As residents of the great state of Illinois, decision time is nearly upon us.

I refer of course to the March 20 Illinois Primary Election. I’d bet you’ve seen a sign or two as you’ve gone about your days telling you who someone else thinks you should vote for. Maybe you’ve even heard it from a politician in the flesh.

Whether you’re ready or not, election season is in full force and in Illinois, we are entering the home stretch before weighing in as a state on the national dialogue that will culminate with the November General Election.

We’ll address important issues voters should be aware of – such as important dates and other requirements to cast your ballot – in the coming weeks. For now, though, I encourage you to start familiarizing yourself – if you haven’t already – with what races will affect you that will appear on the March 20 ballot.

To help you, the Lake County Journal has put together a resource called “Election Central 2012.” It recently went live on our website and you can check it out at www.LakeCountyJournal.com/election. What you’ll find there is a voter resource guide to the upcoming Primary Election. Race by race, candidate by candidate, you can see who’s running in the contested races and what individual candidates think is important for voters to consider. In their own words, you can find out what’s important to specific candidates and what they feel sets themselves apart from the competition.

Invitations were sent to each candidate in contested races that pertain to the Lake County communities we cover. Candidates in each race were asked to fill out a bio with general information about themselves and answer questions about the issues facing the people they seek to represent. You can navigate the site based on individual candidates or on specific races.

With so many different people telling you so many different things as we approach both the primary and general elections, I think it’s important to scale back the rhetoric and offer a simple voter resource where you can see what candidates have to say for themselves. Of course, if you’d like to weigh in with your own thoughts or questions, I invite you to send me an email or letter to the editor.

I also want to thank all the candidates who took the time to work with us to offer this resource for readers/voters. With the exception of only a handful of holdouts, it’s an encouraging sign that so many candidates saw it important to lend their time and efforts to a project such as this.

Be informed, be ready and be excited – decisions this important don’t come around every day!

• John Puterbaugh is the managing editor of the Lake County Journal. He can be reached at 847-231-7522 or jputerbaugh@shawmedia.com.

After watching a handful of Republican presidential debates in recent weeks and President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Jan. 24, it is safe to say that my excitement over the coming presidential election is in full swing.

I enjoy following presidential politics almost as much as I enjoy following my favorite Chicago sports teams. The more I read about the candidates and their platforms, and the more I watch and listen to them on TV, the more excited I get about the culmination of it all on Election Day Nov. 6.

I also enjoy all the conversations I’ll have with friends and acquaintances as we collectively get to know the candidates vying for the privilege to lead our country from the White House. These conversations/debates/arguments are a uniquely American privilege that I truly cherish.

In light of that privilege, I have a challenge I’d like to issue those in the community who share my excitement for this election season. It’s really quite simple: I challenge you to respect your fellow American citizens throughout these coming months until the election. (For extra credit, try respecting your fellow citizens even after the election has come and gone, whomever ends up winning and taking their rightful place in American history.)

When someone says something you don’t agree with, take a moment to consider their position and why they might feel as they do. It probably makes as much sense to them as your position does to you. In that same moment, consider why you feel the way you do. Realizing that everyone has reasons for the way they feel and that everyone is entitled to their opinion is the basis for a healthy dialogue that’s in everyone’s interest.

Debate is good. Blind contempt is bad. We’re lucky as American citizens to be in the position to have such disagreements. When it all comes down to it, America is in good hands no matter what political party holds the White House. Those hands aren’t red or blue – they belong to us, the voters and real rulers of this country. They may not always act like it, but all politicians know their careers are made and broken at the whims of the voters they serve.

That said, another part of my challenge to you has to do with informing yourself this election season. Challenge yourself to think about why you feel the way you do, and seek out information from as many different sources as possible. Read, watch, listen and think every chance you get. Especially the thinking part.

Be skeptical, both of your favored candidate and of the opposition. Don’t take anything a politician says – Republican, Democrat or otherwise – at face value. Look into it for yourself and you might find a whole new level of enjoyment in the presidential race.

It’s been said politics are about pandering to the lowest common denominator. That can only be true if voters allow it to be.

• John Puterbaugh is the managing editor of the Lake County Journal. He can be reached at 847-231-7522 or jputerbaugh@shawmedia.com.

Those who read the Lake County Journal regularly probably have noticed that one of our strengths lies in telling the stories of individuals doing great things for others and their community.

Every year for more than 15 years, the Lake County Journal has published a special feature called “ForeFronts.” This year’s ForeFronts will appear in the Feb. 23 edition.

While work is already under way in finding and telling the stories of this year’s honorees, I also wanted to provide readers and those in the community the opportunity to weigh in.

ForeFronts honorees are the people who make their communities great. By volunteering their time, efforts and resources, it’s clear these people care about what’s going on around them with their neighbors, friends and even complete strangers lucky enough to live in the same community. Many people do things from time to time to make their communities better places to live. ForeFronts honorees do these things every day all year long.

It might be someone who’s worked in a local soup kitchen for years. Or maybe a doctor who provides health care to the homeless. Perhaps it’s someone who was dealt a tough hand of their own in life yet turned it around to make things better for others in a way only they could.

It could be anyone. And while we are lucky to hear about many such individuals from our readers as it is, I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t open the process up to our readers to make recommendations and nominations of their own.

So do you know someone who deserves this kind of recognition? Please let me know if so. You can reach me either by email at jputerbaugh@shawmedia.com or by phone at 847-231-7522. Thanks, as always, for reading and caring about your community and the people who make it great.

• John Puterbaugh is the managing editor of the Lake County Journal. He can be reached at 847-231-7522 or jputerbaugh@shawmedia.com.

ForeFronts winners – 1995-2011

2011: Brian Floriani, Julie and Steve Hupp, George and Linda Jackson, Bruce Mazurkiewicz, Robert Miller, Sgt. Joseph Perminas, Martina Rocha, Samantha Stautz, The Honorable Jane D. Waller, Dr. William Watson and Capt. Mike Wahl

2010: Ron Hoehne, Irene Pierce, Liz Richards, Jeff Nehila, Terri Zenner Greenberg, The Rev. Michael Pimpo, Juncee St. Cloud, Alexa Fuller, Mariella Galletti and Glenn Watt

2009: Mark Curran Jr., Melinda Gonziano, Tom Smith, Kari Blass, Jim Sarver, Kathy Ferrigan, Dennis Smith, Mark Kirk, Sari Oosta and Dave Bruecks

2008: Debra Rentner, Glen Kozlowski, Mark McHugh, Nora Bowers, Cedric Lee, Ruth Stark
Heidi Wodrich, Tom Hahn and Jason Redford

2007: Eric Skoog, Jeannette Campbell, G. Gary Grace, Kirk Morris, Rob Carmichael, Saji Lukos, Chet and Cathy Stanley, Bill Gentes and Anthony Brown

2006: Nat Dykeman, Nancy Paulick, Andy Mills, Joe Anderson, Bish Krwyko, Gloria Jean Swopes, Paul Howard, Tim Girmscheid, Eugene Pritchard, Mary Bird-Parks and Suzi Schmidt

2005: Elizabeth Frobrich, Frank Giannamore, Eartha Johnson, Steve Kolber, Randy Kuceyeski, Bob McCammon, Mary Relijic, the Scarpelli Family, Dennis Stonewall and Mark Waller

2004: David Alarcon, Ricky Bueno, Frank Davis, Phyllis DeMott, Gene Hanson, Onya Hadad, Fran Forys, the Rev. Scott Keenan, Kathy Myers and Joanne Osmond

2003: Terre Ezyk, Gary Graf, Miguel Juarez, Chris Lienhardt, Jack McKeever, Mark Pleasant, Rosa Reyes-Prosen, Alex Rothacker, Larry Scire and Stefanie Vollmer
2002: Ila Bauer, Barbara Richardson, Barry Henby, Russ Schneider, Don and Barb Kutinac, Ken and Betty Smouse, Joyce Heneberry, Donald Thielsen, Adam Radford, Ron Shelton and Richard Stevenson

2001: Bonnie Thompson Carter, Julie Donovan, Bruce Johnson, Dean Larson, Duane Laska, Claude LeMere, James McKinley, Denny Porter, Nick Sheridan, Maru Tomusiak and Bob Wegge

2000: Jim Boyle, Michele Drinkard, Charlie Foy, Susan Grant, Marge Keenan-Denniston, Phil Mazur, Rosemary Mers, Tim Perry, Mary Shahbazian and Gail Svendsen

1999: Joe Bean, Cindy Irwin, Gordon Kiesgen, Michael Lescher, Brad  Lutz, Jack Martin, Linda Pedersen, Bob Roth, Max Sanders and Richard Welton
1998: Laurel Dahl, Don Gossett, F.T. “Mike” Graham, Stacey Kanzler, Pam Newton, Jim Pappas, Bill Rockar, Jeff Shook and Mary Ellen Vanderventer

1997: Sarah Catterson, Gary Del Re, Kim Eudy, Torrie Flink, Barry Gold, Terry Link, John Miller, Margaret Mullen, Sheila O’Neil and John Porter

1996: Andy Bitta, Ralph Davis, Charles and Teresa Bartels, Adeline Geo-Karis, William O. Harry, Willard Helander, James LaBelle, George and Victoria Ranney, Raymond Rose, John Alan Sfire and Susan Zingle

1995: Richard Brown, Dr. William Dam, Robert Depke, Joann Eckmann, Mack Gaston, Francine Jones, Lisle Kauffman, Raymond McKoski, Al Salvi and Carol Spizzirri

The idea of a new generation of veterans returning home from Iraq at the end of 2011 has fascinated me for a while.

For years occupied by U.S. involvement in war and significant military engagements, the U.S. seems to have neatly marked off historical eras with the coinciding of the period’s military involvement as represented by that generation’s veterans. What interests me is the idea that we could be seeing that happen before our eyes with these veterans of the Iraq war.

The 1940s and ’50s has World War II and Korean War veterans. The 1960s and ’70s has Vietnam War veterans. I can’t help but feel like the next generation of veterans that will be strongly associated with a given war and historical era are recently returned from the Iraq war. In 20 years, will I be right in thinking that we’ll look back and say, “the 2000s has Iraq war veterans?”

And when can we say this about veterans returning home from Afghanistan, where something between limited military involvement and full-fledged war has been going on for nearly the whole time Iraq’s war had gone on? Will it be worth pairing such veterans with their Iraq war counterparts? Is there even a difference?

Only time can answer these questions, and I’ll save the neat categorization for those writing history textbooks that my own children might one day learn from. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder these things as I consider our country’s past and future.

Before I digress any further, allow me to fill you in on why these ideas are before you in this column. On Sunday, Jan. 8, we covered an event called “Grayslake Salutes Our Military.” The effort was led by Joyce Campbell, a military mother, local State Farm agent and the director of The Oasis Grayslake Youth Center. Occupying several downtown Grayslake blocks, the event welcomed home new veterans and also honored veterans of years past.

We tried to tie in the stories told by those veterans who attended this great event with the greater picture of just what they’re returning to in 2012, compared to what their predecessors returned to in their own day.

We found today’s Iraq war veterans face similar challenges as did their predecessors relating to employment, public protest and outrage over war and post-traumatic stress disorder.

We also found differences – and one very important difference in particular. Whereas veterans of the Vietnam War were on occasion greeted home with outright and unabashed disrespect for their roles in the unfavorable war, Iraq war veterans are finding a much different scene upon their return home today. Hopefully, this shows that the population has learned a valuable lesson in distinguishing political distaste from dutiful respect of those who have served.

Check out the story by clicking the link on our home page, and if you’re so moved, I’d love to hear what you think.

• John Puterbaugh is the managing editor of the Lake County Journal. He can be reached at 847-231-7522 or jputerbaugh@shawmedia.com.