Oak- Park- Journal

Sept. 22, 2000

DID YOU KNOW?

Relocating Dominos to fill corner 
vacancy in Oak Park

By ERIC LINDEN

-- that the Domino's pizza restaurant currently at 239 Harrison St. will
be moving soon to another location in Oak Park?
Domino's has begun work on the new location at 329 Chicago Ave. The
space at the corner of Chicago and Ridgeland avenues has been vacant
since Prairie Title Services Inc. moved to its own building at 6821 W.
North Ave., also in Oak Park.

-- that, it was revealed at this week's Regional Exchange Congress in
Oak Park, LaGrange has a program aimed at recruiting, training and
encouraging African Americans to take leadership roles the west suburban
community?
Tim Hansen, village president of LaGrange, said he and other officials
of the village want to improve the participation and leadership as a way
to improve the diversity of the community.
"Leadership (on diversity) is more than the faces in the picture,"
Hansen said on a panel that also included Chester Stewart, a member of
the Oak Park and River Forest High School board.

-- that some members of the Forest Park Historical Society has risen up
to oppose the proposed merger of that society with the Historical
Society of Oak Park & River Forest?
The long-time president of the Forest Park group, Dr. Frank Orland, has
proposed the merger as a way of improving the future of the group, but
other members are now speaking out that new leadership is needed before
with the OP-RF society.

-- that the first-ever AIDS walk in the area will be held on Oct. 7?
The walk to raise money and awareness for AIDS assistance efforts will
kick off at 9 a.m. that Saturday from Fox Park, Jackson Boulevard and
Oak Park Avenue.

-- that the board of the Oak Park Housing Authority is currently seeking
"persons directly assisted by by the authority" to be board members?

-- that the Taxman Corporation soon will be wooing Pier 1 Imports to
open a new store in the Chatham area on the South Side of Chicago?
Tim Hague, a Taxman vice president, said he would soon be discussing the
move with Beth Cox, Pier 1's regional manager of the area that includes
both Oak Park and the city's South Side, among other areas.
Locally, the Taxman firm, in cooperation with Oak Park and River Forest
village governments, developed both the River Forest Town Center and The
Shops of Downtown Oak Park on facing corners at Harlem Avenue and Lake
Street and currently is progressing with a Town Center expansion at the
southwest corner of Lake Street and Bonnie Brae in River Forest.

-- that the Lake Theater currently draws about 660,000 patrons a year to
its location in Downtown Oak Park?
John Eckenroad, president of the Oak Park Development Corporation, said
the total does a lot to support several local restaurants near the
theater, 1020 Lake St.

-- that the League of Women Voters of Oak Park and River Forest will
hold its fall kickoff on Oct. 5 at Barbara's Bookstore in Oak Park?
The event at 7 p.m. that Thursday will feature Jody Raphael, an Oak Park
resident who will autograph her book "Saving Bernice: Battered Women,
Welfare and Poverty." Today's Chicago Woman magazine recently named
Raphael one of the "100 women making a difference."

-- that Seguin Services, a Berwyn-based social service agency that has
some activities in Oak Park, on Oct. 11 will dedicate its training
center as the Carr Family Center in honor of Allan C. Carr, who is the
Cook County Commissioner whose district includes River Forest?

-- that David Sokol of Oak Park signed copies of his new book during the
recent Art on Harrison street festival in Oak Park?
Sokol, a college professor and former village trustee, among other
things, has written "Oak Park, Illinois Continuity and Change," a
written and pictorial view of the village's history of nearly 100 years.
The photographs were donated for publication by the Historical Society
of Oak Park & River Forest, the Park District of Oak Park, the Oak
Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce and the Oak Leaves, the newspaper
published by the Pioneer Press chain in Oak Park.

-- that Tyra Manning, superintendent of the River Forest District 90
elementary schools, attended an education conference in China over the
summer?

 --- that Oak Park Elementary School District 97 will sponsor a seminar
on "Anger Management" on Saturday, Oct. 7?
Thom Carr will make the presentation that Sunday at the Oak Park Public
Library main branch, 834 Lake St. Registration is required by Sept. 29,
and to register, call District 97's Department of Special Services at
524-3132 from 9 a.m. to noon on weekdays.

-- that three activities will be part of the entertainment at the Oak
Park Regional Housing Center's gala fund-raiser on Oct. 28?
At Mar-Lac Banquets that evening, those attending will hear dance music
by Hot Mix Entertainment Inc., will see a dance demonstration by the
Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park and will be treated by the
OPRF High School Jazz Band.
The Housing Center, 1041 South Blvd., works in a variety of ways to
ensure long-term racial diversity in Oak Park and surrounding regions.

-- that in honor of Latino Heritage Month at the Oak Park Public
Library, the library's Joseph Randall Shapiro Gallery hosted an art
exhibit and poetry reading by Carlos Cortez with Frank Varela and music
by Victor Pichardo of Sones de Mexico?

-- that during a season without many rain outs and otherwise with good
attendance, Oak Park Festival Theatre's revenues from ticket sales,
merchandising and special events cover only about 65 percent of their
operating budget?
Grants and sponsorships ideally make up the difference.

-- that the Jenny Craig Weight Personal Weight Loss Management office
that was at the southwest corner of Lake and Marion streets in Downtown
Oak Park has relocated to Norridge?

-- that work continues on a new three-bay addition at Tassos Towing, at
8001 W. Lake St. in River Forest?

-- that  the members of the Free Inquiry Network are scheduled to hold a
dinner meeting in Oak Park on Sunday?
Free Inquiry has scheduled a dinner for members on  Sept. 24 at 6 p.m.
at Szechwan Beijing restaurant at 1107 South Blvd.

-- that Sherwen Moore, a police planner who spoke at the Regional
Exchange Congress in Oak Park,  had a nice story to tell about police
and their relations with the community?
On a law enforcement panel, Moore told a story of young friend who
recently moved from Chicago to Oak Park in large part to flee the gangs
in his family's city neighborhood. The young man told Moore he was very
much enjoying Oak Park and OPRF High and had much better relations with
police in Oak Park than he had in Chicago.
Moore warned, however, that if police in Oak Park acted only one time in
the wrong way toward the young black man it could "ruin his perceptions"
of his new home. That, Moore said, is how careful police need to be.

PADS looks to expand homeless shelter
beyond three local villages--and
toward a name change

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that Tri-Village PADS for its 2000-2001 season hopes to expand its
overnight shelter program beyond the Oak Park-River Forest-Forest Park
area?
PADS, which stands for Public Action to Deliver Shelter, currently
offers the overnight shelter to homeless persons in the three villages
and some neighboring communities and has sites at eight religious
institutions in Oak Park and Forest Park. Organizational leaders of the
program, however, are exploring ways to attract other congregations to
expand the overnight shelter program, which runs from fall to spring.
Also, look for the Tri-Village P.A.D.S. to soon change its name to West
Suburban P.A.D.S. to reflect the broader service area.

-- that the River Forest Plan Commission is looking into an ordinance to
govern landscaping in the village?
The issue has come up from citizen complaints about some plants, bushes
and other flora that sometimes causes sight problems for drivers. A
suggested ordinance from village government staff is now being studied
by the commission, a volunteer panel of River Forest residents that
advises the village board. It is expected that the ordinance would be
recommended to the village board in December.
The ordinance is being readied by Wolff Clements and Associates, which
also is handling the Lake Street streetscape plan and a host of other
projects in River Forest.

-- that Asian Domestic Authority, an auto repair business currently in
Chicago, plans to open soon at 246 Lake St.. in Oak Park?
The building, which is across Lake Street from the Dominick's food
store, had recently gone into foreclosure.

-- that River Forest Police Officer Edith Verran is off duty because she
has been called to active duty by the U.S. Army?
Verran has been sent to serve in Kosovo for active duty and is expected
to be gone from the River Forest Police Department for six months.

-- that River Forest Elementary School District 90 never takes any heat
for transferring money from its education fund to the building fund?
As proposed in the 2000-2001 budget, District 90 would take about $1
million from the fund that pays for classroom activities into the fund
that covers building construction, materials and staff.

-- that, not surprisingly, an on-line poll on the Republican Party of
Oak Park's web site gives GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush a wide
lead over Democratic opponent Al Gore?
The Oak Park Republican site poses the question, "Which presidential
candidate has the better plan for education in America," and Bush leads
as of today 88 percent to 11 percent. The only question is how the 11
percent got in there.

-- that on its web site the League of Women Voters of Oak Park and River
Forest is publishing the state League president's message about the
Illinois League's coming plan to combat some anti-abortion
advertisements?
State president Jan Flapan said the Illinois League "has joined an
ad-hoc coalition" to put pro-choice ads on the 300 Chicago Transit
Authority buses and 200 CTA trains starting on Sept. 15. Plans call for
the ads to be up for about a month, or longer if the League gains enough
donation for the spending.
Flapan said ads coming later this month are in response to a recent CTA
ad campaign by anti-abortion organizations. And the "coalition" behind
the pro-choice ads includes Catholics for Free Choice, Chicago Catholic
Women, Chicago Foundation for Women, Chicago NOW, Joint Action Committee
(Jewish organizations), NARAL, National Council of Jewish Women,
Personal PAC and Planned Parenthood.
"As state League president, I thought it important that our name be on
these ads," Flapan said.

-- that the web sites of both Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest,
1001 Lake St. in Oak Park, and First Bank of Oak Park, 11 Madison St.,
OP both are still under construction?
The addresses are fbopcorporation.com and cboprf.com.

-- that Oak Parker Leonard Grossman has an essay about the death penalty
published in the current edition of WindowWatch?
WindowWatch calls itself "the Electronic Windows Magazine of the
Internet," and Grossman's current essay is billed as "an unusual take on
death penalty politics in Illinois and how it impacted the nation."
According to Grossman, the essay might be the first of an occasional
series of commentaries called The Ordinary Potato.

-- that Oak Park and River Forest village governments and the Blue Cab
Co. in Oak Park will be among the communities being served by a new
alternative fuel station being funded by the federal government and
promoted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency?
Seven alternative fuel stations throughout the Chicago area are being
opened and will be used by the three mentioned local entities plus
governments and businesses like the Villages of Berwyn and Elmwood Park,
the City of Chicago, Coca-Cola, the CTA, Northwestern University, the
City of Evanston, the Villages of Downers Grove, Lisle, Lombard, Skokie,
Hodgkins, Countryside, Indian Head Park, LaGrange, LaGrange Park,
Western Springs, Lyons, Lake Zurich, and several park districts and
villages in the far northwest suburbs.

-- that an investment strategy seminar sponsored by the Stanley Dean
Witter firm will be held at the Carleton of Oak Park hotel on Sept. 23?
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. that Saturday, guests will hear from Gregg
Ruvoli, vice president and regional sales manager o Northbrook Life
Insurance Company.

-- that local people often make a mistake when talking about nuclear
power and Oak Park?
With ComEd experiencing problems with electricity service again the
other day, there will no doubt be comments around the village that Oak
Park could get away from ComEd and go to nuclear power except that Oak
Park voters once declared the village a nuclear-free zone.
Not. That old symbolic referendum declared the village to be a nuclear
WEAPONS free zone, so it has nothing to do with power or ComEd or
anything else having to do with energy

Study of Oak Park diversity
getting national forum soon

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that the research about Oak Park's pro-diversity efforts being
conducted by Jay Ruby will soon be presented to a national meeting of
the American Anthropological Association?
The panel on ethnography in the United States has been co-organized by
Ruby, a Temple University professor and Oak Park and River Forest High
School graduate who has spent a chunk of the last two years in Oak Park,
and Tom Fricke from the University of Michigan and is called
"Integration and Diversity Revisited in Oak Park."
The subject will be preliminary findings of Ruby's ethnographic study of
Oak Park, which is referred to as "a middle-class Chicago suburb, a
community regarded internationally as a model of an economic stability,
ethnic integration and diversity."
Ruby has recounted the generally known history of Oak Parkers fighting
white flight in the 1970s and trying to "integrate African Americans
into the community without causing white flight and resegregation common
to other places."
"It seems to have worked," Ruby reports. And then he will tell the
national panel that now "a new challenge to the maintenance of diversity
has appeared: the emergence of a public and politically active gay and
lesbian community."

 -- that the upcoming Oak Park Regional Exchange Congress is on the
calendar of the Illinois Municipal League?
The league, a cooperative of local officials across the state, is
encouraging members to attend the Regional Exchange Congress in Oak Park
and attend the planned panel discussions on a variety of
topics--theoretically with an eye on racial diversity. The Sept. 21
Regional Exchange Congress this year is planned as a prelude to a
national session to be held in 2001.

-- that Charity Piet, the assistant to the executive director of the Oak
Park Area Arts Council, is exhibiting her artwork from now until Oct. 31
at the Forest Park National Bank & Trust lobby?
The bank at 7348 Madison St. in Forest Park has lobby hours from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on
Fridays; and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

 -- that River Forest village government this month will be doing
micro-surfacing and slurry sealing of River Forest streets?
Micro-surfacing and slurry sealing, which Oak Park also does, results in
a petroleum-based material onto a cleaned road surface and is done to
prolong the life of the road. Streets will be closed for about three
hours for the paving measures to take effect, and residents will be
notified before it occurs on the their street. But here's the blocks
scheduled to be micro-surfaced in September.
* Lathrop from Lake to Division
* Linden from Forest to Thatcher
* Vine from Forest Thatcher
* Forest from the cul-de-sac north of Washington to Hawthorne
* Forest from Chicago to the railroad tracks
* Iowa from Thatcher to Park
* Central from Lathrop to Keystone
* Park from Central to Lake
Slurry seal will be put on LeMoyne from Park Harlem

-- that the Frank Lloyd Building Conservancy will hold its annual
conference and annual board meeting in Minnesota this month?
The Chicago-based Conservancy staff is headed by executive director
Sara-Ann Briggs of Oak Park and exists to preserve all buildings and
other property designed by Wright. According to the Conservancy, 20
percent of Wright-designed buildings already have been demolished,
although not the ones in Oak Park and River Forest.
The conference activities begin on Sept. 20 with an optional
pre-conference tour that Wednesday. The four-hour bus tour will include
a tour of historic properties on Owatonna, which is 70 miles south of
Minneapolis. After a bunch of discussion, the conference will end with
an optional post-conference tour on Sunday, Sept. 24 of three Frank
Lloyd Wright homes in Rochester, Minn.

-- that Homestuff, the home furnishings store at 120 N. Marion St., has
another location at 1509 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago?

-- that White Fish Bay, Wis., the small town that has hired Forest Park
Village Administrator James Thomas to be its new village manager, is
known mostly for two other things?
It's the home of the only Wisconsin office of a Church of Scientology
organization, the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation of Milwaukee, and it's
still legendary in UFO circles--Men In Black-type folks, I guess--for an
incident that occurred more than 50 years ago.
As the story goes, at 2 a.m. on June 24, 1950, police officers from
White Fish Bay saw an object hovering in the sky above Lake Michigan,
and then watched as what they called "the eerie red object" glowed for
10 minutes and then disappeared.
Also according to reports, the incident came two hours after authorities
heard from Capt. Robert Lind, who was flying a DC-4 airplane with a crew
and other passengers from New York City to Minnesota the night of
Friday, June 23, 1950. As the plane passed over Battle Creek, Mich.,
Lind notified Air Traffic Control that he was going to change course to
avoid thunderstorms on Lake Michigan north of Chicago and was observed
between Battle Creek and the Lake Michigan shore. But shortly
thereafter, the aircraft vanished and the plane and the 58 people aboard
were never seen again.
A U.S. Coast Guard search the next day turned up no "debris fields" as
happened with the more recent crash of TWA Flight 800. Instead, all that
was reported found were a few miscellaneous items and what searchers
referred to as "fragments of bodies." But shortly after the plane
disappeared, the glowing "eerie red object" was seen above White Fish
Bay, which is also near Lake Michigan.
Do, do, do, do. Do, do, do, do

Amoco station closing brings another
key business vacancy to Oak Park

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that the Amoco gas and service station on the northwest corner of
Lake Street and Euclid Avenue in Oak Park closed recently?
The boarded-up station is now just another key corner vacancy in Oak
Park.

-- that the Youth of Fellowship Christian Church of Oak Park will hold
its fourth annual "Stompin' for Jesus Concert" this Friday night?
The evening at the church, 1106-1110 Madison St., will feature music,
dance and poetry beginning at 7 p.m. Last year's concert drew a full
house, so people are encouraged to come early. The doors open at 6:30
p.m.

-- that the ongoing  resurfacing of Madison Street in River Forest and
Forest Park is scheduled to be completed the week of Sept. 11?
Barring bad weather, the final paving and restriping of the road will be
the last step of the project, which began before Labor Day.

-- that Rev. Thomas Egan, the Oak Park native who was this year named
archbishop of New York City's archdiocese, was born on April 2, 1932,
that he was one of four children of Thomas and Genevieve Egan of Oak
Park and that Egan's siblings and parents are now all deceased?

-- that the River Forest village board recently negotiated a revision of
its cable television and internet service agreement with MediaOne and
extended the PACT to Sept. 30, 2003?

-- that the Forest Park village government recently purchased the land
of the shuttered Inne Towne Pet Motel at 7233 Madison St. in Forest
Park?
In an Oak Park-like move, Forest Park village government officials
wanted to control future use of the business property, which features a
municipal parking lot next door.

-- that Loret Carone has been named the new president of Flat Top Grill
in Oak Park?
The company runs several restaurants in the Chicago area, including at
726 Lake St. in Oak Park; recently expanded to other locations; and has
further plans to expand the stir fry restaurant chain. Company founder
Keene Addington remains with Flat Top Grill as CEO.

-- that work by the 11p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift on the River Forest Police
Department was credited by officials for a big decrease this summer in
the number of teens partying and drinking alcohol in the Cook County
Forest Preserves on the village's west end?

-- that Oak Park has much more than its share of dry cleaners?
According to the Illinois State Fabricare Association, which registers
the cleaners, River Forest has one such business, River Forest Dry
Cleaners at 7613-15 W. Lake St., and Forest Park has three, PJ Cleaners
at 7610 Madison St., Dove Cleaners at 208 Des Plaines Ave. and OK
Cleaners at 321 S. Harlem Ave. But check out this really long list of
the dry cleaners in Oak Park, according to the Fabricare Association.
Care Cleaners, 242 1/2 Chicago Ave.; Oak Cleaners, 900 S. Ridgeland Ave;
Poly Cleaners, 600 Madison St.; Jet Cleaners, 1111 Lake St.; Sun
Cleaners, 6811 W. North Ave.; Austin Cleaners, 430 N. Austin Blvd.;
O'Connors Cleaners, 1045 Chicago Ave.; Oak River Cleaners, 1112 Chicago
Ave.; Family Cleaners, 206 Lake St.; North Ridge Cleaners, 6323 W. North
Ave.; North Harlem One Hour J&J Cleaners, 7107 W. North Ave.;  Joy
Cleaners, 40 Chicago Ave.; Zephyr Cleaners, 130 Chicago Ave.; O'Connors,
217 Madison St.; Prime One Hour Cleaners, 723 Lake St.;  and PJ
Cleaners, 238 Madison St.

-- that it's been over a year since Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park
has talked publicly about expansion plans?
Ray Pritchard, the senior pastor of the church, 931 Lake St., last June
had given a "State of the Church Message" that talked about some
ambitious plans, including the following:
-- "planting" or establishing a new church, perhaps in downtown Chicago
-- expanding the facilities on Lake Street, including expanding the
sanctuary, making a multi-level parking structure, adding a floor on the
east wing and "buying additional property"
At last report, The Meyne Company, a division of the high-powered Bulley
& Andrews firm on West Armitage of Chicago, was exploring a renovation
and expansion plan for Calvary.

-- that, speaking of expansion, the latest word is that the Wednesday
Journal newspaper in Oak Park next month will take over operation of the
Near West Gazette, a weekly in Chicago's Near West Side neighborhood?

Sprint seeking to build `communication
facility' in Oak Park

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that SprintCom Inc., the telephone and communication company, wants
to build  a "Personal Communication Facility," which will include an
antenna and electronic equipment at 629-47 Garfield St. in Oak Park?
The address is the Garfield Terrace Apartments, a brick courtyard
building featuring one- and two-bedroom apartments on the south side of
Garfield Street between Wesley Avenue on the west and Clarence Avenue on
the east.
A hearing on the proposal for the facility will be held on Wednesday,
Sept. 6, at 8 p.m. by the Oak Park Zoning Board of Appeals at village
hall, Lombard Avenue and Madison Street. The zoning board, a volunteer
panel of Oak Park residents, will hold the hearing on whether to grant
Sprint a special use permit.

-- that CTA president Frank Kruesi spelled out in detail the ridership
increases on the Lake Street el while appearing at that dedication of
the new Metra-CTA transit center in Oak Park?
Kruesi said there have been 17 percent more people getting on and off
the el at the Marion Street station in the last year, and ridership is
up 7 percent overall in the last year on the Lake Street el leg of the
Green Line.
"We are encouraged by these continuing gains," Kruesi said.

-- that if weather allows work on the water system to proceed, water
service will be shut down for three hours on Ashland Avenue in River
Forest?
A new water system is being installed on the street, and plans call for
the water to be shut off from 9 a.m. to noon.

-- that when the Oak Park Sentinel began publishing this year it
"piggy-backed" on the Evanston Sentinel in that northern suburb?
The Oak Park version was started by publisher Walter Perkins III,
president of the NAACP Oak Park branch, and the Evanston version was
begun by the executive director of the Evanston branch of the NAACP.

-- that Katie O'Grady, a standout basketball player at Fenwick High
School the last few years, has signed to play college basketball at
Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.?

-- that Mike Shanahan, head coach of the Denver Broncos NFL football
team, was born in Oak Park on Aug. 24, 1952?

-- that members of Black/White Dialog, the Oak Park group that seeks to
build communication between village residents, especially between blacks
and whites, held a picnic on Aug. 12?

-- that Oak Park and River Forest officials and residents might be
interested in a recent development by the O'Hare Noise Compatibility
Commission?
The commission, which wants to reduce noise from O'Hare Airport, on Aug.
4 approved a plan to spend $73,000 on an independent review of O'Hare's
noise monitoring system. Using funds given by the Chicago City Hall, the
commission hired BBN Technologies to review the airport noise measuring.

Village government officials in both Oak Park and River Forest in the
past have secured monitoring systems in the villages after citizen
complaints about airport noise. The monitors showed, however, that noise
wasn't loud enough to justify taking steps to reduce airport noise in
the villages.

-- that "12th Nite," the modern version of William Shakespeare's
"Twelfth Night" and the 2000 production of Oak Park Festival Theatre,
closes on Aug. 26?

-- that a correction needs to be made in the Columbia Encyclopedia,
Sixth Edition?
The publication's 2000 edition says that Emaus Bible School is located
in Oak Park, which hasn't been the case for years. The bible school long
ago moved from the building at 156 N. Oak Park Ave., which since has
been remodeled and expanded into condominiums.

-- that Chicago.citysearch.com advises visitors to tourist sites and
businesses in the Downtown Oak Park area to park in the parking garage
and Lake Street and Forest Avenue and not to "park your car in the wrong
spot of this quaint suburb or the strict parking patrols will issue you
a ticket"?

-- that Coldwell Banker Sprafka Realtors in Oak Park lists on its web
site famous residents of Oak Park and of Galewood, the Chicago community
to the north of Oak Park?
The Oak Park list is familiar territory: architect Frank Lloyd Wright,
author Ernest Hemingway, dancer and choreographer Doris Humphrey and
Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Galewood list stacks up with
these names:
World War II Army air ace William J. Cullerton, former state senator
Robert J. Graham, long-time Austin High School football coach Bill
Heiland, actress Kim Novak, former Illinois governor James R. Thompson
and Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner.

-- that work has begun to repair the exterior of Unity Temple, the
Wright-designed historic building at 875 Lake St.?
The work to repair the aging historic structure on the southeast corner
of Lake Street and Kenilworth Avenue comes courtesy of a state grant
from Gov. Ryan's famous Illinois FIRST fund.

-- that, as the Oak Park Fire Department does, the River Forest Fire
Department also offers classes to train residents in Cardio Pulmonary
Resuscitation?
River Forest conducts a three-hour CPR class approved by the American
Heart Association. There is a $15 fee for materials, and residents
interested should contact the Fire Department at 708-366-7629 for the
time and location of classes.

-- that part or all of the Oak Park YMCA will be closed for a time real
soon?
Due to renovations to the pool at the Y, 255 S. Marion St., the pool
will be closed from Aug. 20 through Sept. 4. And due to the annual
upgrade of the Y building, the facility will be closed entirely from
Aug. 27 through Sept. 4.

-- that a recent ruling in favor of the National Day of Prayer might
have an impact on the case involving Oak Park that is still in the legal
system?
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that an
event organized for religious reasons is not justification enough for a
municipality to deny free services during public events. The decision
overturned a previous ruling.
Organizers of the National Day of Prayer in Tucson, Ariz., sued after
city officials denied the group free services for their 1997 annual
National Day of Prayer observance. The city said it had a policy not to
use money from its Civic Events Fund for "events held in direct support
of religious organizations," and cited the separation of church and
state. The organizers sued, claiming their free-speech rights had been
violated.
The annual National Day of Prayer is the first Thursday of May, and Oak
Park organizers sued over Oak Park village government's denial of
holding the event in village hall, which also cited church-state
separation. Oak Park Day of Prayer organizers initially won the right to
hold the observance in village hall, but the government won on appeal.

Forest Park Historical Society thinking 
of merger with OP-RF counterpart

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that the Forest Park Historical Society is thinking about merging
with the Historical Society of Oak Park & River Forest?
The Forest Park society, which is based in the Forest Park Public
Library, at the southeast corner of Jackson Boulevard and Des Plaines
Avenue, has a membership that is aging, and its leadership is seeking to
keep the organization functioning and to make it more active.
A special meeting of Forest Park Historical Society members has been
called for November to vote on merging with the Oak Park-River Forest
counterpart, which is based in the Landmark Pleasant Home in Mills Park
at 217 W. Home Ave. in Oak Park.

-- that it must be time for school to start again pretty soon because
Fellowship Christian Church of Oak Park will be holding a school-related
prayer vigil on Aug. 30?
From 9 to 10 p.m. that Wednesday, congregation members and friends of
Fellowship will gather outside of the Oak Park Elementary School
District 97 headquarters, 970 Madison St. in Oak Park, and outside of
Oak Park and River Forest High School, 201 N. Scoville Ave. in Oak Park
to offer special prayers for Oak Park children, staff, parents, and, the
church said in an announcement, "all others connected with this coming
school year."
Prior to the vigil, Fellowship will hold a worship service at 7 p.m. in
the church, 1106-1110 Madison St. People can attend either the service
or the rallies.

-- that the residents of Maywood have formed the Maywood Alliance for
Better Government, which is a local group based on the Village Manager
Association political group in Oak Park?
Earlier this year, Maywood residents, led by Karen Yarbrough, Democratic
candidate for state representative from the 7th District that includes
Maywood and part of central Oak Park, met with VMA officers to get a
briefing on the Oak Park group slates and runs for candidates for local
elections. After forming a VMA-style selection committee, the Maywood
group expects to field candidates in next spring's village board
elections their village. The Maywood group plans to meet next on
Saturday, Aug. 19 at the Maywood Public Library.

-- that the VMA itself on Sept. 10 will start its traditional selection
process to pick candidates for the Oak Park village hall elections next
April.
In 2001, Oak Park voters will pick candidates to fill the expiring seats
of Village President Barbara Furlong, Village Clerk Sandra Sokol and
Village Trustees Gus Kostopulos, Rick Kuner and Joanne Trapani.

-- that River Forest village government is looking to employ cisco
system developers to enhance the computer capability of village
hall--with hopes of making the operations more efficient?

-- that the Forest Park is seeking people to become
firefighter/paramedics?
The Forest Park Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, a volunteer
panel of village residents, is charged with compiling a list from which
firefighter/paramedic vacancies are filled, and the process begins anew
this month.
Starting salary for the positions is $26,436.91 per year, plus benefits,
and the mandatory orientation will be held on Thursday, Aug. 17 at 7
p.m. in the council chambers of Forest Park village hall, 517 Des
Plaines Ave. in Forest Park. Applications are available from the village
clerk's office in village hall and must be filled out and returned
before the orientation meeting.

-- that Ald. Isaac Carothers, who represents the 29th Ward in Austin,
the Chicago community adjacent to Oak Park on the east, was among the
alderman to appear at Mayor Daley's South Side press conference on Aug.
7 to tell owners of vacant residential buildings that they have to
purchase liability insurance for their buildings to rectify any
neighborhood damage caused by crimes related to the vacant property?

-- that Jens Jensen, the landmark architect who designed Columbus Park,
on Jackson Boulevard across Austin Boulevard from Oak Park in Chicago,
also was responsible for developing the park system in Door County,
which is a popular Wisconsin vacation spot for many Oak Park residents?
The publication "Key to the Door Illustrated" in a profile this summer
called Jensen "the father of Door County parks."

-- that the school board of River Forest Elementary School District 90
recently abolished its working cash fund?

-- that visitation for Maywood Police Lt. Carl J. Peterson, who died
last week of cancer at age 42, was held at Corbin Colonial Funeral
Chapel at 5345 W. Madison in Chicago's Austin neighborhood?

-- that Joan Mercuri, the president of the Frank Lloyd Wright
Preservation Trust--which used to be called the Home and Studio
Foundation--recently traveled to New York state to advise western New
York officials on their upcoming restoration of the Wright-designed
Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, N.Y.?
New York preservationists plan to spend $23 million to restore the
historic Martin House, which is in a residential area reportedly similar
to the area around the Wright Home and Studio, 951 Chicago Ave. in Oak
Park. Buffalo officials hope that the Martin House one day will draw
80,000 tourist visitors per year--about the same number the Home and
Studio does now. Neighbors of the Buffalo landmark have expressed
concerns about--surprise--parking and traffic in their neighborhood and
officials thought Mercuri could help them come up with solutions.
"Oak Park and Buffalo have a lot in common," Mercuri said during her New
York visit. "We're like brothers and sisters."

-- that River Forest native Paige Fumo--who's now Paige Fumo Fox after
her recent marriage--works as a reporter covering education for the
Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington, Ill.?
Fumo worked as a staff writer for the Wednesday Journal newspaper in Oak
Park and was once managing editor for the Forest Park Review newspaper.

-- that the Oak Park Health Department wants to form a "Community Rodent
Control Advisory Coalition," a volunteer citizens group that would
advise the department on rat control in the village?

-- that the International Association of Machinsts labor union (IAM),
which is still fighting Oak Park village hall to represent some village
government workers, gained a big victory Aug. 1 when it was joined by
286 workers at UAL, the parent company of beleaguered United Air Lines?
Some 44,000 UAL employees, who reportedly often have to answer to
customers about the airline's frequent flight delays, already had been
represented by IAM, and employees in four additional job classifications
voted to join last week.
When the election is finally certified, 226 station operations
representatives, 23 air freight coordinators and 15 cargo support
representatives will be covered under the terms of the current IAM-UAL
labor contact. In a separate election, 22 food service employees at
United also voted to be represented by the IAM.

DID YOU KNOW ...?

Villages notice increased ridership 
on CTA el lines

Did you know ...?

-- that ridership on the CTA, including the rapid transit lines that
touch Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Park, was up during the first
half of 2000?
The CTA said 3.6 million more train riders, a gain of 5.2 percent over
last year on all the CTA lines. The agency did not publicly break down
the increases on individual lines, including the Green Line, which is
the Lake Street el, and the Blue Line, which runs down the middle of 
the Eisenhower Expressway, but it did say ridership was up across the
board--and has been on the increase since the famous
closing-and-reconstruction of the Green Line.

-- that according to the Chicago Tribune, former National Basketball
Association  player and current NBA coach Doc Rivers "developed his
game" at Maple Park in Oak Park?
As the Tribune pointed out, the star at Proviso East High School in
Maywood, Marquette University in Madison, Wis.. and several pro teams
couldn't do that now because there are no longer basketball hoops at
Maple, which is at Harlem Avenue and Roosevelt Road.

-- that the web page for Ascension School, 601 Van Buren St. in Oak
Park, still tells people to tune into "The Collins Show" on WGN-AM 
radio to find out if the school is closed for weather reasons?
Bob Collins, of course, hasn't done the morning show on 720-AM and it
hasn't been called "The Collins Show" since he died in a plane crash
last year.

-- that the Forest Park building that for years housed the Krader-Wolf
furniture business is still vacant and for sale?
The real estate firm Kritt is selling the building on the northeast
corner of Circle Avenue and Madison Street and can be contacted at
773-486-4900.

-- that the web site for St. Giles School in Oak Park was designed by
students at the school at 1020 N. Linden Ave. and is updated by 
students and a teacher advisor?

-- that InterCultura Foreign Language Immersion Montessori School in 
Oak Park is the only total foreign language immersion school of any kind in
Illinois?
Besides InterCultura at 301 S. Ridgeland Ave., there are three other
Montessori schools in the villages: West Suburban Montessori at 1039 S.
East Ave. in Oak Park; Alcuin Montessori at 324 N. Oak Park Ave. and
Keystone Montessori at 7415 W. North Ave. in River Forest.

-- that River Forest Elementary School District 90 and Oak Park and
River Forest High School District 200 both received plaques from River
Forest village government praising the school districts for their
"Resolutions Recognizing Academic Accomplishment"?

-- that Metra, the commuter rail system that has a line running through
Oak Park and River Forest, in 2002 will be getting 26 new locomotives?
Fifteen of the new ones will replace current trains and 11 new ones 
will expand the line's capacity.

-- that two anniversaries are upon us?
In 1999 at this time, the Amli development firm in Chicago sold the
Prairie Court apartment complex at Lake Street and Euclid Avenue in Oak
Park to Archstone Communities Trust of Denver. Prairie Court, which
opened in 1987 on the site of the former Oak Park village hall 
building, sold for $13.5 million to Archstone, an apartment management firm that
made its first business move to the Midwest by purchasing properties in
Oak Park, in west-suburban Schaumburg and in the state of Minnesota.
And on Aug. 11 of 1988, Loyola University Health System in Maywood
formally voted to dissolve its affiliation between Loyola and West
Suburban Hospital Medical Center in Oak Park. The health system ended
after doctors at West Sub objected to having to the religious health
directives that govern practices at Catholic health care institutions.

-- that Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone is president of Illinois
Alarm Service Inc. at 7340 W. 15th St. in the village?

-- that Chicago Digital Online was the first CD store in Illinois when
the store opened in 1985 at 905 S. Oak Park Ave.?

-- that according to the Center for Responsive Politics, U.S. Rep. 
Danny K. Davis in this year's election cycle has raised $176,612 and has
$143,149 on hand and that U.S. Rep. William O. Lipinski in the same 
time has raised $253,964 and has $123,464 on hand?
Davis, a Democrat whose district includes River Forest and Oak Park
north of the Eisenhower Expressway, is unopposed for re-election this
year. Lipinski, a Democrat whose district includes most of Oak Park
south of the expressway, in November's general election will be facing
Republican Karl Groh, a somewhat perennial candidate who Lipinski has
defeated handily before.

-- that Oak Parker Joanne Trapani is a member of the Chicago Gay Hall 
of Fame?
Trapani was inducted in 1993, four years before she was elected a
village trustee, the first openly gay person to be elected to office in
Illinois. She was cited by the Hall of Fame for a history of activity 
in the gay community dating back to her life in New York City. Trapani now
staffs the Cook County Commission on Human Rights.
Other members of the Gay Hall of Fame, who don't have to gay, include
the late playwright Lorraine Hansberry, who wrote the landmark play "A
Raisin in the Sun" fame; tennis champion Billie Jean King; Illinois
Secretary of State Jesse White; radio personality and former Chicago
alderman Clifford Kelly; Joel Hall, the great Chicago dancer and
choreographer; and internationally known dance choreographer Randy
Duncan, who is an alumnus of Austin High School in the Chicago 
community adjacent to Oak Park on the east.

-- that the owners of Oberweis Dairy, which has a store at 124 N. Oak
Park Ave. in Oak Park, recently opened a new store in Joliet and that
new Oberweis stores are planned to open in Naperville and Hoffman
Estates later this year?

-- that Oak Park Country Club, which is in Elmwood Park to the north of
River Forest, is undertaking a concerted effort to save and replace the
elm trees on the club's grounds?
Many of the American elms planted in the 1920s on the Oak Park golf
course have succumbed to old age or Dutch Elm disease over the years,
and now the club is pursuing a root flare injection program to save the
remaining 120 or so older elms. Also, club officials are replacing the
American elms that have been lost with the new Liberty elms. The 
Liberty elm seedlings were planted in 1989 in a nursery and are now being
transferred to the club grounds.
 "They've grown from those tiny, pencil-thin saplings to prominent 15-
to 20-foot trees," said Alan Fierst, the superintendent of the club who
also teaches lawn and turf management at Triton College, the River
Grove-based community college that serves Oak Park, River Forest, 
Forest Park and other near-west suburbs. Fierst also said he might have his
lawn and turf management class "involved in working with the large
nursery of these American Liberty elms."

-- that it's too bad the following restaurant didn't make it?
A Chicago magazine review called the Oak Park establishment "a bright,
if plain, double storefront (a few) blocks east of Downtown Oak Park;
street parking is ample." The magazine said the food was kind of
"uneven" but the "portions were generous and the prices are reasonable
especially considering that most entries include a choice of two `side
kicks.'"
Too bad for Orlissie's Place, the Louisiana Southern Cuisine restaurant
that used to be at 529 Lake St. Owner Loretta Ragsdell had financial
problems and it didn't help when Oak Park and River Forest High School
moved to seize the property for creation of new athletic fields.
And another thing, Orlissie's was family friendly. "Small orders of
macaroni and cheese, meat loaf and fried catfish or chicken should
satisfy  the kids," wrote Chicago magazine reviewer Jeanne Rattenbury, "and, if
they don't, there's always the sweet potato pie, bread pudding, and
peach cobbler."
We'll also miss the live jazz and blues on Friday nights.

-- that Oak Park has two historic districts, which put rules on
construction and preservation of properties; that River Forest and
Forest Park have none; and that a report from Eastern Michigan
University raises some questions about the wisdom of historic district
rules?
"The Limitations of Historic Districts," a report from some professors
at the Ypsilanti, Mich. university, tells this story:
"Consider, for example, the situation of Oak Park, Illinois. In the
early 1900s, Oak Park was one of the most desirable suburbs of Chicago.
Its tree-lined streets were fronted by stately Victorian homes, many in
the ebullient and showy Queen Anne style. The homes were tall, with
steep roofs, turrets and many gables.
"Into that setting, a young architect named Frank Lloyd Wright brought 
a new style for residential design, eventually to be known as the Prairie
... style, largely
inspired by the broad midwestern plains. Wright's houses were more
horizontal than vertical, with low sloped roofs and wide, overhanging
eaves. There could not have been a sharper contrast to the Victorian
houses in Oak Park than this new style of the prairie.
"A question arises from this example: If Oak Park at the time had a
historic ordinance and had set up a historic district commission to
review new construction, would Frank Lloyd Wright's designs have been
approved? Or would the commissioners have denied the requests because
the designs were incompatible with the residential character of the
neighborhood?
"Today, we recognize the brilliance of these early houses by Wright,
which are among our country's architectural treasures. Yet in 1910 or
1915, they were new, incompatible, and probably would have not been
built if a strict review procedure had been required. What a tragedy
that would have been.
"In that same vein, we must ask ourselves today whether our historic
requirements prevent truly innovative and important architecture from
happening. In our attempt to protect against the worst designs, are we
also not allowing the best to come out? Sometimes it is necessary to
recognize truly significant architecture before it has had a chance to
`age'; excellence must be nurtured and encouraged wherever it is 
found."

DID YOU KNOW ...?

A new business soon to fill one of the
Downtown Oak Park vacancy

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that work is underway at 1109 Lake St. in Downtown Oak Park, where
Paper Source next month will fill one of downtown's nagging retail
vacancies?
Paper Source, which also has stores at 232 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago
and at a location in north suburban Evanston, carries papers, envelopes
and other stationery products, including custom invitations. Sounds a
lot like Fitzgerald's Fine Stationery, which is around the corner at 
131 N. Marion St.
Still, it's good news that a retail store on Lake Street and the Shoe
Place at 134 N. Marion St. will be coming soon to a commercial district
that already includes the following other vacancies:

* 1101 Lake St., where 2,700 square feet will be available when Jenny
Craig Weight Loss Centre leaves
* 130 N. Marion St., the famed and seemingly eternally vacant former
Sawyer Business College space
* 118 N. Marion St.
* 1016 North Blvd.
* 1000 Lake St.
* 1105 Westgate St.
* 1116 Lake St.
* And, of course, 1132 Lake St., the former Powerhouse Gym/Club West
space, the largest of them all

-- that none of the Oak Park and River Forest High School students who
competed in the recent national ACTSO competition took home prizes?
At the competition during the NAACP's national convention in Baltimore,
only two Illinois residents scored well enough in the academic and arts
competition to come away with medals and cash awards. Both of the
Illinois winners live in Chicago's south suburbs.

-- that according to an ad in the current issue of Crain's Chicago
Business newspaper from Oak Park's Gloor Realty, River Forest's has a
"street of dreams"?
I don't know where it is, but the house, according to the ad, has three
stories and plenty of room and land, and you can walk to parks, schools
and the Metra line.

-- that Woden, Val Camiletti's beloved cat at her Val's Halla Records
store at 723 1/2 South Blvd., died earlier this month?
Woden lived from 1984 to 2000 and was left with this message from Val:
"The dogs in heaven are in for a bumpy afterlife."

-- that the Cook County Sheriff's Police list of sexual offenders in 
the county contains 27 local residents?
Seventeen of the listed offenders live in Oak Park, eight live in 
Forest Park and two live in River Forest.

-- that Lindberg Park in Oak Park is named for Gustav Lindberg, Oak
Park's first superintendent of parks?

-- that Maple Park originally was called Perennial Gardens?

-- that Oak Park Police Sgt. Anthony Thomas will be one of the many
seminar presenters at the upcoming "Best Gang Training Conference in
History" to be held in Chicago in August.
"Gang College 2000," as it's also called, will be held Aug. 16, 17 and
18 in downtown Chicago, with an enormous roster of gang prevention
experts, including Thomas. Technically, the conference is the third
International Gang Specialist Training Conference and is designed "to
get the best and latest and most up-to-date gang specialist training
from the best in the business."
Thomas will present a session titled "The Gang/Drug Connection to
Nigeria and Ghana: The International Distribution of Southeast Asian
Heroin by Chicago's Folks and People's Nations." The seminar will
address what is described by Gang College 2000 organizers as delving
into "the current heroin epidemic."
A gang specialist for the Oak Park Police Department, for the last 
seven years, Thomas has been assigned to the Heroin Enforcement Group of the
Chicago office of the  U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Thomas 
also has participated in international heroin investigations in assignments
for the DEA, the FBI and U.S. Customs.

-- that Pro Printing Specialties, which provides promotional products,
recently was opened by Oak Parker and company president Donald J. 
Felton II?

-- that a seminar on the 10-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act 
has been scheduled for Sept. 9 at the Forest Park Public Library?
The seminar will be given that Saturday at 10 a.m. in the library, at
the northeast corner of Jackson Boulevard and Desplaines Avenue, by
Rocco Esposito, who is president of CHANGE, an advocacy organization
that stands for Community Health Action Network to Gain advances for
Epilepsy Inc.
Subjects like employment for disabled people, what is "reasonable
accommodation" as called for by ADA and the history of the act.

-- that U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis is a co-sponsor of the bill in 
Congress to give slavery reparations to African Americans?
House Resolution 40 would form a committee that would recommend
"appropriate remedies" for people who suffered through slavery. Since
Davis, whose district includes River Forest and Oak Park north of the
Eisenhower Expressway, co-sponsored the measure, the bill has 
languished in the House's Subcommittee on the Constitution.

-- that former Oak Park Police Chief William Kohnke is now Major Kohnke
and an assistant director in the Division of Detention with the Broward
County Sheriff's Office in Florida?
After being fired in Oak Park in 1990, Kohnke became police chief of
Greenwood Village, Colo. then moved on to chief in Bristol, Conn. and
then to chief in Pampano Beach, Fla., a job that he denied he had
applied for while he was chief in Oak Park. Kohnke was chief in Pampano
Beach until last year when that police department merged with the 
county sheriff's office. Kohnke now reports to County Sheriff Ken Jenne and as
a major is responsible for South Operations for the county, overseeing,
among other things, the main jail and the county's "stockade facility."

-- that Kohnke's name came up last week in a story in the Wednesday
Journal newspaper that contained something I'd like to straighten out?
In an interview, Oak Park Police Chief Joseph Mendrick was quoted as
saying a former Journal writer "used to play in a poker game with the
village manager and the police chief and the park district guy." I
figure that's referring to me because I always talked about trying to
play in that regular poker game.
But it never came about. Then-chief Keith Bergstrom and "the park
district guy," former executive director John Hedges, never had a
problem with me playing and neither did some of the other regulars, who
included Greg Mihalic, a former director of the old Community
Development Department at village hall. But Ralph DeSantis, who was
village manager and recently fired at the time and was another one of
the regulars, would have none of it, so I never got in.
And not to mention Kohnke again and not to puncture too many police
department myths and rumors, but I never had a fling with Patty 
Andrews, either.

DID YOU KNOW ...?

Housing developers show new interest in 
River Forest Lake Street corridor

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that developers have made initial proposals to build new housing on
Lake Street in River Forest?
One proposal making its way through village government circles would
have a four-flat with underground parking built on two lots east of
William Street on the north side of Lake Street. The other plan would
have a two-building, eight-unit condominium project on the nearby open
lots of what is 500-506 William St..
Across Lake Street, the new William Place Condominiums are going up to
eventually house residents of the Bonnie Brae Condominiums at Bonnie
Brae and Lake Street, which is to be demolished to make way for the
River Forest Town Center Phase II commercial development.

-- that there is other news on the development front in River Forest?
The Development Review Board, an appointed volunteer panel of River
Forest residents that advises the elected village board, is to meet 
soon to start the review process for the River Forest Park District's plans
for Washington Commons Park and to review plans for The Good Earth
Garden Center's proposed location in the village.

The park, about 1.8 acres, would be on Washington Boulevard on what is
now open space between the new single-family homes at Keystone Avenue
and the train tracks to the east. The Park District recently received a
$200,000 state grant to help with the cost of the park, which is to
include a soccer field, two baseball diamonds, walking paths, a play
area, a bathroom and shelter building, bike racks and other features.
Depending on schedules, bids and other arrangements, the park could be
open next spring.

The Garden Center  tentatively is slated for a now-empty spot on 
Madison Street between Keystone and Forest Avenues.

-- that in Oak Park, meanwhile, a couple of high-profile businesses are
on the way out?
Jenny Craig Weight Loss Centre at 1101 Lake St. in Downtown Oak Park,
has stated its intention to close the spot sometime in or near fall. 
And Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, owned by Oak Park resident August Aleksy
at 743 Garfield St., will be moving in the next month or so to 7419
Madison St. in Forest Park.

-- that because of this summer's unseasonably cool weather, the Park
District of Oak Park is behind in revenue forecasts for its two public
pools?

-- that the Interreligious Sustainability Project has one of its 
circles in Oak Park?

The project works to get Chicago-area religious congregations to take
action on various societal issues. With involvement by Catholics,
Protestants, Baha'is, Unitarian-Universalists, Muslims, Sikhs and
others, the project does grassroots organizing to enhance equity, to
improve people's ability to learn to live together and other goals.
There are circles in Oak Park, north suburban Evanston, the southwest
suburban LaGrange-Hinsdale area, Naperville in DuPage County, the
Humboldt Park community on Chicago's West Side and Chicago's Austin
community, which is adjacent to Oak Park on the east .
The next meeting of the Oak Park circle will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 8,
by Unitarian Universalist Congregation at 7 p.m. at Unity Temple, 875
Lake St. The Austin circle met Monday night at St. Martin's Episcopal
Church, 5710 W. Midway Park, and details of the next meeting are not
known yet.

-- that the Lake Theater in Oak Park says it does not allow young
children to attend some R-rated movies even if they are accompanied by
parents or other adults?

The theater, 1020 Lake St., says underage people will not be admitted 
to any R-rated movie after 6 p.m.

-- that the River Forest Community Center Band will hold two more
public concerts in August?

On Aug. 6 and Aug. 20, the Sunday concerts return to the Cook County
Forest Preserve property on the northwest corner of Lake Street and
Harlem Avenue. From 4 to 6 p.m., the Community Center band, which
includes village residents of all ages, will present classical, ragtime
and popular music and waltzes and marches.

-- that the Oak Park Regional Housing Center is scheduling its annual
anniversary gala for Oct. 28 at Mar Lac Banquets in Oak Park?

-- that River Forest Village Administrator Charles Biondo plans to be
off this Friday to take a long weekend and a trip to St. Louis?

-- that U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis has scheduled a meeting with suburban
elected officials on Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. in Bellwood village hall?
Davis' 7th Congressional District includes River Forest and the area 
Oak Park north of the Eisenhower Expressway.

-- that 88 years ago this month, the River Forest Public Library was
open 11 hours per week in a building on Park Avenue and new librarian
received a salary of $35 per month?
The library didn't move to its current home at 735 Lathrop Ave. until
the 1920s.

-- that Imoni Baxter of Maywood has been appointed to fill a vacancy on
the school board of Proviso High School District 209, which runs 
Proviso East High School, the public high school that Forest Park residents
attend?
Baxter, who is to serve on the school board until the election in May
2001, is a kindergarten teacher at Grant Elementary School in Bellwood
School District 88.

-- that Dr. Conway T. McLean has joined Valinsky Foot Care Center at 
163 S. Oak Park Ave. in Oak Park?

-- that Oak Park village government officials have decided not to join
the effort by Chicago city government and some suburban municipalities,
including River Forest, to band together and explore the possibility of
buying electricity from a source other than the ComEd utility?
Officials from River Forest village hall signed up last month, agreeing
with Chicago's Mayor Daley that there might be price and service gains
by giving ComEd some competition and from economies of scale by
combining their electricity needs. Oak Park village hall officials,
though, felt too much of the negotiating influence would be given over
to Chicago.

Some dangerous Oak Park intersections 
in line of traffic diverters

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that Oak Park village government parking and engineering staff plan
to soon make recommendations to rectify a serious traffic problem at
several locations in the village?
As part of its famed "traffic calming" efforts in recent years, the
village board approved right-turn-only designations to several
intersections where left turns by cars had caused traffic tie-ups and
had contributed to accidents. The right-turn only restrictions, 
however, have been indicated only by signs and pavement markings that are often
ignored by motorists and have contributed to some more-serious
accidents.
Now, government staff is preparing to recommend that the 
right-turn-only restrictions be strengthened by installation of concrete traffic
diverters. The matter is to be discussed at a meeting at village hall,
Lombard Avenue and Madison Street, at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25 by
the Parking and Traffic Commission, an appointed volunteer panel of
residents that advises the elected village board.
Sure, some concrete diverters, such as the one at Jackson Boulevard and
Maple Avenue, are ignored by some drivers but diverters would be big
improvements over the pavement markings.

-- that Jazz Age Chicago, an organization which focuses on "urban
leisure from 1893 to 1934," a period also known as the jazz age, fondly
recalls those times in Downtown Oak Park, which was much different from
today.
The downtown district at and around Lake and Marion streets in Oak 
Park, initially was a residential area, but developed during the jazz age and
by the second World War, says Jazz Age Chicago, "stores and theaters
along Lake Street catered to patrons from all across the West Side of
Chicago, as well as from Oak Park and other western suburbs."
The major changes in Downtown Oak Park, which is holding its annual
sidewalk sale this weekend, are pointed out clearly in a Jazz Age
Chicago map titled "Oak Park during the 1920s-1930s". Consider this 
list of selected locations.

LOCATION -- NOW -- IN JAZZ AGE --
Forest-Lake -- 100 Forest Place apartments -- Lowell Elementary School
1000 Lake St. -- various shops and offices -- Lytton's department store
1020 Lake St. -- Lake Theater -- Lake Theater
1100 Lake St. -- Barbara's Bookstore and others -- The Fair department store
1144 Lake St. -- Borders books and offices -- Marshall Field department store
And finally, Jazz Age Chicago remembers, the southwest corner of Harlem
Avenue and Lake Street in River Forest housed a Wieboldt's department
store on what today is the River Forest Town Center.

-- that Oak Park village government is getting ready to demolish the
eight-unit apartment building at 616 S. Austin Blvd. in Oak Park?
Readers will remember that the Oak Park village board in April voted to
purchase the building, whose newish owner could not keep up with
management duties and with repairs and who had not rid the building of
code violations. The board at the time said the choices were to rehab
the building, try to sell it to a private owner who could do the fix-up
or tear down the so-called motel-style building that is immediately
south of the Shell gas station on the southwest corner of Harrison
Street and Austin Boulevard.
Purchase price for the building was $248,000, which village hall paid
for from the parking fund. Demolition of the building and creation of
the new parking lot will further cut into that parking fund.

-- that the Oak Park Art League is now hiring a part-time assistant
director for the management program run out of its headquarters at 720
Chicago Ave. and  a part-time manager for its satellite location that
will be opening soon on Harrison Street in Oak Park?

-- that the Oak Park Visitors Bureau recently received $38,050 in a
state tourism grant?
The grant to the agency at 158 N. Forest Ave. was the third highest
amount given this year by the Illinois Department of Commerce and
Community Affairs--behind those given to the Chicago Convention and
Tourism Bureau and the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau,
which each received in the millions. In all, eight agencies in Illinois
received grants totaling $3,681,465.60.

-- that the 32nd annual No Gloves Nationals softball tournament will be
held in Forest Park beginning on Thursday, July 27?
The landmark 16-inch softball tournament always attracts top talent and
teams and will be held, as always, at The Park, 7501 Harrison St.

-- that the Oak Park Volunteer Center on Aug. 5 will. hold a "canine
carnival" at Longfellow Park in Oak Park?
The Volunteer Center, which works to match local volunteer 
opportunities with local residents from an office with the Community Chest of Oak 
Park & River Forest at 1042 Pleasant St., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that
Saturday at the park, Jackson Boulevard and Ridgeland Avenue, will 
offer a host of "family fun" activities. The rain date is Aug. 6.

-- that the historic Rehm House at 1145 S. Wisconsin Ave. and the
historic house owned by First United Church of Oak Park and occupied by
its retiring pastor at 321 N. Kenilworth Ave. are both for sale now?

-- that the famed Hale Mansion will be this year's ASID showcase house
for the benefit of the Infant Welfare Society of Oak Park and River
Forest?
Beginning in August, designers from the American Society of Interior
Designers--that's what ASID stands for--will volunteer to redesign all
the rooms in the mansion on the northwest corner of Oak Park and 
Chicago avenues. Then after completion of the makeover, the home will be open
for paid public tours to benefit the Infant Welfare Society, which is
based at 320 Lake St. in Oak Park.

-- that the latest reports about the troubled Lone Tree Area Girl Scout
Council have the organization losing its charter soon and also having 
to turn over its headquarters on Roosevelt Road in Oak Park?
Lone Tree, which serves about 5,000 Girl Scouts in several near-west
suburban communities including Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Park,
reportedly got the bleak news about its future during a July 11 meeting
held for council volunteers at the Oak Park headquarters and held by
officials from Girl Scouts USA, the parent of local councils which has
taken over operations at Lone Tree.
Girl Scouts USA officials also are considering whether to merge Lone
Tree with another near-west-suburban Girl Scout council and are trying
to save Lone Tree's Camp Wild Rose in Kane County.
Lone Tree got into trouble after a $1.7 million major renovation and
addition to its Roosevelt Road Inne Town Center and headquarters and 
now has had trouble making the debt payments. Some top council leaders
resigned after the financial troubles came to light last month and much
of the staff has been let go to cut expenses.

A final decision on Lone Tree's future will be made by the Girl Scout
USA board soon.

Philip Rock again eyes end as Oak Park 
Democratic committeeman

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that--and we've heard this before--another letter has gone out 
saying that Philip Rock soon will be ending his long tenure as Oak Park
Democratic committeeman?
Rock said in his latest letter received by some political operatives
that at the end of the month he will step down as head of the local
party, a post the former Illinois Senate president has held since
shortly after moving to Oak Park in 1978. To be named as a interim
committeeman until the election of 2002 is Don Harmon, also an Oak Park
resident and an attorney with the politically connected Chicago law 
firm of Mayer, Brown and Platt.
Back in August of 1997, Rock sent out a letter that talked about his
impending "last hurrah" as Democratic committeeman--which indicated 
that he would not seek re-election to the post the following spring. 
Instead, Rock was talked out of stepping down and ran unopposed, and
successfully, for re-election to a four-year term in March 1998.
Rock was a state senator from 1970 to 1993. After his district was
changed following the 1992 remap, Rock chose not to run for election.
Since then, he has taken on volunteer service on several civic boards,
including those of Oak Park-based West Suburban Hospital Medical Center
and the Oak Park Development, and he remains on attorney with his
Chicago law firm of Rock, Fusco and Garvey.

-- that things sure can change before any Seymour Taxman development
project is final, so don't get too excited yet about the new plans for
River Forest Town Center Phase II that were approved last week?
The new project on July 10 gained approval from the River Forest 
village board, the same board that approved the initial plans for the
development on Sept. 13, 1999. The proposed projects are radically
different, and among other things, the new proposal is larger than the
former one, and it now also includes a two-story parking structure.
In gaining approval for the first Town Center II, Tim Hague of the
Taxman Corporation said retailers wouldn't like a parking garage 
because they feared negative perceptions from their customers. See how things
change?

-- that the executive board of the state lodge of the Fraternal Order 
of Police includes Oak Park Police Sgt. Mike Vitale, who is the state 
lodge financial secretary, and Rev. Harold Stanger, who is the chaplain for
the Oak Park Police Department?
Vitale, a 20-year member of the Oak Park department also currently is
president of the Oak Park Lieutenants & Sergeants Association, which is
the bargaining unit for those Oak Park police supervisors. Stanger has
been the department's chaplain for three years.

-- that River Forest Police Officer August Bernahl retired last month
after 20 years on the job?

-- that Frank Muriello, who is back serving as interim executive
director of the Oak Park Housing Authority after the sudden departure 
of Thaddeus Bryzski, is also a real estate appraiser and an expert court
witness in the field, as named by the National Association of State 
Jury Verdict Publishers?

-- that with a cast of 20, "12th Nite," the current production, has the
largest cast of all the plays in Oak Park Festival Theatre's 26 years?

-- that the following are the administrators at Oak Park and River
Forest High School for the 2000-2001 school year?

* Susan Bridge, superintendent/principal
* Jason Edgecombe, assistant superintendent for human resources and
operations
* Donna Stevens, assistant superintendent for pupil support services
* Stephen Lebrecht, assistant superintendent for business and finance
* Mary K. Bennett, assistant superintendent for curriculum and
instruction
* Jack Lanenga, director of operations
* Richard Deptuch, director of instruction

-- that Mayor Daley held a press conference in Chicago's Austin
community last week on the site of the future new police headquarters
that was reported by oak-park-journal.com on June 16?
Not only did Daley praise the new 15th District police station on
Madison Street near Menard Avenue, which is about three blocks east of
Oak Park, but he also bragged about the city's recent investments
throughout the Austin community, which is adjacent to Oak Park on the
east. During a July 8 press conference on the now-vacant lot where the
new police station will go up, Daley cited the following city-funded or
city-encouraged Austin projects that either are now underway or were
completed recently.

* $21 million for streets, water mains, sewers and other infrastructure
over the last three years
* the Westside Health Authority's community medical center at Chicago
and Cicero avenues
* the $24 million Washington Square Shopping Center at Cicero Avenue 
and Augusta Boulevard
* the Westside Planning and Development's day care facility at 4926 W.
Madison St.
* more than $169 million in school projects, including a new Byford
School at Central Avenue and Iowa Street.
* about 3,200 units of new housing are on the drawing boards and
thousands completed in the last several years
* more than $4 million in Chicago Park District projects, including a
new spray pool at Austin Park
* another $4 million from the City's Neighborspace program and the
campus  parks program for schools
* more than $2 million in improvements to Columbus Park over the last
several years
* Nearly $1 million to upgrade Austin Town Hall Park and to build a new
campus park at the Duke Ellington School In all, Daley said, more than
$310 million of public and private projects in Austin either have been
completed over the last five years or are about to begin.

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that along with presidential candidates, celebrities and others, Oak
Park native and former Miss America Marjorie Vincent is playing a role
at the NAACP national convention in Baltimore this week?
Republican George W. Bush spoke Monday, Democrat Al Gore is to speak
Wednesday and the Green Party's Ralph Nader also is to speak at the 
91st annual convention of the nation's oldest civil rights group. Others 
with various roles at the convention are Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Charles
"Doc" Dutton, actor Billy Dee Williams, movie director John Singleton
and others, including Vincent, who these days is a news anchor on the
Ohio News Network, the statewide, 24-hour, cable news channel.
Vincent, a graduate of Oak Park and River Forest High School, was Miss
America for 1991.

-- that with the presidential election increasingly in the news, it's a
good time to remember some words from Sherlynn Reid, Oak Park's former
Community Relations Director, from last year's report on race relations
from the Leadership Conference Education Fund, a national
think-tank-like group?
Here's what Reid had to say, in part, for the report, which examined 
the dynamics of race and intergroup relations in various aspects of 
American society:
"We need a national policy that encourages communities to be racially
diverse. We should see that as a strength, not a weakness. Our message
should be that you have not arrived until your community is racially
diverse."

-- that Latoya Robinson was sworn in Monday as a new police officer in
River Forest?
Also on Monday, Robinson, 29, began basic recruit training for new
officers. She attended Currie High School in Chicago and St. Joseph's
College in Rensselaer, Ind. and had been a member of a Signal Corps 
Unit of the U.S. Army National Guard, where she was a 2nd lieutenant.

-- that River Forest Public Works Director Gregory Kramer is predicting
that Dutch Elm Disease in the village will be down this year--by as 
much as 50 percent from 1999?
The statistics for this year are a testament to village hall program,
begun last year, to pay some of the costs to residents who want to
inject their elms with a substance that can help prevent the disease.
Village hall last month signed up for another year of the program with
Nels J. Johnson Tree Experts.

-- that tickets reportedly aren't selling too well for the July 15
benefit for Oak Park Festival Theatre?
The benefit is scheduled for 6 p.m. that Saturday at the historic, 
Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Arthur Heurtley House at 318 N. Forest Ave. in 
Oak Park. Tickets are $60 for the event, which features wine, hors 
d'oeurves and conversation with the company in the current production of "12th
Nite" and the play's director, Festival Theatre artistic director Dale
Calandra. The benefit will be the first time the Heurtley House has been open to
the public since the house was designated a national landmark.

-- that the current Festival Theatre production in Oak Park's Austin
Gardens is called "12th Nite," rather than the traditional "Twelfth
Night" because Calandra wanted to "lend a contemporary feel to this
production," he was quoted as saying in Stagebill, a theater
publication.

-- that Oak Park Festival Theatre presented "Twelfth Night" in 1976?

-- that a stretch of Madison Street that borders River Forest and 
Forest Park is to be repaved this summer by the Illinois Department of
Transportation?
IDOT will be repaving the street from Lathrop Avenue west to the bridge
over the DesPlaines River.

-- that Alan Rosenberg of Oak Park has been named to the State of
Illinois' Health Care Credentials Council, a citizens commission?
The appointment made by Gov. Ryan is for a term ending April 6, 2004.
Rosenberg is chief medical officer and vice president for medical
affairs at Unicare.

-- that another recent appointment by Gov. Ryan to another state
commission has another local connection?
Named to the Illinois Arts Council was Melanie H. Tomaszkiewicz. She 
was known as Melanie Tomasz when she served only about one year as 
executive director of the Oak Park Area Arts Council, which is based in village
hall and which serves arts and artists in Oak Park, River Forest and
Forest Park. Tomaszkiewicz is now executive director for the American
Women Composers Midwest, Inc. and is to serve on the state arts council
board until June 30, 2003. Among the board's duties is to rule on
funding for local arts groups, including the Oak Park Area Arts 
Council.

-- that CARE, the old Oak Park political party that hasn't been too
active for years officially folded recently?
CARE was formed in the mid-1980s with a goal of changing the direction
and policies of village government and other institutions in Oak Park.
The party reached its high point in the 1985 municipal elections, when
CARE won three of the seven village board seats chosen in that 
election.
It was then the only time that the Village Manager Association had been
beaten in any village government election.
When it folded, CARE members gave about $1,000 on hand in their 
treasury to the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory.

-- that River Forest village government has joined the local government
power alliance, in which some municipalities--including the City of
Chicago--are beginning to explore electricity supply alternatives to
Commonwealth Edison?
Village government spent about $75,000 on electricity last year.

Oak Park finally ready to fix the 
long-dry village hall fountain

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that Oak Park village government is out to bid to seek repairs on a
not-so-great part of its history: the leaking fountain in the village
hall courtyard?
A meeting is to be held tomorrow, July 7, at village hall between
government staff members and any contractors who are interested in
bidding on the "village hall courtyard improvements" project. The
contractors will be bidding on a project to fix the fountain, provide
for draining and other work.
The fountain is at the north end of the courtyard facing Madison Street
and contains the Pathfinder sculpture done by renowned Oak Park sculptor
Geraldine McCullough. The water first flowed in the 1980s but has been
shut down for years because the water eventually leaked into the police
station, which is below the fountain in the lower level of village hall,
Lombard Avenue and Madison Street.
Some of the funding for the project comes from village hall's allotment
of federal community development block grant monies.

-- that proposals are due Aug. 1 on Oak Park village government's hopes
for development on the open space at and around Lake Street and Euclid
Avenue?
Developers recently received a request from village hall to provide
development proposals for the area--chiefly the parking lot parking lot
east of Firstar Bank, 104 N. Oak Park Ave. Village government has made
previous, but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to develop the open space
into revenue-generating businesses and/or housing, but plans now call
for the village board to evaluate the development proposals and make a
development decision in the fall.
"A mixed-use development that combines residential, office and retail
space is the likely best use of the site," said a statement from village
hall, which also requires the developers to "at least maintain the
current number of parking spaces" that are offered now.

-- that the Hispanic Council, which provides legal services at a low
cost to Latinos in the Chicago area, has moved to an office at Roosevelt
Road and Austin Boulevard in Chicago across from Oak Park?
The council for the 12 years of its existence has been located in west
suburban Bensenville.

-- that Vivaldi, the Italian restaurant at 144 S. Oak Park Ave. in Oak
Park, recently opened another restaurant in southwest suburban Downers
Grove?

-- that the Oak-William Running Club meets at and runs a few times each
month from Oak and William streets in River Forest?

-- that for the planned July 8 release of the new Harry Potter book,
three bookstores in Oak Park will be open late and will start sales of
the publishing blockbuster at 12:01 a.m. Friday night/Saturday morning?
The three, which offer various activities, food or giveaways are Magic
Tree Bookstore, 141 N. Oak Park Ave.; Borders Books Music Cafe, 1144
Lake St.; and Barbara's Bookstore, 1100 Lake St.

-- that Oak Park Elementary School District 97 is out to bid for new
playground equipment at Mann School, 921 N. Kenilworth Ave.?

-- that Coldwell Banker Sprafka Realtors at 7007 W. North Ave. in Oak
Park offers a basketball hoop residents can use at block parties?

-- that Famous Liquors will hold Grill Fest 2000 on July 22?
>From 1 to 5 p.m. on that Saturday, the store's location at 7714 W.
Madison St. in Forest Park will offer, among other things, grilled food,
tastings of other foods, raffle prizes and a chance in the "Miller Money
Machine."
In this contraption, customers stand in a booth while "Miller dollars"
whirl about. At Famous, people will try to catch as many "dollars" as
they can in 15 seconds and then redeem the "dollars" for prizes.

-- that the River Forest Park District was founded on Aug. 8, 1913?

-- that Oak Park has 105 miles of water mains with more than 12,500
water meters and service connections?

 -- that the New Democratic Party in Oak Park is scheduled to meet next
on Sunday, July 23, in the Fox Recreation Center, Oak Park Avenue and
Jackson Boulevard?

-- that Oak Park Eye Center at 7055 W. North Ave. has a "satellite
office" in west suburban Oak Brook Terrace?

-- that the following is part of what has passed for humor on The Funny
Firm's joke archives?
Last year, the comedy business put out this line: "The 130-year old
house of Ernest Hemingway in Oak Park, Ill. has been saved from the
wrecker's ball for $1. It's still filled with Hemingwayesque touches.
For instance, the rowboat where he sat writing `The Old Man and the Sea'
is still in the garage."

-- that PROUD--the Missouri organization People Reaching Out for Unity
and Diversity that is promoted by the U.S. President's Initiative on
Race--started after the Oak Park Exchange Congress in 1994?

Oak Park medical interest has eyes on
Austin community in Chicago

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that WSKC Dialysis Services Inc., 101 N. Scoville Ave. in Oak Park,
has applied for a permit to build a renal dialysis facility in a new
professional medical building in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago to
the east of Oak Park?
The dialysis facility would be located at Chicago and Cicero avenues,
and the project is estimated to cost more than $3.2 million.
WSKC is part of Everest Healthcare Services Corp. and part of the
property and building at Scoville Avenue and North Boulevard that Oak
Park and River Forest High School wants to acquire for expansion.

-- that Evanston Township High School recently lost another
administrator to a high school in this area?
Kelvin Gilchrist, who had been chair of applied science and technology
at Evanston high, has been hired to be an assistant superintendent at
Proviso District 209, which runs the public high school in Maywood that
Forest Park residents attend. Earlier this summer, Jason Edgecombe, who
also had worked at Evanston high, was hired to be a new assistant
superintendent at Oak Park and River Forest High School.

-- that there is a definite Oak Park, uh, flavor to the Taste of
Chicago, which runs until July 9 at Grant Park in Chicago?
The obvious one is the reappearance of Robinson's No. 1 Ribs, 940
Madison St. in Oak Park, but there's also Buddy Guy's Legends in
Chicago, where Oak Park resident Jason Girard is executive chef;
Salvador's, the Mexican restaurant at 73 E. Lake St. in Chicago that
once had a location in the still-vacant building at 134 N. Ridgeland
Ave. in Oak Park; and Buona Beef, which has an outlet at 7025 W. North
Ave. in Oak Park and has its flagship location at the southeast corner
of Oak Park Avenue and Roosevelt Road across from Oak Park.

-- that of the local and surrounding suburbs, the most population growth
is being projected for Berwyn and Cicero?
Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Park populations will be relatively
flat during the next two decades, according to the Northeastern Illinois
Planning Commission, which recently released population projections for
the year 2020. Here's NIPC's projections for the area and surrounding
towns.
Town--1990 census--2020 projection
Berwyn--45,426--63,767
Cicero--67,436--77,249
Elmwood Park--23,206--23,893
Forest Park--14,918--14,649
Maywood--27,134--25,636
Melrose Park--20,859--21,824
Oak Park--53,648--54,284
River Forest--11,669--12,223

-- that construction is scheduled to begin soon on the long-planned
reconstruction of Greenfield Street the width of River Forest?
The village board approved the contract last week, and work is to begin
either later this month or in early August. The work from Harlem Avenue
to Thatcher Avenue is to include new curbs, driveway aprons, drainage
structures, resurfacing of the street and more. Completion is to be
accomplished by Thanksgiving, according to the village government.

-- that Oak Parker Jacqueline Buckely, the director of the Cook County
State's Attorney's Victim Witness Assistance Program, has been named by
Gov. Ryan to the Treatment and Detention Facility Task Force?
The task force is to plan the future of treatment and detention of
sexual offenders.

-- that plans for a new Austin district police station in Chicago would
the station from the 37th Ward to the 29th Ward?

-- that West Suburban Temple Har Zion, 1040 N. Harlem Ave. in River
Forest, bills itself as "the address for Conservative Judaism in the
western suburbs"?

-- that one of every five buildings designed by famed Oak Park architect
Frank Lloyd Wright has been destroyed?
Preventing any more of Wright's buildings from being lost is why the
Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy exists. The Chicago-based agency
will hold its annual conference in Minneapolis Sept. 20 to 24 this year.

-- that the Taste of Austin has been scheduled for Aug. 27-28 in
Columbus Park on Jackson Boulevard east of Austin Boulevard?

-- that Nichols Farms, a regular grower and vendor at the Oak Park
Farmers' Market, is very busy every day during the growing season?
In addition to the Oak Park market, which runs every Saturday from the
first of June to the end of October, Nichols in Marengo goes to other
markets. Mondays, it's Hinsdale; some Tuesdays are for the Chicago
Federal Plaza at Adams and Dearborn and the Chicago Museum of
Contemporary Art; Wednesdays are for Elmhurst, Chicago South Shore at
70th and Jeffrey or the Chicago Green City Market at the Historical
Society at Clark and Armitage; Thursdays, it's Daley Plaza at Washington
and Dearborn, the Prudential Plaza on Michigan Avenue or the market at
Eli's/Dunning at Montrose and Forest Preserve Drive; Fridays are for
Schaumburg; Sundays, they're in Bucktown or in Rogers Park; and
Saturdays also finds Nichols Farms at farmers' markets in Lincoln Park
or in Evanston.

-- that the Oak Park Health Department last week was approved for a
$52,070 grant from the state health department?
The grant is part of $14 million to be given this fiscal year to 94
local health departments in Illinois. The grant amount is based on
population and the community's poverty level, and the money is to be
used in Oak Park to combat preventable infectious diseases.

-- that the Chicago Park District's current Negro Baseball Little League
program is being offered locally at Amundsen Park and at Moore Park in
Austin?
As part of the program, kids learn baseball skills and receive knowledge
about--and commemorative jerseys for--teams in the old Negro baseball
leagues, the pre-Jackie Robinson all-black baseball teams that featured
the likes of pitcher Satchel Paige and catcher Josh Gibson. (Gibson, by
the way, was featured in a talk at Barbara's Bookstore in Oak Park last
week by William Brashler, the Chicagoan who recently wrote a book about
Gibson.)
In the Chicago parks program, the kids at Amundsen, 6200 W. Bloomingdale
Ave., will represent the old Newark Eagles, and the kids at Moore Park,
5085 W. Adams St., will concentrate on the old Baltimore Elite.

June 28, 2000

River Forest making final payment 
on property for new Town Center

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that River Forest village government is making its final payment on a
key piece of land in the Lake Street corridor to make way for River
Forest Town Center phase two near Lake Street and Bonnie Brae?
After a judge's ruling, village hall finally agreed to pay $945,000 for
the former O'Connor Cleaners property at 7320 W. Central Ave. Initially,
village government seized control of the property for $650,000 and then
a judge determined the final price after legal proceedings that
concluded after the cleaners building was demolished. So after approval
by the village board Monday night, village government is cutting a check
to pay the final $295,000.
As with everything regarding Seymour Taxman's developments in River
Forest, village hall's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund foots the
bills, not general tax revenues.

-- that the 30-day time period opened Wednesday to see if there will be
a referendum on Forest Park Elementary School District 91's plans to
issue $6 million in bonds?
Under the plan by school district officials, District 91 would issue
$6,060,000 in funding bonds to pay for certain obligations. Without the
bonds, property taxes in Forest Park would go down, but if signatures
from 10 percent of the registered voters are gathered in the next month,
the bonds won't be issued until voters say so in a referendum on Nov. 7.

-- that a recent survey at Fenwick High School in Oak Park showed that
76 percent of students participated in sports in the past school year?

-- that there's some good news in this week's annual ranking of banks by
Crain's Chicago Business paper?
Listing Chicago-area banks by percentage return on assets, Crain's, as
is typical, placed, First Bank of Oak Park, 11 Madison St., in second
place. The additional good news comes from the improvements in two
relatively new banks with Oak Park ties: Community Bank of Oak Park
River Forest, 1001 Lake St. in Oak Park, and PrivateBank and Trust
Company, which was founded in Chicago by a group of mainly Oak Park and
River Forest residents.
But improving the most among local banks was Austin Bank of Chicago,
which saw improvement of more than 6 percent from 1998 to 1999.

-- that River Forest Village Administrator Charles Biondo chairs the
Intergovernmental Committee of the West Central Municipal Conference and
that River Forest Public Works Director Gregory Kramer chairs the Public
Works Committee for the same organization?
WCMC is an intergovernmental cooperative that includes municipalities in
Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and other near-west Chicago suburbs?

-- that the Park District of Oak Park is planning have some new
playground equipment installed near the recreation centers at Carroll,
Kenilworth Avenue and Fillmore Street; Field, Woodbine Avenue and
Division Street; and Stevenson, Taylor Avenue and Lake Street?

-- that the Oak Park village board has approved a $12,240 grant for the
owners of the new shoe store coming to Downtown Oak Park?
The store, called The Men's Store, will be owned by Oak Park resident
Frank Kelly at 134 N. Marion St.

-- that Mary Daly Lewis of Oak Park on July 1 will become Provost at
Benedictine University in suburban Lisle?
Lewis, who formerly was school board president of Oak Park Elementary
School District 97, has been  vice president of academic affairs at
Benedictine since 1988, and she will maintain that post while adding
Provost duties.

-- that West Suburban Health Care in Oak Park and the West Side Health
Authority in the Austin community of Chicago have started a community
and technology program called Every Block a Village?
The Austin Communication Project, as it's known, is designed to assist
organizations in Austin through the communication technology and "the
sharing of technical expertise."
The web site EBVOnline is sponsored by AT&T.

-- that Park Avenue Coin Laundry has opened at 910 S. Oak Park Ave.?

-- that the web site of U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, whose district
includes River Forest, the area of Oak Park north of the Eisenhower
Expressway and other suburban and city areas, has links to municipal
governments in Oak Park and Chicago but none to River Forest's?

-- that one year ago this week, 40 Oak Parkers traveled to Philadelphia
for the All America City award ceremony?
Oak Park was one of 30 semifinalists, but didn't make the final cut of
10 communities that got awards from the National League of Cities. The
village didn't enter this year.

-- that the JETS team from Fenwick High School in Oak Park this year
placed second in the nation in the academic contest.?

-- that a Fun Fest in Oak Park, Mich. is on this week, beginning last
Sunday with a Taste of Oak Park and including a fireworks show at 10
p.m. on Friday, June 29?
Oak Park, Ill. holds its public fireworks on July 4, and the annual
Taste of Oak Park will be held by the American Women of Oak Park and
River Forest on Aug. 20. But Oak Park, Ill. has no parade, which the
Michigan town will have on the Fourth of July at 11 a.m.

-- that River Forest Police Officer John Galassi has taken over as the
foot patrol officer in the Lake Street corridor in the village?
Galassi was named to the post to replace Roger Zawacki, who was promoted
to sergeant. Zawacki had replaced Gary Linden, who also was promoted to
sergeant.

Downtown Oak Park health club
sets closing date of June 30

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that Powerhouse Gym/Club West has set June 30 as its last day of
business at 1132 Lake St. in Downtown Oak Park?
Owners Rosemary and Jerry Juravic are selling the building where the
business operates, reportedly to a developer interested in bringing
retail business to the site. Members in the club, which has been in the
Lake Street space for seven years, will receive refunds prorated as of
the closing date next Friday. Previously, Club West was at a space on
South Boulevard near Marion Street, also in Oak Park.

-- that the Afro-Info Search Directory that offers listings of
"Afrocentric websites and links on the web is based in Oak Park?
At www.afroinfo.com, users can link on to African American and other
black organizations in business and finance, education, entertainment,
health and nutrition, history and culture, newspapers and magazines,
political organizations, radio and television, religion, sports and
other categories.

-- that Studio Pardes Art for the Soul, which is to offer art classes
and exhibits, is set to open soon at 350 Harrison St. in Oak Park.

-- that the report from the intergovernmental committee studying racial
integration and other aspects of diversity in Oak Park has been delayed
until November?
Officials originally had said that the task force would have results
ready to present at the regional Oak Park Exchange Congress to be held
in September.

-- that the Friends of ACT-SO 2000 will hold their final fund-raiser
this Saturday, June 24?
Hosted by the NAACP Oak Park branch, the gala at 100 Forest Place in Oak
Park will raise money to send the Oak Park and River Forest High School
students who won in the local ACT-SO academic, artistic and science
contest to the national ACT-SO competition at the NAACP national
convention in Baltimore.

-- that Oak Park village government is now offering automatic payment of
bills to its utility customers?
In an announcement, village hall said many residents have been asking
for the system, in which water bills and some other bills can be paid
automatically with amounts taken out of accounts without residents
having to write checks. Village hall also said that the system wasn't
done earlier because a computer conversion was needed.

-- that the Austin Farmers' Market will start another season on Saturday
in the Chicago community to the east of Oak Park?
The market had been held at Byford School, Central Avenue and Iowa
Street, but with a new school under construction at Byford, the market
has been moved to the playground of Emmet School at Madison Street and
Central Avenue. The market will start on June 24 and then will be held
every Saturday morning until Oct. 21.

-- that a video of this year's River Forest Memorial Day parade was
shown four times on the AT&T Cable Services local access channel?

-- that as the crow flies, Oak Park is 177 miles from the state capitol
in Springfield?

-- that there's an Oak Park Motel in Lincoln, Neb.?

-- that the latest tentative budget for Oak Park Elementary School
District 97 is now available for public inspection and that a public
hearing on the budget has been scheduled for July 19?
The hearing will take place at 7:30 p.m. that Wednesday at the district
headquarters, 970 Madison St., where residents can examine the budget
for the 2000-2001 fiscal year that starts July 1 and ends June 30 next
year.

-- that Patricia Ireland, the president of the National Organization for
Women, was born in Oak Park on Oct. 19, 1945?

-- that Karen Yarbrough, the Democratic candidate for election as state
representative from the 7th Illinois House District that includes part
of Oak Park, Forest Park and other near-west suburbs, has promised to
learn to speak Spanish in deference to the Latino residents of her
district?
No Republicans ran in the 7th District primary in March and a deadline
passed for the party to name a candidate for November's election, so it
is all but assured that Yarbrough will run unopposed in the fall.

-- that, in my opinion, the parking spaces in the two Taxman retail
developments at Lake Street and Harlem Avenue in Oak Park and River
Forest are too small?
Especially when River Forest Town Center was conceived, developer
Seymour Taxman and village government officials saw a market for more
compact cars and used smaller parking space dimensions to gain more
parking spaces in the development. Oak Park officials pretty much
followed suit when the Shops of Downtown Oak Park later was developed
later across Harlem.
Since then, however, the sports utility vehicle craze has come on the
scene and the vehicles often are tight fits into the spaces of the
developments.

Forest Park caters to River Forest 
swimmers again

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that again this year, River Forest residents can get reduced-price
nights at the Forest Park Aquatic Center?
As has happened for the past two summers, River Foresters can get in to
the Aquatic Center for $1 on Thursday nights between 8:15 and 10:15 p.m.
A reduced season pass also is available through the River Forest Park
District at 366-6660.

-- that Forest Park National Bank has joined the Oak Park Development
Corporation?
The bank at 7348 W. Madison St. in Forest Park becomes the 11th bank in
OPDC, which is a private, not-for-profit corporation that is funded
through its members and Oak Park public funding and which exists to
promote and improve economic development in Oak Park.
The other banks who pay dues to belong to OPDC are: Bank One's Oak Park
branch at 1048 Lake St. in Oak Park; Charter One at St. Paul Federal,
6700 W. .North Ave. in Chicago, across from Oak Park; Community Bank of
Oak Park River Forest, 1001 Lake St.; Corus bank's branch at 7727 W.
Lake St. in River Forest; the Firstar Bank branch at 104 N. Oak Park
Ave.; First Bank of Oak Park, 11 Madison St. in Oak Park; LaSalle Bank,
which has branches at 6720 W. Roosevelt Road in Oak Park and 7601 W.
North Ave. in River Forest; Midwest Bank and Trust at 1606 N. Harlem
Ave., near North Avenue across from River Forest and Oak Park in Elmwood
Park; the Old Kent branch at 840 S. Oak Park Ave.; and the TCF branch at
7208 W. Chicago Ave. in River Forest.

-- that Oak Park and River Forest High School recently won a $259,890
grant to focus on improving African American achievement and "school
climate"?
The Goals 2000 Grant came from the Illinois State Board of Education
largely through the efforts of OPRF staff members Mary Bennett, Rich
Deptuch and Don Vogel. State Superintendent Glenn W. "Max" McGee said
the program at OPRF, 201 N. Elmwood Ave. in Oak Park will have "a
positive impact on student learning in the 21st Century."

-- that all the altar servers graduated this month from Ascension School
in Oak Park?
The 23 young men and women next year will attend high school next school
year at either OPRF in Oak Park, Fenwick in Oak Park, Trinity in River
Forest, Morton West in Berwyn, Notre Dame in Chicago, St. Patrick in
Chicago or Immaculate Heart of Mary in Westchester.

-- that Edward P. De Lorenzo of St. Edmund Church was ordained a deacon
in 1975 and celebrated his silver jubilee on June 10 this year?

-- that work on the restoration-renovation at St. Edmund School is
scheduled to continue at a fast pace to be ready when classes resume in
the fall?

-- that FitzGerald's, the landmark nightclub on Roosevelt Road in Berwyn
across from Oak Park, will be closed on Father's Day?

-- that in the school year just completed, students at Oak Park and
River Forest High School went on three out-of-the-area field trips with
teachers?
>From Oct. 1 to 4, seven students went with Mark Woods to southern
Wisconsin and northwest Illinois.
>From Nov. 11 to 14, 21 Geology students went with Woods to southeast
Missouri.
>From March 24 to April 12, 16 students went with Marlene Spicuzza and
Andrew Grieve to Italy. That was the 10th cultural exchange between OPRF
and ITC "Alessandro Viola" High School in Florence.

 -- that John Paxson, currently a radio color man for Chicago Bulls'
basketball game broadcasts and a former player with the team, has taken
over for Doug Collins, the current NBC color man on NBA television
broadcasts and a former Bulls coach, to run the youth basketball camp at
Concordia University this summer?

-- that Manfred B. Boos has been named the new Provost at Concordia
University?
Boos, who has been chairman of the Math Department at the university,
7400 W. Augusta St. in River Forest, succeeds Norman Young, who retired
from the position and who on July 1 will become provost emeritus.

-- that one of the newest members of the Board of Trustees at Dominican
University in River Forest is Michael E. Kelly?
Kelly, a River Forest resident, is chairman of the board of Oak
Park-based FBOP Corporation, which owns First Bank of Oak Park, 11
Madison St., and seven other banks and one thrift in Illinois,
California and Texas.

-- that another area school-related board local board is the Triton
College Foundation, which raises money for education programs at the
community college that serves Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and
other near-west Chicago suburbs?
Among the noted names on the foundation board are college president
George Jordnt; David King, the Oak Park commercial real estate broker
who lives in Forest Park and whose mother used to work at Triton; Eugene
Moore, now the Cook County Recorder of Deeds and the former state
representative from the 7th House District that includes parts of Oak
Park and Forest Park; Mark R. Stephens, the current elected chairman of
the Triton College board; and Donald Stephens, Mark Stephens' father and
the all-powerful mayor of northwest suburban Rosemont.

-- that those in Oak Park Temple B'nai Abraham Zion takes sandwiches,
other food and clothes each month to the Outreach Mission on Chicago's
West Side?
On the first Sunday of each month, congregation members take the
supplies to the mission, a shelter for women near Madison Street and
Western Avenue.

-- that River Forest Elementary School District 90 is undertaking
construction to provide every classroom in the district's three school
buildings with access to the internet?

-- that the public schools in Maywood and Melrose Park last week turned
down a charter school?
The New Horizon Math and Science Charter School made the proposal for a
new charter school and had earlier inquired about opening such a school
in Oak Park.

-- that this passage off a particular community's web site sounds
familiar?
"You may have visited Oak Park before, or you may be planning a
first-time visit. Whatever your interest, we have a lot to offer in Oak
Park. Excellent, award-winning schools; highly involved citizens;
bright, friendly businesses; diverse, spirited churches; and more.
"Make Oak Park your choice for a visit or a permanent lifestyle choice."

That's from Oak Park, California.

June 12, 2000

Some Maywood residents study Oak Park 
in effort to get rid of partisan politics

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that a group of residents in Maywood have been studying the Village
Manager Association political group in Oak Park and considering fielding
slates for village government offices just like the VMA does in Oak
Park?
The recent move was organized by Maywood resident Karen Yarbrough, the
Democratic candidate for November election as state representative from
the 7th Illinois House District, which includes parts of Chicago's
Austin community next to Oak Park, parts of the suburbs of Forest Park
and Oak Park and areas in other near-west suburbs. Yarbrough and others
involved in the Maywood move were interested in how the VMA beginning in
the 1950s and since has able to keep partisan politics out of Oak Park
village government. That's something Maywood could use.
At a recent meeting in Maywood, several VMA leaders shared their
experiences with the Maywood residents. Yarbrough asked the VMA members,
on behalf of the Maywood group, "to mentor them in their efforts."

-- that the Committee to Elect Karen Yarbrough on Wednesday, June 28
will hold a fund-raiser at Mar-Lac Banquets, 104 S. Marion St. in Oak
Park?

-- that the ComEd transformer that blew in Oak Park last Thursday and
caused power outages in parts of Oak Park and River Forest is located
near the Oak Park main fire station near Euclid Avenue and North
Boulevard ?

-- that another local acronym organization, H.O.U.S.E., meets once a
month at the Forest Park Public Library, 7555 W. Jackson Blvd.?
The local branch of Home Oriented Unique Schooling Experience is part of
a statewide organization that supports families that are home schooling.
The group meets on the second Friday of every month from 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. at the library at Jackson Boulevard and Desplaines Avenue. HOUSE
serves homeschoolers from Oak Park, Forest Park, River Forest, Berwyn,
Cicero, Elmwood Park, Maywood and the West Side of Chicago.

-- that there is a documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright playing on
Wednesday, June 14, at Conrad Sulzer Regional Library in Chicago?
The 1984 film about the former Oak Parker and world-famous architect
starts at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the library, 4435 N. Lincoln.

-- that the Growing Place Consumer Empowerment Center, which is based in
the Alliance for the Mentally Ill Drop-In Center at 815 S. Oak Park Ave.
in Oak Park, manned two tables at the June 10 flea market held at the
Berwyn Park District?

-- that one of the most clever performances during "A Day In Our
Village" on Sunday was from Cresta Verde, whose rock 'n' roll string
quartet performed at 11:25 a.m. on the main stage in Scoville Park?
On Sunday, the quartet did classics like "Smoke On The Water" with a
viola, violin and cello. Cresta Verde from Oak Park also does strolling
music with classics like "Our Love is Here To Stay," popular music like
"Satin Doll" and classical.

-- that the Association of Young Artists and Musicians shared space with
the Oak Park Area Arts Council at "A Day In Our Village"?

-- that Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest, 1011 Lake St.,
sponsored the performance by Stuck in the Fifties on Lake Street during
"A Day In Our Village"?
The group specializing in 1950s oldies music recently performed at the
May Madness street festival and at a awards dinner dance held by the Oak
Park Education Foundation.

-- that officials with the U.S. Postal Service maintain that the main
Oak Park post office at 901 Lake St. is sturdy enough to last almost 200
more years?
The art deco structure was completed in 1936.

-- that the Oak Park Police Department's General Order against racial
profiling has a specific and detailed purpose?
Here is the direct quote from the order, which was drafted by Police
Commander Keenan Williams, also an attorney:
"The criminal justice process is dependent upon the cooperation, respect
and conformity of the public at large. All law enforcement personnel
play an integral role in maintaining that fabric of society that holds
our country together: the law. When an officer engages in conduct that
is perceived by the public as detrimental to their fundamental rights,
the erosion of our basic social contract begins. All officers must
adhere to standards of professional conduct that furthers and promotes
the integrity, honesty and fairness of the law enforcement profession."

-- that Oak Park is 12.186 square kilometers?

-- that Forest Park has a web home page through Community Profile
Network at http://www.villageprofile.com/tour/illinois/index.htmlgovern?

-- that it's easier to access River Forest and Oak Park through
www.oprf.com and click on the "Government" line?

-- that Stanley Buford, co-president of APPLE, the education group
African Americans for Purposeful Leadership in Education, is an
education and business consultant who owns Terkat Consultants Inc.,
which offers workshops to teachers, school administrators, students and
parents?

June 8, 2000

Efforts starting for `mini-police academy' 
at OPRF High School

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that the Oak Park Police Department is working with Oak Park and
River Forest High School officials to start a mini-police academy at the
high school?
As part of the community policing strategy, the Oak Park department each
year offers village residents a chance to work with police to learn
about and train in police work and safety programs and to interact with
officers. Police Sgt. Jacques Conway, the Oak Park resource police
officer at OPRF High, said police want to work toward the same general
results with students at the high school, 201 N. Scoville Ave. in Oak
Park.

-- that, speaking of police at OPRF, Oak Park police resource officer
Conway is instructed to mainly be a resource to students and to not make
arrests, "unless forced to," according to Oak Park Police Chief Joseph
Mendrick.

-- that 917 S. Oak Park Ave., the site of the former south branch of the
Oak Park Post Office, is currently on the market for sale?
The 4,300-square-foot building on a 10,300-square-foot site is available
from the Chicago real estate firm Benj. E. Sherman & Sons. People
interested can call Oak Parker Kelly Frank of Sherman at 312-795-6371.

-- that the graduation for eighth-graders from Emerson and Percy Julian
Junior Highs in Oak Park was held last night, June 7, at Oak Park and
River Forest HIgh School?

-- that it is illegal for two people to ride at the same time on the
same bicycle in Oak Park?

-- that Mambo Unites began its six-week presentation of Afro-Cuban
performers in the Chicago area last week with Angel Luis Bandell & Nueva
Charanga at the Carleton Hotel in Oak Park?

-- that Jason Girard, an Oak Park resident has started a web site
"dedicated to the research and exploration of South cuisine"?
Also known as Bubba, Girard currently is executive chef of Buddy Guy's
Legends in Chicago. Among his other qualifications, Girard earned a
culinary degree from Triton College, the River Grove community college
serving Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and other near-west Chicago
suburbs.

-- that coming soon to the Herbally Yours business that sells its wares
each week at the Oak Park Farmers' Market will be Santa Fe Rub, Dilly
Fish Rub, the Bam! Cajun Essence Herb blend, garlic balsamic vinegar,
horseradish stone ground mustard, herbal soaps and Tex Mex salsa
booster?

-- that Borders Books & Music in Oak Park will be among the collection
points for used musical instruments as part of VH1's Save the Music
program?
Drop-off dates at the Oak Park Borders, 1144 Lake st., will be June 12
through June 18.

-- that the APPLE organization has the following officers?
Wyanetta Johnson and Stanley Buford, co-presidents; Ojo Osaigbobo, vice
president; Raynelda Thompson, treasurer; Belinda Gaylord, corresponding
secretary; Andrea Mance, recording secretary; Burcy Hines, Sergeant at
Arms; and the chaplain, Mark Vance, who's a teacher at Oak Park and
River Forest High School.

-- that River Forest Youth Softball won the award for the best float in
the River Forest Memorial Day parade?

-- that the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce on June 13 will
hold the grand opening of its new offices at 1110 North Blvd. in Oak
Park?
The chamber earlier this year moved from offices at 1010 Lake St. in Oak
Park. The grand opening of the new offices will be held next Tuesday
from 5 to 7 p.m.

-- that Tri-Village PADS finished its season of offering overnight
shelter for homeless persons more than one month ago but began a lunch
program for homeless people on June 6 in Oak Park?
The lunches are presented Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
at Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church, which is at 705 Jackson Blvd.
in Oak Park and which last year began offering a Saturday night
overnight shelter for PADS, Public Action to Deliver Shelter.

-- that this passage is the official definition of the Regional Exchange
Congress in Oak Park: "a not-for-profit organization concerned with
goals and strategies to achieve economic development and racial
diversity"?
The congress is to feature representatives from Oak Park and other
Chicago-area communities who will be discussing the subjects and is
scheduled Sept. 20 and 21 at Oak Park village hall, Lombard Avenue and
Madison Street. Among other details, "Embracing Change: the Vision of
Diversity Moves Foreword" is the theme, and Sherlynn Reid, the former
director of Oak Park village government's Community Relations
Department, is this year's Conference Coordinator.

-- that any Oak Park police officer found to have engaged in racial
profiling is subject to discipline, up to dismissal from the force?

-- that the River Forest Fire Department sent mutual aid units to Oak
Park on June 4 to help fight the early morning fire at Everest Health
Care Corp. at 101 N. Scoville Ave. in Oak Park?
The cause of the fire reportedly is being investigated by the insurance
company for Everest, which, at Scoville Avenue and North Boulevard, is
one of the properties that Oak Park and River Forest High School wants
to acquire for further development of athletic fields across Lake Street
from the school.

-- that at last unofficial count the population of Oak Park is 53,468?

-- that an Illinois Lottery ticket good for a $150,000 prize was sold
last month at the 7-Eleven store at 1140 N. Harlem Ave. in River Forest?

The store gets a 1-percent cut of the winnings, which were unclaimed at
the time this note was posted.

-- that the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board is now considering
a request by Arrise Inc. in Franklin Park to close the group home at 702
S. Maple Ave. in Oak Park?
Arrise, which serves developmentally disabled residents in several
suburbs, has long operated the five-bedroom intermediate care facility
on Maple for young adults with Autism. Persons who want to review the
request to close the home's medical care aspects or to ask for a public
hearing on the matter need to contact the Facilities Planning Board by
mail at 525 W. Jefferson St., second floor, Springfield, Ill., 62761 or
by phone at 217-782-3516 or--for the hearing impaired--800-547-0466.

-- that there are no minorities on the Festival Committee or among the
liaisons who planned and will head up this year's "A Day In Our
Village," which will be held this Sunday, June 11 at Scoville Park and
other sites in Oak Park?

Next year, OPRF High School graduation
to bump up against Oak Park's `Day in Our Village'

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that beginning in 2001, something's going to be changing on the
second Sunday in June?
As it stands now, the Oak Park and River Forest High School graduation
will be held on that Sunday beginning on June 10, 2001, which, of
course, is when Oak Park is scheduled to hold its annual "A Day In Our
Village" celebration.

-- that Mark W. Lingen is quarreling with the accuracy of the report
last week about the billboard of his employer and that he's right?
My statement that "Loyola University Health System ... last year backed
out of a merger-type agreement with West Suburban Hospital Medical
Center in Oak Park" was incorrect. As Lingen wrote, "On the contrary, it
was West Suburban who backed out of the agreement" because of, he added
later "irrational fears concerning programmatic issues as well as a
perceived loss of autonomy ..."
I don't know about that last part, but I do acknowledge the mistake and
say thanks for the correction.

-- that Taxman & Associates wants to add a two-story health club and a
two-story parking structure to the River Forest Town Center II retail
development to be built on land bounded by Lake Street, Bonnie Brae,
Central Avenue and Clinton Place?
A hearing on the request will be held by the on Thursday, June 15 at
7:30 p.m. at village hall, 400 Park Ave. by the village government's
Development Review Board, a volunteer panel of residents that advises
the village board.

-- that home-buying seminars are being held days apart at Merrill
Becker, Knoll & Associates Inc. real estate and at the LaSalle bank
branch in Oak Park?
Merrill Becker's were held last night, June 2 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and
this morning, June 3, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the office, 508 S. Oak
Park Ave. LaSalle Bank, 6720 W. Roosevelt Road, will host its seminar on
Thursday, June 14, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

-- that Joseph Crace, long-time owner of J Press, which sells religious
and funeral cards at 18 Lake St. in Oak Park, died May 11 after
open-heart surgery?

-- that Oak Park village government is exploring the possibility of
installing a traffic signal at Oak Park Avenue and North Boulevard?
That's on the north side of the Lake Street el tracks, and there's
already a signal on the south side of the tracks. There's also a signal
at Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue, about a block to the north.

-- that the Lake Theatre again will show free "Three Stooges" short
films during "A Day in Our Village" on June 11?

-- that State Sen. Thomas Walsh is estimating that a new Proviso magnet
school would cost between $20 and $25 million to build?
Walsh, who district includes most of Oak Park south of the Eisenhower
Expressway and part of Forest Park, is a resident of Westchester, where
the school board of the Proviso East and Proviso West High Schools wants
to build the new middle school, which is designed to attract Proviso
Township residents, including Forest Parkers, who currently send their
children to private schools.

-- that Borders Book Music Cafe holds story time every Saturday at 11
a.m. at the new Oak Park store, 1144 Lake St.?

-- that entertainer Bob Newhart was born on Sept. 5, 1929 in Oak Park
with a given name of George Robert Newhart?
The family soon moved to Austin, the Chicago community to the east of
the village, but the young Newhart attended St. Catherine of Siena
elementary school, which is now St. Catherine-St. Lucy School at 38 N.
Austin Blvd. in Oak Park.

-- that another  in the growing list of acronym names of local
organizations is MAGIC, which stands for Major Aspects of Growth In
Children?
The national not-for-profit organization, which has a location at 1327
N. Harlem Ave. in Oak Park, works to provide support and educate on
growth disorders in children, of which there are more than 100. Also,
the organization will holds its annual convention July 20-23 this year
at the Oak Brook Marriott .

-- that George McGuire of the Oak Park chapter of Harley Owners Group
was top point collector in Illinois in the HOG ABCs of Touring contest
for motorcyclists?
McGuire, also known as Big Mac, also was number two in the entire
contest.

-- that customers of Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest soon will
have free access to more than 350 ATMs in Chicagoland, including one at
the bank, 1001 Lake St. in Oak Park, one at the Osco store at 6209 W.
North Ave. and one at Concordia University, 7400 W. Augusta St. in River
Forest.

Details of an Oak Park charter school 
might surface in Melrose Park

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that New Horizon Math and Science Charter School Inc. will hold a
hearing on June 8 at the Jane Addams School in Melrose Park on a
proposal to create a new charter school in that village?
That's of interest locally because New Horizon reportedly has contacted
officials from Oak Park Elementary School District 97 about setting up a
charter school in Oak Park. Charter schools need permission from the
local public schools to open because the charters would gain some of the
local schools' property tax money.

-- that Bethel Christian Fellowship, which for years has offered Bible
classes and services at 6235 W. North Ave. in Oak Park, has changed its
name to New Life Christian Fellowship?

-- that Proviso school board is seeking comment from feeder
districts--including Forest Park Elementary School District 91--about a
magnet school that might be built in west-suburban Westchester?
The Proviso school board sets policy for Proviso West in Hillside and
Proviso East in Maywood, where Forest Park students attend public high
school. Some residents of Forest Park and of Westchester have over the
years made efforts to get out of the district because they don't like
the Proviso high schools' education record or racial makeup, and the
current school board has tried to accommodate those people by trying to
set up a magnet school--which is different from the aforementioned
charter school. A magnet school is for the best and brightest
students--something like Whitney Young in Chicago.
Anyway, the Proviso school board has filed suit to gain control by
eminent domain of about 50 acres in Westchester, west of Wolf Road at
31st Street. Under the current and preliminary thinking, the magnet
school would be built on that Westchester site, would serve about 300
students and would offer, among other programs, the International
Baccalaureate system that schools like Trinity High School in River
Forest have.

-- that while negotiations continue, the River Forest village board has
extended the village's cable television franchise with A.T. & T. an
extra three months until Aug. 4?

-- that the annual Seniors' Senior Prom at the Oak Park Arms Retirement
Community has been scheduled for Friday, June 16?
The theme of this year's prom is Island Paradise and will be held from 7
to 11 p.m. at the Arms, 418 S. Oak Park Ave.

-- that day after the Seniors' Senior Prom, the River Forest village
government will hold an auction of public property similar to the one
held by Oak Park village hall last month?
Once again, the River Forest auctioneer will be Harold Blesy, the former
River Forest police lieutenant who now conducts such actions regularly.
He'll be offering, among other items, 33 bicycles and one case of
laundry detergent. Laundry detergent? Who knows?
Police departments take control of a lot of items that, said River
Forest Police Chief Michael Holub, are "lost, mislaid, abandoned or of
no evidentiary value."

-- that last Thursday the finishing touches went up on a billboard for
Living Word Christian Center in Forest Park at Harlem and Harrison in
the village?
"Your Search Has Ended," reads the billboard that faces the Forest
Park/Eisenhower Expressway side on the corner. The church, you'll
recall, is in the former Forest Park Mall at 7600 W. Roosevelt Road.
On the flip side, facing Oak Park, is a billboard for Loyola University
Health System, which is based in Maywood and which last year backed out
of a merger-type agreement with West Suburban Hospital Medical Center in
Oak Park.

-- that a parking space near Marion and Ontario streets in Oak Park is
available on the open market for $45 per month?

-- that the $300,000-plus house in southeast Oak Park we've been keeping
track of is again under contract for sale at $309,000?

-- that the River Forest Park District's summer Concerts in the Park
series this year includes the Dooley Brothers, the River Forest natives
who perform folk, Irish and old-time rock 'n' roll; Blue Prairie, which
does country swing; the Charlie Hooks Chicago Jazz Band, which is headed
by Hooks, a River Forest resident and which performs jazz classics; and
Synod, a pop/rock group whose members met in 1971 at Concordia
University in River Forest?

-- that "significant corporation and foundation gifts" went to the
Community Chest of Oak Park & River Forest's 1999-2000 campaign from
Bank One's branches in Oak Park; Corus Bank in River Forest;
Cosmopolitan Bank & Trust, which is headed by River Forest resident Dan
Watts; First Bank of Oak Park, which is chaired by River Forest resident
Mike Kelly; the Helen Harrison Foundation; Old Kent Bank and its
predecessor in Oak Park, Pinnacle Bank/Oak Park; and the Seabury
Foundation?

-- that the principal, Sister Jeanne Bessette, and Bridget O'Malley,
dean of students, will be leaving Trinity High School in River Forest at
the end of the school year?
Sister Bessette, who has been at Trinity for eight years, will leave to
serve with the governing board of the Joliet Franciscans, a religious
community. O'Malley, who has been at Trinity for nine years, will become
principal of Immaculate Heart of Mary High School in west suburban
Westchester.

-- that Nancy Teclaw is the new executive director of the Senior
Citizens Center of Oak Park & River Forest?
Teclaw for years was director of the Oak Park Township Senior Services,
and she replaces Doris Gruskin who was let go in a disputed action by
the Senior Center board last year. Barbara Heine, former membership
director with the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce had been the
Senior Center's interim executive director, which is now a part-time
position.

-- that Prestige Liquors, the carry-out store in Chicago on the
southeast corner of Chicago Avenue and Austin Boulevard, has a sign in
the window that should make neighbors happy?
The sign on the store, which has faced allegations that it regularly
sells alcoholic beverages to underage persons, is a single sheet of
paper with printing in magic marker that says, in capital letters,
"Picture ID is required for purchases of liquor by all persons under 30
years of age"--Pestige Liquors.
 
 
 

First pants suit graduation on
the OPRF High horizon

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that the first Oak Park and River Forest High School graduation to
allow female graduates to wear white paints suits will be held on
June 8?
After the upset last year over a graduating senior's decision to forgo
the ceremony when her wish to wear a white pants wasn't granted,
subsequently hired superintendent/principal Susan Bridge ended the high
school's tradition by allowing pants suits to be worn by female
graduates who choose to do so.
Others can still wear the long white dresses that had been required
throughout OPRF's 126-year history, while males still have to wear navy,
charcoal gray or black suits with red ties and black shoes and socks.
It'll be interesting to see what happens on graduation night.
G-Day this year is on Thursday, June 8, at 6 p.m. in the OPRF stadium on
Lake Street near Scoville Avenue or in the field house if there's
inclement weather.

-- that the following Oak Park and River Forest High School students
were finalists in the ACT-SO competition and will be heading to the
national competition held during the NAACP national convention in
Pittsburgh this summer?
The list is Michael Ashford, third for drama; Kathryn Buford, third for
essay; Jessica Hurt, second for painting and third for drawing; Bethany
Jackson, third for poetry; Lori McDonald, third for instrumental music;
Nivea Mullins, second for poetry; William Walden, first for poetry;
Nicole Williams, second for vocals; and DeAntwon Woodward, first for
drawing.

-- that the Oak Park village board has passed a 25-mile-per-hour speed
limit on Lake Street between Austin Boulevard and Ridgeland Avenue and
has outlawed left turns by motorists on weekdays between 3 and 7 p.m.
from Euclid Avenue onto Lake Street?

-- that the River Forest Service Club, a prime sponsor of Monday's
Memorial Day parade, was founded 65 years ago this year and continues as
"a civic welfare organization" in the village?

-- that Oak Park Festival Theatre plans to hold a benefit on July 15 at
the landmark, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Heurtley House on the 200
block of North Forest Avenue in Oak Park?
By the way, to correct an error here recently, Festival Theatre's 2000
production will be "Twelfth Night."

-- that Camille Wilson-White, executive director of the Oak Park Area
Arts Council that works to promote arts and artists in Oak Park, River
Forest and Forest Park, was guest speaker at the 19th Annual 7th
Congressional District High School Art Competition held May 12 at the
United Center?

-- that the annual All School Picnic will be held in The Park and Beloit
and Harrison in Forest Park this Thursday, May 25?

-- that as part of its continuing spending to improve infrastructure and
other public property, Oak Park village government this year is planning
improvements to four buildings it owns: the Dole Library Learning Center
at 255 Augusta St., the public works center at 131 South Blvd., village
hall at Lombard Avenue and Madison Street and the Westgate Professional
Building at 1145 Westgate St.

-- that Borders Books, Music, Cafe, which opened at 1144 Lake St. last
Saturday, also has Chicago-area stores in Crystal Lake, Deerfield,
Evanston, Geneva, Mt. Prospect, Naperville, Oak Brook, Orland Park,
Rockford, Schaumburg, Wheaton, Wilmette and the Chicago shopping areas
in Beverly and  Lincoln Park and on Michigan Avenue.?

-- that when the Oak Park Farmers' Market opens on June 3, organizers
expect to have available asparagus, baby carrots, beans, broccoli,
cheeses, ciders, early peas, early tomatoes, flowers, greens, honey,
lettuce, mushrooms, plants, sprouts, strawberries and vinegar?

-- that the Alain Zerbini Circus will be returning to Longfellow School
on Sunday, June 4?
The one-ring circus that features trapeze acts, clowns, animals and
other circus attractions again this year is a fund-raiser for the
Longfellow PTO.

-- that work is proceeding on the space of the former Ambrosia
restaurant at 7600 W. Madison St., the southwest corner with Desplaines
Avenue in Forest Park?

-- that, as a close to the OPRF High beat, the prom will be held this
Saturday, May 27?
The prom is on for that evening in the Regency Ballroom of the Hyatt
Regency Chicago hotel, 151 E. Wacker, and it won't be cheap. Tickets are
$65 each, with parking in the hotel costing either $13 or $16 (for valet
parking). Juniors and seniors and their guests up to age 22 can attend
but must arrive by 6:30 p.m. Those who come later won't be let in, as
will anyone not dressed properly--either suits with ties (no bow ties)
or tuxedos for boys and prom dresses for girls. Nope, no pants suits
allowed.
 
 
 

Big hole in Oak Park street 
snarls traffic for days

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that traffic in southeast Oak Park is still being detoured following
the appearance of big hole in the street at the corner of Harrison
Street and Humphrey Avenue?
Crews from village hall's Water and Sewer Division worked on Thursday to
block the deep hole from traffic and then put sand over the top. Still,
Harrison has been closed for days at Lyman Avenue for eastbound traffic
and at Humphrey Avenue for westbound traffic.

-- that Concordia University wants to build an education and early
childhood center on the southwest corner of its River Forest campus?
The plans by Concordia, 7400 W. Division St., are scheduled to go to a
June 1 public hearing by the Development Review Board, a volunteer panel
of River Forest residents that advises the village board on planned
developments. The hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. that Thursday at
village hall, 400 Park Ave.

-- that the annual Painted Ladies contest will open on Memorial Day?
During the previous 13 years of the contest, homeowners in Oak Park and
River Forest have placed well in the contest, which is held between
Memorial Day and Labor Day each year by the Chicago Paint & Coatings
Association to encourage quality use of paint.
But Forest Park residents also are eligible to enter and win, as is any
community without 50 miles of Chicago. For more rules and how to enter,
call the Paint & Coatings Association at 847-755-9850.

-- that Unity Church of Christ in Oak Park, 405 N. Euclid Ave., is
seeking donations for a church rummage sale?

-- that following Saturday's bike rodeo held by the Oak Park Police
Department in Oak Park, the River Forest Police Department will follow
suit next Saturday?
At bike rodeos, police invite young people to show up for fun, prizes
and talks about bicycle safety and registration. While Oak Park's was
scheduled for today at Carroll Recreation Center, the River Forest event
will be held May 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Constitution Park and on
the Willard School grounds, which are both on Ashland Avenue north of
Division Street. The River Forest rodeo is sponsored by Oak Park Cyclery
at 1113 Chicago Ave. in Oak Park.

-- that Oak Parker Sy Bounds continues to host Monday Jazz Cafe each
week that night from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at Brothers Coffee in the River
Forest Town Center, the southwest corner of Lake Street and Harlem
Avenue?

-- that Living Word Christian Center holds services at the Forest Park
Mall, 7600 W. Roosevelt Road, on Sundays at 9 and 11 a.m. and on
Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.?

-- that Sept. 1 is the target date for opening of a men's shoe store at
134 N. Marion St. n Oak Park?
Frank and Janice Kelly of Oak Park plan to open the store in the space
formerly occupied by Crescent Moon, which moved from 134 to 111 N.
Marion St., the space occupied for many years by Cain Gallery.

-- that the Park District of Forest Park's Aquatic Center will open for
another season on May 27 at 7501 W. Harrison St.?

-- that movies or television shows that are filmed in Oak Park can only
be shot between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.?

-- that Bethel Christian Fellowship, which offers services and classes
at 6235 W. North Ave. in Oak Park, has changed its name to New Life
Christian Fellowship?

-- that the Chicago Area Runners Association is holding running clinics
from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays until June 28 at Lindberg Park,
LeMoyne Parkway and Marion Street?

-- that the school board of the Forest Park Elementary School District
91 wants to undertake a $2.7 million construction program at Grant-White
School, Randolph Street and Circle Avenue, and Garfield School, Jackson
Boulevard and Hannah Avenue, and that they want to do it without a tax
increase referendum?
The school district officials would issue bonds to do the work on the
schools and then pay off the debt over time. Officials said property
taxes would not increase over current levels, but taxes also would not
decrease, as they would if the new expenditures were not undertaken.
There could still be a referendum on the construction plan, however.
Under Illinois law, if signatures from 10 percent of Forest Park voters
are filed with the school district a month after official public notice
of the bond sale, the bond issue and the Forest Park schools' plan would
go to referendum.
 
 

One census projection gives 
Oak Park some breathing room

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that the final results won't be in until the 2000 census is complete,
but Oak Park gets some good news in population projections from the
Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission?
The NIPC group works on urban affairs topics like population projections
and originally forecast that Oak Park after the 2000 census would see
the population drop to 50,646. That worried a few village government
officials because it was perilously close to the magic 50,000 number. A
community's population as determined by the census sets the funding
levels for plenty of programs, and communities stand to lost some money
if they get a census under-count.
But if Oak Park were to fall below 50,000 official resident, it would
lose out on federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding.
That's more than $2 million per year that goes toward important programs
like the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, a bunch of other local
not-for-profit social service organizations, street repairs, a couple of
village government departments and other departments. Without the CDBG
money, a bunch of the services would have to be cut or--gulp--property
taxes would have to be jacked up again.
That funding is a big reason why village hall is encouraging all
residents to participate in this year's census count. But village hall
is breathing a bit easier these days because NIPC has revised its
original population projection to 54,076--a little more room from the
magic 50,000 number.

-- that the contestants and winners of the ACT-SO competition in Oak
Park will be honored at a ceremony on Friday evening?
The winners of the academic and cultural competition sponsored by the
NAACP Oak Park branch's ACT-SO committee and Oak Park and River Forest
High School will compete in the national competition during the weekend
of July 6-9.

-- that once again for "A Day In Our Village" Oak Park Township Senior
Services will have its senior citizen transit system buses giving people
of all ages free rides to the various sites?
The "Day" this year runs from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 11.

-- that the Thumbs feature in the Trapeze, the student newspaper at Oak
Park and River Forest High School, had only three local items out of
nine items in the May 12 edition?
The "thumbs up," for things the editors like, included "going stag to
the prom," and "thumbs down," for things not liked, had the "wacked out
(or inconsistent) temperature" in the OPRF building and the May Madness
street festival.

-- that, even though the Trapeze didn't mention it, there were no
African Americans or other minorities on the committee that planned this
year's May Madness event?

-- that Albert Sye, the soon-to-be-former assistant superintendent for
pupil support services at OPRF High, has three grown children: a
daughter who recently graduated from Stanford University; a son who is a
senior at Moorehouse College in Atlanta; and a son who is a junior at
the University of Louisville?
Sye on July 1 is to start as principal of Michigan City High School in
Michigan City, Ind.

-- that commencement at Triton College, the community college serving
Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and other near-west Chicago suburbs,
will be held this Saturday, May 20, at 3 p.m. in the Robert Collins
Building auditorium on the River Grove campus?

-- that the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce will hold its
annual sports outing on June 27 this year?
Golf, tennis, lunch, dinner and a silent auction will be featured that
Tuesday at Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale. For more information or
to make reservations, contact the chamber, 1110 North Blvd., by phone at
708/848-8151 or by fax at 708-8182.

-- that Borders Books Music and Cafe is now getting ready to open at
1144 Lake St. in Oak Park this Saturday?
A formal grand-opening ceremony will be held later.

-- that River Forest police have dropped their investigation into the
mysterious incident of an alleged car-jacking of an Oak Park teenager
from the village on April 29?
The 16-year-old's parents originally reported their son missing to Oak
Park police who dropped their own probe after coming to believe nothing
was amiss. Subsequently, the teen said he was taken at gunpoint from
North and Thatcher avenues in River Forest to Nashville, Tenn., where he
reported that story to Nashville police, who also subsequently dropped
any criminal investigation.

OPRF administrator Albert Sye hired as 
principal in diverse Michigan City, Ind. 
high school

By ERIC LINDEN

Did you know ...?

-- that Albert G. Sye, an administrator at Oak Park and River Forest
High School for the last seven years, has signed on to be principal at
Michigan City High School in Michigan City, Ind.?
Sye, 49 and an Oak Park resident, will take over July 1 in a district
that resembles Oak Park's racial diversity. Sye told reporters he has
always wanted to be a principal and was attracted to a diverse community
such as Michigan City and Oak Park.
The Michigan City High School board on May 9 unanimously chose Sye after
he also was recommended by a selection committee of Michigan City High
School staff members, PTO members and community representatives.
Michigan City is 60 miles east of Chicago and barely south of the
Michigan-Indiana state line. The 1990 census reported that the community
had 33,822 residents with 25,628 whites and 7,625--or 22.5 percent
blacks. That same census reported Oak Park with about an 18-percent
black population.
Sye had been associate principal for six years at OPRF High until being
named assistant superintendent for pupil support services in an
administrative reorganization that came with the hiring of
superintendent/principal Susan Bridge last year. He reportedly has
agreed to a two-year contract as Michigan City High School principal and
was chosen for the new post over Steve Martin, the high school's
assistant principal who was the interim principal since the recent
firing of previous principal Tim Bietry. Martin plans to stay on as
assistant principal.

-- that the traditional hot dog picnic to be held in Keystone Park after
the River Forest Memorial Day parade is being sponsored by Corus Bank?
The bank, with a location at 7727 W. Lake St. in River Forest, is one of
four local banks involved in the May 29 parade that starts at 11:30 a.m.
at Willard School, 1250 Ashland Ave., and ends at Keystone Park,
Keystone Avenue and Lake Street.
Other banks involved as "benefactors" of the parade are First Bank of
Oak Park, 11 Madison St., which is headed by chairman and River Forest
resident Mike Kelly; Forest Park National Bank, 7348 W. Madison St.,
which employs as a vice president River Forest resident Donald
Offermann, the former Oak Park and River Forest High School
superintendent/principal; and TCF Bank, which has a location at 800 N.
Harlem Ave.
The Memorial Day parade will proceed from Willard south on Ashland
Avenue and west on Lake Street to Keystone Park. The route is shorter
than last year, when the parade began at Priory Park, Division Street
and Harlem Avenue.

-- that Oak Park village government has paid another consultant to
produce another public relations piece about how wonderful the village
is?
"The Village of Oak Park, Illinois ... community, opportunity,
education, culture, recreation, commitment and convenience" came off the
presses last week.

-- that it costs $2 to park all day in a surface open space adjacent to
the Lake Street el in Forest Park?
The lot is a bit west of Harlem Avenue off Circle Avenue and on the
south side of the embankment there.

-- that Jim Wilson, the postmaster of Melrose Park, also attended last
week's grand opening of the new south Oak Park post office station at
1116 Garfield St.?

-- that the southeast Oak Park home referred to here last month for its
unusually high price is still on the sale market but at $309,000--down
from the original asking price but still over the magic $300,000 figure?

-- that the River Forest Public Library is holding an Anniversary
Scavenger Hunt to mark this month's 100-year anniversary of the
library's founding?
Until May 31, families are asked to look in the library, 735 Lathrop
Ave., and on the surrounding grounds to find items that answer 20
questions about the library. The questions range from "how many puzzles
in the children's room?" to "how many gargoyles protect the library?"
The answers must be turned in to the library by May 31, and a drawing
will be held among the sheets with the correct answers the next day to
determine the winner.
Grand prize for the winners is an ice cream social for the family at
Oberweis Dairy at 124 N. Oak Park Ave. in Oak Park.