Eclipse Select Soccer Club’s Elite ECNL 2016 (U-17), which features Highland Park’s Zoe Redei, finished fifth place at the 2014-15 Elite Clubs National League Finals near Richmond, Virginia.
Eclipse defeated the Dallas Sting 1-0 on July 18 in the tournament’s fifth-place game. Redei scored the game’s lone goal, converting a first-half penalty kick after she was tackled from behind.
Eclipse ended up with a 1-1-2 record, tying Slammers 1-1 and Santa Rosa United 2-2 while losing to PDA 3-0.
Redei, who will be a senior at HPHS, is a North Carolina recruit.
Lake Forest High School’s Hannah Marwede (class of 2016) and Glenbrook South’s Abby Dein (class of 2016) also play for the squad.
Other team members include Marissa Bosco, Courtney Coleman, Courtney Daugerdas, Channing Foster, Emily Furmanek, Alissa Gorzak, Nicki Hernandez, Emily Hess, Foster Ignoffo, Rebecca Koch, Amanda Kowalski, Angelina LoDolce, Alla Martin, Kristen McFarland, Tatumn Milazzo, Madison Navarro, Mikaela Niermann, Dana O’Boye, Cassidy Privett, Breana Robbins, Stephanie Rodriquez, Cassandra Rohan and Ena Sabanagic.

This is a race in which you will want to participate!  Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association will be holding is annual 5K Twilight “Run, Walk, or Roll” event.  It’s one of the largest CARA 5K races in the area, and offers race divisions for every ability.  This is a race not to be missed …PLEASE mark your calendars!

It was a Magic-al ending.
The Highland Park-based Chicago Magic PSG Preacademy U17 team defeated Arlington Impact Red (Virginia) 4-1 in the title game of the 2015 US Youth Soccer National Championships on July 26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The team, which rosters New Trier’s Spencer Farina, Michael Gallo and Brad Nassar along with Highland Park’s Carlos Pineda and Elijah Rice and Glenbrook South’s Patrick Wdowikowski, went 2-0-1 in pool play and topped Baltimore Celtic 97/98 2-0 in the semifinals.
Pineda, a 2014 grad of HPHS who will play college soccer this fall for UW-Green Bay, was one of the tourney stars. He earned the Golden Glove Award and was named to the Best XI team.
Gallo finished the tourney with two goals, including one in the championship. He also tallied a goal against Sunrise Elite of Florida in the opening round of pool play.
The Magic, which is coached by Bato Radoncic, was the only team from Illinois to claim a title. This was the Magic’s first national crown in 12 years.
The other team members include Brian Arambula, Stephen Batinovic, Alejandro Cervantes, Ziyad Fares, Lyes Ghezali, David Guerrero, Arron Ibilola, Achara Ifunanyachi, Josh Illana, Jesus Perez, Luka Prpa, Emmanuel Sabbi, Ameen Salako, Kalenga Selemani, Kendall Stork and Grant Ugarte.

LAKE BLUFF – Lake Bluff police arrested a man soon after he exited the village’s new Target store on Sunday, July 26 and charged him with retail theft (two counts) and obstructing justice.

According to LBPD Deputy Chief Mike Hosking, officers arrested Michael T. Neal, age 35, of Vernon Hills, after he was allegedly observed by Target security employees exiting the store with merchandise he had not paid for, including 17 bottles of alcohol and other items. The items had a total retail value of $617.54, the police stated.

Outside the store, the suspect was approached by Target Security and Lake Bluff and Lake Forest police officers. Deputy Chief Hosking said he attempted to flee on foot but was apprehended by police officers. He also said the Lake County States Attorney’s Office approved the Felony Charges, and that Mr. Neal was served copies of the arrest tickets at the Lake Bluff Police Department and was transported to the Lake County Jail where he was remanded.

By: Anne Marie Brugioni, Xhris Fitzgerald, and Dasha Rodina

Some believe you have to travel to Egypt or Greece to conduct archaeological excavation, but in reality you need look no further than your own driveway and the trash you throw out. That is what Lake Forest College students are learning in an urban archaeological dig at the Charnley-Persky House in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Under the direction of LFC professor Rebecca Graff, we have unearthed many historical artifacts on the grounds of the house, which is a National Historic Landmark designed by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Fortunately we have not found any human remains — if we did we would have to call the Cook County coroner and our project would have ceased before it could commence. We also have not found actual gold in this Gold Coast dig, but the artifacts we have discovered are priceless as they give insight and valuable information into Chicago life and culture in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

This month, we are excavating the brick driveway at the house, which is located at 1365 N. Astor Street. We are working in garbage heaps, or middens, that are filled with copious amounts of artifacts and materials that were touched or modified by humans occupying the area, whether from those living in the Charnley House throughout the years, neighboring houses, or those from the Gold Coast at large.

In 2003 when the house was undergoing construction, workers unearthed a 19th century midden full of artifacts ranging from cheddar cheese jars made of milk glass to whole pieces of beautiful china. Due to this discovery, the Charnley-Persky House contacted Dr. Graff in 2008. Dr. Graff then led a field school at the site in 2010 through DePaul University to provide students a hands-on archaeological experience. Now Dr. Graff, working as an anthropology professor and the resident archaeologist at Lake Forest College, is giving students the same opportunity to get their hands dirty and work with this historical trash.

Our primary goal is to excavate the driveway in two units (each one meter in width by two meters in length). We know artifacts from the 19th and early-20th century are there thanks to the 2003 construction and the 2010 DePaul field school. Field students have already found objects ranging from ceramics and glass bottles to a fully intact rusted wire coat hanger; nevertheless, we are all hoping to find more treasures as we screen and trowel through the sands of time.

The excavation is part of an $800,000, four-year grant at Lake Forest College from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to involve students and faculty in urban archaeological digs in Chicago, and in complementary coursework in various disciplines. The Society of Architectural Historians, headquartered at the Charnley-Persky House, is a key project partner for this phase of the grant.

The property is a culturally and historically important site. With every artifact we find, we are able to construct a narrative about the way the people lived. The information the artifacts provide and the experience of excavating are more valuable than gold.

Here are several photos taken by Xhris Fitzgerald.

By its very nature, historical archaeology is the interplay between artifacts and texts. Field students have set up a lab in the basement of Charnley-Persky House as a means of sorting through the artifacts found in the 2003 reconstruction of the house and collecting information on these certain objects. Records that picture the exact forms of these artifacts aid in deciphering their function and intended use. Additional archival research of objects that have logos or texts already on them (like the patent number and/or manufacturer’s name) can also provide information as to when these objects were first used, and hopefully, if lucky enough to find a document that tells us, when they made their way to Chicago and were used by Gold Coast residents; some bottles were even sold down the street from the Charnley’s in the late-1800s.

Siobhán Yeh, MLS Graduate Student at Lake Forest College

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A toothbrush; did they floss too?

One of the other great finds of the archeological field school was the remnant of a toothbrush! Originally made out of pig or cow bone, three rows of holes were punctured in the bone to provide placement for the bristles. Artifacts such as the remains of a toothbrush, even if not the complete toothbrush itself, still provide us with insight into the lives of residents of the Charnley House, its neighbors, and/or the people in the Gold Coast at large. For instance, the use of a toothbrush deduces to the importance of hygiene to residents. Can we also expect to find other artifacts used for hygienic and sanitary purposes? Yes, indeed. The field school has found Listerine bottles, which were originally used to clean floors, and perfume bottles, which suggest they were used in the absence of deodorant.

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From left: Dasha Rodina, Anne Marie Brugioni

Throughout the process of excavation, the technique of screening is done to sift through the soil that has been excavated from a given unit. During the excavation, not all artifacts are prominent and some are easy to miss (such as glass shards, rusty nail heads, and animal bone) so the soil needs to be separated and spread out allowing for easier identification of the items deposited by humans. The process is very simple and extremely useful for archaeology because it significantly speeds up the excavation process and it separates the soil from what we are always truly searching for: artifacts!

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Cheese crock

We all have that certain item of food that is regularly purchased—for a certain resident(s) of the Charnley House that was MacLaren’s Imperial Cheese (first introduced c. 1891 and trademarked c. 1905). This type of milk glass cheese jar that keeps popping up in excavation units is now owned by Kraft, but the originally Canadian company seemed to have always made its way down to Chicago. At least three pieces of this brand’s items have been excavated and something as simple as a brand of cheese can give us a look into the lifestyles of a possible Charnley home residents, and can aid in understanding their socioeconomic status; while the cheese was not expensive, it was certainly not the cheapest cheese around. The ability to identify something as simple as a disconnected label leads to numerous outlets of information.

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From left: Ada Okoli, Lillie Therieau, Ari Bachechi

The phrase of our field school is, “context is the most important thing.” Context tells us the history of the object. The depth of deposit, the soil that surrounds, and the relation to other objects around are components of the context. One of techniques we have used during the Charnley-Persky House excavation involves taking measurements vertically to determine how deep artifact lies. In order to have precise measurements of the depth, the horizontal baseline had to be set up. We chose a stable point, which is the subdatum; in our case, the subdatum is a fence. After rope is secured to the fence, a line level is used to make sure that the rope is perpendicular to the unit. A ruler is used to measure the depth from the site surface to the rope; as we continue to dig to reach the next level, the depth increases. This procedure is particularly important because the context, or the history or association of historical objects in a particular layer of dirt, provides the relative dates of the artifacts.

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Glass jars

Glass is one of the most common materials that we have been excavating, since it is relatively uninfluenced by various soil conditions. We were fortunate to find some easily identified marked glass; however, there are several characteristics that can provide valuable information and potentially narrow down the possibilities of the bottles’ functions. First is the shape of the bottle; for example, bottle #2 is thin and curvy, it’s particular shape relatively common for glass-bottled perfume. Secondly, the size of the bottle itself reveals information; relatively small bottles such as these can be of household use, such as for medical or beauty purposes. Thirdly, assessing the diameter of the neck of the bottle may be of use. We have found records that claim glass bottle #1 is probably a machine-made inkbottle, and the molded seams on the side support this claim; the horizontal neck ring as well as the size and shape corresponds to the bottle on record.

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The authors of this story, Anne Marie Brugioni, Xhris Fitzgerald, and Dasha Rodina, are all students at Lake Forest College. Brugioni (’16) is majoring in Sociology & Anthropology; Fitzgerald (’17) is majoring in Sociology & Anthropology and double minoring in Legal Studies and Art History; Rodina (’18) is double majoring in Sociology & Anthropology and Chemistry.

Special Thanks: Dr. Rebecca Graff (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Lake Forest College), Tiffany Charles (Head of Collections and Registration at DuSable Museum of African American History), Charnley-Persky House Museum and Pauline Saliga (Executive Director at Society of Architectural Historians), Lake Forest College, Emily Mace (Chicago Digital Humanities Coordinator at Lake Forest College), The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and all of our fellow classmates and colleagues excavating in and helping with the July 2015 Archaeological Field School.

Digital Chicago: Unearthing History and Culture, a grant at Lake Forest College from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is supporting the Archaeological Field School. Find out more about the grant at https://www.lakeforest.edu/chicago/digitalchicago/

David Sweet, editor in chief of The North Shore Weekend

When John Woodbridge’s father, Charles, escorted the 6-year-old to his office in the 1940s, the youngster expected the worst.

“I didn’t know what I had done wrong,” Woodbridge recalls.

In their Savannah, Ga., house, he was shown sheets of personal stationery, a name embossed in gold at top. Introduced to a golden gun, featuring two 16-gauge shotgun barrels, he noticed the initials AH.

The paper and the weapon had been the property of Adolf Hitler.

For decades, Woodbridge gave it little thought. In 2005, while watching TV at his Lake Forest home, the longtime Trinity University professor heard about a Hitler pistol for sale, jarring his memory. After many phone calls, much research and recruiting Chicago Tribune Pulitzer Prize winner Maurice Possley to help tell the story, he crafted “Hitler in the Crosshairs,” published by Zondervan four years ago. The engaging book encompasses a little-known German uprising near the end of World War II which received U.S. support, the storming of Hitler’s apartment by American troops in Munich and how Woodbridge’s father, a Presbyterian minister, landed the Fuhrer’s favorite gun, the German leader’s cherished 50^th birthday present.

That was the end of the story until last month. Woodbridge received a brief e-mail from the editor at his publishing house. Out of nowhere, his work had reached the 19^th spot on The New York Times’ list of best-selling nonfiction e-books.

Amazon had put a special discount rate on the book, and no doubt the word “Hitler” in the title helped spur sales. Rick Kogan hosted co-author Possley on his WGN program afterwards and said “Steven Spielberg, this should be your next movie.”

Though Spielberg hasn’t called, Hollywood is showing interest. Woodbridge says Carla Robinson, whose credits include “Battlestar Galactica,” offered to write the screenplay on spec recently after seeing Woodbridge’s and Possley’s movie proposal, which includes potential actors (such as Vanity Fair cover boy Channing Tatum) for the main roles.

“The interest in a good World War II movie apparently is pretty high right now because the Greatest Generation is disappearing,” Woodbridge says over coffee at Starbucks. “And from what I’ve heard, The New York Times bestseller list cachet kicks things up in Hollywood.”

Woodbridge, who has taught history at the Sorbonne in Paris and at Northwestern University, believes the little-known story needs to be told. About 400 Germans — led by German Army Officer Rupprecht Gerngross, who broadcast messages urging resistance of the regime — helped cripple Nazi control in Munich in April, 1945. That allowed the Allies to arrive in the city almost unscathed before heading to Berlin, where hundreds of thousands of Russians had been killed. The soldier Ira “Teen” Palm — a great friend of Woodbridge’s father — had been tapped to enter Hitler’s Munich apartment with other soldiers and assassinate him; instead, Palm gathered the stationery and gun from the empty abode and gave them to the Presbyterian minister, who had led him to his faith in Christ.

To his surprise, Woodbridge wasn’t punished on that long-ago day in his father’s office. Instead, a memory of a golden gun is putting the silver screen in his crosshairs almost 70 years later.

Enjoy the weekend.

David Sweet
Editor in Chief
david@northshoreweekend.com
Twitter: @northshorewknd

Anne Kavanagh Illustration by Barry Blitt

Robert Matthew Van Winkle, better known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, wanted something that was almost impossible.

He was scheduled to go on Windy City Live’s midday show, which started at 11 a.m. His flight, if he had it his way, would land at O’Hare at 9:30 a.m., only 90 minutes until showtime. But that left open the possibility for disaster — in the form of thunderstorms, grounded planes, missing white rappers — to loom too large for some.

“It’s cutting it really tight,” warned Glenview resident Anne Kavanagh, trying her best to be diplomatic.
The founder of MediaPros 24/7 was in her daughter’s car — hers was in the shop, much to the chagrin of her daughter — a blue Ford Fusion with her MacBook Pro thrown in the back, talking on speaker phone with the concert promoter from Kankakee Valley Park District’s BBQ Fest.

“Like we say in news. Deadline: If you don’t make it, you’re dead.”

Not only would Vanilla Ice be performing at the festival (“Vanilla Ice is back!” proclaimed the flyer) but so would other 1990s groups like grunge duo Local H, post-grunge alt-metal band Puddle of Mudd, and Queens, N.Y. hip hop trio Salt-N-Pepa. A man billed simply as “Goat,” from the TV show Full Throttle Saloon, would emcee.

As the Kankakee County Convention and Visitors Bureau was one of her clients, Kavanagh was in the unique position of making sure all the artists were placated, overseeing their lodgings, needs, wants, desires, and, maybe most importantly of all, their media rounds.

Salt was most definitely in to appear on radio, but Kavanagh and the concert promoter were still waiting to hear back from Pepa. And what of Spinderella, the group’s DJ? He would have to check. Would the radio show’s hosts need to know their real names? Again, that was up in the air. In the driver’s seat, Kavanagh barely moved, but the nimble mental juggling I was witnessing was impressive.

Once ensconced in a calm booth at Jasper’s Café in Glenview, Kavanagh orders scrambled eggs with diced ham, hash browns, and wheat toast — “and it’s well worth the calories,” she laughs, adding “if you’re going to sin, you better sin in the right place.”

When people ask Kavanagh if traditional media is dead, she tells them flatly: No it’s not. Even after leaving an Emmy award-winning reporting position at Fox News Chicago (one she held for over 23 years) to start her own communications and film company in 2010, Kavanagh is still singing its praises. Her reason?

A long-winded example: the city of Kankakee was once infamous for being declared the worst place to live in America by Places Rated Almanac. In 1999, David Letterman pounced on it, giving the town its own Top 10 list and donating two gazebos as a prank.

Last year, juniors at Kankakee High School were ready to return the favor and show the world that their hometown was no longer the worst city in America. Gaining the city’s permission, they demolished the gazebos, repurposing them into a rocking chair that would be sent as a retirement gift to the host of the Late Show. But when they sent a letter to the producer, they were politely denied a segment in the show’s final months.

Kavanagh leapt into action. First, she positioned the story in front of the media machine; reaching out to Mary Schmich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist at the Chicago Tribune. When she agreed, Kavanagh blew up social media with the story. Eventually, she found spots for the students on WLS Radio and on CBS (the Late Show’s parent company). From there, the Associated Press picked it up.

Says Kavanagh, “And then it went everywhere —all over the world.”

At the end of the day, when they could ignore it no longer, the Letterman producers (sheepishly?) said yes, they would like to do something. The students got their six-minute segment showcasing their hometown, and Letterman got his rocking chair.

A graduate of DePaul University and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Kavanagh got her first big break after her story on the four-sport student-athlete Jean Ponsetto (now athletic director of DePaul University) won a Columbia University sports writing competition. She could’ve written about the men’s basketball team (then a Final Four team), but she chose instead to highlight an athlete finally given a chance thanks to Title IX , which was still fairly new at the time.

“What it showed me was, if you pick a topic that’s different and new, you will get attention,” says Kavanagh. “Try to do something nobody else is doing. I always try to use that philosophy.”

Kavanagh’s experience in the newsroom puts her in a unique position: MediaPros 24/7 offers media training, crisis management, publicity, video content production, event planning, and website consulting. She coaches people looking to enter politics, experienced politicians, business leaders and other high-profile professionals on how to speak to the media. She leverages her media contacts to get stories in front of the right outlets. And she works with a team of professional reporters, producers, and writers to get authenticity in each story.

“Too often public relations companies promote an event or promote an individual,” notes Kavanagh. “Many times they don’t understand reporters want good stories — the more compelling and trendsetting, the better.”

She’s also adroit at planning ahead, at covering every detail. Vanilla Ice would, indeed, miss his plane. But not to worry. With two minutes to go until showtime, Salt-N-Pepa — Cheryl James and Sandra Denton —surprised the host at Windy City Live. They ate cheesecake with the audience. And Kavanagh successfully coerced Vanilla Ice into apologizing on video to the hosts, because nowadays, public image is everything.

Neighbors took turns mowing the lawn for the first year this Highland Park house was vacant.

HIGHLAND PARK – Tired of being “held hostage,” David Schuster said he wants to change the law about vacant houses like the one next door to his home on Barberry Road.

“We need to put the pressure on banks so that a house cannot remain vacant for over a certain amount of time without a penalty,” said Schuster.

Schuster described how water bills used to pile up on the front lawn of the vacant house. Wild animals and insects made themselves at home there.

The Highland Park native has resided here for more than 50 years and is an award-winning reporter for CBS-owned WSCR-AM/670 (The Score). At the June 13 Highland Park City Council meeting, Schuster suggested that the vacant property be put on the market for a “low-ball price,” like a foreclosed property in the neighborhood.

“In essence this house is holding our community hostage, because it is run down. Even though it is supposedly living up to the codes of the city, and I do appreciate the city for taking whatever actions they have taken at this point. My house has been on the market for four or five months and I didn’t get one nibble. Now I can’t tell you 100% that it was because of the abandoned house next to us, but I’m sure it constituted for part of the reason,” said Schuster.

“There was no action taken whatsoever for the first two years it was abandoned,” Schuster said. “The neighbors took turns mowing the lawn for the first year.”

Director of Community Development Joel Fontane told the council that city staff has been out several times this year in regard to animals and general property maintenance. He cited city code that the lawn should not exceed eight inches in height.

The staff corresponded with a representative of the owner over the July 4 weekend. Fontane said, “There is not much that we can do as staff to encourage or compel a property owner to sell a property that is otherwise in terms of compliance of code in good standing.”

City Manager Ghida Neukirch said the Highland Park Police Department has been addressing concerns about wild animals on the property. “If the council is interested there may be some statutory regulations that allow us to take action beyond what we currently have available to us. We may be able to work with corporation council to pursue other avenues. We can’t really force the bank to do anything with these properties.”

Jack Levin lives across the street from Schuster. He told the council, “We’re all very pleased that the city has taken some action now, because it really looked like a deserted house with grass at a very high level.”

Levin added, “If you go to a house and you’re thinking of buying it, and you see an abandoned house with stickers right next door, it’s going to make you think twice.”

Before the council continued on to scheduled business, Mayor Nancy Rotering concluded, “I think it makes sense to have a Committee of the Whole conversation about further actions that can be taken. I have one of these in my neighborhood and other people have talked about the frustrations of having these houses in their neighborhoods. It’s just a blight on the neighborhood.”

Other legal options will be considered at a future Committee of the Whole meeting. In the meantime, David Schuster has decided to take his home off the market.

LAKE FOREST—Mary Katherine Samuel (née Letts), of Lake Forest, loving wife of Frank Samuel and mother of Matthew Samuel, passed away peacefully at the age of 52 on the morning of Saturday, July 25, 2015.

She was born on July 22, 1963 in South Bend, IN, the daughter of the late Arthur and Marcella Letts. She graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington with a BSc Degree in Chemistry and worked at Baxter Healthcare as a chemist from 1988-1998. She also served briefly as Director of Children’s Christian Ministry at Grace United Methodist Church, as well as in the Lake Forest High School Applause Committee.

Mary was well read and informed, and could participate in any conversation to give her perspective and view. Her life was dedicated fully to raising her son, keeping her home warm, and welcoming all who visited.

She married Frank Samuel on November 4, 1989, in Waukegan, IL. Mary was a devoted wife, a dedicated home maker, and a caring mother. She was kind, generous and compassionate–a true follower of Jesus Christ and his Word. She instilled high moral and ethical standards rooted in God’s Word in all her family, especially in her son, and contributed her time by lovingly baking cakes and pastries for the Lake Forest High School Orchestra.

Mary touched many lives and will be deeply missed by her husband, son, family, friends, neighbors, and caregivers. Rosey, her dog, was her love and faithful companion in her daily walks and visits to the beach in the summer.

Mary is survived by her sisters Peggy Skoczylas of South Bend, IN, Deanna Letts of Madison, WI, Sandra Letts of South Bend, IN, and Karen Letts of Granger, IN; brothers John (Elizabeth) Letts of Carmel, IN, Frederick Letts and Jerome Letts, both of South Bend, Anthony (Jamie) Letts of Castle Rock, CO, Brian (Jodi) Letts of Mount Pleasant, SC and Arthur Q. Letts of South Bend; and nieces and nephews John David and Jacob Letts, Ryan Skoczylas and Lauren(Derek) Bryan, Kendall and Jordan Letts, and Olivia Letts.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, July 30, 2015, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at Wenban Funeral Home, 320 E. Vine Ave., Lake Forest, IL. A funeral service will immediately follow at 2pm with Rev. brian Elliott officiating. The burial will take place at Lake Forest Cemetery.

From Wenban Funeral Home

GLENVIEW—A woman attempted to make a $13.00 purchase with a counterfeit $100.00 bill at a store on the 2200 block of Willow Road the afternoon of July 26, police say.

When the cashier called the manager to verify the bill was counterfeit, the woman allegedly walked out of the store.

Officers were unable to locate the suspect, who was only described as a 6-foot tall, 220-pound black female.

From the Glenview police blotter

Highland Park-Due to popular demand Real Urban Barbecue has added two more classes! Only three classes remain in Real Urban Barbecue Highland Park’s (610 Central Ave) inaugural Kicking Ash Summer Grilling Series! Due to the overwhelming response to the hands on grilling classes, held in Highland Park’s Port Clinton Square, Real Urban Barbecue has added two additional classes to the line up. Kicking Ash grilling courses are taught by renowned chefs including Real Urban Barbecue owner-chef Jeff Shapiro and Dean Eliacostas, former Executive Chef of Carmichael’s Steak House.
Real Urban Barbecue’s Kicking Ash Summer Grilling Series teaches guests the art of preparing, grilling and serving a variety of products using techniques that they can implement at home all summer long. Each class will include hands on lessons in the art of smoking and grilling and will offer opportunities for guests to ask questions and expand their knowledge in and out of the kitchen.
Each Kicking Ash participant will be provided their own grill, knife, cutting board and seasonings to prepare a variety of dishes featuring beef, poultry, seafood, seasonal vegetables, and more based on their selected course. Participants will be sent home with a Real Urban Barbecue care package and recipe cards for the items they prepared so they can recreate their masterpiece at home!

Kicking Ash classes are geared towards beginners and expert grillers alike. Let Real Urban Barbecue teach you new skills and recipes to last a lifetime!
Real Urban Barbecue will offer three Kicking Ash grilling classes:
Saturday, August 15: BBQ 105- Surf & Turf; $75
Saturday, September 19: BBQ 106- It’s All About the Smoke; $65
Saturday, October 3: BBQ 107- Tailgate Time; $65
Classes begin at 10 a.m. and include two hours of cooking fun. At Noon, guests will sit down and enjoy the meal they prepared themselves. Refreshments including Real Urban Barbecue’s homemade lemonade, iced regular and sweet tea and water will be provided.
Space is limited. Each class accommodates 25 guests. Classes will take place rain or shine. Guests must be 18 years of age or older. To purchase your tickets for Real Urban Barbecue’s Kicking Ash Summer Grilling Series, visit www.RealUrbanBBQ.com. For more information call the Highland Park location at (224) 770-4227.

GLENCOE – Online registration for fall programs at the Glencoe Park District starts at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, July 29.

Online registration is the BEST way to ensure your registration. If you do not have access to the internet at home, computer kiosks will be available for use at the Takiff Center on July 29 beginning at 7 a.m.

Registrations will be accepted in-person at the Takiff Center Registration Desk at 8 am on Wednesday, July 29. If necessary, a number will be assigned to those who wish to register in-person and registrations will be entered in that order.

Registration forms that are dropped-off, mailed, or faxed to the Takiff Center will be processed as time permits and in the order they are received.

In order to access the online registration system, we suggest you set up a household account now and confirm your username/password are correct. That way, on July 29, you will be able to log in, click on the programs you want, enter your credit card payment, and confirm your registration immediately.

Register at www.glencoeparkdistrict.com

LAKE FOREST – Board of Education member Dave Schreiber has announced his resignation from the Lake Forest High School District 115 Board effective July 25, 2015, because he is relocating out of the area. He has served the  community and school district since 2013 in a variety of leadership capacities, including Board Vice President. Mr. Schreiber will be greatly missed and we thank him for his service.

Under the Illinois School Code, the responsibility for filling a vacancy, which occurs before the next scheduled school board election, falls to the remaining board members. The district has 45 days from the date of a resignation to accomplish this or the responsibility shifts to the Regional Superintendent of Schools. This vacancy is for the remainder of Mr. Schreiber’s term ending April 2017, when the position will be up for re-election.

The district would like to have as open a selection process as possible. To this end, it wants to encourage as many interested and qualified individuals to apply. Interested parties should complete the online data sheet, or contact Board Clerk Eileen Faller at 847-604-7420 or efaller@lfschools.net at the Board of Education Office at 300 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, IL, 60045 for a data sheet.

Completed data sheets must be received at the Board Office no later than 4:00 pm on Monday, August 17. Once data sheets have been reviewed by the Board of Education, it is anticipated that selected candidates will be interviewed shortly thereafter, with installation to the Board of Education in September 2015.

The D-115 board and administration are hoping to find a person whose talents, interests, and experience will add to and complement those of the existing Board members. Since only one person can be selected, the hope the process outlined above will also give the Board a list of prospects for future community involvement in school matters and projects.

If you have questions about the process or about what is involved in being a District 115 School Board member, please contact the Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Michael Simeck, at 847-604-7401 or Board Clerk Eileen Faller.

Here is the link:

http://www.lakeforestschools.org/news/item/index.aspx?LinkId=21030&ModuleId=195

Submitted from Lake Forest School District 115

Joe Jakcsy, Lake Bluff Middle School science teacher

LAKE BLUFF – Lake Buff Middle School student Sienna Phelps, Lake Bluff Middle School Math teacher Joe Jakcsy and Lake Bluff Elementary School English Language Learner (ELL) teacher Jen Prozument all recently received Excellence in Character Awards.

The awards were sponsored by Character Matters in Lake County, a committee of the YES (Youth Empowerment for Success) Coalition, the Lake County Regional Office of Education, and the College of Lake County Southlake Campus.

Ms. Phelps, who will be a freshman at Lake Forest High School in the fall, was nominated by her principal, Nathan Blackmer.

“Sienna has been among the most kind and compassionate students at Lake Bluff Middle School,” he said. “She is a leader among her peers. She is so caring, and has the ability to cheer up a friend whenever they might need it. She was the first student who came to my mind and the minds of her teachers when the opportunity for nominations was announced.”

Joe Jakcsy just completed his third year teaching 7th and 8th Grade math in Lake Bluff. He has introduced several co-curricular opportunities to Lake Bluff Middle School, including the You Be the Chemist competition, Science Olympiad and Odyssey of the Mind. His nomination was submitted by Principal Blackmer, who said, “Mr. Jakcsy is truly an outstanding teacher. He fosters a love of Math among his students who are achieving at a very high level. In addition to his classroom teaching, Mr. Jakcsy has introduced several amazing co-curricular opportunities that have provided opportunities for students to get involved at school in ways that did not exist before. Mr. Jakcsy’s professionalism, compassion and character have made him an irreplaceable member of the Lake Bluff Middle School teaching staff.”

Jen Prozument is a teacher who works with Lake Bluff Elementary School students who are learning to speak, read and write English. She just completed her 8th year in Lake Bluff. She was nominated by Lake Bluff Elementary School Principal Margaret St. Claire, who said, “Ms. Prozument goes above and beyond the traditional duties of an ELL teacher by serving as a link for her families between home and school. She spends countless hours, often late into the evening, explaining, facilitating, translating and creating a positive relationship between home and school. She has led the staff in clothing and food drives for families who are struggling financially, and often provides for students out of her own pocket and her generous heart.”

“It was an honor to review all of the nomination forms,” said Ashley Ward, chair of the Character Matters in Lake County committee, in a recent press release. “It also confirmed the importance of recognizing individuals who display outstanding character in our communities; these students and adults are powerful role models. We need their positive influences.”

WILMETTE – The Wilmette Park District’s Board of Park Commissioners announced that Commissioner James P. Crowley has submitted his resignation from the Board effective Friday, July 31.

Crowley, who joined the Board in 1991, had been re-elected to his seventh term in office in April. He had most recently served the Board as president from 2013-2015. Crowley notified the Board that he has sold his home and will be relocating to another community.

“It’s been a privilege and an honor to be part of the fabric of Wilmette for almost a quarter of a century,” Crowley said. “But the time has come for me to retire from my service as a Park Board commissioner.”

During his tenure Crowley worked on every Board committee and was elected by the Board twice to serve as its president.

“Jim is a friend and a colleague and I will greatly miss working with him,” said Board President John J. Olvany. “I want to thank him for dedicating more than 24 years to the Park District and the Wilmette community. His experience as a Board member and knowledge of the Park District leaves a void that will be difficult to fill.”

Olvany said the Board would consider its options in regard to filling the vacancy left by Crowley’s resignation. Those options include making an appointment for a two-year term that would expire with the next regularly scheduled election in April 2017.

Susan Richman at the family ranch in western Illinois.

Two recent presentations in Winnetka and Glencoe attracted standing-room only crowds of local residents seeking information about a subject that has been taboo for generations: mental illness.

On June 23, some 40 people attended BeyondOCD’s Open House about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety Disorder, held in the Glencoe home of Julie and Steven Stark Lowenstein with co-hosts Dave and Christine Murdoch of Winnetka. In May, approximately 170 people went to Indian Hill Club in Winnetka for a presentation on depression and anxiety by Rush University Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry. One member of the audience said the parking lot was so full it looked like the club was hosting a wedding.

Same with the BeyondOCD event a few weeks later. Parked cars lined up for blocks around the Stark Lowenstein home, giving the impression that someone might be having a party.

But these were celebrations of another sort – of transparency, triumph and hope, as both events provided a place for people to openly discuss their experiences or a loved one’s experience with depression, OCD or Anxiety Disorders, which affect millions of people of all ages.

Just what are OCD and Anxiety Disorders?

Anxiety Disorders are the most common of emotional disorders and affect more than 25 million Americans, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) describes Generalized Anxiety Disorder as being characterized by persistent, excessive, and unrealistic worry about everyday things. People with the disorder, which is also referred to as GAD, experience exaggerated worry and tension, often expecting the worst, even when there is no apparent reason for concern.

There are a variety of anxiety disorders, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, including GAD, Panic Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder, that collectively are among the most common mental disorders.

An estimated 2.3% of U.S. adults met the criteria for a diagnosis of OCD at some point in their lives, accounting for more than five million Americans, or approximately one of every 40 adults, as reported by BeyondOCD on its website. The World Health Organization has ranked OCD as one of the Top 20 causes of illness-related disability worldwide for individuals between 15 and 44 years of age.

People with OCD suffer from unwanted and intrusive thoughts that they can’t get out of their heads (obsessions), often compelling them to repeatedly perform ritualistic behaviors and routines (compulsions) to try and ease their anxiety, the ADAA states, adding that most people who have OCD are aware that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational yet feel powerless to stop them.

BeyondOCD’s comprehensive website, www.BeyondOCD.com, clearly spells out what is and what is not OCD and provides helpful insights about what causes and does not cause it. The site also includes information about treatments, therapists, medications, support groups and personal perspectives.

“Our mission is to ensure that all people affected by OCD, anxiety and related disorders have access to the help they need to live life to its fullest potential, said Sally Ruecking, BeyondOCD’s president and CEO.

Glencoe native Susan Richman is a pioneer in the movement to raise awareness of these potentially debilitating but treatable disorders. She co-founded BeyondOCD in 1994 after surviving three years of undiagnosed and mistreated OCD that nearly ended her life in suicide. Once she received the proper treatment, Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy, she set out to help others.

“I started BeyondOCD because soon after I learned to manage my OCD, people who knew about me started referring patients to me. These patients weren’t getting better, and I quickly discovered it was because none of them had been told about Exposure therapy, the very therapy that literally saved my life,” she said.

With Exposure and Response Prevention therapy, patients expose themselves to the thoughts, images, objects and situations that make them anxious and/or start their obsessions, according to the International OCD Foundation. Response Prevention requires the patient to choose not to do a compulsive behavior once the anxiety or obsessions have been “triggered.” In Richman’s case, this meant doing things like regularly visiting the grungy bathroom at a hot dog stand in her neighborhood … and not allowing herself to wash up repeatedly afterwards.

“At first your anxiety skyrockets,” she said, “but then your body habituates to the anxiety and you see that it will go away even without performing the ritual. That starts to break the connection between the anxiety and the compulsion. Eventually the obsessions and desire to ritualize go away also.”

It’s hard to summarize all she went through — you can read her compelling story, “Out of the Darkness,” on the BeyondOCD website.

Here’s a summary:

Susan enjoyed a happy, uneventful childhood in Glencoe, graduating from New Trier West High School and then Northwestern University, first in her class with a degree in economics and earning Phi Beta Kappa. She also was an accomplished pianist, got along well with her family and had many close friends.

“I was a North Shore success story,” she told the crowd at the BeyondOCD event.

She also was an adventurer. After college she took a backpacking trip through Europe and stayed in Barcelona, Spain, for two years, teaching English. Then it was law school at the University of California-Hastings, where she again graduated at the top of her class. She went on to work at a large, prestigious law firm in San Francisco.

Then her life was derailed by a rodent.

She was sitting in her apartment one night when she saw a mouse scurry across the floor. By the time she caught up with it an hour later, the mouse was dead.

“It was the fact that it died on its own that made me start thinking about contamination,” Richman said. “I thought it must have had some sort of disease. And so it must have spread that disease all over my apartment.”

Thus began an exhausting, time consuming, life threatening effort to not just clean, but to sterilize everything she came in contact with. Somehow she was able to get work done, and her coworkers didn’t notice anything different about her. “But there was a soundtrack going beneath the surface that was keeping track of all the contamination,” she said.

Richman went into analysis, but her condition worsened to the point that she was suicidal. Her family brought her home to Glencoe, and she started seeing a psycho-pharmacologist. She entered the psych ward of a hospital, and stayed for 20 months.

“I entered the psych hospital for drug therapy, which didn’t work, and after lots of medication and lots of pottery making and gaining 70 pounds, after 20 months in that hospital … I still couldn’t sit on a chair without putting a towel down first,” she said.

A chance encounter changed her life.

From a casual acquaintance, Richman’s sister learned about an OCD program that treated patients with Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy. She and her family were ready to try anything, so she checked out of the psych ward and traveled out of state for three weeks of Exposure and RPT.

“They were the hardest three weeks of my life, but when I got off the plane on my return to Chicago, my mother came to meet me and I was able to greet her with a great big LICK of the airport terminal floor. And she said, ‘You’re cured!’ And of course, I wasn’t cured because at this point there is no cure for OCD. But I was behaving normally again,” Richman said.

“Almost two years in a psych hospital, three years of total dysfunction, and my OCD symptoms were gone in three weeks because I finally got the right treatment,” she added.

Today Richman manages a family ranch in western Illinois, a ranch complete with cows, goats, horses, dogs and alpacas … and all of the mayhem, muck and germs that accompany them.

A recent photo of Susan doing chores at the ranch …

BeyondOCD is a small, Chicago-based non-profit that fulfills its mission of making a huge difference in the lives of people suffering from these mental illnesses. The organization includes:

• A Scientific Advisory Board that is active and engaged in presenting Live Forums, hosting Virtual Patient Support Calls that reach sufferers throughout the U.S. and abroad, and Virtual Case Consultations facilitated by trained therapists to educate other professionals nationwide. Also, emails and calls from those seeking help are answered by members of the Scientific Advisory Board, and Facebook and Twitter posts with current blogs and articles are facilitated by a social media team.
• A Young Professional Board that hosts several awareness and fundraising events throughout the year targeting college age and up to help de-stigmatize mental illness.
• A Governing Board that is deeply committed and touched by the challenges of OCD and other anxiety disorders.
• Additional volunteers who counsel parents struggling with their child’s OCD, help at special events or with administrative work.
• Two websites, considered the most comprehensive available, filled with over 900 pages of information for patients, family members and educators on OCD and related disorders: www.beyondocd.org and www.ocdeducationstation.org

“We want people to know that they should never give up. If one therapist doesn’t work they should try another. If one go at ERP doesn’t work or one medication doesn’t work, they should try another. I overheard the nurses in the hospital saying that I would never get better, never even get out of the hospital. But I kept trying. OCD is real and disabling, but it’s also treatable. And my hope is that with enough dollars put into research, one day there will even be a cure for it,” Richman said.

If you would like more information about OCD and anxiety, reach out to Sally Ruecking, the organization’s president and CEO, at sruecking@beyondocd.org.

The old Fell’s building in Winnetka.

Richard Sobel is on a mission to save Winnetka’s well-known “Fell Building,” which is located in the village’s East Elm shopping district and is targeted for demolition to make way for One Winnetka, a plan development by Stonestreet Partners, LLC.

Sobel is the son of modernist architect Walter Sobel, designer of the Fell Building and other notable buildings on the North Shore such as Beth Enet Synagogue in Evanston, The Geico Building in Wilmette and the Wack House in Kenilworth, according to the nonprofit architectural preservation group Docomomo.

“[The Fell] building is a classic modernist design. It is both simple and elegant in design and that is why he won an award,” Sobel said.

Previously home to The Fell Company’s clothing store, the building was completed in 1968 and won the Outstanding Merit Award in an international competition of the Institute of Store Planners and the National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers, according Docomomo.

Sobel has diligently attended all of the village’s Plan Commission public meetings, urging the village and developer to consider preserving the building by incorporating it into the design. Sobel noted that his father originally designed the one story building so that additional stories could be added with apartments. “Dad was very future oriented,” Sobel said.

Sobel also thinks the community would benefit from incorporating the building. “Tearing down that building would be a huge, expensive and messy task,” Sobel asserted. “It would be much better to build up.”

But few in town appear to be interested in preserving the Fell Building. The Chicago Tribune reported that while Stonestreet CEO David Trundle recognizes the uniqueness of the Fell Building, incorporating it into the plans for One Winnetka was not feasible.

Stonestreet’s six story building is designed by architect Lucien Lagrange and is Beaux Arts in style, featuring six floors of rental apartments on the upper floors, underground parking, and retail space on the first and second floors. While many residents have spoken out against the project — objecting both to the building’s size, height and design — few have spoken in support of the Fell Building beside Sobel and his supporters.

According to the  Chicago Tribune article, the building was never formally landmarked and Winnetka has no ordinance that would protect the building from being torn down.

Sobel is carrying on a battle he and his father fought years earlier when a previous developer owned the site. In 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported that father and son opposed the proposed development of the site by New Trier Partners, which also planned to demolish the Fell Building. That plan never got off the ground after the economy collapsed.

Sobel is working with North Shore architect Peter Milbratz and Edward Deam, who was a professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago and worked with Sobel’s father. Sobel also has the support of Landmarks Illinois, which submitted a letter to the Plan Commission on July 21 urging the Commission to consider preserving the Fell Building.

“The building has clean lines and refined use of details and materials that would be cost exorbitant to replicate today,” wrote Lisa DiChiera, Director of Advocacy for Landmarks Illinois.

While Sobel may not have the support of the developer, he views their goals as intertwined. “[Our] goal and the goal of the developer are quite similar: to enhance the commercial development with resident development,” he said.

“Sustaining [my father’s] design would accomplish both.”

University of Illinois senior Jared Hiltzik, a New Trier High School graduate and two-time NCAA All-American, reached his first final at a professional tournament on July 26, falling 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to sixth-seeded Michael Mmoh in the championship match at the Godfrey F22 Futures in downstate Godfrey. Seeded eighth at the tourney and currently ranked No. 705 in the ATP world singles rankings, Hiltzik, of Wilmette, topped Clay Thompson 6-2, 6-3 in a semifinal. Thompson had eliminated top-seeded Deiton Baughman 3-6, 7-5, 3-0 (ret.) in the first round.
“I’m excited for Jared,” Illini coach Brad Dancer said in a press release. “He continues to embody focus and professionalism.”
Hiltzik went 33-13 overall as a junior in 2014-15, including a combined 20-3 singles mark against Nos. 1 and 2 players. His younger brother, sophomore Aron Hiltzik, won 29 of 36 matches (singles and doubles) in his first collegiate season.

LAKE FOREST—Harry Duffield, Jr., of Lake Forest, passed away on July 25, 2015.

He and his wife Mary Ann (née Kelly) lived in Lake Forest for over fifty years. He was born on July 4, 1931 in New York City, N.Y. to Harry Duffield, Sr. and Hildegarde Forking Duffield.

He was a graduate of Highland Park High School and Lewis College, where he studied to be a Flight Engineer. He was a veteran of the U.S. M.C. and served in the Korean War. Harry also worked as a Laboratory Furniture Engineer, and later as a Property Manager in construction at American Hospitals McGaw Park Campus, for American Hospitals Corp. His hobbies were photography and garden design.

He is survived by his loving wife Mary Ann; two daughters, Elizabeth (Noel) Fernandez of Santa Rosa, CA and Carol Duffield of Chicago; and grandson Ricardo Fernandez. The memorial service and interment will be private.

From Kelley & Spalding Funeral Home