Community: February 2009 Archives

At Tuesday's City Council meeting, Councilman Bob Fieseler raised the idea of installing surveillance cameras on Chicago Avenue in downtown Naperville.

The idea was spurred by recent incidents downtown, including one where an NCC student was Tasered, with conflicting accounts as to whether it was justified. Fieseler said the cameras could save the city time and money by allowing them to determine definitively what happened instead of conducting investigations.

Police Chief Dial supports the measure and says he thinks Naperville will need more cameras in the future.

Of course, cameras can be abused as well, and any suggestion of installing cameras always brings up the specter of Big Brother.

Do you think these cameras are a good idea, or would they be an intrusion into privacy?

The Sun's cover story for Tuesday recounts the story of Susan McGrath and family, who traveled to North Carolina for a newly developed cancer treatment for their dog. The family will spend more than $25,000 on the dog's treatment, with only a 30 percent chance of a cure.

A generation or two ago, if an animal was sick with something like this, the head of the household would have likely had it euthanized, if he didn't do it himself, under the belief that the animal was suffering and there was no money for vet bills.

You hear stories like this more and more today, however, about people who will spend thousands of dollars to treat an animal for a disease or a chronic condition like diabetes.

How far would you go to treat a pet? How much have you spent to deal with a pet's medical issues? Do you think people are doing the animals a favor by trying to treat these conditions, or should they let nature take its course?