of his numerous cases of the 90s ever made it to the Supreme Court in the second round unlike the first round in the 80s that did in fact end up in the Supreme Court before the City was overturned.

Ok, Ameena, I am going to guess he went to the City Council and blasted the Council Members and forced them to stop funding all these appeals. In essence reversing its decision to fund the 3 tier court proceedings any further!

My guess is he succeeded since the case never made the Supreme Court due to the city never making the final appeal(s).

Ameena,

My guess would be the police chief or dept!

Correction in 11:34am blog

"As a city official, Prosecutor Francis Cuneo should be held accountable to the taxpayer and must explain and justify expenses incurred over the last 2 years [and years] to come as a result of court appeals and federal civil rights suits."

I accidentally left out [and years] while trancribing the Napergate's Man quote! It did not make sense without the missing 2 words. My fault! Sorry!

I guess the Napergate Man predicted or knew what was coming next!

Ameena,
My guess is he may have taken on the Naperville Park District. I believe they provided the Judge for the kangaroo liquor proceedings. I can't remember his name but he worked for the Park District possibly as a park police officer.

While researching at the library last night, I went further back in time and noticed many ads prior to his Napergate ads. Basim Esmail had the internal catchy headings but not that title of NAPERGATE which he had yet not coined. The NAPERGATE ads went only from I to XXXXIV.(1-44)

One ad I found that preceded Napergate was dated May 7, 1993.

These were the sub-headings:

KANGAROO JUSTICE

NAPERVILLE'S CREDIBILITY

DOUBLE STANDARD

ACCOUNTABILITY TO TAXPAYER

LATEST SCOREBOARD(210-17 IDs for him compared to all the rest of the licensees)

It appears he was ahead of Blogger Naperville Lawyer by 15 years in realizing he had been given a Kangaroo Trial.

In this ad, he was outraged that the City of Naperville called the Village of Roselle and successfully persuaded Roselle to deny his license for his store there. Roselle in fact DENIED the renewal of his license based on the call and a faxed verdict of the Kangaroo Proceedings!

The Napergate Man took Roselle Village officials a transcipt of the proceedings of the Kangaroo Court. An independent one month investigation was launched by the Mayor of Roselle, the Police Chief of Roselle and the Village Prosecutor.

After the completion of the investigation into the Naperville Proceedings, the Roselle officials reversed themselves and ruled for the Napergate Man. Not only did they renew his license but issued him a 2nd license to use at a second location.(Again the Napergate Man gets one of his famous REVERSALS which seems to be his trademark)

In this non-Napergate ad, he also reveals that Naperville officials introduced a "former charge" in his Kangaraoo Trial that

"had been nolle prosse'd(dismissed) by 2 Dupage prosecutors after determining it was without merit. A judge had ordered it expunged! (A videotape had clearly shown that the charge brought by Naperville was a result of a big lie.) Only a Kangaroo Court such as the one in Naperville would violate a person's civil rights by introducing EXPUNGED MATERIAL."(Quote by Basim Esmail before he became the Napergate Man running Napergate Ads)

Here is a quote from his section titled:

ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE TAXPAYER

We invite all Naperville taxpayers to carefully scrutinize the city's alleged charges against Extra Value Liquors. As a city official, Prosecutor Francis Cuneo should be held accountable to the taxpayer and must explain and justify expenses incurred over the last 2 years to come as a result of court appeals and federal civil rights suits. The taxpayer must decide if he wants Francis Cueno wasting his money pursuing uncorroberated, unsubstantiated, and unproven false charges, in order to exercise a personal vendetta. If you have any proof, other than the rubber stamped verdict of your Kangaroo Court, Mr. Francis Cuneo, I, and all taxpayers would love to see it."( Basim Esmail quote preceding Napergate Era)

As you can see Basim Esmail issued his public threats at the Naperville Prosecutor. He called him out! Cuneo did not come out! The rest is history! Basim Esmail not only executed all his threats but succeeded in reversing everything. I guess you can be assured if this guy said he was going to do something, HE DID IT! He was obviously not a talker!(Ameena quote).

MORE TO COME IN THE NEXT BLOGS.....

I promise you ALL will be shocked when you hear which powerful entity the Napergate Man took on next and forced to reverse its decision. (It seems like if he was not coined Mr. Napergate he could have easily been coined Mr. Reversal)

I bet you BLOGGERS 10 dollars you will never guess! It has not been discussed yet by any blogger on any thread. You are going to have to simply guess or spend a month in the library to figure this one out!

MUST POST YOUR ANSWER ON THIS THREAD WITHIN 24 HOURS TO WIN THE BET!

The answer will be published hopefully tomorrow! Start your guessing? No hints! Sorry!

Naperville Lawyer,
Thanks for helping me interpret what I am reading in the ads. He does discuss the Appellant Verdict in other ads. You can only put so much in one section of an ad. So he discussed the District and Appellant verdicts in many different ads as space permitted. The Naperville Sun pages were 50% larger at the time but there was simply to much information in that unanimous AC ruling to put in his ads

The entire verdict was against the city with one exception! The only item he was found guilty was a technicality of sorts that he never denied and stipulated to very early on. I guess the manager of the store went to the bank to get some coin for the store and stopped at Jewel to pick up limes and lemons at a slow time. He left an experienced clerk by himself for an hour and a half as the Naperville Sun Sarah Koci correctly reported in the Sunday edition. Being under surveillance and selective enforcement, the Naperville Police were able to nail him immediately for this petty violation! According to the Appellant Court no one else was ever nailed for such a petty violation which in their opinion bordered on selective enforcement. Thus they refused to penalize him for this infraction DESPITE his "pleading of guilt."

AS FAR AS WHAT ELSE WAS NOT PERMITTED IN THE HEARING YOU PROPERLY COINED THE KANGAROO COURT:

His petition of 3340 supporters as detailed in Napergate XXXIX was not permitted to be entered into the record of the Kangaroo Court or the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, the latter only being allowed to review what Naperville allowed into the record. So basically we have a higher Commission reviewing only what a Kangaroo Court provided!

Irene Bahr, the former Chief Counsel of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, for the entire State of Illinois, who was his attorney for this phase of the case, drafted this petition for him. In it she asked Naperville Residents who knew this man was a strict operator, cards and confiscates IDs, to come forward and sign this petition that would be entered as a court record. He ran one of his powerful Napergate Ads and asked residents to come to his store and sign this petition. In response to that ad in the Sun which had 22,000 circulation at the time, 3340 residents came to his store within 10 days to sign the petition from every corner of Naperville. An average of 334 petition signers per day!

The City of Naperville was rushing the local proceedings so he only ran one Napergate ad regarding this petition and could not follow it up with another one to add to that total. All the signees were required to give their full name, address, and phone number in order for the courts to be able to authenticate the long petition.

The Kangaroo Court refused to allow this petition into evidence as well as all the other evidence Mr. Naperville Lawyer pointed out. It either got entered into evidence at the District Level or Appellant Level. The Appellant Court was astonished and repeatedly described his program as exemplary and commended him many many times in their 25 page ruling.

While I have not yet found or read all his Napergate Ads, but I also believe(not verified yet) that the Kangaroo Court did not allow into evidence his Kylix Trophy which he earned for coming in 1st place in the USA at the National Finals held in Las Vegas. He beat out 500 contestants form all 50 states for that Trophy!

I think Naperville knew the only chance they had of winning this case was not to allow him to enter his powerful evidence. I have no clue why they would not give him a fair trial or even the semblance of a fair trial. My guess is they again underestimated his abilities to battle and miscalculated how it would eventually blow up in their face.

In many of his ads that were not coined Napergate, he ran coupons along the entire outer border of the large full page and right inside the border he did his editorializing. The confusion between the Naperville Sun stating there were 44 Napergate ads and the Napergatians saying there was over a 100, were these full page ads that were half liquor and half commentary. Those he did not call Napergate but were just as effective. Most of his ads were run 2 or 3 times. One powerful full page Napergate ad he actually ran 4 times! He also ran a sequence of ads before the Napergate Series. I will tell you about those later in another blog! They were also very powerful!

The ads blasted numerous city officials with razor sharp words that were not kind and bordered on slander and libel....but somehow he never crossed the thin line! He once mentioned that his attorneys reviewed his ads for slander and libel and challenged anyone to sue him for libel or slander, after the accusation was made to him. No one ever came forward and sued him! He apparently was advised carefully by his attorneys how far he could take his attacks. Plus his ads were also reviewed by Sun Attorneys locally and in Copley Headquarters in California. Copley was the previous owner of the Sun that was Pro-Establishment. They did not even bother sending a reporter to this historic and unusual trial.

The Napergate ads went thru 6 legal reviews before being published, so the odds of 6 attorneys missing a slanderous or libelous word was 0 to none. This frustrated William Brestal who did want to sue him and settled instead for a hollering match with Napergate Man in the hallways outside of City Hall.

Adam,
I think why the system did not work until 5 years later for the Napergate Man can be found in Ameena's posting of 918am on the partial reading of the 25 page Appellant Court ruling against the City of Naperville in a unanimous and rare consensus in this kind of case.

Notice this quote from the Apellant Court:

"The appellant court went on to further state "our review of the record discloses that the plaintiffs have implemented an exemplary program for catching minors attempting to purchase alcohol at their stores. Other evidence presented in mitigation, such as the large numbers of confiscated identifications turned over to the Naperville Police(206) as compared to the other 104 Naperville liquor licenses combined(38) and also the testimony of a Naperville police officer which would have stated that Esmail's enforcement's effort were exemplary as compared to other licenses, was erroneously excluded at the local hearing. Furthermore, testimony as to the city prosecutor's statement that a self sting operation would be "commendable" and evidence of other penalties of other penalties imposed on the Naperville licenses for sales to minors should have also been allowed into evidence at the mitigation stage to help determine the appropriate penalty for Extra Value Liquors."(Appellant Court quote)."

The problem with this case is the City of Naperville had what we call a "Kangaroo Style Trial" for the Napergate Man. They allowed all their "evidence" in but refused to allow the Napegate Man to enter his "evidence." At one point the Napergate Man lost even before the Illinois Liquor Control Commmission. He was not only innocent but he had the best liquor attoreny in the State of Illinos. She was the former head of that department for a decade!
But the ILCC was only allowed to review the evidence in the Kangaroo Trial Proceedings that took place in Naperville. So they ruled "properly" agasint him since they had no way of knowing about the methods Naperville used in the Kangaroo Trial.

I think somewhere along the line in one of 3 tracks he was fighting, a District Judge or possibly the Appellant Court was able to rule that the City of Naperville had conducted an improper trial by denying him the right to enter a defense. At that point as you stated, Adam, it did become a black and white case and fell like dominos as another blogger indicated.

The Appellant Court pretty much tells you the Kangaroo Court in Naperville would not allow crucial evidence. In that one paragraph they mention 4 crucial items the KC would not allow in.
I can not imagine what else they did not let in. One would have to read the lengthy 25 page ruling to learn more about this travesty of justice. It is a very sad story but in the end it did work for the Napergate Man after he was out $200,000 of his hard earned money.

If he would have run out of funds before the injustice was uncovered and the cover-up was unraveled, I suspect he would have been a the Homeless Man instead of the Napergate Man!

Adam: Granted it's an unusual thread, but it seems to be a highly unusual case. The ads were posted online to start the discussion that many bloggers brought up of their own accord. We have no agenda here - and are certainly not withholding anything we know. The blogs have been informative to us as well as the citizen journalists (bloggers) of Naperville. Thanks.

Mr. Moderator,
This is a very unusual thread. Is there not another side to this story?

I have never seen a case so black and white go so wrong.

How, Mr. Moderator did this case get so out of control?

I just don't understand how the brakes on the railroading weren't turned on till 5 years later. I thought the judicial system can put brakes on much earlier when they see such an obvious railroading!

Please shed some light! The Naperville Sun must know something these bloggers don't know. What is your opinion?

What is the host's opinion who opened this case with that thread about "Any topic you want to discuss" and suddenly posted 46 Napergate titles of ads?

You guys must know something you are not telling us!!!

I bet everyone missed this one from the Ameena 918am blog...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We appreciate the comments of several council members regarding "quitting the fight with Extra Value Liquors." We never wanted the fight but it was imposed on us by the Legal Dept. and specifically City Prosecutor Francis Cuneo. The city council members may have forgotten but in the early stages of this battle we apologized for this legitimate sting and promised never to run one again in an "offer and compromise settlement" drafted by our attorney Ms. Irene Bahr. We even offered to pay a fine of $1500.00 for this sting which the Appellant Court described as not only legal but a "furtherance of the Liquor Control Act."(Napegate Man quote from Naperville Sun 2/8/95)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Think about this...

1. He apologizes for doing nothing wrong...the sting was legal!

2. He promised not to ever do it again since it upset them!

3. He offers to pay $1,500.00 fine even though he is innocent!

This is a classic case of someone who wanted to plead guilty knowing he was innocent to avoid what he knew was coming....a $200,000 legal bill for his defense!

Now why would the city not accept this reasonable offer from an INNOCENT man! Simple! They wanted him out of town and they knew they could easily outspend him in the judicial system as they had access to our TAXPAYER FUNDS! Remember this quote of former Mayor Macrane from Ameena's blog----"THAT FORMER MAYOR PRICE COULDN'T RUN HIM OUT OF TOWN BUT I WILL." It just fits like a puzzle!

They were right! They could outspend him and they did to the tune of one million, two million or three million dollars. We well never know! The records were destroyed or hidden by former Mayor Macrane before he passed away.

What they underestimated is his will power! His steadfastness! They hoped to have him bankrupted before the proceedings were over. They charged him in ways where they put him in 3 differnet court paths forcing him to retain 4 attorneys! Somehow he outlasted them and beat them just as he did in all those City Council meetings including ATT, Spring Green and SW GATE.

In summary rather than accept an apology from an innocent man, accept a $1500 fine from an innocent man, accept a promise not to run legal stings anymore from an innocent man, they attempted to try to run him out of town at a cost of millions to taxpayers. Go figure!

Their is no comparison between the Naperage Case and Furstenau Case. One is all facts and one is all rumor and hearsay! In the Napergate Case the city actually fired all its missiles at Basim Esmail. In the Furstenau Case we have a cop who never fired a single bullet! I see no similarities and agree with the majority who feel the Furtenau Case is very weak...hanging by a thread!

Has anyone seen Joe Establishment lately?

He is another one missing in action when the kitchen gets very hot!

I guess it is hard to slice and dice a unanimous decison by a high court!

The one difference between the two cases is that all Basim Esmail wanted was justice and vindication. All (Big) Dick Furstenau wants is revenge, embarrassment and public disgrace of certain key individuals and the city council as a whole, not to mention lots and lots of money. The other difference is that Basim Esmail was an honorable man. (Big) Dick Furstenau is just a bully, and a fool.

Posted by: Millville | January 20, 2008 11:08 AM

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Millville,
I enjoyed your post very much. I just posted the last part of it in order to give bloggers who missed it a chance to find and read it.
I thought you were right on target and spoke layman's language instead of all this legalistic stuff that is over my head by some of these bloggers.

It is so obvious to me that Basim Esmail was RAILROADED!!! Let me give you yet another lay person's term. He was LYNCHED!!!

I am glad the Appellant Court lynched the city in return! I am sure they had to pay up big time. But like everything else in this case, everything has been top secret and remains top secret.

My greatest fear is they demanded the Napergate Man be muzzled as part of the financial settlement! If this was the case, another travesty of justice was committed.

As the introduction states he was a THORN! He was the only one with the grassroots organizational network and abilities to take over the council! If Brestal did not buy out Rosanova, he would have had 5 council members that were non-establishment at one point. It is mindboggling the maneuvers the establishment will take not to lose control of this town to an outsider like Basim Esmail! His last name is not Wehrli so he better keep his mouth shut...eh!!!

It seems obvious that he was the only one in Naperville that posed a real threat to their power. By charging him every which way possible, they were trying to bankrupt him financially so he could no longer function. I believe they were thinking if we can keep the Napergate Man paying for all these lawyers to defend himself, he would have no money for these Napergate Ads. Just a hunch! And guess who was paying for all the lawyers the city hired to fight his lawyers whom they forced him to hire....yes, us the TAXPAYERS get shafted one more time. Yes, Mr. Marshall these high powered outside Chicago lawyers got paid less than immigrant farm workers! Only in Naperville can one retain lawyers to work so CHEAP!

Apparently they failed miserably and now are finally exposed! It does not take a rocket scientist to figure the ulterior motives of city officials. You just don't go after a liquor retailer who was ranked number one in the country by numerous national organizations, wins a National Competition, has accolades from across the country and elevated the standard in the industry, for an innocent mistake let alone a legitimate sting operation to keep control on his employees.

How ironic that the heroic efforts this retailer was performing including performing "sting operations" was considered criminal by the Naperville Police Dept. while the rest of the country was praising him!

Yes, we are ranked the second best town in America to live in. Now. I know why! It is because of retailers like Basim Esmail keeping the booze away from the minors and forcing them to focus on their studies and be productive members of Naperville.

It is ludicrous to believe we are the second best town in America because of our corrupt police dept. The truth eventually comes out 10 years later in cases like this. Thanks to the new ownership of the Naperville Sun, it is beginning to unravel slowly but surely!

Finally, I would like to second your motion that Basim Esmail is in fact an honorable man! It seems like you were the first blogger ever to use his real name so I thought I would use it to. I guess he got the nickname of all nicknames that seems to have stuck to him like glue and fit him like a glove...The Napergate Man! How appropriate! I applaud him!

I just want to say you bloggers are doing a great job!

I enjoyed reading the blogs during my lunch hour.

I am not allowed to participate on company time but I hope to blog a little more this evening.

See you then! Keep up the good work!

Has anyone noticed Mrs. of the Police Officer is missing in this debate. She was voted probably 2nd best blogger after Ameena, but is nowhere to be found!

To me this indicates she is a classy lady, who is not going to try to defend the indefensible!

It is obvious why she came in second! She knows when to speak and when not to speak! But I would still like her to speak, as everyone in the Naperville Police dept. seems tight lipped when wrong such as in Napergate!

Does anyone know if the NPD has an Internal Affairs dept. and if it does, has it ever ruled for a civilian over a cop in say the last 100 years or so???

Does the Naperville Sun know? Does the Naperville Sun care?

I would like to see a Sun Reporter ask the Police Chief what happened in this Napergate case? He was after all the Police Chief then and now! I think the public wants to know, now that the Naperville Sun opened this well hidden case and put it on the front burner!

And I do want to thank the Naperville Sun for its courageous use of the word Napergate for the first time in its history!

Anonymous(assuming Taxpayer),
You are way to emotional and can not seem to differentiate what is permissible in court and what is not. Attempts to lobby a prosecutor for felony charges is not admissible in a courtroom unless they bribe him and he charges. They did not bribe him and he correctly rejected the ridiculous lobbying. The system protected DF! It worked for DF! You can not sue when the system rules in your favor by denying the wrongful police attempts even if Police Chief David Dial was involved! Your blog is not focused!

Here is what you got at best:

A police officer brought possibly wrongful misdemeanor charges against DF! If DF can prove it, a Judge will award him his legal expenses and maybe an extra 1000 dollars. That is it! Is it worth a lawsuit and the time needed! I would say no! All the rest of what you said is propaganda and hearsay and would never be allowed in a courtroom! So stop writing so much and get to the facts of the case! The Napergate Man was successful because he had the ability to focus...you need to develop that ability!

HERE IS A SHORT ANALYTICAL COMPARISON...............

1.The bloggers are saying DF has weak case in relation to the Napergate Man. That does not mean he has no case! If you want to keep your credibility, Taxpayer, you need to admit the obvious! Which is the Napergate Man's case was much much stronger! And we already know he won in all his courts battles! So he has a little edge since his verdicts are already in.

2.If you refer to the 9:18 am Ameena posting today, regarding the Illinois Appellant ruling, it should be obvious why the bloggers are correct. Take for example one sentence from it.

" Other evidence presented in mitigation, such as the large numbers of confiscated identifications turned over to the Naperville Police(206) as compared to the other 104 Naperville liquor licenses combined(38) and also the testimony of a Naperville police officer which would have stated that Esmail's enforcement's effort were exemplary as compared to other licenses, was erroneously excluded at the local hearing."

3. If you do the math, you have a liquor retailer that confiscated 5.42 times(206/38) the amount of fake IDs as 104 other retailers in Naperville "COMBINED" and the city is going after him for being an "incompetent retailer," and trying to run him out of town. This one sentence indicates why he had an enormous civil rights suit....ENORMOUS, may add for emphasis! Now this is coming from the unanimous decision of an Appellant Court and obviously had to be proved after being entered, ruled on, and made into a verdict.

4.Neither the bloggers, the Naperville Sun, or Police Chief David Dial ever got those facts straight. His Napergatian buddies were even underestimating when saying 3 times as many. They were guessing but at least not exaggerating. Apparently, none of them are consulting with the Napergate Man or their estimate would have been a little better.

5.The Police Chief has to know this statistic but only admitted to the Naperville Homeowners Presidents under pressure that he got more than all other retailers combined, without revealing that it was 5.42 times more when the Presidents were badgering him about the treatment of the Napergate Man in one of their monthly meetings. The Police Chief obviously had to know these astonishing numbers.(they had risen to 226 Fake IDs by the time of this meeting from 206) And one has to wonder why this Police Chief who is still our current Chief, did not step in to stop this UNBELIEVABLE CHARADE. This has never been investigated by Internal Affairs or our City Council. Why? Try cover-up!

6.The Police Chief would be hard pressed to say it was handled by a subordinate who may or may not work for the dept. anymore. Numerous Napergate ads published these IDs in the Naperville Sun. He is a columnist for the Sun, so he would be hard pressed to say he does not read the newspaper he writes for. Plus every Police Chief reads the newspaper of his town to keep up with the ongoings!

7. What is even more shocking is the proceedings that were set up special for the Napergate Man excluded such relevant information. Many city officials have to be involved in order to have "court like proceedings" and for this kind of relevant data to have been deliberately and improperly excluded. One has to conclude a conspiracy of sorts was going on as the IABTF letter indicated 2 years before the Illinois Appellant Court stunning ruling!

8. I would guess the former Mayor, the current Police Chief, many police officers, the head of the legal dept, the prosecutor for the legal dept, the liquor commissioner of the city, some council members, and many others were involved to be able to pull such a CHARADE based on only one sentence of the 25 page damning ruling by the Appellant Court against the City of Naperville. I would love to see that ruling. I would pay to be able to see it!

9. The Naperville Sun slightly underestimated by stating both his stores confiscated 174 IDs when only the store in question had confiscated 206 IDs by an earlier date. The Sun reporter could have lost her chronological time order of things, but should make an immediate correction to maintain her credibility. And I am sure the true number was much higher as this is the number that was entered into the record at the initial stages of the lengthy legal process. By the time it reached the Appellant Court, I would not be surprised if the number was double the 206.

10.I am just using one minor sentence in a 25 page unanimous Appellant ruling to show the strength of his case. There apparently was serious ongoing harassment, discrimination and selective enforcement over many years in the Napergate Case. In the case of DF, maybe one cop lied about being touched or hit by Furstenau. It just does not bring it to the level of the Napergate Case and comparisons are without merit.

As far as the Naperville Lawyer, he is correct. A judge can not bring charges as you state, Mr. Taxpayer. A State's Attorney brings charges. On occasion a police officer can bring insignificant misdemeanor charges but never felony charges. A Judge can approve or toss out charges! He can not bring charges and be the trier of fact. That would be a conflict...take that back...a major conflict!

The Naperville Lawyer is obviously a lawyer who knows what he is talking about and gave you very good advice at no charge. Be thankful! He even said DF is his favorite Council Member so obviously he had no ax to grind or mislead Furstenau supporters. He just wanted them to be realistic and not have false expectations based on emotion. And taxpayer...no offense, but you wrote that same or similar letter a 1000 times. If it made any sense you would only have to write it once and people would accept what you are saying. You are wrongfully assuming the bloggers are not well informed. On this thread, the bloggers are the sharpest I have seen in my life. They are rejecting what you are writing because it is to much hyperbole!

Reporter Sarah,
I found your article offensive because you allowed this quote in.

"My inclination is to say 'Let's leave this dog lie." Siddall said.

I know it is a quote by an illiterate Council Member, but he is basically calling a human a dog. A good human a dog!

I would have thought a reporter with so much at her disposal with old Napergate Ads could do much better than rely on a city official who should not be representing the citizens of this town and sullying our and their reputations with such underhanded remarks!

I am willing to to look past this mistake in your judgment! Apparently the editors of the Sun do not review your work before it is published and must have rushed you to do this difficult assignment based on old archives.

many people say furstenau has a weak case and that it should not take a huge amount of outside help to defend. the fact the city hired all the outside help and said it will cost a million $ to defend is a clear sign his case is legit.

the states attorney doesn't bare the responsibility in this suit and he shouldn't be named as the person in this suit. i respect naperville lawyer's opinion but it is wrong in this instance. posada was right on the money, almost. the npd originally lobbied the states attorney, not a judge, and it did last for hours. the states attorney told them to get lost. and several officers, including dial were involved. now it may not be illegal to ask for felony charges, but it is illegal to go to a certain extent to try and get them. there is a line that can be crossed in an over-zealous attempt to get felony charges. it also matters who is involved. why was dial calling the state attorney? why was burchard? the npd and chief dial went to far. if nothing else, this shows just how motivated the npd was out to get furstenau. that is how the felony charges will be relevant to this case. it won't be about the fact they actually tried for felony charges, it will be more about what lengths they went to to get them and did they violate any rules in their over-zealous attempt to do so.

after the sa said no, the npd went to a judge and asked the judge for a felony charge, he said no so they asked for misdemeanor charges. all the npd needed to receive misdemeanor charges was an officer who said he was battered. if they go to a judge with a story that the officer was battered, the judge must grant misdemeanor charges. the states attorney was out of the loop on that and hot nothing to do with the charges that actually went forward against furstenau. he wasn't going to charge furstenau with anything.

another very important point posada made was the fact that there was a leak a the NPD 2 weeks before the arrest, at the very beginning of the investigation, that they were going to charge furstenau with a felony. THEY DECIDED THEY WERE GOING TO CHARGE HIM WITH A FELONY BEFORE THEY EVEN CONDUCTED THE INVESTIGATION. sounds like they decided what they wanted to do then tried to build and mold a case to match it. that is illegal.

so put it into the context of a normal citizen. lets say someone batters you and you go to the NPD to file charges. they ask you your version of the story and you say you were punched and that it happened 5 days earlier and you waited to now to file. later in the investigation, they interview several eye witnesses who refute your version of the story. not only do they say the defendant never touched you but they also make it clear that your version of events didn't even have the right time and location of the incident. so you go back to the NPD and change your story to line up more accurately with what the eye witnesses said, including changing your story about the manner in which you were battered. do you think that investigation and those charges would go forward? ABSOLUTELY NOT! the cops drop the investigation, tell you sorry, you should have filed immediately, and your version of the events doesn't match the testimony of several eye witnesses. you had the wrong time, the wrong location of where the defendant was, and your version of events doesn't match the eye witness testimony of several people.

thats exactly what happened in this case only it was a cop, and not a private citizen who filed the charges. his story was directly refuted by several eye witnesses who said the defendant never touched him, and he didn't have the right time and location. so he went back and changed his story several times to match the right time, the right location of the defendant, and even changed the story about the manner in which he was battered. AND THE CASE STILL WENT FORWARD AFTER FELONY CHARGES.

you may think furstenau is a bully and a jerk but let me assure you that will have no bearing on this case. the judge won't throw out the case because furstenau was censured or because some people don't like him. it has no relevance.

and if furstenau can prove burchard was involved during the investigation it will crush the cities defense because it will provide a link between the phony arrest, burchard's letter, and the fast response by some councilman and the mayor to censure him and bring up the idea of a recall vote against him to remove him from office.

the city will lose this case, and several city employees and officers will find themselves in very hot water when all the facts come out.

Editor,
I did buy the Naperville Sun for the first time since the Napergate ads stopped. I commend you guys for finally coming out of the closet....it took a decade but you guys finally showed some courage and came out of the closet. Kudos to the new liberal ownership of the Naperville Sun! I understand it used to be owned by the "establishment" at one time and later after it was sold the first time was still beholden to them!

I recall that the Naperville Sun never used the word Napergate in the decade of those ads in any of its articles. Not once! It was as if it was agreed between City Officials, the Naperville Sun and the Establishment that this word was taboo! The Napergate Man was not to be coverered so he basically covered himself with his own newspaper inside of your newspaper which I believe could not be stopped under the 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech!

While I was pleasantly surprised to see you guys come out of the closet, the article was extremely weak and biased towards the city position which was deemed not credible by at least 2 Appellant Courts in the 90s and one Supreme Court ruling in the 80s. The article was a travesty of justice as far as expressing the Napergate Man's point of view and his numerous accomplishments that have just began to surface on these blogs. Much more has not yet surfaced.

I would like to see the Naperville Sun write an article about the Napergate Man without referring to your old articles filled with quotes from City Officilas and police, which were biased and proved not credible by numerous lower and higher court decisions favoring the Napergate Man!

But once again kudos for finally coming out of the closet in a big way by splashing that word across your front pages in a way no one can miss it. Since you gus at the Sun, apparently wanted to come out of the closet, you sure came out the right way with a big splash!

Only time will tell if this is a one time fluke or a serious effort by the Naperville Sun to be unbiased in its reporting and taking a tougher approach to incompetent city officials such as our new "temporary" city manager who thinks we are naive and gullible to believe the lengthy and difficult Napergate Case cost us taxpayers somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. I am sorry but I thought he was joking!

Bloggers,

I notice there is a lot of confusion about this Napergate Man and his case both on the blogs and in the PRINT EDITION of the Sun. I found a section of a Napergate XXIV ad in the Naperville Sun (February 8th, 1995*Page 7A) in the library, that summarized the 25 page ruling, in which the Appellant Court unanimously overturned the District Judge in the Napergate Second Liquor Battle. There was another huge Napergate One Liquor Battle that unfortunately is not documented with Napergate ads. Below is the verbatim from Section One of Napergate XXIV.

***********************************************************************************************

CITY ATTORNEYS DEFEATED

We appreciate the comments of several council members regarding "quitting the fight with Extra Value Liquors." We never wanted the fight but it was imposed on us by the Legal Dept. and specifically City Prosecutor Francis Cuneo. The city council members may have forgotten but in the early stages of this battle we apologized for this legitimate sting and promised never to run one again in an "offer and compromise settlement" drafted by our attorney Ms. Irene Bahr. We even offered to pay a fine of $1500.00 for this sting which the Appellant Court described as not only legal but a "furtherance of the Liquor Control Act."(Napegate Man quote)

The 3 judge panel who ruled UNANIMOUSLY in favor of Extra Value Liquors went on to say "Charging Esmail in the present case with a sale to a minor is akin to charging the police in Roberts(58 Ill App ad 171) with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The police were not so charged and we determine neither should Esmail be penalized for his actions. The law is not intended to punish sting operators conducting their stings in the furtherance of THE LIQUOR CONTROL ACT."(Appellant Court quote)

The appellant court went on to further state "our review of the record discloses that the plaintiffs have implemented an exemplary program for catching minors attempting to purchase alcohol at their stores. Other evidence presented in mitigation, such as the large numbers of confiscated identifications turned over to the Naperville Police(206) as compared to the other 104 Naperville liquor licenses combined(38) and also the testimony of a Naperville police officer which would have stated that Esmail's enforcement's effort were exemplary as compared to other licenses, was erroneously excluded at the local hearing. Furthermore, testimony as to the city prosecutor's statement that a self sting operation would be "commendable" and evidence of other penalties of other penalties imposed on the Naperville licenses for sales to minors should have also been allowed into evidence at the mitigation stage to help determine the appropriate penalty for Extra Value Liquors."(Appellant Court quote).

The above paragraphs are verbatim quotes from the UNANIMOUS decision of the 3 judge panel of the appellant court. We wish we could publish the 25 page ruling in its entirety. As our attorney stated "the ruling totally and utterly vindicated us."(Napergate Man quote.)

***********************************************************************************************

PS. I was unable to bold, underline, or enlarge as his Print Ad allowed him to do for EMPHASIS and easier smooth reading.(Ameena quote)

Moderator,
I commend you for putting up this thread. People bloggin on this thread are unusually articulate. Much more so than those ill mannered folks on District 204 blogs! It is so much fun to read what they write and learn from their research....especially that Ameena girl! Someone would should pay her for going to the library and digging up this mess all over again! I thought Napergate was over but if the City is telling us they just spent $5000 dollars in this 5 year case, then Napergate is just heating up all over again.

Five thousand in 5 years is a $1000 a year for these 5 high powered Chicago lawyers or $200 dollars per lawyer per year! As one blogger said a dishwasher makes at least that. At the mininum wage of $7.50 an hour, a dishwasher makes $15,600 a year. If we were to believe the new City Manager, one diswasher make 15.6 times what 5 high powered attorneys make in one year! That remark by the City Manager was news that is NOT FIT TO PRINT! What possessed the Sun to publish that remark! I can see why this City Manager is only TEMPORARY!

Maybe the chambers at City Hall can be bought for $5000, too! Do you think I should make a bid, Moderator? They may just accept! Everything seems to be so cheap in City Hall!

Eric,
I loved your below statement....

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In summary, I feel I have learned much more from bloggin than that article. It was a very soft article that did no justice for the Napergate Man or Napergate. It was very apparent the reporter was using kid's gloves on the City Officials and trying to blame one dead man for all the problems of Napergate in order to "bury" them with the dead Mayor and give current city officials a clean bill of health or credibility if you will!!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You hit the bulleye with that Statement! I can't wait to show it to my husband when he gets home. That was so INSIGHTFUL!

This statement by Ameena sums up the legal expense cover up part of the Napergate Case!

"I hope reporter Sarah Koci can revisit Mr. Marshall and call him out on that 5-10k that the legal dept. spent on 5 years for outside attorneys over the Napergate Case. A dishwasher working for minimum wages would make more than that in 3 -6 months! Common let's get real! Who would in his/her mind believe that!"

In Watergate they knew how to hide and sound reasonable. In Napergate they don't even make a reasonable effort to cover up because they know all local newspapers, and not just the Sun, are not playing the WATCHDOG ROLE!

I agree with Eric and Ameena tha the city's claim they spent $5-10k on legal expenses for outside attorneys is not believable.

If so, why not admit this petty amount instead of cover it up in 1995 when asked about it? The cover-up of the outside legal fees was because they were horrnedous.

And I like how Blogger Eric, noticed Reporter Sarah was trying to give the city a pass by blaming the whole mess on one FORMER DEAD MAYOR! Not believable! This is scapegoating! I bet former Mayor Price is still alive and thus no mention. She was even more involved than former Mayor Macrane.

Finally, this article did really not reveal any of the numerous accomplishments of the Napergate Man that were hidden from us and it appears there is reason to keep hidden from us for reasons beyond me.

The Napergate Man seems like a man who could shake mountains! I did not know he flipped that ATT vote until Ameena dug it up. When I read that I said WOW! There does not seem to be anyone quite like him, past or present! Now, I can really see why the ESTABLISHMENT would want to run him out of town. HIS OUTSPOKENESS for starters! His NAPERGATE ADS! His ablity to RALLY residents! And his razor sharp pen was simply a little to SHARP for them! Who else could run a slate of 4 for City Council in 1999 and have all 4 win! When he failed 2 or 3 of his ENDORSEES WON as in 2001!

As the introduction to this blog states he was a THORN to all City Officials. And I believe they feared him for his political power and his ability to fill up City Hall anytime he took his PEN out and purchased some BOLD INK.

Attacking a retailer for an innocent mistake or two in the 80s and a legitmate sting operation in the 90s, in this manner speaks volumes that the city had an ULTERIOR MOTIVE.

Sarah should be looking for the ULTERIOR MOTIVE and not buying City Official versions of the past which really have been put to rest with all these court rulings.

You just don't try to close down the strictest retailer in the nation against minors for a innocent MISTAKE by an EMPLOYEE once a decade. I also don't believe his ads showing all the fake IDs that embarrassed the city and was the SOLE REASON they attacked him in this vicious matter. Not believable!

I think it was about his politics and ability to rally residents to call city officials out when they were COVERING UP! Yes, he coined his ads NAPERGATE because major cover ups were taking place in City Hall. The article by Sarah today proves they are continuing as if the Napergate Man never visited us in the first place let alone revisiting us!

Yes, they are covering up the cost of this gigantic legal battle!

They are covering up for all of those responsible for the persecution of the Napergate Man!

They are covering up the CONSPIRACY that existed against him!

The IABTF would never dare make the statement BELOW if they could not back it up. The city would have sued them. That organization is loaded with money. I mean loaded as they represent the entire liquor industry in the State of Illinois!

Here is the statment copied from Ameena's blog. Yes, this statement can be verified by the Naperville Sun as it was published in a Napergate Ad right inside the Sun on IABTF stationary. Read it and you be the judge!

" On July 7, 1993 the Illinois Alcohol Beverage Task Force issued a rebuke to the City of Naperville. Here is part of the rebuke:

##################################################################

"The penalties invoked by Naperville against this retailer have been ridiculously harsh and designed to put him out of business even for the first offense. The evidence seems to indicate harassment, discrimination, and trumped up charges and testimony. The conduct exhibited by the government of the City of Naperville, the City Attorney and some members of its police department is conspiratorial and is reminiscent of fascism."

##################################################################

Moderator Jim,
Please point this letter out to Reporter Sarah! This Napergate Case is very complex and not easy to cover, so she could have easily overlooked it. Seeing such a quote in the PRINT Naperville Sun would indicate to me and many residents that you are FINALLY TURNING THE CORNER to being the newspaper your readers expect and not one catering to a few old time ESTABLISHMENT FOLKS that want to keep everything on the HUSH and HUSH!

Thanks,
Maryann

PS. I will give the Sun some credit for daring to write about the Napergate Man and finally using the popular term he coined. In the past, we only heard from him thru his ads. So it is a step in the right direction that we can hear about him from a reporter. But the reporter must give the Man the credit he deserves without HOLDING BACK! Sarah really seemed to be HOLDING BACK! Like she was afraid she would get in trouble if she told the TRUTH and nothing but the TRUTH! No one should fear telling the truth! The Napergate Man apparently paid a very gigantic price so we can all tell the truth and not worry about being charged falsely for our beliefs. We need to honor him and continue his platform of telling IT AS IT is regardless of the consequences. Yes, he paid a heavy price so the rest of us could have FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

THANK YOU!

Ameena and, earlier, Eric : We're not done with this story - and it's with your help and insights that we can continue to pursue it. Through your incisive blogging you've become citizen journalists and we welcome and thank you for your participation. keep reading the Sun for more on this story.

First I would like to say Mr. Bob Marshall's statement in today's Naperville Sun that it only cost the City of Naperville 5-10k for outside attorneys in the Napergate Case is simply not credible based on my research. The Napergate Man admitted the battle cost him over 200,000 dollars and he was only using one attorney for each component of the case.

1. He was only using Attorney Tim McLaughlin for his civil rights case that was denied by a lower court but overturned by an Appellant Court.

2. He was only using Attorney Irene Bahr for his Liquor Commission Hearings that rose from City Hall to the Illinois Appellant Court after making 2 other stops along the way at the Illinois Liquor Control Commission and Dupage County Court.

3. The city went after the Napergate Man for at least 12 other charges in Dupage County. The infamous one was charging him with providing a minor with alcohol during a "sting operation." His agent succeeded in busting his employee so of course he/she will have possssion of the alcohol until he retrieves it. An attorney named Brian Telander beat this part of the case down to dismissal in Dupage County Court after 7 continuances all by the city from 9/17/91 to 12/17/93. A court would never extend such a courtesy to a defendent but exteneded it to the City of Naperville!

4.All the other petty charges such as a manager missing for an hour and a half from his store was handled by Attorney Lawrence Serlin who successfully defeated all except this one petty charge which the Napergate Man admitted to but the Judge said was to insignificant and petty for her to consider against him.

In the civil rights case the city utilized 3 outside attorneys to fight his one civil rights attorney. Their names were Marvin Glink, Thomas Dicianni and Brian Mack. Glink was the number 2 attorney/partner for the powerful Chicago Law Firm of Ancel, Glink, Diamond, Cope, Bush PC. These big boys from Chicago don't take cases for $5-10k. Try maybe a %50-100k retainer for each for starters. It was 3 attorneys against 1 in this part of the case.

Against Attorney Irene Bahr they used in house Attorney Michael Roth plus Proseutor Cuneo. According to Napergate XII, another law firm named Collander and Gillen was retained to assist with this part of the case when the in-house realized they had their hands full with Ms. Bahr. So it was 4 against one in this part of the case. But Irene Bahr was the former Chief Legal Council for the State of Illinois Liquor Commission so she was able to handle all 4 city attorneys with relative ease and win. Of course she had the facts and the law on her side which helped immensely!

I have not yet read all the Napergate ads so I do not know who the city put up against Napergate Attorneys Brian Telander and Lawrence Serlin.

The Napergate Man had 4 attorneys to handle the various charges brought in various courts everywhere resulting from a "sting operation" that was eventually ruled legal by the Illinois Appellant Court. The sting charge was reportedly embelished and surrounded by an additional 12 fabricated charges accoprding to Napergate XX. Once the sting charge fell, the embelished charges fell like dominos.

The city was using 3-4 in-house and out of house attorneys to handle each one of the Napergate Man's attorneys. They wanted to win so bad they left no stone unturned and no dollar unspent!

Based on my deep study of this Napergate Case, the number of outside attorneys used(5 uncovered so far) and in house attorneys used(it was a 9 person in-house legal dept.), I believe this case cost the City of Naperville at least 1 million dollars for both in house and out house attorneys.

The Napergate Man was able to show an increase from nearly 300k for the in house legal dept before his case started to a budgeted $787,877 dollars for 93-94 using graphs that he charted with data obtained from sources inside the city I assume. (Napergate XIX dated Feb. 25, 1994) This was nearly an increase of a half a million due to his case for only in-house. Out house attorneys are much more expensive than in-house attorneys so one can reasonably conclude if the in house were costing an extra half a million, the out house were probably costing at least a million but for sure not less than a half of a million.

This 2nd Napergate battle started in 1990 and ended in 1995. It was all over the place being appealed at each juncture. The first Napergate battle started in 1983 and ended 01/27/88 with the Supreme Court of Illinois overturning the revocation and accusing the city with ABUSE OF DISCRETION AND AUTHORITY.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when the Sun Reproter Sarah Koci, accepted Mr. Bob Marshall's estimate of 5 or 10k at face value. If she had done her homework, in my opinion she would never accepted such a ludicrous and ridiculous number that he pulled from thin air.

I believe this is why our town is falling apart. The City can tell the Naperville Sun anything they want and the Sun takes City Officials words at face value. We have no watchdog since the Napergate Man.

The Napergate Man would accept nothing the city officials said at face value. He would launch an investigation until he found the truth.

It just seems beyond comprehension that the City already budgeted 400k for the Furstena Case for outside lawyers, but suddenly only spent 5-10k for outside attorneys in 5 years in 3 different legal tracks with 2 involving lengthy appeals in the Napergate Case.

I hope reporter Sarah Koci can revisit Mr. Marshall and call him out on that 5-10k that the legal dept. spent on 5 years for outside attorneys over the Napergate Case. A dishwasher working for minimum wages would make more than that in 3 -6 months! Common let's get real! Who would in his/her mind believe that!

It is time for the Sun Reporters to step up to the plate and question blatant misinformation by our city officials. This statement by Mr. Marshall was so blatantly incorrect, I am utterly shocked the reporter did not question it and published it as if it was factual. Where was Editor Tim West to tell this reporter, that they already told him they did not keep records and if they did they would never provide them. Suddenly they have a number 10 year later! Bring back the Napergate Man not to revist but reinvestigate again!

Posada705 has a great handle on DF's case against the city.

Comparing it to Napergate may or may not be a good comparision, but the bottom-line is that there was a clear abuse (or at least an attempt at an abuse) of power involving representatives of the City. Specifically, it started with employees and moved upward to Council members.

The issue is NOT whether or not DF was a bully ---- that is a different question that has nothing to do, legally, with his case (or the attempt at a case against DF in the altercation with the officer). DF as a bully is a HR issue for the City to figure out separately.

The issue is one of a denial of rights and abuse of power. Being an elected official does not mean DF must or should forfeit his rights under the law to remedy his perceived wrong (whether it costs us money or not). As easily as some believe DF is causing this money issue by suing, others can say the City is causing it by it's continuation of it;s abuses. Settle and it's over, folks.

All in all, I have two comments: the first is the immaturity of many posters who appear to take a 2nd grader's delight in using DF's first name (often in caps and proceeded with an adjectivem such as big, etc), and the second is that I fully expect that without a settlement this case will cost the taxpayers easily the $500k to $1 million the City has already advertised, and if DF wins (which I think is at leadt a 50/50 chance), it will cost 3-4 Mil.

JOMO.

Moderator,
I read the article in the Sun about the Napergate Man. While it is a major breakthrough that the Naperville Sun is willing to write about him and use the Napergate phrase that he coined, I feel we have a long ways to go.

The article was very soft and tried to blame all the troubles on a "deceased Mayor." While the Mayor was definetly guilty, I doubt this was a one man operation and he operated in a vacuum. Here is a quote from the Sunday Sun article,

"Esmail won at the appellate level in April 2005. The court ruled in favor of Esmail's claim of unequal treatment that was the result solely of the mayor's vindictive campaign and ruled it should not have been dismissed, court records indicate.

I am 99% certain that the court ruling was not based solely because of the "mayor's vindicative campaign of unequal treatment." The Mayor could not have accomplised all he attempted to accomplish without the help of the Naperville Police and City Prosecutors. He is suppose to have no authority over them so I believe there was a conspiracy of sorts as that very large liquor organization(IABTF) in Ameemna's blog stated with certainty.

Furthermore, if one has been following these blogs and kept up with all the different directions and turns the Napergate Case took, it would be impossible that it only cost $5,000 to $10,000 for outside lawyers. Sitting city manager Bob Marshall is clueless and should not make such statements. How would he know since it has been established the city lost, hid or destroyed the records? Did he not hear what Mayor Macrane told the Sun? Did he not know that Sun Editor Tim West demanded those records on more than one ocassion and was told they do NOT EXIST? So coming up with a ridiculous number just shoots his CREDIBILITY right into outer space along side the Joe Aliens who can read fainted paint on a cab spot from outer space using Google Satellite Technology before they park their Space Vehicles in that particular spot!!!

If it is true we fought the Napergate Case for 5-10k of outside legal help, why are we budgeting 400k and expecting 1 million for legal expenses for Furstenau Case. That is utter nonsense! The Napergate Man was required to jump thru 2 extra hurdles just to reach Dupage County Court or Federal Court. The City Hall proceedings and the Illinios Liquor Control Commission Hearings! Furstenau did not have to jump thru these 2 hurdles to reach Dupage Ct. or Federal Ct.

The Napergate Man was fighting his case on 3 legal fronts.

1. The liquor license hearings which went to the Illinois Appellant Court because the city continued to appeal after 2 lower court rulings of reversal of the City Proceedings!

2. The civil rights action which the Napergate Man was forced to appeal because it was erroneously thrown out by a lower court before he finally won also before an Appellant Court.

3. Separate charges in Dupage County which included a bottle of liquor bottle that was in possession of the "sting operator" just for a few short minutes. I think this 3rd charge was dismissed by the city after requesting 7 or 8 continuances over nearly 2 years to wear down the Napergate Man but he never wore out. They must have known the "sting" he ran was legal or why did they not proceed to trial instead of wasting 2 years of continuances only to ultimately DISMISS the case!

In summary, I feel I have learned much more from bloggin than that article. It was a very soft article that did no justice for the Napergate Man or Napergate. It was very apparent the reporter was using kid's gloves on the City Officials and trying to blame one dead man for all the problems of Napergate in order to "bury" them with the dead Mayor and give current city officials a clean bill of health or credibility if you will!!!

I did not buy reporter Sarah's story. I find Ameena's version much more credible and believable. Ameemna seems to be basing her story mostly on the Napergate Ads. The reporter Sarah Koci, appeared to base most of her information on quotes from city officials in old Naperville Sun articles. Well since the courts ruled with the Napergate Man, it would seem to make his ads more credible than comments of city officials in Sun articles and it would have been logical that she would have used the more credible source for her article.

I would like to see Sarah do another article based on Napergate ads and see if she can take a tough stand on city officials after taking such an incredibly soft stand. All she needs is to review the Napergate ads which are at her disposal to give us a more accurate picture. I am sure Ameena would not mind sharing her information with Sarah to save her time. Or she could just look at Ameena's numerous posts which just seem so accurate. She tells you where you can dig up all her facts by time and date. No wonder she is the leading vote getter for Best Blogger! And I have not even voted for her yet, but I promise to get around to it! Just took some time off until this morning article I picked up in my driveway infuriated me! I am still infuriated!

I believe if the Naperville Sun does not toughen up a bit, it will lose credibilty and readership. Its peak readship was when the Napergate Man was blasting away. Since he is not blasting away someone in the Naperville Sun has to blast away at the truth to balance reporters who are extremely soft. Hirng a columnist with half the Napergate Man's courage would probably increase print readership by 5000. One with his full courage would probably increase readership by at least 10,000.

I believe the Sun is trying but treading waters it is not familiar with. Let us see if they can get use to the rough waters the Napergate Man was taking on each and every day. He took on the biggest of waves coming his way. The Sun seems to only want to tackle the smalllest of waves. It just seem to obvious especially if you have been bloggin for a while.

I am sorry but this bloggin forum is 10 times more accurate and interesting than the Print Newspaper of the Sun. Much more bold and fun! I have no interest in reading the Naperville Sun after reading that article in the paper about the Napergate Man. Maybe a more balanced article that quotes sources like the Mayor of Roselle, the IABC, the Beverage Alcohol of New York, or the Illinois Appellant Court would be much more palatable enabling me to enjoy reading the Sun again like in those Napergate Days when I could not wait to pick up my paper from my driveway! These days I really have to drag myself down the driveway to pick up the paper...don't know how much longer this exercise will last!

PS. I see no comparisons between the Napergate Man and the Furstenau Case. The Napergate Man was abused for 2 decades and somehow documented his abuse day by day. He had video, pics, police report #s, fake IDs and it seems his evidence never ends. He had support from across the USA including the Newspaper Advertising Bureau of America and the National Liquor Store Assosiation. They were trying to run him out of town! He was dealing with blatant selective enforcement that would not stop under 3 former Mayors.(not Mayor Pradel, of course!)

DF was charged possibly wrongfully with a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor charge means nothing and is wiped off your record after court supervision. What does he really think a Federal Court will award him...a nickel...a dime!!! And our city officials are completely overreacting by hiring outside legal firms for 400k to fight a civil rights case based on a misdemeanor charge brought in error. It seems like one attorney should be able to go to court and dismiss it or settle for 10k or 20k. But to spend up to a million is a waste of taxpayer's money. Since DF is the only one who watches out for the waste of taxpayer's money, ironically this time there is not one council member who is watching for this waste as DF is out of the equation. It shows you the value of DF as a council man for the citizens as opposed to a litigant against the citizens. The Napergate Man had no choice in what he did. He was the defendant in almost all his cases and they were even trying to run him out of town. No one is trying to run DF out of town! He should entertain a peace offer and make peace! And end all this nonsense! His case is not even in the same ball park with the Napergate Man's Struggles!

While some may same there are comparisons between the Basim Esmail case of the 1990's and the current case involving Naperville's own (Big) Dick Furstenau, there is one major difference betweem the two. Basim Esmail was just an Average Joe kind of guy who was just trying to etch a career for himself and who thought he was getting unfairly kicked around by city hall and decided to fight back. (Big) Dick Furstenau is an elected city official who likes to have himself painted as being some Voice of The People, but who happens to have a track record of giving paid city employees a hard time, to the point that some were forced to leave their jobs. He also may or may not have struck a police officer who was just performing his duties. He also was just recently censured by the City Council for his past performance with city employees. And he also has a thing about suing anyone who so much as looks at him the wrong way. To the best of my recollection, all Basim Esmail did was fight for his rights. (Big) Dick Furstenau on the other hand seems to be on a campaign to get revenge for what he feels were a violation of his rights, when it actuality, I think it all comes down to his failure to win a seat in the State Legislature due to his being a complete jerk to the police officer he may or may not have struck that is the driving force behind his current lawsuit against the city. The one difference between the two cases is that all Basim Esmail wanted was justice and vindication. All (Big) Dick Furstenau wants is revenge, embarrassment and public disgrace of certain key individuals and the city council as a whole, not to mention lots and lots of money. The other difference is that Basim Esmail was an honorable man. (Big) Dick Furstenau is just a bully, and a fool.

Ameena,

Thanks for all the research and helpful additional info. You carry on the activist spirit that was key to the Napergate movement.

Here is my take on the Napergate Man and what got me going on my research and off my towing nightmare with the City of Naperville regarding that infamous 4th cab spot in front of Features. Of course, I was also getting tired fighting Joe who was producing Google Satellite Photos from outer space to show me that even the Space Aliens could see and interpret the faint paint on that infamous 4th spot! Enough said!

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Ted, are you able to go through the NaperSun archives and scan a couple of these advertisements? The whole fiasco sounds pretty entertaining. I imagine the library has archives of The Sun on microfiche if you guys don't keep archives, where would be a good place to start looking? Do you have any specific dates when the ads were published readily available?

Posted by: Eli Hodapp | December 21, 2007 10:53 AM

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Ever since Eli posted the above and tipped me off where I could find old Napergate Ads, I have spent many evenings in the library looking for them. Of course Host Ted was extremely helpful posting the dates of most of the ads titled Napergate. I think besides the 50 or so titled Napergate there were 50 or so ads not titled Napergate such as some ads he ran for ATT and one he ran to show a picture of his National Kylix Award. They were identifiable thru the Extra Value Liquor headings. I should point out the full page ads of the 90s for the Sun were much larger than today's pages so he got a good bang for his buck as he filled them to the hilt with information, facts, evidence, court rulings, dates of rallies, opinion and political commentary.

LET ME TRY TO PROVIDE A FEW INTERESTING TIDBITS THAT I LEARNED AT THE LIBRARY

1. He won the National Kylix Award Competition which was sponsored jointly by the Newspaper Advertising Bureau of America and the National Liquor Store Association for the most "Responsible Drinking Campaign in the Nation." He beat out 500 contestants from all 50 states at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on March 24, 1992. The Kylix Trophy, a mounted museum reproduction of the Kylix Apollon from the Delphi Museum, was pictured in a non-Napergate full page ad in the Naperville Sun dated April 1, 1992.

2. On the eve of the annual convention, the Beverage Alcohol Report of New York, praised Extra Value Liquors in Naperville for having the most outstanding program against minors in the country.

3. On July 7, 1993 the Illinois Alcohol Beverage Task Force issued a rebuke to the City of Naperville. Here is part of the rebuke:

"The penalties invoked by Naperville against this retailer have been ridiculously harsh and designed to put him out of business even for the first offense.
The evidence seems to indicate harassment, discrimination, and trumped up charges and testimony. The conduct exhibited by the government of the City on Naperville, the City Attorney and some members of its police department is conspiratorial and is reminiscent of fascism."

The IABTF encompassed almost every retail and wholesale liquor organization in the State of Illinois. Apparently 33 heavy weights in the liquor industry put their names and organizations behind the letter. The Napergate Man published the entire letter as a readable picture in his Napergate XI ad in the Sun dated October 8, 1993. This finding came 19 months prior to the unanimous decision of the Illinois Appellant Court for this same case, in which not one Appellant Judge dissented!

4. In October of 1993, at a meeting of the Presidents of the Naperville Homeowners Association, the Presidents wanted to know why the Napergate Man and his business were being harassed. They asked former Mayor Macrane if it is true that Extra Value Liquors confiscated 226 fake IDs. He rumbled and jumbled and stated we can't tie these fake IDs to "bodies." Police Chief Dial was also there and the Presidents directed the same question to him. He admitted that it was true that Extra Value Liquors confiscated 226 fake I.D.s from minors and that in fact it was more than all other establishments in Naperville combined. (Source Napergate XV dated Oct 29, 1993, Page 21A)

5. Apparently former Mayors Price and Macrane both had vendettas against the Napergate Man. A reliable source had come forward and stated Mayor Macrane made the following quote: "THAT FORMER MAYOR PRICE COULDN'T RUN HIM OUT OF TOWN BUT I WILL." At about this time, CBS TV news(8/5/1992) and NBC TV news(8/6/1992) both ran reports on the Napergate Man's exemplary efforts to combat minors.

6.City Officials were so stunned by the Dupage County Court ruling against them, that Judge Bonnie Wheaton has to issue 3 separate orders before city officials would implement her ruling. (Napergate XX in the Naperville Sun on April 1, 1994)

7. The Napergate Man had so badly penetrated City Hall, with his supporters from all walks of life including city employees/officials, that he would report on secret Executive Session votes. He reported that the 7 member council had ruled 5-2 to further appeal his case during Executive Session. The 2 dissenters were former member Jack Tenison and current member Douglas Krause.

8. The Napergate Man even reviewed Dupage County Courthouse records and discovered that the City of Naperville issued a liquor license to Chicago Bear Coach Mike Ditka despite still being on Court Supervision for a DUI without questioning his suitability or qualifications to hold a liquor license.

9. The Napergate Man owned a second liquor store in Roselle. According to the Roselle Police Dept. he had gone 3,796 days without selling liquor to a minor or failing rigorous sting operations run by the RPD. It was believed to be one of the longest streaks in the nation if not the longest before it ended on May 14, 1993 at 5:10pm when one of his employees finally failed a police sting operation.

Detective Ralph Briscoe of RPD stated he had confiscated 42 fake IDs. in the last year and a half which was 3 times the total of all other establishments combined in Roselle. Mayor Rak of Roselle issued the Napergate Man 3 letters of commendation during his last year in office. The letters are in the 3000 page court file in Dupage County Courthouse! His petition of 3340 supporters is also part of the court record as detailed in Napergate XXXIX.

10. As some bloggers correctly pointed out there was a prior 2nd legal battle in the 80s between the Napergate Man and the City of Naperville that was vicious and lasted over 5 years before the Supreme Court of Illinois overturned the revocation of his license on 01/27/88. In this ruling, the Supreme Court of Illinois accused the City of Naperville of abusing its authority, power and discretion in issuing this revocation to the Napergate Man and Extra Value Liquors .

BELOW ARE SOME OF HIS EFFORTS UNRELATED TO HIS LIQUOR LICENSE THAT PRECEDED THE INFAMOUS SPRING GREEN BATTLE WHERE HE MAY HAVE BEEN DEVELOPING SOME GRASSROOTS BUILDING TALENTS

11.In Napergate XXXIV he called on residents to hold a CITY WIDE RALLY on May 16th 1998 at 1:00pm at the Riverwalk in front of City Hall to protest commercial and high density projects being promoted by Brestal in 6 different residential neighborhoods throughout Naperville. His previous rally on November 1, 1997 attracted 300 residents, 2 Chicago TV stations and 3 newspapers. He had pre-arranged for TV coverage for this rally also.

12. On Sept. 7, 1993 the City Council voted 7-0 to switch its city phone service from ATT to MCI to save the residents a penny and a half each per year. AT@T (later Lucent) employed 7600 workers in its Naperville Complexes paying enormous real estate taxes to the city. The employees were outraged and launched an electronic mail and phone offensive against City Hall in an attempt to shut the city down by bombarding it with phone calls of disappointment and tying up all its phone lines. They also contacted the Napergate Man who ran them a few full page ads at his expense. He called on AT@T employees to join him in City Hall Chambers on Sept. 21, 1993 to reverse the vote. Hundreds joined him and the City Council reversed its vote from MCI back to AT@T.

The reversal vote was also 7-0 taking place only 2 weeks later. Basically by rallying AT@T employees with his Napergate Ads, informing the residents of Naperville what a terrible decision the city council had made, rallying them to attend the next city council meeting, etc. etc. he was able to get a complete reversal back from MCI to AT@T. The Napergate Man with his grassroots AT@T supporters, got the entire council to flip flop. (Napergate X on Sept. 24, 1993 on page 11A contained all the details.) This huge but short battle was 6 years prior to Spring Gate. Apparently he eventually brought his grassroots building experiences to Pembroke Commons, his own subdivision, taught and motivated them, before he launched them to fight the fiercest and longest battle in Naperville Zoning history. In that battle there were 5 city council votes on Spring Green with 4 flip flops. In addition the Planning Commission voted twice with the residents and against Brestal, never flip flopping!

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The roughly 100 full page Napergate ads(somewhere between 200-300 if you count repeats) would probably amount to a 700-800 page book with fine print. Many of the same ads were published 3 times in the Sun in the same week apparently to make sure no one missed them and for maximum effectiveness. I could never cover it all! But I will end by stating that in many ads he called for on Mayor Samuel Macrane to resign while calling for City Attorney Michael Roth and Prosecutor Francis Cuneo to be terminated. In those few attempts, he obviously failed! In everything else he seemed to have a massively successful track record.

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PS. Another remarkable ad I found by the Napergate Man in the Sun on April 6, 1994, during all these heated political and legal battles, is an ad in which he advertised 3 new businesses he was opening up simultaneously. One was a video store, one was a nightclub, and one was a 3rd liquor store. In that ad he thanked his 3340 Petition signers and "assured them one of the top priorities of our 6 businesses will be exposing improprieties in the City of Naperville including the waste of the taxpayers' hard earned dollars." He apparently kept his word and used his personal money from his multiple business to continue running non-stop Napergate ads for at least another 7 years. Why he suddenly stopped is the 64,000 question, I can not answer??? Does any blogger have an answer or possibly can shed some light???

Next time you say there is not enough time in the day to go to a rally or city council meeting, think of how the Napergate Man squeezed so much time out of each day. In addition he did not have a writer for his ads! Yes, I believe he even wrote his own ads! The Naperville Sun employees would know for certain as he had to coordinate with them to have them published.

Thanks for allowing me to publish my partial findings! There is much more to disclose but it will take much more research, effort and lots of time!

Ameena...

Posada705 stated:

"Upon hearing of the reduced charges, multiple NPD Officers lobbied to the Judge, in person, to have the charges upgraded back to a felony. The Judge refused. This went on for HOURS. After this ploy was unsuccessful, a phone call was place to the Judge by none other than Chief David Dial again lobbying for the charges to be upgraded to a FELONY."

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I am not an attorney. But I don' believe you can lobby a Judge for charges. That would be illegal! You can lobby the State's Attorney for charges. The Judge is suppose to be the neutral finder of facts in our system of justice. So if what you are saying has any credibility we have a very corrupt judicial system. I am guessing you don't know what you are talking about.

The Naperville Lawyer makes much sense to me. I think that is why most of us hire lawyers. It is at times difficult to understand our complex legal system. The apparently very brilliant and educated Napergate Man even hired lawyers so I guess we all need lawyers.

I also agree with the Naperville Lawyer that the Napergate Man had a very strong case while unfortunately DF has a very weak case. It seems obvious! You can not sue a police dept. for lobbying a State's Attorney for charges. In essence the State's Attorney backed Mr. Furstenau by not bringing very serious felony charges. However, I think he made a mistake bringing petty misdemeanor charges and that is why we are here bloggin. And Fusrstenau is suing! Does that make sense???

Bloggers,
I made a minor error in the below quote,

"According to a colleague of mine who is familiar with the 2 Napergate cases, the Napergate Man was "initially tried" by the NPD or City Attorney and later tried by a Liquor Commissioner in City."

My colleague called me to notify me I misquoted him. I meant to properly quote him and say "initially charged" but erroneously stated "initially tried" in the haste of writing without reviewing. My apologies!

He also emphasized that the "allegations" were presented by the Naperville Police Dept. to the City Attorney acting in his capacity as a prosecutor, who then brought the "formal charges" against the Napergate Man.

Of course this does not change my analysis or conclusions, but as attorneys we have to be very PRECISE! Other than my errors, my colleague concurred with my analysis and conclusions. He found no other errors!

For the record, neither my colleague or I are Judges, have ever been Judges, and have no business arriving at conclusions or verdicts. A Federal Judge may completely disagree with our analysis and conclusions!

Posada75,
Randy is obviously a layman and may have made the same mistake the moderator made. It is a common layman mistake to continue to say "he or she said" after a court rules.

There was a ruling in the Furstenau case. If I recall correctly the courts did not rule as you stated, "The COURTS BELIEVED Furstenau did not touch anyone." I believe they ruled that there is no EVIDENCE Furstenau touched or hit the Police Officer. That is significantly different and weakens the Furstenau case.

Police officers lobby prosecutors all the time for charges against defendants. This is a common practice! I do not believe you can go after a police dept. for lobbying the prosecutor for charges unless they provide a false document or a doctored video tape, and the prosecutor falls for it, if you catch my drift.

But in this "he said she said" case, I believe and suspect it was the State's Attorney of Illinois who made the decision to charge Furstenau with the misdemeanor and not the NPD. Thus the primary responsibility shifts to the State's Attorney and off the NPD's back.

Here is where Randy may be right. A State's Attorney has an enormous amount of immunity. Not quite as much as a USA Attorney who almost has full immunity from bringing forward a wrongful case due to bad decision making. Can you go after a State's Attorney and win? Yes, it is rare but happened recently in the Duke Lacrosse Case which I am assuming the bloggers are familiar with. Note, they went after the State's Attorney and not the police. Unless, I am missing something if Furstenau believes he was charged wrongfully, he should be going after the State's Attorney who brought the case forward against him based on digesting the evidence put forward before him by the NPD. Will he succeed? I doubt it because Furstenau does not have hard core evidence such as a video the State's Attorney may have seen and deliberately discounted.

Randy is right that a Federal Court will give no weight to the fact they thought or tried to obtain Felony Charges from the State's Attorney. The system worked and the State's Attorney denied them their "unsubstantiated" and "ridiculous" felony charges for possibly touching a police officer.(It is not believable that Furstenau would punch a police officer and not be arrested on the spot....absolutely not believable!) Since the system worked for Furstenau, it is hard to bring a case forward based on the contemplated Felony Charges.

Fusteanau has another serious hurdle that the Napergate Man did not have to overcome. Furstenau is a POLITICAL FIGURE. The standard for a political or public figure to go after a city for slander and libel is much higher than for a civilian such as a Napergate Man. One can argue that the Napergate Man is a public figure now, but the bottom line is he was not initially. If he is a public figure, it is because the City of Naperville made him a public figure...not because he wanted to be.

I had a chance to talk to some colleagues since writing my original post this morning. Another major difference is the Napergate Man was charged by a City Attorney and not the State's Attorney. The City Attorney is an employee of the City of Naperville and thus the city would have responsibility for false charges. Furstenau was most probably charged by the State's Attorney thus the state would have responsibility for possible "false charges" as in the Duke Lacrosse Case. I am not sure if City Attorneys have the same level of immunity as State and Federal Prosecutors but my guess is they have little or no immunity since they are really attorneys performing on occasion prosecutorial duties. The Napergate Man had a much stronger case due to the above mentioned reason.

According to a colleague of mine who is familiar with the 2 Napergate cases, the Napergate Man was initially tried by the NPD or City Attorney and tried by a Liquor Commissioner in City Hall. I believe it was in essence a City Court set up special for the Napergate Man. He actually had video tape and pictures in both of his cases and my colleague believes the City chose to ignore the hard facts and evidence of the case and ruled against him wrongfully. Maybe, they were hoping he would not appeal and it would not be exposed. I was not there and have no clue as to the reasons for convicting an innocent man.

The path of both of his cases were the same. They proceeded from the City Hall hearings, to the Illinois Liquor Control Commission in the State of Illinois Building in downtown Chicago, Dupage County Court, the Illinois Appellant Court, and only to the Supreme Court in the first case. Randy is correct in his statement, "reached the Illinois Appellant court before city officials threw in the towels." But to clarify it did NOT only reach but went through the Illinois Appellant Court which ruled in favor of the Napergate Man upholding lower court decisions that overturned the City Hall proceedings. I think what Randy meant to say is it did not reach the Supreme Court as the case in fact was reviewed and ruled on by the Illinois Appellant Court. Again these are typical layman errors and I believe Randy was trying to describe the situation in the best way he could.

In summary, the Napergate Man has a much stronger case than Furstenau. Much stronger! He was fighting a City of Naperville attorney who was employed by the city and not a State's Attorney employed by the state with enormous immunity. The Napergate Man had a trial by a "court" set up and controlled by the City of Naperville. That is where all the evidence, facts and testimony were entered. The other courts did not try the Napergate Man. They overruled the City of Naperville proceeding based on the evidence and facts. I assume the video tape was damning for the city and it simply could not overcome such hard core evidence regardless of all the in-house and Chicago Law firms retained.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE WONDERING WHAT THE SECOND NAPERGATE CASE WAS ABOUT:

It was a simple "sting operation" case! The Napergate Man retained a minor to check on his employees to make sure they were carding. He used marked US currency and videotaped. The city charged him with selling to a minor despite massive evidence to the contrary. The lower and higher courts ruled that a liquor licensee has every right to monitor his employees using "sting operations" and it can not be construed as a "sale to a minor." I am sure the courts were made aware in the "mitigation and aggravation phase" which is a requirement in such trials and occurs after the initial proceedings on the charges, that he had confiscated hundreds and hundreds of fake IDS from the minors that were documented with NPD police report numbers. He was also won the State Championship for the most responsible drinking campaign in the State of Illinois. He proceeded to the Nationals that were held in Las Vegas, and came in 1st place and beat out 49 other state champions. This is according to county records one of my colleagues looked up. I believe he published a picture of his 1st Place National Trophy in one of his Napergate ads according to another reliable source.(This is something the Naperville Sun can easily verify for authenticity)

I think with the nature of this overwhelming evidence combined with the Selective Enforcement the first blogger mentioned in her post, he had a very overwhelming case against the City of Naperville.

Based on my information and what the bloggers have provided assuming it is accurate, I would conclusively concur that the Napergate Man had a much stronger case than Furstenau. Furstenau may possibly have a case but most likely a very weak case. The Judge may dismiss his case and ask him to refile it against the State's Attorney since I am presuming according to the bloggers he was charged by the State and not the City.

I can see that you are very emotional in your support for Fursteana, Posada705, but unfortunately emotion and passion have no place in a courtroom. You need facts and hard evidence to win cases and especially when you are a public/political figure with a higher standard of libel/slander combined with the fact you are suing a State Prosecutor with enormous immunity, a notch below the almost absolute immunity a USA Attorney commands.

I hope I did not get to legalistic as I was trying to communicate to bloggers who I assume are mostly lay people. Sorry for the length, but if one does not explain in detail more confusion arises.

And just for the record, I want to say that Mr. Dick Furstenau is my favorite Council Member and I love how he fights for the citizens. I am just trying to be objective with my legal analysis of his case. Nothing is worse than the "down feeling" of dealing with "prior false hope and high expectations," shattered after one receives a stunning and adverse court ruling!

Jim Lynch,

I'm looking forward to the Sun's upcoming article.

It seems clear that once every decade our local polititians become entrenched, fall victim to special interests and lose touch with the voters. There are far too many examples described on the blogs hosted by the Naperville Sun to ignore.

Well-connected politians and councilmen that vote on issues without fully disclosing their ties to the issue seems rampant. Wherli, Rosonova and Boyajian each have family ties to local developers and law firms that represent these developers. While these same councilmen fail to disclose these ties. And, these local developers succeed against huge public outcry to get their unpopular projects approved by Council (Hobson Ponds, Edwards Hospital, etc., etc.) When a voter ask about the councilmen's ties the developer, the voter is attacked or publicly humiliated.

It seems to me that Furstenau has consistently proved himself to be a thorn in the side of developer's or others business interests that have business with the City. He simply will not "play ball" and let the fox run the hen house. He's crusty, cantankerous, argumentative and a ridiculous micro-manager of city officials. Hurray - we need at least one councilman willing to do that job.

I'm not surprised that Furstenau has been singled out by business interest with a bull's eye on his chest. I'm not surprised that certain councilmen gleefully pushed through a kangaroo court censure of Furstenau.

I am pleasantly surprised that the Sun is willing to point out the parallels between Furstenau and others who have "gone against City Hall." A free press and an informed public is the best defense against bad govenment. Naperville City Hall needs some serious house-cleaning. At the elected and at the staff level.

If the Furstenau Affair can lead to a better, more responsive local government, the cost of Furstenau's Federal litigation will be a good investment for the taxpayer.

Randy,
I'd like to respond to your comment. I stopped blogging on the Furstenau topic weeks ago due to the ridiculous amount of time it was taking to read all the blogger's comments. Now that this topic is fresh, I'd like to throw in my opinion. Sorry in advance if this gets lengthy.

It's mind boggling to me that bloggers continue to think that Furstenau's Civil Rights lawsuit has anything to do with the "he said he touched and he said he did not touch" battery charges. Taking the words from Naperville Lawyer: The COURTS BELIEVED Furstenau did not touch anyone. This case has already been ruled upon, and FURSTENAU WON. That case has nothing to do with the civil rights case.

If you truly think the judge will "giggle" and tell everyone to go home the minute he sees this case, you are either misinformed, or uniformed...or both. Again, the Civil Rights case is not due to the fact that Furstenau was merely charged with battery (felony or misdemeanor, or otherwise), but the lengths that the City went to (Police Officers changing their story and timeline, etc)to make sure the charges stuck and stayed in the newspapers for as long as they did (18 months).

You are correct with the fact that Furstenau was never formally charged with Felony battery of a Police Officer; however, that doesn't change the fact that it was reported in the newspaper for 2 weeks (while the police got their story straight...which took a couple times) that Furstenau WOULD BE charged with a Felony. A very key fact (that Furstenau must prove in court) to his case is regarding what the City (NPD) did when charges were filed in court. When the Judge was presented with FELONY BATTERY charges by the NPD, the Judge could not justify a FELONY charge given that they had NO evidence except for Officer Hull's story that changed a couple of times. The Judge ruled that the charges would be reduced to misdemeanor battery. What happened next is key to Furstenau's case (and again the burden of proof falls on Furstenau). This is a detail that casual case-followers probably don't know. Upon hearing of the reduced charges, multiple NPD Officers lobbied to the Judge, in person, to have the charges upgraded back to a felony. The Judge refused. This went on for HOURS. After this ploy was unsuccessful, a phone call was place to the Judge by none other than Chief David Dial again lobbying for the charges to be upgraded to a FELONY. I also believe that The EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR Peter Burchard also placed a call to the courts to lobby for FELONY charges (the Burchard part is my OPINION, and I don't know if there is proof, but just because there isn't proof doesn't mean it didn't happen). Whether all this "lobbying" did or did not happen is for the courts to decide. But you can not honestly say that this is a ridiculous lawsuit IF this did happen.

I believe that if facts are presented in court to prove these phone calls took place (I think they have Secretaries at the Judge's office that say the calls were made) then Furstenau will win the case along with a LARGE sum of money (Jury's don't like Cops trumping up charges that never existed). Nevermind that Furstenau was trying to reform the NPD pension and questioning undocumented overtime pay to NPD officers (MOTIVE). Nevermind that Officer Hull and the NPD took 2 weeks to figure out their story and timeline and then that timeline was changed because Furstenau had proof that he wasn't even in downtown Naperville at the time the alleged battery took place. Moreover, Hull's story changed multiple times. He originally said that Furstenau hit him so hard it stunned him, and the punch was heard by a parking enforcement officer some 50 feet away. He then changed the story that it was a slap with the back of the hand, then finally ended on the story that it was a "touch with the back of his hand in a non-threatening manner." Hull never had to testify under oath as to what actually happened. It is my opinion that Hull was able to slander Furstenau for 18 months with no consequences.

Randy (or any other blogger thinking this is a ridiculous case): I appreciate your opinion and I thank the Sun for this forum to discuss various issues within the city. However, put yourself in Furstenau's place. He did nothing wrong (again which was proven in Court...there is NO denying that fact regardless of whether you think Furstenau actually battered Officer Hull). I think any of us would go to these legal lengths to defend our Constitutional Rights. I don't want to sound too hokey here, but a lot of young men and women have given their lives to see that we all have these civil rights. I believe it is Furstenau's OBLIGATION to the citizens of Naperville to pursue this lawsuit.

Posada705