After you read this, hopefully you will understand better why some have abused your taxpayer resources in Lake County, Illinois to:
1. adopt sleazy, unlawful local ordinances,
2. have documents falsified, forged, and recorded, and
3. have allowed falsified, forged, recorded documents to remain uncorrected today.
Over many years some greedy, unethical individuals near private Wooster Lake started an ongoing cycle of real estate fraud. They have intentionally deceived unsuspecting buyers of property with legal access to the lake, particularly at but not exclusive to newer developments. Eventually, they seduced local government officials to join in on the scam, and they began to use taxpayer resources to reinforce their scam. Older subdivisions association board members also joined in to deceive others about their lake-access properties.
I am providing a timeline of events, as can be verified in Wooster Lake Conservation & Control Assc. (WLCCA) meeting minutes, records at Round Lake, records at Fox Lake, records at Lake County, records in Springfield, Illinois, and emails/letters written by various individuals, association leaders, attorneys, and public officials.
Sparking the extensive fraud, from 1995-1999 liars falsified and began distributing a document
they called The Wooster Lake Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (DCCRs) with the intention of misleading buyers at new developments and tricking them into thinking property they were buying into property that had access to a lake with special regulations banning fast-boating and various wake-producing recreation. An attractive, valuable purchase to many. Too bad the document and its regulations are a complete fraud.
On its surface, the DCCRs document appears to be very official. Meeting minutes show it was intentionally forged this way - as former WLCCA leaders and members admitted- so it would appear official and fool unsuspecting others buying property. Typed on it are peoples names, addresses, and PINs. It even has an attorneys name typed on it purporting the attorney as the preparer. Very convincing if one werent to investigate deeper to see if this were a legitimate organization and document.
At first, despite their efforts and repeated attempts, individual Officers of the WLCCA (such as Geraldine aka Geri Stimpson and Robert Faber who had resurrected this voluntary club or later President Kenneth Calvert who retyped this DCCR lie) were through 1999 unsuccessful in convincing Lake County Building and Zoning to have the DCCRs lie inserted into the official Declaration of the developing Tanneron Bay Condominium subdivision adjacent to Wooster. B&Z denied the requests by these WLCCA Officers as B&Z apparently sniffed out the sleaze of this merely voluntary club and invalid document. Plan B was therefore enacted by the liars. Tanneron Bay Condo Assc. after it had formed was later not only amazingly convinced to voluntarily embrace this invalid document but also convinced to advertise it on its website where it remains today.
www.tanneronbay.com/WLCCAcov.pdf
With the numbers growing in this band of liars calling their umbrella organization the WLCCA, the cheats were then successful in seducing local government officials to use local government to join in on their fraudulent scheme. Filed documents at Village of Fox Lake and at Lake County show Fox Lake Trustees were convinced in August 2001 to unanimously adopt ordinance 2001-52 requiring the developer at another new development- Cambridge of Holiday Park (annexed into Fox Lake)- to insert the fraudulent Wooster Lake covenants (DCCRs) into the new developments Declaration.
The adopted ordinance requiring this Wooster-Lake-covenants-insertion was approved by then-Trustee Ed Bender, now Mayor. Making it all appear even more legitimate, this adopted village ordinance was recorded at Lake County Recorder of Deeds under doc. #4770860 in October 2001. The developer then did exactly as he was directed by the adopted/recorded ordinance. After seeking reassuring approval from Fox Lake attorney Howard Teegan, the developer did what he was told by inserting the (fraudulent) DCCRs into the Holiday Park Declaration, recorded at Lake Co. Recorder of Deeds in doc. #5094179 in January 2003.
100s of buyers of lake-access property have since bought into this invalid document.
Apparently, cheating politicians want people to believe that no one at that time even thought to contact the alleged preparer of the DCCR document, Attorney Richard Nakon whose name and contact information are typed right on the cover of the DCCRs. Nobody thought to contact attorney Nakon to validate the document before having the document adopted and inserted in the new developments paperwork and recorded where 100s of buyers of property would be buying in. Nobody.
Not the developer. Not the village. Not Bonnie Thomson Carter the Lake County Board Member of this development recently annexed from unincorporated Lake County. Yeah, right! They just did it. (If you buy that BS, your Lake County Board Member also has some cheap land to sell you in Florida!)
As explained in detail later in this report, beginning in May 2005 attorneys began to expose the fraudulent nature of the DCCRs document so many were relying upon in recorded documents. When this happened, the defrauders -in an apparent panic and effort to save their own skins- tried to cover their tracks by convincing even more local government officials to reinforce the property fraud with even more illegal activity by local government. A local government conspiracy to cover up fraud with more illegal government.
From June-September 2005
Lake County Board Commissioner Bonnie Thomson Carter (R), Health Dept. Director Mark Pfister, Tanneron Bay Board Officials, and possibly some at the V. of Fox Lake rapidly conspired to convince (or some village officials say bully) the V. of Round Lake Trustees to defy the written legal advice of Round Lakes own attorney to not proceed with Carters, Pfisters, and Tanneron Bays agenda and to instead plow forward to adopt an extraterritorial municipal zoning ordinance over private Wooster Lake, which is vastly unincorporated private property. Completely illegal at the time it was solicited and done.
Bonnie Carter admitted on record at the Round Lake meeting Sept 6, 2005 she knew the lakes private owners including her own constituents were not pre-notified as required by state law and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution- for the government to adopt regulations against private properties. More important than the law and her constituents legal rights, she needed the ordinance immediately adopted because to her own admission on record at Round Lake people at these surrounding developments like Tanneron Bay, Holiday Park, and other subdivisions had when they purchased their lake access properties bought into association covenants purporting no-wake usage of the lake.
These are the same covenants and documents being exposed just a few weeks earlier by attorneys as being phony. Illegal ordinance 05-O-27 (the infamous No Wake Ordinance) was nonetheless adopted at Bonnie Carters request as a cover up, a reinforcement of the covenants lie being exposed. Bonnie Carter, Mark Pfister, Tanneron Bay, and others didnt care if a new ordinance also violated state law including 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1 prohibiting such local zoning. They needed immediate reinforcement of the covenants lie. They needed a new lie and fast to reinforce the then-exposed covenants lie. Thus the railroading nature of the village ordinance they solicited.
It turns out that special regulation of a lake inflates value of lake-access properties. Starting to get the picture of WHY?
So their phony reputations were the priority so as to maintain this falsely inflated value of lake-access properties. The priority was not the law. Not peoples rights. Not the truth. Not the safety or health of Wooster Lake. Not justice. Their phony reputations and $ were the priorities. And they abused taxpayer resources to reinforce the fraud.
Since March 2007, an organization called the Wooster Lake Improvement Association (WLIA) -a group of properties adjacent to Tanneron Bay-began recording at the Lake County Recorder of Deeds they too control usage over Wooster Lake with verbiage in their Declaration claiming A no wake speed is enforced at all times on Wooster Lake. Doc. #6145674. The BS, insanity was spreading misusing more taxpayer resources at local government.
The lake-access property obtained by the WLIA was Quit Claimed to the WLIA by the propertys owners, including Jeanne Kristan, in June 2008. Recorded Doc. #6359130. Isnt it interesting Jeanne Kristan was also the Clerk of the V. of Round Lake when the illegal ordinance was solicited by Bonnie Carter and adopted by the Round Lake village board in Sep 2005.
These multiple, recorded documents at this Public Office of Recorder of Deeds appear on the surface to be legitimate. After all, they are all still actively recorded and advertised today at the Recorders Office where so many buyers of property rely on these documents to be true and accurate.
Unfortunately, the Recorder of Deeds has confirmed her Office does not validate the veracity of any such recorded documents. Sad but true. And any which purports their association or other associations or local officials have the authority to regulate private Wooster Lake are indeed fraudulent because they simply do not have authority to regulate recreational use on Wooster Lake.
HERE IS A FOCUS ON WHAT HAPPENED SINCE MAY 2005 WHEN ATTORNEYS BEGAN REVEALING THE FRAUDULENT NATURE OF THE DCCRs
Some public officials knew of the fraud and acted to reinforce it rather than stop it in 2005. It exposes those same leaders and public officials who were doing the reinforcing/covering up were also in on the fraud at the beginning.
Since May 2005, Attorney Richard Nakon the attorney whose name was typed on this distributed DCCR document in 1995 and was retyped on another retyped version in 1999 and who is listed as the Preparer- has clarified he never prepared any finalized version of the DCCRs, citing he had only years earlier done a draft. It was never finalized like the WLCCA Officers and local politicians advertised. A forgery. Nakon has admitted the rightful, legal owners of Wooster Lake are the only ones who can concede their lake properties and since each and every owner of the lake have never done so as required by law, the DCCRs are not valid. As some associations have ignored Nakons clarification since 2005, Nakon in Sep 2010 reiterated this information this time in writing, calling for a cease and desist of spreading the falsified document typed with his name on it. (As the recorded documents and website listed on the previous page show, those in control at associations choose to disregard the calls for cease and desist.) Anyone with at least minimal understanding of contracts realizes no one can be legally obligated to a fraudulent, invalid, forged document. No one, even at these lake adjacent associations.
In May 2005, attorney Christopher Cook in writing similarly echoed the words of attorney Nakon and confirmed the DCCRs are invalid, writing no other property owners ever relinquished their property and/or lake rights and/or agreed to have their property subject to said Declaration. Attorney Cook ridiculed the DCCR document, its that bad.
In May 2005, Thaddeus Kochanny of Tanneron Bay and Director of WLCCA admitted the same in an email copying Lake County Board Rep. Bonnie Thomson Carter and TB Board President Penny Cummings. Kochanny wrote attorney Nakon confirmed the DCCRs are not valid, writing: All the argument now about its meaning, is worthless because the document has no legal standingFurthermore, Mr. Nakon said that under present Illinois law every lake bottom owner must agree to adopt covenants/by-laws BEFORE they are recorded with the Secretary of State. We know this was never done.
The TB resident then accurately admitted the DCCRs document was paper machet fiction. This he wrote in his email copying local leaders including Bonnie Carter. The TB President Penny Cummings responded in writing copying all stating she already knew the DCCRs were bogus but wanted others to comply anyway. Never was the paper machet DCCR document removed from Tanneron Bays website. Never did Bonnie Carter denounce others for advertising and/or recording this falsified document. She not only embraced it, she just weeks later relied on it. again!
In June 2005, the majority of the voluntary WLCCA Board voted to rescind the invalid DCCRs and the WLCCA rescinded them. The lie created 10 years prior by individuals in the voluntary WLCCA ceased to exist at the club at this time in June 2005. (Incidentally, the voluntary WLCCA disbanded and has not met since 2006.)
Lake-adjacent associations however willingly refused to remove from their manifestos those WLCCA DCCRs and kept the false regulations document lie alive. Dying but alive long enough for quick reinforcement.
In September 2005, illegal no-wake ordinance 05-O-27 was railroaded into adoption to quickly reinforce the emerging covenants fraud being exposed by attorneys. 05-O-27 was later clarified by other expert attorneys in the state legislature as also being illegal at the time it was solicited and adopted, violating many state laws including an existing State of Illinois prohibition of extraterritorial zoning already outlined in 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1. (The Round Lake attorney was correct all along advising to not proceed with the illegal agenda verifiably pushed heavily by Bonnie Carter, Mark Pfister, and Tanneron Bay Officials, none of whom are attorneys.) This is an exact quote from Bonnie Thomson Carter on 9/6/2005 at V. of Round Lake:
I am here tonight to ask you for an ordinance which will establish Wooster Lake as a no-wake lake. Theres been many new developments around Wooster Lake So what Im asking for here is for you to recognize theres a state statute that allows a new municipality to go to extend actually beyond the borders that you actually are on to establish the use of the lake. It gives you the jurisdiction to do that..Its important to know too that the residents of Silver Leaf Glen and the residents that bought in at Holiday Park development all bought in with the covenants knowing that it was a no-wake (lake). No different than the Tanneron Bay residents. They bought into it. - Bonnie Thomson Carter 9/6/2005
Bonnie Carter, Mark Pfister, and Tanneron Bay got exactly what they wanted: a railroaded ordinance 05-O-27 reinforcing the real estate fraud being revealed by attorneys in the invalid covenants recorded at new developments like Holiday Park and advertised at Tanneron Bay.
In March 2008, owners of Wooster Lake voluntarily dropped their lawsuit against the V. of Round Lake for the illegal ordinance 05-O-27. Clarification bill HB3441 had passed the House of Representatives and Senator Cullerton had picked up sponsorship in the Senate. With the legislature actively pursuing enactment of the clarification, there was no point in further challenging the illegal ordinance in court, so the court challenge was dropped. On August 18, 2008, the State of Illinois enacted clarification HB3441 into law 95-0852.
As discussed later, this clarification law was a mere clarification that what local officals were doing in Lake County was a municipal usurpation of state law, specifically the limitations of municipalities already outlined in 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1: NO EXTRATERRITORIAL ZONING BEYOND MUNICIPAL BORDERS. This was very clear at the time the ordinance was solicited/adopted, yet local leaders refused to abide by state law.
In September 2009, Bonnie Thomson Carter- with HB3441 already being enacted and in an apparent attempt to go back and continue the deception via historical covenants- amazingly incriminated herself and wrote the following in an email to Holly Donaghy. Ms. Donaghy is a parent whose 3 young girls were being attacked by vigilantes on Wooster Lake, attacked for doing nothing other than lawfully tubing on Wooster but disobeying said rules of Wooster Lake:
Holly, I dont know what your history with Wooster Lake is but Ive been in and around Wooster for over 50 years even a past board member- I know that it was a no wake lake enjoyed by fisherman and campers during that period of time. - Bonnie Thomson Carter
To repeat, for 50 years (I was) even a past board member- I know that it was a no wake lake.
Lake County Board Member Bonnie Carter is here admitting she once was a past board member of one of these associations adjacent to Wooster Lake where she would have had influence on any covenants at least that associations covenants. She admits she was fully aware of the special regulations lie of no-wake usage said and distributed around Wooster. She admits in writing knowledge of this historical deception over many years..admitting it all to a mother whose children are being assaulted because of this lie Bonnie Carter has helped disperse.
These are the actions of a Lake County Board Commissioner prioritizing her own historical lies over the safety of others children being attacked because of that lie. Disgusting, and in itself is grounds for removal from Public Office if those in power would do their jobs.
In November 2009, the last WLCCA President David Bond sent to the Tanneron Bay President Penny Cummings a letter reiterating the WLCCA DCCRs are a lie, and that the Tanneron Bay website should be corrected by removing the phony, misleading DCCRs from their website, just as the WLCCA rescinded back in June 2005. For attacks on the lake had erupted against those rightfully recreating and disobeying the said no-wake rules. Tanneron Bay chose to ignore and by choice today still advertises on its website the WLCCA DCCRs , defying David Bond and attorney Nakons call for a cease and desist.
In January 2011, in an effort to restore order on the lake and stop the property fraud, some owners of the lake drafted and signed their own cease and desist of outside associations disseminating this false information about the legal use of the private properties of Wooster and misrepresenting their properties, specifically via use of the fraudulent DCCRs. It went disregarded, however. DCCRs and false allegations associations control the use of Wooster Lake continue.
On June 20, 2011, the new village board of Round Lake finally wisely rescinded illegal ordinance 05-O-27 purported for nearly 6 years and never enforced by any law enforcement agency. The Village Mayor cited it was wrong for people to be attacking rightful recreationists, trying to enforce purported rules. The Mayor was echoing the words of a local IDNR Police Officer who told the village It is never wise to allow residents to enforce an ordinance. For Round Lake knew of the ordinances illegality and that largely contributed to the villages refusal to enforce it. It wouldn't hold water in court.
Bonnie Thomson Carter cowardly did not show up for these rescission hearings and left the village holding the bag for what she and her pals originally had railroaded in under false pretenses and illegally almost 6 years prior. Almost 6 years of reinforcing the fraud. Tanneron Bay officials also refused to show up to the hearings and be on public record.
On June 26, 2011, subsequent to the illegal ordinance being rescinded, President of Tanneron Bay Penny Cummings instead chose to go to the press and provide more false information in an apparent effort to publicly promote and continue the no-wake usage lie on Wooster. This Association Officer lied repeatedly in this letter to the editor printed by the Daily Herald:
Most Know, Obey Wooster Lake Rules www.dailyherald.com/article/20110626/discuss/706269921/
The 2 verifiably and grossly false statements from this Association Officer I will choose to address (to save time) are President Penny Cummings claims of an agreement amongst owners on how the lake will be used and the legality of the ordinance when it was adopted.
Lie #1: All around Wooster know that there has been a no/low-wake gentlemens agreement in place for decades. - Tanneron Bay President Penny Cummings
Lie #2: Round Lake did not rely on a statute in conflict with IL Muni-Code in enacting the ordinance. IL Muni-Code at the time allowed ordinances such as the no-wake to be enacted. HB3441 only further defined allowable governance of water bodies adjacent to municipalities. - Tanneron Bay President Penny Cummings
TRUTH
First, there has NEVER been any agreement amongst all the individual owners of the lake, which is why owners historically refused to incorporate the DCCRs into their own property deeds of the lake. That's why it was only a draft and never finalized. Some historically recreate at wake-producing speeds, some dont. People with legal lake-access maintain these rights whether they exercise them or not.
Second, the extraterritorial ordinance was in fact illegal at the time it was done. Like Bonnie Thomson Carter, Penny Cummings is not an attorney, has no legal expertise whatsoever, and is lying to cover her previous lies and involvement with both the covenants lie and the illegal ordinance to reinforce it. Below is an expert, 3rd party attorneys opinion provided in writing to the state legislature and local officials. This attorney did not represent anyone on Wooster Lake. The attorney was 3rd party. This same message was repeated numerous times under oath to the legislature.
Expert 3rd party attorney and author of the clarification bill HB3441:
Briefly, the bill amends an arcane provision of the municipal code dating back to the 1870's which granted municipalities jurisdiction outside their municipal boundaries up to three miles over water. The amendment makes it clear that this grant of general jurisdiction does not apply to municipal zoning power, which under Article 11 of the Municipal Code, is limited to property fully within the corporate boundaries of the municipality. While this concept seems rather rudimentary, actions of certain municipalities (in Lake County such as on Wooster Lake) made it clear that the language of the statute needed to be addressed..The law governing municipal authority, as it existed at the time of the (Wooster Lake) ordinance was adopted, specifically prohibits the exercise of a municipalitys zoning power outside the corporate boundaries of the municipality. 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1. The 3-mile jurisdictional statute does not act to extend a municipalitys zoning power outside of its corporate boundaries.
County of Will v. city of Naperville, 266 Ill. App. 3d 662, 589 NE2d 1090, 1992. Notwithstanding the foregoing, some have argued that the jurisdiction statute affords municipalities blanket authority up to 3 miles beyond the corporate boundaries, over water. This is a patently erroneous assertion which would have been defeated had we chosen to litigate the matterA municipality cannot regulate the use of private property outside of its municipal boundaries, regardless of the purported purpose of the ordinance. The Municipal Code treats any restriction on the use of private property as an exercise of zoning power, regardless of the justification for the measureIn reviewing the other factors regarding the adoption of this ordinance, it also appears that the village may have failed to follow appropriate procedures in the adoption of the subject ordinance. Clearly, no notice was given to the owners of the property to be affected by the ordinance.
Additionally, it seems that the ordinance was a late entry onto the agenda for the meeting of the village board of September 6, 2005. Additionally, the audio record of the board meeting shows that there was no second reading for the ordinance. Additional factors may call into question the veracity of this ordinance. Accordingly, it is not clear that the subject ordinance was properly adopted. Whether properly adopted or otherwise, the ordinance in question was not given fair public hearing it should have been afforded. Statements were made by the proponents of the ordinance which were false and misleading and, given the lack of notice to anyone who might be in opposition to the ordinance, those statements went unopposed. The simplest way to deal with an ordinance which was a mistake is to repeal the ordinance. which the V. of Round Lake did in June 2011.
**** Penny Cummings' & Bonnie Carter's ordinance coerced through the village was illegal as in prohibited by State Law at the time it was solicited and adopted, regardless of what they now purport after the fact. *****
Ms. TB President Penny Cummings is a liar, just like her Lake Co. Board Member Bonnie Thomson Carter. They have shared interests to lie repeatedly in order to save their own skins because they have been amongst the ringleaders in this historical deception. And they are in positions of leadership.
In January -March 2012, attorneys of a lake owners title company confirmed attorney Nakons and Cooks opinions specifically that all the owners of the private lake property of Wooster have historically never been relinquished to the DCCRs, highlighting the DCCRs is not a valid document, regardless if the DCCRs have been recorded at Lake County Recorder of Deeds at outside associations Declarations. Title companies are -as the Lake County Recorders Office has admitted- ""the authority"" on interpreting property deeds.
The DCCRs document is fraudulent on many levels, for many reasons. Any document relying on the DCCRs to regulate the lake and lake-access properties is fraudulent. No one can be obligated to a fraudulent document written and distributed by others doing the defrauding.
Finally, in February 2012, the Lake Co Sheriffs Dept. consistent with attorney Nakons opinion, attorney Cooks opinion, other attorneys opinions as testified in the state legislature, private attorneys, and title company attorneys opinions- wrote Wooster Lake is by law enforcement considered an open lake without special regulations, clarifying the Sheriffs Dept. will not be enforcing any associations claimed rules of the lake. The Sheriff Dept. wrote law enforcement recognizes and enforces only state law. Wooster is an open lake as declared by the Sheriffs Department !!!!!!
Further, no association(s) and/or local government(s) has authority to usurp state law and adopt/enforce special on the use of private Wooster Lake. Local government only has authority to enforce state law (which is good because criminals on the lake should be brought to justice). Because of the Supreme Courts ruling in Beacham v. Lake Zurich POA, 1988, ALL lake properties must be within the boundaries of a governing entity for any governing entity or entities to even have any legal authority to adopt special regulations towards the use of the private lake. This is the essence of all the attorneys expert opinions. This complication as ruled in Beacham in regards to special regulation of private lakes in Illinois was confirmed in writing by IDNR attorney Jack Price years ago. Price was a public attorney with the State of Illinois at the time he wrote his clear opinion. This complication as IDNR Price wrote about people trying to adopt regulation to private lakes is also what makes (legal) special regulation so rare with lakes. Its complicated by the Beacham ruling: THE HIGH COURT IN ILLINOIS. This rarity or limited supply of properties with access to lakes containing special regulations contributes to the inflation of such property values. Limited supply makes them more valuable. Simple supply and demand. Low supply, + high demand = big bucks for sellers (of the lie).
Hopefully you now understand why sellers of lake-access property falsified documents and why some allow documents to remain falsified so as to paint this rosy picture of no-wake on Wooster. Its all about the money for some with a financial interest. Some are willing to do it illegally even if unsuspecting buyers/constituents have to be defrauded by abusing taxpayer resources and fast-boating needs to be falsely vilified by the defrauders.
So how many have sold properties with access to Wooster Lake since 1995. Who have been those sellers? Geraldine (Geri) Stimpson was one such seller in 2004. What a coincidence Ms. Stimpson also helped begin the pitch of the DCCRs in Sept 1995. What a coincidence that Geraldine Stimpson has also been appointed to the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals. What a coincidence that Geraldine Stimpson and Bonnie Thomson Carter are also life-long friends. What a coincidence Bonnie Thomson Carter also presides as Chair of Zoning at Lake County. (Yes, the Chair of Zoning and Zoning Board of Appeals Member have been directly involved in an illegal zoning scheme and a documented, recorded misrepresentation of peoples private properties. Pathetic but true.)
And what was in it for Bonnie Carter personally? She admitted in writing she once was a past board member of an association so did she too sell a property that had lake-access? She no longer lives near Wooster so presumably she sold to some buyer. Did she sell under these no-wake pretenses she pitched to everyone else, publicly at villages, to the press, and in personal emails?
Certainly developers have sold 100s of lake-access properties to Wooster under these pretenses. What is Bonnie Carters relationship with developers? How about Bonnie Carters relationship with the Fox Lake attorney who should have flagged down the fraudulent nature of the DCCRs before 2001-52 got passed and the DCCRs got recorded at the County? If he or anyone seeking the truth had simply placed a call to attorney Nakon to validate the alleged Preparer of the DCCRs, local government and taxpayer resources would have possibly stayed out of this multi-year, escalating scam.
How many buyers have been defrauded? Bonnie Thomson Carter herself in 2005 collected and submitted over 400 signatures from people on a petition demanding a no-wake ordinance after the DCCRs were exposed by attorneys as being fraudulent. An educated guess would be at least 400 people were ripped off! Bonnie Thomson Carter and Penny Cummings have admitted they have copies of this petition.
Were you one of those ripped off? You have been informed of the fraud. ITS CHARACTER-CHECK TIME. Will you do nothing, so as a future seller of your lake-access property rip off the unsuspecting buyer and allow to be passed the lie documented to be fueling conflict in recent years on Wooster?
Or will you do the right thing and contact the Attorney General and the Secretary of States Office that oversees associations to insist charges be brought against those who orchestrated the massive fraud and abuse of taxpayer resources at local government in Lake County?
You get the choice to side with law-abiding citizens or with the crooks. Its your decision. But please understand, doing nothing is exactly what the crooks want you to do. Doing nothing keeps the crooks fraud alive and passes it forward to the next unsuspecting buyer and recreationist on Wooster Lake.
Bonnie Thomson Carter Reviews
After you read this, hopefully you will understand better why some have abused your taxpayer resources in Lake County, Illinois to:
1. adopt sleazy, unlawful local ordinances,
2. have documents falsified, forged, and recorded, and
3. have allowed falsified, forged, recorded documents to remain uncorrected today.
Over many years some greedy, unethical individuals near private Wooster Lake started an ongoing cycle of real estate fraud. They have intentionally deceived unsuspecting buyers of property with legal access to the lake, particularly at but not exclusive to newer developments. Eventually, they seduced local government officials to join in on the scam, and they began to use taxpayer resources to reinforce their scam. Older subdivisions association board members also joined in to deceive others about their lake-access properties.
I am providing a timeline of events, as can be verified in Wooster Lake Conservation & Control Assc. (WLCCA) meeting minutes, records at Round Lake, records at Fox Lake, records at Lake County, records in Springfield, Illinois, and emails/letters written by various individuals, association leaders, attorneys, and public officials.
Sparking the extensive fraud, from 1995-1999 liars falsified and began distributing a document
they called The Wooster Lake Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (DCCRs) with the intention of misleading buyers at new developments and tricking them into thinking property they were buying into property that had access to a lake with special regulations banning fast-boating and various wake-producing recreation. An attractive, valuable purchase to many. Too bad the document and its regulations are a complete fraud.
On its surface, the DCCRs document appears to be very official. Meeting minutes show it was intentionally forged this way - as former WLCCA leaders and members admitted- so it would appear official and fool unsuspecting others buying property. Typed on it are peoples names, addresses, and PINs. It even has an attorneys name typed on it purporting the attorney as the preparer. Very convincing if one werent to investigate deeper to see if this were a legitimate organization and document.
At first, despite their efforts and repeated attempts, individual Officers of the WLCCA (such as Geraldine aka Geri Stimpson and Robert Faber who had resurrected this voluntary club or later President Kenneth Calvert who retyped this DCCR lie) were through 1999 unsuccessful in convincing Lake County Building and Zoning to have the DCCRs lie inserted into the official Declaration of the developing Tanneron Bay Condominium subdivision adjacent to Wooster. B&Z denied the requests by these WLCCA Officers as B&Z apparently sniffed out the sleaze of this merely voluntary club and invalid document. Plan B was therefore enacted by the liars. Tanneron Bay Condo Assc. after it had formed was later not only amazingly convinced to voluntarily embrace this invalid document but also convinced to advertise it on its website where it remains today.
www.tanneronbay.com/WLCCAcov.pdf
With the numbers growing in this band of liars calling their umbrella organization the WLCCA, the cheats were then successful in seducing local government officials to use local government to join in on their fraudulent scheme. Filed documents at Village of Fox Lake and at Lake County show Fox Lake Trustees were convinced in August 2001 to unanimously adopt ordinance 2001-52 requiring the developer at another new development- Cambridge of Holiday Park (annexed into Fox Lake)- to insert the fraudulent Wooster Lake covenants (DCCRs) into the new developments Declaration.
The adopted ordinance requiring this Wooster-Lake-covenants-insertion was approved by then-Trustee Ed Bender, now Mayor. Making it all appear even more legitimate, this adopted village ordinance was recorded at Lake County Recorder of Deeds under doc. #4770860 in October 2001. The developer then did exactly as he was directed by the adopted/recorded ordinance. After seeking reassuring approval from Fox Lake attorney Howard Teegan, the developer did what he was told by inserting the (fraudulent) DCCRs into the Holiday Park Declaration, recorded at Lake Co. Recorder of Deeds in doc. #5094179 in January 2003.
100s of buyers of lake-access property have since bought into this invalid document.
Apparently, cheating politicians want people to believe that no one at that time even thought to contact the alleged preparer of the DCCR document, Attorney Richard Nakon whose name and contact information are typed right on the cover of the DCCRs. Nobody thought to contact attorney Nakon to validate the document before having the document adopted and inserted in the new developments paperwork and recorded where 100s of buyers of property would be buying in. Nobody.
Not the developer. Not the village. Not Bonnie Thomson Carter the Lake County Board Member of this development recently annexed from unincorporated Lake County. Yeah, right! They just did it. (If you buy that BS, your Lake County Board Member also has some cheap land to sell you in Florida!)
As explained in detail later in this report, beginning in May 2005 attorneys began to expose the fraudulent nature of the DCCRs document so many were relying upon in recorded documents. When this happened, the defrauders -in an apparent panic and effort to save their own skins- tried to cover their tracks by convincing even more local government officials to reinforce the property fraud with even more illegal activity by local government. A local government conspiracy to cover up fraud with more illegal government.
From June-September 2005
Lake County Board Commissioner Bonnie Thomson Carter (R), Health Dept. Director Mark Pfister, Tanneron Bay Board Officials, and possibly some at the V. of Fox Lake rapidly conspired to convince (or some village officials say bully) the V. of Round Lake Trustees to defy the written legal advice of Round Lakes own attorney to not proceed with Carters, Pfisters, and Tanneron Bays agenda and to instead plow forward to adopt an extraterritorial municipal zoning ordinance over private Wooster Lake, which is vastly unincorporated private property. Completely illegal at the time it was solicited and done.
Bonnie Carter admitted on record at the Round Lake meeting Sept 6, 2005 she knew the lakes private owners including her own constituents were not pre-notified as required by state law and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution- for the government to adopt regulations against private properties. More important than the law and her constituents legal rights, she needed the ordinance immediately adopted because to her own admission on record at Round Lake people at these surrounding developments like Tanneron Bay, Holiday Park, and other subdivisions had when they purchased their lake access properties bought into association covenants purporting no-wake usage of the lake.
These are the same covenants and documents being exposed just a few weeks earlier by attorneys as being phony. Illegal ordinance 05-O-27 (the infamous No Wake Ordinance) was nonetheless adopted at Bonnie Carters request as a cover up, a reinforcement of the covenants lie being exposed. Bonnie Carter, Mark Pfister, Tanneron Bay, and others didnt care if a new ordinance also violated state law including 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1 prohibiting such local zoning. They needed immediate reinforcement of the covenants lie. They needed a new lie and fast to reinforce the then-exposed covenants lie. Thus the railroading nature of the village ordinance they solicited.
It turns out that special regulation of a lake inflates value of lake-access properties. Starting to get the picture of WHY?
So their phony reputations were the priority so as to maintain this falsely inflated value of lake-access properties. The priority was not the law. Not peoples rights. Not the truth. Not the safety or health of Wooster Lake. Not justice. Their phony reputations and $ were the priorities. And they abused taxpayer resources to reinforce the fraud.
Since March 2007, an organization called the Wooster Lake Improvement Association (WLIA) -a group of properties adjacent to Tanneron Bay-began recording at the Lake County Recorder of Deeds they too control usage over Wooster Lake with verbiage in their Declaration claiming A no wake speed is enforced at all times on Wooster Lake. Doc. #6145674. The BS, insanity was spreading misusing more taxpayer resources at local government.
The lake-access property obtained by the WLIA was Quit Claimed to the WLIA by the propertys owners, including Jeanne Kristan, in June 2008. Recorded Doc. #6359130. Isnt it interesting Jeanne Kristan was also the Clerk of the V. of Round Lake when the illegal ordinance was solicited by Bonnie Carter and adopted by the Round Lake village board in Sep 2005.
These multiple, recorded documents at this Public Office of Recorder of Deeds appear on the surface to be legitimate. After all, they are all still actively recorded and advertised today at the Recorders Office where so many buyers of property rely on these documents to be true and accurate.
Unfortunately, the Recorder of Deeds has confirmed her Office does not validate the veracity of any such recorded documents. Sad but true. And any which purports their association or other associations or local officials have the authority to regulate private Wooster Lake are indeed fraudulent because they simply do not have authority to regulate recreational use on Wooster Lake.
HERE IS A FOCUS ON WHAT HAPPENED SINCE MAY 2005 WHEN ATTORNEYS BEGAN REVEALING THE FRAUDULENT NATURE OF THE DCCRs
Some public officials knew of the fraud and acted to reinforce it rather than stop it in 2005. It exposes those same leaders and public officials who were doing the reinforcing/covering up were also in on the fraud at the beginning.
Since May 2005, Attorney Richard Nakon the attorney whose name was typed on this distributed DCCR document in 1995 and was retyped on another retyped version in 1999 and who is listed as the Preparer- has clarified he never prepared any finalized version of the DCCRs, citing he had only years earlier done a draft. It was never finalized like the WLCCA Officers and local politicians advertised. A forgery. Nakon has admitted the rightful, legal owners of Wooster Lake are the only ones who can concede their lake properties and since each and every owner of the lake have never done so as required by law, the DCCRs are not valid. As some associations have ignored Nakons clarification since 2005, Nakon in Sep 2010 reiterated this information this time in writing, calling for a cease and desist of spreading the falsified document typed with his name on it. (As the recorded documents and website listed on the previous page show, those in control at associations choose to disregard the calls for cease and desist.) Anyone with at least minimal understanding of contracts realizes no one can be legally obligated to a fraudulent, invalid, forged document. No one, even at these lake adjacent associations.
In May 2005, attorney Christopher Cook in writing similarly echoed the words of attorney Nakon and confirmed the DCCRs are invalid, writing no other property owners ever relinquished their property and/or lake rights and/or agreed to have their property subject to said Declaration. Attorney Cook ridiculed the DCCR document, its that bad.
In May 2005, Thaddeus Kochanny of Tanneron Bay and Director of WLCCA admitted the same in an email copying Lake County Board Rep. Bonnie Thomson Carter and TB Board President Penny Cummings. Kochanny wrote attorney Nakon confirmed the DCCRs are not valid, writing: All the argument now about its meaning, is worthless because the document has no legal standingFurthermore, Mr. Nakon said that under present Illinois law every lake bottom owner must agree to adopt covenants/by-laws BEFORE they are recorded with the Secretary of State. We know this was never done.
The TB resident then accurately admitted the DCCRs document was paper machet fiction. This he wrote in his email copying local leaders including Bonnie Carter. The TB President Penny Cummings responded in writing copying all stating she already knew the DCCRs were bogus but wanted others to comply anyway. Never was the paper machet DCCR document removed from Tanneron Bays website. Never did Bonnie Carter denounce others for advertising and/or recording this falsified document. She not only embraced it, she just weeks later relied on it. again!
In June 2005, the majority of the voluntary WLCCA Board voted to rescind the invalid DCCRs and the WLCCA rescinded them. The lie created 10 years prior by individuals in the voluntary WLCCA ceased to exist at the club at this time in June 2005. (Incidentally, the voluntary WLCCA disbanded and has not met since 2006.)
Lake-adjacent associations however willingly refused to remove from their manifestos those WLCCA DCCRs and kept the false regulations document lie alive. Dying but alive long enough for quick reinforcement.
In September 2005, illegal no-wake ordinance 05-O-27 was railroaded into adoption to quickly reinforce the emerging covenants fraud being exposed by attorneys. 05-O-27 was later clarified by other expert attorneys in the state legislature as also being illegal at the time it was solicited and adopted, violating many state laws including an existing State of Illinois prohibition of extraterritorial zoning already outlined in 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1. (The Round Lake attorney was correct all along advising to not proceed with the illegal agenda verifiably pushed heavily by Bonnie Carter, Mark Pfister, and Tanneron Bay Officials, none of whom are attorneys.) This is an exact quote from Bonnie Thomson Carter on 9/6/2005 at V. of Round Lake:
I am here tonight to ask you for an ordinance which will establish Wooster Lake as a no-wake lake. Theres been many new developments around Wooster Lake So what Im asking for here is for you to recognize theres a state statute that allows a new municipality to go to extend actually beyond the borders that you actually are on to establish the use of the lake. It gives you the jurisdiction to do that..Its important to know too that the residents of Silver Leaf Glen and the residents that bought in at Holiday Park development all bought in with the covenants knowing that it was a no-wake (lake). No different than the Tanneron Bay residents. They bought into it. - Bonnie Thomson Carter 9/6/2005
Bonnie Carter, Mark Pfister, and Tanneron Bay got exactly what they wanted: a railroaded ordinance 05-O-27 reinforcing the real estate fraud being revealed by attorneys in the invalid covenants recorded at new developments like Holiday Park and advertised at Tanneron Bay.
In March 2008, owners of Wooster Lake voluntarily dropped their lawsuit against the V. of Round Lake for the illegal ordinance 05-O-27. Clarification bill HB3441 had passed the House of Representatives and Senator Cullerton had picked up sponsorship in the Senate. With the legislature actively pursuing enactment of the clarification, there was no point in further challenging the illegal ordinance in court, so the court challenge was dropped. On August 18, 2008, the State of Illinois enacted clarification HB3441 into law 95-0852.
www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.aspDocNum=3441&GAID=9&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=32312&SessionID=51&GA=95
As discussed later, this clarification law was a mere clarification that what local officals were doing in Lake County was a municipal usurpation of state law, specifically the limitations of municipalities already outlined in 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1: NO EXTRATERRITORIAL ZONING BEYOND MUNICIPAL BORDERS. This was very clear at the time the ordinance was solicited/adopted, yet local leaders refused to abide by state law.
In September 2009, Bonnie Thomson Carter- with HB3441 already being enacted and in an apparent attempt to go back and continue the deception via historical covenants- amazingly incriminated herself and wrote the following in an email to Holly Donaghy. Ms. Donaghy is a parent whose 3 young girls were being attacked by vigilantes on Wooster Lake, attacked for doing nothing other than lawfully tubing on Wooster but disobeying said rules of Wooster Lake:
Holly, I dont know what your history with Wooster Lake is but Ive been in and around Wooster for over 50 years even a past board member- I know that it was a no wake lake enjoyed by fisherman and campers during that period of time. - Bonnie Thomson Carter
To repeat, for 50 years (I was) even a past board member- I know that it was a no wake lake.
Lake County Board Member Bonnie Carter is here admitting she once was a past board member of one of these associations adjacent to Wooster Lake where she would have had influence on any covenants at least that associations covenants. She admits she was fully aware of the special regulations lie of no-wake usage said and distributed around Wooster. She admits in writing knowledge of this historical deception over many years..admitting it all to a mother whose children are being assaulted because of this lie Bonnie Carter has helped disperse.
These are the actions of a Lake County Board Commissioner prioritizing her own historical lies over the safety of others children being attacked because of that lie. Disgusting, and in itself is grounds for removal from Public Office if those in power would do their jobs.
In November 2009, the last WLCCA President David Bond sent to the Tanneron Bay President Penny Cummings a letter reiterating the WLCCA DCCRs are a lie, and that the Tanneron Bay website should be corrected by removing the phony, misleading DCCRs from their website, just as the WLCCA rescinded back in June 2005. For attacks on the lake had erupted against those rightfully recreating and disobeying the said no-wake rules. Tanneron Bay chose to ignore and by choice today still advertises on its website the WLCCA DCCRs , defying David Bond and attorney Nakons call for a cease and desist.
In January 2011, in an effort to restore order on the lake and stop the property fraud, some owners of the lake drafted and signed their own cease and desist of outside associations disseminating this false information about the legal use of the private properties of Wooster and misrepresenting their properties, specifically via use of the fraudulent DCCRs. It went disregarded, however. DCCRs and false allegations associations control the use of Wooster Lake continue.
On June 20, 2011, the new village board of Round Lake finally wisely rescinded illegal ordinance 05-O-27 purported for nearly 6 years and never enforced by any law enforcement agency. The Village Mayor cited it was wrong for people to be attacking rightful recreationists, trying to enforce purported rules. The Mayor was echoing the words of a local IDNR Police Officer who told the village It is never wise to allow residents to enforce an ordinance. For Round Lake knew of the ordinances illegality and that largely contributed to the villages refusal to enforce it. It wouldn't hold water in court.
Bonnie Thomson Carter cowardly did not show up for these rescission hearings and left the village holding the bag for what she and her pals originally had railroaded in under false pretenses and illegally almost 6 years prior. Almost 6 years of reinforcing the fraud. Tanneron Bay officials also refused to show up to the hearings and be on public record.
On June 26, 2011, subsequent to the illegal ordinance being rescinded, President of Tanneron Bay Penny Cummings instead chose to go to the press and provide more false information in an apparent effort to publicly promote and continue the no-wake usage lie on Wooster. This Association Officer lied repeatedly in this letter to the editor printed by the Daily Herald:
Most Know, Obey Wooster Lake Rules www.dailyherald.com/article/20110626/discuss/706269921/
The 2 verifiably and grossly false statements from this Association Officer I will choose to address (to save time) are President Penny Cummings claims of an agreement amongst owners on how the lake will be used and the legality of the ordinance when it was adopted.
Lie #1: All around Wooster know that there has been a no/low-wake gentlemens agreement in place for decades. - Tanneron Bay President Penny Cummings
Lie #2: Round Lake did not rely on a statute in conflict with IL Muni-Code in enacting the ordinance. IL Muni-Code at the time allowed ordinances such as the no-wake to be enacted. HB3441 only further defined allowable governance of water bodies adjacent to municipalities. - Tanneron Bay President Penny Cummings
TRUTH
First, there has NEVER been any agreement amongst all the individual owners of the lake, which is why owners historically refused to incorporate the DCCRs into their own property deeds of the lake. That's why it was only a draft and never finalized. Some historically recreate at wake-producing speeds, some dont. People with legal lake-access maintain these rights whether they exercise them or not.
Second, the extraterritorial ordinance was in fact illegal at the time it was done. Like Bonnie Thomson Carter, Penny Cummings is not an attorney, has no legal expertise whatsoever, and is lying to cover her previous lies and involvement with both the covenants lie and the illegal ordinance to reinforce it. Below is an expert, 3rd party attorneys opinion provided in writing to the state legislature and local officials. This attorney did not represent anyone on Wooster Lake. The attorney was 3rd party. This same message was repeated numerous times under oath to the legislature.
Expert 3rd party attorney and author of the clarification bill HB3441:
Briefly, the bill amends an arcane provision of the municipal code dating back to the 1870's which granted municipalities jurisdiction outside their municipal boundaries up to three miles over water. The amendment makes it clear that this grant of general jurisdiction does not apply to municipal zoning power, which under Article 11 of the Municipal Code, is limited to property fully within the corporate boundaries of the municipality. While this concept seems rather rudimentary, actions of certain municipalities (in Lake County such as on Wooster Lake) made it clear that the language of the statute needed to be addressed..The law governing municipal authority, as it existed at the time of the (Wooster Lake) ordinance was adopted, specifically prohibits the exercise of a municipalitys zoning power outside the corporate boundaries of the municipality. 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1. The 3-mile jurisdictional statute does not act to extend a municipalitys zoning power outside of its corporate boundaries.
County of Will v. city of Naperville, 266 Ill. App. 3d 662, 589 NE2d 1090, 1992. Notwithstanding the foregoing, some have argued that the jurisdiction statute affords municipalities blanket authority up to 3 miles beyond the corporate boundaries, over water. This is a patently erroneous assertion which would have been defeated had we chosen to litigate the matterA municipality cannot regulate the use of private property outside of its municipal boundaries, regardless of the purported purpose of the ordinance. The Municipal Code treats any restriction on the use of private property as an exercise of zoning power, regardless of the justification for the measureIn reviewing the other factors regarding the adoption of this ordinance, it also appears that the village may have failed to follow appropriate procedures in the adoption of the subject ordinance. Clearly, no notice was given to the owners of the property to be affected by the ordinance.
Additionally, it seems that the ordinance was a late entry onto the agenda for the meeting of the village board of September 6, 2005. Additionally, the audio record of the board meeting shows that there was no second reading for the ordinance. Additional factors may call into question the veracity of this ordinance. Accordingly, it is not clear that the subject ordinance was properly adopted. Whether properly adopted or otherwise, the ordinance in question was not given fair public hearing it should have been afforded. Statements were made by the proponents of the ordinance which were false and misleading and, given the lack of notice to anyone who might be in opposition to the ordinance, those statements went unopposed. The simplest way to deal with an ordinance which was a mistake is to repeal the ordinance. which the V. of Round Lake did in June 2011.
**** Penny Cummings' & Bonnie Carter's ordinance coerced through the village was illegal as in prohibited by State Law at the time it was solicited and adopted, regardless of what they now purport after the fact. *****
Ms. TB President Penny Cummings is a liar, just like her Lake Co. Board Member Bonnie Thomson Carter. They have shared interests to lie repeatedly in order to save their own skins because they have been amongst the ringleaders in this historical deception. And they are in positions of leadership.
In January -March 2012, attorneys of a lake owners title company confirmed attorney Nakons and Cooks opinions specifically that all the owners of the private lake property of Wooster have historically never been relinquished to the DCCRs, highlighting the DCCRs is not a valid document, regardless if the DCCRs have been recorded at Lake County Recorder of Deeds at outside associations Declarations. Title companies are -as the Lake County Recorders Office has admitted- ""the authority"" on interpreting property deeds.
The DCCRs document is fraudulent on many levels, for many reasons. Any document relying on the DCCRs to regulate the lake and lake-access properties is fraudulent. No one can be obligated to a fraudulent document written and distributed by others doing the defrauding.
Finally, in February 2012, the Lake Co Sheriffs Dept. consistent with attorney Nakons opinion, attorney Cooks opinion, other attorneys opinions as testified in the state legislature, private attorneys, and title company attorneys opinions- wrote Wooster Lake is by law enforcement considered an open lake without special regulations, clarifying the Sheriffs Dept. will not be enforcing any associations claimed rules of the lake. The Sheriff Dept. wrote law enforcement recognizes and enforces only state law. Wooster is an open lake as declared by the Sheriffs Department !!!!!!
Further, no association(s) and/or local government(s) has authority to usurp state law and adopt/enforce special on the use of private Wooster Lake. Local government only has authority to enforce state law (which is good because criminals on the lake should be brought to justice). Because of the Supreme Courts ruling in Beacham v. Lake Zurich POA, 1988, ALL lake properties must be within the boundaries of a governing entity for any governing entity or entities to even have any legal authority to adopt special regulations towards the use of the private lake. This is the essence of all the attorneys expert opinions. This complication as ruled in Beacham in regards to special regulation of private lakes in Illinois was confirmed in writing by IDNR attorney Jack Price years ago. Price was a public attorney with the State of Illinois at the time he wrote his clear opinion. This complication as IDNR Price wrote about people trying to adopt regulation to private lakes is also what makes (legal) special regulation so rare with lakes. Its complicated by the Beacham ruling: THE HIGH COURT IN ILLINOIS. This rarity or limited supply of properties with access to lakes containing special regulations contributes to the inflation of such property values. Limited supply makes them more valuable. Simple supply and demand. Low supply, + high demand = big bucks for sellers (of the lie).
Hopefully you now understand why sellers of lake-access property falsified documents and why some allow documents to remain falsified so as to paint this rosy picture of no-wake on Wooster. Its all about the money for some with a financial interest. Some are willing to do it illegally even if unsuspecting buyers/constituents have to be defrauded by abusing taxpayer resources and fast-boating needs to be falsely vilified by the defrauders.
So how many have sold properties with access to Wooster Lake since 1995. Who have been those sellers? Geraldine (Geri) Stimpson was one such seller in 2004. What a coincidence Ms. Stimpson also helped begin the pitch of the DCCRs in Sept 1995. What a coincidence that Geraldine Stimpson has also been appointed to the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals. What a coincidence that Geraldine Stimpson and Bonnie Thomson Carter are also life-long friends. What a coincidence Bonnie Thomson Carter also presides as Chair of Zoning at Lake County. (Yes, the Chair of Zoning and Zoning Board of Appeals Member have been directly involved in an illegal zoning scheme and a documented, recorded misrepresentation of peoples private properties. Pathetic but true.)
And what was in it for Bonnie Carter personally? She admitted in writing she once was a past board member of an association so did she too sell a property that had lake-access? She no longer lives near Wooster so presumably she sold to some buyer. Did she sell under these no-wake pretenses she pitched to everyone else, publicly at villages, to the press, and in personal emails?
Certainly developers have sold 100s of lake-access properties to Wooster under these pretenses. What is Bonnie Carters relationship with developers? How about Bonnie Carters relationship with the Fox Lake attorney who should have flagged down the fraudulent nature of the DCCRs before 2001-52 got passed and the DCCRs got recorded at the County? If he or anyone seeking the truth had simply placed a call to attorney Nakon to validate the alleged Preparer of the DCCRs, local government and taxpayer resources would have possibly stayed out of this multi-year, escalating scam.
How many buyers have been defrauded? Bonnie Thomson Carter herself in 2005 collected and submitted over 400 signatures from people on a petition demanding a no-wake ordinance after the DCCRs were exposed by attorneys as being fraudulent. An educated guess would be at least 400 people were ripped off! Bonnie Thomson Carter and Penny Cummings have admitted they have copies of this petition.
Were you one of those ripped off? You have been informed of the fraud. ITS CHARACTER-CHECK TIME. Will you do nothing, so as a future seller of your lake-access property rip off the unsuspecting buyer and allow to be passed the lie documented to be fueling conflict in recent years on Wooster?
Or will you do the right thing and contact the Attorney General and the Secretary of States Office that oversees associations to insist charges be brought against those who orchestrated the massive fraud and abuse of taxpayer resources at local government in Lake County?
You get the choice to side with law-abiding citizens or with the crooks. Its your decision. But please understand, doing nothing is exactly what the crooks want you to do. Doing nothing keeps the crooks fraud alive and passes it forward to the next unsuspecting buyer and recreationist on Wooster Lake.
Its your choice.