A Visit to Mayor Claar's Office

When I sit down to write I often ask myself what topic took my attention this week.

This week it was Mayor Roger Claar.

I met with him about a story that I'm working on involving Illinois American Water Company. When I arrived at his office he wasn't there. His administrative assistant invited me into his office to wait.

When I walked in, I was taken by the spectacular ceiling-to-floor window view. As I took a seat at a table in his office, I glanced at the clock (as a had another appointment immediately afterward). I asked his assistant when would the Mayor be arriving. She said without looking at me, "The Mayor is a busy man." She seemed to say it in a tone that implied I had just accused her very son.

As I sat there I looked around the room. There I noticed a baseball hat collection strung from the ceiling and memorabilia and plaques nailed to the walls. There were also newspapers and magazines on top of the desk, table and filing cabinets - many with the Mayor's face and name on the cover. His space reflects a lifelong committment to service.

A few minutes later the Mayor came into the room and took a seat at the table next to me. The assistant sat his cup of coffee in front of him as though she were a waitress serving a faithful and longtime customer. I sat next to the Mayor and across from James Boan, the village attorney, a very knowledge man on the subject of village utilities.

And as always the mayor didn't disappoint. He answered my questions very direct and without hesitation, not a man known to mince words. And as I was about to leave he asked if I were now going from writing soft news (this column) to reporting hard news (water rate story).

I didn't mention to him my own dedication to service through community reporting, or that I was not a virgin to hard news. Hard news for me consist of covering the Jeffrey Dahmer serial murders; watching Cardinal Joseph Bernadine being accused of sexual abuse at a news conference; and winning the Illinois Press Association Award for reporting on the alleged misuse of TIF (Tax Increment Funding) in the City of Chicago.

What I like about doing soft news, or something like this column, is that it provides the opportunity to look into the lives of human nature, and I think that's important. See you around the Brook.

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