Average household income

Normally, by fronting a solitaire time bonus with 7, search results in a zip code. With 72991, however, search first hit on Sugar Grove, Ill., where the $72,991 is the average household income. So, instead of a small town in Arkansas or Oklahoma, we will look at Sugar Grove.

Wikipedia says Sugar Grove is “a far west suburban Chicago village in Kane County, Illinois.”

Wikipedia does not say how far Sugar Grove is from Chicago, but a good guess is close enough for a good number of people to flee “my kind of town.” Recent census counts look like this:

3,909 in 2000
6,016 in the 2003 special census
7,958 in the 2005 special census
8,997 in the 2010 census
9,512 estimated in 1915

Information is lacking on the two special census. I remember getting an announcement from the government telling me the feds were counting people between the 10-year counts mandated by the U.S. Constitution, but the only justification was “because we said so.” The announcement also said that since the U.S. Congress passed a law stating there would be a census other than what the Constitution decreed, failure to answer questions would make me a law breaker and could mean a fine and prison time.

“Fuck you,” I said when returning the blank form. I said it in a nice way. So far, no federal lawmen have knocked on my door and carried me away for refusing to comply with a law that is not in the Constitution.

When talk of census arises, I always remember the one mandated by David when he was king of Israel.

1 Chronicles 21

“Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, ‘Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.’

“But Joab replied, ‘May the LORD increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?’

"But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah. But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.”

David’s decision cost the lives of 70,000 Israelis.

Anyway, Sugar Grove grew by a bunch between 2000 and 2010. By the 2000 census, Sugar Grove was 95.86 percent white. That’s another reason to think the increased population fled Chicago.

Here’s a thing I don’t understand about places Up North. “All residents within (specified boundaries) are Sugar Grove Township residents even though they may also be residents of Aurora, North Aurora, Montgomery and the Village of Sugar grove. All residents are eligible for township services administered by the supervisor’s office.” What that says to me is, if I am a resident of two places, each one will expect me to pay taxes and fees.

Here’s an example, from the Sugar Grove Assessor’s web site: “The Assessor is responsible for assessing property at one-third of fair cash value with the exception of farmland, railroad or coal properties which are properties valued by the State of Illinois Department of Revenue.”

http://www.sugargrovetownship.com/

One-third of fair cash value? Why are citizens not firing up torches and sharpening their pitchforks? So close to Chicago, maybe citizes are not allowed to own torches and pitchforks?