TyWalk timeline  -  documents coming soon!          

 These information snippets were gathered from actual and various documents recorded in Grundy, Kendall and Will counties including court records
In the beginning…

January 27, 1987. Robert D. Walker borrowed $6,200,000 from Wells Fargo Ag Credit.
October 1992. Buzz Gibbons and former Will County Judge Thomas M. Ewert became New Lenox neighbors.
August 13, 1993. Judge Ewert filed a preliminary PUD plat for approval with the Village of  New Lenox. Judge Ewert notified Lila Walker,[Robert Walker's mother] and WKP Properties [a Ty-Walk company] of his intent to annex and subdivide his land adjacent to the Walker farm near Francis Road, New Lenox. The Walker’s  approved. [ New Lenox certified these facts on Sept. 13, 2002. ]
April 4, 1994. Buzz Gibbons and his father-in-law, Robert D. Walker, borrowed $4,500,000 from the First National Bank of Joliet.
1998

[tile at Joliet Junior College]

June 24.   James R. "Jimmy" Tyler, President of Tyler Grain in Elwood and John C. "Buzz" Gibbons of New Lenox, President of Ty-Walk in Minooka, signed merger documents creating TYLER-WALKER AG SERVICES, a Delaware corporation which did business in Illinois as Ty-Walk Liquid Sales, Inc. Buzz Gibbons was named Chief Executive Officer.  L. Park Davis, attorney.   Buzz goes to Marion, Il. Federal prison 04/15/2004 for mail fraud.  What happened to the $13,475,000?

June 26. Ty-Walk borrowed $13,475,000 from the  
July 2. Ty-Walk Articles of Merger recorded in Will County as R98086802
July 3. Chicago Tribune: "Officials of two longtime farm services firms in Will and Grundy Counties announced Thursday that they have merged their two companies.  James Tyler & Sons Inc. of Elwood and Ty-Walk Liquid Sales Inc. of Minooka have combined to form Tyler-Walker Ag Services.  The merger creates one of the largest providers of agricultural services in northern Illinois, with annual sales expected to exceed $50 million." 
November 5. The Mercantile Bank amended Ty-Walk's credit line to $17,500,000.
November 18. My mother, June O'Connor, then 81, sued Ty-Walk, several Tylers and their attorney, Joe Tryner of Wilmington, for fraud.   June's case centers on an alleged forged document [1981 promissory note] and alleges a loss of $321,000.  She claims she was tricked into collateralizing her farm for a debt she did not owe.  Ty-Walk's attorney, Matt Glavin of Chicago moved for and got a venue change from Kankakee to Will County.  June's attorney is John Ridge of Kankakee.  815 936-1212
1999
March 18. O'Connor vs. Ty-Walk [case 99L 182] is assigned to Judge Ewert.  Glavin moves eventually moves to dismiss.
July 13. A court hearing, at which Will County Judge Ewert was expected to dismiss June's case, was delayed.
July 15. Buzz Gibbons and Robert D. Walker, borrowed $10,000,000 from a large New York bank, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. [Hereinafter BBH] They each signed personal guarantees for the money.
July 29. Judge Ewert dismissed June's case entirely, which freed the Tylers and Joe Tryner  from liability. June amended her complaint. Buzz Gibbons and Robert D. Walker borrowed millions with this litigation pending.
December 30. Ty-Walk changed its name to "Ty-Walk Agricultural, Inc." as part of a so-called recapitalization plan. They then formed a new Delaware corporation and named it "Ty-Walk Liquid Sales, Inc.". All of the assets of the old Ty-Walk were transferred to the new Ty-Walk in exchange for stock in the new Ty-Walk.  This was not disclosed to June. She had sued old Ty-Walk.
2000
January 25. Tyler Enterprises of Elwood, Inc. was dissolved. Ty-Walk's sole asset was stock in the new Ty-Walk.
May 2. Ty-Walk borrowed $2,400,000 from New Lenox State Bank.
May 4. Ty-Walk borrowed $8,600,000 from MetLife in Bloomington, Il.
May 23. Ty-Walk borrowed $1,610,843 from New Lenox State Bank.
August 21. Judge Ewert dismissed June's entire amended complaint with prejudice. Ty-Walk had stopped June's case dead in pre-trial motions. No trial. No verdict. No judgment. And no money!
November 22. Ty-Walk borrowed $5,184,000 from New Lenox State Bank.

2001
February 19. ComStock Valuation Advisors, Inc. concluded the fair market value of the new Ty-Walk stock was $24,810,000 or $24.81 per share. 
February 27. Buzz Gibbons gave BBH a supplement to a commodity repurchase agreement,  which claimed Ty-Walk at Minooka had 564,168 bushels of soybeans and 4,244,147 bushels of corn.  It was fatal to Ty-Walk.  BBH checked it out and notified the United States Department of Agriculture who in turn notified the Illinois Department of Agriculture [IDOA].  The IDOA paid Ty-Walk a visit. 
March 31.  Judge Ewert retires from the bench of the 12th Circuit Court of Will County.
July 20. Ty-Walk borrowed $818,878.78 from New Lenox State Bank.
July 29. The IDOA began their investigation. 7,000,000 bushels of corn came up missing worth about $14 million.
August 23. Ty-Walk gave up their grain license. They became the largest grain elevator failure in Illinois history.  A TyWalk principal dumped their longtime 'TYWALK' vanity plate.
October 11. New Lenox State Bank filed foreclosure [CH 1574] against, among others, Ty-Walk  and Buzz Gibbons.
October 12. Chicago based Ty-Walk attorney, Matt Glavin, filed an amended complaint [case 01 MR 339] against Ty-Walk Agricultural, Inc. for Richard R. Tyler, asking for Declaratory Relief and Money Judgment.
October 29, 30   The IDOA held auctions of Ty-Walk trucks and other equipment.   State and federal criminal investigations were initiated by five state's attorneys, the Illinois Attorney General, the Illinois Department of Labor, the Illinois State Police,  the IRS and the FBI office in Tinley Park.
November 5. Judge Haase signed a court order awarding Richard R. Tyler a $1,075,538.80 judgment against Ty-Walk Agricultural, Inc.

2002

February 21. Will County state's attorney, Jeff Tomczak, held a meeting about Ty-Walk in Joliet with Attorney General prosecutors and other state officials present. 
March 17. My father celebrated St. Patrick's Day with his family at Rosewood Nursing home,
    Dennis O'Connor [left] celebrates his father's  91st St. Patrick's Day!  It would be Frank's last.
April 6  My father - Frank O'Connor - died at 91.  He was a life long Elwood area farmer and customer of James Tyler & Sons, Inc. - Ty-Walk's merging corporation.  Dad trusted Tylers.  He had a legal right to.  But my mother – June - paid dearly for that trust.  I'm glad Dad was healthy and lived to see Ty-Walk go under. 

April 17.    Brown Brothers Harriman Bank filed suits against John C. "Buzz" Gibbons [02L 218] and Robert D. Walker [02L 219] for enforcement of guaranty and common law fraud regarding their $10,000,000 loan.  

 April 29. Ty-Walk President, Robert D. Walker, deeded 460 acres of land [more or less] located in Grundy County into JMWA; an Illinois limited partnership, and was recorded as Grundy Co. document 402437 by his attorney, Andrew Dystrup.
June 18. Robert D. Walker became the new registered agent of Ty-Walk Liquid Sales, Inc. and Chairman of the Board. Attorney Gerald Haberkorn vacated.
June 26. A Sheriff's sale was held on Ty-Walk's "Walker Country Estates". New Lenox State Bank received $7,270,000 and closed their case by their attorney, Douglas Schlak.
June 28. Ty-Walk President, Robert D. Walker, deeded an undivided half interest in 220 acres of land [more or less] located in Will County into Trust number 1633 at the Municipal Trust & Savings Bank in Bourbonnais, Il and was recorded as Will Co. document R20022106879 by his attorney, Andrew Dystrup.
August 19. June and I discovered that Judge Ewert was a neighbor to Buzz Gibbons during her court hearings. Judge Ewert did not mention that fact or that he knew Robert D. Walker to the court.  He did not offer to recuse himself from the case.  Not one word was mentioned.  [See Frank and June page]
August 20. June filed a motion [2-1401] to set all of Ewert's rulings aside claiming he was biased and gave the appearance of impropriety. 

The motion was assigned to Will County Judge Paula Gomora.  Three weeks later, former Judge Ewert made a donation to Judge Gomora’s campaign fund!!!  Gomora lost the election and the motion went to Will County Judge Garrison.
2003
Former Judge Thomas M. Ewert now practices law at Spesia, Ayers and Ardaugh in Joliet? The firm that defended Robert D. Walker against Brown Brothers?  Attorney Larry Varsek defended Buzz Gibbons. Those two cases are still pending.  There have been six judges on Walker's case, with Judge Haase currently presiding.  Judge James E. Garrison is hearing the 2-1402 motion in O'Connor vs. Ty-Walk.
January 27.  Ty-Walk attorney, Mr. Glavin presents Judge Garrison with "courtesy copies" of among other things, his last reply to dismiss June's section 2-1401 and for sanctions. 

Glavin wrote, "In June, 1998, the Tyler family sold the company to the Walker family.  After the sale, the company was re-named Ty-Walk Liquid Sales, Inc. and was operated by among others, Robert Walker and John "Buzz" Gibbons."  Or was the "sale" really a "merger"?   The Illinois Secretary of State says it's a merger.  The newspapers reported it as a merger.  If it was a sale and not a merger, why did Glavin sue Ty-Walk for Richard Tyler in 2001?  I thought Glavin said the Tyler family sold their company to the Walker family in 1998? 

  The Ty-Walk Articles of Merger, recorded July 2, 1998 in Will County as R98086802 state in part: "Tyler was the merging corporation and Ty-Walk was the surviving corporation".  And also that
"….All shares of [Tyler] Stock held at the Effective Time by [Tyler] as treasury stock shall be canceled and no payment shall be made with respect thereto".
".…Each share of [Tyler] stock shall be exchanged for 138.55 shares of [Ty-Walk] stock.  Upon conversion, the shares of [Tyler] stock shall be deemed
retired and canceled".