Pulse, praise and peril
February 3, 2013 3:22PM
David Piekosz
Article Extras
Updated: April 5, 2013 11:01PM
David Piekosz, the Joliet city council candidate who took his name off the ballot last week rather than fight a petition challenge in court, issued a statement that ended with a recommendation to read Psalm 100 as his “final thought.”
Piekosz may have been thanking the people who signed his petitions. Maybe he wanted to exhibit the joy of the Lord. Or, perhaps the first-time candidate for public office was glad to get away from the political intrigue that succeeded in throwing both Piekosz and John Gnutek off the ballot.
So Psalm 100 begins (New International Version): “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”
Pulse would like to add these words of Jesus Christ quoted in Matthew 10:16 as a potentially helpful thought for well-intentioned, first-time political candidates: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
Speaks the language
Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas has an accent from the south side of Chicago. The Rev. Vytas Memenas has an accent from the Old World. But when the two meet, Kaupas said, they show the Lithuanian heritage that they share.
“Every time we see each other we say how ya doin’ in Lithuanian, and everyone looks at us like we’re nuts,” Kaupas said.
Kaupas grew up in the Chicago’s Englewood community. Memenas, the chaplain for the Will County sheriff’s department, grew up in Anykciai, Lithuania.
He’s a Blue Dog now
U.S. Rep. Dan. Lipinski, D-Western Springs, announced last week that he has joined the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate House Democrats.
Lipinski, considered to be a conservative Democrat before joining the coalition, said in the announcement that he believes the Blue Dogs can help in “fixing our budget problems and bringing our skyrocketing debt under control.”
A sign of spring?
Pitchers and batters report for spring training in the major leagues next week.
Already?
Yes, and in Joliet the Slammers report to the Joliet City Council Baseball Committee at 2:30 p.m. Monday in City Hall.
Slammers General Manager Chris Franklin said the team will unveil new concession packages, including an all-you-can-eat option called the “Blue Collar Buffet.”
Bob Okon contributed to Pulse.
