By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher Chalk this up as the summer I developed a new appreciation for the lowly and often invisible volunteer. It's not as though I am a stranger to community events. I have played minor roles, selling popcorn, taking tickets, that...
Though lesser known, A. Philip Randolph was pivotal figure in March on Washington
By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher We baby boomers grew up listening to the adults talk about Pearl Harbor. They could tell you where they were when they heard the news that the Japanese had bombed the Hawaiian military base and how their lives changed as the...
Mascots perpetuate negative stereotypes
As the start of school rolls around, let us be grateful that our local sports teams are the Falcons and the Panthers. If you had the misfortune to live in Mukwonago, Wis., you would watch the meter run on your next property tax bill. That’s where the school...
1929 issue of Norwalk Star reflects newspaper evolution
By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor Earlier this summer, the Ontario ambulance roared out to peel another motorcyclist off Wildcat Mountain. It's amazing how often folks, usually those from Illinois flatlands, underestimate the treacherous topography of the Kickapoo...
USPS delivery to Elroy was timely last week: We hope it continues
By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor In the good news department, one of our faithful Elroy readers dropped us an email noting that his issue of the County Line actually appeared in his mailbox on Friday last week. This is the first almost-timely delivery since eight...
Staycation provides an ideal respite
By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor If you anticipated opening this week's paper to find a tedious account of our week off, then you will not be disappointed to find it was even more tedious than usual. I have never been a big fan of summer travel and its...
Opportunity for youth sorely needed
By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor When a Brookwood High School alumnus was in the office recently and told me she still had not been able to find full-time employment more than a year after graduation, I was reminded that unemployment for young people was not just...
July 4 might have had different meaning for Battle of Gettysburg vet
By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor For most Americans, the July 4 celebration consists of the usual round of picnics, fireworks and maybe too much beer. In the old Ontario cemetery, James P. Sullivan has been resting for more than 100 years. If he were alive,...
Jane Palen always on hand to help Ontario
By KAREN PARKER | Ontario librarian Those who knew Jane Palen would not miss the sweet irony of her passing just two weeks before the Ontario July 4 celebration. I don't know how Ontario became the local ground zero for that event. For all I know, maybe Jane was in at...
N-O-W decision on memorials is bad policy
By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor The Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton School Board managed last week to take no policy and replace it with a bad policy on memorial creation. And though we think the board and administration badly bungled, it is easy to understand how that...
