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opprairie.com sound off
The orland park prairie | June 21, 2018 | 17
Social snapshot
Top Web Stories
From opprairie.com as of Friday, June 15
1. Police reportedly discover felony amount
of cannabis, more at local home
2. The Dish: Middle Eastern catering takes
center stage at Grapevine
3. Sterk’s Building Hope for the Future
event announced
4. Orland Park Technology Commission
seeks residents’ input
5. News from Your Neighbors: Tinley Park’s
Farmers Market open for the summer,
more
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Village of Orland Park (@VillageofOrlandPark)
posted the following Thursday, June 14: “Village
of Orland Park Public Works crews are
featured in the first edition of “In an Orland
Park Minute” where we highlight happenings
around the village in one minute. Check back
soon for more featured departments and other
interesting facts about the Village of Orland
Park.”
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FROM THE SPORTS EDITOR
Area is great about helping injured veterans
Jeff Vorva
j.vorva@22ndcm.com
Do not adjust your
eyeballs.
Yes, you are still in
the news section, not sports.
But my smiling face is
also here on the same page
as the Social Snapshot and
Sound Off policy because
regular editor Bill Jones took
a well-needed vacation. After
doing a fraction of his job
last week, I can use one, too.
Anyway, when he asked
if I could step in and do
a column, I was happy to
because a few things have
cropped up in Orland Park
that I could yack about. But
one thing that is prevalent in
this fine issue of the paper is
the way some of our veterans
are being treated.
Whether you want to call
them Wounded Warriors or
Disabled Patriots or whatever,
there are area people and
organizations that are trying
to have their backs.
On Page 4, writer/photographer
Laurie Fanelli actually
took time away from
shooting photos of rock stars
to hang out for awhile at the
Wounded Warriors Family
Support’s High Five Tour,
which stopped at Omaha
Steaks in Orland Park Crossing
on June 9.
Wounded Warriors Family
Support aids the loved ones
of members of the military
who have been wounded,
injured or killed during
combat.
People who attended the
event dug deep to make donations
and signed messages
of thanks on a Ford 5-150
Raptor, that has been a spiffy
focal point of the tour.
One of the first reactions
some of you might of had
when you pulled this bad
boy out of your mailbox is
“What in the heck is Ozzie
Guillen doing on the front
page of my precious Prairie?!!?”
Well, whether you are a
White Sox fan or hater or you
love the controversial Guillen
or hate him, he is coming to
town to do a good thing.
The former Sox player and
manager will be a special
guest at the 14th Disabled
Patriot Fund Annual Golf
Outing on Wednesday, June
27, at Silver Lake Country
Club.
Guillen may be insulting
and profane to some, but the
native of Venezuela had his
own thoughts about respecting
the national anthem long
before quarterback Colin
Kaepernick lowered his knee
to the turf for the first time
causing a raging controversy
for years.
“[Guillen had] one rule
that resonated with me
throughout the rest of my
career that I really appreciated:
‘Everyone is out on the
field standing at attention for
[the national anthem],’” said
former White Sox pitcher
Adam Russell, who also is
on the Disabled Patriot Fund
Board of Directors.
“Ozzie loves the opportunities
that our country
presents and respects the
men and women who fight
for those rights. Every time
we honored soldiers before
a game, Ozzie would always
make a point to go over and
shake their hand and thank
them for their service.”
Through golf outings and
other events, the Orland
Park-Tinley Park-based DPF
has raised more than $3.5
million to help around 350
injured vets since 2005.
There are many other local
events that help out veterans.
I can’t compare what our
area does for the brave men
and women who fought in
wars with other areas, but
from what I can see, we do a
pretty good job of it.
Orland Park Library (@
OrlandPkLibrary) shared this photo
from the Wendy & DB Music Show on June
12.
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D135
From Page 9
puses have occurred, board
members at District 135 seek
to take a proactive approach
to preventing something like
that happening in their community.
Members of the Risk and
Safety Committee detailed
plans to test a new rapid notification
system in collaboration
with the Orland Park
Police Department.
The system could include
remote devices worn
by staff members on lanyards
and buttons throughout
the schools and would
alert nearby vehicles and
the police department about
an emergency situation by
bypassing dispatch outlets.
Board members said this
system would be useful during
an active shooter situation.
• District eighth-grade students
took an Illinois Youth
Survey and 91 percent said
they’d never tried tobacco
or vaping products, 70 percent
said they hadn’t been
bullied in the past year and
96 percent said they felt safe
at their school. Areas for
growth the survey identified
for the district included the
number of students who reported
using e-cigarettes and
feelings of depression.
“We look at [the Illinois
Youth Survey] as an opportunity
to continuously improve,”
Superintendent DJ
Skogsberg said.
• The Building and
Grounds committee detailed
renovation efforts, including
playground upgrades at Centennial
School and Prairie
School.
“We look at both longterm
and short-term planning,
maximizing the impact
we can have with taxpayers’
dollars and being good stewards,
and at the same time
ensuring that the experience
the students in our district
get is the absolute best we
can possibly provide,” Skogsberg
said.
• The Human Resources
Committee said the it had
filled 17 of the needed 26
certified staff slots for the
next school year.
Sound Off Policy
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Century Media are the thoughts of the company as a whole. The Orland Park
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