The Soapbox
25 years for kids museum:
DuPage County should be proud that the vision of Louise Beem and Dorothy Carpenter, who used a station wagon to move exhibits from one home to the next, has turned into a full-scale museum that hosts more than 300,000 visitors a year. Congratulations, DuPage Children’s Museum, on your 25th anniversary on Sunday.
Move on, together:
Arlington Heights officials say they can still work effectively with advocates of a proposed housing project for people with mental disabilities, despite the group’s failed attempt to force the village to accept its proposed site through a lawsuit. Let’s hope so. The need is real. In a town of 75,000 people, there has to be a site that will work.
A kind gesture:
The family of Marine Cpl. Joseph McCarthy gave Round Lake Beach residents a chance to see his bronze likeness this week before the statue was trucked to its permanent home in Arizona. McCarthy, who lived in the village before moving to the Southwest, was killed in Iraq, in 2004. The statue tour was a nice opportunity for local family and friends to remember him.
Good call:
Smart for the village of Lombard to reject a $22,000 federal grant after realizing the cost of administering the program would outweigh the size of the grant. Instead, the village will do the projects, upgrades of restrooms at the village hall, as time and money permit.
Blocked out on a limb:
Seems to be a good time for road crews and municipalities to check for trees and shrubs that grow in front of road signs throughout our suburbs. Many of these traffic signs — and sometimes even light signals — are seen too late (or not at all) because of overgrowth. Drivers can’t heed what they can’t see.
Nice idea, but ...
Also wise was a decision by the Dupage Housing Authority to scrap plans to turn a historic home in Churchill Woods Forest Preserve into housing for veterans. The costs were prohibitive and interest had waned. So now we encourage groups like Citizens for Glen Ellyn Preservation to find funding to restore the Robert McKee house.
To those with sticky fingers:
If you’ve got a mind to sell hot merchandise, take a lesson from the arrest a South suburban man accused of posting a stolen motorcycle on Craigslist. An officer posing as a potential buyer arrested him when he arrived in Lombard to sell the cycle, police say. Better yet, don’t steal in the first place.
Letter of disgrace:
Illinois Republicans’ mock Father’s Day letter from Attorney General Lisa Madigan to House Speaker Michael Madigan was childish and unnecessary. In it the writer thanks “Daddy” for the “cool” job and for “having all your union friends be real nice to me, they send me tons of campaign money.” At a time when politicians in general could use some image enhancement, it didn’t do much for the state GOP.
Crossing our fingers:
Now that Kalin Koychev of Wheeling has given his left kidney to little Nathan Saavedra of Carpentersville, all that’s left to do is think good thoughts and hope that this time Nathan’s body accepts the new organ. While Koychev was not a perfect match biologically, his attitude and motivations certainly are perfect. Best of luck to both of you.