Saturday Soapbox
Top-notch education:
We offer congrats to five local schools that received the Department of Education's Blue Ribbon award: Windsor Elementary in Arlington Heights, St. Raymond in Mount Prospect, Rupley Elementary in Elk Grove Village, Woodlawn Middle School in Long Grove and Crone Middle School in Naperville. Their achievements make them models for others.
City should help Booze Crews:
Naperville should act quickly to cut the red tape and allow Booze Crews, which takes inebriated customers home, to operate within the letter of the law. The city says Booze Crews may need a permit to meet city requirements. Fine, but now's not the time to squeeze every last dime out of them. Keeping drunks off the road is too important to get bogged down in bureaucracy.
Going the extra mile:
Mark Coleman, of St. Charles, deserves a pat on the back. He found broken Hindu idols in the DuPage River but, instead of just paddling on by, he collected the items and called us. He was concerned they were stolen or damaged as part of a hate crime. More of us should show such compassion and concern.
New hometown for Kanye:
We'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Kanye West was born in Atlanta. After his inexcusable stunt at the VMAs, maybe we want to stop claiming him as a Chicagoan. Georgia can have that honor now.
Another cell phone horror story:
Here comes another cautionary tale of cell phone use and driving: Amy Lamboley of Aurora was on Diehl Road in Naperville when she dropped her cell phone. As she reached for it, she drove off the road, her 2006 Chrysler Pacifica rolling several times before landing in a creek. Fortunately, she walked away without injuries. Enough said?
Some real puppy love:
Happy second anniversary to the Northwest Community Hospital therapy dogs and their handlers. The original count of 14 dogs has grown to 50, and they have made 15,000 visits. Handler Lynn Gorski of Palatine said it best: "When we come into a unit, the entire staff just lights up and instantly we know we're making an impact." Simply put, a doggone nice story.
Turnabout is not fair play:
It's been very quiet in Carpentersville, politically speaking, since a slate of candidates promising change was elected. Among the planks in their platform was that they wouldn't build a new public works facility the old guard was planning and raise taxes in order to do it. Guess what?
Act like we have cougars:
Do we have cougars living among us? No one's confirmed it, though several residents of Wheaton mistakenly thought they saw one recently. DuPage County ecologist Dan Thompson said two dozen such reports have come in from around the county in the past year. Even though that wasn't a cougar in Wheaton, we're sure we share our suburbs with coyotes. Please keep small children and pets close at hand.
Bring on winter:
For two winters, driving on Route 12 between Wauconda and Lake Zurich has been like driving on the cratered surface of the moon. Patches popped out as soon as they were put in, and flat tires were common. This summer's traffic-snarling repaving was almost as painful. But the end is in sight, and the finished part is almost as smooth as, well, a sheet of ice. Winter, we're ready.
What's a Web site for?:
When news about an armed fugitive came out Thursday, school districts jumped to action, quickly updating their Web sites about "soft lockdowns." One exception was Palatine Township Elementary District 15, which waited hours before posting the news. That frustrated parents - and no doubt the school office workers who took a flood of calls.