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The Soapbox

Wheaton hero honored:

Thoughtful work went into the efforts of a committee that recommended the commons of Wheaton North High School be named for Staff Sgt. Robert Miller, a Medal of Honor recipient. Miller's heroism should not be forgotten, and Phil Cecil, who provided the seed money for a scholarship in Miller's name, put it well: “I didn't want him to be just a name on the wall.”

Keep us guessing:

Why, Mother Nature, would you have it be in the 80s one day and in the 30s the next? We know Chicago is famous for its ability to exhibit all four seasons in 24 hours, but is that your way of breaking up the monotony or your way of keeping the weak-willed riffraff out?

Mea culpa to Schaumburg:

We jumped the gun in calling the intersection of Braintree Drive and Weathersfield Way in Schaumburg just plain ugly after parts of the street were torn up to install new storm sewers, then patched up. Since then, the intersection and a little beyond have been completely resurfaced. Now it's smooth like butter. Good work, Schaumburg!

50 is the new 30?

Doug McConnell of Barrington became just the 48th person older than 50 to swim across the English Channel. He's 53. Since the first in 1875, 1,220 people have crossed the channel solo, and the average age is almost 34. McConnell shows it's never too late, and 50 is still young.

A familiar refrain:

For the sixth season in a row, the WNBA playoffs began without the Chicago Sky, which must wait until next year to get its first taste of postseason action. Eight of the 12 WNBA teams qualified, but the Sky missed the mark again. Not the tradition anyone wants.

But it's not all cloudy:

There have been some smaller victories for the Sky, which plays in Rosemont. They claim the biggest increase in WNBA attendance (29 percent) this year. Sylvia Fowles averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds, only the second time it has happened in the WNBA. And, yet another Sky guard, Courtney Vandersloot, made the all-rookie team.

Stop the revolving door:

Grayslake Elementary District 46 will be looking for its fifth business manager in three years now that the most recent hire is leaving after two months on the job. Is it a string of bad luck, an unreliable hiring pool or a poor vetting process? Needless to say, it doesn't look good for the district, which now has a lot more work to do.

Not for the chicken-hearted:

Chick-Fil-A fans camped out in front of the new Schaumburg store Wednesday and Thursday for a chance to win a free meal a week for a year. Let's do some rough calculations: At about $7 for a salad and drink, times 52 weeks, that's a $364 prize. Worth the 24-hour vigil in the 50-degree chill? Several dozen people apparently thought so.

Make the decision final:

With toll increase in the bag, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority can move ahead on its capital plan, and it's fine that the Route 53 extension into Lake County will be studied once again — if, that is, the 25-member panel's decision is final so that we'll never have to fund a multimillion-dollar study again.