The Herald-News Editorial Board offers this week’s thumbs-up and thumbs-down:
Thumbs-up: to the students at Joliet Job Corps for dedicating Saturdays for their volunteer work at Joliet Township Animal Control. In the last two years, these students have given 1,000 hours of dog walking, litter box scooping and cage cleaning. They’ve also provided plenty of one-on-one attention to dogs and cats that rarely experience it – but desperately require it if they are to be well-socialized and adoptable.
Thumbs-down: to the public for not taking advantage of two meetings Joliet Junior College held recently as it sought feedback on expansion projects on its campuses in Joliet and Romeoville. JJC’s master plan calls for two projects: a multipurpose building at the Joliet campus, and adding space to existing building at the Romeoville campus to accommodate the growth that campus has seen. Both projects will be funded through a $45 million bond issue. JJC realized that these buildings are to serve the community, so they rightly invited the community to talk about what they want in these buildings. Few people showed up at the events, and those who did primarily were JJC staff members. It was sad to see more people not take advantage of a government body’s transparent efforts.
Thumbs-up: to Will County for its renovations of Sunny Hill Nursing Home. The residential facility is one of the last county-owned nursing homes in Illinois; the 300-bed nursing facility focuses on providing care to those dependent on public aid or who cannot afford private, long-term care facilities. While many counties are getting out of the nursing home business, Will County sees the need to care for some of our most vulnerable residents and is working to ensure they are taken care of.
