Adduci to run for RF trustee
River Forest Village Clerk Catherine Adduci has confirmed she intends to run for village trustee next April.
“I believe I am uniquely qualified to run for trustee, given my experience as village clerk as well as my professional background,” Adduci said via e-mail Tuesday. The past year, she said, has given her insight into what needs to be done.
“As clerk, I have experienced firsthand some of the major issues facing our village,” she said.
Adduci is a senior vice president at Unisys Corporation, and a director of the Chicago Civic Federation. She was appointed clerk by Village President Frank Paris to replace Susan Conti, who was elected trustee last April. Adduci has been at the board table with little or no formal comment the past 11 months as major factions on the board squared off against each other. She acknowledged the village faces some serious issues that will require focused discussion and greater board cohesion.
“We have budget issues, major police issues, and a board that is divisive on certain issues. I believe I can be a strong voice and build consensus on the board for our village.”
Trustee Patrick O’Brien, who has served two full terms on the village board after being appointed by Paris in 1999 to fill a vacancy, said last week he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll run for village president in 2009.
Braxton says nobody’s perfect
Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville has had a rough year so far. His mother, Evelyn, a longtime Oak Park resident, died on Feb. 10. Then a couple of weeks ago, 45 priests in the Belleville Diocese, including 60 percent of the parish pastors, signed a statement calling for his resignation. In January, the former pastor of St. Catherine/St. Lucy Parish in Oak Park admitted spending $18,000 in restricted diocesan and Vatican funds, according to a March 21 story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
On Holy Thursday, Braxton released a letter saying he would not resign and accusing an unnamed group of priests with trying to blackmail him back when he was first appointed three years ago.
In his letter, Braxton said he, “like other bishops, priests, deacons, brothers, sisters and lay people, make mistakes, err in my judgment, offend people, disappoint those who look to me for leadership, and sometimes do things that are wrong. … Only Christ, the Good Shepherd, is perfect.”
A garden for Marie
Marie Fegan taught kindergarten at Lincoln School in Oak Park for nearly 20 years before losing her battle with cancer in June 2007. To remember her, the school wants to create an outdoor memorial garden in her honor.
Maria Meachum, a member of the Lincoln PTO, said the school hopes to have the garden open before the start of the next school year. Fegan was her daughter’s kindergarten teacher four years ago. Before Fegan’s death, the PTO was already planning to turn the patch scrub bushes near the south end of Lincoln, 1111 S. Grove Ave., into a garden. The Lincoln community thought dedicating the garden to Fegan, who died at age 61, was fitting. The garden is located near the kindergarten courtyard playground. Fegan began teaching kindergarten at Lincoln in 1990.
“She was a beautiful lady and always smiling,” said Meachum.
The PTO originally received grants from Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse for the garden, and raised roughly $3,000 from a March 13 benefit concert for Fegan at FitzGerald’s. The Lincoln PTO is still taking donations to complete the garden. Those interested can call the PTO though Lincoln School, 524-3110, or e-mail: mfbmeachum@hotmail.com.
A vote for George’s egg salad
If memory serves, it provided the core of the plot of an early Woody Allen movie (before he got serious), but the search for the perfect egg salad recipe is almost as old as the search for the holy grail.
Phil Vettel in the Chicago Tribune on March 20 wrote “O, for a perfect egg salad sandwich,” lamenting the dearth at local restaurants and almost 200 readers replied with recommendations, including James Fredrick of Oak Park:
“I had one a couple of weeks ago that was so good I have mentioned it to several people since. It was at George’s Restaurant (145 S. Oak Park Ave.). I don’t know how it was made (it did not have green peppers) but I had it on rye with sliced tomatoes. It was delicious.”
Anyone else care to chime in?