EDITORIAL

Time was, dry Evanston offered little stronger to drink than water. Leaders of the Temperance Movement urged everyone, including Evanstonians, to drink water instead of spirits.

Today we can find many additional reasons to drink water. But we suggest drinking not bottled water but the Evanston stuff - straight from the tap.

The bottled-water fad has environmental consequences: Plastic bottles tax petroleum resources, which are limited and expensive. A recent assessment by the Pacific Institute concludes "the actual amount of energy required just to manufacture the plastic bottles consumed by the United States in 2006 was the equivalent of 17 million barrels of oil per year." Transporting the bottles to market eats up additional energy.

According to the City's most recent publication of "Highlights" (Summer 2008), only 12 percent of the 28 billion plastic water bottles purchased each year are recycled. More than 10 billion end up in landfills each year, and it takes almost a thousand years for each buried water bottle to degrade.

In the present tight economy, families would be wise to balk at paying for designer water that can cost as much as 4,000 times as much as what comes from the faucet - especially when they are already being billed for City water.

And Evanston water is healthful as well as cheap.

Unlike the water in many communities on this planet, our water is safe to drink. Not all bottled water has to pass the same tough standards that Evanston water does just to get to our homes. Nor does bottled water have the powerful cavity-fighter, fluoride.

If green - the environment or dollar - is not persuasive enough, consider taste. In a blind taste test last summer at the Farmers' Market, Evanston water won out over several types of bottled water.

The City is encouraging Evanstonians to drink their own water. Those who prefer it portable - as well as potable - can choose to carry a reusable stainless steel container.

The Water Department has launched a Citywide campaign, "Tap Water: Good for You, Good for the Environment." Representatives will be on hand at various community events this summer to encourage people to take the tap-water pledge.

So let's have a toast to sustainability: one small drink for a person, one long drink for the planet.

More Than Ever

By Charles Wilkinson

The timing of this year's Fourth of July festivities could not be better, nor the holiday more needed. These are not the best of times for our country. The economy is looking around for an Intensive Care Unit; the war continues to pile up years, years, with no end in sight; unemployment is screaming, "Do something, somebody!"; even Mother Nature seems to be kicking us while we are down. It is as if our metal is being tested, as if 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina were not enough

The list could be longer but the point is made. It is not my nature to be negative but that does not mean I cannot be concerned about global warming and the dying in the Middle East, the prices at the gas pumps and food markets and the lack of any light at the end of the tunnel. Well, almost any light.

We are America, after all, and the Fourth of July is our collective way of reminding ourselves of that and what we as a people can achieve. We know that Independence Day is not just about parades and fireworks but about the spirit our forefathers and founders passed on to us. Not only is it a day to celebrate our freedoms, it also is a time to reset our focus.

"When in the course of human events" our lives, our liberties and our pursuits of happiness are challenged, as they are these days, we are yet young enough as a nation to meet those challenges head on. I have lived most of my life thinking that it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Necessity is the mother of invention," when in fact it was Plato. That ancient wisdom should be the theme of this year's Fourth.

Necessity was at the heart of the Declaration of Independence. It drove the Industrial Revolution, got us through the Great Depression and exploded us into the Atomic Age. Today, necessity is with us on many fronts. I, for one, believe we as a nation will not only meet the challenges before us, but will be better because of them.

This kind of thinking does not end the war tomorrow or create overnight a quantum drop in the cost of living, or magically dry clean the flooded worlds of the Midwest and the Mississippi, but it can tell us more than ever who we are and what we can achieve.

Just like this Fourth of July needs to do.

Another View

By Peggy Tarr

An acquaintance vigorously spoke the same thoughts I had verbalized to relatives and friends: It's too bad the Catholic Church didn't remove priests who molested kids as quickly as it removed Father Pfleger for his political comments in the pulpit - in the pulpit of a non-Catholic church and a predominantly black church, I might add. This acquaintance pointed out that he was white and Catholic, and that he had thought Father Pfleger's performance was better than most stand-up comedians. He had laughed and laughed at Father Pfleger's performance but knew that Father Pfleger spoke the truth. Hillary Clinton was the person Father Pfleger chose as his focus, but his words didn't have to be about Hillary. His words spoke to a sense of "white privilege" in America (the world?) - an attitude assumed by too many whites and protected and worshipped by too many non-whites.

All of the media coverage of Father Pfleger's words and his suspension sent me rushing to the Internet to see what I could find on Father Pfleger as well as the Black Church. The majority of parishioners in Father Pfleger's church, St. Sabina, are African-American. As a part of St. Sabina's outreach, there is an employment resource center, a social service center, and an elders home. Father Pfleger has been and continues to be a social activist and has sometimes defied cardinals, as, for example, when he adopted sons. He has been involved in anti-drug campaigns; targeted Jerry Springer and Howard Stern as immoral programs; reached out to prostitutes to urge them to change their lifestyle; charged the Southside Catholic Conference with racism when it refused to admit St. Sabina's parish school because it considered the St. Sabina neighborhood to be unsafe; erected "Stop Listening To Trash" billboards across Chicago to help "end the violence and disrespect of women ... including the music industry"; generated controversy with Cardinal George for inviting Al Sharpton to speak during Black History Month celebrations; and has been arrested with Jesse Jackson for anti-gun protests.

The debate about separating Church and State becomes a matter of semantics when caring for the poor or needy. Is it the responsibility of the State, the Church, or both, to address hunger, crime, racism, unemployment, elder abuse, etc.? The Civil Rights Movement relied on the participation of black churches. Black churches, as well as non-black churches (for example, the Quakers), have a history of outreach and activism that includes political involvement. Just last week, National Public Radio broadcast comments from ministers involved inthePoor People's Campaign, some of whom spoke to the complacency of too many ministers and churches today when churches should be the nation's moral conscience.

Rev. Arthur Price Jr. said, "There still needs to be a charge from the pulpit to ignite people ... to let them know that they do have a responsibility to the least of these." If I remember my Sunday school lessons from a half-century ago, along with feeding the masses with food and words of encouragement and faith, Jesus, the "Son of God," also overturned tables in the temple when he felt the activities there were inappropriate.

"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's," remains a riddle for me. What is Caesar's and what is God's, and who decides which is what?

*Cardinal - Roman Catholic official appointed by the Pope.

Letters to the Editor

Regarding the Evanston Historical Center

To the Wditor:
I've got a $10,000 challenge for the Evanston Historical Center Board.
A little background: It's been widely reported that Northwestern University, which considers Evanston its sandbox, is actively forcing EHC out of the Dawes Mansion that has been its home for the 60 years since General Dawes donated the home (and an accompanying endowment) to Northwestern with instructions that they were to be for EHC. Last year, Northwestern refused to renew EHC's $1 annual lease. Early this year, Northwestern used the Dawes' endowment money to pay for an engineer's report to press its case further (the University maintains that the building’s unsafe but won’t spend any of its multi-billion dollar endowment for repairs while EHC is there).

Recently, Northwestern brought in the Evanston Fire Department to shut the building down. Northwestern could find plenty of uses for a historic mansion on a acre by the lake - such as a residence to lure a big name to replace retiring president Henry Bienen-and only needs to clear out EHC to do so.

Those in attendance at last week's EHC annual meeting heard the newly re-elected board members and staff mouth weak platitudes about their commitment to staying in the Dawes House while EHC board president Marge Wold stressed the complexity of the situation (citing the secretive nature of the negotiations, Ms. Wold refused to provide any detail). Other board members emphasized the need to be reasonable. Northwestern has terminated the lease and called in the City to shut them down. It's not clear where reasonable will get them at this point.

So, what is the Board's plan? Basically, to roll over. Plan "A", according to Ms. Wold, is negotiating with the University. Northwestern has a phalanx of attorneys. EHC has none--unless you count board member Jim Staples who Ms. Wold mysteriously described as both head of the negotiating team and the Board’s paid/pro bono outside counsel. Mr. Staples seemed confident that his experience as a staff attorney at a steel company qualifies him to negotiate the finer points of complex trust agreements and endowments with the Northwestern's legal army. Plan "B" is to abandon the Dawes House and move to Northwestern-supplied quarters. Only when pressed did Ms. Wold non-specifically promise a legal battle -presumably using the board's paid/pro bono outside counsel (see "Plan 'A'" above).

90 minutes of misstatements, “secret” negotiation details and obfuscation worthy of a White House press briefing left some in the audience wondering if waterboarding could drag out the truth. But, if Chicagoans know one thing, it’s that rotting, putrid smell when the fix is in. The most likely deal? In exchange for not making a fuss, EHC will get a brightly lit basement someplace on the campus (with the implicit threat, if they don't, of being put out on the street).

Northwestern gets what it wants and finds the millions needed to restore the mansion for its own needs.

So, here’s the challenge: If I'm wrong and the EHC leverages a (minimum) five year deal to stay in the Dawes House as Marge Wold and all the re-elected board members pledged, I'll humbly apologize and write EHC an unrestricted check for $10,000 which could go toward financing a capital campaign or paying for repairs.
You’d think the Board would rush to pick that money off the table - provided, that is, Ms. Wold and Mr. Staples haven’t already done the deal that they promised they haven’t.

- Mel Birgé

Thanks for Returned Watch
Editor:

This is to express my gratitude to the person who found and had the integrity to turn in my watch recently.

It was hand-crafted, and I would not have been able to replace it. Somehow I knew that if it was located on the site, an Evanstonian would do the right thing. I just hope s/he sees this and also has positive experiences.
- Nan Anderson

Questions D65's Savings On Busing
Editor:

Thank you so much for writing a news story about the June 9 School Board meeting at which many parents and children showed up to discuss and protest the change in school start times at Lincolnwood, Lincoln and Oakton schools (from 8:20 to 9 a.m.).

Your article stated that Superintendent Murphy said the change would save the District approximately $100,000 a year in busing costs. Can you please fact-check this for us? I have yet to hear a solid answer to how exactly this $100,000 is saved. Several parents have asked the administration to explain where they got this number, and have received either no answer or vague and unsatisfactory ones.

If, as I suspect, there is no real math behind this number, the tax-paying citizens of Evanston have a right to know that those tax dollars are still being spent on busing.
- Maria Liccardo

Realty Reality
EDITOR:

Round Table "reserves...right to edit"
Which they do at times to their credit
But proofer misspelling
Will impair the telling
And readers think writer wrong said it
--Robert J. Bagby

ETHS Boys Golf Another Winning Team
Editor:

I want to thank the RoundTable and ETHS athletic director Chris Livatino for highlighting this past season's athletic accomplishments at ETHS. However, there was at least one notable omission from the list of achievements. The 2007-08 boys golf team had a very successful season last fall. They placed first in the Central Suburban League South, and the entire varsity team qualified for the state sectional championship. Additionally, three team members were honored All Conference: Sean Bostrom, Philip Kohnken and Michael Peters.

All of us should be proud of our successful student athletes. I know I was especially proud witnessing the varsity baseball team beat New Trier 10-0 this spring. The future looks bright at ETHS.

Thank you.
--Greg Klaiber

Residents' Parking Needs Protection
Editor:

Further erosion of residents' parking protection near commuter stations? No! The writer of your June 11, 2008, editorial must never have resided in these locations, or must have an expensive condo or apartment that includes parking.

I am definitely for the increased use of public transportation but would suggest erecting multi-level facilities for commuters near the stations. For example, a multi-level structure could be built on the Park School lot, which would accommodate the latter's expanding staff and also provide some monthly or weekly public parking.

Also, the hole in the ground of Main Street Station may or may not become condos. A 4-5-level garage could serve commuters and condo residents, if the rest of the building is completed.

Bicycles are fine when their riders obey traffic laws, but every day I see people riding the wrong way on Washington and zooming past the intersections of Washington and Elmwood and Custer.

We have a long way to go.
--Maribel Meisel

Time to Uncover Lessons of Evanston History
Editor:

Connecting the dots on two recent news items:

1. School District 202 has its bond rating raised to Aaa. Kudos to ETHS Chief Financial Officer Bill Stafford and his team of staff and consultants on a job well done putting 202's financial house in order. But wait a minute --isn't this essentially the same team our former City manager tried to discredit for their work with the City?Could it be our former City manager was a little too willing to disparage top-quality professionalsif she felt it helped to promote her agenda?

2. In a front-page article in the June 11, 2008, Evanston RoundTableheadlined "Evanston Health Department Services One Year Later," certain members of the Evanston City Council expressed buyer's remorse over cuts in City health services the former City manager proposed and they endorsed inearly 2007. The article quotes certain City Council members as stating, "Whatever happened to the promises that were made?" and "Some of the things that we were told, did not happen."

So what's the common thread in these two items, and perhaps other stories that are on the horizon? Maybe, just maybe, our former City manager promoted her agenda too aggressively.

And maybe, just maybe, in our City Council she found an audience that was a little too gullible. The complete history of the recently ended Carroll era in Evanston City government has yet to be written. It will be interesting to see if other programs and proposals from that era do not stand up to the harsh light of scrutiny.
--Jay Terry

Welsh Visitor to Chicago Enjoyed Evanston, Too
Editor:

At the end of May my college in the UK closed for a week's break. A search of the internet produced a flight to Chicago at a very affordable price. The Windy City was new to me. I couldn't resist the chance of a short stay in a city that I had heard so much about but never visited. Some research and a trawl for reasonable lodgings resulted in me booking a room in Evanston.

My reasons initially were that Evanston looked pleasant enough but more importantly was handy for Chicago itself. After a few days in your town it became clear that it is not just those things, it is also a place worth visiting in its own right.

Of course, I did travel to Chicago to spend days sightseeing, watching plays and a terrific ball game at Wrigley Field.

At first Evanston acted as a base, but I found myself spending more and more time in the town. Its lovely lakeside parks, interesting restaurants and bars, the variety of shops all combine to make it a great choice of vacation destination.

I particularly enjoyed two gems in Evanston. Firstly my hotel, the Margarita European Inn, was wonderful. Unlike the soulless hotels belonging to the major Chains, the place has such a welcoming and unique atmosphere. The staff at the Margarita were helpful and friendly, made me feel right at home. The second gem was The Blind Faith Café, the best vegetarian restaurant I have ever visited. The food is wonderful and once again the staff friendly and full of good advice about local attractions. If you have never visited that café make it your next eating-out venue. You certainly do not need to be a vegetarian to enjoy the food.

These two Evanston attractions are within the bounds of travelers on a budget.

Reasonable prices do not mean that you have to sacrifice quality at either establishment. Indeed, the same can be said for most of the places I visited in your town.

So thank you, Evanston, for a great vacation. I will be back as soon as possible.
--John Bishop,Wales

Thick Skin for Sale
editior:

I was surprised to see the most recent post on the Evanston Coalition for Responsible Development (ECRD) discussion board announcing its closure due to the stereotyping of people both against and for the yower project at 708 Church St..

As the last entry states, "... [S]ome of the posts have been mean-spirited and personal attacks on individuals or perceived groups and that will no longer be tolerated. This discussion board is now closed."

I understand that civility is the best practice. And I understand that the ECRD has complete autonomy to close the discussion board.

However, forget not what got us to this point in the parlance of public debate and rancor over the 708 Church parcel. It was (and is) this:

1) The vehement outcry by these groups and individuals to make their opposition to the Tower project known to us.

2) The constant plea to make us sway our Alderman to vote "no" on the project.

3) The constant use of argument to create angst and fear within the community domain if the Tower were built.

4) The constant use of yard signs, blogs, op eds, articles, meetings and public statements in City Council meetings to further the opposition agenda.

This is healthy, and thankfully we live in a country that affords us these liberties to publically speak out. And we live in a City that has always been very politically charged -- Evanston.

My inference is that if a group or groups are going to so steadfastly carry on this crusade publicly, fighting so diligently to stop this development and to influence public opinion, then their members should be prepared to field and accept strong argument against their views, no matter how civil, stereotypical or attack-driven.

And the closure of the ECRD discussion board only seems counterintuitive and selfish. If anything, it shuts out opposing views.

So my recommendation is to grow some thick skin.

You already have enough of it to diligently carry on this opposition as you have. Now you need it to accept the criticism and opinions that differ from your views.
--Dan Bloedorn

Trashbusters 2008 a Success
Editor:

Keep Evanston Beautiful once again sponsored successful month-long Trashbusters events throughout Evanston this past April in celebration of Earth Month. This year marked 22 years of trashbustin' in the Evanston community.

Events included cell-phone recycling at the Ecology Center and Civic Center, trash clean-ups, schoolyard clean-ups and other beautification and recycling efforts.

The following individuals and groups supported or participated in trashbustin': Mayor Lorraine Morton; former City Manager Julia Carroll; State Reps. Julie Hamos, Jan Schakowsky and Jeff Schoenberg; Aldermen Anjana Hanson, Delores Holmes, Edmund Moran, Jr., Ann Rainey, Elizabeth Tisdahl, Cheryl Wollin and Melissa Wynne; D65 Superintendent Hardy Murphy; D65 Board members Katie Bailey, Mary Erickson, Mary Rita Luecke, Bonnie Lockhart, Andrew Pigozzi and Keith Terry; D202 Superintendent Eric Witherspoon; D202 Board members Omar Khuri and Mary Wilkerson; and Trashbusters leaders Kelly Marcelle (Boys Hope/Girls Hope of Illinois), Sue Hammerman (Evanston Running Club), Jill Brazel (Young Professionals of Evanston), Holly Fisher's Group, King Lab School (K-4), Mimi Davis (Chute Middle School) and Marissa Naujokas, with more than 200 Scouts: Brownie and Junior Girl Scout Troops 1784, 2469, 54, 885, 745, 2466, 29, 1555, 2014, 190, 884, 24, 1550 and 3473.

Keep Evanston Beautiful thanks you all for your participation. Remember that you can recycle your old cell phones and inkjet cartridges at the Ecology Center, 2024 McCormick Boulevard, or at the Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., 8:30 a.m. -- 5 p.m.
-- Sally Ennis, Community Awareness Chair, Keep Evanston Beautiful