Reporter(2 sections) 3 6 14 by Southwest Regional Publishing

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R EPORTER Reporter

THE The 4 SECTIONS 30 PAGES

Serving Chicago Ridge, Evergreen Park, Hickory Hills, Oak Lawn, Palos Hills and Worth

Volume LIV No. 52

‘IT DOESN’T STOP WHEN WE LEAVE THE SCENE’

THE Spring Ahead! 2 SECTIONS

Don’t forget to 22 PAGES set your clocks ahead an hour Volume XLVII No. 50 2 a.m. Sunday

Vorva talks with the public address voice of SXU sports, who recently announced his last game Page 3

Sifting through the emotional rubble R EPORTER

Kelly White delivers some trash talk from Hickory Hills Page 5 index Police News.....................2 Our Neighborhood..........4 Sudoku...........................4 Commentary...................6 Death Notices.................7 Crossword...................7 School..........................8&9 Consumer.........................11

columnists Jeff Vorva........................3 Bob Rakow........................6 Dee Woods.......................10

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Thursday, March 6, 2014

Services for Conta family start today By Bob Rakow Staff Reporter

118-690 Funeral USPS services for four Oak Lawn family members killed last week in a triple murder/suicide will be held this week. Visitation for Matthew Meier, 5, will be from 3 to 8 p.m. today, Thursday, at Sheehy Funeral Home, 9000 W. 151st St., Orland Park. A funeral service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Living Word Lutheran Church, 16301 Wolf Road, Serving Chicago Ridge, Evergreen Park, Hickory Hills, Oak Lawn, Palos Hills and Worth Thursday, 2007 Orland Park. March Burial will 1, be at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Visitation for John C. Conta, 67, Janice Conta, 68, and their son, John P. Conta, 36, will be held from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at Blake Lamb Funeral Home, 4727 W. 103rd St., Oak Lawn. A funeral Mass for the three will be said at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Linus Church, 10300 Lawler Ave., Oak Lawn, followed by burial at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Memorial contributions can be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny ThomPhoto by Jeff Vorva Two Oak Lawn policemen survey the aftermath of the suspected murder/suicide/fire scene on South 51st Avenue last Thursday. as Dr., Memphis, Tenn., 38105, or Oak Lawn police and firemen have seen a lot tragedy and destruction since the start of the New Year and first responders are UNICEF, 500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1000, Chicago, Ill. coping in different ways.

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OL’s first responders cope with death and destruction differently By Bob Rakow Staff Reporter

An Irish Princess contest took place in Oak Lawn and in some cases, the prizes were twice the size of the winners, See Page 4

USPS 118-690

A week has passed since a triple murder/suicide shook Oak Lawn—the latest in a series of tragedies that has battered the community in 2014. While many ultimately will forget the events, first responders continue to cope with the devastations. The most recent incident occurred last Wednesday when John P. Conta allegedly killed his parents—John and Janice Conta—and nephew at the family home in the 9800 block of 51st Avenue. Conta then set the house on fire and killed himself with a gunshot while in a car in the house’s garage, police said. An Oak Lawn firefighter who responded to the blaze saw Conta kill himself, officials said. The body of Conta’s nephew, 5-yearold Matthew Meier, was discovered in the house later in the day, they said. Family members celebrated the boy’s fifth birthday at the house the previous night, police said. That level of tragedy—suicide and the murder of a family members—can wreak havoc on the emotions of even the toughest

and resilient first responders. “Especially when you have a tender-age (involved), I think it affects everybody,” said Oak Lawn Police Division Chief Mike Kaufmann. The October death of sixPhoto by Jeff Vorva month-old Vivian Summers, th This is a scene of the house on New England Avenue and 76 Street in Oak Lawn on Wednesday who allegedly was killed at the hands of her grandmother, Al- morning a day after an SUV plowed into it late Tuesday afternoon, continuing a string of major freda Giedrojc, a long-time Oak incidents in that town since the start of 2014. For more details, see page 3. Lawn resident, was one of the most heinous crimes Kaufmann had witnessed during his career, the veteran officer said. So far, 2014 has been sad and tragic in Oak Lawn with seven deaths and four houses “Everybody can relate to a damaged or destroyed. A closer look at these stories: young, infant baby. For all of us, Jan. 11: A house fire and explosion occurred in the 8900 block of 55th court. Two it touches (the) heart,” Kaufmann days later, Arunus Samoskia, 48, of Oak Lawn was charged with two counts of agsaid at the time. gravated arson and one count of residential arson and prosecutors said the man may Both the police and fire departhave burned the house after an argument. There were no injuries. ments offer various services to anyone affected by the tragedies Jan. 28: Police found the body of 86-year-old Antionette Diesness in the snow near that are part of the job. her house in the 8700 block of South Meade Avenue. She died of hypothermia due to “It doesn’t stop when we leave cold exposure, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. the fire scene,” Oak Lawn Fire Feb. 8: Kathryn Lomec, 73, was pronounced dead shortly after her house on LawChief George Sheets said. rence Court caught fire. Sheets said he and his com Feb. 11: Mary Bruce, 74, died at John H. Stroger Hospital in Chicago as a result of the manders apply a “now-what” Feb. 8 fire that killed Lomec. approach after a fire or other incident concludes. The health Feb. 26: Four people, including a 5-year-old, died in a suspected murder/suicide in the and welfare of the firefighters is 9800 block of South 51st Avenue. Police suspected that John P. Conta Jr. shot his parents at the top of that methodology, John and Janice Conta and 5-year-old Matthew Meier, set the house on fire and then he said. shot himself. Firefighters are offered a vari Tuesday: Four people were injured and an Oak Lawn house was damaged after an SUV ety of resources, including services hit two cars and plowed into the home. (Continued on page 2)

Oak Lawn’s year of devastation

Proposal for Worth 5K not OK with two trustees By Bob Rakow Staff Reporter A Worth Park District proposal to host a 5K run at Water’s Edge Golf Course may never leave the starting blocks if trustees opposed to the plan have their way. The Worth Village Board Tuesday night debated the merits of the idea, and at least two trustees—Tedd Muersch Jr. and Mary Rhein—voiced opposition to the plan that called for a 5K run to be held at the village-owned course on Sept. 14. The district proposed the early morning run as part of the village’s centennial celebration. Muersch said the course would lose significant money if it closed on a Sunday morning to accommodate the run. “In my opinion, I do not think this is a good idea,” said Muersch, who chairs the golf course committee. He said a significant number

of Sunday golfers who tee off early would not be able to golf that day. Rhein agreed that reserving the course for Sunday morning run did not make financial sense. “I don’t see that the board can make that decision and feel good about it,” Rhein said. “We owe it to the taxpayers to do the right thing over there and increase our revenue. I can’t see shutting it down and losing this revenue.” She said the proposed run and walk coupled with the clean up after the event would force the course to close from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. “The golf course is going to lose revenue. It’s not going to make revenue that morning,” she said. Muersch agreed, saying that the loss of $67 greens fees per golfer on a busy Sunday morning is not feasible. (Continued on page 9)

Blarin’ of the green and white

Photo by Jeff Vorva

Oak Lawn girls basketball fans, many wearing the school’s green and white colors, had a chance to make a lot of noise last Thursday in Steger. The Spartans closed out one of its best seasons in school history with a thrilling overtime loss to defending Class 4A champion Marian Catholic in the finals of the Bloom Trail Sectional. For more photos and details on the game plus other stories, see the sports section.

The Reporter Thursday, March 6, 2014

police news

Chicago Ridge Rodney Cotton, 47, and Demetria Blakley, 40, both of Chicago, were charged with retail theft Feb. 18 after they allegedly stole $550 worth of merchandise from Sears at Chicago Ridge Mall, police said. *** Malcolm Shields, 27, of Crete, was charged with driving on a suspended license Feb. 24 after a stop in the 7000 block of Southwest Highway, police said. *** John Ambrose, 57, Oak Lawn, was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, driving on a suspended license and possession of a stolen vehicle Feb. 25 after he allegedly struck a car in the parking lot of Chicago Ridge Mall with a frontend loader that he stole, police said. *** Sherae S. Berry, 20, of Chicago, was charged with retail theft Feb. 26 after allegedly stealing merchandise from Hollister at Chicago Ridge Mall, police said. *** Yolene Richards, 23, of Palos Hills, was charged with retail theft Feb. 27 after allegedly stealing craft supplies from Michael’s Arts and Crafts at Chicago Ridge Commons, police said.

Evergreen Park Brian N. Byrb, 18, of Chicago, was charged with retail theft Feb. 22 after allegedly stealing cosmetics from Wal-Mart, 2500 W. 95th St., police said. *** Allen L. McKinzie, 21, of Chicago, was charged with retail theft and obstructing a police officer Feb. 24 after he allegedly stole a bottle of hard lemonade from Lagen’s Supermarket, 8859 S. California Ave., police said.

THE

*** Oscar Guzman, 35, of Chicago, was charged with driving on a revoked license, illegal transportation of alcohol and no insurance Feb. 25 after a stop at 94th Street and Western Avenue, police said. *** Ahmad Y. Abdelhalim, 21, of Burbank, was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, no insurance and improper lane use Feb. 25 after he was stopped at 87th Street and Rockwell Avenue, police said. *** Eboni J. Newell, 21, of Chicago, was charged with retail theft Feb. 26 after allegedly stealing merchandise from Wal-Mart, 2500 W. 95th St., police said. *** Khalyb J. Ford, 21, of Chicago, was charged with theft Feb. 26 after allegedly stealing $100 from Meijer’s, 9200 S. Western Ave., where he had been employed, police said. *** Erlinda L. Brown, 55, of Chicago, was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver following a Feb. 28 arrest at 87th Street and Kedzie Avenue, police said.

Hickory Hills Witold A. Studenski, 21, and Leah C. Wright, 18, both of Palos Hills, were charged with possession of a controlled substance Feb. 23 after a stop at 95th Street and Roberts Road, police said. Wright also was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, police said. *** Emad Af Albukasi, 53, of Bridgeview, was charged with driving on a suspended license Feb. 25 after a stop in the 7700 block of 95th Street, police said.

REPORTER

Chicago Ridge / Evergreen Park / Hickory Hills Oak Lawn / Palos Hills / Worth Publisher Amy Richards Editor Jeff Vorva Sports Editor Ken Karrson Graphic Design/Layout Kari Nelson & Jackie Santora Advertising Sales Val Draus To advertise call (708) 448-6161 To subscribe call (708) 448-6161 / Fax (708) 448-4012 Website: TheReporterOnline.net e-Mail: thereporter@comcast.net The Reporter is published weekly by the Regional Publishing Corp. 12247 S. Harlem Ave. Palos Heights, IL 60463 Office Hours: Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. - Sat. 9 a.m. to Noon Entered as periodical mail at the Post Office at Worth, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates: $38.00 per year by mail in Cook County. $48 per year by mail elsewhere. $1.00 per copy on newsstands and vending machines. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Reporter, 12247 S. Harlem Ave., Palos Heights, IL 60463.

Oak Lawn A washer-dryer set was reported stolen sometime between Dec. 1 and Feb. 25 from a building in the 5700 block of Circle Drive. *** Kelli N. Townsend, 33, of Flossmoor, was charged with drunken driving, failure to signal, improper lane use and illegal transportation of alcohol Feb. 20 after she was stopped at 98th Street and Cicero Avenue, police said. *** Shunzel A. Wright, 22, of Chicago, was charged with retail theft Feb. 22 after allegedly stealing goods from Kmart, 4101 W. 95th St., police said. *** Pedra Ortiz-Macias, 23, and Antonio Ortis, 30 both of Chicago, was charged with retail theft Feb. 23 after allegedly stealing items from Kmart, 4101 W. 95th St., police said. *** Ricardo Vera, 41, of Oak Lawn, was charged with drunken driving, no insurance and improper lane use Feb. 23 following a stop in the 4500 block of 95th Street, police said. *** Thomas W. Bowen, 50, of Chicago, was charged with possession of a controlled substance and driving without a valid license Feb. 24 after a stop at 93rd Street and Cicero Avenue, police said. *** Heather N. Sleeman, 24, of Hickory Hills, was charged with retail theft Feb. 25 after allegedly stealing items from JewelOsco, 8801 S. Ridgeland Ave., police said. *** A catalytic convertor was reported stolen Feb. 25 or 26 from a car in the parking lot of Kmart, 4101 W. 95th St., police said.

Worth Ryan P. Shaughnessy, 30, of Worth, was charged with domestic battery Feb. 23 following a disturbance in the 10400 block of Southwest Highway, police said. Mohammad J. Albis, 24, of Burbank, was charged with obstructing a peace officer and possession of marijuana Feb. 27 after allegedly withholding information from police about a robbery at his ex-girlfriend’s condo, police said. Katie L. Bezak, 23, of Oak Lawn, was charged with domestic battery Feb. 28 after a disturbance at an apartment in the 6600 block of Lloyd Drive, police said. Area police departments Chicago Ridge..................425-7831 Evergreen Park...............422-2142 Hickory Hills...................598-4900 Oak Lawn........................499-7722 Palos Hills.......................598-2272 Worth............................448-3979

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Photo by Jeff Vorva

Remnants from the fire on 51st Street in Oak Lawn were fenced off. It was one of a series of tragic events that happened in the community so far in 2014.

First responders (Continued from page 1) provided via the village’s employee assistance program or Genesis Therapy, village manager Larry Deetjen said. Sheets added firefighters often elect to talk with their colleagues during tough times. “You have the camaraderie of those firefighters that were there,” Sheets said. “We have individuals who have been here a long time.” The Chicago Police Department offered its peer counseling program to Oak Lawn’s first responders following last week’s incident. Some officers prefer to peers rather than supervisors about the rigors on the job, Kaufmann said. “Everybody is affected quite differently,” Kaufmann said. Deetjen agreed. “In additional to offering professional help, each individual copes with stress, violence and tragedy through their own networks consisting of family, loved ones, special friends, church and other support groups.” Oak Lawn Trustee Terry Vorderer, a retired village police officer, agreed that various incidents can affect first responders over the long haul. “Talking about these things does help,” said Vorderer, who joined the Oak Lawn force shortly after returning from a tour as an infantryman in Vietnam. He said the “macho, get over it” approach prevalent in his day is gone. In fact, the Oak Lawn Fire De-

partment looked to therapy dogs this week to assist firefighters looking to cope with last week’s fire. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, three golden retrievers from the K-9 Comfort Dogs program visited firefighters at Station 2, 6451 W. 93rd Place. The program is sponsored by Lutheran Church Charities and is designed to bring compassion to those affected by a calamity. “When anybody pets a dog, it relaxes them,” said Tim Hetzner, president of the charity. He added that some people will talk to dogs about their involvement in or feeling about an disaster before speaking with another person. “The dog serves a tool,” said Hetzner, who added that golden retrievers are used exclusively by the program because “by nature they are lovers.” Last week’s fire isn’t the only tragedy Oak Lawn first responders have had to cope with in recent weeks. In early February, a fire on the west side of the village claimed the lives of two elderly women. Kathryn Lomec, 73, was pronounced dead Feb. 8 shortly after a blaze at her house in the 10100 block of Lawrence Court, officials said. Her sister and caretaker, 74year-old Mary Bruce, died three days later at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, according to news reports. There were no smoke detectors in the house. In January, a fierce argument between an Oak Lawn man and his wife may have led the man to burn down his house a few hours after

the dispute, prosecutors said. Arunas Samoska, 48, was charged with two counts of aggravated arson and one count of residential arson Jan. 13 after appearing in Bridgeview Court where a request for bond was denied, according to police. Oak Lawn police and fire departments from several communities responded Jan. 11 to a house fire/explosion in the 8900 block of 55th Court. The house was engulfed with fire and required about one hour to extinguish. Prosecutors said Samoska poured gasoline throughout his home, including the living room and the bed in the master bedroom. The vapors ignited when he went to his garage to get more gasoline, prosecutors said. The explosion and subsequent fire rendered the home a complete loss, officials said. No one was in the home at the time of the explosion and there were no injuries. The houses on each side of the fire were occupied but no one was injured. But fire has not been the only cause of tragedy in the community in 2014. In late January, an elderly Oak Lawn woman died from cold-related causes. Antoinette Diesness, 86, of the 8700 block of Meade Avenue, died from hypothermia due to cold exposure, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Heart disease and dementia were contributing factors in her death, the medical examiner said. A neighbor found her lying in the snow near her home, police said. She was the 17th reported cold-related death this winter in Cook County, authorities said.

Palos Park man fatally shot in apparent robbery Chicago By Tim Hadac Staff Reporter A 66-year-old Palos Park man was shot in the chest and killed at about 2 p.m. last Saturday, in an apparent robbery on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Herbert Goode was the owner of Silver Cloud Galleries, 20 W. Ohio St., Chicago, a high-end, custom framing and fine art services firm. He was shot near 57th and Claremont, where his company maintains a production facility. Goode was shot several times and pronounced dead on Saturday afternoon at Mount Sinai Hospital. A Chicago police spokesman told The Regional News on Tuesday afternoon that no one has been charged in the killing and that the case remains under investigation. Goode is survived by his wife, Karen, son, Alex, and other family and friends, according to published reports. Goode was an animal lover and donor to animal welfare groups, his son said, and had volunteered his

Herbert Goode time over the years to a number of community organizations. To honor Goode’s memory, donations are being accepted at gofundme.com. As of Tuesday afternoon, nearly $2,000 has been raised and will be donated to the Animal Welfare League, 10305 S. Southwest Highway, Chicago Ridge. Family friend Lisa Conn, who

launched the GoFundMe page, wrote that the lives of many people “have been touched by Herb, Karen, and Alex in some way. “You know the kind of people they’ve always been: the warmest, funniest, most vibrantly intelligent individuals in any room,” she continued. “You know that as a unit, they are the kindest, most thoughtful, and generously loving family anyone could ever have the good fortune to encounter. You know that no one in their orbit has ever been allowed to drift alone because they welcomed everyone with open hearts.” In a Facebook post on Monday, Alex Goode thanked everyone for the outpouring of sympathy and support. “We very much appreciate your texts and emails...but please forgive us if we do not answer your phone calls at this time,” he wrote. “No memorial arrangements have been made yet, and if you’ve read the articles or seen it on the news, you know just as much about what happened as we do.”

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Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Reporter

St. Xavier University loses its voice We probably haven’t heard the last from Robert Maszak. A few minutes before he called his last St. Xavier University contest as the school’s official public address announcer for football and basketball, he was already saying that he was willing to sub next year if needed. He will miss this gig. Maszak, 69, has been announcing at various schools and sporting events for 52 years including more than a decade of service at the Chicago campus, where he was also a supervisor of student teachers. The Homewood resident called his last game — an 84-61 men’s basketball victory over the University of St. Francis last Wednesday in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference quarterfinals. Both the men and women’s teams are nationally ranked in the top 10 and will begin play in their respective NAIA national tournaments Wednesday. His final season was historic with the success of the two squads and men’s basketball star Brad Karp breaking the all-time scoring record at the school. He has loved what he has done but said he needs to step away. “Driving at by Jeff night was getVorva ting to me,” the Homewood resident said. “I can still do it but it’s starting to get tough. I don’t want to endanger anybody. So that’s enough.’’ He said he has announced for more than a half decade at Joliet Junior College, Illinois State Uni-

Photos by Jeff Vorva

Robert Maszak, top photo, calls out the starting lineup for St. Xavier University’s men’s basketball team for the final time as the school’s official announcer last Wednesday. In the right photo, Mark Anzilotti, left, and Lance Barrows of Regional Publishing check out copies of a newspaper Monday minutes after the company’s press was repaired. versity and Bloom High School as well as various little league baseball organizations in the south suburbs. “I really like doing the little leagues because the kids love to hear their names,” he said. Maszak said that a 2010 Gatorade Replay Game between Bloom and Brother Rice’s boys basketball team 10 years after the two teams battled in a controversial supersectional finish to a battle in Aurora as one of his favorites. This time the game was played at SXU and Brother Rice avenged the loss.

Editor’s Notebook

“That game was just fantastic,” Maszak said. “We were right there and Dwyane Wade [an honorary coach] and his body guard with a gun were standing right next to me. I also did a Harlem Globetrotters game at Bloom. I got hit with a bucket of water. They told me I wasn’t going to be but I stepped away from the mic and they got me.’’ Now he’s stepping away from the mic again — but likely not for good.

Pressing issue

There is nothing like hearing the humming of the press when you work for a newspaper and it’s an even sweeter sound when the press has been broken for a few days. The press was rolling again

Monday morning after last week’s nightmarish breakdown that caused the Reporter and Regional to come out a day later than usual. The company publishes several other newspapers and magazines in the Chicago area and a lot of that had to be outsourced. It was a bad, bad week for boss Pat Beedie and his crew. Nothing much good comes out of something like this but it was good to hear from our readers who got in touch with us last week. We received a flood of phone calls on Thursday and Friday morning with people wondering what the heck happened. We also had a few people stop by the office to visit. Most of them were great about it and

talked about how this is the first time the paper didn’t get to their homes on time. It’s nice to hear from that we’re still a part of their lives and routines. That’s what community journalism is about and it’s touching that they missed us for 24 hours.

Chickens are clucking

A great source of comedy comes from the Oak Lawn Cowardly Blog. The chickens are madder than wet hens because they found out about “three disturbing mass e-mails sent by apparently fictitious senders that were apparently designed to attack the business relationship the [Cowardly Blog] enjoys with its readers have been labeled

‘libelous’ and direct violations of the Illinois Electronic Mail Act.’’ Apparently, this other group of anonymous cowards is providing fake headlines that credit “actual newspapers’’ including your favorite newspaper, the Reporter. The cowards are thinking of getting a lawsuit together against the other cowards. The good news to come out of this is that the Cowardly Blog said that its lawyer is Dennis Brennan, so now we have an actual name associated with the Cowardly Blog. So we wish Mr. Brennan all the luck in the world in exposing those anonymous bad guys that…well…kind of do what the blog that he represents does.

Expert witness for prosecution testifies that Kustok shot his wife By Tim Hadac Staff Reporter

A replica of Mary stands close

If Allan Kustok didn’t shoot his wife on the morning of Sept. 29, 2010, the killer was someone standing over her while wearing his T-shirt, shorts and glasses, an expert witness testified Tuesday at Kustok’s murder trial. In perhaps the most damning testimony yet as the trial began its third week, crime scene reconstruction analyst Rod Englert said that the pattern of blood stains Photo by Jeff Vorva in the Kustoks’ Orland Park bedroom made it clear—at least from to where an SUV crashed into an Oak Lawn house. his analysis—that Anita “Jeanie” Kustok could not have shot herself, deliberately or accidentally, as Allan Kustok has claimed for more than three years. Englert was on the stand for several hours and was the only person to testify Tuesday at the trial in the SUV and her baby are in stable that at 4:45 p.m. witnesses saw Bridgeview courtroom, according to condition according to a CLTV the white BMW SUV get into published reports. Prosecutors showed a photograph report. Drivers of two other cars an accident and fled the scene. were also taken to a hospital but A Burbank police officer chased of a crime scene re-creation in which two people inside the Oak Lawn the vehicle, which ran a stop Orland Park police posed on a bed home were not hurt, according sign at 87th and New England to show how they believe the shootto CLTV. and collided with another vehicle ing occurred. Cook County State’s Attorney Charges are pending against the before skidding out of control and Anita Alvarez was in attendance driver, according to the station. crashing into the house. The house is located at the Burbank’s Bruno Danko, said for the first time, sitting in the Oak Lawn side of the border he heard the crash less than half front-row along with Jeanie Kusof Oak Lawn and Burbank but a block away while he was in tok’s relatives. After the prosecution rests its case the vehicle crashes happened in his house. Burbank. “It sounded like metal on this week, Kustok’s defense team Burbank Police Division Chief metal, just a big bang,” Danko is expected to call its own crime scene analysis experts to counter Mike Dudlo said in a news release said told Sun-Times Media.

Four hurt and Oak Lawn house smashed after a pair of crashes By Jeff Vorva Reporter Editor Four people were injured and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center after a driver of an SUV plowed into an Oak Lawn home late Tuesday afternoon after allegedly causing two accidents. According to Burbank police, the SUV collided with a pair of other vehicles in two separate accidents before smashing into the front of a house on 87th Street and New England Avenue. An unidentified woman driving the

Oak Lawn officials eye watch program By Bob Rakow Staff Reporter Think about a neighborhood watch program and you’re likely to conjure images of crime prevention. That’s not what two Oak Lawn officials have in mind for a neighborhood surrounding Christ Medical Center. “It’s more than just crime. It’s community awareness,” said Trustee Terry Vorderer, who partnered with Trustee Alex Olejniczak to kick off the program. “This is a pilot program, said Vorderer, who along with Olejniczak, will hold a kickoff meeting for residents at 7:30 p.m. March 20 at the Oak Lawn Park District administrative building,

9400 S. Kenton Ave. “We’re very excited about it,” Olejniczak said, adding that program is designed to bring about synergies in the community. The two trustees hope to eventually expand the program throughout their districts and ultimately village wide, they said. Rather than focus solely on criminal activities, the watch program will concentrate on increasing communication between neighbors and keeping an eye on elderly residents, especially those who live alone, said Olezniczak, the village board’s fire department liaison. The program would involve block reps—ideally two on each block—who communicate with Vorderer and Olejniczak and

Early voting Early Voting for the March 18 Gubernatorial Primary Election started Monday at the Palos Heights City Hall and continues through March 15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Early Voting is also offered at Orland Township, 14807 S. Ravinia Ave., the Oak Lawn Village Hall, 9446 S. Raymond Ave., and the 5th District Cook County courthouse, 10220 S. 76th Ave., in Bridgeview. The Oak Lawn will be also open on Sundays, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Read Rakow’s B-Side Page 6

talk to residents about various village programs or initiatives, Olejniczak said. Vorderer, a retired Oak Lawn police officer, said the village has not experienced an increase in serious crimes, although rashes of other crimes, such as car or home burglaries, have occurred recently. However, “people’s perception is reality,” he said. Hopefully, the program will be able to change perceptions that crime is on the rise, he said. Vorderer, the village board’s police department liaison, said he sent letters to about 40 residents in his district, inviting them to participate in the program. “Anyone is welcome to show up” at the meeting, he said.

The area chosen for the pilot program was selected because it includes the hospital, businesses on 95th Street and Cicero Avenue as well as single- and multi-family residences and the mobile home park.

Allan Kustok Englert’s claims. Defense attorneys had sought unsuccessfully two weeks ago to stop Englert from testifying, according to published reports. What is not disputed by either side is that shortly after Anita Kustok’s death, Allan Kustok told police his wife shot herself with a .357 caliber revolver he allegedly had given her for their 34th wedding anniversary, because he said she feared for her safety while he was away on business trips. After the shooting, Kustok did not call any authorities and drove his wife’s body—reportedly wrapped in bloody bed linens--to Palos Community Hospital nearly 90 minutes after the gun was fired, police said. Anita Kustok, 58, was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital with a gunshot wound to the left cheek. The Cook County Medical

Examiner’s Office declared the death a homicide from a gun fired inches from her face; the gunshot wound was not self-inflicted accidentally or otherwise, according to what Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy said in 2010. The victim was reportedly right handed, which would not be consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the left cheek, police said. The Kustoks’ children are former standout area athletes Zak and Sarah Kustok, who starred in several sports at Sandburg High School. Zak Kustok played quarterback at Northwestern University for three years while Sarah played basketball at DePaul University, was an anchor for Comcast SportsNet Chicago and currently works for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. Neither Zak nor Sarah has testified thus far. Zak appeared at the courthouse last week and made it clear to a newspaper columnist that he was only there to support his wife, Nicole, who testified about whether or not Jeanie feared for her own safety and wanted a gun for protection, as Allan Kustok has claimed. Sarah appeared at the trial last month during jury selection and sat in the gallery, behind her father. Mrs. Kustok was a longtime elementary school teacher who, at the time of her death, was teaching in a gifted program at Central Elementary School in Riverside.

Jesse White Endorses Barrett

LEGAL NOTICE Notice is Hereby Given that on 4-6-14, a sale will be held at Schiller Park Auto Sales, 10251 Franklin Avenue, Franklin Park, IL 60131, to sell the following articles to enforce a lien existing under the laws of the State of Illinois unless such articles are redeemed within thirty days of the publication of this notice. Madeleine Sparkman guardianship & Bassam Zahdan 2005 Mazda VIN# 4F2YZ92Z45KM65482 Lien Amount: $6,930.00

ELECT

MICHAEL BARRETT JUDGE–15TH SUBCIRCUIT

PUNCH 174 VOTE DEMOCRATIC

LEGAL NOTICE Notice is Hereby Given that on 4-6-14, a sale will be held at Schiller Park Auto Sales, 10251 Franklin Avenue, Franklin Park, IL 60131, to sell the following articles to enforce a lien existing under the laws of the State of Illinois unless such articles are redeemed within thirty days of the publication of this notice. P.V. Holding Corp. & Bassam Zahdan 2010 Nissan VIN# 3N1AB6AP3AL658271 Lien Amount: $10,790.00

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The Reporter Thursday, March 6, 2014

Our Neighborhood

It’s a Natural — Oak Lawn Hilton hosts beauty pagent By Jeff Vorva Reporter Editor

girls of various ages in its Irish Princess competition.

The Illinois Natural Pageant organization made a stop in Oak Lawn on Sunday and gave out crowns, trophies and medals to

Contestants showed off beauty, talent and personality and came from all over the state to the Oak Lawn Hilton for the

pageant. There was even a baby contestant during the morning session who showed up from Milwaukee. The INP has several more themed pageants scheduled this year. The next one is the Spring

Chickie and Froggy Pageant April 13 in Rockford. Future pageants will be in Elgin, Wauconda and East Moline. For more photos, see the special St. Patrick’s Day section.

Uh, oh, there was a near meltdown at Sunday’s Illinois Natural Pageant when 2-year-old Avangeline K. of Central Illinois experienced a sad moment (left photo) but seconds later twirled and put on a happy face.

Photos by Jeff Vorva

One-year-old Anaiyah Montesdeola of Chicago looks at a trophy that she won that was twice her size during Sunday’s Irish Princess contest. Sailor Diez of Milwaukee enjoys a quick drink before hitting the stage in the Irish Princess pageant.

Clara Mueller, 4, of Chicago performs for the judges in the Irish Princess contest Sunday at the Oak Lawn Hilton.

SUDOKU

Retro

The object of the game is to fill all the blank squares with the correct numbers. Each row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Each column of 9 numbers must include all digits1 through 9 in any order. Each 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9.

By Mark Andrews

Compiled by Jeff Vorva

News and events from our archives.

McDonald’s unveils new sandwich 50 years ago

From the March 5, 1964 issue The story: Chicago Ridge officials cracked down on the Country Club Tavern, 10600 Southwest Highway. Undercover cops found women soliciting 90 cent drinks, juke box money and cigarette money and arrested them. The quote: “You’ll never get drunk drinking like that, honey,’’ — A comment from one of the arrested girls at the Country Club Tavern allegedly to one of the undercover policemen. Fun fact: McDonald’s took out a full page ad for its restaurant on 87th Street and Harlem Avenue to announce its new product — a Filet o’ Fish sandwich.

Cops say old guy robs bank with a cap gun 25 years ago

(Solution on page 11)

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History of the World

From the March 9, 1989 issue The story: A 60-year-old Oak Lawn man was arrested and charged with bank robbery after allegedly trying to hold up a bank in Hickory Hills by using a cap gun. According to police, John H. Swanson was later caught and told the cops “Boy, I really [deleted] up. Can I give the money back and forget it happened?” The quote: “I hate to see them using kids as a football,” Chris Slowik, president of the Dorn PTA on the fact that some government officials were endorsing a referendum as individuals rather than under the name of their official title. Fun fact: Michelle Grisko of Hickory Hills wrapped up her year as “Illinois Young Teen.”

Piano bar approved by Hickory Hills 10 years ago

From the March 4, 2004 issue The story: Hickory Hills City Council members voted to award a liquor license to a man who planned on opening a piano bar in the Hill Creek Shopping Center. The 2,500-square-foot was able to seat 90 people. The quote: “Give me a ‘Biggie’ fry and some prison time.’’ — a headline on the front page of the Reporter about three men who were sentenced to several years in prison for robbing a Wendy’s in Hickory Hills. Fun fact: Stagg’s boys basketball team upset Joliet Central, 60-53, less than two months after suffering a 32-point loss to the Steelmen.

March 6: ON THIS DATE in 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege; all American defenders were slain. March 7: ON THIS DATE in 1926, the first successful trans-Atlantic radiotelephone conversation was made. In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered German troops to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact. March 8: ON THIS DATE in 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional. March 9: ON THIS DATE in 1959, the Mattel toy company introduced the Barbie doll. March 10: ON THIS DATE in 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining innocence until his death in 1998. In 2011, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami struck northern Japan, resulting in nearly 20,000 deaths and radiation leaks from several nuclear-power reactors. March 11: ON THIS DATE in 537, the Goths laid siege to Rome. Answer to last week’s question: This week in 1864, President Lincoln appointed Gen. Ulysses S. Grant as commander in chief of the Union Army during the Civil War. This week’s question: In 1953, who became secretarygeneral of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union? (Mark Andrews can be reached via e-mail at mlandrews@ embarqmail.com.)

Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Reporter

Deb Baker

Jennifer Tyrrell

Derrick Smith

Dist. 230 board names Sandburg’s next principal among staff changes By Tim Hadac Staff Reporter Three administrative hires, including a principal and associate principal at Sandburg High School and an associate principal at Stagg High School, were approved last week by the Consolidated High School District 230 board of education. The moves were made during a meeting at Stagg High School, 8015 W. 111th St., Palos Hills. The appointments take effect at the end of the current school year. “All three of these administrative hires come from within the school district,” said Superintendent Dr. James M. Gay. “They are great representatives of the strength of District 230’s teachers and administrators and will bring great stability to these positions.” Deb Baker was approved as principal for Sandburg High School. Last month, current Principal Dr. Julia Wheaton was named Assistant Superintendent

for Human Resources as Liz Johnson retires following 37 years of service to the district. “The School Board is proud to approve the hiring of Deb Baker,” said board President Rick Nogal. “She is a strong leader who will continue to focus on student achievement while supporting the Sandburg community. A veteran administrator who has served each of District 230’s campus, she is passionate about the success of each student.” Gay said that Baker “returns to Sandburg High School, where she has taught and served as an administrator. Her knowledge, expertise and compassion will be an incredible asset. Deb is committed to collaboration and teamwork which will serve the Sandburg community well during this transition of leadership.” “It has been a pleasure to work with Deb over the past several years,” said Stagg High School Principal Eric Olsen. “Her leadership, intelligence, wit, and work ethic will be greatly missed at the

building. However, we are very excited to work with her in her new capacity as the educational leader at our sister school.” Baker has served each of District 230’s high schools since she joined the district in 2001. She was as an English teacher and then division chair for English, Music and ELL at Sandburg. She has also served as assistant principal at Andrew High School and associate principal at Stagg. Before joining District 230, she taught in Chicago Public Schools and at De La Salle Institute in Chicago. Prior to becoming an educator, Baker and her husband were retail business owners. Baker holds a master’s degree in educational administration and a bachelor’s degree in the teaching of English, both from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The board also approved Jennifer Tyrrell as associate principal of instruction at Stagg High School filling Baker’s slot at Sandburg. “Jen Tyrrell is a tremendous

Submitted photo

Posing for a photo during a break in last week’s District 230 board meeting are President Rick Nogal (from left), Susan Dalton, Superintendent Dr. James M. Gay, incoming Sandburg Associate Principal of Instruction Derrick Smith, incoming Stagg Associate Principal of Instruction Jennifer Tyrrell, Vice President Patrick O’Sullivan, incoming Sandburg Principal Deb Baker, Kate Murphy Peterson, Secretary Kathy Quilty, Tony Serratore and Melissa Gracias. leader in our building, and the staff and administration look forward to the expansion of her leadership role,” said Stagg High School Principal Eric Olsen. “Jen’s experience in literacy training, data analysis, and curriculum will be invaluable to the school and the district. Jen is an amazing leader and of her greatest strengths is her ability to form positive relationships with students and staff.” Tyrrell is a Stagg High School graduate and has served Stagg High School students since 2005 as a physical education teacher and division chair for physical education, health and drivers education. In addition she has coached softball and tennis for the Chargers. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational administra-

tion and supervision from Loyola University. She holds a certificate of advanced study in educational leadership from Lewis University, as well as a master’s degree in kinesiology-sport management and a bachelor’s degree in physical education, both from Western Illinois University. The board also approved Derrick Smith as associate principal of instruction at Sandburg, upon the retirement of Trish Gikas following 31 years of service. “Derrick demonstrates exceptional knowledge, training and skills in the areas of curriculum, instruction and leadership,” said Sandburg Principal Dr. Julia Wheaton. “He consistently demonstrates with students, staff and parents a strong ethical and professional code, maintenance of high

expectations for himself and others and commitment to the collaborative decision-making process.” Smith is a Sandburg graduate and has served the school since 2005 as an English teacher and division chair for English and music. He also has supervised the school’s student newspaper and coached the freshman baseball team. Smith currently is pursuing a doctorate in literacy, language and culture from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a master’s degree in educational organization and leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master’s degree in secondary education from St. Xavier University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign.

Community Briefs Chicago Kiwi Club of Chicago plans event to benefit Park Lawn

The Kiwi Club of Chicago is hosting a dinner and the award winning musical, “Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein” at 3 p.m. March 16 at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. The event will feature a mini lotto, raffle and cash bar. Tickets are $70 per person, which includes dinner and theater ticket. To purchase tickets please contact Ruth Banas at 219-836-5387. Proceeds from the event will benefit Park Lawn’s mission to provide services that promote independence, choice, and access to community living for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Bernstein Discusses ‘Swastika Nation’ During Author Afternoon

Arnie Bernstein, author of “Swastika Nation, Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund,” will discuss his writing process and new book with interviewer Penny Golden at Author Afternoon, Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. in the Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St., Chicago. Admission to Author Afternoons is free; donations are appreciated. For more information about the Beverly Arts Center, call 773-445-3838 or visit www. beverlyartcenter.org. Bernstein’s “Swastika Nation” is filled with celebrities, journalists, gangsters and politicians. It provides an amazing account of the German American Bund, a federation of Americans of German descent and Nazi sympathizers. The bund was organized in the pre-World War II years, and members shared a desire to turn the United States into a fascist dictatorship. Copies of “Swastika Nation” are available for purchase from Bookies Paperbacks and More, 2419 W. 103rd St., Chicago, and on Amazon.com. Bernstein will be available to sign books and answer audience questions during the Author Afternoon.

Oak Lawn OL Park District To Host Mom And Son Bowling Night

Mothers and their sons, ages kindergarten through fifth grade are invited to the Oak Lawn Park District’s Mother and Son Bowling Extravaganza from 3 to 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 29 at Arena Lanes, 4700 W. 103rd St., Oak Lawn. The event features two hours of bowling, refreshments, and pizza. Registration is required by Saturday, March 22. Registrations are accepted at any Park District facility except Administration and Stony Creek. The fee is $35 for a mom and son pair, and $15 for each additional son. Fee also includes shoe rental. For more information, call 857-2200.

Picking up some big endorsements

Various Communities Local libraries and schools receive grants for books

The ‘Back to Books’ program provides vital funds to schools and libraries that often don’t have access to get new materials. Four libraries and two schools in State Sen. Bill Cunningham’s (D-18th) district will receive grants from the Illinois State Library to buy fiction, nonfiction books and other materials. The “Back to Books” program is an initiative from Secretary of State Jessie White’s office funded by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services and the state’s library funds. The schools and libraries will be able to spend the fund on books, large print books, audio books, graphic novels and educational CDs or DVD s. One hundred percent of the grant funds must be spent on materials. The list of libraries and schools that received grants includes: • Chicago Ridge Public Library — $5,000 • Oak Lawn Community High School District 218 — $5,000 • Oak Lawn Public Library — $5,000 • Evergreen Park Public Library — $5,000 • Marist High School, Chicago — $4,992 • Orland Park Public Library — $3,373.

Oak Lawn BTG auditions

The Beverly Theatre Guild will host open auditions of “The Miss Firecracker Contest,” directed by Beth Lynch Giddings and produced for BTG by Fred Eberle and Jeff Ortmann. The auditions are at 2 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Salem United Church of Christ, 9717 S. Kostner Ave., Oak Lawn. More information is provided at beverlytheatreguild. org. Bring headshot and resume, if available.

Printed on Recycled Paper

Please Recycle Your Reporter

Submitted Photo

Judge candidates Michael Barrett and Lauren Brougham Glennon are picking up several endorsements for the coming election. Barrett, left photo, is running for judge in the 15th Judicial Sub Circuit and poses with Cook County Commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy, who recently endorsed him. He also picked up endorsements from the Polish Daily Newspaper, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4. Glennon, top photo, poses with Sgt. James Ade, President of Chicago Police Sgts. Association, who endorsed her for the 3rd Judicial Sub-Circuit. Glennon is the daughter of a Chicago Police Sergeant and wife of a Chicago Fireman. She is also endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4.

Some Hickory residents demanding bigger recycling containers By Kelly White Correspondent Hickory Hills is considering changing its recycling regimen. Some residents in a recent survey are requesting larger recycling bins or for recycling to be picked up by Waste Management every week instead of bi-weekly, according to Alderman Thomas McAvoy at last Thursday’s City Council Meeting. After the discussion, council put the debate on hold with plans on discussing it at future meetings. But the door for change has been opened. “Residents have told us that they would like to switch garbage containers, so that the large ones, currently designated for regular garbage could be converted into recycling containers,” McAvoy explained, “And the smaller ones, now designated for recycling materials, could be

converted into one for regular garbage.” The recycling containers for recycling is 64 gallons and for garbage is 96 gallons. Officials determined it is difficult to make a transition in containers without confusing Waste Management workers in the field as to which container is for recylcling and which is for garbage. Last October, McAvoy and Alderman Brian Fonte, both third ward alderman, published and distributed a “Garbage and Recycling Container Survey Form” to approximately 1,300 homes in the third ward. The survey was designed to try to determine how many residents would like to change the combination of refuse and recycling containers they currently had to another combination. It also advised residents if they were satisfied with their current combination of containers that they should

Polish Daily News EndorsesBarrett Barrett Jessie White Endorses

Pictured are Vice President Teresa Abick and President of the Polish National Alliance and Publisher of Polish Daily Newspaper, Frank Spula with Michael Barrett in the center.

ELECT

not return the form to City Hall. There were 110 respondents who desired some sort of container combination change. Sixty one of the 110 residents requested to switch garbage and recycle containers. Thirty four residents wanted one large container for garbage and one large container for recycling. Seven residents wanted a small container for both garbage and recycling. “These residents have told us that they often have more recyclable materials than will fit into the smaller recycling containers and on the other side, they rarely come close to filling up their regular garbage containers,” McAvoy said. The City of Hickory Hills wants to continue encouraging recycling and the city does get a share of the recycling revenue, held in a separate account used to offset some of the annual increases in the costs of garbage and recycling services. The city

received $612 in a recycling rebate check from Waste Management for January. “Given the way the survey was conducted, it is not possible to state conclusively just how representative the 110 replies of those wishing a container combination change are of the opinions of all ward residents,” McAvoy said. However, of those desiring a container combination change, it is clear that 95 of the 110 (86.4 percent) would like to have a larger recycling container. This was reinforced by most of the comments that accompanied some of the survey replies. “While it is not possible to estimate how much more recycling would be done if larger cans were provided, it is obvious that some increase would occur,” McAvoy stated, “The same could be said if recycling collection was done every week as some respondents suggested.”

GLENNON ENDORSED BY F.O.P. LODGE #4

Kevin Ferrell, President of Lodge #4 is pictured congratulating Glennon (left).

ELECT

MICHAEL BARRETT

LauREN GLENNON

PUNCH 174 VOTE DEMOCRATIC

PUNCH 171 VOTE DEMOCRATIC

JUDGE–15TH SUBCIRCUIT

Judge–3rd SuBCIrCuIT

The Reporter

Thursday, March 6, 2014

commentary The

Reporter

An Independent Newspaper Amy Richards Publisher

Jeff Vorva Editor

Published Weekly Founded March, 16, 1960

Letters to the Editor Chris Lawler for judge

Dear Editor: On July 8, 2013, one of Marist’s own, Chris Lawler, was sworn in as a judge following his appointment in the Cook County Circuit Court in the 15th Judicial Subcircuit. In March 2014, Chris will need to win election to this seat. The 15th Judicial Subcircuit covers a large area including Crestwood, Orland Park, Willow Springs, Ford Heights, Lansing, and Lemont. It will take considerable resources and effort to ensure that Chris retains his seat for the next six year term. Along with many friends and colleagues supporting Chris, we ask the Marist alumni to help and support Chris in this upcoming election. We need qualified judges in the courtroom. Chris is by all accounts a qualified judge. He has been licensed to practice since 1988. Before his appointment, he was a founding partner of the successful firm of Hilbert, Lawler and Power. He has been a true trial attorney, having tried over 50 cases to verdict. He has been presiding over a courtroom in the 6th District Markham courthouse since his appointment. In fact, Chris is the only judge on the ballot for the seat up for election. Chris is rated “Qualified,” “Recommended” or “Highly Recommended” by all the major Bar Associations. On a personal level, Chris is a dedicated family man and a selfless contributor to his parish and

the community at large. Chris and his wife, Julie, are the proud parents of two wonderful boys. In his distinguished history of community service, Chris has taken active roles in Catholic Charities (including pro bono legal services to the less fortunate), as Chairman of the Marist High School Board, as a coach in football and baseball, and as a member of St. Alexander Parish. Chris has instilled this sense of service to his family as well through their volunteer efforts with Misericordia, Park Lawn, and Maple/Morgan Park Food Pantry. As a Marist alumnus, Chris has and will continue to make us proud, but he needs our help. Please consider voting for his retention on March 18, 2014. Chris is a very worthy candidate who will continue to bring great respect and dignity to the court. Robert A. Clifford, Clifford Law Offices

Brewer, Garcia stand tall as champions of equal rights Jan Brewer and Orlando L. Garcia may not be household names, but the decisions they made Feb. 26 were monumental, and both individuals should be lauded as champions of equal rights who had the courage to take a stand against those who would deny those rights to some based on sexual orientation. Brewer is the governor or Arizona, the state where the Republican-controlled legislature amazingly approved a bill that would have given business owners the right to refuse service to gay people and others on religious grounds. Thankfully, Brewer did not let that happen. The Republican governor was under immense pressure to veto the legislation from business owners, who viewed the proposal as a financial disaster and a serious blemish to the reputation of a state that doesn’t need any more bad PR. I have no idea what motivated Brewer to veto this ridiculous legislation, but I’d like to think that one her first thoughts was to reject it simply because it was hateful and intolerant.

Think about it for a moment. The legislation would have permitted a business owner who believed that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman to refuse goods and services to gay people. That’s the kind of forward, progressive thinking I’d be damn proud of as an Arizona resident. Of course, this is nothing new for the Grand Canyon State, which opposed making Martin Luther King Day a state holiday—a move that cost it the 1993 Super Bowl. The state also is known for prejudicial immigration laws. Let’s understand something. Gay people deserve the same rights and civil liberties as anyone else, including the right to marry and raise children. They’ve fought for years for these rights, and no battle waged by intolerant folks who hide behind religion to justify their cause will hold them back at this point. That’s difficult for some people to appreciate. But time moves on, as does society—most of society, anyway. Try to recall pictures from the 1960s of separate drinking fountains for

The B-Side by Bob Rakow

black people or television footage of black students being denied admission to a southern university. Those images seem bizarre 50 years later. But at the time, that sort of bigotry made good sense to many people. How will today’s discriminatory behavior against gay people appear 50 year from now? Bizarre, I hope. The annual gay pride parade commemorates the anniversary 1969 Stonewall riots, an uprising between New York City youth and police officers following a raid of the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar. Four decades later, the NBA has welcomed its first openly gay player, and Missouri football player Michael Sam is expected to be a high pick in this year’s NFL draft. Meanwhile, there are those in Arizona who prefer things the way they’ve always been. The legislation, they argued, was designed to protect their religious freedoms. Brewer’s response was spot on. “Religious liberty is a core American and Arizona value,” the governor said, “so is no discrimination.” Brewer’s actions should not

overshadow those of Garcia, a federal judge in Texas, who struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Garcia ruled that the laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman violated the United States Constitution. That’s a major victory in a state like Texas. Garcia wrote that an amendment to the state Constitution that Texas voters approved in 2005 defining marriage as between a man and a woman — and two similar laws passed in 1997 and 2003 — denied gay couples the right to marry and demeaned their dignity “for no legitimate reason,” the New York Times reported. His ruling is the latest in a series of decisions overturning bans or lifting restrictions on same-sex marriage in several states. Virginia’s ban was recently overturned and Kentucky was told to honor same-sex marriages performed in other states. In Oklahoma, the state’s amendment barring same-sex marriage was recently deemed unconstitutional. You see, the resistance is waning. Open-mindedness and acceptance is surpassing narrowmindedness and intolerance. Jan Brewer and Orlando Garcia are just two of the reasons why.

The Reporter Newspaper

encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 350 words or less. Letters must be signed and the name of the writer will be published. Writers must also include their address and telephone number for verification, but that information will not be published and will remain otherwise confidential. Mail letters to the editor to The Reporter, 12247 S. Harlem Ave., Palos Heights, IL 60463 or e-mail us at thereporter@comcast.net

Inside the First Amendment

FCC study: Necessary report or ‘national news nanny’? By Gene Policinski The First Amendment establishes our right to a press free from intrusion, regulation or intimidation by the government. As to a right to be free from questions by a national “news nanny,” it’s all in how you view the ultimate intent. A few weeks ago, a Republican appointee to the Federal Communications Commission kicked up a fuss — particularly among conservative groups — about a planned FCC study of how journalists make news decisions. Commissioner Ajit Pai wrote an Op-Ed column Feb. 10 in The Wall Street Journal saying the commission’s “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,” or CIN, meant “the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run,” starting with a pilot program in Columbia, S.C. “The purpose of the CIN,”

Pai wrote, “ ... is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about ‘the process by which stories are selected’ and how often stations cover ‘critical information needs,’ along with ‘perceived station bias’ and ‘perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.’” Noting that the FCC has the power to renew or deny broadcast licenses, Pai wrote that the voluntary study was anything but that. He wondered why the study also included newspapers, over which the FCC historically has had no authority. As happens in today’s polarized political environment, liberal observers took a different tack, saying the study was prepared with the help of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and was simply part of an ongoing FCC obligation to periodically report to Congress on how well the public gets information it needs, and what hurdles may exist to improving that process.

On Feb. 21, the FCC backed away from its plan. “Any suggestion the Commission intends to regulate the speech of news media is false,” FCC spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said. A revised study will be conducted, but journalists and news media owners will not be asked to participate. So: An outright assault on a free press — with, as the more florid claims said, official “news monitors” in every newsroom? Or a benign bureaucratic survey that began more than two years ago, created in cooperation with the very journalists it was intended to examine? Lest we forget, there’s nothing in the First Amendment that protects the press from questions, criticism and review, by anybody. But when government does so, it merits extra caution and concern — if not claims that that “media sky is falling.” The government“s record on good intentions and the news media can provide enough cause to worry.

Just seven years after the Bill of Rights, with its First Amendment, was adopted, Congress approved and President John Adams signed a law that provided for prosecution of editors critical of either one. Within a few years the law was allowed to expire, having lost public support after more than a dozen journalists were jailed under the pretense of inciting war with France, which some saw as a mere excuse to eliminate political opponents. Attempts by the government to restrain the press prior to publication have, through the years, ultimately have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, notably in the so-called “Pentagon Papers” case in 1971 when the Nixon administration tried to prevent publication of a secret report on U.S. involvement in Vietnam. And the FCC itself created a prime example of good intentions-gone-wrong with the history of its Fairness Doctrine, enacted in 1949. The commis-

sion was concerned then about the concentration of news outlets in a few hands, and the doctrine required broadcasters to provide information and varied views on matters of public interest. Several decades later, it was evident virtually all electronic news outlets chose the safest path to avoid violating the doctrine: Providing no opinion. Once common “broadcast editorials” disappeared. Discarded by the FCC in 1987, the doctrine was made further obsolete by the proliferation of cable TV stations, and by the diversity of outlets and information available on the Internet — which some says makes the entire commission an anachronism and unneeded. Still, surveys show that broadcast TV remains the largest single medium by which the public gets news — and both liberals and conservatives find reason to regularly criticize all or part of that news media. Newspapers clearly face financial hurdles — and tens of thousands of jobs in journal-

ism have been lost in the past 20 years. Yes, how well the news media are meeting their obligation to readers, viewers, listeners and users is a worthy subject of study — and is regularly, by non-profit organizations, private media monitoring groups and an ever-vocal host of individual critics. Regulators doing that very studying should raise caution, if not the panic voiced by some commentators. Might not a “study of the studies” and reviews of oft-expressed criticism be more efficient and just as informative for that portion of the FCC’s examination of the news media today? In addition to providing its critics with an easy target, the pilot FCC study also provided its own benediction: “Go forth and CIN no more.” Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. He can be reached at gpolicinski@newseum.org.

�� What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book? (Asked at a Dr. Seuss storytime at the Palos Heights Public Library) Photos by Joan Hadac

Brenda Sullivan, Oak Forest Dena Faco (with granddaugh“My favorite is ‘Green Eggs and ter Lexi Faco, 2), Palos Heights Ham’ because it really works to “I like ‘Hop on Pop’ just because get your kids to try new food. My it was cute. son is 21 and he loved this book when he was a child. He is my best eater. He has the attitude of, ‘Don’t be grumpy about new food if you haven’t tried it.’ He got that from this book.”

Marissa Wooten, Oak Forest “My son, Dominic, and I like ‘Green Eggs and Ham.’ We know it by heart. He makes me read it to him every other day.”

Kristie Ragsdale, Palos Heights “I like ‘Go Dog, Go’ because it reminds me of my mom taking me to the library. This is the first book I remember.”

David Lopez, Palos Heights “I’d say ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ because I really enjoy the rhyming scheme. It’s always fun. Not many people realize this, but Dr. Seuss used only 50 words in this book. He wrote it on a dare that he couldn’t write a book in 50 words. That’s kind of cool.”

Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Reporter

New Smith Crossing chef says cooking is in his blood Alex Meredith recently joined Smith Crossing as the Orland Park continuing care retirement community’s executive chef. Meredith describes himself as “a proper chef, classically French trained,” and says he’s comfortable preparing a variety of regional cuisines—Southern Cajun, New England, Southwest and California—as well as a variety of ethnic foods. Having worked for country clubs in Lake Forest and Winnetka and as executive sous chef at Japoni Sante, Meredith is motivated to consistently provide food that people love and enjoy. “I’m absolutely thrilled to have such a large audience,” he said, noting that nearly 300 Smith Crossing residents dine on his

food each night. “With restaurants, you don’t always know how many you will serve on any given day. And at Smith Crossing, I’m eager to face the challenge of keeping dining experiences fresh and interesting for my ‘regular’ diners,’ “I’m also thrilled that everything we serve here is fresh,” he added. “Absolutely nothing is canned. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Meredith acknowledges the talent and reliability of his seasoned staff. He credits his love for his profession to the fact that his father is a chef—as were his uncle and grandfather. “I grew up with feta cheese and olives on the table,” Meredith said, referring to his Greek

heritage. “A passion for cooking runs in my blood.” His family operated a family dining restaurant in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Lexington, Ky., where he grew up. At 16, Meredith started working part-time as a dishwasher at a steak and chop restaurant, eventually working his way up to fry cook and grill cook before graduating from high school. He later enrolled at Sullivan University in Louisville, Ky., preparing for a career in hotel and restaurant management. While working as an intern in the kitchen at the Broadmoor, a five-star resort in Colorado Springs, Colo., he decided to study culinary arts as well. “This experience sparked my

interest in my family’s business,” he said. “I realized how gratifying and satisfying it feels to create. I realized I’m very much an artist.” Meredith is committed to fostering relationships with Smith Crossing residents and members of the Smith Crossing dining committee. “I value feedback, and I feel I need this in order to provide food that people truly savor and enjoy,” he said. “Everyone is so nice here. I’ve already met more people here than I did in years of working elsewhere.” Meredith lives in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood with his cat, Stella. Submitted Photo

— Submitted by Smith Crossing

Alex Meredith of Chicago is the new chef at Smith Crossing

Health Scan Children’s vaccinations for the underinsured

land Township residents only and are available at a discounted rate. Adult vaccines include HPV, PneuOrland Township, 14807 S. Ra- mococcal, Hep A, Tuberculosis, vinia Ave., now provide immu- Hep B, Tdap, IPV, Meningococnizations to local underinsured cal, Hep A-Hep B, MMR, Typhoid children at its monthly immuni- and Shingles. Proof of residency zation clinic. is required. Vaccines are available to chilFor more information, or for dren 18 and under who are ei- upcoming immunization clinic ther uninsured, underinsured, dates, call 403-4222 or visit www. Medicaid-eligible (includes All orlandtwp.org. Kids), Native American or Palos hospital class: Alaskan Native. Underinsured means that the child has health advance directives insurance, but it does not cover Advance directives are imporany vaccines, certain vaccines, tant for all adults, not just the or it has a fixed dollar limit elderly. or cap for vaccines, and once Palos Community Hospital ofthat cap is reached a child is fers a free class from 6 to 7 p.m. ineligible. With valid proof of Tuesday, March 11, to explain Orland Township residency, vac- the details. cines are free of charge. For Serious illness and death children residing outside of the aren’t easy to discuss, but you township’s boundaries, a $20 ad- can make it easier by having ministration fee per vaccine will a living will and other advance be collected. An up-to-date shot directives in place. Put your record is mandatory to receive loved ones at ease by making any vaccine, and children must your wishes known regarding be accompanied by a parent or such treatment efforts as resuslegal guardian. citation and life-support. Available children’s vaccines This class will held at the include DTaP, DTaP-Hep B-IPV, hospital, 12251 S. 80th Ave., DTaP-IPV-Hib, DTaP-IPV, Hep A, Palos Heights. Topics include Hep B, Hep B-Hib, HPV, Menin- the Illinois Power of Attorney gococcal, MMR, IPV, Pneumococ- for Health Care (short form), cal, Rotavirus, Tdap and Varicella. Illinois Department of Public Adult vaccines are offered to Or- Health: Uniform Do-Not-Resus-

Death Notices

citate Advance Directive form, and the Living Will. For more information or to register for the class, visit the hospital website at http://bit.ly/ advdirect or call 226-2300.

Planning 201—Understanding Financial Plans and Options,” they were second in a four-part series of education programs sponsored by Smith communities. To attend the next workshop, “Retirement Planning 301—The Housing Market and DownsizCost advantages ing,” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on of CCRC living Tuesday, March 18, call Smith Continuing care retirement com- Crossing at 326-2300. To attend munities (CCRCs) provide a single at Smith Village from 11 a.m. to location for independent living, 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 20, assisted living, memory support, call (773) 474-7300. rehab and skilled nursing settings. They not only ensure a continuum Orland Township of care for older adults, but also monthly immunizations the opportunity for people to enjoy Orland Township offers its next more enriching independent and social lifestyles, said Kevin McGee, monthly immunization clinics on president and CEO of Smith Se- Saturday, March 8, from 9 a.m. to nior Living. “While the popularity 11 a.m. and Tuesday, April 8 from of CCRCs continues to increase, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Township many people still don’t realize that office, 14807 S. Ravinia Ave. Vaccines are available to chilresiding in these communities is dren 18 and under who are eiwithin their financial reach.” Smith Senior Living sponsors ther uninsured, underinsured, two CCRCs—Smith Crossing in Medicaid-eligible/All Kids (card Orland Park and Smith Village needs to be displayed), Native in Chicago’s Southside Beverly American or Alaskan Native. Underinsured means that the child neighborhood. Helping older adults compare has health insurance, but it does the cost-advantages of residing in not cover any vaccines, certain a CCRC and learn how to select vaccines, or it has a fixed dollar one was the purpose of workshops limit or cap for vaccines, and recently conducted by McGee and once that cap is reached a child Smith Senior Living CFO Ray is ineligible. With valid proof Marneris. Called, “Retirement of Orland Township residency, vaccines are free of charge. For children residing outside of the township’s boundaries, a $20 administration fee per vaccine will be collected. An up-to-date shot record is mandatory to receive any vaccine, and childrenmust be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Children’s vaccines that are available include DTaP, DTaPHep B-IPV, DTaP-IPV-Hib, DTaP-IPV, Hep A, Hep B, Hep BHib, HPV, Meningococcal, MMR, IPV, Pneumococcal, Rotavirus, Tdap and Varicella. Adult vaccines that are available include HPV, Pneumococcal, Hep A, Tuberculosis, Hep B, Tdap, IPV, Meningococcal, Hep A-Hep B, MMR, Typhoid and Shingles.

Crossword Puzzle

Helena Grzesiuk Helena Grzesiuk nee Obirek, 90, of South Haven Michigan, formerly of Oak Lawn, died Feb. 24 at Countryside Nursing Home in South Haven Michigan. Visitation was held last Wednesday at Lawn Funeral Home in Tinley Park. A funeral Mass was offered at St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Orland Hills and interment was at Resurrection Cemetery. Mrs. Grzesiuk is survived by her children Stanley (Nika) Kolby, Christine (Agis) Ntanos and Mary Ellen (John) Ukleja, seven grandchildren 12 great grandchildren and two great, great grandchildren. Mrs Grzesiuk was born in Poland and worked as a janitress at The Civic Opera House for more than 40 years. John Hagemann John Hagemann, 87, formerly of Worth died at Marian Village in Homer Glen. Visitation was Monday at the Palos-Gaidas Funeral Home and Mass was held at Marian Village in Homer Glen. Mr. Hegemann was survived by daughter Johanna (Gary). He was born in Yugoslavia and was a Chicago police lieutenant and World War II veteran.

Joseph Rachowicz Joseph Rachowicz , 99, of Chicago Ridge died Feb. 23 at St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights. Visitation was Friday at Schmaedeke Funeral Home in Worth and Mass was Saturday at Our Lady of the Ridge Church. Burial was as Resurrection Cemetery. Mr. Rachowicz was survived by children Robert, Micharl and Ronald Rachowicz. He was born in Benton and worked as a tool and die maker. He was also a former Chicago Ridge Trustee and volunteer fireman. Josephine A. Silberg Josephine A. Silberg, 89, formerly of Palos Hills died Monday at Palos Community Hospital. Visitation is Friday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Palos Gaidas Funeral Home, 11028 S. Southwest Highway in Palos Hills and Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Sacred Heart Church. Mrs. Silberg was survived by children Robert Allen (Louisa) and Sharon Joy (Patrick) Knytych. She was born in Chicago Heights, worked in the retail industry and was a member of Palos Hills Horizons, Oak Lawn Prime Tymers, Bridgeview Golden Agers and Sacred Heart Fun Club.

Focus on Seniors Meals on Wheels

The Evergreen Park Office of Citizens’ Services offers a Meals on Wheels program for village residents 60 years and older who are unable to prepare their own meals. Meals are delivered Monday through Friday. For more information call 422-8776.

55 and Up

Palos Hills residents 55 years and older meet from noon to 2 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the Palos Hills Community Cen-

ter, 8455 W. 103rd St. Tickets for events must be purchased one week in advance. Entertainment includes musicians, singers, luncheons, movies, plays and bingo.

Pinochle

The Worth Senior Pinochle club is seeking new members. Membership is free. Visit the group at the Worth Park District Terrace Centre, 11500 Beloit Ave., every Monday and Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Games begin at noon. Call 448-1181 for information.

For additional clinic dates and adult immunization prices, visit Orland Townshipwww. orlandtwp.org.

Benefits & Fundraisers

Across 1 Babbling waterway 6 Pillow covers 11 Healthful facility 14 Nocturnal primate with a ringed tail 15 Squiggle in “pi-ata” 16 Make a mistake 17 *1972 hit with the line “The day the music died” 19 Feel sick 20 Sharp turn 21 Auction cry 22 “I’m innocent!” 24 Pennsylvanie, par exemple 26 *County fair prize 29 Receding tide 31 On edge 32 Sambuca flavoring 35 Place for a polar bear 37 Street shaders 40 *Home-based business 43 __ II razor 44 Tells in a bad way 45 Biblical beasts 46 Blue gem, for short 48 “I __ you one” 49 *Beef-braised-with tomatoes dish 53 Jones with a locker 57 Cagney’s TV partner

58 60 61 62 66 67 68 69 70 71

Spring bloomer Go head-to-head Prefix for the birds Green Bay Packer fans ... and a hint to the answers to starred clues Pince-__ glasses Prefix meaning “sun” Krupp Works city Afternoon ora Bagel flavoring “Star Wars” surname?

Down 1 Burn brightly 2 Send a money order, say 3 Alpha’s opposite 4 “__ Man in Havana”: Graham Greene novel 5 Barbra’s “A Star Is Born” co-star 6 Delay on purpose 7 Many an Indian, religiously 8 The Eiger, e.g. 9 Start of the 16th century 10 Greeted and seated 11 Vehicle safety devices 12 First-class 13 Former senator Specter 18 __ salad (Answers on page 11)

23 Excessively preoccupied 25 Precedent setter 27 Boarding school jackets 28 Bassoon vibrator 30 “But I don’t wanna __ pirate!”: “Seinfeld” 32 Do some film work 33 Partner of neither 34 Highlight in print, in a way 35 Banquet 36 Put a match to 38 G.I. grub 39 Part of TBS: Abbr. 41 Pinot __ 42 Detroit labor org. 47 Film with a classic shower scene 48 Sooner State migrant 49 Bias 50 Have second thoughts 51 Five-letter song refrain 52 Felonious fire 54 Salt’s “Halt!” 55 Audio counterpart 56 Like “Will you marry me?” questionwise 59 Storage building 63 Clucker 64 Yale alum 65 Suffix with Brooklyn

The Oak Lawn Community High School Athletic Boosters are hosting a Texas Hold ’em Tournament from 6 p.m. until midnight Saturday, March 22 at the Garden Chalet, 11000 S. Ridgeland, Worth. The ticket price, $75, includes open bar, dinner buffet, and table entry. A one-time additional chip purchase will be provided at check-in. Participants can watch the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, play some cards and possibly win some money; it’s all to help the athletic programs at Oak Lawn. For more information, call 741-5623, or emailkmckeown@ olchs.org. *** Dig through the closets and pull out gently used prom and bridesmaid dresses to donate to Moraine Valley Community College’s Dream Come True Project. The dresses will be given away free of charge to local high school girls on Saturday, March 22, from 9 to 11 a.m., in Building S, Room 117, on the main campus, 9000 W. College Pkwy, Palos Hills. Dresses of all styles and sizes that are in good condition will be accepted. Shoes, purses, jewelry, and other accessories also will be accepted. Donations can be brought to the Multicultural Student Affairs Department in Room 201, on the second floor of Building S, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information about making a donation, call Nereida Perez at 974-5475.

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The Reporter

Thursday, March 6, 2014

schools

MVCC ready to show off new rec center Take a look around, play basketball, go for a swim, and lift some weights all for free at the Moraine Valley Community College Health, Fitness & Recreation Center’s open house on Saturday, March 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Although the building officially opens on Monday, March 17, anyone who wants to check it out before becoming a member can use the facility for free during the five-hour event. There also will be giveaways and samples from The Bean Café. The 113,000-square-foot building on the southwest side of Moraine Valley’s campus boasts plenty of amenities including the 15,000-square-foot Chicago Blackhawks fitness center encircled by a 1/10th mile jogging track. In the fitness center are 57 cardio machines, 22 treadmills with personal viewing screens, 52 Life Fitness and Matrix selectorized and plateloaded pieces, a free weight area, Olympic lifting platform, and four fitness studios.

There’s also a four-lane pool and whirlpool that seats 12. The locker rooms include a steam room and digital lockers that are free on a daily basis. Permanent locker rentals are available for a fee. Clients have free towel usage and access to a ProShop. The Bean Café will sell healthy food and beverages. Additionally, a slate of more than 60 fitness classes will be offered free to members. Membership is $49 per month for community members, $34/ month for seniors/military/Moraine Valley retirees, $26/month for recent MVCC graduates up to a year, and free for full-time students. Part-time students pay $24 for spring 2014 and $48 per semester thereafter. For more information, visit Submitted Photo www.morainevalley.edu/hfrc or contact Pam Lawrence, HFRC membership representative, at (708) 608-4015 or Lawrence@ Eighth graders at St. Catherine of Alexandria School in Oak Lawn attended the masquerade party at the Capulet mansion while readmorainevalley.edu. — Submitted by Moraine Valley ing Romeo and Juliet. Students acted out scenes from one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays and dressed the part as they explored and interpreted the rigorous language of the talented writer. Community College

Just like Romeo and Juliet

Campus Leaders A number of area residents were named to Benedictine University’s fall dean’s list. The dean’s list recognizes fulltime students who achieve a 3.5 grade point average or above. Students named to the dean’s list include: Mackenzie Muersch of Chicago Ridge, Molly Williams and Markus Wrobel of Evergreen Park, Cindy Kirk and Hajer Ibrahim of Hickory Hills, Kristine Luna, Aliya Murray, Mahmoud Abdel, Kayla Weyer, Katherine Juszczyk and Chris Rafacz, all of Oak Lawn, Hend Diab and Renee Habbal of Palos Heights, Anna Bosek, Sandra Mazonas, Deama Sheika, Shelley Vanwitzenburg and Rachel Marzalik, all of Palos

Ridge Central jumps for the AHA More than 100 Ridge Central students participated in this year’s Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser for the American Heart Association. The event included students from kindergarten through fifth grade. Third- through fifth- grade students participated after school at the Jump, kindergarten through second grade students jumped for their donations during their Physical Education classes.

The top fundraisers were Nikolas Dixon (third Grade) who raised $287, Ryne Luna (third grade) with $203, Gabriel Jackson (first grade) with $200. Ridge Central’s total fundraising effort for this event was $3,885.68, which was announced at the event on February 24th. Many of the parents showed up to watch and help with the Jump along with Brandy Hobbs from the American Heart Associa-

tion, who presented Ridge Central with a 2014 Jump Rope for Heart banner. Ridge Central Elementary School has been participating in Jump Rope for Heart since 1997. Ridge Central will again participate in Jump Rope for Heart next year, hoping to beat the fundraising effort from this year. — Submitted by Ridge Central Elementary School

Bulletin Board Chicago Christian

Chicago Christian High School, 12001 S. Oak Park Ave., Palos Heights, will present Broadway Today, this year’s choir show at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 13. It includes music from “Wicked,” “Hairspray,” and “Jersey Boys,” and recent revivals such as “Grease,” and “Les Miserables.” The show includes student created choreography as well as professional choreography, staging, costuming, visual narration, solos and a pit band. The show is free for all ages. For more information, call 708-388-7650. Community residents are invited to Chicago Christian High School Theater Department’s spring production of “Hilarity Ensues: A Night of Comedy.” Performances will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1 in the CCHS auditorium, 12001 S. Oak Park Ave., Palos Heights. The evening will feature the school’s first Chicago Christian High School Improv Team, and two one-act comedies, “Sure Thing” and “Philosophy 101: A Play,” as well as a special performance by the CCHS girls’ a cappella group, The Knightingales. Tickets are $5 for students and seniors, and $7 for adults. Tickets will be on sale in the main office at CCHS beginning Monday, Feb. 17. For more information, call 388-7650, or visit swchristian.org.

Mother McAuley

Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School will host various summer camps for athletes, artists, actresses, scientists and musicians from kindergarten through high school age. Campers are given the opportunity to develop skills by learning from and interacting with experienced staff. McAuley camps include 13 sport camps, two mu-

sic camps, an art camp, science camp, the theatre “Kids Kamp,” and a new enrichment camp for girls in grades 1 through 6. Registration for all camps is now available online at mothermcauley.org. Every camp is offered at different times and days, at various fee levels.

Oak Lawn Community H.S.

Oak Lawn Community High School will host its Relay for Life for the 12th year in a row. Relay for Life is an organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research. This year’s Relay for Life will take place Saturday, May 17. Per Relay tradition, the faculty, staff and students painted the gym purple on Feb. 7 by wearing purple T-shirts during the varsity basketball game. Relay for Life coordinator Thaddeus Zuzga said that OLCHS raised more than $1,500. These funds will be used to cover all of the extracurricular activities at this year’s Relay For Life Event on May 17, 2014. It is not too late to register teams or participants for the event. For more information, call 424-5200. *** A Candlelight Bowl will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 22 at Fox Bowl, 1101 Butterfield Road, Wheaton. Money raised will fund The Tim Nickos Memorial Scholarship, which will grant one $2500 scholarship to an OLCHS student to help with college tuition. The winner will be announced at the spring sports award ceremony. Tickets are $25 for students, or $30 for adults. The ticket price includes three games of bowling and dinner. There will also be a cash bar, raffle prizes and split the pot. For more information, visit olchs.org. Tim Nickos was an individual

who lived every day to the fullest by inspiring and motivating others through his contagious smile and great sense of humor. Nickos was to be the captain of the Oak Lawn Community High School varsity swim team his senior year. He was a member of the OLCHS band. Nickos always provided for everyone around him. He died in his sleep at the age of 17. He had a heart condition called cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) that went undiagnosed. This led to cardiac arrhythmia, which ended his life on June 28, 2011.

Stagg

The Stagg Wind Symphony, Andrew Wind Symphony and Sandburg Symphonic Band I will perform as a celebration of Music in Our Schools month at 7 p.m. Friday at Sandburg High School, 13300 S. LaGrange Rd, Orland Park. The concert will conclude with a performance by the third annual D230 Honor Band. This year’s conductor is David Morrison, who is retired from Prospect High School. Top students from each band program have been selected to participate in a day of intense rehearsal to perform at the evening’s concert. Morrison received his formal training in music at the University of Illinois, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in music education in 1973, and his master’s in 1977. He was director of bands at East Richland High School in Olney, Ill from 1973 to 1977. From 1977 until 2006, he Morrison was the director of bands at Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, Ill. from 1977 to 2006. While there, he developed and maintained a nationally recognized band program for 29 years. Honors Morrison has received (Continued on page 9)

Hills, and Hedaya Karim of Worth. *** Benedictine University awarded degrees to 439 students who completed their requirements on or before December. The December 2013 graduates include: Hercedes Smith of Evergreen Park, master of science in nursing, Hiba Kamal of Hickory Hills, bachelor of science, diagnostic medical sonography, Mary Swearingen of Hickory Hills, master of science in nursing, Daniel Zajaczkowski of Palos Hills, bachelor of arts, management, cum laude, and Deama Sheika of Palos Hills, bachelor of arts, psychology. Others earning their degrees from Benedictine University in December include:

Dina Surdyk of Palos Hills, bachelor of arts, management summa cum laude, Peter Surdyk Palos Hills, bachelor of arts, management, summa cum laude, Sam Suhail of Palos Hills, master of business administration, and master of public health. *** Kyle Cheng of Oak Lawn has been named to the dean’s list at Boston University for the fall semester. Each school and college at Boston University has its own criterion for attaining dean’s list honors, but students generally must attain a 3.5 grade point average, on a 4.0 scale, or be in the top 30 percent of their class, as well as carrying a full course load as a full time student.

Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Reporter

Schools

Call it art with a twist By Jim Hook School District 117 Just down the hall from the Conrady Junior High School cafeteria, students in Room 37 are learning all about energy awareness and conservation. In fact, these eighth graders are doing more than learning. They are designing and developing and presenting prototypes of fans, lamps, hair dryers and other energy-efficient devices. And they are doing it all in the name of art. Teacher Todd Baran is challenging his young charges to incorporate critical-thinking and other high-level skills into planning, designing, developing, trouble-shooting and presenting their projects. “I’m always looking for new ways to teach art, and this is an innovative and interactive way of doing that,” Mr. Baran said. “Art is constant. It involves critical thinking, reassessing and synthesizing.” He said the higher-order thinking skills students are using align with both the Common Core State Standards and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) initiatives.

Both place emphasis on multistep, higher-order thinking and problem-solving activities. Students in Mr. Baran’s class are thrilled. “It’s awesome,” said Jimmy Mannette, who with fellow student Catherine Czernik used LittleBits (open-source electronic modules) to design and develop an “eco-light” for use while reading at night. “All day long I look forward to Mr. Baran’s class. It’s a lot of fun, and yet we are learning so much.” The prototype light hooks on to a book and turns on automatically when it gets dark. Jimmy and Catherine use the LittleBits to engineer solutions to problems presented in class. Said Czernik: “These projects really make you think more about how to solve problems. And I love the fact that it is so hands-on.” In addition to learning about energy awareness and conservation, students have also learned about Generative Art (art created in whole or in part by an autonomous system) and then designed, built and presented bots using the LittleBits. Baran’s instructions for the class are clear: The designs must

be practical and actually work. In one of Baran’s earlier classes, three students collaborated to make a miniature disco ball right out of the 1970s. Again, in an effort to conserve energy, the disco ball turns on by sound sensors, like the clapping of hands or the ringing of a cellphone. Sarah Chung, Allie Carey and Sadie Heintz brainstormed on the project. They used a 9-volt battery, a balloon, paper mache, tissue paper, foil, a power box, a circuit board and L.E.D. lights. “This is awesome,” Carey said. “We’re able to collaborate and get ideas from each other and then use math and language skills to design and present our project. We’ve learned so much while having fun at the same time.” Nearby, another trio of students Submitted photo worked on adjusting the speed of a hand-held fan they were developing. David Trapani, Johann Cuta and Haley Hynes bounced ideas off one another as to how to get Based on the look of delight on the hundreds of children’s faces, the District 123 Family Health just the right speed. and Fun Fair was a success. The event took place on Feb. 22 after a one-year hiatus. Mr. Baran said the idea is to “take art to another level.” “Artists design and develop projects, and that’s what we are doing in the classroom,” he said. “And we’re having fun along the (Continued from page 8) formation, email StaggSCO@ ence Memorial National College way.” gmail.com. The community, Grants Program to support the include the Citation of Excellence alumni, parents, faculty, staff purchase of a new instrument from the National Band Associa- and retired employees are wel- for chemical analysis. The intion, election to the Phi Beta come. strument, a nuclear magnetic Mu National Band Director’s The celebration begins with a resonance spectroscope, is used Honorary Fraternity, winner tour of architectural landmarks in characterizing chemical comof Outstanding Contributions at 5 p.m. starting at the Ratner pounds. Sharada Buddha, deto Education Award at Prospect Athletics Center, followed by a partment of chemistry associHigh School on two occasions, reception from 6 to 8:30 p.m. ate professor, applied for the Outstanding Chicagoland Mu- in the hall. The celebration will grant in order to expand the sic Educator Award in 1992, the feature hors d’oeuvres, cash bar educational opportunities open Shining Star Award 1995, and a and desserts. to students. nomination for the Golden Apple The event, hosted by the The instrument is expected to Award in 2001. In 2003, Mor- newly formed Stagg Community be on campus this semester and rison was honored as the Illinois Organization, incorporates the will be used in chemistry classes State Teacher of the Year, and talents of students. The Stagg starting in the fall. The instruin 2005, he was inducted into Madrigal Singers and Stagg Jazz ment also may be incorporated the Phi Beta Mu Bandmaster’s Band will perform, and students into physical science classes, also Hall of Fame at Northwestern in the culinary department will offered by the department. University. In June of 2007, Mor- make desserts. In addition, art *** rison received the John Paynter students are involved in creating St. Xavier University will host Lifetime Achievement Award. the tickets and graphics for the “Chapters,” an art exhibit by *** program’s ad book, and graphic Kelly Harris and Amara Hark Stagg High School will cel- arts students will help produce Weber open now until Tuesday, ebrate its 50th anniversary material for the event. April 1.The exhibit will be on with a namesake event Satur- Stagg served the University display in the SXU Gallery, loday, April 12 at the University of Chicago from 1892 to 1932, cated in the Warde Academic of Chicago’s Bartlett Hall, where and his office was in Bartlett Center at the University’s ChiAmos Alonzo Stagg served as Hall. The high school proudly cago campus, 3700 W. 103rd St. associate professor and director displays one of those doors in its The exhibit will be closed from of athletics. Stagg History Room, obtained March 10 to March 16 for spring Tickets, which cost $40 per when renovations took place at break. Supplied photo adult, will be sold until April 1. the hall. A pioneering college The SXU Gallery’s hours Catherine Czernik and Jimmy Mannette work on a book light during an art class at Carmody A shuttle bus from Stagg High coach, especially in football, are: Monday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; School costs $5. For more in- Stagg brought innovation to Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, Junior High School. the game, inventing the lateral 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, pass, huddle, uniform numbers 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 11 and the tackling dummy. He a.m. to 2 p.m.; and closed on helped organize the Western Sunday. Conference, predecessor to the Harris holds a master of fine More then 360 students from Big Ten Conference. He was in- arts degree in visual communi14 high schools attended the ducted into the College Football cations design from the School District 230 Sports Medicine Hall of Fame in 1951 both as of the Art Institute of Chicago Symposium held at Moraine a player and as a coach. The and a bachelor of arts degree in Valley Community College on Division III championship game visual communications design Tuesday. for the NCAA is known as the with minors in fine arts and biolStagg Bowl. ogy from Purdue University. Athletic Trainers Phil Stagg High School serves the Hark-Weber holds a master of Dryier (Andrew), Dave Kreis communities of Palos Hills, Palos fine arts degree in visual com(Sandburg) and Kristin Pila Park, Palos Heights, Hickory munications from the School of (Stagg) organized the event Hills, Bridgeview, Worth, Wil- the Art Institute of Chicago, with the support of a Dislow Springs, and Orland Park. a master of science degree in trict 230 Foundation grant. development studies from the St. Xavier Students took part in large St. Xavier University has been London School of Economics, group presentations and smallawarded a grant of $10,000 and a bachelor’s degree in hiser lab sessions led by doctors, from the Pittsburgh Confer- tory and Africana studies. therapists, trainers and others in sports medicine-related fields.

Fun time at health fair

Bulletin Board

Dist. 230 students attend sports medicine program

District 230 students involved in the EMT training program led participants through the proper steps to backboard a patient. The EMT students train with Trace Ambulance in order to earn EMT certification. This allows them to work as an EMT right out of high school Supplied photo while pursuing Paramedic certification or attending college Trace Ambulance Education Director Wally Bedtke and two District 230 EMT students demonstrate for medical-related careers. how to properly backboard a patient.

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(Continued from page 1) “I don’t see any way can move forward with this,” he said. Mayor Mary Werner, however, voiced support for the run. “I personally think it would be a great event for residents,” Werner said. She said the run would promote the golf course as well as its restaurant, The Edge. “I just think logistically it makes sense,” said Werner, who added that the event would serve as a marketing tool even if the village lost some golf revenue that day. Trustee Colleen McElroy said she was not wholly opposed to the idea but it did lack a detailed plan. “I think it would have been wise to have this discussion in a committee,” McElroy said. “I would prefer that everybody sit at a table and talk about this.” Trustees agreed to delay a decision on the run and left the door open for a sponsor for the Photo by Jeff Vorva event or funds from the centenTrustee Tedd Muersch, shown in the Worth Days Parade in 2013, is against his village hosting a nial committee to offset the cost of the event. 5K race on Sept. 16.

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The Reporter

Thursday, March 6, 2014

community calendar

Curcumin good for women and men

Photo by Jeff Vorva

WHATIZIT?

Put those conceal carry guns away and don’t shoot the messenger. Last week’s WHATIZIT? was of an MRI machine. When the shutterbug asked medical personnel if he could shoot this gadget for WHATIZIT?, it was under the strict condition that anyone who guessed a CT machine would be wrong, even though the two are similar. These medical folks are even stricter than the WHATIZIT? Board of Directors, and we all know what a tough bunch of cookies those people are. Sooooo…don’t shoot the messenger. R.J. Oahueke was the first to come in with the right answer. Others who got it right were Palos Heights’ Crystine Busch, Chicago Ridge’s Dan Higgins, Worth’s Linda Martin, Theresa and George Rebersky, Sandy Joiner, Jerry and Carol Janicki, Gene Sikora and Celeste Cameron and Hickory Hills’ Ken Osborne, Betty Beegle, and Janice Mastro. We did have people guess an MRI and a CT machine so half credit is given and you know what that means. It means half of the name gets in the paper. So Rob Sol of Oak Lawn and Ja Merch of Evergreen Park get the partial nod. This week’s clue: Back to you. Send those guesses by Monday night to thereporter@comcast. not with WHATIZIT? in the subject line. Don’t forget your name and hometown.

Park Clips Chicago Ridge

Chicago Ridge Park District’s Freedom Activity is located at 6252 W. Birmingham St. For more information, or to register for programs, call 636-4900. Registration for some programs must be made in person. *** March 12: In “Yo Ho Ho: A Pirate’s Life,” children will learn about Captain Hook and other pirates from 3:30 until 5 p.m. at the Freedom Activity Center. They will hunt for treasure, wear eye patches, and make their own treasure maps. The fee is $10. *** March 12: Children 3 to 5 years old are invited to climb aboard and learn about Captain Hook and the pirates during Yo Ho Ho A Pirates Life being held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Children will hunt for treasure, wear eye patches and make their own treasure maps. *** The classes are being held at Chicago Ridge Park District’s Freedom Activity Center, 6252 W. Birmingham St. Most class fees are $10. For more information, call 636-4900, or visit chicagoridgeparks.com. *** March 19: In “Roar Roar Dinosaur,” children will travel back millions of years as they learn about the dinosaurs who roamed the Earth from 3:30 until 5 p.m. at the Freedom Activity Center. They will learn about many types of dinosaurs as well as creating their very own. The fee of $10 is for one class. *** March 19: Children, 3 to 5 years old, are invited to travel back millions of years as they learn about the dinosaurs roaming the Earth from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Freedom Activity Center. Children will learn about many types of dinosaurs during Roar Dinosaur Roar, and create their own. *** March 26: During Blastoff to Outer Space, children, 3 to 5 years old, will learn about astronauts, planets, life in space and more. Children will design their own class rocket, and learn about the stars, moon, sun and planets. The class is being held from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Evergreen Park

The Evergreen Park Recreation Department is located in the Hamilton B. Maher Community Center, 3450 W. 97th St. For more information, or to register for programs, call 229-3373, or 229-3374. *** Through May 4: The Boys and Girls Developmental Basketball League will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. for children age 6 through 9 at the Activity Center, 3220 W. 98th St. The Evergreen Park Recreation Department partners with Beyond The Arc Academy for this instructional league. Players receive a team shirt and play 40-

minute games with equal playing time. The fee is $60 for eight weeks.

Oak Lawn

The Oak Lawn Park District administrative building is located at 9400 S. Kenton Ave. For more information, call 857-2225 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. *** The Oak Lawn Park District’s Stony Creek Clubhouse, 5850 W. 103rd St., is hosting special events during March. Reservations are suggested. For more information and reservations, call 857-2433. *** March 7 through April 18: Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m. are known as “Fish Fry Fridays” at Stony Creek. Diners can enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet of Corona battered cod, corn, wild rice, salad rolls and dessert. The cost is $11.99 for adults and $7.99 for children, ages 10 and younger. A shrimp dinner, baked tilapia or walleye dinner will also be available for $15.99. A cash bar is available. Tax and gratuity are not included in price. *** March 8: Vince Clark and Friends will be playing jazz favorites from 7 to 9 p.m. at Stony Creek. The bank will provide a night full of classic jazz tunes from the greats such as Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and many more. The fee is $12 and includes food and beverage up to $6. Reservations are suggested. A cash bar is available. *** March 9: The Green and White Family Skate will take place from 2 to 3:15 p.m. at the Oak Lawn Park District Ice Arena, 9320 S. Kenton Ave. The event features an afternoon of skating, raffles and music provided by CMT Productions. Weber Irish Dancers will perform at 2 p.m. The park district is also offering SNAG Golf in the off-ice room. Admission is $6 and skate rental is $3. For more information, call 857-5173 *** March 10: Stony Creek Clubhouse, in partnership with Tuzik’s Bakery on 95th Street, is hosting it’s Shamrock Supper, an authentic Irish buffet supper, at 5 p.m. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. The fee for adults is $20, and $10 for children ages 10 and younger. A cash bar is available. Reservations are required for this event and the payment is due at the time of reservation. The Weber School of Irish Dancers, one of the Chicago area’s largest Irish dancing institutions, will provide entertainment at 6 p.m. with rhythmic dances such as the Jig, Hornpipe, Tipping Reel and Set dances.

Worth

The Worth Park District is located at the Terrace Centre, 11500 S. Beloit Ave. For more information, or to register for the programs, call 448-7080. The Winter/Spring Worth Park District program guide has ar(Continued on page 11)

Last week I received several newsletters, in both cases, different aspects of the same topic were covered. Both were discussing the latest findings on the spice turmeric. The magnificent healing polyphenol in the spice is curcumin. I have written of the benefits of turmeric/curcumin before. In fact, it was suggested purchasing the one with meriva (the strongest form of curcumin). Unfortunately, the spice itself is not bioavailable as is the curcumin concentration in specially prepared formulas. The first study I read indicated curcumin was a very effective element promoting cardiovascular health. For some strange reason, women with age-associated negative changes in arterial health (post menopausal), seem to have a small edge over men, the study showed it was almost as effective as a mild-workout for women. Make no mistake, curcumin is great for men as well. It’s just that

this one study indicated it helped menopausal women more. It is recommended women

Mixing it up for good health By Dee Woods maintain a regime of mild exercise in addition to supplementing with curcumin. In no way does the study imply it is better than exercise, but the two together appear to be extremely cardioprotective. For women who cannot exercise, curcumin appears to be a must. Additionally, the American Journal of Cardiology reported on a 2012 study that indicated curcumin extract reduced postbypass heart attack risk by 56 percent. This week, Dr. Joseph Mercola reported on the use of curcumin

in cancer treatment. Mercola explained, “Curcumin has the ability to modulate genetic activity and expression—both by destroying cancer cells and by promoting healthy cell function. It also promotes anti-angiogenesis, meaning it helps prevent the development of additional blood supply necessary for cancer cell growth. As for its effect on molecular pathways, curcumin can affect more than 100 of them, once it gets into the cell.” Mercola went on to explain curcumin stops proliferation of tumor cells, stops the protein that forms tumors, inhibits the transformation of cells from normal to cancer, helps the body rid itself of mutated cells, and has proven strong anti-inflammatory qualities. Mercola interviewed Dr. William LaValley, of Nova Scotia, who has studied both cancer and curcumin’s effects on cancer cells. Dr. LaValley suggests that cancer patients eliminate sugar, eat properly, and make certain

to take a high-quality curcumin that is manufactured to give a sustained release. Dr. LaValley suggests that cancer patients talk to their physicians about implementing a program that includes high-quality, bioavailable curcumin. I believe most of us have higher inflammation markers than we realize. Stress, poor diet and overconsumption of sugars and carbs pose a tremendous challenge for our immune systems. I always took my curcumin with meriva for pain, but after reading about these science-based studies, I believe I will make it a regular part of my supplement regime. Curcumin is another natural wonder and hopefully, more physicians will treat it as such. Dee Woods is available to give presentations about alternative health treatments and healthy living. She can be reached at deewoods@comcast.net.

Library Notes Evergreen Park

The Evergreen Park Public Library is at 9400 S. Troy Ave. The phone number is 422-8522. *** March 6: New York bestselling novelist Alice Hoffman will preside over a presentation and book signing at 7 p.m. at the library. Hoffman is the author of 27 books of fiction. Her latest, “The Museum of Extraordinary Things,” tells the story of CoralieSardie, daughter of a boardwalk impresario in the early 20th century, and her involvement with dashing photographer Eddie Cohen. Participants can purchase a copy of “The Museum of Extraordinary Things,” for $24 at the circulation desk to receive a priority signing number. Registration is required. *** March 8: A drop-in kite craft class for students through grade five from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the library. Youngsters are invited to visit the children’s department anytime to make a kite to decorate the library, or take home. No registration is needed. *** March 13: Chef Kate will host a culinary program for adults at 6:30 p.m. From puddings and marmalade-slathered scones to fruit-filled tarts and berry-laden crumbles, these contemporary renditions of the traditional desserts of Ireland make perfect use of common staples such as oatmeal, fruit, dairy products, and whiskey. There will be samples to taste and copies of Chef Kate’s recipes will be given out. Registration and a $3 tasting fee are required. The class is limited to 60 participants. *** March 14: My First Book Club will meet at 3:30 p.m. at the library. Students in kindergarten and first grade will read “Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends,” by Wong Herbert Yee. The book club meeting includes a discussion of the book, activities, and other stories. Copies of the book selection are available at the circulation. Registration is required. *** March 15: The library is hosting a Rainbow Loom meetup at 3 p.m. for students in grades one through five. Youngsters can bring their Rainbow Loom or Wonder Loom and bands and meet other children who enjoy creating with their looms. Participants can show off their creations, teach others what they know, and make something new. The library will supply a few looms to share, if participants don’t have one. Registration is required. *** March 15: The Weekend Quilters will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. at the library. Quilters are invited to join in the camaraderie of the Weekend Quilters as they enter a new year of quilts. The Weekend Quilters will be working on a Debbie Mumm quilted garden. Those wanting to make the quilt will need to purchase the book with the pattern. This is a demonstration class led by Penny Nichols, and no sewing machine is required. *** March 15: Children and adults are invited to take a trip with the Evergreen Park Public Library to visit the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier. The bus departs from the library at 9:15 a.m. and will leave Navy Pier at 3 p.m. The $15 fee includes admission, school bus transportation, and parking. Participants will buy their own lunch. Adults must accompany children younger than 16.

Individuals will tour the feature gardens and gardening workshops. Children will have hands-on experiences with an activity garden, crafts, and critter encounters. For further event details, visit www.chicagoflower.com. *** March 16: Evergreen Park Public Library offers a Pokemon Club at 2 p.m. for children in first through fifth grade. Participants are asked to bring their Nintendo DS, games, and trading cards to the meeting. Registration is required. *** March 17 through April 24: Children 3 to 5 years old are invited to the library’s story time from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Youngsters will read books, sing songs, and participate in activities as they build their early literacy skills. Registration is required. *** March 17: Students through grade five are invited at to the library at 6:30 p.m. to listen to leprechaun stores, make a rainbow craft and a Green River float. Registration is required. *** March 18 through April 23: Toddlers from 18 to 35 months are invited to Toddler Time, from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Tuesdays or Wednesdays with their favorite adult. Toddler Time is an interactive story time. Registration is required. *** March 18: Evergreen Park Public Library will be offering a Trellis necklace as part of our Clever Crafters series for adults at 6:30 p.m. Resident crafter Kris Morgan will teach participants to create a necklace using colorful lightweight ribbons. Registration and a $3.00 materials fee are required. The class is limited to 12. *** March 18: The library will feature at “Cinema, Coffee and Conversation,” at 6 p.m. Participants will watch “In the Name of the Father,” about a man’s coerced confession to an Irish Republican Army bombing he didn’t commit. Sue McCoy, a film enthusiast and educator, will lead a discussion about the movie afterwards. Coffee and dessert will be provided. Registration is required. *** March 19: Teen volunteer orientation will take place at 4 p.m. March 19 at the library. Teens entering grades six through 12 can earn community service helping with library activities. Participants must live, or attend school in Evergreen Park. Attending a one-time orientation session is mandatory before completing community service at the library. For more information, call the library, or email volunteer@ evergreenparklibrary.org. *** March 19 through April 23: The “Story Explorers” will explore a variety of topics using stories and games from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. The program is for children in kindergarten through third grade. Registration is required. *** March 20 through April 24: Evergreen Park Public Library offers a Chess Club for children in grades 2 through 5 at 3:30 p.m. Chess players of all abilities, beginners to experienced, are invited to play. Registration is required. *** March 20: Chef Kate Bradley offers a culinary program for students in sixth through 12th grade at 4:15 p.m. at the library. Bradley will teach teens how to make some memorable

pizzas. Copies of her recipes will be provided, as well as samples to taste. Registration is required. *** March 20 through April 25: “Baby Bookworms,” along with their favorite adult, are invited to the library from 6 to 6:30 p.m. to enjoy songs, action rhymes, and stories. Registration is required.

Green Hills

Green Hills Public Library District is located at 8611 W. 103rd St., Palos Hills. For more information or to register for classes, call 598-8446, or visit greenhillslibrary.org. *** Daily: The library offers daily sessions of story time for children 18 months–5 years of age. Parents can register online, or call the Youth Services Department at ext. 117 for more information. *** Second Thursday of the Month: South Side Seniors at 10 a.m. in the South Side Room. The first meeting on March 13 will be an informal get together to choose programs. Participants can join the group for coffee, cake, and lively discussions, informative talks, movies, book reviews, and more. *** Ongoing: The Friends of the Library accept book donation at the Circulation Desk on the second floor of the library. Those interested in becoming a Friend of the Library can find membership applications in the Friends Bookstore or at the Circulation Desk. *** Ongoing: Patrons can subscribe to Green Hills Public Library mailing list at greenhillslibrary.org for all of the latest announcements about the library. *** Ongoing: Patrons interested in their family history can visit the library and gain free access to Ancestry.com Library Edition and HeritageQuest Online. For more information, visit greenhillslibrary.org, or call the Information Desk at ext. 120. *** Ongoing: New voters and those needing to change their name or address can stop by the library. There are several staff members on-site that are able to register patrons to vote. Patrons can visit, or call the library to check for staff availability.

Oak Lawn

The Oak Lawn Public library is located at 9427 S. Raymond Ave. The library’s regular hours are: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, or to register for a program, call 422-4990. *** March 6: Eleanor Roosevelt is considered one of the most admired, skilled and controversial politicians of the 20th Century. Historian Jim Gibbons will present, “Eleanor Roosevelt: Overcoming Odds, Achieving Greatness,” and recount how every First Lady since, for better or worse, has been compared to her actions at 7 p.m. at the Oak Lawn Public Library. *** March 7: The Oak Lawn Public Library will host a free movie screening of “Captain Phillips” at 10 a.m. The movie recounts the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years. The movie stars Tom Hanks. It’s rated PG-13 and is 134 minutes long.

*** March 8: Children 3 to eight accompanied by an adult plus their siblings, and of all abilities are invited to join together at the library for this inclusive storytime program filled with stories, music, rhymes and playtime from 10 to 10:45 a.m. Registration has begun for this session. There is a limit 10 children with special needs and their families. *** March 9: The Friends of the Oak Lawn Public Library are sponsoring a free lecture on the opera “La Clemenza di Tito” at 1:30 p.m. at the library. At this session, a member of the Lyric Opera Lecture Corps will explain the plot, play musical selections and give background on the composer. *** March 9: The Friends of the Oak Lawn Public Library are sponsoring a free concert featuring “Ac•Rock” from 2 to 3 p.m. at the library. Patrons are invited to this interactive a cappella rock ‘n roll cabaret improv theater experience featuring rock classics from the 1950’s and on. The audience will hear doo-wop standards and more recent rock hits. *** March 9 through March 15: During Teen Tech Week, young patrons are invited to explore, create and share content virtually via the Oak Lawn Public Library. The library has books, databases, audiobooks and social media to extend learning beyond the classroom. Teens are invited to chat with the audiovisual staff about the latest movies and videogames, or the young adult specialist about the hottest social media trends. They can also stop by the computer center and check out the new 3D Printer. Anyone with a library card can get one free “print” from a small list of items. *** March 10: The Oak Lawn Public Library will feature an Adventure Club for children 8 to 10 years old from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. This new program is designed to keep members guessing what will happen next. Activities will be based on historical happenings, odd occurrences and unusual celebrations that are significant for that date’s session. Participants will be playing games, making crafts, reading books, and going outside (weather permitting). Registration has begun for this session. *** March 10: An opportunity to hear an overview of major provisions of the Affordable Care Act aimed at those younger than 65 will take place at 7 p.m. at the library. Participants can discover how the new law will benefit individuals who already have insurance, or don’t have insurance and were denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition; how to shop and buy coverage on the new health insurance exchange websites; how to get help paying for health insurance; and requirement to get coverage. BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois is presenting. *** March 11: Adults and teens of all skill levels are invited to participate in the Crochet Club at the library on the second Tuesday of every month from 2 to 3 p.m. Club members should bring their own hooks, yarn and any current project. Beginners should bring an H or I hook and skein of yarn of any color. For more information about this program, please contact the Computer Center at 422-4990 and ask for Patty, or visit the library’s web site.

Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Reporter

consumer

Women – this one’s for you A few bits about Bitcoins On Saturday, we observe International Women’s Day, a celebration of women’s economic, political and social achievements. Yet women everywhere still face challenges and in the United States, one of their biggest challenges may be to gain the resources they need to enjoy a comfortable retirement. So, if you’re a woman, what steps should you take to make progress toward this goal? Your first move should be to recognize some of the potential barriers to attaining your financial freedom. First of all, a “wage gap” between women and men still exists: The median earnings of full-time female workers are 77% of the median earnings of full-time male workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, women drop out of the workforce for an average of 12 years to care for young children or aging parents, according to the Older Women’s League, a research and advocacy group — and this time away from the workforce results in women receiving lower pensions or accumulating much less money in their employer-sponsored retirement plans. To give yourself the opportunity to enjoy a comfortable retirement lifestyle, consider these suggestions: • Boost your retirement plan contributions. Each year, put in as much as you can afford to your traditional or Roth IRA. A traditional IRA grows on a tax-deferred basis, while a Roth IRA can grow

Profits & Sense The Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce will host its monthly luncheon Tuesday, at Oak Lawn Community High School, 9400 Southwest Highway. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by lunch at noon. The cost to attend is $20 per person, payable at the door with cash, check, Visa/MC/Discover. For more information, or to register, call 424-8300, or email office@oaklawnchamber. com. The event is open to members and business owners. The chamber will recognize the Oak Lawn Community High School students who created the illustrations for the Oak Lawn Chamber 2013 Fire Safety Coloring Book. Entertainment will be provided the Oak Lawn Community High School Chorus. Founded in 1946, the Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce consists of more than 300 members.

tax free provided you meet certain conditions. Also, take advantage of your employer-sponsored, taxdeferred retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b) or 457(b). At the very least, contribute as much to earn your employer’s matching contribution, if one is offered. And every year, if your salary increases, try to boost your contributions to your retirement plan. • Consider growth investments. Some evidence suggests that women may be more conservative investors than men — in other words, women may tend to take fewer risks and pursue “safer” investments. But to help build the resources you will need for a comfortable retirement, consider growthoriented vehicles in your IRA, 401(k) and other investment accounts. • Talk to your spouse about Social Security. If your spouse starts collecting Social Security at 62 (the earliest age of eligibility), the monthly benefits will be reduced, perhaps by as much as 25%. This

reduction could affect you if you ever become a widow, because once you reach your own “full” retirement age (which will likely be 66 or 67), you may qualify for survivor benefits of 100% of what your deceased spouse had been receiving — and if that amount was reduced, that’s what you’ll get. Talk to your spouse about this issue well before it’s time to receive Social Security. (You may also want to talk to a financial advisor for help in coordinating survivor benefits with your own Social Security retirement benefits.) • Evaluate your need for life insurance benefits. Once their children are grown, some couples drop their life insurance. Yet, the death benefit from a life insurance policy can go a long way toward helping ensure your financial security. Again, talk to your spouse about whether to maintain life insurance, and for how much. International Women’s Day is a great occasion for commemorating women’s accomplishments. And by making the right moves, you can eventually celebrate your own achievement of attaining the financial security you deserve.

There are 10 reasons why a US dollar is worth the paper it’s printed on: • USS Nimitz (CVN-68) • USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) • USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) • USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) • USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) • USS George Washington (CVN-73) • USS John C. Stennis (CVN74) • USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) • USS Ronald Reagan (CVN76) • USS George H.W. Bush (CVN77) There are 18 additional reasons, 14 of which are Ohio-class Trident II SSBN (ship, submersible, ballistic, nuclear) submarines each capable of carrying 24 SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) on active duty on any given day. The other four are converted Trident 1 subs that each carry 154 Tomahawk missiles. According to Wikipedia, a reserve currency (or anchor currency) is a currency that is held in significant quantities by governments and institutions as part of their Scott Johnson, CFP, is a finan- foreign exchange reserves and that cial advisor with Edward Jones, is commonly used in international 8146 W. 111th St., Palos Hills, transactions. The US dollar is the 974-1965. Edward Jones does not world’s reserve currency. provide legal advice. This article To be fair, there are many comwas written by Edward Jones for ponent parts that combine to give a use by your local Edward Jones US dollar value. Trust, our legal sysfinancial advisor. tem and property rights (real and intellectual) are hugely important, and, of course, that list of military hardware helps quite a bit.

Mortgage Rates Around the Area United Trust Bank (as of March 4) 30-year fixed 15-year fixed 10-year fixed

RATES 4.125 3.125 2.875

APR 4.097 3.088 2.826

POINTS 0 0 0

RATES 4.375 4.125 3.375

APR 4.414 4.178 3.440

POINTS .25 .25 .25

Prospect Federal (as of March 3) 30-year fixed 20-year fixed 15-year fixed All rates subject to change daily. Equal opportunity lenders.

Talkin Poker

By Chad Holloway

Making the wrong move at the right time If someone asked me what it takes to succeed in tournament poker, I wouldn’t hesitate to say patience. As a tournament reporter, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone flirt with elimination only to turn their luck around and emerge victorious. A perfect example of this happened in January at the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $100,000 Super High Roller, a tournament at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas that attracted 56 entries and created a prize pool of just over $5.4 million. On the third day of play, Antonio Esfandiari, the winner of the 2012 World Series of Poker $1 million buy-in “Big One for One Drop,” was eliminated in fourth place, which left just three players in contention: Vanessa Selbst (with about 6.4 million in chips), Dan Shak (5.7 million), and Fabian Quoss (1.9 million). With the blinds at 40,00080,000 with a 10,000 ante, Selbst held the chip lead with a stack of nearly 80 big blinds, Shak had 72 big blinds, and Quoss 24 big

blinds. Quoss, a young player from Germany, was sitting on the short stack, but in poker you’re really not short unless you’re sitting on a stack of 10 big blinds or less. Quoss knew this, but instead of panicking, he kept his composure and refused to give up. The one time he did get his chips in bad, lady luck smiled upon him. It happened on Level 22 (60,000-120,000 with a 20,000 ante), when Shak opened for 300,000 from the button and Quoss opted to move all in for about 1.5 million from the small blind. Selbst folded from the big blind, and Shak called with the Ac Ah. Quoss tabled Kc Jd and was in dire straits. The 7h Jc 10c flop gave Quoss a pair of jacks, but he needed even more to survive. “Queen of something?” he asked. Sure enough, the dealer burned and turned the Qh. Now, Quoss had an open-ended straight draw to go with his pair, and wouldn’t you know it, the 9c spiked on the river to give him a nine-to-king straight. Quoss got lucky. Or, to put it another way, he made the wrong

move at the right time. The three-handed battle continued for three more hours, and in a cruel twist of fate, Selbst, who was once the chip leader, fell in third place for $760,640. After a dinner break, Quoss finished off Shak to capture the title and a first-place prize of $1,629,940. For the entire time that he was sitting on the short stack, Quoss conducted himself like a true professional. He refused to give up, remained patient and did his best to pick his spots carefully. The one time he picked a bad spot (the aforementioned hand), he got lucky. It happens. Of course, patience in poker doesn’t always lead to a comeback when you’re sitting on a short stack, but waiting for something good to happen will usually prove more productive than trying to force things. Remember: If you want to find out what the next hand will bring, you have to stick around long enough to find out. (Chad Holloway is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner and Senior News Editor for PokerNews.com and learn.pokernews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ChadAHolloway.)

What Bitcoin is All About

At first glance, Bitcoins are different from US dollars. People argue that Bitcoin is a virtual currency with no government, land or physical goods to back it up. And, therefore, Bitcoins are somehow less valuable than dollars. While I agree that Bitcoins are different from US dollars, I disagree with the argument that Bitcoins are less valuable than dollars. Bitcoins are a commodity, just like gold or copper or coal. You mine Bitcoins. And just like a natural resource, there is a finite quantity. In the cases of gold, copper and coal, there are estimates in the millions, billions or even trillions of tons. For Bitcoin, there will only ever be approximately 21 million. They will become harder

Techno Talk By Shelly Palmer and harder to mine and, according to the Bitcoin FAQ, “The last block that will generate coins will be block No. 6,929,999 which should be generated at or near the year 2140. The total number of coins in circulation will then remain static at 20,999,999.9769 BTC.” Bitcoins are not virtual; they are a commodity that can be traded. And so they have been—until a few days ago.

Bitcoin’s Recent Trouble

By early February 2014, Mt. Gox was already having problems. US regulators had seized more than $5 million of the company’s money, and customers were reporting monthlong delays in getting their US dollars out of the exchange. Then, “a technical glitch” prevented the exchange from paying out in Bitcoins too, effectively locking away customer assets until further notice. Mt. Gox suspended Bitcoin payouts to fix a bug in its trading platform. Bitcoin owners were initially worried by this news, but then felt it really was just a technical issue, not a lack of available Bitcoins. The price fell $100—to below $700—on the morning of February 7, 2014, but was already starting to pick up again by the afternoon. A week later, Wired reported that Mt. Gox had become the cheapest place in the world to buy Bitcoins, because some investors feared it would go bankrupt. This led to huge numbers of people rapidly selling off their Bitcoins, figuring it would be easier to retrieve their money in the form of US dollars (the world’s reserve currency) should something happen to Gox. Because of this uptick, it became very easy to buy Bitcoins at “bargain basement” prices at Gox, if you were bold enough to do so. (This is the inverse of what it had been, as Bitcoins were usually 8 to 10 percent more expensive at Mt. Gox than they were on other exchanges.) On Tuesday, February 18, the price of a Bitcoin on Bitstamp was $640. On Mt. Gox it was only $250. Gox was reputed to keep most

of its Bitcoins in cold wallets (these are hard drives that are offline and theoretically unavailable to hackers). With only a small number of Bitcoins online, Mt. Gox admins should have been able to quickly notice any anomalies in the flow of transactions. But something was terribly wrong. On Monday, February 24, it all collapsed. Mt. Gox went offline, having lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of a years-long hacking effort that supposedly no one at the company knew about. The exchange became insolvent after losing 744,408 Bitcoins (~$350 million US dollars)—the largest Bitcoin heist ever.

The Future of Bitcoin

What will happen to Bitcoins now? Markets do not always react the way we predict. This is a serious blow to Bitcoins, but it is too early to tell if this is the end. While it’s true that the Mt. Gox debacle is a black eye for Bitcoins, 744,408 is only 3.5 percent of the total Bitcoins that will ever be mined and less than 6 percent of the total Bitcoins in circulation. Should Bitcoins be government regulated? According to the Wall Street Journal, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said the central bank doesn’t have the authority to regulate Bitcoin. “The Federal Reserve simply does not have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in any way,” Ms. Yellen said Thursday in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. “This is a payment innovation that is taking place entirely outside the banking industry.” If Bitcoins survive, and I think they will, this episode will be looked at as a valuable learning experience. Transferring a Bitcoin from one account to another is practically identical to transferring a US dollar from one account to another. Computers do all the work and absolutely no paper money, gold or other physical goods are moved, shipped or otherwise involved. What is different is that Bitcoin is backed by the full faith and credit of Mt. Gox (may it RIP) and the other surviving exchanges. They are virtual in every sense of the word. US dollars, on the other hand, are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America, and while they may trade in a virtual environment, there is nothing virtual about them at all.

Beware utilities phone scam On the heels of the bitter cold temperatures that have hit Chicago and Northern Illinois, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is issuing a warning on scam artists that are targeting individual consumers and businesses with the false claim that their utility bills are delinquent and their service is in danger of being disconnected. The BBB has received calls from concerned consumers and businesses who state that they have received calls from individuals claiming to be from either ComEd or Nicor making demands that they immediately make payment on their alleged delinquent accounts. Whether the payment demand is purportedly for ComEd or Nicor, the callers ask that the consumers purchase a gift card or a Green Dot card and then call back with the card information to make a payment. Jessica LaSala, Manager of the Sports Page Bar in Rockford says their business has received a number of calls from a telephone number assigned to the Pontiac, IL area. The consumers who called the BBB report that the calls came from a blocked phone number. “If a consumer receives one

of these calls they should never provide any personal or financial information to the caller” says, Steve J. Bernas, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois. “Instead they should

contact their utility company’s customer service department and verify that a call was made”. For more information on scams, visit http://www.bbb.org/ —The Better Business Bureau

It’s Tax Time ~ Are You Ready? Call A Professional.

SUDOKU Solution

Park Clips (Continued from page 10) rived. Registration has begun. *** Immediately: The Worth Park District is taking registration for several programs for young children ready to learn the fundamentals of sports. Parents and their children may choose from little kickers soccer, parent tot sports, little baller’s basketball or instructional t-ball. Classes begin the beginning of February and March. *** March 7: The Worth Park District is taking a trip to Water Tower Place, Chicago. Participants leave from the Terrace Centre at 9 a.m. and return at 2

p.m. The fee is $12. Registration is due at least one week prior to the event. *** March 12: The next monthly senior luncheon at the Terrace Centre will take place from noon to 2 p.m. Residents and non-residents of Worth Park District are welcome to attend. Reservations are needed one week prior to luncheon. *** March 18: The next Kids Day Out, designed for children ages 5 to 12, features a trip to Odyssey Fun World from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cost is $35 per child. Other trips include a movie and lunch in Chicago Ridge on April

18, and a visit to Hollywood Park in Crestwood on April 21. Trips leave from the Terrace Centre. *** March 19: The Worth Park District Senior Lunch Bunch is traveling to McCormick and Schmick’s in Oakbrook. Participants are asked register one week prior to the trip. The cost of the outing is $8 per residents and $12 for non-residents. Trips leave from the Terrace Centre at 10:30 a.m. and are expected to return by 2 p.m. *** Ongoing: Open gym basketball is offered at the Terrace Centre, 11500 Beloit Ave., Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. Cost is $1.

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The Reporter

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Outpatient ServiceS

BuiLDinG On eXceLLence. Outpatient ServiceS

Our new Outpatient Pavilion offers an array of services in one comfortable, modern facility. Opening in early 2014, the Outpatient Pavilion will provide the Southland with a wide range of specialists and services under one roof. Featuring state-of-the-art imaging, surgical suites and the Heart and Vascular, Cancer and Neurosciences Institutes, the new Outpatient Pavilion will offer superior care, along with added privacy and comfort.

For more information, call 1.800.3.ADVOCATE or visit advocatehealth.com/christoutpatient

Sports S

The Regional News - The Reporter

outhwest No place like home

Ken Karrson, Sports Editor sports@regionalpublishing.com

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Section 2

Page 1

Spartans’ surge inches them past Mustangs By Ken Karrson

The Regional News - The Reporter Ken Karrson, Sports Editor sports@regionalpublishing.com Thursday, March 6, 2014 Section 2 Page 1Photo by Jeff Vorva Sandburg’s Eric Straka drives in for a left-handed layup last Tuesday night in Orland Park. Visiting Homewood-Flossmoor defeated the Eagles 56-53 in a SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue contest.

An outbreak of heartache

Eagles come up short in two more contests By Ken Karrson Thirty-five years ago, the Eagles rock group hit the top musically with “Heartache Tonight.” Last week, another group of Eagles reached bottom in a psychological sense, and the heartache was spread over two nights. Sandburg’s sad songs on the basketball court actually extended beyond its two most recent contests, which ended in gut-wrenching SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue setbacks against Homewood-Flossmoor (56-53) and Bolingbrook (54-51) on Tuesday and Friday, respectively. Those dual defeats were preceded by several other frustrating finishes. “In our last five games, we’ve been either winning, tied or down by one possession in the final minute,” Eagles coach Todd Allen said. “And we lost all five. I’ve never had a stretch like this — those are five really, really tough losses.

“The kids battled hard, so obviously we’re disappointed. That’s at least seven or eight games [this season] where, if one possession goes differently, we win. It’s challenging for everybody and a test to your character to keep your head up [through that], but you’ve got to hang in there. “I can’t give our players enough credit. It’s been really difficult, but the kids are continuing to come to practice and working hard.” While both of last week’s losses were tough to swallow, Allen was especially bothered by the one suffered at Bolingbrook. What made it stand out was that in the last seven seconds, Sandburg (9-17, 59) missed a shot near the basket and then committed a turnover. The miscue came right after Allen believed one of his players had been fouled. The Eagles not only were deprived of free throws, but they were also not granted a timeout when Allen was frantically asking for one. “I know they’re sometimes

reluctant to call a foul in that situation,” he said, referring to officials. “But then give us the timeout and let the kids decide the game.” Friday’s game seemed to pretty much be decided after the Raiders constructed a 12-point lead in the third quarter. But following a timeout, Sandburg rallied and got its deficit below double digits heading into the final stanza, then Niko Kogionis buried a 3pointer on the visitors’ initial possession. “Down six in the fourth quarter, you’re in good shape,” Allen said. “At that point, it’s anybody’s game.” Kogionis wound up with 17 points to pace the Eagles. Fellow guard Alec Martinez tossed in 11 and Eric Straka totaled nine. Bolingbrook limited Sandburg forward Niko Cahue, its season scoring leader, to just five points. The Eagles canned seven 3point shots in all, two more than (Continued on page 6)

A last championship for Chappetto

Dorothy and Toto weren’t the only ones who longed to be home. Oak Lawn basketball players have enjoyed performing in front of Spartans fans this winter, so much so that opponents have found road wins increasingly difficult to come by. Evergreen Park was the latest foe to discover the magic Oak Lawn weaves on its own floor. When the two South Suburban Conference Red neighbors met Friday night in a regularseason finale, the Mustangs were in control much of the way. A slew of first-half free throws boosted them into a nine-point lead by intermission, and Evergreen was still ahead by that same margin when the clock showed less than five minutes remaining in the contest. But just when an unfavorable outcome seemed in the offing for the home team, it rallied. The Spartans allowed only two Mustangs field goals over the final 4:40, although Jordan Brown’s hoop at the 51-second mark did give Evergreen a 63-60 lead. However, Mitch Swatek then played the hero’s role for Oak Lawn. After sinking 6-of-7 free throws in the period, the senior hit a shot with 10 seconds left that inched the Spartans ahead by one. When the Mustangs - who had turned the ball over right before that — couldn’t respond to Swatek’s bucket, they found

themselves on the short end of a 64-63 score. “Boy, we didn’t play well, but we found a way to win,” Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes said. “We really had no business winning that game, to be honest.” So why did they? Besides Swatek’s 13-of-15 exhibition at the line and career-high 25 points, perhaps the most important thing the Spartans (11-14, 5-8) had going for them was a typically involved home crowd. “Our fans created a great atmosphere, and for the most part they’ve been good-spirited,” Rhodes said. “We were fortunate to have a lot of our conference games near the end [of the schedule] at home.” Even Rhodes’ coaching counterpart gave props to the Oak Lawn faithful for making their presence felt in a noticeable manner. “If I wasn’t working it, I’d be in the stands out there,” Evergreen boss Pat Flannigan said. “Oak Lawn threw a [heck] of a party. It was a packed house and they were into it.” Out of it for the Mustangs for most of the second half was Jacquet McClendon. The Evergreen senior got tagged with a second technical foul early in the third quarter and had to leave the court. While Flannigan agreed with the first of those calls, he felt McClendon was unfairly penalized after making a steal and dunk. Following the basket, McClendon was searching out his defensive assignment and, according to

Flannigan, officials misinterpreted McClendon’s stare for an act of taunting. “I can see what the official saw, but you’ve got to understand the situation,” Flannigan said. “If high school kids can’t get excited after a dunk, then we’re in the wrong profession. “It seemed to me to be a decision made at halftime. If I did that in the classroom, held a grudge, it’d be a long day.” Flannigan said the Mustangs were undeniably harmed by the removal of “one of the best athletes at our school,” but he also didn’t hesitate to credit the Spartans for hanging tough in the face of adversity. And, in Rhodes’ opinion, Oak Lawn wasn’t spared some bad calls of its own — as evidence, he pointed to Evergreen’s 21 made free throws in the opening half. “It was just weird,” Rhodes said. “We had five kids with two fouls at the end of the first half - I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. We just had a hard time getting into a rhythm, both because of the whistles and [the Mustangs’] zone defense [that] gave us some trouble.” After finding themselves locked in a 17-all tie at the beginning of the second quarter, Oak Lawn suddenly slipped in arrears by double digits as a quartet of Evergreen players scored while the Spartans were missing four shots and turning the ball over on four other possessions. Tyler Sorbellini led the Mustangs’ charge with a (Continued on page 5)

Watching their guarding grow RedHawks’ defense continues to excel on eve of playoffs By Ken Karrson Marist’s “D” has rated an “Aplus” of late. Actually, RedHawks coach Gene Nolan has long considered defense one of his basketball team’s strong suits this season, but even he was impressed with what Marist did over the last five games of its regular schedule. During that span, every one of its foes shot less than 40 percent from the field and four of them were unable to crack the 40-point barrier. The team that did, St. Viator, managed to defeat the RedHawks, but its output in a 49-40 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory last Wednesday in Arlington Heights represented a season low for a single contest.

And the Lions were no slouch - while topping the 70-point mark in over a dozen outings this winter, they lost only once in league play and finished second to stateranked Marian Catholic in the ESCC standings. “They’re really good and they’ve had a great year,” Nolan said of the Lions. “They’ve got a couple of Division I guards, and probably a third.” Marist (19-9, 4-4) isn’t quite so blessed. Its most recognizable player, Nic Weishar, is best known for football, and the RedHawks began the 2013-14 campaign with next to nothing in the way of proven experience. But early on, Nolan’s players embraced the concept of defense, and it has paid off handsomely with a record that

has likely taken a majority of people by surprise. “It’s something you can be consistent at,” Nolan said of playing defense. “They have very good defensive instincts and I think they take pride in it. It’s definitely our identity.” And it’s definitely what kept the RedHawks in the hunt versus St. Viator on an evening when the locals went 4-of-15 behind the arc and connected on just 39 percent of their attempts from inside 3-point territory. With the Lions sinking only 36 percent of their field-goal tries, committing a dozen turnovers and picking up just one point from the foul line, Marist stayed competitive the entire way. (Continued on page 6)

Bulldogs coach will step down from post at season’s end By Ken Karrson Richards’ last regular-season game had more finality attached to it than usual. When the Bulldogs bested District 218 sister school Eisenhower 108-87 at D-Wade Court Friday night to collect an outright South Suburban Conference Red championship, it could have easily been viewed as the latest example of basketball business as usual. After all, the league crown was Richards’ ninth in a row, giving it more consecutive league titles than any other Bulldogs athletic program has ever managed. “When you’re going through it, you get so bogged down in the negative stuff [that] you tend to lose sight of the good a lot,” Richards coach John Chappetto said. “Nine [straight] conference championships is a really good thing.” What made it particularly special to the veteran leader was that it was also the last one he’ll enjoy as Bulldogs boss. Early last week, the 43-year-old Chappetto notified Richards athletic director Ken Styler that he would be stepping down as varsity coach at the end of this, his 12th, season. The announcement was made public on Friday. “There’s so many factors and a million reasons why, I guess,” Chappetto said. “You put it all together and it’s time.” Chappetto said his family - wife Julie and young sons Charlie, 12, and Louie, 8 - didn’t talk him into his decision; the boys, in fact, were “devastated,” according to their dad. However, Chappetto said consideration for them was at the forefront of his choice, and he cited a mid-December moment as one that registered especially strong. “I’m going to work at 7:30

[a.m.], getting in the car, and I almost cried,” Chappetto said. “You’re watching them grow up and you miss them and a lot of the things they’re doing. This is getting too hard [for me] to do. “We all have mixed emotions about this - there’s definitely some scary parts for me, too. But I’ll be around [the family] more, and that can’t be anything but good.” That same word pretty much described the Bulldogs’ showing on Friday as well. Pitted against the Cardinals and their fast-paced, Grinnell College-style of play, Richards responded with a big dose of Josh Meier. The Chicago State Universitybound center, who had missed the Bulldogs’ two previous contests for non-basketball reasons, delivered a momentous performance as he racked up 47 points, 27 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. Meier’s single-game scoring ranked second in Richards history, topped only by a Dwyane Wade outing 14 years ago, while his rebounds were the most ever. Meier is the Bulldogs’ career leader in rebounds and blocks, and No. 3 in scoring. “He’s had some major ups and downs this year, but from start to finish he was really good,” Chappetto said of his big man. “It looked like he had that moment where he thought, ‘Hey, this [prep career] is getting near the end.’” Even with Meier in full attack mode, however, Richards (16-11, 9-4) couldn’t distance itself from Eisenhower until the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs led just 50-44 at intermission, although Chappetto didn’t think that was too bad considering three of his regular-rotation players were saddled with three first-half fouls and point guard Dedrick Shannon

had two. Reserves Ameer Hussein and Carl Williams picked up some of the slack, and Richards’ switch to a zone defense for part of the third stanza also aided its cause. A couple steals and scores from Spencer Tears helped out as well. “Your coaching [in a game like this] totally becomes how you sub,” Chappetto said. “You’ve got to really get a bunch of people prepared because you never know who you’re going to have to use.” Two driving layups by Thaer Othman and Deon Alexander’s pair of baskets gave the Bulldogs a jump start in the fourth frame, and Meier supplied the last 12 of his points. Meier included nearly a dozen dunks among his night’s production. Alexander backed Meier with 16 points, 14 of them coming in the second half. Othman added nine, while both Shannon and Hussein totaled eight. Shannon also distributed a team-high nine assists. Richards survived 21 turnovers, in part because it connected over 50 percent of the time (41-of-80) from the field. The ‘Dogs also sank five more free throws than Eisenhower despite attempting seven fewer shots at the stripe. The Cards made good on just 8of-42 3-point tries. “You’re a lot better off when they’re not scoring,” Chappetto said of Eisenhower, which lost for only the second time in its last 10 outings. “If you can get it past that first wave [of defenders], you’re probably going to get a lot of easy shots. “The last game was a real nice gift. I’m glad we did it. I’m very fortunate.” Chappetto wasn’t only talking (Continued on page 6)

Passing out of trouble

Photo by Jeff Vorva

St. Xavier University’s Darius Draper, who began his collegiate basketball career at the University of St. Francis, keeps his pass away from former teammate Logan Timmons and sets the Cougars up for a basket last Wednesday night. SXU beat the Fighting Saints 84-61 in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal game in Chicago. Story on Page 3.

Section 2 Thursday, March 6, 2014

The Regional News - The Reporter

Historically speaking, we’re pretty clueless

Bartosh Here’s a little secret about history: We’re not very good at it. Oh, there are exceptions, I’m sure, but by and large the average American doesn’t put a whole lot of thought into what took place before his or her arrival on the planet. That’s neither a criticism nor an indictment, just a fact. And usually, age plays a significant role — the younger the people, the less history is apt to mean to them. That’s somewhat understandable, seeing as how they don’t have as many personal events from which to draw comparisons between yesterday and today. Of course, that lack of knowledge isn’t as big an educational hindrance as it once was, thanks to the advent of the Internet. Instead of having to pour over dusty volumes of the written word for hours at the library, hoping to gain enough insight to pass the next exam before everything leaks back out of our heads, we now have everything right at our fingertips. And we can customize our search down to the most minute detail. Nevertheless, we, as a whole, remain basically uninvolved with history. That’s sad, seeing as how studying the past can often give us an idea of what may lie ahead. Admittedly, it’s not an exact science, but man, as a functioning and fallible being, really hasn’t evolved behaviorally as much as some social groups would like us to believe. Complete equality between the sexes on an emotional scale? Never going to happen, simply because men and women are guided by different stimuli. Some of that is due to surroundings, but much of the disparity is merely inherent within each sex. But that doesn’t mean we can’t foster a better understanding of one another, or between other groups that seemingly don’t have a great deal in common. As I pointed out to my son many years ago while he was learning about 19th-century America, many of the happenings he was reading about sounded at least vaguely familiar because man was repeating a number of them 200 years later. And certain parts of history should never be forgotten, nor should they be revised to make

various segments of society feel better about themselves. What happened happened, for better or worse, and the most we can hope for is to develop a clearer understanding of why something may have occurred and then try hard not to repeat those acts deemed repugnant. Why the lecture on history? It was prompted by a recent sports story I read. It appeared on the online versions of several eastern newspapers because it involved a young Baltimore Orioles minor leaguer named Josh Hart. Perhaps you saw it, too; if not, here is a brief rundown. Hart, the 37th pick in last year’s amateur draft, was recently introduced to baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson by Orioles manager Buck Showalter while visiting the team’s training camp. Showalter asked the 19-year-old Hart if he knew who Robinson was, and the youngster said he didn’t. Showalter, whose father was a high school principal, then told Hart to do some research, write a one-page paper on Robinson and return it to the manager the next day — in person, not via email. To his credit, Hart did as he was instructed without balking and later told an Internet sports site he learned a lot about Robinson. And Hart was properly respectful of Showalter, who some may believe overstepped the boundaries of a baseball manager. “He takes his job as strictly business, and I respect that,” Hart said to MASNsports. com, referring to Showalter. “Whatever he says, it’s done, and that’s a big plus. You’ve got to show him respect all the way.” So kudos to Hart for being an upright guy. The question is, how much should we have expected a 19-year-old kid to know about someone who retired roughly 40 years ago? Hart did say he knew Robinson was a Hall of Famer, which is commendable. As an AfricanAmerican player, though, Hart probably should have been more aware of something else: that Robinson was the first black manager in major-league history, an appointment that obviously opened new leadership doors for minorities within the sport.

This reminds me of when Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 got retired by baseball on the 50th anniversary of his ascension to the majors. I remember reading back in 1997 about some then-active minority players claiming to not understand why 42 was receiving such special treatment, a sad commentary indeed. Being able to rattle off career stats is impressive, but numbers alone don’t always give full representation of a person’s influence within his field. And I’m sorry, but there is no excuse for being completely unaware of iconic figures. I’m reminded of a story a friend once told me. My buddy had been giving a younger coworker a hard time about not knowing who R&B singer Lou Rawls was and soon rattled him enough to where he replied: “Well, I may not know who Lou Rawls is, but I’ll bet you don’t know who Bill Monroe is.” Without missing a beat, my friend replied, “He’s a bluegrass guitarist,” a response that sent the young guy’s chin slamming to his desk. My pal quickly added that while he couldn’t name any songs for which Monroe was famous, he was aware of the man himself because he was legendary in his particular musical genre. And that’s the point here — we should know about the movers and shakers who came before, especially when they’ve earned a reputation in the same profession where we practice our own trade. That doesn’t necessarily mean a robotic recitation of statistics or accomplishments, just an awareness of why they were important. Had Buck Showalter asked Josh Hart about Mark Belanger or Tom Phoebus or Andy Etchebarren — all former teammates of Frank Robinson’s — Hart could have been excused for not knowing anything. As I said, he at least associated Robinson with the Hall of Fame, but how many guys his age — or older — wouldn’t have known even that much? I applaud Buck Showalter for making Hart do some studying and learn more about perhaps the greatest Oriole of them all. There was only one thing wrong with Showalter’s teaching moment. It was short by a few million students.

Plenty in reserve Supporting cast shines in Stagg win By Ken Karrson Memo to anyone who thinks Stagg can’t function adequately without Max Strus in a starring role: You’re wrong. The Chargers proved as much Friday night, when their senior standout was battling foul problems. That hasn’t always been true this season — Stagg coach John Daniels quickly cited four examples of his team struggling, and ultimately suffering defeats, when Strus had at least four fouls attached to him. At Joliet West, Strus was benchbound for a large chunk of the second half, which seemingly would have been a big boon to the host Tigers. But Kevin White and friends ruined any victory plans Joliet West might have housed. White’s 28 points represented the most obvious asset, but four other Chargers not named Strus tallied between seven and 13 points to create some offensive balance, and Stagg rode that out to a solid 77-62 SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue triumph. The win, which followed a 49-45 home conquest of Joliet Central on Tuesday, enabled the Chargers to conclude their regular schedule on a definite high note. Stagg, which faced either Richards or Kennedy this past Tuesday in a Class 4A Shepard Regional semifinal game, entered the postseason with a school-record-tying 21 victories and after landing in third place within their division, just one game behind runner-up Homewood-Flossmoor. Nine of Daniels’ last 11 clubs have wound up among the top three finishers in their conference. This was the Chargers’ inaugural year in the SWSC Blue after switching over from the Red Division. “The size of this side - teams are bigger, stronger and much more physically dominant,” Daniels said of the SWSC Blue. “It didn’t really hurt us [in the Red] that we’re small.”

Stagg (21-7, 9-5) obviously wasn’t hurt very much in the Blue, either. “It’s nice when you have players like Max Strus and Kevin White, let’s be honest,” Daniels said. “Max is going to lead us in every category except assists this year, and he’s second in assists. He’s so physically gifted and he’s the best player in our conference.” So how did the Chargers fare so well with him being a missing person for some of Friday’s contest and totaling a below-par 13 points? “We’re definitely deeper [this season], and it was great to see the other guys step up and carry us,” Daniels said. “In the other ones, they didn’t.” Stagg’s best defender, Nick Sims, displayed his offensive side by tossing in 13 points to match Strus’ output. Sebastian Kolpak added nine points and five rebounds, and both Jeff Goral and freshman John Contant tallied seven points. Daniels continued to be impressed with Contant, who included among his scoring a threepoint play in the late going that extended the Chargers’ lead to 11 points. “If he misses, they’re going the other way with numbers [in their favor],” Daniels said of the Tigers. “But he’s got that attitude. He’s got moxie and he’s a winner. Since we brought him up, our practices are a lot better than they were a month ago.” Contant’s charity toss was part of a 5-of-5 exhibition for him at the stripe during the fourth quarter. White converted four free throws and, as a team, Stagg was a perfect 13-of-13. The visitors clicked on all but six of their 37 foul shots for the evening. Much to Daniels’ delight, Joliet West chose to accelerate the game pace right from the start, and it only got faster as the Tigers grew more desperate later on. “I loved it,” Daniels said. “Teams like Sandburg slow us

down and frustrate us. They grind it out and it’s not our style. “We’re built to play [teams like Joliet]. When they came after us full-court, we were cutting them up. Max and Kevin have a nice chemistry and they get the ball to one another.” The Chargers’ 21st win allowed them to equal the school’s 201011 club for most victories in one season. Strus moved up to the varsity as a freshman that year and Stagg has triumphed 78 times since then. Stagg 49 Joliet Central 45 Most of a 10-point edge the Chargers held after three periods vanished during the final frame last Tuesday, but White’s three-point play and a Sims 3pointer helped Stagg stave off the Steelmen in an SWSC Blue confrontation. “We just sort of maintained,” Daniels said. “We were fortunate to have that 8-to-10-point lead most of the way.” The Chargers prevailed despite committing 23 turnovers. Helping them survive the mistakes was aggressive work on the glass, as Stagg prevented Joliet Central from getting many second-chance points. Strus posted a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, White pitched in with 11 points and six assists, and Sims also netted 11 points to propel the Chargers.

Statistics Joliet Central 8 7 8 22 - 45 Stagg 12 10 11 16 - 49 Stagg Scoring: Strus 20, Sims 11, White 11, Kolpak 3, El Hannouny 2, Stratinsky 2. Rebounds: Strus 10. Assists: White 6. Stagg 16 19 16 26 - 77 Joliet West 12 11 15 24 - 62 Stagg Scoring: White 28, Sims 13, Strus 13, Kolpak 9, Contant 7, Goral 7. Rebounds: Strus 8, Kolpak 5. Assists: White 5.

Photo by Jeff Vorva

Marian Catholic’s Ashton Millender (21), plows into Oak Lawn’s Brooke Annerino while Marian’s Gabrielle Cooper tries to get a handle on the ball in Thursday’s sectional matchup. Marian, the defending Class 4A champion, won 67-62 in overtime at the Bloom Sectional.

Girls’ basketball roundup

Lady Spartans go down fighting By Anthony Nasella With a team full of talented and hungry players to start the season, Oak Lawn coach Janet Meyers said an early goal was for her Lady Spartans to advance deeper into the postseason. After defeating Mother McAuley for the first time in school history the previous week to win a Class 4A regional championship, Oak Lawn kept its downstate hopes alive with a thrilling 6156 victory over Marist -- another first for the program -- in last Tuesday night’s Bloom Township Sectional semifinal. And then the Lady Spartans went toe-to-toe with defending state champion Marian Catholic in Thursday’s championship contest. Assuredly, Oak Lawn opened the eyes of the other group of Lady Spartans, who watched a sevenpoint lead disappear in the final 43 seconds of regulation. Marian got the last say, emerging triumphant by a 67-62 count in overtime, but not before discovering a 28-win Oak Lawn squad was the real deal.

“Marian Catholic is a great team and the defending state champs,” Meyers said. “We knew that coming in, but we were also playing our best basketball of the season. We were peaking as a team and excited about the challenge. We put ourselves in a position to win, but we just couldn’t get over that hump to grab the lead. “A lot of people didn’t think we would have a chance in that game, and I’m so proud of my girls for how they competed. They stepped up for us and showed how hard we’ve been working and that we were very capable of winning that game.” LaTondra Brooks (23 points), Jannah Mahmoud (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Brianna Markusic (10 points) were the Lady Spartans’ leading performers, and it was Brooks stepping forward at crunch time. With Oak Lawn facing a 53-46 deficit in the closing moments, Brooks nailed a 3-point shot, forced a jump ball that regained possession for her team, and then hit a total of four free throws over the last 20 seconds to create a 53-all deadlock.

She also opened the extra session with a drive to the hoop that handed the Lady Spartans a 55-53 lead over their namesakes from Chicago Heights. Before fouling out with a minute to go, Brooks converted a three-point play. A Brooke Annerino 3-pointer had Oak Lawn within 63-61, but Marian’s Ashton Millender tallied all but two of her club’s 14 overtime points to help it outlast the Lady Spartans, who trailed by no more than six points at any period stop. “Despite being down six at the end of third quarter, we just kept fighting,” Meyers said. “In the final minute, the kids, and especially LaTondra, responded. Brooke hit the big 3 to pull us back within two points, but Marian was solid from the free-throw line — that’s what championship teams do.” Oak Lawn’s slower-than-normal start to the contest was due to missed layups and just a 4-of-11 performance from the floor. Mahmoud helped keep things close with her rebounding. (Continued on page 5)

The tie that’s fine

Astros second in SSC Red after edging Argo By Ken Karrson This tie didn’t promote sisterkissing, but it probably made Tony Chiuccariello want to hug his players. No one, including the Shepard coach himself, had penciled in the Astros as a South Suburban Conference Red contender prior to the start of the 201314 basketball season, not after a heavy amount of graduationinduced personnel losses. And a quick glance at Shepard’s sub-.500 ledger would seem to indicate that the general lack of expectation was justified. When the Astros met up with SSC foes this year, however, they frequently flexed some muscle. It wasn’t quite enough to dislodge now-nine-time defending divisional champ Richards from the top spot, but no one at Shepard minded being second-best. The Astros (10-16, 7-6) shared that runner-up position in the SSC Red with Eisenhower by the end of Friday night. While the Cardinals were being beaten by the Bulldogs — a team Shepard had defeated a couple weeks earlier - the Astros slipped past Argo 59-58 in Palos Heights. Shepard trailed by one point after Brian Smith drilled a 3pointer for the Argonauts at the 18-second mark, but Jacob Littleton answered twice at the charity stripe with 3.8 seconds remaining after getting fouled while driving to the basket. Interestingly, the Astros’ end-of-the-game scenario closely mirrored one they had faced recently against Peotone. On that occasion, Chiuccariello let his guys play through, but Shepard was unable to score in a 3-on-3 situation. Here, he requested a timeout when Littleton got the ball to midcourt. “I tried it the exact opposite way,” Chiuccariello said. “If I had to do it again, I’d do what I did before, but [this time] I wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. It was fortunate [Argo] didn’t change defenses because you bring that into the equation.” The Astros had one foul to give before sending their visitors to the line, and they used it. Nick Heidinger then batted an inbounds pass away, leaving the Argonauts with just one full second to release a final shot. Argo sharpshooter Tyler Mitch-

ell did indeed fire away, but his attempt banged off the rim and sealed the verdict for Shepard. Once the win became official, Chiuccariello praised his players, who had dropped a 64-57 decision to Plainfield Central three days earlier. “The boys did a real nice job,” Chiuccariello said. “It took some character on the guys’ part. I’ve used the word ‘resilient’ a lot, but if we lose on Tuesday, they [usually] find a way to bounce back. “They knew what was at stake here — you want to have a winning conference record, and we were able to get second place. This game was as back-and-forth as you can get, but the guys played above their collective individual talents [all season] and they maximized everything they had.” Littleton paced the Astros with 24 points, which included a 7-of8 display at the foul line. Kyle Longfield canned all six of his freethrow attempts and finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Darren Cohen contributed eight points, seven boards and four assists. Heidinger led the rebounding effort with 10. The 6-foot-4 Longfield’s return from a lengthy, injury-related absence was cited by Chiuccariello as a positive influence in Shepard’s play during the latter part of the schedule. “Kyle was a big loss [before],” he said. “He gives us something on the boards and is an inside presence scoring-wise.” The Astros prospered despite shooting just 36 percent. A seasonlow seven turnovers, slight 32-30 rebounding advantage and Argo’s own forgettable 39 percent success rate from the floor all benefited Shepard, which is serving as a Class 4A regional host this week. It opened play on Monday versus Hubbard. Plainfield Central 64 Shepard 57 The Wildcats continued their mastery over the Astros last Tuesday night, but only after the latter went down to the wire with their visitors. Just two points separated the clubs with 1:06 remaining, but Shepard was unable to overcome a couple late mishaps. “It’s kind of tough [when] you played a good game and you put yourself in a position to win at the end,” Chiuccariello said. “Both

games [last week] were extremely competitive.” The fact the Astros were in the hunt was perhaps a bit surprising, seeing as how Plainfield Central held a distinct edge in height. Members of the Wildcats’ roster included one 6-foot-8 player and three others who stand 6-6. “I always joke about what’s in the water out there,” Chiuccariello said. “They’ve always had height, but we were doing a nice job [in the first half] of being in our gaps — if they fed the post, we were there to double down [defensively].” That solid work without the ball helped the Astros gain a firstquarter lead, which they continued to hold through halftime. The two teams were deadlocked at 44-all after three periods. Littleton (17 points, two assists), Zack Haxel (11 points on 5-of-5 shooting, two assists), Longfield (10 points, eight rebounds) and Cohen (eight points, two assists) all lent a hand to Shepard’s offense. The Astros boasted a better field-goal percentage than Plainfield Central (44-40), but the Wildcats dominated on the glass (37-15, including 11 offensive rebounds) and outscored the Astros 22-9 at the foul line. “They’ve had a nice run against us,” Chiuccariello said of Plainfield Central, which won’t be on next year’s schedule, although the two could square off in the Romeoville Tournament at Christmas. “We’ve never beaten them.”

Statistics Plainfield Central 9 18 17 20 - 64 Shepard 11 21 12 13 - 57 Shepard Scoring: Littleton 17, Haxel 11, Longfield 10, Cohen 8, Lawson 5, Heidinger 4, Gorski 2. Rebounds: Longfield 8. Assists: Cohen 2, Haxel 2, Heidinger 2, Littleton 2. Argo 14 16 14 14 - 58 Shepard 20 5 18 16 - 59 Shepard Scoring: Littleton 24, Longfield 14, Cohen 8, Haxel 6, Heidinger 4, Lawson 3. Rebounds: Heidinger 10, Cohen 7, Longfield 7. Assists: Cohen 4.

The Regional News - The Reporter

Thursday, March 6, 2014 Section 2

Neighborhood letdown

Vikings come up empty against Reavis By Ken Karrson The showdown became a letdown for St. Laurence. Neighborhood rivalries tend to bring out the best in athletic teams, but such was not the case last Tuesday night in Burbank, where the Vikings clashed with Reavis in their final outing of the regular season. Considering how competitively his club had been playing for the past several weeks, St. Laurence coach Mark Sevedge anticipated this meeting with the Rams featuring a continuation of that strong play and serving as an ideal springboard into the Class 3A tournament. Instead, the Vikings engaged in a disappearing act. Not a real one, of course, but definitely missing was the emotional edge with which they had been performing of late. And making the 56-42 setback worse was that St. Laurence players and coaches had almost a week to stew over it before taking the court again. The Vikings opened play in their own regional this past Monday versus Gage Park. Sevedge had planned to give his guys a day off on the Wednesday following the Reavis game, but he changed his mind after the loss. “It was a defensive-minded practice — we barely used the basketball for two hours,” Sevedge said. “We worked on guarding each other hard and getting back to basics.” A shortcoming for St. Laurence (5-21) versus the Rams was its inability to disrupt Reavis’ interior attack. While the Vikings were firing away at an acceptable 40 percent clip from 3-point land, the Rams countered with a 65 percent success rate inside the arc, a mark that included a 13-of-15 display before halftime.

Behind that exhibition, Reavis outscored St. Laurence in each of the first two periods and took a 31-21 lead into intermission. “What hurt us is the physicality Reavis plays with,” Sevedge said. “I thought we had some energy and were ready to play, and I thought we did a pretty good job of guarding the ball. “[But] I don’t think we defended them the way we planned. We didn’t do a good job of working around guys in the paint. They executed and they got way too many easy baskets.” That also resulted in several fouls being called on the Vikings in fairly rapid succession. They were ticketed six times in the opening frame while the Rams avoided any infractions. “I felt our kids kind of got down on themselves when the whistles went against us a little bit,” Sevedge said. “We couldn’t catch a break and a lot of things snowballed. [And] when [Reavis] had the lead, they waited until they got an easy layup before they shot.” Eddie Puha was the Rams’ main man, but Matt Gurgone pretty much offset his foe’s 22-point production with 19 markers of his own, which included five 3point buckets. A bigger issue for St. Laurence was its inaccuracy in other areas. Sevedge estimated that the Vikings missed “a minimum of 5-to6 point-blank shots. Some were contested, but some weren’t.” And after not taking any trips to the free-throw line before halftime, St. Laurence went just 6-of-16 from there the rest of the way. “That killed us,” Sevedge said of the two trouble spots. “We left some points out there.” With Rich Lamb (eight points, five rebounds) and Tim Delaney

(six points) offering Gurgone a bit of support, the Vikings never let the contest get completely beyond their reach. However, they also didn’t possess enough across-theboard firepower to make a serious charge at Reavis over the last 16 minutes. The loss ended St. Laurence’s three-game win streak over its Burbank neighbor. “Because of the rivalry, it’s [usually] a good game at the end of the season to get fired up for,” Sevedge said. “Maybe we grew content with the way we had played against them the last three years, but I thought they came out hungry and wanted it a little more. Our guys weren’t tough enough. “With the way we’ve been playing against some of the best teams in the [Chicago] Catholic League, this was one of our worst defeats in probably a little more than a month. We just didn’t play very well and they deserved to win — they were the better team [on that night].” Right after the game, Sevedge thought he would be preparing the Vikings for a playoff opener versus Urban Prep Charter/Bronzeville after the top two sectional seeds, BoPhoto by Jeff Vorva gan and Hyde Park, were removed from the field because of violating St. Xavier University’s Munir Smith attempts to dribble out of trouble during last Wednesday night’s the IHSA’s maximum-games rule CCAC Tournament quarterfinal matchup with the University of St. Francis in Chicago. regarding scheduling. Both schools were reinstated, though, and St. Laurence went back to being pitted against its original play-in opponent, Gage Park.

SXU sports summary

Cougars win CCAC men’s hoops tournament

Statistics St. Laurence 11 10 13 8 - 42 Reavis 16 15 11 14 - 56 St. Laurence Scoring: Gurgone 19, Lamb 8, Delaney 6, Forberg 5, Cummings 2, Radford 2. Rebounds: Lamb 5. Assists: Cummings 2, Radford 2.

Two steps back

Knights stumble twice in final week By Ken Karrson After appearing to have taken one giant step forward the week before, Chicago Christian took two steps in the opposite direction last week. It’s definitely not the way coach Kevin Pittman hoped his Knights would conclude their regular schedule, especially seeing as how some improvements had been made of late. Those had most recently translated into a convincing win over Guerin Prep and a spirited battle against longtime rival Illiana Christian that, while not ending in victory, did reinforce Pittman’s belief that his squad had finally turned a corner. But suddenly Chicago Christian went adrift once more. A fourthperiod slowdown proved costly in a 59-44 defeat against another familiar foe, Timothy Christian, last Tuesday, and then the wheels fell completely off three nights later as Montini dominated the Knights pretty much from the get-go in what eventually became a 68-46 Suburban Christian Conference triumph for the Broncos. “We probably played our worst game in two months,” Pittman said, referring to the league setback. “I was disappointed with our performance and our effort. It was a lousy game. “Sometimes you show up and you just kind of stink that day it happens in high school, college and the pros. It was an absolute breakdown in every area. There’ve been bright spots [in other contests]; there weren’t any of those here.” Montini wasted no time getting the jump on Christian (8-18, 2-8), doing so with a 20-12 scoring advantage in the first quarter. From there, the deficit widened substantially, with the Broncos holding sway by an insurmountable 58-31 margin at the thirdperiod stop. “Defensively, we had zero life,” Pittman said. “We couldn’t have prepared any better for them, but our rotations were poor and guys were gambling on defense.” Montini did most of its damage inside the arc, where it buried 56 percent of its shots. That enabled the Broncos to overcome 15 turnovers and 16 missed free throws. No Knights player notched more than nine points. T.J. Deck-

er supplied that number, while Trevor Wolterink and Bradford Fitzpatrick finished with eight and seven points, respectively. Christian’s shooting languished in the mid-20s - it actually did better from long range (5-of-18) than inside the 3-point line (8-of-34) - and 16 miscues also undermined the Knights. “It wasn’t for lack of opportunities,” Pittman said of Christian’s rather meager output. “We had looks down low - on one possession, we had four inside shots and couldn’t hit one. We couldn’t get many shots to fall [throughout the evening].” The only good thing, in Pittman’s opinion, was that the loss didn’t represent the end of the Knights’ 2013-14 campaign. They were in action again this past Monday in the Class 3A Plano Regional, where they met up with Joliet Catholic Academy. Pittman was not crazy about having to travel, particularly when St. Laurence is hosting its own Class 3A regional. However, he did like the fact there was no clearcut favorite entering the event at Plano. “This is a winnable regional for a lot of teams down there,” Pittman said. “[Assistant coach] Wally [Ottenhoff] called it ‘the season of sudden life’ because it doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you did before. We’re all starting over.” And putting its last regularseason performance as far in the rearview mirror as possible wouldn’t be a bad idea. “[Losing] becomes a battle against the mind,” Pittman said. “After a while, until you can win a game, in the back of your mind that doubt remains.” Timothy Christian 59 Chicago Christian 44 Beating the Trojans, who will once again share a conference address with the Knights when the latter joins the Metro Suburban next fall, would have erased a good deal of that doubt. However, Chicago Christian had no answer for Timothy Christian star Connor VanderBrug last Tuesday. The 6-foot-5 Trojans forward made his presence felt immediately when he nailed a 3-point shot on his team’s first possession. He added another long ball, plus a two-point basket right after that to stake Timothy to an 8-0

On the edge... and right on target! Straight talk from Bartosh in Sports Southwest

advantage and force Pittman to burn an early timeout. “That was disappointing,” Pittman said of Vander Brug’s exploits, which didn’t end until the Trojan had piled up 31 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. “We had worked a lot in practice about, ‘Hey, let’s make someone else beat us,’ but he was their only scorer [of note].” The Knights again struggled with their marksmanship and posted a sub-par 29 percent accuracy rate. They did take reasonably good care of the ball - their nine turnovers were five fewer than Timothy’s total and, in Pittman’s view, the primary reason they stayed in contention - but having to chase from the outset put Chicago Christian in an uncomfortable position. “We played a pretty decent game against Timothy Christian and we didn’t feel we were out of that thing until midway through the fourth quarter,” Pittman said. “But you can only exert energy to get back in the game so many times before that reserve is exhausted. “I’m so tired of talking about close games and us not being able to get over the hump. I’m never ready to lose. We’ve been kind of searching for that signature win, and not being able to get it has kind of hurt us [psychologically].” Wolterink (13 points) and Jay Spencer (10 points, eight rebounds) were the Knights’ main men on Tuesday. Marcus Parker contributed seven points, while Blaine Wright totaled six points, three assists and three steals.

Statistics Chicago Christian 10 11 9 14 - 44 Timothy Christian 14 12 11 22 - 59 Chicago Christian Scoring: Wolterink 13, Spencer 10, Parker 7, Wright 6, Boss 3, T, Decker 3, Fitzpatrick 2. Rebounds: Spencer 8. Assists: Washington 3, Wright 3. Steals: Wright 3. Chicago Christian 12 8 11 15 - 46 Montini 20 17 21 10 - 68 Chicago Christian Scoring: T. Decker 9, Wolterink 8, Fitzpatrick 7, Wright 6, Washington 4, J. Decker 3, Boss 2, Leo 2, Spencer 2, Van Buren 2, Parker 1. Rebounds: Spencer 5. Assists: Wright 3 assists. Steals: Spencer 2, Van Buren 2, Wright 2.

Not one, but two surprises awaited St. Xavier University basketball fans in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournaments. Only one was welcomed, however. That would have been the men’s team’s upset of NAIA Division II top-ranked Cardinal Stritch on the latter’s home court. By beating the Wolves 85-74 on Saturday in Milwaukee, the Cougars not only avenged two regular-season losses, but claimed the conference tourney title for themselves. SXU’s women weren’t as fortunate. After winning the regular-season CCAC North Division championship, the Cougars were unable to play for the tournament crown. Olivet Nazarene threw up that roadblock in Friday’s semifinal matchup, which the Tigers captured by a 91-89 score when Miranda Geever hit a runner just before the final buzzer. SXU, with its top-five national ranking, will still receive an invitation to the NAIA Division II Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Sioux City, Iowa. The Cougars men, meanwhile, will travel to the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo. Each SXU club was to learn the identity of its opening-round foe this past Wednesday. That gave men’s coach Tom O’Malley and his athletes a little time to enjoy their biggest triumph of the season, which snapped Stritch’s 18-game unbeaten streak. The Wolves, who had last lost at Panella Court on Jan 19, 2013, stopped a 17-game Cougars win streak earlier this season. “I’m floating,” O’Malley joked about his postgame reaction to Saturday’s conquest. “It was a good one. I was elated for the kids.” Those kids made Stritch have to play from behind right away. No. 7-ranked SXU (29-4) tallied 15 unanswered points during a 5 ½-minute span of the opening half to seize an 18-3 lead. Five players contributed to the Cougars’ getaway. Jack Krieger hit three layups, Stagg alumnus Darius Draper scored on a dunk and jumper, and former Wolves player Michael Simpson buried a 3-pointer to lead the assault. While SXU was racking up points, Stritch committed five turnovers and missed four shots. Simpson, who had struggled in his initial return to Milwaukee, was just fine here as he tossed in 17 points. He was one of three double-digit scorers for the Cougars, along with Krieger (25 points on 9-of-15 shooting) and Brad Karp (19 points). “He played like a champ,” O’Malley said of Simpson, who drilled 11-of-12 free throws, including six in a row in the closing moments that staved off the Wolves’ final comeback bid. “We got off to a great start [because] we did a lot of things we haven’t been doing. I felt we were pretty well prepared and I think we were hyped up [at the outset] — the kids felt they had to come out that way.” And all that energy was properly channeled. “We were a little more patient offensively,” O’Malley said. “We ran our sets and we were on target with all our shots. We were closer to what we normally shoot.” O’Malley’s standard game goals are for SXU to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point territory and

80 percent at the line. Against Stritch, those respective numbers stood at 56, 50 and 79 percent. Another positive for the Cougars was their rather meager total of 12 turnovers. Not surprisingly, the Wolves didn’t go down easily. They battled back from a 50-30 deficit with a 13-2 run that was culminated by Derek Semenas’ 3-point basket. Chad Mazur’s long ball then drew the hosts within 59-56 with 9:03 left before two Karp layups and Krieger’s jumper restored some breathing room for SXU. One more Krieger hoop extended the Cougars’ edge back out to 10 points (71-61) with 4:10 remaining, but Mazur’s 3-pointer soon had Stritch within 79-74. Simpson then finished the Wolves off at the free-throw line. Semenas (19 points), Mazur (14) and Tony Smit (16) paced Stritch, but O’Malley was happy with his guys’ ability to render Tyler Semenas something of a nonfactor this time around. In the Wolves’ victory over SXU in Chicago, he torched the Cougars with 26 points and 11 rebounds; those stats dipped to six and five, respectively, this time around. “I think we did a much better job on the Semenas kid and they got only eight points from their big guys,” O’Malley said of Stritch. “We got a lot of worthwhile minutes from our bench, and they gave us 13 points and six rebounds. “The biggest thing [about this win] is I think it’ll give our kids a lot of confidence. It’s a refreshing thought going into the [national] tournament like this, but it’s not going to make it any easier. “When you’re ranked, the bull’s-eye’s on you all season long, but now is the big time. It only takes five wins now.” SXU’s 29th triumph equaled last year’s total. O’Malley has coached three 30-win Cougars teams during his 17 seasons at the helm. St. Xavier 73 Roosevelt 59 Three sizable runs were key elements for the Cougars Friday night, as they used those to dispatch the Lakers in a semifinal matchup in Milwaukee. Karp’s 3-ball kicked off the first of those spurts, which occurred with seven minutes left in the opening half. SXU broke a 20-all tie with a 13-5 run, then went on a 16-6 tear early in the second half to snap another deadlock. Karp’s layup culminated the surge. The Cougars finally delivered the knockout punch with a 13-6 run in the last three minutes. A pair of Krieger 3-pointers beat back Roosevelt’s challenge after the Lakers had climbed within 57-51. Karp, recently chosen for the All-CCAC first team, had 20 points and seven rebounds to lead SXU. Krieger (18 points), Simpson (16 points, 10 assists) and Josh Mawhorr (nine points, seven rebounds) also chipped in for the Cougars, who fired away at a 51 percent clip, dished out 16 assists and committed only nine turnovers. Despite statistics that seemingly indicated the contrary, O’Malley felt SXU had been at less than its best. He wasn’t the only one who thought so — an announcer for the Stritch-Robert Morris University semifinal clash stated after that game was over that “if St. Xavier plays the way they did tonight, they’re going to have a hard time [on Saturday].”

“That was the way I felt myself,” O’Malley said with a chuckle. “I didn’t feel we played very well against Roosevelt, and I thought both Cardinal Stritch and Robert Morris played extremely well.” Were the Cougars guilty of perhaps looking beyond the Lakers to their possible date with the Wolves? O’Malley didn’t believe so. “We talk about, ‘Don’t think ahead -- just think about the next game in front of you,’” he said. “From a Friday night to a Saturday afternoon doesn’t give you much time to do anything else.” St. Xavier 84 Univ. of St. Francis 61 One game lacking drama was the Cougars’ tourney opener last Wednesday against the Fighting Saints at the Shannon Center. SXU saw to that by netting the game’s first 16 points, seven of which came from Karp (25 points, six rebounds, five assists). With Simpson (13 points, nine assists, five rebounds, three steals), Mawhorr (13 points, six rebounds) and Krieger (10 points, five assists) giving their offense even more juice, the Cougars were never challenged. They outrebounded the University of St. Francis 39-21 and canned 56 percent of their field-goal attempts. — Ken Karrson WOMEN’S BASKETBALL While posting a solid regularseason record of 26-4, the Cougars encountered very few disappointing moments. The shocking loss to Olivet on Friday night at the PUC Fitness Center in Hammond, Ind., certainly qualified as one, however. “Most teams would love to be 27-5 at the end of the season, but we really wanted to be in the championship [game] of the conference tournament,” SXU coach Bob Hallberg said. “It didn’t happen, [so] now we just need to get our confidence level back up for the national tournament.” The semifinal contest proved to be a tale of two halves, as the Cougars were in control for most of the first half. Their 56 percent shooting laid the groundwork for a 54-47 halftime advantage, but the situation changed dramatically after the break. SXU went 14-of-38 from the field over the last 20 minutes. “That was a tough loss,” Hallberg said. “The whole key for the ballgame was we went into a lull in the second half. We missed some easy shots under the basket and a couple of key free throws, [and] they were hot from the 3-point line.” Junior forward Morgan Stuut, who repeated as the CCAC Player of the Year, had another huge game, totaling 33 points and 15 rebounds for her 24th doubledouble of the campaign. Along the way, she broke the single-season scoring record for SXU women as her total of 667 points moved her past Erin Hannemann, who tallied 646 points during the 200809 season. Stuut also became the first female Cougar to eclipse 400 rebounds in a season. She currently has 414. Junior guard Suzie Broski had a big night for SXU as well with 27 points on 12-of-23 shooting. Senior guard Niara Harris added 13 points. “I was very happy to see Niara come off the bench against (Continued on page 5)

Section 2

Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Regional News - The Reporter

Community sports news Bromberek to step down as Marist softball coach

Submitted photo

Nariman Jaber, who recently became Moraine Valley College’s single-season leader in blocked shots, had 10 points to help the Cyclones win their opening game in the Region IV women’s basketball tournament.

Moraine athletics wrap

No repeat possible for Cyclones By Maura Vizza Given its struggles during the regular season, Moraine Valley College had only one way in which it could return to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II men’s basketball tournament. The Cyclones had to emerge as champion of the Region IV Tournament. But last Thursday, Kishwaukee College saw to it that Moraine’s postseason hopes got dashed immediately. Already the owner of a 45-point victory over the Cyclones this year, Kishwaukee didn’t appear to have much to fear. Moraine, however, exhibited a great deal more fight in the rematch, just not enough to stay alive in the playoffs. Instead, the Cyclones (8-22) were shown the exit door after absorbing an 89-74 defeat. Last March, Moraine not only captured

the Region IV crown, but went all the way to the national title contest before suffering a loss. The runner-up finish in the NJCAA Division II Tournament was the Cyclones’ best in program history. Against Kishwaukee, Moraine was as close as eight points during the second half, thanks to double-figure scoring from four individuals. Cameron Juillerat led the attack with 19 points, but also making measurable contributions were Des’nique Harris (14 points, 10 rebounds), Johnte Shannon (14 points, four steals) and Kyle Ward (11 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds). The Cyclones were unable to reduce their gap any further, though, because of some crucial misses — including a few layups — down the stretch. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL The Cyclones (22-10) advanced

Sports wrap Marist narrowly missed making it a three-peat for local schools at state team wrestling. While Sandburg didn’t get a chance to defend its back-to-back state championships Saturday at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, the RedHawks were poised to pick up where the Eagles had left off. After collecting five wins during one six-match sequence, Marist not only fought back from a sizable deficit, but it created something similar for highly touted Oak Park-River Forest. But the Huskies, who were without two wrestlers because of injuries and had a third dealing with the remnants of illness, climbed out of what eventually became a 15-point hole. Victories in the final two matches sealed the deal for Oak Park, which defeated Marist 31-22 for the team title. Highlighting the RedHawks’ surge was 106-pound Jimmy McAuliffe, who pinned Jay Renteria. Renteria was runner-up at the previous week’s individual state meet. The Huskies countered, however, with Davonte Mahomes’ verdict over Peter Andreotti at 170. Andreotti, a 1,000-yard rusher during the football season, had finished third at state at 160 pounds one week earlier. Other winners for Marist versus Oak Park included Nick Lukanich (113), Mike Mullaney (126), Ameen Hamden (132), Ethan Benoit (182) and Tom Ford

(heavyweight). The RedHawks’ team finish was their best at state since 1997, when they also took second. Marist earned its spot opposite Oak Park on the strength of earlier triumphs over Lincoln-Way Central (32-15) and Marmion Academy (27-25). The latter win was not realized until Mario Leveille scored a 3-2 decision over the Cadets’ Michael Callahan at 138 pounds.

BOYS’ SWIMMING When Stagg captured the Sandburg Sectional on Feb. 22, the Chargers realized one of their preseason goals and immediately focused on the next one: a top12 finish at last weekend’s state meet in Evanston. And while Stagg fell short in its quest — it scored 10 points and placed 30th — Chargers coach Jason Carr summed up the state experience, and season as a whole, as a great accomplishment. The benefits, he said, will extend beyond athletes on the current squad and positively affect future members of the program. “I’m very happy for the kids,” Carr said. “It was a very good experience and the kids loved it. And we’re only losing three seniors from the sectional team and just one from state — three of the four relay members from the 200 and 400 will be back next season. “I’m excited for the future and possibly [having] even more kids going downstate for next season. This season was definitely one of the best seasons that Stagg has had since I’ve been here.” Freshman Lucas Smiarowski, 11 12 1 juniors Evan Johnson and Zack 2 10 Amendola, and senior Harlan 9 11 12 1 3 Long teamed up for an 11th-place 2 10 finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay in Saturday’s finals and 9 3 garnered all-state honors in the 12 1 11 process. The relay unit actually 2 10 improved its standing between 9 3 Friday and Saturday, as it had nosed out Lake Forest by just .34 seconds in the prelims for the 12th us know know you want LetLetus you want and final qualifying spot. On Satafterschool programs in in your area.area. urday, the Chargers completed the afterschool your Letprograms us know you want afterschool programs in your area. Call 1-800-USA-LEARN. race in 3:11.25 and were only .02 Call 1-800-USA-LEARN. seconds in arrears of 10th-place Andrew. “When we qualified for Satur-

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Rice closes regular basketball place his athletes where they’ll have the greatest chance to prosseason with a rush per, Podgorski also recognizes the

If momentum means anything heading into the state basketball tournament, Brother Rice should be in fine shape. When the Crusaders squared off with fellow Chicago Catholic League member De La Salle this past Tuesday in the Class 4A Whitney Young Regional, they did so with a full head of steam on their side. They acquired it by virtue of a 73-37 thrashing of Tinley Park in their regularseason finale last Wednesday. Once again serving as Rice’s difference makers were seniors Ray Rubio and Quinn Niego, who tallied 31 points between them on combined 11-of-17 shooting. However, nine other Crusaders also put their names in the scoring column, including Mike Shepski and Kevin Baldali, each of whom tossed in nine points. The former was Rice’s rebounding leader with eight boards. As a team, the Crusaders (1413) clicked on 59 percent of their field-goal tries while their defense limited the Titans to 23 percent accuracy. The teams shot 40 and 7 percent, respectively, from beyond the 3-point arc. Sixteen of Rice’s 26 total baskets came off assists. The Crusaders jumped out to an 18-4 lead in the opening period and outscored Tinley in every quarter after that, twice by at least eight points. They erupted for a total of 26 points in the third stanza.

St. Patricia’s students receive

need to not leave too many events open, which proves costly when compiling team scores.

“I’m going to prepare them mentally and physically for the big picture, which is always state or a personal record,” he said. *** On the boys’ side, Evergreen coach Ray Mankowski isn’t afraid to think big, either, even though he does not have the same amount of proven talent as Podgorski does with the girls’ squad. What Mankowski does have is numbers -- the Mustangs entered the indoor season with over 40 team members, and the seventhyear coach’s goal is to add roughly 20 more to that total before beginning the outdoor schedule. “The greater numbers we have, the more successful we can be,” Mankowski said. “Numbers will push our kids to be successful.” Leading Evergreen into competition will be junior distance runner Matt Przeslicke, who was a state qualifier in cross country and owns the school’s fastest time ever in the 3,200-run. Senior Juwan Smith is another Mustang who’ll participate in the longer races, while senior Don Oresky (hurdles), junior Don Lewis (sprints) and sophomore Kameron Brown (jumps) should all be pivotal performers in their respective events. Mankowski also likes sophomore Joey Ryan, who is working on his own to prepare for the pole vault. “We have a good core group of athletes who are hard workers,” Mankowski said. “We also have a lot of young talent that should be good once we start our [outdoor] meet season.” The Mustangs were only eighth in their sectional last spring. While Mankowski is reluctant to select a specific finishing position for his current troops, he is not discounting the possibility of individual excellence. “Qualifying six or more events for the state meet [is a goal],” Mankowski said. “We have a lot of talented individuals, and if they are working hard and the weather is good, we have a very possible chance of this happening, no matter what sectional we are in. “[We want to] have an athlete or relay [unit] run on Day 2 of the state meet. This would almost guarantee them of getting a medal.” *** Evergreen girls’ soccer coach Thea Johnson will try to lift the Lady Mustangs over the .500 level this spring after they posted an 8-10 ledger in 2013. Evergreen went 4-7 in the SSC Red and took third in the final standings. Seniors who return to lead the Lady Mustangs include defenders Kelly Shine and Colleen Elizinga, forwards Monica Yapan and Abby Valentino, and midfielders Zoe Monks and Dorothy Kalafut. Juniors Beth Grazevich and Amanda Grabowski are also in the veteran mix, as are sophomores Korti Lewis and Olivia Torres. Grazevich was a starter on defense as a sophomore. Evergreen is without a proven goalie and, in Johnson’s opinion, would also benefit from a controlling central midfielder. However, she likes her athletes’ work ethic and the number of them that have shown interest in playing soccer. “With so many players, finding the right combination of girls will be important,” Johnson said. “We are missing three key players from last year, [so] it will be vital that the seniors step and take a strong leadership role and get the team mentally on the right track from the start. “[We will be] starting off practices immediately instilling fundamental skills and principles to be used throughout the season.”

into the semifinal round of the leadership awards Region IV Tournament by slipping Michael Morgan and Ginni past Morton College, 74-67, in last Bouck, a pair of 8th-grade stuThursday’s quarterfinal clash. dents at St. Patricia, were chosen That win was Moraine’s third to receive the Southside Catholic over the Panthers this season, but Conference’s Christian Leaderdefinitely its most difficult. The ship Awards for 2013-14. Cyclones were ahead only 30-29 Morgan and Bouck, both of at halftime, and even Moraine’s whom are involved in athletics 10-0 run during the second half at the school, earned their honors couldn’t put it on Easy Street. after submitting essays that disMorton drew to within six points cussed Christian leadership and a few times after that before the being role models in sports. Cyclones finally closed the deal for themselves. Maggie Yandel and Katie McEvergreen girls’ track team Gann, who were recently chosen carries high hopes for the All-Illinois Skyway ColThere is no shortage of confilegiate Conference first and secdence among members of Everond teams, respectively, tallied 18 green Park’s girls’ track team as points apiece to pace Moraine. Ai- Inductees announced for the 2014 outdoor season looms. leen Gorman chipped in 12 points That’s what winning a sectional and eight rebounds, while career GCAC Hall of Fame Five former athletes from championship will do. blocks leader Nariman Jaber The Lady Mustangs did that showed off her offensive side by area schools will be among the nine individuals representing the in 2013 after placing third in the tossing in 10 points. 2014 induction class for the Girls South Suburban Conference Red, Catholic Athletic Conference Hall and coach Garrett Podgorski sees of Fame. no reason why Evergreen can’t The group will be honored on revisit its most recent past. That Sunday, March 23, at Monastero’s goal certainly appears well within Ristorante, 3935 W. Devon in Chi- reach, thanks to the return of a cago, as part of the 39th anniver- half-dozen Class 2A state qualisary of the GCAC’s formation. fiers. The distance events should be day in the 400, there was a big The keynote speaker for the event celebration,” Carr said. “It was will Cook County Board president a Lady Mustangs strong point, as senior Leeza Campbell and nice to advance to Saturday and Toni Preckwinkle. Among the inductees are Moth- juniors Emily Radgowski and compete so close to our [District 230] sister school Andrew. And er McAuley alumnae Kathy Burns Jill Siemiawski all got a taste of what’s neat is that the guys are and Mary Coleman Hambly, Mt. Charleston last May. Also makclose [relationship-wise] with the Assisi graduates Alexandra Steel ing the downstate trip a year ago Sallay and Karen Schissler Van were throwers Taylor Tillman and guys from Andrew.” Also on Saturday, Amendola Assen, and Queen of Peace prod- Jordan Annang, and jumper Tyra took ninth in the 100-butterfly uct Melissa Vandry. All five women Smith. As if that didn’t represent a (51.19 seconds) and 12th in the played volleyball, and Sallay also 100-backstroke (52.40) as an in- ran track for the Screeching Ea- deep enough talent pool from dividual, while Smiarowski was gles. Van Assen was Mt. Assisi’s which to draw, Evergreen also welcomes back three record set12th in the 200-individual medley final volleyball coach. Former athletes from Good ters. Senior Erica Carradine es(1:56.37). Smiarowski missed advance- Counsel, Mother Guerin and tablished a school standard in the ment to the finals in the 500-free Lourdes, and a basketball official 55-meter dash indoors, fellow upby three spots after placing 15th round out the list of inductees. perclassman Rianna Carson did Doors open at 3 p.m., a cash bar likewise outdoors in the 100-dash overall (4:40.12) during Friday’s prelims. He was only .61 seconds will be available from 3-4, and din- and senior Hope Thomas set a behind the last qualifier. Long also ner will be served at 4. Tickets are Lady Mustangs indoor mark in had a near-miss in the 100-breast- $35 per person. Checks should be the triple jump. “Like always, if all the talent can stroke, where he was kept out of made payable to the Girls Catholic the top 12 by .14 seconds after Athletic Conference and mailed to stay healthy and get better at each winding up 15th in the prelims Trinity High School, c/o Rosaria meet and practice, the year looks Cicchetti, 7574 W. Division St., to be another great season,” Podwith his time of 59.25. gorski said. “The team consistently The 200-medley relay quartet River Forest 60305. For additional ticket informa- has state qualifiers in the throws — which was also comprised of Smiarowski, Johnson, Amendola tion, contact Cicchetti at 771- and jumps, [and] the sprint squad and Long — took 16th on Friday 8383, ext. 303, or rcicchetti@ is very deep with talent.” Podgorski’s concern is finding in 1:37.09, which was less than Trinityhs.org. For all other infora full second away from the cut- mation, contact June VerSchave capable bodies to fill in some other off time for qualification. Long at (630) 257-7358 or jverschave@ events, such as the hurdles and relay races. While he wants to (32nd in the 200-free in 1:46.26) mtassisi.org. and Johnson (34th in the 50-free, 22.25; 35th in the 100-free, 49.23) also swam in individual prelim events. “We had good swims at state with kids in the top 12, as well as [being] close at 14 and 15,” Carr said. “When the 400-yard freestyle relay team competed on Friday, we weren’t sure if we had finished 12th or 13th. We knew we were right there. “We achieved the goal of winning sectionals. And while our second goal was a top-12 finish, obviously the most important goal was getting as many of the guys to advance to Saturday.” *** Sandburg’s three state qualifiers all finished with respectable times during Friday’s prelims, but were unable to move on to the next day’s finals. David Apps finished 17th in the 200 IM (1:57.70), while both diver Dean Boures (164.15 points) and Kevin Stratton (53.13 in the 100-backstroke) occupied the No. Submitted photo 24 position in their respective St. Patricia student-athletes Michael Morgan and Ginni Bouck each received a leadership award events. from the Southside Catholic Conference.

Marist takes second at state team wrestling By Anthony Nasella

Marist’s softball players will get one more opportunity to win some state hardware for Denise Bromberek. Bromberek, who guided the Lady RedHawks to a Class 4A championship in 2012, has announced she will step down as head coach of the program at the end of the 2014 season. Bromberek, the only varsity coach Marist has had in softball, plans to move with her family to Utah. Since the school went coed in the fall of 2002, Bromberek has posted a record of 307-107. She reached 300 wins faster than any other softball coach in state history, and her victory total ranks fifth all-time in Illinois high school annals. The 2012 title was the first captured by any girls’ team at Marist. The Lady RedHawks have also collected two sectional crowns, nine regional championships and four East Suburban Catholic Conference titles during Bromberek’s coaching tenure. “When we were looking to start the program 11 years ago, we knew Denise was the right fit,” Marist principal Larry Tucker said. “She has been such an asset to the Marist community, academically and athletically. Her leadership has helped produce many outstanding young women over the years. She will be missed.” Athletic director Bob Lim was equally effusive in his praise for Bromberek. “Coach Bromberek has been vital in putting Marist girls’ athletics on the map,” he said. “She has succeeded in establishing our softball program as one of the best in the state. Her commitment to excellence, and to her student-athletes, is what makes her a phenomenal coach and educator. “Denise is also highly respected in the softball community, and a person like that is difficult to replace.” Individuals with previous softball playing and coaching experience who are interested in pursuing the head-coaching position for the 2015 season should email a cover letter, resume and list of references to Lim at lim.robert@ marist.net by March 14.

The Regional News - The Reporter

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Section 2

SXU

Photo by jeff Vorva

Oak Lawn’s Brooke Annerino drives by Marian’s Ashton Millender while Spartan forward Jannah Mahmoud tries to stop Millender.

Basketball roundup (Continued from page 2) “The missed free throws and missed easy shots obviously hurt,” Meyers said. “Nerves are going to play a part, especially with 17- and 18-year-old kids. We were hanging in there, and I told the kids at halftime we just had to keep pecking away and put ourselves in the position to win. “One of Marian’s key players, [Teniya] Page, broke us down in the first half and we did much better against her in the second half. We kept Millender contained in the first, but she took it to us in the second half. They have a lot of weapons [and] we tried to keep them under control. “It’s disappointing because we were so close, but we played hard and followed our game plan.” *** Brooks (18 points), Mahmoud (14 points, 12 rebounds), Markusic (four points, seven rebounds) and Duneya Shatat (10 points) all contributed greatly to the Oak Lawn attack in its triumph over Marist. Annerino, meanwhile, converted a big layup with 10 seconds left to give the Lady Spartans a threepoint lead. Mahmoud then made two free throws with four seconds remaining to ice the contest and put Oak Lawn in its first-ever sectional championship game. Just as the Lady Spartans were to do a couple nights later, the Lady RedHawks went down swinging. Marist narrowed its deficit to 55-53 on a basket by Tehya Fortune (eight points) and then had a chance to pull even when Bri Rosa stole the ball. Rosa’s potential breakaway layup was denied, however, as a determined Brooks knocked the ball away. The latter then delivered on the offensive side with her own layup that put Oak Lawn ahead 57-53. A 3-pointer from Brooke Wyderski (17 points) brought the Lady RedHawks back within one at the 26-second mark of the fourth quarter, but Annerino and Mahmoud then joined forces to fend off Marist once and for all. “We really had been taking everything one game at a time,” Meyers said. “We never tried to look too far ahead, despite our goal of advancing further. “The kids were pumped up to play Marist and we had a real strong first quarter. We were up 23-12 and played well in the first couple minutes of the second quar-

ter, but then we kind of lost our focus and got careless -- and you can’t get careless against a good team like Marist. “They outscored us 15-8, but we were still up 31-27 [at halftime]. We came out more focused in the third quarter and we were up 4539 at the end, [so] we knew we just had to hang on in the fourth quarter.” But Meyers also knew, without a doubt, that the fourth quarter would be more than just a lesson in survival. “Marist came at us and we were able to hold them off,” Meyers said. “We had big plays by several players. That block by LaTondra Brooks, though, was incredible. But we knew that other players besides LaTondra would have to step up “In our loss to Hillcrest, everyone kind of backed up and tried to let LaTondra take it over, and that wasn’t successful for us. It was nice to have everyone contribute to the win.” While getting them ready for Marist, Meyers brought her athletes back to their earliest goal. “All year, we had talked about [how] our goal was to get further into the postseason than we had ever reached previously,” she said. “We had worked all season with that in mind and we worked really hard in practice. “We kept preparing for what would be waiting for us at the end of the season. That was our focus to advance, and we accomplished that with the win over McAuley. We had never gotten past the first game of sectionals, so we knew the game against Marist was a big hurdle to get over.” In the end, Meyers and her players relished a season filled with firsts for a program that had been on the verge of a breakout for the past two years. “We set the school record in wins, won conference again, and we won both [regular-season] tournaments we competed in,” Meyers said. “We beat both McAuley and Marist for the first time and had so much hope about the postseason. We’re a little disappointed that we were so close and unable to take it to the next level, but this team restored excitement in the basketball program. “The school hallways were jumping and excited about basketball. We had a lot of people come to the games and watching on highschoolcube. A lot of people were excited about Oak Lawn girls’ basketball, so that was great to see the atmosphere at the school. “The girls worked hard and they deserved the recognition.”

EVERGREEN PARK The Lady Mustangs started strong in last Tuesday’s Class 3A Solorio Sectional semifinal against Phillips, but they were unable to sustain the early energy and fell short of a championship-game berth by six points, 45-39. Zoe Monks scored 13 points and Megan Pfister added 10 to lead Evergreen Park (15-15), which jumped out to an early 10-point lead. However, the edge was just 16-11 at the end of the first quarter and four points at halftime. The Lady Wildcats chipped away further and began to make their run toward the end of third stanza and beginning of the fourth, eventually constructing a 10-point advantage of their own. The surge coincided with Pfister having to exit the game for five minutes with a sprained ankle. When she returned, Pfister caught fire, scoring seven of her points in the final frame while keeping her team within two in the closing minute. However, some unforced Lady Mustangs turnovers, coupled with clutch free throws by Phillips, put an end to Evergreen’s playoff drive. “We were confident going into the game,” Lady Mustangs coach Bruce Scaduto said. “We were pretty much prepared. We were ready for their man-to-man [defense]. We came out kind of hot and kind of flattened out from there. “We were still feeling confident by the end of the first quarter, [but] Phillips started to press us in the second quarter and one of our players got in foul trouble, which hurt us a bit. We went into halftime up by four, but we had a hard time scoring in the third [period]. Things just weren’t going our way and they were slowly coming back. And losing Pfister for those minutes, Scaduto said, definitely didn’t help. “Megan saw things slipping away while she was on the bench,” he said. “She came back with some fire, even though she was wobbling a bit. She did everything she could to get us back in it.” Scaduto said the Lady Mustangs’ shooting betrayed them -- “We didn’t get good looks [in some instances] and we missed some easy shots,” he said -- but that couldn’t take away from what Evergreen had already achieved in the tournament. “It wasn’t our night, but winning back-to-back regionals was nice,” he said. “It didn’t come out the way wanted in the sectional, but we’re starting to get some wins and advancement in the playoffs. It’s all been good.”

Photo by Jeff Vorva

Oak Lawn’s LaTondra Brooks looks for an open teammate in last Thursday’s sectional loss to defending state champion Marian. Brooks scored seven points in the final 43 seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime.

(Continued from page 3) Olivet,” Hallberg said. “She had been sick and didn’t play in the quarterfinal game. We need her guard play and offense.” Things looked promising early for the Cougars after they built a 20-12 lead on a layup by Broski. Harris’ 3-pointer gave SXU a 4730 edge with four minutes left in the first half, but the Tigers closed out the session with a 177 run, which was fed by five 3pointers. Layups by Stuut and Broski early in the second half pushed the Cougars’ lead back into double digits, but Olivet used a 10-4 surge to cut the deficit to five (64-59) with just over 13 minutes to play. “We didn’t have the offense clicking like we did in the first half,” Hallberg said. “Olivet did nothing spectacular; they were consistent both halves. “Our downfall was the second half. We shouldn’t have been in that position, resulting in poor execution, ill-advised passes and unforced turnovers.” A 3-pointer by Tigers guard Liz Bart tied the score at 74-all with 6:32 remaining and the game stayed tight the rest of the way, which set the stage for Geever’s late-game heroics. Olivet finished with 17 3-point baskets in 39 attempts, a 44 percent success rate. “Three-point shooting has always been Olivet’s strength,” Hallberg said. “They were especially effective in that part of the game. We just would have liked to have ended the conference tournament on a more positive note.” St. Xavier 64 Calumet College 42 The Crimson Wave were no match for the Cougars last Wednesday, as the latter rolled to a victory in the tournament quarterfinals at the Shannon Center. Broski tossed in 18 points for SXU, which boasted four doublefigure scorers in all. Also stepping forward were freshman guard Sidney Prasse (13 points, including three 3-pointers), Stuut (12 points, game-best 14 rebounds) and Jordan Brandt (11 points, four assists). Defense was also a huge ingredient in the locals’ mastery. The Cougars limited Calumet College of St. Joseph to 17 second-half points, but the Wave were in serious trouble long before that. SXU broke from the gate with an 11-3 burst and held leads of as many as 15 points in several instances before intermission. The Cougars were ahead by only nine (34-25) at halftime, but a 16-1 run that got underway near the 11-minute mark allowed them to pull away for good. “We didn’t get out to a fast start again, but then we exploded for a 15-2 spurt that put us in control,” Hallberg said. “Some of our younger players have really progressed offensively during the course of the season. “Against Calumet College, we were highly successful, and sometimes I don’t know if I should put my [best] defensive or offensive combination on the floor. Sometimes I question myself. Thankfully, we have a week of practices to look at combinations for the NAIA national tournament.” —Anthony Nasella MEN’S TRACK Due to splitting up their squad the weekend of Feb. 22, the Cou-

Spartans (Continued from page 1) basket and two free throws. Behind David Stacy’s 3-pointer and field goal, the Spartans roared back to within 30-28, only to see Evergreen (13-13, 3-10) answer with a 7-0 run. Tony Weathersby delivered a bucket and the Mustangs also made good on five charity tosses. Weathersby’s 3-pointer capped an opening flurry by Evergreen in the third frame, and the visitors were ahead 46-34 three minutes into the session. It was 49-39 after an Issac Matthews foul shot at the 2:38 mark, but the Mustangs went scoreless for the remainder of the period and Oak Lawn drew within four on two Swatek baskets and a pair of free throws. “I was so happy for him,” Rhodes said of Swatek. “He’s our glue guy — he rebounds, distributes, moves well without the ball [and] guards the other team’s best player. But I thought he was very aggressive offensively in this game.” Stacy supported Swatek with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Josh Prince gave the Spartans a third double-digit scorer with 12 points. He augmented his offense with team-best totals of nine rebounds and five assists. Oak Lawn clicked on only 39 percent of its field-goal tries - including just 4-of-20 from 3-point range — but it grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and set up all but five of its 19 buckets with an assist. The Spartans went 22-of-28 at the foul line. “I think we won more of the 50-50 balls,” Rhodes said. “Balls that were knocked around, we

Photo by Jeff Vorva

St. Xavier University’s Josh Mawhorr fires an outlet pass after grabbing a rebound during last Wednesday night’s CCAC Tournament encounter with the University of St. Francis. gars took part in two different meets to complete their final tuneup before the NAIA meet. Some SXU athletes traveled to Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich., where junior Janis Pastars’ national-qualifying time in the 3,000-meter run provided the highlight. He registered an “A”qualifying clocking of 8 minutes, 39.7 seconds. Also turning in solid performances were sophomore Rexford Wiafe in the 800 (1:56.83, just .18 seconds off the qualifying standard) and John Stancato in the 60- and 200-dashes (7.16 and 22.53, respectively). “I feel very bad that Rex missed the qualifying mark in the 800,” Cougars coach Ed McAllister said. “He has worked extremely hard and deserved to make it to nationals. [And] Janis keeps getting stronger with each race.” SXU’s remaining athletes competed at the University of Chicago’s Margaret Bradley Invitational and achieved similar results. Leading the way was freshman Abel Hernandez, who won the 5,000-run in 15:38. “Abel showed that he is well on the way to making a mark for himself in the future,” McAllister said. Junior Brandon Gentry gave the Cougars a fourth place in the triple jump (12.49 meters). SXU will be represented in the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, which begin today in Geneva, Ohio, by three runners. Brian Corcoran and Shane Kenney will both be part of the 1,000 field, while Pastars qualified in the mile run. MEN’S VOLLEYBALL Middle blockers Sam Kull and

J.T. O’Connell both produced solid performances, but the Cougars were unable to ride those to victory against No. 6-ranked Clarke University last Tuesday night. Instead, the Crusaders swept past SXU in three sets (25-16, 25-22, 25-16) at the Kehl Center in Dubuque, Iowa. Kull put down 10 kills and served two aces on the Cougars’ behalf, while O’Connell finished with nine kills and a pair of assisted blocks. Freshman setter Moises Lopez totaled 29 assists, three digs and two block assists to further aid SXU and senior rightside hitter Jacob Siska chipped in four kills, five digs and an assisted block. Clarke racked up 40 kills — eight more than the Cougars — and committed just seven hitting errors for an impressive attack percentage of .458. *** The Cougars’ school-record-tying 16 service aces enabled them to cruise to a 25-8, 25-15, 25-11 Great Lakes Division road victory over Cincinnati Christian College on Saturday afternoon. Kull notched five of the aces, to go along with five kills and seven total blocks. O’Connell put down nine kills and did not make any hitting errors, while Lopez dished out 19 assists and had two assisted blocks. Also chipping in for SXU (3-11, 3-3) was freshman Dan O’Keefe, who registered 10 digs. The Cougars finished with 22 kills and just seven errors for an attack percentage of .326. SXU hosts Lourdes (Ohio) University in another conference match on Saturday at 4 p.m.

got to them.” “I thought we had it put away,” Flannigan said. “It’s hard to put your finger on it. It was a bunch of little errors, things you can’t quite control, [like] missing a layup, making a pass we don’t normally make or a turnover. We had about six or seven kids that did little things like that. “We didn’t get a shot off [before time ran out] — those are the killers. You want to end it with the ball at the rim, not lying on the floor.” Weathersby was the Mustangs’ offset to Swatek as he, too, produced 25 points, to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Matthews was Evergreen’s only other double-figure man as he recorded 10 points. He also had five assists and three steals. The Mustangs, who met Lindblom this past Tuesday in a semifinal contest within the Class 3A St. Laurence Regional, sank 43 percent of their field-goal attempts and shot 78 percent at the line. Oak Lawn 51 Lindblom 48 The Spartans were able to triumph on their own Senior Night, but they kept the Eagles from doing likewise last Tuesday. Oak Lawn gained a win while playing in a pint-sized gymnasium. “It was a bandbox - similar to Mt. Carmel’s old gym, only smaller,” Rhodes said. “On sideline-inbounds plays, you were a foot in bounds. They had a good crowd and you couldn’t hear each other or hear play calls. “[But] it was cool. I like to take our kids out of their comfort zone, and the kids really enjoyed going over there and playing.” A 5 p.m. varsity game time added to the strangeness of the day

— “There was sunlight streaming through the windows when we started,” Rhodes said — but the Spartans dealt with the conditions with relatively little trouble. They could never shake Lindblom, but a slight rebounding edge and five more successful charity tosses were enough to push Oak Lawn over the top. Swatek was again the Spartans’ ringleader with 16 points, which included a 7-of-8 effort from the stripe, and five rebounds. Joe Cosenza (10 points), Prince (six points, eight rebounds), Stacy (six points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals, three blocks) and Nate Jones (six points) all contributed as well. Oak Lawn played Kenwood Academy, Rhodes’ former team, this past Monday in the Class 4A Oak Lawn Regional. “I think that school is a special place,” Rhodes said of Kenwood. “I still follow what they do, but it’ll be weird to play [against] them.”

Statistics Evergreen Park 17 22 10 14 - 63 Oak Lawn 15 15 15 19 - 64 Evergreen Park Scoring: Weathersby 25, Matthews 10, Cheatham 7, Sorbellini 6, Oladejo 5, Brown 4, McClendon 4, Moran 2. Rebounds: Weathersby 6. Assists: Matthews 5. Steals: Matthews 3, Weathersby 3. Oak Lawn Scoring: Swatek 25, Stacy 21, Prince 12, Jones 6. Rebounds: Prince 9, Stacy 8. Assists: Prince 4. Oak Lawn 11 15 9 16 - 51 Lindblom 15 13 7 13 - 48 Oak Lawn Scoring: Swatek 16, Cosenza 10, Jones 6, Prince 6, Stacy 6, Samra 4, Nelson 3. Rebounds: Prince 8, Stacy 7. Assists: Stacy 5. Steals: Stacy 3. Blocks: Stacy 3.

Section 2

Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Regional News - The Reporter

Trinity sports report

Spring has not sprung for Trolls Benny Collesano and Brett Husiman, back in the swing afOnce upon a time, there was ter a long injury rehab, will add depth. a thing called spring. Senior Peter Krygsheld returns It usually started even before the official solstice, and baseball his .305 average to the plate and teams could get in a game or two his speed -- 17 steals last season along the way without traveling — to the basepaths. He’ll lock down either third base, his spot a thousand miles to do so. Not this year. Trinity Christian last season, or shortstop. Senior College is among those schools that Steve Brewer appears settled in have been frozen out so far this sea- at second base, while Joe Presutti son. The Trolls are 0-4, and those will be back in right field, looking games almost shouldn’t count on to exceed the seven homers he the record, for there will have been clouted last season. The Trolls improved as the seatwo weeks between pitches when they take the field again — weather son went on last year, finishing 25-24 while compiling an 18-12 permitting, of course. They haven’t played since Feb. mark in Chicagoland Collegiate 24, when they dropped a twinbill Athletic Conference play. They to Brescia in Owensboro, Ky., by made it to the NAIA Tournament scores of 2-0 and 5-1. Since then, for the first time, thanks to a a doubleheader against Grace Col- runner-up placing in the conferlege and two slated with Harris ence tourney. *** Stowe State have been wiped off • Schedule: Monday, vs. the calendar. The plan is to embark on a Flor- Aquinas University, 8:30 a.m.; ida trip to such postcard places vs. Clarke University, 1:30 p.m. as Winter Haven and Frostproof, (Auburndale, Fla.); Tuesday, vs. Photo by Jeff Vorva with games beginning Monday. Clarke (2), 9 a.m. (Leesburg, Homewood-Flossmoor’s Tai Odiase, who scored 25 points against Sandburg, tries to get around There will be 10 games in five Fla.); Wednesday, vs. St. AmEagles defender Niko Cahue as Cahue’s teammate Eric Straka looks on last Tuesday night. days, which will give fourth-year brose University (2), 12:30 p.m. coach Justin Huisman a fair idea (Winter Haven, Fla.); Mar. 13, vs. of the depth of his pitching staff, Aquinas University (2), 11 a.m. (Frostproof, Fla.); Mar. 14, vs. if nothing else. Even with six players gradu- Trinity International University ated from last year’s squad, it (2), 9 a.m. (Lakeland, Fla.). SOFTBALL should be good, based on the five Fifth-year coach Missy Bolhuis’ returning seniors alone. Danny Britt, Vince Van Schouwen and team starts the season in Florida Drew Chibe will lead the way, on Saturday with the first of five with Britt’s 3.49 earned-run av- twinbills featuring seven teams. erage across 80 innings ranking The openers are against Corneras the best among the trio. Add stone and Grace. There are six seniors among the a quartet of transfers -- including sophomore J.T. Yocum (Lewis Uni- Trolls’ 14 returnees, plus a crop versity) and juniors Brad Kopale of six new faces for a 20-person (South Suburban College) and Bob squad, the largest in recent times. Wilmsen (Moraine Valley College) That gives Bolhuis options she — and Huisman will have plenty didn’t have before. One no-brainer for her is relying of potential starters from which on Brianna Brugioni as the ace of to choose. By Tim Cronin

Bulldogs (Continued from page 1)

Photo by Jeff Vorva

Sandburg’s Mike Piazza saves a loose ball from going out of bounds last Tuesday night versus Homewood-Flossmoor.

Eagles (Continued from page 1) the Raiders, but the hosts totaled 20 buckets to Sandburg’s 18.

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Homewood-Flossmoor 56 Sandburg 53 The Eagles were in an even deeper hole last Tuesday versus the Vikings, who rode center Tai Odiase’s 18 first-half points to a 38-19 advantage. H-F was ahead by 15 at the third-period stop and by that same margin three minutes into the fourth frame. However, Sandburg players refused to wave the white flag. Instead, they proceeded to make a game of it, as improved defense caused a few Vikings turnovers and disrupted the visitors’ attack. H-F managed only one field goal over the final eight minutes. “It wasn’t anything drastic,” Allen said. “We were just getting a few stops and converting at the other end. Other than Odiase, they didn’t have anybody score in double figures. “We only played [well] in the

second half, but when we finally started to play defense and hit some shots, [we became competitive]. We had said, ‘Let’s try to make it a single-digit game with under four minutes to go.’ We didn’t quite do that, but we kept whittling it down.” Still, plenty of ground needed to be made up, and when the Eagles were staring at a 55-45 deficit with 1:50 left, it appeared as though their defensive handiwork would go for naught. But Straka, Martinez and seldom-used senior Mike Piazza all nailed 3pointers in the late going - Piazza deposited four long balls on Senior Night in Orland Park - and the heat was put on H-F. The Vikings’ edge eventually got shaved to two points. A free throw made it a three-point differential, but Sandburg still had a chance to tie — two, in fact, on its final possession, but it misfired both times from beyond the arc. “It would have been a storybook ending, but we weren’t able to make enough plays at the end,” Allen said. The Eagles’ comeback was en-

gineered without much help from either Cahue or Kogionis. The two, who are averaging a combined 28 points per game this season, notched only 10 points between them. Coming forward in their place were the aforementioned trio of Straka (14 points, nine rebounds, four assists), Piazza (12 points) and Martinez (10 points). “We had a lot of other guys step up for us,” said Allen, whose squad drilled 10 3-pointers on the evening Sandburg met Eisenhower this past Monday in an opening-round matchup within the Cardinals’ Class 4A regional.

Statistics Homewood-Flossmoor 20 18 11 7 - 56 Sandburg 11 8 15 19 - 53 Sandburg Scoring: Straka 14, Piazza 12, Martinez 10, Cahue 7, T. Demogerontas 4, Kogionis 3, Manthey 3. Rebounds: Straka 9. Assists: Straka 4. Sandburg 11 15 13 12 - 51 Bolingbrook 16 15 17 6 - 54 Sandburg Scoring: Kogionis 17, Martinez 11, Straka 9, Cahue 5, T. Demogerontas 5, Ruzevich 4, Vorva 2.

about this particular contest. He was also referring to a number of other memorable moments during his head-coaching career, including the winning of a Class 4A title six years ago. “There’s no way I would ever have dreamt of a state championship, but I felt a lot of pressure to keep it up,” Chappetto said. “There’s no way I can be like it didn’t matter, [so] every game is

RedHawks (Continued from page 1) A missed free throw on the front end of a 1-and-1 - one of four such happenings for them in the game - with 3:45 remaining in the fourth quarter prevented the RedHawks from perhaps pulling even at 37-all, but the visitors were still nipping at St. Viator’s heels after that. With 1:10 left, a mere four points separated the clubs. “We just didn’t shoot well enough to balance out that good defense,” Nolan said. “If we could have made some shots, like we usually do, we could have won this game.” Jeremiah Ferguson (17 points, six rebounds, four assists) was the lone Marist player to tally in double figures, but that lack of firepower wasn’t too costly in the first half. Thanks to their solid work without the ball, the RedHawks limited the Lions to a point per minute before intermission and trailed by only five at the break. “I thought we were as engaged defensively as we have been all year,” Nolan said. “It might not

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stressful. It takes its toll.” Chappetto had mulled over the possibility of walking away at the conclusion of a trying 201213 campaign, but opted not to because he “didn’t want to leave on that note. This year wasn’t perfect, but that last year kind of left a bad taste in our mouths.” “I didn’t know how I was going to do it,” Chappetto said of relinquishing his position. “I didn’t want to make it the ‘John Chappetto Going-Away Tour,’ but I [also] didn’t want to be one of those guys who says [he’s thinking about] it every year.”

Richards tried to extend Chappetto’s stay on Monday, when it tangled with Kennedy in a play-in game at the Shepard Regional. If successful there, the Bulldogs were to meet Stagg on Tuesday.

be [considered] a glamour thing to hold a team to 16 points in a half, but to our kids it is. The casual fan might have thought it was an ugly game, but the pace favored us [because it was] a game that didn’t flow and wasn’t fluid. “We try making teams feel like they can’t get comfortable in their offense. Our kids believe in each other, and if you have five great individual defenders who also play good team defense, you can be successful [on a steady basis]. We’re going to need that in the state tournament.” Marist wound up as the stingiest squad in the ESCC in average points per game surrendered, and Nolan feels “this team is in the conversation of being one of the best defenses we’ve ever had.” He did admit, however, to being uncertain at the outset of the current season as to what might be forthcoming. “After all the kids we graduated, we weren’t sure what we had,” Nolan said. “Anything this year has developed through the year, but these are tough kids. You can’t ask every kid to be great at everything, but you build up those things they are great at.” Brian Holland tossed in nine points and Weishar totaled five points, 10 rebounds and four assists for the RedHawks, who began play in the Class 4A King Regional this past Tuesday against the host Jaguars. “We’ll have our hands full, but I think we got better because of

this [St. Viator] game,” Nolan said. “It’s been a great year and a fun year.” Marist 54 Agricultural Science 37 Certainly, there was plenty of fun in store for the RedHawks last Thursday, when they wrapped up the regular schedule by notching a lopsided win over Chicago Agricultural Science in a game that had originally been postponed because of bad weather. In front of a Senior Night crowd, Nolan started five of his six seniors. Weishar volunteered to be odd man out, but according to Nolan, he wasn’t the only one thinking along those same lines. “They’re givers, not takers, and that’s so important in a team sport,” Nolan said. “It was just a statement on Senior Night from seniors who really care.” Despite the makeshift lineup, Marist raced to a 10-0 lead as Ryan Tucker (3-point basket), Weishar and Andre Turner all delivered early hoops, the latter’s coming on a layup off a Weishar assist. The RedHawks were up 16-8 at the quarter stop and 3519 at halftime, and the visitors weren’t in any position to stage a second-half comeback. The Cyclones went 3-of-13 from 3-point land and were at 37 percent accuracy within twopoint territory. They did make seven free throws, but Marist’s defense allowed only four offensive rebounds and forced 12 miscues. Ten RedHawks reached the scoring column, with Holland (11 points), Weishar (nine points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals) and Tucker (seven points, four assists) showing the way. Marist shot 45 percent from the floor, 42 percent from 3-point range and 72 percent at the charity stripe, but what Nolan especially liked was the RedHawks’ total of 18 assists, which represented a season-best effort.

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Statistics Eisenhower 24 20 20 19 - 87 Richards 24 26 26 32 - 108 Richards Scoring: Meier 47, Alexander 16, T. Othman 9, Hussein 8, Shannon 8, Catledge 6, Williams 6, Anagnostopolous 4, Tears 4. Rebounds: Meier 27. Assists: Shannon 9. Blocks: Meier 4.

Statistics

email: arichards@regionalpublishing.com Fax: (708) 448-4160 arichards@regionalpublishing.com email: REGIONAL PUBLISHING CORPORATION 12243 PUBLISHING S. Harlem Ave. CORPORATION REGIONAL Palos Heights, IL 60463 12243 Harlem Ave. Phone:S.(708) 448-4000 Palos Heights, IL 60463 Phone: (708) 448-4000

the pitching staff. Brugioni struck out 91 batters last year and led Trinity with 19 RBI, playing third base on those days she wasn’t in the circle. Mattie McGuire (3.29 ERA) and Michelle Interrante will flip-flop between pitching and first base. They and the rest of the staff will be caught by dependable Kaleigh Velasquez. Figure on Anna Phillips to return to the leadoff spot with her .356 average and penchant for stealing, with Ballan Reynolds (.290) and Tori Grzincic (.257) also expected to be regulars again. In the field, Grzincic may take over second base, while there will be battles for both shortstop and third base. The added depth from the expanded roster should provide incentive across the board. *** • Schedule: Saturday, vs. Cornerstone University, 4 p.m.; vs. Grace College, 6 p.m.; Monday, vs. Marian University, 8 a.m., vs. Ave Maria, 10 a.m.; Tuesday, vs. Marian, noon; vs. Spring Arbor, 2 p.m.; Wednesday, vs. Ave Maria, 2 p.m.; vs. St. Xavier University, 4 p.m.; Thursday, vs. Mt. Vernon Nazarene (2), noon (all games in Clermont, Fla.). TRACK & FIELD Anna Bos and Andy Reidsma will carry National Christian College Athletic Association honors into this week’s NAIA Indoor Championship in Geneva, Ohio. Both were feted as athletes of the week for their exploits at the NCCAA indoor meet. Bos finished second in the 5,000-meter run while eclipsing her school record by almost 30 seconds with a time of 17 minutes, 32.61 seconds. Reidsma, meanwhile, was runner-up in the men’s 3,000 and also anchored Trinity’s two relay teams.

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Marist 6 5 14 15 - 40 St. Viator 4 12 17 16 - 49 Marist Scoring: Ferguson 17, Holland 9, Weishar 5, Lerma 4, Hawkins 3, Burrell 2. Rebounds: Weishar 10. Assists: Ferguson 4, Weishar 4. Steals: Lerma 3. Agricultural Science 8 11 7 11 - 37 Marist 16 19 14 5 - 54 Marist Scoring: Holland 11, Weishar 9, Tucker 7, Lerma 6, Rivard 6, Hawkins 4, Ferguson 3, Hill 3, Turner 3, Burrell 2. Rebounds: Weishar 7. Assists: Weishar 7, Tucker 4. Steals: Weishar 3.

The Regional News - The Reporter

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Thursday, March 6, 2014 Section 2

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For Sale

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS, SERVICING L.P. P l a i n t i f f , � v . � JOHN F. BRENNAN A/K/A JOHN F. BRENNANN, CARROLL A. BRENNAN D e f e n d a n t s � 08 CH 027392 7455 W. UTE LANE PALOS HEIGHTS, IL 60463 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 20, 2009, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 31, 2014, at the The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive - 24th Floor, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 7455 W. UTE LANE, PALOS HEIGHTS, IL 60463 Property Index No. 23-36-218-009. The real estate is improved with a single family residence. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial sale fee for Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in "AS IS" condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information, examine the court file or contact Plaintiff's attorney: CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL 60527, (630) 794-9876. Please refer to file number 14-08-19142. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE, IL 60527 (630) 794-5300 Attorney File No. 14-08-19142 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 08 CH 027392 TJSC#: 34-3514 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff's attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. I593782

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL A S S O C I A T I O N � P l a i n t i f f , � v . � MANUEL IBARRA D e f e n d a n t s � 13 CH 018277 14354 PINEWOOD DRIVE ORLAND PARK, IL 60467 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on November 6, 2013, Auction.com, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 1:00 PM on April 9, 2014, at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, 350 West Mart Center Drive (in the Auction.com room), CHICAGO, IL, 60654, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 14354 PINEWOOD DRIVE, ORLAND PARK, IL 60467 Property Index No. 27-07-106-001. The real estate is improved with a single family residence. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial sale fee for Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in "AS IS" condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information, examine the court file or contact Plaintiff's attorney: CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL 60527, (630) 794-9876. Please refer to file number 14-13-17772. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. AUCTION.COM LLC For Additional Information regarding Auction.com, please visit www.Auction.com or call (800-280-2832) CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE, IL 60527 (630) 794-5300 Attorney File No. 14-13-17772 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 13 CH 018277 TJSC#: 33-25122 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff's attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. I591946

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY D I V I S I O N � BANK OF AMERICA, N.A. P l a i n t i f f , � v . � ANDRIUS BALTAKYS, SCENIC TREE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS D e f e n d a n t s � 12 CH 004481 8425 W. 101ST TERRACE UNIT #107 PALOS HILLS, IL 60465 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on July 17, 2012, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 14, 2014, at the The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive - 24th Floor, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate:Commonly known as 8425 W. 101ST TERRACE UNIT #107, PALOS HILLS, IL 60465 Property Index No. 23-11-302-003-1240, Property Index No. (23-11-302-002 underlying). The real estate is improved with a condo/townhouse. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial sale fee for Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in "AS IS" condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information, examine the court file or contact Plaintiff's attorney: CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL 60527, (630) 794-9876. Please refer to file number 14-12-02692. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE, IL 60527 (630) 794-5300 Attorney File No. 14-12-02692 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 12 CH 004481 TJSC#: 34-2153 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff's attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. I590681

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. P l a i n t i f f , � v . � MONICA LINARES A/K/A MONICA OROSCO, MARYANN MORENO A/K/A MARY ANN MORENO A/K/A MARY ANN PEREZ, RAFAEL LINARES, 7951-7959 W. 112TH PLACE TOWNHOME ASSOCIATION, CAPITAL ONE BANK (USA), N.A., S/I/I TO CAPITAL ONE BANK, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 12 CH 10011 7955 WEST 112TH PLACE PALOS HILLS, IL 60465 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on August 29, 2013, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 20, 2014, at the The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive - 24th Floor, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 7955 WEST IN THEPLACE, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY, 112TH PALOS HILLS, OF IL 60465 Property Index ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY No. 23-24-100-161-0000. The real estate is improved DIVISION JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONwith a 4 or more units townhouse with an attached 2 car AL ASSOCIATION, SUCCESSOR INTEREST garage. Sale terms: 25% down of the IN highest bid by BY PURCHASE FROM DEPOSIT certified funds at the close THE of theFEDERAL sale payable to The INSURANCE CORPORATION ASparty RECEIVER OF Judicial Sales Corporation. No third checks will WASHINGTON BANK FKA WASHINGbe accepted. The MUTUAL balance, including the Judicial sale fee for Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid MARQUETTE by the purchaser not to MARQUETTE BANK FKA NATIONexceed $300,SUCCESSOR in certified funds/or due AL BANK, TO wire TCFtransfer, BANK, isSUCwithin twenty-four (24) hours. fee shall beGARFIELD paid by the CESSOR TO BANK OF No CHICAGO mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate RIDGE AS TRUSTEE UNDER THE PROVISIONS pursuant to its credit bid AGREEMENT, at the sale or DATED by any OF A CERTAIN TRUST mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor THE 14TH DAY OF MAY 1977, AND KNOWN AS acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in TRUST NUMBER 77-5-5, ORLAND GOLF VIEW and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in "AS IS" condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information: Visit our website at service.atty-pierce.com. between the hours of 3 and 5 pm. PIERCE & ASSOCIATES, Plaintiff's Attorneys, One North Dearborn Street Suite 1300, CHICAGO, IL 60602. Tel No. (312) 476-5500. Please refer to file number PA1204744. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. PIERCE & ASSOCIATES One North Dearborn Street Suite 1300 CHICAGO, IL 60602 (312) 476-5500 Attorney File No. PA1204744 Attorney Code. 91220 Case Number: 12 CH 10011 TJSC#: 34-384 I589563

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For Sale For Sale IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, I L L I N O I S � COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY A S � TRUSTEE FOR HSI ASSET SECURITIZATION C O R P � TRUST 2007-NC1; P l a i n t i f f , � v s . � WOJCIECH KOPEC AKA WOJCIECH MAREK K O P E C ; � DOROTA KOPEC; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON R E C O R D � C L A I M A N T S ; � D e f e n d a n t s , � 12 CH 23202 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause on January 10, 2014 Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Friday, April 11, 2014 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real e s t a t e : � P.I.N. 23-14-219-047-0000. Commonly known as 10343 South 84th Avenue, Palos Hills, IL 60465. The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled at most only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee or the Mortgagee's a t t o r n e y . � Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection For information call Mr. Anthony Porto at Plaintiff's Attorney, Freedman Anselmo, Lindberg LLC, 1807 West Diehl Road, Naperville, Illinois 60563-1890. (866) 402-8661. For Bidding instructions visit www.fal-illinois.com 24 hours prior to sale. F12050317 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION Selling Officer, (312) 444-1122 I593153

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC P l a i n t i f f , � v . � ARTA GASHI A/K/A ARTA BUSTAMI, HICKORY POINTE CONDOMINIUMS, CITIBANK (SOUTH DAKOTA), N.A. Defendants 12 CH 024614 9440 S. 79TH COURT UNIT #3SE HICKORY HILLS, IL 60457 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on November 21, 2013, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on March 21, 2014, at the The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive - 24th Floor, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 9440 S. 79TH COURT UNIT #3SE, HICKORY HILLS, IL 60457 Property Index No. 23-01-303-019-1009. The real estate is improved with a condo/townhouse. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial sale fee for Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in "AS IS" condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information, examine the court file or contact Plaintiff's attorney: CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL 60527, (630) 794-9876. Please refer to file number 14-12-11094. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE, IL 60527 (630) 794-5300 Attorney File No. 14-12-11094 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 12 CH 024614 TJSC#: 34-2610 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff's attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. I591782

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“10 in the Park” NEW as of 7/7/11 For Sale IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. Plaintiff, -v.ROMAN MIASKOWSKI, EDYTA MIASKOWSKI, FIRST MIDWEST BANK, AS TRUSTEE U/T/A DATED AUGUST 5, 2008 A/K/A TRUST NUMBER 1-7623, UNKNOWN BENEFICIARIES OF FIRST MIDWEST BANK U/T/A DATED AUGUST 5, 2008 A/K/A TRUST NUMBER 1-7623, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 13 CH 017636 9114 S. 82ND AVENUE HICKORY HILLS, IL 60457 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 7, 2014, Auction.com, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 1:00 PM on April 9, 2014, at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, 350 West Mart Center Drive (in the Auction.com room), CHICAGO, IL, 60654, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate:Commonly known as 9114 S. 82ND AVENUE, HICKORY HILLS, IL 60457 Property Index No. 23-02-418-024. The real estate is improved with a residence. Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial sale fee for Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information, examine the court file or contact Plaintiff’s attorney: CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL 60527, (630) 794-9876. Please refer to file number 14-13-16962. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www. tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales. AUCTION.COM LLC For Additional Information regarding Auction.com, please visit www.Auction.com or call (800-280-2832) CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE, IL 60527 (630) 794-5300 Attorney File No. 14-13-16962 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 13 CH 017636 TJSC#: 34-830 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. I591442

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in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination.” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18. This newspaper will not

knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are herby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. To complain of discrimination call HUD toll-free at 1 (800) 669-9777. The toll-free telephone number for the hearing impaired is: 1 (800) 927-9275.

Section 2 Thursday, March 6, 2014 The Regional News - The Reporter

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