Editor’s Note
Back in the old days — that’s less than a decade and before there were such things as blogs and interactive conversations with readers — editors used to respond to their newspaper readers with an “editor’s note.” Sometimes it clarified a point made in a letter to the editor. Sometimes it offered a correction. Sometimes it was just a simple explanation. An editor’s note was a handful of sentences; maybe a four or five paragraphs. It was always a personal link between the editor and the reader. Only difference between it and today’s blog is the immediacy and the platform. Welcome to Editor’s Note.

Archive for December 19th, 2008

State should take a Rockford lesson

Add comment December 19th, 2008

Don’t blame the Rockford snow plow crews when you hit Second Street (Rt. 251) this morning. That’s the state dudes and they aren’t getting the job done well. They told our reporter around 8 a.m., that they were doing their best and blamed the fast and furious snow for the challenges.

OK, but that means I have to believe it’s snowing more over state roads than over city ones. I drove downtown to the News Tower about 7 a.m., from my house near Rock Valley College on the far east side of the city. That meant mostly city streets, a couple of patches of county (decent; not as good as the city) and then that Spring Creek cloverleaf at the Rock River and south onto the state’s Second Street.

What a mess with at least one car off in the drifts. One lane in each direction appeared to have been plowed once. The rest was deeply drifted over and getting considerably rutted as traffic increased. I swung off at Y Boulevard; it and Madison along the railroad tracks were in better shape that Second Street.

I accept that in the rural county areas keeping the roads clear can be a challenge because of the wind, but smack in the middle of the city? Nah, the state guys just weren’t prepared.

Kudos to the Rockford crews. Once again, you’re making it easy for me to get to work.