Darts & Laurels
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Stressed out

We're entering that time of the year when our stress levels begin rising rapidly. The holiday season begins officially next week with Thanksgiving and lasts through Jan. 1. In between, we'll have the shortest day of the year and the sun will disappear for days at a time. Just take a deep breath and release it ... slowly. Repeat.

Welcome, detainees
America's federal prisons are full of people who should be there. Mob hit men, mass murderers, and homegrown and international terrorists. As a nation, we arrest and charge them, give them a fair trial and, if they are found guilty, lock them up or execute them. We do not quake in fear. We do not shelve our values. We do not skip out on due process. The worst human beings get a fair day in court. We don't compromise on our nation's principles when it comes to dealing with criminals.

A worthy goal
We've been of the opinion if you like looking at cornfields or woods, you should buy them. That, too, has pretty much been the feeling of most Lake Countians, who have heartily supported land-buy referendums offered by the Lake County Forest Preserve District and, most recently, Warren Township, where electors decided to spend $4 million on land for a future sports complex. Now comes the Liberty Prairie Conservancy with a grand idea to set aside 20,000 acres over the next 20 years to guarantee open space in the third most-populous county in Illinois. The vision statement calls for at least 20 percent of this 470-square-mile county to be preserved as natural areas, parks, trails or farmland by 2030.

Pay raise shuffle
Most -- currently 19 -- Lake County Board members are patting themselves on the back lately, prattling on about how they have decided to refuse a $1,500 pay boost in 2010. They are right to spurn the pay hike, but they should hold off on polishing this apple for voters. These County Board members now so proud of their fiscal stand were the same County Board members who last year voted 13 to 10 to increase their own part-time salaries. A year ago, they had no qualms about voting for a three-year 15.5 percent pay hike package. The vote raised their pay from $39,370 a year to $40,945 a year, as of Dec. 1.

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Where to call, write
President

Vital vets
Ninety years ago today, we marked the first Armistice Day and the one-year anniversary of the end of World War I, that "war to end all wars." Since its renaming in 1954 to Veterans Day, we no longer celebrate the end of the Great War, but honor those who have served in the nation's armed forces. Currently, there are about 23.2 million American veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Merchant Marines. That's down from a high of 28.6 million in 1980. With the end of the draft and the passing of the World War II generation, military service is not the common denominator in American life it once was.

The health split
There is a wide range of concerns among Lake Countians, not only about the Obama administration's health-care legislation, but about the shortcomings and problems with the way health care in the United States is now funded. As the debate continues, a split is evident across the nation. Many express a fear of a "big government" takeover of the health-care industry, yet at the same time they also talk of their problems with obtaining insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions, of coverage too expensive for them to afford, or of medical care costs that are continually rising.

Double digits
The last time the nation had a 10.2 percent unemployment rate, "E.T." was the highest-grossing movie at the box office, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the Brew City World Series, "The A-Team" was one of the top 10 TV shows and the King of Pop was about to release "Thriller." It was 1982 and Ronald Reagan was in the White House and was blamed for the nation's job losses that hit Illinois, which had a 12.2 percent jobless rate, and the rest of the "Rust Belt" hard. Back then, it was the first time since 1940 that unemployment in the U.S. topped the symbolic double-digit mark.

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Into overdrive
Lake County transportation officials kicked off a hardball lobbying campaign the other day to get the proposed Route 120 and Route 53 projects off dream sheet status and into overdrive. It's about time. County voters in an advisory referendum in April sent a clear message to county and state officials that they want Route 53 built from its current abrupt end at Lake-Cook Road north to Route 120 in Grayslake. That ties in nicely with the Route 120 project which proposes widening the state route to a four-lane arterial highway with limited access between Almond Road in Gurnee and Volo, including a seven-mile bypass around the existing path of Route 120 in the area of Grayslake.

Flu shots
It may be tempting for some to criticize the Lake County Health Department for its initial handling of the H1N1 vaccination program, but from what we can tell they've been doing it exactly by the book. An overwhelming demand for the swine flu shots and nasal mists at the department's first round of clinics last week drastically depleted its meager government-supplied vaccine supply. After inoculating 12,650 residents Thursday and Friday, the department was forced to cancel countywide clinics scheduled for the weekend. Undoubtedly, that frustrated worried parents and many county residents who didn't receive the shots in the first round. The county had requested 100,000 doses.

It begins
Three months from today, the Feb. 2 primary election will be held. A year from today, Nov. 2, 2010, the general election. Yet, we've been bombarded with campaign propaganda since Labor Day. Anybody else feeling campaign overload even before it's officially begun? Hundreds of candidates finished filing their petitions to be on the primary ballot Monday in Waukegan and Springfield. Locally, it appears most incumbents will have no primary opposition on either the Democratic or Republican ballots. Despite complaints from unruly voters, it appears few will have the opportunity to express their displeasure at the primary polls come February.

A testing enigma
Looking at the latest round of Illinois school report cards, No Child Left Behind remains an enigma for judging classroom performance. A majority of Lake County school districts failed to make adequate yearly progress, based on annual Illinois State Achievement Test scores. Statewide, it's not much better. These annual results may not show off the fine jobs students and teachers do in classrooms across the county, but fair or not, this is how students and teachers are being judged. By the state, by the feds, by parents.

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Paying the piper
Another session of dreamland opened in Springfield on Wednesday. That's the world, inhabited by legislators and politicians, where money is promised for services, but no cash actually exists to pay for them. Gov. Pat Quinn, noting short-term borrowing is routine in state government, now wants to borrow about $900 million so the state has cash to pay its bills. If it happens, once again, Illinois will be borrowing to pay the piper. The governor says the state is suffering through the worst financial times in its history. Guess he wasn't around in the Great Depression, huh?

H1N1 mania

Kermit the Frog of "Sesame Street" has long lamented, "It's not easy bein' green." These days, it's not easy being a parent with H1N1 mania sweeping the nation. Should parents send their kids to school and risk coming in contact with the bug, knowing that access to the vaccine to fight it is still a day, a week or longer away? Are the students claiming to be too ill to go to school really sick, and if so, with what? A cold, seasonal flu, H1N1? How concerned should parents be?

Halloween safety
For the first time in a long, long time, every Lake County community save one has scheduled trick-or-treat hours on Saturday, Oct. 31, the real Halloween. Which means little goblins, devils and vampires will be roaming their respective neighborhoods seeking treats. That being the case, it seems like a good time to remind parents of safety issues involved in trick-or- treating. Lake County has been fortunate over the years in that children have been safe and vandalism has been at a minimum.

Darts & Laurels

Our View: Losing Trees

Native to Asia, the emerald ash borer’s larvae kill a tree from the inside and when it dies the borers move on to the next tree. Since it was first spotted in Michigan in 2002, it has spread to 12 other states and threatens the existence of the tree as a species.