Busy Work Day

My real job requires me most of the day, so no post today! Although this counts!

Olympics in Chicago in 2016?

On July 26th 2006, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) selected Chicago as one of three United States Candidate City finalists for the 2016 Games. The USOC will make the decision regarding whether Chicago advances to the international competition in the Spring of 2007.

The final decision on which international city will host the 2016 Games will be made in October 2009.

So why should Chicago want to host the 2016 Olympic Games? There are countless reasons, but let’s start with the top 16… My favorite is number 9!

Top 16 reasons why hosting the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games would be a great opportunity for Chicago:

1. Unite the world in our city for a celebration of sport-- With its pageantry, sport and celebration on a global scale, this will be the biggest event in our city in our lifetime. This is our generation’s World’s Columbian Exposition or 1933 World’s Fair.
2. Celebrate our love of sport-- There is no question that Chicagoans are passionate about sport. This event will bring the best in sport to our city. Over 200 countries will be sending their best athletes into our city to perform at the highest levels of competition in our stadiums and in our parks.
3. Share Chicago with the world and raise our international reputation -- We will have the opportunity to share Chicago and what makes our hometown so special with the worlds’ athletes, guests and over 3.6 billion people who will see our City through the global television broadcast. Newspapers, magazines and television from around the world will create profiles of this beautiful Olympic city. This is our chance to inspire the world - to Stir the Soul™ of the world!
4. Create a global sporting legacy for Chicago-- Already a professional sport powerhouse, Chicago will become known as one of the world centers of all sport. New venues will allow us to experience sports, like track and field, swimming and rowing among many others, before and after the games through participation and by hosting events.
5. Act as catalyst for widespread urban revitalization-- Situating the temporary stadium Washington Park will help revitalize a beautiful part of the City. The Athletes’ Village will create mixed-use community right on the lake front, again acting as a central point for improvement of an entire neighborhood on the South Side. It will also act as a magnet for attracting more people to live in the Loop.
6. Generate economic benefits before the Games-- The construction of new venues and infrastructure improvements means new jobs. Being an Olympic host city will attract domestic and international companies to open offices or even possibly move their headquarters here. This wave of new businesses means economic development and new jobs.
7. Generate economic benefits during the games-- Over six million incremental tourists from around the world staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants, taking rides in our cabs. Employers in the service industry will need to hire additional help to service the guests thereby creating new jobs.
8. Generate economic benefits after the Games-- Tourists will come to our Olympic City in increasing numbers years after the Games to remember and relive the 2016 spectacle, see the venues, and experience Chicago firsthand.
9. Accelerate planned infrastructure improvements--Hosting the Games will fast track key capital projects, especially transportation related initiatives, to coincide with the Olympiad.
10. Experience world-class athletics and the values of Olympic sport – in our own backyard -- This is our chance to see the best athletes in the world compete in our parks and stadiums, demonstrating not only the most amazing level of competition the world has to offer, but also the values that make the Olympic movement singular – fair play, friendship, hope, inspiration, and joy in effort.
11. Capitalize on the educational benefits--Our children will be exposed to the athletes and cultures of the world. This global Olympic Movement is a great educational tool for geography, culture, history etc. The City and Chicago 2016 will create many programs focused on our youth that will enrich our children and broaden their understanding of sport and the world.
12. Enjoy great cultural events-- Beyond sport, this event will bring world class singers, actors, dance, theatre, etc. into our city. The Games will be a cultural celebration with events throughout the city - many of them free to the public.
13. Get motivated to get in shape-- The Games will be inspiration for Chicagoans to live healthier lives by embracing fitness and wellness activities.
14. Appreciate Chicago’s distinctiveness even more-- You will learn surprising and amazing things about Chicago and Chicagoans you never knew before that will make you even prouder that you live here.
15. Meet new extraordinary people--By hosting the Games, we will attract broad range of domestic and international visitors to the Windy City who we can learn from and share experiences. Chicago will become the World’s second home.
16. Have fun and show your pride-- This will be a great time, the streets will be alive, and our people will be a big part of the experience. This will be an incredible source of pride for everyone who lives here. And, more fun than you can imagine!

Attack of the Birds

Last night was quite the night. The last few years my house has suffered from an invasion of birds who fly into one of our attic vents on the side of the house and force there way through the vent and nest in the tubing up in our attic. A few years before that we had a big bee problem in the same spot. So I actually preferred the birds!

I have hoisted my self into the inferno/fiberglass hell that is our attic, and discovered that Neumann Homes did there usual shoddy job with the vent, by not installing any cover or any formal attachment which the birds pecked away in 2-3 seconds. So using my trusty roll of duct tape I reattached the vent as best I could while sweating and scratching from the heat and fiberglass.

Anyway over the last few weeks I have heard the pleasant chirping of little birds when I wake up. A nice thing? Not when you know they are in your house! Since I don't have a ladder long enough to get after the outside of the vent, I am promised myself that I would go up to the attic over the weekend and fix the vent again. Which I hate.

Well anyway, last night the birds pecked there way through the vent tube and were banging around, chirping and what sounded like (I kid you not) speaking in tounges all night long. They appeared to be having a convention right above my bathroom where the vent fan was. It also sounded like they had a kids toy that had some form of repetitive beeping noise with them.

So at 1am I am in my bathroom with all the lights on glaring at the vent where all the noise was coming from and disturbing my limited beauty rest. When I decided to turn the fan on and hopefully mulch the birds and the kids toy. Thats not what happened but it scared the crap out of the birds, which had some value, and drove them some where else in the attic, because they quieted down.

So when I get home tonight I am venturing up into the attic and duct taping the vent with 6-10 rolls of tape if I have to, and then this weekend I am going to venture up the side of the house and figure out a way of blocking the vent. Delightful!

Good Story about the Public Works Department

Davis Clark the Director of our Public Works Department sent me this email a few weeks ago and I decided to run with it. I have changed the locations and the descriptions of the event so as to not embarrass anyone. Also the picture is not of the incident.

"Just a quick note about an accident that took place this morning. Someone noticed a streetlight had been hit on Main Street this morning and informed Public Works. I sent a couple guys out there to assess the damage and remove the broken pole. Apparently the driver hit two street signs and the street light and fled the scene leaving parts of his car scattered around.

The two public works employees Greg Poulsen and Ross Hosking decided to drive the area to see if there was a damaged vehicle nearby. Less than a block away was a vehicle with a flat tire and front end damage parked in a driveway. The Police Department were notified and the person admitted that they were at fault. That little extra effort by those two employees just saved the Village’s Insurance Co. almost $4,000.00. I thought you might like to know that."

Nice job!

Valley Lakes Marsh Land

Two board meetings ago John Gutknecht made a short presentation to the village board here was able to email to me the rough draft of the presentation and I will reproduce it below. John has been a guest blogger here in the past, but John has joined the blogosphere as well with a well written and well researched blog. By the way the village board agreed to John and the Valley Lakes HOA's request. He also has a PDF version of his slide here.

We’re here tonight asking for your support with a specific project but more importantly to lay the foundations for a partnership on this and similar projects in the future.

In order to understand this partnership, I think it will help if I explain why the Valley Lakes Community Association is involved in ecological restoration and maintenance. I’ll review our mission, our action plan, go over a couple examples of the work we’re doing and then review what a partnership with Round Lake will offer to our members and to the Village.

I know everyone is familiar with the basics of Valley Lakes, but did you know the Valley Lakes Community Association owns over 284 acres of property? And did you know that unlike most other HOA’s most of the property we own is undisturbed wetland? In comparison Nippersink Forest Preserve (right here in Round Lake) is about 300 acres with less than 200 acres of wetland.

The reason we’re involved in ecological restoration and maintenance is simple; as the owners of this much property, we owe it to our members and the Village to be responsible owners and ensure that this property is cared for and protected for generations to come.

I think everyone understands the environmental impact of wetlands on the local waterways and ground water, and I have no doubt everyone is aware of the global issues surrounding the environment, but there’s more to being environmentally responsible than just “being green.” There is a financial side to it as well. Having a HEALTHY wetland nearby can increase home values by as much as 20% - This in turn adds to EAV.

So whether it was because of the desire to be environmentally responsible, project their investment or some combination of the two - our members made it clear that PROPER management of our open spaces was a priority for them. We have committed to our members that we will maintain our property in a way that will both protect the investment of our members in their homes and protect the investment of the Village in Valley Lakes.

To fulfill this mission we have adopted an action plan that broken down into its basic parts consists of; ecological restoration, strategic partnerships and pursuing every funding opportunity available.

The first step in our restoration focuses on shoreline restoration. The single largest expense for our members in the future will be the dredging and maintenance of 22 detention ponds. The best way to reduce and delay those costs is by implementing an aggressive shoreline restoration program. This is one of 2 ponds done in 2006. All together we restored just over 62,000 square feet of grass into 62,000 square feet of high quality native plants. This is year one of a three year program and represents a $40K investment from our members in their community.

It has the potential for saving $200K in 20 years in dredging and dumping costs. In addition to the financial benefits, it also has the added bonus of improving water quality in these ponds, our wetlands and downstream into Long Lake and the Chain-o-Lakes. This program has been so successful that we plan to continue this program with 5 more ponds in 2007 and more in 2008.

The detention ponds in Valley Lakes all flow into one or more of our various wetlands and the next part of our plan focuses specifically on those areas. We commissioned a professional inventory and assessment of wetland areas this past summer and in line with our expectations received an overall grade of D. While not something to be happy about, in this case a D is about average with the rest of the Chicago region, so while it could be a lot better, it could actually be a lot worse.

Although most of the areas have been heavily disturbed and are rapidly degrading there are traces of some high quality remnants. These areas, even if small, are important reservoirs of genetic material for maintaining regional biodiversity and worth preserving. So with help from our experts we’ve developed a restoration plan that will kick off this spring.

The objective of the plan is to: Protect, Manage and Restore. Our goal is to stabilize first, then lay the ground work for recovery. We’ll be using the best scientific principles and management methods to implement this plan including biological control agents for control of one of the worst plants - purple loosestrife. We’ll also be doing controlled burns (something that is long overdue), and establishing new native plant communities and providing habitat for native wildlife such as the wood duck and the eastern blue bird.

We couldn’t possibly have done all of this on our own. Early on we knew that it would be important to develop strategic partnerships. We were fortunate enough to receive support from the Lake County Forest Preserve. Through Bonnie Carter, our County Board rep and President of the Forest Preserve Board, we’ve had access to some of the district’s key staff and resources. Our partnership was so strong that the Forest Preserve sponsored our application for membership in the Chicago Wilderness Consortium. We were awarded membership in this group in January and through their network of public and private land owners, now have access to technical and financial resources that are only available to members.

Finally we’ve partnered with the Fox River Ecosystem Partnership, a diverse group of landowners, businesses and non-profit organizations that work to fund an implement various projects throughout the Fox River watershed and hired Tallgrass Restoration, LLC. as our exclusive general contractor to develop and implement all of our plans. Tallgrass is one of the founding members of Chicago Wilderness and has a long history with not only the Lake County Forest Preserve, but the Chicago Botanical Gardens, the Morten Arboretum and other area leaders in ecological restoration projects.

Obviously there is a financial investment required in funding all of this work. To date the shoreline restoration projects have been 100% HOA funded. In an effort to offset some of those costs going forward, we’re in the process of applying for funding through the Illinois USDA Conservation 2000 program to cover shoreline restoration costs starting in 2008. The C2000 program has long recognized the benefits of shoreline restoration and it is our hope that grants will cover the cost of continuing the work we’ve already started.

We secured a $25,000 donation from Pritzker when we acquired the Mud Lake wetland and we’ve used some of that money to cover the costs of the wetland assessments and the development of our restoration plans. We expect that money to more than cover the costs of creating those plans and technical documents, but it won’t come close to covering the cost of implementing those plans. For that we’ve budgeted $25,000 to get started and have applied for matching funding through the USDA Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) program.

We were notified last week that not only did we receive that funding – guaranteed for the next 10 years – but we qualified for 100% funding due to the high priority given to Valley Lakes due to the number of endangered and threatened species in the area. While we’re still drawing up the detailed plans and reviewing the various costs, it’s hard to tell exactly how much money this could be, but it could be as much as $500,000.00 over the next 10 years!

So, as you can see there is a good reason we’re involved in this work, and we’ve already made a tremendous investment in getting these projects started. Tonight, the reason we’re seeking a partnership with the Village is to qualify for funding through the C2000 program. This program, which would cover the costs of various shoreline restoration works starting in 2008, requires applicants to establish partnerships local governments and agencies.

As I mentioned we’ve already established a partnership with the Fox River Ecosystem and The Lake County Forest Preserve, but we’d like to include the Village of Round Lake among our list of partners. This is an excellent opportunity for the Village because it will directly benefit one of our areas richest natural resources. It also speaks to the commitments already made by this board in its effort to receive Tree City USA designation and the designation of so much open space on the comprehensive plan.

At this time, we’re hoping for a commitment from the Village to provide a minimal investment of time and material of 2 days of work for 1 or 2 people, a wood chipper and disposal of debris (that can not be used on site.) This is for work to be done in 2008.

We hope that you’ll recognize the value of the work that we are doing to protect, maintain and restore our property and the impact that work will have on our community. We also hope that you’ll join us as a partner in these and other future programs so that together we can fulfill the promise of the original vision for Valley Lakes to provide a model for how a natural habitat can be successfully integrated into a residential community. I’d like to invite you to join us at the Police and Public Works building prior to our annual meeting on April 18th for a more detailed presentation on our shoreline and wetland restoration projects given by Tallgrass Restoration. If you know of anyone that would be interested in attending, please extend this invitation to them.

Thank you for your time this evening and I hope we can CONTINUE to count on your support.

Save the Date---- Streets of Summer Festival

Open your calendars and mark these dates down. June 1, 2 and 3 for the Fourth Annual Streets of Summer Festival! Details will follow, but I can tell you that on June 3rd there will be the first annual Beat the Mayor 5K.

The thought is that I would post a time and anyone who beats my time gets something that says I beat the mayor, trophy, or a T-shirt for example.

I have two thoughts on how to do the 5K, one is I would run the course about 30 minutes before the regular race. I would record a time and then we could use an age-grading formula, and gender grading to determine an equivalent time. So before the race you would know you had to run a 23:56 to beat me if you were 18, and a 30:34 if you were 55 for example. The goal results would be posted somewhere visible beforehand!

The other way would be for me to run the race with everyone, and then we could figure the whole thing out afterwards.

There is pro and con to both ways of doing it, so since I am democratically elected we will decide it by voting!

If you ran in the Mayoral Challenge 5K would you...

Want me to run first and establish a time for you to run against?Figure them out later after we all finish?

Free polls from Pollhost.com

As a reminder the Mayoral Run/Walk will be April 7th, a Saturday, at 7am with the run starting then and the walk starting at 7:30. The route is here.

Recycle used athletic shoes through April 20

Representative Kathy Ryg's district office is serving as a drop-off center from now through Friday, April 20 for the "Reuse-A-Shoe” recycling program. This program is the perfect opportunity to keep your old shoes out of landfills and turn them into useful material. This newly-recycled material will become gym floors, running tracks and safe playground surfaces.

Lake County residents interested in recycling their old shoes may bring them to Rep. Ryg's office at 50 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 114, in Vernon Hills until Friday, April 20. Business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.

All brands of clean, dry athletic shoes, except those with cleats or spikes, will be accepted. Please remove all zippers and metal eyelets before dropping the shoes off. Shoes with LED lights are acceptable.

Sandals, flip-flops, dress shoes, boots and water shoes are not accepted because they contain materials which cannot be recycled.

Delivering Meals Last Wednesday

I delivered meals to some residents here in Round Lake last Wednesday and I had a great time. I stopped and talked to many of them, although some were not available to talk. It was nice to see the energy and enthusiasm of the volunteers. There was a good cross section of Mayors from across the county and we got to talk at the reception held prior to going out to deliver the meals. There is a nice article from the News Sun here. I also got my picture in the paper as well, talking to Mayor Kristina Kovarik of Gurnee and Mayor Ted Mueller of Hainesville. Not sure what I was carrying on about, but I am sure it was brilliant!

Hansel and Gretel Come to Town!

Hansel and Gretel find themselves lost in an enchanted forest at the Round Lake Area Park District Community and Studio of Dance Presentation. Performances are Friday March 23 at 7:30 and on Saturday March 24th at 2:00 and 7:30, and then on Sunday March 25th at 2:00. The presentation is at the Round Lake High School Theater.

There are many more plays in production, among them are "Beauty and the Beast", "Enchanted Sleeping Beauty", and "The Wizard of Oz". Check your quarterly Park District Brochure for more detail.

Rumors that they are doing a special adaptation of my life are unfounded by the way! By the way the picture is of the Witch in the play, who does not look like this!

Mayors for Meals in Lake County

I am spending the morning participating in "Mayors for Meals" which was organized locally by Catholic Charities Lake County Senior Community Services and nationally by Meals on Wheels Association of America. We spend a hour or so socializing and listening to information about the program from a national perspective. We then pair up with our local community rep as well and then went go off to the distribution site. This is the second year that this program was offered and I enjoyed it last year immensely, along with learning quite abit about Catholic Charities program that are offered here in the Round Lake Area.

Lake County had more mayors participating then any other site in the United States last year! 18 mayors participating and only 462 nationwide so we got to pat ourselves on the back for that! Last year that is!

I delivered 5 hot meals to various seniors in the village and had a good time talking with the seniors, and hopefully they had a good time talking to me as well.

If you are looking to volunteer with some free time, I can assure you that Catholic Charities located right off of Cedar Lake road in our downtown area will welcome you with open arms.
There are numerous programs and services that Catholic Charities offer outside of the meals program, and if you know of a senior in need of help, I would refer them there for help!All in all I had a worthwhile time! I am already pledged to do it again next year!

College Trip

I wasn't going to write about my daughters college trip to Northern Michigan University this weekend, but so many people were asking me about it. I decided to!

Marquette MI, is way up there! The drive was not bad but 6 hours long with not much happening after Green Bay. We spent Friday evening meeting with the girls track coach who took us around the dome (lower right of picture) and the athletic facilities. Both very impressive, the dome is the largest wooden structure in the world, has a football field inside with a track and seat 9,000. The varsity athletic and general student atheltic facilities were quite impressive and well thought out. We then drove arround downtown Marquette and out to Presque Island.

Saturday was academics and a campus tour, a group of us had a visit to the fine arts building and to discuss potential majors (daughter is interested in human centered design) and we were quite impressed by everything we saw.

We ate in the cafeteria and I was impressed, the days when I went to college are long gone, no sloppy joes were to be seen! They even had a vegetarian section! We then checked out a few dorm rooms, which are basically 12 x 12 bunkers. I think my daughter was shocked by the size, or rather lack of size and closet space, no room for 250 shoes!

Then we drove back to Round Lake on Sunday. All in all I was very impressed, the school demonstrated a clear commitment to students and the students agreed that the school was student centric! My daughter liked the school as well. So we shall see!

COMMENTARY-- Underage Drinking

Last Friday, the Round Lake Police Department completed another Alcohol Countermeasure Enforcement operation in conjunction with the Illinois State Police. This operation was organized as part of the Lake County Chiefs Association Underage Drinking Committee, which Chief Metaxa is a member.

The results of last nights operation were slightly better than last time. We had four of twelve establishments sell liquor to the minor. That is better than the six of eleven a few months ago. The four establishments that sold liquor to the minor were the Tool Shed, Round Lake Liquors, El Ranchero restaurant, and Community Food and Liquors.

This is the third time that the Tool Shed has been cited for selling liquor to a minor as a result of these types of operations. I have scheduled a liquor control commission hearing for Monday, March 19, 2007 at 6:30 pm at the village hall. In the meantime, the liquor license for the Tool Shed has been suspended until the hearing. The Tool Shed continues to sell alcohol to minors and is a danger to public safety.

Channel 7 (ABC) rode along with the officers who conducted the ACE operation last Friday in Round Lake and interviewed Mundelien's Chief Raymond Rose (the Committee spokesperson) this morning. Here is a link to a story done by ABC.

The Chief's Underage Drinking Committee has focused their efforts in four areas: enforcement, education, legislation and membership. They meet monthly to discuss specific topics within these areas to ultimately achieve our goal of reducing the underage drinking in Lake County.

They will continue to conduct these types of operations in the future, but will also be focusing on education. Chief Metaxa is organizing a pre-prom presentation at the high school with the fire department and the Coroner's office.

I am going to bring in all of the liquor licensees and providing them with education and a discussion about our expectations at some point quickly.

The disappointment I get from this is enormous. Since Four Coynes is appealing my revocation of its liquor license with the Illinois Liquor Commission and is free to be open until such time as the board ratifies my decision. I have been sending officers into every bar in Round Lake every night, so its no surprise there were no violations in any of those 5 bars. I am not picking on any one bar, just being hyper-vigilant to all.

Yet in the other 7 places that sell that we checked, 4 failed. My summit with the various license holders hopefully will help them wise up, I suspect the individual liquor hearing will assist with there focus as well!

Trip to the Upper Penisula--Northern Michigan University here we come!

I am taking a blogging vacation this weekend, because I am going with my daughter to inspect a potential college campus. This one is due north, and I mean due north! Until you get to Lake Superior, and the town of Marquette! The school is Northern Michigan University. Upper Peninsula here I come! Hey guess what the weather says its snowing! It snows about 140 to 160 inches a year up there! They have a Nordic skiing team as well!

Commencement Speech at ITT Tonight

I have been serving on the ITT Technical Institute Advisory Board for a couple of years now and have been enjoying it. Post about this is here.

I was flattered when they asked me to be there commencement speaker. So tonight I am doing that! I gave the commencement speech at district 116 and I had a great time and have had a few kids over the years mention it to me.

Not sure what I am going to talk about, because I don't have much guidance on the subject, but I would guess I will talk about opportunity, education and the value of a good education!

Surprisingly enough despite its location in Mount Prospect there is a sizable contingent of Round Lake people at the school! Last time I was there I saw some Round Lakers!

Interesting Article in Crains on Hospital Board

There was an interesting article in Crains Chicago Business about the Illinois Hospital Board.

Good synopsis of the issues and challenges facing potential hospitals. The link is here.

Round Lake Library-- Sunday Sampler Series

I got this email from Candice Lutz who is a reference librarian at the Round Lake Area Library about some wonderful programs the library is offering. So naturally I decided to run with it!

I just wanted to let you know about a relatively new development at the Round Lake Area Library: we have a wonderful performing arts series here!

It’s called Sunday Sampler because:

• the performances are always on one Sunday a month and
• the program is--an hour long—enough time to “sample” a style of entertainment.

So far we have presented a jazz and chamber choir, an internationally recognized tap dancer, a professional jazz duo—vocals and guitar, and last Sunday a steelpan combo from NIU performed to a capacity crowd of 100. All events are free to the public.

In April we will be offering a sample of classical ballet combined with some classy jazz dance. Trio Los Magnificos will end our season in May. We’re taking summer off, and resuming in September with flamenco dancers accompanied by a guitarist (date is still open). Chicago Bronze, an English hand bell choir, will ring in the holiday season in December. I’ll fill in the blanks between now and then.

As you can tell, I’m rather proud of my program; it seems to be a caliber of entertainment not otherwise available in this area. Given the last attendance numbers, it also seems that it is an idea whose time has come.

COMMENTARY-- Gangs Part 2

The Round Lake Area had traditionally benefited from many multi-jurisdictional efforts such as the Lakes Management Commission, Chamber of Commerce, the Round Lake Area Park District, parades and events. It is a little know fact among many area residents that the Round Lake Area police departments have worked closely for a number of years. Recently, the Round Lake Area Chiefs of Police meet and agreed to increase the level of multi-jurisdictional law enforcement efforts.

The Chiefs recognized that their departments are routinely dealing with the same offenders throughout the Round Lake area. For example, a delinquent juvenile who attends the Round Lake High School might live in Round Lake Park and probably hangs out in Round Lake Beach (this is only an example and not meant to indicate that delinquent juveniles live in Round Lake Park). That delinquent juvenile could possibly come into contact with three different police departments. Why should three separate police departments build three separate cases against the same delinquent juvenile? Why not join forces and maximize resources? That is exactly what the Round Lake Area police departments are doing.

Starting this spring, the Round Lake Area police departments will be increasing their cooperative enforcement efforts in the areas of gangs, general investigations, DUI enforcement, commercial vehicle enforcement, boat patrol and areas of CALEA accreditation that the departments share such as dispatch. I applaud these efforts and hope that they will have a positive impact on the limited crime that we have in the Round Lake Area.

Wine Tasting Last Night

Had a very nice time last night at the wine tasting fund raiser, there were about 120 couples and they raised about $4,000 dollars towards the construction on a new park. I would have some pictures of the actual event here, but my cell phone battery went dead on the way to the event, killing any chance of that happening! I walked out of there having ordered a case of assorted wines for myself, so all in all a good night! Saw to many people to mention here, but lots of Round Lakers were here!

Talked to the Latino Alliance Yesterday

I was invited to speak at the Latino Alliance yesterday for lunch at the College of Lake County. They wanted to hear how being bilingual has helped my career and what type of volunteering in the community they could get involved in. I would guess there were 30 kids in the room while I was talking, and overall I had a good time, and I think they did as well.

CALEA-- Timeline starts now!

On the 26th of February the village board started the clock ticking on the Police Departments CALEA accreditation process. Its a 36 month process that ultimately leads to being a certified agency.

As many of you know we have had to forcefully yank our police department out of the past and into the future in the last two and half years. The process has been painful and costly. If some had spent as much energy resisting change as they had in getting with the program we would be much better off. But I can't change the past, only take us towards a better future.

CALEA is the way law enforcement agencies voluntarily demonstrate their commitment to excellence in law enforcement. The standards upon which the Law Enforcement Accreditation Program is based reflect the current thinking and experience of law enforcement practitioners and researchers. Major law enforcement associations, leading educational and training institutions, governmental agencies, as well as law enforcement executives internationally, acknowledge CALEA’s Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies and its Accreditation Program as benchmarks for today’s law enforcement agency.

• CALEA Accreditation requires an agency to develop a comprehensive, well thought out, uniform set of written directives. This is one of the most successful methods for reaching administrative and operational goals, while also providing direction to personnel. (Click HERE for a list of standards.)
• Accreditation standards provide the necessary reports and analyses a CEO needs to make fact-based, informed management decisions. (Click HERE for a list of standards.)
• CALEA Accreditation requires a preparedness program be put in place – so an agency is ready to address natural or man-made unusual occurrences. (Click HERE for a list of standards.)
• Accreditation is a means for developing or improving upon an agency’s relationship with the community. (Click HERE for a list of standards.)
• CALEA Accreditation strengthens an agency’s accountability, both within the agency and the community, through a continuum of standards that clearly define authority, performance, and responsibilities. (Click HERE for a list of standards.)
• Being CALEA Accredited can limit an agency’s liability and risk exposure because it demonstrates that internationally recognized standards for law enforcement have been met, as verified by a team of independent outside CALEA-trained assessors. (Click HERE for a list of standards.)
• CALEA Accreditation facilitates an agency’s pursuit of professional excellence.

Don't Forget the Wine Tasting is Saturday!

Don't forget this Saturday is the Wine-tasting that benefits a playground at the Park District. The event is being held by the Park District Foundation on Saturday at the 814 Hart Road from 6-10pm. Tickets are still available by calling 847-546-8558 they are $30.

Village School Art Program

A long time Round Lake Resident and active member of the Village School PTO Shelley Trump sent me this email letting me know whats going on with a marvelous program at Village School.

I wanted to let you know about the great art programs that are happening at Village Elementary School in Round Lake.

Last Spring we held an auction to raise funds for art programs at Village. This year, with those funds, we have hired local artist, Andrea Zachotina, to create an ArtSmarts Program for our students. Mrs. Zachotina has been visiting each classroom and teaching the students about famous artists and their styles and techniques. Thus far, these visits have taught the students about color theory, pointillism, portraits, and watercolor techniques. This week she will conclude her visits by teaching about Henri Rousseau. The students will learn how to create jungle art using colored pencil techniques. Mrs. Zachotina will be at Village all day on Tuesday, Feb. 27, Wednesday, Feb. 28, and Friday, March 2.

To conclude our ArtSmarts Program, we are holding an "ArtSmarts Night at the Museum" on Friday, March 9th, from 6:30 to 8:00pm at Village School. Each student will submit 2 works of art from the ArtSmarts Program, and these will be hung around the halls and gym for a wonderful display of over 1000 works of art. This event will provide the students an opportunity to proudly exhibit their artwork.

Mrs. Zachotina will return to Village School in April to work with our 6th grade students to create a jungle-themed mural for one of our cafeteria walls. Last year's 6th graders left a flower garden mural on another wall.

On Friday, April 20th, we will hold our next "Auction for Art" at Village School from 6:00 to 8:30pm. This will be both a silent and live auction. We are currently seeking donations for this event and hope it will be even more successful than last year so that we can continue providing opportunities for our young artists to express themselves at Village School.

If you have any questions, please contact Shelley Trump, Village School PTO Art Committee and Auction Committee. (847) 546-7835 or trumpj2@hotmail.com or Village School (847) 270-9470. Thanks!

COMMENTARY-- Gangs Part 1

This is the first of a multiple part discussion of gangs. There will be another part that discuss some of the steps that our police are taking in conjunction with the other police departments in the area to combat gangs in the area. Much of the information gathered here is from the following two sources (here and here) in addition Police Chief Cliff Metaxa helped quite a bit.

The existence of gangs in the Round Lake Area is not a new or recent phenomenon. The following is a brief discussion of the history of gangs and specifically Chicago based street gangs.

Gangs in the United States have been traced back to the post Revolutionary War days and originally formed as a means of self-protection and as social clubs. In the early nineteenth century, Irish immigrants formed the first street gangs in New York City. By the 1920's, the city of Chicago is reported to have had over 1300 gangs in the city

In the 1960's a "youth group" called the Black P-Stone Rangers developed into a criminal organization. The group's leader, Jeff Fort, united the leaders of some 50 area street gangs into a single organization, the “Black P-Stone Nation”. The group was controlled by a 21-man commission, self-titled the "Main 21". The leaders projected the group as a socially conscious, self-help organization that would help uplift themselves and their community. As a result of this premise, the group sought and obtained $1.4 million in federal anti-poverty funds. These funds were then used to support the group's illegal activities. A federal grand jury uncovered the funds mismanagement and Jeff Fort was sent to federal prison.

The perceived success of Fort's Black P-Stone Nation resulted in the formation of many other street gangs, which claimed to be politically and socially motivated. Of the groups that surfaced, many dropped to a level of disorganization, while others developed into sophisticated, highly organized groups involved in prostitution, robbery, burglary, extortion, and drug sales.

Two very influential gangs, the Black Disciples, led by David Barksdale, and the Gangster Disciples, led by Larry Hoover, followed Fort's example and unified their gangs to form the Black Gangster Disciple Nation. Throughout the 1970's, the Black P-Stone Nation and Black Gangster Disciple Nation controlled the Chicago drug trade and became bitter rivals expressing their anger by creating the bloodiest gang war in Chicago's history.

During the 1980's, within the prison walls, gangs began separating into alliances. The two alliance names that emerged were the “People Nation” and “Folk Nation”. All gangs that were originally aligned with the Black P-Stone Nation aligned with People Nation. Those that were originally aligned with the Black Gangster Disciple Nation aligned with the Folk Nation.
Many gangs or "sets", as they are called, are aligned with one of the two Chicago alliances. The more prevalent groups are shown below by alliance.

People Nation Sets

• Black P-Stone
• Latin Kings
• Vicelords
• Spanish Lords
• El Rukns
• Bishops
• Gaylords
• Latin Counts
• Kents

Folk Nation Sets

• Black Gangster Disciples
• Black Disciples
• Gangster Disciples
• La Raza
• Cobras
• Eagles
• Latin Disciples
• Maniac Latin Disciples
• Simon City Royals
• Spanish Gangsters
• Two Sixers

It is very common for Chicago-based gangs to maintain charters, constitutions, recruiting documents, and other written materials. These documents are almost always in cryptic code or subliminally hidden in artwork. Rules and codes of conduct must be strictly followed. Those members who choose not to participate in a gang activity are subject to disciplinary action or "violations".

Graffiti is used by gangs to communicate with fellow members and rivals. Disrespect to a rival gang or their members is accomplished by displaying rival symbols in a disrespectful manner. The disrespect of symbols communicates hatred toward the rival group. This type of graffiti encourages retaliation. The most effective method of preventing this activity is to quickly remove the graffiti in order to reduce the amount of recognition gained by the act. Notify local authorities and request the removal of graffiti.

In the Round Lake Area, you can contact CenCom at the non-emergency telephone number (847-270-9111) to report graffiti. In the Village of Round Lake, the village code 9.16.080 states:

It shall be the duty of the owner of the structure or wall upon which any inscription or representation prohibited in subsection A of this section is made, to block or remove such inscription or representation or to otherwise repair or restore the structure or wall to its prior condition within twenty-four (24) hours from receipt of notice of such occurrence.

If you have any questions about gangs you can contact your local police department. If you live in the Village of Round Lake you can contact the Round Lake Police Department at (847) 546-8112.

Round Lake Driving Alert---The First Daughter has a New Car!

As a public service I am showing a picture of the vehicle and the driver. Please be careful when you see her coming...why? Because I taught her how to drive! She is actually a pretty decent driver, which I am assuming will only improve with time. She has had her license for over a year and we have only had one scrape and that was in a parking lot to my car.

In addition since the car is just a giant MP3 player for her. I decided that it needed to have as many air bags as possible, since she is my most valuable possession!

CANCELED--- Mayors Run

There is no sense in doing that today, running or walking in the blowing snow benefits no one!

Baxter and Fenwal Announce a Sale of Some of the Round Lake Transfusion Business

More information: The transfusion therapies is a small group housed in the Round Lake Campus - 40 - 100 employees, they have been purchased by the investment groups and will move off campus and they will become a stand alone company called FenWal, Ron Labrum - former local president of Cardinal/Allegiance, and a former Baxter Guy will become the president.

Fenwal Launched as Independent Corporation Following Completion of Divestiture From Baxter Healthcare Corporation

ROUND LAKE, Ill., March 1 -- Fenwal Inc. today announced its launch as an independent company. The new corporation is formed upon Baxter Healthcare Corporation completing the sale of its Transfusion Therapies business to Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Maverick Capital, Ltd.

Established by TPG and Maverick Capital, Ltd. as an independently operated company, Fenwal now becomes one of the world's largest suppliers of products and services to the transfusion medicine industry. Since it was first established in 1949, the Fenwal brand has become recognized around the world as being synonymous with innovation in transfusion medicine.

"More than 50 years ago, this business was created with a single purpose: to support the mission of health-care providers to save and improve lives by providing high quality, innovative blood collection and processing products and services," explains Ron K. Labrum, President and CEO of Fenwal. "Today, this purpose is renewed as Fenwal once again becomes an independent company."

A pioneer in the science of transfusion medicine, Fenwal has introduced technological breakthroughs that have helped make blood collection and blood therapy a reality, and its advanced technologies have helped to ensure a safe and plentiful global blood supply. "We are focused on delivering new and better solutions and products that are developed in collaboration with our customers, and backed by the service and support expected of an industry leader," said Labrum. "As an independent business, Fenwal will have a singular focus and resources to continue investment in research and development, as well as pursue opportunities to shape the future of transfusion medicine."

Baxter will continue to provide certain manufacturing, distribution and support services to Fenwal for a period of time following the close, under transition agreements signed by the companies. "As the transfer of ownership occurs, our first priority is to maintain excellence in customer service and to execute a seamless transition of ownership," said Labrum.

TPG is a private investment partnership that was founded in 1992 and currently has more than $30 billion of assets under management. With offices in San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, New York, Minneapolis, Fort Worth, Melbourne, Menlo Park, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, TPG has extensive experience with global public and private investments executed through leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts, joint ventures and restructurings.

Dallas and New York-based Maverick Capital, Ltd., a manager of private investment funds, is also an investor in this transaction.

Fenwal Inc. has five manufacturing plants located in Haina, Dominican Republic; San German and Maricao, Puerto Rico; La Chatre, France; and Bir Drassen, Tunisia. The company has approximately 3,500 employees worldwide, and annual sales of more than $500 million.

Fenwal's global team is focused on the development, manufacture and global marketing of products that allow blood centers, hospital blood banks, and plasma collection centers throughout the world to collect, separate, process, filter, store and administer whole blood and blood components for therapeutic use. To enhance the safety of transfusion medicine, Fenwal has focused on improved patient protection and has played a key role in developing automated systems and safety systems for whole blood collection. From the first fully automated blood cell separator to the most advanced apheresis technology, Fenwal continues to be a world leader in the development of innovations that change the practice of transfusion medicine.

Current product development is focused on systems that facilitate the process of cell separation using automated methods, systems to remove leukocytes (white cells) from blood components, and other processes to aid in ensuring a safe and available global blood supply.



Here is the Baxter Press Release

Baxter Completes Sale of Transfusion Therapies Business

DEERFIELD, Ill., March 1, 2007 - Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) announced today that it has completed the sale of its Transfusion Therapies business to Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Maverick Capital Ltd. for $540 million.

TPG and Maverick Capital, Ltd. have established the new independent company as Fenwal Inc. Fenwal becomes one of the world's largest suppliers of products and services to the transfusion medicine industry, with a product portfolio of manual and automated blood-collection products and storage equipment, approximately 3,500 employees, and five manufacturing facilities located in Haina, Dominican Republic; La Chatre, France; Maricao and San German, Puerto Rico; and Bir Drassen, Tunisia.

Baxter will continue to provide certain manufacturing, distribution and support services to Fenwal for varying periods of time following the close, under transition agreements signed by the companies.

TPG is a private investment partnership that was founded in 1992 and currently has more than $30 billion of assets under management. TPG has extensive experience with global public and private investments executed through leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts, joint ventures and restructurings.

Dallas and New York-based Maverick Capital, Ltd., a manager of private investment funds, is also an investor in this transaction. Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, assists healthcare professionals and their patients with the treatment of complex medical conditions, including hemophilia, immune disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma and other conditions.

The company applies its expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to make a meaningful difference in patients' lives.

Mayors Run/Walk this Saturday

This Saturday morning is the 3rd Monthly Run Walk and we will hold it in Valley Lakes at the South Park. The run starts at 7am and the walk at 7:30am. The run is 2 miles and the walk 2 miles. Last time the walkers, walked while the runner ran from 7 to 7:30!

I have used mapmyrun.com to map the run here. I was able to get it to be exactly 2 miles.

For those of you who are concerned about keeping up, the last one had a variety of speeds that people ran at, and the average pace was maybe 11 minutes per mile on the run and maybe 20 minute mile pace for the walk.