Police Find 'No Credible Threat' To Civil War Days

LAKE COUNTY, IL — Just days after Lake County Forest Preserve officials cancelled its Civil Wars Days festival, citing safety concerns, the Lake County Sheriff's Office has deemed the "threats" made over social media that lead to the cancellation were "in extremely poor taste" but containing "no criminal intent or threat surrounding the message." On Monday, Ty Kovach, executive director of Lake County Forest Preserves, announced the event, which was slated to happen on July 13 and 14 and Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda, was cancelled due to the threats and concerns over safety to participating Lake County residents and visitors, reenactors and vendors, as well as our staff and volunteers operating the event, but did not elaborate on the content of the threats.

On Friday, sheriff's office officials concluded an investigation into those threats and after combing through 529 pages of materials and electronic media determined there was never any credible threats to forest preserve elected or appointed officials, forest preserve staff, forest preserve property or participants or potential guests to the upcoming Civil War Days, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

"No documentation provided by the Lake County Forest Preserve yielded any evidence of a threat to the event. There is no evidence of any crime," according to a statement from the sheriff's office. "Lake County Forest Preserve Officials were made aware of our findings this morning."

Kovach said earlier in the week forest preserve officials consulted with local and state law enforcement agencies before making its decision to cancel the event. The threats over social media came after Lake County Forest Preserves District Board President Angelo Kyle questioned the necessity and appropriateness of the event during a recent board meeting, according to a Lake County News-Sun article. He said he's been to the event in the past and thinks the district's resources and focus should be on environmental issues and climate change instead of an event that features Civil War images, including a Confederate flag.

"During the past week, there have been many responses to information stemming from a June 11 Forest Preserves board meeting where Civil War Days was discussed. Some of these responses were very concerning," said John Tannahill, Director of Public Safety for the Lake County Forest Preserves, in the forest preserve district's Monday statement. Forest preserves and sheriff's office officials have not elaborated on those concerning statements.

Investigators and administration with the sheriff's office met with Tannahill on Wednesday, who briefed police on the concerns and later that day, forest preserve officials provided authorities with 500 pages of documents, 20 voicemails, and two videos which had been posted on Facebook. On Thursday and Friday, Kyle forwarded dozens of emails and voicemails he personally received over the course of several days for sheriff's office officials to review.

Detectives also reviewed hundreds of comments posted on social media, hundreds of comments posted on news articles, hundreds of comments posted on various websites related to Civil War Days and dozens of electronic messages sent to officials via the forest preserve website, according to the news release. During the investigation, authorities spoke with two of the social media commenters—one who lives in the area and one who resides out of state.

"Interviews with both social media posters revealed while their comments were in extreme poor taste, there was no criminal intent/threat surrounding their message," according to the sheriff's office's Friday statement.

Meant to be an educational event, Civil War Days has taken place at Lakewood Forest Preserves in Wauconda for the past 27 years.

The Forest Preserves provided the following description of this year's event: "The boom of cannons, the crack of rifles, the galloping of horse hooves welcomes you at the annual Civil War Days encampment. Wander the camps to see soldiers, civilians and tradesmen at work. Watch as union and confederate forces collide in battle. A large-scale battle can be viewed on both Saturday and Sunday.

The event also featured an 1863 Summer Fair, a meet and greet with President Abraham Lincoln, Civil War–era vendors and period crafts, games and a scavenger hunt for kids.

Patch will update with more information as it becomes available

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