Saturday Soapbox: C'mon, mom!
If you have a child as giving and apparently responsible as Evan Kuehnert, the Batavia 7-year-old who asked friends to skip birthday presents for him in lieu of presents for animals at the Kane County Animal Shelter, how can a mom resist his pleas for a dog of his own? Pretty easily, apparently. "He is shopping," she said of Evan, as he distributed his gifts at the shelter. "But we are not." We're betting she caves to this kid's warm heart and sweet smile sooner rather than later.
School deja vu
When Marvin Edwards arrived at an Elgin School District U-46 divided and in disarray, one of the first things he did as superintendent was to actually talk to the people who worked for him. Sadly, that was a novel idea at the time. But it helped launch a decade of progressive improvement and cohesion. His tenure ended in financial difficulty, but the district never really lost the unity he helped create. Now the first big act of Donald Schlomann's tenure as St. Charles School District 303 superintendent was to, um, meet the people who make his beleaguered and divided district run, his employees.ˆ½ We can only hope he gets the same sort of unifying, realistic results Edwards did from that hands-on touch.ˆ½Ã¯ˆ¿ˆ½
Do you have a, um, Crede jersey?
What a difference less than two years makes in the world of sports merchandising. When the White Sox won the World Series in 2005 you couldn't enter a sporting goods or discount store without encountering a wall of black-and-silver Sox gear. Walk into those same stores today, and you'll see wall after wall and rack after rack of Cubs and Bears attire -- the former team battling for first place and the latter allegedly primed for another Super Bowl run. But stuff for the floundering Sox? The few remaining South Side jerseys must be stashed in the stores' basements. That's what teams' reversals of fortune will do in the retail biz.
From three to nine
Gov. Rod Blagojevich this week signed into law a series of new restrictions on teen drivers that should serve to make the roads safer for everyone. The most promising of the requirements? That teens hold a driver's permit, allowing them to drive under a licensed adult's supervision, for at least nine months instead of three, as now stipulated.
Does Batavia need another bridge?
Batavia council members need to take a good, hard look whether the city needs a second bridge. Take a stance and support it. The "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it" approach isn't moving the downtown forward.
He should stay to the end
Congressman Dennis Hastert has sidestepped questions about whether he's going to retire early from office. He should stay, if only to prevent a special election that will cost taxpayers extra money. Hastert is known for his loyalty, serving the public and limiting the burden on taxpayers. He would do all three by serving out the term voters elected him to, while giving everyone a chance to vote in his successor in November, not on some random day after the February primary.
An appreciation
We salute Rachel Baruch Yackley, our longtime St. Charles columnist, who will stop writing her column in order to concentrate on her new full-time teaching position with the St. Charles school district. She will continue to write occasional feature stories. Rachel has been an integral part of our Neighbor section for more than nine years and has touched many lives with her twice-weekly columns and other features. Her reporting and writing skills, accuracy and compassion are much appreciated. We wish her well.