Destroying a landmark
June 20, 2012 10:16PM
Please print photo with letter to the editor about I & M Canal.
Updated: July 22, 2012 6:12AM
I walk along the I & M Canal at least three days a week with my 9-year-old little brother. Today, I brought my camera to try to get a few photos of all the tires in the canal.
I’m glad I did. We came across an old turtle that got trapped in a tire and died. After I got it out of the canal and removed the tire, a nice young man who rode his bike from Chicago stopped to see.
This is horrible; the canal is home to blue herons and snowy egrets, along with turtles, ducks, geese and large fish. This canal is a historical landmark of Joliet, and goes a long distance, all the way to LaSalle.
We walk from Rockdale to Channahon and see at least 50 tires along with all the other trash. I have about 70 photos and will only attach one.
Sarah Pepin
Joliet
Quiet zone needed
Why does the village of New Lenox not pursue quiet zones for Metra along Route 30? I highly doubt it is a safety issue. How often have you heard someone say, “I did not see that train coming. I wish he would have blown his horn.” Come on!
I see quiet zones have been established along Laraway Road, where there are fewer homes and far less train traffic. Maybe those people deserve better than the working class people of downtown New Lenox. Who knows?
Crest Hill and Orland Park have many quiet zones as well. In my contact with Metra I was told that quiet zones are established by the Federal Railroad Administration in response to requests made by local municipalities.
According to the documentation Metra provided, we already meet the qualifications for a quite zone at the Cedar Road crossing, but the environmental study will still need to occur as it did for the other crossings in New Lenox, Mokena and Frankfort.
I am the voice of many and would like Mayor Baldermann and Kurt Carol, the village administrator, to take action.
Kurt Kreis
New Lenox
I agree, seniors are selfish
This is regarding the letter “Shame on Seniors” (May 31), accusing seniors of not wanting younger generations to prosper as their generation did.
I am a senior myself, but I must say that, to some extent, I agree that the older generations, now retired, have become narrow-minded. It surprises me that so many people, who worked for the steel industry and manufacturing, making excellent salaries, benefits and pensions, are now begrudging their children of the same perks. It seems some are hardened and cynical and enjoy watching others struggle.
I was talking with a friend a couple of weeks ago. She was angry because she pays school taxes and her own four children are grown. I said, “But older people with grown children paid taxes for our kids when they were in school, so it balances out.” She gave me a dirty look.
Unfortunately, many members of my own generation — the post-Depression babies — don’t care that their own children and grandchildren will inherit a world of struggle and strife. They don’t care if the earth is destroyed, just as long as no one asks anything of them. I’m personally ashamed to be part of such a largely selfish generation.
Annette Murray
Plainfield
