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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.

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