Saturday Soapbox: Listen up, parents

Dress your kid for school. Check. Pack him or her a nutritious lunch. Check. Make sure they do their homework and say please and thank you. Check. Time for the Parenting 101 final exam: When should you throw a kegger for your kid? This is where a growing number of parents seem to be falling down. Through the years we have seen reports of parents hosting drinking parties for their underage children and their friends. And just this week we ran a story on a man in Antioch charged with throwing a beer bash for his daughter and her friends on the occasion of her 19th birthday. Still looking for an answer? The drinking age around these parts is 21.

Wonderful wish coming true

Unique but simple wish: One can't help but be inspired by Katelyn Bayne, an 8-year-old from Roselle. A brain tumor discovered when she was 10 months old kept her from getting around without a walker or leg braces in the ensuing years. So when asked by the Make-A-Wish Foundation what her wish would be, Katelyn didn't answer with the usual. Her only wish was to walk like her older sister and younger brother. Make-A-Wish figured out the best way it could to help Katelyn's wish come true, granting about $15,000 worth of additional therapy. The result so far? Katelyn, again, says it best: "When I started I did not think I could take 100 steps. Now I can." Yes, she can.

Remember the riders

An apparent dispute between Pace and a suburban shopping mall had some bus riders feeling stranded. When Yorktown Center this month banned buses from the grounds of the mall, Pace had to drop off and pick up passengers across the street. Then when Yorktown's management decided buses could return if certain conditions were met, Pace officials said it would be difficult to reconfigure bus routes. At the heart of it all is a debate over why the mall doesn't have a permanent transfer station. Either way, Yorktown and Pace officials should handle their differences without hampering bus service.

Sounds of summer ending

The rumble of school buses. The ringing of bells in the school buildings. The sounds of another summer coming to an end. We hope it's a great school year for all - students, teachers, administrators, parents. Work hard, students, to make the grade. But also find time to make friends. And have fun.

Great fall ball ahead?

The approaching end to summer also finds our professional baseball teams poised to make some noise in the fall. The Cubs are in first place in their division. And the White Sox are right up there, in a battle for first in their division with the Minnesota Twins. Dare we dream that as the days grow colder in the fall, we will be warmed by an all-Chicago World Series?

Stop being Scrooges

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said be believes that if Charles Dickens were alive today, the famous author would like the things he is doing for the people in Illinois, such as improving health care and striving for better schools. But Dickens also wrote "A Christmas Carol," in which a bitter Ebenezer Scrooge comes to realize that being mean and uncompromising is not the way he should live his life. Hopefully the governor and legislative leaders will come to think the same and put aside the bitterness in their working relationships. And give the state an early Christmas present by moving the state forward, actually solving problems instead of creating new ones with personal attacks.

Campaign clutter

Enjoy the lovely landscape as much as you can over the next couple of weeks - because it is soon to be polluted with all those political campaign signs.