Lake in the Hills man rallies for freedom to hold garage sales

Ted Birnbaum, a Lake in the Hills man sometimes seen demonstrating against President Barack Obama's health care plan, has turned his attention to a local matter - a long-standing policy governing garage sales.

If you want to sell off the things clogging up that valuable space in your home, you must first secure a license from the Lake in the Hills and pay a $5 fee.

And you can only seek the license twice a year.

The village board established the policy in 2000 and last amended it in November 2008 to include the number of signs one can display advertising the sale.

The rule was resident-driven, as trustees had heard complaints about the proliferation of garage sales in the village, said Trustee Steve Harlfinger, who has been on the board for eight years.

The village created the rule to have a process for and to regulate garage sales, Harlfinger added.

"People were having garage sales every other week," Harlfinger said.

Birnbaum has circulated a petition around town and tonight, with a least a half-dozen supporters, will present the 41-signature document to the village board, asking that the village repeal the rule.

Birnbaum draws a parallel between the $5 garage sale fee and the now-unconstutional poll taxes Southern states used to keep blacks from voting.

"I don't think they have a right to tell me I need permission to sell my property," Birnbaum said. "They're targeting a certain class of people for the general benefit of the community instead of imposing the tax equally on the whole community."

But Harlfinger says this is a non issue that he has already addressed with Birnbaum.

"I personally believe that Ted is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill," he said.

The village board meets as a committee of the whole at 7:30 p.m. at village hall, 600 Harvest Gate Road.