Sauk Village News

By Colleen Kitka Times Correspondent | Thursday, July 02, 2009 |

SAUK VILLAGE | Sauk Village officials have proposed a 5 percent cut of its overall work force to help offset its almost $670,000 deficit. At a public hearing of the 2010 budget, proposals included laying off one community service officer, one code enforcement officer and one person in the administration department. Other cost-cutting measures call for a new insurance contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. The yearly deductible of $100 would be increased to $250 and would be charged to the more than 60 full-time village employees to save $112,000 a year.

Read the entire story at http://nwi.com/articles/2009/07/02/news/illinois/doc56a99317b3a9df38862575e60079d3b3.txt

By Bob Moulesong

Times Correspondent | Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The village will hold a public hearing to present its 2010 budget at 6 tonight at the Municipal Center, 21801 Torrence Ave. The public is encouraged to attend. During the hearing, details of the proposed $31.7 million budget will be discussed. The village budget for 2009 was $25.4 million. According to Finance Director Beverly Sterrett, the budget increase is due, in part, to bond issuance for payments to developers within the tax increment financing districts in the village.

Village President Lewis Towers and trustee Derrick Burgess, who ran against each other for the open presidential slot last spring, are working together to bring more business to the village.

Burgess is now the Committee Chairman for the new Economic Development Committee, charged with generating business opportunities for both new and existing businesses.

"Our committee is looking into applying for grants via TIF funds," Burgess said at Tuesday's Village Board meeting. "We want to make grants available for both new businesses who want to make their home here in Sauk Village, and existing businesses who want to expand."

This story can be found in its entirety at http://nwi.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/illinois/doc752b1408b99dafdf862575df0015869d.txt

Two men are facing charges of fraud and forgery after trying to cash a fake money order, according to a probable cause affidavit.

A south suburban woman was killed after crashing an all-terrain vehicle into a tree Sunday near her home, authorities said.

Some have headaches, some varying types of cancer, others suffer liver or kidney ailments.

Residents who get their drinking water from private wells in the south suburban Sauk Village area are being advised to have their water tested for possible contamination.

Mercedes Mendez told a "Today Show" audience that she is still in pain after being beaten and burned by other girls.

A third teen was charged as an adult late Tuesday in the beating, burning and degrading of a South Chicago Heights girl in an attack caught on cell phone video in south suburban Sauk Village.

By Times Staff | Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Illinois Department of Public Health is advising residents who get their drinking water from private wells in the Sauk Village, Lynwood, and Ford Heights areas to test their water for possible groundwater contamination.

The health department says water supplied by Sauk Village's community water supply currently meets all U.S. EPA drinking water standards. While no violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act Maximum Contaminant Levels have occurred in Sauk Village's treated drinking water, the annual average concentration of vinyl chloride is close to violating the standard.

For a list of testing laboratories and contacts at the EPA see the original article at the story link or click

http://www.nwi.com/articles/2009/06/10/updates/breaking_news/doc4a2fe4171274d125421115.txt

A judge has confined to their homes two teenage girls who allegedly participated in a videotaped attack on another teenager.

A girl was savagely beaten in a Sauk Village public park June 2 and a cell phone video of the attack was posted Friday on Fox News Chicago .

It begins with one teenage girl pinning and pummeling another in the dirt in a Sauk Village public park.

BY ANN LAMPARSKI Times Correspondent | Friday, June 05, 2009

SAUK VILLAGE | A group of about 50 parents and children marched in front of Rickover Junior High School on Thursday morning in the hopes of ousting the school's principal and superintendent.

Read the entire story and more details about the protest led by Javette Jones, and how her daughter was denied graduating with her class by Rickover Principal Julie Iverson for missing 1 of 3 rehearsals for graduation. The rest of the story is at

http://www.nwi.com/articles/2009/06/05/news/illinois/doc3d1840a3d6b6858d862575cc000d7a26.txt

A 29-year-old man suffered minor injuries Friday after he went into his family's burning home to save his beloved dogs.

The house continues to tumble down on top of Robert and Connie Brown, owners of House of Lynwood Inc.

BY TERRIE HENDERSON Times Correspondent | Wednesday, May 27, 2009 |

SAUK VILLAGE | One Strassburg Elementary School student has been nationally recognized for saving another student's life.

It isn't every day you see a young hero in action, said Strassburg fifth-grade teacher Jenny Lewandowski-Banach.

In October, Lewandowski-Banach was monitoring the safety patrol after school. Fifth-grader Hunter Turner, then 10, was assigned to the patrol, helping make sure other children left school safely.

Lewandowski-Banach said she saw Turner put his arm out and stop a fourth-grader from walking into the path of a sport utility vehicle.

A Fantastic story that speaks volumes for the children in Sauk Village. Too many times, the children are overlooked for good, and Hunter Turner is an exceptional example of what our future holds.

Full story at http://nwi.com/articles/2009/05/27/news/illinois/doc0e92a18121d467c5862575c3000427cf.txt

Editorial - Sauk Village Sauk Talk Issue 45 May 2009 Volume VII

I just finished reading the recent Sauk Village Newsletter, and aside from the usual articles from the various departments, an excellent summary from Fire Dept. Capt. Rich Atwood, and the usual Summer Maintenance threats from Community Development, the section from Deputy Chief Rebecca Sailsbery (Spelled "Salsberry" on the Sauk Village Police website) had caught my eye.

It begins with the efforts of the Sauk Village Police Department actively seeking State funding from several funds through the ICJIA and other various State authorities. A few were awarded to the Village for underage sales of tobacco and alcohol details and "stings" to be conducted, and for more traffic details.

At the close of the article, was the reminder that with the Summer months here, the amount of children playing in and around the streets of the Village will be increasing, and that everyone should be "Considerate" and "Drive Safely". Which reminds me doesn't Sauk Village have an ordinance that specifically prohibits this activity? Doesn't Sauk Village have signs posted at many of the major street intersections stating that walking and playing in the streets is prohibited?

And let's not forget the clusters of teens and young adults that sometimes gather in groups of 8 to 10 in the streets, after dark, at times after curfew, and against Village Ordinances that continually interfere with the safe flow of traffic on our streets in Sauk Village, that go seemingly unchecked and unaddressed by Sauk Village Police. Don't forget to be "considerate" and "drive safely" so the Sauk Village Police can merely allow this to go unchecked, so that more people trying to drive through our town can be assaulted by the thugs that take offense to being told to use sidewalks as defined by Village Ordinance. So essentially, Deputy Chief Sailsbery is saying "We Give Up" and don't look for enforcement of this Village Ordinance anytime soon.

On April 7, Lewis Towers won a historic election to become the first African-American elected as village president of Sauk Village.

Running under the banner of the Citizens for Progress political party, Towers gained more than 60 percent of the vote over his opponent Derrick Burgess.

Towers is a manager in the Cook County assessor's office located in Markham, and also is the president of Concerned Citizens of Sauk Village, a commissioner of the Sauk Village Fire and Police Board, a member of the Sauk Village Parks and Recreation Committee, and a member of the Bloom Township Democratic Organization.

His Q&A session with the Northwest Indiana Times Online can be found at http://www.nwi.com/articles/2009/05/13/news/illinois/doccf76b01de36d989b862575b5000ba211.txt

House of Lynwood has been a home for local partygoers for almost 40 years. So the Lynwood police chief was taken aback when he drove by the banquet hall last week to see the front doors bent out.