Big Week

October 6-13 BIG WEEK

Leaf pickup has begun

The village of Forest Park o ers a convenient opportunity for residents to dispose of leaves during the fall season.

The Public Works Department Leaf Removal Program runs through Dec. 1 and there’s no added cost for this service.

Raked your leaves to the curbside into the street gutters, and they’ll be removed by public works employees based on the zoned leaf pickup schedule (available at forestpark.net).

Leaf removal is limited to leaves -- n o grass clippings, bags or tree limbs allowed.

Invasion of the scarecrows

Throughout the month of October visit the decorative scarecrows placed throughout Forest Park through a partnership between the Forest Park Arts Alliance and the Historical Society of Forest Park.

Visit forestparkhistory.org for a map or pick one up at Ed’s Way, 946 Beloit Ave., or Centuries and Sleuths, 7419 Madison St. Vote for Most Artistic, Most Historical, Most Forest Park Pride and Best in Show before Oct. 31.

Senior day trip to Amish country

Day trips for senior citizens are returning through the Howard Mohr Community Center, 7640 Jackson Blvd.

Travel to Shipshewana, Indiana, for a one-of-a-kind destination to experience the simplicity of Amish culture. Enjoy the scenic backroads with horse-drawn carriages and tidy farmsteads. The tour includes goodies and four items from Amish stores. Bring a bag lunch, but prepare for an authentic Thresher meal at an Amish home.

The trip is Oct. 13 and the bus departs at 7:30 a.m. with expected return at 7:30 p.m. Cost for residents is $130/$133 (non-residents).

Call 708-771-7737 for more information and to order a brochure listing all of the trips.

Reversing inequity

Forest Park Public Library hosts author and researcher Richard Rothstein as he presents “The Color of Law and Reversing Segregation,” a special Zoom webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m.

Rothstein will discuss his book “Color of Law” which examines policies that led to racial segregation in American communities and what can be done to reverse these practices and work towards racial equity. Register for zoom link at tinyurl.com/3m5z7k3y.

RICHARD ROTHSTEIN

Centuries and Sleuths hosts two authors

Centuries & Sleuth bookstore, 7419 Madison St. is hosting an author event/book signing on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m.

Michael A. Black (who writes under pen name of A.W. Hart) will talk about two novels in his Gunslinger series – “Killer’s Gamble” and “Killer’s Requiem” – while George Tackes will talk about the short stories “The Case of No Interest” and “The Accidental Death of Harry Lindfeld,” which comprise Volume 7 in his series “Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective.”

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

ART BEAT A memorial to the victims of deadly force

By MICHELE DYBAL

Arts Editor

Art, at times, speaks volumes. In the case of Gina Lee Robbins’ latest art exhibition, messages are whispered and shouted from her work. It consists of two separate installations, “Encounters” and “Relics,” which together make up “Tangled Up in Blue,” which is described as a meditation on Chicago-area encounters with law enforcement during the past 22 years that ended with a fatality. It is on view at Waubonsee Community College’s Sugar Grove Campus.

“When I got the news of 13-year-old Adam Toledo’s murder in Chicago last March, it went through me like an arrow,” Robbins says in her artist statement. In his photo, she saw a child reminiscent of children she has taught and her sons’ soccer teammates and classmates. This made her want “to understand how it is that interactions with law enforcement can have such lethal results.”

“Generally, when an incident really upsets, or confuses me, I seek out data to make sense of what seems completely senseless,” said Robbins, an Oak Park resident for 20 years who moved to Forest Park this summer. “I wanted to understand why the use of deadly force would be necessary, in this case and in general. I looked at accounts of law officers killed on duty, and in my research came across an organization that collects media reports of fatal encounters in the presence of law enforcement.”

Robbins turned to the nonprofit fatalencounters.org, which works to create “an impartial, comprehensive and searchable national database of people killed during interactions with police,” according to their website.

She pored over every story of a life lost in the presence of law enforcement, ultimately focusing on Cook County in this century.

“These included fatalities due to officers using deadly force, officers using less than deadly force, bystanders or pursued suspects being killed in a vehicular pursuit, suicides and incidents of fatal violence or vehicular homicide — often due to DUI — by off-duty officers,” she said.

“Encounters is the result of my journey through this data,” Robbins’ says in her statement. “As I read each story, I rolled a small wad of porcelain clay in my hands. When I finished, I said the deceased’s name aloud, and made a fist, squeezing the clay in my palm. I repeated this process for all 624 individuals whose stories were reported.” She also wrote each name in a notebook.

In a final touch before firing, Robbins rubbed cobalt carbonate onto her hands and “loosely touched” the clay wads, which left remnants of blue after firing. For the installment, the individual pieces, each about 2.5 inches long, were strung on steel wire by the year each incident occurred. The wires are draped from the ceiling in the exhibit space, approximately 14 x 8 feet, suspended from a height of 8-9 feet.

“Relics is a more qualitative look at those stories, focusing on what might have been left behind by some of these victims,” Robbins said.

Her artist statement fills in the details. “I collected 13 items that were significant to the stories reported: a box cutter, fork, pellet gun, spent firecrackers, cardboard sign, beach ball, knife, automobile debris, pizza box, dust mop, screwdriver, stroller wheel and sleeping bag. I shrouded each element individually, using cotton sheets and burlap that I had hand-dyed and torn. I then bound them with yarn and military thread in various shades of blue, working reclaimed 9 mm bullet casings into those whose stories involved the use of deadly force.”

The resulting elements in the display, each measuring 5-40 inches, placed on the floor of the exhibit, look bound, some evoking mummification. All are stained with police blue. Bullet casings haunt the scene.

Robbins found working on this project differed from some of her other artmaking.

“This project was quite draining for me,” she said. “I have completed many other sculptures and installations that involved repetitive action, even some that also used sculptural elements to quantify data. But with this project, I really focused on the qualitative aspects behind the numbers. ... During the hours it took to create the pieces for both works, I couldn’t focus on anything but the stories and individuals affected. I couldn’t listen to background music, podcasts or audiobooks, which are all usual accompaniments to my art making.

“Although this is a representation of my very personal processing of these stories, I am sharing them in hopes that someone else might be equally impressed by the sheer numbers, or have their curiosity piqued by the ‘relics,’ leading them to also look a little more closely at the data and join me in questioning this system that is meant to keep us feeling safe,” she said. “We as a species are such innovative problemsolvers. There has to be a better way.”

See Tangled Up in Blue through Oct. 14, Dickson Art Project Space, Waubonsee Community College’s Sugar Grove Campus, Route 47 at Waubonsee Dr., Sugar Grove. The exhibit is viewable at all hours through the windows that enclose the project space.

Photo Credit: Tonya Whitlock ROUNDS: Close up of a section of the art installation, “Relics,” by Gina Lee Robbins.

Photo credit: Gina Lee Robbins REMEMBRANCE: “Tangled Up in Blue” is exhibited at Waubonsee Community College’s Sugar Grove Campus through Oct. 14.

Filling remaining library board vacancy still a ways o

Little impact on board governance, says director

By IGOR STUDENKOV

Contributing Reporter

Now that the term lengths of Forest Park Public Library board members have been sorted out, it may be a few more months before a board seat that has been vacant for the past seven months will be filled.

The seat has been vacant since March 2021, when trustee Ayanna Brown moved out of Forest Park about half-way through her term. Mayor Rory Hoskins, who is responsible for appointing library board members, declined to give a firm timeline for when the vacancy might be filled, saying only that it would be about two months or less.

According to Pilar Shaker, library director, the vacancy hasn’t had any impact on the board’s business, since there are more than enough sitting trustees to have a quorum. Shaker said that “having five instead of six [trustees] is not a significate issue” and that the board is still able to carry out all of its duties.

Hoskins said that, while he would fill it in “at some point,” he wasn’t sure how soon it would be. When pressed whether it would be a few weeks or a few months, he said that he expects to fill the vacancy “probably within the next two months, maybe sooner.”

Under the Illinois Local Library Act, in villages operating under the commission form of government, the village council is responsible for appointing the library trustees. In practice, Forest Park mayors have been the ones who appointed library trustees, with the village council simply voting on whether to confirm the appointments.

The library act states that trustees must be appointed on a staggered timeline, with two trustees appointed one year, two appointed a year after that and two appointed on the third year. If a trustee leaves before completing their term, the council must appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of the term.

Over the years, the timing of the appointments slipped from the three-year appointment cycle. On Sept. 27, the village council adopted the ordinance that shortened some terms and lengthened others, so that two trustees’ terms will end in 2024, two trustees’ terms will end in 2025 and two trustees’ terms will end in 2026. Under those changes, whoever fills Brown’s seat will serve until May 13, 2024.

The Local Library Act requires the village council to fill the vacancy but doesn’t set any limits on how long a seat can remain vacant. The village municipal code and the library bylaws are also silent on the matter.

The board had two vacancies as of June 2021, when Chantel Manzanares’ term expired – though, according to the meeting minutes, Manzanares was absent from March, April and May board meetings, a period when Brown had already resigned. Hoskins didn’t fill Manzanares’ seat until Aug. 8, when he appointed Trustee Eboni Murray.

According to Article IV of the library bylaws, the board must have four trustees in attendance in order to have a quorum. But Shaker said that the quorum is actually based on the number of filled seats, with quorum set at three trustees while there are five filled seats, and that it will be four trustees once Brown’s seat is filled. According to the minutes, every 2021 meeting so far had at least four trustees in attendance.

Proviso East football stadium to be dedicated Oct. 10

District o cials also selling bricks from new facility named a er board member eresa Kelly

By MICHAEL ROMAIN

Editor

Proviso Township High School District 209 officials will dedicate the new Theresa L. Kelly Stadium at Proviso East, 807 S. 1st Ave. in Maywood, on Oct. 10, 1 p.m. The stadium dedication is free and open to the public.

A luncheon at the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills, 3500 Midwest Road in Oak Brook, will take place at 3 p.m. that day. Tickets to the luncheon are $100.

Kelly is the longest-serving member of the D209 board, having been seated on the board 22 years ago.

The district has launched a Buy a Brick campaign, which allows people to purchase a piece of the old stadium, which was demolished last year. The proceeds from the campaign will go to the Board of Education Scholarship Foundation Fund.

The campaign offers five sponsorship levels: pennant, bronze, silver, gold and diamond. You can purchase a brick at: www.PTHS209.org/BuyA-Brick.

The D209 board voted 4-2 on Sept. 14 to accept Supt. James Henderson’s recommendation to name the stadium in honor of Kelly.

As previously reported, the old Proviso East football stadium was demolished late last year as part of the district’s facilities master plan process, which was launched under former D209 superintendent Jesse Rodriguez.

The stadium renovation is part of the first phase of master plan projects, which also included the construction of new parking lots at district schools, and the installation of air conditioning on some floors at Proviso East and West, among other extensive construction work.

CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

THERESA L. KELLY

SCARECROWS

Whereart meets history

from page 1

tion came from movies, comic book heroes, historical personalities, ghoulish Halloween horrors, even the Golden Girls are on a rooftop and will be in the month long, “Invasion of the Scarecrows,” a fundraiser for the Historical Society of Forest Park and the Forest Park Arts Alliance.

Uli Leib, treasurer of the historical society, found inspiration for the Forest Park project in an international Facebook group called “view from my window.” In this group a photo was posted from a car window showing a scarecrow scene from Chester, New Hampshire. Leib was intrigued by the post and discovered the Chester Historical Society’s annual fundraiser -- selling scarecrow kits -- has transformed the town into a scarecrow display destination every October.

Leib took the idea to the society’s board “and they thought it was good to do it, and suggested we partner with the Arts Alliance, because they could bring an artistic flair to the event. We formed a committee and created kits similar to the kits from Chester,” said Leib.

Each $25 kit contains a cross to support the body of the scarecrow, a burlap head, a plastic bag to be stuffed inside the head, a paint kit, and instructions. “The idea is that people could save the scarecrows and use it the following year, add to their creation or group of scarecrows. The town of Chester is now up to 1,000 scarecrows, releasing 100 kits every year.” The Arts Alliance volunteers, Lin Beribak, Karen Rozmus and Rick Wagner teamed up to sew the burlap heads in the kits and even offered their artistic skills to paint faces for those who wanted a “deluxe” model.

“People gave us ideas,” Beribak, one of the painters of the deluxe model faces, said, “they made requests like, make it ‘fierce’ or ‘not scary’ and one person sent a photo of himself grimacing and his girlfriend rolling her eyes at him, for us to paint on, and we had fun with that.”

The kits sold out in a matter of weeks, and the profits were split between the two organizations. “We have learned a few things already from this year and have some tips for next year, including using a dish drainer for the chest of the scarecrow,” said Beribak.

The Altenheim senior residents had so much fun decorating their scarecrows, Pat Ramirez said, “we ordered five scarecrows from the Historical Society and made an additional five more.” Chris Lucnik, a volunteer, who helped put the scarecrows together and set up the grand display in the courtyard added, “we just had so much fun doing this project.”

The scarecrows are scheduled to be up throughout the month of October and locations are listed in both a printed map which can be picked up at Centuries and Sleuths bookstore, 7419 Madison St., or Ed’s Way, 946 Beloit, and are also available digitally through the websites of the Historical Society and Arts Alliance website.

There is a friendly contest connected to the invasion, with prizes awarded to the top vote getter in the categories, “Forest Park Pride,” “Most Artistic,” “Most Historical,” and “People’s Choice.” QR codes are available on the printed maps or visitors can register their vote on the ForestParkHistory.org website. Additionally, a bike tour to see all the scarecrows as a community group will be held Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. Registration is also available on the website.

To highlight Forest Park’s German heritage, Leib donned her pair of scarecrows, Ferdinand and Hannah, with lederhosen and they each have a stein outside her home on the 500 block of Beloit. Beribak found inspiration from Norwegian expressionist,

“Batscrow,” as he is a ectionately known, is the dark knight watching over the 1500 block of Elgin, a silent guardian, a watchful protector.

Businessman Adolph Louis Luetgert, buried at Forest Home Cemetery, who was known as the “Sausage Vat Murderer” a er eliminating his second wife, Loisa Bicknese in 1897, invades the 500 block of Circle. Rose, Dorothy, Blanch and Sophia, from a roof on the 500 block of Elgin, gaze upon the stars. Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” which can be found on the 1500 block of Elgin. Gblala plans on walking all of Forest Park to see all the scarecrows in town and was proud to bring some of her Liberian heritage to the event and added, “Anansi is a story of community, and that is what Forest Park is.” Jill Wagner is a member of the board of the Historical Society of Forest Park.

Goal! is young scarecrow is dressed in the familiar Forest Park Youth Soccer jersey on the 1000 block of Ferdinand.

Uli Leib, the woman behind the scarecrow invasion, peers between Ferdinand and Hannah, on the 500 block of Beloit.

Mischievous Anansi and his father, Nyame, guard the lantern of the sky on 100 block of Rockford.

e ogre, like an onion, has many layers, so don’t run in fear from the 900 block of Marengo. You will be protected by the Shrekrow.

Arts Language Music Academy

Our mission is to spark curiosity and creativity in young children while developing their essential life and academic skills. We use art, music, nature, and play to make meaningful connections with each other and the world around us.

Arts Language Music Academy is a women- and minority-founded 501(c)(3) preschool in Forest Park, IL.

We currently serve families with children ages 3-6 from the surrounding west Chicago suburbs.

A.L.M.A. Open House every Sunday through October from 1-3pm. Please RSVP through the contact form on our website or by email.

gingi@almacademyworld.org • https://www.almacademyworld.org/ • 1037 Marengo Ave, Forest Park, IL 60130 • 708 769 4853