Missing All the Fun

Hmmm, I went away for a couple of weeks and what happens?

1. The Board of Trustees of COD decided to give President Breuder a going away party and a $762,000 present for building a fine dining establishment, a wonderful and fully stocked wine cellar, an expensive  hotel, and for paving over much of the campus.

2. Wheaton gets clobbered with a little over 20 inches of snow in a 24 hour period.

I'm Not Complaining and Neither is Robert Breuder
Well, I suppose I could, but why bother? It would be like talking about the weather, which we all know in this part of the country is cold and can dump a lot of snow. We do realize this, don't we?

Now, I do regret missing the fun over at my neighbor, that dysfunctional behemoth called "The [Community] College of DuPage." I'll be posting some additional comments about that in a few days. However, I do find it odd that a public institution releases their presidents early  (not once, but twice in succession) and blesses them with full salary for doing absolutely nothing and for the singular purpose of getting rid of them. If Breuder was such a wonderful president, why let him go? Let's keep him for another three years and get the "wonderful" results we are paying this guy for. However, this is Illinois which should be renamed "Land of Madigan" and in this state politicians and apparently our community college board feel that any money raised via taxes and bonds (borrowing, to be repaid via taxes) is theirs to flush in whatever manner they feel appropriate. According to a Chicago Tribune article, Breuder is very good at shaking the fruit from the trees and for his own personal benefit. "It wasn't the first time Breuder, 70, had negotiated a big parting check. In the past six years, two publicly funded colleges have given him retirement packages totaling $1.27 million."

Wow! Isn't it wonderful what public school trustees can do with our money?

As for the weather, well, "it is what it is." Now, I do undersand there were some complaints by residents. I also am aware of some automobiles which were stuck in the snow. One was driven by a visitor who simply couldn't keep away. It seems some think all of those Weather Service advisories, warnings and so on are simply to be ignored. Then when they get stuck it becomes "How could this happen?"

It reminds me of a situation I encountered in Pennsylvania a few winters ago. I was near Reading, PA doing what I normally do the keep clients in business and we were hit by a nasty winter storm. We worked late that day, as usual and carefully drove our vehicles back to the motel. En route we had a simple meal at a diner. The next morning it was icy but with caution driving was doable and as we had a schedule to keep we all made it to the site as required. On arrival and after the morning kick-off meeting one of the senior engineers remarked on the sole vehicle we each saw in the ditch as we drove down the highway. It was an Audi Quattro, which is an expensive all wheel drive vehicle. Audi America describes it this way "For 35 years, our legendary quattro® all-wheel drive has pushed vehicle performance — and the thrill of the ride." Well, I guess the driver of that Quattro in the ditch got quite a thrill that night!

I'm not dissing Audi's, A few years ago I flew into Tulsa in the aftermath of an ice storm. There were Chevy Suburbans and even a Hummer H2 in the ditch. What we tend to forget is friction. Driving on ice is dangerous for all rubber-tired vehicles. I drive an AWD Subaru WRX which is a wonderful road car. But "black ice" is ice and it is friction that allows the vehicle to adhere to the roadway. Ice negates friction. With no friction it is impossible to steer.

Not everyone understands this, some refuse to believe it. Over at COD with Ms. Erin Birt at the helm as Board Chairman, we can expect more shenanigans. Birt's term expires in 2017. This means she can do more damage by hiring yet another college president and flushing yet more taxpayer money. By my recollection about $870,000 in unwarranted compensation has been paid to the two most recent COD presidents. But this is DuPage County and the college has unlimited taxing ability. Ms. Birt apparently loves the feeling of power that comes with flushing taxpayer and student dollars.