Lake Co. fencepost
Important test:
We applaud the Lake County Health Department's test program to provide vaccinations for adults, and urge officials to work toward making it permanent. Such a program could make important vaccines accessible at a lower cost than in the private sector, which could be critical for low-income adults. Only a handful of suburban health departments -- including DuPage and Kendall counties -- offer that now. Traditionally, public health departments offer only children's immunization that are mandated by law. Lake County's test program was started to provide adults 18 and older with vaccines, many of them newly developed, that would prevent disabling diseases, including Hepatitis A and B, meningitis, pertussis, human papillomavirus and measles. While children's immunizations are subsidized by state funding, the county adult vaccines are offered at cost.
An inspiration to us all
Those of us who want to make more of a difference in the world will undoubtedly be inspired by Frances Foyrs. For the past 10 years, Foyrs has run the non-profit Maristella ministry, now based in Libertyville. Maristella helps homeless women and children by providing them with emergency shelter, food and clothing, and a rent subsidy if they find a job. There's also follow-up counseling and a support group. Foyrs was homeless herself as a child, and that's where she gets her compassion for her clients, and her passion for the cause. She's helped 3,000 people, and is hoping to help even more by moving her operations to a vacant convent building in Mundelein. We hope Maristella and the St. Maria Del Popolo Church in Mundelein are able to work out a deal. The community can only benefit from Foyrs' good work.
Travel transparency:
College of Lake County trustees took a much needed step in the right direction this week when they set guidelines for themselves while traveling for school business. The board is no longer allowed to charge taxpayers for their booze, or dine out without receipts. While we applaud their efforts and agree with Chairman William Griffin's statement that board members owe it to taxpayers to be transparent, we think the board should continue investigating what else can be done to curb spending. Perhaps send fewer trustees -- six of the seven board members attended a conference in Washington D.C. in 2006 -- or maybe impose daily per diems as other schools have done. The state doesn't require community colleges to follow travel spending guidelines that set maximum per diems at four-year schools, so we do applaud CLC for doing something, but why stop here?
Eeewww … what's that?
Wildlife biologists say they believe skunks are making a comeback in Illinois. And they weren't talking about the kind that inhabit certain political circles. It seems that skunks, once ravaged by rabies, have bounced back. That may not be a bad thing, given their penchant for eating mice and grubs. Then again, don't we have enough stink in Illinois?
Root, root, root for the cold team
While the Cubs and the White Sox have been training in temperate Arizona, high school baseball and softball teams have started their season in conditions that hardly resemble the desert Southwest. The colder than usual spring has made playing the games even more miserable than usual. But we take off our hats - and offer stocking caps - to the high school players who take to the diamond on the frozen tundra with great enthusiasm, and hit, field and pitch with skill despite frozen fingers.