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Monday, November 30, 2015

Thanks Dale Mediema for the pics!

Dale, Sandy, and Bob getting 'er set up for display. Jim Brefeld was of course there as usual helping out, including taking this picture.
Dale wanted you to see the elaborate wiring system

And there she is, ready for viewing!

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Remember last year's? Beautiful!



Our display starts the 29th at Sinnissippi Park in Rockford and continues through Christmas on weekends plus the 24th and Christmas Day. The drive through hours are five to ten P.M. No charge but donations are accepted. Don't miss it!

Friday, November 27, 2015

Welcome home, Karl

Karl driving in the 4th of July parade
At last report Karl Steiskal was to come home today, the 27th. Not quite in time for Thanksgiving but I'll bet there is a lot of thanks giving today.
Karl has had a rough road for a while with his health but he toughed it out and now is back home in Candlewick. There is no place like home. Best wishes.

Thursday, November 26, 2015


Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Monday, November 23, 2015

Weekly Public Safety report



In my effort to keep you worrying

 This past week I read an article in Psychology Today indicating researchers are unmasking microbial roots of mental illnesses. It seems something as minor as a sore throat can breed anorexia, Tourette's, O.C.D., and even schizophrenia.  Researchers estimate that infectious organisms cause from ten to seventy five percent of serious mental disorders. Many mental diseases thought to be genetic can be linked to infectious microbes.
 In other words, not much one can do to prevent these illnesses but the thought of genetic roots can scare you to death. This subject is now near and dear to my heart with my family situation.
Ken

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Friday, November 20, 2015

A photo from Rich DeVries


Rich tells me the Belvidere High School Ensemble put on quite a show for the Flames last Thursday. It was enjoyed and appreciated very much!

I should have made notes

 I watched a story on channel 17 regarding the substantial losses the public golf courses are taking in Winnebago county. The numbers were shocking. I could not find the story today so this is from memory....
 For each round of golf the taxpayers of Winnebago County pay $17.00 of the cost. Aldeen is the nicest course and also has the steepest losses. Young people are simply not interested in golf as they were in the past so this situation is not expected to change. 
 They plan to close no courses at this time but losses continue to mount.

Does this sound familiar? We face the same situation here in Candlewick. Year after year we have substantial losses from Savannah Oaks. What can we do? Nothing. We will run the course as tightly as possible while maintaining a good golf environment and eat the losses. We are in much better shape than last year due to outsourcing course maintenance but through October we have sustained about $55,000 in losses. I know the rumor keeps floating around that we are making money at Savannah Oaks. Absolutely untrue. We are simply losing less.
Ken

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Let's help these fine folks get a Thanksgiving meal at the county's expense this year looking out between bars!


West gate hours

As a holiday accommodation our west gate will open early Thanksgiving Day from noon to eight p.m. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Board meeting notes for your purusal

Board meeting notes... November 17, 2015


Maria Kaske and Kathy Carr were given service awards. We are fortunate to retain good long term employees such as these.

The AQUA update... Joel (from Aqua) indicates the lift station above below the dam will have minor construction this fall but the major work will come in 2016 with the project finished the second quarter. Teh fire hydrant for the dog park will be delivered shortly.

Finance Commission reports write offs in the amount of $111,499.65. This is a large amount almost exclusively due to lots being sold to the county for unpaid taxes. There is no reason to carry these on our books as an asset when they are almost certainly non-collectable. Accounting adjustments total $203.17.
The standing at the end of October is Operating cash of $594,748.18, Operating investments of $785,372.36, Reserve investments $3,366,654.14. Total investments $4,152,026.50 and Total cash of $4,746,744.68.
We are currently under budgeted expense by $168,477.55 and over revenue budget $29,904.79, meaning we are “to the good” by $198,382.34 fiscal year to date.

Lake Management reports the fish for stocking (walleye and smallmouth bass) were delivered October 24 , the dam inspection is complete and the written report will be forthcoming, leaf collection was huge this year with plenty of volunteers showing up to help.

The Rec Commission reports TOT program has two parents and three TOTs, after school is averaging eighteen kids per day, preschool five to six kids per class, pickleball has two to five participants, dance has six in the four to seven year group and seven in the eight and above.

The golf course update indicates irrigation lines will be blown out soon, the equipment is being cleaned and maintained for storage, the greens are in good shape and rolling well, and the entire course has been fertilized. Things are going well.

Savannah Oaks clubhouse reports the activities have been doing well to date and they are on shorter fall hours with the closing for the season set for December 31st after the New Year's eve party (meaning they will actually close January 1!) The course through October is losing $40,000 less than last year mainly due to the outsourcing of course maintenance. Our net loss for the year is running about $55,000.00.

Your Maintenance Department is getting the vehicles winterized and the trucks set for plowing. Tree removals are complete, buildings are winterized as needed, new lamps and camera are set, the dam and weir is being inspected, winter buoys are installed, thrusters are out and stored for the winter, and other normal duties.

The Outpost information gathering is continuing but no new report at this time. General plans are drawn up and an early cost estimate is expected shortly. Blueprints will need to be drawn before going out for firm bids.
The Caledonia Road clean-up was a success with plenty of help showing up, making it an easy job. We are all set now until spring.

Halloween Trick or Treat was discussed. We asked for input from the property owners who have a preference for Saturday or Sunday. The majority feel Sunday works best with some comments regarding the number of people working Saturdays plus a letter from our postal carriers, who are concerned about kids and cars all over the streets when they are trying to deliver mail. It is dangerous as well as difficult to make deliveries. The decision was made to keep it as is on Sundays.

Our new Candlewick website is up and running with data being transferred to the new site. This will take a little time due to the amount of material to transfer. It is being tweaked as well.

The subject of who is to be invited to the volunteer appreciation dinner was discussed since some felt they were missed this year. The decision was made to invite all who volunteer regardless of hours worked.

The board voted to to close the office December 26th due to it being Saturday on the Christmas weekend and little traffic is expected.

Discussion was held regarding parking of boats that are not owned by the property owner on vacant lots. The decision was made to have a resolution ready for first reading at the next regular board meeting to iron out any rough edges before passage.

The General Manager was given the go ahead to sell miscellaneous property from the restaurant area that will not be used in the future.

Discussion was held regarding whether to have firm open and close dates for the golf course or go by weather. The problem is if we do not have firm dates the budget will have to be padded to cover the additional expense just in case. This will effect the dues assessment. If the man hours are not funded we are exceeding our budgeted amount and that is not to happen except in extraordinary circumstances. The board decided to ask our G.M. To make a projection of cost of another thirty days of open course to see the impact on the budget before making a decision.

A property owner asked for authorization to rent a property due to a paper he said he filed prior to the deadline for rental requests. The board voted to deny the request due to his ability to see the rules in the paper as well as his initial mailing.

A request was received to use our facility for a study on falls in the elderly. Due to the time and usage involved and precedent for future requests the board voted to disallow this request.

Requests were received to post flyers for a church Thanksgiving dinner and flyers for a food drive by the Belvidere Police Department. The board decided to give the authority to the G.M. To make the decisions on this natter going forward considering conflict with other projects as well as available space.


Be sure to watch for official minutes printed in your Candlewick Paper.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

A Sunday contemplation

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Budget negotiations coming to a close


The management and Board of Directors have been meeting in an effort to negotiate a final draft of the budget for the next fiscal year. Wednesday's meeting brought us very close. Your G.M. should have the proposed budget ready by mid December if all goes as planned. We are trying to be a frugal as possible while maintaining your amenities and assets.
Ken

Thursday, November 12, 2015

And just what is the cost?


Questions were raised about what we are paying for the dumpsters used for the leaf drop-off. Those dumpsters are part of the garbage pick up contract and there is no extra cost your association.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Leaf drop-off

Remember it is this coming Saturday, the 14th, from nine to noon. Volunteers always needed. 

Saluting our Veterans


What is maintenance up to?

Right now they are getting the plow trucks set up and ready for the snow season and getting the boats and skimmer winterized and in storage along with their weekly duties. A busy time of year for the guys, not that all year isn't!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Unexpected consequences of Obamacare...

This is from a financial discussion site I frequent.... Ken

Warning signs for anyone who owns medical property REITs

  Read in the paper yesterday that the 2nd closest hospital to me is closing, they were losing $35M/yr due to sad side effects of the consequences of the ACA, described below in a more general article - beware of muni funds that hold hospital bonds too - another article I read said that another 283 rural medical facilities were likely to shutter their doors because of this problem:
 
 
Pam Renshaw had just crashed her four-wheeler into a bonfire in rural Folkston, Georgia, and her skin was getting seared in the flames. Her boyfriend, Billy Chavis, pulled her away and struggled to dial 911 before driving her to the nearest place he could think of for medical attention: an ambulance station more than 20 miles away.
The local public hospital, 9 miles from the crash, had closed six weeks earlier because of budget shortfalls resulting from Obamacare and Georgia’s decision not to expand Medicaid. The ambulances Chavis sought were taking other patients to the next closest hospital. It took two hours before Renshaw, in pain from second- and third-degree burns on almost half her body, was flown to a hospital in Florida.
At least five public hospitals closed this year and many more are scaling back services, mostly in states where Medicaid wasn’t expanded. Patients in areas with shuttered hospitals must travel as far as 40 miles (64 kilometers) to get care, causing delays that can result in lethal consequences, said Bruce Siegel, chief executive officer of America’s Essential Hospitals, a Washington-based advocacy group for facilities that treat large numbers of uninsured or low-income patients.
“Everyone in a community will be affected,” Siegel said. “We could see the end of life-saving services, and patients would bear the brunt.”
Hospitals have dismissed at least 5,000 employees across the country since June, mostly in states that haven’t expanded the joint state-federal Medicaid health program for the poor as anticipated under the U.S. health overhaul known as Obamacare. Hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee and Indiana University Health are among providers seeking cost savings in areas such as cancer treatment, mental health and infant care.

Medicaid Payments

The Obama administration anticipated that cuts in subsidies for treating large numbers of people who can’t pay for medical care would be balanced by more low-income patients being covered by Medicaid. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year allowed states to decide whether to expand Medicaid to individuals making as much as 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Half have said they would.
The hospital closures and service reductions are a setback for President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The insurance marketplace, the core of the law, has been marred by flaws in the federal healthcare.gov website, and Obama has apologized that the act resulted in Americans losing policies that don’t meet coverage requirements.
Obama proposed delaying for a year the subsidy cuts for hospitals to give states more time to expand Medicaid. Congress didn’t go along with his proposal.

Blame States

Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, said governors who chose not to expand Medicaid are to blame for the hospital closures. The administration “strongly encourages” states to expand Medicaid, which would “dramatically reduce the amount of unpaid bills that hospitals are left with,” Peters said in an e-mail.
Georgia’s Republican Governor, Nathan Deal, has said the state can’t afford to expand Medicaid. Even though the federal government says it will initially cover the costs, the price tag will be too high in the future, he said.
The Obama administration shouldn’t have cut subsidies to hospitals that treat the uninsured, said Brian Robinson, a spokesman for Deal.
“There are numerous ways to go that don’t include a huge new burden on states, who unlike Uncle Sam can’t print money or run a deficit,” Robinson said.

Difficult Choices

Hospitals that treat the uninsured where Medicaid isn’t expanding are being forced to decide whether to close or eliminate care for “the people who use the transplant services, the people who need to be flown to the trauma center, or the infants who need the neonatal intensive care unit,” said Siegel, of the hospital group.
Patients who don’t get medical treatment within the first hour after a heart attack, stroke or certain other traumas are more likely to suffer long-term ailments or death, medical research has found. Those who live in rural communities face the greatest danger, said Ashish Jha, who teaches health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
“In an urban city if a hospital closes, there’s probably another one within 10 minutes,” he said. “In a rural community, that’s not true. So the consequences of shutting down are much bigger.”
Hospitals that treat a large number of uninsured will lose about $18.1 billion in Medicaid subsidies through 2020 under Obamacare, and as much as $22 billion in Medicare subsidies through 2019.

Bond Market

Weakening hospital finances in states where Medicaid isn’t being expanded is reflected in the $3.7 trillion municipal-debt market. Investors are demanding higher interest rates on bonds sold by hospital networks in those states.
Securities sold for Sparrow Health System in Michigan, which voted to expand Medicaid in August, traded on Nov. 13 at an average yield that was 1.3 percentage points more than benchmark AAA munis, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The spread on the debt, which matures in 2036 and is rated A1 by Moody’s, has narrowed by 15 percent in since Aug. 5.
During the same period, the spread on tax-free bonds issued for the Children’s Medical Center of Dallas increased about 3 percent, the data show. The securities, due in 2039, are rated Aa3 by Moody’s, one step higher than the Michigan bonds.

Hospital Closures

Three of the hospitals that closed this year were in Georgia. The others were in North Carolina and Virginia. Those hospitals, and more than a dozen others that have dismissed workers this year, cited the reduced federal subsidies and lack of Medicaid expansion.
As many as 15 more rural hospitals in Georgia may shut “within months” due to revenue pressures, said Jimmy Lewis, CEO of HomeTown Health LLC, a Cumming, Georgia-based network of rural hospitals.
In states like Tennessee, which hasn’t decided whether to expand Medicaid, hospitals are preparing to scale back. Almost half of the 61 rural hospitals in the state may face “major cuts or closure” without Medicaid expansion, according to Tennessee Justice Center, a Nashville-based health-care advocacy group.
The four-wheeler accident happened in southeastern Georgia, just north of the Florida border. The nearby hospital, Charlton Memorial, closed in August after 40 years. While the facility had only 25 beds, it boasted of a 24-hour emergency room.

Seeking Help

Renshaw, 51, an uninsured real estate agent, was engulfed in flames and trapped beneath her four-wheeler after it crashed on Oct. 14.
Chavis, who was working nearby, pulled her out of the fire and tried to call 911, he said. There was no answer, and he said he isn’t certain the call went through.
“I was in a mess,” he said. “My hands were hurting from the fire.”
Chavis carried Renshaw into his truck and sped down a dirt road and past the closed hospital.
When Chavis arrived at the ambulance station, no one was there. He said he drove across the street to the sheriff’s office and he was told both ambulances were 30 miles away, transporting patients. Charlton County administrator Al Crace didn’t return a phone call seeking comment on the ambulances.
Renshaw was eventually flown to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she arrived in critical condition, said David Mozingo, director of the facility’s burn center, in an e-mail. He didn’t respond to questions about the impact of the delay getting to a hospital.
Renshaw has had seven skin-grafting surgeries and will probably need five more, Mozingo said. She has suffered multiple infections, a common complication in such injuries, he said.
Renshaw’s sister, Yvonne Hallman, said she keeps thinking about whether Renshaw would have suffered less had there been a closer hospital.
“I wonder if the time delay hasn’t caused some of her problems,” Hallman said. “If the hospital had been there, they would have had some solution to pour on her to clean her up quicker.”

Monday, November 9, 2015



Lots of leaves!


There was a large turnout of volunteers and it is a good thing. A line of vehicles full of leaves had lined up before nine Saturday morning to drop off their leaves. It was much busier than last year. Four huge dumpsters were filled. Next Saturday from nine to noon it will all start over. This gets bigger every year! 
Ken




Sunday, November 8, 2015

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Dandy Donuts

Many of you know there is an illness in the family. They will be closed for the month of November, possibly longer, but they will continue renting the space and will be returning when this resolves. Our thoughts and prayers go with this fine family.
Ken

Friday, November 6, 2015

What are these?

You may have noticed these lampposts going up at our entrances. These are actually our surveillance cameras. The cameras are mounted just below the lights. Much more attractive than our old poles and they give a much better impression of our community.

The red arrow and shadow on the bottom of the picture are coincidental. The arrow is on the road.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Saturday morning nine to noon

 Saturday the 7th will be the leaf drop off this year. Anyone wishing to help unload the leaves from the cars show up at maintenance at nine and join in. It is actually a pretty good time. See you there.  Ken

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Maintenance tells me

 The last time they had the skimmer/harvester out for a run it worked fine. The plan is to take it out one more time Wednesday the 4th then prep it and put it away for the winter. We should be ready for the spring bloom if it hits again next year. Last spring was a real oddity.
Ken

Monday, November 2, 2015

Sunday, November 1, 2015