Forest Park Review 052621

F O R E S T PA R K

GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA, NFP ForestParkReview.com Vol. 104, No. 20

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D91 holding student vaccination clinic PAGE 6

Residents report slow USPS delivery PAGE 14

MAY 26, 2021

@FP_Review @ForestParkReview

D209 official alleges libel against superintendent, fellow school board members Claudia Medina’s lawsuit alleges ‘Setting the record Straight’ mailer, other statements defamed her

By MARIA MAXHAM

SHANEL ROMAIN/Contributor

CONGRATULATIONS

Proviso Math and Science Academy (PMSA) student Sofia Lecina turns her tassel as she crosses the outdoor stage to receive her diploma from PMSA Principal William Breisch at the drive-thru graduation ceremony on May 22.

Editor

Claudia Medina, a Proviso Township High Schools board member, has filed a libel lawsuit against District 209 Superintendent James Henderson, the other six elected school board members and the school district. The suit was filed May 11 in the Law Division of Cook County Circuit Court.

Medina is being represented by attorney Anthony Peraica, the former Cook County commissioner. In addition to Henderson, the lawsuit names District 209 school board President Rodney Alexander and school board members Theresa Kelly, Amanda Grant, Nathan Wagner, Samuel Valtierrez and Arbdella Patterson as individual defendants.

Drive-thru graduation for D209’s class of 2021 PMSA, East and West celebrate outside Proviso High School District 209’s graduation ceremonies, like practically everything else this year, were affected

by COVID-19, but the pandemic didn’t stop staff, students and their families from celebrating.

On May 22 and 23, the district held

See LAWSUIT on page 15

IN Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 THIS Big Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 ISSUE Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

drive-thru ceremonies for the graduating classes of all three schools. Proviso West and Proviso Math and Science Academy (PMSA) students graduated on Saturday and East students on Sunday, all through a course set up on the campus of Proviso West in Hillside.

Graduates were allowed two cars to accompany them. Vehicles wound their way through the campus, directed by district security and staff who congratulated students as they drove past. Students exited

FP author releases mystery novel PAGE 4

cars to cross an outdoor stage, where they were handed diplomas by their principals and congratulated by D209 board members and Superintendent James Henderson. Cars were directed to parking spots in front of the stage to watch. The final stop was an opportunity for family members and friends to get out of their cars to take pictures of graduates against photo drops.

Congratulations to the D209 class of 2021.

Resident launches inclusive children’s series PAGE 16

-Maria Maxham

@F @FP_Review Follow us on TWITTER

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

E VE RYW H E R E E L S E I T ’ S H E A LT H C A R E

HERE, IT’S PERSONAL MARC BROWNING, RN, PSY.D, ABPP - PSYCHOLOGIST In the world of psychology, sometimes the best care comes from the creativity of your doctor. Finding solutions in uncommon places is Dr. Marc Browning’s specialty. Whether it’s while he’s walking his dog or an idea striking him in the middle of the night, Dr. Browning illuminates the blind spots to help patients clear the path toward a healthier future. Because here, at Edward-Elmhurst Health, THIS IS PERSONAL. ThisIsPersonalEEH.org

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

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f you want a busier, more fulfilling life, I suggest retiring from the full-time job that is cramping your style. Or shutting down that small business demanding so much of your time. If you can handle it financially, retirement can be more hectic than you ever imagined.

Not that you won’t have time to take it easy. Frankly, we had too much “down time” in 2020.

But even during lockdown my schedule was full.

That’s because we have four adult kids and five grandsons who demand our attention from time-to-time. I started a regular gig of watching three of my grandsons every Wednesday. They are 5, 3 and 8 months.

The job is so demanding, I can only handle a two-hour shift.

Not that I don’t enjoy the boys. We play outside when weather permits. We walk to the park or hang out with neighborhood kids. I’m fortunate to have a “papa” next door watching his grandkids, because we both need some adult conversation.

My daughter, though, changed things up last Wednesday and we took the boys to Brookfield Zoo. We joined a long parade

Keeping busy

of stroller-pushing parents.

They were like us, trying to find where the animals were hiding.

It was strenuous pushing the double stroller and carrying kids. The exercise was good for me but I’ll never be as strong as my daughter.

I’ll also never be as patient as she is. If it were up to me, we’d march through the zoo and head for home. She bought them plastic figurines of King Kong and T-Rex that kept them occupied. She paid for them to feed kale to the giraffes. Then she opened up a backpack of their favorite snacks. After we ruined their appetites, we took them to the Junction Diner for lunch.

Wednesdays are a win-win for me.

Thursdays are also fun. I read books to another grandson’s first-grade class. These are extremely wacky books and sometimes I don’t understand the plots. The kids are very patient with me, though, and only correct me when necessary. Like when I was reading “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” and accidentally skipped the piggy who built his house with brick.

Besides helping out on school days, we’re

JOHN RICE

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also busy on the weekends watching our grandsons play baseball and soccer. It’s fun to re-experience this phase without the added angst of caring who wins the game. We don’t just watch them play, I’m still capable of crushing a Wiffle Ball. I was recently watching the 9- and 7-year-olds. They were staring at screens, but it was their idea to play baseball in the backyard.

Re-living the little kid phase is fun. We also continue to help out the big kids. They are very independent, but parental habits die hard. I still enjoy cooking for my sons and dropping off care packages at their apartments. This gives me a chance to hang out in the city. Mark lives in Ukrainian Village, where there are many fabulous restaurants and bars. Joe lives in River North, only a short walk from the attractions of downtown.

So you can see how busy retirement can be, once we quit those pesky jobs. There is also time to launch writing projects. I’m starting a third book titled, Taking the CTA to Paris, about teaching French-speaking students at a downtown college how to write in English. I will dedicate the book to the grandson who can find me a publisher.

It’s the least they can do, after I spent so much time pushing them on the swing.

T I M E . . .

BELOVED ST. B TEACHER Ten years ago, in May 2011, the Review published an article entitled “Beloved Forest Park teacher retiring” about Gloria Hansberry’s decision to retire after teaching at St. Bernardine school for over 20 years. “One of the things I have enjoyed the most about teaching here is having that connection with my faith life and my professional life in one place,” Hansberry was quoted as saying.

REVIEW Editor Maria Maxham Senior Editor Bob Uphues Equity Editor/Ombudsman Michael Romain Contributing Reporters Tom Holmes, John Rice, Bob Skolnik, Jackie Glosniak, Robert J. Lifka Columnists Alan Brouilette, Jill Wagner, Tom Holmes, John Rice Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Digital Strategist James Kay Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designers Mark Moroney, Javier Govea Sales and Marketing Representatives Lourdes Nicholls, Marc Stopeck Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner Publisher Dan Haley Business Manager Joyce Minich

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Board of Directors Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer HOW TO REACH US ADDRESS 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE 708-366-0600 ■ FAX 708-467-9066 EMAIL forestpark@wjinc.com CIRCULATION Jill@oakpark.com ONLINE ForestParkReview.com TWITTER @FP_Review Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Forest Park Review,141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302-2901. Periodical rate postage paid at Oak Park, IL (USPS No 0205-160) In-county subscriptions: $28 per year. $42 for two years, $58 for three years.

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

A ‘cozy’ mystery with a Filipina-American view of life Local author pens Midwestern story with humor, dead bodies

By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

When Mia Manansala returned to the U.S. after traveling abroad and teaching in South Korea, she found herself stuck in a rut, stumbling through the next steps in her life and career. It was 2014, and Manansala, who was then 28, settled back into west suburban Forest Park and decided to move in with her boyfriend, her adventures now folded into memories.

As Manansala drifted into a routine, she decided to unpack a childhood passion and began writing.

“I thought, ‘Maybe, now’s the time,’” said Manansala, now 35, during a Zoom call, sitting inside her lavender-colored office.

She took a mystery writing class through StoryStudio Chicago and never looked back.

In some ways, this part of Manansala’s life runs parallel to Lila Macapagal, the lead in her latest book, “Arsenic and Adobo.”

Manansala, who still resides in Forest Park, drew from her past and feelings of being a “big fish in a small pond” when she built Macapagal. The difference between the two women lies in the details that make up the cozy mystery novel, which was released May 4 through Penguin Random House. “Arsenic and Adobo” is the first of a three-book series.

As the story goes, Macapagal moves back to her hometown after a bad breakup but is quickly roped into helping save Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant. Along the way, Macapagal runs into her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be a mean food critic – and dies, after the two meet. Amidst the murder, family drama and chaos, Macapagal spins into an investigation to solve the mystery.

Manansala described cozies, a subgenre of crime fiction, as Hallmark movies “with dead bodies.” There’s no graphic sex, violence or what some may consider “bad language,” she said. Cozy mysteries require authors such as Manansala to find the lightheartedness when there is murder.

For Manansala, there are pieces in “Arsenic and Adobo” that touch on issues such as drug use, police intimidation, domestic violence, and fatphobia, which means fear of fatness or hatred of fat bodies. While some of these issues were implied throughout the storyline, Manansala said she tried to be sensitive around the hard issues, making sure to not dismiss them or make unwarranted jokes.

“The humor is not about death. It’s not about the tougher things,” said Manansala.

“It’s the things surrounding it. That’s how I try to balance the tone. I didn’t want to be flippant, but I also needed to be real.”

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

MYSTERY WRITER: Author Mia Manasala’s “cozy” mystery novel, “Arsenic and Adobo,” was released by Penguin Random House this month.

She added family, food and community are at the heart of the story.

My voice, my story Manansala started writing “Arsenic and Adobo” about three years ago. She wrote in her free time, which was mostly after her full-time job and late into the evenings. Manansala, who was then an English teacher at a school in downtown Chicago, drafted the blueprint of her novel after class, slipping away into an empty classroom. Other times, she’d head over to the nearby Harold Washington Library to continue.

By the time the coronavirus pandemic came, Manansala was homebound working on the book’s revisions.

Manansala opened up about being among the few authors of color in the cozy mystery genre and what it means to be a FilipinaAmerican author and create a Filipina protagonist. Manansala said her favorite genre of literature is fantasy, but when the pandemic hit, she dove into romance and found herself among these characters who were “women of color finding love and joy and realizing that they deserve happiness, too.”

When it came to developing Macapagal, Manansala was candid. Macapagal happens to be a Filipina-American in a murder mystery, she said.

“Her identity shapes her,” Manansala said. “It changes how she sees the world, and it definitely changes how the world sees her, particularly in this small town – a small Midwestern town at that! But she gets to just be. It’s part of a bigger story.”

Manansala reflected on her childhood and growing up in a multigenerational home in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood, a pre-

dominantly Latinx community.

“I didn’t really have a Filipino community growing up other than my family,” she said.

“I didn’t, I can’t speak Tagalog. I can understand it, but I can’t speak it. My connection to my culture is through my family.”

The latter proposed a small challenge for Manansala while writing “Arsenic and Adobo,” and she often thought about the way she portrayed Macapagal and her family. At times, Manansala was writing from her perspective, the way she understood her Filipino culture and what she saw as “normal” in her own family. As she looked at those experiences, Manansala was careful to not perpetuate stereotypes but constantly danced in this gray area of “when am I leaning too hard or relying on certain things for comedic effect?” and “when is it like, I mean, this is real?”

“Am I leaning too heavily on my American perspective?” she asked. “Am I not being fair to some of these other characters and what they’ve gone through and why they have this particular point of view?”

Manansala said one of the characters in “Arsenic and Adobo” is a grandmother who is harsh and judgmental, a stickler for tradition, and faults Macapagal whenever she changes a traditional recipe on Tita Rosie’s menu. Manansala said she worked with a reader who offered more insight into the grandmother’s behavior.

“For immigrants, food is the only real tangible connection many of them have to their homeland,” said Manansala of what she learned from that reader. “For her, a plate of food is not just a plate of food. There are maybe reasons that she is as strict and why she holds on to certain traditions the way she does, despite Lila thinking it’s outdated.”

That’s the challenge of writing about cultural identity, and that’s what makes representation, at times, complicated. Manansala said more authors of color are writing their narratives and literary fiction but dive deep into the heaviness of immigrant experiences. But Manansala is trying to pave her path as a cozy mystery author.

As she thought about her most recent work, Manansala asked, “Will people accept this as my experience, and my voice, and the way I tell it?”

“I feel like because there’s so little representation, people put their own hopes and expectations into it,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Oh wow, a Filipino book,’ and they’re hoping to see themselves on the page. I understand that because that’s why I wrote this book. I wanted to see myself on the page, but not all our experiences are the same. We’re not a monolith. We all have different points of view.”

For more information on Mia Manansala, visit www.miapmanansala.com. “Arsenic and Adobo” is now available online or in stores, including Centuries and Sleuths in Forest Park and The Book Table in Oak Park.

Think local.

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

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Neighborhood Watch meeting addresses recent crime, Madison St. FP officers credited with saving life of OP officer after shooting

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

Around 20 people attended the Neighborhood Watch meeting on May 18 at village hall, with another two dozen or so participating via Zoom. It was the first such meeting since before COVID-19 brought a halt to the monthly gathering of residents, led by Officer Nick Cannon.

In addition to Cannon, the meeting was run by Police Chief Tom Aftanas and Deputy Chief Ken Gross. At the start of the meeting, Aftanas said generally the Neighborhood Watch meetings haven’t drawn a crowd of more than 10. It is suspected that a seeming uptick in local crime and the recent issues on Madison Street may have drawn more residents to the meeting.

Updates on major recent crimes Aftanas began by presenting an overview of some of the more violent crimes that have occurred in Forest Park over the past few months, including the armed standoff in January hear the corner of Marengo Avenue and Harvard Street; two juveniles shot near the corner of Madison Street and Desplaines Avenue; the shooting homicide near the Green Line stop on Harlem Avenue; the officer-involved shooting near Jimmy John’s on Circle Avenue just north of Madison Street; the shooting of an Oak Park police officer on Harlem Avenue near the I-290 expressway; the attempted stabbing at Madison Park Kitchen; and the recent carjacking/kidnapping of a woman.

The armed stand-off, Aftanas said, ended peacefully, with nobody injured and the shooter surrendering to officers. Sadly but not surprisingly, said Aftanas, all the major news sources reached out to him for infor-

mation, but none was interested in reporting on the event when they learned that nobody had been shot.

The shooting of the two juveniles on Feb. 27 is believed to have been a targeted crime, said Aftanas, and although no arrests have yet been made, they “have a solid suspect” and anticipate making an arrest shortly, following approval or denial of pending charges. Neither of the juveniles suffered life-threatening injuries.

The homicide of a 25-year-old man near the Green Line train station was an incident that did not originate in Forest Park, said Aftanas. Rather, the shooter had been following the victim for some time from north on Harlem Avenue. The suspect was identified quickly and arrested after a 40-minutes police chase in Chicago. “I am confident we will get homicide charges approved,” said Aftanas.

Aftanas said the officer-involved fatal shooting of Tony Smith outside of the Circle Avenue Jimmy John’s is still being investigated by the Illinois State Police Integrity Unit. He summarized the attempted stabbing of a woman at Madison Park Kitchen, in which restaurant staff and other patrons stepped in to hold the assailant until police arrived and the carjacking/kidnapping of a woman on April 30, in which the suspect finally let her go and ended up in a crash in Riverside.

As for the shooting of an Oak Park police officer after a traffic stop originating in a FP domestic incident, Aftanas said that Cannon and another Forest Park officer’s quick application of a tourniquet and hurried transportation of the officer to an emergency room saved his life.

These crimes, said Aftanas, for the most part did not involve Forest Park residents and occurred close to the borders of other towns. He said they are “still concerning,” but added: “I still don’t feel that we’re less safe in Forest Park.”

Carjackings Carjackings have been seen in higher

numbers lately than ever before, but not just in Forest Park.

“It’s the most we’ve ever seen,” said Aftanas, stating that there have been six this year already and 24 in total last year. In 2019, there were only 3 and in 2017 only 7.

That trend, however, isn’t specific to Forest Park. “When Chicago sees a spike, we do too,” said Aftanas.

The good news is that in the last three car jackings in Forest Park, the offenders were apprehended.

Juvenile Offenders The suspects in one of the most recent carjackings were two young teenagers, and Aftanas said many serious offenses are committed by juveniles, who aren’t held in custody as long as adults are.

The fact that they aren’t held in custody doesn’t mean they’re released without consequence, however. Aftanas said there’s a point system for juvenile offenders. An offender with “enough points” who is caught committing a crime gets taken to the juvenile detention center; otherwise, the offender is released to a guardian and must later attend juvenile court.

Crime by the numbers Gross presented information about the busiest crime days (Tuesday and Saturday) in Forest Park and numbers related to different types of crime over the past few years.

Robberies 2021 to date: 13 2020: 32 2019: 24 2018: 27

Residential burglaries 2021 to date: 2 (possibly low because more people are working from home) 2020: 22 2019: 24 2018: 32

Aggravated battery with a firearm One so far this year, and none in the previous three years.

Homicide One so far this year. None in 2020. One in 2019. One in 2018.

Regarding the 11 p.m. bar closure ordinance “This is nothing that I wanted to happen,” Aftanas said. “Nobody wants to close businesses.” He added that if solutions are

File photo

AN EYE ON CRIME: Forest Park Police Chief Tom Aftanas spoke about recent criminal activity in Forest Park at the May 18 Neighborhood Watch meeting. brought up, he thinks the bars will be allowed to stay open later sooner than the ordinance directs.

Despite some people saying the problems are caused only by pop-up parties, Aftanas said that’s not the case, that there are individuals and groups of people going into and coming out of bars who are also responsible for issues on Madison Street.

The village is actively looking into options, said Aftanas, who had just finished participating in a meeting between the police department and bar owners. He also said that the village is forming an ad hoc committee to address the situation of crowds and crime on Madison Street.

How can residents help?

Residents can help, Aftanas said, by calling the police at 9-1-1 if they see anything that looks dangerous or suspicious, such as someone who appears to be drunk getting into a car or smoking marijuana where they shouldn’t.

“If you see something you think is strange, don’t hesitate to call,” Aftanas said. “Call us for anything you think is suspicious. Keep your eyes open.” He added: “There is a nonemergency line: don’t call it.”

Canon, who runs the Neighborhood Watch meetings, said he expects the meetings to pick up again now that COVID-19 appears to be slowing. The meetings are typically held the third Tuesday of every month at village hall. Visit forestpark.net for more information about upcoming meetings and events.

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

Flat-fee dining delivery service enters local market Competing with Grubhub, Delivery First partners with restaurants

By MELISSA ELSMO Forest Park Eats Editor

While restaurants are opening-up and dine in business is on the rise, the pandemic has made ordering dinner a habit for many people and delivery demand remains high in the food industry. And that change in customer behavior is likely to keep restaurants searching for affordable delivery options in the face of DoorDash and Grubhub’s high percentage takes.

The pandemic pitted many restaurants against third party delivery services, but now Delivery First, a restaurant focused food delivery start-up, has entered the local market, including Forest Park, and aims to disrupt the gig economy and do away with percentage-based fees.

Delivery First was started by restaurant owners who were trying win the delivery battle, but they could not make the math work. Anthony Gambino, CEO of Delivery First, tried to find a reliable third-party

prices to account for the fees delivery service for his resassociated with third party taurants well before the pandelivery services. The same demic hit. dish that may cost $12 when “All the services comproordered in a restaurant may mised our cashflow. Even cost more than $20 when listthough we were doing more ed on a third-party delivery deliveries our profits were site. Restaurants raise prices down overall,” said Gambino. to cover high fees.

“It was clear we needed to get Delivery First aims to ofout of the delivery business fer clarity to both restauor get way more in.” rant owners and customers.

Gambino is a partner in the With a flat fee of $7 per order Victory Restaurant Group restaurants can leave their which recently opened VicANTHONY GAMBINO menu prices tory Italian on Marion Street alone and simply CEO Delivery First in Oak Park. He also owns Archarge customers a delivery mand’s franchises from the fee they feel is appropriate. family-owned businesses on Unlike the independent North Avenue in Elmwood Park. contractors affiliated with some services, Disillusioned with the expensive, order- Delivery First is employee based. Drivers generating, mark-up machines delivery ser- are paid an hourly wage plus tips with a vices had become, Gambino chose to dive guaranteed threshold. Drivers can contribinto the business. Delivery First is struc- ute to a 401K and are eligible for workman’s tured more like a courier service than food compensation should they be injured on the delivery services like Grubhub or DoorDash job. in charging a flat fee per order. The newcomBecause drivers are on-demand employer aims to lower costs to restaurant owners ees they are paid for the entirety of their who have paid more than 30% of every deliv- shift and their vehicles are insured through ery order to Grubhub and DoorDash.

Delivery First minimizing liability risk exRestaurants are often forced to raise posure for restaurant owners. Standardized

“All the services compromised our cashflow. Even though we were doing more deliveries our profits were down overall.”

uniforms are provided for all delivery drivers as well.

Additionally, Delivery First will deliver for a restaurant no matter how the order is generated.

“When customers call a restaurant looking for delivery they are often told to hang up and order through an app,” said Gambino. “Sales can be lost this way, but with Delivery First, restaurant employees themselves can request a delivery though our service no matter what method a customer uses to place an order.”

Though Delivery First is transport focused, they responded to customer demand and now offer an online ordering app and website. Participating restaurants do not have to utilize the service to access delivery drivers, but the fees are very affordable — just $1.50 for each order placed directly through the Delivery First website and $1 if the order is placed through the Delivery First on a restaurant’s website. Ordering fees for Grubhub or DoorDash can climb to 20% of an order.

Gambino and his team began building the Delivery First app in 2017 and took on their first client in Elmhurst in 2019. Though small, the company is now in a growth phase and actively expanding into what Gambino

D209 announces COVID-19 cases at Proviso East and West Those in contact will be asked to quarantine

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

On May 16, Proviso Township High Schools District 209 families were notified

by Superintendent James Henderson that there have been confirmed cases of COVID-19 at both Proviso East and Proviso West high schools.

The letter states that “an individual” at

each school has tested positive for COVID-19.

“We are coordinating our efforts with the Cook County Department of Public Health [CCDPH] to promptly identify and monitor individuals who have had recent contact with the COVID-19 positive individual(s) to prevent further spread within our school and community. We have already contacted any individuals who we are aware may have been in close contact with the individual who tested positive for COVID-19,” reads the letter from Henderson.

The letter outlines steps the district is taking to attempt to stop further spread of the

disease. These steps include: ■ Quarantining staff and students, following CCDPH policy, who have been identified as having had prolonged close contact with the infected individuals.

■ Monitoring students and staff for signs of illness and evaluating any illness promptly.

■ Deep cleaning of areas throughout the schools that may have been exposed to the virus.

■ Ensuring COVID-19 testing onsite for students and staff.

Additionally, any students or staff pre-

senting at D209 schools with symptoms will be placed in a separate area until they can be sent home.

Students attending classes in-person must wear a mask at all times, and staff must wear a mask when in contact with others while in D209 facilities.

High-touch surfaces are being “continuously” sanitized.

Questions can be directed to the district at 708-338-5928.

“I appreciate each of you and your continued efforts to stay safe and healthy,” wrote Henderson in his letter to families.

D91 offering free COVID-19 vaccines for students 12 and up Vaccine clinic to be held June 3

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

Forest Park Elementary School District 91 announced May 19 that it will hold a free COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Thursday, June 3 for students. This decision comes after the FDA’s recent authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for use

in children ages 12 through 15 and the CDC’s recommendation of vaccinating people in that age group.

The D91 vaccination clinic will take place at the Forest Park Middle School gymnasium, 925 Beloit Ave. Parents or guardians can make a vaccine appointment for their child at signupgenius.com/go/30e0c4cabab2ea5f94-district. A parent or guardian must accompany the student and be present for the vaccination.

The district said it encourages families with unvaccinated children to take advantage of the clinic being offered to

D91 students.

“Schools with lower rates of vaccination are more likely to see outbreaks, which can lead to time away from school in addition to more serious consequences for the health of children and families,” wrote Superintendent Lou Cavallo in a letter to families. He pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatrics supports the vaccine in children and adolescents as “key, safe mechanisms that protect individuals and populations against infectious diseases.”

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

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Healy’s returning $65K grant to government State says bar closed permanently prior to receiving money

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

“I proceeded in good faith,” said Mark Hosty, owner of the now-closed Healy’s Westside, of the $65,000 Business Interruption Grant (BIG) the state government is now recalling. Hosty said he applied for the grant prior to deciding to close the longstanding bar and that a full repayment plan has been scheduled with the state.

Healy’s Westside is one of eight recipients of an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) grant that have been asked to return received money to the government because they were noncompliant or ineligible for the award. According to Lauren Huffman, spokesperson for the program, money from six of the eight businesses asked to return grant awards has been accounted for. The two businesses which as of May 10 had not returned money were Healy’s and Tank Noodles in Chicago.

Huffman said the department is “engaged in ongoing negotiations” to work out a pay-

BEFORE IT WAS TAP ROOM: Healy’s, now closed, occupied the corner at 7321 Madison St. ment plan.

Healy’s grant is being recalled because the establishment allegedly had closed permanently prior to receiving the BIG, a grant

awarded to businesses trying to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

But although the money was received after the bar had closed, Hosty said he applied

for the grant prior to deciding to permanently shut the doors of Healy’s, which had been a mainstay of downtown Forest Park for 25 years. Hosty temporarily closed when the COVID-19 pandemic slammed businesses and then announced on Facebook on Oct. 13 that the bar was closing for good.

“When DCEO learned that Healy’s had closed its doors prior to receiving its BIG grant, a violation of their agreement, the department contacted owners immediately to initiate a process to return funds as quickly as possible,” said Huffman in a May 10 email.

In total, the state awarded over 9,000 grants totaling more than $275 million for small businesses, said Huffman. After BIG grants were awarded, the DCEO continued to monitor “to ensure grantees maintain compliance with their grant agreements.”

The eight who were not in compliance represent a tiny fraction, less than .1 percent, of the total number of grants provided, said Huffman.

“All returned funds have been awarded to other businesses which applied for BIG, met the eligibility requirements, and which were next in line to receive funding through Round 2 of the program in line with program priorities,” Huffman said.

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hen I met Patricia, she apprehensively told me about her lack of energy, recent weight gain, poor sleep, trouble digesting food and anxiety.

She was not able to find answers to this “new normal”. She knew her body was changing, but not for the better.

Her energy level wasn’t keeping up with the demands in her life, including work and two children. She had been down many roads, searching for solutions, but none were found. She felt frustrated because no one could define the causes of her declining state of wellbeing.

In today’s world, Patricia’s challenges are unfortunately becoming more and more common. As a holistic healthcare practitioner for 15 years, I have seen not only the number of people with these health challenges increase, but also a younger average age when these symptoms begin. In my opinion, this is due to an increasingly fast-paced, high stressed world as well as a decrease

Ready to Start Feeling Better? in the nutritional value of our food supply and an environment which is becoming more toxic as time goes on.

After learning about Patricia’s dilemma, I explained there is a solution. It’s a matter of uncovering the underlying causes and correcting them so her body is able to function optimally once again. I informed her that our bodies are designed to heal themselves. When we remove that which is interfering with the healing process and provide the corrective building blocks, it is inevitable health will improve and better days are ahead.

I worked with her over the next few months and she gradually made positive changes with her diet and lifestyle. High-quality nutritional supplements and homeopathic remedies specific for her body’s areas of weakness (specifically her digestive organs and adrenal glands) were recommended. She noticed steady improvement in the way she felt. The first change she observed

was her digestion had become more normal. A short time later, she happily declared it was now easier for her to keep up with her daily responsibilities because she was sleeping more deeply. She was no longer exhausted.

She even mentioned that although she hadn’t weighed herself recently, her clothes seemed to fit more loosely! Over the next couple of months Patricia returned to feeling like her old self, enjoying life once again.

Patricia’s health journey is a clear example of how our own bodies have an amazing capacity to return to a state of health and vitality if the root causes are discovered, lifestyle changes are made and the correct nutritional support is given. Ready to start feeling better?

Eric Carpenter Functional Nutrition Practitioner Licensed Acupuncturist 202 S. Marion Street Oak Park, IL 60302 www.naturalhealthoakpark.com nhealthrenewal@gmail.com Tel: 708-386-2090

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

C R I M E

Man robs 7-Eleven at gunpoint after purchasing beverage A man with a gun held up the 7-Eleven at 205 Harlem Ave. on May 16 at 3:53 a.m. According to the police report, video footage shows the man entering the store, wearing a black winter cap, a black mask, a grey hoodie, black pants, and one black glove. After selecting a beverage at the back of the store, the man went to the counter and paid for the drink, which the clerk put into a plastic bag. The suspect then walked away for a moment, and when he returned to the counter, he pulled a firearm out from the pocket of his hoodie and demanded the money from the register. The clerk put the money into the bag with the beverage. The suspect, who touched nothing except the beverage with his ungloved hand, then left the store. The clerk was so shaken up that he was transported to the hospital.

Tickets issued for loud music ■ Police issued a ticket to the driver of a vehicle parked on the 400 block of Jackson Boulevard on May 15 at 11:02 p.m. for music that could be heard almost a block away, according to the police report. On the same night at 11:22 p.m. on the 300 block of Marengo Avenue, police issued a ticket to another vehicle playing music so loud it could also be heard almost a block away. According to the police report, the driver was apologetic.

■ On May 16 at 1:30 a.m., a woman was issued a local ordinance citation for playing loud music in her car on the 7300 block of Madison Street. According to the police report, the music could be heard from the distance of about half a block away. The woman allegedly told police she didn’t know she couldn’t play music at that volume because

Local area police investigate May 21 homicide Man found in Maywood dies in hospital from stab wounds

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

A 36-year-old Chicago man, Pablo AragonHernandez, died from stab wounds he sustained in Forest Park on May 21.

He was found in Maywood and transported to Loyola Medical Center where he died from his injuries.

The Maywood Police Department’s in-

Open alcohol, including $200 bottle of champagne ■ An officer observed a man exiting Forest Park Tap Room, 7321 Madison St., with a bottle of Moet champagne on May 15 at 1:05 a.m. According to the police report, the man walked past security with the bottle, then tried to hide it in his jacket. He allegedly told the reporting officer that he’d purchased the bottle for $200 at the bar and began to drink it. The officer reportedly had to remove the bottle from the man’s hands to stop him from drinking it on the sidewalk.

He was issued a local ordinance citation for open alcohol.

■ A man on the 7600 block of Madison Street was drinking suspected alcohol from a plastic cup on May 16 at 12:54 a.m. When police stopped him, he immediately finished the drink and threw the cup away. He was issued a local ordinance citation for open alcohol.

■ A little while later, at 1:49 a.m., a man on the 7200 block of Madison Street was issued a citation for open alcohol.

Reckless drivers in funeral procession

vestigation revealed that the stabbing took place in Forest Park near 8401 Roosevelt Road, according to a May 24 press release from the Forest Park Police Department (FPPD).

FPPD’s Criminal Investigation Division has taken over the investigation and will work with the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force.

“At this time, investigators are unsure of the motive for the stabbing,” read the press release.

Anyone with information about the stabbing should contact the FPPD’s Criminal Investigations Division at 708-366-2425 or email detectives@forestpark.net.

Let us know we’ll hold your paper!

she’s not from the area.

■ A vehicle on the 7400 block of Madison Street was pulled over and issued a citation for “extremely loud music” on May 20 at 11:11 p.m.

Five vehicles were issued citations for reckless driving on May 17 around 2 p.m. during a rowdy funeral procession on Desplaines Avenue. The procession was traveling west toward Forest Home Cemetery, and police observed the vehicles failing to stay in their lanes and driving into oncoming traffic “without regard for the innocent motoring public,” according to the police report. The bad driving was caught on a squad car’s camera, and tickets will be sent to the registered addresses of the vehicles.

Uber driver finds stolen gun An Uber driver was in for a surprise on May 15 at 6:36 a.m., when, looking for iden-

tification to contact the owner, he opened a bag left behind by a customer and found a gun. He immediately closed the bag and called police. The reporting officer discovered the gun was loaded with a round in the chamber. It was discovered by running the passenger’s name through LEADS that he had no FOID card or CCL. The serial number on the gun was that of a firearm stolen in Arkansas.

Smashes windows, throws garbage cans A man doing concrete work on a home on the 600 block of Elgin Avenue was transported to the hospital after becoming violent, reportedly tearing a metal light post from the ground and using it to damage lawn furniture and garage siding and smash a garage window on May 15 at 7:57 a.m. Witnesses say he was also using an ax to shatter windows. When police arrived, he was allegedly throwing garbage cans at two men who were trying to calm him down. According to the police report, the man was “physically violent, sweating profusely, frothing at the mouth and speaking irrationally.” He was transported to the hospital by Forest Park paramedics.

Attempted theft of knives, machetes A man walked into Walmart, 1300 Desplaines Ave. on May 15 around 3 p.m., and filled the sleeves of his jacket and a backpack he’d taken from a shelf with knives, machetes, black gloves and a flashlight, according to the police report. He then walked past the point of purchase without paying.

He was stopped by security and issued a ticket by the police.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, May 14-20, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded.

Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.

Compiled by Maria Maxham

Road Trip on the Horizon?

Email: circulation@ForestParkReview.com

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

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May 26 - June 2

BIG WEEK Birdwatching for Beginners On Tuesday, June 1, from 6 to 7 p.m., jo the Forest Park Public Library, in join part partnership with the Forest Preserves of Cook Count County, for a virtual birdwatching event.

Learn about bird birdwatching and how to spot the different species of birds th that are native to Cook County. Register at fppl.org/events. TThe Zoom link for the program will be sent to your email ad address one day before the event.

Forest Park Summer Kick-off Drive-thru Event To kick off the summer, the Forest Park Public Library is hosting a drive-thru event on May 28 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Registration is required at fppl.org/events. Please make sure to list how many people will be in the vehicle.

Join Forest Park organizations at an interactive (and safe) drive thru experience at the Park District of Forest Park. You will stay in your cars and stop at various stations in the parking lot to retrieve summer event info, treats, crafts, and more! Think of it as a reverse trunk or treat. Enjoy music, say hello to Shelly the Library Turtle and the Park District Shark, and don’t miss the special car photo booth. Social distancing and masking will be practiced.

Participating organizations include the Park District of Forest Park, the Forest Park Public Library, the Historical Society of Forest Park, the Forest Park Arts Alliance, Forest Park Against Racism and the Forest Park Chamber of Commerce.

Dog Days Dog Walk On Saturday, May 29 at 10 a.m., bring your leashed and calm dog for a walk on the trails at the Trailside Museum of Natural History, 738 Thatcher Ave. in River Forest. The event is a casual guided nature walk. All human participants are required to wear masks and practice physical distancing.

Registration is required. Call 708-366-6530 or email trailside.museum@cookcountyil.gov to register for this free event.

Summer Experience Info Session for Parents On May 26 from 6 to 6:30 p.m., join the library for a virtual presentation on all the summer fun the library has planned. Sign up at fppl.org/events to get the Zoom link.

Children’s Story Trail and Craft – Kite Flying The Trailside Museum of Natural History, 738 Thatcher Ave. in River Forest, is hosting a story trail and craft on various dates in May, including Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30. The story trail features a tale about how one family makes their own kite in the book “Kite Flying” by Grace Lin. Find out how kites were invented in China and how they have special meanings. Walk a short trail near the museum while you enjoy reading the story on signs posted along the way. Afterwards, stop by the museum to pick up a kite craft and activities bag to continue the adventure.

All participants are required to wear masks and practice physical distancing.

Contact 708-366-6530 for more information or visit: https://fpdcc.com/places/locations/trailside-museum-natural-history/#events

Pool passes on sale Stop by the park district administration building, 7501 Harrison St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday to purchase a seasonal pool pass. You can also purchase passes at the Roos Recreation Center, 7329 Harrison St., which is open until 8 p.m. on weekdays, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Call the park district at 708-366-7500 for more information or visit pdofp.org.

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

Growing Community Media & A Tribe Called Aging Present

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Words Matter. Attitudes Matter.

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THOROUGH PRODUCTIONS Presents “THE R-WORD” Written and Directed by AMANDA LUKOFF Produced by AMANDA LUKOFF and DANIEL EGAN Edited by DANIEL EGAN Cinematography by ZACHARYHALBERD Music by AUDIO NETWORK Illustration by MATT DARNALL Animation by JOHN LONG

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THE R-WORD is an intimate look at the history of the word ‘retard(ed),’ cultural representation, and the challenges and triumphs of people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Filmmaker Amanda Lukoff grew up advocating for her sister Gabrielle, especially whenever she heard the word ‘retard(ed),’ which was far too often. The disparaging word is everywhere – in TV, movies, music, social media, and throughout our public and private communities -- perpetuating negative stereotypes and cultural bias.

THE R-WORD is a humanizing, purposeful, and deeply respectful look into the longreaching history and lasting implications of derogatory language used to describe people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through captivating animation sequences, the personal narrative of four sibling stories, and the first-person accounts of self-advocates, we get an intimate and nuanced perspective of the challenges and triumphs of people living with an intellectual disability.

The Director of the film, Amanda Lukoff, will be with us following the screening for a Q+A discussion, with Mike Carmody from Opportunity Knocks.

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

Are you a property owner/manager with tenants in need of rental assistance?

The Illinois Rental Payment Program can provide up to $25,000 in emergency rental assistance!

Tenants and housing providers must both complete their portion of the application to be considered for this grant. The grant will be paid directly to the housing provider.

Grant amounts will vary, and the maximum grant amount is $25,000 per tenant. Assistance will cover up to 15 months of emergency rental assistance, paying up to 12 months of missed rent payments and up to three months of future rent payments. The coverage period is June 2020 through August 2021.

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

Housing providers/landlords may initiate a joint application starting Monday, May 17 through Monday, June 7. Tenants will have until Monday, June 14 to complete their portion of a landlord-initiated application.

Tenants may initiate their own application starting Wednesday, June 9 through Monday, June 28. Landlords will have until Tuesday, July 6 to complete their portion of the tenantinitiated application.

Tenants may be eligible to receive ILRPP assistance if: The household is behind on their rent for at least 30 days.

The household lives in Illinois and rents their home as their primary residence.

The household’s income in 2020 was below 80% of the area median income, adjusted for household size.

The household experienced a financial hardship, including a loss of income or increased expenses, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The residents are at risk of homelessness or housing instability

Housing providers and tenants can submit a joint application at ILRPP.IHDA.org.

For application assistance, call the Oak Park Regional Housing Center at 773-887-5187 or 708-771-5801

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

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‘Snail mail’ lives up to its name

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

For months, some Forest Park residents have been frustrated with slow mail delivery from the United States Postal Service (USPS). They report only getting mail every few days or receiving bills so late they missed payments.

“I haven’t gotten any mail for like a week now,” said Arturo Abasta on May 21, who lives on Madison Street between Circle and Harlem avenues.

Resident Nancy Gray, who lives near Roosevelt Road and Lathrop Avenue, said she’s been experiencing problems with mail delivery for a while.

“I have gone days without delivery, and the suddenly a backlog of mail arrives,” Gray said. Sometimes, she reported, post officers leave mail on a chair on the porch, where it might sit overnight, or have left the lid on the mailbox open so it’s exposed to the elements.

“The worst happened recently,” said Gray, who receives prescription medication through the mail. “A med I ordered didn’t arrive, so I called the druggist. They assured me it had been sent but overnighted a new refill. A week later, the original order arrived. Lord only knows what corner of the post office it was sitting in.” She has since switched to paying bills online because she has no faith that she’ll get the bills through the mail on time.

“Mail delivery has been awful,” said resident Lin Scollard, a former village employee. Scollard, who lives on the north side of town, said that ever since their regular mail delivery person took a new position, she’s never certain if mail will arrive on time or not.

“If we are lucky, we do get mail approximately twice a week from employees who

take the overtime to cover our area. It is challenging at times for them and us,” Scollard said.

The USPS blamed the pandemic for slower-than-normal delivery. Sharrie Johnson, spokesperson for the USPS, said the postal service apologizes for any inconvenience but explained that the pandemic is still affecting delivery.

“Some customers may receive mail every other day as we match the workload created by the impacts of the ongoing [COVID-19] pandemic,” Johnson said in an email. “We appreciate the patience of our customers and the efforts of employees as conditions change on a day-to-day basis.”

But while Johnson said “every other day” might be what people are seeing, customers talk about not getting mail for days at a time.

Forest Park residents are not alone in spotty mail delivery. Wednesday Journal reported earlier this year about items failing to arrive in Oak Parkers’ mailboxes on time, and Riverside Brookfield Landmark this month said that USPS customers in both Riverside and North Riverside complain they sometimes go days without receiving any mail.

Nationwide, it appears to be an issue as well. CBS News reported on May 10 that across the United States, one in five pieces of mail arrive late to households and businesses, according to postal agency data looking at the first three months of 2021.

Johnson said customers can go to the usps.com website and click on “Contact us” at the bottom of the page or go directly to https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/ to provide feedback or ask questions.

“The Postal Service will diligently continue to investigate customers’ concerns and correct deficiencies to improve service to our communities,” Johnson said.

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NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN: A USPS employee delivers mail on Madison Street on May 18.

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

LAWSUIT

Plaintiff ’s lawyer confident from page 1 The three-count lawsuit alleges defamation, false light and civil conspiracy and seeks monetary damages, “exemplary damages” to deter similar acts in the future and attorney’s fees.

Medina is alleging defamation based primarily on statements made by the defendants that Medina is racist, including accusations in a “Setting the Record Straight” mailer, which appears to have been written by or on behalf of Alexander and was sent to residents throughout the Proviso Township district using more than $13,000 of school district funds.

Among the defamatory statements in that 16-page mailer, the lawsuit alleges, is one claiming Medina is someone “who hates Black men in leadership” and another claiming she spread information from a disgruntled person from the Holmes County School District in Mississippi, where Henderson previously worked. Doing so, the mailer stated, was “akin to placing confidence in someone who believes the Democratic Party is guilty of all the conspiracies invented by QAnon followers.”

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants knew the allegations were false when creating and publishing the mailer or “acted with willful and wanton or reckless disregard concerning the veracity of the allegations.”

It is also alleged that the defendants’ statements “were published maliciously and

with intent to destroy the plaintiff ’s reputation in general and her ability to accomplish anything as a board member.”

In addition, the suit accuses the defendants of placing Medina “in a false light before the public,” which constitutes “actual malice.”

The lawsuit also claims the defendants “entered into an agreement to engage in sending the mailers to voters, knowing that the mailers would contain defamatory statements against [Medina].”

Their intent, the complaint alleges, was to defame Medina “in order to orchestrate her removal or influence on the board.”

The complaint alleges that the defendants’ actions injured Medina’s reputation, enumerating several examples in addition to the “Setting the Record Straight” mailer. For example, the lawsuit states that, on March 9, Patterson made a comment during a school board meeting questioning Medina’s mental health, causing Kelly to giggle in response.

During that same meeting, the suit alleges, Alexander read aloud a private email from Medina. Alexander prefaced his reading of the email with remarks about the 1915 movie “Birth of a Nation” and the Ku Klux Klan. In doing so, Alexander “equated Medina’s email to racism,” the lawsuit alleges.

Peraica told the Review he expects the defendants to file a motion to dismiss the case, but said he’s confident the case will proceed.

“I feel strong that Medina has a strong and viable case,” Peraica said.

The Review has reached out to the defendants and will update the story when it receives responses from them.

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FIGHTING BACK: D209 board member and Forest Park resident Claudia Medina is taking legal action through a defamation case against Superintendent James Henderson, the other board members, and the school district.

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

New children’s book world and characters focus on inclusion Author Maui Jones shares his own journey of pain and triumph

By MARIA MAXHAM Editor

“I’m jumping in with both feet,” said Kamau “Maui” Jones, talking to the Review about “Everyday with Ella,” the series of characters and books – and so much more – that he’s launching. “I was working on it in the margins of my life for years. I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“Everyday with Ella” is described as a “conceptualized world” on the Kickstarter page at kickstarter.com/projects/reflectmedia/hi-im-ella-an-everyday-with-ella-book.

Ella, the central character, is a four-yearold biracial Black girl with a “multi-identity crew of friends,” that are all based on people in Jones’ real life.

There’s Clark, who was inspired by a high school friend of Jones’. Clark loves superheroes, is on the autism spectrum, and is guided by the primary motivator of fairness.

All the characters have a primary motivator. For Dani, a Latinx character who’s nonbinary, it’s curiosity. For the character Mars, who has cerebral palsy, it’s love. Mars is Black, and Jones said that love as the motiving factor behind Mars has significance.

“I wanted to have a Black male character who is loving, because we’re often told not to show emotion,” Jones said.

When Jones developed the character of Dani, who uses the pronouns they/them, he realized he wanted the other characters to choose their pronouns too, so each is introduced with their current pronouns. But those pronouns could change as the characters develop.

“I want to give them the space to have questions and to grow,” said Jones.

Other characters are Fatima (based on real-life Oak Parker Dima Ali), who loves to nurture those around her and Priya, who is motivated and inspired by art and beauty.

Jones is introducing the world to “Everyday with Ella” first through a series of books, though he has plans for a lot more.

The first three books feature Ella herself and are called “Hi, I’m Ella,” “Hey Night Sky,” and “Experience with Ella.” Jones has more Ella books planned, plus books that feature the other characters too. The books will be available through the Kickstarter, and after that through Amazon and at local libraries. If the Kickstarter raises at least $25,000, Jones said he’s planning to print and donate 500 books to local children’s organizations like Hephzibah.

A digital live action puppet show is also in the works. Jones said the characters of the parents will be played by real people, but Ella and her friends will be represented

Photo provided

FOSTERING INCLUSION: “Everyday with Ella” creator Maui Jones’ cast of characters is designed to bring “compassion, empathy, respect, curiosity and imagination to conversations about race, gender identity” and more. with puppets, an expensive undertaking.

The Ella puppet is being made now and hopefully will be finished by the end of the month. The puppet shows, which will require a professional puppeteer, will eventually be available on YouTube.

Down the line, Jones is thinking of penning books for older kids and holding live theater events too, using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to practice anti-racism.

Facilitators would describe a scenario, and the actors would make it happen. Then the audience of kids would be asked, “What could we do better here?” And, based on children’s suggestions, the actors would recreate the scene, showing how different choices lead to better outcomes.

The idea for “Everyday with Ella” has been something Jones has kicked around for years, but recently he decided to commit to it fully, stepping away from his fulltime job to find time for Ella. Between his day job, his work at Echo Theater, and his engagement in volunteer work in the community, he was putting in 80 to 100 hours a week, which didn’t leave time for him to dive into the Ella’s world.

Echoes The origins of Ella go back a few years, and not all of it is a happy story.

In 2018, Jones did a TEDx talk in which he talked about generational trauma, something that impacted him throughout his life.

He said that seeing his mother turn her life around was a huge inspiration to Jones, who dropped out of high school and had found himself “floating through life without aim or purpose.”

Jones talks about echoes often, the reverberations in our lives, how one thing can impact another.

“My metamorphosis is a reverberation of hers,” Jones said of his mother, and in 2018 during his talk, he said that in the past few years, he made big changes in his life, getting a better job and starting Echo Theater Collective, as well as engaging with the community.

But, said Jones, the biggest change he talked about during the TEDx talk, the biggest change he’d made, was that he finally felt ready to be a father, overcoming decades

of trauma and fear. “I realized that I was scared to have a kid,” he said. “I was scared to pass on that trauma.”

He said he ended his TEDx talk by reading a letter he’d written to his future child, a wrenching but hopeful letter filled with apology (“my first act as a father will be to traumatize you with the burden of being Black in a white world”) and regret that he’d let his fear stop him from having a child.

The letter ends with hope: “I can’t wait to see the person you become. I can’t wait to see how you find ways to be free in a world that would shackle you. I can’t wait to see what will you leave behind and what kind of echo you will be.”

His girlfriend, in the audience, didn’t know he was planning to read the letter.

Jones said she was sobbing, and so was his mother, who was also there.

A month later, he and his girlfriend found out they were pregnant. They were elated.

But at the 20-week ultrasound, there was no heartbeat. No signs of life. They had lost their baby.

“I got really mad at God,” Jones said. “I’d been so good. I’d been trying so hard.” He sank into depression, turning to food and forgoing exercise. His weight crept up to 467 pounds, and he had trouble walking. Lying down induced coughing, and he had bleeding lesions on his legs and stomach from what turned out to be congestive heart failure because he was carrying around about 80 pounds of extra fluid. But for a long time, he ignored the warning signs.

Finally, he went to the doctor.

“I hadn’t been [to the doctor] in about 20 years,” Jones said. The doctor told him to immediately go the emergency room, where he was told, “It’s a miracle you haven’t had a stroke yet.” He was admitted for about five days, and lost 60 pounds just from fluid in that time.

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021 “I felt like the world was saying ‘no’ to me,” Jones said.

Changing was hard. Walking was difficult. He’d go the distance of a house or two and be exhausted. Gradually, he increased his distance, until he could go around the block. Then a mile. Then a few. Now, he walks about 15 miles a day.

And while he was recovering his health, he’d started writing stories about the child he and his partner lost.

“I wrote about a dad and his kid just doing stuff,” said Jones. It was a healing exercise that grew into something more, into the idea that he had lessons and ideas he wanted to share.

A joy-based perspective “As I started getting healthier, I realized that a big part of my issues was that I wasn’t raised to believe in my abilities and self-worth,” Jones said. “When you’re a person of color, you don’t see yourself represented. The hero’s journey in media, going back to Joseph Campbell and the way that heroism is presented, is always the white man’s journey.”

Jones said he realized he’d grown up seeing other people’s journeys, not his. And today, though there is more representation in television and movies, much of it is traumabased.

“In a lot of current media,” said Jones,

“we see trans people, for example. But they’re presented as people going through traumatic situations and being saved from those situations. But what if we just showed them living life?”

And that, he said, is the aim of the world of Ella and her friends. He wants to show his characters and their unique qualities through a joy-based perspective, to present people of different backgrounds and races and abilities, living and learning and being human.

“Everyday with Ella,” reads the Kickstarted page, “closely examines [the characters’] social and emotional learning through a racial equity lens as they play,

17

talk, and learn about the world. The series is designed to bring “compassion, empathy, respect, curiosity and imagination to conversations about race, gender identity, fear, love and more.”

The books, said Jones, are designed not only for kids but for adults too, who can learn to foster an environment of creativity, curiosity, community and cultural pride.

The books can provide parents who want to engage in important conversations a starting-off place.

The bottom line, said Jones, is fostering inclusion, and that is Ella’s central message: We all belong.

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18

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

OPINION O U R

W

V I E W

Bar talk

e are in the committee-forming phase of Forest Park’s long spring of bar mania. A meeting of multiple bar owners and the village’s deputy police chief and public safety director was held last week. This week an ad hoc committee will gather under the leadership of Mayor Rory Hoskins and the just-arrived administrator Moses Amidei. Its membership is still taking shape but will reportedly include bar owner representation along with Madison Street business owners pretty well fed up with the turmoil.

It is good to talk. Better to listen.

We’d open with this perspective. We’re talking about real people and their lives here. That includes the woman opposite Forest Park Tap Room who took to blasting music from her condo as an ironic retort to the mayhem.

It includes bar owners coming off a year of near total COVID pain, overwhelmed by crowds and oftentimes not doing enough to control their places. It includes other business owners on Madison who have fought for two decades to have that street known as more than a wild grouping of bars. It includes cops who didn’t sign up for this repeated nonsense.

The initial step to tamp down the chaos by closing up shop every night by 11 p.m. was not overdone. And easing back that curfew should not be a reward handed out for a couple of quieter weekends.

Medina vs. D209 We’ve seen a lot of things. We’ve never seen a school board member file suit against her fellow board members, the superintendent, and the district they serve. But that is what Claudia Medina, a Forest Parker who serves on the District 209 Proviso high school board, has done.

Her complaint, filed May 11 in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges she has been defamed by her colleagues and the superintendent. That defamation, she argues, is in being called out as a racist. Called out in public meetings.

Called out in a 16-page, district-wide mailer attacking her at a cost to the district of more than $13,000.

We’re not lawyers. We’re not judges. But it is clear to us that this district is coming off the rails under the leadership of Rodney Alexander as board president and James Henderson as superintendent. Their leadership is incendiary. The tone is toxic. And the hopes of the past six years that this woebegone school district was beginning a slow ascent from absolute rock bottom are dashed.

Does a lawsuit help? Probably not. But it is a fair response to the cudgel Alexander and Henderson have together wielded these past months.

Are there wiser heads who can mediate this unmitigated mess? Is there a path back from mutual destruction?

We’re not hopeful. More pain ahead.

S

Our time of rebirth

pring is known as a time of rebirth. This seems especially apropos this year. The last 14 months completely changed how we do life. Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19, a highly contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), caused a global pandemic that brought us to our knees. The first known case was identified in December of 2019. The disease has since spread worldwide. As of the time of this writing, there have been 32,753,426 total reported cases and 582,769 total deaths in the United States.* In that time, COVID did more than just cause deaths. It stopped the world. Office workers had to work from home. Schools closed down. Bars and theaters closed down. Grocery stores and restaurants had to quickly figure out how to continue business. The weirdest thing for me was that suddenly toilet paper became the hottest of commodities. I say all of this to illustrate how hard the last 14 months have been.

Not everything stopped though. Institutional racism for instance. We saw white supremacists spurred by ignorance and fear vilify AAPI peoples, and we saw the continued murdering of black lives by the very people who were sworn to protect them. We even saw a sitting president incite a mob to attack the Capitol in an act of insurrection to try to overturn a free and fair election. It has been a really hard year.

The hard year forced us to come together to see ourselves through the dark. People came together to support each other in such beautiful ways.

Our youth reignited the spark of the Civil Rights Movement. Communities came together to lift up and support frontline workers. Labor rights activists rallied communities to demand that places like Instacart and Amazon better compensate essential workers. People who set aside money to order from small businesses every week to help them weather the storm. Those stories gave me life.

All of these tensions, terrors, and inequalities, as well as being home for over a year, have forced us to take a brutally honest look at The System.

How do we do life? How much does our society demand of our waking life? Should our schools function as the largest daycare institution in the world? I heard from some people how nice it was to work from home and be with their families.

Others felt the pressure from companies that wanted them back in the office, which caused fric-

tion between families and schools.

It is people who rely on the system to re-establish itself. The system requires people to be brought into it so that it can maintain itself. We no longer maintain crops or retain any of the skills we used to have. We offloaded those things to The System to maintain. Then, we work within the system to get money, the vouchers we need to get the things we need to live our lives comfortably.

When we are so beholden to the system to provide for us, it’s no wonder that, even though we’re living through a global pandemic, a new civil rights movement, and a dying planet, we still try to uphold the systems we have always relied on and believed in, to shepherd us through. All of which keeps bringing me back to the question: Can we go back to life before the pandemic?

Should we go back?

I can’t help but think that this is not how we were meant to live. Think about 2020. How special that time was when we could spend so much of it with the ones we love. We got through this difficult time; we’ve gotten through maybe every difficult time with our beloved community. What if we rebuilt our systems with that community at the heart of all things? I very much doubt that it will happen on the national level but maybe we can start here. In Forest Park. In all of our small towns and communities. Maybe we can reimagine schools. Maybe we can reimagine policing.

Maybe we can reimagine what community means or how we are inclusive. In the greatest moments of discomfort, we find the opportunities for the greatest moments of change. This. Right now. My hope, my dream is that we can start the change here, in our communities.

Perhaps, if enough of our local communities can change, our national ones can too. I think we are seeing the seeds of change. Organizations like The Firehouse Dream and the Justice Troopers in Maywood. Like ROYAL in Oak Park, and Forest Park Against Racism in Forest Park. There are community activists and equity leaders running for office. I can see the change happening and it is inspiring to see!

So here’s to the spring and here is to our time of rebirth. * Numbers cited were from CDC website as of 5/17.

Maui Jones is a Forest Park resident. He founded Echo Theater Collective in Oak Park.

MAUI JONES

18

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

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20 Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

Let the sun shine in...

Public Notice: Your right to know In print • Online • Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year ForestParkReview.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI

Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 | BY E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@FORESTPARKREVIEW.COM

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified contractors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 for the following: Village of Oak Park Valve Actuator ReplacementREBID Project Number: 21-130 Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours.

Published in Wednesday Journal May 26, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICE The River Forest Park District has placed its 2021-2022 Combined Budget and Appropriation Ordinance on file for public inspection.

Said Ordinance may be examined on the River Forest Park District website. A public hearing on said Ordinance will be held at 6:00pm on Monday, June 14, 2021, at the Depot, 401 Thatcher Avenue, River Forest, Illinois.

Michael J. Sletten, Secretary River Forest Park District Published in Wednesday Journal May 26, 2021

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

NOTICE TO BIDDERS Sealed separate bids will be received by the Oak Park Public Library (“Library”) for the following project:

The Bidding Documents for the project (which include the bidding instructions for the project and other related documents) will be available Monday May 24th, 2021 and are available for viewing/download online without cost or purchase on the Bulley & Andrews, LLC One Drive, located at the following link. No username or password is required.

OAK PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY SECURITY RENOVATIONS MAIN AND MAZE BRANCH LOCATIONS OAK PARK, IL 60301 BID GROUP 1 – ELECTRICAL and ACCESS CONTROLS Bids will be received until 2:00 p.m.

CST on Friday June 11th, 2021 at the Main Branch Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL 60301, and will be publicly opened and read at 2:00 p.m. CST on that date. Bids shall be submitted in an opaque sealed envelope clearly marked: Oak Park Public Library Security Renovations 834 Lake Street Oak Park, IL 60301 Attention: Bulley & Andrews Project: MAIN AND MAZE BRANCH SECURITY WORK Scope of work for Bid Group 1 generally includes, but is not limited to: electrical, power, distribution, low voltage cabling, and access control.

All bids must be submitted in accordance with the bidding instructions contained in the Bidding Documents for the project. Bid security in the form of a bid bond in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the base bid amount shall be submitted with the bid. Should a bid bond be submitted, the bond shall be payable to the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL 60301. All documents and information required by the bidding instructions contained in the Bidding Documents for the project shall be submitted with the bid. Incomplete, late or non-conforming bids may not be accepted.

No bids shall be withdrawn, cancelled or modified after the time for opening of bids without the Library’s consent for a period of ninety (90) days after the scheduled time of bid opening.

h t t p s : / / b u l l e y a n d r e w s - m y. sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/ btruty_bulley_com/Ep4N77OJkwtJt67lPDVsuggBHBgpHS8IJ0T1ffDzQA1PWg?e=DxkMYA A site visit/walk through is scheduled for 8 AM on Wednesday June 2nd.

It will take place first at the Main Branch Library then move to the Maze Branch at 9 AM. The Library reserves the right to reject any or all bids or parts thereof, or waive any irregularities or informalities, and to make an award that in the Board’s sole opinion is in the best interest of the District.

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

Illinois Classified Advertising Network HELP WANTED DRIVERS

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LEGAL SERVICES

PUBLIC NOTICES

Find Help Wanted & Marketplace listings on the next page!

INJURED? If you’ve been hurt in an accident in Illinois, call for a FREE CASE CONSULTATION. Calls Answered 24/7 by Staver Accident Injury Lawyers: 1-888-310-8322

The site will be available for visits by appointment to be coordinated with Bulley & Andrews, LLC. Interested parties may inspect the existing conditions. Schedule an appointment with Bill Truty of Bulley & Andrews in advance if you wish to visit the sites.

All bidders must comply with applicable Illinois Law requiring the payment of prevailing wages by all Contractors working on public works. If during the time period of work, the prevailing wage rates change, the contractor shall be responsible for additional costs without any change to the contract amount. All bidders must comply with the Illinois Statutory requirements regarding labor, including Equal Employment Opportunity Laws.

For additional information on the project, contact Bill Truty of Bulley & Andrews, LLC at btruty@bulley.com or 773-645-2086.

Dated: 5/20/2021 Bill Truty Bulley & Andrews, LLC Published in Wednesday Journal May 26, June 2, June 9, 2021

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination.

The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental or advertising of real estate based on factors in addition to those protected under federal law.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal-opportunity basis.

To complain of discrimination, call HUD toll free at: 1-800-669-9777.

Wednesday Journal • Landmark • Forest Park Review

PUBLIC NOTICES

Let the sun shine in..

Public Notice: Your right to know In print • Online

Available to you 24 / 7 / 365

ForestParkReview.com PublicNoticeIllinois.com

    

PUBLIC NOTICES

local employees . . . happy employees!

Hire Local.

Place an ad on Wednesday Classified’s Local Online Job Board.

Go to ForestParkReview.com/classified today!

Contact Mary Ellen Nelligan for more information.

(708) 613-3342 • maryellen@oakpark.com

    



Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

CLASSIFIED

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG HELP WANTED HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

Responsibilities: • Accounting duties • Process invoices accurately and timely • Check the accuracy of business transactions • Perform data entry and administrative duties • Preparation of payable checks • Posting of checks and ACH payments • Create, edit and update spreadsheets in excel • Daily, weekly and monthly reporting

Qualifications: Valid Illinois Professional Educator License with Grade-Appropriate Physical Education Endorsement; successful teaching experience in physical education preferred; Master’s Degree is preferred.

Job Duties: The part-time PE Teacher will work in partnership with the full-time PE teacher to instruct students in Pre-K through 4th grade on how to develop habits of mind and actions that support good health, fitness and enjoyment of sport and play. The PE teacher will facilitate a learning environment that engages students in learning skills for sport and fitness, as well as SEL skills by growing confidence, sportsmanship and team spirit.

Application Procedure: Interested candidates should complete the online application available at district90.org. Please do not send hard copies of supporting documentation, i.e.cover letters, resumes, licensure, etc. to River Forest Schools District 90; instead, upload these materials onto the online job application system for proper processing.

ELECTRICIAN’S HELPER Must have own transportation.

For more information CALL 708-738-3848 ALL POSITIONS AVAILABLE

PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN (NEVER KNOWN TO FAIL) Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me, herein you are my mother.

Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to suc cor in my necessity (make request). There are none that can withstand your power. Oh, show me herein you are my mother. Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (3 times). Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your hands (3 times). Say this prayer for three consecutive days and publish; your request will be granted. CAC

• Previous experience in account-ing, finance, or other related fields • High level of accuracy in data entry skills • Ability to prioritize and multitask • Strong organizational skills

• Deadline and detail-oriented • Proficient in Microsoft Excel • Proficient in QuickBooks

Benefits: Medical, Vision, Dental, Life Insurance, Short-term and Long-term disability and retirement plans, transportation subsidy provided.

Office located in Chicago. Candidates will be tested on all skill sets.

Qualified Candidates should send their resumes and salary requirements to humanresources@icl-na.com

SEASONAL FARMERS’ MARKET ASSISTANT The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Seasonal Farmers’ Market Assistant in the Development Customer Services Department. This position will provide administrative support to the Farmers’ Market Manager to allow growers and producers of food to sell directly to the public within established guidelines. This position requires work in inclement weather conditions; some heavy lifting of up to 50 pounds; walking or standing for sustained periods of time. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. Open until filled.

NOVENA

HELP WANTED

Qualifications:

Bartenders • Bussers Line Cooks • Servers

We are hiring Relationship Bankers in Oak Park, IL. Visit the link below to check out this opportunity to join a great team! https://wintrust.taleo.net/careersection/2/ jobdetail.ftl?job=2100424&lang=en You can also learn about other career opportunities nearby.

MARKETPLACE ITEMS FOR SALE DECK FURNITURE 48” white wicker table with glass top, 4 chairs with matching umbrella, smaller table and umbrella cover. Best offer.

708-528-0896 HENREDON SOFA Black-gray Henredon sofa. Excel-lent condition. 84 in w x 34 in d. $249.

708-488-8755 QUARTZ HEATER Patton tower quartz heater. Sun like radiant heat. 4ft tall x 6 in wide. Excellent condition. $59.00.

708-488-8755

Apply in person after 3pm.

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R E N TA L S & R E A L E S TAT E REAL ESTATE FOR SALE YOUR OWN ISLAND! 5 Acres of total seclusion, only accessible by boat, make this island the ultimate Rock River Escape! There are two cabins on this island: one features full kitchen and living space, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom with laundry. The other is one bedroom with a kitchenette. The larger cabin has large windows overlooking the river and your property. Updated kitchen is open to the living room and dining area. Fall in love with the rustic charm of the guest cabin offering additional space for your family or guests. Island has it’s own electric, well and septic. Boat dock and furnishings included. Fishing Boat negotiable.

Details here: https://tinyurl.com/4zjuxwk2

SUBURBAN RENTALS Best Selection & Service

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ACCOUNTING CLERK

PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER River Forest Public Schools District 90 is seeking a Part-time (FTE 0.77) Elementary School Physical Education Teacher.

STUDIOS, 1, 2 & 3 BR

21

OAK PARK & FOREST PARK

708-386-7355

MMpropMgmt.com

Apartment listings updated daily at:

Find your new apartment this Saturday from 10 am – 4pm at 35 Chicago Avenue.

Or call us toll free at 1-833-440-0665 for an appointment.

OFFICE /RETAIL FOR RENT 1040 NORTH BLVD OFFICE Sub-lease, Move right in. Private furnished window office 10×15 @1040 North Boulevard, walk to CTA green line and Metra train. Asking $600m + 1m SD. Includes all utilities and internet. Note: this is a 2nd-story walkup space. Conference room available.

Call Michael @ 708 383-7900 LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION FOREST PARK HIGHLY VISIBLE OFFICE/STORE AVAILABLE FOR LEASE 1350 SF w/ AC & HIGHLY VISIBLE MADISON STREET EXPOSURE. 7607 Madison Street. Village parking lot next door. Bright, clean office. Great Madison Street exposure! Call Francis 708-383-8574.

OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT OAK PARK OFFICE SPACE Oak Park: Free wifi; flexible leasing, and offices nicely furnished right down to the Kleenex. Secure building & friendly colleagues, often giving referrals to other office mates. Shared Waiting room, Conference room & option to join Peer Supervision Group. Ideal for new practice or 2nd location.

708-383-0729

RIVER FOREST–7777 Lake St. * 1116 sq. ft. * 1400 sq. ft. Dental Office RIVER FOREST–7756 Madison St. * 960 sq. ft.

OAK PARK–6142-44 Roosevelt Rd. * 3 & 5 room office suites FOREST PARK–7736 Madison St. *2500 sq. ft. unit Strand & & Browne Strand Browne 708-488-0011 708-488-0011

SPINET PIANO AND BENCH Baldwin spinet piano and bench. Light brown wood finish. $300 obo.

708-386-0087 SOLID OAK TABLE Ranch oak, pedestal base. Table top 1” thick and 44” diam. $50.

708-488-8755 Ranch oak,. $50.

LAMP TABLE 708-488-8755

FLOOR LAMP WITH BUILT-IN TABLE Ranch oak,. $50.

708-488-8755 BLACK LEATHER COAT Beautiful black leather coat purchased at Saks 5th Avenue. Excellent condition. Size 6. $40.

708-488-8755

ESTATE SALE Riverside

ESTATE SALE 272 BLACKHAWK ROAD THU 5/27 & FRI 5/28 9AM TO 3PM

Dishes, glassware, tables, lamps, exercise bike, outdoor furniture, cameras, printers, stereos etc.

WANTED TO BUY WANTED MILITARY ITEMS: Helmets, medals, patches, uniforms, weapons, flags, photos, paperwork, Also toy soldiers – lead, plastic – other misc. toys.

Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400 Lost & Found, Items for Sale, and To Be Given Away ads run free in Wednesday Classified. To place your ad, call 708-613-334

ROOMS FOR RENT Large Sunny Room with fridge, microwave. Near Green line, bus, Oak Park, 24 hour desk, parking lot. $125.00. New Mgmt.

312-212-1212

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNIT YMEDIA.ORG

22

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

Graduation is almost here!

Be part of something fun, something positive and celebrate!

Being a student during COVID-19 has been especially

Place a personalized ad honoring your graduating

challenging. During the first two weeks of June, Growing

high school, middle school or elementary student. The

Community Media will publish graduation coverage

suggested cost is $60 per ad, but no ad will be turned

across all of our four newspapers.

away for inability to pay. If you would like to make an additional donation to defray the cost of another

Give the Grads in your life a much deserved shout out!

student’s ad, you can do that too!

Ads will run on June 2 and June 9.

To place an ad visit: www.forestparkreview.com/product/gcm-grads/

Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

INC., REALTOR

(708) 366-8989 7342 MADISON ST, FOREST PARK, ILLINOIS 60130

SOLD!

928 S. Kenilworth Ave. Oak Park ....................$275,000

1028 Beloit Forest Park ....................$289,000

SOLD!

Property has been owner occupied by the same family for 50+ years. 1st fl has spacious living rm and dining rm, kitchen and 1/2 bath. 2nd floor has three bedrooms and full bath. Stucco exterior and 2 car detached garage.

Great location in south west Oak Park. Needs some updating but livable as-is.

935 Elgin Avenue, Forest Park ........................$489,000 This is a money maker! This early 1970s brick four flat houses two one bedroom apartments on the top floor, a large three bedroom two bath apartment on the first floor, and a large two bedroom two bathroom apartment in the lower level. Tandem parking for 8 cars.

Meticulously maintained by the current owner for several decades.

The numbers work! This one really won't last long.

SOLD!

This 3 BR, 2.1 BA home has not been available in over 55 years.

It has been meticulously maintained within the same family for that time. This home offers two first floor good sized bedrooms and a large second floor master. Each floor has a full updated bathroom. The first floor living room, with it's vaulted ceilings, fill with sunlight pouring from the front foyer windows.

1117 Marengo Avenue, Forest Park .......................$263,500 What a great opportunity to get into Forest Park at an affordable price! This home offers four total bedrooms, two on the second floor and two on the first floor. The home is in perfect condition!

Living room, dining room, and eat in kitchen, plus a finished basement. Huge deck off the back of the house and a very large two car garage!

SOLD!

337 Marengo Avenue, Forest Park ......................$275,000 Fantastic location alert!! Just a stones throw from Madison Street shopping, restaurants, and night life makes this a very desirable piece of real estate! This is two flat is ready for some love and attention. Just stuck in time is all. Or a fantastic de-conversion to single family! So bring your decorating ideas, and be prepared to fall in love!

SOLD!

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Forest Park Review, May 26, 2021

May Is Mental Health Month You are not alone Did you know that nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health?

Things you can do to help manage symptoms: • Prioritize mental health • Connect in safe ways • Know that it’s okay to not be okay • Find support in your community

To find resources close to you, go to HealthConnectionHub.org or call Riveredge Hospital at 708-209-4181.

riveredgehospital.com

Physicians are on the medical staff of Riveredge Hospital, but, with limited exceptions, are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Riveredge Hospital. The facility shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. Model representations of real patients are shown. Actual patients cannot be divulged due to HIPAA regulations. For language assistance, disability accommodations and the non-discrimination notice, visit our website.

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