The Round Lake Lake Mangement Commission sent me the annual report recently and I got this marvelous picture of the lake taken from a plane in 1939. Round Lake was 31 years old and Round Lake Beach was 4 years old. Among the highlights of the last year and next year are:
Our Village Clerk Jeanne Kristan (pictured) attended the monthly Lake County Clerks meeting where Mary Ellen Vanderventer spoke. Ms Vanderventer is the Lake County Recorder of Deeds. She wanted to pass along some valuable information to residents so Jeanne asked me to mention this."Take a moment to call the recorder of deeds at 847-377-2575 and the ask the staff to see if there have been any "liens" placed against your property. Unresolved liens can hold up refinance or selling your home, in addtion many times a lien has been placed on a property and the owner is unaware of it.I recently became aware of liens placed by a concrete company on 37 homeowners because the developer has not been paying the contractor. The village is putting pressure on the builder to bring this matter to a close and have the liens removed quickly. So it can happen to you.
Also if you need a copy of your deed the recorders office will send you a certified copy (free for seniors). Please do not fall for recent scams asking for large amounts of money to process your request for a deed, contact the recorders office directly and get it safely and easily."
Today is week eight of the Mayors Fantasy Football Challenge. Huge upset last week as Brian Brubaker's team smoked me to break up my perfect season. There is a 1 vs 2 showdown and 3 vs 4 showdown as well
Bonus points to whoever can deduce where this legitimate street sign is. This post is in honor of my sister Gaye and my neice Olivia coming to visit from Boston for the weekend, Olivia is quite simply here for the candy!
The village has a variety of contests for Christmas decorating, landscaping and Halloween decorations, this weekend the village trustees, clerk and Mayor are judging the contest. Nine residents took the challenge up. I am going to list the addresses of the nine entries so if you want to go for a drive this weekend in the evening here they are. There are prizes for the top three decorated houses.
The fish tank is nearing its finishing touches so I have prepared a sequence of photos of the site growing from the ground. Here is the first post. I have enjoyed posting these pictures over the last few months as the tank grows out of the ground. The last few remaining details need to be finished before it comes online, the main one is the placement of the giant picture of me on the side of the tank.
The police department will be hosting a DARE Parent Education Open House for Village School parents on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at the police department starting at 7:00 pm. This is a new program that DARE Officer Adam Arnold has put together. The concept is to include the parents in the DARE program with the hopes that the DARE lessons will be reinforced at home.
I got an email from a Round Lake Resident Kristin Albrecht a few days ago about a project she and her husband do in the community and I was very impressed by the thoughtfullness and dedication that went into what they do. What follows is the text of her email.I saw your post about the Avon Township Food Pantry. I was wondering if you would be able and/or willing to help further by highlighting a little project my husband and I started in 2001 to anonymously adopt needy families. Our story is this . . .Let me know if you would like more information or to talk on this further. Kristin can be contacted here!
“Following the 9/11 attacks and other personal tragedies that year, my husband and I decided to begin a new tradition of giving at the holiday season. Instead of giving insignificant gifts to our adult friends and relatives, we decided to use the money we would have spent on those gifts and give instead to children of less-fortunate families. Our first family adopted in 2001, consisted of two young children, ages 9 and 5, who were living with their maternal grandparents. The children’s parents had been lost to the war on Iraq and Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. They had come to live with their grandparents in the suburbs of Chicago following their parent’s deployment to the war. Our gifts to the children consisted of clothes, toys, and school supplies. Our gifts to the grandparents consisted of gift certificates to local grocery stores, clothes, and a gift certificate for an evening out including a babysitter for the children.
That was our first real year of experiencing the joy of giving. Since then, our tradition of anonymous giving has grown to include seven other families who take pleasure in the gift of giving. The 2005 holiday season saw our little group of eight anonymous families adopting three families from the area who were less fortunate. In today’s world, it is easy to lose sight of the true meaning behind the holiday season. Rather than asking for more, imagine the world if more people began to appreciate what they already have, and give back to those in need. Imagine a world where more people looked outside their own little world to help those less fortunate. Image a world of peace, understanding, and tolerance.”
Anyway, that’s our story . . .
We adopt families from the Avon Township Food Pantry. As you know, the families are already screened and determined to be underprivileged. We remain anonymous but try to do more than just a few gifts for the children. We try to make sure the entire family is supplied with food, clothes, and other necessities for the holiday season.
My husband and I cannot afford to do it all on our own so after our first experience in 2001 we began recruiting friends to join us. We now have 8 families (including ourselves) who participate in our “Adopt-A-Family” annual project. We are expanding this year to try to recruit outside our small circle of friends in order to provide to more families.
We are looking for participants who can help us . . .We are looking for participants who are interested in experiencing the joy of giving to those less fortunate.
- Raise donations for food, clothes, or other necessities for our adoptive families.
- Donate food, clothes or other necessities.
- Make pick-ups from area businesses who have committed to donating to our little project.
These three gentlemen will be graduating 1, 2 and 3 at the Police Training Institute they have assured me and here is why! After an extensive search process by our Police Commission (President Dale Multerer, Don Luby and Dave Pugh) we established a list of 10 names ranked in order. Candidates had to pass a physical fitness test, then take a standardized test, be interviewed by the board and finally pass a background check before the final list is ranked. The three new officers will be attending the University of Illinois-Police Training Institute in Champaign, Illinois starting Sunday, October 22, 2006.Kraig Kapusinski lives in Algonquin, Illinois with his wife Alisa. Kraig has worked for the Motorola Corporation since 1997 most recently as a financial analyst. Kraig has a bachelors degree from the University of Illinois and a master of business administration from Roosevelt University in Chicago. Kraig's brother is a Libertyville police officer.Last Monday we had a nice ceremony at the village board meeting where we swore them in and gave them their badges. Each officer had their family attend as well.
David Cheney lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin with his wife Karrie and their daughter Camren. David comes to us from the Lake County Sheriff's Office where he was a Correctional Officer since 2001. David was a member of the Sheriff's elite Correctional Response Team. David has an associates degree in criminal justice from the College of Lake County.
Brandon Zeman lives in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Brandon comes to us from the City of Elmhurst where he worked in the public works department. Brandon has a bachelors degree in education from Monmouth College and is a certified history teacher.
I was fortunate to go to the Northern Illinois University Homecoming game yesterday where they pounded Temple University 43-21. It was fun since I was with a bunch of alums, and could make snide remarks about the school the whole day! Of course me having gone to a much more prestigious temple of learning, I could afford my disdain. Actually I had a good time we had decent seats on about the 10 yard line.
Yesterday was Baxter Healthcares 75th anniversary. I was invited to speak to the celebration at the Round Lake campus. I was suprised to see how many people attended almost 1,800 of the 2,500 employees. Since its founding in 1931, the company has remained committed to applying innovative science to help save and sustain lives worldwide. I talked a little bit about how Round Lake and Baxter worked together, and I declared today Baxter Healthcare Day in Village of Round Lake
Free wireless internet access is now available at the Round Lake Area Library! You may browse the web, read e-mail or do online research using your own wireless-enabled laptop or PDA. Our wireless network is available in the public areas of Adult Services, Young Adult Services and Youth Services as well as in thier main meeting room.
Significant, long-awaited road improvement underway Work begins on Fairfield and Gilmer Road interchange improvement in southwest Lake County.
Lake County has applied for a permit with the Illinois Department of Transportation to construct left turn lanes on Illinois Route 60 at Peterson Road. There is currently one lane in each direction at that location on Route 60 and it is shared by both left turners and drivers continuing straight through the intersection. One driver making a left turn can hold-up traffic for an entire cycle of the traffic signal.
NOTE: This is an email that I got from Christine Brooks about the Avon Township Food Pantry. As you may or may not know I am active with a variety of organizations including the Meals on Wheels Organization and the Northern Illinois Food Bank where I have done a few things for them like National Hunger Awareness Day and Potluck Desert with the Mayor.Good Morning, my name is Christine Brooks and I am one of the Trustees of Avon Township. I was wondering if you might be interested in doing a Blog for the Food Pantry. The number of residents utilizing the food pantry has steadily increased in the last several months but the staff and budget has remained the same. Donations of monetary as well as food along with volunteers is GREATLY needed! The food pantry utilizes the Northern Illinois Food Bank for a large portion of its food and they keep some impressive statistics. One of the statistics most interesting is that out of the 98 food pantries the Northern Illinois Food Bank services, Avon Township Food Pantry is ranked number 7. This ranking is based upon the number of pounds of food the Northern Illinois Food Bank delivers to their agencies. I believe that number speaks volumes and shows that this community has a great need to supply people who are in need with food. Please, if you have any questions or would like to learn more feel free to call Maureen @ 847-546-1066.The Avon Township food pantry is located at 423 E. Washington St. Round Lake Park, IL 60073. Please help as much as you can!
Today is week six of the Mayors Fantasy Football Challenge. Not many shocks as I sit atop the standings as expected by all.
I have been reading the comments and have been wondering what I should do about them if anything. I have had this discussion before on the blog about comments and I still think that as long as you follow my relatively simple rules its okay. I do cringe at some of the comments about people on here but I do believe it's a free country.
When you buy a house in a new subdivision or planned unit development, you may be subject to a host of rules and regulations! Are you shocked yet? I know many of you are, because I get more complaints about the dreaded words "Homeowners Association" or the HOA! I have noticed that there is a typical pattern that HOA's tend to follow over the years.
The Village of Round Lake in conjunction with the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) will be hosting a Household Chemical Waste collection at the Round Lake Public Works Facility on Saturday October 7, 2006 starting at 8am and running until 2:30pm. This event will be held rain or shine. Below are lists of materials that will be accepted as well as materials that will not be accepted. Further information may be found at www.swalco.org
This was a post I wrote in March of this year, but a resident of Round Lake Terence May emailed asked this question and it can't hurt to post it again!
The village board passed ordinance 06-P-04 a few weeks ago honoring the United States Marines and naming the week of November 5-11 as Marine Week in Round Lake. We had a retired marine and a serving marine stop by the village board meeting on Monday night to receive a plaque. I read the plaque out loud before presenting the plaque to our representative marine, there was quite a bit of applause and of course the obligatory "semper fi" was shouted out.WHEREAS, The United States Marine Corps has protected citizens and guarded their freedom for the past 231 years; and
WHEREAS, Our country has established a position of world leadership, the Marines have proven themselves as dedicated professionals willing to defend lives and protect the rights valued by Americans; and
WHEREAS, A Marine is trained to hold his ground against any odds and to always be faithful to God, Country and Corps, standing ready to fight anytime, anywhere, the President or Congress may designate; and
WHEREAS, The term "Marine" has been associated with courage and military efficiency, since its creation on November 10, 1775 in Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, The people of Round Lake are proud of its rich contribution to the Marine tradition and salute the Marines serving around the globe;
THEREFORE, I, Mayor William Gentes, proclaim November 5-11, 2006, as MARINE WEEK in the Village of Round Lake.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the Village of Round Lake to be affixed. Approved at the Village of Round Lake on September 18, 2006.
New mailbox at the Police and Public Works facility, and for those of you in Valley Lakes we are working on one there as well!
A long time reader Graham Little emailed me and asked about what's going on at 60 and Arden. So since I needed a post, I thought this was an excellent topic for the blog.
Today's fantasy football league features a battle of un-beaten teams with the featured match-up Al Villasenor vs Terry Vandenboom taking center stage. One of these teams is poised to be the foundation of the league, the rock that supports all other teams. The sub-basement that Neumann installed incorrectly if you will. These two team clearly define the un-beaten spirit since they have beaten nobody.
