Joliet 8-8-18

AU G U S T 8, 2 0 1 8 V O L . 1 0 I S S U E 47

Lincoln the first president to make use of electronic mass media

#jolietbugle

SPORTS

A-game Allie Quigley is one of WNBA’s top players SEE PAGE 5

EVENTS Calendar Events Upcoming events in your area SEE PAGE 3

BUSINESS Dave Says Finding responsible renters; don’t allow collectors to break the rules SEE PAGE 8

JOLIETBUGLE.COM

SEE PAGE 4

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ILLINOIS’ BEST

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 | BUGLENEWSPAPERS.COM

COMMUNITY >> LOCKPORT

Books come to life at Lockport library Fourth annual Comicopolis brings more than 1,000 fans

BY MARK GREGORY Editorial Director @Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com

When a book is well written, the colorless words can transport a reader to lands far and wide where anything they dream can be a reality. Once a year, the Lockport branch of the White Oak Library District opens the pages of their books all at once and creates a col-

orful world where heroes, villains and princesses walk the streets and roam the hallways at the annual Comicopolis.

This is the fourth installment of the fest, which has become a staple for the community.

“Comicon-type festivals are super popular and Marvel Studios and DC Comics cranking out movies really helps it stay. Four and half years ago, we decided we needed another big event for the library and we planted a flag in the ground and said this was going to be the one for the whole southwest suburbs,” said Scott Pointon, White Oak Executive Director. “So far, it is growing. I have told the staff, semi-joking, that maybe someday we will be bigger than Canal Days and be a big fest that takes over the whole downtown, but for now, we grow it every year.”

Over the years, the fest has grown in numbers and in size and this year was no different.

“In year one, we had about 800 attendees, in years two and three, we had just over 1,000 and this year, we had 1,002, but we got to 500 faster than we ever have,” Pointon

said. “We have expanded into our parking lot and this was the first year we have turned vendors away, so we know we have to add a second tent next year.”

And while Comicopolis grows every year, it is also small enough where patrons get personal attention.

“We hear from the vendors and attendees that if you go to a major fest, the artists may have three conversations all day because there are so many people,” Pointon said.

“Here, we are still small enough that it is homey and everyone has a great time.”

Comicopolis brings in authors, illustrators, publishers and vendors for the fans, as well as having exhibits and entertainment for all ages.

“Our target age is upper grade school through 30 year-olds and whenever you can say that, it is a great thing because there is stuff here for all ages,” Pointon said.

“There is stuff for very little kids and there are 60-year-olds here.”

INSTAGRAM: Readers, attending a game in your area? Take a photo and tag @buglenewspapers for a chance to be featured!

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 | BUGLENEWSPAPERS.COM

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CITY NEWS

Joliet East side home won’t be saved City to raze fire damaged property

BY MARNEY SIMON Enterprise Staff @PlainfieldNews news@enterprisepublications.com

A Joliet home ravaged by fire more than three years ago won’t be saved.

Last week, the members of Joliet’s Historic Preservation Commission (JHPC) approved a certificate of appropriateness to demolish the home at 220 Lincoln St., in the East Side Historic District.

A fire ripped through the residence on Feb. 7, 2015, causing extensive damage.

“The owner did work with an insurance company and the contractor… and the insurance money just went to cover the mortgage. So, it left her no funds and I don’t believe that she has access to funds to repair the property,” Gabriel Friend, Property Maintenance Coordinator for the city, explained to the HPC. The home is a circa-1900 wood and scalloped shingle cladded two-story home.

In June of 2016, after 18 months of attempts to fix the home, the

city council declared the property a public nuisance. A demolition decree was issued in May of this year.

Members of the JHPC were hesitant to okay the demolition, due to the home’s presence in one of Joliet’s historic areas, and asked if the city has the option to take over the property and attempt to repair or sell it, versus demolition.

But, Friend said, the city doesn’t have funding to acquire damaged properties.

“The city doesn’t acquire property for that reason, to sell it,” he said. “We’ve tried to work with this owner… we tried to give her ample time to come up with funds or to sell the property, and it just has not happened. It’s been three and one-half years.”

Friend added that the city would also be responsible for any liens or late tax payments due on the property if it took over.

“It’s been there for about three and one-half years in that condition, the owner has been unable to make repairs and the council has declared it a public nuisance.

What we’re seeking to do is re-

CALENDAR

move the blight from the property,” Friend said.

The current owner will still own the lot, and the city will place a lien on the property for the cost of demolition. Demolition will cost between $10,000 and $15,000, plus the cost of asbestos abatement if necessary. Abatement could double the overall demolition costs.

Friend noted that the city has an ordinance to force property owners to maintain vacant lots, so that those lots do not become a dangerous area in the center of a residential neighborhood.

The home is considered “significant” as a contributing property inside the East Side National Registry District. The home is one of 51 properties designated for primary or secondary significance to the district.

If enough properties inside the district suffer from significant blight, it could affect the district’s status on the national registry.

The city did not need a certificate of appropriateness from the JHPC to move ahead with demolition, but presented the case to hear what the commission had to say on the matter.

U P CO M I N G E V E N T S I N YO U R A R E A

AUGUST 1 Route 66 Street Market. 4-9 p.m. in downtown Joliet,

along Chicago Street between Van Buren and W. Jefferson Streets. Once again the annual market will feature vendors, downtown businesses, community partnerships, live entertainment and featured local breweries weekly.

(815)774-6066, jolietdowntown.com

AUGUST 4 Kidzfest. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in downtown Joliet, located

along Chicago Street between Benton and Jefferson Streets, Chicago Street Between Van Buren and West Jefferson St and the Van Buren Plaza, Joliet. A free family fun extravaganza in downtown Joliet! Be sure to stop by Lewis University’s Mini Campus at the fest to get your picture in a small airplane, make an art project, create a science experiment and more! All activities are *FREE*! There will also be plenty of area businesses and organizations with free activities for kids along Chicago Street. Food and drink will be available at a cost.

AUGUST 5 The City of Crest Hill will have their 9th annual picnic on Sunday, August 5, from noon until 10 p.m. The picnic will be held at St. Joe’s Park, 700

Theodore Street, Joliet. Admission is free. There will be entertainment, food, bingo, kids games and crafts. New this year will be the Jabberwocky Marionettes from 2:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. Come join us for a day of fun!!!

AUGUST 8 Route 66 Street Market. 4-9 p.m. in downtown Joliet,

along Chicago Street between Van Buren and W. Jef-

ferson Streets. Once again the annual market will feature vendors, downtown businesses, community partnerships, live entertainment and featured local breweries weekly.

(815)774-6066, jolietdowntown.com

AUGUST 9 2018 Rooftop Summer Music Series. 7:30 p.m. at the

Joliet Area Historical Museum, 204 Ottawa St. Joliet. Cadillac Groove. $8/$10 815-723-5201 or jolietmuseum.org

AUGUST 11 The Joliet Blues Festival. Saturday August 11, 2018

presented by Dot Foods, and sponsored by the Will-Joliet Bicentennial Park Inc, a 501c3 non-profit raising funds for Bicentennial Park and its programs since 1976.

Festival Details: From 4 until 11 p.m., five local blues bands will be grooving at the band shell in downtown Joliet. Beer, wine and food will be available. The menu available includes pizza, brats, hot dogs and burgers, along with chips and soft drinks. Food trucks will be on hand to temp you with their unique festival fare. Beer and wine will be available for purchase (No outside food or drink will be allowed). Tickets are $15 or $10 if purchased in advance at www.jolietbluesfestival.com

AUGUST 15 Route 66 Street Market. 4-9 p.m. in downtown Joliet,

along Chicago Street between Van Buren and W. Jefferson Streets. Once again the annual market will feature vendors, downtown businesses, community partnerships, live entertainment and featured local breweries weekly.

(815)774-6066, jolietdowntown.com

HPC members said they’d like to see if the city could establish an incentive-based program to help people save or rehab homes in the district.

The East Side Historic District was established in 1980.

The funds for demolition will come from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, through a grant earmarked for demolition of nuisance properties. The city expects the property to be razed in two to three months.

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Lincoln the first president to make use of electronic mass media

BY STEVE TARTER Of the Journal Star of Peoria FDR used the radio, JFK scored on TV and Donald Trump expouses on Twitter. But the first president to make effective use of electronic communications was Abraham Lincoln.

His use of the telegraph, a tool used extensively during the Civil War, was one of the things that made Lincoln a unique communicator in tumultuous times.

“Two things set Lincoln apart in terms of his relationship with, and mastery of, the press,” said Harold Holzer, author of “Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion,” published in 2015. “His language was simple and direct enough to make press reprints of his speeches especially compelling.

Second, he courted journalists from the beginning of his career.”

Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City, added two more things: “(Lincoln) drafted editorials for his Whig and Republican newspapers and owned a newspaper, himself (as did his arch-rival, Stephen A. Douglas),” he said.

The newspaper that Lincoln purchased — in secret — was a pro-Republican, German-language paper published in Springfield just prior to the 1860 presidential election. “State legislators bought and distributed the paper in their districts,” said James Cornelius, curator of the Lincoln Collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield.

Cornelius said Lincoln’s rise in Illinois politics was marked by a close relationship with the press. “He was often in newspaper offices up and down the state in the 1830s and 1840s. Hanging around a newspaper office was a good place to shoot the breeze — and exchange information. He also wrote a lot that was published anonymously during that time,” he said.

William Herndon, Lincoln’s Springfield law partner, observed Lincoln’s relationship with the press firsthand.

Writing in 1886, he noted: “In common with other politicians, he never overlooked a newspaperman who had it in his power to say a good or bad thing of him. The press of that day was not so powerful an institution as now, but am-

bitious politicians courted the favor of a newspaperman with as much zeal as the same class of men have done in latter days.”

Herndon recalled Lincoln writing to an editor of a small country paper in southern Illinois. “’I have been reading your paper for three or four years and have paid you nothing for it,’ Lincoln wrote. He then encloses $10 and admonishes the editor with innocent complacency: ‘Put it into your pocket, saying nothing further about it,’” he said.

Not long after, Lincoln sent an article “on political matters” to the editor - who declined to publish the piece “because I long ago made it a rule to publish nothing as editorial matter not written by myself.”

“Although the laugh was on Lincoln, he enjoyed the joke heartily,” noted Herndon, recalling Lincoln saying, “That editor has a rather lofty but proper conception of true journalism.”

True journalism wasn’t always on display in the newspapers that reigned in Lincoln’s era. Editors were not shy about taking stands — or taking shots — at the nation’s leaders.

“Let’s just say that the openly, proudly partisan editors of the Lincoln era — Republicans like Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune and Democrats like Manton Marble of the New York World — would not be surprised at all that today’s media outlets, like Fox and MSNBC, display the same kind of doctrinaire leanings, except (the networks of the 21st century) don’t like to admit it,” said Holzer.

“Partisanship was deeply embedded in the American press tradition, from the days of John Adams onward,” he said.

In talking about the “reliability” of newspapers, Lincoln is said to have joked, “They lie and then they re-lie.”

But Lincoln also said, “No man, whether he be private citizen or President of the United States, can successfully carry on a controversy with a great newspaper, and escape destruction unless he owns a newspaper equally great, with a circulation of the same neighborhood.”

Lincoln learned how to deal with a divided press just as he did with a divided country. “Mr. Lincoln understood the power of the press. He well understood the excesses of the media, especially during his presidency. On the whole, he was thick-skinned, but he did object to

falsehoods, calumnies, libel and slander,” noted Lewis Lehrman, author of “Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point.”

“Lincoln’s genius with the press consisted primarily in presenting arguments for the Union cause and emancipation which prevailed over the common prejudices of the day. His fairmindedness, even in the face of vicious press attacks, was apparent to all — in the end, even to his enemies,” Lehrman said.

Holzer suggested that a lifetime of reading, writing and negotiating with newspapers laid the groundwork for what Lincoln was able to do as president: reach the public with letters to the editor spelling out his positions on some of the much-debated issues of the day.

“With his dramatic letters of 1862 and 1863, Lincoln in some ways wrote the big three New York editors out of the equation when it came to molding public opinion,” the historian noted.

Lincoln’s habit of maintaining close ties with members of the press as president didn’t always set well with members of his Cabinet. Writing in his diary in 1864, Navy Secretary Gideon Welles complained: “It is an infirmity of the President that he permits the little news mongers to come around him and be intimate, and in this he is encouraged by (Secretary of State William) Seward, who does the same, and even courts the corrupt and the vicious, which the President does not. He has great inquisitiveness. Likes to hear all the political gossip as much as Seward. But the President is honest, sincere and confiding — traits which are not so prominent in some by whom he is surrounded.”

When it came to using the technology of the day, Lincoln learned about sending messages by wire from Charles Tinker, a telegraph operator he met at the Tazewell House hotel in Pekin in 1857.

By the time he moved to Washington in 1860, Lincoln was well aware of how the telegraph operated and ways he could use it, stated Tom Wheeler, author of “Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War.” Lincoln not only installed a telegraph office at the White House but used that office as a situation room, allowing the president to communicate with field commanders in the nearest thing to real time that was available in the 1860s, noted Wheeler, adding that Lincoln sent out almost 1,000 telegrams during his time in the executive office.

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 | BUGLENEWSPAPERS.COM

FEATURE

TOP OF HER

GAME JCA and DePaul graduate Allie Quigley almost gave up, now she’s one of top players in the WNBA

BY MARK GREGORY Editorial Director @Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com

To look at Allie Quigley’s career over the last two years, it is hard to believe the former Joliet Catholic Academy and DePaul University standout almost walked away from the WNBA. But she did.

After being drafted by Seattle with the 22nd pick in the 2008 draft, Quigley bounced around, playing in only 34 games total and was out of the league in 2012.

She got the call to play for the Chicago Sky, which was a call that had it come with a different area code may not have gone the same way.

“Chicago is my fifth team and when I got the call to come to Chicago, I only came because it is my hometown and it was one more shot,” Quigley said. “I was tired of doing the journey thing

and I did lose confidence in myself. I had thought about giving it up, but those days are behind me.”

Far behind.

In her first season with the Sky, Quigley matched the number of games played in her entire career to that point, and all she has done from there is go from winning the WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year award in 2014 and 2015 to becoming an All-Star the past two seasons.

This year, Quigley is the Sky’s scoring leader, averaging 15.9 points per game. Quigley leads the WNBA in three-point percentage with all players averaging more than 3.5 attempts per game with a 43% clip and is second in the league with 2.3 triples made per game.

She again showed off her shooting ability at halftime of the SEE GAME PAGE 6

PHOTO BY JOSHUA HUSTON/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Allie Quigley made her second-straight WNBA All-Star game this season.

TWITTER: For up -to-the-minute coverage of upcoming local sport events going on in your area, follow @VoyagerSport

6 SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 | BUGLENEWSPAPERS.COM

ST. FRANCIS

USF soccer adds three Rocco Del Real (Plainfield, Ill./ Plainfield South) will be joining the University of St. Francis men’s soccer team this fall, head coach Dan Cross announced Tuesday.

Del Real played two years of soccer at Joliet Junior College.

During his time with the Wolves, he scored seven goals and dished out seven assists. In high school, Del Real was a two-time captain at Plainfield South. He was a key offensive piece for the Cougars as they posted 13 wins and won the Southwest Prairie Conference in 2015.

“Rocco is an attack-minded player who will compete for playing time in the midfield and offense,” Cross said. “Rocco is coming to us from our neighbors at Joliet Junior college where he led the team as a captain and had a stellar career. Rocco is comfortable in possession and does well distributing the ball to his teammates to create chances. We are very happy to have him here as a Fighting Saint.”

Vicente Tellols Villalonga (Grao de Castellón, Spain) and Matio Dimov (Varna, Bulgaria).

GAME FROM PAGE 5 WNBA All-Star game in Minnesota where she won her second consecutive 3-point contest, this time setting the nets on fire with a final round score of 29 points – the highest total by a competitor in the WNBA or NBA in the history of the contest.

With the win, she also earned a $10,000 donation to the Patrick Quigley Memorial Scholarship Fund, a fund honoring her late father that provides assistance each year to a student at JCA. Overall in the game, she tallied 18 points with four from behind the arc in the 119-112 Team Parker victory.

Tellols Villalonga joins the Saints from Southwest Mississippi Community College. In 2017, he played in 12 games for the Bears, including seven starts, and recorded four assists. He also posted a 3.75 grade point average at Southwest Mississippi CC. Dimov comes to the Saints from Bulgaria where he attended Shumen University. Recently, Dimov played for Seacoast United Maine in the National Premier Soccer League.

“Matio is a very intelligent and talented soccer player,” Cross said.

“As a strong center midfielder, he will help improve our team’s ability to keep possession of the ball.

Matio has good vision and passing skills, a great first touch and the strength to hold players off. I hope all of his experience will help him become a leader on our team.”

Tellols Villalonga plans on studying international business, while Dimov expects to pursue a Master of Science in Management.

USF plays a pair of scrimmages before opening up its 2018 season on the road against Taylor Univer-

sity on August 18.

• The University of St. Francis men’s and women’s tennis teams brought in many academic awards from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Both programs took home ITA All-Academic Team awards, while eight tennis players were named ITA Scholar-Athletes. USF’s individual recipients were Erika Edrada (Romeoville, Ill./Romeoville), Mike Hasler (Lockport, Ill./ Lockport), David Kohler (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka), Eva Lopez (Zaragoza, Spain), Ian Millan Vetokhin (Burriana, Spain), Avilash Mishra (Bhubaneswar, India), Lucas Navarro (Valencia, Spain) and Merle Schlaeger (Hanau, Germany).

In order to be eligible for the ITA All-Academic Team award, a team must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). ITA Scholar-Athletes must be a letter winner, have a GPA of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and have been enrolled at their present school for a full academic year.

So, what is it that has sent the 32-year-old guard from anonymity to all-star?

“I think a combination of hard work and experience have caught up with each other,” Quigley said.

“Going overseas and being more of a focal player over there in my early years and bringing that confidence here. Then when the opportunity came, performing the way I can.”

Along with her role as a leader on the stat sheet, as a veteran on a young Sky team, Quigley finds herself as a leader in the locker room as well – a role she understands comes with responsibility.

“I have always been the player to look to the older player, now I

have players looking at me, so I have to be more accountable for your actions and being more vocal and try and stay even keel and not get too high or too low,” she said.

A WBCA All-American at Joliet Catholic, Quigley finished up her DePaul career in 2008 as the third all-time leading scorer with 2,078 points and led the Blue Demons to four NCAA tournament appearances including a Sweet 16 berth in 2006 and Second Round spot in 2005.

She is third in career field goals and three-pointers, tied for third in free throw percentage, seventh in scoring average and assists and eighth in three-point percentage.

ENTERTAINMENT

EVENTS GOING ON AROUND THE COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 | BUGLENEWSPAPERS.COM

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FEATURE

Alicia Witt coming to Chicago Actress, singer/ songwriter will kick off her EP release tour at City Winery on Aug. 22

PHOTO COURTESY OF MISSING PIECE GROUP

Alicia Witt will City Winery Chicago on Aug. 22 to kick off her EP release tour for 15,000 Days.

BY MARK GREGORY Editorial Director @Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com

While acting is what has made Alicia Witt a face everyone recognizes, it is her voice that has her coming to Chicago later this month.

Witt will kick off her five-city EP Release tour at City Winery on Aug. 22. The EP 15,000 Days will be released on Aug. 24 — the title marking how many days Witt had lived when she recorded the album.

“I am very excited to have the first EP show of the tour be in Chicago because I have always had some of the best shows I have ever played in Chicago,” Witt said. “They are some of the best audiences.”

For most of those 15,000 days, Witt has been a musician as well as an actress.

She began playing piano at an early age and began competing when she was seven-years-old, the same year she was cast as Alia Atreides in the film Dune. She even played professionally at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel when she first moved to Los Angeles to make a run at acting. With more than 30 movies and equal TV shows to her credit, it is obvious the acting was a wise move, and now, for the past decade, she has been carving a new path.

“I am as much a musician as I am an actor, it just wasn’t what people knew me as,” Witt said. “Now, I have been doing it long enough and have been blessed enough that people are listening to the music, I think it is pretty close to half and half at least. People are coming out, I think, because they like these songs and they know the words and it is incredibly moving to me. It is such a personal way of connecting with people. They are not going to keep coming out just because they saw you in a movie.”

Witt said early on, most of her audience was the curious moviegoer.

“When I started playing shows almost 10 years ago, without question, everyone who came was coming out of curiosity because they saw me in a series or a movie and

they wanted to see what that was like in person and I never minded that at all — I think that is an incredible luxury to have when you are a singer/songwriter starting out to have that extra exposure and having the privilege of having people show up even when your music is totally unknown. That was a massive gift and I never took that for granted,” she said. “I have been playing piano my entire life. I started competing in piano competitions when I was seven, the first year I made my first movie. Although I didn’t get brave enough to start putting my own music out into the world until 10 years ago, it is something I always imagined myself doing. It was something I always did for myself and a few select friends.”

Witt got to but her two talents together in 2016 when she played Autumn Chase for 11 episodes of the CMT hit series “Nashville.”

“That was a dream. I had hoped that I would have a chance to be on that show since the show started,” Witt said. “I had actually auditioned for the pilot even though there wasn’t really a place for me. The saw me for the role of Rayna even though they already had Connie (Britton) lined up. It was really just a way of being familiar with me because (show creator) Callie (Khouri) was in the room. At that audition, I

sang one of my original songs and [Callie] was so amazing at that audition and she said they would find something for me down the road.

Then as time went by, I still kept thinking about it and then out of the blue, I got a call from my agency and my only audition for the role was that they needed a copy of my latest CD. “That was so awesome. It was such a great show and it was special in the way that none of the actors were cast if they couldn’t sing and all the actors did their own singing.”

Witt’s EP 15,000 days is her fourth release as a songwriter and features songs “rooted in the lessons learned during a life spent onstage, behind the piano, in front of the camera, in love, out of love, and en route from one destination to another.”

While she may have waited to put her songs out to the world, Witt wastes no time letting her lyrics resonate with fans.

“I think what kept me from being confident enough to put this music out or to even write it wasn’t really the worry about could I do it, it was more, will people like it?” she said. “Can I relate to people through songs the way I would want to? Getting to share these songs and connect all the people in the room together is the most satisfying thing I do in my life.”

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BUSINESS + REAL ESTATE TA K E 5 M I N U T E S FOR YOURSELF!

NEWS ABOUT LOCAL BUSINESSES IN YOUR COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 | BUGLENEWSPAPERS.COM

DAVE SAYS

Finding responsible renters DEAR DAVE, I’m a landlord, and I own a few houses and duplexes around town. Recently, I made the mistake of renting to some tenants who were not respectful of my property. Do you have any tips for selecting good renters?

JOE DEAR JOE, In my experience, most landlords simply aren’t thorough enough with the screening process when it comes to potential tenants. It’s difficult to get to know someone — especially in this kind of situation — without spending some face-to-face time with them and digging into their backgrounds a little.

I have several rental properties, so here are a few tips that have served me well over the years.

Always require a big deposit up front. In addition, pull a credit bureau report on prospective renters. I also drive by the place they’re currently living to see how they take care of things. To me, this is a great indication of how responsible they are, and how they might treat my property. Finally, get proof they’ve regularly made past rental payments on time.

It’s a leap of faith, to an extent, any time you sign an agreement with a new tenant. But there are things you can do to make a more informed decision as to whom you’re doing business with!

—DAVE Dave Ramsey is CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven best-selling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 14 million listeners each week on 600 radio stations and multiple digital platforms.

Follow Dave on the web at daveramsey. com and on Twitter at @DaveRamsey.

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FROM THE SURROUNDING COUNTY AREA WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 | BUGLENEWSPAPERS.COM

COUNTY NEWS >> SHOREWOOD

Will County Brewing expands Outdoor seating headed to microbrewery

BY MARNEY SIMON Enterprise Staff @PlainfieldNews news@enterprisepublications.com

The Will County Brewing Company is looking to expand again.

On Aug. 1, plans to use an already-built beer garden at the pub on Jefferson Street went before the Planning and Zoning Commission at Shorewood Village Hall.

“They have installed an outdoor seating area, but there was a bit of miscommunication,” said Don Plass, the village’s Building Official.

“They have inquired about [the beer garden] and whether it was feasible or appropriate to do, which it is, but they weren’t aware they needed a permit before they put it in. But they’ve been nothing but cooperative since we asked them to come back.”

The patio includes seating contained within a boundary created by cedar planter boxes and fencing.

Commissioners were impressed with the new seating area, but expressed concern about smoking in beer gardens and patios in the village in general.

“A question I have, in general, about outdoor patio space, is on the Illinois law for how far you have to be away from a door if you’re smoking. Does that then change, with an outdoor patio?” asked Commissioner Ellen Kijowski. “I think these patios are much more enjoyable when you don’t have people smoking in them. That could be as much as a sign, or just you guys enforcing it. I’ve been to outdoor patios where they won’t enforce it, and everybody is outside smoking while you’re eating, and they’re in line with the law. I think it’s something we should consider whenever we have these in front of us, that there should be some signage.”

The owners said they did not intend to allow smoking on the patio, but would work with the village to make sure the law is followed properly.

“This is probably something that we’re going to have to look into also,” owner James Kennedy told the commission. “Our intention is not to have anyone smoke out there.”

The building department re-

viewed the site plan for accessibility and egress compliance. Plass said the village requires a special permit for beer gardens to make

sure owners are keeping up to local standards when they move part of their businesses outside.

“We want to… maintain some control over where these are set up, how they look, how they operate,” Plass said.

The Will County Brewing Company opened its microbrewery at 1142 W. Jefferson in March of this year.

The site plan approval was sent to the full board for consideration.

In May, the brewery expanded its indoor service, adding wine to the menu and gaining a permit for live entertainment.

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