Saturday Soapbox: Pleasant hoop dreams
This is the time of year when college and high school hoops fans can easily get their fill of basketball. But on Tuesday night, there's one game we hope you don't miss. It's the annual Staff vs. Students charity basketball game and it tips off at 7 p.m. in Naperville Central High School's main gym. It's a great chance to see faculty members and kids having fun together on the basketball court and, better still, the proceeds go to fight ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Tickets are just $5 and there will be raffles for prizes throughout the evening. Amid all the frenzy over March Madness, this is a chance for the community to come together for a few smiles and a great cause.
No software upgrade for Villa Park
Sometimes, municipal leaders can be accused of throwing money at problems. That's not the case in Villa Park, where five trustees tentatively rejected a plan to spend $28,675 to replace an older computer program that has been encountering difficulties in recent months. The trustees cited looming budgetary shortfalls for their opposition to the expenditure. They should be commended for trying to hold the line on spending. Hopefully, the technical problems can be addressed without added expense to the taxpayers.
Too much of a good thing?
Does anyone else ever tire of holiday food by the time the holiday rolls around? By Thanksgiving, we've had several chances to eat turkey, sweet potatoes and cranberry relish; by Christmas, ham had been offered at least one time too many; and now, for St. Patrick's Day, we probably will tire of corned beef and cabbage before the big day arrives. But green beer? Who could ever get tired of that - but, as always, drink responsibly.
Where's the harm?
Maybe, just maybe, the long, hard winter finally is over and we have survived it. So it might be a good time to say, yes, what we just went through flies in the face of global warming and all the warnings it brings. But, really, no matter where you stand on that issue, is it really so bad to hope for a better environment and to do things to help achieve that than to use a frigid, snowy winter as an excuse not to?
Something to talk about
This week, a startling federal government study found at least one in four American girls age 14 to 19 has a sexually transmitted disease. The most common one, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the virus that can cause cervical cancer; the second may lead to infertility. It may be uncomfortable for parents to talk frankly with their teen children about avoiding this threat to their health, but consider the alternative.
MTV boomers getting old
Time sure does fly. It felt like just yesterday that a couple young artists named Madonna and John Cougar, as we called him back then, came on the scene. It was the 80s, and both were considered rebellious, outspoken and fascinating. More than 25 years later, the artists were inducted Monday into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and rightly so. Still, it's hard to believe Cougar, who goes by his real last name Mellencamp, is a 56-year-old heart patient; Madonna is nearly 50. Both still are rocking, though, and continue to do it their own way.
Fine outcome on fines
Kudos to DuPage County government for making deadbeats pay up - to the tune of more than $4.6 million. That is how much has been recovered, from people owing fines, by the DuPage County circuit court clerk's office and private debt collection agencies.