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4 | December 27, 2018 | The orland park prairie news<br />
opprairie.com<br />
Two slates, one independent line up for<br />
three Village trustee seats in April election<br />
D135 sees single<br />
challenger, Orland Fire<br />
seats uncontested and<br />
more in local election<br />
Bill Jones, Editor<br />
On the opening day of election<br />
filings Dec. 10, party lines<br />
were drawn for three Orland<br />
Park trustee spots up for grabs<br />
in the April 2 election, according<br />
to information provided by<br />
the Village Clerk’s office. By the<br />
time filings closed on Dec. 17,<br />
an independent candidate also<br />
entered the fray.<br />
A People Over Politics slate<br />
— supported by Mayor Keith<br />
Pekau — features candidates<br />
William R. Healy, Michael R.<br />
Milani and Cynthia Nelson Katsenes.<br />
The Orland Integrity Party<br />
is to put up three candidates<br />
against them in incumbent<br />
Trustee Carole Griffin Ruzich<br />
and candidates Kelly O’Brien<br />
and Devin Hodge.<br />
And independent candidate<br />
Mohanned El Natour filed to run<br />
before Dec. 17.<br />
The Orland Integrity Party<br />
formally announced its slate the<br />
day after the filing period opened<br />
in a series of press releases. In<br />
one, they pledged to “serve the<br />
community with transparency<br />
and honor as public servants.”<br />
Ruzich is a two-term incumbent<br />
who runs a law firm<br />
called Griffin & Gallagher LLC.<br />
O’Brien works as an economic<br />
development specialist, and<br />
manages a team for the Alliance<br />
for Regional Development and<br />
Chicago Central Area Committee.<br />
And Hodge is the chief operations<br />
officer for Argonne National<br />
Laboratory’s Computing,<br />
Environment and Life Sciences<br />
organization, as well as a member<br />
of the Orland School District<br />
135 Board of Education.<br />
The People Over Politics party<br />
issued a press release of its<br />
own Thursday, Dec. 14, hailing<br />
the endorsement of Pekau and<br />
saying its members will “work<br />
cooperatively with the mayor<br />
and the Village Board to provide<br />
exceptional, cooperative and<br />
transparent government focused<br />
on the people of Orland Park,<br />
improve government efficiency<br />
to keep taxes low while maintaining<br />
high-quality services<br />
and promote economic development<br />
to grow and diversify the<br />
Village’s economic footprint” if<br />
elected.<br />
Milani serves with the Economic<br />
Development Advisory<br />
Board and Technology Commission,<br />
and works for IBM as<br />
a business development executive.<br />
Healy is a Certified Public<br />
Accountant and holds a position<br />
on the Zoning Board of Appeals<br />
for the Village. Katsenes<br />
is a licensed real estate broker<br />
and previously served with the<br />
Orland Fire Protection District<br />
Board of Trustees.<br />
Consolidated High School District<br />
230<br />
For the Consolidated High<br />
School District 230 Board of<br />
Education, incumbent Patrick<br />
O’Sullivan filed to run for reelection.<br />
He is to be joined on<br />
the ballot by candidates Mike<br />
Hardek, Dave O’Connor and<br />
Jeanne A. Bailey.<br />
O’Sullivan, Hardek and<br />
O’Connor announced the day<br />
election filings closed they are to<br />
run as a slate called 230 United.<br />
O’Sullivan, president of PRO<br />
Insurance Services, is seeking<br />
his fourth term. O’Conner, an<br />
attorney who is the founder and<br />
managing partner of O’Conner<br />
Law Offices, is seeking his first<br />
term with the board. Hardek, a<br />
commercial banker, also is seeking<br />
his first term.<br />
Current Board President Richard<br />
Nogal and Board Member<br />
Denis Ryan did not file to seek<br />
re-election.<br />
Orland Park Public Library Board<br />
of Trustees<br />
For the Orland Park Public<br />
Library Board, three candidates<br />
filed to run. They are Bridget<br />
Mary Lindbloom, Daniel F.<br />
Sanchez and incumbent trustee<br />
Charles McShane, according to<br />
Village records.<br />
There are only two seats up<br />
for grabs in the April 2019 election.<br />
The terms of McShane and<br />
Diane Jennings come to a close<br />
in 2019. Jennings did not file to<br />
run for re-election.<br />
It is a nonpartisan race.<br />
Orland Fire Protection District<br />
Board of Trustees<br />
For the Orland Fire Protection<br />
District Board of Trustees, only<br />
incumbents Jayne Schirmacher<br />
and John Brudnak had filed as<br />
of deadline, according to district<br />
spokesperson Ray Hanania.<br />
Brudnak currently serves as<br />
president pro tem of the board,<br />
while Schirmacher serves as<br />
treasurer. Theirs are the only two<br />
seats up for grabs in 2019.<br />
Orland School District 135 Board<br />
of Education<br />
On the Orland School District<br />
135 Board of Education, all three<br />
board members whose seats<br />
are up for re-election have filed<br />
to run, according to the Cook<br />
County Clerk’s Office. They are<br />
Linda-Peckham Dodge, Angie<br />
Sexton and Gregory Okon. They<br />
are to be met in April on the ballot<br />
by challenger Eamon Walsh<br />
in the non-partisan election.<br />
Community Consolidated School<br />
District 146<br />
On the Community Consolidated<br />
School District 146<br />
Board of Education, incumbent<br />
School Board President John<br />
Malloy, Vice President Dean<br />
Casper and Darcy Nendza all<br />
filed to run for re-election. No<br />
other candidates had filed as of<br />
the deadline.<br />
Garage fire damages Orland Park<br />
home, but no one seriously injured<br />
Bill Jones, Editor<br />
From Dec. 20<br />
FROM THE LOCKPORT LEGEND<br />
Flooded gym forces D91 Christmas<br />
program to Rialto stage<br />
Some 500 students from Milne-<br />
Kelvin Grove School District 91<br />
performed Dec. 18 at the Rialto<br />
Square Theatre in downtown Joliet<br />
as part of the school’s annual “I<br />
Love Christmas” program.<br />
This year’s program was extra<br />
special because of the venue. Choral<br />
director and teacher Sarah Randolph<br />
said most years the students perform<br />
their program at the school’s old<br />
gym. But roughly a month ago, flooding<br />
issues forced the school to seek<br />
a new location. The school’s new<br />
gym was not ideal, as it is smaller<br />
than the old gym and does not have<br />
a stage, so Randolph reached out to<br />
the community for help.<br />
But at first no location was big<br />
enough to accommodate hundreds<br />
of students and hundreds of parents.<br />
If they were, the stage was not free<br />
anyway, Randolph said.<br />
“I thought, ‘I’ll try the Rialto,’”<br />
she said.<br />
She figured it was a long shot to<br />
get a professional-grade theater to<br />
offer up its space for elementary students,<br />
but it worked. They had Tuesday<br />
morning open, but only for a few<br />
hours, and the students could not use<br />
the stage to practice or prepare.<br />
“I said, ‘I can do it,’” Randolph<br />
recalled. “We have the best children<br />
in the world.”<br />
A garage fire the afternoon of<br />
Thursday, Dec. 20, damaged a home<br />
in Orland Park, but no one was seriously<br />
injured in the blaze, according<br />
to fire officials.<br />
Firefighters were called at 12:30<br />
p.m. to a home in the 17600 block<br />
of Westwood Drive, where they<br />
found the property “consumed with<br />
heavy smoke” and a fire in an attached<br />
garage, according to a press<br />
release issued the same day by Orland<br />
Park Fire Protection District<br />
spokesperson Ray Hanania. The<br />
fire was contained in the garage and<br />
extinguished, but smoke damage<br />
spread throughout the property, Hanania<br />
wrote.<br />
Two family members reportedly<br />
were treated — for smoke<br />
irritation, according to Hanania —<br />
at the scene and released in good<br />
health.<br />
The cause of the fire remains under<br />
investigation, according to the<br />
release.<br />
Reporting by Jesse Wright, Freelance<br />
Reporter. For more, visit LockportLeg<br />
end.com.<br />
FROM THE MOKENA MESSENGER<br />
Goddard School gives money, toys<br />
for holidays<br />
The Goddard School in Mokena<br />
donated $1,000 on Dec. 15 to Mokena<br />
Miracles and donated more than<br />
30 toys to Silver Cross Hospital in<br />
New Lenox for its pediatric unit.<br />
“It’s holiday time, so we thought<br />
we’d do a good thing here,” Goddard<br />
co-owner Neel Saha said. “Mokena<br />
Miracles is doing some great work.”<br />
Students voluntarily sold cookie<br />
dough to raise the funds.<br />
The toys donated to Silver Cross<br />
came via Goddard’s Mokena location<br />
being chosen as one of only 50<br />
to participate in a toy testing back in<br />
September.<br />
Saha presented the check<br />
along with his wife, Dolon, who also<br />
co-owns the school with her husband.<br />
On hand to receive the donation<br />
was Mokena Miracles’ Board<br />
President and Mokena Police Officer<br />
Tom Czarnecki; its treasurer<br />
and Mokena resident Samantha<br />
Cooper; and Board Member and<br />
Mokena Fire Protection District Lt.<br />
Joe Shefcik.<br />
Reporting by T.J. Kremer III, Editor.<br />
For more, visit MokenaMessenger.com.