Governor has not honored his name

For more than twenty years as a teacher in High School District 214, I took students to Chicago each semester to meet with Federal Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, a man who had many important lessons to teach young people. During the visits, "Judge Abe" would tell my students the story of his father's deathbed utterance. "I never hurt the name. I never hurt the name," his father said.

The judge would explain that his father's dying words were a declaration of fact that was vitally important to him. He never did anything in his life to dishonor the family name. The lesson was that they should be mindful of their actions, never to hurt the name their fathers gave to them.

I understand that Gov. Blagojevich's father was a WWII veteran who endured hardship in a prisoner of war camp. I also understand that the governor's father was a hardworking man of good repute who gave to his son a name he could be proud of, a name to care for. There is not doubt that the former governor hurt the name - a negative lesson all of us should keep in mind.

Wayne H. Wagner

Arlington Heights