RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside $1.00
Vol. 35, No. 4
January 22, 2020
Break-in spree Burglars hit unlocked cars throughout the area PAGE 7
Follow us Online!
rblandmark.com @riversidebrookfieldlandmark
Lightford stopped short in Senate president bid PAGE3
@riversidebrookfield_landmark
Brookfield trustees eye local gas tax PAGE8
@RBLandmark
Transgender Komarek student wins case in state ruling Youngster was barred from boys’ bathroom in 2015 By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
Last year the Illinois Human Rights Commission ordered Komarek School District 94 to pay $55,000 in damages for causing emotional distress to a transgendered boy at the school after school officials had initially refused to allow the boy to use the boys’ bathrooms at the school for about six months in 2015. The Human Relations Commission also ordered Komarek to pay $100,000 in attorney fees to the lawyers who represented the boy’s family in the case and also ordered Komarek to pay $3,610 in legal costs. In legal documents the boy is referred to only by his initials, P.S., to protect his privacy. “The commission’s ruling means so much to our son and to our entire family – who love him very much,” said the parents of P.S. in a statement released through the ACLU of Illinois. “Requiring that our son be treated like every other boy in his class is extremely important for him, but also for so many other young people who have faced similar problems at school.” The Landmark is not revealing the names of the boy’s parents who are identified only as Michael S. and Andrea See TRANSGENDER on page 13
Photo coutesy of the Chicago Zoological Society
LEO-LESS: Last week, Brookfield Zoo euthanized its female lion, Isis (left), after she was injured in a fall into the exhibit’s moat. That followed the Jan. 2 death of the zoo’s male lion, Zenda (right), who was euthanized due to declining health as a result of old age.
Zoo loses both its lions, one to aging, one to fall Two male lions expected to arrive in spring
By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
The two lions that have lived at Brookfield Zoo since 2008 both had to be euthanized this month leaving the zoo temporarily without lions. Last week, Isis, a 14-year-old female
lion, had to be euthanized one day after a mysterious fall into the moat at the lion exhibit. Isis was euthanized a day later, a little less than two weeks after her 15-year-old male mate, Zenda, was euthanized on Jan. 2 because of declining health due to old age. Unlike Zenda, Isis’s death was un-
Payne Plumbing & Heating
expected. She was in generally good health for a lion of her age. On the morning of Jan. 13 Isis fell into the moat at the lion exhibit and suffered some sort of brain swelling that did not respond to treatment. After 24 See LIONS on page 13
708-268-7087
Water Heaters – Drain Rodding – Heating – Boilers Sump Pumps – Low Pressure Re-pipes –A/C And More! Illinois License # 058-196347