Skokie Review

Soccer is more than a game to AYSO commissioner

Fri, 18 May 2012 17:43:25 -0500

If the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) was only about playing a game, it’s doubtful that Nives Bernardi would have been commissioner of the Skokie region for the last 16 years. True, she became involved in the organization 20 years ago because her son was playing soccer. Her husband, Larry Reis, an AYSO volunteer referee then, registered him when he was only a first-grader. “It’s a marvelous organization,” Bernardi said. “Once I became involved, I thought I would be here forever and I still may be but not as commissioner.” Bernardi is stepping down from her commissioner role in July …

New website at North Shore Senior Center

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:32:01 -0500

North Shore Senior Center officially launched its new website, www.nssc.org, last month. Featuring a contemporary and streamlined design, this website offers seniors and families a user-friendly online experience as they access information about North Shore Senior Center’s various programs and services. Following a series of “Visioning Sessions” held last Fall at the agency’s headquarters, North Shore Senior Center has adopted the tagline “Celebrating Seniors!” in its print and digital communications, the new website included. The Visioning Sessions were held to help the organization determine how to lay the groundwork for new programs and extended services -- things that will be …

Super Senior Day at NSSC

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:35:31 -0500

The North Shore Senior Center held its annual Super Senior Day on May 24. This year’s honorees, representing their volunteer work at organizations, included: Robert F. Anthony, American Legion Post 166 Mary Beverly, Foster Senior Club Norma Brand, Keshet Jean M. Broom, Executive Service Corps of Chicago Arthur G. Buehler, SHORE Community Services, Inc. Jane Knight Dampts, Woman’s Society, Winnetka Congregational Church Edie Davis, First Church of God Christian Life Center Frances Daley Delaney, St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church Charlie Dubman, North Shore Senior Center Gary Eberlein, St. Peter Community Church Marilyn Eichelberg, Glenview United Methodist Church Celene K. Epstein, …

Morton Grove martial arts school wins fight to stay open

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:52:49 -0500

As Duck-Keun Yoon leads his class of small children running around his martial arts school, each child jumps over a large equipment bag on the padded floor. When one of the smallest girls can’t quite make it over, he pulls her back so she can try a second time. When that attempt fails, Master Yoon — as he is known to his students — picks her up, lifts her over the bag and sets her back down on the floor laughing. The children learning tae kwon do at North Shore Martial Arts are young, some just 4 years old. Keyed …

District 65 teachers grant strike authority

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:08:40 -0500

Members of the District 65 teachers’ union have authorized their leadership to “take the steps necessary for a potential strike” in the event talks don’t produce an agreement. The School Board and its teachers’ union are negotiating an agreement to replace a four-year pact that expires June 30.

1.5 million people to use Midway, O’Hare this holiday weekend

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:24:01 -0500

About 1.5 million people are expected to pass through Chicago’s two airports this Memorial Day weekend, city aviation officials say.

Skokie police blotter for May 22

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:30:00 -0500

A weekly roundup of crime reports from the Skokie Police Department

Skokie school district embraces new way to teach math

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:28:00 -0500

Skokie School District 68’s Math Learning Team spent much time researching Singapore’s math program before adopting Focus In Math for its math curriculum this year. The Singapore version is called “My Pals are Here!” The program introduces fewer topics in each grade, but teaches them in greater depth. “Topics are taught to mastery, so they build from year to year across grade levels without repetition,” according to the website on Math In Focus. Math in Focus is highly visual, following a concrete-to-pictorial-to-abstract progression, the program states. Students spend the majority of the first half of the year studying number. This …

Property Transfers

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:28:00 -0500

Information is provided by Record Information Services, P.O. Box 894, Elburn IL 60119; phone (630) 557-1000; fax (630) 557-1001. SKOKIE 3910 Four Winds Way: Morris Weisman to Nicholas Kavalauskas, Sarah Kavalauskas, $310,000, April 17 4840 Foster St. Apt. 407: Foreman Trust to Mariana Sandulescu, $75,000, April 13 4949 Golf Road Apt. 205: Jay E. Strauss to Sonja Coster, $119,000, April 13 5361 Main St.: U.S. Bank N.A., trustee, to Hoa My Tang, Bao Hoa Tang, $170,000, April 17 8421 Christiana Ave.: Citimortgage Inc. to Leon Toia, $176,000, April 13 8612 Kedvale Ave.: Marsha R. Wildasin to Claudia E. Lasareff Mironoff, …

Skokie School District 68 takes on new math curriculum

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:28:00 -0500

“What does it look like and feel like to be a proficient student in mathematics?” Perhaps no question better explains Skokie School District 68’s significant change to a new math curriculum this year that, by all accounts, has been a big hit. One thing is for sure: District 68’s program isn’t how you or your parents learned math. Math In Focus, explained Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Laurie Heinz, de-emphasizes the kind of rote memorizing that was part of learning math in the classroom for decades. “Kids didn’t learn why, only how,” Heinz said. “This program teaches children to think beyond …

Restaurant’s final days become hard to swallow

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:26:00 -0500

An old menu from Pat’s Place, when it was called a different name, has been handed over to the Skokie Historical Society. The good-bye notice hangs in the window. “Thank you to all the customers for 52 years.” A makeshift book at the front of the restaurant, as the countdown clock to closing day May 26 ticks away, allows people to declare what the restaurant meant to them. “We the undersigned thank Pat Bellos and her great staff and her family for decades of service to the Skokie community.” “Pat’s Place is where I have come for friendship and affordable …

Pat’s Place says farewell after 52 years in Skokie

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:26:00 -0500

It could be any weekday at Pat’s Place, a fixture in downtown Skokie for more than a half century. “Are you making minestrone tomorrow?’’ the man at the counter asks. “Probably will,” says Pat Bellos. “You have to work tomorrow, huh?” Minutes later, a man sitting alone in a cozy booth tells Pat that his wife is on the way and orders for her. “No lettuce, right?” Bellos asks. Right. When it comes to Pat’s Place customers, Bellos is almost always right. These aren’t just customers; they are friends who receive personal attention that has come from the informal building …

Evanston’s public beaches to open Saturday, May 26

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:21:55 -0500

The city of Evanston’s 2012 beach season will begin on Saturday, May 26. The last day of the season will be Monday, Sept. 3 (Labor Day). A daily pass or season token must be presented for beach admission.

Woman charged in fatal crash

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:00:42 -0500

A 23-year-old Skokie woman has been charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence in the fatal accident Monday involving an 8-year-old boy on his bicycle.ch The driver of the striking vehicle was identified as Hanin Goma of the 5000 block of Wright Terrace. In addition to the felony count, Goma is charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of drugs. Goma also was cited for allegedly failing to yield at a stop intersection and failure to provide proof of valid insurance. A morning bond hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 23. …

Rental license proposal slated for trustees

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:20:54 -0500

Skokie leaders consider a proposal to license all multiunit rental housing in the village as a “preventative strategy” that will preserve or improve the character of neighborhoods. Some landlords view it another way. They see it as government interference and a needless burden of time and money. The deciding vote will come from the Village Board after two public hearings were held this spring and the village’s Public Safety Commission unanimously recommended the proposal. If village trustees sign off, the new law will require landlords to pay annual fees, participate in an education program and maintain a crime-free building through …

Skokie Library trustee, volunteer wins key grant

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:21:37 -0500

Skokie Library Board member Karen Parrilli is a familiar face at the village’s renowned library, not only in the board room where trustees meet monthly, but also in the busy youth services department. Before she was appointed to her trustee seat in 2009 and then elected to a six-year term in 2011, Parrilli was a weekly volunteer at the library, an activity she never gave up. Every Monday, you can still find the enthusiastic Parrilli helping out in the library in a variety of ways. She knows of no better place to be. “This kind of work was always a …