Saturday Soapbox: The road less traveled is marked by orange barrels
The NFL, Hawks and LeBron:
Remember when people used to talk about baseball all year round?
Our sea of roadwork:
We haven't done the math, but it seems like there are more miles of suburban road under construction than we can ever recall.
Our sea of road congestion:
Yes, we like smooth and safe roads, but we don't especially like the process of getting them.
For example, Barrington Road:
Barrington Road in Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates is really a mess when it's taken down to one lane in each or even one of the directions, even in the middle of a weekday before rush hour. Fortunately the roadwork is already nearly done — and boy, it's nice and smooth.
Sending hope:
Members of Alpine Chapel in Lake Zurich plan to send off a big gift — a shipping container filled with school and church supplies — to the impoverished village of Colladere, Haiti. The walls inside the brightly painted 40-foot container also bear handwritten messages of hope and inspiration. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving.
Silent running:
The famous lyric “you might outrun my Chevrolet, but you won't outrun my ol' two-way” may take on a new dimension in Prospect Heights, when police add a quiet-running electric golf-cart-like ATV to the police fleet. At a top speed of 25 mph, it's not likely to catch speeders, but may be a less intimidating presence on some patrols.
It's for the kids, after all:
Some parents have complained about the lack of amenities, such as benches or chairs, at the newly opened splash pad in Gilberts. By the looks on the faces of the kids getting cooled off Thursday, none cared that Mom had to bring her own lawn chair. Some of those same moms voted down a 2012 tax increase for park improvements.
Facebook standards for trustees?
A Gilberts trustee responded to the residents' complaints about the splash pad with his own complaint saying, in words harsher than these, that some people aren't happy no matter what they get. He admitted, “I'm pretty blunt, and it may be inappropriate.” Yeah, in this case, anyway.
Life's no ballet on this swan lake:
Ah, the perils of childhood. Schaumburg's swans, Louis and Serena, are the proud parents of cygnets, who cluster around Serena in adorable fashion at the municipal pond. The village does what it can to keep them safe, but nature, alas, does take its course. Our sympathies when it does.
Another message to our grads:
You don't get ahead without working hard, but hard work alone is not enough.
Best wishes, Karen:
Our corporate secretary, Karen DiGiulio, retired Friday after a long tenure with the Daily Herald that began in our newsroom. We're going to miss her skill and work ethic. We're going to miss her eternal cheerfulness even more.
Remembering Stan Zydlo:
You may not remember the name of Dr. Stanley Zydlo, who died Wednesday at age 81, but as the Inverness pioneer who brought paramedic service to the suburbs, he may have saved your life or the life of someone dear to you.