Forest Leaves

Baby Derby bet: I’ll have another ... bottle

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:38:13 -0500

Oak Park-area babies raced to the finish line during the recent Baby Derby at the Oak Park Public Library. Prizes were awarded for the fast crawler. More photos online at oakpark.suntimes.com. …

Retired Oak Park cop stops El robbery

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:06:11 -0500

Clemet Harbour was known as a no-nonsense cop during his 32 years on the Oak Park police force. Friday morning, during a violent robbery attempt on another passenger on the Green Line elevated train, the 62-year-old showed he’s still got it. As the train slowed at a station, a teen boy started beating up a 17-year-old female student as he tried to steal her iPod. “He’s punching her with one hand and grabbing with the other,” Harbour said. “I think everyone was in shock, it happened so fast.” But Harbour didn’t flinch. “I was like, ‘Uh-uh, this can’t happen,’” he …

1.5 million people to use Midway, O’Hare this holiday weekend

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:24:01 -0500

About 1.5 million people are expected to pass through Chicago’s two airports this Memorial Day weekend, city aviation officials say.

Memorial Day parades to remember

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:16:01 -0500

Marchers will commemorate the country’s fallen soldiers for the eighty-seventh time on Monday when the annual Memorial Day parade rolls through River Forest. And for nearly four decades, John C. Hagensick has been partly responsible for putting together the highly anticipated Memorial Day parade. The 83-year-old has taken on less of an active role in putting on the parade, in recent years, but ask him about it, or its past, and he’s got an arsenal of anecdotal history. Hagensick has lived in the village for over 40 years and has been a member of the River Forest Service Club, for …

Cusack chosen as grand marshal of parade

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:16:01 -0500

The 87th annual Memorial Day Parade rolls through River Forest on Monday, May 28. The procession starts at Constitution Park, at 10 a.m. Then it heads south on Ashland Avenue to Lake Street, and goes west to Keystone Park. The parade will honor someone who for decades was synonymous with the event, longtime River Forest Service Club member and former River Forest Village President Tom Cusack. Cusack will serve as honorary grand marshal. Club member John Hagensick said Cusack oversaw the development of the parade from a simple event into something that drew people from half a dozen towns. “When …

Oak Park, River Forest to honor veterans

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:16:01 -0500

Veterans, their families and all residents are invited to attend the Memorial Day Commemoration at 9 a.m. Monday, May 28, at the Peace Triumphant statute in Scoville Park, located at the corner of Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue. Sen. Don Harmon and Virginia Cassin will participate in the ceremonies. Redd Griffin, U. S. Army, Berlin, 1961-64, will be the keynote speaker. The History Singers, John and Kathryn Atwood, will lead patriotic singing. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Brian Flora, U. S. Army, Vietnam, 1969-72, with his wife, Kay Kuhlman, will portray Union veteran Wilbur …

Veteran counsels wisdom of listening

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:16:01 -0500

Redd Griffin has been many things in his 73 years. A teacher, soldier, legislator, news reporter, patriot. But mostly he considers himself a student. Of history and his own life. Seeking answers more than conclusions. For the Oak Park resident and Triton College philosophy teacher, the past is prologue. “The past is very relevant to the present,” he said. “I want to keep the continuity with the past alive.” As he grows older, Griffin said life is getting better for him. “I feel more involved, better prepared, more optimistic than I’ve ever felt in my life,” he said. In a …

Veteran counsels wisdom of listening

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:54:00 -0500

River Forest seeking tenant for Hines property

Thu, 24 May 2012 03:52:16 -0500

A grocery store, an assisted living center, perhaps even a restaurant. Those are some of the ideas village trustees floated at a special meeting Monday night as possible tenants for a vacant property at 7820 Madison St. Once the home of Hines Lumber, the property has been shuttered since 2009 and is now owned by NorStates Bank, in Waukegan. The village wants to get the property back on the tax rolls, and for the last month, it has been publicly talking about how to go about doing so. Monday’s special board meeting was largely exploratory and abstract. Trustees talked about …

Norridge man charged with DUI after allegedly smashing into Oak Park tree

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:07:21 -0500

A Norridge man was arrested in Oak Park for allegedly driving into a tree while under the influence of heroin. Damian Tarnowski, 29, of the 4900 block of N. Overhill, was found unconscious at 2:30 a.m. May 20 in a car that was smashed against a tree in the parkway on the 1000 block of North Linden Avenue in Oak Park. Police said they observed four clear plastic baggies and two foil wrappers containing white powder that field tested positive for heroin. Tarnowski was treated at West Suburban Medical Center, where blood was taken for drug and alcohol testing. He …

Study says Chicago traffic congestion actually got better

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:50:34 -0500

Drivers in the Chicago area were stuck in traffic an average of 36 hours in 2011, 12 fewer than the 48 wasted in traffic in 2010, according to INRIX, a company that studies traffic patterns.

NATO spouses slip in to tour Wright studio

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:06:02 -0500

While First Lady Michelle Obama was hosting dignitaries at a South Side youth center Sunday, another group of out-of-town NATO guests were visiting an Oak Park landmark. About 40 spouses of NATO officials toured the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio on the 900 block of Chicago Avenue on Sunday. They stayed for two hours, viewing the master architect’s original home and workplace and enjoying a brief walk through the neighborhood immediately adjacent to the studio. “They were mostly ambassador’s spouses and a few foreign minister’s spouses,” said Laura Dodd, director of guest experience and program operations for the Wright …

Commuter lots nearly empty on Monday

Thu, 24 May 2012 03:55:24 -0500

On a normal Monday, the Metra commuter lot in downtown Franklin Park is full with perhaps a latecomer or two driving in circles and hoping for a miracle. Not so on this Monday morning. With the NATO summit in Chicago, many commuters opted to stay home. At least half the parking spots in Franklin Park were empty. “A lot of people are getting the day off or something,” speculated Al Huczek, a reserve officer with the Franklin Park Police Department who was collecting parking fees. “This seems like a weekend,” said Kim A (who declined to give her last name), …

Rally-goers endorse ‘Robin Hood tax’

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:07:41 -0500

NATO protesters this week invoked a legend with hopes of effecting economic parity. Calling it the Robin Hood tax, marchers at the National Nurses United rally in downtown Chicago on Friday want the federal government to enact a tax on the transfer of financial instruments like stocks, bonds and commodities. Bill Barclay, an Oak Park economist who worked for 22 years trading stocks and commodities in Chicago, knows a thing or two about the concept of taxing financial transactions. At Friday’s rally, he said it’s past time for a tax to help pay for efforts to recover from the recession …

Voterama in Congress, week ending May 18, 2012

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:02:01 -0500

House Violence Against Women Act: Voting 222 for and 205 against, the House on May 16 approved a Republican bill (HR 4970) to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) through fiscal 2016 on a budget of $680 million annually. The bill was disputed mainly because it omits provisions in a bi-partisan Senate-passed bill to expand protections for battered women who are illegal immigrants, Native American women who are assaulted on reservations by non-Indians and gays, lesbians and transsexuals. A conference committee will reconcile the competing House and Senate bills. Since it was enacted in 1994, the VAWA has funneled …

‘Specialist’ disrupts NATO rally

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:07:52 -0500

His posture suggested a soldier in a war zone. As he prepared to board a Green Line train in Oak Park to go down to the National Nurses United G8 protest at Daley Plaza Friday morning, he stood out from the other Oak Park natives and Missouri Occupy members. He wore his short blond hair in a mohawk, a black sleeveless shirt, black calf-length pants, and bands on each wrist. He seemed driven. Not unfriendly but guarded. Tightly wound. Several hours later, videos captured him scaling the bridge tower at Michigan and Wacker and tearing off a NATO banner. The …