Thanks, Trib, for paying attention
One of the things Wednesday Journal is thankful for this holiday season is having such loyal readers. Readers like John Kass, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, who last week picked up on our story about Catherine Vogt, the Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School eighth-grader who wore John McCain and Barack Obama T-shirts to school as part of an extra-credit assignment. The 14-year-old’s experiment gauged how peers reacted when a classmate broke from what’s considered the norm-in this case expressing support for someone other than Obama.
Reading Kass’ account of Catherine’s experience wearing a McCain shirt one day and an Obama shirt the next was like déjà vu, seeing as how our story ran a day before his Nov. 13 column. It’s not the first time the national media has picked up a story from the Journal-remember our hugging in the hallway story at Julian Middle School last year? Imitation is sometimes the greatest compliment one can pay-and we’re truly thankful for that.
A lot of turkeys
The holiday season begins tomorrow, but the folks at the Oak Park-River Forest Food Pantry have already been more than a little busy. With the economy spiraling downward, they passed out 400 turkeys Monday afternoon to food pantry clients.
“We have never done anything this large before,” said Food Pantry co-manager Kathy Russell. “We gave out 44 turkeys last year. But this year we had the funds to do this.”
The Food Pantry, which was named the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s “2008 Outstanding Agency” in September, kicked off its holiday season preparations with a lot of old-fashioned hard work. A packaged food drive in October saw dozens of Girl Scout groups from Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Park collect and drop off over 40,000 pounds of edibles.
If that sounds like a lot of food, it is. But it’s never enough.
“That’s old news now,” said Russell. “Most of the food they collected has been used up already.”
Those looking to send a donation to the food pantry or other worthy local charities helping those in need this holiday season can check out today’s editorial on page 24 in the Viewpoints section for contact information.
Couldn’t possibly be political, could it?
River Forest Trustee Russ Nummer, who’s running for re-election in April, thought he was simply answering a request for an update on things at village hall when he stood up at the River Forest Service Club Thursday night.
What ensued was a bit of a third degree from a strangely curious club member who’d just finished questioning at length the village’s police pension board volunteer advisor, George Parry, before the service club president cut off the line of questioning as irrelevant and inappropriate.
The inquisitive fellow then began questioning Nummer about whether he was receiving a pension from the village, how long he had to work to earn it, and whether he was receiving any other pension from whatever source.
Replied Nummer, yes, he was receiving a pension, earned over nearly 31 years of service in the Village Fire Department, and his other sources of income were no one’s business.
“Of course I got a pension,” Nummer said Friday. “I worked there 31 years. Everyone in that room knew the answer before he asked the questions.” What others might ask themselves, Nummer suggested, is why the curious fellow felt the need to ask those questions in the first place.
There is, of course, an election in April.
Art of advertising
If you ride the Green Line, as of this week-and for the next month-you’ll see mentions of Oak Park on your commute. This ad, touting the shopping in Oak Park’s Arts District, is running thanks to the back-watching strength of merchants there. Members of the business alliance on Harrison Street kicked into an advertising pot started by four of their peers who won a cash prize for placing second this summer in a village-sponsored window-decorating contest.
The owners of Careful Peach, Pamela Penney Textile Arts, Baby Blend Tees and Sirius Cooks opted to share the costs with neighboring shop and gallery owners and restaurateurs in the district.
“We believe in Harrison and we wanted to invest in the better good of Harrison. Everybody benefits when we work together. That’s what our street is about-and we have parking,” says Julie Kreiner of Sirius Cooks.
Two reminders
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The overnight parking ban will not be enforced on most Oak Park streets, Thursday through Sunday. The ban will resume Monday, Dec. 1 at 2:30 a.m. Restrictions will remain in place in overnight permit areas.
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Next week, starting Dec. 1, is the last week to take advantage of Oak Park’s fall leaf collection program.