Postseason heats up
Claudia Parker’s final column: Pursuing new opportunities Page 7
REPORTER Sports, Section 2
THE Volume LVIII, No. 11
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Thursday, May 25, 2017
OL man charged after dogs thrown off roof
One poodle killed, another injured after five-story drop from hospital parking garage By Dermot Connolly Oak Lawn resident Edward Hanania, 22, has been charged with two counts of felony animal cruelty for allegedly killing one dog and badly injuring another by throwing them off a five-story parking garage at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn on Saturday. A judge set bail for Hanania at $350,000 during a bond hearing at the Cook County courthouse in Bridgeview on Tuesday. Hanania was being held in Cook County Jail. Oak Lawn Chief of Investigations Randy Palmer said Monday that police responded to a report of two injured dogs found between hospital parking towers B and C in the 9300 block of South Kostner Avenue, at 12:07 p.m. Saturday. The dogs, both male white toy poodles, were transported to the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge. But the 6-yearold, later found to be named Guerrero,
died of injuries suffered in the fall. He was the father of the younger dog, 1-year-old Angel, who survived and is being treated for a badly broken leg and swollen ribs. Staff at the Animal Welfare League said Hanania the dog’s recovery could take three months. His survival is attributed to him falling on grass, while the older dog fell onto concrete. “I don’t know a motive. We’re looking at this individual’s full background, trying to piece together what transpired and why,” said Palmer during a news conference on Monday. “It is not something that a normal person would do. We are all baffled by this. We have trained investigators that worked homicides and everything else, and this one just baffles
my mind.” He said investigators learned that the dogs had somehow gotten out of their yard in Chicago on Saturday. Someone found them at 55th and Troy Street in the city, and according to reports, posted photos of them on a Facebook page dedicated to reuniting lost dogs and cats with their owners. Hanania is alleged to have claimed to own the animals, saying they were turned over to him. They were gone by the time the true owner came to pick them up, with photos and medical records proving they were his. Palmer described the owner as “devastated” after learning the fate of his pets. He has taken Angel home, along with the remains of the other dog. “Considering the heinousness of this Photo by Dermot Connolly crime, we would like to see him charged Animal cruelty charges have been filed against a man who allegedly threw two toy to the full extent of the law,” Palmer said of poodles off the top floor of a five-story parking tower C, beside Advocate Christ Hanania, who, he said, has a criminal record. Medical Center, in the 9300 block of South Kostner Avenue, in Oak Lawn.
Violent brawl at Oak Lawn High School leads to arrest From staff and wire reports
Friends from Queen of Peace class of 2017 gather for a photo following their graduation ceremony on Saturday.
Two female students engaged in a violent brawl Monday morning at Oak Lawn Community High School, with one of the students stabbing and injuring the other with a pair of scissors. The student who suffered lacerations to her arms, neck and forehead was identified as Destinee Garza. She reportedly was treated at a hospital and released. The girl with the scissors was not identified, but she was arrested by Oak Lawn police later in the day. She had fled the school after the fight was broken up. Video of the hallway brawl, recorded by numerous students on their cellphones, was widely distributed on social media. Garza’s mother, Barbara Garza, told ABC-7 Eyewitness News that the other girl was “out to kill my child.” “That girl showed no remorse,” Barbara Garza said. Barbara Garza said the other girl had been bullying her daughter. Garza also expressed anger that “no one came to save my daughter when she should be safe.” “Nobody was there. Nobody,” she told ABC-7. The melee, which broke out about 11 a.m. between classes, lasted about 35 seconds, according to reports. Video of the incident show numerous punches being thrown by both girls. Destinee Garza, who is seen in the video of the incident wearing a black t-shirt and shorts, told ABC-7 that she was attacked by the other student. “I felt something, but ... it didn’t feel like a punch,” she said in the TV interview. “She just kept stabbing me, I guess. I didn’t know she had the scissors in her hand at all.”
Photo by Dermot Connolly
BITTERSWEET CELEBRATION Queen of Peace graduates say memories will sustain them
By Dermot Connolly Calling graduation ceremonies “bittersweet” has become commonplace, but it was a most fitting description repeated often after the last Queen of Peace High School graduating class ever received diplomas on Saturday at the Burbank school. The Catholic school for girls, at 7659 S.
Linder Ave. since the Sinsinawa Dominican order of nuns founded it in 1963, will close its doors when the school year ends Friday, May 26, due to financial hardship. So graduation was especially meaningful for the 80 young women in the Class of 2017. Many graduates admitted shedding tears at the ceremony, but the mood was celebratory at the reception afterward in the cafeteria, as
the graduates with diplomas in hand posed for photos with family and friends. The senior class chose Principal Catherine Klod as their graduation speaker. Salutatorians Natalie Jurek and Katie Cerven, of Chicago’s Garfield Ridge neighborhood, and Patricia Fox, who was co-Woman of the Year See QUEEN OF PEACE, Page 7
See BRAWL, Page 2
Plans for performing arts center unveiled Joe Boyle Construction will begin over the Memorial Day weekend for a state-of-the-art performing arts center on the campus of Oak Lawn Community High School. A groundbreaking ceremony took place on Wednesday night for the center, which will be located where tennis courts are now located at the northwest corner of the campus near 95th Street and Austin Avenue. “Oak Lawn Community High School
has wonderful amenities, but the one thing it doesn’t have is a theater,” said Dr. Michael Riordan, District 229 superintendent, during a sparsely attended community meeting Monday night at the school. “We are now going to make this a reality.” Riordan said students deserve a performing arts center, pointing to the fact that Oak Lawn Community High School has won 11 Illinois High School Association Drama state championships, one speech state title, and numerous band
This artist’s rendering shows an aerial view of what the Oak Lawn Community High Performing Arts Center will look like. The 25,000-square-foot facility will replace the north tennis courts and will be located near 95th and Austin Avenue, just north of the football field and track.
and choir honors. Robert Loehr, president of the District 229 Board of Education, said the project should take just over a year to complete. “We will do everything in our power to make sure this is done with as little inconvenience as possible for the neighborhood,” Loehr said. Mary Lou Harker, who lives near the high school, has been active in various See PERFORMING ARTS, Page 8
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