Soapbox: Highway hazards

With Kane County and the state of Illinois working on separate areas of Route 31 in South Elgin and Elgin at the same time, drivers would be well advised to stay as far away as possible. The county is closing the highway just south of Hancock Avenue to just south of the former Illinois Central Railroad tracks to accomplish bridge work connected with the Stearns Road bridge project. Route 31 through Elgin has had temporary lane closures ever since the state began a necessary $3.9 million renovation of its 3½-mile run through the city. That is expected to be finished this fall while the South Elgin work won't end until the first of the year. Wise drivers will find another route.

Promise kept

Pingree Grove Village President Clint Carey promised improvements to a bumpy rail crossing in his small community if he was elected. He was, and he then delivered. But the trouble he had making good goes a long way toward explaining why the average guy believes he can get no results. Carey had to make numerous calls to the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad, cajole rail workers and then engage state Sen. Chris Lauzen in the battle before the crossing was improved. Now Carey has moved on to another challenge: a plague of mosquitoes. "If I could figure out the mosquito problem, I'd be in office for life," he said, well aware he's unlikely to solve that one without an early frost.

Charming gall

You've just got to love Barack Obama's charming gall. When Illinois moved up its primary to Feb. 5 to help his presidential nomination ambitions, he was all for it. But when an unruly free-for-all broke out among other states also wanting to be first in the nominating primaries, he and other candidates decided to boycott Florida and Michigan. To be fair, Democratic party rules said no one can vote before Feb. 5 and those states wanted to go earlier. But Obama stating the DNC's nominating process is "in the best interest of our party and our nation" is easy for him to say. After all, he has already gotten what he wanted -- an early vote in his home state.

Pedal power

In the face of $3-per-gallon gasoline, some intrepid suburban residents are pedaling to work instead of driving. They've got to be intrepid and have great patience to put up with harassment from some drivers and pedestrians some of them reported. One said he'd had fruit, garbage and beer cans thrown at him. Beyond that, safety can be a serious issue. Bikers reported running into the back of a vehicle when it stopped suddenly and being forced off the road by others. Until bicyclists are made more welcome or routes made more safe, we're guessing the average commuter's gas savings won't be enough to induce him or her to take on the extra risk and effort required.

Catching imaginations

You have to give Gail Borden Public Library credit -- it knows how to engage the interest of kids and the adults who trail along behind them. Its dinosaur program last year set attendance records and helped Elgin temporarily sport dinosaur statues all over town. Its current program, "SPACE: Dare to Dream" has gone further, giving young library visitors this week the chance to talk directly with astronauts on the International Space Station. The library got an assist from the Fox Valley Radio League, whose amateur radio members helped set up the antenna necessary to make the ground-to-space conversation possible, and Elgin native Hal Getzelman, who works at the NASA space center in Houston and was instrumental in arranging the conversations.