Soapbox: Good compromise
Developers of Wanish Park near Gurnee at first wanted to pay no impact fees because ownership of the new townhouses and condominiums will be limited to buyers 50 or older. Woodland Elementary District 50 and Warren Township High School District 212 wanted impact fees because, believe it or not, folks older than 50 have been known to have children still in school. Developer and district officials finally hit a fair deal this week, with the developer paying a little more than one-third the fee school officials requested but agreeing to pay an additional full impact fee for any students who do end up living in the development.
Definitely the right path
The final plans are not in place, but hikers and cyclists nonetheless have to be excited to hear that Lincolnshire has its sights set on adding recreation paths along Route 22 in a way that would connect the village's trail system to Bannockburn's and improve access to other paths in the county forest preserve district's extensive network.
What's the point?
State legislators are having trouble this year producing a budget, resolving pension problems or coming up with badly needed money for transit, roads, bridges and schools. But given a chance to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's prudent veto of a mandatory moment of silence for public schools, they're all over it. Why? State law already assured that any student who wants to observe a moment if silence or pray silently may do so.
Has anyone seen a truck going 55?
State legislators' decision to go along with Gov. Rod Blagojevich in keeping the Illinois truck speed limit at 55 mph instead of 65 certainly must disappoint truckers on all downstate Interstate highways. Now they'll be burdened with the knowledge that their typical cruising speed is still 15 mph above the legal limit, instead of a mere 5 mph in excess.
Or a car going 70?
It's late Sunday afternoon, and scores of us Chicago-area residents are bearing down on the city, returning from weekends out of town. Many of us are driving gas-guzzling SUVs or minivans and all of us are driving the Interstate at 75 to 85 mph. Except the one guy going 65 in his silver Prius -- the one drawing glares from the rest of us for the sheer gall of breaking our stride for a moment as he obeys the speed limit and tries to conserve a little fuel. By the way, how are our energy-independence efforts going?
Cowardly resort to vandalism
It was no surprise that readers responded in a big way (some two dozen letters to the editor) to our story about the daughter of atheist Rob Sherman saying that her high school's homecoming week songs should be secular only. The letter exchanges were a healthy exercise in public discourse. Not so healthy? The vandalism of the Shermans' home and the egging of a car belonging to a letter writer who expressed a view quite different from Rob or Dawn Sherman's.
Words hardly suffice
Adequate words truly fail in expressing condolences to longtime political fixture Jim Ryan and his wife, Marie, on the death by apparent suicide of their son Patrick. Ten years ago, the Ryans lost 12-year-old daughter Annie to a brain tumor. Jim and Marie have battled serious health issues themselves. We can only echo state Sen. John Millner, who poignantly summed up: "My heart goes out to them. They're just good, honest people who have endured well beyond what any family should have to experience."