KWTJanuary 2012

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Winter Hints Ron Bartlett

Wintertime in Chicagoland can bring on many challenges While you can't change the weather, you can minimize some of winter's biggest threats to your home.

Heavy snow accumulation can pose a threat to your home and business -- as it builds up and as it melts.

The three most impor-tant things to do are: •Watch for snow accumulation on the (downwind) side of a higher-level roof, where blowing snow will collect. For safe removal that won't endanger you or damage your roof, consult a roofing contractor or call us at Bartlett’s Home Inspection for a referral.

•Remove snow from basement stair-wells, window wells and walls. Melt-ing snow can lead to water damage and moisture intrusion.

•Keep your attic well ventilated to maintain a temperature close to that of the outdoors to minimize the risk of ice dams forming. A warm attic melts snow on the roof, caus-ing water to run down and refreeze at the roof's edge, where it's much cooler. If this happens, ice builds up and blocks water from draining. The water is then forced under the roof covering and into your attic or down the inside walls of your house. Heating Equipment

Inspect or have your furnace ser-viced at the beginning of the heating season, things you should look for when inspecting the HVAC equip-ment, include the filter you should have at least a 2-month supply on hand and you should replace them every month. I recommend a low to

middle-grade filter for most furnac-es, as this dose not impede airflow like some denser filters will, thereby reducing wear and tear on the unit. Inspect and replace filters on April Air (humidifying equipment) and look at the overall condition of the unit. Is it making a funny noise? Is it dirty or is the flue rusty? These are all indicators of neglected HVAC equipment. Always remember to use common sense when tackling any projects around. Use proper safety equipment and remember, if you’re not sure about something, always consult with a professional.

Jan 14th Deadline Post Office ClosingBy Nadia Kanhai

Jan. 14 deadline: will time expire on Post Office future?

Christmas and birthday cards arriv-ing next day via first class mail may soon be a memory of times gone by.

The public is invited to voice their opinion on the topic, but only until Saturday, January 14, 2012.

In researching its viable options in this tough economy, the U.S. Postal Service is considering closing the Fox Valley Mail Processing and Dis-tribution Center on Aurora’s far east side. This is part of an overhaul to consolidate 487 facilities into around 250 facilities in an effort to cut costs. Postal officials estimate that the clos-ing of the Fox Valley facility would save approximately $18 million in maintenance, transportation, man-agement, and staffing costs.

On a Thursday evening between Christmas and New Year, the Post Office held a public hearing regard-ing a possible move of the area mail processing from Fox Valley to South

Suburban (Bedford Park) Illinois. The audience was filled with postal employees and union representa-tives, a handful of elected officials, and a faithful citizen or two.

“These are difficult times,” the hear-ing officer noted. “The revenue we generate isn’t enough to fund out network, processing, delivery, and facilities. We operate on revenue, not on tax dollars.”

This statement was the crux of the hearing, as employees, union repre-sentatives, public officials, and con-cerned citizens discussed options for retaining jobs, business, and reliable mail delivery for the community.

Postal proposals under considera-tion include studying nearly 250 processing facilities for possible con-solidation or closure, reducing mail processing equipment by as much as 50 percent, dramatically decreasing the nationwide transportation net-work, adjusting the workforce size by as many as 35,000 positions, and revising service standards for First-Class Mail.

Most of those present at the pub-lic hearing did not agree with their boss, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s statement that “we are forced to face a new reality today. First-Class Mail supports the organ-ization and drives network require-ments. With the dramatic decline in mail volume and the resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is no longer realistic.”

“The American people are entitled to first-class service,” retorted Ken Christy, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Illi-nois Chapter. “Four hundred (postal facilities) down to 200 in two years? This is too steep, too drastic.”

“(United States Postal Service) Headquarters told us which plants to study,” Peter Allen, Central Illi-nois district manager explained. “If we eliminate first-class overnight mail, then this will work.”

The mail-processing network was constructed to process and deliver first-class mail within a 1- to 3-day window depending on where the mail is sent and delivered. With the

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proposed change, the new service standard would become 2 to 3 days, meaning that on average, customers would no longer receive mail the day after it was mailed. If implement-ed, the change in service standards would allow for signifi cant infra-structure changes to be made across the nation.

“We took cost-cutting measures, too,” stated Aurora mayor Tom Weis-ner. “But we don’t tell residents we’ll plow out the snow in 2 to 3 days (as opposed to immediately).”

Weisner probed further, “Why are we dismantling vital services? What aren’t we fi guring out how to save it? Why are these rules applied to mail services, but nowhere else?”

Allen, who fi elded the public hear-ing comments and questions, was put on the defensive throughout the evening. “It’s not my decision,” he said, stating that he was following in-structions from headquarters. “Talk to Mr. Donahue.”

“Peter Allen is just the messenger,” Christy clarifi ed for the audience. “Our enemy is Postmaster General Donahue. Representative Hultgren is our enemy, and Rep. Judy Big-gert.” Christy explained that H.R. 1309, supported by Hultgren, has only one cosponsor, but may come out of committee. Meanwhile, House Speaker Boehner refuses to allow H.R. 1351, which has the sup-port of all the Democrats, as well as two Republicans, out of committee for discussion and vote.

“This is an odd day to have a pub-lic hearing,” Linda Turney, of the American Postal Workers Union, observed. “The Thursday between Christmas and New Year? It looks like you’re slipping this under cover.”

“Headquarters required the hearings by December 30,” Allen responded, stating he was giving up his vaca-tion time with family to attend the hearings.

“Where are the congressmen or their representatives?” Turney asked, looking around the room. “They’re not here. Is the Post Offi ce hastening its demise? Isn’t the United States Postal Service too big to fail? We’re

just asking for a reduction, not a bailout.”

Meanwhile, Rob Sherman of Buf-falo Grove, addressed the hearing with cost-savings strategies. One idea was replacing house-to-house walking with cluster boxes while sell-ing a subscription service for home delivery. Sherman’s other idea in-volved selling Saturday delivery sub-scriptions or post offi ce boxes, cre-ating a revenue source instead of an expense.

Other residents are encouraged to submit their comments to the postal service, but the window of opportuni-ty is closing. Written comments must be addressed to: Consumer and Industry Con-tact Manager, US Postal Ser-vice Central Il-linois District, 6801 W. 73rd St., Bedford Park, IL 60499-9631, and must be postmarked by January 14, 2012.

Community Notes By Kim Savage

Long before Martin Luther King Day was established as a federal hol-iday, Illinois began celebrating his legacy on January 15, 1973.

Former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington introduced a bill in the Illinois House, where he served from 1965-1976, declaring January 15 as a state holiday in honor of The Rev-erend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The national holiday, held on the third Monday in January, was fi rst held in 1986.

Several celebrations highlighting Dr. King's commitment to social justice and community service are sched-uled throughout DuPage County.

Thursday, Jan. 12-Aurora University hosts Rhonda Joy McLean, deputy general counsel of Time Inc. and co-author of "The Lit-

tle Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women. " 7 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium, 407 S. Calumet Avenue in Au-rora. For more information visit aurora.edu/calendar.

Monday, Jan. 16-North Central College Annual MLK Prayer Breakfast will feature alumnae and pastor Rev-erend Dr. Tracy Smith Malone. 7 a.m. on the sec-ond fl oor of the Harold and Eva White Activi-ties Center, 325 E. Benton Ave. Reservations are required; call 630-637-5151.

College of Du-Page and Ben-edictine Univer-

sity host their 17th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast with keynote speaker, Mawi Asge-dom, President of Mental Karate, 8 am at Krasa Student Center, 5700 College Road in Lisle. Tickets are $25 and available from the College of DuPage Box Offi ce, 630-942-4000. A portion of the proceeds benefi ts the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund.

The 22nd Annual DuPage County Celebration of the Life, Legacy, and Vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. features guest speaker, Reverend Dr. Donald F. Guest, Urban Min-istry Consultant. Music by DuPage AME Church choir. 6:30pm at Elm-hurst College's Hammerschmidt Chapel, 190 E. Prospect Avenue in Elmhurst.

Thursday, Jan. 19-“America I AM: The African Ameri-can Imprint,” look at American cul-ture through the nearly 500-year-old lens of African-American history by keynote speaker Tavis Smiley. 7 p.m. in Pfeiff er Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave. Tickets are free to the North Central community and $10 for the public at northcentralcollege.edu/showtix.

Saturday, Jan. 21-Gospel Extravaganza at 7 p.m. in Pfeiff er Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave. Tickets are $15/adults, $8/students and senior citizens at northcentralcollege.edu/showtix.

Village of Oswego Welcomes 2012 By Nadia R. Kanhai

Oswego village offi cials are excited about 2012, after all the new devel-opments of 2011.

2011 brought some disappointments and lessons, but Oswego is still “the best place to live, work, and play,” according to Village President Brian LeClercq, and CNNMoney.com se-lected to Oswego as one its Top 100 places to live for 2011.

Among the disappointments and les-sons was the sudden closing of the Lowe’s store. However, as the Village has continued to move forward stra-tegically, the loss was off set by posi-tive developments during the year.

For example, in May 2011, the Vil-lage established the Economic De-velopment Committee to encourage growth for retail, offi ce, restaurants, and industrial businesses. The Com-munity Relations worked together with the Visitors Bureau to expand joint outreach.

The Village also added a map and social media feeds like Facebook and Twit-ter to its community outreach eff orts.Last year’s big events included the Air Fair, Wine of the Fox, Christmas Walk, and pairing the Concert in

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the Park with the Park District and Country Market. 2011 also brought in building permits for more than 100 new homes, an increase over 2010.

Construction projects for 2012 in-clude the White Oak senior housing facility, Oswego Animal Hospital, and a new Chick-fi l-A. The down-town district boasts seven new occu-pants and a shopping guide.

Meanwhile, the Village is setting goals through its fi ve-year strategic plan. One goal for 2012 is to bring a new village administrator on board. Currently, Dwight Baird, the chief of police, serves as the interim vil-lage administrator. In addition, the Village is working toward re-accred-itation of the Police Department, in order to maintain the highest stand-ards and professionalism.

Other 2012 projects include further development of a diverse revenue stream, consisting of more than tax-es and user fees. Public transporta-tion continues to be a key issue for LeClercq, who has been working on the issue for more than 10 years. The Village continues to build its rela-tionships with other governmental bodies, such as the park district and school district, so they can combine resources and provide a better value to the community.

“This town is like a big family to me,” said LeClercq, gazing with pride at downtown Oswego from his Village Hall offi ce window. He believes in building and maintain-ing infrastructure such as safe water for quality living. Along that line, LeClercq hopes to add more offi ce and light industrial living-wage jobs to the community.

Real estate transactions are open-ing up. Stay tuned to the Village for more growth ideas in 2012.

Press Release by the Staff

Steppin' Out Dance of Plano, IL will be permanently closing their doors as of January 28, 2012.

We will be teaching lessons up to the last day we are open and would like to invite you to come in and take a lesson or two, as well as join us for a celebration of music and dance at our WINTER SHOWCASE Sun-day, January 29, 2012.

Ballet, Jazz, Ballroom, Latin, and Swing Dance performances by Step-pin’ Out Dance students of all ages; as well as musical numbers per-formed by special guests and friends of Steppin’ Out Dance.

Tickets are $5 per person and can be purchased at the ven-ue: The Opera House of Sand-wich located at 140 East Railroad Street, Sandwich, IL. For more information call (815)508-5994.--Steppin' Out Dance(815)508-5994holidaydance@gmail.comwww.steppinoutdance.biz

Original Oswego by Tia Brooks

Previous to my employment with the Village of Oswego, I was the track photographer for Arlington Park and Hawthorne Race Course where I was responsible for promoting the tracks in print and web-based media. I enjoyed my job immensely. I mean, how can you go wrong working out-doors and around huge majestic ani-mals? And how many people do you know who can actually say they enjoy their job? But, I used to travel over 90 miles round trip, to my job, and working at the track meant working nights and weekends, not to mention holidays.

This eventually led me to ignore everything in my own “back yard,” and my life became the track, which, don’t get me wrong— it’s defi nitely an interesting life and was hard to leave behind, but I knew there was so much waiting to be discovered in my own back yard.

I am someone who is passion-ate about learning new things, and now is the time to take advantage of all that is waiting to be discov-ered. In my monthly column, I will be sharing my local discoveries and experiences in and around the Vil-lage of Oswego. In this column, I hope to discover and celebrate the new and old “pioneers” of Oswego. From cultural and entertainment events to historical innovations and awareness, I plan on sharing the pioneer spirit and entrepreneurship that makes Oswego so great. I hope you will follow me on my journey through the Village of Oswego!

Montgomery News By Sheryl Krase

What a year it has been here in the Fox Valley. No other town has seen more change than that of Montgomery.

Looking at 2012, the Village plans to continue to build on the changes

started in 2011. Some of the major changes you will see include the new website, which features more inter-active information and allows resi-dents to create an online account to pay their bills.

Also look for the Village to continue its dedication to providing informa-tion through social media: Facebook and Twitter, sharing news from the community.

For example, during the winter months, this is a great opportunity to learn of the school closings or get construction road repair information. 2012 also continues change on the construction front. Started in 2011, Orchard Road is being expanded to four lanes and will continue to add improvements to the far west end of town, so be patient, the wait will be worth it. Route 30 looks to fi nally be underway as the Bypass will be expanded to four lanes through the village adding, so be advised to be patient through the spring and sum-mer months.

So with a year of change, the Vil-lage will look to keep you informed through its new website and social media.

Yorkville News By Martin Flowers

The City of Yorkville is looking ahead just a few weeks for the City Address. Mayor Gary Golinkski will be outlining the city budget and the objectives the City hopes to achieve in the new calendar year.

The year ahead will look to build the bike paths along Route 47, working in conjunction with the State of Il-linois. Another major issue facing the city will be how to deal with the budget defi cit. In 2011, the City re-duced payroll and scaled back ser-vices in cost savings measures.

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While facing the deficit, the City will look to continue to create opportu-nities for economic development, teaming with regional and county agencies to create comprehensive job creation plan. The City is also look-ing at how to continue bringing pub-lic transportation to the region.

For all the information and high-lights of the last year, please visit the city website.

A View From the Topby Mark Garrity

The Republican primaries for the presidential nomination have finally started in earnest. It's time for vot-ers, especially Democrats and inde-pendents who have no intention of voting for Republicans to examine the chances of the various GOP can-didates to see who is going to come out of the pack to challenge Presi-

dent Obama.

We can ignore the hyperbole com-ing out of the GOP campaigns as they argue about who is more con-servative, who wants to abolish more federal agencies, and who can act more apoplectic about the prospects of another four years of Obama. In the end, my guess is a majority of Republican primary voters will go with the candidate they think has the most financial backing. Addi-tionally, as the prospects for unseat-ing Obama dim, the more likely it is they will settle for the candidate whose turn it is, the next in line. I t's convenient for confused Republi-cans that "the next man up" also hap-pens to be "corporations are people" Mitt Romney, the candidate with more Wall Street backing than any-one. Seeing as few Republican vot-ers or anyone else really trusts him or shares his burning desire to see him in the White House, he's becom-ing the perfect candidate for them to

sacrifice at the head of the ticket. As one South Carolina Republican said he thinks of Romney as the "central casting candidate." He looks like what they think a president ought to look like.

The GOP establishment is allow-ing the old untrustworthy moderate deadwood (first McCain in 2008 and now Romney) to wear out their welcomes while leaving the Demo-crats to clean up the messes left over from the last 30 years of their failed experiment in trickle-down econom-ics. In 2016, there will be a new crop of candidates, and maybe Republi-cans will find one they can really get excited about. It's been a long time since they've had a candidate they revered like Reagan, and they don't have one this year.

Despite an effort by evangelicals to meet in Texas next weekend before the South Carolina primary to coa-lesce around a single candidate to oppose Romney, they probably won't succeed and even if they do, it will probably be too late. These religious right power brokers, hosts (and Rick Perry supporters) Paul and Nancy Pressler, and other panjandrums like Don Wildmon, the former chairman of the American Family Association (and a supporter of Newt Gingrich); former presidential candidate Gary Bauer (who has just endorsed Rick Santorum); and Focus on the Family Founder James Dobson might have enough sway to convince Perry and possibly Gingrich to drop out, but that won't change the trajectory any-where but South Carolina, and I'm guessing not even there.

Now that's not to say Romney can coast to the convention in Tampa. His poll numbers have steadily dropped, as I write this on Sunday afternoon (1/08) he's lost 8 points in the Suffolk poll in New Hampshire, down from 43% right after Iowa to 35%. In last night's debate, the other candidates continued squab-bling amongst themselves, much to the surprise of the media. Chastened by the coverage they went after him harder in this morning's debate on NBC. While some of Romney's slide in NH can be attributed to attacks by other candidates, left-leaning blog-gers, and the White House, I suspect most of it is self inflicted. The more voters see videos like this the less they like him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjxCQaqhydA

As a candidate, there's nothing re-markable about Romney. He's just another very rich Republican with a lot of other very rich Republi-cans' money behind him. Still pretty

wooden on the stump, the few policy papers he's released are standard GOP junk. According to the Tax Policy Center, his recently released tax plan would raise taxes on peo-ple making less than $40,000 a year and lower them for millionaires by another 9% -- what else is new with Republicans? Remember, John Mc-Cain an awful candidate himself, who couldn't even remember Rom-ney's name the other day and mis-takenly endorsed Obama momen-tarily before correcting himself, beat him in 2008.

One of his worst features is his poor-ly aimed criticisms at Obama. For instance, to disprove the attacks oth-ers have leveled at him that he's just Obama-lite or secretly still a moder-ate, he lashed out at Obama earlier this week for announcing $480 bil-lion in defense cuts over the next 10 years saying "absolutely not, we must protect our military." That's ridicu-lous overblown bombast. Doesn't he realize the agreement John Boehner and the tea party demanded in the debt ceiling deal last summer calls for even larger defense cuts? His pat-tern of overheated rhetoric to endear himself to the tea party base will come back to haunt him in the gen-eral election.

Of course, appealing to the tea party and the religious right hurts all their candidates. According to a study done by David E. Campbell, an associate professor of political science at Notre Dame, and Rob-ert D. Putnam, a professor of pub-lic policy at Harvard, the tea party is the least popular political group or person in the country out of 24 with the Christian right coming in 21st. Republican primaries before April 1st now award delegates proportion-ally instead of on a winner-take-all basis wth one big exception. Janu-ary 31st, Florida will still give all its 50 delegates to the winner, as will most later states. Some say that should slow Romney down enough for someone else like Santorum or Gingrich to overtake him. I say it's not going to happen. The last thing the RNC or Republican voters want is to drag the primaries out all spring for the dubious benefit of candidates who have no realistic chance of win-ning the general election. The DNC already has enough juicy video in the bank of all these guys to run at-tack ads until November. And then there's money, campaigns are expen-sive. None of the rest of the field has the kind of money Romney has, or his financial backing. He made a lot of his money as a vulture capitalist, he's still getting over a million a year

from his former company Bain Capi-tal and is said to be personally worth between $200 and $250 million. He refuses to release his tax returns and won't divulge who his financial bundlers are, which is unheard of in presidential politics. He had his aides buy up the hard drives of their computers and destroy all emails when he left the lone office he was elected to, the Massachusetts gover-norship, again unprecedented secre-cy. His approval ratings went down every year he was governor of MA and he wouldn't have been re-elect-ed if he had run again in 2006. He's flip-flopped on about every position he's ever held, he knows nothing about foreign policy as evidenced by a laughably ignorant op-ed he wrote in late 2010 attacking Obama over the pending START treaty, which virtually every foreign policy expert and knowledgeable former Republi-can politician supported. Gingrich is right calling Romney on his "pious baloney" about not being a career politician. Romney ran for senate in 1994 and lost to Teddy Kennedy during the Republican wave when he blew a lead in September. He was Governor of Massachusetts for one term from 2003 to 2007 —when he would have lost re-election —and then immediately ran for president, where he lost the Republican nomi-nation to John McCain in 2008.

“You’'ve been running consistently for years and years and years,” said Gingrich. “So this idea that sud-denly, citizenship showed up in your mind, — just level with the American people, you’ve been running since the 1990s.”

His claim that he's not a career poli-tician is a bad joke on a par with his sidesplitters that he's middle class and unemployed. Gingrich is right, Romney's been a politician for years, just not a successful one.

It's that money that makes him the frontrunner and makes him danger-ous to Obama's re-election prospects,

Mark Garrity

Route 34 Automotive & Transmission - Yorkville, IL 60560 - (630) 552-2002

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as Gingrich discovered to his chagrin in Iowa when he was buried under millions of dollars of negative ads, most of it spent by anonymous Rom-ney backers through a Super Pac run by his former aides. So while Repub-lican candidates search for anyone-but-Romney and fi nd them all lack-ing, keep your eye on the guy who will be their last man standing. As bad as he is, it will be Romney.

Globe Trecker By Robert Enriquez

Puerto Rico

In November of 1493 during his sec-ond voyage to the new world, an is-land the natives called “Bonrinken,” and named “Puerto Rico” by the Spanish sailors, was discovered by Columbus.

Puerto Rico literally means “Rich Port” in Spanish. The island famous-ly becoming a naval destination be-cause of the “rich” abundance of wildlife, fruit and fi sh. In a letter to the King of Spain, Columbus de-scribes Taino natives: "They are very gentle… in all the world there can be no better people ...They love their neighbors as themselves, and are al-ways laughing.”

Many early Spaniards brought back stories of an incredible beauty among native women; a fact that may help explain how an island of a 3.5 mil-lion, a very proud mixture of Taino, African, and European descendants, has produced four Miss Universes.

During its Spanish rule, Puerto Rico was the point of entry to Latin America. Pirates and privateers fre-quented the island, including the likes of Henry Morgan and Sir Fran-cis Drake. After the Spanish Ameri-can War (1898), the island became a US protectorate: all Puerto Ricans

are US citizens. The island is not a state, however, and it does not par-ticipate in federal elections. Four Pu-erto Ricans have received the Medal of Honor, fi ghting in our nation’s wars.

Puerto Rico is home to the only rain forest in the US Forest Service, “El Yunque,” where it rains almost 12 feet per year. A native of the Yunque, as well as the rest of the island, is a tree frog named “Coquí,” precise-ly because of the chirping sound it makes. Puerto Ricans love the ubiq-uitous Coqui and its unmistakable chirp.

With a cultural profusion of food, music and peoples, Puerto Rico is decidedly one of my favorite destina-tions in all of Latin America.

Common Cents Design Out With the Old By Pat Gavros

Now that the holidays have passed, most of you have probably fi nally taken down your trees and decora-tions. Sadly, now when you look around, the house suddenly feels “naked.” Gone are all of the things that brought warmth and coziness to you home and everything seemingly looks bare. Don’t despair, for now is the time to take stock of the place and make some changes.

Maybe you had to move some fur-niture around to accommodate your tree, or you had to throw stuff in bins or boxes to get them out of the way so you could make room for the oth-er “stuff ” you were going to put out. Whatever the case may be, here’s the good news, now is the time to see your spaces with a fresh perspective. It’s as good a time as any to get rid

of things that no longer really add to your environment.

Although you’re hunkering down for the Winter, that doesn’t mean you can’t give yourself a psychological lift by changing-up your spaces. This is a great time of year to put a fresh new color on your walls, or to really get rid of all of the clutter that now looks tired and worn. If you’re the type who becomes overwhelmed with thinking about the whole thing, then just concentrate on one goal or one easy task. Maybe you can just clear off a table of all the little collectibles. Or, maybe your fl oral arrangements look tired, dusty and dull. You could re-arrange your artwork, etc.

Winter is also great time to reorgan-ize. Many think that Spring is the best time, but I say why waste a beautiful Spring day purging your closets and storage areas, when you’ve got these gloomy Winter days that are just calling for a “rejuvenation” project. I know many people are beginning to think about Tax time and are gather-ing together all of their papers and fi nancial information. What bet-ter time to really re-organize your home’s offi ce area. It might not actu-ally be an offi ce. It could be boxes in a corner of the bedroom, or a desk overfl owing with papers, receipts, cards and letters. Who knows? You might have several “junk” drawers in the kitchen where you’ve been cram-ming papers, receipts, and other offi ce-type clutter. Now is the time to get those drawers cleaned out and start anew.

You're going to need an area to work in and my favorite place is either the dining room table, or the top of the bed in my guest bedroom where my offi ce/desk is located. Before you begin, make a plan. I normally do my own reorganization by pre-sort-ing things. First, separate things into categories such as bills, receipts, paid invoices, cards & letters, payroll in-formation, tax info, and offi ce sup-plies. Then you can simply take each pile and begin to separate it and put it away in the correct places. And, by the way, do you really need an en-tire drawer full of pens, pencils and markers? Then you can begin to go through each pile little-by-little put-ting things away correctly and throw-ing away what is not needed. It’s a time-consuming process, but worth the eff ort.

Once you have this accomplishment under your belt, I think it will propel you to start re-organizing the rest of your home during these very gloomy Winter days. When Spring comes

your home will be ready to shine and you’ll have time to enjoy the budding trees and blossoming fl owers instead of cleaning out closets and trying to make your home livable again.

Remember, out with the old…..can be a very liberating thing. Then there’s always room for “in with the new.”

From the Hill by Roger Sheeman

Obama vs. ???

Now that the primary season is un-der way, let’s take a look at the Re-publican candidates and their chanc-es of winning the nomination to run against Barack Obama later this year on November 6th.

The Iowa caucus narrowed down the fi eld with the departure of Michelle Bachman. With dismal results for Rick Perry, it looks like the end is near for him, too. He is skipping New Hampshire and putting all his remaining resources in the South Carolina primary on Tuesday Janu-ary 10th. Any other fi nish but fi rst or a real close second does him in for sure. This Republican primary is like no other in history. The fl avor-of-the-month candidate is unprec-edented. First it was Bachman at the Iowa store polls, then when Rick Perry announced he was a candi-date, within a week he went to the top of the polls. His poor debate per-formance dropped him way down in the polls.

Then came Herman Cain, the God-father pizza man. With his 9 9 9 plan and his frank speaking manner, he caught eye of many folks and shot

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to the top of the polls. Then, every married politician's nightmare hap-pened, affairs with more than one woman were revealed. He has de-nied them, but he decided the scru-tiny and angst his family was going through was too much so he with-drew from the race.

After a few great debate performanc-es, the once thought bottom-feeder Newt Gingrich raced to the top of the polls. Newt was alive but didn’t have a ground game or finances to compete in Iowa. Super Pacs spent millions discrediting Newt’s past. Down goes Newt from being a front-runner in Iowa to finishing 5th in the Iowa caucus. They say money can’' buy love, but it sure bought enough negative attack ads to kill any chance Newt had to win.

Conservatives who had their hopes on Bachman, Perry, Cain, and Newt finally got down to the last real con-servative left, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. His show-ing in Iowa came as a surprise since he was polling in the single digits during all the debates. You have to give him credit for virtually tying Romney in Iowa. Romney only won by 8 votes.

Santorum visited every county in Iowa and held hundreds of town hall meetings, shaking hands and kiss-ing babies. He has practically lived in Iowa for a year. His strong social conservative message resonated well with the vast number of evangelical Christians who live in Iowa. That strong finish has catapulted him to be the anyone-but-Romney conserv-atives favorite guy.

Did I mention Ron Paul? No, because he is really a libertarian wrapped up in Republican clothing. His radical views on foreign policy and some do-mestic issues as legalizing drugs are not in line with Republican values and principles. Even though he came in third in Iowa, he polls around 8% nationally and has no chance of win-ning the nomination.

Mitt Romney did better than expect-ed in Iowa because he did not spend as much time in Iowa as the other candidates, although he had a good ground game because he ran there four years ago, which gave him a ready volunteer list of people to help him. He was aided by all the Super Pacs that ran ads for him attacking mainly Newt Gingrich.

Now it’s on to New Hampshire where Mitt Romney has a huge lead and is expected to win handily. For-mer Utah Governor John Huntsman

is staking his chance for the nomina-tion on New Hampshire. He did not campaign in Iowa at all. A showing of third or worse will dash his hopes for the nomination. South Carolina is after that and will be a test for Romney. He did not do well in the southern primaries last time he ran. If he should win South Carolina, that would be a huge blow for the others in the field.

Next comes Florida, a huge state with a lot of votes. Romney can just about wrap up the nomination if he wins Florida.

I do wonder if there will be anymore surprises, such as Donald Trump running for president as an inde-pendent, or Ron Paul running as a third-party candidate. Either one of those scenarios may insure Barack Obama’s reelection. We can’t afford four more years of Barack Obama.

Oswego Chamber to Transfer 2011 Success to 2012By Nadia Kanhai

The economy of 2011 may not have been impressive, but the Oswego Chamber of Commerce found a way to have a good year and had fun do-ing so.

In 2011, the Chamber, which boasts more than 400 members, moved into its new home at 63 West Wash-ington. With 2012 upon us, the Chamber is looking forward to its tried and tested events as well as some new ideas. It hopes to provide value to its current mem-bers and draw new members in 2012.

“We have seen a growth in our home-based businesses during this reces-sion,” said Steve Hatcher, Chamber president. “Also out-of-town compa-nies, such as those from Aurora and Chicago also join the Chamber.”

The Chamber advocates for member local businesses, often works with the local government, and counts churches and charities among its members.

New initiatives from 2011 will carry into 2012, including the New Resi-dent Welcome Program and the Ed-ward Fraidycat 5K Run. Other up-coming events to watch out for this year include the State of the Village Breakfast in February, the Business and Consumer Expo at the Oswego High School Field House in April, and the annual dinner and golf out-ings in May.

The Chamber helps member busi-nesses connect to resources, network and build relationships, is available for ribbon cuttings and grand open-ings, provides counseling for start-up businesses, and can even help busi-nesses find a location, or help with permits and signs. Other Chamber perks include the Inspiring Oswego Women educational programs, the five leads groups, and a new mem-bership showcase room.

Hatcher, who has been involved with similar projects for more than 30 years, is enjoying his three years with the Oswego Chamber. “It’s very professional for a town of this size,” he said. “This is more fun and

members are appreciative.”

“We’re not all about dol-lars and cents,” said Hatcher, explaining the Chamber’s community events such as the Christmas Walk and the si-lent auction, of which 100 per-cent of the pro-ceeds went to the

Optimists Club Need Family Fund. “We’re not Scrooge.”

In 2011, the Chamber signed up more than 100 business-es. In February, the Chamber is planning its membership blitz.

Annie's Health Corner With Annie Craig

Pilates 101 Have you thought about giving Pi-lates a try, or does the sight of a slen-der body perfectly poised over some strange torturous-looking equip-ment send you running in the oppo-site direction? Fear not, friends, and give a Pilates mat class a try. This system of exercise was developed in the late 20th Century by German-born Joseph Pilates (pronounced puh-lah-tees…, not py-lats!!!). It

pulls together movements borrowed from yoga, martial arts, dance, and other disciplines, and has the power to change and improve your health. Pilates is based on quality versus quantity of movement. It is an ex-ercise system for the smart person. While Pilates sessions involving equipment are quite wonderful (and can be QUITE expensive), one can reap the benefits with just the body, a mat, …and a good instructor! You don’'t need to spend hours in the gym to get the physical and mental results that you want. How wonder-ful is that for our already busy, crazy lives? More for less is good…, espe-cially when it is life enhancing.

The Pilates Method foundation lies in the art of control… (contrology)… of the mind, body, and breath. The benefits are numerous. One can ex-pect improved balance and posture, better circulation, greater strength and coordination, a more sculpted

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Steve Hatcher, Oswego Chamber of Commerce

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body, a lower stress level, and an in-creased sense of well-being.

Many of my Pilates students tell me that other people have actually asked them if they had gotten taller! Our lives today tend to circulate around activities that keep us in a hunched over state of flexion, whether we are driving a car, sitting at a computer, or cooking over a stove. Pilates aims to enhance one'’s posture and create long, lean muscles. It also incorpo-rates the body as a whole rather than isolating certain muscle groups. Eve-ry part of your body works together WITH the breath. Hey…, this makes sense!

One important goal to remember when embarking on any type of a fit-ness program is that it should help us improve our performance of every-day tasks…. It should make our lives easier and better. Pilates certainly has that ability. So, go ahead…, do yourself a favor. Find a certified Pi-lates instructor near you and give a mat class a try.

Joe's View Joe Fossco

The Obama White House has occa-sionally been refereed to as the 51st Ward, a fictitious (and evidently far flung) section of the Chicago political map. While this dubious honor prob-ably was not meant to paint the White House as beholden to the political masters of Chicago, it does speak to the mentality and methodology of the largely Chicagoan staff and their political potentate of a president. So the appointment of William Da-ley, scion of the legendary Daley Clan, Chicago's preeminent power brokers and kingmakers, as Presi-dent Obama's Chief of Staff should have been a perfect fit. Obama and his people all cut their political teeth in Daley's backyard and the addition of William to the team should have been the icing on the Democrat cake.

But it wasn't.

Rumors now coming out of Wash-ington are that Daley was disor-ganized and ineffective as a leader, unable to gain the respect of his un-derlings and inflexible in his wish to impose a hierarchy on those around him. So when Daley, fresh back from a holiday vacation, tended his res-ignation almost a full year before his previously announced retire-ment, the Obama camp was shocked – but they shouldn't have been. The reason this supposed match made in heaven failed so horribly is because the White House really IS the 51st Ward. Obama's inner circle has learned the lessons of holding power, Chicago-style, remarkably well.

Political clout in Chicago was long ago crystallized around the Daleys. For 43 of the last 56 years a mem-ber of the Daley family was Mayor of Chicago. Patriarch Richard J. Daley (often referred to as The Boss) built his Machine, a model of patronage that rewarded loyalty to his family with political positions and lucrative contracts. The Machine (still alive and kicking) gave rise to a small, but impossibly tight-knit group of politi-cal players through which any deal needed to pass. There is no way to join this club; one has to be invited.It seems that the White House took the Machine aesthetic and mimicked it to a T. By all accounts the Obama's inner circle is a small, insular group. William Daley, despite being a titan in Chicago, was never invited into Obama's private club. It could have been the generation gap or Bill's ties to banking and big business, but I believe it simply was the Chicago cli-quishness that never allowed Daley to become the Boss he wanted, or needed, to be.

There is a least one competing theo-ry, however. The departure of Rich-ard M. Daley from the Mayor's of-fice and the subsequent (and utterly painless) transition of Rahm Em-manuel into that seat of power coin-cided with Bill Daley's ascension to Obama's Chief of Staff. In a city al-most entirely run by backroom deals, the timing seems uncanny. It would be reasonable to assume that some kind of trade was made between the Obama and Daley camps, and it ap-pears the Daleys, who are not the forgiving sort, might have gotten the short end of the stick. One wonders what repercussions that might bring.

Coffee Shop with Brian Basilico

I am not big into New Years Reso-lutions, but I take January 1st as a breather to refocus (and write my blog). On New Year's Day I had a pile of file folders and bankers boxes ready to box the folders from last year, and make all the new folders I need for 2012. With that said...I want to offer you a few business tips that I think can help you in the com-ing year.

1) Don't Leave Money on the Table. 2) Don't Leave Business on the Table.

I had a stack of business cards that I had collected during Holiday par-ties and networking events. I used my Neat Scanner, and OCR'd (opti-cal character recognition) them and added them to my IContact email database. There are now dozens of people who will receive my New Year Welcome email! I am sure some of them will opt-out, but there are at least a few that I can count on for new business or to recommend me if they follow my Facebook page!

3) Don't Leave Your Customers on the Table

Part of my New Year Resolution (not that I really make any) is to add every new customer this year to my eMail marketing program, send them a thank you, and communi-cate to them new things that I am doing to help make their business better. It may not be an immediate need for them, but they may be hap-py enough to recommend my busi-ness to a friend or another business!

Depending on your business, you may not get a lot of repeat custom-ers, but it's no reason to get it... and forget it!

We wish you much success, happi-ness, and health this new year!

Please comment on this post and let us know what you think of the new website and how we can make it a better tool to serve you needs. www.B2b-im.com

It took me all of 5+ hours yesterday, but I logged my mileage for the last year today and found $4,000+ of money my company owed me. It was 51.5¢ From January and 55¢ from July on. Now I am not an account-ant, and you need to have profes-sional help to confirm it...but what I found was $4,000 of money that I

Season Starts soon www.chicagoslaughter.com

Brian Basilico

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don't have to pay taxes on person-ally (expense income on a 7+ year old car) and $4,000 my business can deduct as an expense (a double win-win)!

Welcome to the New Year !

Vets' Corner with the Kendall Times VetContact the Kendall Times Vet here!

Old Vets Allowed to Learn New Tricks

November 21, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the VOW to Hire Heroes Act. Not only did this Act provide tax credits for employers who hire vets and wounded warriors. One of the less spoken of features of this bill is the provision that pro-vides veterans over the age of 35 with education.

Thanks, in part to the American Legion, the Vow to Hire Heroes Act (Veterans Opportunity To work Act of 2011, or Bill # H.R. 2433) will allow veterans who might have lost their jobs due to the economic downturn the past couple of years to receive 12 months of Montgomery GI bill assistance. This equals rough-ly $17,000 for college education, vo-cational training, certifications, and on-the-job training programs.

Providing education opportunities to the older vets isn’t the only ben-efit given to them through this Act. It also strengthens the law by closing loopholes governing businesses to keep open positions for Reserve and

National Guard members returning from deployments. When called ac-tive to duty, these members will have a place to return to work, not to the unemployment lines.

The Act also mandates that all ser-vicemen and woman departing the military receive transition assistance in which soldiers are taught how to deal with the transition from mili-tary life to civilian life. With veteran unemployment rates well into the 800,000s, the Vow to Hire Heroes Act comes with great timing.

Senior News with Pat Feeley

Knitting and Crocheting

Enjoy making something with your own hands or want to learn a new hobby? Join our knitting and crochet-ing class, which meets on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 for an hour or two. Our instructor will help you whether you are a beginner or just need help with a pattern. Visit with other en-thusiasts to learn even more things. For more information contact Lor-raine at 630-554-5602 at the the Os-wego Senior Center, 156 E. Wash-ington. Also check out our website at www.oswegoseniorcenter.org Pinochle and Canasta

Enjoy playing Pinochle or Canasta? the Oswego Senior Center is looking for interested parties to start playing regular games. Games will be played on alternate Wednesdays at 1 pm at 156 E. Washington St. Please call Lorraine at 630-554-5602 or regis-ter at the front desk if you are inter-ested. As always, visit our website for more information on our center at www.oswegoseniorcenter.org

Valentine Party

Join the Oswego Senior Center for its second annual Valentine Party on Saturday, February 11th. Social Hour at 6 pm and Prime Rib Din-ner at 7 pm. Music will be by Tommy Hoffman's One Man Band. There will also be a 50/50 drawing. Tickets are now available for purchase at 156 E. Washington St., Oswego. Cost $20 per person or $35 for two. Call 630-554-5602 for more information. Visit our website for more informa-tion. www.oswegoseniorcenter.org

Chili Cook-Off

Winter is a great time for comfort food. The Oswego Senior Center is having a Chili cook-off on Wednes-day, January 18, at Noon. Make a pot of your favorite chili. We will sup-ply macaroni, cheese, onion, bread, butter and dessert. Pay $1. Sign up at senior center front desk or call 630-554-5602 to get on the list. Not making chili? Then come and enjoy lunch and vote for your favorite dish. Cost is $2.50. We will have prizes for best chili.

Woodworking

Used to have a workshop in the basement or the garage? Retired now and living in smaller house with lit-tle room for your toys? Then the Os-wego Senior Center is the place for you. We have an array of machines to work on. Come and join others en-joying their favorite pastime, creating something with your hands. Please call the center at 630-554-5602 or sign up at the front desk. Wood Shop is open Monday, Thursday, and Fri-day from 1 pm to 3 pm at 156 E. Washington St.

Air sealing homes for energy efficiency (part 1)Ron Bartlett: President Bartlett’s Home Inspection rlbartlett@bartshi.com www.bartshi.com 630-346-7990

Just as important though, is air seal-ing the home, so this time we will try to cover some things you can do to help keep your home less drafty and more energy efficient.

Sealing Major Air Leaks

This is one of the most cost effective energy saving measures you can do to your home.

One of the biggest contributors to air leakage is usually the attic hatch. Us-ing the back of your hand, feel for air leaking around the hatch. If there is little or no insulation on the hatch, then you should add ridged foam in-sulation cut to fit tightly and glue to the top of the attic hatch. Several lay-ers works the best.

Exhaust fans and recessed lighting are another area of concern. Many times the bathroom exhaust fans are not vented to the exterior. This can cause big problems with mold and moisture, especially when you have a tightly air sealed attic, so make sure it is vented to the exterior before you begin sealing the attic.

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Recessed lights also are a major source of air leakage, however seal-ing and insulating around recessed lighting presents a few challenges that you need to be aware of, be-cause the light fi xture gets hot you can’t just install insulation over the top of the light without taking the risk of causing a fi re. However here are some things you can do to rem-edy this, use a fi re rated caulk to seal the housing were it comes in contact with the ceiling, build a drywall box over the fi xture, making sure to leave at least 3” of clearance on all sides including the top, seal the box with foam to form an airtight seal, then you can re-insulate. The other op-tion is to remove the can lights and install surface mount lighting, you can also install new recessed lighting that is rated for insulation and use along with 60 watt or less CFL bulbs.

As always, you should use common sense and proper safety equipment.

If you’re not sure about something, consult with a professional.

What's in your Kitchen? With Catherine Parker

I love food! I love cooking. I love creating. And I love nothing more to be in the kitchen creating wonder-ful and delicious meals. I believe, by God’'s design, I am called to cook, as one of my talents.

On Superbowl Sunday last year, I couldn'’t fi nd great chicken wings. Not chicken wings that are in a fro-zen bag--or greasy buff alo wings you order at a bar--but delicious chicken wings that are so tender, that the meat falls right off the bone.

So I decided to pull from some

of my cooking knowledge. Brin-ing, a basic marinade method, is used with salt to break down the tendons in the meat. The problem with brining is that it takes about 48 hours. I wanted to make wings that were tender...in 30 minutes! Here’'s my recipe for a simple, quick chicken wing marinade. Serve with my dip sauce as an extra treat. You’'ll love it as much as I do!” Ingredients: -1 to 1 ½ LBS of chicken wings (cut into fi rst and sec-ond parts, known as wingettes)-16 oz of your favorite cola (The one from Atlanta is the best!)-½ cup water-2 TBSP of chicken base; or 4 chicken bouillon cubes-1-2 TBSP salt, to taste (add less, you can always add more later)-8-10 shakes of your favorite hot sauce (I like Louisiana Style)-1/3 Cup of molasses 1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large sauté pan. (Leave out 8 oz of the cola) Add the wings.2. Cook on a slow simmer, turning eve-ry 3-4 minutes for about 12 minutes.3. As the liquid thickens, add the remaining cola. Cook about 15 minutes more, turning frequently so the wings do not overcook. Re-member to keep the fl ame low so you don'’t burn the marinade.4. Remove the wings, set aside. Heat grill to high. Brush the wings with a layer of Kitty’'s North Caro-lina Barbecue Sauce, enough for a nice, thick coat to caramelize on the heat. Turn frequently to pre-vent sticking. Total grill time will be about 15-18 minutes.

A Look at the 1984 Cubs Timothy J. Thompson

In this article, I detail the incred-ible season the Chicago Cubs had in 1984. They dominated the National League Eastern Division, and near-ly punched their ticket to the "Big Show."

“Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!” That was the chant that could be heard echoing through every corner of the “Windy City” during the glorious year of 1984. And during that remarkable season, the Cubs would do just that. They would win, and win, and win; thrilling fans far and wide.

Generally speaking, the 1984 Chi-cago Cubs were an awesome team. They were managed by a very tac-tically sound Jim Frey, and would fi nish the season with a 96 and 65 mark; which translated into a phe-nomenal .596 win/loss percentage. They were an astounding 51 and 29 at the friendly confi nes of beautiful

Wrigley Field, and a very good 45 and 36 on the road. Specifi cally, the team would score 762 runs that sea-son, smack 136 home runs, while holding their opponents to a 3.75 E.R.A.

The Cubs had a multitude of talent up and down their lineup in 1984. However, their best player had to be 24-year-old second baseman, Ryne Sandberg. He was a temendously gifted athlete and future Hall-of-Famer who will go down in history as one of the greatest second base-men to ever play. Sandberg would easily win the League MVP that year with 19 round trippers, 84 Ribbies, and an excellent 3.14 batting aver-age in 156 games played.

Other great Cubs of 1984 includ-ed closer Lee Smith, who saved 33 games; third baseman Ron Cey who banged out 25 home runs, and drove in 97; catcher Jody Davis who had 94 RBI’s; fi rst baseman Leon Dur-ham who had 96 RBI’s; and center fi elder, Bob Dernier who swiped 45 bases.

Cubs pitching in 1984 was just as dominant as their hitting was. Right hander, Rick Sutcliff e anchored a very strong starting staff with an in-credible 16 and 1 record, and a 2.69 earned run average. His exploits would earn him the Cy-Young award that year. Sutcliff e was backed up by fellow starters, Steve Trout and Den-nis Eckersley, who posted 13 and 7 and 10 and 8 records respectively.

Unlike so many other Cubs teams before them, who would begin the season so incredibly strong and then tire and fade at the end, the 1984 team was much diff erent. They actu-ally became stronger and even more invigorated as the season wore on. For example, during the fi rst three months of the season, the team was eight games above the .500 mark. Then, during the fi nal three months,

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they were an incredible 23 games above the “Mason-Dixon” line, as they left their opponents in the dust.

The 1984 Chicago Cubs were simply an outstanding team. And according to the rules of today, they would have had home field advantage in the Na-tional League Championship Series, rather than the Padres, because of a superior record during the regular season. In my opinion, that would have made the difference in that se-ries. Nonetheless, they made 1984 such an outstanding and memorable year for the great city of Chicago. In summation, the 1984 Chicago Cubs were truly something special.

Round Up Kendall County Forest Preserve Press Release

January 2012 Programs & Events

Program Spotlight

Over 21 Club - Starved Rock Bald Eagle Tour: Get out of the house this winter and see something new! This month’s Over 21 Club will take us to Starved Rock for their Bald Ea-gle Tour. Included in the fee is trans-portation to and from Starved Rock, buffet lunch, enclosed & heated trol-ley tour, eagle viewing, and discus-sion. Dress warmly and bring your camera and/or binoculars if you’d like. Age: Adult Date: Wednesday, Jan. 18 Time: 9:30AM-3:30PM Lo-cation: Meet at Historic Courthouse Fee: $30, due by January 11

Flint Knapping Workshop: Learn about the ancient art of creating tools from stone in this workshop led by professional flint knapper Larry Kinsella. You will get lots of hands-on time to create an item to take home during class. All materi-als, tools, and safety equipment are furnished by the instructor. Partici-pants are asked to wear long pants to prevent leg injuries. Class size is limited so sign up early! Age: 14 and up Date: Saturday, Jan. 21 Time: 12:00-4:00PM Location: Rook-ery Building, Hoover FP Fee: $35 (Note: Scouts are welcome to attend this workshop!)

Children’s Programs

Meet a Tree: Although we have all seen trees before, have you ever really met one? You will get to know about these woody wonders better in this class by using all five of your senses.

We will also play an outdoor game at the end of class so dress for the weather. Please note that there will be tree nuts present in class. Age: 5-8 Date: Saturday, Jan. 7 Time: 9:30-11:00AM Location: Rookery Building, Hoover FP

Wee Wonders - Winter: In this new series for the youngest nature lovers and their caregivers, we will explore what keeps animals warm through-out the cold winter months. Class time will include story time, par-ent-child take-home project, and a hands-on fur discovery. Age: Birth-3 with a caregiver, no older siblings please. Date: Thursday, Jan. 12 Time: 10:00-10:45AM Location: Rookery Building, Hoover FP

Babes in the Woods– Owls: Hoots, squawks, shrieks- who makes all these noises in the night? Find out about all the amazing adaptations of owls in this fun class Age: 3-6 with a caregiver Dates & Times: Tuesday, Jan. 24 9:00-10:00AM, Wednesday, Jan. 25 9:00-10:00AM and 1:00-2:00PM Location: Rookery Build-ing, Hoover FP

Nature in Winter Homeschool Class: From the frozen ground all the way up to the starry sky, we’ve got win-ter covered in this hands-on class for homeschoolers. We will study adap-tations, tracking, and the night sky in our three weeks of hand-on learning together. Age: 8-12 Dates & Times: Tuesdays Jan. 31, Feb, 7 & Feb. 14 from 1:00-2:30PM Location: Rook-ery Building, Hoover FP Fee: $15

Adult

The Thursday Afternoon Artist: Sharpen your artistic skills and build expertise in this on-going open stu-dio series. With guidance from ex-perienced instructor Carolyn Freese you will receive tips and advice on your artwork in the medium of your choice. New class members are al-ways welcome - bring your artwork and dig in! Age: Adults Date: Class meets every Thursday throughout Jan. and Feb. Time: 12:30-3:00PM Location: Rookery Building, Hoover FP Fee: $95 per four week block.

Play With Me!: Come prepared to play in this new series designed to help you learn great ways to connect your child with nature. More than just an ideas class, you will learn how and why each activity presented in class benefits your child’s develop-ment. This season’s class will focus on fun indoor and outdoor winter activities. Age: Adults only, no chil-dren please Date: Tuesday, Jan. 10

Time: 6:30-7:30PM Location: His-toric Courthouse

Over 21 Club - Starved Rock Bald Eagle Tour: Get out of the house this winter and see something new! This month’s Over 21 Club will take us to Starved Rock for their Bald Ea-gle Tour. Included in the fee is trans-portation to and from Starved Rock, buffet lunch, enclosed & heated trol-ley tour, eagle viewing, and discus-sion. Dress warmly and bring your camera and/or binoculars if you’d like. Age: Adult Date: Wednesday, Jan. 18 Time: 9:30AM-3:30PM Lo-cation: Meet at Historic Courthouse Fee: $30, due by January 11

Flint Knapping Workshop: Learn about the ancient art of creating tools from stone in this workshop led by professional flint knapper Larry Kinsella. You will get lots of hands-on time to create an item to take home during class. All materi-als, tools, and safety equipment are furnished by the instructor. Partici-pants are asked to wear long pants to prevent leg injuries. Class size is limited so sign up early! Age: 14 and up Date: Saturday, Jan. 21 Time: 12:00-4:00PM Location: Rookery Building, Hoover FP Fee: $35

Flint Knapping Workshop: Learn about the ancient art of creating tools from stone in this workshop led by professional flint knapper Larry Kinsella. You will get lots of hands-on time to create an item to take home during class. All materi-als, tools, and safety equipment are furnished by the instructor. Partici-pants are asked to wear long pants to prevent leg injuries. Class size is limited so sign up early! Age: 14 and up Date: Saturday, Jan. 21 Time: 12:00-4:00PM Location: Rookery Building, Hoover FP Fee: $35

Flint Knapping Workshop: Learn about the ancient art of creating tools from stone in this workshop

led by professional flint knapper Larry Kinsella. You will get lots of hands-on time to create an item to take home during class. All materi-als, tools, and safety equipment are furnished by the instructor. Partici-pants are asked to wear long pants to prevent leg injuries. Class size is limited so sign up early! Age: 14 and up Date: Saturday, Jan. 21 Time: 12:00-4:00PM Location: Rookery Building, Hoover FP Fee: $35

Stories of Neshnabe’k- Frogs: Spring is around the corner and soon frogs will be filling the air with their melo-dious calls. In today’s program for families, you will hear a traditional Native American story explaining why frogs call in the springtime. We will also learn a little about our na-tive frogs and how to help them out. Age: All Date: Saturday, Feb. 25 Time: 10:00-11:00AM Location: Rookery Building, Hoover FP

Stories of Neshnabe’k- Frogs: Spring is around the corner and soon frogs will be filling the air with their melo-dious calls. In today’s program for families, you will hear a traditional Native American story explaining why frogs call in the springtime. We will also learn a little about our native frogs and how to help them out. Age: All Date: Saturday, Feb. 25 Time: 10:00-11:00AM Loca-tion: Rookery Building, Hoover FP

Job Tracker County Wide

Receptionist - Linden Oaks - Part Time - Day - new Edward Hospital & Health Services - Naperville, IL JOB DESCRIPTION Greets and receives visitors, patients and em-ployees and refers same to appropri-ate staff members or department. Answers telephone calls and...

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Edward Hospital & Health Services - 11 hours ago - save job - block - email - more...

Customer Service Rep-resentative - new Veolia Environmen-tal Services - Batavia, IL We have an immediate opening for a Customer Service Representative for our call center. The dynamic profes-sional communicator we select will handle incoming...

Veolia Environmental Services - 20 hours ago - save job - block - email - more...

Associate Prod Lead - new Honeywell 15 re-views - Bolingbrook, IL At Honeywell, we look for people driven by a desire to contribute, be challenged and grow. Our peo-ple make Honeywell a special com-pany and are a key competitive... Honeywell - 22 hours ago - save job - block - email - more...

Reception/Screener - new Grifols, Inc. - Joliet, IL Duties and Responsibility: Will as-sure the timely and accurate comple-tion of all tasks related to the safety and/or quality of our product and customers...

Grifols, Inc. - 4 hours ago - save job - block - email - more... Receptionist/RCMG - new Rush-Copley Medi-cal Center - Aurora, IL Seeking experienced receptionist for busy family practice clinic. Respon-sibilities include greeting, registering and discharging patients, answering incoming...

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Receiving Clerk - new Grand Victoria Casino Elgin - Elgin, IL We are currently searching for a qualified individual to work in our Receiving Department as a Receiv-ing Clerk. Some of the responsibili-ties of this position...

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Customer Service Associate - new Honeywell 15 re-views - Bolingbrook, IL Customer Service Associate (184522... Honeywell Life Safety (HLS) is a strategic business unit in Automation and Control Solutions (ACS). HLS innovates to...

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Security Officer - new Rush-Copley Medi-cal Center - Aurora, IL Secures the inside and outside of Yorkville FEC, assists patients visi-tors and staff by providing escorts, jump-starts and unlocking doors. Responds to fire...

Rush-Copley Medical Center - 2 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Registrar - Spalding - new DuPage Medical Group - Naperville, IL Job Summary Responsible for the accurate, timely and comprehen-sive registration and insurance verification of DuPage Medical Group (DMG) patients. Provides... Dupage Medical Group - 3 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Zookeeper - PT - new Cosley Zoo - Wheaton, IL Organization: Cosley Zoo (AZA Member) Location: Wheaton, IL, United States Job or Internship: Job Responsible for the daily care and maintenance of Illinois...

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Bee Classes Press Release

26th January 6:30pm-9:30pm Beekeeping for Fun or Profit If you are thinking about becoming a beekeeper this Spring, try this intro-duction to the basic concepts of bee-keeping as a hobby and discover how to potentially expand your hobby into a side-line business. Explore the needed equipment, start-up costs, and challenges and issues of bee-keeping in the current environment. All this exploration without com-mitting to becoming a beekeep-er. However, if you then decide to keep bees, NOW is the time to be thinking and doing to set the groundwork for the Spring. Pre-registration required. Register with Waubonsee Commu-nity College.

Senior Update Press Release

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH –

LIVE WELL, BE WELL! On Tuesdays, starting January 17th to February 21st, from 1 – 3:30 p.m., the Oswego Senior Center, 156 E. Washington St., Oswego is holding a program for those who have a chron-ic medical problem that is affecting the way they live. The program is free, and taught by trained leaders, with health conditions themselves. How to set your own goals and make a plan to improve your health and your life. Find practical ways to deal with pain and fatigue. Discover bet-ter nutrition and exercise choices, understand new treatment choices and learn better ways to talk with your doctor and family about your health. Check www.oswegosenior-center.org or call Sandi at 630-554-5602, or e-mail sandypastore@att.net for more information.

Contact UsKendall County Staff

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Jennifer Flowers, Publisher Kendall Weekly Times part of MJF Communications 68 Red Fox Run Montgomery Illinois 60538 Phone 630-897-1627

Sunset over the Fox River.