southtownstar.suntimes.com

After crash, Tinley Park man adapts to new ‘lifestyle’

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:15:26 -0500

A bag of golf clubs, long unused, hangs inside the garage of Adam Copack’s Tinley Park home. Gone is the hockey gear that used to come out several nights a week when he’d hit the ice with friends. They’re reminders of a past life, one the 35-year-old is uncertain to recapture. For Copack, there’s a clear-cut demarcation — with everything that happened prior to the early morning hours of Jan. 12, 2008, in one life, and all that’s happened since, which doctors have referred to as his new “lifestyle.” It’s a lifestyle that means adapting to a body that doesn’t …

H-F joins elite curriculum program

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:15:14 -0500

Starting next school year, a select number of Homewood-Flossmoor High School students will be involved in a program that uses a challenging and elite international high school curriculum. About 26 juniors in the school’s Gifted Academy, which began in the fall of 2011, will be studying using the International Baccalaureate curriculum. The IB organization recently granted IB World School status to the high school in Flossmoor. H-F joins 3,000 IB schools worldwide. School officials started looking at joining the program in 2010. Starting later this year, students in the Gifted Academy will begin the two-year “IB Diploma Programme.” Nancy Spaniak, …

Suit: Illinois State Police unconstitutionally labeled man 'sexual predator'

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:27:56 -0500

A convicted sex offender is suing Lisa Madigan and the Director of the Illinois State Police for allegedly unconstitutionally labeling him a sexual predator, hindering him from moving back to his home in Chicago. The suit, filed by Joliet resident Roberto Max in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday, claims that Madigan and Hiram Grau, the head of Illinois State Police, oversaw the police as they denied Max the chance to move after he was released from prison in 2012. Max claims that even though he has been twice convicted of sexual assault, he was only required to register for …

Kadner: Reader donations create happy faces

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:25:40 -0500

It’s the faces you remember after visiting a center for the developmentally disabled. Smiling faces of folks who anxiously reach out to shake hands. Questioning faces that wonder if a sister is coming to pick them up or if you’re driving them home. And you especially remember the face of a fellow who hugs tightly onto a pile of stuffed animals as if their lives depend on him. Garden Center Services for the developmentally disabled held an open house this week at its new training center at 10444 Kedzie Ave., in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community. About a month ago, I …

Poster adds to patriotism for St. Linus School

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:31:49 -0500

A few months after learning about the Fighting Sullivans, of World War II fame, students at St. Linus School in Oak Lawn have a reminder that will greet them in the school library about the Sullivans’ story of sacrifice. A poster of the five Sullivan brothers, who died tragically aboard the same ship during World War II, and drawings of the two U.S. Navy ships named for them, has been given to the school. It was sent by Kelly Sullivan, granddaughter of Al Sullivan. She had engaged in a Skype interview from her home in Iowa with the students earlier …

One hurt in accident involving school bus in Homer Glen

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:15:39 -0500

A juvenile passenger suffered a cut on his nose after the Chrysler he was riding in clipped the rear end of a Providence High School bus at 3:15 p.m. Thursday at 159th Street and Bell Road in Homer Glen, according to the Will County Sheriff’s police. No injuries were reported among the nine students on the school bus, but parents came to the scene to take them home, Lt. Steve Talmontas said. As the light was turning yellow, the westbound Chrysler hit the bus as the bus was making a left turn from eastbound 159th Street to northbound Bell Road, …

Trucker pleads guilty for hauling heroin later stolen from evidence locker

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:56:09 -0500

A California man set to go to trial this week in Will County for allegedly hauling heroin in his semi truck — heroin that later was stolen from the sheriff’s evidence locker — is going to prison instead. Jose Zamago-Mena, 42, of Sun Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Judge Edward Burmila sentenced him to four years in prison. Zamago-Mena was arrested Feb. 21, 2011, after police stopped his semi heading north on Interstate 55 near Shorewood and discovered the stash of drugs. About eight months later, the $250,000 worth of …

Suspicious package near Lincoln-Way West High School found to be harmless

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:26:00 -0500

NEW LENOX TOWNSHIP — A bomb squad was called after a suspicious package was seen Thursday morning near Lincoln-Way West High School. Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas said the bundle was found around 9 a.m. at Melrose and Spencer Road. “Deputies could see inside what might have been explosives, so they stepped back and called in the Cook County Bomb Squad,” Kaupas said. The school and area businesses were alerted to the situation but not placed on lockdown. Kaupas said the bomb squad determined the package contained commercial smoke devices — used in concerts and stagecraft - that …

Judge delays court fight over closing Chicago schools until July

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:21:58 -0500

Protesters’ last, best chance of halting the closure of 50 Chicago public schools will be resolved at a four-day hearing in July, a federal judge ruled Thursday morning.

Homer Glen family’s organ may have new home at vandalized church

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:20:08 -0500

As Mary Marino read a story in the Sun-Times on Tuesday about a South Side church being vandalized and its antique organ damaged, she first felt “awful” — then realized she could help. Last weekend, a deacon at the International Harbor of Grace Church in the 9700 block of South Avenue L in Chicago made the disheartening discovery as he was preparing for services, police said. Gang symbols and graffiti were found on the walls, floors and pews, several of which were pulled from their mounts, police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said. An antique organ was smashed and keys …

A floating farewell at Andrew

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:17:48 -0500

While the pond in front of Andrew High School is a frequent stopping point for ducks and geese, something a bit larger was found floating there on a recent morning. As a harmless prank on their last day of school, members of the senior class had plopped a small boat, painted in the school’s gold and black colors and emblazoned with Andrew’s Thunderbolt logo, in the pond. In a note left inside the boat, which was pulled out of the pond, seniors at the Tinley Park school said the watercraft was being donated “as a token of gratitude to our …

Bettenhausen, bike run collect for tornado relief

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:19:57 -0500

As part of an effort to gather donations for victims of the devastating Oklahoma tornado, Bettenhausen Automotive on Friday will raffle off 10 pairs of lawn seat tickets to that night’s Tim McGraw concert at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. Each person who brings an item to Bettenhausen’s drop-off point — starting at 4 p.m. Friday at the Sweet Spot Bar and Grill, between Odyssey Fun World and Odyssey Country Club — will be entered in the concert ticket raffle. Separately, the company’s three dealerships also will be collecting donations until 10 a.m. June 9. Items will …

St. Christina answers a clothes call

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:18:17 -0500

After she and her classmates gathered 2,445 pounds of used clothing in one month to be recycled, St. Christina School sixth-grader Brooke Yurisich said the achievement “means a lot to me.” “I really like to save our environment and keep the Earth clean. It’s amazing. Kids just drop these clothes off when they get too big for them,” Brooke, 12, said Wednesday. Brooke also recycles at her family’s home in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community. “I have a compost pile at home. We have a recycling truck that comes around on Mondays. We recycle newspapers, aluminum, anything, really,” she said. St. …

Ex-Lockport H.S. IT administrator pleads guilty in teen sex case

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:40:13 -0500

A former IT administrator at Lockport Township High School pleaded guilty Wednesday to having sex with a student. Timothy J. Hagan, 41, of Darien, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse after being accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2009 when she was a senior. Hagan’s sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 8 after his plea before Will County Judge Robert Livas. He likely will be sentenced to probation, authorities said. Lockport police arrested Hagan in 2011 after the girl told a family friend about the relationship, police said. Lockport Township High School District 205 …

Kadner: New mayor offers ‘hope’ to The Island

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:09:03 -0500

His grandmother walked across the Mexican border all the way to Blue Island nearly 100 years ago. Having arrived, she lived in a box car in the Rock Island Railroad yard for years. Today, Domingo Vargas, her grandson, is a defense attorney and the first Hispanic mayor of Blue Island. “My maternal great-grandmother died on a roadside after crossing the border with her children during the Mexican War,” Vargas, 51, said. “They buried her there and kept on walking. My grandmother was about 14 or 15 years old at the time. “They crossed the border and kept on walking until …

Ex-University Golf Club employee charged with theft

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:15:30 -0500

A former University Golf Club and Conference Center restaurant manager is facing charges for allegedly stealing from the University Park-owned club, authorities said. Pamela Jackson, 46, of the 700 block of Burr Oak Lane, University Park, was charged with misdemeanor theft after the Will County Sheriff’s police arrested her on a warrant May 10, according to police. University Park police Sgt. Dan Murphy said Jackson was stealing from the golf course by putting money on a golf course gift card. He refused to say how much money Jackson stole or when she stole it, citing a pending investigation. The 18-hole …