Thursday, March 06, 2008
Of Monuments of Remembrance – Part 2
Part 1 of this article can be found here.
The Wednesday before last, when I was computer-impaired because of Microsoft's Vista, Governor Rod Blagojevich agreed to the suggestion of the NIU president to use $40 million to tear down and replace Cole Hall, where the massacre took place, and build another lecture hall and an on-campus memorial in its place.
Maybe it is because I was on the House Appropriations Committee through which big capital expenditures flowed in the 1990's, but I immediately thought of how much $40 million would buy.
It would have been bought 40 right-turn lanes back at the turn of the century.
It would go a long way toward re-building and widening Route 31 between Crystal Lake and McHenry, surely the most needed road improvement in McHenry County. (And, yes, leaves have been on the trees sometime in the distant past before Narnia's White Witch turned our area into what seems like a perpetual winter.)
Then, Sunday morning, I woke up thinking of how $40 million (or, maybe it was only $20 million in the late 1990's) would have paid for an underpass in Fox River Grove. Fox River Grove is the only town on the Union Pacific main northwest line without any underpasses or overpasses.
Even though the state managed to come up with money for an overpass for Cary in the 1990's when Route 14 was widened, as you can see above, and Metra officials discussed an overpass in Fox River Grove, it was apparently too much money.
Despite the tragedy.
That would have been an appropriate memorial, it seemed to me.
Instead Fox River Grove residents did what they always do. They did what they could with what they had.
There is a rock with bronze plaques on two sides at the accident site that this little girl is looking at with her mother watching her.
There is also a small plaza in front of the library a block away built with donations and some legislative initiative money, otherwise, known as “pork,” from my allotment.
Five innocents died in DeKalb.
Seven died as a result of the Fox River Grove school bus-Metra train crash.
I think most of the $40 million the NIU president and Governor Blagojevich propose spending tearing down and replacing Cole Hall and building a memorial could be spent better elsewhere.
Instead, in addition to a memorial on campus, why doesn't Governor Blagojevich build a memorial sign over the tollway before the NIU exit (built on land I have been was owned by former Republican State Senator Dennis “Denny” Collins)?
One something like the one you can see to the left of the photograph at the O'Hare Oasis above.
Each Blagojevich sign cost about $15,000.
Then people off campus could be reminded of the tragedy, too.
= = = = =
All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.
The Wednesday before last, when I was computer-impaired because of Microsoft's Vista, Governor Rod Blagojevich agreed to the suggestion of the NIU president to use $40 million to tear down and replace Cole Hall, where the massacre took place, and build another lecture hall and an on-campus memorial in its place.
Maybe it is because I was on the House Appropriations Committee through which big capital expenditures flowed in the 1990's, but I immediately thought of how much $40 million would buy.
It would have been bought 40 right-turn lanes back at the turn of the century.
It would go a long way toward re-building and widening Route 31 between Crystal Lake and McHenry, surely the most needed road improvement in McHenry County. (And, yes, leaves have been on the trees sometime in the distant past before Narnia's White Witch turned our area into what seems like a perpetual winter.)Then, Sunday morning, I woke up thinking of how $40 million (or, maybe it was only $20 million in the late 1990's) would have paid for an underpass in Fox River Grove. Fox River Grove is the only town on the Union Pacific main northwest line without any underpasses or overpasses.
Even though the state managed to come up with money for an overpass for Cary in the 1990's when Route 14 was widened, as you can see above, and Metra officials discussed an overpass in Fox River Grove, it was apparently too much money.Despite the tragedy.
That would have been an appropriate memorial, it seemed to me.
Instead Fox River Grove residents did what they always do. They did what they could with what they had.There is a rock with bronze plaques on two sides at the accident site that this little girl is looking at with her mother watching her.
There is also a small plaza in front of the library a block away built with donations and some legislative initiative money, otherwise, known as “pork,” from my allotment.Five innocents died in DeKalb.
Seven died as a result of the Fox River Grove school bus-Metra train crash.
I think most of the $40 million the NIU president and Governor Blagojevich propose spending tearing down and replacing Cole Hall and building a memorial could be spent better elsewhere.
Instead, in addition to a memorial on campus, why doesn't Governor Blagojevich build a memorial sign over the tollway before the NIU exit (built on land I have been was owned by former Republican State Senator Dennis “Denny” Collins)?One something like the one you can see to the left of the photograph at the O'Hare Oasis above.
Each Blagojevich sign cost about $15,000.
Then people off campus could be reminded of the tragedy, too.
= = = = =
All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.
Labels: Cary-Grove High School, Cole Hall, Crystal Lake High School District 155, Fox River Grove, Mass Murder, Massacre, Metra, NIU, Northern Illinois University, Rod Blagojevich, Route 31, School Bus
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Of Monuments of Remembrance - Part 1
I haven't written anything on the Northern Illinois massacre beyond my being astounded by NIU's president and police chief assertion of satisfaction with the way things went after the mass murder and how my grandfather helped stop an early 1940's crime spree in Elkton, Maryland, by serving as one of fifty "secret deputies."But, today let's compare tragedies and what was done to commemorate them.
DeKalb is not only place around here where young people have needlessly lost their lives.
One only has to think of the horrible October 25, 1995, Fox River Grove school bus-Metra train collusion in 1995.Mercifully, I remained blissfully ignorant of the morning crash until about noon.
Meanwhile, my brother-in-law, Dr. Joe Giangrasso, was treating the victims in Good Shepherd Hospital's Emergency Room and my lab manager wife was running a reporter out of hospital bathroom where he were hiding, among other things.
In any event, the Fox River Grove tragedy was reported nationwide, just like NIU's. Millions of people could identify with the District 155 Cary-Grove High School victims, just as they can with the murdered and injured NIU students.
I introduced a resolution which I have put below this story. The resolution designated the railroad crossing “Seven Angels Crossing,” using a Cary-Grove High Schooler's terminology.
The Daily Herald printed it in full, prompting a local resident to give me a short course in angels. He patiently told me that the dead children were not angels, that that was not Biblical.
Of course, upon reflection, I realized he was correct.
Before I got the call, I had envisioned a sign saying "Seven Angels Crossing" arching over the street where the accident occurred. Of course, that was left up to those in Fox River Grove.
Tomorrow, back to NIU.
= = = = =
All pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.
The sign at the top and the close-up here reminds us of Governor Rod Blagojevich, oops, I mean Governor Blagojevich's "Open Road Tolling" initiative. The arch was, of course, financed by tolls paid by motorists. The little girl by her bicycle is looking at the small rock with two brass plaques near where the bus in the picture below sat. The Fox River Grove bus crash photo comes from the National Traffic Safety Board report on the accident.The Illinois House Joint Resolution follows:
House Joint Resolution 63
WHEREAS, This Body joins with the nation and the world in offering support and sympathy to the grieving citizens of Fox River Grove and the Cary-Grove High School; and
WHEREAS, The entire country was shocked at the tragedy that occurred on Wednesday, October 25, when the Cary-Grove High School bus was struck by a Metra train in Fox River Grove; and
WHEREAS, The accident claimed the lives of seven innocent students: Jeffrey J. Clark, Stephanie Lynn Fulham, Susana Guzman, Michael Bennett, Joseph Kaite, Shawn Robinson, and Tiffany Schneider; and
WHEREAS, Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the families of these young people; classmates and neighbors sign the praises of these bright lights, extinguished too soon; and
WHEREAS, We offer our moral support to the survivors of the accident and their families and friends and our empathy to the bus driver, Patricia Catencamp, an the train engineer, Ford Dotson, with the hope they all will find comfort and peace; and
WHEREAS, House Rule 3-6(a) generally prohibits memorial resolutions; the House has waived this rule and made an exception in order to allow the consideration and adoption of this resolution as an expression of our deep concern for all involved in this tragedy' and
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE EIGHTY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, that we extend our deepest sympathy to the victims and families of the injured and deceased; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the railroad crossing in Fox River Grove be designated “Seven Angels Crossing” and that the Illinois Department of Transportation be directed to erect an appropriate marker in recognition of this designation and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the parents of Jeffrey J. Clark, Stephanie Lynn Fulham, Susana Guzman, Michael Bennett, Joseph Kaite, Shawn Robinson, and Tiffany Schneider, to the principal of Cary-Grove High School on behalf of the students, to Patricia Calencamp, to Ford Dotson, and to the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transporation.
Labels: Cary-Grove High School, Cole Hall, Elkton, Fox River Grove, Good Shepherd Hospital, Joe Giangrasso, Mass Murder, Massacre, Metra, NIU, Northern Illinois University, School Bus
Monday, March 03, 2008
How About Putting the Barack Obama Presidential Library at NIU?
What an idea!The Chicago Tribune's prominent placement of Dennis Byrne's column on Governor Rod Blagojevich's plan to memorialize the Northern Illinois massacre by tearing down Cole Hall and spending $40 million to replace it and build an on-campus memorial inspires another idea.
Why not put the Barack Obama
Presidential Library there?
Presidential Library there?
After all, Senator Obama went to the NIU massacre memorial service.
His presidential library doesn't have to be in Chicago. DeKalb is pretty close. The senator represents all of Illinois.
At least private donors would be picking up most of the cost.
And putting his presidential library in DeKalb would help change the image of the campus.
I'll have some thoughts about the NIU massacre memorial here on Wednesday and Thursday.
Labels: Barack Obama, Barack Obama Presidential Library, Mass Murder, Massacre, NIU, Northern Illinois University
