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Mother McAuley’s Niego is our 2016-17 Athlete of the Year: SPORTS

THE REGIONAL NEWS Named best small weekly in Illinois five times by the Illinois Press Association

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Serving Palos, Orland and Worth townships and neighboring communities

76th Year, NO. 27 • 2 Sections

PALOS PARK

Guilty verdict handed down in murder case By Dermot Connolly Staff Writer

Sarah Risner, 21, was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder in the death of a friend and alleged co-conspirator who was shot by a homeowner during a botched home invasion July 5, 2016 in unincorporated Palos Park. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Steven Connolly heard

closing arguments in the case on June 23, and on Thursday in his Bridgeview courtroom found Risner guilty of three counts Risner of first-degree murder. Other charges of home invasion and robbery were dropped. But the mother

of two young children from Crown Point, Ind., faces between 20 and 60 years in prison on the murder conviction when she is sentenced, most likely on Aug. 10, her next scheduled court date. Her $2 million bond was immediately revoked following her sentencing and she was returned to Cook County Jail in tears, according to published reports. Risner was the first of four

people charged in the case that allegedly began as a sex tryst and turned into an attempted home invasion in which they planned to beat up and rob a resident of the 11000 block of West 118th Street. The fifth person involved was Anthony Dalton, 19, who was shot to death by the homeowner, a registered gun owner, after prosecutors said the man found Dalton on the porch with a knife.

According to published reports, and what prosecutor Nick D’Angelo said in court last week, Risner drove her four friends from Crown Point, Ind., to the Palos Park residence. The group included Brandy Marshall, 19, who had allegedly arranged a sexual tryst with Risner and the homeowner, who was to pay the women $350. Prosecutors alleged that Risner and Marshall had plotted with the three others

in the car to beat up and rob the man instead. The three others involved were Brandy Marshall’s sister, Paige Marshall, 20, Tyler Gulli, 23, and Anthony Dalton, 19. Risner did not testify during the trial but her videotaped confession was played. In it, she claimed not to know of the plot to rob the man. Allegedly, after the two women See GUILTY, Page 2

DISTRICT 230

Board eyes debt as state budget woes grow By Dermot Connolly Staff Writer

Photo by Anthony Caciopo

Fireworks light up the sky to celebrate Fourth of July

Dazzling fireworks explode across the sky above Lake Katherine Nature Center Monday night, as seen from the Palos Heights Metra station on Southwest Highway. Hundreds of people gathered there for an elevated, unobstructed view of the city’s annual night-before-Independence Day display. For more local Fourth of July coverage, see page 3.

Members of the District 230 School Board were keeping a close eye on the negotiations underway in Springfield as they set the schedule for their own budget calendar for the 2018 budget schedule last week. The board agreed at its June 29 meeting to hold the public hearing for the fiscal year 2018 budget at its Sept. 28 meeting, being held at 7 p.m. at Andrew High School, 9001 W. 171st St., Tinley Park. According to the schedule, the tentative budget must be available for public review by Aug. 28. When the board passed its $130 million operating budget last fall, Superintendent James Gay noted

that it marked the 14th consecutive balanced budget for the district, since 2003-04, and the fourth year in a row that the district had not raised its tax levy. But he and John Lavelle, assistant superintendent of business services, acknowledged that keeping that streak going is not helped by the uncertainty in Springfield, where lawmakers are entering the third year without passing a budget. “I don’t want to create panic,” said Gay, stressing that District 230 high schools, Andrew, Sandburg and Stagg, will be opening on time whether or not there is a state budget in place. “We are able to open because of our fiscal responsibility over the years,” he said. See DISTRICT 230, Page 2

Chair yoga instructor It bears ‘repeating:’ Joyce Athey loved her job takes her exercise Retiring after 21 years sitting down, literally By Anthony Caciopo Regional News Editor

Pastries, festive beverages and a whole lot of well-wishers didn’t stop business as usual Friday at Neat Repeats, 9028 W. 159th St. in Orland Park. The air hummed with commerce—at the jewelry counter, the clothing racks and the accessories department as customers ducked in from the rain, some not knowing they were stepping into a party. The laughter was hearty and spirits warm in the backroom and on the sales floor as Joyce Athey, the Neat Repeats store director for the Orland Park and Worth locations, counted down her final hours after 21 years of service. Decked out with an elaborate nosegay and a sash given to her by admirers, Athey stood alongside the jewelry display cases talking to customers about the store’s merchandise like it was any other day as volunteer staff

passed items across the glass for customers to examine. She clearly wasn’t ready to hang up her spurs quite yet. “I’m not retired until 4 o’clock,” she said with a laugh. Athey came to Neat Repeats— the operation is currently celebrating its 30th year in service to the Crisis Center for South Suburbia —and whole-heartedly devoted herself to its mission all those years ago. Currently of Orland Park, Athey was a Tinley Park resident in 1996 when her professional and personal life took a substantial turn. “There was a part-time position that was available at the Worth store,” she recalled. “I always wanted to volunteer with the Crisis Center and I’ve got some background in marketing and merchandising. I thought maybe my sales skills would work at the store.” Indeed, they did. The Neat Repeats location in Worth, at 7026 W. 111th Street, was half its

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Staff Writer

Photo by Anthony Caciopo

Joyce Athey (right) is embraced by longtime customer Linda Kilgallon See JOB, Page 2 at Athey’s retirement party.

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Debbie Sernus found a whole new career as a yoga instructor for seniors after retiring as an English teacher from Shepard High School in Palos Heights two years ago. Sernus actually started out taking exercise classes at the old Nautilus gym in Oak Lawn, located down the street from Richards High School, where she began her teaching career in the 1980s. “I found there was a lot of stress with the job, and I started exercising to relieve it,” said Sernus last week during a chat at Health Advocates, a home healthcare agency in Palos Heights, where she now is a caregiver as well as a yoga instructor. “In the ‘80s, it was all about aerobics, and Olivia Newton-John and ‘Let’s Get Physical’,” said

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Sernus. “I liked it a lot, and the teacher asked me to fill in for her when she went on vacation.” “To be a teacher, I had to get certified by the National Exercise Trainers Association, and in CPR too,” she explained. “I take continuing education courses too, because new things come along all the time.” After many years teaching group aerobics during her spare time for many years, Sernus looked for something a little more relaxing, and found what she calls “gentle flow” yoga using a chair. “Chair yoga adapts yoga positions and poses through creative use of a chair. The chair replaces the mat and becomes an extension of the body,” she explained. Around the same time she began teaching chair yoga at area park See INSTRUCTOR, Page 2

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