Kudos for good journalism

With job cutbacks and workplace attrition, it is refreshing to know that Will County, Illinois still has a credible journalist who continues to seek the truth and isn't afraid to tell it. Kristen McQueary, the political columnist for the Southtown Star, has written a column in today's paper (July 12, 2009) entitled, How to grease the skids in Will County, that highlights an issue so pervasive in Illinois that it is often glossed over. Thank goodness Kristen has not been desensitized to the political games played at the local level where leadership is often coerced into bad policy and poor-decision making.

If it can happen in Green Garden Township, it can happen anywhere in the country. Green Garden Township was once a small, farming community that has now been overrun with new developments and urban sprawl. Townships have the most basic political structure. Illinois townships like Green Garden have virtually no power, don't make any money, and are sometimes considered to be the proving ground for political wannabes to learn the ropes on their way up governments' ladder. But when these small communities work in conjunction with county government, which has plenty of power and lots of money, not to mention political ties to a corrupt system, the situation can be dire. The two things that can thwart total and absolute degradation of a region are active members of the community coupled with a strong and fearless newspaper. Good investigative journalists are necessary additives to the mix.

Kudos to Kristen McQueary.