Martin Harris (1783-1875), the first scribe of Joseph Smith’s translation of the tablets., in Palmyra, New York, in the spring of 1828 (Gunnell, Wayne Cutler. “Martin Harris—Witness and Benefactor to the Book of Mormon.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1955). Emma Hale Smith may have been the real first scribe, but Harris somehow lost the first 116 pages of the translation. Harris was 61 years old in the spring of 1844 and lived in Kirtland, Ohio, from 1831 to 1870. The Grice collection contains a daguerreotype of Oliver Cowdery, another scribe for Joseph Smith. see: Francis Henry Grice’s Daguerrean Views – Rod’s Ramblings and Ruminations (genevanotes.com)

Neither Harris nor Cowdery was known to be present in Nauvoo in 1844. If the hypothetical daguerreotype subjects are correctly identified here, one plausible explanation for dating the images to ca1844 is that Foster and Grice, traveling together, stopped in Tiffin, Ohio to see Cowdery and Kirtland, Ohio to see Harris, during their journey to Nauvoo.

Ultimately, Foster and Harris became members of the Mormon Church of James Strang (James Strang – Wikipedia), who himself translated tablets. He studied works by Thomas Paine and the Comte de Volney, whose book Les Ruines exerted a significant influence on the future prophet. Strang was an abolitionist.

The upper image above appears more consistent with about 1850 than 1844 because of the short shirt collar and bow tie. see: 34 Cool Pics Show Fashion Styles of Victorian Men in the 1840s and 1850s ~ Vintage Everyday In addition the man in the upper image might be somewhat older than 61.

At least one other image in the Grice collection seems to be from about 1850: that of Betsy Kelsey Conant and her daughter Corretta Conant, who appears to be about 7-8 years old. Unidentified woman and girl, seated half-length portrait, facing front – PICRYL Public Domain Image (getarchive.net)

Many hypotheses may be made advanced to explain the apparent clustering of early Mormons within the Grice Collection. Hopefully, further study will resolve whether the “cluster” is a mirage or an image that can be brought into sharper focus.

Wilford Woodruff was in Nauvoo in the spring of 1844. He left on May 9th on a missionary and “Joseph Smith for President of the USA” campaign trip to the east and returned to Nauvoo on August 6th, 1844.

Wilford Woodruff’s life is well chronicled, thanks to his own pen and to the diligent scholarship of others. Among those scholars were the authors of “Images of Wilford Woodruff’s Life: A Photographic Journey,” who wrote: “[H]e left an incredibly detailed handwritten record, spanning over sixty years, of just about everything he did and experienced.”

Alexander L. Baugh, “Images of Wilford Woodruff’s Life: A Photographic Journey,” in Banner of the Gospel: Wilford Woodruff, ed. Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 1–64.

Fifty years ago, Nelson Wadsworth wrote:

“The prophet, who was thirty-eight in 1844, did record that he “sat for a drawing of my profile to be placed on a lithograph of the map of the city of Nauvoo.” He also casually mentioned sitting for his portrait in oils but did not once record posing for a daguerreotype. Although he made no such entry in his history, there is strong circumstantial evidence that he was photographed, and that the photographer was Lucian Foster.
The omission of such an entry is understandable since these were trying days for Joseph Smith. Just when Foster photographed Smith is now a matter of sheer conjecture. The most likely time would have been around the state presidential convention which met in Nauvoo May 17, 1844, and nominated Smith for the presidency of the United States.”

Nelson Wadsworth, “Zion’s Cameramen: Early Photographers of Utah and the Mormons,” in Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, Number 1, 1972, pages 28, 29.

Wadsworth’s 1972 conjecture on when Lucian Rose Foster captured an image of Joseph Smith, Jr., remains in play in 2022. Wadsworth was certain that the Daguerrean image existed. Wilford Woodruff, the Fourth President of the Church of Latter-Day Saints was thirty-seven years old when Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844. Woodruff’s doppelganger happened to be in Nauvoo. In 2022 nothing seems certain, which just might be the true state of all things past and present.

Is it just an odd coincidence that the First President of the Church of LDS and the Fourth had a Daguerreotype of his doppelganger made in Nauvoo in 1844 by F. Grice? Or was Francis Henry Grice Foster’s Daguerreotypist? Did “F. Grice’s” black skin force him to be a surrogate, albeit a brilliant and talented “stand-in”?

The above-left image is clumsily cropped and horizontally flipped from the image below with the hand of the lady in the picture even more clumsily cropped and superimposed. The above right is an image of a painting said to be Joseph Smith, Jr., and said to have been made from a lost daguerreotype.

The only known provenance of Dag #1368 is that it was part of a collection of daguerreotypes purchased from famed photographer Anthony Barboza by the Library of Congress in 1999. Were Francis Grice, Joseph Smith, and Emma Hale Smith all together in the same room in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the spring of 1844?

Please see Francis Henry Grice’s Daguerrean Views – Rod’s Ramblings and Ruminations (genevanotes.com) for background.

The Meat Market Tax Increment Financing Heist Perpetrated by the Geneva Mayor and His Minions

On the 7th of December of 2020, a date that lives in infamy, the Geneva City Council met. The Geneva community, in general, was in a state of anxiety over the Governor’s decree ordering a pandemic lockdown and the Mayor’s Council was considering an ordinance that would make defiance of this emergency decree into a local crime.

While the school community was distracted by graver issues, the Lord Mayor and his Privy Council stole about three-quarters of a million dollars from Geneva School District 304 and the other taxing bodies. Many of the school children and their taxpaying parents did not even live in the City of Geneva, but they were robbery victims just the same. These non-city residents were also victims of taxation without representation.

Briefly, on that December night in 2020, the City of Geneva deliberated on whether to make a gift of a City-owned 0.23-acre land parcel (tax number12-02-404-019) and a $551,000 cash gift to the developer of the Country Village Meats (“CVM”) at 715 East State street. The Meat Market is on parcel 12-02-404-015 and comprises 0.52 acres. The meat market site is 0.75 acres in total. The store opened about 3 months ago in the spring of 2022.

These are the three key points that the School District 304 stakeholders need to consider.

1. With a TIF City of Geneva pockets any property tax dollars that exceed the total property tax bill that was based on the EAV when the TIF district was created. This is true to the end of the 23-year life of a TIF. This is called the “TIF Base.” The EAV for the parcel that contains the CVM building was $126,876.00 for the tax year 2002. This number is the same as the TIF Base listed on the 2021 tax bill. The “fair cash value” in 2021 was $567, 234, the “fair cash value in 2002” was $380,628. BUT THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE GIFTED PARKING PARCEL. CVS paid about $240,000 per 0.23 acre in 2002! The total City of Geneva gift to CVM was about $800,000.
2. The City of Geneva took a third of all the tax paid on the Country Village Meats property in 2021. ALL the other taxpayers in District #304 had to make up the difference. Again, many of these payers do not live in the City of Geneva.
3. When a TIF district expires, all the money remaining in the TIF Fund must be distributed back to the taxing bodies from which the money came.

Here is the poignant December 2020 plea of the Mayor’s six-figure salary minion in charge of TIFs:

“Opportunity is meeting desire. There is a willing seller and a highly desirable purchaser. It has taken years to get here; the TIF is near to expiration. It has been very difficult to find a hybrid end user to occupy the entire building that offers a unique combination of storefront and warehouse. It has been even more difficult to secure an owner occupant who shares a passion for the neighborhood and for the betterment of the community. Time is of the essence for several reasons including financing obligations and timing of existing lease renewals, a backup offer and a pending closing date. Moreover, time is of the essence due to the pending East State Street road construction and as mentioned above the pending TIF expiration. If Geneva is going to attract another significant user to the east side and make a meaningful change at this site- now is the time to act.”

Wait…we were told the building was vacant. What is this about existing leases? What is this about a “backup offer?” Smells of still more Open Meetings Act violations, doesn’t it?

The Mayor and Council acted hastily like they each had an expiring coupon for 10 gallons of $2 gasoline, or half off on a side of beef.

Geneva School District 304 stakeholders must ask themselves a couple questions. Would we have preferred to get the cash back at the end of the TIF so that some of the residents of the District present when the money was paid in could benefit? Or, do we feel lucky?

Well, do we?

Democracy Dies in Darkness – Wikipedia

The man who popularized the above phrase was born in Geneva, Illinois, on March 26, 1943, at Community Hospital on Third Street. Robert Redford once portrayed him. Bob Woodward – Wikipedia

Mob rule – Wikipedia

The City Council Committee of the Whole agenda for August 1, 2022, is published. While a noticeable improvement has occurred in the closed session citations of the specifically allowed exception in the Open Meetings Act, the August 1 agenda has the same stinker that was deployed during the Emma’s Landing debacle. Several OMA violations occurred during that process. But here is the Warning: The August 1 agenda cites an incorrect exception again because the word “sale” has been incorrectly inserted into 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5). The sale of city-owned real property cannot be discussed in a secret session except for the specific purpose of setting the sale or lease price. In the Emma’s Landing sale of public property, many issues besides selling price were discussed secretly. Examples have been cited in other posts on this site. Please see “related” articles linked below for a sample.

5 ILCS 120/2 – Illinois General Assembly

(5) The purchase or lease of real property for the

use of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired.

(6) The setting of a price for sale or lease of

property owned by the public body.

Here is the agenda item for the COW meeting of August 1, 2022:

6. Closed Session on Probable Litigation (5 ILCS 120/2(c)(11) and the Purchase, Sale,
   or Lease of Real Property for the Use of the Public Body (5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5)

This is not a trivial point of order. Fraudulent documents have been recorded by the City of Geneva and by the mayor personally, that pertain to the deed for Emma’s Landing. These frauds originated in closed sessions, for the most part. ILCS 120/2(c)(6) is the very specific “sale” exception.

Hopefully, a corrected agenda can replace the current one.

Paraphrasing Gideon J. Tucker: No Genevan’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the COW is in secret session.

What does a Geneva developer get as perks with a TIF or LIHTC grant? Need a simultaneous Special Use and a bunch of zoning Variations, reliefs, deviations, and “winks and nods?” These can be yours as bonuses for agreeing to accept free Geneva taxpayer money.

Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Chicago Alderman Ed Burke have made tentative reservations at Club Fed due to influence peddling. What service did they hawk? Lowering property tax levels was their main stock and trade. Under the “Geneva Way” of the last couple of decades, millions of dollars changed hands via a Tax Increment Financing scheme coupled with sales tax rebates and even land gifts. By accepting a Tax Increment Financing gift, a developer receives, free of charge, the most valuable aspect of the TIF Grift: a greased path to any desired zoning or code interpretation, a building permit, including an occupancy permit as frosting on the cake.

CVS Pharmacy’s corporate plan calls for closing about 1,000 of its 10,000 stores by 2024. What CVS Stores Are Closing? Changes Cost Store $1 Billion (marketrealist.com) CVS has said it will focus on a store for closing based on its proximity to its other stores and on its lower profitability. A newer CVS in St. Charles is kitty-corner from Geneva’s Walgreen Pharmacy at Bricher and State Rt 38. Another convenient CVS Pharmacy is available to Genevans in the Target on Kautz Rd. and Rt. 64.

Take the Geneva Pharmacy at 501 East State as an example of the City of Geneva’s penchant for giving away money while raising homeowner taxes. Pharmacies were not a permitted use in the B3E Zone where 501 East State is located. Only certain low patron volume “specialty retail” uses were permitted. The reason for this was that B3E was created with the stated purpose of creating a one-lot deep buffer between Route 38 and the abutting residential use. Low-volume offices and specialty shops were allowed. This protection for homeowners posed no problem for the Geneva Pharmacy developer. The Geneva City Council simply “spot zoned” 501 E. State to allow a pharmacy. Other perks were thrown into the pot, such as an electronic sign and vehicle access to Woodlawn Street that has no associated pedestrian access. Microsoft Word – City of Geneva Amendment Narrative.docx Because an alderman lived just north on Woodlawn, the pharmacy drive-through was nixed (so far), unlike in the case of the nearby Dunkin’. (To be fair the alderman in question also voted against the Dunkin’s drive-through but the mayor broke the tie that should have killed it.)

CVS purchased its East Side Drive at State St. site in 2002 for $1.875 million. The CVS property tax peaked in 2014 at $54,375 and has slowly fallen to $51,825. The first year for payment into the Tax Increment Financing Fund (TIF2) was 2004 when the City received about $18,000. The School District received $16,000.

The City of Geneva congratulates itself periodically for its self-declared TIF “successes.” Below is one such City document for CVS issued in 2019. But some obvious smoke and mirror obfuscation lurks just beneath the surface. The total “public” investment was ~$300,000 when considering the TIF grant of ~$125K and the sales tax rebate of $175K. The TIF statute requires a determination that “but for” the TIF grant, the project would not have been built. Is it reasonable to believe that the whole multi-million-dollar project would have been shelved “but for” the $125K of TIF funds?

The City incomprehensively claimed that the “Ratio of Public to Private Investment” was “6.25.” However, {($172,000 plus $124,879) divided by $3,375,000}, is about 0.09 (the $172K sales tax rebate was apparently ignored as public investment.) The “but for” requirement is more like “but what???”

Here is the crucial point: according to the Geneva Township Tax Assessor’s database, CVS paid $1,875,000 for the CVS parcel in 2002. But the “Base EAV” for the TIF was set at $322,341. Now, a taxpayer might ask: How does a developer pay $1,875,000 for the parcel alone in 2002, build a $2+/- million-dollar building, and end up taxed on a total “fair cash value” in 2004 of $1.7mil? The property tax total for CVS in 2004 was $40K on its $3.7 mil “home.” CVS paid $15,000 to Geneva School District 304 in 2004. I paid $4700 to the schools on my home with a “fair cash value” in 2004 of $295,000, and I had a homestead exemption.

The Nelson home property tax has gone up steadily since 2014 (as it always has) without significant capital investment, even with the added benefit of a senior exemption. CVS’s property tax has steadily declined since 2014.

Below is the property tax bill for CVS for the year 2004. The City of Geneva deposited ~$18,000 in its TIF2 slush fund. This represents a 14.4% annualized return on the $124,849 investment. By 2021, the TIF slush fund collected $24,637, for an annual return of about 20%! TIF’s are a license to steal from School District #304 homeowners, who must pay most (70%) of the $18,000 difference.

Now consider the poor Geneva taxpayer. Who made up the difference for the hundreds of thousands of dollars diverted from the other taxing bodies by the CVS TIF grant alone (primarily School District #304, which receives 70% of total property taxes)? If District 304 needs more money to pay teachers who face the same runaway inflation as everyone else, it must comply with PTELL What is a PTELL Referendum and How Does it Work? | The Civic Federation. If an addition is needed for a school to accommodate students from a 250-unit LIHTC affordable housing project, Geneva School District 304 must pass a referendum.

Where can a Geneva taxpayer make an investment like a TIF grant that pays 20% per annum (which would be taxable to the taxpayer but is not to the City of Geneva politicians who can use the money for their personal political agendas.) The City can pass the money along as salaries to its paid staff which doles out the developer perks through “administrative” largess in the form of reliefs, deviations, and “over-looked” ordinance violations.

Per capita, Geneva had more pharmacy jobs in 1960 when a half dozen drug stores dotted the downtown and elsewhere. In 1960 the half dozen competed against each other on a level playing field. Now TIF tilts the pitch. CVS corporate revenue is 76% generated through prescription drugs that do not generate sales tax revenue. I suspect the new Geneva Pharmacy at 521 State St has an even higher percentage of its revenue from drugs.

In the U.S., prescription drugs are almost always exempt from sales tax. The exception is Illinois, where prescription drugs are taxed at the state level, but at a reduced state rate of 1%. All drugs (prescription and nonprescription) are tax-exempt at the local level. Is prescription and nonprescription medication taxable? – TaxJar

If Geneva’s East Side Drive CVS closes because of the taxpayers’ gifts (spot zoning, etc. plus TIF grant of $93,000) to the Geneva Pharmacy Geneva OKs two TIF projects worth nearly $200,000 (dailyherald.com) which subsidized it, it would mark another colossal mismanagement by the Mayor and City Council. These are the same people who invested heavily in coal-fired electrical generation via a long-term “take or pay” contract with NIMPA. In addition, Geneva’s TIF and LIHTC shenanigans have led to numerous Open Meeting Act violations and other frauds, such as allowing prohibited retaining wall encroachments with a wink and a nod, colluding to skip mandatory IDOT permits, and filing fraudulent documents with the Kane County Recorder of Deeds.

Geneva must stop being just another non-transparent Madiganistan before it taxes out of town all but the wealthy and the politically connected. The ochlocracy created by Geneva’s entrenched mayor, his clique of political minions, and his deep state hand-picked bureaucrats must not be allowed to continue to occupy City Hall.

Parcel Details for 1202380047 (devnetwedge.com)

The Malone attorney characterized the only public testimony submitted to the Plan Commission according to the official Minutes of the 22 July 2021 Plan Commission Hearing:

“Mr. Wogain returned and addressed Dr. Nelson’s electronic message, whose contention was that the use of the funeral home was not a lawful pre-existing, non-conforming use, wherein Mr. Wogain explained it was incorrect and the business was functioning for the past 50 years and the applicant has received various building permits and approvals from the City. Mr. Wogain referenced a settlement agreement entered into by Dennis Malone, the City of Geneva, and Dr. Nelson who agreed that the use was permitted at such location and it was a non-conforming use. Regarding Mr. Nelson’s concerns about the ability to grant the approvals that were being requested, Mr. Wogain stated the items were well within the authority to do so by the applicant.”

For the record, Dr. Nelson never agreed that the use was permitted. The settlement agreement referenced is included in the written submission, which was either never read or was completely ignored by the minions of the same 20-year mayoral administration that made all the prior and current “errors.”

Below is the entire written submission contained in the “electronic message.” It is long and detailed, but it provides proof that an unlawful expansion was made to the Funeral Home in 2002 under the guise of a “remodel” building permit. This expansion made the Funeral Home a zoning zombie. It was no longer a permitted pre-existing non-conforming use as of 2002. This is because the expansion of such use required a Special Use Permit, not a “remodel” permit. The Planning and Zoning Commission improperly failed to reveal this fact. In fact, the Commission went further than concealment, it knowingly misrepresented the factual history. The “electronic message” included a reference to the recording of the 2012 testimony of the former Director of Development Richard Untch that described and admitted the “error” in no uncertain terms. Mr. DeGroot was present during that testimony, as he was then Untch’s assistant.

Like Mayor Burns’ unauthorized “papering over” of the fraudulent Plat of Planned Unit Development for Emma’s Landing, Mr. DeGroot, the entire Plan Commission, the Mayor, and the entire City Council knowingly “papered over” the City’s prior zoning “error.” In so doing, they conspired to defraud the adjacent property owner of the residential lot to the south (the only plat not in Zone B3E) of his property rights.

I have made a Freedom of Information request to the City for the details including the entity that made the inquiry. This will takes weeks, but it took years to discover the misconduct. The secret minutes quoted above were not released until March 21, 2022.