I admit that I don't drive through Pontoon Beach very often anymore. It's mostly when I'm passing through to go to Collinsville or out to Tres Caminos for some of my favorite tacos. The other evening I made the mistake of stopping in a new place called the Liquor Mart or something close to that.

I wanted to grab a couple of things as I was passing through. This place, I don't even know where to start other than how in the hell did this place get a business license? Secondly, how are they keeping this business license? This place is a disgusting, dirty, stinking empty building filled with empty shelves without a single product to sell.

That's right, you're reading that right. They didn't have ONE SINGLE ITEM on the shelves, all empty and dusty and dirty. Against my better judgement and only because I had no choice in the moment, I ran in to use the bathroom as my wife waited in the car. This bathroom was one of the worst public bathrooms I've ever been in and at my age, and I've been in plenty!

I suggest not stepping one foot into this business unless you are up to date on your tetanus shot. There was one employee sitting on a metal folding chair near the front door. A relative or someone of the same nationality entered the store from the back and pulled up a chair and sat down and they began piping some extremely loud middle eastern speech or rally into the store so loud it was quite unbelievable.

Needless to say I just left as soon as I came out of that health hazard of a bathroom since they didn't have a single item to sell on a shelf. That screaming rally or speech was amped up to that level I'm sure to see my reaction. They didn't get one and I can say without a bit of uncertainty that I will never walk back into that place.

From what I seen just on a quick drive thru, Pontoon Beach is looking like complete sh*t. Over flowing dumpsters with broken down fencing all falling down that is supposed to be enclosing the dumpster, sitting right on Pontoon Road near that laundry mat. The eye sore property of DJ's Garage, that place needs to be fenced or something to hide that mess, it looks like a junk yard sitting on the busiest road in the village.

What in the hell is up with the banged up, crumbled and mangled fencing that's been laying in pieces for months right on Pontoon Road over the lake? Why has that mess been left like that for months? It looks like the guy who owns Linny's is the only one left out there who cares what the village looks like. What has happened to this place?