Saturday Soapbox

Tough sentence warranted:

This week, DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell sentenced a Lombard man to 65 years in prison for opening fire on three local police officers, permanently injuring one, to avoid being arrested for stealing an $8 bottle of vodka. Paul J. Grygo, 59, a self-admitted chronic alcoholic, will spend the rest of his life in prison. The injured cop, Jerry O'Meara, who because of nerve and muscle damage can no longer pursue the career he dreamed of since he was a little boy, said justice was served in that Grygo will never get the opportunity to harm another person. O'Meara now works security at the DuPage County courthouse. In a stirring victim-impact statement, he said all that he has left of his career are medals and old newspaper clippings. He can't even play ball with his kids because of limited mobility in his left arm and hand. Hopefully, O'Meara and his fellow officers are comforted in knowing law-abiding citizens in communities they serve and protect appreciate their dedication.

Job Club shutdown unfortunate:

Government has to be responsive to changing needs in how it allocates funds and not just mindlessly continue existing programs. Nonetheless, this week's shutdown of an Arlington Heights job counseling program for older workers is unfortunate, coming as it does among a climbing unemployment rate in an economic downturn whose full extent is still unclear. The $150,000 in federal money used to fund the Job Club office run by the National Able Network needs to be allocated to education and licensing programs, not teaching job-seeking skills, under changed federal rules, officials said.

Say thanks:

It's a simple gesture that means so much - saying thank you. That's what Gurnee Fire Department Battalion Chief Barry Henby urges us to do when we see a member of the military out in the community. He hopes to get people to participate in the Gratitude Campaign started last year by a Seattle man. It hits close to home in Gurnee because Great Lakes Naval Station near North Chicago is close by, and lots of sailors visit Gurnee Mills. However, there are military personnel throughout the Chicago area who deserve to hear "thank you" when we see them.

The worst kind of gas pains:

How is it possible that prices at the pump can fluctuate up to four times in a 24-hour period? It doesn't seem realistic and it certainly isn't fair. The other day at a Fox Valley station the sign read $4.19 just before 8 a.m. By lunchtime it was $4.33. Within the last month there has been a surge of 19 cents in a 10-hour period. We don't know who gives the final OK to jack prices on a seemingly hourly or daily basis. But maybe there's something to recent talk about oil speculators and oil futures contracts. All that buying and selling before oil is delivered is helping move prices up. Exactly how much is, well, speculation.

Illegal fireworks' path of destruction:

Another Fourth of July has come and gone and, again, illegal fireworks have managed to cause destruction. Separate house fires in Naperville and Hoffman Estates were blamed on kids setting off firecrackers. In Bensenville, a man's lovingly restored Corvette was apparently destroyed by an errant and presumably illegal firework. At least this year no one was killed by an illegal firework, and maybe crackdowns in places in Carol Stream and Aurora contributed to that. Huntley is posting firework violators' names and addresses on the Web - though the practice seems so commonplace it's hard to know if people can be shamed into changing their ways.