The Regional News
Thursday, February 18, 2016
3
Wolves circle fast after Scalia’s death
Palospark.org image
Palos Park’s new police patrol beat map as it appears on the village website after the recent annexations of 1,446 acres of land in previously unincorporated Lemont Township.
Palos Park PD revamps patrol beats to cover newly annexed jurisdiction By Jack Murray Palos Park police are now patrolling Cog Hill Golf and Country Club among three other tracts of land in the western annexation area newly added to the village. Village Police Commissioner Dan Polk announced the new patrol area beats on Monday, saying the entire village — areas both old and new — has been divided into four such police beats. A map showing the revamped beats was released a week after the Village Council voted unanimously on Feb. 8 to annex the 1,036-acre Cog Hills property, at 12294 S. Archer Road, and the 112-acre property commonly known as Ludwig Farm, at 13235 W. 131st St. Less than a month before, the Village Council annexed the near-
by Gleneagles Country Club and Mid-Iron Golf Club, totaling about 280 acres, at a special meeting on Jan. 15. The four properties making up the western annexation area total 1,446 acres in previously unincorporated Lemont Township. Palos Park police patrol units are assigned to a designated area of the village each shift, Polk noted. “Police officers assigned to a particular area (known as a ‘beat’) are responsible for calls for service, such as reports, in-progress crimes and any other issues that need police response,” he added in a release issued by the Police Department late on Monday. The division of the original village and western annexation area into four beats was done after Polk and Police Chief Joe Miller conducted a Patrol Beat Evaluation study, “designed to provide
an assessment of the previous beat structure (of three patrol beats) and allocation of existing patrol staffing and evaluate opportunities to improve that deployment.” To meet their objectives in the study, officials focused on the following, Polk wrote: • Create a beat structure in which areas can be staffed consistently during most hours of the day and night. • Distribute officer workload levels more consistently across beats. • Design beat boundaries that utilize efficient routes of travel. • Minimize natural barriers within each beat. • Minimize dividing neighborhoods between beats. “Our objective was simple, optimize existing staff across realistic geographic boundaries in order to best serve the community,”
he added. It was Polk who recently said “now the real work begins” after residents cheered the vote last week to complete the annexations into Palos Park sought by all four property owners. “Most definitely yes. Welcome to Palos Park,” Polk had said during the roll-call vote. Mayor John Mahoney explained the annexations were made more quickly than originally intended at the request of the property owners in order to thwart legal efforts by Lemont allies to stop it. Mahoney assured residents that the village will maintain “the integrity of our annexation and development process. The public hearing and review process we prefer is not being avoided, only delayed. We will follow Palos Park’s strict planning and zoning requirements.”
Glad to become a part of Palos Gleneagles owner likes annexation battle outcome By Dermot Connolly Only a month has passed since Gleneagles Golf and Country Club and the Mid-Iron Golf Club were annexed by Palos Park. Mike McNulty, the owner of both properties, is expressing relief at the ease in which his family-owned properties joined the village. Asked why he and the owners of the nearby Ludwig Farm and Cog Hill Golf and Country Club decided six years ago to submit requests for annexation to Palos Park to the east, rather than Lemont to the west, McNulty has many reasons. First and foremost, he said there has never been a good relationship between the village of Lemont and his family, which has owned Gleneagles, a 232-acre property at 13070 W. McCarthy Road, for 65 years, as well as the 46-acre Mid-Iron, at 12500 Bell Road. He cited one instance some years ago in which he said the village of Lemont practically demanded a parcel of the Gleneagles property for an easement, when a subdivision was being built adjacent to the golf course, and offered his family little or nothing in return. “We don’t want to go into the village of Lemont. We have no desire to be in Lemont,” he stated emphatically. He also questioned the legality of the way Lemont annexed other properties in the past, asserting that Lemont had extended sewer systems to unincorporated sites before anything was annexed. “A sham is what it amounts to,” he said. “It is like building a sewer to nowhere.” “If we ever do develop our properties, I want to make sure everything was done properly,”he said. He and the other property owners involved have also raised objections to statements made by Lemont village officials when the annexation issue came to the forefront last fall that because they were located in Lemont Township, the village has a natural right to annex them. “These are privately owned
Photo by Dermot Connolly
The owner of Gleneagles Country Club looks forward to the spring season when fairways and greens are no longer white with snow and ice. He gave The Regional an exclusive interview this week, stating his satisfaction that his property is now a part of Palos Park after its annexation by the village last month.
properties,” he said. “We should be able to do what we want with them.” “Lemont has always been very deceitful with us. Palos Park has been up front and open. We told them what we wanted. So it has been a very professional relationship with humble people,” he said. Although he and the other property owners had submitted annexation requests to Lemont six years ago, it came to a head last fall, when Palos Park began taking concrete steps to complete the annexation. This included the annexation of a parcel of Cook County Forest Preserve property between Palos Park and the unincorporated properties, which Lemont criticized. The original plan was to have hearings before the properties were officially annexed, but he said he requested that the process
be moved along quicker when in December, several residents of the Sun-Hill subsivision filed a motion in Cook County Circuit Court seeking the forcible annexation of half of Gleneagles, as well as their own subdivision, into Lemont. Palos Park officials claim the residents were being assisted by Lemont officials. “I was shocked,” said McNulty. “It just proves that what they have been doing over the years has been a total disregard for the law,” he said. Cog Hill and Ludwig Farm were annexed in a similar fashion last week, and Palos Park officials have assured residents that any development of the annexed properties will go through the traditional hearing process. But McNulty, like the other owners, said he has no immediate plans for development. He said there will be no changes at Gleneagles for now, and said there are no immediate plans to do anything with Mid-Iron either. Mid-Iron’s a nine-hole golf course did not open in 2015, but the facility is being used as a driving range. “If the economy improves, I’ll reopen the course. But the problem is, privately owned courses like
Mid-Iron have a hard time competing with other nine-hole golf courses in the area, which are all publicly owned, by municipalities or park districts or other taxing bodies,” he said. He said that if a buyer does come along in the future, he is confident being part of Palos Park that there will be no problems selling his property. “I want to avoid all the problems I can,” said McNulty. He also pointed to a recent survey by Movoto Real Estate that ranked Palos Park as No. 5, in a list of top Chicago-area municipalities in which to live. “And Lemont is nowhere to be seen,” he said. “That says something.”
Justice Antonin Scalia was described as dedicated and uncompromising in his interpretation of the Constitution. He based many of his Supreme Court decisions on the language used in that original document. He was unwavering in his interpretation of the beliefs and thoughts of our founding fathers. Scalia was found dead Saturday morning in his Texas hotel room. He was on a vacation trip with a group who planned to go quail hunting. He excused himself Friday night and retired to bed. He had told some people at the hotel that he was not feeling well. The 79-year-old justice reportedly died of natural causes. His wife said that an autopsy will not be necessary. Scalia’s legacy will be his keen mind and his conservative principles. At least that’s the impression most of us will be left with. Many headlines in newspapers across the country said he was the “Conservative champion.” His rulings against certain liberal causes were filled with caustic comments. He loved to argue but remained friendly with members of the Supreme Court in which he did not usually agree with. He was close friends with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who often has a more liberal interpretation of the law. Scalia often said that you can disagree with someone but you don’t have to be disagreeable. He liked to argue with his more liberal justices but he did not take anything that was said personally. Maybe some of our current Republicans who take up space in Washington, D.C. should take note of Scalia’s beliefs. If they did, they would respect the office of the presidency and realize that Barack Obama has a duty to select a nominee to replace Scalia. Scalia had not even been laid to rest and Republicans were already ranting that Obama should not be allowed to choose a successor to Scalia. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) essentially said that Obama should not be allowed to select another chief justice. McConnell said that people should have a voice in deciding the next Supreme Court justice. Well, that sounds so noble. But actually, it is pure politics. McConnell has kept his Senate majority by appealing to a conservative base, moderates and some members who are on the extreme right. The latter part of this group view Obama as the arrival of the anti-Christ. By saying that the will of the people needs to be respected, McConnell lets himself off the hook somewhat. But expressing that this is the will of the people, the focus will be on him, McConnell believes. If McConnell can stall any selection to replace Scalia as Obama leaves office, he can look victorious in the eyes of his proponents. McConnell would like nothing more than to have one more final victory against Obama. So, apparently that’s what this comes down to. McConnell and even some of the GOP presidential candidates are fearful of that the balance of the Supreme Court will tilt left. This is where everyone needs a dose of reality. McConnell knows better. The president has every right to select a nominee for the Supreme Court. All you have to do is ask Donald Trump. The volatile GOP candidate said in the debate Saturday night that Obama has the right to choose the next nominee for the Supreme Court. Trump realizes this because Obama is the president. Trump added, of course, that it is up to McConnell and his GOP posse to stop him. They can do that be delaying and delaying, said Trump. The assumption here by his opponents is that Obama will select an ultra-liberal justice to replace Scalia. What actually will occur is that Obama will wait a respectable amount of time before considering candidates, the majority of which will go under the title of moderate. And what is wrong with that? A fair and balanced voice is need-
JOE BOYLE ed during these chaotic times. A fight will occur whoever Obama chooses. I guess we will just have to see how this plays out in the end. Maybe Obama’s opponents will succeed. They may succeed with no regard for all of the people. In the words of Scalia, we don’t have to be so disagreeable. Scalia was approved by a judiciary committee with a vote of 98-0 after President Reagan selected him in 1986. Maybe the Democrats were sidetracked by the simultaneous selection of Justice William Rehnquist, who had 33 opposing votes. Scalia’s passing assures of one thing. A chaotic year will become even more chaotic.
Turning to sports … The Super Bowl is well over. We can all relax now. Perhaps now we can concentrate on other matters, like choosing a presidential primary candidate. For the record, the Denver Broncos staggered the Carolina Panthers, 24-10, in Santa Clara, Calif. This goes under the category of an upset victory, not that most of us mind. The majority of people I talked to did not have a preference in this game. But Peyton Manning goes out a winner. The 39-year-old Denver quarterback has had a great career and is considered one of the game’s greatest at his position. But the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback is no longer great. Neck injuries have taken its toll on his once strong throwing arm. And he was never all that mobile to begin with. But he is still a great field general, eluding several Carolina blitzes by throwing short quick passes. He simply did enough to win while the defense did the rest. The Broncos forced four turnovers and sacked Carolina quarterback Cam Newton six times. So, in my opinion, Manning should retire. He now has two Super Bowl rings. The first one was against our Chicago Bears. If Manning retires, he goes out on top. Nothing is better than that. Manning said he needed time to think about it. He was going to kiss his wife, his kids and then drink a lot of Budweiser. My advice to him is that when he gets over that hangover is to talk to the Denver Broncos’ general manager, John Elway. The former star quarterback of the Broncos, Elway won Super Bowl titles in his last two years. He retired after that. Elway, like Manning is now, was a shadow of himself at the end of his career and was more like a game manager. Elway just did enough behind a great offensive line, strong running game and a great defense. When Manning sobers up, he will make the right decision. It is better to go out on top. Joe Boyle is the editor of The Reporter. He can be reached at thereporter@comcast.net.
Corrections
A story on Page 1 of last week’s Regional News about Palos Park’s annexation of Cog Hill Golf and Country Club and Ludwig Farm incorrectly stated that the properties had been in incorporated Lemont Township. In fact, they were in unincorporated Lemont Township. In the same story, Palos Park Mayor John Mahoney’s first name was incorrectly given as James.