Stop and read the names on military statues, plaques

The statues or plaques in the Tri-Cities honoring the veterans of Kane County have always caught my attention. I read the names often, thinking about what it must have been like for the families and friends of these young men called off to duty.

As we move toward Memorial Day weekend, this column is simply dedicated to all of those names on all of those statues and plaques - with a reminder to others that they are worth stopping at to say thanks.

Each time my wife and I have stopped to glance at these places that capture our history, we've been the only ones doing so. This is a good time to say you might find it enjoyable to take a moment or two to glance at the names - and see if you recognize any.

We do, because my wife's grandfather, Caesar Van Hove, has his name listed amongst the St. Charles men who served in World War I on a plaque at the entrance of the Baker Community Center in St. Charles.

Other interesting lists fill the base of the Civil War statute in front of the old government center on Third Street in Geneva. This one lists all of the soldiers who toiled in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and the Mexican War. And it does so by cavalry unit.

The wonderful Kane County Veterans Memorial at the county government center in Geneva was dedicated nearly 14 years ago now, but the work of sculptor Guy Bellaver can't be denied in a setting that gives us the names of those from the county who died in conflicts preserving our freedoms.

The World War I plaques caught my eye on recent visits, mostly because it's been 100 years since that conflict came to a close - and it's a good time to give that some attention.

And if you are simply a history buff and enjoy anything and everything that documents how our country was shaped, then be sure to check out the Freedom Shrine along the Fox River, just north of the St. Charles Police Department headquarters. The Tri-Cities Exchange Club set this up as an outdoor tribute to our history, and the city has held its Memorial Day presentations after the downtown parade right in front of the shrine for several years now.

That was a store:

Depending on which way you are heading on Third Street in St. Charles when approaching or passing Bowman Street, a concrete-block building positioned there seems somewhat out of place.

You can barely make out some faded wording on the north side of the building for what appears to have been an advertisement for some type of bread.

But that part would make sense. The structure, attached to a home at that corner, was once a corner store serving that particular neighborhood in St. Charles.

I am told the store owners lived in the house on that property.

With a backyard alley in this neighborhood running from Mosedale to Bowman, plus the old corner store concept, it reminded me of the Chicago Lawn neighborhood I grew up in near Midway Airport.

As a kid, I loved the corner store in my neighborhood for penny candy, baseball cards, kites, or balsa wood planes. And walking down the alley was a quick way to get home.

Toss in the occasional Good Humor ice cream truck driving down the street, and this was heaven.

It had to be the same for those who lived in that west-side neighborhood of St. Charles all those years ago.

Listen to Louisa May:

Anyone who has read the book or watched the recent PBS series "Little Women," or have seen other adaptations, might find it interesting to hear from its author.

Leslie Goddard will portray Louisa May Alcott in a presentation celebrating the 150th anniversary of "Little Women" from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 30, at the Geneva Public Library.

"Louisa May" will share stories about the poverty of her childhood and the struggles of reaching success as a woman.

Protecting that data:

There's plenty of concern about what is happening to our personal data these days. We need to take advice from the European Union, which more than a year ago had set a compliance deadline date of today for what it is called the General Data Protection Regulation.

It means any company dealing with a European consumer's personal or payment credential data cannot share that data in any way unless they are given permission to do so.

They also have to tell a consumer who asks, where the data is being stored, for how long and why.

It's a big difference with how we do it here in the U.S.

Here, we get a credit card statement that has fine print about other uses that might occur with the data. The onus is on us to tell them we don't want it used in that manner. And we don't do that too often.

In Europe, it's the opposite. The consumer "owns" his data from the get-go and no one else can touch it or store it forever unless the consumer says it is OK to do so.

dheun@sbcglobal.net