Saturday Soapbox: Should stay on
U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert has sidestepped questions about whether he will retire early from office. He should stay on until the end, if only to prevent a special election that will cost extra tax money. Hastert is known for his loyalty, serving the public and limiting the burden on taxpayers. He would do all three by serving out the term voters elected him to, while giving everyone a chance to vote on his successor in November.
School deja vu
When Marvin Edwards arrived at an Elgin School District U-46 in disarray, one of the first things he did as superintendent was to actually talk to the people who worked for him. Sadly, that was a novel idea at the time. But it helped launch a decade of progressive improvement and cohesion. His tenure ended in financial difficulty, but the districtˆ½ never really lost the unity he helped create. Now the first big act of Donald Schlomann's tenure as St. Charles School District 303 superintendent was to, um, meet the people who make his beleaguered and divided district run, his employees.ˆ½ We can only hope he gets the same sort of unifying results Edwards did from exercising a hands-on touch.ˆ½Ã¯ˆ¿ˆ½
Do you have a, um, Crede jersey?
What a difference less than two years makes in the world of sports merchandising. When the White Sox won the 2005 World Series you couldn't enter a sporting goods or discount store without seeing a wall of black-and-silver Sox gear. Walk into those same stores today, and you'll find wall after wall and rack after rack of Cubs and Bears attire -- the former team battling for first place and the latter allegedly primed for another Super Bowl run. But stuff for the floundering Sox? The two or three remaining South Side jerseys must be stashed in the stores' basements. Talk about a retail reversal of fortune.
From three to nine
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed into law a series of new limits on teen drivers that should make the roads safer for all. The most promising new requirement? That teens hold a permit, allowing them to drive under an adult's supervision, for at least nine months instead of three, as now stipulated. Six additional months of adult-supervised driving should make a big difference in how well prepared teens are when they venture out on their own.
Going green
McHenry County has more than talked about "going green," it recycles in county facilities and tries to reduce solid waste overall. It has installed natural landscaping that doesn't require as much watering and has installed a highly efficient boiler to trim energy costs. "It's good for the environment and good for our constituents because we're taking good care of their money," said John Hadley, county director of facilities management. "Over the long run, it's money well invested." It will be if the county remembers that it also has a responsibility to preserve another sort of green -- taxpayer dollars. Understanding that looking out for taxpayer green is important, too, Gail Borden Public Library has all but killed plans for a "green" geothermal energy system for its west-side Elgin branch because costs appear to outweigh benefits.
C'mon, mom!
If you have a child as giving and apparently responsible as Evan Kuehnert, the Batavia 7-year-old who asked friends to skip birthday presents for him in lieu of presents for animals at the Kane County Animal Shelter, how can a mom resist his pleas for a dog of his own? Pretty easily, apparently. "He is shopping," she said of Evan, as he distributed his gifts at the shelter. "But we are not." We're betting she caves to this kid's warm heart and sweet smile sooner rather than later.