The Doings Oak Brook

Visitors enjoy spring celebration in Oakbrook Terrace

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:38:46 -0500

OAKBROOK TERRACE — The Oakbrook Terrace Park District’s Lakeview Nature Center annual spring celebration Saturday offered a variety of opportunities for those who showed up between noon and 4 p.m. at the center, 17W063 Hodges Road. The event included live animals, a bounce house, crafts, archery, and rides on paddle boats, face painting, balloon artists and a self-guided nature hike. …

County officials seek new approach in the fight against mosquitos

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:17:30 -0500

One DuPage County township will soon be a test case in the fight against mosquitos. The Mosquito Abatement Task Force has agreed on several priorities in its effort to both combat the West Nile virus that claimed five lives last year, and also streamline and coordinate anti-mosquito efforts at the county level. “The first step is that the task force wants a unified approach,” Linda Kurzawa, president of the DuPage County Board of Health, said. The other priorities agreed upon were that the Board of Health will reach out to DuPage Forest Preserve District and DuPage Mayors and Managers to …

Hinsdale board extends liquor hours to allow Fuller’s bar and grill

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:23:06 -0500

HINSDALE —Doug Fuller and his partners got the later hours they wanted from the Hinsdale Village Board and plan to have a family restaurant open by the fall. Fuller plans to convert the southern portion of Fuller’s Home & Hardware store, on Garfield and First streets, into a two-story restaurant and bar that will serve less expensive meals than some other restaurants in town. For the business to successfully compete with similar-style places in nearby towns, Fuller and Jim Carlstrom argued they need to serve liquor later than the current Hinsdale limits of 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on …

Kesman and Paulsen return to Hinsdale Central as interim principals

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:14:53 -0500

HINSDALE — Two retired principals are returning to Hinsdale Central High School as interim leaders. The Hinsdale High School District 86 Board approved hiring Tom Paulsen and Frank Kesman as interim principals for next school year. They will be paid $80,000 each for 100 days of work. Principal Michael McGrory announced last month he has accepted a position as a high school principal in Iowa, his home state. A national search for a permanent replacement for McGrory will start in the fall, Superintendent Nicholas Wahl said. Kesman and Paulsen previously shared the principal duties at Central in the 2009-10 school …

Hinsdale District 86 votes to rebid summer construction projects

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:52:06 -0500

HINSDALE — The Hinsdale High School District 86 Board voted Monday to cancel contracts for summer construction projects. The decision could result in cancelation fees of $17,000 to the construction firm Gilbane Inc. and $12,000 to their contractors. The board voted 4-3 to cancel the contracts for all but the safety ladders and railings for rooftop equipment at Hinsdale South. Newly elected Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran and Claudia Manley were joined by board member Richard Skoda in voting to cancel the contracts the board approved in April. The vote to rebid the projects was not as close, as the members …

3 Brookfield Zoo dolphins expecting

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:48:20 -0500

Chicago Zoological Society officials say three Brookfield Zoo bottlenose dolphins are pregnant. Officials say Allie, 26, Tapeko, 31, and Spree, 10, are due to give birth this summer and fall.

Hinsdale Central alumnus ordained

Thu, 23 May 2013 03:41:19 -0500

Hinsdale Central alumnus John Lovitsch was ordained a priest Saturday at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet. He anticipated the sacrament the day before. “I enter as a deacon and I leave as a priest,” Lovitsch said. The difference, he explains, is a priest’s soul is “configured at ordination to the person of Jesus Christ. That’s what enables him to do what he does,” which simply means, Lovitsch said, he “has to get out of the way and let Christ do his work.” Lovitsch is excited about his assignment to Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville, …

Oak Brook and Oakbrook Terrace crime briefs for May 20

Thu, 23 May 2013 04:00:03 -0500

The following incidents were listed among the official reports of the Oak Brook and Oakbrook Terrace police departments. Oak Brook BURGLARY A purse and a cell phone were reported stolen at 4:22 p.m. May 19 from a vehicle parked on the 2000 block of York Road. Miscellaneous tools valued at $675 were reported stolen at 12:16 p.m. May 15 from a vehicle parked on the 2600 block of Butterfield Road. A purse, a cell phone, and unspecified merchandise were reported stolen at 2:03 p.m. May 13 from a vehicle parked on the 2000 block of York Road. THEFT Landscaping equipment …

Oak Brook and Oakbrook Terrace police blotters for May 20

Thu, 23 May 2013 03:59:54 -0500

The following incidents were listed among the official reports of the Oak Brook and Oakbrook Terrace police departments. Readers are reminded that an arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt. Only a court of law can make that determination. Oak Brook ALCOHOL Walter A. Barr, 49, of 11921 Maple Ave., Blue Island, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and making an improper turn at 10:25 p.m. May 17 at Illinois 83 and 31st Street. RETAIL THEFT Lilli Melina Michel, 34, of 4357 S. Troy Ave., Chicago, was charged under local …

Talent to shine in Clarendon Hills Middle School fundraiser

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:16:04 -0500

CLARENDON HILLS — Frankie Barreda isn’t worried about outdoing herself. The Clarendon Hills Middle School eighth-grader will perform Thursday in her third consecutive Donoroo, a fundraising talent show.

Solemn ceremonies set for Memorial Day in Hinsdale

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:17:40 -0500

HINSDALE — Hinsdale will commemorate Memorial Day with a procession, music and services at the Memorial Building, and Bronswood and Fullersburg cemeteries.

Franklin Park man charged with videotaping women in Elmhurst Hospital washroom

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:59:20 -0500

A poorly secured cell phone in an Elmhurst Hospital washroom that a man had allegedly set up to secretly videotape women in the toilet area was discovered by a woman when the phone fell to the washroom floor on Friday. She alerted police, who then arrested and charged a 49-year-old Franklin Park man with unlawful videotaping. That man, Salvador Perez, of the 2500 block of Sonia Avenue in Franklin Park, was being held at the DuPage County Jail Saturday morning, after DuPage County Judge Michael Wolfe set his bond at $150,000. Prosecutors allege that on Friday, Perez positioned his cell …

Low ad revenue estimates force Metra to delay Wi-Fi study

Sat, 18 May 2013 02:08:23 -0500

Metra is delaying the second phase of a plan to get Wi-Fi on trains amid concern the rail agency wouldn’t get enough from advertising dollars and would still have to spend millions annually.

Aneurysm support group helps people deal with new normal

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:26:00 -0500

HINSDALE — A support group that offers emotional support to people recovering from brain aneurysm meets monthly at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital. The DuPage County Brain Aneurysm Support Group welcomes anyone in the area recovering from a brain aneurysm, as well as their families. The group meets at 6 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month at the hospital’s Tupper Hall, 119 N. Oak St. The hospital will enter its third year of hosting the group this fall, said Kathryn Lubben, clinical neurovascular nurse practitioner. Lubben acts as the support group’s facilitator. The group is affiliated with The Brain Aneurysm …

Retirement is bittersweet for Oak Brook principal

Thu, 23 May 2013 03:59:19 -0500

OAK BROOK — Nina McCabe is feeling bittersweet about her retirement as principal of Brook Forest School. A former teacher who was a principal for 15 years before coming to Brook Forest, McCabe is leaving Butler Elementary District 53 school with fond memories from her seven years. Q. What grade levels did you teach before first becoming a principal? A. I taught kindergarten, first grade, second-third grade, and was a reading specialist for kindergarten through sixth grade. Q. Why did you decide to become a principal?A. My passion is teaching and learning, and being with children at the elementary level. …

Dillard becomes victim of crime he sought to prevent

Thu, 23 May 2013 03:41:49 -0500

HINSDALE — Sen. Kirk Dillard has suffered firsthand the loss he was trying to prevent with legislation he sponsored last year for the sale of stolen gold and silver. On a Saturday night in March, Kirk’s Hinsdale home was burglarized when he and his wife went out for a short time. The burglar took gold and silver jewelry, plus a silver tray that used to belong to Dillard’s wife’s great-great-grandmother, and a sterling silver mirror. “The pattern is very clear,” said Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican and potential gubernatorial candidate. With the prices of gold and silver skyrocketing in recent years, …