The Herald-News • Sunday, November 22, 2015
|GETTING STARTED
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Herald Angels returns with aim of helping residents As we enter a week where we give thanks for what we have, it’s sobering to think there are those in our community who would be thankful to get the most basic of necessities, like food, shelter, health care or disability assistance. So we are asking our readers to be angels to their neighbors. Herald Angels, that is. Herald Angels is a campaign of The Herald-News to benefit the United Way of Will County that started in 2009 and ran every year during the holiday season through 2012. The company resurrected it in 2014 and are continuing it again this year. The publication provides readers an easy way to donate to the United Way. Send in a donation, and all of it goes to the United Way, which in turn shares the funding with its 46 partner agencies. I’m happy we can do this. Last year, our readers contrib-
VIEWS Kate Schott uted $5,625 to the campaign. However, I’m a little melancholy at the fact that the need continues to be great. One of four Will County residents has reached out for help in some fashion to one of the United Way’s partner agencies. United Way of Will County President and CEO Mike Hennessy told us revenues are down by almost 10 percent at the partner agencies, but requested funds are 50 percent more because of the increased need for assistance. We’ll have a story in Monday’s edition about the campaign, and will have one each Monday for the next month. Each article will focus on one of the partner agencies and aim to show readers how these agencies help our neighbors
in need. Keep an eye out for ads in the print editions during the next month that provide details on how to contribute to Herald Angels. Or, to donate to the campaign, send a check payable to “Herald Angels” to The Herald-News at 2175 Oneida St., Joliet, IL, 60435, or go to the United Way of Will County’s website, www. uwwill.org, to make an online donation. We thank all those who donate to Herald Angels. ••• Holiday season means it’s time to give, which usually means people are heading to stores. We have a story in Sunday’s paper about how Black Friday sales benefit the local economy, and keep an eye out during the next week for stories on Small Business Saturday (a day to shop local).
But we also have plans to highlight Giving Tuesday (a day dedicated to donating to charities). And we’re starting to compile a list of the various traditional events in our communities, whether they be holiday parades or annual festivities, to line up coverage of some of those activities. What is your favorite holiday activity in Will County or Grundy County? ••• As we head into a holiday week, I wish all of our readers a happy Thanksgiving. Without you, there would be no newspaper. Thank you for reading The Herald-News.
• Kate Schott is editor of The Herald-News, the Morris Herald-News and Herald Life. She can be reached at kschott@shawmedia.com or 815-280-4119. Follow her on
Herald Angels is a campaign of The Herald-News to benefit the United Way of Will County. The publication provides readers an easy way to donate to the United Way. Send in a donation, and all of it goes to the United Way, which in turn shares the funding with its 46 partner agencies. Twitter @Kate_Schott78.
Will, Grundy miss worst of snowstorm; only minor driving incidents reported Illinois State Police District 5 reported at least seven spinouts between 6 and 11 a.m. Saturday, but none were serious.
By MIKE MALLORY mmallory@shawmedia.com As of early Saturday afternoon, it appeared Will and Grundy counties dodged the worst of the pre-Thanksgiving storm. What amounted to a heavy, slushy and sometimes slippery mix on area roadways and sidewalks came from a storm that dropped more than a foot of snow along parts of the Illinois-Wisconsin border as of 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. NWS meteorologist Matt Mosteiko said at 9:30 a.m. Joliet had about 1 inch of snow reported with an average of 1 to 3 inches reported throughout Will County. Mosteiko said an additional 1 or 2 inches was expected in Joliet before tapering off about 3 p.m. With the amount of wet snow on roadways and a drop in temperatures overnight expected to bringing windchills as low as 1 below zero, motorists are advised to continue driving with extra caution into Sunday. “A lot of times when it gets below 20 degrees the chemicals [in road salt] aren’t quite as ef-
Scattered outages
Mike Mallory – mmallory@shawmedia.com
A slushy mix covers the streets of downtown Morris and surrounding areas Saturday during a pre-Thanksgiving snowstorm. fective,” Mosteiko said. Warmer weather is expected to melt the snow away by Thursday. After Sunday’s expected high of 27, Monday’s high is predicted to be 38, while Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to be in the 40s. Temperatures are predicted to be in the 50s on Thanksgiving, Mosteiko said.
Roadway conditions
Despite a number of spin-
outs and vehicles in ditches throughout Will and Grundy counties, none of the incidents appear to be serious as of 1 p.m. Saturday. Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Tom Budde said the day had been relatively quiet as of 11 a.m. Saturday, noting that the storm avoiding a weekday rush hour commute was a big help. Budde said with temperatures expected to drop and the amount of slush on the
roads, drivers need to be careful throughout the weekend. “Drivers should use extreme caution,” Budde said. “Especially on those roads with cornfields on both sides – they are the first to freeze over.” A roadway advisory recording by Grundy County Sheriff’s deputy Jason Cory stated primary and secondary roads were slushy and snow-covered and drivers should move slowly.
The storm also affected service for thousands of ComEd customers in the northern suburbs, according to ComEd.com outage maps. As of about noon Saturday, the outage map showed instances of outages of less than five people affected in the Crystal Lawns subdivision of Joliet, at the intersection of Patterson Road and McKinley Street in Joliet and near Elm Street east of Route 53 in Preston Heights. Others with less than five customers affected included the intersection of Old Chicago Road and Stevenson Drive in Bolingbrook. In Grundy County, eight customers along Dresden and Brendan drives in Morris were affected, and there was an outage south of Kinsman along West Gardner Road and Route 47. Calls to Will County and Grundy County emergency management agency directors were not immediately returned.