I had some thoughts on some of Peoria’s recent news items that I thought I’d share with the Community Word readers.

The first item of interest is District 150’s latest cost-saving efforts. While it is usually quite acceptable by taxpayers for schools to be conscientious of their spending, no one truly believes that cutting 45 minutes off of the grade school’ day is a cost-saving effort. Nor do they believe that this would be of great educational value for the students. My two grown kids are products of District 150 and I was an active parent doing all I could to support the school system. I was a Parent-Teacher officer on several PTO boards within District 150. In fact, when my husband and I decided to move 15 years ago, we made a concerted decision to stay within District 150. Not too sure I’d make that same decision today. Some years ago the school district pushed for year round school, saying they desperately needed more time with the students in order to teach them everything they needed to teach. And, now they say less time is better. hmmmm. I’m no longer “plugged in” at the school district and cannot really make any proclamations on this decision. But, I do know enough to understand that something is up. I applaud receent parents’ efforts to make their opinions known, to apply pressure, and to make preparations to focus on future school board elections.

Another “hot topic” in the city, one that’s a true sign of summer weather, seems to be about loud stereo systems loudly playing as the drivers tool around town. While I am bothered by those loud systems shaking my car and blocking out my ability to talk to my passengers or listen to my radio, or even to hear necessary traffic noises, I’m equally bothered by the fact that besides getting tickets for their noise pollution, their cars are impounded. Excuse me? Do we impound cars for other tickets? If I get a speeding ticket, my car is not impounded. I encourage the police to continue to write the tickets. But, I’d also encourage city leaders to reconsider the impounding of vehicles for this infraction.

Another topic of concern does not relate to only Peoria, but rather to all Americans that filed an income tax return. And, that topic concerns those people who have or will receive a 2007 income tax return. They are eligible for a “stimulus check.” Our president wants us to spend this money in order to stimulate the economy. Whether or not this works remains to be seen. But, the various “rules and regulations” used to deny or to restrict access to such payments makes one wonder just how badly they really want us to spend this money. First of all, we learn that many college students who qualify for this money in every other way, do NOT get a stimulus check because they’re listed as a dependent on their parents’ income tax return. In spite of advice and/or opinions from others, the money does NOT go to the parents’ return either because a qualifying child is under the age of 18. But, I recently heard (via an email) from the very popular TurboTax, the software program I used to file my tax return. It seems that if I e-filed through TurboTax, we do NOT get our automatic deposit in May, as promised and promoted everywhere. There’s a quirky thing, they explain, that because TurboTax uses a bank to deposit funds into individuals’ bank accounts, the IRS cannot deposit the stimulus money into the taxpayers’ accounts. So, believe it or not, those of us who filed with TurboTax will have to wait for paper checks to be written and MAILED to our homes. It will be at least mid-June before those checks will arrive. Stimulate the economy when?

As I was compiling this particular issue of the Community Word, my inner self kept telling me to “just do it.” And, since none of my readers chose to send in editorial content, I decided this was indeed the right time to do it. It was, after all, the month of May and May in Peoria means it’s time for the Race for the Cure.

I’ve always been proud to be a Peorian and to support Peoria’s Race for the Cure, which is one of 117 such races nation-wide. It’s a very worthy cause. The Susan Komen Foundation, as most of you know, does great and wonderful things for breast cancer patients.

I have to admit, however, that in the past I had no personal ties to this topic of breast cancer. I thought I was well-informed on this issue, but I was wrong.

Last summer, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. To say that it turned my life upside down would be a gross understatement. I am lucky that I caught it early and I am lucky that we have wonderful resources in Peoria for the treatment of this disease. I’ve now completed my treatments of chemotherapy and radiation and still have four months left to go on another less invasive treatment. While I haven’t quite yet reached that official status of being a cancer-free “survivor,” I feel that I am. It was a sobering and life-changing experience for me and my family. I am also extremely lucky to have had an awesome support system of family and friends and co-workers.

As we approach this great Peoria race, I would like to encourage all of you to support it and to learn more about this topic. Encourage the women in your life to do a monthly self exam and to get mammograms annually.

While I haven’t exactly kept my cancer diagnosis a secret, I didn’t have the strength yet to “go public.” I feel stronger now and have decided that May would be a great time to show my support of the Komen Foundation’s efforts. For those of you interested in donating money to this great cause, you can help me to raise funds for it. I recently registered online with my own Race for the Cure webpage, where people can easily donate online. If you’re so inclined, you could go online to donate money for this great cause here or you still have some time left to go ahead and register for Race Day.

March is Women’s History Month. It’s a time to celebrate the accomplishments and feats of all women before us, of all current women and of all women of the future. It’s also a time for us to take an inventory of sorts of the status of women. There have been some wonderfully courageous and unselfish women that have fought to gain women the rights they currently have. They fought for and won the right to vote, the right to be property owners, the right to inherit, as well as reproductive choice rights. They’re still working on the right to equal pay as well as other issues. Women (as well as men) have recently lost some of those rights during the tenure of the current administration. “They” have very consistently chipped away at those rights and it will be years, perhaps decades before they will be restored.

So, how far have women come? American women are considered to be a “minority.” Interesting, but factually untrue. As of 2006, American women actually outnumbered American men with 151,963,545 women and 147,434,940 men. So, what’s the deal, huh? If it’s not the actual population count that makes women a “minority,” what does? Could it be that they’re still considered to be second class citizens in their country? They’ve never had full and equal status with their male counterparts. But, will they ever? Women of previous generations have had to fight for every single right women currently have and women of this and future generations will have to continue to do so.

In the meantime, everyone should celebrate and acknowledge the accomplishments of women. After all, EVERYONE has been impacted by women in their lives: their mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, grandmothers, etc. Celebrate and appreciate!