(Apologies for the occasional spacing issues that pop up in a few of these posts. It’s a WordPress issue I’m trying to figure out ASAP.)
Once a year, the mall’s all his
He never obliges requests for pets. Too messy for the sleigh.
Gone in an instant
Nov. 1, 2009
As the group walked toward the gravesite, Moore began rapping on the van window and yelling. Koenig figured her mother had changed her mind about visiting the grave.
Instead, she was trying to scream.
For visiting nuns, Lemont tour a holy order
Oct. 21, 2009
In theological parlance, they are the Congregation of School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King, a Franciscan sisterhood made up of 1,092 members worldwide.
On Tuesday morning, they were both guests of honor and tourists at Mount Assisi Academy, an all-girls high school located on a steep hilltop in Lemont.
After Jan. 1, Worth hookah bars a pipe dream
Oct. 14, 2009
The quaint smoking lounge seems miles away from its location inside a Harlem Avenue strip mall.
Relaxing trance music is piped through the speakers while the sweet, spicy aroma of flavored tobacco wafts through the maroon room, past the hanging lamps and ornate hookah pipes situated on clean glass tables.
Come January, the Friends Cafe and Lounge in Worth will be history. Likewise for the Havana Cafe and Hookah Lounge and a pair of local cigar lounges.
Sept. 20, 2009
ACORN is a trailblazing American organization that helps advance social justice causes and elevates the discourse on poverty in this country.
Or the group is a controversial front for the Democratic Party that drains tax dollars and supports voter fraud and the smuggling of sex slaves.
The lens you choose to view the agency through is, of course, your choice.
Some of them slouched in the chairs. Others maintained eye contact. One answered a cell phone call.
1st Lt. Derwin Williams laid to rest
July 19, 2009
“Sometimes you have to go with tears in your eyes,” he said. “But family, you can smile today — you know that your loved one lived a life that was worth living.”
Oak Lawn struggling to finish kids museum
June 9, 2009
One by one, a motorized pulley system lifts colorful kites to the ceiling of the Children’s Museum of Oak Lawn and releases them onto a track, sending the diamond-shaped objects around the room’s perimeter.
Hiccuping along at a slow clip, the kite makes its lap then comes to a stop. The whole process takes about 10 seconds.
“That’s kind of the big thing,” museum director Adam Woodworth said.
‘Old Friends’ Lost in Fire
May 31, 2009
For the better part of 37 years, Robert Alexander walked into a barn full of animals at Riegel Farm each morning and said hello to the many personalities that brightened his day.
There was Edgar Allen Crow, the talking bird, greeting the 63-year-old farm manager with a long hello. Yoda, the aging, arthritic goat, stirred, and Maggie, the veteran 29-year-old Morgan horse, stamped her hooves and clamored for her caretaker’s attention.
“Be patient,” he’d tell them. “I can’t do it all at once.”
And while some of the memories during the past three-plus decades may have blended together, Alexander likely won’t forget the early hours of Friday, when he was awoken about 1:30 a.m. by a phone call.
‘Reality’ TV comes to Oak Lawn
May 3, 2009
A man wearing a dark suit stood outside Oak Lawn’s village hall Friday, sucking the last long drags off a cigarette before resuming a reality show’s private filming inside the village’s public auditorium.
“I’m an actor,” the man said. “The judge’s assistant.”
The actor was indeed an actor, but the judge wasn’t really a judge.
Building a Future in Tough Times
April 19, 2009
For Jolie Gallaway, a union job in the construction trade offered an escape from the unsteady toil of waitressing.
Old Bust of the Boss Going for Just a Buck
April 16, 2009
For James Farmer, the mystery began at a Willow Springs estate sale.
Perched on a table inside the home was a bust of Richard J. Daley, the late mayor’s smiling eyes staring at the laid-off factory worker.
Tough economy no fun for arcade supplier
March 5, 2009
The heyday of Southwest Side arcades a fading memory, dozens of leftover games end up in an Oak Lawn storefront.
They’re all for sale and work just fine, but they stand unplugged, lifeless and apparently of little value to consumers anymore.
A heartfelt memorial…or vandalism?
Beat column, Feb. 22, 2009
“I couldn’t understand when I drove past it,” McSheridan said. “What would give them the motivation to take that down?”
Ex-MVCC candidate charged with harassment
Feb. 19, 2009
A former South Florida police informant, disgraced Illinois private eye and one-time candidate for Moraine Valley Community College board turned himself in to Oak Lawn police Wednesday on charges he harassed a former political opponent.
Project in the pipeline
Feb. 8, 2009
The water system serving much of the Southland could be getting a massive overhaul if officials in Oak Lawn can secure millions in funding under the federal stimulus plan.
Clicking here will take you to my profile on the Times site, where you’ll find a list of stories I’ve written beginning in Feb. 2008. For reasons I can’t explain, not all of my stories carry over into that list, though. Since I’m no longer employed there, it’s unclear whether or not my Staff Writer profile will exist much longer.
(Clicking headline will launch .pdf of original published story or take you to link on the Times page)
Gun Licenses Soar in Fla.
Sept. 21, 2008
The number of Floridians with permission to pack heat has jumped nearly 50 percent in three years.
Prescription for Deception: How a Doctor Turned From Healing to Dealing
Aug. 31, 2008
GULFPORT — Black marker spelled out warnings on the tattered alley fence. ”Keep off.” They climbed anyway. People filed in and out of the filthy shack at all hours. Complaints poured into the police department. • It wasn’t your average drug hole. • It was the clinic of Dr. Craig Bammer, D.O., whom Pinellas sheriff’s detectives called “a sequoia in this forest of drug trafficking.” Authorities said Bammer was part of a growing epidemic, a major supplier of prescription drugs to dealers and addicts. But a Times investigation shows Bammer could have been stopped long ago.
Treatment of disabled man attracts national spotlight
Feb. 13, 2008
TAMPA — Hardly anyone noticed last month when a Hillsborough County detention deputy unceremoniously dumped quadriplegic Brian Sterner out of a wheelchair and onto a jail floor.
Tuesday, everyone noticed.
Police uncover eBay art scam
Jan. 17, 2008
TAMPA — Posing as a customer, Tampa police Detective Bob Baxter placed a bid for paintings by Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall on eBay. He won.
Deadly mix of fog, smoke create mayhem on I-4
Jan. 10, 2008
WINTER HAVEN — Jacque Provau was driving to see a doctor in Orlando early Wednesday morning when her Mazda van entered a thick fog. Traffic ahead on Interstate 4 abruptly stopped.
Murder suspect found dead
Dec. 6, 2007
TAMPA — Humberto Cruz walked into the small front office Tuesday, demanding keys to his estranged wife’s apartment, claiming he wanted to install a plasma television. It was going to be a surprise. For the holidays.
DUI Deputy may have wrongly jailed dozens
June 15, 2007
TAMPA — Daniel Brock won high praise for jailing impaired motorists. Mothers Against Drunk Driving honored him. So did his bosses.
But one of Hillsborough County’s most aggressive DUI deputies may have wrongly sent dozens of people to jail, the Sheriff’s Office acknowledged Thursday.
Officials close jailhouse door to Buddhist chaplain
Feb. 26, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG — Buddhist chaplain Frank Tedesco has instructed murderers to “feel the cool air over the tip of their nose.”
He has counseled drug dealers while they “followed their breath” during guided meditations. And by the dozens, inmates at the Pinellas County Jail requested his Saturday afternoon services and asked for literature about the Eastern religion.
But earlier this month, Tedesco learned a valuable lesson in a lifetime full of teaching them: Jail officials stripped him of his duties, citing a breach of contract after three bins of spirituality books found by jail officials were deemed contraband.
