At the risk of sounding clichéd, the REVIEW would like to remind everyone to get out there and vote on April 5.

Voting is the cornerstone of democracy. Any school textbook will confirm this. Even satirical textbook wannabes like Jon Stewart’s America: The Book address voting”in their own way.

The point is that voting is often the only time in the year when most citizens get out there and make a difference.

We get it. Oftentimes people are too busy, too tired, too frantic or maybe too lazy to get involved in government”to lobby, to analyze, to attend meetings, etc. So consider voting a one-time, one-shot attempt at political participation: it takes less than one hour, one morning, once a year, every two years.

Locally, we have some very important, if oftentimes forgotten, races.

Hinging on this election is the future of the park and its ability to acquire more land, the future of our children and the Proviso School District’s ability to get off the state watch list and avoid a takeover, and the continuation of a sound educational track record for our children at District 91.

So get out, rock the vote, pick up a sticker and make a difference.

Council members, show some class

Contentious arguing, loud bickering, personal vendettas and immature behavior. After a short reprieve, they are all back and kicking at village hall. They are also not good for this town.

While we agree that discussion is healthy and that disagreement is one of the natural frictions built into our democratic system”a check and balance for local, state and federal government, if you will”when taken to extremes, becomes unproductive and downright embarrassing.

Two commissioners bickering with each other and using a public forum to spout personal attacks against one another”to the point where even audience members are shocked and embarrassed”is not demonstrative of a healthy governmental body.

It also leaves us with a lot of questions as such attacks have become almost entirely personal, such as Monday night’s two-way fight between commissioners Patrick Doolin and Mark Hosty.

End it. Work on your personal differences, but please don’t do it in public during a council meeting and, in essence, in front of the entire town.

Argument is healthy but only when conducted in a rational, calm manner. Politics should not be devoid of passion, but uncontained, it usually results in disaster.

One immediate result: an audience visibly and audibly calling Hosty out during Monday night’s meeting, alternately clapping and sneering.

The public takes its cue from its officials, and right now it is getting nasty and personal.