Franklin Park Herald-Journal

West Leyden graduates ‘go-getters’

Sat, 26 May 2012 11:27:25 -0500

Among the tributes to West Leyden High School graduates May 22, three students had special stories shared by Superintendent Kathy Robbins. Alfredo Fernandez’s family was born in Mexico and he came to the United States when he was 4. He is in the top 10 percent of his class and is in a slew of activities such as National Honor Society, gymnastics, soccer. He is an access mentor. Sylvia Kokoszka’s family came to the United States from Poland and didn’t speak any English. She has excelled so much in the English language that she received a 5 on her AP …

Skating upon a star

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:17:51 -0500

The Franklin Park Ice Arena, located at 9711 Waveland Ave, hosted its 38th annual ice show last weekend. The show “Skate Upon a Star,” featured a Disney theme and included performances set to music from Disney movies and TV shows. There were over 18 different groups of skaters including a new number called Glow Sk8, where lights were turned off and the skaters actually glow in the dark. More than 120 participants in the show were practicing for weeks. …

East Leyden graduates 410

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:38:38 -0500

Nancy Zuniga says her most memorable teacher during her four years at East Leyden High School was English teacher Sojna Kosanovic. “She was so warm and understanding,” Zuniga said. “She sat down and worked hard until (we) understood the subject.” Zuniga particularly remembers one lesson. “Her grandparents were in the Holocaust,” Zuniga said. “She shared some very personal stories about that. I’d never heard such personal stories like that (from a teacher).” Zuniga was among 410 East Leyden High School member of the Class of 2012. Dressed in blue robes on May 23, the graduates received diplomas at the Akoo …

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

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

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

Norridge has one of first cases of 2012 West Nile reported in Chicago area

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:04:00 -0500

The West Nile virus has been detected in birds and mosquitoes in the Chicago area for the first time this year, the state announced Tuesday. State workers collected a dead crow May 16 and mosquitoes May 17 from Clarendon Hills, Hinsdale, Lemont, Lisle, Norridge, Westmont and Woodridge that tested positive for the West Nile virus, according to a release from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Last year, 19 Illinois counties reported the virus in birds, mosquitoes or humans, the release said. Thirty-four Illinois residents contracted the virus last year and three died. “Although it is a little earlier in …

Franklin Park firm accused of consumer fraud

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:56:02 -0500

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office says a Franklin Park board-up and home repair service and its owners collected payments from people whose homes had been damaged but failed to make any repairs.

Study says Chicago traffic congestion actually got better

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

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

Franklin Park wins $1 million EPA grant

Thu, 24 May 2012 03:54:16 -0500

Franklin Park’s new police station has been awarded a grant for $985,000 by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Mayor Barrett Pedersen and Police Chief Michael Witz announced. The grant will help to provide storm water management improvements at the facility and to help reduce pollution flowing into the Des Plaines River. Funding for this project was provided, in part, by the Governor of Illinois and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency through the Illinois Green Infrastructure Grant Program. The grant will fund the use of permeable pavers and porous pavement in the parking lot which will limit runoff and therefore reduce …

East Leyden valedictorian follows sister’s footsteps

Thu, 24 May 2012 03:53:35 -0500

In the Sacksteder family of Franklin Park, valedictorian appears to be a family tradition. Lauren Sacksteder was valedictorian for the 2007 graduating class at East Leyden High School. Her sister, Jennifer, will be this year’s highest achieving member of the East Leyden class. “What helps you is taking lots of classes (no study halls) and advanced placement classes,” said dad Kipp Sacksteder. “Basically, she (Jennifer) took every class she could and at the highest level she could for four years.” Jennifer Sacksteder got serious about going for valedictorian after her first semester of freshman year. “I had straight A’s,” she …

Commuter lots nearly empty on Monday

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

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

Rally-goers endorse ‘Robin Hood tax’

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

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

Voterama in Congress, week ending May 18, 2012

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

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

‘Specialist’ disrupts NATO rally

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

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

Two charged in River Forest robbery

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:07:04 -0500

A Chicago man and woman have been charged with aggravated robbery of a River Forest 7-Eleven convenience store. At 1:20 a.m. May 17, police responded to the 7-Eleven store at Division and Harlem regarding an armed robbery that was in progress. Kirby Wise, 38 of the 5700 block of W. North Ave. in Chicago, and Stephany Powell, 51, of the 1700 block of N. Mason in Chicago, were arrested outside the store as they allegedly tried to escape in a car they’d left parked in the alley behind the store. “During the investigation it was learned that Wise was unarmed …

Retired Oak Park cop stops El robbery

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

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

iPhones in hand, first NATO rally goers broadcast live

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:34:01 -0500

“The revolution will not be televised,” spoken word artist Gil Scott-Heron famously said back in 1970. As novelist S. E. Hinton would later write, “That was then. This is now.” The 2012 NATO/G8 protests, while not a revolution, are most definitely being televised. And in a manner unimaginable 42 years ago. In an age of social media and its resultant social immediacy, the sounds and images of Friday’s National Nurses United rally at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago were captured and promulgated by dozens of professional journalists and hundreds of citizen journalists from every angle. Of the maybe 3,000 to …