Heun: Rt. 38 roadwork could mean smoother Swedish Days parade route

You've probably heard me mention this on occasion over the past few years. State Street in Geneva was starting to get pretty rough in some places and, at some point, it was going to have to be resurfaced.

That "some point" has been established, and it likely had nothing at all to do with me pointing out the need.

Geneva city officials are alerting residents that the Illinois Department of Transportation will resurface Route 38 from the Maple Park area on the county's western edge to First Street in downtown Geneva, the corner where Sergio's Cantina anchors one side and Little Owl, the other.

The fun starts late this month or early April and is expected to be finished in June.

What part of June, we can't be sure. Construction timetables often endure weather- or equipment-related delays.

We know what that means for Geneva. The Swedish Days parade in late June will take place on newly paved roads, or through orange road-construction cones and a bit of a mess.

From coffee to yogurt

The city issued a construction permit at the end of February for Forever Yogurt to take over the former Caribou Coffee site on Third Street in Geneva.

The inside of the 507 S. Third St. site has been gutted, so those who were Caribou patrons likely won't recognize the place when it reopens. But the small outdoor eating area in front of the store will come in handy again for frozen yogurt on warm summer days.

Some Vikings glory

You have to tip your hat to the Geneva Vikings and coach Phil Ralston for making it the boys' basketball supersectional for the first time since 1963 by beating a superb Rockford Auburn team on Friday night.

However, if I were Jimmy Fallon filling out "thank you" notes, I would send one to the Rockford Auburn coach for making his team stall with a four-point lead in the final minutes of the third quarter, and then failing to score at the buzzer. It kept Geneva close and zapped the mojo out of his team.

But we can't send thank you notes to the Rockford Auburn players regarding their actions at the end of the game. They walked off the floor without the traditional congratulations to the winning team. After such a great season, it was too bad they ended it in such bush-league fashion.

It was a good teaching moment for any parents at the game with young kids to explain what is so very wrong about that.

Give the signal

As a guy who has spent many years in the press boxes or on the aluminum stands of area high school football stadiums, I can appreciate the need for the lightning alert system the Geneva 304 School Board has voted to install at the high school's athletic fields.

Football, track, softball, baseball, marching brand practice and general physical education classes all take place out in the open at various times of the year at our high schools.

Without a lightning alert system siren sounding danger, too many players, coaches and fans aren't quite sure when they should leave a field, or return when it is safe.

It's often a case of someone keeping an eye on a weather radar on a computer, and others just watching the sky for lightning in the distance. So it's not like anyone is oblivious to a storm is approaching.

This has more to do with letting everyone know the same thing - that it is time to seek shelter - at the same time.

A lightning alert system doesn't leave anything to chance or guessing. Football Friday nights are major events, lasting up to five or six hours when they include a sophomore game, so a lot can happen on the weather front in that time frame.

Finding out late

When former area residents who were at one time in the public eye move away, you tend to lose track of them.

Such is the case in hearing, more than two months after the fact, that Patti Roberts, a former St. Charles Park District and TriCity Family Services employee, passed away on New Year's Eve in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

It was sad to hear this, as I had known Patti for some time when she did recreation program work for the park district.

I got to know her better when she was a fellow member of the Tri-Cities Exchange Club, representing TriCity Family Services. She helped the club with all sorts of excellent ideas and energy.

Restoring that mansion

When driving by the Raymond Judd House in the area near Fifth and Indiana avenues in St. Charles about 12 years ago, it struck me as a place that could somehow be restored for another use. So I mentioned it in my column at that time.

City officials, for the most part, have probably agreed with that assessment, but it appears it has taken this long to get a plan they considered worth pursuing.

Developers want to convert the historic mansion into four apartments, while also building three new townhouses on the parcel of land for an area called Heritage Green. The city has approved that plan.

The city gave the mansion historic landmark status in 2000. It deserves that recognition, considering it has been around since 1878, and it later served as a home for the elderly through three decades, from 1940 to 1970.

Students present forum

The Geneva High School student council has asked that I moderate its school board candidates forum at 6 p.m. Monday at Williamsburg Elementary.

I was happy to help on this project, as it is a great way for students to get involved in a community election process and get to know the people who are willing to volunteer for the important and time-consuming task of overseeing school operations.

Some Geneva residents may have attended the "Meet the Geneva Candidates Night" last week at Riverview Banquet Hall to get to know school board and city candidates in an informal setting.

If not, the student council's forum promises to be informative as well and get to the heart of what students are concerned about.

dheun@sbcglobal.net