Saturday Soapbox: Lake County

Kudos to Gurnee:

Gurnee officials earned kudos this week for their efforts in a couple of areas where progress is needed: diversity and the environment. The village's advisory diversity committee made several recommendations to add diversity to the municipal work force, including monthly reports to the village board and committing to fair and reasonable placement goals and timelines for increasing the number of minority hires. On the environmental front, the village is considering converting lawnmowers in the municipal fleet from gasoline to propane, buying more hybrid vehicles or switching village-owned vehicles from gasoline to propane. A volunteer committee to consider environmentally friendly ideas was also created. There are lots of good ideas on the table for making positive changes in two critical areas. Now, it's up to village officials and residents to intensify the focus and make sure the best ideas become reality. In doing so, they might just lead the way for other communities in Lake County.

NWCH takes pain out of parking

Here's good news for anybody frequenting Northwest Community Hospital and wondering where to put the car -- the new seven-story parking garage opened this week. The garage is part of the hospital's $250 million expansion project expected to be completed by 2010. And while we're happy about that new patient tower and the expanded ER to come, getting that garage done is great news!

Kudos to the Buddy Foundation

The Buddy Foundation has been taking care of abandoned animals in the Northwest suburbs for years, placing pets in foster homes and aggressively working to place them in good homes. Now, with the opening of its new no-kill shelter on Seegers Road in Arlington Heights, it's taken itself to another level. Congratulations to the Buddy leaders, who raised money for more than a decade to get to this day.

Dreams do come true

The hundreds of volunteers who helped Elsa Leonardo's dream of owning her own home become a reality deserve a round of applause. Men and women from organizations such as the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington and executives from Zurich in Schaumburg built a 1,350- square-foot home in Carpentersville with help from Habitat for Humanity at breakneck speed. Leonardo will own her first home and share it with her daughter, Ivette.

Brave lad

Griffin Cox didn't cry. Even though he had been beaned by a line-drive foul ball during batting practice at U.S. Cellular Field, the Glen Ellyn boy didn't want all the White Sox players and others who rushed to his side to think he wasn't tough. And initially, all seemed to be well save for a slight headache. But days later Griffin was rushed to the hospital, where they found multiple skull fractures and significant fluid pressure. The good news, though, is further testing revealed the fluid is blood, meaning, in essence, Griffin has a giant bruise. He'll have to take it easy for a while but the long-term prognosis looks good.

Seeing red

Is it really asking too much to have somebody, anybody, whoever's in charge of these things, do a better job of coordinating traffic signals during the wee hours of the morning? For those who work the late shift, it can be awfully frustrating to sit and sit at a red light on a main roadway as the light stays green on a little-used side road. Not to mention the waste of precious fuel as we wait. There seems to be far too many of these intersections in our suburban neighborhoods.