Saturday Soapbox
And let the casino frenzy begin:
Robert Kozonis' suggestion that his O'Hare Lake Office Park would make a great site for the state's last floating casino license may have merit, but with the application deadline barely more than a month away, Des Plaines Mayor Tony Arredia's response that it comes too late is likely to prove true.
Saga of a bike trail addition, part 1:
How exciting to see the bike trail extension in the Paul Douglas Forest Preserve off Algonquin and Roselle roads. The extension completes a loop through the forest preserve, and the extension actually looks foresty as the Busse Woods trail does.
Saga of a bike trail addition, part 2:
Now, we're not sure if the extension is actually open. In some spots, construction horses with signs saying "Bike Trail Closed" appear; in one spot, that horse was knocked over; and in another spot, the "Closed" part has been removed. No matter, people are using the trail.
Saga of a bike trail addition, part 3:
It's been funny to see the crooked yellow lines painted onto the trail, then portions of the line covered up, with white chalk marking a straighter line.
Saga of a bike trail addition, part 4:
It's good to hear the Cook County forest preserve is offering bike rentals in a few spots along trails east of the airport and that soon "mini-shops" will appear in a couple of spots in the Northwest suburbs. We look forward to more details.
A good question for the school year:
Will you spend as much time helping your child develop good study habits as you did shopping for schools supplies and new clothes this year?
September and two teams in first:
Cubs fans and White Sox fans - altogether now, raise your arms, take a deep breath and let it out slowly. September is here, but there's still a ways to go. Don't dread it, don't fight it. Embrace it.
Think you had a rough day?
Earlier this week, if you'd followed the freshly painted yellow stripe down the middle of Algonquin Road east of Route 25 in Algonquin, you would have seen a very flat squirrel with a stripe down its back. No getting in the way of progress, we guess.
A real hero in anyone's book:
Mike Dahlen disagrees, but we think what he did Labor Day was pretty heroic. The Spring Grove man pulled three people, including a toddler, from a plane that crashed in his front yard. Did we mention the plane was burning at the time? And that it was crumpled and overturned?
Home values dropped, but will taxes?
Word's out in DuPage County that the value of homes dropped an average of 9 percent from the last year. Ouch. Let's hope the township assessors got the same memo so they'll pass along a corresponding drop in the assessments.
Summer is over, but the festivals aren't:
Naperville had its Last Fling. Store aisles are filling up with Christmas decorations. But that doesn't mean the festival season is over. Barrington, Bloomingdale, Campton Hills, Carol Sream, Elgin, Winfield and Wood Dale celebrate festivals this weekend. Wheaton is gearing up for Autumn Fest next week. Oktoberfests will follow. Ah, the outdoor fun continues.
Freedom Fest fine time to wave the flag:
Have you had enough political rhetoric? Planners of the Barrington Freedom Festival say you'll find none today when thousands gather from northern Illinois to honor deployed servicemen and women in the Metra parking lot.
A lapse in judgment, an apology:
Sometimes even we have to scratch our heads about something that got into the paper. That's true of Thursday's editorial cartoon. It was offensive. It had no point. In retrospect, we don't know what we must have been thinking. Our apologies to all of our readers.