I’m very happy that Tom Skilling will begin enjoying his well-deserved retirement but truly sad we will no longer see his smiling face delivering impassioned weather reports. It is increasingly rare to see someone truly enjoy their job like Tom does. He beams with excitement sharing weather phenomena, just as he did starting his career 50 years ago.
I grew up with Tom’s forecasts, being just old enough to remember the “Blizzard of ’79.” I enjoyed his forecasts and learned more about weather from him than anyone. I’ve lived in many places and traveled extensively over the past 30 years. I’ve never found anyone with Tom’s gift for weather reporting — the spark and exuberance he brings to every forecast. While away, I missed not only his thorough atmospheric explanations but also his excitement and positivity. Essentially, his “service with a smile.” I didn’t realize I had been spoiled during my childhood watching the best weather reports anywhere.
Some people who aren’t from Chicago know of Tom, though they’re not sure what makes him so special. I tell them they simply have to see a Skilling forecast to understand — that he takes time to explain things and teach viewers and shares his love for weather like no other. It is a joy to watch someone who truly loves what they do and shares that love with others.
I chatted with Tom once after hearing he had become emotional while reporting on the solar eclipse in 2017. I viewed the eclipse in Wyoming and understood, as the experience was emotional and humbling for me too. I reached out to him as an eclipse kindred spirit and told him I was similarly moved. Tom responded with kindness and understanding and treated me like a friend. I imagine he treats everyone the same. Truly a class act.
Coming back to Chicago and seeing Tom’s smiling face again, I could not help but smile in return. I guess you could say his happiness is infectious. It’s not hard to figure out what makes Tom special. The same ingredient that makes any of life’s activities more enjoyable: love. A love for weather, life and all the people around him.
It has been a joy to be the recipient of what Tom joyfully shares. He is not just a gem in the meteorology world but also simply a gem of a person. I sincerely wish Tom many happy, golden years. He will be sorely missed!
— Paul Synowiec, Lockport
Chicago needs to weigh in
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s argument is that the White Sox organization will have to be sold when he dies, yet he wants a billion dollars from the taxpayers to build another stadium? Obviously, a shiny new stadium would make the Sox team much more valuable to the owner as it did in 1991, when taxpayers helped pay for that stadium.
Chicago needs to weigh in on current Sox park revenues and what the Sox’s presence contributes to the Chicago business community. It is doubtful that the presence of a new ballpark would generate significantly larger benefits for the city in comparison with current benefits.
If taxpayers are to invest in private enterprise at this magnitude, a percentage of ownership should be considered.
— Raymond Hubbard, Sandwich, Illinois
Say no to sweetheart deal
I would like to express opposition to spending even a penny of taxpayers’ funds for a new Sox stadium until the state’s pension obligation is paid.
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf held the state hostage in 1988 to acquire a sweetheart deal to build what today is known as Guaranteed Rate Field. Now, he sees what is taking place around Wrigley Field and wants to do the same for the Sox. All this after putting a dreadful product on the field for current Sox fans.
Read Paul Sullivan’s Feb. 23 column (“Feels familiar”) and call Reinsdorf’s bluff to move to Nashville, Tennessee.
— Joseph J. Matula, Palos Park
Let’s weigh costs, benefits
It appears we the taxpayers will be confronted again with bearing some or all of the cost to build a new facility for the White Sox to play in. The prospect of this also appears to stimulate a variety of reactions from most everyone who lives in the state. There are those who are vehemently opposed and those who are just opposed. It seems there are a few who can find any logic to once again use tax dollars to support a facility so that the owners of the team can make money! Cubs fans certainly do not endorse seeing their tax dollars going to the South Loop to build a new, great ballpark.
There is an old saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” It is very applicable in this circumstance. The economic value of a professional sports team in a city is significant for the long term. The financial benefits to we the taxpayers must be analyzed before the plan is passed by. The jobs, the vendors and the sales of team merchandise (sales tax) all contribute to city and state coffers.
It would wise for we the taxpayers to wait for a full financial impact analysis over 25 years to determine whether subsidizing some of the cost for a new state-of-the-art facility would be beneficial. Hopefully, we can form an informed opinion once we see the realities of the costs and benefits.
Upon seeing the results, we then could inform our representatives of our support or lack thereof of what could very well be a future golden goose.
— Dave Roberts, Frankfort
Don’t hand over free money
If the billionaire Sox and Bears owners want the city or state to give them money so they can improve their businesses, I say, “OK, but you have to cut us in as partners.”
Any other business that needs to raise capital for improvements has two choices. It has to obtain a loan or seek money from new investors.
Hopefully, our civic leaders will not hand over free money to the billionaires while we handle education, crime prevention, growing homeless and immigration camps, and a host of other issues that are more deserving of our tax dollars.
— Steven Fortuna, Naperville
Picking taxpayers’ pockets
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s visit to the Illinois legislature reminded me of the classic musical “Oliver.” In the song “You’ve Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two,” Fagin encourages his minions to pick pockets to enrich him. Reinsdorf does the same as he goes to Springfield for funds to build a new ball park.
— Mark Renz, Oak Lawn
Reinsdorf’s nimble activity
Watching White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, age 88, moving energetically through the Illinois Capitol drumming up support for a new White Sox stadium made me think that Joe Biden and Donald Trump, agewise, are amateurs.
— Jim Ziv, Chicago
Reverse IVF ruling in Alabama
If you have known any couples who struggled with infertility and chose in vitro fertilization to start or complete their families, you know that the process can be expensive, painful and often heartbreaking. Which makes the decision by the Alabama Supreme Court cruel and a complete overreach of power.
Since that decision, several health care facilities in Alabama have chosen to stop IVF procedures. That means that some couples hoping to welcome a baby by the end of this year are in limbo. This is unconscionable. Other facilities refuse to release the embryos to the parents for fear they will be taken out of state for implantation. As if these embryos could simply be put in a cooler to be transported.
I say, arrest the justices who ordered this travesty. Charge them with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, unlawful restraint, wrongful detention, emotional cruelty and anything else that fits. These “children” (the Supreme Court designation of the embryos) are being held hostage in these medical centers.
Release them; reverse this ridiculous ruling. Allow their parents access them so they can become a family.
— Arlene R. Jarzab, Hinsdale