Pulse: Airport item grounded
February 24, 2013 11:04PM
Will County Board Chairman Jim Moustis
Article Extras
Updated: March 26, 2013 6:06AM
At the last minute Thursday, the Will County Board yanked the proposed south suburban airport near Peotone from its state and federal legislative agendas.
Republican Caucus Chairman Jim Moustis, R-Frankfort Township, said new board members should be given a chance to review the project first.
The airport was once pushed strongly by former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds last week. Moustis said Jackson always saw the airport as a way to create jobs.
“This is not a jobs program,” Moustis said. “I don’t want to build an airport that doesn’t function. It has to have a good model for success. And if it’s not there or the market isn’t ready, we shouldn’t be rushing to built it. This idea of ‘build it and they will come’ is only in the movies.”
Not so easy
Joliet City Councilman Robert O’Dekirk has been mayor pro tem this month.
That means when the mayor’s not around, O’Dekirk runs the city council meetings. Such as last week, when Mayor Thomas Giarrante was on an out-of-town trip, and O’Dekirk took the mayor’s seat at a meeting when the council got a lot of heat from speakers in the audience regarding the immigrant detention center issue.
So, at the end of the meeting when council members typically make parting comments and observations, O’Dekirk said, “I just wish Mayor Giarrante a safe trip home so that he can sit here.”
G-rated lunch
While the Joliet Police Narcotics Unit members were honored as Exchange Police Officers of the Year during a luncheon this month, Officer Brian Prochaska made a tactical error. By kindly offering the open seats at his reserved table, his family was joined by Police Chaplain Chris Groh and The Herald-News’ Brian Stanley.
“I got the priest and the reporter. I couldn’t tell a single joke,” Prochaska lamented after receiving his award.
Cindy Wojdyla Cain, Bob Okon and Brian Stanley contributed to Pulse.
