Columnist

Among other things, sitting Illinois judges are prohibited by Illinois Supreme Court Rule 4.1 from making “speeches on behalf of a political organization,” or “solicit funds” for a political organization or candidate, except when they’re up for election or retention.
So, you might ask, what the heck was Illinois Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Rochford thinking when she decided to accept an invitation to be the keynote speaker at the Lake County Democratic Women annual fundraising gala on September 9th?

It is obvious to all, even those of us without children at home, that it is time for school to start. Not because local papers have told us the date, but because all of the stores have inundated us with sales of school supplies, school clothing, and school accessories.
The parents must long for a simpler time when a little paper, a few pencils, and a book or two was all that was needed to send a child to school.

I guess you can't turn on a radio or TV without hearing about guns, gun control, basic constitutional rights, etc. This prompted me to look at the history of guns in Braidwood, as rough a town in the day as there ever was.
First, it must be remembered that guns in all shapes and forms were socially acceptable on any occasion in the 19th century. A boy's first gun, usually given to him by the age of 9 or 10, was a “coming of age” experience. And so it was that Braidwood sprang into being fully armed.

Although most miners of early Braidwood continued mining until they died or were too injured to work, some of them made it up and out of the mine. Today we look at William Steen and Samuel Drew, both made a difference to their community.
Samuel Drew was the son of a mine operator in Staffordshire, England. He began working in the mines of England at the age of thirteen. When his father's mine was flooded out, they family moved to Braidwood for a new start. He and his father and brother were given a room to work together, and he continued mining for some years.