Mayor Hyde and the debate

[lewiston]

And why could the other two candidates and the forum hosts set politics aside for a couple of hours and all gone to celebrate the best thing that has happened to Waukegan in years? For one to think a politic debate is more inportant than kids in this community accomplishing something that is so wonderful and well deserving is beyond my comprehension! I respect Mayor Hyde for his decisions and back him 150%. I am sure that if one of the other two candidates were the current mayor they would have made the same decision and I too would have supported them and backed them 150%. This celebration is not about politics! It is about people in our community that have risen up and given us something to celebrate! I am taking off my job 3 hours early today and loosing 3 hours of pay to show my support for these kids and their accomplishments! As I said before I will bet dollars to donuts the other two candidates will be out there this afternoon! If they are not then they really do not deserve to represent our city if they cannot support its accomplishments! NUF SAID!

In the BIG PICTURE the basketball thing is rather insignificant in my opinion. When the kids do something more substantive like raise their academic perforamce out of the abyss that it's currently in will be the day to cheer. As always, The Dicks approach to this situation is indicative of his tendency for FAILURE.

The WHS team's success is symbolic of hope at a time when Waukegan schools have such poor performance. It is to be celebrated. Nevertheless, the basketball team comprises a fraction of the kids at WHS, many of whom will not earn a high school diploma, let alone a college degree. If Mayor Hyde wants to help, he should use his 'influence' as an alumni and use his pulpit in City Hall to make a real difference to the schools. To say that he only has influence over snow removal and so on is ridiculous and narrow-minded.

I stand by what I said regarding his political signs - he should decorate the town from top to bottom with Bulldog signs, but he absolutely SHOULD NOT connect their victory with his campaign for re-election. It sends a message that the WHS kids, their parents (and by extension, everyone celebrating the Bulldogs success) endorses him for re-election.