Saturday Soapbox

Another gauge of road damage:

We have another, nonscientific gauge of how badly winter has hurt suburban roads: Daily Herald editors who are road cyclists. As we await spring, they're relegated to mere driving, and even in the car they're cringing as they feel neighborhood roads getting bumpier and bumpier, with buckling and potholes. And, in this economy, the roads might not get fixed for a while - even with the stimulus package.

Service above and beyond:

School crossing guards were back on their corners this week in Rolling Meadows. The police department had laid off all seven of them Jan. 23 due to budget concerns, but after a public outcry they were rehired. While police made sure the intersections were covered by their own officers in the interim, some of the guards stuck to their posts, working for free in winter's chill. Their commitment to the children's safety and to the community is to be commended.

There's nothing like a good book:

If books are medicine for the soul, residents of Arlington Heights, Naperville or Schaumburg Township should be feeling great. These libraries earned top ratings by the Library Journal, which based its review on number of visitors, circulation, program attendance and computer usage. The Barrington District and Des Plaines Public and Bolingbrook Fountaindale libraries boast high ratings, too. It's no surprise the suburbs are home to most of Illinois' ranking facilities. What's surprising is that, despite all the new things libraries are doing nowadays, 90 percent of Naperville library patrons are still there for its core purpose: checking out a good book. Reading really is fundamental.

Illinois should stay out of space:

Even if Pluto's now-revoked planetary status was good for downstate Streator, once home to discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, that doesn't give Illinois lawmakers the authority to interfere with science. Lawmakers are considering a decree that would cast aside the International Astronomical Union's 2006 decision that Pluto is not really a planet. It was a controversial move and NASA has even commissioned a study with results expected in 2015. Maybe Illinois lawmakers should leave these things up to experts and focus on more pertinent earthly business. Isn't there a budget to balance and corruption to fight?

The way it should be:

Kudos to Harper College's presidential search committee for sharing the names of the two finalists for the college's top job. We've seen other community colleges take this approach, but it's still unusual enough that it merits praise. This opens up the process and invites feedback before a final decision on who will lead the college and its $182.4 million budget.

Updating your status:

It may not have been intentional, but we like the way some suburban lawmakers are getting young people involved. State Reps. Mike Connelly, a Lisle Republican, and Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, rely on teens and twentysomethings to figure out what to do now that they're on Facebook. We applaud anything that increases participation and communication - especially if it reaches a group that's often on the outside. We look forward to reading their "25 Random Thoughts" and seeing them tagged in their fourth-grade class pictures.