Beacon News

Letters to the editor

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:50:02 -0500

Drug legislation a bad idea for everyone The Illinois Legislature is on the verge of putting thousands of Illinoisans with mental and emotional conditions at serious risk if it passes legislation allowing non-medically trained psychologists to prescribe powerful and potentially dangerous psychotropic drugs. The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 2187, has passed the Senate and could be voted on soon in the House of Representatives. Forty-eight other states prohibit psychologists from prescribing these drugs, which are among the most powerful in medicine. They’re prescribed to treat mental and emotional conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and clinical depression. Allowing non-medically trained …

Letters to the Editor

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:48:10 -0500

Don’t redefine marriage We, like many others, are concerned for the dignity of every human being, including those who experience same-sex attraction, and who must be protected against any and all violence and hatred. The marriage debate is not about equality under the law, but rather, the redefining of the meaning of marriage (the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife). Marriage is not an issue of civil rights, but is instead a unique institution focused on the well-being of the next generation, which can only come from the union of a man and a woman. …

Firefighters in Aurora live a very busy life

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:34:00 -0500

A question often asked about firefighters is what is a typical day like? Well, first off there is no such thing as a typical day in the fire service. Covering 46 square miles and protecting a population of close to 200,000 citizens brings the opportunity for a wide range of calls. The Aurora Fire Department responds to an average of 55 calls per day which equals out to around 20,000 emergency responses a year. In other words, anything is possible. Aurora firefighters work a 24-hour on, 48-hour off shift cycle which equals out to 49.8 hours per week. Our work …

Letter to the editor

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:23:35 -0500

First step for safe communities: Provide early childhood aid Police chiefs, sheriffs and state’s attorneys from across the state have been fighting hard to keep funding for preschool in the state budget. It may be surprising to hear that many law enforcement leaders, including me, regard preschool and other early childhood programs as one of the most important steps we can take toward safe communities. Research shows that what happens early in a child’s life can be an important factor in preventing kids from pursuing a life of crime as adults. Early childhood — the period from birth to kindergarten …

Practice fire drills at home on a regular basis

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 02:22:35 -0500

I was 18 years old when I was attending the Oak Lawn Fire Academy. Instructor Tom Shervino had the class stand up and form a circle in the center of the training room. He then ordered us to turn to the right and look at the person in front of us. He then asked a simple question: “Who do bad things happen to?” No one answered because we were not really sure where he was going with this. However, the answer was simple, “the other person.” The catch to the question goes back to the circle we were standing in. …

Flooding can be an emotional experience

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:38:52 -0500

Flooding isn’t any easier the second time it happens to you. In fact, I think it may be worse because you remember the trauma of the earlier experience. When I saw the water sloshing against the bottom of our basement steps on Thursday morning I wasn’t brave or stoic. I sat down on the top step and cried. When a record 17 inches of rain fell on Aurora in July of 1996, we had been in our home in the Cherry Hill subdivision for just under a year. Because flood maps were in the process of being redrawn when we …

Dealing with the deluge, and a flood of bad memories

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:06:52 -0500

There were plenty of nervous people in the Fox Valley watching the rain continue to fall from the skies Thursday. But perhaps no one was as apprehensive as the residents of Sans Souci and Cherry Hill subdivisions on Aurora’s far West Side. Homes here got hit exceedingly hard in the Flood of ’96, with water reaching to second floors, and transportation in and out of their neighborhoods by boat only. Tony Vickers was only 10 years old then, but those memories are still fresh. That’s one reason he decided to stay home from work Thursday morning and help his parents …

State lawmakers target teachers’ cost-of-living adjustments

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:36:00 -0500

Branded with “pension fraud” on March 11 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one Illinois response consisted of new misdirection legislation that pushes teachers toward poverty by phasing out their “cost of living adjustment” (COLA). Social Security’s COLA is basically a monetary raise tied to the inflation rate. The COLA is designed to keep anyone dependent on Social Security from being forced into poverty as inflation reduces the value of each dollar. Most states and savvy pension plans use COLAs modeled on Social Security, as informed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, for 30 years the Illinois …

Aurora’s new 10th Ward alderman has guts, drive

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:22:06 -0500

First time out, on a low-budget, high-enthusiasm campaign, Plainfield kindergarten teacher Lynne Johnson is the newly elected alderman of Aurora’s 10th Ward. Luck of the Irish? I don’t think so. I know it is cliché, but folks, Johnson is definitely was not your run-of-the-mill candidate, and it’s unlikely that she’ll fit that description as the 10th Ward alderman. She ran a gutsy campaign, and in her own words, to become a “public servant for you, our kids, our families, our community.” While some, including Johnson, have called it a surprise victory, to my way of thinking it exemplifies the unmistakable …

Letters to the editor

Fri, 17 May 2013 06:18:30 -0500

Vital housing assistance imperiled by sequester The sequester — coupled with years of inadequate of funding and longer-term spending caps established by the 2011 Budget Control Act — threatens to cripple vital housing programs such as public housing, Section 8 and CDBG (Community Development Block Grants). These programs help house our community’s most vulnerable — children, seniors, persons with disabilities and veterans. Without proper funding, these populations who rely on housing assistance will be at risk of homelessness. Elected officials need to act now to shut off the sequester, return to regular order, achieve deficit reduction in a balanced fashion …

Hot Sandwich; Sour Sugar Grove

Thu, 16 May 2013 06:23:35 -0500

Nothing like small-town politics if you’re looking for some election drama. The 2013 mayoral races, for example, made for a hot Sandwich, while things turned a tad sour in Sugar Grove these past few weeks. No doubt board meetings could be tense for a while in the latter village after longtime Trustee Kevin Geary went gunning for equally longtime Village President Sean Michels in an often-bitter campaign battle. Geary threw out accusations of back-room deals between the village and an engineering firm that had been run by the president’s father; Michels countered by describing his opponent as disorganized and ineffective. …

An apology can lead to remarkable healing

Thu, 16 May 2013 06:22:47 -0500

When a person does something wrong, the thing we most want to hear is an apology. We place a great amount of value on someone who can face us and utter the words, “I’m sorry.” When politicians and heads of state are caught in a scandal or infraction, we crave their public apology. If they offer one sincerely, I have found that people are surprisingly forgiving. Perhaps that comes from the reality that so many people refuse to take responsibility for their actions and instead, they divert attention in an attempt to redirect the blame elsewhere. (It’s the victim’s fault …

Letter to the editor

Sat, 11 May 2013 06:25:10 -0500

Salute bus drivers Thank you, local bus drivers. You bring kids to school safely day after day. Parents let go of their control for that brief ride to school or for a field trip and trust you with our greatest gifts. You do not receive any recognition, it is a thankless job for the most part, I would imagine. I have no idea what you see or hear on a daily basis, yet, you continue to take kids to where they need to go. So, thank you. I am thankful that my kids get to their destination safely. I appreciate …

Taking stock of where Aurora stands after Tuesday’s vote

Sat, 11 May 2013 06:15:42 -0500

What President Theodore Roosevelt said about politicians still rings true. When Roosevelt asserted that, “the most successful politician is he who says what everybody is thinking most often and in the loudest voice,” I wonder if he was referring to himself. Like modern-day politicians, Roosevelt’s political thinking evolved over time because when taking on party bosses as New York’s governor, Teddy’s viewpoint was to, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Over a century after Roosevelt’s administration, political theater hasn’t changed much and the politicians who perform for us continue to hone their craft. Contemporary politicians poll, tweak and frequently …

Quality time spent with a beautiful man named Roger

Wed, 08 May 2013 06:45:54 -0500

“I Ain’t A Pretty Boy No More” said the No. 2 most unforgettable newspaper headline to run above an autobiographical essay by Roger Ebert. True, no longer a ”pretty boy.” We could see that as we grimaced at the photo of a man whose lower jawbone had been cut away, who had been robbed by cancer of his ability to speak, eat, drink or even breathe through his nose. But he remained a beautiful human being. I didn’t know Ebert well. But we have shared many emotional experiences in the dark. For 26 years, my duties included writing movie reviews …