Archive for April, 2008
April 21st, 2008
I expect more people will be riding their bikes to work, shopping, etc. now that the price of gas has topped $3.50 and the weather is getting better.
Bicyclists need to be aware of motorists, some of whom don’t seem to realize that bikes have a right to be on the road. I’ve had inattentive motorists get dangerously close to hitting me. A few seemed like they were trying to get close enough to me to try and scare me. Why else would they move left AFTER they had passed me?
Bicyclists also need to use common sense. A Chicago man was killed last night when he was hit by a car. It happened at 1:15 a.m. Sunday.
I don’t know what he was doing riding his bike that time of night. It’s not something I would do. I don’t care how many lights or reflectors I can put on a bike, I don’t feel safe riding when it’s dark. Too many things can happen.
May is National Bike Month, as proclaimed by the League of American Bicyclists. The week of May 12-16 is Bike to Work Week and Friday, May 16, is Bike to Work Day.
Get out and ride. But be careful.
April 21st, 2008
Every once in a while we write editorials about blood shortages and how you should stop by the Rock River Valley Blood Center and donate.
We practice what we preach (sometimes) and this morning I gave blood. The process took a little more than a half an hour. The medical questionnaire, forms, etc. took up most of that time. The actual giving of blood, needle time, was about 10 minutes.
My blood is O+, which is the most common. Blood centers like to get O- because that type can be received by anyone whether they’re A+, A-, B+, B-, etc.
The blood center at the new Perryville location opens at 6 a.m., which makes it convenient for an early riser like me.
Give the blood center a call at 815-965-8751 and make an appointment. You could save a life.
April 18th, 2008
Here’s what’s for lunch next week in the Rockford School District (some entrées were omitted to protect the innocent): potato rounds, hash brown stick, french fries, hash brown patty and curly french fries.
How can any of that be trans-fat free?
Yes, we know the schools are doing a better job today than ever before. In Rockford, 2 percent milk has been phased out and substituted with skim and 1 percent. School lunches come with a free piece of fruit. Pizzas have whole-wheat crusts. Milk vending machines also sell cereal, yogurt and string cheese.
Still, are you frustrated with your child’s food choices at school? Do you wish school lunch were healthier?
Or are you more threatened by the food police and the new laws that restrict kids’ choices in schools?
April 18th, 2008
You can submit a letter to the editor through our Web site again. On the home page, and on the Opinions page, scroll down until you see “short cuts” in the left column. Click on “submit a letter to the editor” and you’re ready to go.
The comments section appears small, but it will serve the purpose for a 200-word letter. We hope to hear from you soon.
April 17th, 2008
The Register Star Editorial Board has supported medical marijuana laws for years. A move in the Illinois General Assembly to make medical marijuana legal has stalled. The release below, sent to me by Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, should give advocates some ammunition.
University of California Clinical Trial Shows Relief
of Neuropathic Pain, Mild Side Effects
DAVIS, CALIFORNIA — A clinical trial conducted at the University of California at Davis and just published online by the Journal of Pain has demonstrated significant relief of neuropathic pain (pain caused by damage to nerves) stemming from a variety of causes. This is the second study in just over a year to show that marijuana relieves neuropathic pain, which is notoriously resistant to treatment with conventional pain drugs, including opioid narcotics. A UC San Francisco study published last year showed relief of HIV/AIDS-related neuropathy.
In the new study, 38 patients experiencing neuropathic pain from diabetes, spinal injury, multiple sclerosis and other causes were given marijuana cigarettes of three different strengths: Zero percent THC (placebo), 3.5 percent THC or 7 percent THC. In each session, patients took the same number of puffs, following a standardized procedure to ensure uniformity of the dose received at each strength.
Both doses of marijuana reduced pain significantly, producing marked declines in pain intensity that lasted over five hours. Researchers Barth Wilsey and colleagues wrote that side effects “were relatively inconsequential,” and “psychoactive effects were minimal and well-tolerated.” Although the scientists did express caution about the neurocognitive effects of the higher dose — reflected in lower scores on some tests of memory and problem solving, the study was not designed to examine the potential for marijuana to allow reduced doses of narcotic painkillers that also cause cognitive impairment, a benefit widely reported by patients. For a copy of the complete study, contact MPP director of communications Bruce Mirken at 202-215-4205.
“This is yet more proof that the American College of Physicians was right that U.S. government policy on medical marijuana is totally divorced from scientific reality,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. “Congress needs to act to end the federal war on medical marijuana, but in the meantime states should act on their own to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest, as several states are considering right now.”
States where legislators are presently considering medical marijuana legislation include Illinois, New York and Minnesota. A medical marijuana initiative has qualified for Michigan’s November ballot.
With more than 23,000 members and 180,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
April 16th, 2008
Two readers who have been missing from our Opinions pages will re-appear Sunday.
Bill Berg, who was on a once-a-month-guest-column roll, has written a rebuttal to our April 10 sales-tax editorial. Berg hadn’t submitted a guest column since November.
Bob Ham, who has had a letter to the editor published almost every month since I’ve been editorial page editor (2001), writes about Barack Obama. Ham hasn’t written since January.
You can read their stuff Sunday and come back here to post comments.
April 14th, 2008
The Rockford Charter School Coalition Steering Committee will visit the Editorial Board today to discuss its vision for charter schools here, what kind of schools might work and short and long-term strategies.
The problem, in my view, is that too many students and parents don’t value a public education. If charter schools help motivate students, fine, go for it. But it seems charter schools need the same things that regular public schools need: strong administration, good teachers and involved parents.
April 11th, 2008
If pictures are worth 1,000 words, then the case for removing the downtown mall — now — is made by photo in the previous post and in one that appears with this editorial.
The latter dates to 1929. It was shot from the approximate vantage point of the Memorial Hall parking lot, looking south. It shows the busy intersection of North Main and Mulberry streets. Notice the room for two lanes of traffic in either direction, plus curb parking, plus sidewalks. Looks like a busy commercial area to us. The pedestrians are blurry, but they’re there.
The picture in the previous post was taken last week. It shows a woman who works in Trekk Cross Media, the corner building on the right in the old photograph.
But where are the people on the “pedestrian mall?” Besides the subject of the photo, there is a lone pedestrian in the background on the left.
Oh, and look at the lamp post above the subject’s shoulder. Attached to the post is a “No Loitering” sign, complete with ordinance citation. The ordinance gives police the power to move along and make temporarily disappear a group of people who feel exceedingly comfortable on our mall — vagrants.
The recent picture is not what the heart of a downtown should look like. Good business environments are not peaceful, pedestrian-poor places accessible only on foot. They are bustling places where people can drive their cars, park, eat, shop, walk around, congregate, play.
No matter how many times city officials hear that message from the more vocal downtown businesspeople, they seem incapable of making a decision and moving ahead with taking out the mall. It’s past due.
While officials are planning how to take out the mall, they also should resolve to open up downtown’s one-way streets to traffic in both directions. The downtown traffic patterns right now are ridiculously confusing and incomprehensible to out-of-town visitors who want to get from I-90 or Bypass 20 to the Coronado Performing Arts Center or one of the museums.
Opening up Main Street to vehicles is the centerpiece of redoing downtown traffic flow.
If we had a nickel for every story that’s been written about the mall debate and every meeting that’s been held on the subject, we’d have enough money to buy a dandy trinket from J.R. Kortman Center for Design, a unique gift store on the mall. Owners Jerry Kortman and Doc Slafkosky have hung on in the same location for more than 20 years. They believe downtown businesses would benefit if the mall were removed and traffic could go by the storefronts on North Main Street.
ikewise, Tom Giamalva, owner of Palace Shoe Service, 204 N. Main St., has long advocated tearing out the mall and letting traffic through.
Of course, there is disagreement on the issue. Some believe the mall is worthwhile as a public gathering space. Some people like the trees; the debate has dragged on for so many years, the trees have reached maturity. And certainly, street and sidewalk construction after removing the mall would disrupt business for a while.
The long-term benefit is worth the inconvenience.
There was debate almost from the time the mall was created in 1974. Originally, West State Street was closed off, too, and traffic was rerouted around the heart of downtown. Symbol, the big orange Alexander Liberman sculpture in Sinnissippi Park, originally was set down at the intersection of West State and Main streets.
Of course, it quickly became apparent that Symbol was suffocated in that space and that it had been a mistake to put an obstruction on West State Street that required a permanent traffic detour.
Symbol was moved and West State Street was reopened in 1984. Squabbling over whether to leave or take out the rest of the mall started sometime about then.
The picture taken last week is Exhibit A that the pedestrian mall has not worked out. At long last, correct the mistake. Get rid of it.
April 10th, 2008
We think there’s something wrong in this picture that appeared in the Local&State section today. We’d like to know whether you see the same thing and draw the same conclusion that we did.
April 10th, 2008
The Register Star Editorial Board meets on Mondays and Thursdays to determine our stance on the issues of the day.
At today’s meeting we will discuss the state of Rockford schools from Superintendent Linda Hernandez’s extension to Jefferson Principal Kenneth Jackson’s firing.
We’ll also talk about whether we think the downtown mall should stay or go. We have talked about the issue many times, but we’ve never come up with a strong stand either way.
Other topics will be reimbursement levels for foster parents, the Electorial College and the latest of the state budget woes.
Let us know what you think about any of these topics, or suggest a topic of your own.
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