ForestParkReview_052026

Longtime local antique store now at 7215 Madison St.

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

There’s a new emporium in town!

After 25 years in the middle of Madison Street, Forest Park Emporium antique store closed its doors for a few days at the end of April and, this month, started selling antiques two blocks east at 7215 Madison St.

“I didn’t want to leave the market. I love Madison,” Marlene Tap, owner of Forest Park Emporium for the last 15 years, told the Review the week after the store’s May 9 grand reopening. She said she’d been looking for about 5 years for a new location, since the old “building needed a lot of work, the kind where we’d need to vacate.” When the store’s lease was up, she moved down the street.

The new location is slightly larger than the last, though walls are still lined with booths where individual dealers sell antique jewelry, glassware, furniture

Lt. Daniel Miller during tenure

Past complaints for police o cer on administrative leave revealed a er April incident

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

Lt. Daniel Miller of the Forest Park Police Department has had 17 complaints filed against him since 2008, according to village documents provided to the Review under a Freedom of Information Act request. While many of the complaints were determined to have been unfounded, meaning law enforcement authorities investigated the incidents and found them to be false or baseless, others have resulted in oneday suspensions or a letter of re primand.

The most-recent complaint against Miller was in April, when someone filed a complaint that an off-duty officer pulled a gun on them,

JESSICA MORDACQ

Lawyer for ‘Starved Rock Killer ’ says he was innocen

ree victims, all from Riverside, attended Riverside Presbyterian Church

By GREGG VOSS Contributing Reporter

There is a commemorative plaque tucked away within the chancel of Riverside Presbyterian Church. It’s a little hard to find, but once you do, it lists the names of the three women to which it was dedicated: Mildred Lindquist, Frances Murphy and Lillian Oetting, all congregation members.

In Andy Hale’s mind, the three Riverside women, who were brutally murdered on March 16, 1960 at downstate Starved Rock State Park, were present with him Saturday afternoon.

Hale is a Chicago attorney who has spent the last decade on a relentless search for justice in the case against Chester Weger, who was convicted of the murders and paroled in 2019 – but never exonerated. Saturday’s talk about the investigation, the criminal trial and possible new evidence, in the very sanctuary where the three women worshipped, was transcendent for him.

“I could feel those women in this church,” Hale said post-talk. “I feel these women now, knowing that this plaque was over my shoulder. It was surreal.”

Nearby, someone said that, for better or worse, the case is part of the church’s history.

“That’s why I feel like something is going to come of this,” Hale responded

The crime

It’s a sordid case with many twists and turns, and Hale makes a convincing argu ment for why Weger, who died last wasn’t the murderer. In other words, believes he was never meant to be a suspec … but instead a scapegoat.

It’s less than 100 miles from Riverside to Starved Rock State Park, and the women set out in Murphy’s station wagon for a four-d visit on Monday, March 14, 1960, arrivin at Starved Rock Lodge, where Weger 21-year-old dishwasher. They checke the lodge, had lunch, and set off on a hi the park’s St. Louis Canyon.

Then they vanished

Two days later, all three were found dead in a shallow cave in St. Louis Canyon.

“The injuries were devastating,” Hale told Saturday’s 100 attendees, noting Murphy’s fractured skull. “You couldn’t recognize who they were, they were beaten so badly.”

The case became a national story, including coverage in the once-ubiquitous Life magazine

All three were Riversiders, married mothers, church members and people with hopes and dreams.

Frances Murphy grew roses and was a member of the Riverside school board. She left behind four children. Oetting left three children, while Lindquist had two.

Lynda Nadkarni is the community programs director at Riverside Presbyterian hurch, 116 Barrypoint Road, and helped anize Hale’s visit – the first time he had made a presentation about the case in River-

Nadkarni grew up in the church and said er the years the women had been almost hostly.

“I’ve always felt their presence here,” she said. “It’s impossible to sit in the choir and sing and not feel those women.”

The investigation

ger, who stood 5-foot-7 and weighed 180 pounds, compared with the victims’ 5-foot-6

Attorney Andy Hale presents evidence the 1960 Starved Rock Murders of three Riverside women wasn’t commited by Chester Weger, the man convicted of the murde rs, at Riverside Presby terian Church on May 16.

height, was interviewed by the Illinois State Police March 18 and interrogated again two days later. He passed three polygraph tests by the end of the month, then passed three more that April

Meanwhile, it came to light that a roughly 25-year-old man was seen speaking to the women with possibly three more men in a car. A potential lead, of course, but Hale said the big break in the case was on March 21, when Illinois Bell phone operator Lois Zelensek connected a call between a party from La Salle County, where Starved Rock State Park is located, and Aurora

She heard part of the conversation, which made her blood run cold.

“They sure have a big writeup in the paper,” the La Salle County party said. Zelensek later said the Aurora voice sounded like an uneducated person.

The Aurora caller: “The kid has bloodstained overalls in the trunk of the car. He’s afraid he’ll get caught.”

The La Salle County response: “Tell him to get rid of them. Burn them.”

Zelensek’s daughter, Marsha Minott, sat in the front row Saturday.

“My mother was scared for my family,” Mi-

nott said. “She was a telephone operator and they overheard a lot of different things, and my father worked for the Aurora Fire Department and he kept telling my mom, ‘Do not say anything. We don’t need our family exposed to this.’”

Investigators, said Hale, traced the call to two brothers with organized crime connections and, significantly, to the husband of one of the victims. But the state’s attorney cleared them with, in Hale’s surmise, a handpicked polygrapher

Instead, the state turned its attention to Weger, who was driven to Chicago in late September by La Salle County Sheriff’s Deputy William Dummett for another polygraph test, which Dummett claimed Weger failed and went on to say that if Weger didn’t confess, he would face the electric chair.

The endgame arrived in November. Weger, who had been relentlessly tailed by law enforcement for months, was interrogated for eight hours, Nov. 16, before confessing early the next mor ning

His story was that on his work break at the lodge, he was walking in St. Louis Canyon,

TODD BANNOR

GREGG VOSS

Spring cleaning

Grabbers and buckets lead to rubbish-less streets

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

On Saturday morning, nearly 50 Forest Park residents met at the Roos Recreation Center

before hitting village streets to remove trash and debris. The biannual community cleaning takes place every fall and spring, hosted by the village’s recreation board and public works department.

Modest hike in water rates coming next month

1.85% increase is less than previous years

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

Water rates are going up for Forest Park residents and businesses on June 1, 2026.

The annual rate increase starts with a price increase from the City of Chicago, where Forest Park gets its Lake Michig an water. The village then passes that increase through to locals. This year, the rate increase isn’t as high as it’s been in previous years.

At the May 11 village council meeting, commissioners unanimously approved an amendment to the village code to reflect increasing water and sewer rates starting next month. The City of Chicago’s 1.85% increase for the cost of water is reflected in Forest Park’s price increase. Last year,

Chicago’s price for water went up 4%.

Over the next year, water rates for residences will be $9.61 for every 100 cubic feet of water used. Owners of multi-family residences will pay $12.09, senior citizens $7.44, and commercial or industrial customers $16.57. Sewer rates will be $2.12 for all customers.

Industrial or commercial large-meter customers will pay $165.67 for every 1,000 cubic feet of water used and a $21.18 sewer rate.

“The rates that we received from the City of Chicago are, surprisingly, a great deal lower than in previous years,” Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin said at the council meeting. “We do need to make sure we cover our costs, but we’re proud and happy to say that the costs that we are covering are lower than in previous years, so the rates that will be increasing are around half, or less than half, than we would normally be doing this time of year.”

REAL ESTATE TAX REDUCTIONS AND SOLUTIONS

INCREASED ASSESSMENTS = INCREASE TAXES

For over 40 years we have successfully helped Cook County property owners reduce their Real Estate Tax burden.

For every $10,000 increase in assessment taxes: in River Forest will increase $2,500, in Riverside $3,600, in Oak Park $3,400

By Linda Sokol Francis. E.A.

GIFT TAX ANNUAL EXCLUSION

Your generosity in giving cash gifts is supported by the Federal government in the form of the annual gift tax exclusion. You can give up to $19,000 to as many individuals as you want each year without having to file a gift tax return (Form 709).

This exclusion applies per donor. If you are married, you and your spouse can each give $19,000 to the same person, for a combined total of $38,000 per recipient in 2025, by using gift splitting (which generally requires filing Form 709).

Gifts exceeding the $19,000 annual exclusion amount typically do not result in immediate gift tax liability for most people. Instead, the excess amount counts against your lifetime gift and estate tax exemption, which is $13.99 million per individual for 2025 and $15 million for 2026.

Certain transfers are not considered taxable gifts, regardless of the amount:

• Payments made directly to a qualifying educational institution for tuition.

• Payments made directly to a medical care provider for medical expenses.

• Gifts to a U.S. citizen spouse (the marital deduction is unlimited).

• Gifts to a political organization for its use.

• Gifts to certain exempt charities. You are generally required to file Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, if you make a gift to any one person that exceeds the annual exclusion amount, even if you don’t end up owing gift tax because of the lifetime exemption. The form is due by the federal income tax filing deadline of the year following the gift (typically April 15).

West Suburban hospital owners in court again as

hearing nears

Order for third party nancial review will keep case from dragging on for months, judge said

By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN and JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporters

Counsel for the business-partnersturned-legal-foes at the heart of the West Suburban Medical Center closure were in court again Monday morning as a third party continues its review of contested financial records.

The hearing comes after Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad and hospital landlord Rathnakar Reddy Patlola filed lawsuits against each other last month, with Patlola seeking a judge’s order that could start the process of reopening West

Suburban under new management. Cook County Judge Patrick Stanton heard new alle gations of extensive personal use on company credit cards by each party in a brief status hearing in the case Monday morning at the Richard J. Daley Center. The parties ag reed last week to have recently retired Judge Patrick Sherlock oversee years of records related to several bank accounts central to the mostserious alle gations of financial wrongdoing that Patlola has made against Prasad. Judge Stanton said the ag reement likely expedited the proceedings by several

West Suburban Hospital CEO Dr. Manoj Prasad.

OUR QUIETEST NEIGHB OR S

Elizabeth Hall bridged ‘old-time lady’ ‘modern woman’

Oak Park activist across decades and multiple women’s causes

By AMY BINNS-CALVEY Contributing Columnist

Elizabeth Hall Ball 1842-1920

In the press, Elizabeth Hall Ball was referred to as Mrs. F.Q. Ball -her husband was Chief Justice of the Cook County Superior Court. Since her first name didn’t typically make it into print during her lifetime, this article will exclusively use her first name.

The site FindaGrave.com has two short sentences describing Elizabeth Hall Ball: “Suffragette” and “Daughter of Thomas W. Hall and Catherine Moore,” but a little digging in old newspaper articles reveals that she was much, much more.

Elizabeth was born in Ohio in 1842, she graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1860, and eight years later, married Civil War veteran Farlin Quigley Ball. The couple had three children, one of whom died in infancy. They resided in Chicago, Cicero, and eventually settled in Oak Park with their two boys.

Elizabeth was intensely active in her community, particularly with the Chicago Woman’s Club where she served a term as president. Women’s clubs were powerful civic and political forces that impacted policy and laws. The clubs also provided educational opportunities for women.

For 37 years, Elizabeth was the director of the Chicago Home for Girls (for-

merly the Erring Woman’s Refuge) where she worked on a yearly literary calendar called the Refuge Kalendar which was sold nationally. She was a charter member of the Nineteenth Century Club in Oak Park. She participated in a dizzying number of other organizations including: Rockford ’s Federation of Women’s Clubs, League of Religious Fellowship (an outg rowth of the Parliament of Religions at the World’s Fair promoting closer religious union), Women’s Western Golf Association, Suburban Civics and Equal Suf frage Club of Oak Park, the Flower Mission (bringing items to children in need), and fundraiser for Hephzibah Children’s Hospital.

In 1872, as a member of the Humane Society, she helped bring an action against the Omnibus Line on 12th and Clark in Chicago for abusing horses.

Elizabeth was on the Membership Committee of the Chicago Woman’s Club during the year-long struggle over admitting a woman of color, Fannie Williams, to the club. Ms. Williams was admitted in 1896 and served for 30 years.

Interested in environmental concerns, Elizabeth wasn’t shy about voicing her opinion bucking a popular trend of the time, stating, “I am opposed to the feminine fashion of using birds for hat decoration. It is a shame to thus destroy their life…I deplore their wholesale slaughter for fashionable purposes.” In 1897, she stood next to Jane Addams of Hull House at an event with the Council of Jewish Women supporting the passage of a child labor bill. In 1899, Elizabeth was a dele gate to the annual convention of Illinois Equal Suf frage Association where an “energetic campaign” was promised. She was also a founder of The Chicago Political Equality league, who once denounced a proposal by the Chicago Board of Education to exclude married women from teaching positions at public schools and increase the number of male teachers in schools at a salary higher than that for women.

She proposed a resolution protesting city council plans to legalize vice and medical inspections in Chicago in 1904. (Medical inspections were quick, mandatory health screenings for immigrants, prison-

ers, or school children for disease surveillance. These inspections were used to keep schools open and to allow work to continue even if workers were af flicted by disease.)

In 1905, club members spiritedly pushed back against claims made in the book “Turn on the Light” that women who belonged to clubs were committing “race suicide” by having fewer babies. Members pointed out that women in clubs had an average of 3.3 children and that educated women made better mothers. (This did not put the matter to an end -- in 1910, Henry Neil, secretary of the Fine Arts society of Oak Park of fered a box of cigars to the father of the “next child bor n in Oak Park.”)

Elizabeth was also found in the society pages. In 1906 she attended Oak Park’s annual open air horse show at Westward Ho Golf grounds on Oak Park Avenue (now the site of the shuttered Mars candy factory). Her travels to visit siblings in Montana and her appearances at luncheons and weddings were also covered.

In 1914, Elizabeth participated in “indignation meetings” held because club members were concerned about the return of actor Charles Dingle to Oak Park. During Dingle’s previous visit he had “a considerable acquaintance among the women and

girls of the village.” Ironically, the attention brought more people to the theater. (Dingle went on to act in movies, most notably Little Foxes opposite Bette Davis.)

That same year, Elizabeth was a member of the Alice E. Bates Circle which became the Welfare League – women working for “the reclamation of wayward girls, of young boys about to go astray, and of the little children the city streets are sending down the road.”

Elizabeth was known for her ability to bridge the gap between what it meant to be a “modern woman” and an “old time lady.” She died in her home in Oak Park on June 13, 1920. The 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was ratified by Congress on August 18, 1920.

References: The Inter Ocean, The Chica go Tribune, Rockford Dai ly Re public, The Tele graph, Travealanche, Oak Leaves, The Sunday Chronicle, Ephemeraobscura.com, The Social Evil in Chica go – The Vice Commission of Chica go, Monroe County Appeal, Great Falls Leader, The Buffalo News, Alumni Directory of the Ohio Wesle yan Univ ersity: 1846-1901.

Thank y ou to the Oak Park Historical Society for their help.

Shanahan’s closes, La Maison de Bonbon goes online for now

Longtime downtown anchors closed on April 11

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

On April 11, Shanahan’s closed on Madison Street in Forest Park, marking the end of 36 years of business in the village for the Creole restaurant and bar.

In the same building, which was sold days later, La Maison de Bonbon also closed April 11. The chocolate and candy store will move operations online in August, with the goal to relocate the brick-and-mortar business

STARVED ROCK

Possible mob connection

from page 3

decided to rob the women and let them go But one attacked him, likely Frances Murphy, who apparently dislodged a hair from her attacker, so he defended himself and killed them all before returning to work.

Hale doesn’t buy it.

“The confession was a joke,” he said. “Nobody could believe it. In 1960, it was checkmate. In 1960, we didn’t know false confessions were real.”

That led to Weger’s incarceration for 59 years, three months and six days. All the while, he maintained his innocence while he acquired the nickname the Starved Rock Killer.

New evidence

Hale got involved a decade ago and was clear on his objective.

“My job as Chester’s lawyer, I have to show he didn’t do it,” he said. “I have to prove who

“It was great working in Forest Pa community, the local gover nment, the Chamber of Commerce, and especially the I got to work with,” Tim Shanahan told the Review in an email. “I will mostly miss the interactions with the customers, employees and especially working with Esthela Gonzalez.”

Today, Shanahan’s and La Maison de Bonbon are owned by Wexford Inc., and Shanahan said he’s not officially retiring, just moving to different work and a new lifestyle.

“I look forward to the holiday season, making French cremes and other confections, continuing to serve Forest Park, as its second largest candy company,” Shanahan said.

Shanahan’s started 50 years ago in New Orleans, Louisiana. A River Forest native, Shanahan moved back to the Midwest in 1990 and

opened his Forest Park bar and restaurant at 7353 Madison St

The building used to be an ice cream parlor that made candy in the basement. Though Shanahan previously told the Review that it wasn’t necessarily in his plan to keep the candy store running, people from around the world kept calling asking for sweets. So Shanahan’s wife, Radana started running La Maison de Bonbon. Today, the candy shop uses the same recipes and ingredients as when the operation started in 1921.

did it.”

So he went to work looking for new evidence and plausible alternative suspects.

With modern advances in DNA evidence, it was determined that a hair found at the scene likely dislodged by Murphy was a male profile … but not Weger. A new process called genetic genealogy connected the hair to three brothers. Coincidentally, the latter died of a heart attack the same day the women’s bodies were found

The weapon was likely a tire iron or the end of a hammer, according to a forensic pathologist.

Hale said there is new evidence implicating a small-time La Salle County hood, who allegedly admitted he helped plan the murders and stored the bloody clothes in his car, matching what Zelensek overheard on the phone call. That man’s sister later allegedly implicated him.

Here’s another twist: Hale contacted a woman whose grandfather was in the Chicago mob and allegedly organized the murders

But why remains a mystery.

In recent years, Hale has worked tirelessly to exonerate Weger, before and after his parole and death. Didn’t happen. A court in Will County, where the case was moved due

to a conflict of interest in La Salle refused to vacate the conviction, p cause it would have cost tens of millions of dollars in relief to Weger and his fami

Local help requested

What to make of all this? Hale said the isn’t over, but there are a few heroes, includ ing Frances Murphy, who apparently her attacker and dislodged the hair that led to the modern conclusions, along with Lois Zelensek.

“I contend this was a colossal coverup in 1960, and it’s a colossal coverup today,” he said. “I’m urging everyone in here, if you know something, reach out. Justice does not have an expiration date.”

Hale got to know Weger over the years and called him a “very humble person [with] a dry sense of humor.

“I thought he was kind of a gentle person, the Chester Weger I knew after the last 10 years,” Hale said. “He really became a friend to me. Our go-to after court in Ottawa was Cracker Barrel.”

Nadkarni said she believes the mob was involved in the murders

“There were four victims,” she said. “The

Attorney Andy Hale presents ev idence that the 1960 Star ved Rock murders of three Riverside women wasn’t commited by Chester Weger, the man convicted of the murders, at Riverside Presby terian Church on May 16.

three women and Chester Weger.”

If you know anything related to the Starved Rock murders, however seemingly inconsequential, email Andy Hale andy@ahalelaw. com or visit https://www.andyhalepodcast. com/contact

GOOGLE MAPS

La Maison on Madison is looking for a new location.

TODD BANNOR

months.

Hearing nears end

from page 6

“This normally would take three months, but we got this done in one week,” Stanton said.

The case will return to court on Wednes-

day, when Judge Stanton plans to set a final hearing date for the case

FUTURE OF WEST SUB

Neither of the business partners was present in the courtroom Monday, with Prasad attending the hearing via Zoom.

At the May 18 status hearing, the parties also disputed the status of a $10 million loan Resilience received last May that was reportedly transferred to Westlaw Management Group — a bank account Patlola alleges only Prasad had access to — instead of being used for hospital operations. Prasad’s lawyer said the money has been accounted for.

“We vehemently deny that,” Patlola’s lawr said, adding that he’s still looking for information and documentation of here the $10 million went.

pril, Patlola filed a suit against for seven counts of breach of contract, seeking to recover over $24 million in ent and fees for Resilience-owned buildings. Prasad’s suit claims that Patlola tried to illegally evict him last month.

On Tuesday at the Daley Center, there will be a hearing between Patlola and Pipeline Health, the for mer owner of West Suburban and its sister hospital, Weiss Memorial HosChicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The lawsuit stems from millions of dollars disputed in the 2022 sale of the hospitals.

The Language and Music School

Established in Oak Park in 1994

Private lessons and tutoring for all ages, taught by experienced educators and professional artists in a historic Oak Park setting.

We offer:

• Music lessons: piano, guitar, drums, voice, strings, winds, and more

• World languages: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, and more

• Academic tutoring: Math, Language Arts, SAT/ACT preparation, Physics and Biology

• Flexible scheduling for children, teens, and adults

The school is also home to a K–12 microschool, offering a highly individualized educational environment, as featured on WGN Chicago’s Very Best Learn more at lmschool.com

doors March 27, citing a year-long failure in the hospital’s electronic medical record billing system that resulted in as much as

West Suburban Medical Center closed its

FILE PHOTO

Reddy Patlola

West Suburban Medical Center

EMPORIUM

Moving on Madison

from page 1

and clothing. At 7215 Madison St., are separate rooms full ofold items, the last store was one open space. booths are also larger at the new location, since a few less dealers moved with Fo Park Emporium.

“It’s not easy moving an antique mall,” Tap said. Movers transported six truckloads ofantiques down Madison Street at the end of April. But Tap describes the new store as “cleaner, brighter, and cheer ful.” With it, she hopes to grow her busi ness. “We kind ofall renewed ourselves,” she said of the move.

Tap’s own booth sits at the front ofthe antique store, just inside the left storefront window T hough Tap said she’s still working on filling her booth, it’s always been full of mid-century modern, art-deco and mission-style pieces.

Tom Krenek started Fo rest Pa rk porium 25 years ag o.Tap knew Krenek through local estate sales, and he was her antique d ealer for seve r al years as

she sold pieces in Chicag o. W hen Krenek was looking to sell the business, Tap took the helm, since she had experience r unning antique b ooths, p lus an industria l d esign de gree and minors in business

A new location for old items

and fine ar ts Krenek died in June 2023. A photo of him hangs on a wall above the cash re gis-

ters when customers first come in “I hope Tom g ets to see, wherever he is, everything we’ve done,” Tap said.

WHEN MEMORY FADES

Cognitive decline can steal the past, but it doesn’t have to steal the future. Pioneered to curb the effects of cognitive decline, Circle of Friends® is a unique, evidence-based program for building brain fitness. It was developed by Belmont Village in collaboration with the nation’s top universities and healthcare institutions — and it works. Residents enjoy a rich, therapeutic program of physical and mental activities designed to maintain brain function and build self-esteem.

JESSICA MORDAQ

Village hires communication strategist after police incident

Will pay at least $5K for counsel regarding Lt.

Daniel Miller

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

The village is hiring PR help after an incident involving a Forest Park Police Department officer last month, resulting in his administrative leave

On April 27, Lt. Daniel Miller detained 18-year-old Breanna Pantoja in North Riv-

LT. MILLER

A history of complaints

from page 1

unlawfully detained them, didn’t show any identification when asked, and cut of f the driver to open their car door and grab them. Investigation into the complaint is ongoing.

On April 27, Miller, while of f duty, detained a woman in North Riverside while she was stopped at a red light. Video of the incident shows Miller approaching the car in plain clothes after parking his personal vehicle in front of the woman at a red light, pulling the driver from her car and putting her in handcuffs.

Though Miller was put on administrative leave after the incident last month, this isn’t the first time citizens have filed complaints against him with the Forest Park Police Department, or the department’s own chief and de puty chief.

In 2008, two complaints were filed with the Forest Park Police Department against Miller, one for unauthorized use of the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System

erside while she was stopped at a red light and he was off-duty. According to Pantoja, Miller didn’t identify himself as he approached her car with a drawn gun. He was wearing plain clothes, including a shirt with President Donald Trump’s name on the back, and driving his personal vehicle, which has a “Prez 45” license plate.

According to Pantoja, Miller said she was involved in a hit-and-run, but she said her car spun out on the wet pavement and didn’t hit anything. She also said Miller called North Riverside police, who let her go with no charges. North Riverside police have not responded to request for comment. After the incident, Pantoja said she was consider-

and another for racial profiling. Both complaints were deter mined to be unfounded.

In 2009, a lieutenant in the Forest Park Police Department filed a complaint against Miller for employee conduct. After investigation, the department determined there was improper conduct and issued a letter of re primand to Miller. The same year, then-Police Chief Tom Aftanas filed a complaint against Miller for employee conduct, ultimately finding improper conduct and issuing a one-day suspension.

In 2010, Miller was mentioned in a complaint with two other officers for use of force, though the complaint was determined to be unfounded.

Miller was suspended for one day in 2012 after a complaint was filed against him for improper employee conduct.

Then-Deputy Chief Michael Keating filed a complaint against Miller in 2017, though the complaint was determined to be unfounded.

Three complaints were filed against Miller in 2020, only one of which was determined to be unfounded. Another was filed by then-Deputy Chief Ken Gross for discharge of a firearm, resulting in a one-day suspension for Miller. And thenPolice Chief Tom Aftanas filed a complaint

ing legal action against Miller.

At the May 11 council meeting, commissioners unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the village to hire Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications for services re garding Miller.

According to the meeting’s agenda packet, the communications strategist will, upon Mayor Rory Hoskins or Village Administrator Rachell Entler’s request, offer:

■ Strategic counsel through conference calls with the mayor, village administrator and village legal counsel

■ Development or review of inter nal and external media and communications materials

■ Monitor media, based on platfor ms’ privacy r ules

Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications charges a nonrefundable retainer of $5,000, then $400 an hour per senior crisis communications counsel personnel and $125 an hour for an account assistant. Fees exceeding $15,000 will need written approval from the village.

One of the founders of Jasculca Terman is longtime River Forest resident Rick Jasculca. The firm has been retained by the Village of River Forest to aid in public communications related to a proposed apar tment development on Madison Street.

against five officers, including Miller, for an arrestee death in 2020, though the officers were exonerated.

Miller saw three complaints in 2023 one unfounded and two of which he was

exonerated from and two complaints in 2024, one unfounded and one exonerated. There was one complaint against Miller last year, which was not sustained due to insufficient evidence.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Woman cited for throwing eggs at car

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

Police were dispatched to Mugsy’s Tavern on Madison Street around 11:30 p.m. on May 8 for disorderly conduct. Upon arrival, the caller told police that she was inside the bar when someone said that a resident on the third floor of the building threw eggs down on the woman’s car. The woman said she didn’t know the person who threw the eggs. Police tried to make contact with the offender but were met with negative results, so they mailed the offender a local ordinance citation for disorderly conduct.

Aggravated fleeing

but wasn’t a student. Students must show a school ID and pass through a metal detector, but the young man couldn’t provide his ID and didn’t go through the metal detectors. Instead, he got in a car and left. Police found the car in the building’s parking lot, and the driver said a friend he met on social media invited him to the school and he didn’t know he’d get in trouble. He was trespassed from the property

Possession of controlled substances

While on patrol May 13 at 8:30 a.m., police pulled over a man in the 8000 block of Madison after they saw him driving with his phone in his hand. According to the police, the driver was hostile and didn’t want to provide identification or proof of insurance. After refusing to show documentation, the driver sped off on Madison. Police followed the man, who hit a car, then a light pole at Madison and Des Plaines, then got out and ran. Police for med a perimeter around the 400 block of Beloit and Ferdinand, where a local said she saw him under the front porch of a Beloit residence. The man tried to flee from the porch, and police tased him and put him in custody. At the police station, the man said he had a suspended license and was scared. He was charged for having a suspended license, unlawful use of a cell phone, not wearing a seat belt, violating Illinois Vehicle Code, failure to reduce speed, improper lane usage and aggravated fleeing. He was also charged with criminal damage to gover nment property, since he broke the street cameras at the intersection of the accident, causing an estimated $850 in property damage

Suspicious circumstances

Police were dispatched to Proviso Mathematics and Science Academy at Roosevelt and Des Plaines around 10 a.m. on May 13 for someone who tried to enter the school

While patrolling the CTA Forest Park Blue Line station May 10, police saw a man in the alcove of a train car, where they commonly find people ingesting narcotics. Police approached the man and saw several small colored plastic vials, commonly used to store narcotics. Police detained the man, who pulled away and tried to run down the train platform. Police caught the man, who they said voluntarily hit his head multiple times on the pavement before he star ted shaking and appeared to become unconscious Police transfer red him to an ambulance. They recovered a glass pipe and eight credit cards with dif ferent names on them, and later, found another pipe and suspect heroin. The man provided a fake name three times before giving his real name, which had four serviceable warrants for his ar rest. He was charged with his warrants, obstructing identification, resisting an officer, possessing drug paraphernalia and controlled substance.

These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated May 8 - May 14 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest

OPINION

As Oak Park rethinks events, look to Forest Park

The pendulum swings once more in how Oak Park’s village gover nment values, plans and prices the special events it seems to want more of – unless you want to add a bike run or 5K. Village President Vickie Scaman says Oak Park is filled to the brim with . At a study session earlier in May, Scaman said Oak Park wants more special events that directly support small businesses and the multiple usiness districts that operate across town. at makes sense. Sustaining our fragile retailers and restaurants is essential to maintaining ty and sales tax revenues. And more importantly it recognizes that the sense of community reneurial neighbors build with us is ving in this village.

ome clarity though. Downtown Oak Park –raphically fixed area along Lake Street and Marion from Harlem to Forest, Ontario to th Boulevard – is the single Oak Park business district that is self-funded. A special services property tax was approved decades ago by wners downtown and is paid by those same property owners. It allows the robust and quite fantastic roster of events – holidays to Thursday Night Out – that are staged by its small staff.

Every other business district in town is run solely by business owners who volunteer their time and energy. The Arts District on Harrison has long managed to self-fund a part-time marketing person, which allows several successful events each year. What’s Blooming on Harrison is coming right up, by the way.

Village staff did research on how other towns pull off events. I hope they focused on Forest Park which is ambitious and mostly successful in fronting a full calendar of events, including a huge St. Pat’s parade in March, the goofy fun Casket Races around Halloween. Then there are wine walks, makers events, the holiday walk and several more.

The tiny but mighty Forest Park Chamber is the key driver of these events. It operates on a shoestring with minimal financial support from cash-strapped village hall. The village is fully supportive, offering the services of both public works and the police department to handle logistics And key allies such as the surging Forest Park Arts Alliance bring great energy to its projects.

Oak Park is looking at a revised approach to supporting events by cutting its fees by 25%, moving past the expectation that it will recoup all of its costs on every event, and providing these volunteer organizers with more cost certainty as they plan.

All good. We’ll need to give new leadership at Oak Park’s chamber some time to figure out where it fits in supporting the business districts and fronting its own roster of events. The village coughed up a pile of cash for the chamber to host events last summer just as its leadership imploded. As one of the group that staged the monumental May Madness event on Oak Park Avenue for a decade, I know how stressful and exhausting this work can be — also how far it goes in growing community.

Hybrid religion

Did you hear that Vice President Vance scolded the Pope for criticizing the U.S. for the war in Iran, saying that he should be careful when talking about theology?

“If you’re going to opine on matters of theology,” Vance declared, “you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth.”

Truth?!

Even Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, “When [Pope Leo] talks about matters of theology? Isn’t that his job?

HOLMES

According to Britannica, epistemology is the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge [or truth]. For scientists, the way to deter mine “truth” is the scientific method. For Pope Leo XIV, the origin of truth is the Bible.

My comment to the vice president is that he should be careful when talking about subjects like theology, about which he apparently knows very little

“How can those MAGA evangelicals be so antiimmigrant when Jesus commanded his followers to welcome the stranger?” is one of the rhetorical questions progressives use to point out one of the many inconsistencies of Trump supporters who claim to be Christian.

What I have observed in two decades of reporting on religion in this area is that most religion around here is a hybrid (in the words of Merriam Webster), “something produced by a combination of two or more distinct elements: marked by heterogeneity in origin, composition, or appearance.”

For example, Thailand is 95% Buddhist. The core of Buddha’s teaching are the Four Noble Truths:

1. All beings experience pain and misery.

2. The cause of suffering is desire or attachment.

3. The cessation of pain and misery can be achieved through detachment.

4. The way to attain or achieve detachment is to follow what is called the Eightfold Path.

At the same time, many Thais have what are called “spirit houses,” which look sort of like elaborate bird houses, which Thais provide for the local spirit to live in and on which they provide offerings because the spirits are fickle and will turn on you if you don’t keep them happy.

Talk about a hybrid of heterogeneous opposites!

But if we bravely examine our own worldviews, we might discover that we are viewing reality through hybrid lenses

For example MAGAs tend to selfidentify as Evangelical Christians They go to church every Sunday and have “given their life to Christ,” yet at the same time they frequently prioritize political power, cultural dominance, and nationalistic pride over the Christian principles of humility, love for enemies, and care for the marginalized.

They vote for and passionately support a narcissistic convicted felon who lies and demonizes those who disagree with him. They declare “America first” whereas one major thread running through the whole New Testament is a trans-national vision of the world.

They are mixing populism with the Jesus story. “Why do progressives tur n to gover nment as the solution to all of our problems when Jesus seemed to promote change by individuals repenting and believing rather than passing laws?” is one of the questions MAGAs ask when arguing that progressives are disciples of the Enlightenment more than of Jesus Christ.

The Enlightenment declares that we mortals are essentially good and that society, and even human nature itself, is perfectible. The Bible teaches that humans are, at the same time, created in God’s image and yet fallen, i.e. sinful.

Religious folk around here, it seems to me, have moved away from sin on the human-nature spectrum and toward goodness. When we hear of yet another mass shooting, we immediately look for a verifiable reason — bad parenting, no jobs, poor education, abuse, addiction, prevalence of guns, social media, mental illness

Sin and/or evil as categories are no longer convincing or plausible.

When it comes to who adjudicates between Truth, with an upper-case T, and falsehood, each person assumes they, as individuals, are the final judge.

When Jesus declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” moder n, educated folk respond with, “Well, that’s just your opinion.”

May 20, 2026

General Manager

Max Reinsdorf

Staff Repor ter

Jessica Mordacq

Senior Audience Manager

Stacy Coleman

Contributing Editor Donna Greene

Contributing Repor ters

Tom Holmes, Robert J. Li a Columnists

Alan Brouilette, Tom Holmes

Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead

Editorial & Digital Design Lead Javier Govea

Designer Susan McKelvey

Senior Media Strategist

Lourdes Nicholls

Marketing & Adver tising Associate Emma Cullnan

Legal Notices

Mary Ellen Nelligan

Circulation Manager Jill Wagner

Operations Associate Susan Babin

Social Media and Digital Coordinator

Maribel Barrera

Senior Advisor Dan Haley

HOW TO REACH US

ADDRESS: PO Box 6670, River Forest, IL 60305

PHONE: (708) 366-0600

EMAIL: dhaley@newswellchicago.org

CIRCULATION: Jill@oakpark.com

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Forest Park Review is published digitally and in print by NEWSWELL © 2026 NEWSWELL

A L OOK BA CK IN TIME

Celebrating the Bicentennial

The spirit of ’76 ran high in Forest Park as villagers prepared for America’s Bicentennial the week before Memorial Day, according to the Forest Park Review archives, May 19, 1976. Miss Norine Baratt’s sixth-graders at Field-Stevenson led a special program to kick of f fundraising for a statue of children for the Forest Park Library. The perfor mance included singers Lenore Cameron, Jimmy Steele, Erin Walsh, Jennifer Nichols and Ste phen Horvath (not pictured, Zalena Moccio).

Dancers Cathy McDer mott, Katy Doss and Lisa Novak showcased their skills

Finally, Mike Flight and Diane Ficarrata provided the beat and instrumental music

During the month of May, students were working to raise $200 for the statue and dedicate it at the All-School Picnic at the end of the month.

The Bicentennial Committee: chair man Lois Dellof (Field Stevenson & Middle School librarian), Art Jones (D91 superintendent), Norine Bar ratt (sixth-grade teacher), Michael Locigno (instrumental music teacher), Patricia Koberstine (Betsy Ross and Garfield art teacher) and Wayne Buidens (Field Stevenson & Middle School art teacher) helped plan this project.

Jill Wagner

TOM HOLMES

from page 15

Hybrid religion.

I can’t think of anywhere in the four gospels where Jesus talks about wealth or the pursuit of it favorably, yet both conservatives and we liberals have found a way to blend Capitalism, or a modified version of it, into our belief system. We have figuratively read The Wealth of Nations along with our Bible in our morning devotion time

We have created a hybrid religion.

The drawback of hybrid religion is that we rationalize. Like President Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt tries to make sense of her boss’ contradictory statements, our minds sometimes resolve the tension by constructing a fantasy nar rative in which two once-contradictory ideas are somehow compatible

Have you ever noticed that when you dare to set foot in the dangerous land of religious discussion, what comes out of your friends’ mouths seems inconsistent with what you know about the religious tradition they claim to follow?

Do they ever point out that you do the very same thing?

Follow Pastor Mitty’s fictional spiritual adventures at https://tomholmes10.substack.com.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR SASCO MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2005WF3 Plaintiff, -v.-

RAMONA ANDERSON Defendants 2025 CH 10637 1015 SOUTH 15TH AVENUE MAYWOOD, IL 60153

NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIV-

EN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on February 9, 2026, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on June 8, 2026, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker, 1st Floor Suite 35R, Chicago, IL, 60606, sell at public in-person sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 1015 SOUTH 15TH AVENUE, MAYWOOD, IL 60153

Property Index No. 15-15-202020-0000

The real estate is improved with a single family residence.

The judgment amount was $128,658.80.

Sale terms: If sold to anyone other than the Plaintiff, 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours.

The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in ‘’AS IS’’ condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g) (4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

TO WACHOVIA BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE, IN TRUST FOR THE J.P. MORGAN ALTERNATIVE LOAN TRUST 2005S1, HOLDERS OF MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES

Plaintiff vs. SOLOMON WILLIAMS, U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS INDENTURE TRUSTEE FOR GREENPOINT MORTGAGE FUNDING TRUST 2006-HE1

OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 151701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, contact CHAD LEWIS, ROBERTSON ANSCHUTZ SCHNEID CRANE & PARTNERS, PLLC Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 6400 SHAFER CT, STE 325, ROSEMONT, IL, 60018 (561) 241-6901. Please refer to file number 25-361129. THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION

One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236-SALE

You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc. com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CHAD LEWIS ROBERTSON ANSCHUTZ SCHNEID CRANE & PARTNERS, PLLC 6400 SHAFER CT, STE 325 ROSEMONT IL, 60018 561-241-6901

E-Mail: ILMAIL@RASLG.COM

Attorney File No. 25-361129

Attorney ARDC No. 6306439 Attorney Code. 65582

Case Number: 2025 CH 10637 TJSC#: 46-361

NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 2025 CH 10637 I3286173

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION US BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS OWNER TRUSTEE FOR VRMTG ASSET TRUST, Plaintiff, -v.-

LORETTA FAVELA, F/K/A LORETTA ALMAGUER; FERNANDO FAVELA; ILLINOIS HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY; Defendants.

2024CH04801

330 Maple Ln, Hillside, IL 60162

NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on 3/3/2026, an agent of Auction. com, LLC will conduct the Online Only auction at www.auction.com, with the bidding window opening on 6/8/2026 at 10:00 AM CDT and closing on June 10, 2026 at 10:00 AM subject to extension, and will sell at public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate. Commonly known as 330 Maple Ln, Hillside, IL 60162

Property Index No. 15-17-109019-0000

The real estate is improved with a Single Family Residence. The judgment amount was $196,795.77 Sale Terms: Full Sale Terms are available on the property page at www.auction.com by entering 330 Maple Ln into the search bar. If sold to anyone other than the Plaintiff, the winning bidder must pay the full bid amount within twenty-four (24) hours of the auction’s end. All payments must be certified funds. No third-party checks will be accepted. All bidders will need to register at www. auction.com prior to placing a bid.

The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a certificate of sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property, prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by the Condominium property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9 (g)(l) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by the Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701 (C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information, contact Plaintiffs attorney: Diaz Anselmo & Associates, LLC (630) 453-6960 please refer to file number 1496-202843. Auction.com, LLC 100 N LaSalle St., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60602872-225-4985 You can also visit www.auction.com. Attorney File No. 1496-202843 Case Number: 2024CH04801 NOTE: PURSUANT TO THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT, YOU ARE ADVISED THAT PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY IS DEEMED TO BE A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. I3286928

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE

Defendant 25 CH 10416

CALENDAR 62

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on June 22, 2026, at the hour 11:00 a.m., Intercounty’s office, 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, IL 60602, sell, in person, to the highest bidder for cash, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 15-15-327-072-0000. Commonly known as 2111 S. 22ND AVE., BROADVIEW, IL 60155. The real estate is: single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection(g-1) of Section 189.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: At sale, the bidder must have 10% (or 25% if so ordered in the Judgment of Foreclosure) down by certified funds, balance within 24 hours, by certified funds. No refunds. The property is sold AS IS subject to all liens or encumbrances. The property will NOT be open for inspection. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the circuit court case record, property tax record and the title record to verify all information before bidding. IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER THE ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(c) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Law Offices of Ira T. Nevel, 175 North Franklin Street, Suite 201, Chicago, Illinois 60606. (312) 357-1125. 2501264

INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3287041

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION

FREEDOM MORTGAGE CORPORATION, Plaintiff

vs.

ELYSIA INES MENDEZ; JOSE PALOMINO; STATE OF ILLINOIS, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE; GOODLEAP, LLC; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS Defendant 25 CH 11133

CALENDAR

NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on June 17, 2026, at the hour 11:00 a.m., Intercounty’s office, 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, IL 60602, sell, in person, to the high-

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

est bidder for cash, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 15-15-117-005-0000. Commonly known as 1415 S. 19th Ave., Maywood, IL 60153. The real estate is: single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a common interest community unit, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection(g-1) of Section 189.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: At sale, the bidder must have 10% (or 25% if so ordered in the Judgment of Foreclosure) down by certified funds, balance within 24 hours, by certified funds. No refunds. The property is sold AS IS subject to all liens or encumbrances. The property will NOT be open for inspection. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the circuit court case record, property tax record and the title record to verify all information before bidding. IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER THE ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(c) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW.

For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Halliday, Watkins and Mann, P.C., 376 East 400 South, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111. (801) 3552886. IL21225

INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3286640

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION Alero Financial Credit Union Plaintiff vs. CONSTANCE M. DELAINE, FALECIA F. DELAINE, MARY L CORNER, doing business as CORNER REAL ESTATE CO., and UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS, Defendant 26 CH 28 CALENDAR 57 NOTICE OF SALE

PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on June 24, 2026, at the hour 11:00 a.m., Intercounty’s office, 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, IL 60602, sell, in person, to the highest bidder for cash, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 15-15-323-017-0000, 15-15323-019-0000. Commonly known as 2000-2004 17th Ave., Broadview, IL 60155. The real estate is: commercial building. Sale terms: At sale, the bidder must have 10% (or 25% if so ordered in the Judgment of Foreclosure) down by certified funds, balance within 24 hours, by certified funds. No refunds. The property is sold AS IS subject to all liens or encumbrances. The property will NOT be open for inspection. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the circuit court case record, property tax record and the title record to verify all information before bidding. IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER THE ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

1701(c) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Schoenberg Finkel Beederman Bell Glazer, LLC, 300 South Wacker Drive, 15th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60606. 312-648-2300. Alero Financial vs. Delaine INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3287118

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION Nationstar Mortgage LLC Plaintiff, -v.Mary Hennig; Christie L. Hennig; Demetrios C. Stavropoulos; Waterfall Victoria III-NB Grantor Trust Defendants. 2025CH10873

10640 Preston Street, Westchester, IL 60154 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on 2/5/2026, an agent of Auction. com, LLC will conduct the Online Only auction at www.auction.com, with the bidding window opening on 6/15/2026 at 10:00 AM CDT and closing on June 17, 2026 at 10:00 AM subject to extension, and will sell at public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate.

Commonly known as 10640 Preston Street, Westchester, IL 60154 Property Index No. 15-29-223026-0000 The real estate is improved with a Single Family Residence. The judgment amount was $233,313.32 Sale Terms: Full Sale Terms are available on the property page at www.auction. com by entering 10640 Preston Street into the search bar. If sold to anyone other than the Plaintiff, the winning bidder must pay the full bid amount within twenty-four (24) hours of the auction’s end. All payments must be certified funds. No third-party checks will be accepted. All bidders will need to register at www.auction.com prior to placing a bid. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a certificate of sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale. The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property, prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information. If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by the Condominium property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9 (g)(l) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by the Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1). IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWN-

ER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701 (C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. For information, contact Plaintiffs attorney: MDK Legal (312) 651-6700 please refer to file number 25-023184. Auction.com, LLC 100 N LaSalle St., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60602 - 872-225-4985 You can also visit www.auction.com. Attorney File No. 25-023184 Case Number: 2025CH10873 NOTE: PURSUANT TO THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT, YOU ARE ADVISED THAT PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY IS DEEMED TO BE A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. I3287350

Submit events and see full calendar at forestparkreview.com/events

May Is Mental Health Awareness Month

We All Have Mental Health

Whether you are struggling with a temporary challenge or if you are living with a chronic condition, your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

Investing In Our Future

The Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township (CMHB) and the River Forest Township Mental Health Committee invest in a continuum of mental health care that is responsive to our unique and evolving community needs.

Together, we provided over $1.6M last year to help local organizations and schools offer prevention, early intervention, treatment, and quality-of-life services to Oak Park and River Forest residents.

Our grants resulted in:

More than 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Growing Crisis Among Youth

America’s youth mental health crisis has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness INCREASED 69%

between 2009 and 2021 for U.S. high school students

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Community Mental Health Board Of Oak Park Township

• Over 7,700 Oak Park residents accessing services

• Over 6,300 units of mental health treatment for Oak Park residents

• Over 150 educational presentations on mental health to Oak Park residents

• Over 1,000 Oak Park high school students trained in suicide prevention

In fiscal year 2026, CMHB provided nearly $1.4M in funding for mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability services. To learn more about our work in this area, visit oakparktownship.org/CMHB.

River Forest Township Mental Health Committee

• Supporting 10 local, not-for-profit agencies

• Over 7,000 hours of services provided to River Forest residents

• 150 hours of educational presentations on mental health to River Forest residents

• Over 250 River Forest high school students trained in suicide prevention

In fiscal year 2026, RFT provided over $215,000 in funding for mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability services. To learn more about our work in this area,visit www.riverforesttownship.org/mental-health. 50%

Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township

May Is Mental Health Awareness Month

We All Have Mental Health

Whether you are struggling with a temporary challenge or if you are living with a chronic condition, your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

Investing In Our Future

The Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township (CMHB) and the River Forest Township Mental Health Committee invest in a continuum of mental health care that is responsive to our unique and evolving community needs.

Together, we provided over $1.6M last year to help local organizations and schools offer prevention, early intervention, treatment, and quality-of-life services to Oak Park and River Forest residents.

Our grants resulted in:

50%

More than 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Growing

Crisis Among Youth

America’s youth mental health crisis has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. 6

Persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness INCREASED 69%

between 2009 and 2021 for U.S. high school students

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township

Community Mental Health Board Of Oak Park Township

•Over 7,700 Oak Park residents accessing services

•Over 6,300 units of mental health treatment for Oak Park residents

•Over 150 educational presentations on mental health to Oak Park residents

•Over 1,000 Oak Park high school students trained in suicide prevention

In fiscal year 2026, CMHB provided nearly $1.4M in funding for mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability services. To learn more about our work in this area, visit oakparktownship.org/CMHB.

River Forest Township Mental Health Committee

•Supporting 10 local, not-for-profitagencies

•Over 7,000 hours of services provided to River Forest residents

•150 hours of educational presentations on mental health to River Forest residents

•Over 250 River Forest high school students trained in suicide prevention

In fiscal year 2026, RFT provided over $215,000 in funding for mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability services. To learn more about our work in this area,visit www.riverforesttownship.org/mental-health.

Creating a mosai of mental health support

How Oak Park’s Mosaic Counseling & Wellness is transforming community mental health care

By JACKIE PISANO Contributing Reporter

For as long as she can remember, Oak Park resident Carey Carlock has felt a profound, unwavering pull toward a life of service.

Though not always certain of the direction her future would lead, Carlock believed her greatest fulfillment would come from holding space for others during moments of trials and tribulations.

“I’ve always been drawn to listening, supporting and being in the helping field,” she said. “It just felt like a natural fit for me ever since I was a young person.”

Heeding her intuition, Carlock embarked on studies in counseling and psycholo gy, receiving her aduate de from Boston Colle ge early 1990s. Shortly after she returned to Chicago establish her career in the mental health profession.

Carlock’s career began in youth mental health treatment programs, including partial hospitalization programs and intensive outpatient programs, where she discovered a passion supporting direct care and group therapy.

Eventually, her journey led her to hospital administration — specificall landing the top position as chie f executive officer of Forest Park’s Rive Hospital, the largest psychiatric hospital in Illinois and a facility which is 90% publicly funded

In her 13 years at the helm of Rive Carlock was credited with significantly framing the re putation of the behavioral healthcare facility.

“At Riveredg e, we were really trying to provide trauma-infor med care for those who might not have all the protective factors that other people do — those with high acuity and lots of other psychosocial stressors,” she said. “I loved that wo rk and was really proud of the recovery of that hospital.”

As CEO, Carlock was a steadfast advocate of championing ef for ts to destigmatize mental illness while providing top-quality care for some of the area’s most vulnerable populations.

“It was the privile ge and responsibility of career in a lot of ways to lead such

high acuity, such intensity,” she said. “The hospital had its own recovery that I was part of leading, and that was really mission-aligned.”

While Carlock was gratified by her work at Riveredge, two factors led to a new chapter in her career: persistent requests from neighbors and friends for mental health recommendations, and unexpected obstacles she faced when trying to find a therapist for her own son.

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“While out and about in Oak Park, people knew I was active with the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Board and in the mental health space,” she said. “At Little League games, book clubs or out getting coffee, people would often approach me and ask for recommendations for child psychiatrists. I didn’t really have a lot of resources in my own community; that tugged on me and I didn’t find that acceptable.”

At the same time, Carlock’s son was experiencing mental health challenges. While Carlock says she had privileges of a job in mental

healthcare leadership and access to quality insurance, she ran into the problem of therapists not returning her phone calls.

“I couldn’t find a therapist in my own community for my own son — that was unacceptable to me,” she said.

From there, it was mission pivot for Carlock. In June 2021, she left Riveredge and decided to open her own practice.

“It was almost incumbent upon me to say, ‘I know how to do this. I need to do this in my own community, for my o wn community,’” she said. “It felt like a mission to provide inte grated, high-quality care without a long waitlist in my own community so I could say ‘yes’ to moms who were looking for services.”

Carlock’s answer was Mosaic Counseling & Wellness, a behavioral health private practice promising to deliver highquality, community-based services with care that is intentional and holistic for each individual.

Essential for Carlock to have Mosaic’s home base be in Oak Park, in the summer of 2021, she purchased a vacant building in Oak Park’s Arts District on Harrison Street. While renovating the space, she opened Mosaic’s first small office in Elmhurst in the fall of 2021, with the Oak Park site officially opening in August 2022.

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Carey Carlock, founder of Mosaic Counseling & Wellness chats with Mosaic Oak Park therapist Lonn Obee

Mosaic’s rst Oak Park location, 215 Harrison St., opened in August of 2022.

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Carlock landed on the name Mosaic, explaining that when things come apar t in life, there is splendor in helping guide someone’s mental health to a better state.

“Things that are in pieces at times come back together to make something beautiful,” she said. “By the time you reach out, you need someone to answer the phone and call you back — that’s part of the installation of hope.”

With therapy for children through seniors, Carlock says it was important for Mosaic to have therapists who not only reflected the variety of needs of locals but focused on community connection and advocacy

“It’s such a deeply personal relationship of what you’re trying to look for in a therapist — what you’re trying to get out of that therapeutic relationship and how you take that into the rest of your life,” she said.

“The goodness of fit is so important.”

Besides talk therapy, Mosaic features art therapy, dance therapy, therapy in Spanish and clinicians from a variety of backgrounds — something Carlock says ensures care remains culturally-sensitive and responsive.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

Park (Arts District, Downtown and new this spring, the Hemingway District); Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale and Orland Park. Mosaic employs nearly 100 therapists, two psychiatrists and four psychiatric nurse practitioners.

“Growing very quickly wasn’t the strategic plan, but we have an integrated, highquality client experience which I think propelled our growth,” Carlock said. “I am very proud, grateful and humbled by the growth.”

Carlock adds that in recent years, it has been “remarkable” to see society shifting toward more publicly addressing the importance of mental health care — and not just in times of crisis. While she says therapy may carry a stigma, she emphasizes taking the reaching out for care is brave.

“There is no health without mental health,” she said. “We don’t have to suffer and whiteknuckle it; we can give ourselves coping skills, support and credit for being brave enough to allow ourselves to get help. Therapy is not just heavy and sad — it can also be inspiring, hopeful and even fun.”

Carey is grateful people throughout Oak Park are seemingly proud in helping change the narrative around mental health.

“The intention is to try to have a diverse team, not only in how people are trained and how they treat people [but] so we can meet people where they’re at,” she said. “I say that with a lot of humility because that’s a big statement.”

If people reach out to Mosaic and the practice ends up not being the right fit due to niche clinical need or insurance factors, Carlock says they will keep communication open and refer individuals within contact networks to find that ideal therapist.

“Even if Mosaic isn’t the right door, we will help you get to the right place,” she said. Five years in, Mosaic has now expanded to seven suburban locations — three in Oak

“Oak Park is really pretty special in the reduction of stigma,” she said. “Honestly, people are proud to have a therapist. I don’ t always see the same mental wellness-forward attitude in all the communities we serve.”

She appreciates that teens have greatly helped change the narrative as well.

“Many of my kids’ friends say, ‘I want a therapist,’ or ‘Why would I suffer without support?’” she said. “It’s prevention. It’s wellness. I feel really inspired by what is so different now with young people than when I was growing up.”

Outside of Mosaic, Carlock remains active at the state level. Last year, she testified in favor of Illinois House Bill 1085, a landmark behavioral health care and mental health parity law. The bill, which passed the Illinois General Assembly and was signed into

Oak Park therapists (le to right) Alexandra Backis, Kyla Gilmore and Alison Zdarsky share information about Mosaic at one of Downtown Oak Park’s ursday Night Out events in summer 2025.

law in December, aims to strengthen mental health and substance use disorder care by requiring state-regulated private insurers to offer better reimbursement rates for behavioral health services. Effective next January, it mandates 60-day credentialing for providers, aiming to expand network access for roughly 2.5 million Illinoisans Fundamentally, Carlock says therapy is serious work, but at Mosaic, is something she

aims to showcase as essential — and possible — for healing

“It’s incredible work and is such a privilege and responsibility,” she said. “It’s what I was intended to do, and I’m glad I listened to that voice about my community needing this. I believe in therapy because it works.”

For more information about Mosaic Counseling & Wellness, including new client inquiries, visit mosaiccare.com.

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A peek into the layout of a talk therapy space at Mosaic.

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Delivering resources and changing narratives

Oak Parker Cheryl Potts champions mental wellness through the lens of lived experience and personal passion

By JACKIE PISANO Contributing Reporter

For Cheryl Potts, leading Oak Park Township’s Community Mental Health Board isn’t just a career — it’s a deeply personal mission.

Serving as executive director since the f all of 2021, the longtime resident greets each day with the goal of not only assisting promotion of mental health services but working to shatter the stigma of mental health care by being open about her own firsthand experiences.

Whether finding ways to fund community services alongside elected officials, building partnerships with social service providers or speaking one-on-one with someone, Potts’ experiences of having a brother die by suicide, a f amily history of mental health concerns and facing her own mental health battles remain her catalysts for bringing real change to the way Oak Park addresses mental wellness.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to work in my own back yard and help my own neighbors with mental health,” she said. “What I really wanted to focus my career on was reducing the bar riers to access and eliminating the stigma and discrimination around mental health.”

Five years ago, Potts was selected to lead the charge of the Township’s Mental Health Board following 20 years of experience in the field of human services. With roles including nonprofit work with the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and T he Kennedy For um Illinois, it has always been mission-critical for Potts to help eliminate mental health discrimination and destigmatize the narrative around reaching out for mental health and addiction support, both through lending a helping hand and openly sharing her journey from struggl e to recovery

“There should be no shame in reaching out for help when struggling,” she said. “People have in their head wh at they think mental i llness is, and it ’s usually ne gative thoughts. When you do seek out suppo rt and treatment, you c an be ve ry productive and live a normal life — and I think it ’s really important to share those storie s. ”

what they can contribute is not insignificant,” she said. “You could have a conversation with someone at a grocery store that could change their day. A lot of people are fearful and think ‘Well, I’m not a mental health exper t.’ But it’s about making those true, genuine connections which we miss so much in our society today.”

What Potts has enjoyed most with the board is truly having a direct impact at the hyperlocal level. She cites area resources like Thrive Counseling Center, NAMI Metro Suburban, Beyond Hunger and Sarah’s Inn as those which have joined forces to examine the root causes of conditions and make life easier for Oak Parkers in need

“When we bring people to g ether to solve problems, then I think we’re able to make a bigger impact,” she said. “The piece I love most is not sitting in the office but actually being out in the community.”

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“A lot of people are fearful and think, ‘Well, I’m not a mental health exper t.’ But it ’s about making those true, genuine connections which we miss so much in our society today.”

CHERYL POTT S Director Community Mental Health Board

Since 1973, the Community Mental Health Board has served Oak Parkers through planning, developing, evaluating and funding mental health services throughout the village. However, while Potts ag rees the resources for mental health care have evolved since the board’s early days, the candidness of the conversation hasn’t quite caught up fully.

“Having the g eneral public aware of

Even so, Potts adds that challenges to

the role have included being a small, local organization which still has to deal with all of the changes that happen at the federal level, from changes to Medicaid and insurance policies, and budg et cuts to critical funding sources.

“We have a wonderful community, but we don’ t live in a bubble — we are affected by all these things that destabilize any progress we’ve made.”

Nonetheless, Potts maintains honest conversations are essential to normalizing mental health challenges, wh ich will in turn help c onnect locals with the extensive helpful resources available in Oak Pa rk

“It really d oesn’t f eel li ke wo rk — it f eels li ke this is wh at I’m meant to be doing,” she said. “It’s a p assion, and seeing the changes in p eople over time is wh at really reassures me that I’m doing the right thing.”

Black men talk abou mental wellness an overcoming stigm

Men’s Mentalhood and PCC Wellness team up for conversation

By ETHAN TUCKER Contributing Reporter

“In every adult man, there’s a broken boy that needs to be healed,” said Jonathan Muhammad during Men’s Mentalhood’s recent panel on Black men’s mental health at PCC Austin Family Health Center. On Saturday, May 2, Men’s Mentalhood partnered with PCC Community Wellness Center to host a community panel and breakfast focused on mental health awareness for Black men and boys on Chicago’s West Side.

Held at PCC Austin Family Health Center, 5461 W. Lake St., the event created space

for open conversations re addiction, emotional wellness and healing within the Black community.

Founder Victor Love said Men hood was created to address the stigma surrounding therapy and emotional vulnerability among Black men.

“We have suf fered through so much and swept so much under the ca Love “As a result, that’s how Love encouraged attendees to up from the neck up,” a phrase used throughout the event to promote mental wellness, self-awareness and emotional honesty.

Community members also shared personal testimonies about how Men’s Mentalhood has impacted their lives and created an environment where they feel safe discussing issues often left unspoken.

“I’m not where I was, and I’m not where I want to be, but I’m in a much better and more empowered mental space,” Muhammad said.

PCC Community Wellness Center leadership used the event to connect residents with available healthcare and behavioral health resources.

“Mental health in general is something that we’re really passionate about here at PCC,” said Alyssa Sianghio, CEO of PCC Community Wellness Center. “We are here in the community so people have accessible and fordable healthcare centered around you.”

Sianghio said PCC operates 14 sites across Chica’s West Side and neighboring communities, offering primary care, therapy, dentistry, food ograms and substance use recovery services. he Austin Family Health Center location opened in late 2024.

and accessible.

“Mental health is just like physical health,” Gutier re z said. “We want to take care of our minds and make sure we’re doing okay mentally and emotionally.”

“I’m not where I was, and I’m not where I want to be, but I’m in a much better and more empowered mental space.”

JONATHAN MUHAMMAD

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“It doesn’t matter what insurance you’ve got or no insurance at all,” Sianghio said. “It doesn’t matter what your background is what history you’ve got — we’re going to be here.”

Lisa Gutier re z, PCC’s behavioral health director, said mental health remains heavily stigmatized in many communities, but PCC hopes to make services more visible

The event also connected attendees with professionals working directly in youth development and behavioral health. In a separate conversation following the panel, Dr. William Steward III, acting superintendent of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, reflected on the importance of mental wellness among incarcerated youth.

“Mental health starts in your mind,” Steward said. “I have 160 kids locked up in our facility, and mental health means helping them see they are more than their past and more than their mistakes.”

The collaboration between Men’s Mentalhood and PCC Community Wellness Center highlights a growing ef fort on Chicago’s West Side to address mental health through community conversation, accessible care and culturally relevant support for Black men and boys

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Victor Love

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Men’s Mentalhood partnered with PCC Community Wellness Center to host a community panel focused on mental health awareness for Black men and boys on Chicago’s West Side on May 2.

e Living Room o ers ‘natural connectiveness’ for those with mental health challenges

Free service provides acceptance and empathy with listening focus

By GREGG VOSS Contributing Reporter

Like most of us, Marty has seen challenges in his life, some that were tough to overcome.

Things like that can weigh on a person, so much so that it can feel near impossible to attack head on.

That was Marty, and to a de gree still is, but these days, he’s got support and a safe place, which can make all the difference.

“Losing my job was traumatic even though it was five years ago,” he said, adding he also dealt with the loss of a loved one before that. “I think it was an accumulation of things where it wasn’t something I was aware of on a daily basis. It maybe just crept up.

“I didn’t really have anyone or resources to tur n to.’

This day, Marty sits in a comfortable chair in a closed-door room at The Living Room in Oak Park, 816 Harrison St., which opened April 8 and is a free service operated by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Metro Suburban branch.

I was very excited for the opportunity.”

Open from noon to 8 p.m. dail ing Room in Oak Park is a welcoming space – clean, quiet, with meeting rooms offset right upon entry, in all honesty, similar to a living room. When arriving, you’ll li run into Beck Beishen, a coordinator and trained specialist. He’s a soft-spoken guy who works with guests like Marty to help them by talking out life’s knotty problems that might be exacerbated ADHD, panic attacks and other issues.

But Beishen isn’t only a trained specialist. He’s been in Marty’s shoes and those of the 35 separate individuals that ha the location since April 8 – already a of the total anticipated in its first y

“It started in high school when toms became more severe,” he said. “It was ADHD combined with anxiety. It went undiagnosed for After high school, things just kind of w quickly, where I started to cope with the symptoms with what I was feeling that time with substances and alcohol.”

“I nd that knowing that the sta has their own history with mental health and recovery, there’s been a relatabilit y.”

MART

Y

A Living Room client

Dressed in a St. Louis Cardinals cap – though he chuckles when he says he’s a diehard Los Angeles Dodgers fan – Marty is in a good mood, because he’s confident that the Living Room in Oak Park has been a gamechanger for him.

“I was aware of La Grange and Summit having locations, and the living room concept was very appealing to me,” he said. “I live in Berwyn, three minutes from here, and just growing up in Oak Park, when I heard The Living Room was going to open,

That went on for 10 years, and by his mid-20s, he realized he was headed in the wrong direction. He entered a 30-day program that provided the tools to handle his challenges. What’s more, he realized he could take his mess and make it his message.

He decided he wanted to pursue a career in social services, and Friday he graduated with his master’s de gree in social work from UIC. He’s planning to pursue a doctorate.

But the point is that there is common ground for Beishen and guests like Marty who come with a wide variety of struggles.

“Plenty of resources in terms of good advice, and I find that knowing that the staf f has their own history with mental health and recovery, there’s been a relatability,” said Marty.

“There is just a natural connectiveness.”

Beck Beishen, a coordinator and trained specialist at e Living Room in Oak Park, makes a point during a recent session.

The process of getting started at The Living Room is seamless. Walking in there is a short intake process that is compliant with HIPAA to ensure confidentiality

“After that, we just sit down and talk to the guests,” Beishen said. “Why are they here? What are their goals? For each guest it’s different, and it’s about meeting the guests where they are at and then trying to help build that into a strength.”

Shelly Lustrup is the chie f executive officer of NAMI Metro Suburban, and she said T he Living Room in Oak Park –which is adjacent to T he Drop-in Center at 814 Harrison St. – offers multiple recovery tools to help guests, which sets it apar t from other living room-style models.

“It’s a community-based progr am that can be for both prevention and intervention,” she said, adding that “going to the hospital or the ER, where we know it’s usually not the best fit, oftentimes

it’s overstimulating, it’s loud, long wait times

“Instead, you can come to a living room and the team can work to help de-escalate, make any kind of safety planning.”

But consider that T he Living Room team can facilitate a hospitalization if it feels that’s what’s needed.

In its short existence, there are many success stories, including Marty’s, and there will be many more, he’s convinced.

“I think immediate acce ptance and nonjudgment, and a true eng aged empathy for listening to your situation and offering different resources to help you,” he said. “Quite frankly, it’s free, it’s accessible. I came here the first time and I’m like, why not give it a chance?”

For more information about The Li ving Room in Oak Park, visit https://namimetsub.org/

GREGG VOSS

Half of the world’s population will experience a mental health disorder by the time they are 75 years old.1 As many of us know from experience, attempting to navigate the mental health system when you are at a low point can be incredibly difficult. The Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park encourages everyone to learn where to go for help ahead of time, with the hopes that you won’t ever need it.

You always have Someone to Call, Somewhere to Go, and Someone to Respond.

Someone to Call: In July 2022, 988 replaced the ten-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.2 This expanded resource provides 24/7, no-cost, confidential support for individuals in distress, including prevention and crisis resources. Calling or texting this number will connect anyone to a trained professional who is ready to help callers deal with their suicidal ideations (picturing their own suicide), mental health crisis, substance use issues, or other emotional distress. People who are worried about a loved one’s mental health crisis and want

CMHB Board President, Ann Schreiner Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township

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Somewhere to Go

to provide support can also contact 988. Someone to Respond: Thrive Counseling Center is an Oak Park-based comprehensive mental health center that provides a no-cost 24/7 crisis line (708-383-7500). The main difference between this phone number and 988? Thrive has the ability to send a mobile crisis team to the distressed person and provide on-site assessment and de-escalation. Their crisis counselors are all highly trained Master’s-level clinicians whose goals are to stabilize the immediate situation, provide support, and facilitate connection to ongoing help.

Somewhere to Go: Do you feel the need to go somewhere warm and inviting to talk to someone? Bypass the emergency department and go to NAMI Metro Suburban’s Living Room Program located at 816 Harrison Street in Oak Park. The Living Room is a place to go if you are experiencing stress in your life or an increase in mental health symptoms. It’s for anyone who is 18 or older who is feeling scared, anxious, angry, sad, or just needs someone to talk to. It’s a calm, home-like space where adults experiencing distress can

connect with a trained peer recovery support specialist who has lived experience for support, de-escalation, and tools to maintain mental health recovery. The Oak Park Living Room is open daily 12–8 p.m. Services provided are free of charge and open to all.

Importantly, if you are in or around a mental health crisis that has the potential to end in immediate harm to someone, it is always better to err on the side of safety and call 911. We mourn the loss of our loved ones to suicide and devote our efforts to educate, empower, and mobilize toward helping prevent future losses. Program these numbers into your phones, teach your children about them, and hang up a call list in a prominent place for you to reference. Our goal and hope is that you will never need to use them. #YouMatterOP

1) Harvard Medical School, July 31, 2023, https://hms.harvard.edu/news/half-worlds-population-will-experience-mental-health-disorder 2) 988 Lifeline https://988lifeline.org/

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